Not sure if I have ever put asparagus and mashed potatoes together, other than if they were both separately on a plate. But, I peeled three medium Irish potatoes, cut them up into relatively small dice, and then boiled them. I diced about 12 stalks of asparagus (normally I cook asparagus as single stalks) and steamed them, knowing I was going to add them to the mashed potatoes.
Once the potatoes were done, I mashed them adding both lots of margarine and some Half-n-Half. I thought the potatoes were smoother, but actually ended up liking the semi-chunkiness of the finished product. The asparagus worked really well mixed into the mashed potatoes. Good flavor!
I had this with a re-heated lamb round-bone chop, some pickled beets and cabbage slaw. The potatoes would also go good with beef liver or maybe even a hamburger patty.
I have some spaghetti sauce, curried chicken and Mexican Salsa Chicken in the refrigerator. I bought a wedge of Parmigiano Reggiano at Wegmans the other day, and grated some on what I don’t recall. I still had some of the Publix Roasted Chicken that I had pulled the meat off the bone and had in a Tupperware container in the fridge. I put half of the chicken in a curry dish, and the other half in the Mexican dish.
In the past I have started with chicken thighs or breast meat and cubed it. The basic ingredients are the same, the main difference is whether I add curry powder & paste, or Herdez Salsa Ranchera (along with pepper flakes, Chipotle & Cayenne powder, jalapeno and/or Poblano). The other common ingredients to the two dishes are “fire roasted” diced tomatoes, carrots, onion, and sweet (yellow, orange or red) bell pepper.
Whether the curry or salsa dishes, both go well with rice… or a baked sweet potato (with sweetener, margarine and sour cream).
I’ve mentioned this previously, probably several times, but for years I used either Delmonte or Hunts Spaghetti Sauce starter. The cans got smaller through the years, but basically were about $1 each, until Covid. I’m not sure when I started adding a can of diced “fire roasted” cubed tomatoes, but that is now a necessity. I will also add ground beef & onion and brown them. *For years I added a small can of mushrooms, but don’t find that necessary any longer.
I’ll cut up some sweet (red. yellow) bell pepper. Some red pepper flakes. *I also started adding fennel seeds several years ago. I had bought some Italian sausage (which I found included fennel seeds) and found the liquorish flavor pleasant. Once, I bought pork sausage & some ground lamb, and added that with the ground beef. I can’t say there was a great difference, and especially for the extra money, it wasn’t worth it.
Within the last year, I was watching ATK or Cook’s Country and they mentioned RAO’s spaghetti sauce started. I looked for this some time later and I think I found it in WalMart, then saw it in Food Lion also. A jar of Rao’s costs about $8. So when I opened the jar of Rao’s Marinara sauce, I decided to only use half of it at a time.
I was completely surprised at how good my spaghetti sauce was when I used the Rao’s. *Through the years I had come to make spaghetti sauce about every couple of weeks. One “batch” of sauce normally would provide 3 or 4 meals. Lately, I only feel like making spaghetti sauce at home about once a month.
Oh, I normally like to use Angel Hair pasta (because it cooks much quicker), but have tried various shapes of pasta through the years. Farfalle (is that bow tie) doesn’t cook evenly. The pasta fans cook quicker than where they are pinched together. I like pasta shells, but normally like them for other dishes. *The pasta shells (small/medium) work well for my shrimp/kielbasa/zucchini dish. They soak up the sauce. I have used the egg noodle pasta, but that does not sit well on the fork. They fall off too easily.
Bill Gibson, II 