Blue Plate Bachelor

“Cooking Diva Julia Child Loved Red Meat, Gin”
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=1&u=/nm/20040813/ts_nm/people_child_dc

Ingredients

1 chicken, cut into pieces
1 28oz can of diced or crushed tomatoes
1 8oz can of pitted black olives
1 white onion, roughly chopped
1 red bell pepper, roughly chopped
3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped and crushed
Capers (to taste)
1 cup cheap white wine
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 tsp cumin
1 bay leaf
1 tsp dried oregano (or to taste)
Salt and pepper [...]

Sun dried tomatoes. Roasted red peppers. Capers. Fresh basil. Fresh spinach. Sauteed in olive oil with frozen shrimp, calamari, and scallops. Added a cup of vermouth, allowed to reduce. Tossed with cubed mozzarella and penne.
That is all.

The call came in late one slow weekend evening.
The phone rings.
“I bought this recipe book for pasta, but I don’t have all the ingredients for any one recipe.”
“Who buys a recipe book for pasta?” I think to myself.
Out loud, I say “I can help.”
Over the next few minutes I aided with the softening of [...]