Boxcar Kitchen

Chocolate penne, fresh tomato ragout with ricotta and basil

I remember my sister lending me Like Water for Chocolate from her library stack years ago. I devoured the book and was completely absorbed by its world of food, passion and fantasy. It was also the first time I had ever read about chocolate as a savory dish. Later on, I tested first hand the delicious combination of spices and chocolate over meat but I've never really broached the subject myself until I found this cacao pasta a few weeks back. I was out shopping for a birthday present and instead I left the store with nothing but two packages of chocolate pasta.

My initial idea for these chocolate penne was to serve them with sautéed zucchini, lardons and big generous chunks of parmesan. However, after my two week long zucchini fest, I was feeling a bit overwhelmed by my friend the courgette.

I had stocked up on big juicy heirloom tomatoes over the weekend after a trip out to Gally and decided to make a simple sauce. I was happy to discover that the pasta was a lot chocolaty-er than I had expected and it produced this great smelling chocolate colored pasta water that I almost felt guilty about pouring down the drain. I barely cooked the tomatoes and topped the whole things off with ricotta and my window box basil. If only it didn’t cost three times as much for a quarter of the amount of regular pasta.