cooking with the aussie

So, Ben says, "let's cook a feed." And the next thing I know, we're off to Whole Foods.

Fuckin' Parpadelle
0.75 Sweet Walla-Walla Onions, chopped
1.0 Green Bell Pepper, chopped
0.5 Shallots, finely chopped
2.0 Cloves of Garlic, finely chopped
1.0 Habenaro, finely chopped
1.0 Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2.0 Cans of Tomato Sauce
0.5 Cups of Chicken Stock
1.5 Packages of Fresh Parpadelle Noodles
4.0 Ounces of Sliced Mushrooms, finely chopped
0.25 Pounds of Ground Beef
0.25 Pounds of Ground Lamb
0.25 Pounds of Ground Mild Italian Sausage
0.25 Pounds of Ground Ostrich
3 Tablespoons of Marscapone
0.33 Cups of Parmesan, grated
1.0 Package fresh Mozzarella
1 Cup of Good Red Wine
Generous amounts of Oregano, Salt, Pepper, Dried Red Pepper Flakes and Cayenne Pepper

1. Cook Onion, Green Pepper, Garlic, Shallots and Habenaro on medium-high heat until onions are translucent and everything is generally squishy. Stir occasionally, do not let anything burn.

2. Add half of the chicken stock, the mushrooms, all the spices, and all the various ground meats. Cook on medium-high heat until meat is browned, stirring often. Add chicken stock as needed to prevent burning.

3. Add tomato sauce, red wine, marscapone and mozzarella. Stir. Continue cooking on low heat for 10 minutes or so, until everything gels and a good consistancy has been achieved.

4. While that cooks, boil the Parpadelle noodles for a few minutes. They're fresh (you did get fresh ones, didn't you?) so they'll cook quickly.

5. Strain noodles, combine with meat sauce, eat with bread and good red wine.

We drank the 2004 Fox Creek Shiraz and the 2004 Sablet. They were good.

And if you're wondering what to do with the Mozzarella, you forget to put it in and just throw it in the fridge when you are done eating. This is a vital step.

the joy of cooking: chicken piccata

Tonight Sara and I had the 2002 Red Diamond Shiraz. Since I have previously reviewed the 2001, and this isn't significantly different (I think the '01 was slightly richer), I'm going to talk about food instead.

Sara was still doing work when I got home, so cooking dinner fell to me. A quick inventory revealed my only options were really Matzo Ball Soup and something chicken-based. So I pulled out our trusty copy of The Joy of Cooking and flipped to the poultry section. The first entry under sauteed boneless, skinless chicken sounded good: Chicken Piccata. It's a pretty straight-forward recipe, but I had never made it. Further inventory investigations revealed I had no capers, no lemon and my shallot had gone bad. So I had to make a grocery store trip. I also got some salami and mozzarella cheese, so if I screwed the pooch on the chicken I could still make pizza. :)

I must say, in the end it turned out pretty damn good. Here is what I learned:

• The Joy recipe said it would make 3-4 chicken breasts, but it was really only enough for three. Luckily I only had three.
• When they say saute four minutes on each side, they mean it. I flipped one early out of paranoia, but I was wrong. And I made lots of cuts to see how the inside was doing. However, four minutes on each side was exactly right.
• Three tablespoons of lemon is enough. Don't put four.
• Use this truffle salt instead of regular sea salt. It's awesome.
• Use the minimum amounts of better in the ranges they suggest.

It wasn't the best wine pairing, but it was cheap!