Another ad hoc meal!

My wife put her foot down and said that she didn't want to eat any more Indian food. Oh the despair! Of course, I then come home to find her eating one of my fridge portions of palak paneer that I had made the other day, which she then decided she didn't want to eat anymore, and gave it back to me. Thanks sweety!

She then told me that she wanted me to fix her something. Well, I'll never tell my lady no, so the answer was naturally "What do you want?" She's infamous for being cryptic or indecisive sometimes, so she just says "Something with a chicken thigh, and mushrooms (we're trying to use them up before they get old), and don't make it too fancy!"

I'm not exactly sure what her definition of too fancy is, but remembering the magic I worked with my sister last week, I tried to improve on it a little:


This is what I came up with. Basically, I oiled my cast iron skillet just a tiny bit and put some water on in a small pot for penne pasta. Put a chicken thigh, 2 cloves of crushed and minced garlic, and two heaping handfuls of portabella mushroom slices into the very hot pan and let them get crispy and aromatic. I then poured chicken slowly into the hot pan, and deglazed with it as the chicken continued to cook. To that, I added ample oregano, basil, and cracked peppercorns, then plucked the penne from the heat when it was about half cooked. I drew the chicken from the pan, then added the half-cooked penne and a few tablespoons of cream and let both the penne & mushrooms cook and the sauce reduce. Once we were at a semi-thick state, I skimmed the pasta and mushrooms onto a plate, rested the chicken atop that, and poured on the cream sauce. The chicken was topped with shaved Manchego goat cheese, and a sprig of fresh oregano for garnish.

So it was fancy, so what? Two out of three objectives completed. I didn't hear any complaining about fancy eats by the way, so I will take that to heart!