Today we had our friend Tammy and my brother-in-law Sung over for dinner. We love having people over in our cozy place! My husband and Tammy were getting home a little later today so the timing was great for all of us. I made a few preparations before they came, almost burning the bread in the midst of multi tasking and welcoming my husband home, but luckily it was saved and made to have a fading shade to the bread but somewhere in between, it was lost. =P
When our guests came over, we started with some Hummus and Bruschetta in our freezer-chilled bowls along with some wine (except Sung who is diligent to his alcohol fast). To keep a mind on our health while eating things that are good on our palate, we got red bell peppers and cut them up in to nice "scoops" to eat with the hummus instead of pita bread or a different carb. So while eating the already healthy garbanzo beans, garlic and lemon in our hummus, we took away the empty calories and infused it with something that gives us 300% of our daily vitamin C! You can really tell red bell peppers are good for you because it has a vibrant red color, but the best part has to be the taste. It tastes nothing like the popular guy, the green bell pepper, but it's actually juicy and sweet! Refreshing. Guiltless. Awesome. For those price conscious folks, yes a red bell pepper is more expensive than the traditional green, but it's cheaper than pita bread. You win! It's all relative. Note: yellow bell peppers are more similar in taste to red than green. Reach for those in the Veggie isle too. :)
and for those who have waited a life time to see cartoon bell peppers, this is your lucky day.
So our menu for tonight was CHICKEN CACCIATORE. In Italian, Cacciatore means "Hunter" so Chicken Cacciatore means Hunter style chicken which involves tomatoes, bell peppers (we used yellow), onions, baby bella mushrooms,capers, a few good-for-your-body fresh spices and sometimes wine. There are two wine options to chicken cacciatore. One, a white wine can be used which is characteristic of cooking in Northern Italy or a red wine can be used which is what I used and this is a cooking characteristic of Southern Italy. I believe the type of wine varies because each region has certain grapes that are best for the type of wine. We had red wine available since Kee and I drank our "white cooking wine" the other day, so naturally, we came to pick the red wine. Though chicken is a white meat and is usually taken with white wine, we had red wine today because the dish was cooked with red and you should drink the type of wine you used in your dish with the meal.
Chicken Cacciatore used a combination of dry and wet cooking to sear and cook the meat and after a process of separating the chicken from the meat, it was brought back together later for a 30 minute simmer in the hot tub. Simma those bad boys ... After the 30 minutes, the chicken came out again and the flame went up to reduce the "soup" down to a more concentrated sauce. When it came time to serve, it was served on top of a bed of garlic linguine. This garlic linguine is really amazing. It has garlic IN the pasta and the garlic flavor is very flavorful and present. Guaranteed, it will leave you pleasantly surprised. We found it in the pastas at our neighborhood Shoprite and we tried looking for other types, but there is only one type and in linguine. We did find a tri colored pasta that we bought and have yet to try. It has tomato, carrot and spinach in it. So, these give the benefit of eating a nutritional pasta instead of just a carb filled noodle. Even if it has all the nutrition added to, it's the same price so you get more bang for your buck! Chaching. :)
After the appetizers, we took the clean hot plates that were warming in the oven and put some garlic linguine on the plate. Then came the heaping spoonfuls of the hot, aromatic, spice-filled Chicken Cacciatore that were piled on top of the pasta which was accompanied by slim spears of asparagus dressed with Hollandaise sauce. Done!
And what did our guests think of it?
Score! It's so fun to cook for guests like this. We love you guys and you are always welcome over anytime!
And for dessert? A homemade TiRUMisu!... that you should not let 10 years olds eat.
Bon Appetite!
FY
