Lemony Weeknight Pasta

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Whenever we are hungry but there are no clear dinner plans or obvious ingredients to cook, it is easy to turn to pasta. Whatever we have around can go right in, and the result is usually delicious. This pasta was a really great, impromptu creation that I will intentionally whip up again. To make it, bring a well-salted pot of water to boil, and cook a heavy-duty pasta like bow ties according to the package’s instructions. While the water is heating, dice up 1-2 chicken breasts into bite-sized chunks, and sautée them in olive oil. Season the chicken with salt and pepper.

While the chicken cooks, chop up 1/2 onion, 3 garlic cloves, and some broccoli florets. When the chicken is cooked, transfer it to a side plate, and add the vegetables into the same pan to soften. Add more olive oil if the pan is dry, and sprinkle in some pine nuts to toast along with the veggies. Season them with salt and pepper.

Drain the pasta when it is finished cooking, and set it aside. Add a little bit of olive oil to the pot the pasta cooked in along with some halved cherry tomatoes and 2 big handfuls of baby spinach. Put the lid on the pot, and, over medium heat, allow the spinach to wilt and the tomatoes to burst.

When your pan of onion, garlic, and broccoli is softened, add the chicken back in along with the cooked pasta and a handful of frozen peas. Drizzle everything with olive oil and the juice from 1 lemon. When the spinach is wilted, toss it and the tomatoes in with the rest of the pasta. Transfer everything to a serving bowl, and generously top the pasta with grated parmesan cheese.

Although there are a lot of ingredients in this pasta and seemingly a lot of steps, they all go by really quickly if you maximize your time by completing tasks while other ingredients are cooking. Following this method, you will also dirty only one pan and one pot (amazing). For a quick dinner that has protein and veg, this pasta is a winner.

Shopping list:

  • Chicken breast- 1 or 2
  • Dried pasta
  • Onion- 1/2
  • Garlic- 3 cloves
  • Broccoli- 1/2 cup
  • Pine nuts- 1 handful
  • Cherry tomatoes- 1/2 cup
  • Baby spinach leaves- 2 big handfuls
  • Peas- 1/4 cup
  • Parmesan cheese
  • Olive oil
  • Lemon- 1
  • Salt and pepper
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Hawaiian Curiosities

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The hotel I stayed at in Honolulu had penguins. Penguins. They swam in the water with turtles and koi, and people could pet them if they came close enough. Penguins. In Hawaii.

The inner part of Honolulu is very different from the coast. It is cloudier and more tropical. The plant life is very unique. Granted, we were at a botanical garden. But look at this tree! I’d never seen anything like it. It reminds me of a crayon…peel back the paper and find a new color. Not that we peeled the tree. That would have been frowned upon.

And there are flowers like this one. So bright and beautiful. So much like a sea urchin or anemone, perched on a coral branch, swaying in the sea current.

Driving along the eastern coast of the island is absolutely stunning. On one side of the road are Jurassic Park-like mountains, jagged and green. On the other side are sheer cliffs, dropping off into the bluest water.

Along the way, we passed secluded coves with calm water inside rocky enclosures. Some people had braved the treacherous paths to lounge on the private beach. Paradise.

And in the distance were mountain islands just begging for picnic-ers.

Up on the North Shore, we didn’t find any big surfing waves during the calmer time of year, but we did find the perfect beach for lounging and swimming. The water was warm and deepened immediately after the shoreline. Swim in place, bob up and down in a peaceful tub of ocean. But 3 feet closer to shore, try to make it back to your beach towel, and be dragged repeatedly back into the sea. Paradise is not easy to escape.

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Party Bread

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I came across the idea to make pull-apart bread online, and I instantly knew that it was an easy way to recreate the delicious “special” bread from an Italian restaurant back home. Their bread has cheese, long hot peppers, olives, and meat baked into it to create a delicious pre-meal feast. Here is a shortcut to that wonder: Buy an already-baked loaf of bread, cut it open, stuff it with goodness, and heat it until it’s gooey.

To make a loaf of this pull-apart party bread for yourself, get a loaf of pain de campagne or another dense bread. Using a bread knife, make parallel slices that are 1 inch apart almost down to the the bread’s bottom crust. Don’t cut all the way through the loaf. Then, turn your bread 90 degrees, and make 1 inch slices going the other way. This cutting will create vertical bread sticks that can be stuffed and then pulled out individually. Preheat your oven to 350ºF.

Choose 4 items that you want to use to stuff the bread. If you stuff one item down every other slice in each direction, then each bread stick you pull out will have a different stuffing on each of its 4 sides. I definitely over-thought this process, but it paid off in flavor. I chose pepperoni, cheddar cheese, olive tapenade, and sun-dried tomatoes so the bread would have a nice balance of spicy, sweet, and salty.

Start stuffing your bread with the ingredients. Going one way, I did alternating slices of tapenade and tomatoes. Going the other way, I stuffed alternate slices with the cheese and the pepperoni. If you’re using pepperoni or another large item, make sure to do it last so that it doesn’t get in the way of the other items you’re trying to stuff in. I found stuffing the bread to be mindlessly therapeutic. Once the loaf is stuffed, generously drizzle the whole thing with olive oil. Let the olive oil get down between the cracks and soak in well.

Bake the bread for approximately 10-15 minutes or until the bread is toasty and the cheese is completely melted. I don’t recommend baking the loaves on a BBQ grill because the grill could get too hot and toast the bread before the insides melt. Once the bread is done, generously sprinkle it with red pepper flakes and lots of freshly copped chives. I’m looking forward to making this one again- it’s great to pick at over a few glasses of wine on a breezy rooftop.

Shopping list:

  • Pain de campagne
  • Pepperoni
  • Cheddar cheese
  • Olive tapenade
  • Sun-dried tomatoes
  • Olive oil
  • Red pepper flakes
  • Chives
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