Baked Cheesy Chicken Penne

I found this recipe on Our Best Bites. It is truly fast and easy, but it doesn't taste like something you threw together quickly. A big hit with Marc and Max.

Baked Cheesy Chicken Penne
based on a recipe by Martha Stewart

• 6 tablespoons butter, plus more for baking dishes
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 1 pound penne rigate
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 8 ounces each), halved horizontally
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
• 6 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 6 cups whole milk
• 10 ounces white or cremini mushrooms, trimmed and thinly sliced
• 1 cup sliced oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained
• 1 1/2 cups shredded provolone* (6 ounces) you could also make that 1/2 mozzarella
• 1 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan (about 6 ounces)

1. Preheat oven to 400. Butter two shallow 2-quart baking dishes. If you're going to freeze one, use a disposable foil pan. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta 3 minutes short of al dente; drain pasta and set aside.
2. While pasta is boiling, heat oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Season chicken with salt and pepper; cook until opaque throughout, 3 to 5 minutes per side. Halve each piece lengthwise, then thinly slice crosswise. While chicken pan is still hot, toss the mushrooms in and saute until golden brown (3-4 minutes). Use a little extra olive oil if needed.
3. In a 5-quart Dutch oven or heavy pot (I just use the pot I cooked my pasta in), melt butter over medium. Add flour and garlic; cook, whisking, 1 minute. While whisking constantly, gradually add milk; bring to a simmer. Keep whisking frequently as sauce thickens, about 1 minute more. Add mushrooms and tomatoes; cook 1 minute. take the pan off the heat and and gradually stir in provolone and 1/2 cup Parmesan.
4. Add chicken and pasta to pot; season with salt and pepper to taste. Divide pasta mixture between baking dishes. If freezing, place remaining parmesan cheese in a zip-top baggie. If cooking, sprinkle on top.
5. Bake, uncovered, until top is golden and bubbling, about 25 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Freezer instructions:

To freeze, prepare through step 4 and then let pasta cool. Cover pan well with plastic wrap. Place extra cheese in baggie (for topping) on top and then cover entire pan well with foil. Freeze for up to 3 months. To bake, preheat oven to 400. Remove foil and plastic from pan and set cheese baggie aside. Place foil back on pan and bake for about 1 1/2 hours. Remove foil, stir pasta, and top with cheese. Return pan to oven and bake for an additional 15 minutes or until mixture is hot and bubbly throughout.

Pizza Bianca

This recipe comes from Jim Lahey's My Bread. I find the name misleading, as it is closer to focaccia than what we think of as pizza. Think of naked pizza dough, drizzled with olive oil, coarse salt, and maybe some fresh herbs, and you'll be right on point.

More importantly, it is delicious.

Lucas was gone when we ate it, and I put the last piece in his lunch the next day. He thought he hit the jackpot. (He did.)

Pizza Bianca

3 c. bread flour
1/4 t. yeast
1/2 t. salt
3/4 t. sugar
1 1/2 c. cool water
1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil (plus more for coating the bowl & brushing)
1/2 t. coarse sea salt
3 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves removed (optional)

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, salt, sugar, and yeast. Add the water and, using a wooden spoon or your hand, mix until you have a wet, sticky dough, about 30 seconds. Lightly coat a second medium bowl with olive oil and place the dough in it. Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature, until the surface is dotted with bubbles and the dough is more than doubled in size, about 9-12 hours. (A longer rise would cause the dough to be less elastic, and it needs to stretch.)

When the first rise is complete, generously dust a work surface with flour. The dough will be quite loose and sticky. Using floured hands, fold the dough over itself two or three times and nudge it into a loose, rather flat, ball. Brush the surface of the dough with olive oil and sprinkle with the coarse salt (which will graduately dissolve on the surface.) Let rise until doubled, 1-2 hours.

Half an hour before the end of the second rise, preheat the oven to 500 degrees, with a rack in the center, and place a pizza stone (at least 14" in diameter) in the center of the rack. (If you don't have a pizza stone, use a baking sheet.)

Generously dust a pizza peel with flour and place the ball of dough in the middle. Spread out your fingers like a claw and drive your fingers into the dough, but do not puncture it. You want to simultaneously create dimples in the dough and spread it out across the peel. Continue working your hands across the dough and dimpling it until you have a bumpy disk about 12" in diameter. Drizzle the remaining olive oil over the top and sprinkle with the rosemary leaves, if using.

Shake the pizza onto the baking stone. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the crust is golden brown on the mounds but still pale in the dimples. Transfer to a rack to cool for at least a few minutes before slicing.

Crockpot Potato Soup

This recipe is from A Year of Slow Cooking. I am making friends with my crockpot and loving this blog.

5 lbs potatoes, peeled and diced in 1 to 2-inch chunks
1 small onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced (I use jarred)
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon red pepper (you might want to decrease this for less kick)
2 quarts chicken broth
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, to add at the end (I always use reduced-fat cream cheese)
crumbled bacon, grated cheese, and green onion as garnish

Use a 6 quart or larger slow cooker. Peel and dice the potatoes, and put them into the stoneware. Add onion and garlic. Sprinkle in the seasonings, and pour in the broth. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for 4. The potatoes should be fork-tender. You can use a potato masher to mash the potatoes in the soup, or a hand-held immersible blender. (I left a few chunks in mine.)

After smashing the potatoes, crumble in both packages of cream cheese, and put the lid back on. Cook on high for about 30 minutes, or until the cream cheese is completely dissolved. Stir a few times during the 30 minutes.

Garnish with crumbled bacon, green onion or chives, and cheddar cheese. Serve with homemade bread if you really want to crank up the comfort food factor.

Crockpot Thai Coconut Chicken

Another recipe from A Year of Slow Cooking. Delicious! And Thai doesn't get any easier than this.

1 13.5-oz can coconut milk
1 T brown sugar
1 T soy sauce
1 T Thai red or green chili paste, or more to taste (I used red, and went with 1.5 T)
1 t fish sauce
1 yellow onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1/2 large eggplant
1 sweet potato
chicken thighs (I used 7 frozen boneless, skinless)
1-inch knob of ginger, peeled and grated.

Combine the sauce ingredients: coconut milk, soy sauce, brown sugar, chili paste, and fish sauce in the bottom of your crockpot stoneware. Taste. If you think you need more chili paste, add some, carefully. It's hot stuff!

Add the chicken pieces to the sauce, flipping them over a few times so they get nice and saucy.

Wash and cut the vegetables, and add to the crock.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 4-6. This is done when the chicken is fully cooked and the vegetables have reached desired tenderness.

Serve over white rice.

(The best thing about this was that Marc, Max and I all enjoyed the eggplant! I never cook with it, we didn't think we liked it. We liked it in this.)

Crockpot Apricot Chicken

Another one from A Year of Slow Cooking. Seriously fast and easy, and better than my old apricot chicken recipe! (oops, forgot to take a picture)

11 oz jar of apricot preserves

1 t dried minced onion flakes

1 T dijon mustard

1 T soy sauce

1/4 t ginger

1/4 to 1/2 t red chili flakes

6 chicken thighs or equivalent body parts
a few pecan halves, optional

I used frozen thighs. Drop the chicken into your crockpot.

In a small bowl, mix all the other stuff and pour on top of the chicken.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, high for 4-6--if your chicken isn't frozen, your dinner will cook faster.

Serve with white or brown rice and veggies. (Toss on a few pecan halves if you like. We do.)

Flemish Carbonades

Serves 6
From the Chocolate & Zucchini Cookbook

Note: For deeper flavors, it is best to make the carbonades a day ahead. Gently reheat on the stove the following day before serving.

30g butter
1.5 kg well-trimmed boneless beef chuck, cut in 3cm slices
1/2 t. fine sea salt
1/4 t. freshly ground pepper
3 T. plain flour
1 kg. yellow onions (about 6 medium), sliced
750ml (usually 2 bottles) rich amber ale
3 T. light brown sugar
1 T. fresh thyme or 1 1/2 t. dried thyme
2 bay leaves
3 whole cloves
2 1cm thick slices of day-old peasant style bread, about 60g each
2 T. strong Dijon mustard

Melt the butter over med. heat in a large heavy pot or Dutch oven. Add half of the meat in a single layer and cook 3-4 minutes on each side, until browned. Transfer to a plate and brown the remaining pieces. Return all meat to the pot, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and flour, and stir to coat. Add the onions and stir; the pot will seem quite full. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring regularly to avoid coloring.

Pour in 250ml warm water and scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to deglaze. Pour in the beer and an additional 250ml water; stir, and bring to a simmer.

Add the sugar, thyme, bay leaves, and cloves, and stir. Lower the heat to med. low; cover, and simmer for 2 1/2 hours, stirring every once in a while. An hour into the cooking, spread each slice of bread with a tablespoon of mustard and place at the surface of the stew. The bread will soon be moistened by the steam inside the pot and will fall apart as you stir, giving body to the sauce.

Remove the lid, turn the heat up to medium-high, and cook for 20 more minutes, stirring regularly, until the sauce is thick enough to cling to the meat. Serve hot from the pot, with small steamed potatoes.

Variation: Use pain d'épice instead of bread and mustard. Add 2 T. red wine vinegar as you deglaze the pan; omit the sugar and use 100g pain d'épice (about 3 1cm slices).

**Note: I neglected to stir this frequently enough during the last hour of cooking and it started to stick to the bottom of the pan. I saved it, but it would have been a lot better if that hadn't happened. I'll be more careful next time.

Boeuf Bourguignon I

From the kitchen of Julia Child

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Servings: 6

Difficulty: Difficult [I take issue with the difficult rating. Tedious, yes. Time-consuming, certainly. But not really difficult.]

Cook Time: Over 120 min

This recipe is adapted from "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck (Alfred A. Knopf, 1961)

Ingredients

One 6-ounce piece of chunk bacon (or lardons, if you're lucky enough to find them)

3 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

3 pounds lean stewing beef, cut into 2-inch cubes

1 carrot, sliced

1 onion, sliced

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons flour

3 cups red wine, young and full-bodied (like Beaujolais, Cotes du Rhone or Burgundy)

2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cups brown beef stock

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 cloves mashed garlic

1/2 teaspoon thyme

A crumbled bay leaf

18 to 24 white onions, small

3 1/2 tablespoons butter

Herb bouquet (4 parsley sprigs, one-half bay leaf, one-quarter teaspoon thyme, tied in cheesecloth)

1 pound mushrooms, fresh and quartered

Cooking Directions

Remove bacon rind and cut into lardons (sticks 1/4-inch thick and 1 1/2 inches long). Simmer rind and lardons for 10 minutes in 1 1/2 quarts water. Drain and dry.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Sauté lardons in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a flameproof casserole over moderate heat for 2 to 3 minutes to brown lightly. Remove to a side dish with a slotted spoon. [I don't know that I would bother to boil the lardons and then saute them in oil. Why not just saute them with no added oil to begin with?]

Dry beef in paper towels; it will not brown if it is damp. Heat fat in casserole until almost smoking. Add beef, a few pieces at a time, and sauté until nicely browned on all sides. Add it to the lardons.

In the same fat, brown the sliced vegetables. Pour out the excess fat.

Return the beef and bacon to the casserole and toss with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Then sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly. Set casserole uncovered in middle position of preheated oven for 4 minutes.

Toss the meat again and return to oven for 4 minutes (this browns the flour and coves the meat with a light crust).

Remove casserole and turn oven down to 325 degrees.

Stir in wine and 2 to 3 cups stock, just enough so that the meat is barely covered.

Add the tomato paste, garlic, herbs and bacon rind. Bring to a simmer on top of the stove.

Cover casserole and set in lower third of oven. Regulate heat so that liquid simmers very slowly for 3 to 4 hours. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily.

While the beef is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms.

Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons butter with one and one-half tablespoons of the oil until bubbling in a skillet.

Add onions and sauté over moderate heat for about 10 minutes, rolling them so they will brown as evenly as possible. Be careful not to break their skins. You cannot expect them to brown uniformly.

Add 1/2 cup of the stock, salt and pepper to taste and the herb bouquet.

Cover and simmer slowly for 40 to 50 minutes until the onions are perfectly tender but hold their shape, and the liquid has evaporated. Remove herb bouquet and set onions aside.

Wipe out skillet and heat remaining oil and butter over high heat. As soon as you see butter has begun to subside, indicating it is hot enough, add mushrooms.

Toss and shake pan for 4 to 5 minutes. As soon as they have begun to brown lightly, remove from heat.

When the meat is tender, pour the contents of the casserole into a sieve set over a saucepan.

Wash out the casserole and return the beef and lardons to it. Distribute the cooked onions and mushrooms on top.

Skim fat off sauce in saucepan. Simmer sauce for a minute or 2, skimming off additional fat as it rises. You should have about 2 1/2 cups of sauce thick enough to coat a spoon lightly.

If too thin, boil it down rapidly. If too thick, mix in a few tablespoons stock. Taste carefully for seasoning.

Pour sauce over meat and vegetables. Cover and simmer 2 to 3 minutes, basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce several times.

Serve in casserole, or arrange stew on a platter surrounded with potatoes, noodles or rice, and decorated with parsley.