Quick, delicious pasta-- and good for ya

Once again, this recipe was a fortunate top hit form epicurious. I had goat cheese left over form the beet salad, and Arugula left over from a red-sauce adventure. I searched "cremini", which were getting old, and in the fridge because, well, I like them. Lo and behold, the first hit:

Cremini Mushroom pasta with arugula and Goat cheese
1 lb spaghetti
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/4 lb cremini mushrooms, sliced
1/2 tsp salt
4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
4 cups arugula, coarsely chopped
6 oz goat cheese, crumbled
1/3 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped

(Amounts included are a direct copy-paste from epicurious. I didn't measure anything--I boiled what I thought looked like pasta for two, used half a Tj's container of pre-sliced creminis, chopped a good handful of arugula, and crumbled about half a squat log of goat cheese. Also didn't have parsley. Again, with my disdain for measuring.) (OH! and I used whole wheat rotelli not spaghetti)

Start the pasta boiling right a way. While its doin' its thing, sautee the mushrooms in olive oil, add the garlic when they're about half done.
Before you drain the pasta, reserve about 1/2 of cooking water. After draining, return to pot.
Add arugula, and the contents of the sautee pan, and your crumbly cheese. (i apparently really want 'cheese' to have two 's' and not two 'e' today. geez.) Pour in about half of your reserved water and toss. The goal here is to make a cream sauce out of the goat cheese: add more water if you have to.
I see this quickly becoming an after-work favorite. So good, so simple.

If you want heartier, and some cubed chicken, or even chicken strips on top. Do not add Trader Joe's pre-cooked "just white meat chicken" because its dry as hell and you'll just end up picking around it anyway, or at least, I did ( had this for lunch at work its second go round, and thus had limited protein-addition options)

pre-gaming for finals week.

Currently, school is a cartoon tidal wave frozen in time waiting to come crashing down.
Which means that I've been cooking my ass off, because its the only thing i will allow myself to do guilt-free: No matter how busy, I still have to eat. Which means I still have to cook. Which makes cooking my only waking escape (sleeps a pretty ok escape too). I have of course, made fairly elaborate dinners the past three nights, two of which worth mentioning.

Monday: Chicken in White Wine Tomato sauce
I had chicken and prosciutto in the fridge, so I searched the two ingredients at epicurious. This was the first hit i got. I kinda botched it up from the original recipe; i really only used the " flavor profile" of the dish and not the actual recipe. (yea, thats right, I said flavor profile.) Regardless, it was completely delicious.

1 lb or so of chicken ( used pre-cut breast tenders)
4 slices or so of prosciutto, diced. (how do you dice paper thin meat? I dunno either... don't think, just do it. and watch your fingers.)
3-6 cloves of garlic thinly sliced * I accidentally chopped it. sliced sounds nice tho.
1 tbs of fresh rosemary (I think you're catching on that I don't measure anything and don't think you should either)
1 cup ish dry white wine
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup crushed tomatoes with puree (artists note: if you have whole tomatoes, crush them in your hand (like one of those stress balls) for some cheap, edible therapy)

In a large frying pan or shallow pot, brown the chicken. ( I rubbed in some Tj's lemon pepper first).
Remove the chicken from the pot.
Add the the prosciutto, garlic and rosemary over medium low heat (especially important if you have an electric stove- make sure the heat is low enough that you don't burn the garlic- remove the pan from the heat when you add the garlic if necessary. burned garlic is foul.) Sautee, stirring, about a minute.
Then add your liquids: wine, then chicken broth, then tomatoes. Scrape up any stuck brown bits. Bring to boil. Let thicken considerably. (5-10 minutes).
Then, add the chicken back in to the pot: nestle it back in to the liquid. Turn down to a simmer.
Some where in the middle of that process, Start some simple polenta (or, as Alex says, here in 'merrica, we call it grits)
Boil 3/4 cup skim milk with 3/4 cup water.
Once it comes to a boil, add one cup cornmeal-- SLOWLY, stirring constantly so it doesn't lump. If you want add some dried herbs to combat blandness: basil, oregano, etc.
continue to boil/simmer until it thickens enough to stick/stay on a fork. (you do want to eat it don't you?)

Serve a nice glop of polenta with a few chicken tenders and a heaping spoonful of sauce.

Alex is Sick Food

1 Tbs or so butter, the best you got
1.5 cups or so mushrooms-- porchini, Shitakke, and Cremini
1 lb chicken, cut in to strips
2 c. Broth ( 1 not enough) ( cornstarch to thicken)
.5-1 cup white wine, dry

serving method, cooked-- egg noodles or mashed potatoes

steep porchini in hot broth until rehydrated. Drain mushrooms, reserve broth.

Melt butter in large frying pan. Add mushrooms, cook atleast 10 minutes so the butter is absorbed, and the mushrooms are starting to brown. Meanwhile, in a different pan, heat 1/2 inch broth till boiling. Add chicken,s&p and thyme. simmer until mostly cooked. Add entire contents of chicken frying pan to Mushroom frying pan when chicken is mostly done and mushrooms are soft and brown. Add any extra broth and wine. Continue to simmer, add cornstarch to thicken in to gravy.

serve over starch.