(Chicken) Carbonara

This is a pretty easy dinner (recipe from Giada de Laurentiis) that you usually have the ingredients on hand for (ok, I just use bacon instead of pancetta, and usually 1/2 and 1/2 instead of cream, and I don't always have the fresh herbs, so sometimes I use dried, and I never put on the walnuts and lemon zest, but maybe they're good too. Oh, and sometimes I make it without the chicken, and I use whole wheat pasta, and the other day I threw in a bag of frozen peas... so you see how I improvise, but any way you do it, it's delicious.) My dad claims Giada can't be a very good cook because she is so skinny, but hey, this is pretty good. She must just make it and not eat it.

Ingredients

* 2 teaspoons olive oil
* 4 ounces thinly sliced pancetta, chopped
* 2 teaspoons minced garlic
* 2 1/2 cups whipping cream
* 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan
* 8 large egg yolks
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
* Salt
* 1 pound spaghetti
* 4 cups coarsely shredded chicken (from 1 roasted chicken)
* Freshly ground black pepper
* 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
* 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon peel

Directions

Heat the oil in a heavy large frying pan over medium heat. Add the pancetta and garlic and saute until it is brown and crisp, about 8 minutes. Cool slightly.

In a large bowl, whisk together the cream, cheese, yolks, basil, and parsley to blend.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the spaghetti and cook until it is just tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Drain.

Add the chicken to the pan with the pancetta and stir to combine. Next, add the spaghetti and the cream mixture and toss over medium-low heat until the chicken is heated through and the sauce coats the spaghetti thickly, about 4 minutes (do not boil or you might end up scrambling the eggs). Season the pasta, to taste, with pepper and salt if needed (the pancetta will likely add all the salt you need). Transfer the pasta to a large wide serving bowl. Sprinkle the walnuts and lemon zest over, and serve.
(photo credit: blogchef.net)

pan-seared tuna with mango and avocado salsa

this is one of my absolute favorite meals. it is so very tasty. and in the summertime... well, you just can't go wrong...
for the salsa:
- mango
- avocado
- red onion
- cilantro
- a little garlic
- lime juice.
chop it all up, mix it all together and season it with salt and pepper.


coat the tuna with sesame seeds and seasoning. heat up some oil in a pan over medium-high and add the tuna, cooking for a couple minutes on each side, depending on how rare you like it in the middle. pete and i both like it rare, but not still cold and i usually end up cooking it for about 4 minutes per side, depending on thickness. then slice the tuna into strips and put the salsa and tuna over a bed of mixed greens and serve. enjoy.

Chicken Tetrazzini

I hesitate to post this recipe since it comes from Zach's Food Network girlfriend (who will remain nameless).  However, since we actually took pictures of us cooking, I guess I need to add it.  We made it for our friends John and Angela Kersting who just had a baby, so they could have something easy to heat up for dinner this week since they will both be too tired to do much cooking.  Zach was so excited about it, that he decided we should make it for ourselves the next night.  It was delicious.  It takes a little bit of time, but it is fun to make.  There are a lot of easier versions that aren't exactly from scratch that we have made in the past.  Zach's mom always made an easy version that just used Cream of Mushroom soup, noodles, black olives, and parmesan.  

Ingredients

• 9 tablespoons butter
  
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
  
• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
  
• 2 1/4 teaspoons salt
  
• 1 1/4 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
  
• 1 pound white mushrooms, sliced
  
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
  
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
  
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
  
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
  
•  1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  
• 4 cups whole milk, room temperature
  
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream, room temperature
  
• 1 cup chicken broth
  
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  
• 12 ounces linguine
  
• 3/4 cup frozen peas
  
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
  
• 1 cup grated Parmesan
  
• 1/4 cup dried Italian-style breadcrumbs
  

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Spread 1 tablespoon of butter over a 13 by 9 by 2-inch baking dish. Melt 1 tablespoon each of butter and oil in a deep large nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the chicken with 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Add the chicken to the hot pan and cook until pale golden and just cooked through, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to a plate to cool slightly. Coarsely shred the chicken into bite-size pieces and into a large bowl.

Meanwhile, add 1 tablespoon each of butter and oil to the same pan. Add the mushrooms and saute over medium-high heat until the liquid from the mushrooms evaporates and the mushrooms become pale golden, about 12 minutes. Add the onion, garlic, and thyme, and saute until the onion is translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the wine and simmer until it evaporates, about 2 minutes. Transfer the mushroom mixture to the bowl with the chicken.

Melt 3 more tablespoons butter in the same pan over medium-low heat. Add the flour and whisk for 2 minutes. Whisk in the milk, cream, broth, nutmeg, remaining 1 3/4 teaspoons salt, and remaining 3/4 teaspoon pepper. Increase the heat to high. Cover and bring to a boil. Simmer, uncovered, until the sauce thickens slightly, whisking often, about 10 minutes.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the linguine and cook until it is tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 9 minutes. Drain. Add the linguine, sauce, peas, and parsley to the chicken mixture. Toss until the sauce coats the pasta and the mixture is well blended.

Transfer the pasta mixture to the prepared baking dish. Stir the cheese and breadcrumbs in a small bowl to blend. Sprinkle the cheese mixture over the pasta. Dot with the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter. Bake, uncovered, until golden brown on top and the sauce bubbles, about 25 minutes.  

Jambalaya

It's never quite as good as my mom's when I make it, but here goes. The original recipe calls for ham and sausage, which is a little much, so we substitute chicken for the ham and use brown rice instead of white for a slightly healthier meal. The other day I was trying to throw dinner together and made a mexican version by substituting cumin and cilantro for the herbs and leaving out the sausage. The Mexican version would be good with chorizo I bet...I garnished it with shredded cheese and it was pretty tasty.

2 T olive oil
1 C chopped onion
1 bell pepper, chopped
3 ribs celery, chopped
5 green onions, chopped
1 10 oz can diced tomatoes
1 10 can Ro-tel tomatoes (tomatoes and chiles...you can use regular if you want the dish to be less spicy)
1/4 C minced parsley (i usually forget to buy this and leave it out)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp basil
salt and pepper to taste (I just use Tony Chachere's)
1/4 C Worchestershire sauce
3 C water
2 lbs smoked sausage
2 C uncooked rice

In a Dutch oven (or large heavy pot) heat the oil. Add the onion and bell pepper and saute until tender. Add the celery, green onions and cook until soft. Add the parsely, garlic, seasonings, Worchestershire suace, tomatoes (with liquids) and 2 C water. Cook this gravy for one hour. In a separate large skillet brown the sliced sausage and discard the grease. Add the sausage to the gravy and rinse out the skillet with 1 C water and add to the gravy. Add the rice and cover tightly. When the mixture starts to bubble, lower the heat and simmer until the rice is done. Several times during cooking, lift the mixture gently with a spoon to keep it from sticking. If the water is gone before the rice is cooked, add a little more hot water to the gravy. Serves 8-10.

shepherd's pie

Zach and I decided to make this on St. Patrick's Day.  It is actually a traditionally English meal, but at least it was in the same realm and most good Irish Pubs have it on the menu.  In my opinion it is one of the few meals from that region that is actually good.  Zach loves it and when we make it we usually have leftovers for awhile.  It is sort of one of those easy things to put together in a casserole so you don't have to make anything else for dinner.  Jimmy also loves it.  We have tried a couple of different recipes, but this one was the easiest I found and they all tasted about the same.  I recommend just buying bags of frozen carrots, peas, and corn because you can buy them already all together (although I keep them on hand in seperate bags for Jimmy anyway).  You can mess with the seasonings (when I haven't had Worcestershire sauce, I made up other things) and  people can add their own salt and pepper to taste.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 lbs ground round beef
• 1 onion chopped
• 1-2 cups vegetables - chopped carrots, corn, peas
• 1 1/2 - 2 lbs potatoes (3 big ones)... I used 6 medium sized ones and it was just right.
• 8 tablespoons butter (1 stick)
• 1/2 cup beef broth (I used chicken though)
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• Salt, pepper, other seasonings of choice

METHOD

1. Peel and quarter potatoes, boil in salted water until tender (about 20 minutes).

2. While the potatoes are cooking, melt 4 Tablespoons butter (1/2 a stick) in large frying pan.

3. Sauté onions in butter until tender over medium heat (10 mins). If you are adding vegetables, add them according to cooking time. Put any carrots in with the onions. Add corn or peas either at the end of the cooking of the onions, or after the meat has initially cooked.

4. Add ground beef and sauté until no longer pink. Add salt and pepper. Add worcesterchire sauce. Add half a cup of beef broth and cook, uncovered, over low heat for 10 minutes, adding more beef broth as necessary to keep moist.

5. Mash potatoes in bowl with remainder of butter, season to taste.

6. Place beef and onions in baking dish. Distribute mashed potatoes on top. Rough up with a fork so that there are peaks that will brown nicely. You can use the fork to make some designs in the potatoes as well.

7.Cook in 400 degree oven until bubbling and brown (about 30 minutes). Broil for last few minutes if necessary to brown.  Serves Four.