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.

One of the World's Best $2.50 Lunches

Beautiful, cheap and delicious. Just like me!

Oh yes, here it is. The chicken is really high quality fresh chicken I bought at my favorite Chinese Market.


I poured some olive oil in a bowl and mixed in some of my spice rub. I rolled the chicken around in it and rubbed it into the skin. I put it on a foil lined tray and into a 425° oven for five minutes, then I turned the heat off.


When they just firm and done all the way through I took them out. Simple and delicious.

Cost: at $.89 a pound they were a real bargain. The two cost about $.60. Let's add a tablespoon of olive oil and some spices and call it $.70.

Lettuce is really expensive right now and quality is difficult to find. But I found these little gem lettuces for $1.59 each. It's dressed with hazelnut oil and a 10 year old balsamic vinegar. Not trendy right now but very tasty. On top for a quirky garnish is some enoki mushrooms and below is a few sliced almonds to add some depth.

Cost including the few drops of expensive oil and expensive vinegar and the mushrooms and almonds: about $.85

The sourdough was toasted over a flame and topped with onions and peppers and boquerones, those fishy little fish from Spain.

Cost: about $1.

Yum factor is very high for this meal. Cost is really low. I made a big pile of this chicken since the whole family is here all of a sudden. While the chicken was in the oven I made the onions and peppers.  When the chicken was done I cooked the Branzino I had for lunch yesterday. There were a lot of good textures in this meal too. The chicken skin was cruncy and flesh nice and moist. The bread was really crunchy and had a flame-toasted flavor. The lettuce was cruncy too and the little bit of hazelnut oil on it make the almonds taste really nutty.

Good stuff all around. Glad I got to eat it.

Oh man oh man oh man

Looks so simple. Tastes fantastic. Costs pennies.

I took my squeeze to the airport late this morning as she went to concertize in Prague and Dresden. I had to teach soon after but I managed to squeeze a pretty tasty lunch in there. Simple and delicious.

The chicken is stuffed under the skin with home-made hot almond wood smoked bacon and dipped into olive oil laced with my spice rub. Then it's cooked in a cast iron pan to brown and roasted in a hot oven for a short while. The lemons were also tossed in the oil and roasted along with the chicken.

Some of the juice in the lemons carmelizes so after cooking it's sweet and sour. I squeezed them right over the chicken. The skin is crisp and the bacon adds a smoky flavor. The sweet and sour lemon really brings it all together and makes it taste clean.  If I had been a good boy I would have removed the skin but, well, I guess I'll confess. I made two of them. I have no leftovers. I picked them clean.

Along with the chicken I had one of those weird generational foods I grew up with. My dad likes mashed potatoes with peas and so do I. Today I cooked a couple of parsnips with the potatoes and whipped them.

It took 45 minutes for me to make this lunch but a lot of it was spent waiting so I got other things done like practicing and playing with the dog.

If you enjoyed the recipe or have any comments I'd love to hear them.

Trip to Gayle's

I played two concerts in Watsonville this morning and convinced my carpool to let me stop in Capitola to get some food from Gayle's Bakery. I got an oak-roasted chicken, a beet and endive salad, Kalamata olives and boquerones, those fishly little fish from Spain.

Simple and delicious

I tore up some olives and added them to the salad with some shredded orange peel and juice, a splash of cider vinegar and some boquerones.

Some dry toasted rye bread, fresh fruit and pickled tobasco peppers filled out the meal.

How many things are there that are wrong with this presentation? Ow, quite a few. Notice that there is just too much food for this plate. Also the lack of a real shape makes it difficult to look at.


It looks difficult to eat. Plates should look inviting!