Roll Your Own Damn Truffles....

Hey All,

So its Valentine's Day. I hope you and your sweeties are doing something awesome. Several years ago, we here at Chez 825 decided that we are awesome as we are and pretty much act like its Valentine's Day all the time, so nothing fancy for us. But I did get inspired to do some cooking....I can hear you all groaning already..."Oh lardy, listen to that fag carry on about his food and bedroom adventures." Ha! For a change, a good quick meal didn't inspire bedroom antics.

I did get inspired to try and make truffles....this is a JOKE, right? I used Ina Garten's Chocolate Truffle Recipe. I was thinking, hey, this is Ina, if it ain't easy, tasteful, and hard to screw up, she wouldn't publish it. WRONG! They were started at about 4:30...its now 7:45. I think the ganache will be perfect for rolling tomorrow, and the flavor is good, but it is not the straightforward easy couple hour thing the recipe makes it out to be. So I guess we'll have to settle for Double Chocolate cookies with Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream and chocolate sauce instead....darnit :P

Over the weekend, I was watching Food Network Again....Yes, Worst Cooks in America is down to the final two. This upcoming weekend is the finale...I can't wait. I'm totally rooting for Geog, even though Anne Burrell, in my opinion, is the more inspired and creative chef. Win or lose, she's already got me geared up for Chopped All-Stars. This commercial popped up with one of the chef's/cooks, I think it was Melissa DiArabian using cream cheese in pasta...and it looked yummy. So, I decided to get creative.

Thawed 2 good sized boneless skinless chicken breasts. Cut those into 1/2 inch cubes. Set aside while I'm completed the rest of my prep.

In another small bowl, a handful of matchstick carrots and about 1/3 of a very large yellow onion, diced. A smear of pesto over the top and mixed in.

In a much larger bowl: 1 medium sized zucchini, diced, 1 medium sized yellow squash, diced, 2 small red bell peppers cut into 1/4 x 2 inch strips, 2 heads of broccoli, a container of pre-cut mushrooms (bargain alert, NPS for $0.50, not the freshest, but perfect for cooking like this). A couple good smears of pesto and mixed it all together.

Heated the some olive oil until very hot, not quite smoking, but the chicken seared nicely when it hit the pan. Cooked until the chicken had just lost its pink on the outside. Threw in the onion/carrot mixture. Cooked until the edges of the onions just started to clear. Then tossed in the other vegetable mixture. I tossed this together until the broccoli had just started to sweat.

Now for the fun, I took half a container of Alouette Sundried Tomato and Basil Cheese spread, another NPS bargain, $0.69 for the container and I love this stuff on corn chips for a ritzy feeling snack. I let it sit covered for just a couple of minutes until the cheese got soft and mixable.

Removed from heat, stirred well....and let sit while I prepared a copious amount of spaghetti to serve it over.

One last toss of the "creamy pesto" and viola....a very tasty and awesome dinner!

Now to tackle the truffles tomorrow....let's hope the dubious recipe reviews about it melting and making one hell of a mess are only half accurate.