I had the fortune of finding a book H had been lusting after (her words) for her birthday- and as it’s a cookbook of Giada’s, we naturally had to break it in by making something out of the book. H suggested we try her pasta ponza. I was afraid of the capers, but decided to try being brave for her, and so we set out on it. We followed the recipe rather closely- minus using all red cherry tomatoes (no yellow), using whole wheat shell pasta in lieu of ziti, and a mix of grated Reggianito and parmesan in stead of Pecorino Romano. The capers were a bit much for me, but I love the tomatoes, the breadcrumbs, and the idea in general- I plan to bake crusted tomatoes in the future, because that was delicious! As for the capers… I’ve gotten better about being open to foods, but it looks like this is one I’ll continue to have difficult with (which is ironic and sad, as I love balsamic vinegar).

Pasta Ponza

Following Giada de Laurentiis’ Pasta Ponza

I’m not going to bother with reposting the recipe because: a) I’m feeling lethargic and it is rather late; b) we didn’t change very much, so the recipe structure is the same; c) I’m now thinking about balsamic vinegar and my mind has drifted. My writing out this recipe now may result in something off-topic and involving dreaming of Modena, so I think I’ll refrain :). That said, this pasta was a simple one with tons of flavour, and would make a terrific week-time dish to make in a large batch with leftovers for lunch at work!