easy romano rigatoni

just put this together as i try to use up what i actually have in my kitchen!! it's a jazzed up version of the roman dish, spaghetti cacio e pepe, which uses pasta, romano cheese and black pepper.

romano rigatoni
water
2/3 cup rigatoni
2 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/8 cup onions, diced
pepper
1/3 cup diced tomatoes, seasoned with basil and oregano (i used some from a can of italian seasoned ones)
1/4 cup juice from the canned tomatoes
1 tbsp heavy whipped cream
romano cheese, grated


heat a small pot of water on high. when it boils, add the pasta and cook per instructions.

meanwhile, heat a skillet on medium-low. add olive oil, garlic, and onions. when the garlic starts to sizzle, add tomatoes and juice. liberally season with pepper. stir for 3 minutes. then add 1/8 cup romano cheese, let melt, and mix together.

by this time, the pasta should be cooked. strain, and pour pasta into a serving bowl. pour the sauce over pasta and top with a sprinkling of cheese. enjoy! serves 1.

lemon basil tortellini salad

this pasta was a merger of two food experts, italy and greece. tortellini, the great stuffed pasta, hails from italy and is often served with cream sauce or soup. i have always liked tortellini, even by itself, but my love forever deepened when i discovered its comforting properties brought out by a ham and cream sauce on a rainy day in venice. on the other hand, the marinade for the chicken is inspired by a sunny day riding an ATV in santorini, greece, using major greek food ingredients (garlic, oregano, lemon).

how do we put them together? by merging! adding the traditional italian seasoning of basil into the marinade gives the chicken some depth, and sharing some lemony love (and olives) with the pasta brings out tangy flavors alongside the vegetables. and of course, a heaping dose of olive oil, which is adored by both countries.

lemon basil marinade
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
2.5 tbsp basil leaves, chopped
1 tsp oregano, chopped
1 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt
juice of one lemon
zest of one lemon

mix ingredients together in a large ziploc bag or plastic tupperware container. shake, and set in the fridge for at least 2 hours before cooking. to cook, drizzle a small amount of olive oil into a skillet on medium heat. cook each chicken breast in the oil for about 7 minutes each side, until lightly brown and fully cooked through. no lie, i threw these things together and this chicken was perfectly delicious!

tortellini salad
1 family size package of 4-cheese tortellini
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 onion, diced
2 tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup of olives, cut into small slices
3 tbsp butter, melted
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp basil, chopped
juice of one lemon

bring a pot of water to boil. add tortellini and cook for about 7 minutes (follow package instructions).

meanwhile, heat the oil in a skillet on medium heat. add garlic, and when the garlic sizzles, add the onion and bell pepper pieces. cook for about 6 minutes. pour veggies and oil into a large bowl, and add the rest of the ingredients. stir well. add the cooked/strained tortellini and the chicken from above (cut into bite sized pieces) if you made it earlier.

with the chicken and veggies, this is enough for 6-7 people. i served it with the fruit and nut salad (see following post!) and easy to make what i call "banilla" cups.

banilla cups (aka banana pudding + vanilla wafers)
no-cook banana pudding mix
milk
heavy whipping cream
mini vanilla wafers

follow the instructions on the pudding box, but instead of using all milk, use half milk and half whipping cream. whisk until it reaches a pudding-like consistency. use small clear plastic cups and layer with wafers and pudding! chill in the fridge until ready to serve. one small box of pudding should make enough for 5-6 servings.

the french way: chicken francese

pasta + meat + some kind of sauce = a simple recipe for dinner with a large group of people. it's not too complicated but gives you endless combinations, and most people like pasta. i had two awesome sous chefs help me with this meal. we added fresh green beans seasoned with salt and pepper (something simple to go with the complexity of the sauce) and a nice pear & apple salad with lemon poppyseed dressing. i'll put those recipes up in another post.

--> feasting facts: FRANCESE
like it looks and sounds, francese just means "the french way." if it helps, you can think of "french" toast as something that is dipped in egg. something francese means it is dipped in flour and egg, and then fried. most cookbooks will tell you to "dredge" the chicken in flour- don't be worried by this word, it simply means to coat something with something dry. in this case, roll the chicken around in flour (making sure it's evenly coated), dip it in the egg and voila!

--> feasting facts: COOKING PASTA
does adding salt help water boil more quickly? i did a little shameless research on this question. the short answer is no. chemically, salt raises the boiling temperature of water, which means the water must be at a higher temperature to start boiling, and thus will take longer. however, the long answer is that once you achieve boiling, the water is hotter, and thus the pasta, or whatever you are cooking, cooks more quickly. for this reason it seems that many chefs opt for this method. p.s., "rolling boil" just means that you can't stop the water from boiling when you stir it.

oh, and about adding olive oil to keep pasta from sticking-- i wouldn't recommend this because it makes the pasta slippery and your sauce will not "stick" as well to the pasta. however it depends on the kind of pasta you are making-- if you have something with many grooves (such as penne or conchiglie) or cavities (such as fusili or farfalle) it will hold the sauce, but if it's flat (such as fettuccine) it will be more likely to slide off. pasta has been around since before marco polo's time. and there are literally hundreds of varieties and shapes!


chicken francese with pasta and white wine & lemon sauce
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into small strips
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp seasoned salt
1/2 cup white flour
3 eggs
1/8 c. milk
2.5 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp butter, cut into small pieces
3 garlic cloves, crushed
4 servings worth of dry pasta (check box depending on the kind you use)
1/3 c. dry white wine
juice of one lemon


heat a skillet on medium heat. for the pasta, fill a pot with water and add a dash of salt. set on high heat to bring to boil while you cook the chicken.

mix the salt, pepper, seasoned salt, and flour in a bowl. "dredge" the chicken in this mixture- basically roll each piece around until it is evenly coated and set aside on a plate.

beat eggs in another bowl and add the milk and a sprinkle of salt. don't dip the chicken yet though! wait until the skillet is ready.

now, add the oil in the skillet along with the butter. once the butter has melted, add the garlic. wait a few minutes, and then when you hear the garlic sizzle, or speak (yes it talks), now you can cook the chicken.

dip a coated piece of chicken into the egg mixture and transfer immediately to the pan. i had to take a few tries to get this right. you really only want a thin coating over the chicken or else it will actually get too eggy. (like, it will be a piece of chicken with part of a scrambled egg attached.) so, make sure you let the egg drip off over the bowl before transferring to the pan.

if you work quickly, you can get all the chicken into the skillet around the same time. i always try to have a pattern for how i put the chicken in-- i set the first pieces go farther away from me. this way, i know which pieces to check, and which to flip, first. let the chicken cook on a side until golden brown, and then flip and do the same for the other side. this should take about 6-7 minutes on each side, but always check and make sure to cut the largest piece of chicken in half to make sure they are all fully cooked!

put the cooked chicken on a plate and cover with foil to keep warm. at this point you will probably want to put your pasta in the now boiling pot of water. now, the leftover oil and seasoning from the chicken, which you'll cook first, serves as the base for the sauce!

add the wine to the pan and let deglaze so you can whisk up the chicken or flour pieces left over. the addition of the wine allows those pieces to get unstuck from the pan and dissolve a little to create the sauce. reduce the heat for 1 minute, and add the lemon and parsley.

hopefully, if everything is timed about right, the pasta will be cooked (make sure you taste test it first!). strain the pasta and pour it into a bowl (don't rinse with cold water). add the chicken and pour the sauce on top! stir and enjoy, serves 4. :)

*adapted from rachel ray's recipe. i added lemon to the sauce and also made it into a pasta dish.