Corn Elbows with Gizzard Sauce

Rehearsal was canceled but still felt like a Monday night dinner, so made corn elbows with the leftover sauce from last night's curried chicken gizzards and some yellow squash (previously blanched and frozen) from last summer's CSA mixed in. It was so good we each had two bowls. I know I'll regret that much carb intake later, but now....mmmmmm.

Eating Notes: This was our first time trying the gluten-free corn pasta. From the experience with the rice, I cooked it just over 5 min (instructions said 6-8) and it was perfect for us. You can taste the corn. The texture is pretty good, not gummy and it seems like it would hold up to macaroni and cheese or another casserole type dish. But the star was the sauce. It had congealed into a sort of loose aspic in the fridge, belying its high fat content. When it heated, it had a wonderful sheen. Phil noted that in the "old days" pasta sauce used to have a lot of fat in it, but now, no. That certainly was the case in my family, as well.

Sun-dried tomato and prosciutto sauce

Not really sure what to say about this. I will comment that it is not a particularly pretty dish. It’s a simple pasta sauce, though it could easily be used on top of any grain, too. Or, just eat with nothing added. It is fairly rich.

1 lb Roma tomatoes
1 C onion, diced
1 T garlic, minced
1 jalapeno
1/4 lb chunk prosciutto
1/2 lb zucchini
sun-dried tomotoes
4 T grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 C cream
1/2 t dried chilled flakes
salt and pepper

Peel, seed and chop tomato in 1/2 dice. Seed jalapeno and mince. Julienne prosciutto. Slice zucchini into 1/4 inch thick rounds. Chop sun-dried tomatoes into 1/4 inch chunks, you'll want about 1/4 cup.

Sauté onion and pepper in 3 T butter until onion is translucent. Add garlic and stir until fragrant. Add prosciutto, stir for a minute and add zucchini and simmer for another minute. Toss in Roma tomatoes and simmer 10-12 minutes.

From a preparation stand point, this can just sit until you are ready to finish the dish and serve with whatever else is going with it.

To finish, add sun-dried tomatoes, chili flakes, cheese and cream and heat through. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serves 4.

I served it over pasta with some more Parmesan and a salad made with greens, tomato, mushrooms, hearts of palm and garbanzo beans.

Mid week Dinner

Well, I was invited to contribute a while ago and am finally getting around to adding something. Holidays are rather hectic for me and this has been a time of running here and there and being less than organized. Last night was a simple low effort meal that was rather good and leaves a nice carcass for stock. I got no pictures, sorry. And, unlike my compatriot, I am not always so good with amounts in translation.

Roast chicken with Rosemary, Garlic and Lemon:
The chicken is important here, well always, but especially in a roast. That adage ‘it tastes like chicken’ to describe a generic meat is so wrong an shows what P*rdue and T*son have done to chickens, First, they are not yellow (unless being fed a diet yellow feed stuffs) and second, a good chicken has flavor. So spend more and buy from a small producer.

1 Chicken – 3 1/2 lb
5 sprigs rosemary
4 med cloves garlic
lg. Lemon
salt
pepper
olive oil
butter

Strip 4 sprigs of rosemary of leaves, mince with garlic and zest from 3/4 of lemon, (the rest is for the pasta) add a small amount of olive oil to make a paste and add salt and pepper to taste. Now you need to separate the skin from the flesh in as much of the breast and leg area as you can, be gentle and don’t rip it. Take the Rosemary/garlic/lemon mix and spread under the skin everywhere you can reach. Stick any leftover rosemary springs in chest cavity. Tie legs together.

I stuck it in a 9x9 pyrex dish with about a Tablespoon olive oil and 1-2 teaspoons butter. Bake at 350 until done, baste often once there is enough liquid to baste.

Pasta with sun-dried tomatoes and lemon
1/2 lb pasta - Pipe-Rigate
lemon zest from above
5-6 sun-dried tomatoes
4-5 T aged robusto cheese, grated
1 T butter

Chop tomatoes coarsely and mince lemon zest. Cook pasta, drain. Toss lemon, tomato and butter until well mixed, do this all while hot, add cheese and mix.

Eggplant
1 med firm eggplant
bread crumbs
Milk
Egg
Oil for frying

Peel eggplant and slice into rounds. Mix milk and egg. Process goes milk/egg/bread crumbs/fry. Cook until med brown, flip repeat add salt as desired. What you are looking for here is crisp on the outside and creamy center. Drain. Warning, these thing stay really hot in the center for quite a while.