ITALIANO!!

homemade pasta!
homemade sauce!
homemade vegan tempeh sausage!
homemade sourdough bread!
homemade tastes better.
that's no joke.
check the teleport:

WU-TANG!!
that's how you doo-doo that freaky sh!t.
in anticipation of a snow day, i made myself a big ol' plate of noods,
and smothered them in thick and chunky exxxtra-expert SAUCE!
mmmmmmmm.
i mean, if you know in advance that a snowy blast from the north is
headed over to eff up your day, and the roads, and your work situation?
y'might as well fill up on comforting comestibles from the old country.
yeah.
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there are three elements to this fat batch of hottness.
first up:
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*
THE SAUCE!
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in a 1 quart saucepot, with 1 T olive oil,
blister 1 1/2 cups baby grape tomatoes-
they'll blacken where they touch the pan, and that's okay!
add 1/4 cup minced onion, and saute that in the oil and tomato juice.
next, drop in:
1/2 tsp ea. GPOP, oregano, basil, sage, thyme;
1/4 tsp crushed rosemary, crushed red pepper flakes;
1 T fire-roasted tomato flakes;
pink salt, black pepper;
2 T tomato paste;
1 T nootch...
get all that stirred up and nicey-nice-
i.e. aromatic and excellent.
now, splash it with 2 tsp tamari;
1 T red wine vinegar,
1 1/2 cups crushed fire-roasted tomatoes (the chunky-ish ones);
1/2 cup warm water.
bring that up to a thick, tarry bubbly boil, and reduce the heat to low
and let it simmer while you do everything else.
yeah.
that's sauce!
*
next up:
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SAZZAGEZ!
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in a small saucepot, with 2 T vegan butter melted on high heat-
saute 3 T minced onion and 1/2 block chunked-up tempeh crOmbles.
add in 1 clove crushed garlic;
1 tsp ea GPOP, thyme, sage, fennel seed, basil, dried parsley;
1/2 tsp oregano, rosemary, crushed red pepper, ground mustard;
1 T smoked paprika;
2 tsp nootch (that's nutritional yeast... for you uninitiated nerds);
1 tsp tamari;
a few drops of liquid smoke;
pink salt and a LOT of cracked black pepper;
1 cup warm water;
2 T agave.
bring that up to a hard boil, and keep it there until all the liquid is thoroughly absorbed.
stir it occasionally, and sniff it, too.
yeah.
it'll be smellin' SO GOOD. so just whiff it and smile, neighbors.
yum.
reduce the heat to medium, and let everything caramelize,
before removing it from the heat.
you're gonna want some crispy brown bits and some still-soft spots, too.
that's how you get the complete profile of sexxxiness for vegan sausages, man.
for real.
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pro tip:
i added two spoonfuls of my tomato sauce,
and a splash of oil to the pot when it was finished,
and it turned it up to eleven on the delish-o-meter.
that's a fact.
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and lastly:
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THE PASTA!
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in your trusty. reliable, excellently-appointed upright stand mixer,
with the dough hook affixed (we're making dough, duh)
knead up:
1 cup semolina flour;
1/2 cup king arther a.p. flour;
1 1/4 tsp sea salt;
1 tsp cracked black pepper;
4 tsp fire-roasted tomato flakes;
2 T olive oil;
2/3 cup warm water.
beat it like a bad baby for 11 minutes, and rest it, wrapped, for eleven more.
roll out half as thin as you can get it on a realllly well-floured surface,
and flour it lightly a lil baby bit MORE.
so you can roll up your rectangle without it self-adhesively sticking together.
slice the roll into 1/4 inch chunks, and unravel each into a long linguine strand.
mmmmmmhmmmmm.
that's molto italiano, and molto molto expert.
and i have enough for MORE pasta tonight!!!
a big pot of salty water, roiling and boiling, and about 2 minutes or less,
and you've got perfectly prepared soft noods for the dudes.
or just for the one dude,
which is to say, me,
since i was the only one eatin'.
.....
and with arugula, AND parsley sprankles???
c'mon, bro,
what did you think?
i was gonna skimp out like an A*-hole?
no way.
that isn't how i'm livin' my life.
do it right, or go F* right off in a snowbank.
...that's what i think about going easy.
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and obvi,i had to have some of my signature sourdough for sauce scooplin'.
rules is rules, and that sauce-sop slice is mandatory.
good bread makes better people,
and it makes great sauce even better.
that's real.
one hundred and eleven percent goodness.
that's what i was munching on for supper.
***********
it snowed.
no big deal.
but, it's a snow day,
and that means ANYthing can happen.
for a s much as my sad old hands hurt,
i'll be surprised if anything good can get grabbed by me today.
my spidery digits aren't designed to do this much holdin' and paintin' and shovelin'
and everything else.
i guess we're gonna find out what's up before tonight, right?
it's all gonna really happen, loosely grasped or tightly gripped,
only time will reveal;
never quiet, never soft.....