A Cautionary Tale: Cooking while Drinking may Lead to Unintended Pasta

We got home from Waltham Fields with our share yesterday (which, of course, required the Boyz, an additional five-year old borrowed from the neighbor, and me to halt the railroad track construction TWICE as we carried our wagon over the tracks and on down Beaver Street) and made this for lunch:

It was delish.  

Inspired, I made Mommy Chicken for my kids for dinner (chicken breast pounded flat and then dipped in egg, flour, and panko bread crumbs and fried in a little canola oil) and then took out the cod from Red's Best that I got with my weekly order from Farmers to You and prepared to cook it for Darling Husband and me for our dinner.

I found this recipe on Epicurious and poured myself a glass of Albarino and started cooking.  DH hates mushy fish and I hate fried food, so it's hard to find a fish dish that works for both of us.  I usually resort to fish tacos.  This, though, promised awesomeness, along with bonus actual SAUSAGE for DH (I think that he would eat plywood if I told him that there was chorizo on it.  Which is actually an idea to get him to eat tofu. Hmmm.)  So, since the fish was cooked on the stove until there's a nice crustiness to the bottom and then finished in the oven and topped with toasted breadcrumbs (I used more of the panko, toasted in a wok, because all of the other pans were in the sink.  Don't judge me) and the CHORIZO, it was crunchy, fresh cod delight all around.  Served with some steamed green beans.  And more wine.

Which inspired me even more, so I took the escarole from the fridge and went onto the next recipe: escarole soup.  I poured another glass.  The albarino was really good and I would recommend it to other Sauvignon Blanc, Sancerre fans out there. I cannot, however, recommend finishing the bottle while cooking.  I should also point out that my approach to cooking is to read the recipe, assume that I have memorized it, and proceed.  As most people know, alcohol impairs both memory and judgment, and so I sometimes get some interesting outcomes.  The escarole soup recipe was simple and straightforward.  Not an iota of heavy lifting, so I lifted another glass and then poured the entire package of tiny pasta into the pot.

So, what I have is teensy tiny macaroni and cheese with some escarole visible in what would have been a lovely broth.

Cheers.