Pasta with chicken, zucchini, and yellow squash in a garlic white wine sauce

I love pasta, chicken, zucchini, yellow squash, garlic, and white wine, so why not mix them all together? I had never made a white wine sauce before tonight, but I was pretty pleased with the end product. I took some thin sliced chicken breast and cut it into smaller pieces. I let the saute pan get warm with extra virgin olive oil and I added some fresh chopped garlic along with the chicken and fresh cracked black pepper with a little bit of salt. Once the chicken was mostly cooked, I added the zucchini (special thanks to Jody for the loads of zucchini she gave me from her Dad's garden) and yellow squash along with a little bit of rosemary and fresh basil. I also added maybe a 1/4 cup of white wine (Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio). Then I turned the heat up and let the veggies and chicken brown up in the pan. Meanwhile, I began to boil the pasta.
Once the chicken and veggies had browned up a bit, I removed them from the pan and added more wine to deglaze the yummy browned flavorful bits on the bottom of the pan. The wine reduced nicely as the pasta finished boiling. I added the pasta to the bowl of chicken and veggies and then topped it all with the white wine sauce from the saute pan. Lastly, I had toasted some pignoli nuts so I added them to the dish as well for an extra texture and rich flavor. I love pignoli nuts in my pasta, I just think they add this extra layer of satisfying flavor and a little bit of a crunch. Before I dug into my bowl, I also added some parmesan cheese and a little extra cracked black pepper. I must say, this was a very tasty dish and I will definitely be making it again, with lots more garlic!

Castle Island Burgers and Mike's Pastry Cannoli

Towards the latter half of my trip home, my wonderful boyfriend came to visit for his first trip Massachusetts EVER! So I was very excited to show him around and of course, introduce him to some delicious local food. After a fun night at Fenway and a trip to Scusset beach by the Cape Cod Canal, we headed into Boston for the day with my family. Our first stop was to Castle Island, home of Sullivan's. Castle Island is a great summer spot right on the water and home of a very historical fort originally built in the 1600's. Sullivan's is a Castle Island staple consisting of fast-food style ordering, with downright delectable burgers, hot dogs, etc etc. The food just tastes like it came right off the grill in your backyard and your Dad cooked it with a whole lotta love. I got a cheeseburger and it was mouth wateringly delicious. It was greasy - but not too greasy, the cheese was perfectly melted and the bun smooshed everything together to form a harmony of happiness in my mouth. The four of us (Mom, Dad, Trav & myself) also split an order of onion rings and french fries. The onion rings are probably the best I have ever had - very crunchy on the outside, but not too heavy, with a soft mild onion on the inside. Their french fries are standard crinkle cut fries but also come with a fantastic crunchy outside and creamy potato inside. The weather was beautiful, our lunch was delicious, we really couldn't have asked for a better afternoon.

After soaking up some sun at Castle Island, we made our way to the North End, my absolute favorite part of Boston. I was super excited because there was a festival going on this weekend for Madonna Della Cava. The North End festivals are a great big celebration with lots of food, drinks, games and entertainment. Mike's Pastry is one of the most famous bakeries in the area and is one place I always try to get to when I am home. Their cannoli's are my favorite - very large with crunchy shells filled with thick creamy ricotta. I always get the chocolate chip cannoli - the ends are sprinkled with little chocolate chips. The line to get into Mike's was literally out the door and down the sidewalk so we got in line knowing that the wait would be worth it. My Mom ordered a bunch of cannoli's for us to take home - traditional ricotta filled, pistachio, florentine, and chocolate dipped. She also got a lobster tail, an extremely large pastry in the shape of a lobster tail filled with a lighter ricotta filling almost the consistency of whipped cream. I absolutely could not wait until after dinner to eat a cannoli, so I ordered a chocolate chip one to go for my boyfriend and I to split. Mike's cannolis are never a disappointment, time and time again they remain the best cannoli I have ever had. I am sad to say I was so excited about eating them that I forgot to actually take a picture of one, but I did take a few inside the pastry shop and at their stand on the festival street (which they humorously decorated with the advertisements pictured above). They do have a website so feel free to check that out, you can actually order cannoli's online and they will ship them to you!
http://www.mikespastry.com/

Cape Cod and Uncle Merlot

As my vacation continued, I made my way down to Chatham to visit my Aunt & Uncle with my parents. This is my favorite place to go on the Cape. The beach is within walking distance of my uncles house, there is a phenomenal candy store in town, and my aunt & uncle just happen to be fantastic cooks. Now when I was younger, I was never much of a seafood fan. I usually ran away from the steamers my cousins would try to get me to eat. I guess my taste buds have changed because I could not get enough of my Aunt's stuffed clams and clams casino. I got so lost and distracted by the clams casino that I did not remember to take a picture of them but let me tell you, they were outstanding. Juicy and just bursting with loads of flavor. She had topped the clam with garlic, some breadcrumbs, crunchy bacon and some fresh basil. And then there were the stuffed clams. These were amazing. The stuffing was made of ground up clam bellies, onion, celery, bread crumbs, garlic, butter, fresh herbs and a whole lotta love. Not to mention, topped with a nice piece of crunchy bacon. It was so rich and flavorful with a satisfying hint of clam. They really could not have been better. Big shout out to Aunt Janet for those!My Dad's family loves being Italian and takes great pride in our food. It should also come as no shock that Uncle Merlot has a very high affinity for you guessed it, Merlot. So anytime we all get together, there is an abundance of delicious food and red wine. Naturally, the clams were just the appetizers, and as hard as it was to save room, I managed to keep some digestive space open for the dinner that was to come. Pork seemed to be the theme, as my Dad cooked a dry-rubbed pork tenderloin on the grill that he had slathered in BBQ sauce at the last minute. Uncle Merlot was in charge of the Italian pork sausages, onions, and peppers. Perhaps my favorite element of the meal was the insalata caprese prepared by my Aunt. Fresh grown tomatoes and basil straight from their garden and large soft hunks of fresh mozzarella are possibly my favorite combination of ingredients ever. The masterpiece of a platter was then drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I did not think I would be able to finish my plate which was full of insalata caprese, a sausage, onion, & pepper sandwich, and a few pieces of the pork loin. Somehow I managed to enjoy every bite. It could not have been better; I was with my family, at the beach, and eating wonderful food. It's funny, this was just a casual DuPont summer gathering, so the DuPont family Christmas is bound to deliver some truly mind blowing blog posts. Cannolli, calzone, panna cotta, prime rib. Ahh the possibilities....

Fenway Franks...the hot dog saga continues

It should come as no surprise that there is yet another post about hot dogs. It's summer, hot dogs just make sense. With that in mind, I ventured on home to Massachusetts for a nice little vaca to my parents house (yes, grad school has resulted in me referring to being at my parents house for an extended period of time as a "vacation"). One of my very dear friends arrived home in America after a year of living in Abu Dhabi...where they don't eat hot dogs or any other form of pork for that matter. In celebration of Jenny being home, a bunch of us went to Fenway Park for a Sox game and obviously, a Fenway Frank, or 5. Jenny would not stop talking about how excited she was to eat a hot dog. Her excitement was contagious as my stomach began to rumble at the thought of a juicy salty Fenway Frank. Now, I do like hot dogs, but to me, there is no other place on earth where they taste as good as they do at Fenway. I got my 5 dollar hot dog and slathered it with mustard, ketchup, and relish. The anticipation was too much for me to handle, I will admit I took a few bites before I got back to my seat. Once I sat down I could enjoy my hot dog to its full potential. I tried to savor it but it was just too good. My hot dog was gone before the game even started. I couldn't stop myself from shoving the plump, juicy meat wrapped in a fresh soft bun into my face. As much a I enjoyed my Fenway Frank, I do not believe I enjoyed mine as much as Jenny enjoyed hers. I can't really blame her, as it was the first hot dog she has eaten in over a year which she actually ended up eating 3 that night. Oh Fenway, I love you and your franks. GO SOX!