MANGO and GINGER: Lazy Noodles

Ah, the noodle. For me, the lucky neighbor of an amazing Italian deli, the basis of one of the easiest meals ever: delicious pasta with even more delicious sauce. All of which is pretty much effortless on my part.

Amy, of Cooking with Amy, is hosting IMBB #22 and it’s all about noodles. I know I could’ve gone creative with this, and that this would’ve been a fantastic opportunity for me to learn to make my own pasta. But did I do any of that? Hell no.

Instead, I high-tailed it to Belvedere Square yesterday, then proceeded to wander aimlessly around Ceriello’s until something caught my eye. That something was a bag of homemade, but frozen, stuffed rigatoni. Ceriello’s pasta is reliably good, so I knew I was in good hands. The little pockets of rigatoni were stuffed with a ricotta mixture and, when cooked, each piece of pasta was like a tasty, creamy little pillow:

rigatoni
Originally uploaded by Kit Pollard.

I topped the pasta with a sundried tomato sauce (also purchased – like I was about to start real cooking at that point?) that was good…but not quite as sundried as I was hoping it would be. But a nice sauce nonetheless.

The real strength of the meal, though, actually came even before the noodles. Ceriello has a fantastic selection of prepared foods. High quality, tons of variety, not too expensive. It’s the ideal place to put together hors d’oeuvres for any cocktail party. Yesterday, I decided to make a mini-antipasto instead of a salad. I picked up two blue cheese-stuffed artichokes (very strong, very delicious), a half-pound of marinated peppers (enough vinegar to make your eyes pop out of your head, also very delicious) and a full pound of marinated mozzarella (their mozzarella is so good it makes me want to cry.) I arranged it in a little tray, along with pieces of pesto focaccia that Cooper picked up from Panera. The whole process took about five minutes and the result was so, so tasty and so pretty: