Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Pasta with all the Flavors of the Mediterranean


Tonight's dinner was leftovers....but no groaning at this table, I assure you. Let me back up a bit. Saturday evening we had some of my Honey's co-workers for dinner. If we were living in Toronto, we would have done everything on the grill and not worried about heating up the house, but...we don't have that option. So I decided to serve dishes that I could cook earlier in the day and serve al fresco...or room temperature. And because my father used to say that my mother and I must have got our training cooking for the military, I naturally had left overs.

Before I go on to tonight's dinner, here's Saturday's menu...

Homemade Pita chips
Smoky Chipotle Hummus
Spicy Kalamata Olives & Mini Bocconccini

Couscous with Barberries & Currants
Chickpea Salad
Fattoush
Sumac Coated Chicken Fingers
Chili Cilantro Shrimp
Marinated Tofu

Katherine Hepburn Brownies
Fresh Fruit Salad with Mint

I used to think of Greece, Italy and Spain when anyone mentioned "Mediterranean". Now I also include the Middle East and North Africa. And I've become a real fan of spices like Aleppo Pepper produced in Syria, that has a spicy, smoky, fruity, cuminy flavor and is a glorious shade of deep red. Not to mention sumac, that I discovered a couple of years ago. Needless to say, dinner had a very Mediterranean flavor. And ...needless to say, there was lots of chicken left over.

To make things really special and not just the same dinner three nights in a row...I whipped up this pasta dish that stars the Sumac coated Chicken, some preserved lemons I made months ago and hardly ever use, the spicy Kalamata olives I had in the fridge and lots of Aleppo & Sumac.

Leftovers never tasted so good! Mediterranean Style Chicken Fettuccine

Perfect for Presto Pasta Nights. I'm hosting this week, You can check here for details about entering a dish and hosting a PPN yourself. Then email your entry to ruth AT 4everykitchen DOT com.

And for my question of the week....how do you disguise leftovers?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ruth, this looks fabulous!

Anonymous said...

Yes, it does look fabulous.

By the way, I appreciate the Aleppo pepper link. It seems like I see Aleppo pepper in every other recipe lately, and I didn't know what it was.

Beth (jamandcream) said...

I love fattoush!!! Great pasta dish too.

Dee said...

Hi Ruth, I emailed you my entry Early since I'm always missing the deadline. Hope you received it.

Your menu sounds amazing! Drool.