Imprompteau Dinner!

I was landscaping the better part of today for my buddy Scott. Mind you, I'm not complaining ... it was 75 degrees and sunny with very little humidity. And I got to spend a day in God's very green creation with my iPod and lots of good alone time. But once I arrived home, the ache of not knowing what to make for dinner was hitting. Something fast..... something healthy..... something with veggies.....

So I started rummaging through my pantry to try and "create". I always explain to my friends that cooking for me is like painting, but not only with color ... you get to use smells, taste and texture as well! How lucky am I? Hmm, a box of whole wheat pasta ... that's healthy; and some boneless skinless chicken ... that's definitely healthy; some veg ... there's my fiber and vitamins! OK, let's start! In any case, if you wanna "create" something like this, here's what happened in my kitchen on a Saturday evening:

Sauteed Chicken over Whole Wheat Spaghetti and Veg

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 13.5 oz box of whole wheat pasta
• 2 ribs celery
• 2 carrots
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 crown broccoli
• 6 tblsp olive oil (seems like a lot, but it's not!)
• 1/2 medium onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• salt
• pepper
• crushed red pepper

While I boiled a large pot of water for the spaghetti, I chopped the celery, carrots, pepper and broccoli. I steamed the veggies for 5 minutes. (You can do this traditionally on the stove top but sometimes, when I'm in a hurry, I put them covered in the microwave with a few tablespoons of water ... they taste virtually the same! If you're really tricky, place the veg in a colander and let them steam over your pot of boiling water ... kill two birds with one stone! People will think you're sooooo cool!) Cook your spaghetti according to box directions.

While heating a skillet to medium hot, chop the onions and garlic. Put 2 tblsp olive oil (don't measure ... 2 turns of the pan is great!) in the skillet and add the onions and garlic and a pinch of salt. Sweat them until they're soft. (Sweating means to cook them slowly so they don't turn brown.) Then add the steamed veggies and stir to heat through. Add salt, pepper and crushed red pepper to taste. If I had to guess ... 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper and 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper. Put this mixture in a bowl and reserve until the spaghetti is finished.

Liberally salt and pepper both sides of the chicken. In the same skillet, sautee the 2 chicken breasts in 2 additional tblsp of olive oil (guess what ... that's right, 2 turns of the pan!) until they're done. Once finished, place them on a cutting board to rest for 5 minutes covered with a piece of aluminum foil to keep them warm. This helps the chicken's natural juice to redistribute through the piece of meat.

Without cleaning the pan (and getting to use all those yummy chicken juices), add the final 2 tblsp of olive oil (2 turns). Add the drained spaghetti and veggie mix and stir thoroughly to distribute the olive oil and veg evenly. You can adjust your salt, pepper and crushed red pepper at this point if you didn't add enough to the veggies. At this point, I added some chopped fresh parsley from my herb garden just because I had some!

Plate your pasta and slice the chicken breasts on a bias an place on top of the pasta. And voila ... instant dinner with minimal fuss and cleanup!

Now, the deal is, this is a "method" of cooking. It's simply a concept. Don't like broccoli? Replace with sugar snap peas! Don't like onion? Leave it out! Don't like whole wheat pasta? Use the regular stuff! No crushed red pepper because you have ulcers? That's cool ... forego the hot stuff! As I keep writing these recipes, you'll see that If there's something you like, don't like, or don't have, it's easy to replace it or leave it out without too much stress. If your grill is fired up, by all means, use grilled chicken ... or even a nice, juicy steak! It's about getting creative and being free to use what you have and not have to run to the store to buy specific ingredients for traditional "recipes". Bon appetit!

OK, I was wanting more.....

After a day in the sun, sometimes nothing beats a nice cocktail! OK, here's the deal ... last summer, I became so smitten with the MOJITO that I decided to put in 4 pots of spearmint on my deck garden so that I could pick fresh mint leaves whenever I wanted one! This baby doesn't seem TOO unhealthy. After all, there's fresh lime juice and mint with minimal amounts of sugar (OK, there's sugar ... I got over that a LOONNNGGG time ago!) And it's another excuse to tie my "garden" to my "recipes" on this blog ... so here it goes!

Kevin's Mojito

• 1 lime (extra for garnish)
  
• Fresh mint leaves (this is a must!)
  
• Sugar
• Simple syrup (sugar dissolved in water for easy mixing; 2 parts sugar to 1 part water)
  
• Rum (your favorite; I happen to like Capt. Morgan's Spiced Rum!)
• Rose's Sweetened Lime Juice (the secret ingredient)
  
• Club Soda
  
• Crushed ice
  

In a 12 oz glass (Or mojito glasses if you have them), place about about 8 fresh mint leaves and a tsp of sugar. Cut the lime into 8 pieces (in half and the each of those into quarters) and place 4 chunks in each glass. "Muddle" the lime, mint and sugar to get a good "juice" at the bottom of the glass. If you don't have a muddler, be creative with a kitchen utensil. You need something that will squish the lime and juice it while the sugar granules bruise the mint leaves to release their flavor. To each glass, add about a tsp of Rose's Sweetened Lime Juice ... this adds a special zing! Add a jigger (1.5 oz) of your favorite rum. Add crushed ice to each glass to bring it to about 3/4 of the glass and top off with club soda. Stir in the simple syrup to sweeten to your liking. You can garnish with more fresh mint leaves and lime slices if you like. But I promise, one sip and you'll be sitting on a Caribbean beach with the sand between your toes!

As always, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at KFRaymond@gmail.com and ask away! Also, if you have some excellent recipes you'd like to contribute, let me know. If I can fit them in, I'll gladly give you credit! Until next time, ciao!