The "doctor" is in.

With my accursed cold beginning to fade, and my cough starting to subside, I planned on a grand reentry to my kitchen. Something simple, but with a "chef's touch". I won't tell you what it was, save that it was a spectacular "interpretation" of a classic soup/sandwich combo.

But my dreams of gastronomic grandeur were short lived. I spent most of the day napping, and cleaning my poor neglected apartment in-between lazy-sessions.

So when 7:30 rolled around, I was H-U-N-G-R-Y. You know the kind of hungry I'm talking about. Not the "Oh I'd really like some dinner" kind; nor the "Man I haven't eaten since lunch!" sort. No, after 3 days of good soup and cheap pizza I was the kind of hungry that could make a binging stoner blush. My stomach and brain were both threatening to go on strike unless I ate some yummy foods NOW!

So I was forced to do something quick, and easy. I had some leftover chicken from the chicken soup I had made the other day. My hand was forced. Spaghetti. Not just spaghetti, but spaghetti and CHICKEN red sauce. Yeeeeeeaaahhhhhhh.

For this one, I wanted it quick. 30 minutes or less. I would love to tell you that I whipped up a marinara sauce from scratch and simmered it slowly for an hour or so but that's not the case. No, it was "Doctor time". I normally save a premium jar of good sauce in my pantry (don't look shocked, we'll do more marinara from scratch later. Trust me, I'mma Italiano here). After all, I don't always make my chicken or beef stocks from scratch either, but store-bought will do in a pinch! And like my store-bought stock buying, with my jars of tomato sauce, I do have a few rules I follow:

1. I ALWAYS buy premium sauce in jars, never cans.
2. I buy marinara only. No extra-super-chunky; nix the garden herb and mushroom, just
plain ol' marinara works best. (after all, you may be adding other flavors later!)
3. When I buy from the store, I cook with white wine. Why? Because tomatoes contain
alcohol-soluble flavors, and just a splash of white wine will really help bring out
some of the flavors in the sauce that might have otherwise remained dormant.
4. Regardless of whatever "doctoring" I will be doing to the sauce, I add basil,
garlic and pecorino to my sauce. Sitting on the shelf sure doesn't
help things in the flavor department. Just these additions REALLY make a difference!


With my chicken and tomato sauce simmering away, my attention quickly turned to my spaghetti. I hastily brought a gallon or so of good water to a boil with some salt and oil. Then the pasta went into the hot-tub!

Ever wonder how to make sure you get 100% genuine foolproof "Al dente" pasta every single time? Forget the time and go with taste. Not just taste, but texture! It went like this:

With the pasta boiling away, I plucked one of the undulating strands from the pot after 6 minutes or so and tried it. It was like eating a hardened swizzle stick....Yuck.
So I tried another one in a couple minutes. Much better! still undercooked but wasn't "bad". I knew it was close because (here's the key) while it didn't taste like a swizzle stick, the spaghetti still stuck in the back of my teeth a little bit.
About a minute later, I made my final taste, and the texture was finally where I wanted it. A little "bite" was needed to get through the pasta, but it left my molars nice and clean. Now that's "Al Dente".

I strained the pasta and threw together a dish rather quickly, since my brain, stomach, and taste buds were now threatening revolt unless they all got something substantial. A last dash of parsley (I was out of fresh basil) and some cheese later, I was ready to dig in.

What I love about putting chicken in a sauce is that it is almost always just a tad sweeter than other meat sauces. Not like a bad pizza sauce, but there's a subtle nuance in the body and the flavor of the sauce that belies it's "Doctored up" nature. And when the chicken is cooked in the sauce, the sauce actually changes to a more reddish-orange color. Combined with a wonderful al dente pasta and simmered sauce, all but the most past-prime chicken will again become a mouth-wateringly tender and soft morsel of comfort food goodness.

Do you hear that? ... Me either. That is the sound of a stomach well satiated and not making a sound. No doubt that nap #5 is swiftly approaching. Until my return to self-perceived epicurious extravagance, I wish you all better health than I've had this past week, and I bid you all "Good Eating."

471 dishes to go.