My Vegetable Blog

Before last night's final episode of The Sopranos, I was sure one more hour was not going to be enough. Whatever happened, there was no way I was going to be satisfied. And I was fairly certain most of the people watching with me would feel the same. But I figured that if we couldn't get enough of Tony and family, at least we'd have plenty of food. And that we did.

There were no authentic Soprano family dishes. I made a batch of ziti from The Sopranos Family Cookbook with a friend once. We spent two evenings and about $100 on that meal, and we finally understood why the characters in the show took their ziti so seriously. Myself, I prefer a less-serious, more-casual approach.

First, a Caprese salad with sliced tomato and mozzarella, stacked with basil leaves and topped with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. It doesn't get more simple than that.

OK, maybe it does get more simple than that - grilled bread rubbed with garlic and topped with parsley.

For the main course, pasta. What else? I used a recipe from Giada's Family Dinners for Penne with Sausage, Artichokes and Sun-Dried Tomatoes (recipe reprinted here). I made the sausage version and a meat-less one for myself (pictured). Everyone helped themselves to seconds and thirds of this dish, so I think it turned out pretty well.

For dessert, I served balsamic-glazed strawberries with vanilla ice cream. They were quite delicious, and pretty. Unfortunately, I was too busy discussing blank screens and Journey to snap a picture.