Cook. Craft. Enjoy.: PPN: Celebrate the New Year with Pasta!

How did you spend your New Year's Eve? While Adrienne spent the night at her friend's house, the guys and I spent a relatively quiet evening at home playing computer and video games. Not surprisingly Liam stayed up until after midnight and woke up bright and early this morning (and is amazingly high functioning today too). I wish everyone the happiest and healthiest of years for 2008.

One of my resolutions this year is to better document our dinners and have a rating system for them. Years ago I would keep a planner for this reason and make sure to write down what we had and how we liked it. I think it would be handy to have that now that the kids are older and slightly pickier. That way if I want to find something I know they'll enjoy I can just take a glance back and (hopefully) find something yummy. My rating system will be 1 (holy cow please don't make that slop again) to 5 (make that again tomorrow please!) and I'll try to take a vote from everyone and share it here.

For our first meal of this new year I opted for a pasta dish from Giada DeLaurentiis -- Penne with Spicy Tomato Sauce.

It's a very basic pasta dish but with flavors I love -- garlic, capers and Kalamata olives. I served it with a salad and some French bread and it received an interesting reception. Don and Adrienne gave it a 4 saying they really enjoyed it -- though in all fairness Adrienne picked out the capers and olives. Liam and I gave it a 3 -- I thought it really should have been bolder in flavor than it was. Maybe up the amount of red pepper flakes? Liam's vote really doesn't count that much, however, because he just ate the pasta plain with Parmesan cheese. Travis voted a 1 and ate the leftover pretzel chicken and salad instead. (He doesn't care for pasta that much.) So, overall I'm giving it a 3. See, off to a good start already.

I'm submitting this to Ruth's Presto Pasta Night over at her wonderful blog Once Upon a Feast. I'm glad to see she's still continuing the event even during her Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet. If you've never been over to her blog go -- it's a wonderful place to hang out.

Penne with Spicy Tomato Sauce
(modified slightly from Giada DeLaurentiis' Everyday Pasta)

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 carrot, diced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
28 ounces crushed tomatoes
1 cup water
1 bay leaf
1 small can anchovy fillets packed in olive oil, minced
1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives, halved
2 tablespoons drained capers
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 pound penne pasta, cooked

In large pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and saute until translucent. Add the celery, carrot, salt and pepper. Saute for another 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, water and bay leaf and simmer, partially covered over low heat for 45 minutes.

Place the minced anchovies and some of their oil in a medium skillet. Stir over medium heat until they melt, about 2 minutes. Add the olives, capers and red pepper flakes. Saute until the olives are heated through and then transfer this mixture to the sauce. Simmer another 5 minutes or until the flavers have blended. Serve over the penne pasta.