Wifey Material? Toasted Garlic and Sweet Pea Pasta

So a girl can only live on mac and cheese and Trader Joe’s frozen meals for so long right?

I have mastered the art of placing the chicken on the cookie sheet, microwaving the orange sauce, and boiling rice.  And it’s delicious every time. Trader Joe’s you make me seem much more talented than I am and for that I am grateful.

I’m really not a bad cook.  

I can cook some really good dishes and I even used to have my own little baking business in high school.

But…

I am desperately trying to learn new dishes.  I bought that Rachel Ray cookbook this week hoping to get some new ideas flowing and put some creative dishes on the table so here is my first shot.

I chose one of the “Meals for the Exhausted.”

Basically it’s supposed to be the easiest recipes in the book.

The recipes children could make.

Okay… it was harder than planned.

I blame the fact that Isaac put away the groceries…

And that our kitchen (because we have SEVEN roommates) is always a disaster…

And I don’t have all the necessary tools…

It may also be that I am 100% out of practice and new to cooking full-blown meals.

On to the recipe.

salt

1 lb long thin pasta (whatever you have in the cupboard)

1/4-1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

5 large garlic cloves, very thinly sliced

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 large onion, finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

black pepper

3/4 cup white wine

2 cups chicken broth

2 (10 ounce) boxes frozen peas

1/2 cup fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped

1 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese

After reading this I still had hope.  I knew it would be hard but I thought I could manage.

First I cut the garlic.  Then I realized I have serious knife skills to work on.  

It wasn’t bad.  

It wasn’t good.

When the garlic was frying it made the most wonderful aroma in the kitchen. I was starving.

Anyway I went on my merry way chopping onions, adding spices, adding wine.

Drinking wine.

It seemed to come together but was very liquidy for the “sauce” I was promised… but I went on.

I added the peas after making a complete mess.  

I added all the fresh cilantro.

Isaac helped by grating all the cheese.

How great is he?

When I was finished a few things came to mind:

1. A pound of pasta is A LOT.
2. I was missing a protein.  Isaac said he would have liked it better if there were grilled chicken.
3. Cooking is hard.

Here is the finished product.  

Was it edible?  Totally.

Is there still half of it in my fridge?  Definitely.

Would I make it again? Probably not.

It was an okay dish but not anything that I was dying to eat again.

I am determined to try at least one new recipe every week.