Cooking, instead of studying.....

Who says that procrastination can't be constructive? This weekend was pretty quiet so what's a girl to do? Homework in either Algebra or English? - no. Cleaning? - no. Cooking? - Yes!!! Side note - I did do the homework anyway, I just didn't want to.

It had been ages since I made chicken parmesan so, raise your glasses to the winner winner chicken dinner (get it?), Chicken Parmesan and it's side kick, pasta pomodoro! We begin with the chicken parm. I did something that I don't usually do...I winged it. Or rather, combined and winged a couple of recipes together to create what I wanted my chicken parm to taste like. I already knew that the nut crusted chicken was super juicy and moist...okaaaaaay. Change the spices around a bit and bam! You have a flavorful crispy baked chicken breast that can be easily turned into chicken parm (simply add sauce and cheese).

For the chicken, I took regular chicken breasts and dredged them in seasoned flour (you must season your flour), then egg (plain old egg), and then a combination of shallot, garlic, parsley and panko which had been slightly toasted in a fry pan. I think the trick is to toast the bread crumb mixture. It adds a nuttiness that you don't get otherwise. The panko is crunchy already, but it is essentially flavorless. Then bake at 350 for about 40 minutes or until an instant read thermometer reads 160 farenheight NOT celcius(refer to the salmon blog for the joke which is on me). Top with sauce and mozzerella cheese, broil and done!

Chicken Parmesan (I am making this up as I go along..)

4 Boneless chicken breasts 4 cloves garlic minced
1/4 onion minced (I put mine in a food processor with the garlic so Chris can't bite down into a piece of onion or he freaks out)
3 tbl fresh italian parsley minced(I never use the curly kind, yuck)
1/4 cup grated (not shredded) parmesan cheese
1-1/2 cups panko
3 tbl olive oil red sauce
mozzerella cheese
1 tbl italian seasoning
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs beaten
Ok, let me think.... Preheat oven to 350 Take chicken breasts, trim them of extra fat and yuckiness, sprinkle with kosher salt and stick in the refrigerator. I don't know why..the recipe I adapted just said to do it and it has always tasted good so I don't ask questions. Mince the garlic and onion and saute in the olive oil for about 5 minutes or so. You don't want it to get brown, just soft. Add the panko and cook on medium low heat stirring between constantly and occasionally until lightly golden brown. Once golden brown, remove from heat and let cool on paper towel for a bit. Add chopped parsley and parmesan cheese. Prepare three shallow dishes (I use pie plates). One with the eggs beaten, one with the flour and italian seasoning, and one with the panko mixture. Take your chicken breasts and first dredge them in the flour, then egg, then panko. Put on a wire baking rack set on a sheet pan. Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes until an instant read thermometer says 160. Remove from oven. Top each chicken breast with whatever sauce you have, mozzerella cheese and broil in the oven until the cheese is melted and starting to become golden. YUM!

Pasta pomodoro..and also the sauce I put on the chicken.
Again, let me think.
Ingredients:
28 oz can of tomatoes
1 medium onion minced
4 cloves garlic minced
pinch of red pepper flakes
pinch of sugar 5 basil leaves
1/4 olive oil 2 tbl butter
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 lb buccotini(like spaghetti only like a tube) or spaghetti

Puree the tomatoes, set aside. Saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil until soft. add the red pepper flakes and pureed tomatoes. simmer until slightly thickened, about 5-8 minutes (totally guessing). Take off heat and add the basil leaves and sugar. Boil the pasta in salted water until almost soft. Reserve about 1 cup of the pasta water. Remove the basil from the sauce, add the almost done pasta and a bit of the pasta water to loosen the sauce. Finish cooking the pasta in the sauce adding pasta water as needed to thin the sauce. When it's done (5 minutes later) take off the heat and add the parmesan cheese and butter. Stir until butter is melted. Serve. Oh, before I added the pasta to the sauce, I ladled some sauce on the chicken...

Chris stopped by Borrichinis today for supplies including fresh bread. What does fresh bread need? Roasted garlic butter, that's what!

Take 1 head of garlic (or more, whatever) and slice the top 1/3 off it. Drizzle with olive oil, wrap loosely in foil and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the garlic looks opaque and is starting (key, starting) to brown. I learned the hard way that if it gets browner than just "starting" then it's burned and bitter. Yuck. Ok, take your roasted, sweet - not bitey garlic cloves and mash them with softened unsalted butter and BAM! Roasted garlic butter to spread on your bread. Just like Lombardis only you can wear yoga pants to dinner!
The garlic and butter prior to the mashing...

Yummy dinner!

Foot note - My formatting has mashed itself together seriously 3 times while writing this!!! If you see places where it looks like there should be a space or new paragraph...you are probably right! I am seriously sick and tired of taking the time to make paragraphs only to have it become one large paragraph grrr..