Teamwork

We actually cook a lot lately, just a lack of time to blog.  Today I adjusted the recipe a little but we had tomato basil chicken and chili pepper spaghetti.  We used fresh homemade tomato spaghetti.  I also added a chunk of fresh mozzarella on top of the chicken and put the tomato basil sauce over.  Then we had garlic knots.  By the way, did I mention I was Italian and I believe everything should be cooked in olive oil and garlic?

This was much more difficult than anticipated because of the amount of pans I needed that I didn't have multiples of. 

Chili Pepper Spaghetti (what we used - I'm over sticking to recipes word for word... badass, I know)
1 lb homemade tomato spaghetti (courtesy of my not so secret love, Laurenzo. Nick loves him too)
1 chili pepper
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
2 cloves of garlic
olive oil
salt and pepper
fresh parsley

Boil water and cook pasta.  In a separate pan heat up the olive oil (little more than enough to cover the pan), add garlic, then the cut up chili pepper a minute later.  Once those flavors are fused (maybe a minute later), add the cut up red and yellow pepper.  As I did this, Nick took care of the chicken.  When the peppers are a little softer, put the peppers over the strained pasta, add another splash of olive oil, chopped fresh parsely, and salt and pepper.

Tomato, Basil, Mozzarella Chicken

Sauce
olive oil
garlic
2 tomatoes
6-10 fresh basil leaves
parmasean cheese

Heat the olive oil with garlic, add two diced tomatoes, chopped basil, and a little less than a quarter cup of parmasean.  Cook down until sauce like. About 10 minutes.

Chicken
olive oil
garlic
2-3 chicken breasts
fresh mozzarella

Same as every other portion of this meal, heat the olive oil and garlic fo a couple minutes, cook the chicken.  Nick said 7 minutes a side.  I don't know how much truth is to this but he cooked it perfectly and he didn't flip it once.

Sometime within all of this other cooking, we did garlic knots.  We had a pound of dough from Laurenzo's.  We used scissors to cut about 1.5x1.5 inch squares.  You can tie them in knots or just role it in to a long piece and cross it, similar to an awareness ribbon.

The chicken is served with a slab of mozzarella on it and tomato basil sauce on top to make the cheese all melty with the pasta and knots on the side. 


DELICIOUS - don't mind if I say so myself, and I could've never done it without Nicky.

I can't get enough of Laurenzo

After Thanksgiving and some bumps in the road and typical holiday madness, we had two of Nick's boys here.  Last night I was FINALLY able to cook.  Now, I was so happy to be back to the beach.  Well, we still have a fantastic view but it has been down to 40 at night time and only gotten up to the mid-50s plus windchill?! Upsetting.

With the chillier weather I finally made sauce for Nick.  We bought fresh, homemade pasta too (a pound for $4.50, prob won't happen again).  Magnifico!

1lb hot italian suasage (which is optional, or any susage, or even ground beef)
1 medium onion
5 cloves of garlic
(1) 28 oz can of tomato puree
(1) 28 oz can of diced tomatoes
(1) 6 oz can of tomato paste
3/4 cup of parsley
approx 6 basil leaves
pinch of sugar
1 cup of parmesan cheese (optional, do it)
oregano
red pepper flakes

Brown the meat, add the diced onion and garlic and cook until translucent.  Add the tomatoes.  Put a little water in the cans to get the remains out and add to the pot.  Add parsley, cut up basil leaves, cheese, and sugar.  Add a little oregano and red pepper flakes to taste.  Bring to a boil, turn down and simmer, for HOURS.

When you are ready to eat, boil water.  The homemade pasta is ready much faster than normal pasta.

Today while I was sleeping Nick put the sauce back on the burner and added a jar of artichokes.  It was better then I expected. Random, I know.

Enjoy :)