Behold! Creamy pasta with no cream and plenty of flavor. I know that I am hardly the first to come up with something like this; I am not that boneheaded, but man was I sure proud when I took the first bite of this dish. I mean it. ‘Course, I was hungry, too.

You know how you come up with that brilliant (well you think it is) idea for a meal? You put all the players in place, think all the right thoughts, cook until your neighbors nostrils flair, plate the concept so sportingly that you have secret thoughts of wishing Thomas Keller were sitting in wait for your plate. Then you take the first bite of your dish and find it tastes like what a subway station stairwell smells like in hot-ass August! Well, this was not that dish. Don’t get me wrong, this is not complicated or sophisticated at all; although this would prrobably be the overall winning dish on this year’s sorry Hell’s Kitchen. It just worked out really nicely from concept to forkful finale.

None of y’all needs me to tell you about the eat-whatever-is-in-the-fridge day. This was one of those days. A little of this, a bit of that…boom! Dinner. There is no recipe, per se, for this dish. What transpired was, me grabbing some leeks, asparagus, a bell pepper, portobellos, chicken breast, some skrimps, and grilling them. Then I stirred together some garlic confit, Parmigiano-Reggiano, parsley, S&P, and 2% Greek yogurt. While tossing the whole wheat pasta and vegg, I added a handful (read: the bottom of the frozen bag) of green peas along with just enough pasta water to create the creamy consistency. Surprise, surprise; tasty, healthy, creamy, quick, and easy.

We can discuss the garlic confit next time I make it. If you don’t know, it’s from Keller, and it’s good!

I could eat grilled asparagus spritzed with lemon forever!