"Cocina Sabrosa"

An e-mail from my Uncle Ned on how to cook his famous dish:

"Here's how I cook it: I start out sauteeing the onions, and when they're just getting brown, I add the garlic and mushrooms (and if you can find mushrooms with a lot of flavor, like shiitake, it's worth the extra bucks). The garlic and mushrooms get brown quickly, then I add tomatoes, broccoli and zucchini (I just cut up the tomatoes into small chunks and let them kind of boil down into sauce). When everything else is ready, I throw in the marinated artichoke hearts just to heat them up -- they lose their flavor quickly if you cook them. I cook the sausage separately (cut it up into small pieces and sautee it or broil it) and add it with the art hearts, cook the pasta (al dente -- just past rubbery) and then mix it all together."

Uhh, sounds easy for a beginner cook with experience only in pouring cereal and making grilled cheese.

As part of Adam's Christmas gift, I want to surprise him by cooking a romantic (and edible) dinner. And Uncle Ned's pasta dish - or, as we like to call it "cocina sabrosa" - came to mind as the perfect meal Adam and I could share together.

I'm going to give it a trial run - with my mother close at hand, prepared with a fire extinguisher - just to see how badly I screw it up. Then, hopefully, it will be perfect by the time Adam gets home for Christmas!