Ground Hog Day - Single Serving Alfredo Sauce

Super Bowl is over (happy dance).  Monday morning and I am waiting for my trial to be called (sigh).  It's also Groundhog Day, and I sincerely hope that Mayor DeBlassio hasn't killed another groundhog.

A groundhog and his shadow are a very famous pair 
They forecast the weather, together — a trick that is rare! 
The one little thing that bothers me when out of doors I go 
Now, does my shadow mean springtime or 16 feet of snow? 

Never know which, I just can’t remember 
Will it be warm — or make like December? 
The whole thing just confuses me and that is why I sing, “
A groundhog’s shadow just doesn’t mean a thing.” 

Yes indeed, today's ear worm is brought to you courtesy of Warner Brothers cartoons, and this is one I saw fairly often when I was just a cub and too young for Walter Cronkite or Perry Mason.  It's been in my head ever since and comes out every February 2, or whenever I watch the movie with Bill Murray.  I love Bill Murray.  

My trial will start tomorrow morning ... we really need to get back to time-certain trials.  Docket soundings don't really work, at least not well, when you have the number and variety of witnesses we tend to have.  So I am making lists:  of witnesses, doctors, dentists and laboratories to call, dogs to wash, food items to pick up, recipes to prepare and the hopeful entry for "nail fill and pedicure."  Yeah, right.

There's not a lot of time to spend on thinking and imagining and considering, due to having to finish up trial prep and otherwise work for a living, but I did find a few lunch time moments to think about the following problem:  what the hell am I going to do with those zucchini and yellow squash???  When I bought them, I thought I would steam them in the rice cooker while I also cooked a special rice blend I had in the pantry, but that idea never achieved fruition.  I baked those delicious zucchini carrot muffins, but only needed one zuke for the entire recipe.  I hate to waste vegetables, so I've been searching through the internet as well as my entire cookbook and recipe collection for inspiration, and more specifically, a recipe that doesn't include tomatoes.  I found something, but it involves goat cheese.  I hate goat cheese, right up there with hating blue cheese and very ripe brie.  I researched substitutes.  I have some good ideas.  What I don't have are the ingredients I need (except for the zucchini and squash, of course) nor the energy to do any food shopping.

Toward the end of the day, my back and neck started to feel broken, and I had to cut the day a little short and head home.  Even if I'd had everything I needed, I could not have stood on my feet long enough to prepare the dish, a lovely-sounding gratin which requires some time with the mandoline.  The only thing I was able to do was whip up a very small alfredo to enjoy over a very small amount of very small pasta.

Alfredo Sauce for a Small Planet

1/3 cup dry pasta (small, like ditalini), cooked according to package directions and drained
1 tablespoon butter
1 clove garlic, cracked
1/2 cup half and half
2 tablespoons Parmesan

Melt the butter in a very small saucepan and add the garlic.  Cook for about a minute.  Add the half and half and bring to a simmer.  Cook until the half and half is reduced by half.  Stir in the Parmesan, and season with salt and pepper.  Discard the garlic.  Add drained pasta and toss.  Transfer to a small bowl and immediately chow down.  This serves one.

You can also just forget the pasta and use this as a dipping sauce for garlic bread.  Ask me how I know.