I had a great friend during my university days in Toronto. Paul was from Jamaica, and 10 years older than the rest of us. To my 18-year-old self, these things endowed Paul with extraordinary wisdom and magical powers. One of the things that always amazed me was his ability to listen to his body, and feed it what it needed at any given time.
This preamble is all to explain to you that one night in Cleveland I felt the need for meat. That's not a frequent craving, but when it happens I listen. I had a pound of ground beef... I had onions and garlic... and in a moment of inspiration I realized... I had some good Dijon. So a sort of vaguely stroganoff-y pasta seemed like a worthy experiment to undertake.
I sautéed a medium chopped onion in EVOO for about 3 minutes, added 3 grated garlic cloves and a pinch of red pepper flakes, and sautéed for another 2 minutes... then added the ground beef and sautéed it until it was no longer pink. Then I added some 1% milk. Yes, I know. But with the EVOO, a bit of the beef fat, and the cheese I knew I'd add eventually, the dish was fine without any butterfat from whole milk or cream.
After letting it simmer away for a few minutes - all the while boiling a pound of pasta (Not Barilla! Never Barilla!) - I added a tablespoon of Dijon and a whole lot o' black pepper... tasted for seasoning (except for salt, which was coming later)... drained and stirred in the not-quite-cooked pasta... and simmered it all until the pasta was just right.
Then I turned off the heat, added a handful of Parmesan... sprinkled on a bit of smoked salt... tossed it, tasted it... added a bit more smoked salt... and sat down to a wonderfully tasty experiment. I mean, dinner.
I think this is today's hint: if you want to try something, some flavor combo, some re-imagining of another dish... try it! There are very few instances in which it'll be so bad you can't eat it! And we learn more from failures than from successes.
AND, like that night in Cleveland, it sometimes, somehow, works out perfectly... So play with your food!