While I've always liked bruschetta, I've been positively obsessed with it since my last birthday when the hubby took me for an intimate dinner at a small and rather amazing Italian restaurant. I don't know if it was the martinis or the sheer decadence of a two-hour dinner sans children, but the bruschetta appetizer altered my DNA. I've made it more times than I can count and each time, I am amazed. It's fast, fresh, basic and best of all, when I make it, I am calm. I chop, mince, toast and drizzle my way to culinary euphoria no matter what day of the week it is. Which is good since this week's grand meal plan, that originally included spinach calzones, had fallen apart by Tuesday. I understand that technically Tuesday is too early in the week for things to fall apart, but since I'd forgotten a few items on Sunday's grocery trip, there was simply no repairing the damage. While the grocery store may only be a mile away physically, it is light years away on a weekday. I cannot explain this phenomenon, but I know that the working mothers among us know exactly what I'm talking about. But still, all was not lost. In fact, the forgetting may have been serendipitous, because now I had to do something with the spinach.
My new plan was to sauté the spinach, tomatoes, garlic, basil and onion down into a pasta sauce, but once everything was chopped, it was just too beautiful to cook. And so the lovely spinach bruschetta pasta was born. I put all the veggies in a bowl, stirred in balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper and poured it over warm penne pasta. Topped with parmesan cheese, it was fantastic. No doubt there are a thousand recipes out there for this same dish, but coming to it so unexpectedly on a borderline dismal Tuesday added the bright, fresh jolt I needed to turn the week around. Now that's what I call serendipity.
PS - Sorry I can't show you a pic, but I will be making this dish again and won't let the hubby anywhere near the camera until I have saved my photos.
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