Garbage never tasted so good...

I've been experimenting in the kitchen lately. I got some new cookware from my lovely Aunt Nancy (red le creuset, nonetheless) and am learning the joys of cooking in some really amazing and heavy pots and pans. I've made a few pasta dishes with fresh veggies that have been pretty tasty, my favorite being stewed tomatoes and okra with whole wheat linguini, but the best is a dish I fondly refer to as "garbacini."

Garbacini is something that I feel I should trademark, it's old food thrown into pasta. Garba = garbage, Cini=um, pasta (my Italian translation is probably off here). It is essentially any type of left over ingredient, sauteed in olive oil, butter, garlic and onions and then thrown into pasta. Ideally it's a cream sauce, but that's only if there's milk or cream in the fridge.

Anyway, the creation of garbacini was in 2008 during the first family girls trip to Hilton Head Island. I am generally the cook for a week spent with the female portion of my immediate family. During the day, we lie on the beach, read boatloads of books, do yoga, drink a bit and eat a lot. In the evening, I just make whatever I want or whatever is requested, sometimes it's steaks on the grill, sometimes it's nachos, but the last dinner we eat is always garbacini. We take inventory of the stuff we have left over, and I create a custom pasta dish for the evening. Garbage pasta, if you will. And trust me, you would.

My favorite is, of course when we have lots of left over veggies, but you can put anything from chicken to steak to scrambled eggs in it. It's a great way to get rid of cooked leftovers and extras, below is the, well, umm, I don't know if it can be called a recipe because it is just kind of a mish mosh....but here's the basics:

Saute garlic and onions in olive oil.

Add veggies, hard ones first -- ex. broccoli before peppers, carrots before broccoli, cherry tomatoes and mushrooms last...the longer they take to get soft, the sooner you add them. You may have to put in more olive oil, but keep the heat at medium max, and just get them soft enough to keep some crunch, but that they're cooked enough to eat.

Here's where you get creative, left over steak? Sure! Chicken? Yep. Bacon? Why not? If there's a vegetarian in the house, these ingredients may change. :)

While cooking the veggies & other stuff, boil your pasta in salted water, homemade pasta if you have the time!

So, then you add cream, butter, Parmesan, salt and a lot of pepper to the veggie mix, keep it on medium low and stir pretty constantly until the cheesy chunks are melted, we usually have brie (yum) and blue cheese left over too, and I throw it in at his point. I am a firm believer in cheese. Almost to the point of obsession, the more cheese the better. Seriously.

When the pasta is done, throw the cheesy, veggie, meaty or whatever goodness on top and VOILA... you just created Garbacini.

Oh, and the picture above is the most beautiful beagle in all the world. Garbacini doesn't photograph very well. Luigi, however, does.