I love briny, salty flavors and olives pat my palate. This whole mess has got me grumpier than normal and sometimes the magic process of covering my hands in flour and making pasta elevates my even grumpiest mood. I made this recipe on this type of day and the ability to make pasta shapes which aren’t still on the shelves gave me a feeling of having a little bit of control in my corner of the world. Crossing my fingers, as I kneaded the dough I hoped making pasta would do the trick to fix my sadness over my spotty internet connection. It worked! The original recipe called for using raw basil added at the end but I find this much raw basil can be overly basil-ly, which is honestly my own made up word to describe an overabundance of raw basil. Merriam Webster, you’re welcome.

I would make this again and I should have added more water to the pasta pot so it was easier to tell when it was done. Homemade pasta is slightly tricky because it be sticky in a hot kitchen (or in proximity to somebody super hot like me in my oversized corona clothes), and the only way to truly know it’s cookedness, (another made up word) is the tested process of removing from pot only as soon as it rises to the top. I should have added some of the olive brine and the olives earlier in the cooking process, and the lemon at the end, but I added the olives at the end and the lemon not at all. Lemon would have brightened up the pasta and made it seem like an actual spring dish. In my fridge I had some honeyed goat cheese and I added some for some smoothness and decadence and it was an awesome happy accident which saved my unevenly cooked and under brined pasta. I’ll make again, but with the suggestions I added incorporated in…and I urge you to make it yourself. If you are looking for a pantry version, you could use jar pesto, dried herbs and of course, olives. My last words before I tasted my recipe were “ Olive you” to my goat cheese which saved my dreams of briny bright pasta with a little bit of aha comfort.