Relishments

Savoring life in the Berkshires

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • About
    • Start Here
    • Relishments Around the Web
    • Flexitarianism
      • Cookbooks
  • Recipes
    • Recipe Reviews
  • The Berkshires
    • Boothbay, Midcoast Maine and More
    • Adventures in Other Places
  • Contact
    • Sponsor

Cooking For Other People (+ a Pasta Recipe)

Published on April 22, 2011 By Emily. Updated on August 8, 2020

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

I love cooking for other people, possibly more than I like cooking for myself. I love to share my creations with my friends and get their feedback. Sometimes I try to brainstorm people I can cook for just so I can do more cooking.

Unfortunately, when the opportunity often arises for me to do so, I don’t know what to make.  By some people’s standards, Brian and I eat “weird” food.  I figure it’s probably best not to make Penne with Tempeh, Caramelized Shallots and Goat Cheese for first time guests.  Last weekend our church had a Palm Sunday potluck dinner and I signed up to bring a vegetable.  Then I agonized for weeks over what I’d bring that was both interesting (I often feel the need to live up to my food blogger reputation) and appealing to the general congregation.  I settled on Mark Bittman’s Roasted Carrots with Scallion-Ginger Glaze, which were apparently a hit because they were gone by the end of the evening.

This week I was faced with a similar situation.  I’d offered to make a meal for a friend who recently had a baby.  She, like just about everyone else I’ve ever cooked for, offered very little guidance in terms of what she would like.  “We eat just about anything,” she told me, just like everyone always does.  I know that’s probably true, but I’m not brave enough to really test that claim.  So I flipped through my recipe binder and settled on a recipe my mother gave me.  The closest online match I could find was this recipe from the 1989 Orlando Sentinel, which may very well be its original source, though I know my mom got it from a friend at church.   This pasta dish (because everyone likes pasta!) is simple: you make a rosemary and tomato sauce, pour it over pasta and add a bit of balsamic vinegar.  It smells amazing and tastes delicious.  I can’t imagine anyone with a normal palate not liking it.

Penne with Rosemary Tomato Sauce and Balsamic Vinegar

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Ingredients
  

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 3 garlic cloves crushed
  • 2 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
  • 28 oz canned Italian peeled plum tomatoes
  • 13.25 oz whole wheat penne or ziti one box
  • 2 tsp balsamic vinegar

Instructions
 

  • 1. Boil a pot of water for the pasta.
  • 2. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the crushed garlic.
  • 3. After a minute, add the tomatoes and rosemary.  Simmer for 10 minutes, breaking up the tomatoes as they cook. Turn off the heat.
  • 4. When the water boils, add the pasta and cook according to package directions.
  • 5. Drain the pasta and return it to the pot. Add the tomato sauce to the pasta. Toss to combine.
  • 6. Add the balsamic vinegar. Toss.
  • 7. Enjoy!

 

Related Posts

Guest Post: Cynthia’s Simple Polenta Pizza
Chickpea Pot Pie and the Perils of Recipe Creation
Weeknight Dinner: Black Bean Sweet Potato Quesadil...
A 30 Minute(ish) Weeknight Dinner for National Tac...
Did you enjoy this post? Share it!

Filed Under: recipe, vegetarian main dish, weeknight Tagged With: pasta, recipe, vegetarian

« The Grand Tour and Behind the Scenes Info
Happy Easter! »

Comments

  1. Heather says

    April 22, 2011 at 9:35 am

    i LOVE LOVE LOVE the idea of adding balsamic to a pasta dish. I made How Sweet Eats balsamic reduction sauce for gnocchi once – and it was AMAZING – but i love the idea of the balsamic WITH the tomato sauce. LOVELY!

    Also – i totally hear you on not knowing what to cook for people – I always struggle with vegetarian potluck dishes that AREN’T pasta. (usually 100 people sign up to bring pasta, you know?) I need to start a list of go to recipes for this purpose!

    • Emily says

      April 24, 2011 at 5:33 am

      Luckily I figured I could get away with pasta here, but I signed up for a vegetable for the church potluck for just that reason and then had a really hard time coming up with something. It would’ve been much easier if it was summer and something was actually in season.

  2. Duane Brunell says

    April 22, 2011 at 9:21 pm

    Fun to see those recipes being handed down. This is a great dish for company!

Trackbacks

  1. » Long Time No Recap (CSA Week 11-13) says:
    August 17, 2011 at 8:07 pm

    […] turns out that picking out produce for other people, much like cooking for other people, kind of stresses me out.   People can be really picky about vegetables!  I’m […]

  2. Easter Dishes » Then Heather Said says:
    October 4, 2011 at 10:28 am

    […] Pears from Live Laugh Eat Pretzel Rolls from How Sweet Eats Taco Casserole from Healthy Delicious Penne with Rosemary Tomato Sauce and Balsamic Vinegar from […]

Welcome!

photo of EmilyWelcome to Relishments! Follow along with my adventures in cooking and eating in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts.

The Berkshires
Recipe Index
CSA Menu Plan
First Time?
 

Support Relishments on Patreon

Just so you know…

I’m just a girl who loves to cook and eat. This site is not a source for nutritional information.

Relishments is affiliated with various sponsors. Some product links on this site are affiliates; I may get portion of the sale. All opinions on this site are honest, regardless of revenue opportunities. Find out more about my policies here

relishments

Emily
Last week Brian and I finally got around to hiring Last week Brian and I finally got around to hiring a sitter for a rare night out. We went to dinner at @publicna and took advantage of the opportunity with drinks, appetizers and dessert.

Pictured:
- Citrus Braised Beef Tacos
- "Chicken and Waffles"
- House Fries with Garlic Aioli
- Fried Chickpeas
- Blood Orange Cheesecake
It was no surprise that Public was close to full on a Wednesday night - everything was so good. 

.
.
.
#igers413_food #igers413 #BerkshireFoodies #InTheBerkshires #EatLocal #WesternMA #WesternMass #Berkshires  #VisitTheBerkshires #NorthAdams #NAmazing #PublicEatAndDrink
New year, new theme word! This year's word is "enr New year, new theme word!
This year's word is "enrich" and I'm really excited about it.

I've written more about this year's theme on the blog. Click in the link in my profile or follow the link below to read the post.
.
https://www.relishments.com/blog/my-2023-theme-word-enrich/
.
.
.
#YearlyTheme #MyOneWord #2023 #enrich2023 #NewYearsResolution
It's not New Year's Eve without a Top 9 post. It's It's not New Year's Eve without a Top 9 post.
It's almost all #Berkshires content this year, which is great.
1. A pasta salad reel that took longer to create than the recipe took to make.
2. A reel from North Carolina where I could have watched birds all day.
3. The @thelazygenius book giveaway.
4.@plantconnector 
5. @berkshiremuseum 
6.@sculpture.now at @themountlenox 
7. @massmoca 
8. @mountainviewfarm413 
9. The #AshuwillticookRailTrail
New on the blog: My 2022 reflections on last year' New on the blog: My 2022 reflections on last year's theme word - resume. 

I was able to get back to many activities that were meaningful to me this year and I'm calling this theme a success. Follow the link below or click the link in my profile to read more.
.
.
.
https://www.relishments.com/blog/reflections-on-resuming-in-2022/
.
#resume2022 #newyearsresolution #myoneword #yearlytheme
New on the blog: My Favorite Recipes of 2022. For New on the blog: My Favorite Recipes of 2022.

For the fourth year, I've recapped the best new (to me) recipes I made this year in the hope that they'll give you some new dishes to try. This year's list is short, but delicious. It includes @budgetbytes My Favorite Recipes of 2022
Published on December 30, 2022 By Emily. Updated on December 30, 2022

It’s hard to believe that 2022 is basically behind us. Though overall this year found me getting back to the person I want to be (post-babies and “post”-pandemic), I did not try nearly as many new recipes this year as I used to. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I’d made note of any new-to-me recipes I wanted to share in this post. This year’s list is short, but delicious. It includes recipes from @budgetbytes, @smittenkitchen and @howsweeteats.
.
.
.
Read the post by visiting the link in my profile or 
https://www.relishments.com/blog/my-favorite-recipes-of-2022/
.
.
.
#RecipeRoundUp #BestRecipes2022 #FavoriteRecipes
@coastalmainebotanicalgardens continues to be one @coastalmainebotanicalgardens continues to be one of the highlights of all my return trips to Boothbay and their annual Gardens Aglow event continues to impress. It was great to be back to walking the gardens instead of the pandemic drive through and there seemed to be more lights than ever.  I'm already looking forward to next year.
.
.
.
#Boothbay #BoothbayMaine #CoastalMaineBotanicalGardens #GardensAglow #BotanicalGarden #MidcoastMaine
It has been a while, but there is finally a new CS It has been a while, but there is finally a new CSA menu plan on the blog! Visit the link below or in my profile to see how I plan to make use of some of the @mightyfoodfarm produce seen here.
.
.
https://www.relishments.com/blog/welcome-to-winter-farm-share-csa-menu-plan-148/
.
#MightyFoodFarm #EatLocal #EatSeasonal #VermontGrown #CSApickup #CSAshare #KnowYourFarmerKnowYourFood #MenuPlanning #MealPlanning #igers413 #igers413_food #BerkshireFoodies
Fall in the Berkshires is always incredible, but t Fall in the Berkshires is always incredible, but this year we've had weather that has also been outstanding. The past 2 weekends have included time at Jaeschke Orchards, the Greylock Glen, and the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail as well as stopping to photograph any random foliage I see. 
Check out the last slide for video of some feathered friends we saw on a walk.
.
.
.
#igers413 #InTheBerkshires #EatLocal #WesternMA #WesternMass #Berkshires  #VisitTheBerkshires #FallFoliage #FallColors #autumn #AshuwillticookRailTrail #JaeschkeOrchards #GreylockGlen
@freshgrassfestival continues to be one of my favo @freshgrassfestival continues to be one of my favorite events each year, and it doesn't hurt that it's just minutes away from home. Enjoying the festival with my kids is definitely a different experience than without, but it's still a good time. The weather was especially cooperative today which was great for all the laps I did around the @massmoca campus pushing a stroller. I'm already looking forward to next year.
.
.
.
#igers413 #InTheBerkshires #WesternMA #WesternMass #Berkshires  #VisitTheBerkshires #NorthAdams #NAmazing #FreshGrass #FreshGrassFestival #MassMoCA #MusicFestival
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Copyright © 2023 · Foodie Pro Theme On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in