Hello Everyone!

As you know, in the book Hunting The Empress, a special someone has an extraordinary culinary talent (among other things! ), which he flexes many times throughout the book. I plan on sharing several of the recipes that inspired the meals he cooks up, the first of which is a pasta dish inspired by this one from my childhood, which I explain in the video.

I have included the recipe card below (circa early 1980s), and as you can see (and I mention in the video), to cook this meal for six people back then cost approximately $ 1.17 per person. Out of curiosity, I wanted to see the price jump making this meal circa today in 2025. I saved the receipt from our shopping trip for this meal and did the math. NOTE- I bought all of the ingredients for this at Whole Foods because it was on the way home from running errands. We eat everything organic in this house and grow a lot of it in summer ourselves! We all know that Whole Foods can be out of control with prices on SOME things (not all, believe it or not!), so DO NOT feel that you have to buy stuff from there, too! I mostly buy my produce at Trader Joe’s or the local farmers (no joke) when in season. I highly recommend supporting your local farmer’s markets and seeking out pick-your-own farms. These are the best choices to support your local economy and get the freshest and best quality!

However, to make this dish now, using only the finest ingredients (because frankly, my guy in the book would only use the best!) costs us $5.16 a serving (reminder: this recipe serves 6). Can you make this for less? Most likely, especially if you get things on sale and in season.

***NOTE-We use bone broth to boil the pasta in to add flavor and protein.

This was fun to record, especially for my husband, who was teasing me mercilessly at the beginning of filming. We had to do several takes of the intro because he kept screwing with me and making me laugh. UGH! LOL. Men. We hope you enjoy watching it as much as we did filming it (and eating it!) and that you give the recipe a try yourself!

ENJOY!

“May you always have sweet dreams ”

A.S. Aurelia