It’s hard to beat homemade pasta. I’ve been enjoying making Tonarelli at home. Last week I decided to adjust the recipe in an effort to make the dough more supple. This formula is the best so far:

• 88 grams of double-zero “00” flour
• 37 grams of Durum wheat (milled myself from wheat berries)
• 1 extra-large whole egg
• 1 egg yolk
• salt
• olive oil

Onions, mushrooms, zucchini, yellow squash, tomato, and leeks, sautéed individually, became the sauce.

This Aglianico was a very good match with the dish.

Pasta or Couscous? No problem. The next dinner features an excellent couscous that was a gift from a good friend. The couscous is superb and took less than 10 minutes to cook. I grilled a bunch of my favorite vegetables plus some pitted Kalamata olives, and I added them to the couscous, along with a not-spicy Harissa, and it was all delicious.

Conclusion: pasta and couscous each provides a neutral palette for painting beautiful meals. Select the best of each, and have fun putting it all together.