Playing Mad Scientist in the Kitchen

This is a lovely one-dish meal, creamy and tangy and full of vegetables! It is also a “cook once, serve twice” recipe. I serve half of this sauce recipe over the pasta and freeze or refrigerate the other half to serve later, but for a larger group, just double the amount of pasta. It will thicken slightly after cooking. If you serve half of this over pasta, it serves 3-4 people.

As I said in the title, this is one of my “mad scientist” kitchen creations. It all started when my husband had a business lunch at an Italian restaurant, and he called to gloat about having Chicken Saltimbocca. He was talking about all the vegetables it contained and how nice and tangy the sauce was, and I remembered the new bottle of really strong red wine vinegar I had just bought. Later, I talked with my younger brother, and he mentioned one of his favorite Italian dishes. It’s a very old-school Italian-American dish called Chicken Francese, and he loves the bite of the lemony sauce, particularly when it includes briny capers.

That did it. I decided to make a pasta sauce with lots of veggies in a tangy tomato-cream sauce. I went to my pantry and my refrigerator to peruse the possibilities. Red wine vinegar was a must—and to me, the stronger it is, the better. I had some heavy cream and sour cream, as well as some capers and Italian-seasoned diced tomatoes. Three beautiful zucchini were in my crisper, and I had an onion, too. Of course, I had garlic. A whole chicken was in the fridge, so I put it on to boil with some veggies to flavor the broth. (I still prefer to boil my chicken ahead of time so I have homemade chicken broth for my sauce and pasta. I also add a few tablespoons of broth from the pasta into the sauce, since the starches released by the pasta help the sauce adhere to it.)

When my husband walked in the door from work, the smells hit him at the door and a smile spread across his face. After he finished his pasta, he turned up the bowl and drank the sauce! I have refined the recipe a bit since then, but the essence remains the same. It is pretty awesome, if I do say so myself! The only thing it is lacking is a name, so feel free to offer suggestions.

Okay, so let’s gather all the ingredients together. Here are the major players from the pantry and fridge:

Slice the zucchini and salt it. Set it aside for at least 30 minutes to allow the salt to “sweat”.

Pat the salt and moisture off, then dice the zucchini into bite-size pieces. (I love how bright green and summery it looks!)

Heat the oil in a large sauté pan on medium heat. Cook just until the onion begins to soften and become transparent. The zucchini should still be bright green and pretty firm.

Here’s a really fun part to me! Tilt the skillet, and pull the onion and zucchini to the top of the skillet away from the heat. When the oil runs to the lower end, and pour the Italian seasonings into the oil, with the minced garlic on top of them. The oil heats the spices and the fragrance is wonderful! When you smell them, they are done. Lay the pan flat again.

Add the tomatoes, juice and all! This quickly lowers the temp, so I add the dairy while it is cooler, as well as the capers and fresh-ground black pepper. (If you are like me and like this really tangy, you can add a bit of the brine from the capers.)

Reduce the heat and let it simmer, stirring occasionally.

Undercook the pasta, about 1-2 minutes less than the package says. This is especially true if you use Dreamfields pasta (as I do), since it almost falls apart if you overcook it at all. Just after adding the pasta to the water, add red wine vinegar, broth or wine, and cooked chicken (or other protein source) to the sauce. In a few minutes, you should smell the vinegar!

Drain the pasta, but do not rinse it! It will continue to cook after draining, but I still like it to stand up to the veggies and rich sauce, which is why I like to undercook the pasta. Take the sauce off of the heat and add your lemon or lime juice for just a bit more tartness and a fresh flavor. Serve the sauce over or combined with pasta. Garnish as desired with feta, goat cheese, fresh herbs, pine nuts, etc.

Reserve half of the sauce to serve at another time. Here are a few tips:

• Instead of chicken, you can try Italian sausage, shrimp (add just before serving to avoid overcooking), eggplant, tofu, etc.
  
• If you are watching your carbohydrate intake, I suggest Dreamfields pasta because it has very few net carbs per serving.  You can also serve this over cooked spaghetti squash.
  
• If you want to lower the fat content, decrease the amount of fat-free half and half and increase the low-fat or fat-free sour cream to maintain a thicker consistency.

So here's the actual recipe:

My As-Yet-Unnamed "Mad Scientist" Pasta Sauce

Ingredients

1–2 small zucchini, diced

app. 1 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 c. onion, diced

1 tsp. Italian seasonings (I use the McCormick Italian Seasoning Herb Grinder)

app. 1 Tbsp. minced garlic

2 cans Italian-seasoned diced tomatoes

1/2–1 Tbsp. capers (optional)

1/2 tsp. fresh-ground black pepper (or to taste)

3/4–1 c. heavy whipping cream or fat-free half and half

1/4–1/2 c. sour cream

app. 1/2–1 lb. cooked chicken

app. 1 c. chicken broth (can substitute vegetable broth or white wine)

12–16 oz. shaped pasta

app. 1/8–1/4 c. red wine vinegar

app. 1 Tbsp. lemon or lime juice

Directions

• Slice zucchini in half lengthwise, then salt it liberally (preferably with kosher or sea salt). Set it aside for at least 30 minutes to allow the salt to draw out excess moisture. Pat the salt and moisture off; dice zucchini.
  
• Put olive oil in a large sauté pan on medium heat. Add the zucchini and the diced onion to the hot oil. Cook until the onion begins to soften and become transparent.
  
• Tilt the skillet slightly, and pull onion and zucchini to the top of the skillet; let the oil run to the lower end and pour the Italian seasonings and minced garlic into the oil. Allow the oil to heat the spices until they become fragrant, then place the skillet flat again.
  
• Add tomatoes (including juice), capers, fresh-ground black pepper, heavy whipping cream and sour cream; stir.
  
• Reduce heat to medium-low and let it simmer slowly, stirring occasionally.
  
• Cook pasta very al dente, about 1-2 minutes less than indicated by the package directions.
  
• Just after adding pasta to the boiling water, add red wine vinegar, broth, and cooked chicken to the sauce.
  
• Drain pasta; remove sauce from heat and add lemon or lime juice; serve half of sauce over or combined with pasta.  Garnish as desired with fresh herbs, pine nuts, goat cheese, etc.
  
• Reserve half of the sauce to serve at another time.

The Most Wonderful Man in the World!

Today is my husband's birthday. Most of our celebration will take place over the weekend, but I want to pause for a minute and focus on him TODAY.

When I was younger, I wanted to marry a man with green eyes. I really hoped that his hair would be just a little bit reddish--not red--but just enough to show up when the sunlight hit. And if he could have just a bit of curly tendency to his hair, that would be wonderful! (Not the so-curly-you-have-to-keep-it-cropped-super-short kind of curly.) When I say younger, I mean since elementary school, these have been my secret hopes.

And tall. Very tall. I had a dream a few months before I met my wonderful husband. In that vague way that you "know" the back-story of the events of a dream, I knew that my husband and I were hosting some kind of party at our house. I never saw his face. As everyone finally trickled out the door, we walked onto the back porch to see the last rays of the setting sun, where I put my arms around his neck and we kissed. Something struck me about this moment in the dream, so when I woke up, I had to check it out. I enlisted the help of my long-suffering teenaged brother to discover how tall this man was. Once I got a baseline of how tall he was, I made him stand on a precarious perch of phone books and dictionaries until he was close to the height of the mysterious Man of My Dreams. I was only an inch or two off of my husband's actual height. The dream faded from my memory within a couple of days. Years later, however, we were at a party at someone else's house. We slipped out onto the back porch alone, catching the last rays of the setting sun, and as I leaned against him, I experienced the strangest feeling of deja vu...

Now, before I sound like some shallow, silly woman, of course I wanted all the substantive things. He is kind and generous. He prays for me. He is a good, godly man who is a hard worker and provides for us. He is intelligent and witty and has good manners. He can carry on conversation with brilliant Mensa members with multiple degrees, prominent business leaders, blue-collar quarry workers, or an elderly woman from a rural area who never went beyond elementary school. Because he listens--truly listens--they respond. He learns from their stories, but not in a cautionary, "how can I avoid having their life" kind of way. He loves my parents, my grandparents, and my brothers and their families. He enjoys spending time with them. Perhaps most amazingly (being a dog person when we met), he accepted my cat. And they have grown quite fond of each other!

It goes beyond finishing each other's sentences. Random things pop into both of our heads at the same times! We love to read and discuss books, articles, and poetry. We take music and podcasts when we travel, but we rarely get to listen to any of it because we are too busy talking. Or just enjoying the sound of the road while we hold hands. He doesn't mind watching "chick flicks" with me, although he does need to intersperse them with football or action movies. He likes my cooking, and he likes to cook and bake, too. He can even shop for groceries UNSUPERVISED. (I heard the collective gasp of all married women, but it is true. My mother has even attested to this fact!)

And, completely unprompted, he brings me chocolate.

Holiday Memories

I'm really looking forward to the holidays! Thanksgiving and Christmas--and New Years' as well--always have a lot of memories and traditions wrapped up in food. The aroma of certain dishes cooking just brings back memories of childhood. Some remind me of specific places we lived, or of times at a particular grandmother's or great-grandmother's gathering. Of course, those dishes also meant we were about to get together with cousins and aunts and uncles we hadn't seen in a long time, and we had lots of interesting things to discuss.

What do I remember? Lively conversations, laughter drifting from the kitchen, men cheering in front of the TV or doing some home-improvement task while so many hands were available . . . always accompanied by those tantalizing aromas from the stove, oven, crock-pots, and mixing bowls! Playing outside until our noses are so red and cold that we can no longer feel our hands touching them. The smell of fires from chimneys and the crunches and crackles of the leaves.

And now I'm one of the adults! Now I know why we so often caught the adults smiling wistfully out at us. Maybe I'll take a break from the adults in the kitchen and join all the kids in a romp through the leaves this Thanksgiving. Anyone with me?

Now it's your turn. What stirs those holiday memories for you? (The smell of burning firewood, or pumpkin pie--burning or not!) Or what are some of your fondest memories? Maybe games in the backyard, or a family blessing over the meal, or apples and oranges in your stocking?

Time To Set the Table!

,As I make my inauspicious entrance to the blogosphere, I have lots of hot topics to choose from! We've just elected a new president, the economic bail-out package is being considered, it is Veterans' Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas are swiftly approaching, . . .

Instead, I want to just welcome everyone who might stumble across my new little venture. The discussions may range from culinary to political and everything in between. Like everyone, I feel that my views are sensible and well-founded. I welcome discussion and comments, but let's all remember to keep it civil at the dinner table!