A Matter of Luck

Capellini with Chicken and Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

I am a lucky charm.

At least, that's what I was told as a child. My parents would often say that I carried good fortune with me, so I grew up as something of a family talisman. The evidence? Well, there was the time in 2nd grade when I won our school's drawing to attend a welcoming ceremony for the Queen of England - never mind that I sat in the nosebleed section and didn't know who the heck I was watching. Then, when I was about 7 years old, I found a $20 bill (a fortune!) that my best friend's older brother promptly scammed from me.

Hmmm . . . not very compelling proof, is it? I'm sure there are other instances but I must admit that for the most part, my powers of fortune were nowhere near as great as my ignorance of world figures and my naïveté about trusting older kids. Papa would ask me over breakfast, "Did you dream any numbers last night?" in hopes of getting some lucky numbers for the lottery. I hated to disappoint him but more often than not, I had no magical digits to offer. At that age, my REM sleep was typically populated by cartoon characters eating lots of candy. [Apropos of nothing, I dream in Japanese anime whenever I overindulge in pizza].

Lucky Horseshoe
(Photo credit: Romaryka/Flickr)**

And yet, I do feel that I have a way with good luck. Oh, I consider myself fortunate in my family, friends, general prosperity and good health, just as I'm sure many of you feel the same about your own blessings. But every once in a while, there are occasions when I am four-leaf-clover, rabbit's-foot, horseshoes and number-seven LUCKY. Before you conclude that I'm not so much 'touched by an angel' as just plain touched, judge for yourself my recent run of fortuity . . . 

In the past couple of months, several blogs that I follow have offered great giveaways with the winners chosen by random drawing. Incredibly, I've actually won several of them - five since April! With that kind of a winning streak, it's a wonder I'm not in Vegas or using our retirement fund to finance Powerball tickets.

Instead, I wanted to express my belated gratitude for these bloggers' generosity by offering a dish that featured their wonderful prizes.

A Prizewinning Dish

To start off this 'thank-you', I turned to my very first win: a one-year subscription to Cook's Illustrated magazine, courtesy of Joelen's Culinary Adventures. Her amazing Foodie Freebie Friday is a weekly giveaway featuring fantastic prizes. Past gifts have included a photography lightbox kit, gourmet spices and even Chicago deep dish pizza; I strongly encourage you to try your luck at this week's prize. From the annals of Cook's Illustrated, I chose a recipe that would allow me to use. . . 

. . . this lovely colander, part of a set from a Romano Macaroni Grill giveaway hosted by HoneyB of The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch. As luck would have it, she has just announced a new contest featuring a subscription to Cooking Light magazine - check out the details here! Visit to enter but stay and browse through the delicious treats she offers. 

Next up was a selection of Daregal frozen herbs, thanks to Bob of Cooking Stuff, who recently took a brief hiatus from blogging. If you haven't visited his site before, there are plenty of great eats (and cats with supersized personalities!) to tide you over until he returns with more. As his giveaway winner, I received an assortment of herbs, including oregano, which I used in this recipe. But it wasn't the only seasoning to be featured . . . 

. . . because I also added a taste of Hawai'i in the form of black lava sea salt, courtesy of Deb at Kahakai Kitchen! A transplant from the Pacific Northwest, she shares her life and love of cooking among ocean breezes and island aloha. Check out her Souper Sunday, a weekly round-up of soup, salad and sandwich recipes from food bloggers all over. Hopefully, I'll participate with a recipe from the other half of Deb's giveaway, Hawai'i's Best Salads, Sides & Soups by Jean Watanabe Hee.

My fifth giveaway win was the most recent - a duo of England Preserves chosen by Adrienne of Gastroanthropology, who discovered this delicious product shortly after moving to England for her masters in food policy studies. I can't wait to receive them, especially in hopes that I can use them in a yet-to-be-chosen recipe from Dessert Circus at Home by Jacques Torres, which was one of two cookbooks that I won for 3rd Place in the Whine, Wine and Thine short story contest hosted by Carolyn at FoodGal. You can read all the entries here and the winners here.

But first, here is my lucky dish!

**Updated 3/15/2012: In the original post published on 6/7/09, I used a photograph which I credited to the source but did not actually have permission from the photographer to use. The new photo that replaces it above is used under a Creative Commons license.

'Touched by an Angel' Hair Pasta

(Capellini with Chicken & Roasted Red Pepper Sauce)

I adapted a Cook's Illustrated recipe for Spanish-style Chicken Salad with Roasted Red Pepper Dressing (5/06) by replacing some ingredients and adjusting the amounts of others. One ingredient that stayed put was celery, which added a surprising and pleasant crunchiness to the dish. Originally served with fresh greens, I thought it would be delicious tossed with capellini (angel hair) but feel free to use another pasta such as penne or fusilli. This dish is best served at room temperature.

Finally, I'm pleased to submit this recipe to BSI: Blogger Secret Ingredient, hosted by Jenn at Bread + Butter who chose Bell Pepper as this week's theme.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

8 oz capellini pasta

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 Tbsps balsamic vinegar

10 to 12 oz jar of roasted red peppers, drained

1-2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 tsp salt**

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp ground chipotle pepper

1 small shallot, minced

1 Tbsp fresh oregano, minced (or 1-2 tsps dried)

1 Tbsp fresh parsley, minced

1 celery rib, sliced very thin

2 1/2 cups shredded roast chicken

Coarse sea salt, such as Black Lava, for finishing

**If using coarse sea salt to finish, then you may wish to omit this from the sauce.

To make:

1. Prepare pasta as directed on package. When done, drain and set noodles aside, reserving 1/2 cup of pasta water;

2. Purée oil, vinegar, roasted red peppers, garlic, salt and black pepper in a blender or food processor until smooth. Transfer to another bowl;

3. Add ground chipotle pepper, shallot, oregano, parsley and celery to the roasted red pepper mixture and stir well to combine.

4. Add shredded chicken and toss until sauce is evenly distributed. Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes;

5. In another bowl, add 1 or 2 Tbsps of reserved pasta water at a time to the capellini until noodles are just moistened. Add chicken mixture and toss gently until well-mixed with the pasta. This dish is best served at room temperature.

6. Plate individually and finish with a sprinkling of coarse sea salt. 

Enjoy a generous serving of luck!

Speaking of which, my summer class is almost done: two weeks down, only one more to go! But first, I have to write a final paper . . .  wish me you-know-what.