This very simple dish is one of my favorite "emergency" dinners that I make when time is especially limited. Use short cuts or strands of other Italian pastas you might have on hand. When time permits, I expand on the simple recipe and add other vegetables, such as strips of grilled portobello mushrooms.
8 ounces elbow macaroni
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 plum tomato, cut into ½-inch cubes
2 tablespoons minced fresh basil or 2 teaspoons dried basil
2 tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
Dash of salt, or to taste
Dash of freshly ground pepper, or to taste
Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat; add the macaroni. When the water returns to a boil, stir occasionally to separate the macaroni. Reduce the heat to medium-high and cook until al dente, about 6 to 8 minutes or according to package instructions. When the macaroni is done, drain well; return to the pot. Add the butter; stir until it melts. Add the remaining ingredients and toss. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
Makes 4 servings
"Once, during Prohibition, I was forced to live for days on nothing but food and water."
W.C. Fields
There are two types of head lettuce, butterhead and crisphead. Crisphead lettuce is commonly called iceberg lettuce, but iceberg is really only one variety of crisphead lettuce. imperial and Great Lakes are two other examples of crisphead lettuces'. Iceberg lettuce got it's name from the fact that California growers started shipped it covered with heaps of crushed ice in the 1920s. It had previously been called Crisphead lettuce.