October 6 – October 12, 2025

Monday:                              Sausage Kale and White Bean Stew, Parmesan Toasts

Tuesday:                              Bucatini with Almond Pesto, Green Salad

Wednesday:                      Stroganoff with Caramelized Mushrooms  Crispy Onions

                      

Friday:                                  Chicken and Andouille Gumbo

Saturday:                            Bacon and Pineapple Pizza

STEP OUTSIDE YOUR ROUTINE

Those of you who follow this blog are  – how to put this delicately? –  well, the French have a phrase, “les gens d’un certain âge,” which means, literally, “people of a certain age,” which really means “older people.”

We do have more than a few younger followers but, by and large, the “whatwecookedlastweek” crowd may be fairly characterized as mature.  In addition to being old enough to get into movie theaters for half-price in the afternoon or museums, any time, at discounted prices,* most of us have a schedule of medicines that would confuse an air-traffic controller, and a flock of routines developed over the course of a long and busy life.  Along with paying bills, laundry, doctor’s appointments, grocery-shopping, grandchildren (for many of you), weeding, Wordle, doing the NYT Crossword, etc., these routines can crowd out new experiences and experiments.  And this danger is most pronounced at meal times. 

*My first experience of the “elder” discount happened when I went to visit he Berkely Botanical Gardens (highly recommended by me) and I was asked if I was over 65 and qualified for the discount.  I remember hesitating for a second – I mean, I’d pay extra to be considered younger, wouldn’t you? – but then it occurred to me, that the ticket clerk had already categorized me as too old to pay full price, so I fessed up and took my discount.

Please don’t misunderstand me:  Routines are the way we get through the little duties and tasks of life efficiently.  They allow us to ignore domestic trivia and focus on more important things.  And if you are on the verge of discovering cold fusion, curing a disease or producing great art, this post is not for you.  Please don’t fiddle with your meal-time routines or menus. 

All of that rambling above (another trait of the super-mature) is by way of introduction to a different type of pasta sauce which will, I think, have you eschewing those fat jars of “Labriola’s” or “Mama Leone’s” or even Rao’s wonderful sauces.  On the island of Siciliy they grow almonds with a particularly floral taste, and they grow lots of them.  And, by and large, Sicilians are poor, so that they consume almonds in myriad ways.  And among those myriad ways, are pestos and a pasta sauces that, I will admit, are new to me.

Truth be told, for years I have avoided nut-based pasta sauces thinking that they must be bland and a bit dry – not the kind of luscious complement to pasta that puttanesca, vodka, fra diavolo and Bolognese sauces are.  But finally, the week before last, having some dried pasta in the pantry, I turned to Mark Vetri’s wonderful Mastering the Art of Pasta to find a way to dress the pasta that might excite the crowd at Casa Stuarti.  I have tried cooking a good number of Vetri’s sauces and I thumbed past those and came across “Bucatini with Almond Pesto.”  The idea of dry and bland does not go with the experience of Mark Vetri’s cooking.  So, I thought, let’s give it a try.  I had all of the ingredients, even an extra jalapeño which I had left out of a previous dinner as being a bit too much heat for She Who Must Be Obeyed.  And . . .

The dish was a knockout.  Saucy and salty and built on the wonderful chew of bucatini.  You’ll find the recipe for this toothsome pasta below.  If you’re already into nut pesto pasta sauce, congratulations – you’re way ahead of me.

[If you find yourself in Philadelphia, please go to Vetri’s for dinner.  Reservations have to be made several weeks in advance, but if you show up and they have a cancellation or someone has finished dinner quickly, they will often seat you anyway.  You will be very happy with the food.]

Bucatini with Almond Pesto

(adapted from Mark Vetri’s Mastering Pasta)

The recipe calls for making your own pasta and that would definitely be worth it – there is nothing like the taste and texture of fresh pasta.  I used a dried, imported bucatini.  Vetri’s book will teach you how to make tons of different pastas – but you will need a pasta extruder and various extrusion plates as well as chitarra.  Dry pasta is second best in Vetri’s recipes, but second best is pretty damn good, and you don’t need all that paraphernalia.

Timing:                                                20 minutes

Ingredients:                                         Serves 4

1 lb. dried bucatini (imported pastas often come in 17 oz. sizes and are just fine)

1 ¼ cups skin-on almonds

2 cloves garlic (we used just a little garlic powder)

½ cup plus 1 tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil

1 jalapeño, stemmed, seeded and thinly sliced

1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Make the Pesto:

Toast the almonds in a large, deep, sauté pan over medium, shaking the pan now and then, for 3 to 4 minutes (until they are fragrant).

Put 1 cup of the almonds into a food processor or blender.  Chop up the remaining ¼ cup and set aside.

Add 1 clove garlic and ¼ cup of olive oil to the machine, then turn it on and drizzle in another ¼ cup of oil and blend until fairly smooth.

Cook the pasta, dress and serve:

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and drop in the bucatini and cook until al dente (follow the package instructions).

While the pasta is cooking, add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil to the pan in which the almonds were cooked to medium.  Thinly slice the remaining garlic clove – we just used some more garlic powder – add it to the pan along with the jalapeño and cook gently for 4 to 5 minutes.  If you’re using a garlic clove, be careful not to burn the garlic.

Reserve the pasta water, but drain the pasta.

Add 1 cup of the reserved pasta water to the pan with the garlic and jalapeño and swirl, loosening up any browned bits in the pan.  Now add the drained pasta and the almond pesto and toss until the sauce reduces slightly and gets creamy and coats the pasta.

Turn off the heat and add ½ cup of the parmesan and keep the pasta moving with tongs while the cheese melts and becomes one with the sauce.

Taste the sauce – add salt if needed – and serve on warmed plates, garnishing with the remaining parmesan.  SWMBO likes a little chiffonnade of basil as another garnish.