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Thu 23 Feb, 2006 07:00 pm
My cupboard is pretty bare today since I just got back from out of town and I'm trying to pull together dinner. I have searched recipes but I seem to always be missing one essential ingredient and I don't want to go to the store tonight.
Here is what I have:
Spinach linguini or there might be some plain old penne around somewhere or I have some rice (brown, white or wild).
Gruyere cheese or some feta in the freezer
butter
1% milk
canned crab meat or leftover roast chicken or some smoked salmon and there is a little bit of ham too
white wine
I also have most of the basic spices and staples, etc.
All of the ingredients I have on hand are pretty nice so they don't need anything too fussy done to them but I'm feeling a little brain dead so I'm asking for help.
I have enough vegetables to make a nice salad to accompany whatever else I make.
I really appreciate your help!
Yum!!!
Prepare the linguini as directed.
If you have any onions and/or mushrooms, saute them in a bit of olive oil.
Stir in about 1 Tbs flour and cook for two minutes. Pick one of the meats (not the ham) and depending on which one you pick, either add it next or wait and fold it in last. The chicken can be added next, either the crab or salmon (broken up into pieces) should be folded in last and only cooked long enough to heat them through. Pour in about a cup of the milk and maybe some butter, if you like it. Stir to let the sauce thicken and a handful of grated gruyere. Do you have any frozen peas? They would be good too. You can get a real flavor bang with a tiny bit of nutmeg. Serve the sauce over the linguini/
When's dinner?
I like to just slop everything together, put it in the oven for a while and hope for the best. I'm a wild man.
Spinach linguini alfredo - find a basic alfredo recipe on google... I know, weird with 1% but then you have butter too.
Vegetable salad.
Period.
I loved smoked salmon (as in lox) with pasta, but it doesn't sound like you have enough.
I do have both onions and mushrooms!
I might still have a few frozen peas....
I LOVE butter, are you kidding? Does anyone in their right mind not love butter?
That sounds very good and very easy!
With spinach linguini do you think crab or salmon or chicken would be best?
Can you be here by .... say..... 7:30?
that's in three minutes. I've made a similar dish with all three. I like to use left over salmon with pasta and I think it might hold up to the cheese sauce better than the crab. The chicken would be good too.
Boomer, with the ingredients you've listed, I'd use the spinach linguine, the smoked salmon with a cheese sauce using butter, flour, milk, the gruyere and some seasonings.
I'd take salmon. If you have some capers that would be
a nice addition.
---
We also just had Spaghetti with brown mushrooms and pumpkin seeds, sauteed in butter, and topped with freshly grated Parmesan.
Oh hey! I do have tri-color cheese tortilinis too -- I forgot about them!
I slop things together a lot too, Nick Fun, but I have a weird assortment of things tonight.
I don't have any parmesean, osso - not a drop. Most alfredo recipes call for that. Should I just substitute the gruyere?
And.... It's not 1% after all, it's skim but it's the skim they tart up to "feel" like regular milk which is really better than 1%, in my book, anyway.
I could live on salmon in any shape, form or style. I have maybe a quarter pound chunk (not lox-ish) of it which is not a lot to me but really goes pretty far in a pasta sauce.
I bought the crab today because I found it at an unbelivable price. It might be awful. Perhaps I'll pop a can open and see before I get to hard and fast on any decisions.
Or a carbonara sauce. If you've got eggs ...
I don't have any eggs!
That's what screwed me up in the first place. I found this great recipe that called for eggs and I don't have one. I even tried to call my neighbors to borrow eggs but nobody was home!
Okay... though.... I think I can pull this off.
The crab might be a bit too mild seeing the spinachness of the linguini and the gruyereness of the cheese.... that seems to be the general concensus?
I'm talking Pacific Time, JB - you've got about two hours.
Well jeez, dys. A girl has to watch her figure!
Hey!
I was just thinking about this.....
Famerman? Was that some kind of insult?
<sigh>
Sadly, "reservations" at our house usually mean carry-out.
How I would love to go linger......
So, what'd you decide, boomer?
I made it almost exactly like JB first posted and it was GREAT!
I just went with using the leftover chicken because there was quite a bit of it.
Even Mr. B commented on what a good dinner it was. I'm a pretty good cook and he usually just assumes the food will be edible and doesn't comment so when he does....
Thanks everyone!
yeah!!
Glad it turned out well, boomer.
Cuisine by committee, gotta love it. (And cav would be so proud.)
It really did turn out good. I'm looking forward to the leftovers.
It is so easy to get stuck in a cooking rut that committee planning is brilliant!
I think that the reason even Mr. B commented on it is because it was outside my usual repitoire.
I might have to try an ingredient thread again!
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