In the Kitchen With Mattie

Archive for January, 2010

Hubby works a long shift on Saturdays so I have dinner alone and use that time to eat things that I like and he doesn’t, I also usually bring him something to eat so he doesn’t have to go in search of something outside. I happen to like to indulge in something with a cream sauce once in a while, hubby doesn’t like anything with cream sauce so I save this once every three month splurge for those nights I eat alone. I wasn’t planning on tonight being my splurge night but the dish came about from the little bits and things I had here in the fridge, I was going to have the one lonely chicken breast I had here but then got to really looking in the fridge to see what I could have with it and WA-LA this is what I came up with.   Because I love vegetables I guess you could say this is a little better than just having the alfredo without any veggies, but you shouldn’t probably be eating alfredo in the first place if you are trying to be healthy. However once every three months or so I am sure will not be the thing that kills me so I will continue to enjoy my little splurge!

                                     Penne Alfredo With Grilled Chicken and Veggies

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast grilled and diced

1 cup mixed veggies, I used broccoli, peas, carrots and sun dried tomatoes

       I had these already cooked from dinners during the week, use any

       combination you have on hand

1 clove roasted garlic (one of those things I always have in the fridge)

1 tablespoon butter

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1 cup fresh grated parmigiano reggiano, use the best and grate it fresh, you’re worth it

4 ounces penne or other pasta, cooked al dente, drained and rinsed

fresh ground pepper, salt if needed

Put the cream, garlic,fresh ground pepper and butter into a medium skillet and place over medium high heat, bring to a boil and then lower to a brisk simmer. Simmer for 5-10 minutes, until it begins to thicken.  When it has thickened a little add the pasta and cook for 5 minutes, add the chicken and vegetables and simmer until they heat through. Remove from the heat and put about 3/4 of the parmesan into the pan with the pasta, mix it well into the pasta and sauce, taste to see if it needs salt, chances are the parmesan is salty enough. Place pasta on plate and top with more parmesan……….sit and enjoy the splurge.

Now, before I get a ton of emails telling me that these are not authentic fajitas, let me say………I am aware of that fact. That being said this is what we here at home call our version of fajitas and we like them just the way they are.

Hubby was in the mood for these tonight and asked me if I felt like making them for him and I agreed too, I would rather make them here at home for him than to have him go out and get something literally loaded with salt and other things that he shouldn’t be loading up on because of his blood pressure. His doctor has even mentioned that since I have tried to feed him more meals at home his BP has gone down to some great numbers for a man his age, they say 120/80 is good but his is a little lower than that so he’s really doing great! Yay!  for being a little more careful of the things we put in our mouths. Neither one of us is a fan of heavy cumin tasting foods and I found a nice Mexican spice blend that isn’t loaded with sodium or cumin but that has a nice mild taste, there is a picture of the bottle below. I found the spice in TJMAXX where I find a lot of things that the local grocery stores never seem to have.

                                                           Our Fajitas

1 pound flank steak, seasoned on both sides with 1 tablespoon of spice mix

1 red and 1 yellow pepper, sliced into 8ths

1 large onion cut into thin wedges

for garnish diced tomatoes, shredded lettuce, shredded cheese, sour cream

large flour tortillas, heated briefly in oven or large skillet

Heat a large skillet over medium heat for 5 minutes, when hot add 1 tablespoon oil, let oil heat and then add steak. Sear steak on first side for 5 minutes then turn to second side. Let steak continue to cook on second side for 5 minutes and remove from pan, let rest 10 minutes. To the same pan add 1 tablespoon oil and the peppers and onions, saute until the get some color and start to soften. While the peppers are cooking slice the steak very thinly on an angle, remove the peppers from the pan to a platter with the rest of the garnishes and add the steak back to the pan to heat it thru, place steak on the platter and serve with the heated tortillas for everyone to assemble their own fajitas.

See this can…….keep your eyes out for it. I bought this back in October when I visited my sister up in North Carolina and finally used it this week. WOW, these were some great tomatoes, no bitterness at all and a nice taste straight from the can. I managed to find them locally too and will pick up a case of them this week. Why a case? Because it seems that whenever I find something that will work for a lot of the dishes I make it just seems to disappear from the store shelves to make way for something inferior. By picking up a case I will be sure to have them on hand for at least a little while. Try a can if you see them at your local market, I hope you will enjoy them as much as I do. I think they would even make a nice sauce, with seasonings added, for our home made pizzas. Let me know how you like them if you try them.

     I haven’t made chicken cacciatore for a few years now but hubby requested it last night for dinner tonight. Thankfully, I already had all the ingredients here in the house, I even got to use up the last package of those chicken thighs that I bought earlier in the week. I used the electric digital pressure cooker for making it, 20 minutes on low pressure and it was done, the sauce came out tasting amazing. I tried a new to me brand of tomatoes  (Pastene Brand Crushed) and I will definitely be on the lookout for them again, absolutely no bitterness in them and a great fresh taste. I bought this particular can in North Carolina when we visited my sister back in October but recently I have seen the same ones at a local store so I will go over there and pick up a case before they stop carrying them………they always seem to stop carrying any product that I find that we like so when I do find something I tend to buy a lot of it, consequently people coming in the house think we are survivalists which is not the case, I just hate going to the store and finding that they are no longer carrying something we like.

     If you don’t have a pressure cooker I really think you should consider getting yourself one. Most people remember their moms having one of the older ones and the horror stories about them blowing up. Well, this is the new century and they have come a long way baby! You can get an inexpensive stovetop model (I love the Fagor brand and have several sizes of this brand) or you can really treat yourself and get one of the new generation digital electric models, with the electric model you will set it and forget it, it will cook your meal and go to a keep warm setting when it is finished, I have 3 of the electric ones right now, all of mine are sold on QVC. My latest digital one also can be used as a slow cooker so it is like having several appliances in one. Fagor has a digital one that also has several different functions to it and people I know who have and use it rave about it, if any of mine ever go belly up I will definitely look into getting one of these, based on their reports and how well my original almost 20 year old Fagor stove top models have performed and held up after lots of use. Now onto tonights dinner……………………

                                               Chicken Cacciatore with Buccatini

1 whole chicken cut up into serving pieces, seasoned with salt and pepper

      tonight I used a bunch of chicken thighs that were on sale

1 medium or large onion diced

3 cloves fresh garlic, smashed

1-2 sweet peppers diced

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

8 ounces dry red wine

28 ounce can crushed tomatoes

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon fresh oregano leaves

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon capers drained

1 pound pasta, I used buccatini tonight which is long thick pasta with a     

    hole in the center

Trim all the fat from the chicken, remove the skin if prefered (I removed the skin on half of our chicken pieces). Dice the onions, peppers and assemble all the rest of the ingredients.  Brown the chicken pieces well in a little oil then set aside to drain. Add the onions, garlic and pepper to the pan and saute for a few minutes. Add the chicken back to the pot and pour in the wine, add the oregano, salt, crushed red pepper and the parsley. Pour the can of tomatoes over the top of all but DON’T stir it into the mixture. Put the top on the pressure cooker and set the pressure to low and the timer to 20 minutes, at the end of the cook time let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes while you cook the pasta then do a fast pressure release if all the pressure hasn’t released when the pasta is ready, add the capers to the sauce and stir in. Drain the pasta and put into a warmed bowl, spoon some of the sauce over it and mix it together then top with the chicken and more sauce, sprinkle with some grated cheese and a little parsley if desired.

     If you cook this on top of the stove in a regular pot then figure on about an hour of cooking time.

Years ago we would never eat anything but chicken breasts, now we rarely eat them anymore unless I spend the time to brine them so they stay moist while cooking.  Now a days we often have chicken thighs instead, the meat is succulent and it helps that the price is often less than half that of the breasts. This past week one of our local stores had large thighs at 55 cents a pound, I picked up two large packages at that price, each containing 9-10 big thighs. When we got home from shopping I took one pack and set about marinating them for dinner, I baked them but you could also grill them.

                                                     Marinated Chicken Thighs

Into a gallon size zip lock bag put:

1 cup dry white wine

2 cloves garlic smashed

1/2 cup italian dressing (I used the zesty italian bottled)

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons smoked paparika

Into a one gallon zip lock bag put the garlic, dressing, wine, smoked paparika and pepper, add cleaned and trimmed chicken thighs to bag and close tightly.  Make sure chicken is well coated with the mixture. Refridgerate for 3-6  hours, turning over every hour. Remove from fridge and drain off and discard marinade, place drained thighs on sheet pan and sprinkle with a little more smoked paparika. Bake at 350 degrees until done. If preferred you can also cook on a medium grill, have a spray bottle containing water handy for flare ups. These come out tasting great with a very crispy skin and moist meat. Leftovers make a great cold salad the next day.