culinary lesson of the day

[coraa]

Apparently, baking chicken with a sauce made of onion, garlic, orange juice and lime relish turns it bitter. (The relish, I mean.) In the future, just bake with the onion/garlic/orange juice and finish with the lime relish after the baking is done.

Still, it was entirely eatable!

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[vexillate.livejournal.com]

I thought you might enjoy my friend Vittoriosa's livejournal post on a favorite new dish, simple--

For dinner, I'm having leftovers of what I made last night. My landlady told me about this dish -- she calls it Sicilian minestra, it's one of the staples she grew up on -- and it sounded so tasty I had to try it myself.

Heat up 1-2 quarts chicken stock (less if you want the dish like a saucy stew, more if you want it like soup). Break half a pound of spaghetti into small pieces. Chop "an ungodly amount" of garlic (I was making half a recipe and used almost an entire head of garlic...L says she covers the bottom of her saucepan 1/4-inch deep with chopped garlic). When the broth is boiling, throw in your spaghetti, cook until al dente. While the pasta cooks, in a large, wide-bottomed saucepan, heat up some olive oil, then add the garlic and saute until golden (do not let it brown). When the garlic smells delicious, add about a pound of broccoli florets (no stems) and saute briefly -- careful not to overcook the veg. As soon as the noodles are cooked, pour the contents of that pot into the broccoli pot. Now you have your garlic, broccoli and spaghetti all swimming happily in hot chicken broth. Season with salt to taste and a generous amount of black pepper. Stir in a couple handfuls of grated cheese (L uses Sicilian locatelli, I used Parmesan 'cause that's what I had). Serve immediately, with more pepper and cheese on top. Yum! (L might disagree, but I tentatively suggest the following: use water or veggie broth for a vegetarian version; for a healthier version, though there's nothing terribly splurgy in the original, substitute whole-wheat spaghetti and don't stir cheese into the soup.) I have a feeling this is going to become a fixture in the canon of quick weeknight suppers...