The vegetarian takes a bite out of me.

“Meat, meat, meat! Is that all you can blog about. What about the vegetarians out there in Internet land? Surely there is more to life than meat? Why can’t you do something for them too?”

So went the tirade from ‘The Vegetarian’, a friend, or perhaps former friend. Still it got me thinking. I don’t often eat an evening meal that doesn’t have part of a dead animal or an entire sea creature languishing on the plate. In the interests of balance, there are usually some vegetables there too. But, I digress.

This criticism cut me to the bone or scratched me gently, more like. But I resolved to, for once, do something that did not involve killing a living breathing creature to feed to my brood. After lots of fussing around (due to lack of any real interest), I prepared Pasta with Spinach, Oven Roasted Tomatoes and Basil & Garlic Pesto. The dish is finished off with Parmesan shavings, to add some bite.

Now if there had been a fat tuna steak involved, I might have made the pesto myself. There wasn’t so I didn’t.

If I’d made fresh pasta it would have made it better but I didn’t so it wasn’t.

The tomatoes would have been tastier if it was the summer here in Ireland and they were local and fresh. It wasn’t so they weren’t.

The writing would have been more inventive if I really was enthused. I wasn’t so it isn’t.

The very short list of ingredients. Perhaps it reflected my lack of enthusiasm?

The ingredients, bar the seasoning and some olive oil are all in the photo.

Here’s what I did.

• Roasted the baby tomatoes in the oven for 20 minutes.
• Followed the pack directions on the pasta. Drained it and poured a kettle of boiling water over. Added some good olive oil and tossed in the colander.
• Shaved the Parmesan cheese.
• Wilted the spinach in a big pot, stopping before it turns to mush.
• Put it all in bowls.
• Opened the jar of pesto and spooned some over each.
• Served the hoard while photographing my own meal.

I tossed these little tomatoes in olive oil and roasted them for 20 minutes.

I over compensated for my impending dining deflation by opening a bottle of Mirage du

Helping to dull the impending pain….

Joncal 2005. The wine is produced by a crazy ex French air force pilot who now names his wines after the various planes he used to fly.

My daughters were discussing next week’s dinner in terms of “We can have meat with some more meat on the side, followed by meat, bloody meat….” I prepared myself for the meal to be awful and for me to be disappointed. Shockingly, it wasn’t and I wasn’t.

I was really impressed with the clarity of flavour and with how well everything matched up. The Parmesan and the pesto added real flavour.

The spinach and pasta worked great as a counterbalance. The wine helped a bit too.

It tasted a lot better than I thought it might. Very toothsome (love that word) indeed.

I can look ‘The Vegetarian‘ in the face and say; “Yes, I went there. I just choose not to stay.” (For the moment anyway, it really was very tasty).