Columbus Foodie

I love to eat out, but I don’t like dining out prices. This is especially true when I know that I could probably reproduce the dish myself at a fraction of the cost. So what I’ll do a lot of times is find a dish I love, deconstruct it, and work on the recipe at home until I’ve got a clone of it. Sometimes I’ll even improve on the clone and end up making it mine anyway. And sometimes I’m lucky enough that the actual restaurant recipe is posted somewhere, which saves me a ton of work.

One of my favorite places to eat in town is Cap City Fine Diner. It’s the only one of the Cameron Mitchell restaurants that I go to regularly - I’ll have to do a full review sometime soon, as some of their unique dishes, like Maytag Blue Potato Chips, are to die for. Their signature dish is their meatloaf, which serves as the center of a couple of the dishes they offer.

I was lucky enough to find the recipe published online a couple of years ago, and this is my standby meatloaf recipe. Tonight, I’ve served it with giant radiattore that has been tossed with some shittake and sun-dried tomato cream sauce from Pastaria at the North Market.

I’ve posted the recipe at Recipezaar along with a link to the barbecue sauce that goes with it. Enjoy!

I got some lovely asparagus this weekend from one of the vendors at the North Market Farmer’s Market on Saturday - I didn’t know if I liked asparagus or not, but it beckoned to me when I saw it, with its pencil-thin beauty. I think there will probably be some in my CSA box this week, and wanted to know if I liked the stuff. So I dug through the Cooking Light site, and came up with this recipe. It came out wonderfully, with the flavors melding together perfectly and highlighting the freshness of the asparagus.

Pasta Primavera with Chicken and Asparagus

2 cups (1-inch) sliced asparagus
3 cups uncooked cavatappi or penne pasta (about 8 oz)
1 tsp. olive oil
12 oz. boneless, skineless chicken breast
1 cup shelled green peas
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 c. dry white wine
1/3 c. whipping cream
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1/4 c. (1 oz.) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1/4 c. thinly sliced fresh basil
1/4 c. chopped fresh parsley
2 tbsp. green onion

Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil in a stock pot. Add asparagus; cook 3 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon. Add pasta to boiling water; cook according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain.

Cut the chicken crosswise into 1/4 inch wide strips. Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken; saute 5 minutes. Add asparagus, peas, salt, pepper, and garlic; saute 2 minutes. Stir in wine, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Stir in cream and juice; cook 1 minute. Add pasta and cheese; stir well to coat. Remove from heat; stir in basil, green onions, and parsley.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size is 2 cups)
463 cal, 12.6 g fat, 33.6 g pro, 81 mg chol, 154 mg calc, 773 mg sod, 5.1 g fiber, 4.4 mg iron, 53.1 g carb, 10 WW points