I haven’t made this pasta in a really long time. It used to be a favorite of ours, but it’s fallen out of favor. I’m not sure why, but we didn’t love it as much as we used to. However, it was a good platform to try out several new techniques.

Pasta: I’ve been using Alton Brown’s recipe for fresh pasta but have struggled with it a bit because it’s always a little tough and maybe too rustic for me. I swapped to this recipe from Mario Batali, which includes a touch of olive oil, and I was much happier. This is now going to be my go-to pasta recipe. I used 00 flour instead of all-purpose, since I had some on hand. It also yields more pasta than the Alton Brown recipe. This was the first time I had used the fusilli plate with my pasta maker attachment, and it was pretty easy, but very slow going.

Chicken: I normally pick up a smoked chicken breast for this recipe. This time, I threw a whole butterflied chicken on the grill with the smoker box going. I used cherrywood chips and it turned out well, although Larry’s not crazy about smoked chicken. It wasn’t spectacular, but it was adequate.

Goat cheese: I used this dish as an opportunity to try out my Smoking Gun on some goat cheese. I used cherrywood again, and it turned out great. It would be so good on a slice of crusty bread.

• Southwest Pasta with Smoked Chicken (Hot Pasta, p. 79)
• Caesar Salad with Focaccia Croutons (The Conscious Cook, p. 57)
• European Peasant Loaf with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)

Wine: Rockpile 2005 Jack’s Cabin Zinfandel (Rockpile, California). We had a rare-these-days glass of wine with dinner. Needed to open up, but it’s a nice wine.