Chicken Tortellini

Chicken Spinach Tortellini

So in the never-ending quest to learn how to make pasta properly (my pasta is consistently too wet) there comes a time to learn more shapes than ribbon and ravioli (two ribbons) So my first time making tortellini from scratch. Went smoother than expected....

Ingredients
-Fresh Pasta
-

Creation

So first the filling. I shredded chicken with spinach and wine. Made way to much... as usual.

Too much tasty.

Now its time for the pasta. Same as for making ravioli. Needs to be rolled out thinner than usual. Not sure if I got it thin enough.. however the process to for making then is amatuerly photographed as follows.

Step 1. Fill.

Step 2. Fold.

Step 3. Pinch

Step 4. Pinch again

Step 5. Admire

Now its time to make a sauce. Since my chicken was purposely made a little briney, I made the sauce with a tiny bit of chicken , cream and mozzarella.

Very creamy... couldn't be cause of the cream...

And that is that boil, toss... cook through... and serve. Now in hindsight using the filling as the sauce base will make the dish one-dimensional so next time I have a plan. 

Also don't forget if you make too much, either on purpose or accidentally, just freeze it. Fresh pasta stores well in freezer for a couple weeks... that way you can pop it out and make...

Chicken Pappardelle

Chicken Pappardelle with Leeks and Bacon

So I went to a nice Italian Restaurant and had an awesome Chicken Carbonara. So of course I would wake up the next day thinking I could do it better right? Well I did, but it kinda became this instead on a carbonara. It was still very good though. 

Ingredients
-Fresh Pasta
-Shredded Chicken
-Leeks
-Garlic
-Bacon
-White Wine
-Half 'n Half

Creation
First make the ribbon pasta. You can follow my own recipe or do your own. Not a big deal, but when you get to the stage where you let it rest is where all the cooking comes in.

Still one of the best smells ever.

Get the bacon nice and crispy and reserve all the rendered fat. Well you don't have to reserve it all, but I did. cause I didn't want to pour off such delicious stuff.

Bottom half of one leek plus about three? garlic cloves

Chop the veges and get them in the pot to saute quickly. Don't want to burn the garlic. That would be bad. Very bad. Plus there is more to come.

Now add the chicken. I just happened to have shredded chicken from the day before, which I made by boiling a chicken breast till it was done.. I guess. Only about 30min or something. Not sure. It was fully cooked. Then I took to forks and shredded it by pulling with the grain. That way you don't get chunks but shreds. Probably should have took pictures...

Very bright and green. Just wait till the red comes from the bacon

Yep, get all that in there and then add a dash of white wine. Wait for that to boil off and then add cream, salt and pepper to taste. Let that simmer while the pasta is made.

Cutting the pasta

Yep now time to roll out the pasta. Should have only taken about 30min to do everything else. Maybe and if you noticed that it seems that the ration of chicken to pasta is a little off... it is. There is a bunch more chicken if you followed the measurements I gave for the pasta.

Unroll it

 Unroll it and let it rest a tiny bit and then cook for about a min. Toss in the topping and done... and yes I do almost always toss pasta in sauce first.

And there you have it... Mmmm

Simple(ish).. but it taste very fresh and of course is..

Chicken and Beans

Chicken and Green Beans

This is an old 'what can I make with these things' type recipe back when I was setting off the fire alarm every month. New to fresh green beans, I didn't know what I was getting into. Now rice and green beans are in most of my dishes. Also before I knew how to take a picture...

Ingredients

-Chicken Breast
-Green Beans
-Half 'n Half

Creation
This is definitely a more Italian-style dish, due to the simplicity and leaving the integrity of the ingredients. Nothing but a salt and pepper sear on the chicken completely cooked on stove to make it really crunchy.

Boiled green beans with a little salt and lemon pepper. Very quick to make sure they still have a bite and the sauce. What I call White Sauce. Its a butterless reduction to maximize the whiteness. Plate and serve.

Simple, Tasty, and..

Poblano Penne

Penne Pasta with a Poblano Pepper Sauce

Now isn't that a mouthful? That's a lot of P's for a dish that is as simple as ABC... I'll let that sink in a bit. I had a Poblano left over from a recipe I'll put up here eventually, but I had no meat. So what to do? Pasta is always on hand and so should some form of milk be, this day would be half 'n half (The base of my white sauce). So what to do... what to do... how about a Poblano Bechamel? Nah... just a regular sauce will do. No need to bring mothers into it.

Ingredients
-Penne Pasta

-A Poblano Pepper

-Half 'n Half
-Sweet Onion
-Garlic
-Parsley

Creation
One thing I really don't like to see is "First cook pasta to al dente... drain.. set aside." I dunno. I have a problem with cooking pasta and then letting it dry out while I cook everything else, who knows maybe I'm just crazy, which is also always an option.

So, first thing first, begin bringing a pot of water to a boil but leave that pasta alone! Or I will find you... and link you to the previous paragraph.

Dice the onion and saute of medium heat to carmelize. Add a little salt to help bring out the juices. The sweetness is needed to compliment the peppers.

Mince the garlic and the dice the pepper sans seeds. Once the onions have become a little brown and sweet dump the garlic and peppers in the pan. Now is when we begin thinking about the pasta. Drop the past and stir in half 'n half to the peppers.

I should note that I don't use measurements. Its all by feel, but we are going for a thick bechamel type sauce... sans roux.

It takes about 10min to cook pasta to al dente and about that same amount of time to reduce half 'n half. Once pasta is done toss in sauce and then serve on plate. Garish with parsley is you are fancy. Now look at that. No standing pasta... and yet..