Cooking with Frank and friends

Earlier this week I saw Frankie for the first time in a couple months. I grilled him on what to expect this fall when I enter the CIA, we talked about his time in new york, he promised to teach me how to sharpen knives, and I filled him in on the details of the restaurant I work at now, where he worked last summer. It was great to see him and catch up!

Our plan for the evening was to cook dinner for our friends. We ended up making pasta with vodka sauce and roasted veggies.

The vodka sauce is one of my favorite recipes ever. You start with sauteed shallots, add some vodka and let it cook down. Then you put a can of crushed tomatoes in the pan and let that simmer for 15 minutes. Add some cream, some basil, some salt and pepper, and you have the most delicious pasta sauce in the world. Normally I add some peas and asparagus, but to make everyone happy, we left them out.

For the roasted veggies, we took brussels sprouts, asparagus, and zucchini and cut them to semi-uniform sizes. Then we tossed them in balsamic vinegar, oil, salt and pepper, and a little bit of honey. We roasted them at 375 till they were caramelized and delicious.

Everyone loved the dinner and it was so fun to finally cook with Frankie. I love cooking for people, especially my friends, and it's so great when I get to sit down and eat dinner with them all. I see this happening many more times in my future.