Now that the weather has turned colder I am getting back into our Tuesday pasta night routine. And one of my favorite weeknight pasta tricks is to stop off at my cheese shop to pick up some fresh cheese, meats and even fresh pasta. Cooking with flavored pastas eliminates the need for sauce, and you can instead focus on pairing a few favorite ingredients to make your pasta de jour.

Of course you don’t have to visit a cheese shop to make a gourmet pasta dish; at the grocery, just pick out a few high quality items from the deli counter. Because you only need a few slices of meat, you can splurge on a good prosciutto or salami.

With a quarter pound of spicy salami, a small container of creme fraiche, the roasted tomatoes and pasta, this made four servings of pasta for under $20. That’s cheaper than Olive Garden, and ready in less time the average Friday night wait for a table!

Recipe: Roasted Tomato, Salami & Saffron Pasta (aka Cheesetique Pasta)

Ingredients:

• 1 pound saffron angel hair pasta
• 1 bunch curly kale (or other greens), sliced into ribbons
• 6 oz. roasted tomatoes, in olive oil (can use sundried tomatoes)
• 1/4 pound salami, sliced into thin ribbons
• 4 ounces creme fraiche
• salt & pepper

Instructions: Bring a large pot of water to boil over high heat. Cook pasta according to package instructions, adding kale for the final minute of cooking time. Drain pasta and kale, reserving some of the cooking liquid. In a large serving bowl, layer the tomatoes (reserving oil), salami and creme fraiche. Pour pasta and kale over top and use tongs to toss and combine. Add 2 tablespoons of the reserved tomato oil and a few spoonfuls of the cooking liquid, as needed to moisten the pasta. Season with a little salt and pepper (try red pepper flakes for an added kick), and enjoy! Makes 4 servings.

Shared with Presto Pasta Nights, created by Ruth of Once Upon a Feast and hosted this week by Venielje Kitchen.

The first few days of the Eat Local Challenge were not terribly successful, as they coincided with a work conference that required me to eat several meals in a hotel. One lunch was particularly comic in its seasonal schizophrenia, with asparagus atop sweet potatoes. The weekend farmers market visits enabled me to re-stock the fridge with dairy, bread and produce to be better prepared headed into this week.

My ulterior motive with the challenge is to be more disciplined in eating not just local foods but healthier as well. My requirement to eat something local at every meal has forced me to eat better at breakfast, which is by far my biggest problem area. I am not a morning person, and despite my love of coffee I do not have the skill or patience to make my own first thing in the morning. So I wind up eating unhealthy pastries along with my morning latte. Now, I could claim compliance by buying the locally-baked pastries at my local coffee shop, but I’m trying to improve upon that by actually eating the wonderful local yogurt I always have in the fridge. A slice of locally-baked bread, toasted, with homemade plum jam rounds out the meal and really doesn’t take all that long. I am fortunate in that my son usually eats his breakfast at daycare, so I have some time to get into a healthy routine before he learns from my bad example!

We have had some good mostly-local dinners. This hearty sweet potato and sausage saute was perfect for a rainy evening. Sunday was grilled flank steak and squash, Monday was the leftover steak in veggie-loaded salsa rice. And for those curious, scroll down to the bottom of this post for a list of the local products we’ve eaten this week, and their sources.

Recipe: Sweet Potato & Sausage Skillet Saute

Ingredients:

• 2-3 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 T olive oil
• 4 links Italian sausage, cut into 1/2″ pieces
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 bunch tatsoi (or spinach), rinsed
• 1 T soy sauce
• red pepper flakes
• salt & pepper

Instructions: Bring a pot of water to boil and cook sweet potato chunks until just tender, about 6 minutes. Heat olive oil in skillet over medium high heat and brown sausage. Remove from pan, reduce heat to medium and add garlic and onion. Cook 3-4 minutes until soft and translucent. Drain sweet potatoes and add to skillet. Place tatsoi on top, pour soy sauce and additional olive oil over top, cover and let cook until tatsoi is wilted, about 4-5 minutes. Stir in sausage, red pepper flakes and season with salt and pepper. Serve over quinoa or rice. Makes 4 servings. Enjoy!

Farms of Origin

• steak, Fauquier’s Finest via Let’s Meat on the Avenue, Va.
• milk & butter, South Mountain Creamery, Md.
• sweet potatoes, tatsoi, onions, Potomac Vegetable Farms CSA, Va.
• squash, tomatoes, Medina & Sons, Va. (@ Alexandria West End market)
• goat cheese, yogurt & Amish-baked sticky buns, Tom the cheese guy, Pa. (@ Del Ray/West End markets)
• apples, pears, grapes, Papa’s Orchard, Pa. (@ West End market)
• rye bread, Uptown Bakers, Md. (@ West End market)