April's Prize Spaghetti 6.09 The Prodigal Daughter Returns

“This is my last stop. I go to the lab tomorrow, and the fair's on the 16th. And, if I win, there's going to be a banquet on the 18th, and you get to choose any two kinds of spaghetti that you want. There's going to be at least ten options, though I know what I'm getting. Split order, half mushroom, half mizithra cheese.”

Ingredients:

For the mushroom spaghetti:

• ½ pound spaghetti, cooked to package instructions

• 2 tbsp butter

• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and thinly sliced

• 6 oz baby bella mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

• 6 oz shiitake mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• ½ tsp salt

• ½ tsp pepper

• ½ tsp dried oregano

• ¼ cup cooking sherry

• 2 cups chicken broth

• ½ cup heavy cream

For the mizithra cheese spaghetti:

• ½ pound spaghetti. Cooked to package instructions

• ½ cup butter

• 1 shallot, peeled and diced

• 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and thinly sliced.

• 1 cup white wine

• 2 cups mizithra cheese

• 1 tbsp lemon juice

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 tsp black pepper

• ¼ tsp red pepper flakes

Directions:

For the mushroom spaghetti:

1. Add the butter to a large skillet over medium heat. Once the butter has melted, add the garlic and saute for about 2 minutes.

2. Then add the mushrooms and saute for about 5 minutes. Don’t touch the mushrooms. After 5 minutes, give the mushrooms a gentle stir.

3. Add the olive oil, salt, pepper, and oregano.

4. Deglaze the pan with the cooking sherry and simmer for about 1 minute.

5. Then add the chicken broth and simmer for 5 minutes.

6. Slowly pour in the heavy cream, stirring until fully combined. Simmer for about 2 minutes, then pour over cooked spaghetti.

For the mizithra cheese spaghetti:

1. Add the butter to a large skillet over medium heat. Once the butter has melted, add the garlic and shallot. Saute for about 5 minutes.

2. Deglaze the pan with the white wine and simmer for about 1 minute.

3. Stir in the cheese and allow to fully melt (about 3-5 minutes), stirring occasionally.

4. Add the lemon juice, salt, pepper, and red chili flakes.

5. Add in the cooked spaghetti and top with extra mizithra cheese if you wish.

April is officially on the scene, so to commemorate her debut, I made her spaghetti order. It took me the longest time to know what kind of cheese she was talking about, and then, I finally watched it with subtitles and found out she says mizithra. If you — like me — had no idea what mizithra cheese was, it's very similar to goat cheese or feta. It's crumbly and creamy. It made for a really nice sauce with spaghetti. For the mushroom spaghetti, I used baby bella and shiitake mushrooms.

What are your thoughts on April? Personally, I don't get why she receives so much hate. I don't think she's the reason Luke and Lorelai break up. It's their lack of communication skills that does them in. April is merely a catalyst to show us they don't actually have healthy communication (they still don't in AYITL). She doesn't do anything wrong. I know a lot of people compare her to Rory, but Rory was more into literature and writing whereas April's niche was science. Plus, what's wrong with having more than one smart girl character? Justice for April!

Happy Cooking from the Hollow!

If you missed what I made last episode, catch up here!

Which spaghetti order would you get?