Tuesday night pasta

So this past Tuesday (04-03-2012) I had to made some dinner for the wife and I. We had nothing but left-overs to get rid of.  That being said, much like the world of Italians, I decided to make my own version of a "Tuesday Night Pasta."  For those who haven't heard, there is a dish called Sunday Night Pasta.  A common chain restaurant group has this as a daily menu item, Grand Lux Cafe. This traditional pasta dish was originally the common Sunday night feast in many Italian homes.  It was literally the left overs from the week and thrown together into a pasta meal.  So every Sunday, Italians would be eating "Sunday Night Pasta" which varied every week depending on the left overs of the week.  This has grown in popularity and quickly became a staple on many restaurant menus. It traditionally consists of a protein (meat), various vegetables, and a sauce of sorts.  Mix that with whatever pasta you have laying around in your pantry and your set! 

Onto my Tuesday Night Pasta dish...

So my left overs consisted of the following:

1 Tomato

3 Cloves Garlic

1 Shallot

1 Onion

1 Head of Broccoli

1 Costco Chicken

Pasta for 2

As you can see, we used the breast of the chicken when we first got it.  Which was quite delicious.  If you're looking for a great way to save money and make a couple of dinners, Costco Chicken is the way to go! Eat it the 1st night, then use the leftovers in a dish just like this! Now, Back onto the making of the meal...

Get your chicken and Shred off some bite size pieces.

Here's what you'll end up with.

Mind you, I still have more chicken on the bird, so I'll be able to make a 3rd meal with this $8 bird! Figure $8 for 3 meals for two people...you do the math and tell me how that isn't better than McDonald's and their crappy $1 menu. Healthy eating at a cheap price! Just what I'm all about!

Next I went ahead and prep'd all the ingredients.  As you can see, I already diced the tomatoes, garlic, shallot, onions, and broke the broccoli up into bite size pieces. I then blanched the broccoli. That way it's already partially cooked and ready to go when I add it to my pasta. (This was happening while I was cutting up the other veg). You also want to pre-cook your pasta before. To do that, just follow the directions on the bag.

If you have no idea what blanching is, here is a quick explanation on how to:

Boiling pot of water, add 1 Tablespoon of Salt. Add your vegetable. Let it boil in the water for about 2-3 minutes. Strain the water out and add the vegetable into an ice water bath (water and ice). Once cooled, remove the vegetable and you have completed Blanching your first vegetable!

Next, I got a hot pan and added some EVOO to it.  I then added the onion & Shallots. Saute for 2-3 minutes until translucent. You can also see the Blanched Broccoli in this picture.

I added the garlic next and sauteed for 30seconds-1minute.  You want to add the next ingredient (chicken) once you can smell the garlic.  If you keep cooking, you could burn the garlic and this will impart a bitter taste to your dish and = no bueno food!

After cooking the veggies and chicken together, I added the Broccoli

Again, cook a couple of minutes, then add tomatoes

This should be all of your ingredients used up now.

Now comes the fun part...making the sauce.  I had no tomato sauce or any ready-to-use pasta sauces laying around.  Nor did I have white wine, so I had to fall back to my third option for quicky sauces....a chicken & lemon butter sauce.  Now you will need chicken stock to do this sauce.  If you don't have a can of Swanson's or any other brand chicken stock around then this is something you need in your pantry of goodies....Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base!

I have the chicken, beef, and vegetable base in my fridge at all times! It's all natural and not salty like the bouillon cubes and packets of powder you find everyone else use.  This is also a very healthy alternative.  To make the stock, just follow the directions.  Me being the crazy chef that I am, I just added a Tablespoon of base to my pasta. Mixed it up and then added some hot pasta water.

Mix it all up and make sure the base is fully dissolved.  Give it a taste and adjust your season (salt & pepper).  Then add the juice of 1 lemon.  That will give it a nice little kick. And now the best part of the dish....add some butter!

I added a little more than 1/2 a stick of butter. That's about 3oz of butter.  Now turn the heat to med and mix the pasta until the butter melts and incorporates into your sauce.  Give it a last taste for seasoning and then add your pasta.

Toss it all together and turn off the heat.  Give it a quick final taste for seasoning (you may need to add more lemon juice, butter, salt or pepper). Now Dish Up!

I finished our plates with some grated parm cheese and of course a sprig of parsley for the final garnish.

Keep in mind you can make this dish with anything you have in your pantry and fridge. Just left over veggies cooked together, a simple sauce, add some pasta, and Bam! Dinner is served!

Tuesday Night Pasta - Chef Approved!