Menu Addendum

It says on the disclaimer on my fridge that "All menu items are subject to change"--and it's true. Tuesday's meatball subs yielded more than expected. (I had originally thought that my husband's cousin and friend may be joining him for dinner after their recurring Tuesday night disc golf game. However, the weather had other plans and no one played outside!) Anyhow, the abundance of meatballs called for the simple addition of some pasta and a renaissance for the hoagie rolls.

Dinner tonight ended up being Spaghetti and leftover meatballs, salad, and hoagie rolls turned into garlic bread. Simple!

Since I never defrosted the pork tenderloins intended for Wednesday and Thursday night's dinner, the menu for tomorrow needs to be changed as well. We are going to have the leftover box of spaghetti with a clam sauce. Salad and garlic bread will accompany the meal, once again. This is one of those meals I always have stuff on hand to make, so it's a breeze. I start by getting water heavily salted and starting to boil for the pasta. While it's heating up, I drain a can of chopped clams, reserving the juice. The clam juice goes into a saute pan where I let it reduce by about half. Once it reduces, I add about a half a cup of half and half. I also throw in about a half a cup of the pasta water. The pasta should be done by now, so drain it. Add the clams to the sauce and add the pasta, coating all the strands. Chopped fresh parsley is a good touch if you have it--if not, you won't miss it. Add some parmesan (freshly grated is best)right before serving.

Right now, I happen to have a package of whole clams in the freezer. It's something new my local market had in their specialty meats freezer. I haven't ever used clams this way before but I am excited to try them. They were a lot less expensive than fresh clams, and I actually like frozen seafood because it is frozen as soon as it is caught. Many people turn their noses up to frozen seafood, but it's often "fresher" in a sense than what you can buy from the seafood counter of your grocery store. I am going to steam those clams and serve them over the pasta-I think it'll look very appetizing. Yumm!

Sorry to veer away from the menu, but why let leftovers go to waste?