Slow Roasted Salmon with Squid Ink Linguine, Sauteed Red Pepper & Baby Artichoke Nage: A Trip to the Market, An Open Mind = Dinner for 2

Sometimes you head out to the market with a strong idea of what you'd like to cook. You could even have a specific recipe complete with shopping list on your iPhone; all good to go.

Then you get to the market, all full of excitement & good intentions, only to find that the ahi you need for your ahi "pizza" ( a fave of my hubby's) looks slightly petrified and you need to quickly regroup, open your mind & see what's available to you.

It's a fantastic opportunity to try new foods or combinations. The final results can be stupendous or disgusting, if you get a little too experimental.

I'm sure my poor husband still shudders when he recalls the "chicken cakes" that I made because the confit of duck I wanted to use was unavailable for purchase. This was about 16 years ago when such things as duck legs were almost impossible to find and asking for duck confit only got you unpleasant looks from exasperated butchers. Back then, I didn't even consider making my own. I was a working stiff & lived in the Upper West Side of Manhattan and my local Key Food did not carry "exotic" items. They barely stocked fresh iceberg lettuce. Even the Fairway & Citerella didn't carry specialty meats then and, with my time constraints, the last thing I wanted to do was head all the way down to Chinatown for some roasted duck (which would have at least have been the same genus if not the same texture).

Unfortunately, I was stubbornly stuck in poultry mode, not wanting to make something as "mundane" as crabcakes, so I thought I could substitute chicken legs for duck confit. (What can say, I was young & idiotic)
After two hours of careful cooking & one bite, I decided to order in pizza.

The hubby didn't fare as well. He having valiantly eaten half of a chicken cake before I tasted mine. When I declared the meal inedible, he said, "Thank God!" and put down his fork in relief as he looked forward to the pizza delivery. Oh well, at least the sundried tomato beurre blanc I served alongside it tasted good.

Now, I realize not everyone has the inclination to thrilled by the prospect of improvising a new recipe; but, what can I say, I'm a food geek with a lot of time on her hands.

Today, after being disappointed by the ahi, I saw that the Loch Duart Salmon was pristinely fresh, so I switched gears & on my way to the register to pay for it, I spied a package of beautiful baby artichokes from Castroville, the first of the season & added them to the basket.

I was on Chestnut Street in the Marina, heading east, when I saw Lucca Delicatessen. Then it hit me, let's see what kind of imported pasta they have... Jackpot! In the very back of the store, near where they keep those humongous wheels of Parmigiano, I spotted the Campofilone Artisan Pasta in a large wicker basket. There were four varieties but it was the Linguine with Squid Ink Egg Pasta that caught my eye. I thought of how pretty the inky black pasta would look with the salmon which I wanted slow roasted & how tasty the lemony baby artichokes could be with it. Bought it & walked the last mile home jauntily. A quick look around the kitchen & I saw I had the makings for a luscious meal.

My Sony camera died so I took the last several shots with the iPhone, the results are not great (the colors are all off but they still communicate the general idea).

Fortunately, the meal itself was quite delicious. Slow roasting the salmon with herbs & olive oil give it a melting texture & a delicate perfume. The squid ink linguine is a great product. The pasta itself is toothsome despite being so thin & the flavor is slightly briny with a saffron-like smoky essence which may also have been imparted by the red peppers. Those baby artichokes retained their shape & added a lemony, grassy goodness. YUM! YUM!

Not a chicken cake in sight, and no pizza delivery required! Yaay!!!
We were happy.

Garlic & Thyme-infused Slow Roasted Loch Duart Salmon
Squid Ink Linguine with Sauteed Red Peppers, Baby Artichoke Nage

Before I write a more traditional recipe down, I'll illustrate some of the prep work & cooking involved (because it's a fun way to gather my thoughts):

Note: It's important to keep the oven very low while cooking (200 degrees), if you're impatient & turn up the heat you won't get that melting texture. Allow for 25 to 50 minutes for the salmon depending on how efficient your oven is, how thick your fillets are & your preferred degree of doneness. It will obviously take less time if your fillets are smaller & thinner and you enjoy your salmon rare to medium rare.
Here's where you need to be the judge: Don't just walk away from the oven & come back 40 minutes later. Touch , smell, feel the doneness. The center of the salmon should feel like pad of skin on your palm below your thumb & still have some translucency for medium to medium rare. The salmon should not be cooked until it flakes or is firm to the touch. It will taste dry & mealy if you overcook it. You'll have wasted your time and your money.

Be sure to thoroughly cover those sprigs of thyme & garlic in olive oil to keep them from drying out and to allow them through the vehicle of the oil to infuse the salmon with their perfume, the oil also assists in gently oven-poaching the salmon while keeping it moist.

Ingredients

For the Salmon:

• 2 salmon fillets with skin on (about 8oz. each & 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 inches thick)
• extra virgin olive oil, 2-3 Tablespoons (for drizzling over the thyme sprigs)
• 4 whole sprigs of fresh thyme
• 1 large or two small, finely minced
• 1 teaspoon of soy sauce
• freshly ground black pepper & sea salt to taste
• 1 Tablespoon Meyer Lemon oil (olive oil that has been infused with Meyer Lemon; available at Whole Foods, Bryan's, Cal-Mart or anywhere that gourmet foods are sold)

For the Squid Ink Linguine and Red Pepper, Artichoke Nage:

• 1 8.8oz. package of Campofilone Linguine with Squid Ink Egg Pasta
• 2 -3 cloves of garlic, removed from their skins without smashing, thinly sliced then julienned
• 8 cooked baby artichokes (tops & stems trimmed; tough spiny outer leaves removed, boiled for 10 minutes in a court bouillon of water, grapefruit juice, smashed garlic clove, bay leaf, salt & pepper; See the pictured section of this post for more explicit instructions)
• 1 Large Red Bell Pepper (with tops, ribs & seeds removed) thinly julienned into even lengths
• 1/8 teaspoon of cracked red pepper flakes
• 1/8 teaspoon of herbes de provence
• 1 sprig of fresh thyme, leaves stripped from the stem & chopped
• 5-6 basil leaves, finely chiffonade
• 6 stalks of chive, rough chopped
• extra-virgin olive oil, to cover bottom of pan plus more for emulsifying the sauce
• 1 cup of reserved cooking water for artichokes
• 1/2 cup of vegetable stock (I use Wolfgang Puck's Organic stock found at Whole Foods & Safeway)
• 1/2 cup of dry white wine
• the juice from 1 Meyer Lemon
  
• freshly ground sea salt & black pepper to taste

The baby artichokes, so cute in their grapefruit bath...

Trimmed the stems, cut off the spiny tops, removed the tough outer leaves & dropped each one directly in a large pot in water that was acidulated with grapefruit juice. I only had one Meyer lemon & didn't want to use it all up just to keep the exposed artichoke parts from turning brown. Grapefruit juice worked like a charm. When I was done trimming, I smashed a couple of garlic cloves and added them to the water, along with a bay leaf, coarse sea salt & coarsely ground black pepper. I put the pot over medium-high heat & allow the chokes to boil until just cooked but not soft (10 minutes or so, until they smell like cooked artichokes; an ephemeral instruction, for sure, but it's how I know they're done).

The Loch Duart Salmon, so luscious...

While the water heats up for the artichokes, I preheat the oven to 250 degrees. I prep the salmon by placing them skin side down in a foil lined cast iron skillet and rubbing the fillets with Meyer lemon infused olive oil, a tsp of soy sauce, minced garlic, coarse sea salt, coarsely ground pepper & a few sprigs of thyme. Then I drizzle plain high quality extra virgin olive oil over the top, making sure to coat the thyme branches well & set the pan on the middle rack of the oven. I lower the temperature to 200 degrees and slow roast the salmon fillets for anywhere from 40-50 minutes depending on thickness & desired doneness. My fillets were 8 oz each, 1-1/2" thick & I like my salmon medium to medium rare. Thinner, smaller salmon fillets will take less time (25-30 minutes per inch of thickness depending on desired doneness).



While the salmon & the baby chokes cook, I remove the ribs & seeds from a large red pepper & julienne it into uniformly sized pieces. The linguine is thin & I want to red pepper to echo the pasta's shape. I also thinly slice & julienne two large cloves of garlic without smashing them. I want the garlic to be nutty & fragrant but not overwhelming & bitter.



When the artichokes are done, I remove them from their court bouillon with tongs & set them cut side down on a kitchen towel to drain & cool. I reserve 1 cup of the artichoke water & discard the rest. While the artichokes are cooling, I set a 10 quart pasta pot filled with water to boil over medium high heat for the pasta.



When the artichokes are cool, I cut them into quarters, being sure to remove any tough leaves I may have missed during my initial preparation of them, and lay them on the cutting board with the julienned red peppers & garlic. I, also, chop a few large cherry tomatoes into small dice (not pictured). Then I place a 12", 5 quart braising pan over medium to medium-high heat & add enough olive oil (don't use your finest, first cold pressed olive oil yet we want something with a little higher smoking point) to coat the bottom of the pan. I add a grinding of salt and black pepper, a pinch of cracked red chili flakes and a pinch of herbes d'provence until fragrant.

I add the vegetables one at a time, starting with the red bell peppers until they soften slightly, followed by the artichokes, the garlic & when the kitchen is redolent with the garlic, the tomatoes until they cook down & coat the veggies. I, then, strip the leaves off a large sprig of thyme, give them a rough chop & add them to the pot with a quick stir.

At this point I add...

A little chef's nectar, which in this case was half a glass of the Kistler I was drinking which my hubby just purchased a couple of cases of. I'm always willing to sacrifice for my art! Any dry white wine will do as long as it's quaffable (BTW, the '04 Kistler Vine Hill Vineyard, definitely is that).

After that has cooked down a bit, you need to add a tablespoon or two of your best, fruitiest extra-virgin olive oil, stirring it in well, 1/2 cup of the artichoke water & 1/2 cup of vegetable stock (I used Wolfgang Puck's organic but you can make your own if you like) allowing it to reduce slightly but not too much (about 5-7 minutes). Remember you don't want it to dry out (the stock provides the sauce for the pasta), then lower heat to a bare simmer, add additional oil & stir until an emulsion forms. Stir in the fresh juice from 1 Meyer lemon. Taste for additional seasoning & adjust to your liking. Chiffonade 5 or 6 basil leaves. Rough chop 6 or 7 stalks of chive and add them to the pot; give them a quick stir in & lower heat to the lowest possible setting.

By this time, the pasta pot has been boiling away and your salmon is likely to be done; add a tablespoon of coarse sea salt into the pasta pot, and stir it in to dissolve the salt. Check your salmon for doneness. If it is done to your liking remove it from the oven, baste it with some of the olive oil that has collected in the pan & set aside in a warm spot. You want your salmon to be done before you cook the pasta. This particular brand of thin dry egg pasta only takes two-three minutes to cook. (You'll have to adjust your cooking time if you use another type of pasta.)

Add the pasta to the pot, stirring it in as you add it to the pot to keep it from sticking together. Check it after 2 minutes to see if it is done & every minute after that if it isn't done enough for you. Remember a pasta like this goes from al dente to mush rapidly so be vigilant.

When it's done, remove the pot from the heat & carefully lift & drain the linguine over the pot using tongs to transfer it from the pasta pot into the artichoke mixture; mixing it in with the tongs as you go.



Add some of the squid ink linguine pasta water (or reserved artichoke water) as well as additional olive oil, if the pasta seems dry. Finish with a dusting of Parmigiano-Reggiano, stir it in & add another dusting to the pasta after plating it. Then remove your fillet of salmon from its skin by sliding a sturdy fish spatula beneath it & place over the linguine. Mangia!!!

Hungry? Don't Really Wanna Cook? How About Some Fast Food, Homestyle

There are days I just don't want to cook.

Maybe I'm tired, maybe I don't feel like shopping ( I usually shop every day for my proteins & whatever produce inspires me), maybe I just can't face another sink full of dirty dishes. Somehow, going out to eat isn't the answer for me on days like this; it's rainy, it's cold, I'd rather stay at home, curl up with a glass of wine and watch an old movie or maybe the poor hapless Golden State Warriors (Go Monta Ellis! Please get better.. we NEED you, desperately).

These are days when I'm likely to reach for the take out/delivery menus.
We always opt for the delivery option.

There are three categories of go-to's for us: sushi from Osome, red curry (with either eggplant, pumpkin or chicken) & rice from Little Thai, or pizza (with subcategories of its own):

• from Amici's the Boston with sausage added to it (my hubby's #1 option) or with spinach added to it (my idea)
• a Potesto with sausage added from Za's, or
  
• the Menage a Trois from Pizza Orgasmica with spinach added (I have a thing for spinach, olive oil, dairy & dough, don't ask)

However, after my trip to Canyon Ranch, I realized these seemingly innocuous occasional meals were sabotaging my attempts at weight loss. Particularly because I was ordering in so frequently these days.

We sold our Presidio Heights home last December, & with it, my 900 square foot dream kitchen, outfitted for and designed by me (with the help of my fab architects & contractors, of course). This tragedy is posted elsewhere in the archives.

(View of my former kitchen.) Left this........

Since the sale, we've taken temporary shelter in a rental on Russian Hill with fantastic unobstructed views of the bay and a 70 square foot kitchen fully equipped with a vintage 4 burner electric range from the late 1980's and the first Subzero side by side refrigerator ever sold .

.... for this (View of my current kitchen)

But at least I see this when I cry into my Riedel glass

While, things could be worse (there's an ok sized pantry, large drawers & some counter space), cooking in this kitchen was not something I looked forward to; so I didn't (except the holidays).

Not for 6 long weeks and a few extra pounds.

It was either learn to enjoy cooking in this kitchen or buy stretch pants from Chico's where the very chic overweight, middle-aged harrigan chooses to shop. Guess what I chose?

These days when I don't really feel like cooking, I survey the kitchenscape & see what I can scrounge up in 15 minutes or less.
It becomes a game & a fun food challenge for me. I channel my inner Top Chef wannabe & see if I can make something tasty to eat & pretty to look at with whatever the contents of my refrigerator and pantry have to offer.

It's easier than you think.

All you need are high quality items that are staples in your kitchen. Items that you consistently replenish as you use them to have on hand when you need them.

For me, they are pasta (dried or fresh), a couple of types of rice, panko, balsamic vinegar, jerez vinegar, rice wine vinegar, mirin, extra-virgin & light olive oil, toasted sesame oil, grapeseed oil, a block of parmigiano reggiano, creme fraiche, mascarpone, greek yogurt, some kind of chevre, some kind of aged cheddar, white truffle oil &/or white truffle butter, unsalted butter, dried lentils, canned cannellini, canned black beans, soy sauce, thai fish sauce, red curry paste, coconut milk, sriracha sauce, eggs, frozen peas, half & half, baby spinach leaves, a head of broccoli, baby carrots, chipotle paste & or canned chipotles in adobo, frozen veal stock, frozen veal demi, frozen berries, frozen edamame, frozen leftover meat ragu, Wolfgang Puck's organic boxed chicken & vegetable stock, dried porcini mushrooms, macadamia nuts, sesame seeds, almonds, walnuts, pine nuts (in the freezer), dried cranberries, oatmeal, cornstarch, a feww types of flour, arrowroot, Italian san marzano whole tomatoes & a tube of paste, canned whole fire-roasted tomatoes, capers, shallots, garlic, onions, various dried herbs & spices, whole nutmeg, fresh black & green olives, French Picnic's frozen pastry circles, scottish smoked salmon, avocado, lime, lemon, prosciutto, fig jam, mayo, dry tablewines in our Le Cache, Peets coffee beans & cocoa powder, whole wheat bread, corn tortillas, whole wheat pitas.

Looks like a long list, huh? If it were in your pantry & fridge, it wouldn't take up as much space as you'd think and from it you can create a multitude of dishes in any vernacular, anytime you want to eat. Of course, your pantry could look much different. Just stock things you like, some things that have a longer shelf life, some things that are fresh, some frozen, a cooking oil, a drizzling oil, something acidic like vinegar or citrus etc. Just be sure to buy butters and oils in small quantities; oils can get rancid & butter can pick up refrigerator odors that may not lend them a beautiful bouquet.

Here's what I scrounged up last night; took 15 minutes with most of the time spent waiting for the proverbial pot to boil ( I swear I wasn't watching it):

Porcini Mushroom Tortellini with White Truffle Butter, Baby Spinach

Note: Told you I had a thing about spinach, olive oil, dairy & dough! This is hardly a recipe so I'm not going to approach it as one. I'll just talk you through it.

There are six ingredients plus seasoning. It's more like an assembly of ingredients than a recipe which is almost all you usually need to do when you're foraging for dinner from your fridge. It all gets cooked in one pot. The pasta pot. You'll need:

• a Chinese style bamboo-handled wok strainer or rough equivalent.
  
• A microplane for the cheese.
  
• A tablespoon.
  
• A pair of tongs for the spinach.
  
• A wooden spoon.
  
• A pair of potholders.
  
• Clean hands.
  
• A kitchen towel
• A large heat-resistant serving bowl, placed near the pot with the truffle butter in it.
• All of your ingredients assembled in front of you near the cook surface. There are not many & they do not require measuring just have all the lids & caps off. Unless you like to stage things for better organization, then by all means, meez away! It's what the pros do (mise en place, "set in place", that is)
  
• Be sure to have red pepper flakes & sea salt handy
  

Let's discuss the ingredients, mostly local & worth seeking out to have in your pantry. Click on their producer's names to read more about them.

Ingredients:

• I had 2 packages of nice porcini mushroom tortellini made with fresh egg pasta from Bologna's Bertagni, "the oldest manufacturer of tortellini" available at Whole Foods. You can use any good dry pasta, too, like Cipriani's extra thin tagliarelli egg pasta or Rustichella d'Abruzzo's luscious parpardelle or farfalle, all available at Marina Meats, Cal-Mart, Whole Foods, Bryan's or Cheese Plus.
  
• about 2 -3 Tablespoons of truffle butter. The truffle butter comes from Fabrique Delice out of Hayward, Ca. It has real truffle in it & true truffle flavor. (or as close as you can get 5000 miles away from where they are foraged). I prefer it to the truffle oil I had on hand for its warm, round truffle essence (also available at Whole Foods). Some truffle oils get too astringent or acrid tasting which would have marred the luscious creamy flavor I was looking for in this dish.
• I put about 3 Tablespoons of creme fraiche from Kendall Farms, located in the heart of California's Central Coast, Atascadero; not too far from a dear friend of ours, Greg Lynn, owner of Ambullneo Vineyards, one of the best, if not the best, domestic pinot noir & chardonnay in the country. A stellar wine to have with this dish (and we did) if you can get it (and we can, yaaay!).
• The fruity e.v.o.o. is also a Central Coast California product, Balzana, out of Santa Ynez. You'll need enough to coat the bottom of the pan plus more for drizzling on the pasta after its cooked.
  
• The cheese is the king of cheeses, Parmigiano-Reggiano, accept no substitutes. Shaved not grated. As much as you like. I love to see those shards of cheese slowly melt over my pasta & spinach. Look at the Parmigiano-Reggiano official website, it's fabulous!
• Two or three handfuls of baby spinach (depending on the size of your hands). The baby spinach is organic but came out of a box from Safeway's O Organics. I buy bulk items like water & detergent from Safeway & every once in a while, I'll throw in some produce like bagged spinach.
• 1/3 of a handful of sea salt for the boiling pasta water
• a pinch of herbes de provence
  
• a pinch of red pepper flakes
• a pinch of fleur de sel
• a couple of grinds of freshly ground pepper
  

Directions:
Bring an 8 quart pot of water over high heat to a rolling boil (obviously, we are only filling that pot 3/4 of the way up before we set it to boil).

1. Add salt. Stir it in with your wooden spoon to help dissolve.
2. When water starts to boil again, carefully add pasta, give it a gentle stir & reduce to medium high.
   
3. Cook according to manufacturers directions. Fresh pasta, depending on it's thickness & composition, cooks quickly (2-3 minutes) so be vigilant, when tortellinis float to the top they are usually done. Taste them to test them, they should be soft but still have a little resistance to your teeth ("al dente"). Usually I say it's a matter of individual preference but tortellini & ravioli lose their precious filling, if you overcook them. So don't overcook them.
4. When pasta is done, remove the pot from the heat & extract the pasta one ladleful at a time with the Chinese strainer; carefully allowing the water to drain over the pot before placing them into the waiting serving dish already filled with truffle butter near the stove. (This will keep them from breaking apart as they might if you just dumped them in a colander in the sink; & it has the added bonus of warming the serving bowl.)
5. As soon as you have placed all the pasta in the bowl, shave a layer of cheese on it & give it a gentle stir with the wooden spoon to evenly coat the pasta with the truffle butter. Place the serving bowl on empty burner that has no heat on it to keep it warm while you cook the spinach.
6. Drain the water out of the pasta pot into the sink. Wipe down any spills that may have occurred on the bottom surface or sides of the pot and place pot over medium high heat.
7. Add enough oil to coat the bottom of the pot, add a pinch of salt, a pinch of red chili flakes & a pinch of herbes de provence to the oil. Give it a stir & add the spinach, using metal tongs to saute spinach until it cooks down, absorbs the oil & begin to give off liquid. (about 1-2 minutes)
8. Then add the creme fraiche, incorporating it into the spinach, until a sauce forms (about 1-2 minutes). Turn off heat. Adjust for seasoning (salt, pepper) & add on top of the pasta (or you can add the pasta to the pot to mix it with the spinach if you need to gently rewarm the pasta).
   
9. Shave additional parmigiano over the spinach mixture to taste. Gently fold the spinach into the pasta, mixing without mashing. Add additional truffle butter or olive oil if pasta seems dry to you but remember this is not a "saucy" dish. It is meant to be a light creamy coating over the pasta but also restrained & elegant enough to taste the truffle in the butter & the porcini in the filling. Add an additional dusting of cheese if you like but don't drown it. Hubby & I usually eat this kind of dish out of one bowl with two forks. It forces us to sit closer, focus on each other as well as the food.
   
10. Serve with a Pinot Noir or a little Brunello di Montalcino; a crisp French white burgundy like the '02 Bourgognes or other village wines from quality producers like Coche-Dury, Leroy are relative bargains & would be a different way to go by cutting through the richness of the fungi and the butter instead of complimenting them. Central coast chardonnay or sauvignon blanc can have the same effect as the white burgundies. Just stay away from the big oaky wines. You'll need a wine with more subtlety. Mangia, my darlings, mangia!
    

A Rainy Saturday Lunch for One

Ahh, April in San Francisco: sounds so lovely... camellias in full bloom, the fragrance of jasmine everywhere, hummingbirds flitting from flower to flower, making the occasional guest appearance at the windows that face the garden, delighting us with their fleeting but welcome presence; all so perfect if only it would STOP RAINING!!!!!

Just like that great blues artist, John Lee Hooker, I'm moaning "Rainy days, rainy days, I think it's raining all the time.." because it is raining all the time!! John should know. He lived in San Francisco, too. No wonder he sang the blues.

So what is a woman who is single for the weekend while her husband is on a three day alcohol-fueled, gas-guzzling orgy to do on such a miserable day? ( did I mention, he went to an NHRA event in Vegas with his "work associates" rubbing elbows with the most illustrious members of the beer belly & tube-top crowd )

Watch depressing films & eat, of course!

My day started with Haagen-Daz's latest marketing gimmick "Extra Rich Light Ice Cream" (are they brilliant or what?) which was so rich yet so light that I proceeded to eat the entire pint while watching the darkly comic & extremely depressing (hence the need for mood-elevating enhancer in Caramel Cone flavor) biography of Peter Sellers, very aptly portrayed by Geoffrey Rush.

It's called "The Life & Death of Peter Sellers". See it if you're a true movie buff & Peter Sellers fan like I am. Otherwise, don't bother.
As for the ice cream, buy Breyers or Dreyers on the west coast because that is what it tasted like. The "Extra Rich Light" Haagen-Daz is nothing more than plain old supermarket variety ice cream that they have managed to sell at a premium ice cream price because of the brand label.

If you're going to pay for premium ice cream then get the regular Haagen-Daz not the "light" version. The regular one has much better texture & flavor for the same price (yes, I tried both in the same flavor, dutiful consumer advocate that I am).

If you want to cut calories & pennies, buy the supermarket brand or better yet eat a peach.

Two hours & 1000 calories later, I was in a position to re-evaluate my nutritional needs for the day; none of which had been met except for my total fat & saturated fat requirements which had far exceeded the RDA's daily recommendations ( thank you, Haagen-Daz!!)

Some nutritional experts claim that people who eat unhealthily continually overeat because their bodies are clamoring for missing nutrients; so the poor fat slob's brain keeps impelling him or her to eat until these nutritional wants are met.

Once they are met, the hunger is sated and the food impulse ends. Often they are not met and so the endless cycle of junkfood eating continues, making us fatter but nutritionally starved.

Sounds logical, no?

I have one thing to say to that: NONSENSE!!!

One hour after my depression-induced calorie fest, I decided to test this theory of compulsive eating by drinking two glasses of water & taking one very potent multi-vitamin designed especially for women, jam-packed with the latest in essential everything meeting the nutritional requirements of ten bionic athletes.

The result.....HUNGER.

Still hungry even after a mammoth dose of anti-oxidants mated with all those nasty, fully-loaded, energy-zapping, atom-killing , wrinkle-inducing, predatory, & uncoupled things known as free radicals that all the diet gurus & dermatologists keep preaching about to us .

So...maybe I still need to reach my requirements for dietary fiber.

With this in mind, here's a healthy & tasty lunch entree that is easy to make and would even win the approval of the good doctors: Perricone, Sears & Agatson (avatars of, respectively, the Perricone Prescription, the Zone Diet & the South Beach Diet). Being alone on a rainy Saturday afternoon with a Woody Allen movie blaring in the background (Annie Hall is my first choice) is not an absolute prerequisite for preparing or enjoying this meal but let's face it: if you were with your significant other on a beautiful sunny day would you really spend it inside your kitchen cooking a healthy pasta dish? Right, I didn't think so.

Note:
Use farro pasta, an ancient whole grain that is low on the glycemic index (Rustichella d'abruzzo, a luxe supermarket brand now makes it) to make the dish extra healthful and flavorful and add a little extra left coast appeal. Heirloom cherry tomatoes also add a nice touch.

Of course, you can substitute your favorite vegetable for the broccoli rabe: asparagus, spinach, peas, arugula or mushrooms all would work equally well. I just happen to like the bite & heft of broccoli rabe. Get a whole rotisserie chicken cooked from your favorite grocer or meat purveyor (Bryan's is the best in S.F.) unless, of course, you have a rotisserie oven at home, then go for it!!! You can get a roasted chicken but rotisserie chicken is beautifully moist, evenly cooked & much less fatty. You can also substitute grilled Italian sausage or poached salmon for the chicken or skip the meat altogether & add feta to the dish for a vegetarian twist. Isn't cooking wonderful?? You are in total control! This recipe will serve one very bored, ravenously hungry person with enough leftover for another rainy afternoon or 4 moderately hungry people in any kind of weather.

Pasta with Rotisserie Roasted Chicken Breast, Broccoli Rabe & Cherry Tomatoes



Ingredients:
1 lb. pasta (farfalle, penne rigate or fettuccine work well)
1 bunch of broccoli rabe (washed, dried & roughly chopped into bite-size pieces)
1 rotisserie chicken breast (skin & bone removed, cut into 1" bite-size chunks)
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes ( cut the larger ones in half)
2 medium-sized garlic cloves (finely diced)
1/2 cup dry white wine (something decent & potable, taste it, if you can't drink it don't cook with it!)
1/2 cup good quality, low-sodium chicken stock (or vegetable stock, if you must)
1/4 cup high quality extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 whole lemon preferably Meyer's, juice & finely grated peel only (no white pith, too bitter)
1/2 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated by hand (plus more to taste for garnish)
1/2 bunch parsley (leaves & soft stems only, finely chopped)
1/8 tsp of salt & pepper, to taste
small handful of basil, leaves only, chiffonnaded
1 large pot for pasta
1 large saute pan with lid

Start a large (at least 6 quart) pot of lightly salted water to boil for the pasta. When the pot reaches the boiling point, add pasta, stirring briskly to prevent it from sticking. When water returns to the boil, lower heat slightly and cook according to the package directions, or until al dente. Drain pasta in colander. Keep pasta in colander, place colander back in pot & cover loosely with towel or foil to keep warm.
While pasta is cooking, place a large saute pan or wok (12" or 14" in diameter) on med-high heat. Add the 1/4 cup of olive oil to the pan, wait a few seconds, add 1/8 tsp salt and red pepper flakes, then give pan a quick stir to evenly distribute seasoning. Add all of the broccoli rabe, allowing it to sit in pan without stirring for 45 seconds to a minute.
Give the broccoli a quick stir, exposing uncooked areas to the bottom of the pan. then add garlic & saute mixture for another minute or two until all of the mixture appears to have absorbed the oil evenly then add the stock, cover the pan & steam broccoli for 2 minutes until slighly wilted.
Remove lid from pan, add the cherry tomatoes and the wine then turn up the heat until most of the wine evaporates. Turn off heat, add chicken, pepper, parsley, lemon juice & peel; stirring to incorporate everything. Add pasta, cheese & additional olive oil. Toss well. Taste. Adjust seasoning, adding additional oil or stock if pasta appears to dry. Serve in warm bowls using the microwave to warm them. Garnish with basil and more cheese, if desired.