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Orecchiette with Ricotta, Walnuts, and Broccoli Rabe

September 18, 2022 by

Kat Bridges

Slightly simplified adaptation of Martha Rose Shulman’s recipe, with technique/ingredients borrowed from my Italian-American elders (who did not come from Liguria—apologies to Liguria).

Ingredients

1 garlic clove, peeled
3/4 cup walnut pieces
1 T bread crumbs
1/3 cup ricotta
2 T warm water
1/4 c freshly grated Pecorino Romano, plus more for grating on top
2 T olive oil*
salt
1 bunch broccoli rabe, stems trimmed, washed and chopped fairly small
1 lb orecchiette

Preparation

the sauce

In a food processor, first chop garlic, then add walnuts and bread crumbs and process until pasty. Add ricotta, Pecorino, and 2 T warm water, and blend. Add olive oil and a pinch salt and process until smooth. Spoon into a pasta serving dish.

the pasta and rabe

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and salt the water. Add pasta. About five minutes before the pasta should be done (according to package instructions), add the broccoli rabe to the pot, stir, and continue to boil until pasta is al dente and rabe is tender. Ladle out up to 1/2 cup of pasta water and add to serving dish with ricotta/walnut mixture. (The rabe and pasta will hold more water than pasta alone when drained, so you shouldn’t need to add more.)

Drain pasta and rabe and toss with sauce. Serve with more Pecorino and fresh black pepper.

*Shulman calls for a blend of olive and walnut oils, but I don’t think I’ve ever had walnut oil on hand when making this recipe. I bet it’s good, though.

Tripeaks Solitaire Solver in JavaScript

September 14, 2022 by

Adam Piontek

#coding, #development, #game, #solitaire, #solver

I’ve created an online Tripeaks Solver.

This is based on the excellent work done by IgniparousTempest on Github — see his demo here.

I made some changes to support new features and built a new web interface. This solver can help you along with incomplete games and provide a “best solution” for unsolvable games. It also shouldn’t lock up on unsolvable or difficult games, providing progress feedback while waiting, since it can still take several minutes to do its work if the game isn’t easy.

I hope this helps some people. Source is available at Github, as well as my Gitea host.

Shadow, Shadman, Mr. Shad. Goodbye.

July 16, 2022 by

Adam Piontek

#cat, #grief, #loss, #pet, #pets

Today we had to say goodbye to our beloved cat Shadow (????-2022). I don’t know where he came from, and I don’t know where he’s going, but he was with me for roughly ten joyous years, and was an A+ #1 pal, best friend, buddy, comfort, teacher, and legendary cat.

We didn’t know how old he was, but in the last year or so his health had slowly declined. Over the past couple months, he seemed to be struggling to finish meals, and a visit to the vet suggested possible hyperthyroid issues, and signs of kidney failure. The vet advised waiting a month, watching him, and getting his blood checked again.

However, in that time his health deteriorated more, and the last week he slowly stopped accepting any food (even Popeye’s chicken!), had more trouble walking around, and difficulty using the litterbox. So, Friday evening we found ourselves making the difficult decision to help him go peacefully before his suffering grew worse.

We were grateful to be able to say goodbye to him in our home, with assistance and care, and to hold him and love him in his final moments. We have a nice spot picked out for him in the garden. You can read on for more about him and too many pictures, if you wish.

Pear Rosemary Baked Oats Breakfast Concept

March 20, 2022 by

Adam Piontek

#cooking, #food, #mealprep, #pandemiceats, #plaguecooking, #recipe

Coming off several rounds of the pumpkin baked oats concept, some fatigue had set in, and a variation was called for.

For now we’ve settled on a version of this pear baked oatmeal recipe, with some modifications.

Baked Pumpkin/Banana Oats Breakfast Concept

March 20, 2022 by

Adam Piontek

#cooking, #food, #mealprep, #pandemiceats, #plaguecooking, #recipe

For a long time, Kat had been doing a form of chia pudding for breakfast. On one day growing weary of it, she declared a need for a Brand New Breakfast Concept.

While I declared that my new band name, she began making a baked oats dish, until at some point, due to scheduling issues and These Terrible Times We Live In, it fell to me, and I needed A Recipe Of Some Kind, and found this Kodiak Cakes Air Fryer Oats recipe.

Sweet Potato Beans, Salsa, Cheese

March 6, 2022 by

Adam Piontek

#cooking, #food, #mealprep, #pandemiceats, #plaguecooking, #recipe

Hey this is a thing, remember?

Remember to season the beans though: sazon, garlic, bay leaves, oregano.

Mujaddara

March 3, 2022 by

Adam Piontek

#cooking, #food, #mealprep, #pandemiceats, #plaguecooking, #recipe

This is so satisfying, and so simple. Kat has often made it, but I finally had reason to do it. Saving here for reference, this is based off this recipe at food52.