Second Breakfast

I like this pasta because of its fresh taste, and the simplicity of the flavors. This is great both when spinach is in season, and during the winter months when all you can get is frozen. You can lighten it up as you wish, but the pasta needs to be tossed in some sort of fat or it will stick together, and the sauce won’t have much body.

Items

• 1lb fresh spinach, washed and stemmed and chopped, or 1lb flash frozen spinach (works just as well and is much easier)
• 1lb conchiglie (large shells, not jumbo shells for stuffing, or the tiny ones for soup), or a similarly-shaped pasta
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• some chicken stock, or veggie stock (w/o tomato)
• 4TB butter, 2TB olive oil
• freshly grated nutmeg
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1cup freshly grated parmaggiano-reggiano cheese, or similar hard, sharp cheese
• 1cup toasted bread crumbs

Method

1. Preheat oven to 425F.
2. Heat large chef’s pan over medium-high heat, add 1TB butter and 1TB olive oil, and saute onion until soft, 5mins. Add garlic and sautee for another minute.
3. Add spinach, and cook until spinach is wilted (or thawed).
4. Add stock to just about cover the veggies, turn up heat, and cook over high heat until reduced and you have a thick sauce.
5. Add salt, pepper, and nutmeg to sauce to taste. Add 1/2 of the cheese.
6. While sauce is cooking, cook pasta in salted water 5 mins less than package directions.
7. Drain pasta, and toss with 2TB butter and 1TB olive oil.
8. Layer pasta and sauce in a large casserole dish, starting and ending with a layer of pasta.
9. Top with bread crumbs, remaining cheese, and dot with reserved 1TB butter.
10. Cook in oven 10mins. If desired, broil for a couple of minutes to brown the top.

Serves 4-6.

This is a great book, and well-deserving of the awards and recognition that Gaiman has received since its publication in 2001.
At the center of the novel is Shadow, an ex-con who learns his wife has died in a car accident just prior to his release from prison. As he returns home to his former life, he meets Mr. Wednesday, and elderly grifter who offers him an ill-defined job as a bodyguard. As the story unfolds, we enter a world of abandoned gods, both familiar and esoteric, and Shadow finds himself in the middle of an impending conflict of forgotten dieties played out across the landscape of middle America.

Gaiman’s writing is tight but lyrical, hiw plotting is good, and the novel plays out across several levels. This is hiw best to date, and with this book has established himself as an important writer of fantastic fiction.

If you’re going to read one Gaiman book, this is it.  I think I recognized about 2/3 of the gods in the book — how many did you get?

I sometimes like to read pulpy mass-market genre fiction — although often what one finds there is really disappointing.  The fantasy genre in particular is usually just painfully derivative and uninspiring.  But something about Clemens’ “Banned and Banished” series sounded interesting, so I picked up the first two in the series.

I’m pleasantly surprised.  The elements of the story aren’t that original:  a young girl who awakes to discover hidden and dangerous powers and is the scion of a ancient lineage, a land dominated by an evil Dark Lord, and the assemblage of a band of unlikely allies who protect the young girl, who is being hunted by aforementioned Dark Lord.  This is a familiar set of elements (actually its the plot to Star Wars and Eragon), and I was prepared to roll my eyes after a few pages.

But what Clemens does with these familiar tropes is pretty good.  The bad guys are pretty darned bad, the DL stays in the shadows but does some pretty scary stuff, the characters are nicely drawn, and the story moves quickly.  The system of magick that Clemens invents is somewhat interesting as well.

I’m curious to see how this series continues — a diverting and engaging read for the bitter middle of winter.