This was the first application for the recently arrived garlic scapes. They added a perfect amount of freshness to the typically heavy dish without deviating from the traditional flavors too much.

I did learn the difficult way that I must remember to not salt the pasta water for carbonara, however. So take that as a lesson learned from my experience - unless of course you feel the need for a salt lick in your life.

Carbonara is great served with a light salad on the side. Or perhaps your entire vegetable drawer to make up for the decadence of pasta, eggs, cheese, and fatty pork.

Nevertheless, it's worth it.

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Dating back to at least the 14th century, ravioli have long been a satisfying treat spanning cultures across the globe. The Italians have their raviolis, but so do the Russians their pelmini, the Ukrainians their varenyky, and the Chinese their 義大利餃 (Italian jiaozi, or dumpling).

They have a rich history - according to Delizia! The Epic History of the Italians and Their Food by John Dickie, ravioli were reportedly served to the papal enclave of 1549 - along with boiled chicken.

Though I'd pass on the boiled chicken, I'll rarely pass on a good ravioli. With the right filling and the right sauce the combination can be heavenly. Although tedious, the preparation could hardly be called difficult, with or without a ravioli mold.

It is, however, incredibly time consuming.

And time is something that I often have little of, especially when in the middle of a semester so brain-rending that medieval torture devices would provide respite from my agony. I'll take water-torture over a 3 paper week any time.

That being said, the substitution of store-bought gyoza wrappers (the round equivalent of a wonton wrapper, more commonly used in Japanese cuisine) for homemade pasta dough works quite adequately. It makes a good deal of sense that they would considering that potstickers are really just the Asian equivalent of ravioli in any case.

Some might frown upon the shortcut, but if they have the time to make homemade pasta dough on a weeknight and then assemble the raviolis one by one - well, feel free to stop by anytime. My kitchen awaits your culinary bad-assery.

In the meantime, I'll stick to my gyoza wrappers.

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Last night we revisited comfort food with pulled pork sandwiches and macaroni salad. For the salad I used Drew Kime's recipe over on How To Cook Like Your Grandmother I can't say that I'm an outrageous macaroni salad fan, I definitely couldn't make a whole meal out of it like Drew said he can. But it was pretty delicious and it went perfectly with the pulled pork.

Other than halving the recipe and omitting celery seed (didn't have any) I followed Drew's recipe word for word, so if you're interested in some macaroni deliciousness I suggest you click on those links above to find out how.

This is easily one of my favorite preparations with orzo. It highlights the toothsome quality of the uniquely shaped orzo and highlights the quality of the parmesan cheese used. It's a nice balance of an orzotto and a baked pasta.

It's so simple to make that it can be easily accomplished on a weeknight and makes a great accompaniment to nearly any meal.

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