Chicken Wing Sunday and Meatless Monday

At the end of a long day that included me overdosing on caffeine and aimless chatter, I wanted something comforting. Chicken wings comfort me. Especially grilled wings slathered in sticky sweet spicy barbecue sauce. Add to that a creamy mashed sweet potato and a pile of scalloped corn first sauteed in a bit of bacon grease. Yes, those things were comforting.

For Meatless Monday I wanted the meal to center around asparagus and cremini mushrooms. I was originally thinking of a panini of some sort as I had found a loaf of pumpernickel on sale. However, once I got home I found a bag of mushroom tortellini and that became an option. Offering the Boy the choice, he of course picked the pasta. (He informed me a couple weeks ago that he would always pick the pasta, almost no matter the choice. Crazy.) So the option being pasta, I sauteed the sliced mushrooms, asparagus, and onion in olive oil until all the items were cooked through. Then I added some evaporated milk (didn't happen to have half and half or cream on hand) and parmesan cheese and let the liquid reduce until I was ready to add the cooked tortellini to the pan.

In the meantime I finely chopped a fat clove of garlic, diced a whole, medium tomato and made a chiffonade out of little stack of fresh basil leaves. I had already thinly sliced some pumpernickel, brushed it with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and garlic and then put it under the broiler until crisp. Put both components together for pumpernickel bruschetta. Mmmmmmm, hello raw garlic. Guess you're staying overnight, garlic breath.