Sweet Marsala

Chicken cutlets are one of my favorite cuts of chicken.  Boneless, thin and tender, means you can make many fast and delicious dishes from them.  I made Chicken Marsala from my cutlets, it's easy to make, looks like you spent the whole day in the kitchen (oh no I didn't!) when served up on a platter.  This recipe is restaurant quality and it didn't take that long to make it, that's the best part.  The hubby was happy when he walked through the door, the aroma in the house, well it was heavenly!

Recipe Below.

To print recipe, click, highlight and print.

To view photos in a larger format click on them.

I started with these few ingredients and added other things from the pantry.  I always have marsala wine in the house for this dish, as well as, if I get the urge to make cannolis, it's in the shell recipe that I have.

 Dredge the chicken in the flour mixture and cook in butter and olive oil, two great flavors together!

 Nicely coated and browned, now on to the mushrooms.  I didn't have fresh mushrooms, my son ate them all, so I relied on my pantry for canned mushrooms, no worries, they worked just as well.

 After the mushrooms are done, get the sauce going, then add the chicken back into the pan to simmer everything together.  Looks awesome!

 Serve it up, chicken on the plate first, then top with the rich and savory Marsala sauce.

 And dinner is served. Dig into this tender, juicy, full of flavor chicken dish. You won't be sorry, and it's quick to make.  I served mine with basil mashed potatoes, a salad, and Italian cheese and basil rolls.  More on those later.  ENJOY!

Chicken Marsala

Ingredients

1/3 cup flour

2 teaspoons garlic powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

4 chicken cutlets

4 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

4 tablespoons butter

2 cups sliced baby portabella mushrooms

1 1/2 cups chicken stock

3/4 cup of Marsala wine

1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil

1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder

Directions

In a resealable plastic bag, add the flour, garlic powder, salt and pepper.  Shake to combine.  Add the chicken cutlets and shake to coat them completely.  Reserve the remainder of the flour mixture you may need it to thicken the sauce.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil and 2 tablespoons of the butter, in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the chicken, cook for 6 minutes on each side, until nicely browned.  Transfer to a dish.

Do not clean the pan.  Heat remaining 2 tablespoons of oil and butter in the same pan, add the mushrooms and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the chicken stock, and loosen any of the brown bits on the bottom of the pan.  Stir in the wine, basil and onion powder.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 8 minutes.  If the sauce needs to be thickened, whisk in some of the reserved flour. Return the chicken to the pan, simmer for 8 minutes until heated through. Makes 4 servings.

Eileen's Pappardelle Alla Bolognese

Because I'm Italian I love all things Italian, except for calamari, that I can not eat.  All I can think of when I hear that word, is a squid slapping me with it's tentacles or trying to eat me.  I know, THAT sounds crazy!  I just can't do it.  But anyway, Italian food is always on my list of what I can make for dinner.  It's a simple food to make, rustic, tasty and fills you up.  Add a bottle of wine and you have an elegant meal, no matter what is on the plate.

I bought a couple of packages of pappardelle at Trader Joe's the last time I was there, and stored them in the pantry.  Pappardelle is a wide flat noodle, sometimes made with eggs, sometimes not.  I have been toying with the idea of a beef bolognese sauce for them, I don't usually have a bolognese sauce with my pasta, have some picky eaters in the house.  But, I decided to give it a try, pulled some things together and made this bolognese recipe my own.  It was so darn good!  The beef, the wine, cheese, veggies and sauce, all cooking together made the house smell so fantastic, I couldn't wait to eat that night.  What is it with Italian flavors that does that, it's just good food no doubt about. So here is my take on Pappardelle With Bolognese Sauce.

Recipe below.

To print recipe, click, highlight and print.

To view photos in a larger format, click on them.

These are the ingredients I started with.  I chopped my onion, celery and carrots to get them ready.

    

 I didn't have pancetta on hand, But I always have a container of bacon fat stored in the freezer.  I always save it after cooking bacon.  I melted some of it with olive oil, for added flavor while cooking the beef.

    

I pan seared the beef on all sides..... 

    

then covered it with a lid for the remainder of cooking time.

    

Take them out of the pan and let them rest on a plate.  Lookin' good!

 I used diced tomatoes and pureed them in a small food processor.

 In the same pan with the meat juices, cook the onion, celery and carrots, then add garlic paste, more on that later.

 Add the tomato paste and stir it in.

 Ahhh, then the wine!  This gives so much flavor to the rest of the ingredients.

 Toss in those tomatoes, a little milk for creaminess, a cheese rind, bay leaves and return meat to the pan....

 .....stir the sauce so everything combines, cover and cook stirring occasionally.

 OMG! That meat, it's so tender and juicy.  Shred it with a fork, trim any fat off of it, and return it to the pan so it can absorb some of the sauce.

 Looks amazing!  Start a pot of water, bring to a boil and toss in the pappardelle to cook.

 Scoop out most of the meat from the sauce pan and put it into a bowl.  When the pappardelle was done cooking, I put it into the pan with the sauce.....

 .....gave it a roll in the sauce and WOW, that looks so good!

 When I plated the pappardelle, I topped it with the beef mixture, shaved Romano- Pecorino cheese, fresh basil, and dinner was served.  It was so good I didn't want to talk while eating, I wanted to savor every bite.

Eileen's Pappardelle Alla Bolognese

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive

1 tablespoon bacon fat, or 2 tablespoons pancetta (see note), or use butter

2 boneless beef short ribs

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 sweet onion, finely diced

1 rib celery, finely diced

1 carrot, finely diced

2 tablespoons garlic paste (see note)

3 tablespoons tomato paste (see note)

1 15 oz can diced tomatoes

1/2 cup dry red wine

1/4 cup milk

2 bay leaves

small Italian cheese rind, optional

1 package Pappardelle noodles

Grated cheese

Directions

In a large saute pan over medium-high heat, heat the olive oil and the bacon fat.  Add the short ribs and sear them on all sides.  Reduce heat to medium, cover and cook for 15 minutes.  Remove from pan onto a plate.

Add the onion, celery and carrot to the same pan, and cook for about 6 minutes.  Add the garlic paste and stir it in, cook for 1 minute.  Add the tomato paste, stir it in, cook for 2 minutes.  Add the tomatoes, wine, milk, bay leaves and cheese rind to the pan.  Stir until all is combined, then add the meat back into the pan and season with a little more salt and pepper.  Reduce heat to medium-low, cover the pan partially with the lid so the moisture escapes, and let cook for 2 hours stirring occasionally.  The sauce will thicken during cooking time.

About 20 minutes before serving, start a pot of salted water for the pasta.

Remove the cheese rind and the bay leaves from the sauce.  Take the meat out and using two forks shred the meat and return to the sauce. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover and let the meat absorb some of the sauce while the pasta is cooking.

Scoop most of the meat out of the pan and into a bowl.  When pasta is done cooking, drain completely, then toss the pasta with the sauce that is left in the pan.  To serve the pasta, top with the meat mixture and shaved cheese. Makes 4 servings.

NOTE:
1.  If using pancetta instead of bacon fat, after browning the meat, cook pancetta in the olive oil  until brown and crispy, drain on a paper towel.  Add it to the sauce when you add the meat back in.  

2.  AMORE makes garlic paste and tomato paste in a tube, as well as many other good ingredients that you may only need a little of.  It's found on the shelves where jarred pasta sauces and canned tomatoes are sold. The garlic paste is so much easier to use, than chopping garlic cloves, and the tomato paste is less wasteful than opening a whole can of paste when you only need a few tablespoons.  If you are vegetarian or vegan, this dish is easy to switch out ingredients and still have a great, tasty dish.

Linguine With Fresh Clam Sauce

As I have noted in previous blogs, we eat a lot of pasta, we love it and make it so many ways.  The hubby and the kids enjoy Linguine and Clams, I am not a fan of clams, but I thought I could just eat the sauce and the pasta.  It's funny, I used to eat them when I was little, steamed and dipped in butter and thought they were so good, now I don't like the taste of them.  I bought a bag of fresh clams at Wegman's on Sunday and made my version of Linguine With Clam Sauce for the family.  This is how I made it -

The Clams - Cleaned and getting ready to be steamed.

One of my favorite store bought pastas.

Some white wine, lemon, lemon zest, garlic, fresh parsley, salt, pepper and butter.

Mixing up the good stuff!

Add more good flavor.

And the clammies!

Look at that sauce.....uumm uumm good!

Toss it all together and you have heaven in a bowl!

Don't forget the crusty bread, you don't want to leave any of the juice.

I served my pasta with a Greek salad made up of field greens, sliced tomato, feta cheese and Greek salad dressing.  A little wine for the cook, a white Merlot, very tasty.  Dinner was fabulous and this will definitely be on my pasta night dinner menu, coming up in June.  Buon Appetito!

Oh, and do not forget dessert.  What a better way to top off a great meal than Tiramisu Gelato, so good.

Linguine With Fresh Clams

Ingredients

1 box Barilla linguine

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

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

4 big cloves garlic, minced

1 cup white wine, I use Pinot Gregio

50 littleneck clams, scrubbed

1/4 cup Italian parsley,chopped

2 teaspoons dried oregano

1 tablespoon lemon zest

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
3 tablespoons butter
1 lemon
Parmigiano - Reggiano cheese

Directions

Start a large pot of salted water on the stove and bring to a boil.  When it boils, add the pasta and cook to your liking. In another large steamer pot with a basket, fill 1/4 of the way with water.  Wash the dirt off the clams, then spread them out in the basket of the steamer pot.  Steam the clams on medium high heat until they open.  While the pasta and clams get going, in a heavy skillet on medium heat, add the olive oil and swirl to coat the pan.  Add the pepper flakes and garlic. Cook for 3 minutes, be careful not to burn the garlic. Take pan off the burner, reduce heat to simmer, add the wine, return pan to the burner. When clams are steamed, remove about 40 of the clams from their shells (reserve 10 for garnishing the pasta) and chop them up (discard any unopened shells) add to the garlic wine sauce, cover and simmer for 5 -7 minutes.  Mix together the parsley, oregano, lemon zest, salt and pepper in a bowl, set aside.  Drain the pasta, pour back into the pan and toss with the clam mixture, 2 small ladles of clam juice (from the steam pot, skim it off the top), the butter, parsley mixture and juice of a whole lemon.  Toss until the butter melts.  Serve in a large bowl and lay the reserved clams on top, sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley and serve with grated Parmigiano - Reggiano cheese .  Makes 6 servings.