I think I’ve made this Foolproof Cacio e Pepe once before, but I only had Parmesan on hand so it doesn’t really count.

This recipe has you make a paste with the cheese and pepper, and then toss it with the hot pasta and a little bit of pasta water. I read some of the comments before diving in, and saw several folks who said it turned out gloppy and the cheese didn’t coat the spaghetti. Deb says that’s likely due to adding too much pasta water when tossing the pasta with the cheese paste, so I made a note to be careful at that step.

Pasta tends to cook fast on my stove, so rather than try to make the cheese paste while the pasta boiled, I did that first. I grated the cheese on my box grater and used my full-size food processor, but I think if I were to make this again I’d try it in the mini. I’d probably need to add the cheese in a couple of batches, but I think it would be easier to get it really smooth. I was worried about how much pepper to add, and had trouble telling how “sparkly” it was due to the intensity of the cheese. I ended up using about 35 grinds and I think that was about right. In general I’d err on the side of not enough, because you can always add more at the table.

When it came time to drain the pasta, I lifted it out of the water with tongs and deposited it into a colander. When tossing everything together, I ended up using all the cheese paste and 1/3 cup of pasta water, though I think that was maybe a tad too much. I’d start small with the pasta water, say 1/4 cup, and then add in splashes after that. I think how much you need will be very dependent on how smooth your cheese paste is, and how smooth or rough your pasta is. I used my biggest glass bowl, which gave me lots of room to toss and swish. Don’t shortchange yourself on how much room you give yourself to toss it all together, that tossing action is where your sauce will form.

This turned out well and my hubby really liked it, though I was a little less sold. Deb calls for aged Pecorino Romano, which was a little confusing to me. All Pecorino Romano (including the store brand I used) is aged 5 months, and I wonder if I’d like the flavor better if I used one aged a bit longer. Anyway, I made a full recipe and served it with small side salads, and we ate everything in one meal. If you served a protein with this, or a bigger salad, you could definitely stretch to three portions, possibly four.

I don’t make frittatas often at all, but this Shaved Asparagus Frittata just looked so pretty, and seemed like it would be a good for lunches on a week when I knew there wouldn’t be many leftovers.

This was pretty easy to pull together. Shaving the asparagus is a little finicky, so just look for a bundle with thick stalks. I didn’t really get the prosciutto crispy, but it didn’t seem to matter too much in the final dish. Make sure to use a big bowl to whisk your eggs, so you can do so vigorously but without making a mess. And go easy on the salt, especially if you do use the prosciutto or another salty cured meat.

Being me, I choose to use the full four ounces of goat cheese, which it turns out was a little bit too much. Three ounces is probably the sweet spot. (Use two if need to have enough leftover to snack on alongside your leftover prosciutto.)

I wasn’t seeing a lot of browning around the edges while this was on the stovetop, but of course it turned out that the bottom of mine was overcooked, and a little burnt in the middle. I also found I needed about 4 minutes under the broiler, but a lot of that will depend on how close you can get the pan to your heating element. The pan I used has a handle that arches up a bit, so it needs some extra clearance. If you don’t broil things often (I don’t) I’d start by checking it at a minute and see how it looks. From there you should be able to gauge how long to try it before you check it again.

This was very tasty. The first night I made it I had it with a side salad and found I was kind of wishing for some toast. I had the leftovers for lunches next to some leftover roasted potatoes. If I were to make this again I think I’d give it less time on the burner and more under the broiler, to try and avoid burning the bottom. I would also make sure I actually let it sit for 5 minutes after it came out, as I can tell it would have come out of the pan in a neater wedge. (That will also give you some time for any carryover cooking to occur and firm up any last oozy bits.)

I had a cauliflower on hand from a dinner I hadn’t ended up making, and decided to try this Cauliflower Salad with Dates and Pistachios as it seemed like a good lunch option.

I made this one day while I was roasting something else for dinner, so the oven wasn’t quite hot enough. I let the cauliflower go a little longer but I didn’t get the veggies charred as she notes. I could have left them in the oven a bit longer once dinner came out but I wanted to have this pretty much done by the time dinner was on the table.

This was a miss for me, but I think it’s primarily because it sat in the fridge for a couple of days before I dug into it. The cauliflower was good and it wasn’t too oniony, which I was a little worried about. But the pistachios had soaked up enough liquid that they had a strange texture. And the dates had just kind of disintegrated, and made the whole thing too sweet. Some of that’s because I accidentally got fresh dates and Deb calls for dried, and I bet dried dates will hold up better. If you’re not going to have this right away, I’d plan to add the dates and pistachios separately to each serving. I’d also recommend that you consider cutting back the amount of dates she calls for, and just add an amount that looks good to you.

I really can’t resist the gorgeous rhubarb at the farmer’s market, so today we’ve got this Strawberry Rhubarb Pecan Loaf, except without the strawberries.

I made this while dinner was coming in and out of the oven, and it was an easy enough bake that I could just sort of throw it together and not be focused on it. The only change I made was to omit the strawberries and use more rhubarb instead. That used up one big stalk of rhubarb, so it’s a great recipe to keep on hand for when you wind up with some left over. Or you can be like me, and buy an entire pound when you already have a leftover stalk from last week. Ooops.

This did sit out on the counter for a little while waiting for the oven to cool down from having roasted dinner right beforehand. I think the only thing that was affected was the streusel topping, which just sort of melted into the top.

Despite looking pretty dense (this really doesn’t rise much) this is a very light cake. It’s got a strong brown sugar flavor, which is reminding me of something but I can’t think what. If I were to make this again I’d definitely double the fruit as there’s not very much of it, and on day two the rhubarb flavor sort of disappears entirely. I think I’d also skip the streusel topping and just add more pecans. They get a little toasted and the crunch is a nice counterpart to the soft cake.