Lemon Chicken Artichoke Pasta

I love a challenge. When we go out to dinner and my husband tries a new dish that he enjoys, he is always asking me if I could make it at home.

So, I head to the kitchen to recreate the meal. Frequently, I am able to capture the essence of the dish, even if the delivery is slightly different. Such is the case with this recipe. When he had it at the restaurant, the sauce was thicker and creamier than what I produced, but still this dish was full of flavor. I loved the contrast of the sundried tomatoes and the lemon sauce. It just felt like such a fresh dish. (Of course, this was take two, as I managed to lose the recipe I jotted down last time I made it)

1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Minced Garlic
3/4# Chicken Breast, cut into bite size pieces
1/3 c Lemon Juice
1 1/2 c Chicken Broth
1/2 c Sundried Tomatoes, reconstituted
1 can Artichoke Hearts, quartered
1/3 c White Wine
2 Tbsp Corn Starch
2 Tbsp Butter
1 # pasta, cooked

Saute the minced garlic in the olive oil. Add the chicken and cook until no longer pink in the middle. Add the Lemon Juice, Chicken Broth, Sundried Tomatoes and Artichoke Hearts. Allow to simmer and the liquids to reduce. Combine the white wine and corn starch, whisk to combine. Reduce heat and add the wine and corn starch. Allow to simmer and the sauce to thicken. Remove from heat and add butter. Once incorporated, add the pasta. Serve, topped with Parmesan cheese.

Pumpkin Sherbert

I am a big fan of pumpkin. In the fall, I make a variety of dishes using pumpkin (most of them desserts and snacks). I like to use the whole pumpkin - seeds and pulp.

The other day, a friend at work forwarded a recipe for Pumpkin Sherbert. I just knew that I had to try it. She had found it at skinnytaste.com, I tweaked it slightly.

2 1/4 c milk
2/3 c sugar
1 c pumpkin (canned or puree)
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
pinch of clove
pinch of salt

In a saucepan, combine milk, sugar and pumpkin. Heat over medium heat to a full boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for a minute.

Remove from heat and add in vanilla and spices.

Allow it to cool and use an ice cream freezer - follow the instructions for your freezer.

I made mine in a bowl. I poured the mixture into a shallow bowl and placed it in the freezer. Every hour or two, I came back and stirred the mixture. It took about 8 hours to freeze to a sherbert consistency. This approach makes a more grainy sherbert, because of the way you disrupt the crystal structure at longer intervals and over more time, compared to the constant disruption in an ice cream freezer.

Ciabatta Bread

Lately, we have been striking out when it comes to buying bread. Last time my husband went to Panera to get bread, they were out. Not sure how a business seemingly based on bread runs out of bread hours before they close, but they did.

I have been talking about trying to make Ciabatta at home for some time. I did a quick search of the internet looking for recipes to try. Many of them involved a sponge, which, since I thought I was eating it for dinner on Sunday would not work, since it was already after noon.

I found a recipe here and read through all of the feedback, which resulted in a few tweaks to the recipe. There are a few more that I might try next time, like adding a little rosemary to the batch.

Ciabatta Bread
1 1/2 cups water
1 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp white sugar
3 1/4 c bread flour
1/4 c all-purpose flour
2 1/4 tsp yeast

Layer ingredients in pan of bread machine. Select dough cycle and start.

Remove dough from bread machine pan, it will be a little sticky, onto lightly floured surface. Cover and allow to rest for 15 minutes.

Divide dough into two pieces and shape into two ovals on a floured baking sheet. Dimple the surface and sprinkle with flour. Cover and allow to rise for 45 minutes. Dimple again.

Bake at 425 for 25 - 30 minutes. After 10 minutes, spritz dough with water for a crispier crust.

I was very pleased with the result of the bread. It wasn't as sour as a standard ciabatta, but still had the right amount of air pockets and a good crispy crust and chewy center. It was so yummy, enjoyed warm - we ate about half a loaf this way. The rest was enjoyed at dinner the next night, where we served it with olive oil and seasoning dip.

Banana Cherry Loaf

Banana bread has been a long time favorite of mine. I don't eat nuts, so my banana bread is typically simply banana bread. On occasion, I have been known to add chocolate chips to my banana bread, but not much else. Yesterday, I decided to add some cherries to the banana bread. I think the result was absolutely delicious. I think that next time, I might try this recipe with Blueberries.

Banana Cherry Loaf
1/2 c shortening
1 c sugar
2 eggs
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 1/2 c flour, divided
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 c cherries, pitted and halved

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a loaf pan.

Cream shortening and sugar.

Add the eggs one at a time. Add the bananas and mix well. Add 1 1/4 c flour, baking soda and salt. Mix thoroughly.

Add the 1/4 c flour to the cherries and gently toss to coat. Add to the batter and fold in.

Pour into pan and bake about 55 minutes, until the center is set.

Some notes:
I used a whisk, but you could use a mixer.
I sprinkled the top of the loaf with a little bit of cinnamon and sugar.
The cherries fell towards the bottom, I'm thinking that quartering them might leave them more dispersed in the loaf.

Cole Slaw

When I was first married, we would buy Cole Slaw at the grocery store when we were having fish. Then, one day, when cabbage was on sale, I decided to give a try of making it on my own. It was surprisingly simple to make and I no longer have to worry about the celery seed that is in many varieties of cole slaw.

Getting a nice shred on the cabbage is something that is important to me. I cut in both directions to get nice small pieces of cabbage as my base.

Cole Slaw
Shredded Cabbage - about 16 oz
1/2 cup Mayonnaise
1 Tbsp Sugar
1 Tbsp Vinegar
Salt and Pepper to taste

Combine the mayonnaise, sugar and vinegar. Pour over the shredded cabbage and stir. Season to taste.

I find that it is best to make the slaw up the night before. It just gets to be creamier and more flavorful when it sits in the refrigerator over night.

Salisbury Steak

Salisbury Steak is one of those dishes that I have always enjoyed, but generally only ever have as part of a frozen meal. Looking for some new flavors to interject into our menu, I decided to try some Salisbury Steak for dinner. I had my ideas about how to make a Salisbury Steak and as I looked across various sites, discovered that I was headed in the right direction.

20 oz Ground Turkey (you could use beef)
1 can French Onion Soup
1/2 c breadcrumbs
1 egg
1 tsp minced garlic
salt and pepper, to taste
flour, for dredging
1/4 c white wine
1 small onion sliced
1/4 c ketchup
1 tsp Worcestershire
1/4 c water
brown gravy, packet prepared as directed or canned

In a bowl, combine the turkey, 1/2 the can of soup, the breadcrumbs, egg, garlic, salt and pepper. Shape into patties (I got about 8). Place flour on plate, dredge the patties in the flour.

Add a small amount of oil to a skillet. Add the patties and brown on both sides. Remove from pan.

Deglaze the pan with the white wine. Reduce heat to medium and add the onions and the remaining flour from the plate. Allow to saute for a couple of minutes.

Combine the remaining soup, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, water and gravy. Whisk together until smooth. Add to the pan.

Place the patties back into the pan and allow to cook for about five more minutes.

Serve with mashed potatoes or buttered noodles.

I really enjoyed this dish, as did my kids. My husband was not a big fan. I should say that he doesn't like meatloaf and the gravy tasted very meatloaf like to me. I likely would omit the ketchup next time, in hopes that it would be more appealing to my husband.

Blueberry Buckle

When my husband and I bought our first house, we became friends with our neighbors. They were older than us (their kids were older than us, if I recall correctly), but we would still get together with them from time to time, usually for dinner.

Shortly before we moved away, we had them over to dinner one last time. I made a salad and a chicken dish for dinner. It was summertime and blueberries were in season, so I found a recipe using blueberries for dessert. It turned out that it was very much like a coffee cake, but made in a springform pan. (of course, I had to replace my cheap springform pan after this dish because the blueberries affected the surface of the pan.)

Blueberry Buckle
1/2 c butter
2 c all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 c sugar
1 egg
1/2 c milk
1 tsp vanilla
5 c blueberries
Streusal Topping (recipe below)

Heat oven to 350. Butter and flour a 10" springform pan.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Reduce mixer speed to low and add egg and vanilla. Alternate adding the flour mixture and the milk. Gently fold in the berries.

Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle streusal topping over cake. Bake for 60-70 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Remove the springform pan and allow to cool 15 more minutes before serving.

Streusal Topping
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 c brown sugar
1 c flour
6 tbsp butter

Mix dry ingredients. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or fork until a fine crumbs form.

This post shared at Ultimate Recipe Swap Dessert Edition.

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