Karyn's Kitchen

Jump For Joy With One of the Best Italian Chicken Breast Recipes

Start cooking without a recipe as you make this flavorful Italian chicken breast everyone will love.

I have been told that Saltimbocca means “jumps in your mouth” in Italian. So if there was ever an exception to my aversion to boneless, skinless chicken breasts, this is the one. You will never call it tasteless. It’s my favorite of Italian chicken breast recipes.

chicken saltimbocca with herb roasted potatoes and spinach on a china plate with black border — Chicken saltimbocca with herb roasted potatoes and sauteed spinach

I don’t often buy skinless, boneless because I think they’re overpriced for what you’re getting. And if I want to make saltimbocca, I have to butterfly and pound the breast because I want thin pieces. Thighs work just as well, by the way.

The Decision

So, after opening a package of prosciutto that we didn’t finish the other day, I asked Michael, “What are we going to do with the remaining prosciutto?” In a sealed package such as we bought, it could sit around for a while in the fridge, but once opened, I would really like to use it within a couple days for zero waste cooking. Michael answered, “Chicken Saltimbocca”.

I agreed that was a good idea, so a couple days later, as he was expecting me to make chicken saltimbocca, he was baffled when he saw me putting a whole chicken into the oven. Apparently he thought I had leftovers of chicken that I was planning to use in preparing this dish?

What I had available was a whole chicken, so with my sharpest knife, I sliced away the skin from the top of the breast and carved out some thin slices of raw breast. Then I roasted the rest of the bird for use later. That’s how my simple no plan meal plan works.

Guess what! My choice of what to slice and how thin eliminated the need to butterfly and pound the large breasts I usually find in the market. Breast is tender enough. All I needed to do was season it up and cook it. Simple!

Usually this is done by placing fresh sage leaves on the breast pieces before wrapping with prosciutto. Well, I didn’t have any fresh sage leaves (which I love in so many things), so I used dried sage powder and dried French thyme instead. I guess I usually consider dried sage as being more compatible with a longer cooking meal, so I imagined the thyme would help us out. Actually, we were very happy with the results and I didn’t miss the fresh sage at all.

Ingredients:

chicken breasts
sage
prosciutto
flour
butter
garlic
white wine

Basically, here’s what I did after slicing some thin pieces of breast from my raw chicken: Seasoned both sides with a touch of salt, garlic powder, dried sage and thyme. Covered one side of each piece of chicken with a slice of prosciutto, wrapping around the edge if necessary. Sprinkled lightly with flour.

Cooking

In a skillet, melt some butter. Put the chicken breasts in: prosciutto side down first. You just want to get a little golden color on them, which only takes a minute or two. Turn them over for another couple minutes. Take out of skillet and reserve on a plate.

What you do next depends how many pieces of chicken you are serving. If you’ve browned the prosciutto side of all the chicken pieces, you can proceed to making the sauce.

The Sauce

How does the butter look? If it’s not burning, you can add a touch of white wine to deglaze the pan for a few seconds, scraping up any browned bits of meat. (The acidic liquid helps to incorporate the flavorful, golden remnants from your pan into the sauce you are making. You could use a little lemon juice and/or chicken broth if you prefer.) Then add some minced garlic. Let that cook a minute or so and then add some more wine and reduce heat.

If you’re cooking more batches of chicken, keep an eye on the heat and the color of the butter/oil. If it’s starting to burn, get a new pan or carefully find a way to wipe out the existing skillet without using your bare hands. A spatula and paper towel might do.

Once you have begun the butter/wine/garlic sauce, you can reduce the heat to low and return your chicken pieces to the skillet. Now all you have to do is pay attention to how it looks. How thick are your chicken pieces? Is the sauce thickening up a bit and becoming a pleasing golden color? My thin pieces of breast really only required a few more minutes to cook with the lid off because I wanted the sauce to reduce a bit. If they were thicker pieces of chicken, I would have cooked a bit longer with the lid on.

Watch it and see what you think. You can always test the middle if you’re not sure. You will learn to know when it’s ready as you continue to develop your intuition in the kitchen and rely less on recipes. Spoon some sauce on top of each breast piece to serve. Buon appetito!

Please read Don’t Be Chicken to find out how to roast the rest of the bird.

3 Ways to Become Miso Adaptable

Learn about cooking with miso paste and other probiotic foods.

You like probiotic foods? I do. If you want to eat them without taking a supplement, have you tried kimchi, miso or natto? You can find them all in an Asian market.

In case these are unfamiliar items to you: Kimchi is often made with cabbage, but it could be any myriad of vegetables. It’s fermented with garlic and chile peppers. Miso is a savory paste made of fermented soybeans often used for soup. Natto are fermented soybeans.

kimchi and green cauliflower on top of miso soup in a black bowl

Natto

I haven’t had natto for 25 years since Ojiichan, my Japanese grandfather, persuaded me to taste it for the first time. We didn’t speak the same language, but we made our best effort at sign language. If he wanted me to learn good manners by slurping my noodles or tasting something he enjoyed that was foreign to me, it was hard to say no.

So, in honor of Ojiichan, I decided to give natto another try. Maybe my palate had changed…Well, let’s just say I could wait another 25 years until next time…but I didn’t want to discard what I had purchased, so I put the remainder into our morning fruit and vegetable smoothies. Blended with the addition of a little cocoa powder, it was great! No waste!

Try it if you’re feeling adventurous. Let me know what you decide to mix it with if it requires some embellishment for your taste. There are many natto fans out there. Please tell me who you are and how you personally enjoy it.

Miso

Miso is one of these umami type ingredients that you hear so much about. It comes in different varieties: red, white, yellow. If it’s new to you, I might suggest first trying the white one called Shiro Miso because it has the mildest flavor. You can use it to make soup or as a glaze for fish.

soba wakame soup with yams and chicken in a black bowl. wooden chopsticks resting on top with blue and white ceramic cup in the background

I never claimed to be a traditionalist, so if you are one, feel free to laugh if I do things differently than what you’re used to. First boil water to hydrate the wakame (sea vegetable) and noodles you might want to cook. I love soba (buckwheat noodles). What else might you add to the soup? I had some roasted yams that I could use along with some precooked chicken.

I ladled some of the liquid from the pot into a small bowl and whisked in some red miso paste. Simply make sure there aren’t any lumps without overheating the miso, thereby preserving its probiotic attributes. The miso container should give you general directions regarding proportions, so use that as a guide and adjust according to your taste.

Miso Dressing

Who says salad has to contain lettuce? By the time I have finished my more tender greens, cabbage is still going strong in my refrigerator. Combine colors for some variety. Add celery or carrots. Make an interesting salad dressing. Toss in some beans or chicken for protein and enjoy a quick, healthy lunch. Into the mortar/pestle goes:

garlic
ginger
miso paste
rice vinegar
olive oil

And what else? Something spicy or more umami? Let me know what works for you!

Find out why you will always find cabbage and some variety of squash in my refrigerator by reading Keep It Fresh next.

The Whole Enchilada Two Ways

Green chicken enchiladas are an easy way to reinvent leftovers that the whole family will love.

I remember once saying to a neighbor that I didn’t know what to make for dinner. She shrugged nonchalantly and told me, “Make a chicken.” My kneejerk reaction at that time was, “A whole chicken? For two of us? We can’t eat a whole chicken.” She smiled and responded, “Get a small chicken.” I laughed.

I don’t know why I thought we had to eat a whole chicken in one meal. Sounds ludicrous to me now. Funny how our perceptions can change. I guess I was imagining that we didn’t want to eat a leftover chicken dinner over and over again. But leftovers are great for salads and sandwiches and enchiladas and soups and…you name it. If you really won’t finish it within a few days, put the rest in the freezer. That’s always a good plan too.

enchiladas with green sauce in a glass casserole dish. Orange napkins, green onions, white cheddar cheese on a brown plate and a stainless steel cheese grater complete the picture.

Green Chicken Enchiladas

First, pour a little green enchilada sauce in the bottom of the baking dish. Steam the corn tortillas if they need softening before filling with:

cheese
chicken pieces
onions
enchilada sauce

Place seam side down in the dish and top with sauce and cheese. Bake 30 minutes at 350 or until heated through.

Especially if I’m making this in larger quantity, I will choose the shortcut of making this as a casserole instead. It’s the way my mother used to do it and everyone loved it. It’s a simple and kid-friendly favorite.

Just like making a lasagna, put a little sauce in the bottom of a baking dish and then a layer of tortillas. Put some chicken pieces on top and some onions. I like green onions, but whatever you have will do. Pour a little sauce on that and sprinkle with cheese. Cheddar, jack, provolone, swiss…What do you have on hand? I’ve used them all. Put another layer of tortillas down and repeat this process. Finally, add one more layer of tortillas and cover with the remaining sauce, cheese and onions. Bake until heated through.

Super easy and delicious, just like roasting a whole chicken. Want to know how? Please read Don’t Be Chicken next.

How to Make Legendary Caesar Salad

This Caesar salad dressing recipe makes a great first course or entrée.

Everyone loves Caesar salad. The dressing is one of the first things my mother-in-law, Dottie, taught me to make because hers is legendary. She remembers fondly her travels to Mexico in the 1950’s to attend the bull fights, “We never went to Tijuana without going to the Caesar Hotel, famous for the Caesar salad. The recipe was given to me by the maitre d’ after many, many visits.”

A vintage black and white photo of Dottie, Luis Procuna and another woman — Dottie is the cute one on the left sitting next to Luis Procuna, the famous matador, after a Sunday bullfight

Caesar Salad Dressing Recipe

There are different methods for combining the ingredients, of course. You’ve seen tableside service with the big wooden bowl? I learned to make it using a food processor with these ingredients:

one clove of garlic
1 can of drained anchovies
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
the juice of one lemon
one coddled egg
parmesan cheese
olive oil
romaine lettuce

Dottie puts a few capers in there too. There should be ground pepper in here, but I prefer grains of paradise instead.

The Egg

To coddle the egg, (only the very freshest egg), bring a saucepan full of water to a boil. Take it off the heat and gently lower the egg into the hot water with a slotted spoon. Let it hang out in there for about a minute, just until all the air bubbles have come out. Then take out the egg and put it in cold water.

If you’re nervous about using a nearly raw egg, I understand. Make sure that the egg is fresh. If you’re under 8 or over 80, as they say, perhaps it’s not advisable for you. Use additional olive oil instead or add a little mayonnaise. I have sometimes left out certain ingredients for people with dietary restrictions, so feel free to experiment on your own. One thing is for sure, though. If you leave out the anchovies, just don’t call it a Caesar. A Caesar isn’t a Caesar without them, as far as I’m concerned.

Toppings for Caesar Salad

Years ago, I used to order a fabulous Caesar salad at Vigilucci’s in San Diego. They topped it with breaded, fried calamari. Who needs croutons with those tasty, crunchy morsels?

I started making it that way at home for something extra special, but for such a small amount that I was making here, I didn’t feel like using up another egg to make the breadcrumbs stick, so I just threw some mixed seafood into a skillet for a couple minutes. You will know they’re done when the shrimp turn pink and the calamari and scallops change texture slightly.

Caesar salad topped with shrimp and calamari on a white plate — Make it an entree with the addition of some protein. How do you like to top your Caesar?

Something Crunchy

Dottie makes a genius side for her Caesar: single layered wedges of pita bread, topped with butter and parmesan. She bakes them in the oven until crunchy. They’re fantastic and they go fast! Trust me, you can’t eat just one…which is why I don’t make them for parties anymore. They are so popular that I ended up spending all night in the kitchen preparing batch after batch upon request. Maybe I just need to post a sign that reads, “Limit: 3 per customer.”

For more on making your own salad dressings, please read Undressing the Dressing next.

How to Cook Black-Eyed Peas and Turnips Au Gratin

Try out a new bean like black-eyed peas and make your root vegetables shine.

The last time I went shopping and looked for some dried beans, the only ones left on the shelf were black-eyed peas. I think I have only eaten them once or twice in my life, so I didn’t have a vivid recollection of what they tasted like. I imagined others at the market wondered the same thing, which is why they sat there all by their lonesome selves. But I figured a bean is a bean is a bean. So why not experiment and learn how to cook black-eyed peas?

The first thing I must say about just about any kind of bean: a little pork of some kind usually improves the taste immensely. I always keep bacon in my freezer because then I can cut off an inch or two for a dish like this whenever I need it. If you don’t eat pork, use whatever leftover meat bones you have or at least some vegetable stock to boost the flavor.

Cooking the Black-Eyed Peas

After letting the black-eyed peas soak overnight, I drained them. Then I chopped up the bacon and browned it in a skillet. I added some chopped onion, celery, bell pepper, carrot and garlic. Then I dumped that into a slow cooker along with the beans and enough water to cover them. I had a can of chipotle (smoked dried jalapenos in a sauce). So I put that into a food processor combining the peppers and the sauce from the can. Then I added about a couple tablespoons of the chipotle to the pot and put the rest of the chipotle into an ice cube tray in the freezer so that I can pop the cubes into something else later. A little goes a long way with chipotle, so start small if you’re unsure about the heat.

I started this before noon so that it was ready by dinner. The slow cooker is a natural for beans because you don’t have to babysit a pot on the stove for a couple hours. But either way works just fine. Once the beans were tender, I took the lid off the slow cooker to reduce the liquid a bit. (The leftovers could be served as soup as there was more than enough liquid in there.) Seasoned with salt and called it a day. I have been told that sugar might be desirable with black-eyed peas as they have an earthy flavor that you might find more palatable if sweetened. To each his own.

Turnips Au Gratin

Meanwhile I had some turnips that had been sitting in the bottom of the fridge for a couple months, so I decided to turn them into an au gratin. You could slice them thinly by hand, but I used the slicing disk on my food processor. Used a mandoline twice in my life and decided I am way too clumsy to be trusted without adult supervision, so I gave mine away to a friend who is more graceful.

Greased the bottom of a casserole dish using some of the paper from my package of butter. Put a layer of turnips in there and sprinkled with some shredded mozzarella cheese that I had opened and needed to use. Any cheese you have available would be fine. A smoked gouda would have been divine.

You could season this up any number of ways. I decided to give it a little color with some paprika and sprinkle a little garlic powder and dried basil in there. (I don’t need to say salt, right? ) Repeated the process with another layer of sliced turnips, seasoning and cheese. Covered and put into the oven for about 20 minutes and then let it cook uncovered for another 15 minutes.

Pretty tasty and healthy for using almost exclusively pantry items. What do you think? Ready to try an unpopular bean? Let us know about your experience!

If you’re following my blog, you understand by now that I’m not doing recipes, right? I simply share my experience about cooking with the ingredients I have on hand so that you can liberate yourself and start cooking without recipes. However, I have been asked to start providing an ingredients list in case someone wants to use the same. So here goes:

Ingredients for Black-Eyed Peas:

bacon
onion
celery
bell pepper
garlic
carrot
black-eyed peas
canned chipotle

Ingredients for Turnips Au Gratin:

turnips
cheese (such as smoked gouda)
seasonings (such as garlic powder, paprika, basil)

What else might you do with turnips? Please see Be a Lamb and Try for one suggestion.

How to Get Skillful With Shellfish

Let a simple meal of linguine and clams or mussels transport you to far away places.

Nothing says summer to me like pasta with fresh tomatoes and seafood. I had followed recipes for years trying to make the perfect linguine with clams for Michael, based on some vague idea of what he described he wanted…until we visited Capri, an island off the southern coast of Italy. There I learned how simple it really was, cooking without a recipe.

At the time, we were heading into mushroom season, so I was ordering everything I could with porcini and truffles until we got to Capri. I decided there that seafood was definitely the way to go, so I ordered the local specialty pasta with mussels. Michael ordered pasta with clams and tomatoes. When it arrived, he couldn’t stop talking about how amazing it was, so he asked the waiter how to make it. It was such a simple dish, so that amused the waiter. What I hadn’t understood until then was how much olive oil was required to make this dish correctly. Don’t be afraid! It’s good fat.

linguine with mussels and fresh tomato sauce in a black bowl

Clean and Inspect Clams and Mussels

After you scrub your mussels with a stiff bristled brush and cut off their beards, make sure the shells are all closed. If any are open, close them or run some water over them to see if they close. If so, they’re good. If any will not stay shut after toying with them a bit, discard them. I like to put them in the refrigerator in some salty ice water for a bit so they release any grit, but it’s not absolutely necessary. However, I definitely always put clams through several changes of clean, salty ice water in the refrigerator after scrubbing. You want to give the clams some time to burp out the sand because biting into a grain of sand is very unappetizing.

Michael used to prefer clams, but since Capri, he has grown to love mussels even more. Yes, he has continued to expand his palate!

How to Make the Sauce

Blanch your fresh tomatoes by putting into your boiling pasta water for a minute or less. If they’re ripe enough, the skins will split, making them easy to peel. Remove with a slotted spoon and put them immediately into a bath of ice water. If the skins don’t split on their own, remove them anyway. Once cool enough to handle, I score the underside and peel. Then chop, leaving them in big chunks and put into a deep skillet. Toss some minced garlic on top and more olive oil than you would probably think is necessary. The olive oil makes the sauce.

Cooking Clams and Mussels

When you are ready to cook your pasta, add your fresh mussels and/or clams to the tomatoes and olive oil. Cover and turn the burner on high just until the shellfish open. I have a glass lid so I can keep an eye on them. If you don’t, you can peek after about 6 minutes. Shake or stir the pan if you need to move them around a bit. You just want the shellfish to steam open.

Once they’ve opened, remove from heat. They will get tough if you continue to cook them. They can sit while you finish cooking the pasta and you can start spooning sauce into your bowls.

If you find that a couple of your mussels refuse to open after a reasonable length of time while all the rest have opened, please discard them. Same procedure goes for clams: cook only the ones that are closed or remain closed when prompted to do so. Discard the ones that don’t open after cooking.

linguine with clams and mussels in a black bowl with orange tomatoes

Some Final Words

For tomatoes that are super ripe and in season, you won’t even need to add salt. If the tomatoes aren’t perfect, feel free to season a little bit. You can do something similar with pantry items if you don’t have fresh. Use canned tomatoes and canned clams. Maybe some clam juice and some dried herbs. Just remember to use plenty of olive oil!

I have heard an adage about only eating mussels in months with an R in them. All I know is that you shouldn’t have to worry if you buy from a reputable fishmonger like Santa Monica Seafood. I want my fresh mussels and clams when tomatoes are in season!

What if tomatoes are not in season and you don’t have access to fresh, quality seafood? You don’t have to sacrifice flavor. There is hope if your pantry is well stocked. Read Pantry Pasta Perfection next.

Make Steak and Glam Up Your Veggies

Make a great steak and vegetables everyone will love.

If you have a grill, use it. At the moment, we don’t, so I put our steaks under the broiler. It seems to yield the most consistent results. A very simple approach that allows me the opportunity to think more about the sides. Are you a meat eater that resists veggies? I can help you learn how to eat more vegetables when you don’t like them.

top sirloin steak, roasted broccolini, sweet potatoes and truffle aioli on a white plate

Filet mignon used to be our steak of choice until we discovered ribeye. It’s a question of tenderness versus flavor. Ribeye wins hands down, in our opinion. But sometimes the ribeye available lacks enough marble and we’ll get a New York strip instead. On this occasion, the top sirloin looked the best, so that’s what I picked up.

I often season a steak with herbs or top with a sauce of some kind. In this case, I decided to simply sprinkle with a little garlic powder and salt before putting under the broiler. If it’s a great steak, that’s quite enough, as far as I am concerned. A simple, celebratory meal.

Make Veggies the Star

Once I roasted the vegetables, I decided to give them a little love and make them the star of this meal by offering a truffle aioli for dipping. (Crushed a clove of garlic with a little salt using my mortar and pestle and simply mixed it with some mayonnaise and a touch of truffle oil.) It’s hard to restrain oneself with the truffle oil, but do try as a little goes a long way. You want a hint of flavor, not that it should knock you over.

white truffle oil in front of painted Italian platter

I leave my skillet in the oven while roasting the broccolini and sweet potatoes at 400 on a cookie sheet so that the skillet can preheat. Cover and remove the vegetables once they’re tender and jam up the heat to 500. Then preheat the broiler. Carefully put the steaks into the preheated skillet and under the broiler until done to your liking. 4 1/2 minutes is usually about right for us to reach medium rare/medium for the steaks pictured above. (Figure about 5 minutes per inch.) Remove from the skillet and let steaks rest before serving.

All my friends return from their trips abroad with clothing and jewelry as souvenirs. I am a strange bird…What did I bring home from Italy? Truffle oil. If you can’t hop on a plane right now, you can purchase it online or at a local specialty market.

For another idea on using truffle oil, please read No Small Potatoes next.

Use Your Head, Plan Ahead For Exciting Meals

Shop smart and make the best use of what you bought for zero waste cooking.

Some of you have asked about freezer meals. What I know is that most foods can be frozen for later use. I very often freeze leftover meat and chicken. I pick it apart after the first meal enjoyed and freeze it that way. Then it’s so simple to take out as little or as much as I want at some future point and it defrosts easily. I can easily add it to whatever vegetables and starches that I desire. Work smarter, not harder while practicing zero waste cooking.

Reinvented, this leftover pork became fajitas served alongside cabbage salad.

I don’t even remember how I prepared the first meal we enjoyed using these country style ribs (which are not really ribs at all, BTW). It was before I started taking pictures of food because my primary interest in food is eating it, not taking pictures of it…which I have now begun to do for your benefit.

I do remember that I slow cooked it and the following day picked the meat apart and slathered some with barbecue sauce for sandwiches. The remainder went into the freezer for later because it was a lot of meat. A huge package had been on sale, so that’s what I had bought and cooked. I most often cook the first meal relatively ungarnished so that I have more latitude to create something completely different with it next time. I think that’s an important element to zero waste cooking. And it’s part of what I call a no-plan meal plan.

The meal pictured above was made almost entirely from the freezer: cooked pork, bell pepper strips and tortillas. Cabbage, as we know, has an extended shelf life in the fridge, as well as the onions. So as far as I’m concerned, it’s basically a pantry meal. Seasoned with:

garlic
cumin
oregano
smoked paprika

This dish bore no resemblance to the other two meals we had with the same protein. I consider that success. Zero waste cooking for multiple interesting meals!

Likewise, leftover chicken from the freezer makes soup in a snap

Leftover steak makes a great salad topper the following day

See No Boring Leftovers for more on this subject.

Seared Tuna or Ahi Tataki is Easy and Delicious

Seared tuna is delicious with quick pickles and rice.

I remember tasting tuna sashimi for the first time when I was a little girl. I was expecting it to taste like what I had been used to eating out of a can. There was absolutely no comparison and I was so pleased. So, if you’re new to eating raw or seared tuna, please keep an open mind. In the preparation below, it has a decidedly Asian flair, but don’t limit yourself to that. Try it paired with potatoes and green beans in a salad Nicoise instead. It’s divine.

Seared ahi with rice, quick pickles and roasted broccolini

I always keep some fish in the freezer. Especially if you want to eat it rare, it’s better to purchase it that way because they say freezing kills parasites. After defrosting, ahi tuna is often seared and served rare because it’s so tender and juicy. In Japanese, it’s called tataki. That’s the way we usually eat it, but if you like it more well done, feel free to prepare it in the way that suits you.

Cooking Ahi

I used to marinate the ahi and then coat it in sesame seeds before searing it on a hot grill. That was always good. Lately I find myself merely salting it before searing it quickly in a screaming hot skillet and then dressing it with some kind of sauce or dip. This time I made a quick sauce with garlic, ginger from the freezer and soy sauce with a touch of wasabi (Japanese horseradish). You could add all kinds of additional ingredients or change it up completely depending on your mood and what you have around the house.

What to Serve It With

Pairing fish with rice and veggies, you have a complete meal that is quick and easy to make. In this case I added some cucumbers that I had pickled earlier in the day.

I love cucumbers, but I usually only buy 2 or 3 at a time because they somehow get overlooked in my refrigerator and if I have more than that, we don’t finish eating them in a timely fashion. The last time I went shopping, though, these Persian cucumbers that I like were only available in a package of 8 or 10. So, once I realized we weren’t going to finish all of them, I decided to preserve them a little longer by slicing them thinly and putting them into a simple brine. You could use any kind of vinegar that you like, plus about the same amount of water. Put some salt and sugar in there and any spices you like. Taste and see what it needs. I decided on using rice vinegar and garlic, along with some wakame (a dried sea vegetable with a long shelf life).

Guess what! Once your cucumbers have been prepared this way, they won’t waste much more time in your refrigerator because they’re so easy to snack on. Like potato chips, except much healthier, you will find you can’t eat just one!

Salad with chicken and pickled cucumbers, dressed with ginger soy sauce

If you happen to have leftover garlic/ginger soy sauce, add some lime juice and olive oil to it the next day and use it for salad dressing. Throw some quick pickles in there too.

Where did I get the chicken? That was left over too. Want to know how to roast one? Please read Don’t Be Chicken next.

Easy Cheater Sket for Dinner (AKA Spaghetti)

Spaghetti sauce just like Mom’s…almost

Wondering what to cook for dinner tonight? Make it easy on yourself with this cheat by using something out of a jar. Especially if I’m cooking for a bunch of kids, do they care if I spent hours simmering a big pot of sauce?

I asked a friend a while back if she ever used marinara sauce from a jar. Without hesitation, she answered flatly, “No.” Gotta tell you, if you can find a quality jarred sauce without preservatives, it’s a real time saver.

When I first got married, Michael’s generous mother tried to send us home with batches of her homemade sauce in little freezer containers. I felt a little insulted at the time because she had given me the recipe and I could make it myself. (What was I thinking turning down a gift of premade food? LOL. New brides…)

Yes, I could make it myself, but the problem was that I hadn’t made it much because it required hours of simmering on the stove top. So, I started making it regularly and putting little containers into the freezer for later just like the care packages Michael was used to receiving.

The Cheat

One fine day not too long ago, I decided to cheat a little. Browned some meat in a skillet and added a little salt, garlic and some dried herbs: basil, oregano and thyme. Poured in the jarred marinara of my choice and Ta-Da! Spaghetti sauce just like mom’s…almost.

ruffled pasta with meat sauce on a white plate. a chunk of parmesan on a brown plate with a microplane. pepper grinder and wine in the background.

Michael was so delighted that I had made his mother’s pasta sauce. (He grew up calling it Sket–short for spaghetti.) Not until later did I reveal I had taken a shortcut, but everyone was happy, so no harm no foul. You could use ground beef, turkey or lamb. Bonus points for sneaking a little extra veggies in. No one will complain about a tiny bit of kale. Try it, you might like it.

Meanwhile, this post has been about an Italian American version of a ragu, for which you can find many variations. If you want to know The Way to Amazing Bolognese, I can show how to make an authentic sauce that’s worth the extra time and effort spent.

On the other hand, you could let someone else make it for you. I definitely recommend the Tagliatelle alla Bolognese at Orto, an Italian restaurant in Santa Monica, CA that knows exactly how it should be done. Bellisimo!