Company Is Coming Chicken!

Hoping everyone is well during this corona virus pandemic.  Haven't been posting for a very long time as I babysit my grandson everyday.  But now with the virus and being quarantined, all that has changed. I miss him terribly as well as the rest of my family.  Being stuck inside the house is not something I enjoy.  My days are now filled with cleaning, cooking, eating and watching TV.  I have gone on an occasional walk, but the weather is still cold and I don't like being cold. I am cooking and baking a lot more, which is not good for the waistline (I gained 6 lbs already!) as I have a dress to fit into for my oldest daughter's wedding. I keep saying to myself "YOU NEED TO STOP FEEDING YOUR FACE!" Every day I wake up with a plan and by mid-morning it's all out the window!

But, good food is something I do enjoy, so I plan ahead what I am gong to make for dinner and try to have something healthy to snack on as well.  The fridge and freezers are stocked, so everything I need to prepare a delicious meal is always at hand. If I don't have something, I can always improvise.

I made this chicken dish last week and it was fabulous.  Creamy sauce with sun dried tomatoes, cheese, cream, fresh basil and a little heat. Try it, you will love it, and it's easy to make all in one pan.

Recipe below.

 I like to start cooking with all my ingredients in front of me, it makes pulling a meal together faster.

 I used a cast iron frying pan, love using them.  Chicken breasts cooking up with a little salt and pepper.

 After chicken is semi-done remove and start making the sauce.

This is so easy and I love the fact that it's all done with one pan, an easy cleanup.

 Add the cream and look at all that flavor!

 Tomatoes in.........

And the cheese!  Everything is better with cheese.

 Bake the chicken and spoon sauce over the top.

And this is the end result, a beautiful and tasty dish,  I served mine with garlic green beans and
 Cacio e Pepe farfalle. Enjoy!
 Please stay safe and healthy my friends.

Chicken Breasts in a Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Sauce 

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 T. olive oil

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 tsp. each salt and pepper

4 gloves minced garlic

1 1/2 tsp. fresh thyme, 1/2 tsp. if using dried

1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes, more if you like heat

1 cup chicken broth

3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup oil packed sun dried tomatoes, chopped and drained

3/4 cup grated Pecorino-Romano cheese, reserve 1/4 cup for topping

Fresh Basil, sliced

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a large cast iron skillet or other oven safe skillet, heat the oil over medium high heat.  Season the chicken on both sides with salt and pepper.  Add to the pan and cook on both sides until golden brown about 6-7 minutes on each side.  Remove the chicken and put on a plate.  Do not clean the pan.  Reduce heat to medium and add the garlic, saute until fragrant, do not burn it.  Add the thyme, red pepper flakes, broth and heavy cream.  Cook, stirring for about 5-7 minutes.  Add in the sun dried tomatoes and 1/2 cup Pecorino-Romano cheese. Add the chicken breasts back into the pan.  Bake until the chicken is cooked through, juices run clear and the sauce is bubbly and thickened.  Remove from oven.  To serve, spoon sauce over the chicken breasts and top with reserved 1/4 cup of cheese and fresh basil.

Italian Flag Pasta

A lotta pasta, that's what we eat!  This is for the non-meat eater in the house.  It's simple, easy to prepare and he loves it.  You can use any kind of shape, he likes his made with linguine.  I call it the Italian flag pasta, because it's red, white and green.

Start a pot of salted water on high heat to cook 1 pound of pasta.  Saute 4 cloves of minced garlic in 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.  Add 8 chopped sun dried tomatoes, that are packed in oil, 2 teaspoons of Italian seasoning, 2 tablespoons of chopped flat leaf parsley and salt and pepper to taste.  If you like a little heat add some crushed red pepper flakes. Add pasta to the boiling water and stir.  Cook to your liking, we like ours al dente.  In the last few minutes of the pasta cooking, add 1 cup of  petite frozen peas to the water.  Drain the pasta and peas, toss with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, sun dried tomato/garlic oil mixture and 5 leaves of sliced fresh basil.  Serve piping hot.

Italian Feast Night, Ora Questo E Amore!

The Bee is back!  I've been gone for a few weeks, helping out some friends, but I am buzzing around again doing what I love best - cooking for family and friends. I hosted an Italian Feast Dinner at my house this past Saturday with the help of my daughters and my sister.  I could never have done it all without them, thanks girls.  Oh, and a shout out to my niece the baker, with her cannoli filling techniques, yay Kristen! they looked beautiful.

The dinner was full of fun, homemade delicious food and of course no Italian dinner is complete without red and white checked tablecloths, great wine and Italian themed music.  We were all busy working in the kitchen the week ahead of the dinner, making homemade cannoli shells, cookies and then the pasta.  We broke out our hand cranked, yes you heard it right - hand cranked pasta machines and my two daughters worked for 5 1/2 hours cranking out the pasta, spaghetti and fettuccine, tons of it because we invited 25 people! Crazy, but that's how we do things here.  

Over the next few blogs I will share with you some of the food items from the menu, drool if you want, everything was awesome and we are going to do it again next year, I can't wait!

First up - The Appetizers

I had two anti pasta trays that were filled to the brim with - Italian tuna (recipe in an earlier blog), sliced baguettes, olive medley with peppers and feta, genoa salami, provolone cheese, fresh mozzarella, grape tomatoes, fresh figs, sliced red pears and red and green grapes.  The other appetizer - two huge bowls of steamed mussels in white wine with sun dried tomato breadcrumbs.  This is all that was left of both appetizers after about five minutes of guests chowing down!

Farfalle For One

Here is a quick and easy meal for one (or more when you up the ingredients) when you do not have time to cook, Farfalle with Asparagus and Sun Dried Tomatoes.  I made this, in as long as it took the pasta to cook.  I got my water started for the pasta, and as that was moving along, I sauteed 1 clove of chopped garlic, 6 stalks of cut asparagus and 6 sun dried tomatoes (not in oil, calories saved there), in a frying pan sprayed with cooking spray.  If you like, season with salt and pepper.  When the water was ready, I threw in 1 cup of farfalle, stirred it and waited for it to cook.  When it was done (I like it al dente), I drained it, transferred the pasta to a bowl and stirred in one teaspoon of olive oil, then tossed it with the asparagus, sun dried tomatoes, fresh chopped parsley and basil.  Grate a little Parmesan cheese on and you've got yourself a delicious and tasty pasta meal for one.