I promised to post this recipe ages ago, but better late than never. 

I made it again the other night and it reminded me how much I love it and needed to share here. 

The recipe is pretty easy, quick and easily modified. 

I'm in no way exact in my measurements and, well, I never really measure at all when I make this recipe so here goes:

You'll need:

1-2 chicken breasts, depending on how much you want.
About a cup of orzo
Red pepper flakes, depending on your spiciness threshold 
Garlic, couple cloves
Spinach, as much as you want, I put in an entire bag the other day to use it up
Salt and pepper to taste. I don't use it, but M usually adds a pinch to his bowl

What to do:

Cut chicken into cubes, sometimes I partially cook the chicken first to make it easier to cut

In separate pot, cook orzo

Heat olive oil in a large pan

Drop red pepper flakes and garlic in (I use the garlic press, but you can chop it also)

Brown the garlic, then drop in chicken and brown until cooked through

Drain orzo and add to pan with chicken

Cook a few more minutes to make sure flavors meld

Add spinach and stir in until the spinach is wilted and well mixed

Voilà , you're done! Bon appétit! 

Everybody. 

Last week, I made pasta. 

From scratch.

Turns out, it's pretty easy, though I'm not so patient with the thinning it out part. That takes longer than I care for, so M had to take over on about half of it.

A D.C. friend was visiting for the last week and I decided we'd have an Italian night. 

I wanted to make Pasta Amatriciana again. It's a dish I discovered while visiting another friend in Rome 2.5 years ago and when I got back, I hosted an epic Italian dinner night with friends.

Even though I couldn't remember what recipe I had used in 2012, I decided we were making it again last week.

I still love it. And with homemade pasta, it's just that much better.

It's all pretty simple, though the pasta prep does require some planning.

Here's what to do:

For the pasta, we use an America's Test Kitchen recipe:

2 cups of flour
2 large eggs plus 6 large yolks
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon salt

Process all ingredients in a food processor until it forms a cohesive dough. If dough sticks to fingers, add up to 1/4 cup flour, one tablespoon at a time until barely tacky. 

Turn dough ball onto dry surface and knead until warm smooth, for 1 to 2 minutes. Shape dough into 6-inch long cylinder. Wrap with plastic wrap and let it set for about 4 hours. 

Cut dough into equal pieces. The recipe says 6, but we did 4, which might be why it took so long to flatten. 

Dust both sides and roll it out, slowly, rotating and flipping as you go. When it's thin enough, you should be able to see your fingers through it. Repeat for each of the sections of dough.

Let the flattened pasta dry for about 15 minutes. 

The fold the dry pasta into about 2-inch pieces, folding over itself. Then cut into slices, depending on the thickness you want. I made mine fairly thin since the recipe calls for linguine. 

Unfold the pasta and separate. Fresh pasta will cook much faster than boxed pasta, It only takes 3-5 minutes typically. 

For the sauce:

4 slices bacon, diced

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 teaspoon minced garlic (I definitely used more than this. Probably 3-4 cloves, but I love garlic.)

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

14.5 ounces cans stewed tomatoes

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil (I got to use basil I'd grown. Possibly the best part.)

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese (Yeah we used more than that too. We just added it to the individual bowls so everyone had as much as they wanted.)

We also added in a splash of red wine.

Cook diced bacon in a large saucepan over medium high heat until crisp, about 5 minutes. Drain all but 2 tablespoons of drippings from the pan.

Add onions, and cook over medium heat about 3 minutes, or until golden brown. Stir in garlic and red pepper flakes; cook 30 seconds. Add canned tomatoes, undrained; simmer 10 minutes, breaking up tomatoes.

As that's going, cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain.

Stir basil into the sauce, and then toss with cooked pasta. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese.

I'd recommend serving with a glass of red wine. 

This was maybe not the perfect dish for a hot summer day, since the pasta making took time in the hot kitchen, but, it's so delicious. 

Do you have a favorite recipe? Any favorites from a trip abroad or a dinner party with friends?