.cajun chicken pasta w/ roasted red pepper sauce.

I received an email the other day asking if I had a cajun chicken pasta recipe that I would be willing to share. Well, I didn't, but I am *always* looking for new dinner ideas and thought this would be a good one. I didn't want to do a basic cream sauce so I took it one step further and made a roasted red pepper cream sauce that was out of this world! A little kick and oh yah..

This recipe doesn't take that long to make. You just have to remember to make your rub and coat the chicken the night before so it has enough time to marinate. You can have this on your table in under an hour!


In a large ziploc, put 4 Tbsp paprika, 2 Tbsp salt, 2 Tbsp garlic powder, 1 Tbsp black pepper, 2 Tbsp onion powder, 1 1/2 Tbsp cayenne pepper, and 2 tsp thyme. Shake it up to mix everything together.

Put two chicken breasts in the bag and shake to coat. Seal well and hold in the fridge overnight.


Before grilling, scrape off some of the rub so it's not all caked on. Grill on high to sear each side, then lower the temp and cook through. Once cooked, pull from the grill and bring inside.


Once the chicken has rested for a few minutes, shred using two forks. I left the pieces in bite sized portions. I didn't want it *too* shredded. Set aside.


Mince one shallot.

Mince 3-4 cloves garlic.


Take a jar of roasted red peppers and drain completely. Roughly chop the peppers.


This is the pasta I used. You can use fettuccine or any kind you want.


Bring salt water to a boil and cook the whole box of pasta for 12-14 minutes. Once cooked, drain well.

While that cooks we're going to make the sauce.


Heat 2 Tbsp butter and 2 Tbsp olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.


Add the shallot, garlic, and peppers. Cook over medium heat and let them sweat for about 5 minutes. You don't want the heat too high. Sauteing (like I usually do) seals in the flavor. Sweating the garlic and shallots releases and mellows the flavor. That's what we want!


Season with a little salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper. Don't use too much pepper! You want a little heat, not too much.


After those 5 minutes, put everything into a blender. Put the lid on and start blending.


Make sure you're careful with this step! Slowly add a pint of cream through the top hole. Make sure you keep the cap on and drizzle that cream in because it will shoot up at you.


Pour the sauce back into the skillet and put over low heat to reheat a little.


Grate about 1/2 cup parmesan cheese.


Add the cooked pasta and parmesan to the sauce and toss everything together well.


Add the shredded chicken. Toss well.


Chop a little parsley and add to the pan. Toss well again.

Plate up and garnish with a little more grated parmesan and a sprig of parsley.

Thank you Celeste for the email and I hope your family enjoys this dish as much as we did. It's definitely going to be made again and again here! If you're low carbing like I'm doing, you can just leave out the pasta on your plate. The chicken and sauce are great by themselves.

Serve with salad.


Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_107dr5m2mcg

.grouper sandwich with cajun mayonnaise.

I'm back! YESSS! Jim was out of town this week and took my camera with him to get pictures of houses and well... silly me... completely forgot that all of my recent pictures were ON that camera card. Doh.

I've got some great recipes to share but I wanted to start with this one. A delicious, juicy grouper sandwich with a mild cajun mayonnaise. Very quick to make.


First let's make the mayonnaise.

In a bowl, mix together 1/2 cup mayonnaise, and dashes of garlic powder, onion powder, salt, cayenne pepper, thyme, paprika, and 2 red jalapeno peppers (seeded). Oh and a little black pepper.


These are the red peppers I used. I found them next to the pickles and pickled jalapenos. They're very squishy so all you have to do is squeeze out the seeds. If you want your mayo spicier, leave the seeds in. Just cut up the peppers with a knife and add to the bowl.


On a plate put 1/4 cup flour and 2 tsp cornstarch.

In a bowl, put 1 cup flour, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp onion powder, 1/2 tsp thyme, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp cayenne and a dash black pepper. Mix together well.


Slowly add some beer to the bowl and mix with a fork until you have a crepe like batter.


It should be thick enough to coat the fork.


Lightly coat fillets of grouper with the flour and cornstarch.


Dip in the beer batter. The batter will not want to stick because of the flour, but keep turning it until it's all coated.


I was in a hurry tonight so I heated the oil in a pot instead of my wok. Use whatever you need to use. Heat to 360 and carefully put the coated fish into the oil. Fry until nice and golden brown. This will take about 5 minutes. You want to make sure your oil isn't too hot otherwise it'll be nice and brown on the outside, but the fish will be RAW. Yuck. You don't want that!

Pull the grouper from the oil and drain on paper towels. If you want to use another kind of fish, go ahead. You can use cod, halibut, or any other white fish that holds up and won't break apart when cooked.

Slice up some tomato, red onion, and pull leaves of lettuce. I used red leaf lettuce for it's color.

Assemble the fish, veggies, and cajun mayonnaise on a toasted bun and serve with salad or fries.