Romantic Italian Feast

Ingredients:
-1 lb Pasta capellini/angel hair
-1 can Muir Glen Diced Tomatoes
-1 medium white or yellow onion, medium diced
-3 cloves of garlic, minced
-1/2 red or green bell pepper, medium dice
-5 mushrooms, sliced
-***3T olive oil
-3 leaves Kale, finely ribboned
-***1 Splash of inexpensive Red wine
-fresh basil, chiffonade
-parmesan Cheese
-***fresh Ground Black Pepper
-***sea Salt

***Items not included in basket

First bring a big pot, much bigger than you think, say at least 1 gallon, probably 6 quarts of salted water to a boil. Once it is at a rolling boil drop in your angel hair, or spaghetti or whatever pasta you like best. You'll know when its done by using the age old method of throwing it against the wall. If it bounces off it still needs some time. If it sticks, your golden: Immediately drain the water and mix it with some high quality olive oil to keep the pasta from sticking to itself.

Now if you are like me and you like to do 100 things at once, while the pasta water is boiling you will be frantically chopping vegetables and while it is cooking you'll be double-timing it with the veggies in the sautee pan. Proceed in a manner that works for you.

In a hot stainless steel, cast iron skillet(my favorite), or wok dry sear the mushrooms on high heat. This condenses their flavor while evaporating their water. Then add some oil and your onions sauteeing them for 3-5 minutes. After they have begun to get translucent add the garlic peppers, and kale. Before you add that stuff, if you want to be a real gourmand you throw in a bit of wine (cheap, and red or white are fine) and deglaze the onions. That is you cook the wine down until it is become syrupy, just until you are afraid it is going to burn. You want your onions to be soft and have the sweetness that comes out after they've been well cooked. Don't add the tomatoes and their juice until you know the onions are where you want them—pull one out and taste it. If it tastes like sweet yummy “goo”, proceed. Before you add the tomatoes also hit the onion/oil/mushrooms mix with a twist of fresh ground black pepper. The heat will toast it a bit and bring out its distinctive flavor. Once the tomatoes are added let the whole mix simmer for a 5-10 minutes so that the flavors blend. This is the place to add some additional zest---perhaps a hit of some sturdy fresh herbs—oregano, rosemary if you are feeling bold. You can even play with adding some sour—a red wine vinegar a dash of lemon---but be careful, don't add too much. Just before you add your pasta to the sauce incorporate in your fresh Basil. Then you fold in your still steaming pasta, plate it with tongs and a twist of the wrist to get it to stand on edge and then top it with some parmesa. Bon Apetit.

**Any item can be removed and others added during customization process**