Castagnola's Chicken Linguine (Official Meal #3)

When digging through some of mom's old cookbooks for a few more ideas for recipes, my mom handed me a green hardcover book with an shirtless italian man standing on a Hawaii beach as the cover.  I looked at the title of the book.  It was called, Cooking Italian in Hawaii, by George Sabato "Cass" Castagnola.  Honestly, I had no idea what kinds of strange and peculiar recipes I was about to find in a book with such an odd cover, but as I flipped through the pages, despite the lack of pictures (which I regularly gravitate towards to when choosing recipes),  I realized that some of these dishes actually sounded good... delicious actually.  I silently picked out the Chicken Linguine recipe and headed back to my room to do more research on it.  As I did this, my mom came in and told me the book's history.  She told me how her and dad used to constantly go to a restaurant in Manoa called, Castagnola's, and how they used to always order the Chicken Linguine.  Seeing how the decision to make Chicken Linguine was unanimous, I made a list of the semi-familiar ingredients.
Throughout the process of gathering all of the ingredients, my parents seemed a little too excited to make the Chicken Linguine.  Taking into account the fact that Castagnola's shut down 10-15 years ago, I guess I would be too if I were them.

For this dish, I am not allowed to give out the recipe of this special Castagnola's delicacy.  According to the book, I am prohibited to reproduce any part of the book by any "electronic or mechanical means".  In other words, no proportions or instructions will be given out.  The only information I will release are the ingredients and pictures of my dish.

Ingredients: 

- Fresh chicken

- Carrot

- Linguine

- Green bell pepper

- Red bell pepper

- Zucchini squash

- Sliced mushrooms

- Kosher salt

- Freshly ground black papper

- Dried basil

- Romano cheese

- Garlic Flavored Extra Virgin Olive Oil

(I substituted the Romano cheese for the Parmesan cheese used in the previous dish.  I also made my own Garlic Flavored Extra Virgin Olive Oil by adding small, minced garlic bits into extra virgin olive oil.)

While learning how to make this dish, I learned how to julienne vegetables (well, at least I thought I did).  My mom told me that I should cut diagonally and at an angle.  Being lazy, I told her that I checked on the internet and that she was doing it right.  What I said was half true.  I checked on the internet of pictures of julienned vegetables, and I thought I saw the vegetables in the shape of how she was cutting them... but I guess I was wrong.  A video on correct way of how to julienne vegetables is on the right column.                                                                                                      -------------------------------------->
In order to julienne vegetables, you have to cut them into long, thin strips, other known as matchsticks.  Either way, the chicken linguine came out very pretty, so it's all good.

Another skill I learned how to do it cut the raw chicken.  As a kid, I would always peer out from the side of the hallway to secretly watch my parents cut and cook raw meat.  I would always stifle when I saw their fingers work their way around the soft, slimy, pink, and sometimes red meat.  The images of peaking out from behind the corner rushed back to me as I my mom showed me how to cut slivers of chicken off.  Now, I was the one that was slicing through the slippery and mucky body of a chicken.  I felt a tiny sense of maturity as I cut through the meat, slice by slice.  By the end of cutting the chicken, I learned a few things.
First of all, I was lucky that I had bought the chicken I needed from Times.  They had already cut off most of the excess skin and fat, which left me with less work to do!
Second, I was able to cut the chicken however I wanted to.  My mom and I decided to cut them into bite size pieces.  Then, they would be more appetizing and the linguine would be easier to eat.

The final dish turned out very delicious.  My parents seemed to really like it, especially since we nearly finished the entire pan.  Even though the dish was delectable, there is always room for improvement.  A few things to take into account the next time I make this recipe would be:

1. Season the chicken before cooking- A few things I could use would be salt and pepper.  By doing this,  the chicken wouldn't have to rely on the garlic-flavored extra virgin olive oil for its flavor.

2. There should be more garlic added in the extra virgin olive oil.  Instead of mincing 1 garlic clove, my dad suggested that I mince 3.

3. I should add more salt, pepper, and basil when sauteing the chicken linguine mixture.  This would give it more taste.

4. The linguine noodles were cooked perfectly.  We followed the box instructions and cooked the noodles in boiling water for 9 minutes, turned the heat off, and let it sit in the pot for one minute).

5.  The next time we make this dish, we will be sure to buy a baguette from St. Germain's.  Plain, french bread would perfectly compliment the zesty flavors from the chicken linguine.


By the time dinner was over, the chicken linguine had almost disappeared completely from the pan.  We had a few scoops left, which we saved in one of our glass containers for leftovers.  Altogether, the ingredients cost about $15.00 as opposed to $10 we'd have to pay per person if we had all ordered the Chicken Linguine at Castagnola's.  In total, we had replicated a quality meal for 50% of the cost.  From this, I can conclude that learning how to cook reduces the costs of living.  Food occupies a large portion of an average person's budge.  By cooking at home, you spend less money on fancy and expensive restaurants, therefore increasing your overall budget.