Thread: [The Mess Hall] How to make black colored food look even less appetizing

I got some organic and local crap from a Groupon deal. One of the items was pasta di nero di seppia, or squid ink pasta ("seppia" is cuttlefish, but it's the same name no matter where the ink's from).

I wanted to see how much I could use of the crap I got, and I wanted to see what I could do without using the standbys of tomatoes, oregano, onion, and parmesan or peccorino romano. You always gotta use garlic.

Anyway, what I did was simple. I fried pepper flakes and garlic in olive oil, mixed basil leaves with ricotta, and tossed the pasta in both along with salt.

The result was quite edible, though a top flavor was missing, one that hits the palette immediately and, in this case, lingers. Tomato would have easily done the job. Also, I could even imagine adding a bit of some spicy provolone I have.

I'm considering adding lemon juice to see if it that will balance the flavor. White vinegar may even do the trick; some pasta sauces call for it. In this case, however, I think there might need to be a little fruitiness.

It was served with a simple little side salad of greens that came with the collection of organic and local crap.

As the subject says...