I started at 4 pm by making the pasta dough. I made the dough and then let it rest for about 45 minutes. While it was resting, I made the sauce and chatted with my mom. The sauce was my fave recipe for sauce my good ol' friend Jamie Oliver. This is my go-to sauce now. I'm very happy that I have left over sauce for pizza on Friday too. The sauce is so easy. I put olive oil in the pan and let it heat up. Then I chop an onion, slice two cloves of garlic and chop up a dried red chili. I cook them all together for 10 minutes. Then I dump in three cans of diced tomatoes with basil in them. Again, thank you Wegmans for carrying store brand organic tomatoes. This cooks for about 30 minutes and then I throw in some fresh basil. I ran outside and grabbed a handful, while noting that my basil is going to seed already. What gives with that?! Once it simmers just a bit more with the basil, I put the sauce in a big bowl and ran my immersion blender through it to get rid of the chunks of onion and tomato. This way, Aidan has no idea that there are actual vegetables in it. =) Now, sauce is done.
I move back to the pasta. I roll it out paper thin and get to cutting thin strips. Right now I am still using my pizza cutter to cut up the pasta, but I think I'm going to look into the attachment for my mixer to cut pasta. Although I still need to replace my food processor. I guess I'll do that first. I'm going to need it soon with canning season upon us. I had four hangers hanging around my kitchen with pasta hanging on it to dry. This took the bulk of my time I think. It was time consuming, but at the same time it was really relaxing.
By this time it was almost 6. Tim and Connor would be home from karate in 30 minutes. It was time for the chicken. I had three beautiful organic breasts that I split in half, ending up with 6 pieces of chicken. I shredded some fresh Parmesan cheese and mixed it with bread crumbs. I dipped each piece of chicken into a bowl with a beaten egg and then dredged it in the bread crumb cheese mixture. Then that chicken went into a pan with hot olive oil waiting for it. It sizzled on each side for a couple of minutes until the crust was a nice dark color, then I flipped it over. I repeated this with all six of the breasts. I poured a little bit of the tomato sauce into a 13 x 9 cake pan and then put the chicken pieces on top of the sauce. Then I sliced fresh mozzarella and put a piece on top of each breast. Ok, ready for oven. Crank up the broiler and slide it in for 5 minutes. Done.
6:30 rolled around. I was just taking the chicken out of the oven and I had a big pot of salted water coming to a boil. As soon as Tim and Connor rolled in the door, the fresh pasta hit the pot. Three minutes it was done. It's amazing that in three minutes Connor can get out of his karate outfit and in clothes, whereas when I need him to get dressed to go out it takes him 30 minutes. Interesting.
Chicken Parmesan with pasta
This meal was enjoyed by all. We shared a plate of it with Nancy because she worked late and we wanted to share. This is a container in the fridge for lunch that I can tell there will be a battle over. Aidan even ate a whole bunch of his salad. He was very proud of himself.
Today's dinner I'm making early in the afternoon. I am going to pack it up and we are eating on the road tonight. We are whisking the boys off to a top secret surprise that is two hours from us. I can't wait!
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