Chef Boyrowdee

Every guy should have one meal he actually can cook. At least one. I'm pretty good at making phad thai, yakisoba, burgers, chicken tacos, chicken pot pie and the number one easy for a guy to cook meal, spaghetti.

And by cook I don't mean remove from box, microwave and serve.

So here are my hints for you making pretty good spaghetti, Chef Boyrowdee style.

-use whole wheat noodle. They still taste very similar to the 'other' kind and you will look like you're 'healthy'. Don't get fancy, just use regular spaghetti noodles, they hold the sauce best.

-in boiling the water, add salt and olive oil, getting a faster boil and less sticky noodles. Rinse them in lukewarm water as soon as you dump them into the colander to prevent over cooking.

-dice up yellow onion and white mushrooms, saute them in the pan, set aside to add to the sauce while simmering.

-for your meat, use ground turkey. Again it is 'healthy' and you will win points for being an intelligent progressive eater. Season it simply with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and one of those generic "Italian" seasoning mixes. Be liberal with these as it is really hard to put too much in as the sauce will dilute it. Don't forget to drain the fat and such off the meat as well before adding the sauce.

-my one concession to "guyness" is using a jar sauce. At least use a good one, I think the Classico brand is the very best one out there. So you have sauteed your onions and mushrooms, browned seasoned and drained your meat. Now back in the same deep frying pan combine all these elements. At the same time dump a pretty good amount of grated Parmesan cheese in there also. Continue to cook this on medium till it bubbles and then turn down to low, letting it simmer until the noodles are done cooking.

-if you started everything at the same time, you will roughly be done with everything at the same time. Good!

-you want some vegetables, green ones. Do not use a can of green beans, buy the fresh string beans. all you have to do is wash them good, put them in a bowl with some water, salt and a little bit of lemon juice. Cover this and microwave it for about 3 minutes. Drain it and then you are ready to serve.

Ding! It is all set! Now you can impress your girlfriend, your mom and even your own stomach. Start to finish you are done in less than 20 minutes to do it all. Never again should you just dump plain old Prego on white angel hair again. Never.

Chef Boyrowdee, over and out.

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