Dish-of-the-Day: Two Cheese Linguine

Tonight I accomplished a great task.  Tonight, I boldly served what no man (or woman) has served before.  Tonight, I got Bryann to eat a salad without meat in it!  It was a rather sizable salad as well; it took up 2/3rds of the plate.  And he ate it all.

I've asked Bryann again and again if he will start eating more salads.  Again and again, my question has been met with a grossed-out face and the reply "only if they contain meat."  As I've mentioned before, Bryann is a dedicated believer in the meat-in-every-bite sort of meal.  But, in accordance with the newly established rules of "eat what I serve you," Bryann ate his salad.  What a good husband!

Tonight's dish was Linguine with Two-Cheese Sauce which I served with Sun-Dried Tomato and Basil Chicken Sausage and a side salad.  The salad was a spring-mix and spinach combo box from Costco with halfed grape tomatoes, topped with freshly chopped basil, Parmesan, and a light Parmesan-Asiago dressing.  


The two-cheese sauce was very easy to make and surprisingly flavorful.  I had some troubles locating Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese until I looked it up on my iPhone and learned that the cheese in question is the same as Parmesan but is region specific - much like Champagne and sparkling wine are the same.  I used lactose-free milk in order to keep it low-dairy for Bryann. 


I recognized the roux procedure since I'd made cream sauces before, but this recipe uses olive-oil instead of butter.  In fact, most of the recipes in the magazine replace butter with oil since fats that are liquid at room temperature tend to be "healthier" (aka lower in saturated fats) than fats that are solid at room temperature.  The sauce didn't thicken as advertised, but that may be because I used skim, lactose-free milk instead of the 1% milk as called for in the recipe.  But after I added a little cornstarch mixture, the sauce thickened right up.  


While we were eating, I commented that Bryann must be living every new husband's dream.  He has dinner waiting for him when he comes home every night, and a wife who loves him dearly and can't wait to hear about the details of his day.  I'll ask him how he feels about marriage when I go back to work in September...