Pantry Def Con 3 Inventory Situation - Tagliatelle with Goat Cheese Pesto

It's long past time to use up some pantry items. I long ago lost all control over any sensible organization in our cramped pantry with the extra book shelf crammed in for more shelving space. I had a vision of shelves for Canned Goods, Grains, Pastas, Dried Things, Condiments, Spices, etc. but it's just not user friendly. Ditto the tiny fridge. It's not micro-NY studio small, but it's definitely not a standard size fridge. I think this place was designed ideally for two roommates. The bedrooms are on opposite sides of the unit, and each has a bathroom either in it, or directly adjacent. It would be ideal for roommates in that regard, as you have no shared bedroom walls. But I think the designers figured a roommate scenario also equates to a lot of take out and beer and no actual in-unit cooking, hence small fridge area and small pantry area. Just my observation....

I made a list of the pastas on hand and sat down with the Bibles: Marcella Hazan's Marcella's Italian Cooking, Patricia Wells' Trattoria, Saveur Cooks Authentic Italian and Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything. The goal was to find recipes that would use maximum pantry items and minimize the shopping list. The results were five Pasta/Rice/Canned Goods recipes, plus a slow cooker Beef Osso Bucco for next Sunday (Used Meat section had beef shanks). The missing sixth day dish is leftover Beef Short Ribs from Valentine's Day. If there's any left after making sammies with the ribs.

First up, a creamy recipe from Marcella that requires only the purchase of basil and goat cheese to turn out. If I had made this a couple of weeks ago, I might have been able to use our "garden" basil, but Colonel Farmer has done the spring planting, and we'll have to wait for a new crop.

I also had chicken strips from the Used Meat section, so we grilled some to go with the pasta, along with an arugula salad with Parmesan and a lemon dressing.

Mangia!

Tagliatelle with Goat Cheese Pesto

Marcella Hazan

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 ½ cups fresh basil

1 ½ teaspoons chopped garlic

3 tablespoons pine nuts
4 tablespoons goat cheese

Salt and black pepper
12 ounces Tagliatelle

Wash the basil  and then pat it dry. Put basil, garlic, pine nuts and a pinch of salt in food processor, and chop briefly. Add the oil and keep blending until the mixture becomes creamy. Transfer to a bowl. Add the goat cheese and black pepper to taste. Mash the cheese into the mixture with a fork until smooth.  

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the pasta until al dente. Before draining the pasta, reserve a couple of tablespoons of cooking water. Add the cooking water to the sauce and stir to combine. Drain pasta and toss it with the sauce.