Creative Cooking

Today I felt creative.  I wanted to make something new for lunch, so I scrounged around in the fridge looking for interesting stuff.

Here's what I pulled out:
leftover diced onion
a jar of diced garlic
butter
about a half cup of broccoli
a container of shredded parmesean
a container of those cute little mozzarella balls in water
some hard salami 

Here's what I pulled out and put back:
capers (I decided I didn't want them since I couldn't find any sun dried tomatoes)
roasted red pepper strips (past their prime--they got tossed)

Then I poked around in the cupboard.

Here's what I pulled out:
pecans
walnuts
basil fettucini 

Here's what I put back:
pecans and walnuts (because what I really wanted was pine nuts) 

Here's what I came up with:

Hard Salami and Fettucini Toss

Put water on to boil. 

Sweat onions and garlic in 1 T. butter and 1 T. olive oil for a few minutes.

In the mean time, cut sliced salami into strips and separate them.  Then brown them in another pan until fat is rendered and they are getting crispy.  Drain on paper towels and set aside. 

Add about a 1/4 c. chicken broth and 1/4 c. dry vermouth to onions and garlic. Turn down very low and let it reduce while the pasta water comes to a boil.  Oh, add broccoli now.  And crushed red pepper to taste.

Cook the pasta according to the package, only drain when it still has about 2 minutes to go. (I had basil fettucini on hand but you could use any noodle-y pasta) Don't rinse.  Add to the vegetable/broth pan and cover. It'll finish cooking in this pan and will thicken the dish at the same time.)

After two minutes, move the pasta mixture to a large bowl,  then toss in about five or six mozzarella balls, (cut into fourths) a large handful of shredded parmesean, and the salami.  Toss together quickly and serve, topped with a mixture of freshly chopped chives and parsley if you have some on hand.

No pictures.  We ate it all.  It was yummy. 

Comments

[ellen b]

That does it. I'm having Italian tonight! That creative pasta sounds yummy!

[Islandsparrow]

You are creative!!

I had barbecued hot dogs - very uncreative - but still yummy!