Is there a chef in me?
Chef Moi?
With all that is going on in my crazy crazy life, I need all the good vibes I can get. One of those is going to church on a regular basis. Another is cooking.
I have several cookbooks in my possession, many of them Italian, and lately, since I'm now fully self-employed and working from home, I've been cooking. I got ahold of a book called, "A Goombah's guide to life?¨ by the greaseball who plays Bobby Bacala on "The Sopranos" and in the back of it is a whole mess of recipes. So far, here is what I have cooked:
1) Meat sauce: It was fan-frigging-tastic. Loved it. And it felt great when Suarez walked in and said, "Man that smell hit me when I walked in. Yum!"
2) Marinara sauce: Eh...sarright. I think I put in a bit too much olive oil. Oh well. And I should use different tomatoes next time, for the ones I used this time were too chopped up.
3) Lasagna: eh...edible. You'll probably like it, and I kept what I didn't eat initially for leftovers, but I guess that I'm not a huge fan of rigatta cheese, which is the big thing in Lasagnas. Also, my marinara sauce was from #2. Ultimate prognosis: good, not great. Next time, easy on the regatta cheese and do the marinara sauce better. A work in progress.
4) Spaghetti Carbonara: Molto Benne! Man was this good. It's pretty simple, and good for a late night snack after drinking, or "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy?" marathons. It's easy: two egg yokes, a whole lotta parsley, ricotta cheese, and prosciutto mixed together, tossed with noodles and topped off with cooked onions and bacon. Very tasty. I didn't have much hope in this as I was cooking it, but man was I pleasantly surprised when I tasted the final product.
5) Pizza!!!: This actually came not from a pretend mobster but from a XMAS present I got a year ago and never did anything with until today. Pizza from scratch. First I mixed the flour with yeast, sugar and salt, and then did the time-honored beating of the dough thing. Only I forgot to read ahead of time that I was supposed to pre-heat the oven at 500 degrees for an hour before I did any of this. Oh well. I put the tomato sauce on, along with some oregano, some nice grated moo-za-rell, some ham bits, Italian seasoning, and olive oil. Cooked it quickly for 20 minutes or so. Not bad?Kcertainly tasty, and I?¦m keeping the leftovers (just had some) but I can do better next time.
Not bad for a straight single guy in his 20's, eh?
Of course, while I'm working in the kitchen, Chloe always wants to "help" me, which means that she wants to mingle amongst my cooking tools. So I have to put her in my bedroom until I'm done. Bad kitty.
But hey: I'm a soon-to-be-successful screenwriter, I'm 26, single, decent looking (so I've been told) I have a cat, I have a decent sense of style (so I've been told) and I can cook. I'm a catch!
Ladies? Where are you?
Oh well. I guess I'll just die alone.
Two weeks ago I had five friends over for dinner and I served everyone dinner. We began with a little wine, followed by a garden salad, then Spaghetti Bolognese cooked from scratched, and polished all of that off with some Breyers Ice Cream. All cooked and served by yours truly. And you know what? It was great. I have finally discovered that I just love cooking for people and serving food and pouring drinks for my friends, so what I have decided is to make my Sunday night dinners at least a bi-weekly, or hopefully, a weekly habit. Come one, come all, just email me and you'll be invited. You wanna bring something? Bring wine. Lots of it. Good for cooking and sophisticated drinking for all.
All friends of mine are welcome.
Next Sunday's menu will be either New York Sirloin Steak, or a Veal dish I'm working on. Don't worry...I test cook everything ahead of time before I unleash it unto others.
Bon Appetito!!!
