anybody else swimming in basil about now?
me too.

I boiled some penne, and topped it with about 17000 torn up basil leaves, olive oil, a tiny bit of seasoning.

Secret ingredient?

Nutmeg.

I put nutmeg on all my green leafies, I don't know why I never thought about adding it to basil. Just a dash, or is it a pinch? Whichever is smaller.

I have regular old Corelle dishes. I filled a bowl up about quarter ways with the basil, topped it until it was half full of oil, added salt and pepper and garlic and bit of nutmeg and let that soak an hour or so.

If you are one of the WedSpaghers who've been to my house, you know about Ricotta Salata. That's the cheese I slice up and serve with honey mixed with McCormack Italian Seasoning Grinder stuff.
I shredded the Ricotta Salata and mixed it with parmesan and put that on top.

So incredible

Recipe: Pasta with goat cheese and asparagus

Shake things up at your next Wednesday Spaghetti with this super-easy, but really tasty, pasta recipe.

Pasta with goat cheese and asparagus
1 lb. spiral pasta
4 oz. log of fresh goat cheese
1 bunch of asparagus, cut into pieces about 2 in. long
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
1 or 2 cups fresh chopped basil
olive oil
salt
pepper

1. Boil the pasta for about four minutes, adding a few dashes of salt after the first minute or two.
2. Add the cut asparagus to the boiling noodles and allow the pot to boil another two or three minutes. (The asparagus should be tender but still firm.)
3. Drain the pasta and asparagus together, reserving one cup of pasta water.
4. Meanwhile, combine olive oil, lemon peel, basil and cheese in a large bowl, breaking up the goat cheese as you put it in.
   
5. Add hot pasta and asparagus to bowl, along with a couple slashes of the pasta water. Toss until smoothly combined, adding more pasta water if needed.
   
6. Season generously with salt and pepper.