Ha!

Bet he would make room for this corker of a dinner.

Fettuccine Assortito is like a jacked up pasta primavera, but the thing that makes it so unbelievably special is the Fontina cheese sauce. It is absolutely amazing. All that fettuccine, vegetables and ham cloaked in the nutty, creamy sauce…heaven.

Fettuccine Assortito

Ingredients:

1 cup green bell pepper, julienned
1 cup red bell pepper, julienned
1 3/4 cups broccoli florets, cut into small pieces
1 cup zucchini, cut in 1/4 inch slices
1 cup yellow squash, cut in 1/4 inch slices
1 cup carrot, julienned
1 3/4 cups ham, julienned
1 pound fettuccine, cooked al dente
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons olive oil
Grated Parmesan, to serve
Fontina Cheese Sauce (recipe follows)

Directions:

1. Melt butter with olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat. Sauté the vegetables and ham together until crisp tender, stirring frequently.

2. Add drained pasta to the vegetable-ham mixture and mix well.

3. Add the Fontina cheese sauce and stir to coat all ingredients. Serve with grated Parmesan.

Serves 4 to 6

Fontina Cheese Sauce

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons flour
3 cups milk
6 ounces Fontina cheese, shredded
Salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. In a heavy saucepan, melt butter then whisk in the flour. Cook over medium heat for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

2. Add the milk and heat just barely to the boiling point. Turn off the heat. Add Fontina cheese and stir to blend. Season with the salt and pepper. Keep warm.

Recipes from Olive Garden At Home

A number of things attracted me to today’s band even before I listened to their music.

There is the name.

Olive & The Pitz.

Fun.

Then there is the cover of the band’s debut EP ‘Landlocked’.

Holy fish head, Batman!

And the name of the first track of the EP is “East Bumblefuck”.

Very intriguing.

Then I had a listen and the deal was sealed.

New Jersey-based band Olive & The Pitz have a winner on their hands. Singer Olivia Riggio’s voice glides through lyrics full of angst and the fight against hopelessness. I think we can all relate on some level.

“Thick opaque fog is all that I see
Mediocrity eats away at me
Last week I was special,
this week I am lame
Taunting and cold, every day is the same”

Check out Olive & The Pitz on Facebook. You can buy their music on Bandcamp.

Cheers!