Chicken Parmesan

My husband loves chicken parm, as I've said many times before.  He asked for it this week, despite my having made the Pinterest chicken parm casserole.

It's been so hot here, I have NOT been in a cooking mood AT ALL and somehow have managed to stay away from the takeout menu folder.  So I went scouring for a Quick Chicken Parm recipe when I came across this from Simply Recipes.  I made it even faster by using jarred spaghetti sauce, though their marinara sounds great too.

I modified ever so slightly by using crushed panko for the breadcrumbs, and I think that added the perfect amount of crunch to the outside.  It wasn't super fast, but I was happy with the results and it *seemed* faster because I was trying something new maybe?

Chicken Parmesan by Simply Recipes

• 2 chicken breast, butterflied or pounded thin
• Salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup panko breadcrumbs, slightly crushed
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 Tbsp fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
• 8 ounces mozzarella cheese, sliced
• 2-4 cups prepared spaghetti sauce (I used a tomato basil version with great success)

Method

1.  Preheat oven to 400°F.  If serving with pasta, cook pasta according to package directions.
2.  In a pie plate, set up your dredging station--mix panko and 1/2c Parmesan cheese in one shallow dish, and slightly beat the eggs in another one.  Dredge by dipping each chicken piece first in the eggs then in the breadcrumb mixture, pressing to adhere.
3.  Heat olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat until shimmering.  Add chicken until golden, about 4 minutes a side (don't crowd them; better to do them in two batches).
4.  Coat a baking dish with a layer of spaghetti sauce, then nestle the chicken pieces in the sauce.  Top each breast piece with sauce, then basil, then some cheese.  Bake 10-12 minutes, or until the cheese starts to brown.
5.  Serve with bread, pasta, and some delicious veggies!

Ooey Gooey Chicken Pasta

Looking for recipes to fill my menu for the week, I stopped by Lauren's blog and saw her post for this recipe.  Once I stopped looking at her adorable then toddler son gobbling it up, I decided to go for it this week. 

I wanted to make it on Tuesday night.  But I hadn't cooked the chicken in advance.  Wednesday, I had the chicken all cooked, but got home way too late for the cooking time to have dinner ready in time to get the boys to bed before any meltdowns.  So, it was finally ready tonight (which also gave me time last night to get the chicken shredded).  A comedy of errors of sorts.

This is really just a simplified baked ziti, with the addition of chicken and with no eggs.  It was really tasty, though, like Lauren, I didn't have enough sauce and so it was sort of on the dry side.  I also ended up with some crunchy pasta, and wonder if covering it with foil would have resolved that issue.

So, this is a great starting point recipe that allows you to just go wild and suit your own tastes.  Got Thanksgiving leftovers?  Turkey would probably work great here instead of chicken.  I had leftover mushrooms in the fridge, and considered adding them to this; would have been great! 

One change I'd make, though, is to saute the onions and garlic in some oil first to soften them up (or if I'd added those mushrooms or peppers or anything else a little on the hard side). 

The recipe originally comes from My Sweet Life.

Baked Chicken Pasta

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 large jar of spaghetti sauce

1 lb box of pasta

3/4 cup of ff ricotta cheese

1-2 cups of shredded cheese (I used mozzarella)

Bake chicken (covered) on 350 for one hour.  Let chicken cool and then pull apart with fingers. I usually cook the chicken the night before, shred it and throw in the fridge. Cook pasta as directed. In a sauce pan, add shredded chicken and spaghetti sauce (I put enough to cover the chicken plus some) and whatever spices you like (I used garlic, onion, Italian seasoning, and crushed red pepper). Simmer on low-med until warmed through. Drain and pour pasta into your baking dish. Add ricotta cheese and mix into hot noodles. Pour spaghetti sauce mixture over pasta and mix in. Top with shredded cheese. Bake on 350 for 20-25 minutes. Enjoy!

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.

Turkey and Artichoke Stuffed Shells with Arrabbiata Sauce

I found this in my Google Reader from Made with Love.... You can see her post here. You can also find the recipe on foodtv.com.

I made my sauce a little differently than the recipe suggests. I sort of blended the sauce recipe given with the shells and Giada's Arrabbiata sauce from Everyday Italian. In addition, the sauce in the book only makes 1 quart, which I figured wouldn't be enough. So, I made the sauce in the book (minus black olives). I'm pretty sure I added an extra can of crushed tomatoes as well, to make a bit more sauce. So while I had that going, I then proceeded with this recipe's instructions of browning pancetta in olive oil, adding more garlic, etc. Does that make any sense? This of course made a lot more than the 5 cups I needed, so I just put it in the freezer for another time.

I made two trays of shells. I made a 9x9 pan for that night and a 9x13 pan for the freezer. The pan we had that night came out great, with one exception. The recipe suggests that we drizzle the sauce over the shells, but this resulted in the pasta not covered not really cooking all the way. It wasn't bad, but the softer parts were way better.

This is definitely a keeper!! No pictures just yet... maybe when I make the freezer pan, I'll take some! I enjoyed it, as did BAJ. It also makes great leftovers, which I just had for lunch. Wahoo for stocking the freezer!! Wahoo for my first stuffed shells!

Ingredients

• 1 (12-ounce) box jumbo pasta shells (recommended: Barilla) I used store brand
  
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 large yellow onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus 1/2 teaspoon I used regular iodized
  
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus 1/4 teaspoon
• 1 (8 to 10-ounce) package frozen artichokes, thawed and coarsely chopped I used a can, which I drainied first
  
• 1 (15-ounce) container ricotta cheese
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves I used a combo of sweet basil and purple basil
  
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 5 cups Arrabbiata Sauce, recipe follows
• 1 1/2 cups grated mozzarella (about 5 ounces)
  

Directions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and partially cook until tender but still very firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 4 to 5 minutes. Drain pasta.

Meanwhile, in a large heavy skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and the garlic and cook until the onions are soft and starting to brown, about 3 minutes. Add the ground turkey, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the meat is slightly golden and cooked through. Add the artichoke hearts and stir to combine. Remove from heat and let cool.

In a large bowl combine the cooled turkey mixture with the ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, eggs, basil, parsley, and the remaining salt and pepper. Stir to combine.

To stuff the shells, cover the bottom of a 9 by 13 by 2-inch baking dish with 1 cup of Arrabbiata sauce. Take a shell in the palm of your hand and stuff it with a large spoonful of turkey mixture, about 2 tablespoons. Place the stuffed shell in the baking dish. Continue filling the shells until the baking dish is full, about 24 shells. Drizzle the remaining Arrabbiata Sauce over the shells, top with the grated mozzarella. If freezing, cover tightly with plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 1 day and up to 1 month.

To bake, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Bake until the shells are warmed through and the cheese is beginning to brown, about 60 minutes (20 minutes if shells are unfrozen.)

Arrabbiata Sauce:

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

6 ounces sliced pancetta, coarsely chopped

2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes

2 garlic cloves, minced

5 cups jarred or fresh marinara sauce

Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the pancetta and saute until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and saute until tender, about 1 minute. Add the marinara sauce and red pepper flakes and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and let cool until ready to use.

Yield: approximately 6 cups

Chicken Parm sandwich

This came from my ATK cookbook. Since ATK has caused other bloggers some issues, I won't copy it from their recipe, but tell you what I did.

First, I took 2 chicken breasts, and pounded them thin. I dredged in flour, then a beaten egg, then some Italian breadcrumbs. I heated some olive oil in a frying pan, added some garlic, then cooked the chicken for about 4 minutes on each side until brown. I then drained on a paper towel.

Next, I put the chicken in a baking dish, covered it with tomato sauce, Parmesan, and mozzarella. I baked it for a few minutes until the cheese was melty.

I then put it on a toasted roll.

It was good. Very good. So good that my husband, who gets frequent chicken parm cravings, said "You can make this any time." I guess he liked it. I think the rolls I got were particularly good, which makes a difference.

Baked Mozzarella Sticks

M has been craving Mozzarella Sticks for a few days now. Since the budget is tight, we decided to go ahead and make them. Since our waistbands are also tight, we went with a recipe that bakes rather than fries. I found this recipe on Kitchen Scrapbook (link!)

Baked Mozzarella Sticks

2 packages (5 oz each) string cheese
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 large egg whites
2 Tbsp. water
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs (I used Italian bread crumbs)
1 tsp. dried oregano (omitted)
1/2 tsp. salt (omitted)
2 Tbsp. melted butter (I used spray olive oil)

Marinara sauce

Remove cheese from packages; cut each cheese stick in half crosswise.

Combine flour and cornstarch in a shallow dish. Beat egg whites and water in another shallow dish until well mixed. Combine bread crumbs, oregano, and salt in a third shallow dish. Coat cheese with flour mixture. Dip into egg white mixture, being sure to coat thoroughly, including ends. Coat with bread crumb mixture.

Dip into egg whites and bread crumbs a second time, being sure ends are coated. Place on ungreased baking sheet.

Freeze at least 1 hour. Preheat oven to 400. Drizzle cheesesticks with melted butter. Bake until crumbs just begin to brown, 5-7 minutes.

Perhaps using the spray stuff meant we missed on something. These weren't bad, per se, but they weren't the yummy goodness we know and love as mozzarella sticks. The coating was a little bit on the dry side too... maybe because it was, um, dry.
It was a nice recipe, and something on which I hope to improve. The idea of making these up and then keeping them in the freezer for whenever is not only cheaper than buying them from the store, but also easier because I'm not so great at remembering what's in the freezer.

Pictures coming soon, although Kitchen Scrapbooks are WAY prettier than mine!

Scallops Fra Diavolo with Linguine

Italian Classics by Cooks Illustrated

1 pound scallops
1t hot red pepper flakes, divided
6T extra virgin olive oil, divided
1-1/2t salt, divided
1/4c cognac or brandy
4T minced or pressed garlic, divided
1/2t sugar
1-28oz can diced tomatoes, drained
1c medium-dry white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc
1/4c minced fresh parsley leaves
1 pound linguine or spaghetti

1. Bring 4 quarts water to a rolling boil in a large pot.
2. While the water is heating, heat a heavy-bottomed 12 inch skillet over high heat until the pan is very hot. Meanwhile, toss the scallops, 1/2t pepper flakes, 2T oil, and 3/4T salt in a medium bowl. Add the scallops to the skillet and quickly spread in a single layer. Cook without stirring until almost done. Off the heat, stir to turn the scallops, then add the cognac. Let stand off the heat until the cognac warms slightly, about 5 sec, and return the pan to high heat. Wave a lit match over the skillet until the cognac ignites. Shake the skillet until the flames subside, then transfer the scallops to a medium bowl and set aside.
3. Off the heat, cool the now empty skillet for 2 minutes. Return the skillet to a burner and reduce the heat to low. Add 3T oil and 3T garlic. Cook, stirring constantly, until the garlic foams and is sticky and straw colored, 7-10 min. Add the remaining 1/2t pepper flakes, 3/4t salt, sugar, tomatoes, and wine. increase the heat to medium-high and simmer until thickened and fragrant, about 8 min.
4. Stir in the reserved scallops and accumulated juices, remaining 1T garlic, and parsley and simmer until the scallops are heated through, about 1 min. Off the heat, stir in the remaining 1T oil.
5. While the sauce simmers, add the linguine and remaining 1T salt to the boiling water. Stir to separate the pasta until al dente. Reserve 1/3c cooking water and drain the pasta. Return the drained pasta to the now empty pot, add about 1/2c sauce (without the scallops) and 2-3 T reserved pasta water, and toss to coat. Divide the pasta among warmed individual bowls, top with a portion of the sauce and scallops, and serve immediately.

So I thought I had brandy. I didn't. This means that one of the main ingredients from this dish was missing (plus, I didn't get to FLAMBE!)

I also thought the seafood guy at the grocery store gave me the pound of scallops I requested. Alas, half a pound I got so I halved the recipe. No biggie there; it still made plenty for the two of us.

Finally, the recipe is originally for shrimp but includes a modification for scallops. Scallops were on sale, so that's what I made. Unfortunately, though they provide specific details for how long to cook the shrimp, no indication is made for how long to cook the scallops. So it turned out that my scallops were not quite done.

Anyway, this was super garlicky, which I love. Otherwise, it was pretty straightforward and simple.

I probably won't be making this one again, but it was good anyway.