Italian

Using My Noodle(s)

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I felt like doing Italian tonight. I made a chicken pasta with a tomato mushroom pasta sauce, a three color salad made of mozzerella, tomato and basil, and some corn. I was inspired by a recipe, but couldn’t find proper ingredients so turned it into my own thang. For the sauce I used:

  • 1lb can of diced Tomato with juice
  • Pint Of Baby Portabello Shrooms
  • 2 boneless chopped Chicken Bewbs
  • 2 Tbsp Italian Flat Leaf Parsley
  • 1 grated Carrot
  • 1 chopped Serrano pepper
  • 1 tbsp of Vietnamese Garlic Chili Sauce
  • 1 tbsp of Garlic
  • Salt and pepper to taste

I browned the chicken in one pan, and I placed the entire can of tomatoes and their juice, added the serrano, carrot, garlic, sauce, mushrooms and parsley and seasoned it with salt and pepper. After I finished browning the chicken I placed it in the sauce and let it simmer for about an hour with the frequent stir. You can actually eat it after half an hour, but waiting longer does make it more tender. It hit the spot! Plus I have more for later.

Touched by noodly appendage

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After a busy work day I set aside special plans to make my own variant of dinner tonight. I originally planned to buy some smoked salmon for a salmon pasta dish, but there was none to be found. I also bought a potato rosemary loaf of bread that I made my own garlic butter mix for (unsalted butter, Italian herbs, garlic powder and a small pinch of sea salt).

I didn’t realize that I was nearly out of parmesan cheese, and had to resort to making a three cheese sauce instead consisting of the leftover parmesan, plus generous portions of danish bleu and smoked provolone cheeses.

It tasted good, though feedback afterwards suggested that I add something more to the sauce in the future… I might try using wine for additional tang next time. 😛

With the addition of a bunch of carbs I felt like a nice salad would be a good balance. This is a spring mix with a homemade raspberry vinaigrette using my own homemade raspberry vinegar! There are also grape tomatoes, danish bleu cheese, and mixed nuts crushed with a mortar and pestle for additional flavor and crunch.

Rain and risotto

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Today was best spent indoors out of the blustery weather, mainly doing some laundry and video work. After primary work this morning I picked up some ingredients for tonight’s dinner I volunteered to make. One of the things I like about winter is comfort food. For me a good Italian risotto can fall into that category, and there are so many ways you can prepare it. In the past I’ve added chicken, beef, ham and of course sausage of any of them as the meaty part of the dish. This time around I gave tuna a shot instead, as I haven’t partaken of any recently. Originally I tried to follow a recipe in one of my cookbooks, but due to not being able to find certain ingredients and discovering too late that some of them were missing I had no choice but to improvise. I have to say it turned out to be quite a savory dish with a nice texture given to it by the pecans.

First I was low on chicken stock, both the fresh stuff and the bullion cubes; fortunately I still had some Mexican chicken/tomato granules for a rich broth. Next came the rice preparation which went smoothly as always, mixing the uncooked rice in melted butter and olive oil with browned onions to give it a nice nutty aroma and flavor, and of course adding the stock bit by bit until I gained the desired creamy consistency that makes risotto so delicious. In a bowl I combined some tuna, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, chopped pimento, olives and then a mix of marjoram and parsley. In my broth pan I added some more butter and oil and fried some garlic and chopped pecans, which sounds weird but surprisingly tastes really good mixed in with everything else. Of course I had to add some fire roasted tomato to the mix, and made green beans for the side vegetable. Overall I was happy with the results considering I pretty much measured and improvised the ingredients to make up for the actual missing ingredients. I’ll definitely have more tomorrow. I’ll have enough for an after work lunch, and then I can plot tomorrow’s dinner menu. I’m thinking something Scandinavian inspired.

Ettetram B-Day & Tour de Underpants Invite!

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You are warmly welcomed to two very special SNews events! The first is Ettetram’s birthday, which will be an all-day event on Thursday! I hope that everyone will join meh in having fun and drinking as much as you can tram!!! I will be having beoef Bourgogne and a nice bordeaux – Yay!!! I have Taylor Fladgate 20 year tawny port as a great aperitif as well!!  So I will have plenty of beverages to report on!

The second event that I want to invite everyone to the start of the Tour de Underpants (France) on Saturday morning (morgen) at 5 am Pacific/8 am Eastern Time for the live coverage from Liege, France! Yes indeed meh hearties, the Champagne cork will popping at 5 am! I can hardly wait for the Le Roule fromage too!! It will be so epic and I will be posting all about it here on SNews!!! This year, I wonder who will win? Will it be Cadel Evans? Bradley Wiggins perhaps? One of the Schleck brothers? Only time will tell tram!  Join me here on SNews for all the fun action!

Since the Tour de Underpants wandered into Italy a few times last year, I recently enjoyed a nice bottle of Gabbiano Chianti with a big plate of semola pasta with pesto sauce, olive oil, and parmesan and romano cheese. It was an epic meal! Gabbiano Chianti can be found in many grocery stores for under $10, and is a nice Chianti at a nice price. Clean, soft cherry fruit forward flavors, nice tangy mid-palate, and clean tannins and nice acidity on the finish without being too powerful. A large enough wine to go with food yet soft enough to drink without food before or after the meal.