January Thaw, Part 2

It rained hard overnight and was still raining when I left the house Friday morning. I went down Plymouth Road (of course) and quickly learned the rain had overpowered the storm drains. The right lane was NOT the place you wanted to be in!

It was still damp and cloudy during my morning walk at 10:00 AM, but no longer raining.

I had some errands to run at lunch, so  stopped in at Westborn and got a container of chicken noodle soup. They had the lobster bisque and I really wanted that, but thought the chicken noodle soup might be better for my cold. I took the soup back to work and ate it there as I had just about run out of lunch time.

[Note to self: Next time, just get the lobster bisque! There was no noticeable improvement in my coughing, sneezing and nose-blowing.]

By my afternoon walk at 3:00 PM, the sun was out and it was noticeably warmer. It’s supposed to be in the 60’s tomorrow and I’m jealous of all the guys talking about taking their motorcycles out for a mid-winter ride. Of course, the high on Sunday is only a predicted 38 degrees F., but, hey, this is Michigan!

When I got home after work, I learned two things on the news: It hit 58 degrees F. here on the second day of the January thaw (not quite a record) and we had 3/4 of an inch of rain overnight (that would translate to 6-8 inches of snow had it been colder).

This may or may not improve the lake levels, which are low this year and everyone is talking about dredging to get their boats out,

All my snow has melted and I can once again see all the trash out back (Grrr…) I started dinner at 5:30 PM. No, I never eat that early, but this is a slow cooker recipe I need to get started.

As you probably have gathered, I finally got around to reading a cookbook I got as a gift a while back: “Not Your Mother’s Slow Cooker.” Since I like using a slow cooker (you turn it on Low when you leave for work and when you come home after 5:00 PM, the house smells great and dinner is served!) I was interested. Tonight’s effort was Creamy Penne with Mushroom and Tuna Sauce.

Right off the bat, the recipe p*ssed me off. None of the can sizes matched mine! Is this a Russian recipe or something??? For example, it called for a 13-ounce can of evaporated milk: mine are all 12 ounces (I added more chicken stock). And it talked about a 3-ounce package of cream cheese (um, mine are all  8-ounce boxes so, I overdid it) Anyway, I’ll tell you what they called for, not how I compensated and you can adjust as necessary like I did.

First, In a skillet over medium heat, I melted two tablespoons of butter and sautéed two medium-sized diced shallots and eight ounces of fresh mushrooms (I used the leftover crimini ones I had for something else).

[Sidebar: I HATE shallots! No, I love the taste, but on all the cooking shows, they open one up, peel it and dice it, right? When I open one up, there are two or three mini ones inside that I have to also peel and then dice. Where the hell do they get those perfect shallots???]

When they were softened (about five minutes), I sprinkled in two tablespoons of flour and cooked that for a minute or so. Then I added in one cup of chicken broth, one 13-ounce can of evaporated milk [no comment]. I stirred it while I brought that to a boil until it thickened into a thin white sauce. To that I added a 3-ounce package of cream cheese, crumbled [no comment] and 3-ounces of goat cheese, also crumbled [no comment] I stirred that until everything melted.

Next I added a 6.5 ounce can [no comment]of drained white albacore tuna [no comment], drained, and a heaping cup of frozen peas. I stirred that and seasoned with salt and pepper to taste.

Meanwhile I had undercooked (by about two minutes) half a box (8-ounces) of penne pasta. I drained that and added it to the skillet. I stirred it to coat it evenly.

I sprayed my round slow cooker with vegetable oil and put the mixture in it. And, here’s where things went wrong…

You are supposed to make the topping with crushed corn flakes. I don’t eat cereal (I force myself to eat oatmeal so I don’t puke from my pills) so I had nothing. So, I substituted plain bread crumbs. I should have had 1/2 cup of crushed corn flakes, two tablespoons of melted butter and one cup of shredded cheddar cheese. I mixed what I had together and turned it on high (I’d like to eat this tonight) and set the stove timer for two hours.

Note: If you have the time, its about four hours on LOW.

I tried to stay awake (I feel crummy) and did until the timer went off. Then I dished out a portion. It was excellent (like my Mom’s tuna and peas on steroids) but the topping sucked!

Then I went to bed.