As a Matter of Food

One night last week, I came up with this dish while going through our refrigerator.  I was too lazy to go grocery shopping and there was food in the refrigerator.  All I had to do was make sense of it.  I found chicken tenders, cilantro, scallions, and a box of penne pasta in the pantry.  With some olive oil, a little butter, soy sauce, black pepper, crushed red peppers, and some garlic and it evolved into this recipe.  We’re up in the mountains and my husband requested it again.  I just kicked it up a few notches by adding a few extra ingredients and took it to a whole new level.

Recipe:

1 box of penne pasta (you can use any pasta)

1 lb of chicken breasts/tenders/skinless boneless thighs

5 cloves of garlic

1/2 an onion sliced or chopped

2 cups of sliced mushrooms (fresh or canned)

2 Tbs of olive oil

2 Tbs of butter

1/2 tsp of salt

1/2 tsp of black pepper

1 tsp of crushed red peppers (can adjust to taste)

2 Tbs of soy sauce

1/2 cup of light cream

a splash of a good white wine (optional)

Directions:

1.  Before you start prepping the chicken.  Start to boil water for your pasta!

2.  Slice chicken into small slices  (1/2 inch x 1 inch) place in bowl

3.  Slice or chop half an onion

4.  Mince garlic cloves

5.  Add garlic, soy sauce, salt, pepper, crushed red peppers to chicken

6.  Put oil in a big pan, medium to high heat

7.  Sautee Onions until the onions are soft, then  add mushrooms, if you’re using fresh toss them until slightly soft then add your optional splash of wine; canned mushrooms are already soft so there’s no need to wait

8.  Add chicken and cook thoroughly then add cream

9.  Add cooked pasta into pan and toss until pasta is covered in sauce

10.  Garnish with slice scallions and chopped cilantro (optional)

Serves 6 to 8

I want to point out that it’s always a good idea to try your dish before you serve it and that it suits your taste buds.  Although I follow recipes, I don’t follow them to a tee.  Everyone’s palette is different.  The first time I made this dish, I didn’t add the mushrooms, wine, and cream.  Boy it sure made a difference, and the cream didn’t make it too heavy.  You can omit these ingredients and the dish would still turn out great.

I own a ton of cookbooks, but usually cook from memory or create new dishes on the fly.  I had to really pay attention to take a stab at putting this recipe together.  Please feel free to test it and give me feedback.

Tomato-Artichoke with Feta and Goat Chees Bagel Chips

1 Bag of Bagel Chips – Flavor is of your choice

1 jar (6 oz) marinated artichoke hearts, drained

2 cups chopped seeded plum (Roma) tomatoes (6 to 7 medium)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper

2 tablespoons crumbled Feta cheese

2 tablespoons Goat cheese crumbles

1. Chop seeded plum (Roma) tomatoes and put in a medium bowl.

2. Coarsely chop artichokes.  Add to bowl.

3. Coarsely chop fresh basil leaves.  Add to bowl.

4. Mix in Feta cheese and Goat cheese.  Lightly mix with remaining ingredients.

5. Serve tomato-artichoke with Feta and Goat cheese mix with bagel chips of your choice.

Extra Bonus Tip:

To seed a tomato you cut it in half horizontally, with stem side on top.  Squeeze it lightly so seeds ooze out.  Then you can chop it and dice it.  If you don’t want to add one or both cheeses, omit.  This dish tastes delicious even without the cheeses added.  I offered both when I served my hors d’oeuvres.  As for bagel chips, I used the ‘everything bagel’ and “plain bagel’ flavors.  You can also serve it with toasted bread slices.

All you need for that is:

Cooking Spray

1 loaf of French Baguette

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees F.

2. Line cookie sheet with foil.  Place bread slices on cookie sheetl

3. Lightly spray with cooking spray.

4. Bake 6 -9 minutes or until crisp.

5. Remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack.  Cool completely, about 20 minutes.

Bacon Deviled Eggs

12 eggs

1/2 cup mayonnaise (I used the low-fat stuff)

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon ground mustard

3 slices bacon, crisply cooked, crumbled (you can also use Bacon Bits or Hormel Read Bacon Pieces – to save time)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1. Place eggs in a 4-quart pot.  Add cold water until it reaches 1 inch above eggs.  Heat to boiling; remove from heat.  Cover and let stand 18 minutes.  Immediately cool eggs about 10 minutes in cold water to prevent further cooking.  (You can add ice cubes to the cold water.  I find that it helps ease of peeling the eggs.)

2. Tap egg to crack shell.  Roll egg between hands to loosen shell, then peel.

3. Cut eggs lenthwise in half.  Slip out yolk into medium bowl; reserve egg white halves.  You can rinse the egg white halves if there are some yolk residues.  This makes for better presentation later.  Just make sure the egg white halves are dry before filling them.

4. Mash yolks with fork.  Stir in mayonnaise, paprika, and ground mustard until well blended.  For smoother texture use a hand mixer.

5. Spoon heaping teaspoonfuls of yolk mixture into egg white halves.  Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving.  Sprinkle with bacon and parsley, just before serving.

Makes 24 appetizers.

EXTRA BONUS TIP:

To save time, you can prepare these stuffed eggs up to 24 hours ahead of time.  Cover and refrigerate until serving time.  Wait to add the bacon and parsley until just before serving.

For the instructional photo clip please refer to my ‘Twas The Night Before Thanksgiving post.