Baked Penne with Chicken, Broccoli, and Smoked Mozzarella

Even though spring is right around the corner, there's still a chill in the air that made me want something hearty and warm for dinner tonight.  Luckily, this one has been floating in my meal plan for a few weeks now, and I actually had the forethought to take out and start preparing the meal early.

At its core, this is a one pot meal.  All your cooking is done in one pot.  Nonetheless, it made a lot of dishes in MY kitchen, because that's how I roll.  I dirtied:  the pasta pot, the baking dish, a cutting board, a colander, a bowl for the cooked broccoli, the plate into which I shredded the cheese, and I'm sure others.

I thought at first that the expense of smoked mozzarella probably wouldn't be worth it, and actually wondered how it would taste with cheddar instead.  The smoke, however, adds a definite (and delicious) flavor to the meal and is totally worth it (though I do still want to check out the flavor of the cheddar in the meal, though I'd remove the sun dried tomatoes).  I enjoyed that I didn't have to think about a side dish.  I also like that, in addition to being hearty, this meal made a good amount.  In the future, I will make in two 8x8 pans, bake one and freeze the other.

As far as the fam, BAJ liked it, saying "This can go into the rotation!"  A seemingly enjoyed his first two or three bites, but then said, "I don't like it."  SIGH.  E dug right in, and ate as much as A should have.

Another hit from Mel's Kitchen Cafe!

*Serves 6-8
Topping:
3/4 cup bread crumbs (store-bought or make your own)
2 tablespoons butter, melted
Filling:
1 bunch broccoli (about 1 ½ pounds), stalks cut off, florets trimmed into 1-inch pieces
12 ounces penne pasta
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, minced omitted because mine went BAD!
6 medium garlic cloves, finely minced or pressed through a garlic press
1 teaspoon dried thyme
¼ cup all-purpose flour
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
1 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 3), trimmed and cut into bite-size pieces
3 ounces smoked mozzarella, shredded
8 ounce jar oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and chopped into pieces
In a small bowl, combine the bread crumbs and butter and set aside. Lightly grease a 9X13-inch baking dish and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and make sure the oven rack is placed in the middle of the oven. In a large pot, bring the water for the pasta to a boil. Stir in one tablespoon salt and the broccoli. The broccoli cooks quickly so stay close! Cook the broccoli for 1 minute, until it is bright green. Quickly remove the broccoli with a slotted spoon to a plate. Return the water to a boil and add the pasta and cook until al dente, about 1-2 minutes less than how you would eat it normally (it will cook a bit more in the oven while baking). Drain the pasta in a colander and toss with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Leave it in the colander and set it aside.
Wipe the pot dry. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and return to medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion and cook until softened and beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and thyme; cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add the flour, salt and pepper, and cook, stirring constantly, until golden, about 1 minute. Slowly whisk in the broth and cream; bring to a simmer, whisking often. Add the chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, until cooked through, about 6-7 minutes. Stir in the sun-dried tomatoes and smoked mozzarella.
Add the cooked pasta and broccoli to the sauce; stir to combine. Transfer the pasta mixture to the prepared baking dish and sprinkle with the bread crumb topping. Bake until the casserole is bubbling and the crumbs are lightly browned, about 15 minutes. Serve immediately.
*The casserole can be prepared in advance with the following steps: after the broccoli is removed from the boiling water, plunge it into a bowl of ice water and cool completely. Assemble the casserole following the directions in the recipe. After the casserole is spread in the prepared baking pan, let it cool for 5-10 minutes before covering with plastic wrap and refrigerating for up to 8 hours. To bake, preheat the oven to 375 and bake uncovered for 30 minutes.
Recipe Source: adapted from Cook’s Illustrated Cover and Bake

Grilled Chicken Fajita Fettucine

I found this recipe over on Mel's blog and decided it looked like something to try.

As I'm cooking it, there are a few changes I'd suggest:
1. Start the pasta sooner than the recipe suggests. My water was just boiling when everything else was finished. A good time might be about the time you put the chicken on the grill.
2. Don't slice the chicken before marinating. I wasn't even thinking about this, but it would have been so much easier to grill a whole breast and then slice afterward.

Grilled Chicken Fajita Fettuccine
Printable Version with Picture
Printable Version

*Serves 4-6

Marinade Ingredients:
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)
1 tablespoon vegetable or canola oil
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon apple cider or red wine vinegar I used apple cider
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon black pepper

Pasta Ingredients:
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into fajita-sized strips
1 tablespoon vegetable, canola or olive oil
1 large yellow onion, sliced into half moons
1 green pepper, sliced into thin strips I used a cubanelle pepper
1 red pepper, sliced into thin strips
8 ounces white button mushrooms, quartered
4-6 ounces crumbled feta cheese (Monterey Jack, Pepper Jack or cheddar could easily be subbed here)
1 pound fettuccine
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, plus more for serving
Sour cream for serving

In a small bowl, mix the marinade ingredients together. Place the chicken strips in a ziploc bag, pour the marinade over the chicken and seal the bag. Refrigerate and marinate for 4-8 hours.

Grill the chicken strips until they are tender and cooked through (alternately, you could saute the chicken in a hot skillet to cook or broil in the oven). Set aside and tent with foil to keep warm.

Start a large pot of water to boil. When boiling, add a tablespoon of salt and the fettuccine. Cook until the noodles are tender, according to package directions. Drain.

While the water is heating and the noodles are boiling, in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, heat the 1 tablespoon oil and add the onions. Cook, stirring often, until they begin to soften, about 3-4 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook until the mushrooms begin to give off their liquid and start to brown (by now, the onions should be nearly finished cooking). Add the bell peppers and saute until they are crisp tender. I like my bell peppers barely cooked so they retain their sweetness and crispness, but cook them however you like.

Return the noodles to the pot and toss with the chicken, vegetables, half of the cheese and cilantro. Serve the pasta with a dollop of sour cream, if desired, the remaining cheese and additional cilantro. For a prettier presentation (rather than serving from the pot), after combining all the ingredients in the pot, dump the pasta onto a large serving platter or bowl.

Classic Italian Lasagna

I remember that my grandfather LOVED my mom's lasagna. After his passing, I don't think she's made it again, preferring the much easier baked ziti.

Mamma's lasagna wasn't like this.

I discovered this recipe by checking out Emily's blog. It originally came from Mel's blog.

My husband actually did most of the cooking for this lasagna, bringing his lasagna total to 4. Definitely allot yourself a good two hours from start to finish. My original plan was to put this together last night then bake it today, but that just didn't happen. I started putting it together around 4 this afternoon. Then, I discovered my block of mozzarella had gone bad and was thrown out. Oops. So, I went to the store only to hit traffic on my way back. Add in a baby feeding, and things didn't get started until almost 5. Bedtime starts in these parts around 7. Oy.

But, we went forward and made this. It was worth it. I asked M, "Was it worth all the work?" and he replied that it was...definitely what I was expecting him to say. We both thought it was delicious. The Boy was being...stubborn? He could only be persuaded to eat by saying it was the only way he could go to the playground after dinner. Yep, we bribe our son. He said it was good, but really wouldn't eat it.

Anyway. Go make this. I suggest you do it sooner rather than later. But definitely make sure you give yourself the time!

Oh! Some changes to the recipe:

• Put some of the red sauce on the bottom of your pan. We found that the bottom layer of pasta didn't cook properly and stuck to the spatula as it came out of the pan. This resulted in some ugly food photography.
• Also leading to some ugly food photography was that things were a little too gooey. We waited the 15 minutes that were suggested, but I think it could have used another 5 minutes to cool properly. (It also helps to explain the kind of ugly picture of the lasagna).

Edited to add: This was quite tasty as leftovers too! YUM! Next up is, how did it freeze? :)

Classic Italian Lasagna
Printable Version
Printable Version with Picture

*Makes one 9X13-inch pan of lasagna (and requires the use of several pots and skillets…but don’t worry, you can wash those up in a snap while the lasagna is baking)

Red Sauce:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
4 cloves fresh garlic, finely minced (see garlic tutorial here)
1/2 large onion, diced (about 1/2 cup)
8 ounces mushrooms, chopped
2 (8-ounce) cans tomato sauce
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning (or a mix of dried oregano and basil)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

White Sauce:
3 cups milk (not skim, I used 1%)
5 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

9 lasagna noodles, boiled for half the time on the box (or use 12 of the no-boil noodles, of which I far prefer the Barilla brand)
1 pound ground turkey
1 pound mozzarella cheese, shredded
8 ounces Parmesan cheese, shredded

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9X13-inch baking pan with cooking spray or with a napkin dipped lightly in olive oil and set aside.

In a large skillet, brown the ground turkey over medium-high heat, breaking the meat apart into pieces with a wooden spoon. When turkey is cooked through, drain the grease and set aside.

In a medium-size saucepan over medium-high heat, add 2 tablespoons olive oil and one tablespoon butter. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. When oil/butter is hot, add the garlic, stirring constantly. When the garlic is lightly browned, but NOT burned, add the onion and mushrooms. Continue cooking on medium-high heat until the vegetables are soft and browned and the fluid has mostly cooked out. Remove from heat and either using a handheld immersion blender or transferring the vegetables to a blender, blend the vegetables to a paste-like mixture. Return the pot to the heat (pour the pureed vegetables back in, if using a stand-alone blender) and add the tomato sauce and tomato paste. Stir to combine. Then add the diced tomatoes, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Stir. Cover and let the sauce sauce simmer for 30 minutes over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. Right before using the red sauce in the lasagna, stir in the reserved ground turkey.

While the red sauce simmers, if using lasagna noodles that need to be boiled, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and boil the noodles for half the time suggested on the box. Once the noodles are cooked, drain, but do not rinse. Add a dab of olive oil to keep them from sticking together. If you are using no-boil noodles, you can skip this step.

Also while the red sauce is cooking, melt the four tablespoons butter and when melted, add the flour, stirring constantly to combine and letting the mixture cook, while stirring, for a minute or two. Gradually add in the milk, whisking constantly. Add the salt and pepper. Slowly whisk the white sauce, ensuring it doesn’t burn on the bottom of the pan, while cooking it over medium heat. Continue slowly stirring or whisking while the white sauce cooks and thickens quite a bit, about 5-7 minutes. Add a pinch of mozzarella for good luck, if you wish!

To begin layering the lasagna, keep in mind that you’ll have three layers of noodles as well as three layers of the sauces and cheese – so plan on splitting all the sauce and cheese piles into thirds so you don’t run out at the end! On the bottom of your lightly greased baking pan, layer three pre-boiled noodles or four no-boil noodles, slightly overlapping the no-boil noodles. Layer the red sauce, white sauce, Parmesan and mozzarella cheeses, spreading all to the edges and top with another layer of noodles. Again, layer the red sauce, white sauce, Parmesan and mozzarella cheeses and top with the final layer of noodles. Layer the sauces and cheeses again.

Cover the lasagna with a greased layer of aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and let the lasagna sit for 15 minutes before cutting and serving.