Creamy Orzo with Spinach and Tomatoes (or whatever is in the fridge)

make your own luck and call it dinner

things you’ll need: orzo or rice or whatever grain, spinach, cherry tomatoes, cream, butter, parmesan, garlic, one egg yolk, salt and pepper. Change it up by adding a protein or subbing in any manner of vegetables and greens you happen to have around.

I wanted to shovel carbs and dairy into my face in the most efficient way possible, so I tossed this together with an Alfredo and the spirit behind this improvised Pasta

incidentally vegetarian. Sub GF pasta or rice for gluten-free. I have never made an alfredo from silken tofu, but I am fascinated by the technique as a vegan substitute.

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Chapter 217

Did you know that it’s good luck when a bird shits on you? Someone way back at the beginning of myth-making decided it shall be so and now it is. You make good from bad all the time, so you get it.

In fact, what good luck that spring decided to arrive all damp and broody so that you happened to be wearing long-sleeves at the very moment a worm-glutted Mourning Dove relieved itself above you! A minor shift in wind and it could have splat itself right on your face, but it did not. What good luck!

You aren’t that stoked about it right now because you have poop on your sleeve, but you know the luck will come, the poop will get its credit, and you can wash your hoodie/cardigan/jacket when you get home. You look for signs that confirm whatever sense of tragedy or opportunity swarms around you. You may not be able to make luck, but you can choose to see it and call it your own.

Like, how lucky that you put off going grocery shopping and now you must feed yourself from the dregs of your crisper! You were meant to forget to use some vegetable in that salad last week so that you could have it now when you have little else!

Forage in your cabinets for some kind of grain or box of pasta that you, luckily, have yet to use. Make it.

Melt some butter and gently toast your last clove of garlic or remaining shallot until fragrant. Add the last cup and a half of your heavy cream, whisk in the yolk from your only egg, set to simmer, and give it an occasional stir.

Search your crisper and freezer. Pick through a bag of spinach, kale, or arugula, and find that you have just enough to make it work. Remember the tomatoes you forgot to use and find them wrinkly but perfectly fine. Blanch, chop, or otherwise prepare your refrigerator harvest.

Add a cup of parmesan to your simmering cream. Salt and pepper to finish.

When your orzo (or whatever pasta/grain) is done, drain, and then stir in the alfredo. Fold in fresh spinach and chopped tomatoes or whatever vegetables you were lucky enough to find.

When you step over the crack in the sidewalk, you make a choice. Put your faith in whatever brings good luck back around again. If nothing else, it makes the shit more tolerable.

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