Chicken and Pasta with Soup Mix Sauce

I know, I know, I've been such a slacker! I haven't cooked much lately; the kitchen has been piled with dishes and I've been feeling lazy. We've been eating pizza and Chinese food mostly. Last night I did my old fallback guaranteed-good meal, Chicken and Pasta in Soup Mix Sauce. I think the actual name of it was something like Herbed Chicken Fettuccine, but 1) I rarely actually have fettuccine in the house and usually just use whatever pasta is around, and 2) if I CALL it that, Alex will not have any idea what I'm talking about. I have two other guaranteed-good dishes (which I have made numerous times), which are my chili and my bbq meatballs. Both are quite tasty, as long as I dice the onions small enough.

Before I get on to the recipe for the chicken, I'd just like to take this moment to point out that I got a fit-n-fresh "bento" kit yesterday for $20. It comes with a thermos, a salad bowl w/ built in dressing dispenser, and a box that holds a large entree and two sides. All of them come with ice packs that fit in neatly. Also Alex ordered me a Mr. Bento on Saturday! YAY!

So here's the chicken recipe.

Chicken and Pasta with Soup Mix Sauce

1 lb chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 tsp poultry seasoning
1-2 tsp salt-free seasoning blend
4 tbsp butter, divided
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp dry onion soup mix
1 packet savory herb and garlic soup mix, divided
2/3 cup water
1 tbsp teriyaki sauce
1 tbsp parmesan cheese
2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
8 oz uncooked pasta

Toss chicken with seasonings. Saute in 2 tbsp butter and 2 tbsp olive oil until cooked through, about 5 minutes. Add water, onion soup mix, 2 tbsp savory herb and garlic soup mix, and teriyaki sauce; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 15 minutes. Meanwhile, bring pot of water to a boil and cook pasta until al dente. Drain pasta, add to skillet. Toss with remaining soup mix, remaining butter, parmesan, and worcestershire until well coated.

Beef Tenderloin with Roasted Shallot Port Sauce

Tonight I'm doing a roast beef tenderloin in a beef broth-roasted shallot-port-bacon sauce, with roasted potatoes and sugar snap peas. Also I burnt the top of my knuckle on the damn oven heating element thing. Again. Guh.

Hope it all tastes good.

edit: Oh wow. Oh wow. The sugar snap peas were a bit overdone (damn nuclear stovetop!) but still tasty, the potatoes were creamy with a crispy crust and perfectly seasoned with rosemary and thyme, and the beef. The beef. A nice medium rare throughout, tender and juicy, and that sauce. Wow. I accidentally over-reduced the beef broth and port (reduced it by 2/3 or 3/4 instead of 1/2), so I was a little worried it would be too strong, but when I added my roux, and butter, and then the roasted shallots and bacon... oh man. Heaven. Best beef gravy I may have ever had. And I did not know the wonders of a sweet, soft roasted shallot until tonight; they were sitting around for a while after roasting, waiting for the beef to get done, and the layers had separated a bit, as onions tend to do. So I picked up a tiny rogue layer and popped it in my mouth and HOLY CRAP. I had made roasted balsamic red onions before and hadn't been particularly thrilled, too oniony for me, but this was SO DIFFERENT. I could have just eaten them by themselves, as a side. Amazing.

Three thumbs up.

Chicken Dopiaza and Meez

You know, regardless of how much preparing I try to do ahead of time, why is it that when cooking Indian/Asian food I am ALWAYS scrambling and spilling and cursing and screaming at Alex to please come open this jar that is stuck I need it NOW NOW NOW NOW.

I'm making chicken dopiaza tonight. It is yellow and garlicky and spicy and smells delicious (and still has another 15 minutes in the oven to go). First disaster: no tomatoes. Had to go buy some. Second disaster: approximately 50% of my bag of shallots was moldy. Third disaster(s): Had to get Alex to open jar and unopened spice container, which were both stuck. Fourth disaster: Cat peed on the couch. Fifth disaster: I didn't cut nearly as much cheesecloth as needed to squeeze juice out of onion and had to resort to using a strainer, thus getting 2 more dishes dirty. Sixth disaster: For some reason all the spices I put in the pot sucked up the oil like NOTHING. Fuckers.

It damn well better taste good. And after dinner I am going to have to make a run to the 24-hr Walmart and buy some more cat litter and get the non-Littermaid box set up. Fucking cat.