Two out of three ain't bad...

So I got ambitious yesterday. Cooking for me is relaxing; spending time thinking about food is getting to be a great barometer of how crazy my life is. When I don't have time to think about it or cook, then life is just too darn hectic.

So in recovering from Rosh Hashanah, I decided to cook up a storm. And I wouldn't, of course, want to pick EASY things to make, so I decided to make pasta as a main dish-- specifically, tortellini. Note to self: don't try to make pasta without a pasta maker. Elyssa did a masterful job rolling the dough out by hand, thin as we could make it. We used an Alton Brown recipe, which, I have to say, was less than Altonesque, what with the ingredients listed out of order and the instructions kind of unclear, too. But ultimately, it came down to too-thick pasta. We cooked the stuff for 45 minutes and it was still, let's generously call it, "chewy." Yuck. The filling was nice (with garlic and basil from the farm), but the stuff was generally one of the more complete failures I've ever prepared. "The Story of the Pasta" was, in this case, a comedy of errors.

On to the garlic bread-- a gourmet Emeril recipe that was a fantastic success. And because of the utter meltdown of the main dish, it became the primary source of calories in the meal portion of this program. We used fresh parsely from the farm and a range of spices that left our mouths pleasantly tingly. It was great-- a definite keeper.

And then, the piece d'resistance (sp?). Peach upside down cake. Alton Brown redeems himself with this gourmet but incredibly simple recipe. It would be very impressive for a party. So chic. So delicious. And with peaches in season, quite fresh as well.

So two out of three made for a nice evening, especially since we fed the kids earlier and ate after they went to bed!