Orecchiette Pasta with Chicken and Goat Cheese

For the last 2 months we’ve been having a particular chicken dish at least once a week and still love it, haven’t gotten tired of it at all.

Here’s what we’ve been making - Orecchiette Pasta  with Chicken and Goat Cheese.    It’s pretty simple to make and real tasty.  We first had this dish at the Nordstrom’s Bistro at Easton back in 2003 or so.  It was a simple, almost elegant dish with a lot of flavor, and was the first time we had had goat cheese.  A few years later, I saw goat cheese in the grocery store, remembered that dish and decided to recreate it at home.  It turned out to not be a difficult task at all.  Here’s how I do it:

Ingredients (for 3 servings):

Orecchiette Pasta , 8 oz.  (Reserve a ½ cup of the cooking water!)

Chicken broth, ½ cup

Goat cheese, 4 oz. (I’ve been using Kroger Private Select crumbles, < $3)

Mrs. Dash® Tomato Basil Garlic Seasoning Blend

2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (about 1 lb)

Salt

Pepper

Garlic powder

Cayenne pepper

Paprika

Method:

Season the chicken breasts on both sides with salt, pepper, garlic powder, cayenne and paprika.

Cook the pasta according to the package directions.  When done, reserve ½ cup of the pasta water.

While the pasta is cooking,:

Spray a non-stick 10 – 12 inch pan with an oil spray, heat over medium low heat.

Place the chicken breasts in the pan and cover, cook for 6 minutes.

Turn the chicken over and cook for 6 more minutes, covered.

Set the chicken aside to rest for a couple of minutes, then slice into about ½” thick slices, cut those slices in half to make bite sized pieces.  Reserve the juices.

Heat the chicken broth to boiling

Into each of the three pasta bowls, add a couple of tablespoons of the goat cheese, and sprinkle with some Mrs. Dash.

Spoon about 2 oz. of hot broth and a couple of tablespoons of the reserved pasta cooking water into each of 3 pasta bowls over the goat cheese. 

Top the cheese broth with a third of the pasta, the a third of the chicken.

Sprinkle with a bit more of the goat cheese and serve.

Mix it all up in the bowl and dig in!

 (pictures soon)

Enjoy,

Lorence

Skillet Ziti with Chicken and Broccoli

This week’s “Kid meal” (no, not that kind, the meal was MADE by the kid!) was a tasty selection from his DSi game “Let’s Get Cooking” from America’s Test Kitchen. This is a great little application with 300 recipes and easy to follow instructions, hints, tips, tricks, and even basic instruction, like how to chop an onion. He’s made several dishes from it before and all have been very good. Last night’s Skillet Ziti with Chicken and Broccoli was no exception. Though it has several ingredients, it only uses one pot and had a good depth of flavor.

The recipe can be found here.

He did a great job and was justifiably proud of his creation:
Give the DSi game a try and try this dish, too!

Enjoy,
Lorence

Shrimp and Scallop pasta

I created this dish a couple of years ago and forgot about it. I found the recipe written in one of my notebooks and remembered how much we liked it, so I gathered the ingredients together and cooked it up tonight. It was as tasty as I remembered, but perhaps could have used a bit more heat (red pepper flakes).
It's quick to make, not too fancy, but tastes rich. There's a whole lot of garlic in it, and If you've read any of my other posts, you know I love garlic.

This recipe made about 4 servings.

Shrimp and Scallop Pasta
Ingredients:
½ pound pasta (I used thin spaghetti)
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 pound Shrimp, peeled (26-30 size)
½ pound bay scallops,rinsed
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 ounces plain tomato sauce
4 ounces chicken broth
2 more ounces chicken broth with ½ teaspoon flour blended in
1 small tomato, diced, drained
1 roasted red pepper, cut in ½" x ½" pieces
½ teaspoon dried "Italian seasoning" blend (blend of basil, oregano,
Hot red pepper flakes to taste (¼ to ½ teaspoon)

Method:
put the shrimp and scallops in separate bowls. Sprinkle each with ¼ of the Italian seasonings and stir.
Cook the pasta per package directions.
Heat the Olive oil in a large saute pan on medium-high
Add the sliced garlic, cook 20 seconds or so.
Add the shrimp, saute about a minute.
Add the tomato and roasted red pepper. Saute another minute.
Add the 4 ounces of chicken broth, the tomato sauce & minced garlic. Bring to a boil
Cover and cook for another minute.
Add the scallops.
Stir the broth with the flour to be sure it is well blended and add it to the pan.
Add the red pepper flakes and return to a boil.
Cook until the scallops are just cooked through, another minute or 2.
Toss with the pasta in a large bowl, and serve.

I've used shrimp and scallops, but I think the next time I might try some shrimp and fish, like cod or even salmon.

Enjoy,
Lorence

Garlic Lemon Shrimp Pasta

Yeah, let's hit all the good stuff at once - garlic, shrimp, pasta, and lemon all living in perfect harmony and with one goal in life: to make me happy.
This recipe is based on one of those old recipe cards I got from First Magazine years ago (early 1990's?). I haven't made it in a while, but I pulled it out last week when I was pressed for time. I always have a pound of shrimp in the freezer for emergencies, and I'd just been to the store and found some nice lemons at a decent price (for February), so I was all set (garlic is, of course, a staple...).

I usually use a thin spaghetti, and until recently my preffered pasta was Barilla Linguini Rigate. I can't seem to find it anymore and it's no longer mentioned on their web site. I've had to settle for their Spaghetti Rigati, which works ok , but it's a bit heavier than I like for this dish, although I think angel hair would be too thin. Such a delicate balance..

It's a pretty simple and quick recipe, and tastes even better as leftovers.

Ingredients:
½ pound spaghetti
3 large cloves of garlic, crushed, then minced
¼ cup of olive oil
2 Tablespoons of butter
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest (I used the zest from ½ large lemon)
2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice (I used the juice from ½ large lemon, the same ½ that I got the zest from)
¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped

Directions:
Cook the pasta per package directions.
While the pasta is cooking, heat the oil and butter over medium heat in a large sauté pan.
Add the minced garlic and cook for about a minute.
Add the shrimp and cook until pinked through; that should only take a couple of minutes.
Add the parsley, lemon zest and lemon juice and toss well.
Be sure to time the finshing of the shrimp with the finishing of the pasta.
Drain the pasta and toss the drained pasta into the sauté pan of shrimp and garlic sauce, blending it well with the shrimp/garlic sauce.
Serve with a finish of a bit fine salt and fresh ground pepper, garnish with some thin lemon slices if you're into that sort of thing.

Sorry, no photo this time - too hungry.

Enjoy,
Lorence