So many Carbs!

Carbohydrate laden meals are decidely un-Southern California. So when I saw that this month's Homegrown Gourmet was focusing on pastas I began to worry. California isn't exactly known for pasta specialties. So I did what any good cook does. I hit the internet. And I found this place: Divine Pastabilities, home of the torpasta. What's a torpasta you ask? A sandwich that is native to San Diego, it's a torpedo loaf stuffed with pasta, inspired by spaghetti sandwiches the creator made as a child.

For my torpasta, I started with 2 torpedo loaves made from Alton Brown's pizza dough recipe. Then I made some homemade pasta and tossed it with pesto, which may not be Californian, but its full of garlic - and Gilroy, CA is garlic capital of the world (or something like that).

And so here she is in all her glory, Homegrown Gourmet Entry 9! We'll start with the rules:

1. Anyone can play!

2. A theme will be picked by the host. Participants will make a dish that follows the theme and that somehow represents their home region - town, state, area. Representation can feature a local ingredient, be a traditional dish from your area, or be a creative twist.

3. Participants will have 3-4 weeks (host discretion) to complete their recipes and post them to their blog (or email the pics and text), and notify the host. The host will then post the results and then let everyone know via email or message board the results are up!

4. An explanation of your dish is required; it can be a story about the local custom or ingredient, how you came about eating/making the recipe, or an explanation about how your creative dish fits the theme.

5. Fresh and local foods are encouraged!

6. When the round is done, the host will announce their favorite dish by updating their blog. Favorite is completely subjective to the host- no one expects the host to make and taste test all the dishes, it is just something that strikes the host’s fancy! The creator of the fave gets the honor of hosting the next round, if they so choose!

To participate in Homegrown Gourmet #9, create a pasta dish that somehow relates to your home. Post about it in your blog and tell the world what makes your recipe Homegrown… be sure to link back to this post. Then send me an email at megpug at gmail dot com with “Homegrown Gourmet 9″ in the subject line. I will reply to all emails to confirm receipt (so if you dont get a reply, comment and let me know!)

Please include the following in your e-mail: your name, your location, your blog name and URL, and a permalink to your entry. Don’t forget to attach a picture (preferably 250 x 250) of your dish to the email if you dont blog! (Not a blogger and still want to enter? Why aren’t you blogging already? Come on, you know you want to do it. All the cool kids are doing it these days… what? still no? Ok, email me all the details and I’ll post for you.)

Pesto Torpasta

2 rolls (I made my own with Alton Brown's Pizza Dough recipe, shaped into torpedo loaves, but you can use garlic bread, Italian bread, anything you love). You're going to want to hollow them out. This is where I become best friends with the dog.

Pasta! I made my own linguine. I seriously love my pasta machine.

Pesto to taste - as you can see, I made a lot of pasta. A whole lot. A whole lot more than I needed. So I used about 1/4 cup of pesto and figured the rest would be great for leftovers.

Stuff the pasta into the hollowed out rolls. Ummmmm. The best part of this is that you have to use your hand. Have to. There's no other way to do this. It makes me feel like a small child - in a good way, not like a weird way. Like making mud pies in my friend Vanessa's yard. Then you can discretely lick the pesto off your fingertips.