Lately in my region we've been having an issue with food supplies due to an influx of Covid affecting warehouses and every store that dares to sell food. Even moreso in my town due to recent flooding and people stupidly panic-buying, because:

"Oh no!! There are only three big grocery stores in this town, six medium sized ones, and a whollleeee lot of little ones, and at least six butchers and twenty bakeries, and there's no way we can survive for a WHOLE WEEK while the river overflows for two whole days and the couple of days afterwards of cleanup. Ohnoes. We need to buy everything, now!"

🙄

If there was anything my dad taught me, despite his various eccentricities and mental disorders, it was that you always stay stocked up on flour, sugar, long-life milk, canned goods, and beer. Always. Especially in this country with its floods, fires, and various hazards. Obviously no one else got the memo. (The beer isn't for drinking! 🤣 It's for making damper!)

Anyway. That was two weeks ago; grocery stores haven't recovered yet. My pantry is fine, I learnt what my dad taught me. Our vegetables and meat supplies are getting a little low though. We have chicken breasts, chicken wings, and more chicken breasts, and two serves of bacon. So obviously, dinner tonight was going to be something with chicken! And with bacon too? Sure!

But let's start with the...
 

Garlic Bread!

...because garlic bread is delicious. Especially with extra garlic. And cheeeeeeeeeese.

Ingredients

• Stone-baked Turkish Rolls (or any kind of bread, really, but this is what I have)
• Roasted Garlic (using this link's instructions) _{(plus extra raw or jarred garlic if you want MORE GARLIC)}
• Butter, softened
• Salt, to taste
• Cheddar cheese, grated
• Spring Onion, chopped (or you could use parsley, like everyone else does, but SPRING ONION!!!)

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

Garlic butter is so easy to make. And you don't even have to use roasted garlic, just raw is fine! But I felt like being fancy today and I even roasted some extra garlic for use with the pasta sauce I'm going to be making.

Mix the softened butter with a pinch of salt and the spring onion.

Squeeze the garlic out of the roasted heads and into the buttery mixture, and mix it til smooth.

Voila!

There you have some fancy garlic butter! Feel free to add various other Italian Herbs to make it more of a herb-bread instead! Can also add extra raw or jarred garlic if you like, since roasted garlic's flavour is a little mild compared.

Spread that delicious delicacy over the bread, then sprinkle with the cheddar cheese.

Normally I'd do both cheddar and parmesan, however we only have enough parmesan left at the moment for garnishing the pasta later. 😬 So if you'd like to add extra cheese, feel free! Mozzarella would be fantastic too!!

Chuck it into the oven until the cheese and bread are browned to your liking. About 15 minutes or so.

Mmmmm, delicious!!

Now you can serve that to your family to munch on while you prepare the main meal. 😅 Or you could keep it warm and serve it alongside the main meal, whatever floats your boat.

I need to save one piece of it to use for photo purposes with the pasta, and it's going to taunt me this entire time! 😅😋
 

It's time for Creamy Chicken Pasta!

Ingredients

• Chicken, sliced and diced
• Butter
• Flour
• Cornflour
• More roasted garlic!
• Onion, diced finely
• Spring onion, chopped
• Bacon, pre-cooked and diced
• Thickened cream (heavy/double in other countries) (milk works too)
• Chicken stock, one cup
• Salt and Pepper
• Parmesan cheese, grated, to garnish

---

• Pasta of choice (I'm using half penne/half spirals today)
• A small reserve of pasta water

Because I want my chicken nicely golden, I've coated the pieces in a little bit of cornflour. Not enough to put a crunch on them, but enough just to add some colour.

We'll pan-fry these in small batches so they don't overcrowd the pan, then put them off to the side in another bowl for later.

While you're doing that, prepare your pasta of choice. For me, today it's a mix of both spirals and penne!

In the now empty pot, chuck in the onion and cook until semi-translucent. Add in the roasted garlic and cook, stirring constantly, for about a minute.

Add a good blob of butter and the flour, and combine with the onion and garlic until a smooth roux forms.

Slowly add your chicken stock, stirring constantly, until a smooth, saucy mixture has formed, then add your thickened cream.

Combine it well together.

Then add your chicken and bacon.

Allow to simmer for a few minutes.

You can now add in your spring onion, which for me, personally, is added for extra colour rather than anything else.

Add in your reserved pasta water and combine it well with the concoction, then add your cooked and drained pasta to the pot.

Mix well, and serve! Garnish with parmesan cheese and extra spring onion if you desire!

Mmmm, delicious!

 

 

Until next time! 😋🍝😁

 

---

 

_{All photos in this post are courtesy of me, @kaelci and were taken with a Samsung S21 phone camera.}