Man Night Pasta

A more appropriate name for this pasta might be: Abandonment – the night that Sam almost starved.  Okay, of course that’s a bit dramatic, but a few years ago my brother-in-law Chris and I were deserted at dinnertime.  Our only option was to designate the evening as Man Night. So, I found my copy of the movie Top Gun*, and Chris conjured up a recipe in his mind.  He has this thing — it’s either genius or serendipitous — for designing easy and flavorful meals.

Chris had me help in the kitchen that night, and the meal was so easy to prepare that it was one of the few dishes that I knew how to cook when I got married.

All you need is farfalle pasta, extra virgin olive oil, 1 Italian zucchini, 1 yellow squash, prosciutto, mushrooms, a package of grape tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, and some fresh basil.

The aforementioned list of ingredients, with the exception of grape tomatoes, isn’t necessarily doctrine.  It’s fun to add spicy Italian sausage, eggplant, or whatever else may be in season.  But, I can’t emphasize this enough – the grape or even cherry tomatoes are essential to this recipe**.  My favorite term in a chef’s vocabulary is “add to taste.”  With this meal, just add to taste.  If you like a lot of prosciutto, then add a lot of prosciutto.  If you love eggplant, then add two.

What to Do

First, you want to cut your vegetables up and sauté them in the extra virgin olive oil (EVOO***).  Cook the pasta in salted water while sautéing, and then layer a baking dish with the farfalle as the foundation.  Top with the sautéed vegetables, the prosciutto, and cheese(s).  Next, place the dish into the oven to melt the cheese – 350 degrees ought to do the trick.  Finally, remove the dish and sprinkle fresh basil on the top.

Give this a try, and you’ll be on the highway to the flavor zone.

* Proper Man Night etiquette makes clear the fact that Top Gun is to be viewed in the absence of a sporting event on said night.

** Yes, grape tomatoes are more expensive than their larger, flavorless, waterlogged cousins that are sold year round; but grape and cherry tomatoes are packed with vibrant flavor.

*** I know.  Rachel Ray always says EVOO and it gets annoying for some reason, but it’s easier to say and type EVOO as opposed to extra virgin olive oil – that’s four words a pop!

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