What's been cooking?

So it's not like I've been totally lazy these past two months between posts. I had to eat after all. I've just been relying on some old favorites. My comfort foods, if you will. Anyway, here's a little recap of some of the things going down in my kitchen.

Bobby Flay's Chicken Cacciatore: This is fabulous. I love the layers of flavors from the spicy jalapeno to the tangy balsamic. Bobby thought of everything. I still can't believe he lost the throwdown! I bypass the whole chicken and just do mine with chicken thighs.

Emeril's Smoked Salmon Quiche with Potato Crust: A different twist on a classic quiche. Potato crust = Yum. As if potatoes weren't awesome enough, try kicking them up with some Essence of Emeril and Parmesan. Heaven.

My Pasta with Goat Cheese, Chicken and Sun Dried Tomatoes: An easy weeknight meal with lots of bold flavors.

Duff Goldman's Curried Pasta Salad: I whipped this up to go with some jerk burgers at a friend's Memorial Day BBQ. I liked it so much I've already done a sequel to go with the NFNS party leftovers. I probably used twice the curry powder the recipe calls for and spiced mine up with cayenne pepper. Throw in some dried cherries for a sweet balance the spiciness. And impress your friends ... my cubicle food buddy at work thought I julienned the broccoli for the slaw! Thanks Publix!

Emeril's Quiche Lorraine: Who doesn't love cheese and bacon? Simple, easy, freezable. Although, I freeze anything. Perfect to whip out as a snack for a spontaneous Friday evening wine tasting!

Giada's Shrimp and Lemon Linguine: A note to the home cook - don't salt the water too much when using fresh pasta, as I did when I made this recipe. I guess it stands to reason it absorbs more of it than the store bought, dried kind. I've also decided I'm not a huge fan of lemon. Besides those two things, my dinner guest was a big fan of this one.

And we did have a little baby shower action in the midst of all this, during which my friend E and I converted my pad into Kitchen Stadium to whip up six dishes in about three hours. (You have ... 20 minutes). OK, we did get a late start because we had to hit up our fav wine shop for double points Saturday. But we did it! E made a roasted red pepper dip, tuna tartare and bruschetta. My contributions were:

Leek and Mushroom Quiche: The beauty of the quiche ... I used the same quiche lorraine recipe from above and swapped in a pack of portobellos and a leek. Eyeball it.

Rachael Ray's Italian Sausage Sage Meatballs with Apricot Balsamic Glaze: Always a big hit at parties. *Note: This recipe doesn't appear to be on any authorized web sites. It's that good. I'm not about to infringe copyright on Rach's $18 million a year empire. It's in her Get Togethers cookbook.

Rachael Ray's Lemon Pepper Chicken Bites: Why I keep making stuff with lemon is beyond me. But everybody else liked it. I served with some teryiaki.

So that's a lazy two months of cooking for me! Not surprising : )

Giada's Whole Wheat Linguine with Green Beans, Ricotta and Lemon

Despite a particularly draining week and a promise that my Saturday would be devoted to relaxation, I could not resist the lure of the kitchen.

Maybe it was the stress of a long week, but I was craving pasta. So I turned to my new Giada De Laurentiis cookbook, Giada's Kitchen for some inspiration.

I opened the book up to this recipe for Whole Wheat Linguine with Green Beans, Ricotta and Lemon and since today is about minimal effort figured why bother flipping pages. I'll just roll with it. The end result is pretty good. Very light, and the lemon zest gives the pasta a certain freshness. The pasta really showcases the veggies. And it was simple to make. The biggest time commitment was slicing the green beans.

A perfect light, sunny dish for a light sunny weekend dinner! Lovely with an Italian Pinot Grigio.

Chicken, spinach and goat cheese pasta

Maybe it was watching all those cooking demos in SoBe, but early on this week I started to get an itch to get in the kitchen. Besides, I was gone all weekend. I had nothing around for dinner. So I resorted to an old favorite, something I came up with once upon a time to get rid of some rotisserie chicken and spinach. Basically just a quick, flavorful pasta dish you can whip up easily any weeknight.

What you need:

1 carton chicken broth

1 box whole wheat pasta spirals

1 bag spinach

1 jar of sun dried tomatoes, chopped

5 cloves garlic, minced

About half a rotisserie chicken cut into bite-sized pieces

8 oz. goat cheese

What to do:

Pour the chicken broth into a pot and bring to a boil. Add the pasta and cook about 10 minutes until al dente. Most of the liquid should cook out so you won't have to drain it. Add the bag of spinach and let wilt into the pasta. Pour into a bowl and reserve.

In the pot, pour the oil from the sun dried tomatoes. Saute the chopped tomatoes and garlic in the oil for a few minutes. Add the chicken pieces.

Add the pasta and spinach mixture back into the pot and then stir in the goat cheese.

Rachael Ray's Drunken Tuscan Pasta

OK... Next time it comes down to drinking a bottle of wine or boiling pasta in it I'm going to go with my gut instinct.

Just drink it.

Rachael Ray's recipe for Drunken Tuscan Pasta has always kind of intrigued me. The pasta recipe was in her Express Lane Meals cookbook

Surely, pasta boiled in a bottle of red wine must be packed with plenty of flavor. She actually made a risotto version of this dish on her Iron Chef appearance (she and Mario Batali went up against Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis... Mario and Rachael won).

But is it really worth a bottle of vino?

I caved on this belief over the weekend, and only because I had a nearly full bottle of wine I opened before my Christmas vacation and never finished. After it sat about a week, what else was I going to do with it?

Maybe using wine that's been open that long detracts from the flavor. But aside from turning the pasta a magnificent fuchsia color, the flavor I got wasn't worth a full bottle.

Don't get me wrong. The pasta is tasty, with the peppery flavors of escarole and pancetta. But I don't think it was any better than other pastas I've made with this ingredient combo.

Can't blame me for trying.