Chicken Breast and Thyme Cream Sauce

Source:  Package of Thyme

1.5 lb boneless skinless chicken breast
1/4 c butter
2 cloves garlic
6 T sherry
3/4 c chicken broth
1 1/4 c cream
3 T fresh thyme, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Coat chicken breasts with flour.  Melt butter in large skillet/  Saute chicken and garlic over medium heat until golden brown and cooked through.  Add sherry and chicken broth.  Cook and stir until most of the  liquid has evaporated.  Add cream and fresh thyme.  Cook and stir over low heat until sauce thickens.

Yes, another chicken recipe.  But we all need tons, b/c I think chicken is the easiest protein for a home cook to prepare.  This is an easy recipe.  I did cut my chicken breasts in half so that they would cook through faster.

I wish I could adequately describe the decadence and richness of this dish.  So delightful.  Cream, garlic, sherry, butter -- what could be better.  Just be sure to season with plenty of salt and pepper.  I served the dish with egg noodles.  Definitely serve with a side that soaks up that glorious sauce.  A real winner.

Baked Ziti with Turkey and Pesto

Source:  All You Magazine

8 oz ziti
salt and pepper
3 T olive oil
1 onion chopped
2 cloves of minced garlic
4 oz ground turkey
2 c canned crushed tomatoes
1 c ricotta
2 c grated mozzarella
1/2 c grated parmesan cheese
1/4 c pesto


Preheat oven to 350.  Grease an 8 inch square dish.  Cook ziti in boiling water, just short of al dente.  Warm oil in large skillet over medium heat.  Add onion, saute until softened, about 3 minutes.  Add garlic, saute 1 minute.  Stir in turkey and saute one minute.  Mix in tomatoes, and season with salt and pepper.  Simmer, stirring,  until thick, or about 10 minutes.   Combine ricotta,  1 c mozzarella, 1/4 c parmesan and pesto in a bowl.  Season with salt and pepper.  Spread 1/2 of ziti in dish, top with 1/3 of sauce.  Spread with ricotta mixture and cover with remaining ziti and sauce.  Sprinkle with remaining cheese, drizzle with 1 T oil.  Bake until bubbly, about 10 minutes.

This recipe was in a section called "what to do with leftover turkey".  According to the article,  most ground turkey is packaged in 20 oz packaging, yet most recipes call for 1 lb -- and this recipe was one of the suggestions on what to do with the remaining 4 oz.  I don't know what any of that means -- I buy my turkey in 1 lb packaging, and froze 12 oz after making this recipe.  Otherwise, pretty easy to make.   My ziti was severely underdone with I put it in the oven, and after baking it was perfectly soft and delicious -- it makes me wonder if pre-cooking the ziti could be skipped altogether, making this an ever easier recipe to make.  The dish is delicious -- not too tomatoe-y, not too pesto-y but perfectly gooey and cheesy.  It's true that you don't miss more turkey -- the dish is delicious and flavorful.  You can skip the turkey altogether, and if you have more than 4 oz, the dish will be all that much better.

Excellent pasta dish!

Stuffed Chicken and Herb Gravy with Polenta

Source:  Coooklng Light Magazine

Chicken & Gravy:
4 6 oz chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)
2 thin prosciutto slices halved
4 slices of provolone cheese
1 T canola oil
1/4 t pepper
2 T minced shallots
1 T chopped thyme
1.5 c chicken stock
1 T flour
1.5 T butter
1 T flatleaf parsley
1.5 t chopped tarragon

Polenta:
2 c milk
1/3 c water
1/2 c uncooked polenta
1/4 t salt

Cut each breast horizontally, but not through, to the other side to create a pocket.  Lift top flap of  chicken pocket, arrange 1/2 prosciutto slice in each pocket.  Top each slice with a cheese slice, press top flap of pocket down over filling.  Heat large skillet with oil.  Sprinkle chicken with pepper.  Add chicken to pan, saute 5 minutes or until deeply browned.  Turn and cook 4 minutes or until done.  Remove from pan, keep warm.  Add shallots and thyme to pan, saute 30 seconds stirring constantly.  In a small bowl mix 2 T stock and flour stirring with whisk.  Add flour mixture and remaining stock to pan.  Bring to boil, cook 3 minutes or until reduced to 3/4 c; scraping pan to loosen browned bits.  Remove from heat, stir in butter, parsley and tarragon.
To prepare polenta, bring milk and 1/3 c water to a simmer.  Gradually add polenta, stirring constantly with whisk.  Cook 3 minutes or until thick stirring constantly.  Stir in 1/4 t salt.

I am sure I am not alone with eating a lot of chicken.  I am comfortable with chicken, chicken breast is relatively healthy etc. etc.  I actually think chicken breasts are hard to cook -- they tend to be large (I couldn't find a 6 oz breast) -- and it's hard to cook them through without drying them out.  And. of course, they don't have much taste.  So, I am always interested in finding new recipes.

This was a good one.  As I said earlier, my chicken breasts were much larger than 6 oz, which made it harder to cook them (certainly took longer than the recipe suggests), and the thin prosciutto/cheese filling wasn't really enough to flavor them.  I used thyme instead of the tarragon as well.  It's winter, and  herbs are expensive, so I wasn't about to buy a whole package of tarragon just for this one thing.  However, I did use up the entire package of thyme -- which was probably more than the recipe called for.  Oh, and I reduced the butter to 1 tablespoon.  I don't know if it was that, or the "gravy" is really more of a sauce.  Which is fine by me.  

This is a good dish.  A nice alternative to some other chicken options, and not too labor intensive.  I will say though that the true star was the polenta.  I have tried many polenta recipes, and this was by far the best.  It was creamy, and cooking in the milk softened the grittiness (no pun intended).

And another note -- I'll have to take a course on food photography.  This was a pretty dish, but all the pictures I took turned out like beige mush and beige sauce.  I apologize for the lack of pictures, but I didn't want to discourage anyone from trying the recipe :)

Whole Wheat Tortellini with Garlic Sauteed Vegetables

Source:  Buitoni

1 package (9 oz.) refrigerated whole wheat flour cheese tortellini prepared according to package directions
2 T olive oil
1/2 lb fresh green beans
1/2 t salt
1/2 t black pepper
1 yellow summer squash quartered and sliced
1/2 c halved grape or cherry tomatoes
1 T chopped fresh garlic
1/2 c parmesan cheese

Heat oil in a large skillet.  Add green beens and salt and pepper; cook, stirring frequently for 5 minutes. Add squash, stirring frequently for 3 minutes.  Add tomatoes and garlic and cook, stirring frequently for 2 minutes.  Toss in prepared pasta, cook, stirring frequently for 3 minutes.  Sprinkle with cheese.

I know what you are thinking -- weeks of absence, and now two posts in two days?  In my defense, we are snowed in.  It is impossible to go outside.  It's been snowing heavily since last night -- 10 inches or so.  It's bitterly cold.  There is not much left to do at home but cooking.  I also felt like eating some healthy yet comforting.

This was an easy dish to put together.  I had a little extra green beans, I threw that in there too.  And I had a little less cheese, so there was a little less of that.  This is the kind of meal that can change depending on the vegetables you have on hand -- or even the kind of tortellini you use.  The ratio of vegetables and pasta is also roughly equal -- more so than pasta with some vegetables.  It's a delicious meal all around.  It's a perfect meal for when you want to eat something healthy and fresh yet need the comfort and warmth of a pasta dish.  Good solid meatless weeknight dinner.

Biscuits

Source:  Oprah Magazine

1/2 c whipping cream
1 c self rising flour

Mix until crumbly mixture forms.  Roll out -- cut out biscuits.  Bake at 425 for 12-15 minutes.

So I know I suck.  2013 is over and I wrote 38 blogposts instead of 47.  How about my assurance that I made plenty more new recipes?  No?  On the upside, I've decided to continue this blog, continue to push myself to try new recipes and fess up when things don't turn out well, look for suggestions on how to make things better and gloat when things turn out delicious.

As for the latest hiatus, I hope everyone can relate to the craziness of the holiday season.  I had family in from overseas, and not only did I not feel like blogging, but we went out most of the time.

So,  for my return, and start of the new year recipe, I chose this super simple two ingredient biscuit recipe.  Loyal readers of this blog are aware of my quest for a fluffy delicious biscuit.  Spoiler alert -- this recipe was a big fail.  First off, I had to get the self rising flour which is way more expensive than regular flour.  Then, I attempted making this recipe for my family, and with my brother, mother and daughter shouting questions at me all at the same time in two different languages -- well, I got confused, and dumped regular flour into the whipping cream.  I suppose I could have fixed it by adding some baking powder, but I didn't know how much, and just got frustrated and dumped the whole thing.  Then finally, I made the recipe.  I had some trouble getting the dough to stick together.  Then I finally managed to roll it out, and and bake it.  AND THEY DIDN'T RISE!!!  What is up with that?  Self rising flour -- fresh, and it still won't rise????  On the upside, the biscuits were tender and absolutely delicious.... little hockey pucks.  The quest for the fluffy biscuit continues.  Or, I should just take a job at a Cracker Barrel.  It might be an improvement on many fronts, but that's a whole different topic.