It's always too late to take a picture of food

Because I always think of taking a picture after I have eaten it!  Anyway, yesterday's dinner was a multi-step affair.  It started on Monday with making ricotta cheese from my new favourite cookbook, The Homemade Pantry.  Wow.  It was so easy.  And one of those things that you can have cooking while doing something else in the kitchen or wherever.

Then yesterday I made almond-basil pesto, also from the above book.  I had no success with basil in the garden this year but Longos was selling huge plants last week so I bought one and had been dreaming of pesto ever since.

Next I made pasta from scratch (4 cups flour, 4 extra large eggs, 4 tsp whey from the ricotta process (or water)).  And was reminded again how much I love my Kitchen Aid mixer with its very practical attachments, which include a pasta machine.  I mixed a few tablespoons of pesto into the ricotta and made a stuffed pasta by cutting squares, spooning about 1 tsp of filling on one half and folding the other half over the filling, pressing the edges together to seal.  I was nervous that the little bundles would split apart in the boiling water but had no issues.

The sauce was partially a fridge clean-out combined with a big harvest of cherry tomatoes from the garden.  I quickly pan fried garlic and onion, cooked some shiitake mushrooms for a few minutes and then added halved cherry tomatoes.  I cooked that mix for a couple of minutes,  added some white wine, rosemary and a couple of teaspoons of pesto and let the whole thing simmer.  A little shot of cream and some pasta water at the end and dinner was ready.