CONQUERING OLD FEARS

I was never able to cook a good potato au gratin. I really tried many times, but it either came out crispy, meaning undercooked, or soupy, meaning the liquid did not make a creamy sauce. I think I know the reason why. I didn't want to put heavy cream or make a "regular" white sauce, which meant using a lot of butter, and probably more cheese than I would want to. I always thought that there must be a way to cook the potatoes au gratin with less fat. I couldn't find it until today. 

POTATO  CASSEROLE 
                                                

Fed up with my continuous failure in the "au gratin" dishes, I decided to go in another direction. Since I prefer to play by my own rules, I will make the dish the way I want it to be. Granted it will not be a real "potatoes au gratin" , but it still will be a creamy potato dish. So, inspired by a cauliflower  dish I made with success, I started thinking of applying the same principle to potatoes. It turned out to be a delicious addition to my repertoire, and what I liked most about its idea is that you can tweak  the recipe according to your taste and to what you have in the pantry. I made it with ground meat that I had browned the day before for the pasta. You can go completely vegetarian, or use any kind of meat you want: sausage, cubed beef, veal or lamb. The only condition is that you cook the meat beforehand, preferably in the same pot, then add the potatoes. I also added some carrots to the potatoes, I like to see some color in my dishes. As for the cheese, the sky is the limit: use what you have or what you like. Use one kind alone, or a mixture of two cheeses. It's up to you. The quantity is also flexible, you can make it for two, or enough to feed a whole tribe. This is why it can be a very good choice for a dish to bring to a pot luck dinner. You can also serve it at room temperature with no problem. You'll need:

8 potatoes (about 5 inch long each)
20 baby carrots
2 cups browned ground beef
1 tbsp onion/garlic mixture
1 cup each milk and sour cream
3 1/2 to 4 cups grated Gruyere and Cheddar cheese
8 sprigs of dill, finely chopped (you can use parsley or cilantro)

Peels and cube the potatoes, and cook them with the chopped carrots in salted boiling water until almost tender. Remember they will continue cooking in the oven. In a large bowl mix milk, sour cream, half of the cheeses, the onion mixture and the ground beef, plus salt and pepper to taste. Again remember that you added salt to the boiling water and to the ground meat while browning it. Drain the potatoes and carrots and add them to the bowl. Mix well. Transfer to a baking dish that you may spray beforehand with cooking spray. Today I didn't. Bake covered with foil in a 375 degrees oven for about 20 minutes. Mix the dill with the remaining cheese. Remove the foil, sprinkle the cheese mixture on top of the dish and return to the oven for another 10 minutes until the cheese melts and turns golden.

BEEF STEW WITH VEGETABLES

                                              

I could easily post this dish under the title "correcting my mistakes", or  "another life for leftovers". You can make it as I did from a leftover roast, or from scratch. Once again, the versatility of the dish allows you to use any vegetables you like, the quantity and ratio depend on your taste. It turned out to be a hearty meal just perfect for a cold winter evening. You'll need:

A cooked beef roast enough for 4 people, (5 to 6 slices, each 1/2 inch thick, 7 to 8 inches wide)
4 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
15 baby carrots sliced
4 cups brown mushrooms, whole if small, quartered if larger
3 heaping tbsp brown gravy powder
2 tbsp frozen onion/ garlic mixture
1 tbsp oil

The main idea in making this dish is that you are going to serve some leftover meat in a different way, but if you want to make it from scratch, choose a cut of meat with little fat. It must not be fancy, you can take your time cooking it. If this is your preference, discard the gravy powder, the meat will have its own brown juices. In this case, rub the onion/ garlic mixture, salt and pepper all over the meat. In a nonstick skillet deep enough to hold the meat and vegetables, heat the oil, brown the meat on all sides, add water and let cook until almost tender, turning it every now and then and adding more water when it needs. Make sure that when the meat reaches the tenderness we want, you don't have too much liquid in the pan. Remove the meat from the pan, and set aside. Starting from this point the process is the same. The only difference is that if you have a cooked roast, you start at this point by cooking the onion in oil until translucent, then add the potatoes and carrots. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and stir to cook for 5 to 7 minutes. Add some water, about 2 cups, not more, and let cook until the liquid is absorbed and the veggies almost tender. Add the mushrooms, sprinkle with salt and pepper and stir. Dissolve the gravy powder in 1 1/2 cup of boiling water and add it to the pan. Return the meat to the pan, and make sure that there is enough liquid to allow it to be incorporated with the vegetables. Reduce the heat and let simmer until the sauce thickens. You'll have a piece of meat that literally will melt in your mouth. The vegetables will be tender and flavored with all the juices and the goodness of the roast.

BACK TO BASICS

I can't follow my husband' s eating habits anymore. I can't live on dry foods and salads when I go to work. This is not working anymore. So I gave him an ultimatum: I am going to cook whatever I'm in the mood for, and if he wants to join me, he's welcome, or he has a freezer filled with waffles. It turned out that I should have done that long ago. He enjoyed the salmon the other day, and ate all the traditional classic meals I cooked during the week. So why does he insist on having waffles and corn flakes as the only items in his diet? I figured that maybe he doesn't want me to cook during the periods I'm working. How considerate. But this had a very bad effect on my system, it is working on dry, very dry. And after all, cooking for two or preparing meals for the week is not that a big problem. I realized the reason of his attitude just today, when we were talking about getting the grandchildren to come next weekend for their mom's birthday, and he said, but this means you're going to cook! I insisted that I didn't mind, especially for that occasion, since the girls did absolutely nothing for their mom, at least we should spoil her a little bit.

So today we'll review all the classic items on our weekly menu.

ZITI IN MEAT SAUCE

                                              

All the coming dishes actually don't need a recipe. They are all from the traditional cooking repertoire of any household. These are the go to dishes when you come back from work and whip up something for your family to eat. They all depend on what you have at hand, how many people you are feeding and your preferences. This week I added to these conditions one extra element: which items you have to consume ASAP before spring cleaning and replenishing your pantry. So, I had enough ziti in a jar for both of us, but also sitting on the pasta shelf there was a jar with a handful of penne. Can I add them to the ziti? Of course I can. I am cooking for me and my husband and we definitely are not going to complain about the pasta mix. So while the pasta is cooking in boiling salted water, I brown about 2 lbs of lean ground beef in a non-stick skillet with 3 tbsp onion/garlic mixture I always keep in the freezer, with a sprinkle of salt and pepper of course. When the liquid is absorbed in the pan, I removed almost half of the beef to a container to be used later in another dish. I added about 3 cups sliced mushrooms and cooked them stirring often. Then add 1 can of tomato sauce, rinse it with water and add the water to the pan. Stir, bring to a boil, then reduce heat until the sauce thickens a bit. By now the pasta is done, drain and add it to the pan. Mix and serve with a sprinkle of grated cheese, optional.

CREAMY LIGHT POTATO AND CARROT SOUP

I first had this soup in a Polish restaurant during a lunch break years ago. Yes it was a very long time ago, when I was still naive and ate soup outside. Maybe this was one of the reasons why I changed my mind about soups in restaurants: it was delicious but very heavy. It was probably made with a lot of butter in the basic roux that is supposed to make a soup creamy. And immediately I thought of ways of making it lighter.

I remember posting this recipe before, maybe on the very first postings of this blog. But there is no harm in doing that again today, it's still cold out there, and you may need a good soup without going through many posts until you find something you like. Keeping with my main theme these days, I thought of this particular soup mainly because I had its ingredients at hand, and it was really time to use them all up. I usually buy some items in bulk: I get a 5 lb bag of baby carrots, they are easier to use when I cook, when cut, they come out in cute little rounds, and they are a healthy snack when I need something to nibble on. I also get a bag of 4 hearts of celery, that  use almost everywhere, in salads, in cooked dishes and as a snack. And the potatoes, they also come in a big bag. They last for a long time, but still, you have to use them before they spoil. So cut the vegetables in same size cubes or slices, rinse and drain them, then transfer to a large pot. Cover the veggies with water, or stock, vegetable or chicken, as you like. For the quantities I always go by color, meaning green and red equals white. The potato cubes should be equal to the celery and carrot pieces. You can eyeball that, no need to measure. You can also change the ratio according to your taste: some prefer to have some specks of orange (carrots) while others like to see more of it, it's up to you. Bring to a boil on high, then reduce the heat to medium, keep the pot cover ajar, and cook until the veggies are almost done. Add two heaping tbsp of sour cream while stirring to dissolve and combine. Just before serving, finely chop some dill, about 8 sprigs and add them to the soup. Stir and remove from heat. I like to keep the herb very fresh  in the soup.
Note: if you don't have any sour cream, simply dissolve a tbsp of flour in a cup of milk, even skim. Add them early on to the soup so that the mixture can have enough time to cook. you'll get the same result, no fat added.

                                                  

CORRECTING MY OWN MISTAKES

We all make mistakes. In the kitchen, one can make a number of mistakes that can be immediately corrected during the cooking process and end up with the right dish. But sometimes you notice that something went wrong when you are done cooking. Are you going to throw out the dish and try to make something else, or try to make lemonade from the lemon you have at hand?

The first category of mistakes is the most common, and the easiest to fix:if you added too much liquid, if possible, you let the food cook a little bit longer until the excess liquid evaporates. You forget an ingredient, you add it, you skip a step, either you go back or amend the usual procedures to accommodate the wrong turn that you took.

But there are also big mistakes, mistakes that happen at the very end, when you think that the dish is ready, and to your horror, you discover that this was not what you expected or what you were aiming for. Believe me, every cook makes these kinds of mistakes. Don't worry, we'll always find a way to correct them.

CHICKEN  TENDERS

                                             

                               

Remember the chicken tenders I made for my last tea party? Of course you don't. I did not post the recipe. That was because they didn't come out the way I had hoped they would. You know that one of my basic principles when I am cooking for a crowd that I don't fry, and prefer to cook everything in the oven, especially the meats. But for the first time, I thought of putting aside this principle, because I was aiming for finger foods, and prepare some chicken tenders. My first instinct was to go for my usual recipe of fried chicken, but I wanted to improvise. Big mistake. I decided to cook the chicken tenders in the oven instead of frying them. So I did my homework and looked for recipes of baked chicken cutlets. I found a number of recipes, and they all promised juicy, well done, baked chicken. Not true.

In my mind baking instead of frying means less fat. All the recipes I found used fat in some form to marinate the chicken before cooking it, and then spray some cooking oil or fat on the baking sheet. This gives the impression that you are not actually using fat. But what about the whipping cream or the oil that you used in the marinade? Anyway, as usual, I decided to take the middle ground and eliminate this initial fat and use only the cooking spray, knowing that I used it before with success. Also not very advisable. I marinated the chicken as usual in some onion/garlic mixture, lemon juice, a pinch of oregano and of course salt and pepper. I dipped them in egg, flour and bread crumbs, and as a new thing, added panko (the Japanese crumbs).

I arranged the chicken tenders on a baking sheet spayed with cooking oil and baked them in a 375 degree oven. My husband came in the kitchen at this moment, asked what I was cooking, and made a remark that I should be careful not to serve half baked chicken. Maybe this was the mistake. I left them a bit longer in the oven. Also I think because of the added panko, they did not turn golden brown as expected, so I had to wait longer for that to happen. The end result was not very tender chicken tenders. They tasted good, but very dry.

So, I tried to save the leftovers. It was simple and easy: I made a gravy by cooking a finely chopped clove of garlic in a drop of oil, added some mushrooms from 2 (4 oz) cans, and diluted 2 heaping tbsp of chicken gravy powder in 2 cups of hot water and added them to the pan. I then added the chicken and let them simmer on low until the liquid thickened. The chicken tenders were saved. I served them over pasta with a salad on the side.

                                          

                               

GETTING READY FOR SPRING

Today is the first day of daylight saving time. The weather is beautiful in New York, at least from behind the windows. I woke up to beautiful blue skies, plenty of sun and lots of warmth, from the heating of course. They say it's rather cold outside, but I didn't go out today, I want to enjoy the illusion of getting closer to spring, before snow hits us again in a few days. All these feelings and expectations made me really think about spring. We have to get ready. So before it's time for spring cleaning, I should start checking out my freezer to consume whatever is still there, before we replenish the kitchen for the new season. I came upon a beautiful piece of salmon. This will be our dinner tonight.

 ORANGE FLAVORED SALMON WITH DILL MUSTARD SAUCE

                                                    

This turned out to be a very easy and delicious dish. Usually I cook salmon with a mushroom sauce, but today I thought of making something different, with a very light sauce. Luckily my husband was very enthusiastic about the idea, he thought that this would be a very welcome change in our routine. Still, he came into the kitchen several times to check on what I was doing, just to make sure. I made it with what I had at hand, nothing fancy. You'll need:

1 large slice of salmon, about 1 1/2 lbs, or 3 to 4 fillets

Zest and juice of 1/2 orange

1 tsp lemon juice

2 tsp mustard

2 tsp mayo

7 sprigs dill

2 tsp capers drained

1 tbsp oil

In a non stick pan, large enough for the fish you are using, arrange the slices skin side down. Sprinkle with the lemon juice, half of the orange juice and half of the orange zest. Add salt and pepper to taste, and the oil, and lightly rub it in the fish. Let stand until the oven is preheated. Place the oven rack in the middle position. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. When the oven is heated, put the fish in the oven.

In the mean time combine the mustard, mayo, orange juice and zest in a small bowl. In the chop chop finely chop the dill and capers. Add them to the bowl and mix thoroughly. The sauce is ready. you don't need to add salt and pepper, the mustard and capers are enough.

Check on the fish after  about 12 to 15 minutes. We prefer it well done, but if you prefer to have it with some pink in the middle remove it from the oven. If you are like us, check the skin, if it is browned on the edges, it's good. You can turn off the oven and leave the fish inside for 5 or 6 minutes until ready to serve. Transfer the fish to the serving dish, the sauce to a small serving bowl. Serve with some mashed potatoes and salad greens. I actually used the sauce as dressing for the greens. Just thin it out with a drop of oil and you're done.
Note: you can make the sauce with yogurt instead of mayo. Today it so happened that I had these two spoonfuls in the mayo jar, and it was time to use them and put the jar in the recycling bin.

                                            

NEVER TAKE SOUP FROM STRANGERS

I almost never eat soup outside, especially at the cafeteria at work. I am not very finicky, I can go around the world and almost eat anything, a bit like Andrew Zimmern in "Bizarre foods", but I like to draw the line at soup. Why, you may ask, well, simply put, I am never sure what's in that bowl of soup. It may be too much fat, maybe some lard, and I don't eat pork, or maybe, which is the worst case scenario, the soup is made of all the leftovers in the kitchen. Don't tell me you're surprised by this last notion. Haven't you ever made soup from leftovers? I did, and it usually turns out to be delicious. But these are my own leftovers, I know how they were cooked to start with, and how they were made into soup. I don't know what happens in other peoples kitchens. So no soup from strangers.

MINESTRONE 
                                             

The main reason I hesitate in ordering this soup at a restaurant or at the take out place around the corner, is that I know that some recipes for minestrone call for cooking the onion either in lard or in the fat rendered by pancetta. Since I don't eat pork, I prefer to always make it at home. And believe me it's the easiest soup to make. You almost don't need a recipe for it. But I'll give you one anyway, even with some variations. For this specific minestrone, you'll need:

1 cup small pasta, I used "stelline" small stars, elbows or orecchiette are fine too

1 medium zucchini

3 medium potatoes

3 to 4 celery stalks

1 carrot or about 8 to 10 baby carrots

1 can canellini beans, rinsed and drained

1 (14.5 oz) can tomato sauce

1 tbsp oil

Start by preparing the vegetables: chop the celery, peel and dice the potatoes and the carrot, dice the zucchini (peel it if you want to, I didn't) by cutting it in half lengthwise, then again cut the two parts in half, and then dice them. The main idea here is to have all the veggies the same size so that they can all cook in the same time. In a large pot cook the pasta in the oil until light golden, stirring often so that you don't burn some of it on the bottom or the sides. If you want, you can add here some chopped onion and one finely chopped garlic clove. I didn't. Add some water, stir, then add the vegetables. Stir and barely cover with water. Bring to a boil, stirring every now and then to make sure that the pasta is not sticking to the bottom of the pot. You can add a couple of vegetable stock cubes or granules, or stock from the start. It all depends on taste and what you have at hand. When the pasta and veggies are almost done, add the tomato sauce and stir to combine. At the end add the beans, stir, and let it simmer on low for a couple of minutes more, just to incorporate. Serve topped with some grated cheese.

BEEF AND LENTIL SOUP

                                                  

I used to have this soup in France. I loved it. It was our favorite lunch during winter when I went to study with a friend of mine. Her mom made it for us, and because she knew of my diet restrictions she made sure that it didn't contain anything that I should not eat. When I tried to make it here, I checked out many cook books, and discovered that they had very complicated recipes for it. Some made it in the slow cooker, others through a very elaborate process. But all that is not for me. The principle of this soup is very simple, so why complicate things? I waited for the good opportunity to make it. That's when I had a piece of beef leftover from a beautiful roast I had made for dinner with friends, and a cup of cooked lentils from the last tea party. Of course you can make it from scratch, sear the beef cubes in some oil, then add water and let it cook until almost tender, then add all the other ingredients. But my way helps you use the leftover roast in a way that no one will suspect that this is "recycled" meat. Now, you do understand why I don't eat soup outside? You'll need:

3 cups cooked beef cubes

1 cup green lentils, cooked and drained. Don't rinse them

4 celery stalks, chopped

1 carrot, or about 8 to 10 baby carrots, peeled and chopped

1/2 small onion, chopped (optional)

1 garlic clove, very finely chopped ( optional)

1 tbsp oil ( optional)

I made the last three ingredients optional because if you want, you can totally skip this part. I did. So, if you are using the onion, cook it in oil  in a large pot until translucent, then add the garlic and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the vegetables and stir for 3 to 4 minutes more, adding a pinch of salt and pepper. Add water to barely cover the veggies and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer until the veggies are almost done. If you are using dry lentils, add them with the vegetables. If they are cooked, add them with the cooked beef when the vegetables are tender. Stir and let simmer until the soup is done. Serve topped with some chopped parsley for color.

SOUP DAYS ARE HERE TO STAY

The cold weather is still hitting New York. We are hit by storm after storm after storm. Judging from what I see on TV, we are not alone in this, it's all over the country even in places who never had winter before, let alone snow and ice. In these conditions, I don't cook anymore. The only thing I do when I go into the kitchen is look at what I have at hand and think of how to make soup out of it. Yes, I use what I have around, because I've limited my outings to the minimum. The only shopping I did, was for small pasta to add to my soups. 
I had some home made veal stock in my freezer, so I added some veggies to it, the simple frozen mixed vegetables that you get from any supermarket, and voila I had vegetable soup. Knowing that it was all home made, my husband had some of it. He liked it. So I got encouraged and kept making soup.

NON DAIRY CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP
                                                  

When I was checking my refrigerator two days ago, I found a couple of very ripe tomatoes and half a container of grape tomatoes that was sitting there for a week or so. It didn't go bad, but if left for a longer period I think it may have. So now I have too many ripe tomatoes on my hands, what can I do with them? The answer was obvious: I'll make soup. I thought of making a cream of tomato, but because I wanted to give some of it to a friend that doesn't eat milk, I had to think of a way of making it without cream or milk. That was easy. You'll need:

4 or 5 ripe tomatoes
About 2 cups grape tomatoes
1 (14.5 Oz ) can diced tomatoes with juices
3 celery stalks
2 to 3 scallions, chopped white part and some green
5 or 6 baby carrots, chopped
2 small potatoes or 1 cup flakes

Chop all the ingredients and transfer them to a large pot. Barely cover them with water and bring to a boil. Add a pinch of salt and pepper, to taste. When the vegetables are tender, remove from heat and let stand until cooled. 
Working in batches, beat the vegetables in a blender until smooth. Rinse and dry the pot, and return the blended veggies to it. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat. If you are using the potato flakes add them now to the soup. You can also add a cube of vegetable stock or some granules. Adjust seasoning. Serve with some toasted bread on the side.
You may add a dollop of sour cream on top of you bowl if you want, and sprinkle with some chopped parsley, chives or cilantro. I had mine simple, just with some crackers.

ANOTHER TEA PARTY, II

EASY SALSA WITH AVOCADO
                                                     

Instead of a regular salad I opted for salsa. I thought it was better than the regular mixed salad, mainly because of the fine chopped vegetables and the fact that I can serve it with some store bought scoop chips. It is very refreshing, and your guests can scoop it with the chips as a dip.

It was a big success and everybody asked for the recipe. You'll need:

5 medium firm tomatoes, seeded and finely chopped

1/2 chopped green bell pepper

2 tbsp diced red onion

1/2 cup minced cilantro

2 tbsp lime juice

1/2 tsp each cumin and salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 avocados, ripe, but firm

To seed the tomato, simply chop off the top, where it has the green vine, and apply a little pressure on the tomato to push the seeds out. Start chopping from the top. If you find some more seeds in the lower part, press again to push them out and continue chopping. I usually peel the bell pepper with a vegetable peeler to remove the fine transparent film or skin. This is what make bell pepper hard to digest for some people, including me. Chop the pepper the same size as the tomato. As  for the onion, I usually let the red onion sit in some hot water for a few minutes before chopping it. Why? I discovered that some red onions are very strong, and that when "rinsed" in hot water for a couple of minutes, they become sweeter and lose the strong flavor, the pinch that sometimes can ruin your dish, especially if it is a raw sauce. Also instead of chopping by hand, I pulverize the onion in my little chop-chop, so that nobody gets a big chunk of onion under his tooth. 

Mix all the ingredients, except the avocado, in a bowl, cover it with plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. When ready to serve, add the avocado. Cut the avocado in half, with a knife trace 4 to 5 lines in two directions to form small squares, and then scoop with a spoon into the salsa bowl. Mix and serve. I put the bowl on a large platter and added the corn scoops on the side.

The recipe for the LENTIL DIP is on a previous blog (By special request on 9/19/12). Today I didn't add the chopped egg on top because of the vegetarian restrictions.

                                         

For the smoked salmon simply arrange the slices on a platter. I rolled the slices and arranged them in a fan pattern and added some black olives for color. 

Do the same for the beef slices.

                                               

ANOTHER TEA PARTY

Considering the success of my new formula of having friends for the "five o'clock tea" , I gathered some friends this week end in the honor of some visiting colleagues. The success of the formula comes from a delicate balance between the different items of your menu: you can have some store bought, and others, the easy and fresh one prepared at home, preferably the night before. This time I tried something new, since I had some vegetarians in the group. I mainly decided to make a lot of salads: salsa, three beans and lentils. I opted for an easy pasta dish, and a baked chicken dish. I ordered a platter of beef and spinach empanadas from a store close to home, where two sisters from Latin America make them from scratch. I also prepared one platter of smoked salmon, with cream cheese, capers, chopped onion and toast on the side, and another platter of " viande séchée", Italian dried beef slices, that you can buy from specialty stores, actually I got mine at Costco. For dessert it was strawberry mousse, home made, and a chocolate mousse cake, store bought, don't be greedy!
                                                   

SHRIMP AND BEANS SALAD
                                            

You may find a similar recipe to this one on an earlier blog. In fact, the idea of this salad is very simple: just combine three kinds of beans with fresh ingredients and add, or not, some shrimp. Why not? Because I was not sure that my vegetarian guests would eat shrimp, so after making the salad, I kept some on the side before adding the shrimp. You'll need:

1 can each: chick peas, black beans and white beans,

1/2 can of corn, drained

1/4 red onion, very finely chopped

2 celery sprigs, finely chopped

1/2 bunch cilantro finely chopped

1/2 cup lemon juice, or to taste
1 bag (about 2 lb) cooked shrimp, medium, 31-34 count

1 to 2 tsp cumin

Salt and pepper to taste

Drain, rinse and drain the beans and transfer them into a bowl. Add the celery, onion, cilantro, lemon juice and spices. Mix, cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Remove the tails of the shrimp, and make sure that it is well drained. Transfer to another bowl and sprinkle with some lemon juice and cumin. Just before serving, divide the shrimp in two parts. Mix the first part with the salad. Arrange shrimp around the edge of the serving platter, then fill the platter with the salad. Arrange some shrimp on the top, and add some green leaves, cilantro or mint, on top as garnish.

COOKED ANGEL HAIR PASTA
                                    

This is a very easy pasta dish to make and it is really a crowd pleaser. You really don't need a recipe for it, it all depends on the amount you need to make, and your preferences. It is basically angel hair pasta, with some onion and carrots. It takes minutes to make, so plan accordingly: if your guests are supposed to come at 5 pm, you can make it after everything is ready, about 4 or 4:15. Keep it in the pan until ready to serve. It will not need reheating and will be as delicious at room temperature as hot from the stove. You'll need:

2 packages of angel hair pasta, I used 2 each 8.8 oz, and it was a bit too much
1/2 medium onion
1 large carrot or about 7 or 8 baby carrots
Chicken or vegetable stock, or granules
1 to 2 tbsp canola oil
Salt and pepper to taste

In the food processor pulverize the onion, then the carrots and transfer to a large non stick skillet. Add 1 tbsp oil and cook on medium heat until tender, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Then add the pasta, with an additional tbsp of oil, and cook stirring frequently to get an even color. Make sure that you stir the pasta from the bottom and sides of the pan so that part of it doesn't get burned. When the pasta is golden brown, add liquid to barely cover it. Cover and bring to a boil on high heat. When the liquid is all absorbed, reduce heat, add some more liquid and stir. Cover and let cook. Check on the pasta after a couple of minutes, if it is not done add some more liquid, stir and adjust the seasoning if need be. When all the liquid is absorbed and the pasta done, not al dente, turn off the heat and keep covered until ready to serve. You can top the pasta dish with some toasted almonds and pine nuts.