gianni's pasta

Gianni is one of the people I work with in my new job. He's about 19 and came from Italy a year or two ago. He works the appetizer station, but comes around to my side when he gets ready to fix his dinner because I have the burners and the pasta pot he needs. What he does is simple, elegant, and just plain good.

salted water, brought to a boil
pasta (your choice)

Bring salted water to a boil and add pasta. While pasta is cooking, heat a skillet to medium high heat and add

2 tablespoons olive oil
8-10 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
2 cloves garlic, sliced thin
salt and pepper

As the tomatoes cook, they will soften and sort of fall apart. That's what you want. When the pasta is about a minute from being done, take a ladle and spoon some of the pasta water into the tomatoes. The starch in the water helps thicken the sauce. Turn the heat up to help the sauce reduce. At the last minute add

2 tablespoons basil chiffonade

Drain pasta and add to sauce in skillet. Stir together and then put onto a plate. You can also sprinkle with grated cheese, if you like. (I like.)

Simple. Easy. Good. That's hard to beat.

Peace,
Milton

chicken marsala

I mentioned this dish in one of my earlier posts and someone requested the recipe. There are several ways to approach this dish; here is the version I learned. We served it with mashed potatoes, though many recipes serve it over pasta. The recipe has several steps, but is fairly easy to make.

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 lbs boneless chicken breast tenders, or thin sliced breast cutlets
corn starch

Put about 1/2 cup of corn starch in a half gallon Ziploc bag, add chicken, and seal without squeezing the air out. Shake the bag to coat the chicken. Heat a large skillet until it is quite hot. Add oil and let it heat until it begins to ripple, but not smoke. Add chicken to the pan and let cook about two minutes a side. The chicken should be browned nicely. Lower heat to medium and remove chicken to a plate to rest.

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons finely chopped shallot
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
10 oz mushrooms, trimmed and thinly sliced
2 oz prosciutto, cut in thin strips
salt
pepper

Add the additional oil and let it get hot. Using a spatula or spoon, scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen up any little crunchy bits. Add garlic and shallots and cook until they soften. Add mushrooms and cook until moisture is cooked out (three or four minutes). Add prociutto and cook for an additional minute or two.

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons dry Marsala wine
1 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Add wine first to deglaze the pan; let it cook for about a minute and then add chicken broth and lemon juice. Let the whole mixture reduce by half and then return the chicken to the pan and cook the whole dish until the sauce is the thickness you desire. (I don’t like mine to be very brothy.)

10 oz baby spinach leaves

The final step is to add the spinach and turn off the heat. Stir the dish until the spinach is wilted, divide into four portions and serve. Serves 4.

Peace,
Milton

make your own butter

Thanks to Randy for this recipe. I had never tried making my own butter until the Fourth; it turned out great and tastes awesome.

2 pints organic heavy cream (preferably not ultra-pasteurized)

Pour the cream into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk. Tightly cover the top of the bowl with plastic wrap (this is important) and start mixer on medium-high speed. The cream will go through the whipped stage, thicken further and then change color from off-white to pale yellow; this will take at least 5 to 8 minutes. When it starts to look pebbly, it’s almost done. After another minute the butter will separate, causing the liquid to splash against the plastic wrap. At this point stop the mixer.

Set a strainer over a bowl. Pour the contents of the mixer into the strainer and let the buttermilk drain through. Strain the buttermilk again, this time through a fine-mesh sieve set over a small bowl; set aside.

Keeping the butter in the strainer set over the first bowl, knead it to consolidate the remaining liquid and fat and expel the rest of the buttermilk. Knead until the texture is dense and creamy, about 5 minutes. Strain the excess liquid into the buttermilk. Refrigerate the buttermilk.

Mix salt into the butter, if you want. I prefer it unsalted. Transfer it to an airtight container and refrigerate.

This is fun to do and tastes great.

Peace,
Milton

corn chip chicken

If Weight Watchers is a train, then this past weekend was a train wreck. I could give you reasons, but suffice it to say I used up enough points for most of July. And a good time was had by all. One of my endulgences (see, I told you I had a good time) was Ben and Jerry's Vermonty Python ice cream, which according to an old family tradition, I had mixed with Fritos corn chips. Tonight, with a return to sanity looming with the impending dawn, I had left over Fritos with which to contend, so I made up a chicken dish that kept me from polishing off the bag myself and was only 7 points. We ate it with some roasted red beets and sauteed beet greens (both 0 points) and finished the day in style.

4 thin sliced chicken breast filets
flour
skim milk
Fritos corn chips (I suppose you could try this with other chips, too)
olive oil

Dredge the chicken in the flour to coat it, dip it in the milk, and then press into the Frito crumbs. Saute in olive oil over medium high heat until golden and crispy -- about three minutes a side.

Serves 4.

Peace,
Milton