another leftover dish (pasta)

Again this one is just for creative inspiration. Our new refrigerator, not even a year old, stopped cooling and was down 6 days before the repair process ended. We lost a lot of food but managed to save some in our recycling bin with convenience store ice and old rug pieces and blankets for insulation. (After which we bought an insulated ice chest.) The frozen chicken breasts were obviously not going to survive this treatment so we wanted to cook them the first night. Except we had a few other frozen meats as well and weren't up to eating them all at one sitting and living to tell about it. (Which brings up memories of the weekend in the mountains of Austria in a barn apartment with Michelle and Uli for which each thought the other had shopped for the veggies so each brought only various red meats for the grill, and we had only that for every meal. Never again.) The food truck business in-laws said don't worry, just boil the chicken and it will keep even without refrigeration for a short time. [Remind me not to have their grilled chicken sandwich next time I do free lunch at the truck.] In any case with limited refrigeration it survived in its boiled form. And we survived the 6 days without a working refrigerator. A valuable experience for reminding us how dependent we are on our modern conveniences.

The recipe ready chicken turned out to be great for adding to improvised recipes. Like this one. But don't wait till your fridge breaks down to try it or some reasonable facsimile.

ingredients

1)

2 - 3 T olive oil

3 shallots, chopped finely

8 oz fresh white mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

2)

2 leftover boiled chicken breasts, chopped into small pieces

1/2 c (approx) white wine

salt, to taste

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

3)

1 oz ~ 1 T roasted sweet pepper spread (kopanisti)

1 4-oz jar sliced pimiento

1/4 c white wine

a touch of cayenne red pepper

~ 1/2 t paprika

1/2 c leftover white rice

1/4 c leftover spinach sautéed in garlic

4)

1 lb cavatelli

instructions

1. Start the pasta water boiling and when ready, throw in the salt and pasta and cook al dente.
2. Meanwhile, sauté the shallots and mushrooms in the oil.
3. Toss in the chicken pieces, cook a bit, then toss in the wine and evaporate.
4. Season with salt and pepper
5. Add in the rest of the ingredients and heat up.
6. Mix together with the cooked pasta and serve.

notes

1. Parmigiano here? Experiment.