Simple September Suppers

This September is really and truly devilishly busy. H started preschool, and E has two major deadlines in September, an out of state conference, plus a test and a batch of papers to grade. So September has been all about easy meals here. We did manage to make 8 pints of canned tomatoes at the very beginning of the month that we've stashed for the depths of winter when we'd love the taste of a good tomato.

Tonight we had one of the easiest dinners we know: Pasta Puttanesca with salad with herbs, cucumbers, beats, and radishes.

Rotini alla Puttanesca
1 can crushed tomatoes (28 oz)
3 T olive oil
3 large garlic cloves, sliced and halved
1 small bell pepper, diced
3 T parsley leaves, chopped
1/2 tsp dried oregano
3 anchovy fillets, or a hearty T of anchovy paste
3 T strong black olives, halved and pitted
1 T capers
salt to taste
1 lb rotini

Combine oil, garlic, bell pepper, parsley, oregano and saute until peppers are soft. Add anchovies and stir. Add chopped tomatoes and olives, red pepper flakes, and capers. Simmer for 20 minutes. Add salt to taste.
Cook the pasta. When it's done, transfer still dripping into serving bowl and toss with puttanesca sauce.

No pictures of the pasta, but here are a couple of jars of the tomatoes we canned at the beginning of the month.


And, in case you wondered what on earth anchovy paste might be, here's a handy-dandy illustration. It comes in an awesome tube like old-fashioned toothpaste, and you can find it by the tuna, sardines, and other fishy things in the grocery store.

Pasta!

A while back I decided to try to make pasta from scratch, so I looked up some things online, apron-ed up, and gave it a shot.

Tea towel and twine turned into an improvised apron.

Online I found a recipe saying that one large egg and around 3/4 cup flour and a dash of salt make enough pasta for one person.

Flour! I think 3/4 cup or so...

Egg!

Mix! A lot. Also, I think I might have
sprinkled in some extra flour.

Knead! A lot. Until it the dough becomes really elastic.
Also, make sure you put down flour before you do.

Roll out the dough as thin as possible.
Then fold it in half and do it again.
This is what the internet said to do.

The internet also said adding finely chopped basil or rosemary
before the folding and re-rolling makes for tasty pasta.

ALSO: Any dough you're not working with,
or noodles you're waiting to cook,
should be kept on/under a moist towel,
otherwise they dry out REALLY FAST.

Cook in boiling water for a few minutes, and voila!

Easy Peasy Chicken and Pasta

I always like something quick and easy to cook for dinner after work. Something that works really well for us is chicken and pasta.

It started because I had planned to have Patrick grill some chicken for us for dinner one night but didn't put the marinade in soon enough so I just threw all the chicken in a pan with the marinade to make sauce. Then I served it over pasta and it was yummy!

This time, I got a bunch of zucchini and yellow squash and onions and sliced them up and sauteed them during the weekend. When we got home, first I started the pasta water then, I cut up two chicken breasts into chunks and thew it in a bowl with the marinade powder. It calls for 1/4 c water and 1/4 c oil but I cut back on the oil a bit.

I got a pan hot and dumped in all the chicken/marinade mixture and cooked it till the chicken was mostly done. Then I added the vegetables I cooked over the weekend and cooked it all together until the chicken was done through and the vegetables were hot. At some point when I was cooking, the pasta water boiled and I put in some whole wheat spaghetti and cooked it.

I put together a quick salad and dinner was on the table in less than 20 minutes. Take that Rachel Ray!

Here is the chicken cooking.
Chicken and pasta cooking
This is the marinade packet that I used. I used the tomato garlic pesto but I didn't take a picture before I tore the packet. The italian herb is really good too. We get this from Patrick's coworker Joe who's mom works for Weber but I know you can also get them at the grocery store.
I'm not going to write down an official recipe because it's mostly just throw it all in a pot and cook it but here is a shopping list.

• 2 chicken breasts (or as much chicken or other meat as you want to use to feed your family and have leftovers)
• 1 marinade packet - we like the ones above but you could use anything you want
• olive oil - for the marinade & sauteing vegetables.
• vegetables - we used yellow squash and zucchini and onions but I think broccoli would be good too.
• pasta - we used whole wheat. You could also serve with rice if you want.