Thoughts of LoWriter

Experimental Dinner

Last week, Ben and I made our first dinner without a recipe! It all started with a giant zucchini that my mom sent back to us with my sister out of the garden. Because I've been so ill off and on, some of the garden stuff she sent went bad on us, sadly. I was bound and determined that the giant zucchini would be eaten and not thrown away. So, I set out to find a recipe that had zucchini, chicken, tomatoes, maybe some mushrooms, and some spices in it. I didn't want to make a sauce, exactly; I wanted to make a skillet meal that I could maybe serve with rice. Or something. I wasn't sure. But I'd know it when I saw it, damn it!

So, basically, after being thwarted at every turn by my recipe collection, my magazines a co-worker gave me, and Yahoo Food (with Rachel Ray, I might add), I finally decided that we were going to just make it up as we went.

It turned out pretty fantastic. (I put in too much basil. Other than that, it was pretty darned tasty.)

So, here's what we did. Fry up some chicken in a pan with some minced garlic (two cloves), some basil (I used too much, but we just dumped, so I have no idea how much), some rosemary, some oregano, and little tiny bit of terragon. (If I do it again, I might use thyme, too, or instead of terragon.)

Cut up a medium-large to large onion and throw that in after the chicken is getting towards done. Cut an enormous zucchini into slices, and then cut the slices into fourths. Cook that for awhile with the chicken once the chicken is pretty much cooked. (It might not be a bad idea to try to saute it up in a seperate pan while frying the chicken, but we didn't do that, and it turned out fine.)

When everything is tender, throw in either one or two cans of diced tomatoes. (We used two, but we figure one would have done it.) Then throw in a can of Portabella mushrooms. (This is my new favorite thing. I use them in everything. They are like the mushrooms in the Olive Garden Ravioli de Portabella--right down to the fact that I don't have to cut them.) Taste it and see if it needs more seasoning. If so, add some more. (But go easy on the basil.)

Bring it to a boil for awhile and let it all get to tasting yummy. When it looks more like a skillet meal and less like stew, turn it off and serve over rice. We used Minute Rice because we're classy like that. It could also go over pasta. I expect that in the middle of the winter, it would also make a mean stew, except that it would be difficult to acquire an enormous zucchini in the middle of the winter. Unless you are Bill Gates. Or Jesus. Then you can probably get whatever you want.

I listed the spices in order from most used to least used. We used dried because we don't have a garden yet (I get no sun in my apt.).

In any case, we were both pretty impressed with ourselves. We've gone from never cooking to experimental dinners in about 6 months. I consider that a triumph! Hooray for experimental dinner!

Posted by LoWriter at September 15, 2008 10:42 PM