Posts Tagged ‘fast and easy’

It seems fitting that a week long drought of posts would be quenched with something labeled “quick” since it reflects why  there was a drought at all.  Work has been taking it all out of me this week and the last thing I felt like doing upon dragging my feet through my apartment door was cooking, so thus the drought.  I have something extra-super-special I’m making this weekend that I’ve been looking forward to for months (which will be posted Monday) but for now, I whipped this together tonight and it was scrumptious.

My dad messaged me this afternoon asking what he should do with a few boneless, skinless chicken breasts since my mother is away at her 40th high school reunion in Milwaukee.  Being a man who will happily eat frozen pot pies and canned peaches every night, I began suggesting the easy recipe below and realized just how tasty it sounded to me. So I went ahead and made it for myself, determined to post something new before my epic post Monday.  And here it is.

Be careful what you wish for or you just might get it.

Right before I made this dish I was musing on how out of all the recipes I’ve tried specifically for this site, only one has been labeled a complete and total failure (oh feta dill pie, you were terrible and let’s not speak of you again).  This recipe doesn’t quite make it to ‘failure’ status, but it certainly won’t be receiving the ‘favorite’ tag either.  Since my sister and I have The Shining, we made this within 3 days of each other and both did our spins on it, with mediocre results.  She used capers instead of olives, I used pecorino romano instead of feta and a different pasta shape, yet both results were lackluster.

The idea behind this dish is great.  Like pasta puttanesca, you make a room temperature tomato  sauce (using the best heirloom tomatoes in this case) with some olives, toss hot pasta with it, add some cheese, and dig in.  Since I’ve been battling a horrible head cold and didn’t feel like spending my energy standing in the kitchen for hours, the idea really appealed to me.

The flavor isn’t bad per se, it’s just very subtle and nothing extraordinary.  Something I did notice however while snacking on the cold leftovers late last night was that the flavor intensified and the entire dish was more enjoyable cold, after sitting for a day.  Honestly, if I were to make this again, I would make it, chill it, and serve it the next day as a cold pasta salad.  But hot for an entree?  Probably not again anytime soon.