Grilled Chicken and Zucchini Yakitori

If you're a fan of teriyaki, you'll like this marinade.  It's got all the flavor of teriyaki, but not quite teriyaki. The Mirin Sake adds a nice different (in a good way) flavor to this marinade.

This recipe is from SkinnyTaste.com which is one of my all time favorite websites for light or low calorie, delicious recipes. So far anything I've made from that site has been satisfying and yummy.

Super easy, weeknight recipe. The only planning you need is 30 minutes for the chicken to marinade.

Grilled Chicken and Zucchini Yakitori

Photo courtesy of SkinnyTaste.com

Recipe from SkinnyTaste.com
Serves 4

2 tablespoons mirin sake
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce (for GF use low sodium Tamari)
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs, all fat trimmed (Purdue Fit & Easy)
5 large green onions, cut 1-inch-long
1 medium zucchini, sliced into 1/2-inch thick rings
18 (10 inch) bamboo skewers


Bring mirin, low sodium soy sauce, honey and crushed garlic to a boil in a medium-sized sauce pan, and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Cut the chicken into 1-inch pieces and place in a ziplock bag; pour half of the marinade over the chicken. Place the zucchini in a second large ziplock bag and pour the remaining marinade over the zucchini. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Meanwhile, soak the skewers in water 30 minutes so they don't burn.

Thread the chicken onto skewers, alternating with green onion so that each stick has 3 cubes of chicken and two pieced of green onion, discarding the chicken marinade.

Thread the zucchini onto skewers, alternating with remaining green onion, reserving the marinade for basting.
Preheat the grill or a grill pan over medium-high heat. When hot, spray with oil then reduced heat to medium; grill the zucchini and chicken skewers about 5 to 6 minutes on each side brushing both sides of the skewers with the yakitori sauce during the last few minutes of cooking time.

Linguine with Ham and Mascarpone

Back during my time at TASIS, Chefy, the school chef, made this delicious Carbonara.  It was rich and creamy and absolutely fantastic.

Since then, I've been trying to find a recipe that closely resembled it. Traditional carbonara recipes don't seem to be creamy enough. Tonight...Tonight I found one that hit the mark.

This recipe was so delicious, and so easy that it's moved to the top of my "make it again" list.

I'd make one change the next time I make this. I'd swap out the ham for bacon. That will make it even more like carbonara. Otherwise, that's it. That's all I'd change.  The mascarpone cheese acts as the cream in this recipe and really makes this recipe sing with deliciousness.

Linguine with Ham and Mascarpone
Recipe from The Pasta Cookbook

Photo by ME!

Serves 6

2 T butter
3/4 c mascarpone cheese
3 1/2 oz cooked ham, cut into strips
2 T milk
3 T parmesan cheese, divided
1 1/4 lb linguine (the recipe says fresh linguine, but it's not that easy to find in Redmond)

The key to this recipe is LOW heat. DO NOT let this boil. If you do, it'll curdle - which is still tasty, but ugly.

Get the pasta started.  Cook it according to package.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. Add the ham, mascarpone cheese, and milk and stir until the mascarpone melts. Add 1 T parmesan cheese and plenty of pepper.

Drain the pasta and put it back in the pan. Pour the sauce over it and mix well.  Season with salt if need be, but the parmesan does a pretty good job of flavoring the sauce.