Wednesday, August 21, 2019

When the ingredients fail

Did you ever have one of those days where nothing about a recipe went right?

I had one of those days the other day, but the result was so delicious that I decided to share.

I was out walking Fenway and was craving tomatoes and cheese, but I needed something healthier that pizza (again!). I'd bought some zucchini and heirloom tomatoes at the farmers' market, so I figured I'd cook them and some chicken breasts and serve it with pasta.

Except when I took out the zucchini, it had shriveled up to nothing.

And one of the tomatoes had turned totally black.

But the chicken was already cooking when I noticed this. (There goes the pizza excuse.)

Hmmmmmm.

I grabbed a bag of frozen green beans from the freezer and dumped them in the pan with a healthy helping of my favorite freeze-dried garlic.




Then I put on water for the angel hair pasta.

At the last minute, I chopped and added the other tomato - a tiny one so you'll note there's not much red).

I chopped the chicken and tossed that in as well. Somewhere along the line I'd added some olive oil.



Once I cooked the angel hair, I added some mozzarella and then poured the garlicky veggies on top.




It was delicious!

I may also have poured in way too many green beans for one person, so I had tons of leftovers.

The next night, I cooked some potatoes in garlic water, smashed them, slathered in butter, and poured the heated leftovers on top.




This was even better than with the pasta and cheese!

The moral of the story - if there has to be one - is, as my mother would say, necessity is the mother of invention - and sometimes it even tastes good!

Have you ever started out with one meal in mind and ended up with something totally different?

10 comments:

  1. Oh I do this a lot! I like to buy my meat and produce on sale and make something based on that. Often I have Jacob taste and ask him what he thinks something needs. I'm not crazy about frozen green beans, but I bet this would be good with fresh. Or even better I have some kale in the fridge that needs to be used. Maybe I can make a bacon kale Alfredo over pasta!! You got me thinking now!

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    1. I'm not usually a fan of frozen green beans either, Katie, hence the loads of garlic. But this was just the right combination - especially over the buttery potatoes.

      I'm glad I got you thinking. Good practice for me for when school starts in 2 weeks.

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  2. This sounds delicious...although now I'm craving zucchini!

    I'm looking forward to cooking again. We're getting the kitchen unpacked today and the new appliances are coming tomorrow, so the next project will be a trip to the grocery store to replenish the staples.

    Before you know it, this place will look like home!

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    1. Oooooh, new appliances. I like!
      I really should order a new stove. But with just me here, it seems excessive.

      I imagine not being able to cook for so long must have you chafing at the bit, Jan. Looking forward to seeing what you create.

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  3. Mary Cate, I love this! The first is a dish I used to make often. I would cook green beans and canned tomatoes with garlic and serve over pasta. And your second dish is a sort of shepherd's pie made with chicken! :)

    Yum on both!

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    1. Missy, I've been craving Shepherd's Pie ever since my birthday dinner. I found a recipe for a fish version that I'm making for next week's blog! I can't wait to try it.

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  4. This sounds delicious, Mary Cate! And yes, necessity is the mother of invention.

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    1. I tend to be of the mind that garlic makes anything taste good. Bet if you added bacon, you'd love it.

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    2. Oh, I'm with you on the garlic, Mary Cate.

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