Tagliatelle with Prosciutto and Orange

This is one of those great recipes that requires minimum effort but delivers maximum results. I made it because last week I made caramel sauce which required some cream. What does one do when one only needs half a cup of cream but one has a whole litre? One figures out how to use it up. Which lead me to Tagliatelle with Prosciutto and Orange. All I had to do was slice some prosciutto into strips and sauté it in butter for a few minutes. Then I added the juice of one orange, some cream and reserved pasta water. To which I added my cooked pasta and a half cup of grated Parmesan cheese. Are you kidding me? I could have eaten the whole batch but I'd already tipped off my family that I was making dinner. So I shared. This time.

Tagliatelle with Prosciutto and Orange from Epicurious

12 ounces egg tagliatelle or fettuccine (preferably fresh)

• 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter
• 2 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, torn into 1" pieces
• Zest and juice of 1 orange
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Season with salt; add pasta and cook, stirring occasionally, until 1 minute before al dente, about 2 minutes for fresh pasta, longer for dried. Drain, reserving 1/4 cup pasta water.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a large heavy nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add prosciutto; sauté until browned, about 3 minutes.

Add reserved pasta water, orange juice, half of zest, and cream; bring to a boil. Add pasta; cook, stirring, until sauce coats pasta and pasta is al dente, about 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in cheese and divide among warm bowls.

Blueberry Pie

Turns out, I'm obsessed with pie this Summer. It started with pecan pie, which was wonderful (but I should have made my own pastry). Then I moved on to chocolate cream pie. Which again, was wonderful. Not better than the pecan pie, but a different kind of wonderful. This time I made my own (graham cracker) crust, the best I've ever made thanks to my new food processor. This past weekend I couldn't shake another pie craving. I wanted blueberry pie. Made with fresh blueberries. And homemade pastry, my food processor triumph with graham cracker crust suddenly giving me confidence to attempt the real deal. So I came, I saw and I think I conquered. Likely in large part due to these recipes from Cook's Illustrated which I found in my ever-reliable New Best Recipe Cookbook.