Saffron Tagliatelle with Ratatouille Reprise

I'm the sort of weird individual who has fun making something like noodles.  Truthfully, I found myself humming a tune and saying under my breath, this is FUN!  Really.  And it was. Especially hanging them up on coat-hangers from a cupboard hinge.

Again with a recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi, from Plenty.  My choice for this week's potluck chef theme at IHCC, but of course.  Have I mentioned already how absolutely inspiring that man is? He served it up (in the book) with spiced butter, however having stated earlier that Ratatouille is lovely the next day, I thought, how perfect to toss with the tagliatelle.  I was going to call this post "Pricey Pasta" as the recipe calls for an entire  2 teaspoons of saffron, though I did cut the whole thing in half for the two of us.  Less to roll out, even more enjoyable.  You can find the recipe here also.

On the subject of pasta, I had some delicious Mac 'n Cheese the other day at a little bistro called Moon and Turtle.  Don't ask why.  A bit reminiscent of that mystery series titled with strange English pub names, by Martha Grimes.  But we digress.  This dish was not based on macaroni noodles, but spätzle.  So, a German, Pacific Rim, nouvelle Mac 'n Cheese??  To die for.

The crunchy vegetables, carrot, green bean, corn, etc. made it just perfect with the contrast of melty cheese and smooth, tender pasta., topped with toasty bread crumbs.   This chef made the knöpfle type spätzle, which are roundish little nuggets.   Look for my version of something using spätzle, in the near future. Very near.  Do you think we really need a spatzle maker?  Maybe like a hole in the head.  Nevertheless......

If you haven't visited Beth Fish Reads, you should.  Lots of good books reviewed, and recipes to try, even including some of mine. Will share this on the week-end for her Weekend Cooking meme, as well as at I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC).