Pasta with meat sauce

Beef ragu with pasta, carrots, and collards

Half a jar of tomato sauce, doctored with ground beef. Carrots, collards, and some big dollops of ricotta cheese.

Ravioli

Ravioli with meat sauce, greens

One of my favorite meals as a kid was cheese ravioli. I picked up a two-pack at Costco, and a couple jars of tomato sauce, on our last provisions run, and made one tonight. I doctored the sauce with a pound of ground beef and a glug of red wine. The greens are from the freezer, a mix of chard and mustard and some other delicate greens, seasoned with my own sofrito. Kevin had a work thing, so I ate this by myself in front of an episode of “Borgia.”

Chicken parm

Chicken parm with spaghetti and salad

The chicken parmigiana from Fitzwilly’s is pretty good. Comes with spaghetti and a salad.

Venison ragu

Venison ragu over rotini, Napa cabbage, and garlic bread

I don’t always have two starches with dinner, but when I do, it’s usually an Italian American classic like pasta with red sauce and a piece of Italian bread. The cabbage, I’m sorry, was incredibly bitter. I get a little angry at past me when he puts things in the freezer that aren’t worth preserving. Should I attempt to sweeten the remainder or throw it away?

The sauce came out very nice. Two cans of tomatoes, one big, one small. Half an onion. A pound of ground venison, well browned. Fresh garlic, frozen basil, dried oregano, thyme, and bay. I had a little bit of a French baguette hanging around, so I made garlic toast. A little grating of pecorino romano over the top.