The Spaghetti with Pancetta, Sage, and Mushrooms

This recipe I had saved in my Epicurious recipe box for a while. Since I had fresh sage on hand from my last entry, I figured I could use it in this. As well I have a ton of spaghetti from a big sale the Key Food had a while back, so I'm making a lot of spaghetti. If you don't like spaghetti you can go to hell.

This tasted great and I pretty much followed the recipe to the letter. However, I have to say the colour put me off a little. Not entirely sure why, but probably because I'm not used to reddish-brown pasta. Still, all the mushrooms, the wine and broth reduction, and of course the pancetta were fantastic.

Reducing the wine and beef broth actually took the most time. 

Crimini and baby bellas coupled with some white mushrooms for this one. I used about half the recommended butter. You can see it and the fresh herbs in the background along with the chopped pancetta.

Everything comes together saucewise. 

Finishing up the pasta in the sauce itself. 

The finished product. Tasty and lovely. 

Your soundtrack for this entry: Cathedral - Corpsecycle. 

The Chicken with Mirepoix, Yukon Potatoes, and Green Beans

Yesterday I had a great ride through Astoria. It was our first nice weekend day in seven or eight months. Still chilly...not quite warm enough for kickball, but good for a ride. Half the ride was documented from my Instagram account. If you see things of interest and photograph same with pre-selected filters created by others applied to them, feel free to friend me.

After the ride, which I chose over the gymnasium 'cause being stuck inside to exercise when it's that great outside is dumb, I wanted a healthy dinner. Knowing I had the ingredients for mirepoix in the house and having not made chicken in a while, my decision was made! Stumbled upon a bag of yukon gold, blue, and red skin potatoes. Completed the meal with green beans!

Ingredients:
- one small yellow onion, diced
- two medium carrots, diced
- two celery ribs, diced
- two tablespoons unsalted butter
- two tablespoons fresh thyme
- half pound of boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- one cup of green beans, trimmed and halved
- four cloves of garlic, minced
- one cup of sauvignon blanc
- half cup chicken stock
- salt
- pepper
- olive oil

Minus a few details, any photograph of mirepoix you see will look essentially like this. 

Here I pre-heated my oven to 400, coated the potatoes in fresh thyme and olive oil,  coated with salt and pepper, and put in the oven for about 35 minutes. These are obviously small potatoes. While I was cooking these I prepared the rest of the meal.

I always want to shout "GREEN BEANS!!!" when I'm done prepping. Much like I shout "TOAST!!!" when I hear the toast pop up. 

My cast iron skillet is well-seasoned, but I wanted to get some buttery flavour in there. 

Once I melted the butter, I added some seasoned (in salt and pepper) boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Now, I've heard that the chicken "cutlet' is a terminology peculiar to New York City or New England. If any experts out there would like to let me know the distribution and origin of the term "chicken cutlet" in comments, it would be much appreciated. 

Browning the chicken on the other side. 

Remove chicken, deglaze with the wine, then add the chopped mirepoix. 

Steamed the hell out of these green beans. Put the minced garlic underneath, then covered for 15 minutes over simmering water. 

After 15 minutes, add the chicken back to the skillet. Cook an additional ten minutes. 

When you're done, you have a beautiful, flavourful, healthy meal prepared in less than 40 minutes.

Your soundtrack for this entry is: SABABA - Pelvic Exam.

The Meyer Lemon Chicken and Asparagus

The main course and side both come from the wonderful Cooking Light magazine. The whole dish was so yummy and filling. You can find the meyer lemon chicken recipe here, while the asparagus side in brown butter is here.

I have no special tricks for either recipe. Just follow as directed. Not entirely a quick dish, but neither is it difficult. The tastiness is quite a reward.

Your soundtrack for this entry: Ladyhawke - Magic.

The Pasta Primavera

You know what's great? Being able to ring a few friends last minute for dinner and have them show up. This is a rarity in New York City, much like the fabled "dropping by to visit without planning a week ahead." Incidentally that happened successfully yesterday, too.

At any rate, I hit up a handful of people and my now-stalwart crew of Sal and Laura were happy to oblige. For dinner I planned to make mushroom asparagus tarts and pasta primavera, but kinda ran out of puff after doing prep work and decided to just cover the pasta. The tarts will be featured in a future entry.

Ingredients
10 ounces farfalle pasta
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 thin green beans
1/2 cup asparagus sliced into 1-inch pieces
1 cup brussels sprouts, trimmed and quartered
1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced
salt
fresh pepper
1 cup half and half
1/2 cup grated parmesan
4 plum tomatoes seeded and diced
2 tablespoons chopped chives

Much like me, these mushrooms are fun guys. 

Prepping the veggies. 

Prep for the mushroom pastries I didn't end up making. 

This is a fairly simple recipe. First, prepare your pasta. I cook about 8 minutes in salted, boiling water, then drain.

When the pasta's about half done, melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat. Once melted, bring the heat to high and sauté all of the vegetables until tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Next add half and half and cook until thickened (6-7 minutes). Add more pepper. At least if you're me.

Add the drained pasta and parmesan, then mix. Loosely mix in chives and tomatoes and you're done.

Laura and Sal gave it each a thumb up and a mouth full. 

Your soundtrack for this entry: RainbowDragonEyes - Fortune's Dividend.

The Spicy Tomato Sauce

This recipe is loosely-based on a recipe from Gourmet I found on Epicurious.

Spicy Tomato Sauce
1/2 cup of sun-dried tomatoes
1 large onion (diced)
3 garlic cloves (minced)
2 tbsps unsalted butter
28 ounce can of plain tomato sauce
2 dried red chilies
salt
pepper
3 sprigs fresh thyme

Heat a small pot of water until boiling. Add sun-dried tomatoes and remove from heat. Soak 30 minutes.

During the soaking process, soften the onion and garlic over low heat in the butter. Stir occasionally. When soft, add the canned tomato sauce, thyme, chilies, salt, and pepper. Simmer for 30 minutes. During the 30 minutes start your pasta boiling. Cook according to directions.

Drain pasta, remove sauce from heat, and spoon over pasta to serve.

Sun-dried tomatoes are a favourite of mine.

The onion. 

Tomatoes soaking. 

Diced onion and minced garlic. 

The tomatoes after a half hour. 

Softening onions and garlic. 

My wine for the evening. Only $8 and incredibly good. 

The final product was spicy, but not overly so, with a bit of an overpowering tomato flavour. I might try whole, peeled tomatoes next time. 

Your soundtrack for this entry: Black Sabbath - Paranoid.