"J" is back with a vengance!

He's BAAAAACK!  This meal was "J's" re-entry into solo performance (as "A" has been tag-teaming a lot with him recently).  His re-entry?  Not disappointing.

It starts out with a basil cream mixture.

Which gets put with egg and pasta flour (homemade basil pesto pasta, folks).

The beautiful pasta dough.  You can see the flakes of fresh basil!

Rolled out, and ready to shape!

Hand-shaped, ya'll!  Isn't "J" incredible?

So cute, but very time consuming.  "J" made the comment that it was one of the most intense (time wise) meals he's made thus far.

As they do in Italy (when in Rome, right?).  Sun-dried pasta.  This drying procedure allows you to use the pasta whenever you want!  Store it for later.  We, of course, opted to use it immediately.  Was just fun to try a new method.

For the pasta, we used the first squash from the garden!

There she is!

Just after picking.  It's so rewarding (more so for "J" and "A", as they tend to the garden daily) to be able to walk into your back yard, pull a fresh ingredient and use it immediately!

My dad has a garden of his own, and last weekend sent me home with one of his squashes.  We used both!

Here is the sun-dried basil pasta, ready to be cooked!

In addition to the squash, steak was included in the pasta.

And, lots of cheese!  This is a fresh mozzarella.

Fresh shredded Parmesan as well!

Okay, I had to include this.  There were two party fouls, both made by me during the scope of the evening.  First: The wine bottle fell out of the fridge (an unopened bottle no less) and shattered everywhere (including the wine...boo).  Next, while trying to clean that mess, I broke a glass in the sink.  Sorry "J" and "A"!

As the pasta process was underway, we enjoyed a fresh/homemade pea soup!

Included in the soup was a special treat.  A huge scallop!

The scallops grilling up nicely.

Nice grill marks, huh?  And, notice the steak starting to cook.

Getting poured.....

Beautiful color. 

A little dollop of cheese...

With the scallop.

And some fresh mint.  Included in the soup was butter, cream, pureed mint, chicken stock, peas and various other seasonings.  It was so delicious.  I had never had pea soup.  Grew up on peas, as a side-dish to most of our dinners (so, like them).  But, had never thought of pea soup.  It was so creamy, and had just the perfect amount of pea flavor.  The chicken stock helped even the flavor out, of course with the cream.  The scallop?  Cooked to perfection.  Had a buttery flavor, and definitely "made" the dish!  Great fresh starter.

Here is the squash cooking up nicely!  Have you ever eaten raw squash?  I do all the time.  I like it as a crudites, along with bell peppers, carrots, etc.  "J" had never heard of having squash raw.  Tried it, and liked it!  It's best, of course, dipped in a ranch sauce.  :)

Here are the steaks, cooking on their first side (you saw them flipped in the scallop picture above)

Here is the mixture ready to be mixed with the pasta.  It contains the steak, fresh tomatoes, squash, the Parmesan cheese, fresh basil and rosemary.

Pasta out of the water!

All mixed together!  Notice the chunks of mozzarella (added at the last). 

This dish was so fresh.  Not having a sauce made it incredible.  Just the fresh ingredients of the tomatoes and squash made it.  The tomatoes bursted in your mouth, and had such a sweet flavor! 

For dessert?  A local treat, from Ingrid's Kitchen.  Chocolate pie, strawberry cupcake and peanut butter cupcake. 

Can't have that type of dessert without a fresh glass of Braum's milk.  We even made a run to Braum's to get the milk....it's that good.

We each had a sampling of all desserts.  Perfect ending, to another great Not So Mundane Monday. 

Until next time.....A la cuisine!