[pasta laverne] for our Father’s Day meal yesterday, i was feeling a bit nostalgic and suggested to brad that we make a pasta dish similar to the one we had the first time we met ‘the crew’ all those years ago at the koziols’ home - he knew exactly which dish to which i was referring even though i hadn’t made it for years - amazing what food can do to enhance our memories of significant times in our lives...
i’ve never had a name for this dish, but i’m calling it ‘pasta laverne’ to represent the part of LA where the koziols lived and hosted the dinner that evening - we were being enfolded in to a group of people that would become our ministry community - a community that did life together beautifully - perhaps my favorite part was the community experience going on in the kitchen as several people were collaborating to create a meal that i would not forget - perhaps my favorite reason is that it was made in the absence of a recipe and i discovered i was among ‘kindred spirits’...
disclaimer - immediately upon agreeing that we would make this dish to celebrate brad, he was asking, “do we have cilantro?” or, “did i need him to go get some at the store?” - however, not wanting him to have to go to the store just for cilantro, i told him i would simply substitute fresh basil from my garden - now this is significant - my husband does not like to cook, yet he knows that cilantro is a major contributor to the uniqueness of this dish - so, if you make this dish, please try it with fresh cilantro - you will thank me later!
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-boil pasta, the original dish used fettucini, but yesterday, the closest i had to fettucini were wide egg noodles (pictured above)
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-in a separate saute pan, heat olive oil and add diced onion and chicken - here, i like to season with my seasoning trio (salt and pepper can be substituted) and red pepper flakes (could add a splash of sherry or marsala wine...yum!)
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-when ready, drain the pasta and add to the saute pan
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-to this, i add canned diced tomatoes, roasted garlic paste, kalamata olives (any olive can be substituted) and a splash of half ‘n half (milk or cream can also be substituted)
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-lastly, add the fresh cilantro (or the runner-ups of fresh basil or italian parsley)
once again, simple, memorable and so changeable!
because it matters,
jayne
