Kitchen Sink Pasta

Thank god for leftovers.

This is one of the house favorites, Kitchen Sink Pasta. We also make Kitchen Sink Soup, Kitchen Sink Salad, etc.

Leftover pasta with Stuff

To make this particular dish I dry-fried some onions cauliflower and carrots. When they were slightly burned I added the asparagus, diced smoked pork and a bit of olive oil and orange zest. I let it cook for a few minutes then turned the heat off and threw in the leftover campanelle and some toasted almonds.


On top is some shaved fennel and dried apricots.I squeezed the juice of half the orange over the whole thing.


You can make this kind of dish in just a few minutes. I try to include different textures and colors and cooling foods like the fennel and rich savory tastes like the almonds. This dish improves if you let it sit a while.

You can easily make it vegetarian by leaving out the pork. You could add shredded tofu or smoked tofu. You could substitute fish for the pork or bbq chicken or whatever you have. If it's dull add some flavors and colors and crunch or juice or something!

Family Favorite - Orange Chicken

We have this huge Valencia orange tree in our backyard, which means lots of free food to a cheapskate like me.

We juice them. we eat them, we use the zest. I throw them into sautes and the things I brown on the stove then finish in the oven.

This is not a difficult dish to make although it might take some practice to get the timing down.

Orange chicken, brown rice risotto and dry fried asparagus

I put some of my spice rub in a big mixing bowl and added a couple of tablespoons of the old extra virgin. I had bone in, skin on chicken breasts. You can use boneless and skinless if you want.

The chicken pieces were large so I cut them in half with a big knife. Then I used one of them to mix up the spice rub and olive oil. I got my big cast iron pan hot on the stove and turned the oven on to 350°.



I rubbed all the chicken in the spice mix then laid the pieces skin side down in the pan.

After they had browned a few minutes I tossed a couple of oranges in the spice oil and threw them in the pan.

While the chicken was cooking I made dry fried asparagus. Dry frying is using a hot cast iron pan with no oil, butter or fats to cook vegetables. They cook in a few minutes, steaming in their own juice.

As soon as they are just done they are seasoned with salt, pepper and (optional) a tiny bit of butter.

Dry frying works great with many vegetables like green beans, squash, carrots, etc. It imparts a slightly smoky flavor.

Along with the chicken and asparagus I had leftover brown rice risotto and one of the cooked oranges, which I squoze over the chicken and rice.

Low in fat (especially if you remove the chicken skin) high in nutrition and cost about $2.50 for the whole shebang.

Lamb Flank Steaks!

Hi everyone! Today I had a real actual meal; the first one I've had since last Tuesday. Lamb flank steaks, potatoes, onions and parsnips and a raw asparagus and red pepper salad.

If you're market doesn't carry them you might have to have your butcher order lamb flank steaks.  There is practically no waste and they can be elegent and served on fancy menus or used for a quick sandwich.
They cook in a minute and are very lean.


The asparagus and red pepper salad  was dressed with toasted sesame oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. So simple. So delicious!


I love to mix two starches like the potatoes and parsnips. They and the onions were sauteed in olive oil and seasoned with a little of my spice rub mixture, which is mainly paprika, smoked peppers and cumin.

Total cost of this meal: about $3.25. There are only 11 total ingredients in all of this: asparagus, red pepper, a potato, half a parsnip, a small onion, lamb, olive oil, sesame oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper and some of my spice mix.