Linguine with Sun Dried Tomatoes and Brie

Derek kissed me. Thursday night, in my car, in the parking lot of the Ethiopian restaurant where we had our second date because it's become our place. We had dinner (the usual: injera, lentils, the beet salad that turns our fingers purple) and we walked to the parking lot and he walked me to my car and he paused and I paused and the parking lot was quiet and he leaned in and I let him. The kiss was gentle. Not tentative — gentle. The difference between tentative and gentle is confidence. A tentative kiss says "I'm not sure if this is okay." A gentle kiss says "I know this is okay and I'm choosing to be careful with it." Derek kisses the way he talks: deliberately, with care. I kissed him back. I kissed him back with the urgency of a woman who has not been kissed in three years and who had forgotten what it feels like to be chosen by a mouth that has also chosen to listen.

I drove home with the radio off. I didn't call Vanessa. I didn't call anyone. I just drove and smiled and felt the residual warmth of a kiss that I will remember longer than the meal that preceded it, which is saying something because the lentils were excellent.

Father's Day is Sunday. I will take the kids to Curtis. I will make his steak. I will set Mama's place. Derek will spend it with Isaiah and Zoe. We are two single parents circling each other like planets, close enough to feel the gravity, far enough to keep our orbits intact. The kids don't know about each other. The kids don't need to know yet. This is mine. This small, new, careful thing — it's mine.

Made Curtis's Father's Day steak. Same recipe as last year: T-bone, cast iron, salt and pepper, baked potato. He ate the whole thing. He looked at Mama's empty place and said, "She would have made me take my blood pressure pill before the steak." I said, "Did you take your blood pressure pill?" He said, "Yes." He said, "She trained you well." He smiled. Curtis smiled on Father's Day at the table where his wife used to sit. The smile was small and real and enough.

The week had two meals worth remembering: the lentils at our place, and the steak I made for Curtis on Father’s Day. Both were simple. Both were exactly right. But in the days between them — in that quiet space where the kiss was still settling and Sunday hadn’t arrived yet — I wanted something that felt indulgent without being loud about it. This linguine with sun-dried tomatoes and brie is that dish. It’s rich and a little tangy and it comes together in the time it takes to remember something good. It’s the kind of dinner you make when you want to be gentle with yourself.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

12 oz linguine
8 oz brie cheese, rind removed, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained and thinly sliced (reserve 2 tablespoons oil)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 cup reserved pasta cooking water
1/3 cup fresh basil leaves, roughly torn, plus more for garnish
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

Cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Cook linguine according to package directions until al dente. Before draining, scoop out 1/2 cup of pasta cooking water and set aside. Drain the pasta and set aside.
Build the base. In a large skillet over medium heat, warm the 2 tablespoons of reserved sun-dried tomato oil. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring constantly, for about 1 minute until fragrant but not browned.
Add the tomatoes. Stir in the sliced sun-dried tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes, allowing them to soften and release their flavor into the oil.
Melt the brie. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add the drained linguine to the skillet along with the cubed brie. Pour in 1/4 cup of the reserved pasta water and toss continuously until the brie melts into a creamy, glossy sauce that coats every strand. Add more pasta water a splash at a time if the sauce looks too thick.
Finish and season. Remove the skillet from heat. Fold in the torn basil and Parmesan. Taste and adjust with salt and black pepper. The sun-dried tomatoes and brie both carry salt, so season carefully.
Serve immediately. Divide among four bowls and garnish with additional fresh basil and a twist of black pepper. This dish does not hold well — sit down and eat it while it’s warm.

Nutrition (per serving)

Linguine with Sun Dried Tomatoes and Brie — The Quiet Dinners That Hold Us Together