Day 2 of my challenge. Let me start by saying I promise to research proper knife skills after writing this post. I’ve been putting it off, because I just do not find it all that interesting. Not to mention that I’ve seen proper knife skills on TV and in my own kitchen (when my husband cooks), and I still haven’t learned anything! I’m not going to hold my breath when it comes to my learning and utilizing the proper techniques, unless someone who has these skills (e.g. my husband, a friend, a chef) can spend some time going over them with me. Any takers?
Let’s move on to the challenge. Yes, I am officially calling it a challenge now. I need some motivation. In fact walking into the kitchen last night was not the same peaceful experience as the day before. I was just not in the mood to cook. I didn’t want to eat any of the things I had planned for the week. And I REALLY didn’t want to spend half an hour to an hour in the kitchen. Then I thought, oh you can’t be complaining already Kim! Buck-up fool and get your butt moving. So there I was with my cookbook out- Rachael Ray’s 365: No Repeats.
After I got all my ingredients together, finely chopped my onion rather hastily (in fear that my husband would come down and see me!), and grated my cup of Parmesan (already grated is a waste unless you are under a time crunch), I found a little bit of joy. I loved tearing the basil leaves apart! It was a bit of stress relief I think and made me feel better inside.
Maybe I was on a high from tearing the basil, but something made my brain stop at that moment. The recipe (just Googled the recipe BTW and apparently others have tried this same recipe, wonder how they did?) was for 4 servings. I didn’t think to cut the recipe in half and that was my first problem. The second was I had two opened, partially full boxes of angel hair. I looked at both and it seemed like a half pound of pasta had been taken out of each one. So I used both to equal the 1 pound the recipe calls for. I’m beginning to wonder if somehow this was wrong and there was really more, or 1 pound is just a super large amount of pasta!
Anyway, the homemade sauce which consists of onion, garlic (just a heads up I’ve been using the already minced garlic you can buy at the store in the jar, so easy!), crushed tomatoes, salt, pepper, basil, and pesto was really good. I would make that again. I’m not sure that the pesto was necessary, since there is already garlic and basil in the sauce, but it was still good! While I was making this, the pasta was cooking. I hadn’t yet noticed the huge amount there was.
When plating the pasta you were supposed to stick a meat knife into the pasta and twist with your palm to form a bird’s nest of pasta. NOT! It wasn’t possible! I tried, my husband tried, we both tried again. I’m thinking there was just way too much pasta, and since it soaked up all the sauce there wasn’t enough liquid to make it happen. In the book the picture of the final product is there and the sauce looks different then mine. More watery.
Final Product:
My overall thoughts on this recipe, is use a lot less pasta, unless you are feeding an army. If you are feeding an army, then double the sauce. What can I really say? It still tasted good. I will definitely make the sauce again. And is there really a difference between pasta that looks like a bird’s nest and pasta sitting on a plate the normal way? I don’t think so. It wasn’t a colossal failure, the outcome just wasn’t expected and I learned to make sure I’m not using way too much of a product. I still think maybe I had more then a pound of pasta, but I have no way of knowing. Also, I brought the left-over’s for lunch. I love left-over pasta. Good thing since I will be eating it for lunch the rest of the week!
Totals: Maybe 5-7 minutes of prep, 20 minutes of cooking time, 2 pots.
Link for the Rachel Ray’s cookbook 365: No Repeats:
http://www.amazon.com/Rachael-Ray-365-Repeats-Deliciously/dp/1400082544/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
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