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Ever since we had Yakitori at Shinsengumi in Gardena, life has never been the same – we crave it ALL THE TIME. Yakitori is Japanese style bbq where the meat is skewered – usually not huge honking skewers like kabobs, but much smaller. The point is to order a variety of them and usually to be drunk at the same time – which really helps with paying the bill because yakitori is generally very pricey. If you can manage to not get carried away in conversation and beers and the reckless ordering of more food, it would be a lot cheaper, but what is the fun in that?!

I’ve been trying to figure out a way to have yakitori at home so that we could afford to eat it more often… so far I’ve found a lot of these grills that are much too small…

Here’s a cool one… it’s long so you can put a lot of skewers on it, but the sucky thing is – it’s electric! I’m pretty sure to get the authentic taste, you need to use charcoal.

Here’s one that is way too small, but at least it uses charcoal. I’m gonna have to get 3 of these! One for each person!

So far I’m not sure what to do… I don’t really like either of those 2 grills.

Made this for dinner tonight because I realized how much beef we’ve been eating lately! It tastes good and is healthy too – no butter, lean meat… the only bad thing is the Parmesan cheese. I’ve made this before and it’s one of my favorite things to cook/eat.

Here’s the recipe courtesy of Wolfgang Puck:

(Oh, if you’re gonna cook it, here’s my suggestion – instead of spending all the time finely chopping the carrots, celery and onion, just put them in a food processor)

Ingredients
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 1 pound ground chicken
* 1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
* 4 cloves garlic, minced
* 1/2 cup finely chopped carrots
* 1/2 cup finely chopped celery
* 1 tablespoon thyme leaves
* Pinch chili flakes
* Salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 1/2 cup dry white wine
* 2 cups tomato sauce
* 1/2 cup tomato juice
* Salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 1/2 cup grated Parmesan, plus more for garnish
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
* 1 pound penne pasta

Directions
Heat a large saute pan over high heat. Add the olive oil and heat. When the oil is hot, add the ground chicken and cook until well browned, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Add the onion, garlic, carrots, celery, thyme, and chili flakes and cook until the vegetables are softened, about 5 to 8 minutes. Carefully deglaze the pan with the white wine, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Reduce until the white wine is almost completely evaporated.

Add the tomato sauce and juice and simmer until a thick sauce consistency, about 20 minutes. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Cook the penne in boiling, salted water until al dente. Drain the pasta and set aside. Add a few tablespoons of the pasta cooking water to the sauce. Add the drained pasta to the sauce along with the Parmesan and toss well. Serve in a large bowl garnished with parsley leaves.