Soup Noodles

It’s been a rough couple of days in our household. My mother came down with a stomach flu on Tuesday, and Austin and I were copycats and decided to be sick on Wednesday. This morning, Austin was better, but I wasn’t, and Ryan was.

Usually when I’m sick I can still read about food. I think maybe its because when I read about food, its more of a fact-finding process rather than an imagining-what-it-tastes-like process. I read food blogs and cookbooks for the articles, not the pictures.

But yesterday, I couldn’t even do that.

By about 10:30 this morning, however, that all changed. I got hungry and food sounded good. And I even wanted to get up off my butt and cook something.

So I made soup noodles.

I pulled out a quart of frozen homemade chicken broth, dumped it in a pan with 2 cups of water, some chopped onions, a crushed clove of garlic and a couple of chopped up carrots. When it came to a boil, I added soy sauce until it tasted salty enough, then two “bunches” of my favorite organic udon noodles. Boil 5 minutes to cook the noodles, and we’re good to go. Better than packages of ramen, but without all the crap.

Garlicy Scampi Chicken

If I was ever going to write an ode, I think it would be an ode to garlic.

Garlic, dear garlic, how do I love thee?
Let me count the ways…

But don’t worry…I wrote one good poem back in sixth grade. It was a Haiku. It was really good and I don’t think I can top it. So I’m not going to try.

Ever.

So, instead of writing a poem proclaiming my love to this sharply frangranced, near perfect food from the gods, I’ll just give you a terrific recipe instead.

It’s for chicken scampi, and its a great thing to do with leftover roasted chicken. If you like shrimp scampi, you’re gonna love this.

Chicken Scampi

4 chicken breasts, cooked & shredded

4 T butter (c’mon, keep breathing. Use 1/2 olive oil if it’ll make you feel better.)

2 cloves garlic

1 bunch green onions, chopped

1 T fresh basil, chopped (or 1 tsp dried basil)

1 T fresh oregano, chopped (or 1 tsp dried oregano)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 c lemon juice

1/2 c dry white wine

1/4 c heavy whipping cream

1/4 c fresh parsley, chopped

1 pound penne pasta, cooked

In a large pan, melt butter. Saute garlic and onions 2-3 minutes. Add shredded chicken and saute 2-3 minutes. Season with salt & pepper. (Add the basil & oregano here if you’re using dried. For fresh herbs, add after you’ve reduced the liquid in the next step.)

Deglaze the pan with lemon juice and white wine. Continue cooking until liquid is reduced by half. Add basil, oregano and cream.

Cook until heated through.

Garnish with parsley and serve with pasta.

Serves 4 -6.

Poison Pasta

This may not look like its poisonous, but believe me, it is. And we ate it for dinner tonight

Ages, eons and centuries ago, when Nick was 5 or 6, we were having dinner at Olive Garden. Nick, as usual, was having Fettucini Alfredo and (gasp!) there was a penne noodle in with his fettucini.

And being the loving, kind-hearted and caring parents we were, Paul and I managed to convince Nick that eating different kinds of pasta together created poisonous toxins. We even got the server to back us up!

Eventually Nick’s common sense kicked in, however it took a couple of years. which was nice, because its always good to have easy entertainment as close at hand as a box of spaghetti mixed with a couple of pieces of farfelle.

Now fast forward to tonight. Once again, I found myself with partial boxes of fettuccini, linguini and spaghetti noodles. So I combined them and served them together.

And thus, I have poisoned my family.

Deliciously.

Garlic Lemon Shrimp Pasta
Cook according to directions on box and drain, reserving approx. 1/2 c of the
pasta water: 1 box fettuccini (c’mon, be daring and mix in some linguini)

Combine in a bowl and marinate 15-20 minutes
1 lb shrimp, peeled & deveined
3 cloves garlic, crushed
zest from 1 large lemon
2-3 T olive oil

Heat additional 2 T olive oil and 2 T butter in a large skillet
Add 2-3 cloves garlic to oil and saute until it starts to smell delicious
Add marinated shrimp (cook in two batches if necessary to avoid crowding)
Season with salt & pepper

When shrimp is cooked, remove to bowl; set aside.
Squeeze juice from 1 lemon into pan
Add 1/4 cup heavy cream.
Season to taste with salt & pepper
Add a pinch of red pepper flakes, if desired.

Add pasta to pan and mix to combine. Stir in shrimp.

Serve with grated Parmesean.

Pretty in Pink

Ahhhh…smoooooth….creammmy….riiiich…

Tonight’s dinner was the same pink sauce that Anna and I made with the gnocci last month, only this time I served it with fettuccine and shrimp.

Hush. I don’t care that it looks like spaghetti. It’s fettuccine. I didn’t forget to buy fettuccine. And you can’t prove it.

Cause it’s gone. Gobbled up.

You should have heard the table. Nobody was talking. We’re not supposed to talk with our mouths full.

Can-free Tuna Casserole

A few months ago I shared my absolutely delicious recipe for Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas that are made without the dreaded “can-a-soup”. Trust me, make it once, and you’ll never go back.

Now here’s another can-free recipe, this time for a regularly-mocked standby dinner. Tuna Noodle Casserole. It doesn’t take any more time than the canny recipe, you can make the sauce in the time it takes to bring the water to a boil and cook the noodles. OK, it’s not totally can-free unless you make your own chicken broth, but at least it’s “can-a-soup”-free.

And it’s good.

Really, really good.

Can-free Tuna Noodle Casserole

1 pkg egg noodles
2 T Butter
2 T oil
1/2 onion, chopped
mushrooms, sliced (quantity depends on how much you like mushrooms)
1/2 c flour
Salt & Pepper
2 c chicken broth
1/2 c cream
1 T Worcestershire sauce
2 cans tuna (I like the tuna in oil…it just tastes better)
3 oz cheddar cheese, cubed + 1 oz, grated
frozen green peas (again, quantity depends on how much you like peas – substitute a different veggie if you don’t like ‘em at all)
leftover potato chips or bread crumbs

Cook egg noodles as directed on package.
Melt oil & butter together. Saute onion & mushroom until onions are translucent and mushrooms are golden brown. Season with salt & pepper. Mix in flour. Add chicken broth. Cook, stirring often until thickened. Add cream and Worcestershire sauce. Cook until thickened again.

Mix together drained noodles, sauce, tuna, peas and cubed cheddar. Put into a casserole dish. Top with grated cheddar mixed with potato chips or bread crumbs.

Bake at 375 until cheese is melted and casserole is hot.

Enjoy!