Dinner pix from tonight.

I call this “quasi-pasta puttanesca”. Served with roasted brussel sprouts and broiled chicken.

One package brussel sprouts, halved and tossed with EVOO (extra-virgin olive oil), kosher salt and cracked black pepper. Roasted at 375 F for 25 min, finished with chopped Italian parsley as below.

Towards the end of roasting, the stupid fire alarm went off. Honestly, I don’t know how people in this building deal with it. It’s almost like you can’t cook without the alarm beeping. I’m sure people ignore it but it really sets my teeth on edge since deactivating the alarm is against the law. Ventilation sucks in this apartment. I almost always end up opening a window or turning on the A/C just to cool things down.

Puttanesca sauce is a tomato-based sauce with anchovies, peperoncino (dried hot peppers), olives and capers. I didn’t make a batch of sugo pomodoro this weekend like I planned. I’ll probably do that on Saturday or Sunday. I ended up picking up some grape cherry tomatoes on the way home from work along with another bottle of EVOO. When I’m cooking up a storm, I go through olive oil like nobody’s business.

Half an onion, chopped; two garlic cloves, minced.

A handful of Kalamata olives, pitted and chopped; half a package of grape tomatoes, halved.

Chopped fresh marjoram on the left, chopped Italian parsley on the right.

Anchovies packed in oil, capers. Anchovies are a staple in this household. I prefer salt-packed anchovies (less fishy taste) but when I can’t get them, oil-packed fillets are just as good.

2 T. EVOO, garlic and onion till semi-translucent. Add anchovies and mash with a fork or wooden spoon.

Added olives and marjoram.

Added tomatoes, capers and parsley. Cooked for about 3 min. past this point. Added a bit more EVOO.

Added cooked, drained pasta. I ran out of penne so added a handful of farfalle. Copious amounts of cracked black pepper and 2 T. chopped fresh mint.

I’ll spare y’all pix of the chicken. Boneless skinless broiled chicken breasts don’t make for interesting food porn.