Pasta with a "P"

That's pasta with a 'p', not basta with a 'b', cause a 'p' goes puh, not buh.

Last night I made one of my quick and easy suppers. Like dear Nigella, I always seem to have frozen peas on hand. I also always try to have some sort of pasta about, usually spaghetti. So it was a perfect night for pasta with a 'p'. In this case the 'p' stands for pasta, peas, pecorino, and pepper, of the freshly ground black variety. The 'p' can also stand for parmiggiano, but last night I had pecorino.

There are no real quantities, just enough for a mess, as we say in the hills. So I will just give you the instructions.

Pasta with a 'P'

Take a quantity of pasta, the quantity you want to eat, and cook it al dente. Please do not overcook the pasta and please do salt the boiling water liberally, after the water has come to a boil. Not only will it take longer for the water to boil if you put the salt in at the start, but you can also pit your pot. As for the pasta, anything you have on hand will do, though, to be honest, orrichiette will hold the little peas better. Whilst the pasta is cooking, gather your frozen peas, your cheese of choice (pecorino or parmiggiano), fresh ground pepper, and butter, the only ingredient without a 'p'. Before draining the pasta, reserve some cooking liquid, then toss the pasta with the other ingredients, adding more of any of them to suit your fancy and adding pasta water if it all becomes too dry and to amalgamate the sauce, as it were.

Bitch's Best Toffee Blondies

Gourmet Mavis and I had a sleepover at chez moi this past weekend. For dinner, we had lentils Provençal and extra garlicky garlic bread with loads of butter. For dessert, I had baked a batch of these earlier in the day.

These scrumptious little treats will make you wanna smack yo' mama! No lie! What delectable little morsels they are! And highly addictive to boot! Make a batch, now!

Bitch's Best Toffee Blondies

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup toffee bits

Preheat the oven to 350º. Line the bottom and sides of an 8-inch square pan or baking dish with aluminum foil, with a bit of overhang on two sides. Cream the butter and sugar until smooth, then beat in eggs, vanilla, and salt. Add the flour and beat until well combined, then stir in the toffee bits. Spread the batter into the pan and bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes. Cool blondies completely in the pan. Lift the blondies from the pan with the foil and cut into 16 squares.

Notes: Again, I cannot stress enough the importance of good vanilla extract, not essence and NOT imitation. I use Madagascar vanilla. It is divine!

And while the original recipe does say to let the little dears cool completely before cutting, there is nothing like a slightly warm toffee blondie with a cold glass of milk! Yum!