Thursday, October 15, 2009

Week 1, Wednesday: Spaghetti with Sweet Potatoes and Ricotta

Because I'm having guests at dinner Friday, I made a decision to change up the dinners this week. I'm still taking a risk cooking something completely new for guests (including children), but at least I'm cooking something they can recognize. So, for this dinner I cooked Friday's entree: Spaghetti with Sweet Potatoes and Ricotta.


I was under a lot of pressure as I was cooking last night because we had several things going on, and at the last minute my friend, Stephanie, who lives in Logan showed up unexpectedly at my doorstep. (What an awesome surprise!!) I had exactly 30 minutes to make dinner, and in the end I made Adam only a couple of minutes late for his first meeting. But the sweet potatoes were burned because I ran across the street to pick a rosemary sprig off the neighbor's bush (no joke--I forgot the rosemary while I was at the store, and I found fresh herbs in the neighbor's front yard while I had things in the pan!). It was definitely still edible, however, so in the end I think it was better for having the rosemary. Here it is:



Bottom line: It was still a bit bland, and there was a little too much ricotta (no one liked the ricotta but me), but with enough salt and pepper I actually liked it a lot. The thing I'm taking from this dinner is the method of cooking the sweet potatoes. I really liked how they tasted (despite the burning) and how quick and easy they were to make. On their own, they could be a really great side dish.

4 comments:

bladenfamily said...

Sorry I made your dinner late! But not really that sorry because it was fun to see you.

Becky said...

Hey Rachel,
I've been catching up on my blogs and just skimming over your cooking adventures and I have a question for you...do you get your recipes from a specific source or do you want some suggestions? I have some great "ethnic" recipes. I try to pick up a cookbook from every country I visit (surprise? no). I could give you some great Caribbean, Scandanavian, and Italian recipes. Let me know if you want to try them. I have yet to see the movie "Julie and Julia" but Jill says I have to see it because I remind her of Julie...I'll have to decide for myself though. I do have Julia Childs 1st cookbook, but other than that I have distanced myself some from my cooking background. It's not really on purpose, but it is not as fun to cook for just yourself (and I can't justify the price cuz food goes bad).

Rachel said...

Steph, I'm not sorry at all!! It was so great to see you :)

Becky,
I totally understand why you wouldn't cook for just yourself, I'm trying not to buy more than exactly what I need because I know things will go bad even with 5 mouths to eat it all (it's still hard, right now there is a container of green olives staring me in the face every time I open the fridge).

Right now I'm getting my recipes from an article in the October issue of Real Simple, mostly because they are all fast, easy dinners, but after I finish my month, I would love to try out some different ethnic recipes! We love trying out new things. Thanks so much, I'll email you when I'm ready to try some new dishes :)

Jen, Gabe and kiddos said...

Yummy, this sounds so good! I'll have to go back and read on your blog why you're torturing yourself cooking such fancy meals. ;)