Linguine with Squash and Green Beans

I whipped up this yummy dish in about 30 min.

The garden is producing lots of yellow squash right now so it will be prevalent in many dishes over the next few months. Other veggies should be ripe soon but for now it's yellow squash, which is fine by me because it is a tasty and versatile food.

To start this dish I put a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil (hereafter abbreviated EVOO for all you Rachael Ray fans) and I do mean generous, I would guess at least a 1/4 to 1/3 a cup. The "sauce" portion of this dish is the oil. Don't worry, EVOO is heart-healthy and all natural. I added a diced sweet onion to the hot oil and sauteed that until it began to get translucent. I then added 3-4 cloves of crushed garlic (maybe a tablespoon if you use crushed in a jar) and a diced yellow squash. I seasoned the dish with salt and pepper (don't be stingy with the salt, nothing else in this recipe has any*) and added a little bit of dried oregano and a lot bit of dried basil. If you have fresh herbs, even better.

This is when I threw my linguine noodles into my boiling water.

Once the squash was beginning to cook (looking slightly translucent) I added some frozen green beans (fresh would be even beter if you have them) and some canned stewed tomatoes that I drained (I wasn't making tomato sauce) and diced coarsely. I also added about 1-2 tablespoons of butter for flavor (* if you use salted butter my previous statement on salt isn't exactly true but the important thing is to taste as you add salt and don't be afraid to add more if needed). If the mixture is looking too dry add more EVOO.

I tried to keep the mixture moving til the green beans are hot but still bright green, then turned off the heat till the noodles were done. When the noodles were done, I drained them and then tossed them with the veggies. I then served the linguine and veggies with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

Pasta, herbs, garlic, EVOO and veggies always go well together and this dish, though simple, had some nice depth to it. It was also healthy and colorful, and it tasted good too.


**Notes: This dish is vegetarian. Yes, I sometimes cook vegetarian, usually when I forget to thaw any meat and am too lazy to defrost it. If you omitted the butter and Parmesan, it would also be vegan. If you want some formerly living protein (as I usually do), adding diced chicken before the squash would work (add the salt, pepper herbs and garlic with the chicken if you do) as would serving it with a nice piece of herb baked/broiled/poached/pan fried or seared/grilled fish.

Pollo Ranchero

Tonight's dinner was Pollo Ranchero. Pollo meaning chicken and ranchero meaning cooked in a spicy tomato and onion based sauce.

To make the sauce I sauteed diced sweet onion and several cloves of crushed garlic together in olive oil in a saucepan. I then added diced tomatoes, enchilada sauce, oregano, black pepper, adobo seasoning (a kind of Mexican seasoned salt type mix) and bit of mild chile powder. I let that barely simmer for a good 30-40 min, stirring occasionally.
Once the flavors came together, I diced up some boneless skinless chicken thighs and browned them on high heat in olive oil in a large skillet. Once they had a nice light browning on the outside I poured the ranchero sauce over them, stirred it all together, then reduced the heat and covered it. I let the whole thing simmer a further 20-30 min.
I had originally planned to put some beans in with the chicken, but my skillet was full, so I heated up a can of ranch-style beans separately. When the beans were hot and the chicken pieces thoroughly cooked and tender, I heated up my comal (a flat skillet with no sides designed for cooking tortillas that can be used like a griddle) and heated up some corn tortillas.
To plate the pollo ranchero, I placed two hot tortillas on a plate, topped that with a goodly portion of the rachero chicken and sauce, spooned some beans on top of that, and crowned the whole thing with shredded cheese and a dollop of sour cream. Don't let the tortillas fool you, this should be eaten with a fork. It's been raining a lot here lately and this dish really hit the spot with the whole family with it's array of flavors, rich tomato-y goodness and familiar ingredients brought together in a slightly exotic way. Best of all, it tasted good too.


Notes: I used canned tomatoes, sauce and beans because it was a easy throw-together meal using what we had. If I made this again I would plan ahead and cook a pot of dry beans all day to use in the dish. Tomato products do very well in cans and I used canned versions often, but if you used fresh diced tomatoes you would definitely bring more depth to the dish. If I make this again when our tomato plants are producing I'll probably use fresh.
Some finely minced jalapenos or serranos added to the sauce would be great too, and give it a more authentic taste and heat, but not everyone in the house likes food as spicy as I do.
One thing to note when simmering any meat in a tomato based sauce is that tomatoes naturally tenderize meat and can reduce cooking time needed to make the meat tender.

Welcome

Hi and welcome to my food blog "It Tasted Good". This blog is to be a chronicle of my adventures in food and cooking. I've always loved food and began cooking at a young age. I now have a passion for both. I enjoy both reproducing delicious dishes I've had, as well as creating new ones. Sometimes my cooking is guided by inspiration from what I've seen, read or eaten recently. Most times, though, it's guided by whatever ingredients we have on hand. My wife has convinced me to start cataloging what I make and encouraged me to share it with others; so, this blog was born. Whenever I make a dish I'm particularly pleased with, I'll post it here (with photos when I can). If you're reading this then I appreciate your interest. If you have comments or questions you can post them here or email me at ittastedgood@gmail.com

Thank you and good eating.