Chicken Penne Italiano

I'm not really sure that title means much. All it tells you is that has chicken and penne in it, and is cooked somewhat Italian like? But it does sound pretty cool. Anyway, I was planning on making a different dish, but I decided that, from a health point of view, no matter how good it tasted, it may not be the best idea to have everything I cook contain 2 cups of heavy cream. So I ended up with this. Chicken and veggies sautéed then simmered in chicken broth and diced tomatoes with lots of exciting spices and cooked penne. I'll be the first to admit it doesn't have the rich, awe-inspiring depth of taste of something with a sauce made with heavy cream, but that doesn't mean a light taste can't be delicious. Plus the knowledge that what you're eating isn't going to plug up your arteries has to be worth something. And just look at all those pretty colors.

Beef Stroganoff

I love egg noodles. I'm not sure why. But the one thing I always remember eating over them is beef stroganoff. A lot of time the cheaper cuts of meat are used, but that often results in what was affectionately labeled when I was younger, "Long-chew meat." So when I saw sirloin kabobs on sale I figured it was the perfect opportunity. The worcestershire sauce and red-wine vinegar added to the sauce gave it a wonderfully tangy flavor. I thought it was fantastic. I could have eaten the whole thing in one night.

Chicken Penne Pasta

Beyond the fact that it was green, I knew pretty much nothing about pesto before today. A little bit of research quickly convinced me to forego trying to make it myself. Its deep green color comes from the large amount of fresh basil. This is crushed up with sea salt and pine nuts and turned into a cream, being finished with some olive oil and cheese. There was only one type of pesto at the store, but I was happy with the apparent quality. This dish itself is pretty simple, using whipping cream and pesto for the sauce. I added extra pesto just to make sure I could distinguish the flavor.

Turns out I didn't need to. The sauce had a strong basil flavor and an enjoyable nuttiness. Some sort of memory kicked it, so I know that I've had it before, I'm just not sure where. Given my general love for basil I'm going to look for some excuses to use it in the future. The jar suggested adding it to tuna salad, so I think I'll give it a shot.

Baked Ziti

How can anything with a pound each of pasta and Italian sasuage mixed with tomato sauce, sour cream, ricotta, and lots of cheese go wrong?

So why do I cook so much Italian style food? Well, aside from the obvious reason that I like flavor, there are several others:

1. You get to start every recipe by sauteing onions and garlic. (Note exception in last recipe)

2. Cheese is ubiquitous.

3. Just about every recipe contains pasta, which is filling but cheap.

4. Many of the recipes lend themselves decently to reheating. This recipe for example completely filled my 9 x 13 dish. That means I'm going to be eating it for the rest of the week.

Chicken Parmesan with Tomato Sauce over Linguine

Breading and baking chicken is such an easy way to generate great taste. Given the myriad of different options for coating, breading, sauce and what to serve over, there are probably thousands of different possibilities. This one dips the chicken in garlic butter and coats it in bread crumbs mixed with parmesan cheese and spices. This is also the first time in forever that I can remember where I didn't slice up an onion for a dish. However in defense of my insistence that all good recipes must contain onions, I'm sure that there was some kind of onion in the Italian style bread crumbs I was using.