Lemon Chicken Primavera

If I haven’t mentioned it before, I LOVE Italian food! Chicken primavera is pretty much a staple of an Italian meal, and I think the lemon just brightens up this dish so much. Of course, I love lemon on just about anything so maybe I’m partial.

This dish is quick to prepare and chock full of veggies. If you don’t have all of the veggies listed, feel free to substitute as needed.

Lemon Chicken Primavera
Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 yellow squash
1 zucchini squash
1 red bell pepper
2 carrots
½ cup green olives, sliced
1 small red onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 pint mushrooms, wiped clean
1 head broccoli crowns
1lb whole wheat penne pasta
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
Olive oil

Directions:
Grill or sauté chicken breasts sprinkled with salt and pepper until just cooked through, remove from heat. Let cool for 5 minutes before slicing into ¼” strips. Cook pasta according to package directions.

Slice all vegetables (unless otherwise noted) to a ¼” slice. In a large skillet over medium-high heat and generously drizzled with olive oil combine all veggies, sprinkle with salt and pepper and quickly, about 2 minutes. Add in the lemon zest and juice and and chicken, cover and remove from heat. Let stand for 5 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine the chicken, veggies and pasta and toss to coat. Serve warm, with fresh grated parmesan cheese.

Enjoy! KC

Ravioli

In my opinion, ravioli is probably one of the most versatile pastas you can make. With endless filling options you really can’t go wrong.

Over the weekend Brent had smoked several chicken quarters that I really needed to use so that is how I came up with the first filling, smoked chicken and sundried tomato. The second was a basic three-cheese filling that is classic and universally loved. The particular sauce I whipped up was light and full of flavor, a perfect complement for the bold taste of the smoked chicken and the light taste of the cheese.

Smoked Chicken and Sundried Tomato Filling
½ cup sundried tomatoes
½ cup marinated artichoke hearts
1 ½ cups smoked chicken, shredded off the bone (approximately 3 chicken quarters)
2 cloves garlic
¼ tsp. salt
½ tsp. fresh ground pepper

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until well combined and there are no large pieces.

Three-Cheese Filling
½ cup cottage cheese
½ cup ricotta cheese
¼ cup shredded parmesan cheese
1 clove garlic, finely minced
¼ tsp. salt
½ tsp. fresh ground pepper
Fresh basil to taste, finely chopped (I used about 4 large leaves)

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and stir to incorporate.

Tomato Sauce
1 28oz can tomato puree
1 zucchini, grated
1 carrot, grated
1 cup finely diced red onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. fresh ground pepper
¼ cup fresh basil, chopped
1 cup chicken stock

In a stockpot coated with olive oil, sauté the onion over medium heat until fragrant, about 5 minutes. Toss in the carrot and zucchini and continue cooking another 2 minutes, then add salt and pepper. Add in the garlic and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Pour in the tomato puree and basil, cover and simmer over medium-low heat for 30 minutes. Let sit off of the heat for 5 minutes and transfer to a food processor. With the speed on low, slowly pour in the chicken stock until sauce is pureed.


To make Ravioli:
1 batch pasta dough
Fillings of your choice
Ravioli press

If you used the pasta dough recipe above, each dough ball will make one dozen ravioli. Roll the dough until it is thin and translucent, and approximately 12” by 8” in size. You can either cut it in half lengthwise or do like I do and lay the left side of the dough over the ravioli press, saving the right side for the end.

When I made this batch, I did chicken on the left side and cheese on the right – that way I always had equal amounts. It is very important not to overfill your mold; otherwise your ravioli will burst (learned the hard way!) When all 12 holes are filled, fold the right side of your dough over the mold and press down gently with your hands to seal. Then, use your rolling pin to seal the dough securely and “cut” the shapes, pulling any excess dough away. Flip the mold over and gently tap on the counter to release the ravioli.

Place completed ravioli on a well-floured cookie sheet or cutting board to dry for one hour, then flip and dry for another hour. When I made this I ended up with 5 dozen ravioli - not including the 2 dozen I made last night. At this point you may freeze it for later use, or toss it into salted, boiling water to cook for 6-8 minutes. Strain well, toss with tomato sauce and sprinkle with extra parmesan cheese.

Love, KC

Trials of Homemade Pasta

Italian food has always been one of my very favorite things in the world. As I’ve gotten older my tastes have matured and I try not to look down on certain chain restaurants, but to me they are never as great as the stand alone ventures. I have been making my own sauces and such from scratch since I moved out on my own about eight years ago, never looking back at anything canned or jarred again, but I have never been brave enough to try to make my own pasta.

My former in-laws back then were from an Italian family, and so I enjoyed watching them cook. Ravioli was my favorite thing to see done, because there was this cool little press that took all of the work out of it. When I came across that same press at Williams Sonoma a few weeks ago, I begged Brent to get it for me for my birthday – so he did. :-) The box said I needed seminola flour so off to Central Market I went (and also picked up some carob chips and powder, but that’s for another post).

My first attempt at the pasta dough was yesterday. I used the exact recipe on the back of the ravioli press box and it was a disaster. So horribly dry that I couldn’t even roll it out, my arms and shoulders ached with the strain. Once I finally got it as thin as it would go it was so dense it could barely get it filled in the press, it wouldn’t dry, and then it was way too chewy when cooked. Brent and LB both thoroughly enjoyed it, but I think the fillings and sauce just masked the dough.

So this morning I decided to do pasta dough, take two, and get rid of all of the excess filling I’d made. After scouring several different sites I just decided to wing it, and hope for the best. My biggest issue yesterday was that the dough was too tough, my guess being because the seminola flour was not very fine, but since I wanted to try and stay as authentic as possible I decided to do a combination of flours. The recipes below are what I came up with, and worked so far today. The dough was much more pliable and I was able to knead it using my stand mixer instead of my hands.

Fresh Pasta Dough
Yield: about 8 tennis-ball sized dough balls

Ingredients:
1 cup seminola flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp. salt
6 whole eggs
4 tbsp. good quality olive oil
4 tbsp. warm water

Directions:
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine all of your ingredients. Start on low speed, allowing all of your wet ingredients to become incorporated, and then turn to speed 4 and let it go for about 10 minutes, or until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl while turning. It needs to be sticky but only to itself. It it’s too sticky, sprinkle some more flour into the bowl. If it’s too dry, add a more drops of warm water. Something as simple as the weather can greatly affect the outcome of your dough, so I’ve learned.

Once your dough has become a ball, place it on a well-floured cutting board and shape into a log. Cut the log into roughly 8 pieces and wrap each tightly with plastic wrap. Rest the covered dough for a half hour on the counter (do not refrigerate).

After 30 minutes, roll out each dough ball individually until thin and translucent. You will want to keep a well-floured surface so that your pasta does not stick to the counter, and flour often. Once your pasta is rolled out, you can do with it as you chose. I made some skinny noodles, some thicker noodles, and some sheets for lasagna. And then I made ravioli (five dozen to be exact).

Your pasta needs to dry before you cook or freeze it. I simply put a yardstick sprinkled with flour between two of my dining room chairs and it worked great. Once the pasta has dried for about 2 hours you can put it in baggies to freeze or cook right away. Depending on the thickness you will only need to cook it for 1-5 minutes, making sure you drop it into salted boiling water. Salt water flavors your pasta!

So that’s it. Today was much more successful than yesterday. The process can be very time consuming but is entirely worth it, and now I really want a pasta roller to save my arms. Maybe Christmas. :-)

Love, KC

PS Here's a cute shot of Oliver when I accidentally bumped the chair and knocked some pieces down. She was in Heaven. :-)