Chicken with Prosciutto, Sage and Fontina

Meli and I were at a loss the other day.  Sometimes dealing with gluten-free and Kiddo's pickiness can be exhausting.  So I used the "what do we have on hand" method, googled a few recipes and did some melding and modification to produce this, which was fantastic over gluten-free pasta.

I started with this: http://www.marthastewart.com/339345/chicken-with-prosciutto-and-sage

But instead of flour, used Masa. Also I added cheese and used all whole sage leaves and finished in the oven and used Masala instead of white wine...and the preparation was like this.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup masa
• Course salt and fresh ground pepper
• Two skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 8-10 fresh sage leaves
• 2oz prosciutto, sliced thinly
• 2oz fontina cheese, sliced thinly
• 3/4 cup masala wine
• 1/3 cup chicken broth
• Gluten-free pasta, prepared according to package directions

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Combine the masa, salt and pepper in a dredging pan.
3. Slice the chicken lengthwise with a thin knife into 2-3 slices per breast, depending on the thickness of the breast
4. Dredge the chicken in the flour.
5. Melt half a stick of unsalted butter in a large oven-proof skillet over medium heat.
6. Add 8-10 fresh sage leaves, fry briefly until crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
7. Add the chicken and fry on one side until lightly browned, then turn over.
8. Brown the other side of the chicken.
9. Top each slice with a slice of prosciutto and a slice of cheese. Fontina was great, mozzarella would be less salty, also good.  Add wine and broth to the pan, put it in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes.
10. Serve over gluten-free linguine, and add the fried sage leaves as garnish.

Fettucini with Tuna, Pine Nuts, Lemon and Herbs

Adapted from the Quick from Scratch Italian cookbook (I've mentioned this series of cookbooks from Food & Wine before - they are fantastic).

Kiddo helped me with this meal, which we were preparing with love for Hub who had to work late. Kiddo peeled the garlic, helped to chop the dill and the garlic, stripped the thyme leaves from the branches and juiced the lemon. What an excellent sous-chef he's turning into! Oh, and I am in love with my new citrus juicer from the Pampered Chef. That thing is amazing.

3/4 cup pine nuts
12 oz Rossi Pasta Lemon Pepper Fettucini
4 cloves garlic, minced
8-oz jar of Ortiz tuna in oil
grated lemon zest and juice from one juicy lemon - I pick smaller, heavy lemons
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp fresh-ground black pepper
1 large bunch dill weed, chopped
1/2 cup fresh thyme leaves, chopped

1. In a small frying pan, toast the pine nuts over moderately low heat until golden brown but not burnt! I always seem to burn a few.


2. In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the fettucini until just done. Drain.


3. Meanwhile, in a large frying pan, pour the oil from the jar of tuna in and heat it. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for one minute. Stir in the tuna and break it up with a fork. Remove from the heat. toss the linguine with the tuna mixture, the lemon zest, lemon juice, salt pepper, herbs and the toasted pine nuts.

Servings: 4
Calories: 786

Mediterranean Garden Fagottini

OK, this post may look a little bit weird, but I've finally started a diet. Weight Watchers Online has some cool features such as a "Recipe Builder" where I can add my ingredients and it figures out the points value. And then I can just copy and paste the thing into here! Wish me luck on the diet thing...only two days in and I'm huuuuungry!

POINTS® Value: 5
Servings: 6

Ingredients
18 oz (2 packages) Mediterranean Garden Fagottini - we got it at Harris Teeter. The one I used has 290 calories per serving, 5g fat and 2g dietary fiber -- if you use something with cheese or meat in, it will probably increase the point value.
1/4 pound semisoft goat cheese - I like goat gouda, but feta or chevre will also do
3 medium tomatoes
5 oz mixed baby greens
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

Instructions

Cook the pasta according to directions
Grate the cheese, chop the tomatoes, toss in bowl with 1T of olive oil, balsamic vineger, salt and pepper
Wilt the greens in other 1T of olive oil, add to bowl
Add drained pasta to bowl with 1/2 cup of pasta cooking water, toss and serve

Lost recipe - Blueberry-vodka cream sauce with roasted chicken and pasta

Darn it. I knew this would happen sooner or later...I'm diligently trying to write down my recipes as I cook them, but if I don't run in and transcribe them...they get thrown away. And this was a REALLY good one, too! Don't worry, though, I'll try again.

What the heck, I'll try to do it from memory. Later I'll come back and test it again. This fed five adults (Mom, Dad, Hub, Sis and me) on Friday night, and there was 1/2 a chicken breast as leftovers. Sis was in town on her way to Mexico.

This recipe (or a variation thereof) that I invented years ago is one of the reasons I ordered the Rossi pasta recently.

1/2 cup dried blueberries
Vodka to cover (about 1/2 cup?)
1 small container creme fraiche
3 large chicken breasts, bone-in, skin-on
Juice of 2 lemons
1 pkg Rossi lemon pepper fettucine
Salt & pepper

• About 2 hours ahead of time, put the blueberries into a small bowl and cover with vodka.
• Preheat the oven to 425.
• Wash and dry the chicken breasts, put skin up in a roasting pan. Juice the lemons with a reamer right over the breasts (no need to strain). Salt and pepper them.
• Roast for about 35 minutes.
• When there are about 15 minutes to go, heat the water for the pasta and cook it.
• Put the vodka/blueberry mix into a small saucepan and heat gently. When warm, stir the creme fraiche in.
• Toss the pasta with the sauce. Serve with the chicken and a green salad.

If you don't have lemon pepper fettucini (poor you!), you could add lemon juice and pepper to the sauce. In the past, I've usually used boneless, skinless breasts and sliced them and sauteed them in olive oil and lemon juice, and then incorporated them into the pasta. But this time, I forgot to specify for Hub, and he arrived home with the bone-in, skin-on variety. Honestly...I think it was even nicer.

Friday was actually pretty crazy, hence the need for Hub to go shopping. There was a huge explosion at a chemical plant not too far from here late Thursday evening, and Kiddo's daycare was in the evacuation zone. We were a bit nervous we would have to be evacuated ourselves. Ms. J and Mr. B and their kids were right on the edge, and fled to Ms. H's house. So I took the day off work and Kiddo and I went over to Ms. H's to join the news-watching and fretting. The kids played, the mothers worried...after noon, Ms. N and I and our kids returned to our cul-de-sac, let Kiddo and Boo run around for a while (outside! by that time we had relaxed a bit about toxic fumes) and then retired to nap. So I never got a chance to shop.

After dinner, I dragged Sis to a birthday party at Ms. D's. There was o-so-much wine and crazy conversation. At one point, Sis told me I am in a sorority. I am? Wow. I've never been in a sorority before. I guess the difference is, I'm not paying for the privilege and I don't have to live with these women. And our menses are not in sync.

Saturday afternoon, the church had a block party, and I ran a Name That Tune booth. We kazoo'ed tunes for people to guess. It was a riot.

Saturday night, Bro and Sis-In-Law came in, and we all joined the sorority and fraternity (the husbands) for a big night out to a comedy club in the City. At dinner time, I found myself channeling the General (my dearly departed Aunt who ran social events with an iron fist). Someone needed to organize this crazy party of 16! We dined at a fantastic restaurant right next to the comedy club. While Hub did have to send his sea bass back, the tilapia that came out to replace it was excellent.

Sunday was quiet. I was exhausted.

And then tonight I went out with girlfriends again. Do I never learn???

I'm tired. Good night.

Out-of-milk Macaroni & Cheese

What a busy day! We went to the NC Zoo for the afternoon. It's about 1 hour 20 minutes away, which is a very comfortable distance for me because from the little town where I grew up, the nearest "big" city was pretty much 1 hour 30 minutes away. And for a while up in Cleveland, my commute was 1 hour 20 minutes each way...on a good day.

We arrived home after 5:00 and I was too hungry to go shopping, so I had to make do with what was on hand. This is actually my favorite time to cook, because according to Hub it forces my creative juices to flow. If I ever get any more readers/commenters in this forum, I plan to do a sort of "Stump the Cook" thing like Splendid Table does. It would be fun to see if I could come up with something delicious given five ingredients any given someone has on-hand.

I had corn on the cob. Husked it, broke it in two, covered with cold water, put on to boil. Check.

I had a leftover piece of grilled London Broil that Hub sliced thinly and we ate cold, sort of more as a side dish.

I went to make Macaroni & Cheese, and immediately noticed two problems - 1) out of milk. 2) no regular cheddar. Plenty of cheese in the house, but all a bit more esoteric. This is how I managed to do the dish, and it was honestly some of the yummiest mac & cheese we have ever tasted.

2 T butter
2 T flour
6 T light sour cream
1 cup shredded goat cheddar
1 cup shredded feta (really, 2 cups of whatever cheese you have on hand will probably work, but go easy on bleu cheese)
1/2 lb macaroni

1. Put the water on to boil for the macaroni
2. Melt the butter over low heat in a large saucepan
3. Add the flour to the butter and cook over low heat just until it starts to turn golden. Stir constantly to remove lumps. I like a wooden spoon for this.
   
4. Add the light sour cream gradually, stirring, stirring, stirring. This will be very thick.
   
5. Add the cheese 1/2 cup at a time, stirring, stirring, stirring
6. It's much too thick at this point, but here comes the magic - add 2 tablespoons of the hot pasta water and stir, stir, stir. Voila!
7. Drain the pasta and add it to the cheese, stir (once more) and serve.

Just as we were finishing up, Ms C. called and offered us tickets to see a circus/dance performance. Unfortunately, she wasn't feeling well. So we up and went (luckily the venue is only about 5 minutes away) and it was very fun.

Plus, so far, potato vodka isn't making me ill. It's probably only a matter of time, but at least there's one option still open.

Tortellini with Lemon Chicken

On Sunday, we went to the local Greek Festival. Then on Monday, my parents returned from a 3-week trip to Greece. One might think I would have cooked some Greek food last night for dinner welcoming them back? One would be wrong.

20 oz fresh, filled tortellini (filling is pretty much your choice)
1 lb skinless, boneless chicken breasts
8 oz cremini (baby bella) mushrooms
3-4 medium tomatoes
2 zucchini
5 cloves garlic
.75 oz fresh sage
2 lemons
olive oil
salt & pepper

I find the order of preperation for this dish important, so here it is explicitly. I use "mise bowls" - little glass bowls to put all the prepared ingredients into so that they are all ready to dump into the saute pan.

1. Put on a pot of water to boil
2. Chop the tomatoes and put them in the serving bowl.
   
3. Slice the garlic very thinly. This may seem laborious, but it's worth it
4. Slice the sage thinly lengthwise
5. Brush and quarter the mushrooms. Did you know you shouldn't wash mushrooms with water? They soak it up. Instead, use a mushroom brush.
6. Dice the zucchini into small cubes
7. Heat 5 T olive oil in a large frying pan. Add the garlic and saute briefly, about 1 minute, just until turning golden. Then add the sage and saute about one minute more until garlic and sage are crispy. Use a slotted spoon to remove the garlic and sage from the oil and set aside in a mise bowl. By the way, this crispy garlic & sage trick is one I absolutely love, you can apply it to so many dishes.
8. You probably want to put the pasta in to cook right about now.
   
9. Add the mushrooms and zucchini to the oil, and saute until the mushrooms start to express some of their liquid. Transfer all the contents of the pan to your serving bowl.
10. Add 2 T olive oil to the pan and heat.
11. While that is heating, slice the chicken breasts lengthwise in approximately 1/2 inch wide strips.
12. Add the chicken to the pan and saute, just until pinkness disappears. Salt and pepper to taste.
    
13. Using a reamer (preferably), juice the 2 lemons directly into the pan. Who cares about seeds?
14. Turn down the heat and simmer for about 2 minutes
15. The pasta should finish up right about now, so drain it and add to serving bowl. You may want to add a ladle-full of the pasta water as well.
16. Add the chicken and it's sauce to the bowl, toss. Top with the crispy sage and garlic and serve.
    

Linguine with Tuna, Walnuts, Lemon and Herbs

Have I mentioned my heavy usage of the Food & Wine Quick From Scratch books?

Tonight I prepared this recipe, with some variations so I'll go ahead and write the whole thing down. It was incredibly good.

3/4 cup walnuts, toasted and then chopped
Rossi Lemon Pepper fettucini - 12 oz
1 jar Ortiz Bonita del Norte tuna in oil (I'm trying to find a link, haven't yet)
1/3 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
zest & juice from one juicy lemon
2 fillets Ortiz anchovy in oil, chopped
1/4 cup thyme, chopped
1/4 cup mint, chopped
1 zucchini

1. Put a large pot of water on to boil for the pasta
   
2. Toast and chop the walnuts, and put in a big pasta serving bowl
3. Use a vegetable peeler on the zucchini to make "ribbons", add them to the bowl
   
4. In a small bowl, combine the lemon zest, lemon juice, anchovy and herbs
5. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan, and add the garlic. Cook, stirring for 1 minute. Add the tuna and its oil, breaking it up with a spoon. Cook for 1 minute just to heat the tuna through.
6. Cook the pasta according to package directions (Rossi pasta cooks fast). Add it to the big pasta bowl, top with the tuna and oil and toss. Then add the dressing from the small bowl and toss some more.

For once, this requires no added salt or pepper. The anchovy provides nice, mild salty flavor (but Hub could not detect my "secret ingredient" at all), and the lemon pepper fettucini has plenty of peppery bite.

I've used regular canned tuna in oil before, and it's very good...but this Ortiz stuff is on a whole other level. We're lucky to have it stocked at the local Whole Foods. I'll search the web to see if I can find a good source for mail order.

Calves liver and mushroom pasta

Ms. J's potluck was a rousing success...she completely embraced the spirit of the thing by having Mr. M actully do her cooking for her. Another sign of relaxation? Her hub, Mr. B, had forgotten that he was expected at a poker game in the neighborhood, so at 9:30 or so he had to leave. She was surprised and pleased at how easy the whole thing was. Hooray!

My favorite dish of the evening was one Mr. M brought and prepared on site -- tuna medallions seared with garlic and oil, and then green beans and halved cherry tomatoes added to the pan. It was fantastic with a splash of soy sauce.

Hub challenged me tonight by bringing home 1/2 pound of calves liver. He knows that I love liver, but he's more hesitant. Here's what I did, I thought it turned out very well. Hub even went back for seconds!

1/2 lb sliced calves liver, cut into 4 pieces
1 pkg Wild Mushroom Linguini (from Rossi pasta, of coures)
8 oz mushrooms, quartered
4 shallots, sliced very thinly crosswise
2 T chopped fresh thyme
6 oz spinach (one bag, if that's how you like to buy it), coursely chopped
6 slices country smoked bacon
1/4 cup flour
salt, pepper (do I even need to list these?)

1. Put on the water to boil for the pasta, lightly salted. (I know this step seems obvious, but Hub always forgets)
2. In one large frying pan that has a lid, heat the olive oil, then add the shallots. Fry them, stirring, for a few minutes until they turn golden brown. Watch them! They very quickly could turn dark brown, then black, and then all that careful slicing was for naught. Anyway, when done, use a slotted spoon and transfer them to a plate with a paper towel, and sprinkle with about 1/2 t kosher salt.
3. Add the thyme and mushrooms to the oil, and saute until well coated with oil. Then add the spinach in handfuls, letting each addition wilt a little so there's room in the pan for the next. Saute to make sure everything has a very light coating of oil, then put the lid on and steam for a few minutes, just until the spinach has released it's water. Slide the whole panful into a serving bowl Cook your pasta and toss it in. Add salt and pepper to taste, and about half of the shallots.
   
4. Meanwhile (don't you hate that?) you should have been cooking the bacon in another frying pan until it's crispy. Remove from the pan and drain on a paper towel.
5. Combine the flour and about 1/2 t each salt and pepper on a board, and dredge the liver in it. Then, over medium-low heat, cook the liver on both sides in the rendered bacon fat just until it springs back when prodded. Don't overcook! Liver is nasty when overcooked. If you think you hate liver, it's probably because your mother killed it in the frying pan when you were young, cooking it to the texture of rubber. I know mine did.
6. Serve the liver sprinkled with the rest of the shallots.
   

Rossi pasta

I'm soooo excited! I just got a box of Rossi Pasta in the mail. This is by far the best pasta I've ever had, and the amazing flavors always inspire my pasta creativity, so expect to see some pasta recipes soon. This company actually started in little Athens, OH where I'm from, and now does the Williams-Sonoma brand pastas...but unfortunately, it is not available in stores here. Ah, well, instead I got a big box in the mail!

I'm taking a half day today, went to get my toes done with Ms. N and Ms. C earlier. Ms. J stopped by to say hello, and decided as we spoke that she was interested in doing the Friday night potluck thing at her house. She's new to the group, so kudos! In fact, she organized the Thursday night play date just last night (we met at a park rather than at a house) so obviously, she fits right in.

So, I'm rotisserie-ing a couple of chickens right now, then at 3:15 I have a haircut/dye job scheduled. Rotisseries are fantastic...if you are in the market for a new grill, get one. We have the Turbo STS with the rotisserie added as an option. Other than the cleanup (which I mostly let Hub do) it's really easy to use. Thread the chickens on the bar, then turn on the motor and shake on lots of herbs. Maybe I'll post a photo..they are really pretty. :)

Mint Pesto

As Ernesto passed through NC yesterday, it was grey and dour. In the morning, I received an email from Ms. T inviting a bunch of us to her house for a pool party on Sunday. I realized we hadn't had an impromptu Friday potluck in a while. So out went the email: potluck party tonight!

The party was very well attended, pretty much everyone could make it on such short notice except for Ms. L (who wasn't at work, and didn't get the email) and Ms. D (who was on her way to Virginia Beach to run in a half marathon). That's one of the things about this neighborhood -- we all have kids, and most of us hang out on the weekends...and any excuse to get the kids all together where they can entertain each other is a good one.

I quit work at 3:00 and checked out the fridge and pantry, and here's what I made. It's super-easy and usually a big hit.

1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted and cooled
2-3 cloves garlic
2 oz parmesan, cut into manageable chunks
Large bunch mint, about 6 oz before stemming, stemmed, washed and spun dry
2-3 T olive oil
salt & pepper

1 box rotini pasta
1/3 lb feta, preferably goat's or sheep's milk

1. Throw the pine nuts, garlic, parmesan chunks and mint into a food processor, pulse.
2. Add the olive oil, pulse some more
3. Add salt and fresh-ground pepper to taste

That's the pesto...I use it in several ways -- on brushetta with a smear of chevre, spread on a tortilla then topped with herb-roasted turkey from the deli and rolled up, then sliced for party rounds. But the most common way is to cook up a pot of rotini and toss it with the pesto and some nice goat's milk feta. This is popular with the adults and the kids, who call it "green mac & cheese".

Pasta with fresh tomato sauce

I have about a hundred permutations on this theme...so easy, so delicious. This is what I accompanied the lamb meatballs with tonight.

2 large tomatoes
1/3 lb feta cheese, preferably sheep's milk, also preferably in brine
1 zucchini
2 T mint
12 oz whole wheat or multi grain pasta

1. Cook the pasta according to package directions
2. Chop the tomatoes, put in a bowl, making sure you keep all the juices. At my house, that means guarding the cutting board from Hub, who is very likely to stick his face right down onto it and slurp.
3. Chop the mint, add to the bowl
4. Use a vegetable peeler on the zucchini to make "ribbons", keeping the peel but stopping when you hit seeds. Toss those into the bowl.
5. Crumble the feta into the bowl
6. Add a little salt and pepper to taste, and toss.
7. When the pasta is done, take 2-3 ladlefulls of pasta water and add them to the bowl.
8. Then drain the pasta and add it to the bowl, toss, and serve.
   

Macaroni & Cheese

I used to always make mac & cheese by first making a white sauce, then stirring in grated cheese. While this is still a fun thing to do, my sister-in-law found a super-easy, lower-fat baked mac & cheese recipe for Thanksgiving a few years ago...I found the link as she did on the Cooking Light website. Try it! It is really great.

What to do with tomato pulp

Hub decided he absolutely needed gazpacho tonight. I was very lazy and kiddo wanted to play with me, so he manfully followed a recipe (sort of) and ended up with a bowl full of leftover tomato pulp/seeds/skins and also more garlic than the recipe called for. It called for 4 cloves, he chopped 9, he's that kind of guy. He tossed the extra garlic into the pulp and said "hey, we can make pan con tomate". True, but we didn't have any fresh bread. We were drinking the gazpacho with ice, sort of virgin mary-ish, and were still wondering about dinner. So, I heated up the pulp, threw some frozen whole-wheat raviolis in a pot, chopped some parsley and grated some fresh parmesan.

It was fantastic. The gods were smiling, that was a really excellent tomato sauce. And no tomato wastage!