.orecchiette w/ chicken, spinach, and lentils.

My husband has been working 12 hour night shifts the past week and a half.  He works this 6 days a week and has only one day off.  He'll be working these hours until mid April. Yikes.  As tough as it is for all of us, it's even tougher trying to work out a good mealtime for us all because when he needs to eat, it's still too early for us girls.  It's tough!

This explains why I haven't posted as many recipes, because I've been making my go to meals that I already have posted on the blog.  I did try a new recipe the other night and it's one of those perfect meals that you can make in about 30 minutes (give or take).

Orcchiette pasta is native to southeastern Italy that resembles the shape of an ear.  It's name actually translates to "little ear".  Too cute, huh?   I came across a similar recipe for this on a blog and took mental notes of what all went in it.  Their version was vegetarian so you can easily keep the chicken out of this dish if you want something lighter for a spring dish... or even a side dish for that matter!

Put 1/2 cup lentils in a small pot and fill it halfway up with water.  Bring the lentils to a boil, cover with a lid and reduce the heat to low.  Let these start cooking before you do anything else.  You want to make sure they're cooked all the way.

They should be tender and soft when you bite into it.  If they're still a little crunchy, keep cooking.  You may need to add more water to the pan if it evaporates too much.

Peel and slice 2 cloves garlic.  I didn't mince the garlic this time because I wanted larger pieces so they wouldn't get lost in the dish.

Take 1 to 1 1/2 cups fresh baby spinach and roll up as best you can.  Take your knife and thinly slice the spinach.  They call this slicing "chiffinade".

Slice one onion.  Cut the slices in half.

Slice one lemon in half and remove the seeds.  Juice and set aside.

Chop a small handful Italian parsley.

Cut up 1 or 2 chicken breast into bite sized pieces.

Take your package of orecchiette pasta and cook according to the directions on it.

Heat 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil in a pan.  Saute the garlic, spinach, and onion for a couple minutes.

Add the chicken and continue to cook over medium low heat until the meat is cooked through.

When the pasta and lentils are cooked, drain both and add to the pan along with some parmesan cheese and the chopped italian parsley.  Season with salt and pepper.

Serve with bread and salad.  A wonderful light meal that you can have on the table within an hour.  You can't beat that!

Printable version:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_146c6m53fc9

.chicken parmesan.

Do you ever have those nights when everything you had planned for dinner goes wrong and you wind up going out to eat? Well, I was having one of those nights. One of the major ingredients I was going to use for a dish went bad so it sent me scrambling. I had some leftover italian sausage links in the fridge, and I had french bread just aching to be garlic'd up and toasted. Love me some garlic toast!





The original dish called for chicken, so I thought I would make chicken parmesan, and do a whole italian dinner plate thing.





If you've never made your own marinara, you really should try. It can be made in half hour and is perfect as the topper for your chicken. Let me show you how.








Dice a little onion, chop some parsley, and mince some garlic.








Dice up some roma (or plum) tomato. Make sure you remove all the gooey seeds first.








You're going to need a can of tomato sauce and tomato paste.








Heat some olive oil in a skillet. Saute up the onion, garlic, and tomato for a minute.








Very blurry picture, but pour in a little white wine to keep the onion and garlic from burning.








Add the whole can of tomato sauce, and only half the can of tomato paste. If you buy the small small can of paste, you can put the whole thing in.








Add your parsley, salt, pepper, a dash of sugar, and some crushed fennel seed (just crush them in your hand as you put them in the pan).





Lower the heat to simmer and let it sit for 20-30 minutes.








Take your chicken breasts and put them on cornstarch dusted saran wrap. Put a little cornstarch on top of the chicken, then put another length of saran on top. Pound with a mallet or heavy skillet until the breasts are slightly flattened.








In one dish, put an egg and whisk with a fork. In another, put some herbed breadcrumbs. Now if you actually plan ahead of time, leave some bread out to dry overnight and use the cheese grater to crumb the bread (or use a food processor). Fresh crumbs are so much better than the boxed kind you get at the store.



Dredge each chicken breast in the egg.

Then put into the breadcrumbs to coat completely.

Voila. Coated chicken breasts.

Heat a little olive oil in a skillet and sear both sides of the chicken about 3-4 minutes on each side until golden brown.


Pull from the pan and put in a baking dish. Top with the marinara and some grated mozzarella cheese. Pop in a 350* for 20 minutes.



Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_101dcjphwdh

.chicken stuffed with italian sausage.

I was cruising the internet for copycat recipes for some of my favorite places. Carrabbas is one place we looveee to go.



Well, surprisingly enough, I came across a website for PBS. Did you know that one of the Carrabba brothers hosts a cooking show on there? YES! This was one of the free recipes they had available on the website. The official italian name for this dish is Involtini di Pollo. Absolutely delicious.



Dice half of an onion.



Mince 2 cloves garlic.




Thaw 1/2 cup spinach. Squeeze out as much of the water as possible. Set aside.



Remove the casing off two mild italian sausage links. Set aside.



Heat about 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil in a skillet. Saute the onion and garlic for a minute.



Sprinkle in a little fennel seed.



Add the italian sausage. Break apart while it cooks.



When there's no longer any pink in the sausage, add the spinach. Remove from heat and mix well. Make sure you break up the meat and spinach so they are well distributed.



Remove from the pan and put in a bowl. Cool a little.



Break in one egg.



Grate about 1/2 cup fresh parmegiano-reggiano.



Mix everything together well.



Take a long length of saran and put it on the counter. Sprinkle lightly with cornstarch.



Put down the chicken breasts. I used three and just spaced them out on the saran. Dust lightly with cornstarch and then put another length of saran on top.



Use a mallet or a heavy skillet to pound out the meat starting in the center and working your way out.



This is about as thin as you want it. Any thinner and you're going to rip it apart.



Put a couple tablespoons of filling down the middle of the chicken breast.



Roll up and seal with toothpicks.



At this stage, wrap each involtini with saran and hold in the fridge overnight. This firms everything up and keeps it from falling apart while cooking. You could easily freeze these too. Wrap in saran and then hold in freezer bags.



Heat 2 Tbsp butter and 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil in a skillet.



Sear all sides of the involtini.



Remove from the pan and put in an oven safe dish. Cover with foil and put in the oven at 250*. This is just to keep them warm while you make the sauce.



Cut one stick of butter up into 8 pieces.



Using the same skillet you cooked the chicken in, add 1/4 cup chicken stock.



Add 1/3 cup red wine. Cook this down while scraping the bottom of the pan to deglaze it. Season with some salt and pepper.


Keep over medium high heat until half the liquid has evaporated.



Add 2 pats of butter at a time, stirring frequently. You don't want this to come to a boil because it will break up the sauce.



Once the 2 pats are melted, add another two. Keep doing this until you've added all the butter and you have a smooth sauce.



Remove chicken from the oven and carefully pull out the toothpicks. Slice on the diagonal and plate. Spoon some sauce over the top.



I served this chicken with some lemon basil linguini. I don't have pictures of the pasta dish, but I will walk you through it.

Lemon Basil Linguini



1 handful linguini pasta, boiled in salt water and drained

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 tsp basil (fresh is best, but dried works just as well)
Sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper

1/2 lemon, juiced

1/2 cup fresh grated parmigiano-reggiano

1 Tbsp butter



In a skillet, heat the olive oil. Saute the garlic for a minute. Don't let it burn. Add the pasta and toss to coat. Sprinkle in the basil. Season with salt and pepper. Squeeze in the lemon juice. Remove from the heat and toss in the cheese and butter. Toss well. Serve immediately.

Printable version:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_77hjfg93hq