Tuesday Night Sunday Night Dinner

Hi everyone! I am sorry that tonight's dinner wasn't on a Sunday Night. I had to make some cash Sunday night to support my cooking, and last night was a very important birthday party. Next week will be all Sunday Sunday Sunday, I promise! Or not. You don't own me.

Any hooooooo.

Tonight's menu:

Chicken Marsala: Revamped!

Spinach Salad

So this Sunday Night Dinner isn't as involved as usual because it's a Tuesday Night Sunday Night Dinner. You could totally do this after work, even if you have to stop at the store for ingredients. Give it a shot.

I've been making chicken marsala for a while now, but I saw a Giada recipe today with a twist, so I added some things from her recipe while keeping a few of my favorites.

Start by filling a large pot of water to cook the pasta. Seriously do this first. That is one of my biggest flaws. I never put the pasta water on to boil soon enough. Just do it. If it boils too soon, tough. Let 'er boil away. A watched pot never boils. It's totally true.

Or not at all. Whatever. Just put the pot on.

While the water gets all hot and ready for your pasta, take four chicken breasts that you've pounded flat with a meat mallet - DO NOT try to take your meat mallet on a plane with your carry on luggage, right Karla? Preheat a pan (I used my larger cast iron skillet, ten inches) with a three to four count of olive oil. Salt and pepper those guys and throw them in the pan. You want to get some good color on them, but do not over cook. If they are underdone, totally fine. You are going to put them back in the skillet with the sauce later to finish cooking. Probably four to five minutes per side, depending on how thin they are. Take them out and put them aside.

Slice up some prosciutto and add it to the pan, I'd say four ounces or so. While it cooks, slice a medium sized onion. I'm not a fan of chopping onions. I've become a grown up lately about onions, I can eat them in their cooked form, the more cooked the better. So I find when I slice them they brown faster. Go figure. When the prosciutto has cooked a bit (but not too much - you don't want it to burn - I'd say one minute), throw the sliced onions in with one tablespoon of butter (yup, even on a Tuesday) and some salt/pepper. If the pan looks dry, and a little more oil. Whilst your onions cook, slice some mushrooms. DO. NOT. WASH. MUSHROOMS. Lightly wipe them with a damp cloth. If you wash them they get all rubbery, and I think they have a tendency to be rubbery to begin with. But I am trying to become a grown up about mushrooms too. So after the onions have cooked for a few minutes, toss the sliced mushrooms in. You want those to get some color on them as well. While the mushrooms cook, smash and chop a few cloves of garlic. Put those in only after the mushrooms have cooked at least eight or so minutes. Let the garlic cook just a minute or so until you smell it, then add a cup and a half of marsala wine. MMMM, delish. Let that simmer for two to three minutes to cook the alcohol off. Next add one and a half to two tablespoons of dijon mustard. I made it with two tablespoons and looooved it, but my other half found it to be a little mustardy, so I think it depends upon your love of mustard. I'm Daddy's girl, so I love me some mustard. With the mustard, also add half of an eight ounce container of mascarpone cheese. This will really thicken the sauce and make it deliciously creamy. Once the mustard and mascarpone cheese are mixed in, slice up the chicken in large slices and add them back to the skillet, along with any accumulated juices. Be sure to taste taste taste for seasoning. I found I wanted more garlic, so I added a few shakes of garlic powder. Also add some chopped Italian parsley at this point. It really brightens up the flavor.

Did you put the pasta in the water? You should have put the pasta in around the time you put the mushrooms in. I used farfalle, it's really great to hold this sauce. But you could go with linguine or spaghetti if you like the twirling effect. Once the pasta is al dente, drain it and add a little olive oil so that it doesn't stick.

And you're done! Build your plate with pasta on the bottom, chicken and sauce on top, and a lightly dressed spinach salad on the side. The sauce is velvety and creamy, but still has that unmistakable Marsala taste. It's really delicious, and I urge you to give it a go! Thanks, Giada, for the inspiration!

As always, let me know how it goes with you!

-D

First Sunday Night Dinner!

Tonight's menu: Roasted pork tenderloin, caramelized onion mashed potatoes, and sauteed spinach. Awwwww damn.

Hi guys! I've been making Sunday Night Dinner for a while now, so I wanted to share my weekly meals in the hopes of spreading this tradition worldwide! Lofty goals, children. We must have lofty goals.

Okay tonight - I went with the pork tenderloin. Not generally a favorite protein of mine, as I've always been dissatisfied with the moisture content. Thanks to my dear friend Ina Garten, I tried a method of roasting the tenderloin that I hadn't done before. Honestly I don't know why I didn't think of it before, but I guess that's why she is the Barefoot Contessa. It is a tried and true steak cooking method of sear-then-oven roast.

So. Tenderloin. I overcame my reservations and got a beautiful looking tenderloin from Ralph's for under $6. Dude. This loin comfortably fed my fella and I with plenty of leftovers - it probably could have fed four people. I went with Ina's marinade as a guideline: I threw the tenderloin in a freezer bag with the zest of one lemon, the juice of two lemons (and I put the husks in the bag as well), a tablespoon of dijon mustard, four cloves of chopped garlic, three sprigs of chopped fresh rosemary, a palmful of dried thyme (I would have preferred fresh, but Ralph's didn't have it, c'est la vie), a six count of olive oil (bar talk - I have a bar pour spout on my olive oil bottle, quickly turn it upside down to pour and count to six), a good pinch of kosher salt and some ground pepper. I squeezed and tossed the bag around (after sealing, doy) to fully coat the tenderloin. Let that sucker marinate for at least two hours - it's not a Sunday Night Dinner if you can do this quickly!

Towards the end of the two hours, I began to caramelize some onions for my caramelized onion mashed taters. I thinly sliced half an onion and threw it in a pan with a two count of olive oil and some salt and pepper. I let the onions get some color, and deglazed the pan with some sauvignon blanc. It took probably twenty minutes total. Onions out, set aside. Meanwhile, I threw some quartered new po-tay-toes in a pot of water with two cloves of garlic that I smashed. Brought that to a boil until tender, drained, and immediately put the hot potatoes and garlic back into the pot. Now comes the butter. Remember, kids, it's Sunday Night Dinner; this is no time to skimp on the butter. Two tablespoons into the pot. What. Don't judge. Throw on the cover and let that beautiful butter melt. After melted, mash those suckers with a little milk or half and half, salt, pepper, and your beautifully caramelized onions. Shoooot. Put the cover back on and keep it warm until you are ready to eat.

Multi tasking here! While your taters are going, heat a cast iron or other oven safe pan over medium high heat with a two to three count of olive oil. When the oil is good and hot, take your tenderloin out of the marinade and carefully place in the hot pan. That sizzle is golden. I browned the tenderloin all around with a little more salt and pepper to form a nice, moisture locking crust. Don't blacken, just get a nice brown crust. The use of a meat thermometer at this point is clutch. I have one that is digital, so the readout stays out of the oven, whilst the pin and the connected cord go into the oven. Skewer that sucker in the thickest point and put the entire pan into the oven. You want the thickest part of the tenderloin to be at 137 degrees. When it reaches that point, put away your fear and take it out of the oven. Out, I say! Out of the oven and out of the pan, and for the love of all things holy, let. it. rest. For at least five minutes. All of those juices that you locked in by searing need to be redistributed.

While the meat was resting, my adorable sous chef made some sauteed spinach: a two count of olive oil in the pan that I caramelized the onions in with some chopped garlic. Let the garlic cook for thirty seconds to flavor the oil and toss three to four good handfuls of fresh spinach in. Add some S and P and let the spinach wilt, it really should take no more than five minutes. I like to keep a bit of crunch to the sauteed spinach.

Oh man, all of this work is what a Sunday night dinner is all about. The tenderloin was sliced on an angle. The middle was pink - this is perfect! The ends were more well done, so choose to eat which portion you like. Me, I thought the pink center was perfect and moist, and not the chewy toughness that I was expecting. It was like butter. You may have realized I do so enjoy butter. The caramelized mashed potatoes and the sauteed spinach were really nice compliments, along with my glass of sauvignon blanc. We had some crusty french bread and butter too, because dammit: it's Sunday night. It's your night to splurge.

Try it, eat up, and enjoy. Don't be afraid of the juicy pink center of the tenderloin. Don't be afraid of the tenderloin, period, like I was! And please, kids, don't skimp on the butter. It's what Sunday nights were meant for.

-D