dinner

I was told the other night that Italians should be loud and cook lots of pasta. Apparently the stereotype is still out there and follows me around, especially when I’m at the bar and other Italians are around. Some people think it’s fun to see us talk at loud volumes to each other.

In light of this revelation, I decided to go into stereotype full swing and make pasta. Seriously, what is more Italian than pasta, right? Also, since I never eat pasta, it seemed appropriate to finally make some to add to my recipe box.

Red Wine Pasta

Need:
1/3 box of cooked pasta
1 chicken breast, halved
2 beefsteak tomatoes, diced
1/4 of a sweet onion, diced
1/4 cup of red wine
3 tablespoons of olive oil
cayenne pepper
garlic powder
black pepper

Heavily season chicken with garlic powder, cayenne, and black pepper. Heat olive oil in medium-sized pan on medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook, flipping halfway, until chicken is cooked through. Add diced onion and cook for five to seven minutes. Deglaze pan with red wine and cook on medium high heat. Add tomatoes and cook until tomatoes are softened and wine has almost completely cooked down. Add cooked pasta and cook for another three minutes, mixing pasta into the dish. Take off heat and let sit for a few minutes so that pasta can absorb some of the sauce. Serve and enjoy.

The colonel has been calling. The fried, crispy, breaded chicken has been creeping into my dreams and I don’t know what to do. I can’t find myself at 10 o’clock at night pouring over a bucket of chicken. I just can’t let that happen. I have to avoid that crunchy crust, and get it without the carb overload. But how? Luckily, I think I found a way. Using skinless, boneless chicken thighs and sea salt.

Hear me out. I know I’m not going to actually get chicken breaded with the fabulous-ness that I want, but I’m going to try my best. So I salted and black peppered the heck out of some chicken thighs, then placed them in a warmed saute pan with olive oil in the pan.

The goal is to get the chicken cooked through on the first side so that it pulls from the pan easily, has a golden crust, and is cooked halfway through so you can flip it and cook it on the other side. I’d say this takes about 8 minutes or so on medium to medium-high heat. Cook through the chicken after flipping it.

When you take it out of the pan, place it on some paper towels to get rid of the excess oil. Let cool for a few minutes, then enjoy the golden, crispy chicken things. Simple, lovely, and totally gave me that crispy chicken need. Just remember, use chicken thighs. They won’t dry out like white meat and lets you keep it cooking longer. Also, a big plus is the thigh meat is cheap! Perfect for a single gal on a budget!