Monday, March 7, 2011

Penne in a Garlicky Butter Sauce with Chicken, Sun Dried Tomatoes and Artichokes

What a recipe title.  But I couldn't leave anything out, it was all so good!  So here's what happened. It was either go out, and we were both pretty exhausted from a long weekend of singing and performing, or stay in and wing it. I just couldn't force Pianoman to go anywhere. And I really didn't want to go anywhere either. I gathered together all the things I needed for this recipe right off my shelf and refrigerator. You probably have most of them in your kitchen right now too. And for those of you who own the cookbook, the recipe is there already for you.  It's one that you might pass by and not think too much of.  Think about it one more time. It's the best, I mean best, and easiest sauce for your pasta. And the add-ins are endless.  Try this one evening, and tell me if it isn't just delicious!

PENNE IN A GARLICKY BUTTER SAUCE WITH CHICKEN, 
SUN DRIED TOMATOES AND ARTICHOKE HEARTS

Start with one whole chicken breast. Mine was partially frozen, which I like better for slicing or cubing.  I cubed mine and tossed it with lemon pepper seasoning, some crushed dried rosemary, a little paprika, salt and pepper. Into a little bit of hot olive oil it all went until cooked through and beginning to brown.  Remove this to a bowl, cover with foil and set aside. And p.s., if you want meatless, by all means skip this step!

Boil 8 ounces of penne pasta or whatever kind you like according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

In a saucepan, melt 1/4 cup of butter. Saute a medium onion and 3 large cloves of garlic that have been very finely chopped. When I say very finely, I mean it.  I do mine in my food processor until it is really finely chopped.  This way, when you saute it you'll get all the flavor in the sauce and no chunky pieces  when you eat the dish.  Seriously.  So, saute the onion and garlic until soft but not browned. Add to this 1/2 cup of chicken broth, 1/4 cup of olive oil, a good handful of chopped fresh parsley, salt and pepper to taste. Heat all this through. Then add whatever suits your fancy.  I added 1/2 cup of sun dried tomatoes and 1 small jar of artichoke hearts which were thoroughly drained. Gently mix these into the sauce. Add the chicken back in as well.  Then add the drained pasta.  Toss everything together well.  Distribute onto your dinner plates.   Sprinkle with freshly shredded or grated Parmesan cheese. This will serve more than 4 generously. 

Things you'll need at a glance:
  • 1 chicken breast
  • 8 oz. penne pasta or your favorite
  • Butter
  • 1 onion
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • Chicken broth (I used Better Than Bouillon Organic. It's convenient, easy, I can make as much or as little as I like, I don't have to open a big box of broth, it's very good)
  • Olive oil
  • Fresh parsley
  • Your choice for add-ins, or none at all! (Some of my favorites are black olives, sun dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, fresh spinach, toasted walnuts or pinenuts, etc.)
Enjoy and let me know how you loved it!





Sunday, March 6, 2011

Fresh Pear and Blue Cheese Flatbread

Want to make friends and influence people? How about just impress your dinner guests? Or how about just treat yourself to a really easy to make and very elegant little appetizer?  I ordered something like this at a restaurant in West Palm Beach the other day just around the corner from the salon where my son works as a color specialist.  It was so good, I knew I just had to make this at home. Yet, as delicious as it was, I decided (of course, not being able to leave well enough alone) to kick it up two more notches.

I ordered this. Beautiful, huh?

The dish I was served was sliced pears and blue cheese on flatbread, heated and then topped with a balsamic reduction. The flatbread I'm making includes the addition of chopped walnuts, and the balsamic reduction is a raspberry infused balsamic vinegar.... and I made it myself!   I also used one of my new faves, Bosc pears.  But you could use a very good canned pear IF you had to! So easy.  Here's the easy assembly.



FRESH PEAR AND BLUE CHEESE FLATBREAD
First, make your vinegar reduction ahead of time.  Buy a bottle of good aged raspberry balsamic vinegar.  You don't have to go crazy and buy the most expensive one of the shelf, just something decent.  If you want to have a small supply of it around, use the entire bottle.  Pour it all into a saucepan, bring it to a boil gently, then reduce the heat. Keep it simmering and bubbling slowly, stirring often, until it reduces by half.  It will start to become thick and coat your spoon.  The whole process will probably take twenty minutes or so, but worth it.  After it has reduced, it will be thick and kind of syrupy but will thicken up even more when it cools. (See Singingirl's note below.) It should be the consistency of a syrup, and I'm sure you've seen this in restaurants, so you know what you're looking for.  When it has cooled completely, you can store it in one of those little plastic squeeze bottles that you can get at the dollar store.  You will use this not only for this flatbread recipe but for many other dishes, vanilla ice cream (yep), fruit salads, etc.   If you buy an unflavored balsamic and use this method, you can use the reduction for drizzling over roasted turkey, chicken, pork, etc.  Delish and very gourmet!

Okay.  Now that you have the reduction made you can make your flatbread any time.  I bought a nice, soft wheat flatbread.  Peel and slice a ripe pear, one pear per flatbread, and arrange it over the flatbread in a spiral looking design.  Sprinkle the top of the pear slices with a few chopped walnuts, then scatter a liberal amount of good chunky blue cheese over the top of everything. Pop this under your broiler and broil until warmed and the cheese is softening.  You don't need to get this so hot that you cant eat it, just heat it through until soft and melty looking. Remove to your serving dish.  Drizzle with your special raspberry balsamic reduction, slice with a pizza wheel into four triangles, and prepare to be totally impressed with your culinary panache!!!

Let me know how it turned out for you below in the "comments."  Thanks for stopping by!

At a glance, these are the simple ingredients for this dish:

  • Flatbread
  • Fresh pears
  • Walnuts
  • Blue cheese
  • Balsamic vinegar

Singingirl's note - After assembling and preparing this for the photo, I quickly realized why my end result does not look like what I had in the restaurant.  My reduction was not thick enough, and my blue cheese was more crumbly than large chunky pieces.  Next one I make I will make sure to correct these two things that really only made a cosmetic difference. The taste was still awesome!

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Italian Style Turkey Meatballs

No joke. Really. I know what I wrote in my cookbook about being a meatball snob and liking regular beef meatballs and not those that are mixed with other stuff like pork and veal, etc.  That was then. This is now.  I'm developing a conscience about those long-lashed, four-legged friends. And this doesn't mean that I'm never going to eat a burger again. But more and more I am finding ways to contribute as only one individual can, to cut back on consuming so much red meat.  There, I've said it!!  So, here I've taken the basic recipe for meatballs and substituted good old tom turkey!  I dare you to make these, serve them to whoever, don't tell them it's turkey, and see what happens.  Only kudos my friends, only kudos.  Here's what I did...

Into a large mixing bowl place 1 lb. of ground turkey (not ground turkey breast), 1 egg, 1/4 cup of seasoned bread crumbs (such as Progresso), 1 tsp. dried basil, 1/2 tsp. dried oregano, 1 minced clove of garlic, 1/2 cup chopped Italian parsley, 1/3 cup of shredded (on the bigger hole of your grater) parmesan cheese, 1 tsp. salt, black pepper to taste, and  1/4 tsp. or more red pepper flakes.

Mix all of this together with your thoroughly cleansed hands.  Pour a small amount of breadcrumbs into a small bowl.  Shape the mixture into approximately 20 meatballs and roll each one in the breadcrumbs. Coat a mini muffin tin with cooking spray, and place each meatball into the mini muffin tin, like you see in the picture.  Pop the meatballs into a preheated 400 degree oven and bake for about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and using a spoon, give each meatball a little turn upside down.  Place back in the oven for 5 or 8 minutes more.  I got the tip on baking the meatballs rather than frying from quirky Alton Brown on the Food Network channel.  I have always heated the olive oil on the stove top and proceeded to make a greasy mess of the area before I was done.  This method is surprisingly simple and what a neat (no pun intended) idea.  They turn out delicious. Crispy from being rolled in the breadcrumbs, with the shredded (not finely grated) parmesan cheese kind of oozing out of them. Yeah, you want to make these.
Are these cute or what?
Baked, crispy, not greasy, delicious!

This is all you'll need:

  • 1 lb. ground turkey
  • Parmesan cheese
  • Egg
  • Bread crumbs
  • Basil
  • Oregano
  • Crushed red pepper flakes
  • Italian Parsley
  • Fresh garlic 

This is what was in the cupboard!

Keepin' it real here, I did not labor over my sauce!!! I doctored up two jars of sauce that I had on hand, by sauteeing a small shredded onion, some freshly chopped garlic, and a bunch of chopped Italian parsley. When I shred onion in the biggest hole of my grater, it just disappears in the cooking but leaves all the flavor. Try that sometime.  Okay, I then added the sauce to the saute and washed each jar out with a quarter cup or so of the red wine that I had opened the night before ;-)   When the sauce is hot and the meatballs are done baking, I drop those into the sauce and let it all heat through.

This made 20 meatballs for me. The first night,  I served this with whole wheat spaghetti, but I was thinking the picture for that might be rather boring. My friend, Cathy, suggested I do meatball subs or sandwiches, and that's exactly what I did, as you can see below!!!  So good.  I buttered good bakery rolls rather than heavy sub rolls, and then grilled them. Topped with halved meatballs and sauce, sliced fresh mozzarella (not the hard type, but the fresh kind) and sprinkled with Parmesan cheese. Broil this until melted and delicious looking,  Now, tell me that doesn't have your name written all over it!  Give beef a break every so often and try this recipe.  You will be amazed at how you would never know the difference.  And for another recipe using turkey, check this one out here.

Turkey Meatball Sandwich with Melted Fresh Mozzarella!
Till next time... Click on "comments" below and let me know you stopped by. Thanks!