noms noms noms!

I know I was a bit of a bragger last night on the social media….I whipped up a dinner that was pretty freakin’ amazing, if I do say so myself….and these days? That doesn’t happen too often.

Just ask my husband.

Poor thing.

Anyway, while we were out gallivanting at the petting zoo last Sunday, I found the most gorgeous tomato at the farm stand, and $3.99/lb be damned, I snatched that baby right up. By no small miracle, I had an avocado that was perfectly ripe and I brainstormed up this little number…some days I have it all together, and most days I SO do not…..

I didn’t know what I was going to do with the shrimp, but I knew I wanted it so I rooted around in my cupboard and found a packet of my new favorite, sodium filled lifesaver, the McCormick’s Marinades.

You know, I can’t make everything from scratch. I have such a complex about that….

Here’s what happened next….

And if you make this? Consider yourself warned: you will pretty much want this to be the only thing you will ever eat again forever and you’ll want it every day all day cuz DAMN.

Citrus Grilled Shrimp & Avocado Tomato Salad
with Roasted Garlic, Lemon & Honey Dressing.

For the Shrimp:

1 lb. raw, jumbo shrimp, peeled & deveined

1 packet of McCormick’s Baja Citrus Marinade

1 TBS honey

¼ cup vegetable oil

2 TBS vinegar

2 TBS water

Heat grill to medium high.

Prepare marinade in a gallon size ziplock bag according to directions on the packet, adding 1 TBS of honey. Add shrimp and marinate in the fridge for 15-30 minutes.

Skewer shrimp and grill 2 minutes per side or until firm, opaque and charred. Careful not to overcook!!

For the Salad:

1 large, perfectly rip avocado (yum!), sliced

1 large, gorgeous beefsteak tomato, sliced

¼ of a small red onion, thinly sliced into half circles

10-15 pitted kalamata olives, chopped

Crumbled feta

Assemble the tomato and avocado slices all pretty on a platter. Sprinkle with onion slivers, olives and feta.

For the Dressing:

Juice of 1 juice lemon

2-4 roasted garlic cloves

(I got mine in the olive bar section of the grocery store. If you want to roast your own, go for it, but I think you’re crazy)

2 TBS honey

3-4 TBS olive oil

¼ tsp kosher salt

Add everything except the oil to a food processor or blender and process to a smooth consistency. Add the oil and process for a few seconds to incorporate.

Drizzle the dressing over the salad, lay the shrimp skewers artistically on the side of the plate, take a picture and promptly upload to every social media outlet, brag about how fabulous you are, take a bow and kiss yourself.

MWAH!

weekend shenannigans...

Here is what we were up to this weekend…

Friday night I met up with the boys after work at Dave & Busters and spent some time fine tuning Benny’s skee-ball game. Kid’s really got it down, yo…

 

We followed that up with some filthy dinner and cheap wine and a cleansing conversation that needed to be had….

Deep breaths…

Saturday I was up with the birds to make a crumb cake for my buddy’s 15^th birthday because crumb cake is what he loves and I aim to please. It turned out awesome, but of course, I am a drip and didn’t take a picture….birthday festivities ensued and good times were had by all. CAKE!

Sunday was a day of rest & recovery, pancake making from scratch, a therapy session-slash-lunch date with my good friend Noreen and grocery shopping with my baby at Whole Foods.

I found this PERFECT pancake recipe and have never gone back to using mix ever since. Sometimes I add blueberries…if I’m feeling naughty, I throw in some chocolate chips, but if you never trust another word I say, trust that these are THE best pancakes you will ever eat. Make them. Sunday. You’re welcome. (I’m serious.)

 

Buttermilk Pancakes

3 cups all-purpose flour 3 tablespoons white sugar 3 teaspoons baking powder 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 3/4 teaspoon salt 3 cups buttermilk 1/2 cup milk 3 eggs 1/3 cup butter, melted In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, beat together buttermilk, milk, eggs and melted butter. Keep the two mixtures separate until you are ready to cook. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture, using a wooden spoon or fork to blend. Stir until it's just blended together. Scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot with lots of better and syrup. Yum!

3.14

On Sunday, we had the whole mishpucka over for a big batch of Chicken Pot Pies from scratch. I’ve been promising my favorite sister in law these pot pies for years now and I finally delivered on my promise. Let it never be said I am not a procrastinator. Also let it never be said that these little beauties weren’t worth the wait.

I found this recipe on one of my favorite food blogs, Ezra Pound Cake, but it is actually a recipe from Rebecca Rather, The Pastry Queen. This is her “All Sold Out Chocken Pot Pie” which I have, naturally, modified to my liking. Feel free to play around with the filling, adding veggies you enjoy in your pot pies and omitting ones you don’t. The original recipe calls for green beans…personally, I don’t particularly dig green beans in my pie, so out they went. You get the drift….

Here is the recipe as I made is, but feel free to google this shizz if you’re interested in the original version. You’re welcome.

Chicken Pot Pie

Adapted from The Pastry Queen

For the Filling

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 medium-size yellow onion, chopped

2 stalks celery, diced

2 carrots, peeled and diced

10 oz. sliced button mushrooms

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Salt and freshly ground black or white pepper

1 whole rotisserie chicken, shredded

8-10 oz package frozen peas

8-10 oz package frozen corn

For the Cream Sauce

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1 cup all purpose flour

2 1/2 cups chicken stock

1/2 cup whole milk or fat free half & half or a combination of the two. Or heavy cream if you’re feeling really naughty.

1 tsp Tobasco

Salt and white pepper

For the Pie Crust

1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces

3 cups all purpose flour

8 oz chilled cream cheese, cut into large pieces

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground black or white pepper

2-3 TBS ice water

1 large egg

Instructions

To make the filling:

Melt the butter in a large saute pan set over medium heat. Add the onions, celery and  carrots & saute for 5 minutes. Add the bell pepper and saute about 15 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Add the garlic and cook 1-2 minutes more, until fragrant. Stir in the crushed red pepper, and add salt and pepper to taste.

Stir the frozen vegetables and the chicken into the vegetable mixture. Set the filling aside.

To make the cream sauce:

Melt the butter over medium heat in a large saucepan. Add the flour and whisk until smooth. Whisk in the chicken stock and cook the sauce over medium heat until it thickens to the consistency of a cream soup (about 3 minutes). Add the milk, tabasco, salt and white pepper to taste. Pour the cream sauce over the chicken filling and stir to combine. Transfer the filling to individual oven safe dishes.

To make the crust:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade, pulse the butter and flour until crumbly. Add the cream cheese, salt, and pepper. Add the ice water, 1 TBS at a time and continue pulsing until the dough just barely sticks together and forms a ball. You don’t want it very wet at all.

Set the dough on a flat surface dusted with flour. Use a floured rolling pin to roll the dough out to 1/4-inch thickness. Measure the diameter of the baking dishes and cut dough into pieces that are slightly larger. Lay the dough on top of the pot pies, and tuck any overhanging edges under. Whisk the egg in a small bowl and brush the dough lightly with the beaten egg. Bake the pies for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown. Serve immediately.

Yields: 8-12 servings

p.s. Do not be intimidated by the crust. Crusts intimidate the hell out of me, but the cream cheese in this makes it the simplest thing in the world to work with and pull together. Trust.

it's chili season...

much to my dismay.....I fought the end of summer, kicking and screaming like never before. I wasn't ready for it to go. I didn't get enough.

Not enough relaxing or sunning or floating or playing. I didn’t eat enough popsicles….wait, did I eat any? I mean, tragic. And now {what in the actual EFF ??} here we are almost in October….. %^&$#@*

Does anybody have a paper bag I can breathe into for a second?

I’m in full panic mode over here…

I have to admit there is a lot to love about fall….crisp mornings and snuggly sweaters, Halloween and pretty leaves, Thanksgiving and apple pie and pecan pie and football….well, football food at least. It alllll comes back to the food…..like this chili! This chili is my favorite white chicken chili everrrr and I’ve been promising to post this recipe since probably last fall when I was whining about not being ready to face the cold. Again. Why do you put up with me?

Well, quit yer beggin’ cuz here it is…..

There aren’t a lot of recipes I bother to make more than a handful of times but this one is a staple. I’ll be making it forever and that’s good news cuz it’s super good for you and also super, super easy…that is if you don’t have a wild toddler climbing your leg and grabbing for the burner while squawking unintelligible nonsense.

Thank god for wine.

I finally wised up and made a double batch, and it’s the perfect amount…here’s how you can make it too!

White Chicken Chili

Adapted from Cooking Light

1 TBS vegetable or canola oil

1 large onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced (I used more than this)

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

5 tsp of green Tabasco (um. I used almost an entire small bottle. Just go ahead and eyeball this to your taste, but I suggest using wayyyy more than 5 tsp)

1 tsp kosher salt

2 cups of chicken stock

I TBS stone ground corn meal

1 15oz can of cannellini beans, rinsed & drained

For garnish

Chopped green onions

0% plain greek yogurt or light sour cream

Lime wedges

Cubed avocado

Directions

Heat vegetable oil in a dutch oven or heavy bottomed stock pot, then add your onions & garlic and cook for about 5 minutes until fragrant & translucent. Add the chicken stock, salt, Tabasco & chicken breasts to the pot, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low simmer, cover & cook for 15 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pot and set aside to cool. Meanwhile, whisk the cornmeal into the pot (whisk it so it doesn’t clump) and then add the beans. Simmer for 15 minutes. Mash about ½ cup of the beans against the side of the pot using a wooden spoon. Chop the chicken into bite sized pieces and add it back to the pot & let it simmer for 5-10 minutes until the chili thickens. To serve, top with sour cream or yogurt, green onions & avocado. Yummy.

To “double” this, I just used a huge onion, about 7 garlic cloves, a lot of Tabasco, extra chicken, a whole box of stock, 2 tsp of salt, 2 TBS of cornmeal and a giant can of beans. You really can’t screw this up. it is AWESOME.

Enjoy!!!

   

because i keeps my promises...

Here is the recipe for the strawberry pie we talked about last week…lots and lots of you seemed to want to get your grubby little paws on this recipe and so, ask and ye shall receive is what I always say…

Actually, I don’t ever say that…

And truth be told, I’m pretty lazy, so most times, if you ask, I’ll tell you to go get it yourself and bring me one too while you’re up….

But all that aside, kids, this recipe is the bomb.com! I wish I could take credit for inventing it, but in fact it is straight out of an old issue of gourmet magazine…and thank god I saw it and was all “ZOMG!%#^&^ GET IN MY FACE” or else we never would have known….never know of the magic that this pie could conjure…seriously. You think I am exaggerating again, but I speak nothing but truths.

So here’s the scoop…this pie takes more time to make than it seems like it will but most of the time is inactive time…you’ve got to do a minor amount of babysitting and “stirring occasionally” but other than that, it’s a cinch and believe you me, you are going to have stalkers lined up for the rest of your summers begging for this thing, so be prepared, ok?

Ready? GO!

FRESH STRAWBERRY PIE WITH WHIPPED CREAM
FOR CRUST
• 1 (5-oz) package shortbread cookies (I use a little less than half a package of the keebler sandies, and that’s more than 5oz, but I like a little extra crust)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

FOR FILLING
• 2 lb (1 1/2-inch) strawberries, hulled (see cooks’ note, below)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 envelope unflavored gelatin (2 1/4 tsp)

ACCOMPANIMENT
lightly sweetened whipped cream

MAKE CRUST
• Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle.
• Pulse cookies in a food processor to fine crumbs, then pulse in sugar and butter until combined. Press crumb mixture evenly onto bottom and up side of a 9-inch pie plate. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool.

PREPARE FILLING AND ASSEMBLE PIE:
• Select 20 large strawberries as close to same size as possible and set aside. Cut remaining berries into 1/4-inch dice and toss with sugar and lemon juice. Let stand, stirring occasionally, 30 minutes. Drain berries in a sieve set into a large glass measuring cup. Add enough water to measure 2 cups. Transfer liquid to a medium saucepan and reserve berries.
• Sprinkle gelatin over strawberry liquid and let soften 1 minute. Bring to a bare simmer, stirring until gelatin has dissolved. Add diced berries, then transfer to a metal bowl set into an ice bath and stir frequently until mixture begins to mound, 20 to 30 minutes. (this is a lie. It always takes mine at least an hour to start to mound.)
• Spoon 1/2 cup filling into piecrust and arrange reserved whole berries, stem ends down, on filling. Spoon remaining filling over and between berries. Chill pie until filling is set, at least 4 hours.

my mama's sauce

so let's talk about childhood memories for a second. childhood memories and the most wonderful mama the world has ever known. my dad was always the chef of the family, and what a chef he is! i have him to thank for my adventurous palate and love of all things edible (thank him or curse him, some days i'm not sure which). i never ate the things normal kids ate like macaroni and cheese or chicken nuggets. i mean, i am sure i DID eat those things, but my real food memories are of the sweet and sour pork my dad used to whip up for us in our tiny apartment kitchen with the mustard yellow burlap walls and wood panneling. he had a mini deep fryer before it was cool and a wok and he would whip up this incredible, authentic, dinner comepletely from scratch that i can still taste if i close my eyes and dream about it.

no doubt about it, my dad was, and still is, an outstanding cook. he knows it, i know it, everyone knows it, and the fact that he lives 3000 miles away and i can't have his roast beef and yorkshire puddings or his apple pie every day is bullshit.

so my dad has a real talent in the kitchen, that much we've established, but my mama?? she had a few tricks up her sleeve herself, and this sauce, above any other food memories i have from when i was little, evokes so much sense memory for me that sometimes when i make it (usually after i have consumed the rest of the bottle of wine for which the recipe calls) i find myself standing at the stove with tears in my eyes. god i miss her. i miss her every minute of my every day. the first time i whipped out the yellowed notbook page where she had written this recipe, complete with her signature curly haired happy face at the end, i silently begged her to help me make it right, so afraid that it wouldn't come out the same and that i would never, ever have this sauce again.

well, my mama, as usual, came through. she watched over my shoulder every step of the way and held my hand when i poured in the wine knowing that i wouldn't know how much she meant when she wrote "LOTS OF RED WINE" unless she showed me. and by the way, when she said "lots", she wasn't messing around.

when i make it now, i don't need to beg for her help anymore, but i can always, always feel her there with me, and i know in my heart that she is sitting right there in my kitchen at the table, watching me make her sauce, having a glass of wine herself and feeling the love.

i've made this sauce for so many people i love and i have shared the recipe with the people i love who live too far away for me to make it for them and there isn't a single person who hasn't told me this wasn't the BEST sauce they have ever had. try it and let me know what you think...and if you're afraid you might not make it just right, don't worry, my mama will help you if you just ask.

My Mama's Sauce
***first things first, open the wine and pour yourself a big, fat glass of it, take a swig and carry on***

• 4-5 strips of bacon, chopped
• 4 links of spicy or sweet italian sausage (i use a combo of both), removed from their casings
• 1 lb. ground beef (lean is fine)
• 1 lb. ground pork (sometimes i just buy the meatloaf mix and dump it all in)
• 1 large onion, chopped
• about 3 large carrots, grated
• 4-5 big cloves of garlic, chopped or minced
• 1 packet of onion soup mix (i use lipton)
• 1 can of white clam sauce (trust me)
• 1 28 oz can of whole, peeled tomatoes (crush the tomatoes with your hands)
• 1 medium can of tomato puree
• 2 small cans of tomato paste
• 1 TBS dried oregano
• 1TBS dreid basil (or you can use fresh, but i always use dried for this)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 TBS sugar
• "LOTS OF RED WINE" (buy a liter. you know, the one that is the size of 2 bottles? i like barefoot cabernet)
• lots of sliced mushrooms (**see note)

brown up your bacon in a really big stock pot (i tried to use my dutch oven and ran out of room. don't be like me).
once the bacon is cooked, remove it from tthe pot and set it on paper towels. do not remove the bacon drippings from the pot.
next, brown up the rest of your meats, one type at a time, draining the fat after each type of meat and transferring to paper towels. i usually just put a bunch of paper towels in the bottom of a huge bowl and dump the meats in there on top of each other once i brown them.

once you are finished browning the meats, remove all but about 1 TBS of the drippings and add the onions and carrots to the pot to cook and soften for about 3 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for another minute or two.

right now, your house smells AMAZING.

add the meat back to the pot followed by your whole tomatoes (crushed), puree and paste and give it a good stir. then, add the packet of onion soup mix and the can of white clam sauce. next, add your spices and your sugar, turn the heat down and let the sauce simmer for about a half an hour.

now here is the fun part, after the half hour is up, take that liter of cabernet you've been sipping from (because honestly, you cannot make this sauce without drinking red wine. it's actually impossible.) and pour a whole bunch of it into your sauce. there is no exact amount other than "lots" but i have found that approximately a 750ml bottle's worth usually works best. 750ml is the size of a regular bottle of wine, btw, which i am sure you already knew, so pretty much, pour a bottle of wine in there, or half of the big one i told you to buy in the first place cuz face it, you already drank half of it anyway, and if you didn't? why are we friends?).

now stir it all up, pop the lid on and continue to let it simmer for at least an hour or two or three.....about a half hour before you are ready to eat, turn off the heat and lay at least a carton (i use two cuz i love em) of sliced mushrooms on top of the sauce, then put the lid back on. the mushrooms cook just enough from the heat of the sauce and ** no, you cannot be all "ew! i don't like mushrooms! can i leave them out??? gross!" because....well...because my mama said so. and if you DO leave the mushrooms out, i do not want to hear about it. in fact, if you don't like mushrooms, make something else. i am sad that you will miss out on this, but they really are very important. and amazing.

whenever you're ready, cook up your noodles (spaghetti, linguini and fettucini work best), top them with a TON of sauce and some grated parm if you're feeling crazy and then, go forth and make your own family memories.

p.s. it freezes awesome too! is there nothing this sauce can't do? yum!

lobster rolls....finally

it is a true story that i have been wanting to try my hand at homemade lobster rolls for well over 3 years now...that is just plain ridiculous. life is too short for that hogwash....

so last weekend we finally just threw all caution to the wind and went and bought 3 whole lobsters and went to town....

well...there's a problem....now i never want to eat anything else ever again for the rest of my life.

yeah folks, they were THAT good.....it was seriously criminal.

if you're going to do something you've been wanting to do for as long as i've been wanting to make these little lobbie rolls, then you might as well do it RIGHT, so i perused a ton of recipes and in the end i decided to take the best of what i found and kind of...make up my own thing! the one thing i knew i wasn't going to compromise on was the mayonaise. if you've never made home made mayonaise from scratch...and i know, most of you haven't cuz most of you aren't NUTS...you absolutely HAVE to do it. if you never trust another word i ever say, trust this...go forth, my people, and make mayo. the first time i did it, i was so excited i busted out into the cabbage patch in the middle of the kitchen. now the hubs calls that the "mayonaise dance" and he won't let me make mayonaise without it. *sigh*

the buns are key. i searched high and low for real, new england style, top split buns and they were NOT easy to find. as if all the angels and faries in the forest were shining down on me, i happened upon them in the regular grocery store....it was a christmas miracle....now you could certainly use a regular hot dog bun....a potato bun or even a ciabatta roll, but that is not what we are here today to talk about.

no ma'am....i'm sorry, but you're just going to have to track down the new england rolls. please trust me, again. it's worth it. i have eaten a glutoneous number of lobster rolls in my lifetime and nothing compares to biting into a bun that is crunchy and buttery on the outside like the toast of a perfect grilled cheese and then there's the soft bread underneath filled with lobster salad so amazing it will make you slap yo' momma.....

please don't actually slap yo' momma though.  that would be pretty rude.

so here's what you do....first, you find someplace that sells live maine lobsters. please do not try and go to costco and get warm water lobster tails. it's not the same and i will know you cheated. and so will you. you're just going to have to trust me again.

we had the fishmonger (fishmonger. it always kills me when they say that on the food network so i had to throw it in there) steam them for us cuz i am just too busy for that nonsense. we got three of these guys around 1 1/4 lb each. when you get them that little, the meat is so much sweeter and the shells are so soft you don't even need crackers....so the first step is getting all of the claw, knuckle and tail meat out of them and chopping it or ripping it up into bite size chunks. now on to the recipe....

Lobster Rolls

• meat from three 1 1/4lb lobsters
• 1/3 cup of homemade mayonaise* (or use hellman's or best foods if you must, but don't tell me about it)
• 4 TBS melted unsalted butter
• juice of half to one whole lemon (a couple of TBS or so)
• 1 stalk of celery from the inside of the heart, including leaves
• a few TBS chopped parley
• chives
• sea salt (coarse flakes. i used maldon, but just don't use morton's table salt, ok? thanks.)
• celery salt

for buns:

• 2 TBS unsalted butter
• 1 clove of garlic, smashed
• 4 new england style buns

now here is what you do....after you shell the lobster and rip it up,  put it back in the fridge to chill for a bit. nobody likes a stressed out lobster. meanwhile, in a pan, melt 2 TBS butter on low to medium heat with a smashed garlic clove. let that get all good and fragrant and then fish out the clove and dip each side of your buns in the butter. make sure you get butter all the way to the edges. no need to soak them either, you just want them barely dipped, but all the way covered to the edge.

god i am anal. why do you hang out with me?

anyway, then you proceed to toast the buns till they are golden and toasty and just slightly crunchy looking and perfect. seriously, i could probably just eat 4 of these crunchy buttery buns all by themselves with nothing in them....but i have issues with carbs, which is another reason i am still wearing maternity pants.....

onwards and upwards!

so, now you have your buns all toasted and set off to the side on the plates ready to be stuffed....aren't they cute?

now take a bowl and whisk the 1/3 cup of mayo, the lemon juice (might not need all of it!!!!!!! start with 2 TBS and go from there!) and the 4 TBS of melted butter. get the lobster out of the fridge and add this mixture to the lobster pieces, i did not use all of my mayo mixture! seriously, i only used about half, so don't go dumping the whole bowl in there with reckless abandon, use discretion. you want the lobster to be coated. just coated. not soggy and dripping. that is very important.

now, to that bowl, i tossed in the finely diced rib of celery and it's chopped leaves with some chopped parsley, a pinch of maldon sea salt and  maybe a 1/8 of a tsp of celery salt. you might like more or less celery and parsley. as digital underground says, do whatcha like....

then, with all the love in your heart, you just scoop that gorgeous lobster salad into those crunchy, buttery buns and then you take a bite and, well....life will never be the same for you. i apologize for that.

  

*you can just go ahead and google for a mayonaise recipe. i use emeril lagasse's cuz he's never let me down.

shells with chicken, veggies & basil cream sauce

i made up something totally delicious last night for dinner. seriously. i am really impressed with myself again. the thing is, i am super hit or miss when it comes to dishes i create on the fly, and then, when i happen to homer, i never write down what i did and then i can’t ever make it again and it’s lost forever. i am putting a stop to that nonsense today! i really thought last night’s grub was going to be a total bust. i was not feelin’ it, not in the mood to cook, was working mainly with my leftover chicken from friday’s dinner as a jumping off point, and spent a good part of the picture perfect afternoon at urgent care getting a tetanus booster after stepping on a rusty nail (classic) while trimming cilantro. ben was fussy and weird all day and to add insult to injury, it was Sunday which meant my glorious 3 day weekend was picking up steam and closer every second to being gone, gone, gone (please sing that to the tune of “gone” by n’sync. if you don’t know “gone” by n’sync, why are we friends?)

 

regardless, i am here today to say i triumphed. i even almost took a picture of it, cuz i think all good recipes should be accompanied by a picture. especially these days. there’s just no excuse not to….except for one: laziness. i was too lazy to style it. lame, i know. but trust me, this is one ridiculously delicious, thrown-together mish-mash of leftover perfection….

 

shells with chicken, veggies & basil cream sauce

(really need a better name for this….)

 

• what you need:
• 2 TBS butter
• 2 TBS evoo
• 1 small onion, chopped
• ½ - 1 whole red bell pepper, medium dice
• tomatoes, chopped. i used 4 camparis, but you could use 4 romas or even half a pint of cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
• 2-3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 2 cooked chicken breasts, sliced or 1’’ dice
• white wine (maybe ¾ cup?)
• chicken broth (a cup?)
• pinch of crushed red pepper (1/2 a tsp?)
• heavy cream (about ½ cup….i used whipping cream because that’s what i had. dear lord, who do i think i am? paula deen? And i wonder why i am still wearing my maternity pants…next time i will use half & half…cuz that’s dietetic or something)
• a whole lotta fresh basil….like 20 big leaves. or even more….the more, the better)
• Grated parmesan cheese (at least half cup, i probably used closer to ¾ cup)
• medium shells or pasta of your choice. i think this would also be good with rigatoni, penne or cavatappi…not so much with the spaghetti types though)

 

so…you’ll melt the butter and evoo together in a pan over medium heat and then cook the onion till it is almost translucent. throw in the bell pepper, tomatoes and garlic & let that cook for a minute or so to soften it, then throw in the corn and the crushed red pepper and cook that around for a minute or so….season this all with salt and pepper to taste…deglaze the pan with the wine (honestly, i didn’t measure the wine, i poured it in straight from the jug…er…i mean the bottle), let that cook down for a couple of minutes, add the chicken broth, let that cook down for a couple of minutes, throw in the chicken and let it warm through and then add the cream or half & half (make sure the heat is not up higher than the lowish end of medium or it will break and look gross). bring the whole thing to a bare simmer and let it simmer away while you cook the pasta so it thickens. if it gets too thick, add a little more chicken broth, you don’t want it too thick because you’ll be adding cheese. thicker than soup, thinner than alfredo sauce, ok?).

 

cook the pasta in SALTED WATER (for the love, please salt your pasta water. a lot of salt. lots.) for a minute less than the box says for “al dente” and then toss it right into the pan with the veggies and sauce. throw in two giants handfuls of chopped basil and the parmesan cheese and stir it all around. add another handful of basil if you’re feeling frisky….then throw in a little more cheese, season with salt and pepper to taste and fall on the floor in a coma of deliciousness.

 

you’re welcome.

 

i think this is delicious beyond words as it is, i truly do, but i am already thinking about adding more veggies next time and making it sort of a primavera style…lots more corn, lots more tomatoes, maybe some quartered mushrooms and some zucchini or yellow squash, extra chicken….more basil….maybe a chipotle in adobo instead of the crushed red for a little smoky flair? holy yum. for real peeps, i only post the “must-makes” on this blog and this, my friends, is a dish your days will be considerably less delicious without.

 

 

black eyed pea salad with basil dressing

this salad was born of not having a freakin' clue what to make for dinner to go with the skirt steak i thawed, flipping through old issues of food network magazine for inspiration, coming up basically flat, remembering i had a rogue can of black eyed peas in the cabinet from last year when i thought it would be a real nifty idea to serve them on new years day for good luck and then never followed through with that (imagine...), doing some googling, adapting all over town and then, upon first bite, realizing i had completely knocked this one out of the park.
not to toot my own horn or anything, but this is good. really, really good. like, one of the first recipes in my imaginary cookbook good.......so whip a batch up and serve it at your next bbq or bring it to a potluck and thank me later for being a black eyed pea badass....i'm sure it's even better after a day maxin' & relaxin' in the fridge but i challenge you to have the willpower to let it sit around long enough to find out....

basil dressing:

1/4- 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1 cup (approximately) chopped fresh basil
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 cup (or less. i think i used less but i have a nasty habit of not measuring anything...) good olive oil

(i used this. i love trader joes)

kosher salt & cracked black pepper

salad:

1 can black eyed peas, rinsed and drained
1 1/2 - 2 cups of fresh corn kernals
1-3 stalks of celery, sliced into thin half moons
1 1/2 cups grape tomatoes, quartered
3 thick cut rings of red onion, brushed with olive oil and seasoned with salt & pepper, then grilled and chopped.

mix the dressing in the bottom of a big bowl, then add the rest of the ingredients and stir to mix. season to taste with more salt & pepper. try not to eat the entire thing in one, glutoneous sitting.