I try, I really do, to come up with some sort of a meal plan for each week.   I envy women who peruse the grocery advertisements, make a weekly menu plan and grocery shop with a boatload of coupons to feed their families healthy and nutritious meals on a minimal budget.   Kudos to all of you.  But the store schedule and/or my day at work doesn’t always allow for this to happen.  I have found that my menu plans look something like this:

Monday:  shrimp and spinach salad

Tuesday:  pork, rice and veggie

Wednesday:  chicken and potatoes 

Thursday:  salmon and something

It is the best I can muster but, on the good side, I am free to be creative with these types of menu plans.  I have a jumping off point and I can go from there.  Some nights meals are pretty elaborate.  Other nights they are pasta.  Pasta has become my “go to” dinner.  It is great for when I am rushed or when I am tired or when I have a bit of this and a bit of that in my refrigerator.  It is mindless but doesn’t mean boring.  It is quick but doesn’t mean tasteless.  It is filling and only requires a salad as an accompaniment. 

Yesterday’s go to was a take on an antipasto platter.  I chopped up some black olives and a small jar of marinated artichoke hearts.  I would have put in roasted red peppers but didn’t have any so a jar of pimiento worked just as well.  I had a small wedge of chorizo left so I cubed that up.  Some onion and green bell pepper for aromatics.  White wine because who doesn’t drink wine with antipasto.  And the makings of a nice shrimp pasta. 

There isn’t really a recipe nor any measurements but here is the general method I used to throw this together.  Feel free to use whatever is on your favorite antipasto platter.

ANTIPASTO PASTA

Pasta of choice

Artichoke hearts

Black or green olives

Tomatoes or roasted red peppers or pimiento

Pepperoni, salami or chorizo

Green bell pepper and onion, diced

Shrimp

White Wine

Chicken broth

Cornstarch

Salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes to taste

Cook pasta according to package directions.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a pan and add chorizo, green pepper and onion.  Saute until chorizo has let off some of its color and onions have softened, about 5 minutes.   Add in tomatoes and white wine, tossing to coat everything.   Add in shrimp and cook until shrimp turn opaque in color.  If desired, make a slurry of cornstarch and chicken broth to thicken the sauce.  Season to taste with salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes.  Toss with the pasta and serve. 

This is one of those weeknight meals which started one way and ended up entirely different than I had initially thought.  This is a frequent occurrence for me so while the end result is sometimes not where I was going, the path I take at the fork in the road is usually a good choice. Todd says it is because I am distracted by shiny things…. he might be right.  Red is, after all, my favorite kitchen color!

I went to my favorite Italian market for some semolina for a class.  As usual, I got sucked in.  I passed all the bags of pasta without looking at them.  And then, as I was grabbing a bag of semolina, my eyes, oh my eyes, they actually focused on the pasta.  If you ever visit an Italian market, you realize that it isn’t all in the blue boxes or cellophane bags all the same color and all the same varieties we have choices of:  ziti, penne, rigatoni, spaghetti and elbows.  If you are lucky, they toss in a tri colored rotini to make you think you are doing something special with your dinner.  But at Mazzaro’s.  Whoa.  They have pasta shapes I can’t pronounce.  And in colors you could never hope for at the grocery store.   I love how these springs uncoil during cooking to soak up all of the pasta sauce!

So I had these two bags of pasta just waiting to be used.  I immediately thought ooey, gooey macaroni and cheese.  I had about four varieties of cheese and some milk.  Bechamel here I come.  And then wham.  I saw a red pepper which was starting to look shriveled and sad.  I knew it wasn’t long for the world so I took it out and cut it into bite sized pieces.  And then out came some beef sausage left over from a catering event.  A bit of oil and a quick saute of both the peppers to soften and char them a bit and the sausage to render off some of the fat. 

I did manage to complete the bechamel and added some monterey jack and sharp cheddar to the mix.  I added the cooked pasta, peppers and sausage.  When I was putting away the milk, I spied some arugula and thought what the heck.  It will add some color and crunch.  I grabbed a few leaves and tossed those in.

My mac and cheese went from ooey, gooey and creamy to hearty, substantial and full of flavor. 

And the moral of the story?  Sometimes choosing the unknown fork in the road leads to a cleaner refrigerator!

2 cups pasta

2 tbsp flour

2 tbsp butter

2 cups milk

1 cup cheese of your choice

Any assorted bits from your refrigerator

Boil the pasta according to the package directions.  Meanwhile, heat butter in a large skillet.  Add flour and stir to combine for about 1 minute (to eliminate the pasty taste).  Add in the milk and stir until the mixture starts to thicken.  Add in cheese and stir until melted.  Drain pasta and add to the skillet, tossing to combine.  Add in any leftover bits and serve. 

Like most busy home cooks, I tend to think protein/starch/green something or other.  I freely admit to grabbing boxed pasta or my favorite rice-a-roni when I need to get a meal on the table quickly.  

This pasta dish reminds me of those boxed mixes but the pasta is definitely dressed up for a night out on the town.  No jeans and tennis shoes here but sexy slingbacks and a skirt with a slit up to …. 

I mimicked the flavors of the pasta with some pan sauteed pork chops.  Deglazed the pan with some white wine, tossed in some shallots, garlic, lemon zest and juice and then added a few pats of butter to thicken and richen the sauce.  Some steamed green beans and we had a fab dinner in no time.

ANGEL HAIR PASTA WITH LEMON SAUCE

1 pound thin spaghetti

1 stick butter

4 tbsp olive oil

4 tbsp shallot, finely chopped

2 tbsp garlic, finely chopped

4 tbsp lemon zest

1/2 cup lemon juice

salt and pepper

6 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

1/2 cup grated parmesan

Bring 4 quarts salted water to a boil.  Stir in the spaghetti and cook until al dente, reserving 1 cup of the pasta water.While the pasta is cooking melt the butter and olive oil over medium heat in large saute pan.  Add the shallots and garlic and saute about 2 minutes.  Stir in the zest and juice and season with salt and pepper.  Turn off the heat and stir in the spaghetti.  Add the parsley and cheese and toss quickly.  Add pasta water as necessary to keep everything moist.

Blog Check Lines:  The 2010 March Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Eleanor of MelbournefoodGeek and Jess of Jessthebaker. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make risotto. The various components of their challenge recipe are based on input from the Australian Masterchef cookbook and the cookbook Moorish by Greg Malouf

On its face, the challenge was pretty straightforward and easily done.  Then I read the fine print.  We had to make our own stock.  Again, easily done.  The hard part was that we got to choose our own additions.  That might seem simple enough but oh no.  

The possibilities.  Oh the possibilities:  wild mushrooms and heavy cream; freshly chopped vegetables to add color, flavor and a good dose of healthiness; there’s seafood.  Glorious abundant seafood.  What about sundried tomatoes, black olives, green olive, nicoise olives, kalamata olives, artichoke hearts, spinach, arugula, kale, basil, chives, thyme and oregano.   Or mascarpone, ricotta, feta, brie and countless other cheeses. 

You see the dilemma here.  Don’t you?  Please.  Say it isn’t just me.  You do see the dilemma here?  Don’t you?

I opted for a bit of this and a bit of that which is really one of the great attributes of risotto.  You don’t need a lot of anything to change the flavor profile of the dish and you can eat risotto for weeks on end without making the same one twice.

I used half a red pepper, a handful of sliced button mushrooms, shrimp and I tossed in some frozen peas for color. 

Here are recipes for the required elements:  

Chicken Stock

Ingredients:
1 large chicken 2-3 pounds about 1 kg
chicken bones 2-3 pounds 1 kg
2 onions, roughly diced
1 medium leek – white part only, roughly diced
2 sticks celery, roughly diced
2 cloves garlic, halved
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp. white peppercorns ( Any type of whole peppercorn will do)
2 bay leaves (fresh or dried, it doesn’t matter.)
peel of 1/2 lemon
1/4 tsp. allspice

Directions:

1. Wash the chicken and bones and places in a 5 Litre pot, cover completely with water and bring to a boil
2. Skim away any scum as it comes to the surface
3. Add the vegetables and bring back to a boil
4. Add the rest remaining ingredients and simmer very gently, uncovered for 1.5 hours
5. Carefully lift out the chicken, set aside. The chicken meat can be removed from the chicken, shredded off and used for other things like soup!
6. Simmer the stock gently for another hour. At , at the end you should have around 2 Liters
7. Carefully ladle the liquid into a fine sieve, the less the bones and vegetables are disturbed in this process the clearer the stock will be. 
The stock is now ready for use. Freeze what you don’t need for later use.

Risotto Base

Ingredients:
olive oil 2 fluid oz 60 ml
1 small onion, quatered
rice 14 oz 400g
Any type of risotto rice will do. I use Arborio but the recipe itself says Vialone Nano. Another to look for is Carnaroli.
white wine 2 fl oz 60 ml
chicken or vegetable stock , simmering 2 pints 1 L

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a pan and add onion. Fry for a few minutes to flavour the oil then discard. (We diced ours and left it in as we like onion).
2. Add the rice and stir for a few minutes to coat each grain of rice with oil and toast slightly.
3. Add the wine and let it bubble away until evaporated.
4. Add enough stock to cover the rice by a finger’s width (about an inch or two). Don’t actually stick your finger in, it will be hot. Just eye it off.
5. Cook on medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon from time to time, until most of the stock has been absorbed.
6. Repeat Step 5 making sure to leave aside approximately 100 ml. of stock for the final step. .
7. Repeat, save 100ml for the final stage.
8. Once you are at this point, the base is made. You now get to add your own variation.