Saturday Supper

I woke up at 6:00 AM on Saturday. I kicked the cats off the bed, stripped it and put the bedding in the washer. I ran out of coffee last week, so no coffee this morning until after grocery shopping.

I started cleaning the house. Since I did such a deep cleaning last weekend (after the tile project), this was more just dusting and polishing. By the time I was finished, I had the bed remade and the second load of laundry going. But, I stopped at that point and took a shower. It's time for shopping!

I left at about 10:15 AM. I hit Meijer's (for the bulk of the items), then Kroger's (for some sale items) and finally Westborn Market (herbs and veggies). I got back home about 12:30 and had everything unpacked and put away by 1:15. I put the second batch of clothes in the dryer (I had stopped the washer before the second rinse when I left on my errands). I took the remaining 6 eggs from the last grocery shopping and hard-boiled them.

I blew off the patio for the first time in a long time. Then I got a bucket of hot water mixed with Pine-Sol and a brush and washed all the patio furniture. Finally, I rinsed off the furniture and hosed down the patio.

Then I took a break. Jake and Carla are supposed to drop over this afternoon to check out the tile job and cook something with me. I didn't exactly take a nap, but I dozed off and on and felt refreshed when they showed up around 3:30 PM.

Carla had said she would be bringing the appetizer and did she ever! Twelve big clams on the half shell on ice, fresh from the restaurant they buy all their seafood from. The clams went in the fridge and we started playing cards (Kings in the Corner, my Mom's favorite). I did win one game and Jake a few more, but Carla was the big winner, today.

Halfway through the games, we ate about half of the clams raw, topped with a spray of fresh lemon juice and a little seafood cocktail sauce. Delicious!

Once we were done with the card games, Carla was ready to cook! I had picked a recipe I wanted to try ever since I saw it made on a Food Network show: Lemon Dill Chicken with Wild Mushrooms over Fettuccini, (recipe courtesy of Aaron McCargo, Jr.).

I had asked Jake if he would mind correctly hooking up my DVD-R and VCR (I had got it to work when I replaced the DVD-R, but it wasn't pretty!) so he went to do that. I got to be the prep chef while Carla assumed her role of Chef. It's interesting to watch, as she really does get in the "zone," becoming almost like Chef Ramsey, without /most/ of the swearing, lol!

So, I will give you the basic recipe steps, but since I was relegated to pounding the chicken flat, getting the pasta pot filled with water and on to boil, etc., I can't promise she followed it exactly. In fact, I know she said she had to add a lot more chicken stock than the recipe called for (she said otherwise, the sauce would be too thick) and also refused to plate it as he suggested.

So, here it is: While I pounded four boneless, skinless chicken breasts to about 1/4-1/2 inch thickness, she took a medium-size bowl, and mixed one teaspoon of kosher salt, 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper, 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes, 1/2 teaspoon of paprika and 1 teaspoon of fresh, chopped dill with 1/2 cup flour. In another medium bowl, she added some water. She wet the flattened chicken cutlets with water and then dredged it in the flour mixture.

Next, she melted four tablespoons of butter in large saute pan over medium-high heat, and sauted the chicken breasts, about four minutes on each side. After they were cooked, she removed them to a plate.

She added to the same pan one tablespoon of diced shallots and a tablespoon of fresh chopped dill. She stirred in 1/2 cup of flour and whisked it until pasty. Then she added 1 1/2 cups of dry vermouth. After the alcohol burned off, she mixed in two cups of sliced mushrooms (I wanted a mixture of cremini, shiitake and oyster mushrooms, but couldn't find any oyster mushrooms).

Now the recipe says to add one cup of chicken stock, (but I know she said she added more) and four ounces of freshly squeezed lemon juice, (about two lemons) and then cook it for an additional three to four minutes, which she did. Then she turned off the heat and stirred in the remaining two tablespoons butter and a pinch of fresh chopped parsley. Then she seasoned it with salt and pepper, to taste.

Jake removed the pasta from the water after cooking it al dente. Carla drizzled in olive oil to coat the pasta and added one tablespoon of lemon zest.

Now, for plating! The recipe says to put the pasta on a serving platter, then lay the chicken across the pasta and pour the sauce over the top; then garnish with parsley. But Carla said that would be too messy to cut the chicken, so she cut the cutlets (that was fun to type, BTW) into about one inch strips and added them and the pasta to the sauce. Jake had already set the table, so all we had to do was dig in. Fantastic! Excellent taste!!

Jake insisted on cleaning up, so we let him, lol! He hand washed the big pots and pans and loaded the rest into the dishwasher. Afterwards, Jake and I dragged the old picnic table and benches out to the road (I have a "big item pickup" scheduled for Tuesday). Then they took their leave, leaving me with the other six clams and half the leftovers (I insisted they take the other half).

I went into the living room and sat on the couch to return a call. The couch was so comfortable that, after hanging up, I went and got my book and returned to the couch. I got about one-third through the book when I fell asleep. I woke up at 1:30 AM, and went to sleep in my bed.

I was woken up by a call around 3:30 AM from the security corporation, telling me that the data center was registering a higher heat level than it should. So, I called my shortlist of people, left two messages and woke up Dale, who said he was in Georgia and couldn't help (sorry, man! I didn't know). Figuring I'd follow up with calls in the morning, I went back to sleep.