For Cho'.

Last night, Doug was in class late so I started to brainstorm some dinner-for-one ideas. It started with pasta and spinach and just grew from there.

• Small butternut squash, cooked in the microwave for about 6 minutes
• 1 large clove of garlic, minced (I'm really digging the fork method these days for garlic mincing)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp grated parmesan
• about 2 cups frozen spinach
• about 1 cup of chicken broth
• 6 oz of uncooked penne pasta
• salt & pepper to taste
• dash of ground nutmeg
• about 1/4 cup 1% milk
• 1 individual cup of plain Greek yogurt

Judging by the amounts of my main ingredients, I ended up going for 3 servings instead of just one.

Boiled the pasta and got started on my "sauce." Heated the olive oil and added the frozen spinach. Once the spinach was thawed, I added the garlic, squash, salt and pepper. I started to mash the squash with a spoon and added the chicken broth in 1/4 cup increments (since I was wingin' this, I wasn't sure how much broth I would need at the time). I also stirred in the milk.

Since I wasn't getting the desired creaminess at this point, I searched the fridge and snagged a cup of this:



Stirred it in, along with the parmesan and nutmeg. Desired creaminess achieved! (And added some extra protein too.)

Final result:



The verdict? Success. It's pretty rare that a) I make up a meal on the fly, b) It doesn't take long to prepare and c) Tastes damn good. I'm not sure what happened to the penne; somehow, the shape was annihilated. But it wasn't overcooked, so whatevs.

The sauce ended up turning out exactly how I wanted- a bit chunky, but still thin enough to coat the pasta when stirred together. The dash of nutmeg came through too; not overbearing, but just the right amount of subtle warmth.

I was so excited with how well the dish turned out that I decided to celebrate with a glass of this:



A while back, I got a good Groupon deal for Barclay's Wine and this Riesling was in the mix. Quite good! I tend to opt for drier wines, but the slight sweetness of this variety complemented the slight sweetness of the squash.

Another slam dunk, á la Tam.