Pasta Fonzanoon – Pasta Primavera With Chicken, if You Prefer |
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Prep Time: 20 Minutes Cook Time: 15 Minutes |
Ready In: 35 Minutes Servings: 8 |
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It was 1991 and for a few years I had been a semi-serious, self-taught student of cooking. I knew that the only way to “really do it” was to experiment. So, I went to the store and planned out my first experiment. This is the recipe for my very first dish that I ever prepared without using someone else’s recipe. I liked it so much that when I was working in a restaurant that had on hand all the ingredients I required, I asked one of the cooks (a friend of mine from high school) to prepare it for me. He moved on to a higher class of cooking at a family owned Italian restaurant. On several occasions, while the owners were out of town and he had free reign over the restaurant, he made my dish the special of the day. Because he has a sense of humor, he called it “Pasta Fonzanoon”. People who had a working definition of the word fonzanoon would ask him if he knew what it meant. He would inform them that he did, as a wry little smile came over his face, and they would order the dish and later compliment him on it, completely disregarding the fact that they also knew what a fonzanoon was. Years later, I realized that my great concoction was in fact nothing more than pasta prima vera with chicken. Ingredients:
1 lb uncooked pasta, prepared to package instructions make sure it is a pasta with character i.e., farfalle, penne rigate |
1 -2 ounce olive oil |
2 sprigs fresh oregano, roughly chopped |
1 -2 sprig basil, all leaves, roughly chopped |
1 -2 teaspoon minced garlic |
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, 1/2 cubed |
1 large red onion, medium dice |
1 lemon, quartered and seeded |
4 -6 ounces white wine (depending on how strongly you want to taste the wine) |
4 -8 ounces white mushrooms, sliced (depending on how thickly you slice and how much you like mushrooms) |
1 large bell pepper, medium dice |
4 -5 roma tomatoes, seeded and diced |
1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts (packed in water) |
parmesan cheese, to taste |
Directions:
1. Cook pasta in a 10 quart (or larger) pot, a larger pot will make combining all ingredients easier later.
2. After adding the pasta to the water and at the same time the pasta is cooking, in a non-stick skillet or sauté pan heat olive oil with garlic, basil and oregano. Once oil is warm, add chicken and about two minutes later add onion.
3. When pasta is cooked, drain and rinse pasta with hot water, not warm.
4. In the now empty pasta pot, transfer the oil, chicken and onion from the sauté pan.
5. Squeeze lemon juice into the pot and add the juiced pieces of rind into pot as well (to add the flavor of the oil from skin to the dish. Ultimately, they should be removed not used for presentation purposes).
6. Add wine, and mushrooms. Bring to wine a boil and reduce for about one minute.
7. About a minute later, add the bell pepper and toss.
8. About a minute later, add the roma tomatoes and toss.
9. About a minute later, add the artichoke hearts, toss and heat for about one minute.
10. Dish up and add parmesan to taste. Serve with Carolle Simmers’ Killer Bread (Killer Bread) and a salad.
11. ** If you don't know what a fonzanoon is, but want to know, you can find a definition here. Be forewarned, it's kinda crass - /define.php?term=fonzanoon.
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