Being Brainy at Home ~ Means Knowing What you Have and Don't have on Hand!

People don't believe me when I say that Italian cooking is easy, fast and frugal. I understand, we all go to the pantry or fridge and ask ourselves, "What am I going to make for dinner"? We think we don't see anything... but look again!

Do you see any cheese, cream, butter, pasta, potatoes, tomatoes, or rice? Those simple basics can become a brainy delicious meal in 20-40 minutes. Do you have any meat or fish to take from the freezer or fresh storage bin in the fridge?

Today, I looked and I saw in the freezer: chicken thighs. In the fridge I saw lemons and in the pantry: garlic cloves and sun dried tomatoes. Guess what's for dinner?  Delicious garlic lemon chicken with sun dried tomatoes on a bed of angel hair pasta!

To begin, marinate the chicken thighs (skin on bone in) in a glass dish of olive oil, fresh garlic cloves, sea salt and as much fresh lemon squeeze as you can muster. Sprinkle on some fresh dried herbs and let sit in the fridge until you are ready to cook.

When you are ready, preheat the oven to 400F. Once it reaches that temperature, pop in the thighs, you don't even have to move them out of the marinate. Cook at this temperature for 35 minutes, reduce heat to 375 for an additional 20-25 minutes. Prior to doing that, toss in a few sun dried tomatoes.

Prepare the pasta by cooking until just tender in salted boiling water. Put out the parmesan and tell your friends to just stop by.

~ Tutti a Tavola!