Lemon Chicken Orzo in Tzatziki

I love me some Greek food. I really do. And, I'm all about Tzatziki sauce! I'm not ashamed to admit that, upon occasion, I but it premade from Costco. I don't remember which brand they carry, but it is tasty! I impulse bought some Tzatziki recently on a Costco trip and wanted to do something different. So, I just combined a bunch of stuff and this is what I got. Pretty yummy if you ask me!

First, I marinated chicken in the Tzatziki for a few hours. To start, I cooked some orzo and steamed some broccoli. (Not a real recipe today, folks- just a play by play!) I heated 2 tsp of oil and 1 tsp of butter in a deep skillet over medium heat. While that was heating, I cut the chicken into bite sized strips. Once the oil/butter was hot, I added 1 tsp of oregano and the chicken, turning the chicken every once in awhile to prevent them from burning. When the chicken was cooked, I deglazed the pan with 1/4 c of white wine and about 3 Tbsp of fresh lemon juice. I then added a few Tbsp more of Tzatziki (not the stuff from the marinade- fresh spoon fulls!) along with the orzo and broccoli. I mixed it and added salt and pepper to taste. Greek inspired dinner in 10 minutes flat= Happiness!

Braised Short Ribs and Penne alla Vodka

Mmmm.... this one was really tasty!

I have had braised short ribs a few times before and finally decided to tackle them. I didn't have time to look for a recipe, so I just threw one together. Turned out great! I made the meat on a Sunday in the crockpot, then made the penne alla vodka on Monday night. I used homemade pasta sauce that I had previously made and frozen, so the sauce was a breeze. It was really, really good. I will be making the pasta again soon!

Together, the short ribs and pasta were perfect. The short ribs were so tender, and the red wine they were cooked in matched perfectly with the pasta. It tasted like a dinner you would get at a nicer restaurant. For about half the price!

Braised Short Ribs

5 lbs short ribs

1 1/2 quarts of beef broth

1 quart of red wine (I used a Cab Sav)- but you could just use all beef broth

3 Tbsp. Dried Oregano

3 Bay leaves

4 garlic cloves, smashed

1 onion, sliced

Salt and Pepper

Season short ribs with salt and pepper. Brown in a pan. Transfer directly to crockpot. Add remaining ingredients and cook on low for 8 hours. When the meat is done, it will be falling off the bone. Shred and set aside.

Penne alla Vodka

Penne, cooked al dente (I used about 1/2 lb)

2 Tbsp Fresh Basil

3 tsp Olive Oil

1/4 c. vodka (or less, but NOT more!)

1 c. tomato sauce

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 c. heavy cream

Salt and pepper

Grated Parmesan

Heat Olive Oil over medium heat. Add garlic and cook, about a minute. Add vodka (if you are cooking on a gas stove, beware of the flame) and allow the alcohol to reduce. Be sure to keep your face away from the pot at this point or you will inhale some nasty fumes! After about 7 minutes, add the tomato sauce and heavy cream. Bring the sauce to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Allow the mixture to cook until the sauce reduces a bit, about 7-10 minutes on a low setting. Season with salt and pepper. Toss with pasta then top with basil and Parmesan.

Serve the short ribs over the pasta and enjoy!

Note- if you don't want to cook the short ribs in a crockpot, I would try one of the following options:

A- Brown the meat, add remaining ingredients, then allow to simmer (covered) for about 5 hours.

B (preferred)- Brown the meat, add the remaining ingredients, then cover and cook in oven for 4 hours at 300°. Meat should be done by then. If it is not falling off the bone, cook for another 1/2 hour at 350°.

Fresh Pasta

Being pregnant, I wasn't in the mood to use the Kitchen aid pasta attachments my parents got me for Christmas. So, this recipe was delayed until after Abby was born. This was the first time (to my knowledge) that I have ever tasted fresh pasta. It is SOO yummy! I will be making this over and over again. Goodbye dried supermarket pasta!

I wanted to do as much of this by hand the first time. So I did all of the mixing myself. I've heard that some people use food processors. I can offer no advice on that. So if you do, let me know how it turns out! To start, make a well in 2 cups of flour. To this, add 1 tsp. salt. Now comes the messy part. In the well, add 3 eggs. From here, start to incorporate the flour into the eggs. Work slowly at first, or else you will have an eggy mess all over your counter tops. Continue to add in more flour until you have a ball. Knead the dough for a few minutes, adding a drop or two of water if gets too dry (or flour if it gets too wet).

Divide the dough into three pieces. Take one piece and run it through your pasta roller at its thickest setting. Repeat. Run the pasta through each setting of your roller twice until you get to the desired thickness. If the dough tears, ball it up and start over. Lay the sheet of pasta on a floured surface and continue with the next piece. Do this until all of your pasta is rolled out.

At this point you want to cut your pasta to whatever shape you want. I wanted spaghetti, so I ran my sheets through the spaghetti cutter. But, you can make any shape using a machine or by hand. After your pasta is cut, you can either hang it to dry or use it immediately. Remember, fresh pasta cooks very quickly! It only took about 1.5 minutes to cook my spaghetti.

Enjoy!!

Catching Up

Here's what I've been working on lately:

Fruit tarts for a friend

Madeleines as a gift

Antipasta Platter for a birthday party

And a special dinner for my hubby: Lobster Ravioli in a Corn Cream Sauce, served with Cheese Toasts and a light salad.

Have a great weekend!!

Pasta with Tomato Wine Sauce

Quick post today. We are back from our week long trip to Las Vegas! We had a blast, but now back to real life. I made this pasta last night and it was delicious.

Enjoy!

Pasta with Tomato Wine Sauce
2 chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
3 Tbsp butter
2 tsp. olive oil
3 Tbsp. tomato paste
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. capers
1/4 c. mushrooms, chopped
1/2 c. artichokes, chopped
1 lemon, sliced
1/2 c. dry white wine (or you could use chicken stock)
angel hair pasta (as much as you would like)
Salt and pepper to taste

Prepare pasta according to package directions. Set aside, reserving the water.

Over medium heat, melt 1 Tbsp. butter into the olive oil. Season chicken with salt and pepper then cook in oil/butter mixture. When chicken is cooked, remove from pan and set aside.

Add garlic, capers, mushrooms, lemons, and artichokes to the pan. Sautee for a minute then add tomato paste and wine. Allow the vegetables to cook for 8-10 minutes, or until the sauce has reduced. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Add the remaining 2 Tbsp. to the pan and stir. If the sauce is too thick, add pasta cooking water. Mix in the chicken and pasta, making sure to fully coat the pasta, until the entire dish is warm.

Serve.

One Year!

It's the one year anniversary of my blog! I have had such a great time trying new things and meeting new people. This is just a short post to say thank you for reading. Here are a few of the things I've been making:

Vanilla Pound Cake




Individual Baked Zitis


Grilled Shrimp Picatta





Hope you are all having a wonderful week!

Apologies go well with shrimp....

Well to start, I apologize. It's been over a MONTH since my last post. tsk tsk

We've been in the process of buying our first home, and well... there hasn't been much time for good food. I've been mostly cooking standards.

But, it seems that all is settled (for now) and we will close on our home by the end of the month. So, I will be getting back into the kitchen. I'm hungry!

Last night, I wasn't really prepared for dinner. Usually, I'm one of those people that plans out a week's worth of dinners on Sunday. That way there's no thinking involved after work. I just come home, kick off my heels, don the apron and cook.

Since I've been out of the kitchen for awhile, I didn't want one of the usuals for dinner. I started deveining and peeling the 10 oz of shrimp I had in the fridge while contemplating what I could do with them. Then my mind drifted to work and the house...and well, I went on autopilot.

Have you ever cooked a meal without being sure of what you were doing? As in, you don't know what you want your outcome to be? That was me last night. Once I was done peeling my shrimp, I randomly put some water to boil. Then I added penne to cook. At this point I had raw shrimp and penne. Not much of a dinner...

I chopped up a green pepper and sauteed it with 1/2 tsp. olive oil. I tossed in the shrimp and added garlic and a pinch each of onion powder, oregano, and basil. I removed the shrimp once they were cooked. At this point I realized that I had pasta and no sauce of any kind. So, I melted 1 Tbsp. butter into the pan. I added the pene and shrimp and coated them well. Once in the serving bowls, I topped the pasta with a bit of grated Parmesan cheese.

It was only then that I realized that I hadn't really given this meal any thought. I just threw it all together. Which meant that there was a good chance that we were going to be ordering pizza for dinner. I called my husband into the kitchen and made him taste the pasta, not warning him that it might taste awful (poor guy).

He loved it! Said it was very different from my usual dishes. I must admit, it was pretty good. So, although this is not a difficult or impressive dish, I thought I would share it.

I'll be back soon, I promise. Besides, I'll have a big kitchen to cook in.

Happy Friday!

Fettucini Alfredo

Sorry that it's been awhile since my last post. I haven't had the time to try new recipes. But, last night, I managed to try a recipe that I've had bookmarked for months. But first, a little background:

One of my favorite places to eat is EPCOT at Walt Disney World. Almost every meal I've had at the different restaurants in the World Showcase is delicious. One of my favorite restaurants there has always been L'Originale Alfredo di Roma in the Italy pavilion. L'Originale Alfredo di Roma (in Rome, Italy) was the birthplace of Fettucini Alfredo. Alfredo's brother then came to the US and opened it's sister restaurant in EPCOT. Needless to say, the fettucini Alfredo there is...amazing. I don't even like standard fettucini Alfredo. But at Alfredo's, the fettucini was simple, rich, divine. I always wanted to try other meals there, but each time I went with the fettucini alfredo. When Alfredo's di Roma left the Italy pavilion this year, I swore that I would perfect the recipe myself at home. I was not going to go without this delicious pasta forever!

As it turned out, I didn't need to. All of the restaurants at the Walt Disney World are happy to give out their recipes. A quick Google search would return a plethora of web sites devoted to Disney recipes. My favorite is here. I finally got to it and made the pasta last night for dinner. It was so easy. I felt foolish for waiting so long to make this! It was delicious, and I will definitely make it again. I cooked some shrimp in butter to serve with the pasta. The two went well together, but I would serve the pasta alone as well. It's very filling! It's not exactly "low-fat" so I would also make this sparingly! ;)

This sauce makes your kitchen smell delicious, causing my little Oliver to wait very patiently for a taste!




Fettucini Alfredo from L'Originale Alfredo di Roma

1 lb. fettucini (I used Linguine,as I didn't have fettuccine at home)

1 c. Pulgra butter, unsalted
1/2 c. grated Parmigianno Regianno Cheese

Prepare pasta according to directions. Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat. Once butter is melted, stir in the grated cheese. Allow the mixture to cook over low heat for 5-7 minutes, or until pasta is done. Drain pasta and place into the sauce. Mix well and serve. Garnish with freshly cracked pepper.

Serves 4

Fried Goodness..

I came home last night after a very looong day wanting comfort food, preferably something fried. I had already planned to make some marinara sauce to replenish my freezer, so I tried to come up with something that would go with the fresh sauce. I decided on fried ravioli. I had never tried to fry them, so I wasn't sure how they would turn out. But, I was willing to give them a try. They turned out really well; crunchy on the outside, creamy in the middle. Dipped in marinara, they hit the spot. The only thing, was that I prepared WAY too many. So I'm going to try freezing the unused ravioli for another day.

Fried Ravioli

2 c. Ricotta

1/2 c. Parmesan cheese, grated

salt

pepper

1/4 c. oil for frying

marinara sauce for dipping (optional)

I have made ravioli using both fresh dough, and in a pinch, prepared wonton wrappers. I have to say, the wonton wrappers turned out really well. I would use them again if I needed to. Either way, prepare the dough into large squares. Mix together the cheeses with salt and pepper to taste.

Wet the dough square using water and a pastry brush.Place 1/2 tsp. of filling into each of the quadrants on the dough.

Place a second square on top of the filling. Press down firmly along edges to seal the dough and form 4 squares. I then used my pastry tool to cut out the four ravioli.

Repeat until you have enough ravioli.

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Drop the ravioli into the water, a few at a time, to cook the dough a bit. The ravioli will float when they are done. Repeat in batches until all ravioli is cooked.

Heat oil in a pan. Add ravioli, a few at a time, turning them after a minute. They will turn golden after only a minute or two, so make sure you pay attention! Remove from pan and place on paper towels to remove excess oil. Serve immediately with marinara sauce for dipping.

Rustic Italian Penne

I used to hate Italian food. I know, I know...what was wrong with me? Tomato sauce has been my enemy since childhood. So, I avoided all things Italian. Except Joe.
Joe is my Italian-American husband. When we began dating, he was shocked that I had lived without pasta in my life. After explaining that pasta sauce and I don't go together very well, he understood. But, he didn't give up. One night, his father made pasta sauce and asked me to try it. I told him my story, and he laughed. He said that his homemade sauce won't make me sick. Ok, I figured, I'd give it a try.

It was delicious. Creamy, with hints of basil. I was in love. Best of all, he was right: my stomach was fine. He showed me how to make sauce, using baking powder to remove the acidity. After that, I could not wait for his father's meals! He showed me how to make all sorts of Italian foods, including the sacred meatballs.

I make pasta at least twice a week for dinner. It's not figure-friendly, but man is it good. I know I'm the last to make it to the table on this one. But, I'm more than making up for lost time. I love to experiment with new pastas, pestos, sauces and combinations. One of my favorites is a meal that I threw together when my pantry was running low. I called it my Rustic Italian Penne, because it's not beautiful, it's delicious. It's also a good way to get my hubby to eat his vegetables :) Enjoy!

Rustic Italian Penne

2 chicken breasts, cut into strips
3 c. spinach
2 cloves Garlic, minced
1 c. artichoke hearts
1 1/2 c. fresh mozzerella, cubed
2 c. penne
1-2c. marinara sauce
1 Tbs. Olive Oil
1 Tbs. Butter
Basil

Cook penne according to package instructions. Set aside.

Sautee garlic in Butter and Olive Oil for 2 minutes. Add chicken and brown until cooked, about 5 minutes. Take chicken out of pan and set aside. Add spinach and artichoke hearts and sautee until cooked, about 10 minutes. Add chicken, penne and marinara sauce to mixture.




Allow mixture to cook for another minute to combine. If sauce is too thick, add some of the pasta cooking water.
Remove from heat and stir in mozzerella. Top with fresh basil.