Tasty Tuesday

This is the last pasta dish for awhile, I promise! (Well maybe I promise). I made this last week and it was super easy. It made a lot too. The left overs were good. I even took a big bowl over to a friend of mine. Be sure to use a very large pan as the recipe seems to grow. It's made with red wine and in case you didn't know, I love to cook with wine! Slainte!

Chicken and Sausage with Bow Tie Pasta

Ingredients
1 (16 ounce) package uncooked farfalle pasta
2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 pound spicy Italian turkey sausage
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 (14.5 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup red wine
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Cook the pasta according to the package directions, al dente.

2. Cut the chicken into large bite size pieces. Remove casing from sausage and cut into large pieces. In a large, deep skillet over medium low heat, put oil and garlic and saute to flavor oil. Remove garlic from oil.

3. Add chicken and sausage to skillet and brown both lightly until they are opaque. Add the tomatoes and the wine. Bring to a boil and let simmer for 20 minutes. Season sauce mixture with basil, rosemary and salt and pepper to taste. Add cooked, drained pasta to the skillet mixture. Toss and serve.

4. I added some Parmesan cheese to the finished product.

Tasty Tuesday

Yes, yes, pasta again! This is an easy one and quite fresh and light too. You can follow the recipe exact, or change up the vegetables for a little variation. Slàinte!

Tomato and Sausage Pasta

Ingredients
1 pound pasta
1 tbsp olive oil
1 pound spicy Italian sausage
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
2 tbsp fresh basil, chopped (or 1 tbsp dried basil)
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes (do not drain)
1 bunch of asparagus, chopped
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I used Parmigiano-Reggiano)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1. Begin boiling water for pasta.
2. In a large skillet, heat oil and sausage; cook through until no longer pink. During the last 5 minutes of cooking, add onion and garlic to skillet. Add broth, basil and tomatoes with liquid.
3. Add pasta to boiling water, and cook according to package directions.
4. Cook sausage mixture over medium heat for 5 minutes to slightly reduce. Add chopped asparagus (or any vegetables); cover skillet and simmer on reduced heat until asparagus is tender. About 10 minutes.
5. Drain pasta and pour back into hot cooking pot.
6. Add sausage mixture and Parmesan cheese to pasta. Stir to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste if needed. Cover pot and let stand for 5-10 minutes before serving.
7. Sprinkle top of each serving with Parmesan cheese.
Some other vegetable options are spinach or chopped broccoli (about 10 oz, fresh or frozen work well).

Tasty Tuesday

It's that time again...Tasty Tuesday. This is a dish I've been making for a several years now. It's very rich and cheesy. Slàinte!

Chicken Breasts Stuffed w/ Asiago Cheese in Lemon Sage Sauce

6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
6 slices Asiago cheese, each about 4x1 ½ in. thick
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp freshly ground pepper
3 Tbsp lemon juice (I use more cause I like it lemony)
2 Tbsp butter
12 fresh sage leaves, roughly chopped
1/4 cup chicken broth


1. Preheat over to 350 degrees F. Cut a 2 ½ in. pocket through the thicker side of each breast, stopping ½ in. from the top of the breast and ½ in. from the side. Lay the breasts on a sheet or plastic wrap with the pocket facing you and place a second sheet of plastic wrap on top. Using a meat mallet, lightly pound the thick end of the breast so the sides are of thickness.

2. Break each slice of cheese in half and place two pieces in each pocket of the chicken. Season the chicken with the salt and pepper and lightly rub with 1 ½ Tbsp. of the lemon juice to moisten.

3. Divide 1 ½ Tbsp. butter in half and melt in 2, 12in. ovenproof skillets. Add the breasts, round side down, and scatter sage pieces in the skillets. Cook breasts until golden, 3 minutes: turn them and place skillets in oven until chicken is just cooked through. 5 minutes.

4. Transfer chicken to a warm plate. Add the rest of the lemon juice and chicken broth to one of the skillets over low heat, scraping up the browned bits, and transfer all to the other skillet. Increase the heat to medium-high and add the remaining butter, swirling the skillet until the sauce comes to a boil. Reduce until slightly syrupy, 2 minutes. Spoon over chicken and serve.


The chicken is good alone with cooked vegetables, but I really like the chicken and sauce served over pasta. Enjoy!

You'll notice there are only 4 chicken breasts in the picture. That's because I only have one skillet that can go in the oven and it only fits 4. I therefore adjust the recipe accordingly. :)

• It is hot and humid here like we are living in the South even though we are in the desert. I am tired of it and it needs to stop now. I don't mind the dry heat, but the humidity sucks! It makes my hair frizzy.


• Funny story...last week I had some friends over for dinner and decided to make a new garlic-tomato pasta sauce. I made a grocery list and of the things I needed at the store. Before I went to the store, I decided to go to the Farmer's Market and get my produce. I didn't bring my list with me, but I knew what I needed and that included 2 pounds of plum tomatoes for my sauce. I took the things home and took my list back out to cross of the things I didn't need. When I crossed off the tomatoes I realized that it said 5 pounds of tomatoes. "Oh, great!" I thought. The Farmer's Market was across town and was probably closed. After being mad at myself for a minute I decided to just pick some more up at the store. So, I bought 3 more pounds. Fast forward to later that day when I started the sauce. No, I didn't need 5 pounds of tomatoes, I need 5 cups of tomatoes or 2 pounds. After all that, I had 3 extra pounds, ugh! But here is the pasta and boy was it good! (The recipe is below...super easy and super good. Just remember, only 2 pounds of tomatoes.)

• A Green Bag Update...Well, the Green Bags met their match this week and that would be the 3 extra pounds of tomatoes. They were put in the bag on Sunday while I figured out what to do with them. Today (Thursday) I threw all the tomatoes out because they were wet and moldy, blech! Granted, I left them on the counter rather than refrigerate them, but still.
• This weekend I watched a mini-series that I got from NetFlix called State of Play. It's British and really, really good. I would highly recommend it.
• Bad News Everyone...Manuela left me a note on Friday that she is making her annual summer trip to Mexico effective immediately. She's usually gone 4-6 weeks. {Cries} What am I going to do?

Garlicky Tomato Pasta

1 Tbsp – EVOO
3 – chopped garlic cloves (I used 4)
2-3 lbs – chopped plum tomatoes
½ cup – white wine (pinot grigio)
1 package – cooked pasta (farfalle)
¼ cup – grated parmigiano-reggiano
½ cup – chopped basil

1. Heat EVOO in Dutch oven over med-high heat. Add garlic. Sautee for 30 seconds.
2. Add tomatoes and wine. Cook over med-high heat for about 10 minutes. Stir occasionally.
3. Add cooked pasta, cheese, and basil to tomatoes. Mix together. Add salt and pepper to taste.