So, last night I was fixing a simple dinner of broiled fish with what I'd like to call "pasta florentine", and my broiler made a loud POP, then started glowing white. I didn't hop up and down, panic, screech or anything; I just hauled the fish out of there, and turned the oven off. Time to start cooking this fish a different way, because it's sorta illegal in my house to broil food in anything except the left hand stove, and we only bake flour based goods in the right hand stove. (Yes, there are rules. You don't want to hear the dishwasher loading rules; trust me on this.)Anyway, the oven continued to glow, so I got my son to pull it out and unplug it. Fast forward to this morning, when the oven had cooled down and I could inspect it: the top element broke! Yep, it stress cracked. Durn fool manufacturers, why can't they put things out for "Marjie's army platoon" (as Peter recently said) testing, before they go into production? For instance, I'd be happy to stress test an induction stove with a convection oven, if they'd like, because I'm certainly far too stingy to lay out a cool 3 grand for a stinkin' stove! But I've ordered a new element; I feel qualified to operate a screwdriver to take out the old one and replace it if my son isn't available.
So why am I lucky? Because this didn't happen 7 days earlier. You try stuffing two 23-plus-pound turkeys in one oven. Then realize that I was lucky.
On to "Pasta Florentine". Why not? I can invent wonderful sounding names for foods. It was pretty simple, good, and pretty on the plate.
PASTA FLORENTINE
2 pounds angel hair, spaghetti or linguini
1 pound spinach (thawed, squeezed and chopped if frozen)
1 stick butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 cups hot milk
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp garlic powder
Cook the pasta according to package directions, drain and keep hot (I put my pot lid over the colander while it's still in the sink, and it works well). Melt the butter in the same pan, and put the spinach in it over medium high heat. Cook the spinach for about 2 minutes, then add the cream and garlic powder. Add half the milk, then stir in the pasta. Sprinkle with the parmesan and pour the balance of the milk over the pasta and stir vigorously to combine. With only 6 people at home, there were almost no leftovers for Thor, despite the fact that this was a side dish.
12 comments:
LOL... We tried (unsuccessfully, I might add) to get some "samples" to test in the firehouse kitchens. A couple of the 24-hour paid staffed stations do have commercial kitchens, but most stations around here have residential goods.
PS - and of course there are oven and dishwasher rules. That isn't the norm?!
Oh man, losing an oven before Thanksgiving would have been bad. What's the saying..."I'd rather be lucky than good." or something like that? :oD
That pasta looks good! I was one of those weird kids who always loved spinach.
great name! and boy did you get lucky- imagine -well dont imagine- the havoc that would have created...
Why do you have oven rules? Did you make them? I'm confused.
Duckie, I did make the oven rules. I set myself rules for everything, so that I know what I'm doing even when there's chaos all around! Example: Never use the front burners on the stove, so no one walks into a hot pot (unless all back burners are occupied). It's sorta silly, but it's how I cling to the little sanity I still have!
I am the queen of kitchen rules! I'm so glad to know that I am not alone!
with that many people travelling around your place, you defintely need the rules ! Sorry about the stove, hope the new part comes in soon.
Yes, I get cranky when my diswasher loading rules aren't followed too! Glad you were able to isolate the problem with the oven.
With all those peeps you do need rules. I see two fridges and two dishwashers maybe? Did you deisgn the kitchen or did you buy a house that had a kosher kitchen in place? I know, I'm nosey.
That happened to my bottom element on my stove in our last house; I think the self-cleaning oven had a lot to do with it. Thank goodness it didn't happen last week, whew! Your past look so wonderful and delicious. How did you wind up cooking the fish?
Oh what a bummer but, like you said, you are so lucky it didn't happen last week. I can't get over your two fridges, dishwashers and stoves. What a great kitchen!!!
I have dishwasher rules too... ;)
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