Fancy Friday Night Dinner

I love going out to dinner, but since I'm currently unemployed we don't go out as much as we used to. But, that doesn't mean you can't enjoy a fancy dinner at home - with multiple courses! This was a huge splurge diet wise, but I enjoyed every bite. We ate at a very leisurely pace, considering I cooked each course right before it was served. Probably it took us 3 hours to finish eating. It was wonderful.

Appetizer - Charcuterie (shar - coot - errr-eee)
Charcuterie is defined as cured meats. In Italian restaurants this is usually an antipasto

3 different meats like salami, ham and prociutto - about 4oz each, sliced
1 type of cheese like muenster, sharp cheddar - about 4 oz, sliced
Pickles
crackers or mini toasts
whole grain mustard

Arrange the ingredients in separate sections on a nice serving platter.

Salad
5 romaine leaves chopped
1 celery stalk chopped
1 carrot chopped
Dressing - I used the Trader Joe's Champagne Pear Vinegarette
Fresh ground black pepper

Main Course - Lemon Chicken Pappardelle
3/4 lb chicken breasts marinated in dill and lemon juice
1 package of Trader Joe's Lemon Pappardelle
1 small zucchini chopped into half moon
1 cup grape tomatoes cut in half
1 tbs butter
2 tbs flour
2 tsp parmesan cheese
1/2 cup chicken stock

Salt, pepper

Spray a large frying pan with non-stick spray, heat over medium heat and add the chopped zucchini. Cook for about 3 minutes or until slightly cooked. Meanwhile heat a large pot of water for the pasta. Remove the zucchini from the pan and add the chicken. Cook the chicken until its fully cooked. Remove from the pan, keeping all the nice chicken juices in the pan. At this point the water should be boiling - add the pasta to the boiling water and stir. Add the frying pan back over the heat - add the butter and flour and stir around until you don't notice any lumps. Next add the chicken stock, salt and pepper and cook until bubbly. This should create a nice sauce. Add the tomatoes to the sauce and let cook for a minute. At this point the pasta should be cooked. Drain the pasta and add to the pan with the sauce and tomatoes. Slice the chicken and add with the zucchini back into the pan. Stir all this around until well coated with the sauce. Plate and top with some parmesan cheese and fresh ground black pepper.

The main course only seems complicated, but was really easy. Just take your time. You can even cook the pasta before the rest of the dish, so you're only focused on one component at a time.

Lemon Herb Chicken, Corn on the Cob and Salad

I'm lucky that our city participates in a farmers market. I picked up peppers, fresh corn, a watermelon and pickles. The chicken I got at the grocery store on Monday and its been marinating in the freezer since then. To be honest, I had some trouble with the easiest part of the meal - cooking the corn!

Lemon Herb Chicken
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/3 cup lemon juice
Salt, ground black pepper, thyme and rosemary

Marinate the chicken with the rest of the ingredients at least 12 hours or overnight in a Ziploc bag. Mine had been marinating since I went grocery shopping on Monday; I divided up the chicken into 1 lb portions and put them in the ziploc bags with various marinades and then into the freezer.

Corn!
2 ears fresh corn, shucked
Spray butter
Salt and fresh ground black pepper

I picked up 5 ears of corn at the Farmers Market (5 for $2), and shucked and cooked them all tonight. Boil for about 10 minutes in a medium sized pot with a quart of water. Drain, let cool and then season. I enjoy spray butter for this because it can cover the whole ear and a lot less calories than loads of real butter.


The chicken and corn was served with an easy green salad. Above is a photo of the plated meal. Notice two major differences in the plates: 1. Lots more chicken and 2. Salad Dressing on the man plate. I dressed my salad with just balsamic vinegar and only portioned a small chicken breast. The man plate has 3 pieces of chicken and balsamic vinegarette. Its important to look at portion sizes as a way to measure calories. Men are usually bigger (in my case, 70 lbs and 8 inches bigger) and need more calories. The other way is to cut out calories in toppings on your plate that easily add up. In this meal, the salad dressing only had 40 calories per 2 tsps, but that 40 calories adds up over the day.