Reflections

Yes, once again my family is fortunate enough to enjoy the wonderful delights of a Bowen culinary experience. Ok… so most the time they like the food I cook…

Sidetrack: I remember way back when we use to make out lists and shop for enough food for two weeks. Heck, a month in our pre-kids days. But now, more often than not, I simply stop by Kroger or Wal-mart and pick out what I want to prepare for dinner that particular evening. I’m not sure which way is better. Sometimes I just dont feel like going to the store, so we end up with fast food. Or sometimes we have places to go and people to see so its a burger on the way. But then there’s times, when I just feel like cooking! Last night was one of those times. (sidetrack ends here)

So last night on the way home I start thinking… Italian… or maybe that coffee spiced steak my brother told me about. But mmm I love Italian food. Well, I love food in general, but if I HAD to pick one type of food I like the best. It would be Italian. I love cooking Italian as well. The colors, the smell of the herbs, garlic, olive oil, picking out the fresh veggies… mmmm So Italian it is.

Some stuff I just do… spaghetti, dried red tomato, artichoke heart chicken in a creamy white sauce over a bed of penne pasta, baked ziti, lasagna… stuff like that, I just make it. Other times I like to pull out the cook book. So last night I decide I want something different so I look in the cook book. Ooooh so many choices but it needs to be on a budget.

I decide on Steak Pizzarelio or some such. I didn’t write down the name and I dont have the cook book with me, so thats probably not what it was called, but it was something like that. With creamy garlic potatoes and a side dish of noodles and veggies. Off to Wal-mart, buy the stuff, and back in the kitchen in no time.

I begin the water for the potatoes, those big pots take a while to start boiling. Then add olive oil red onion and garlic to the frying pan. While thats sauteeing I cut up the sirloin into tips. Its cheaper if you buy the steak and cut it up yourself. Of course stirring the garlic and onions as I go. Oh yeah, I cheated on the garlic. You can buy it in a jar already minced. Its ALMOST as good as fresh, almost. The onions are clear so I add the meat. While it is browning, clean the potatoes and put them in the now boiling water. Add a cup or so of white wine, a tablespoon or so of dried oregano, salt and pepper to the meat and while its reducing, cut up the veggies.

I decided on carrots, zucchini, mushrooms, red onion, and garlic. They are cut up and set aside for a moment. The potatoes are now done so I drain them and put them in the mixer. Adding new water to the big pot for the noodles. Add a cup of minced garlic, some dried oregano (maybe a tsp), too big spoonfulls of butter, salt and about a cup or so of romano cheese to the potatoes Then let the mixer do the mixing. You leave the skins on btw.

I only have one big frying pan so at this point I transfer the meat mixture to a sauce pan. Letting it continue to boil over medium-low heat. “DAD, I’m hungry… WHEN are we going to eat…â€? my son chimes in. “Mmmm it’s almost ready. Look at thatâ€? I say showing him the potatoes… “ooooh, I’m not sure I want to eat THATâ€? the skin in the creamy potatoes has thrown him a bit.

The water in the big pot is not quite boiling so I begin the veggies in the frying pan. Add a cup of olive oil and all the veggies. Sautee them for a bit until the water begins to boil and add start the noodles.

The meat is done, the potatoes are done, the veggies are done and now the noodles are done. Drain the noodles keeping a cup or so of the water. Add the noodle water to the veggie pan. Stir around a bit then toss the veggie mixture into the noodles along with a cup or so of romano cheese. Add some salt. And dinner is served.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the end, my son could take it or leave it. My daughter loved it. The wife… she didn’t say one way or the other. But me… I loved it… and the eating part was almost as fun as the cooking.

PS:  Yes I realize the pictures are a bit big.  I just havent had time to figure out how to insert the thumbnail that points to the Gallery2 thing on my other site.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 8th, 2006 at 9:46 am and is filed under Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.