Cold-Weather Cooking: Farfalle with Chicken, Mushrooms, and Roasted Red Peppers

When temperatures drop down to single digits, it’s only natural to be inclined to cook hearty dishes with rich, buttery sauces! This recipe, which uses dark meat chicken, roasted red peppers, meaty Portobello mushrooms, and fiber-packed chickpeas, is simple to prepare and immensely satisfying. Bundle up, head to the market and pick up these easy-to-find ingredients, and once you've thawed out, put this on the stove. Serve with lots of Chardonnay!


Farfalle with Chicken, Mushrooms, and Roasted Red Peppers

16 oz. / 455 g. dry farfalle
Splash olive oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1-2 large shallots, sliced
1 head garlic, roasted*
4-5 large Portobello mushrooms, diced
2-3 large red peppers, roasted and minced*
1 15-oz.can chickpeas (do not drain)
2 bay leaves
3 whole cloves
Pinch dried rosemary
½ c. Chardonnay
½ c. light cream
Pat butter
Salt and pepper, to taste
Cayenne pepper, to taste (optional)


Cook the pasta in heavily salted water. In the meantime, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large, heavy-bottomed pot. Add the chicken and brown for a few minutes, then add the shallot and garlic and continue to cook for another 3-5 minutes.

Next, add the mushrooms, red peppers, chickpeas, bay leaves, cloves, rosemary, and wine. Cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

When the chicken is fully cooked, add the cream, butter, salt and pepper, and cayenne (if using). Blend well, then add the cooked pasta. Mix well, and serve piping hot.

*Note: For instructions on roasting garlic and peppers, click here. When selecting peppers for roasting, choose peppers that are long rather than round and boxy. I don’t know why, but they seem to yield a more flavorful roasted pepper!

* Nutritional info: serves six. 624 calories, 16 g fat, 75 g carbohydrates, 47 g protein.

 

MSPCA Bake Sale, Canine Crumpets





This is what 500 Canine Crumpets looks like!



Whew! 14 hours, 500 canine crumpets, 60 biscotti, and 40 slices of roasted garlic foccacia later, and I am finally done preparing for the MSPCA’s Halloween Bake Sale! This was a lot more time-consuming than I thought it would be, so if I decide to do this again I‘ll definitely try to bribe a few friends to help out. After an entire day of baking, I’m fried!

Two of the recipes I made have been featured in previous posts, but I will repost them, along with a new recipe, Canine Crumpets. This is not an original recipe (I found it online here), but I did tweak it a little, adding more parsley after a suggestion in Natural Dog Magazine. These doggie biscuits are very easy to make, although you might have to hunt for some of the ingredients, such as soy flour. Dogs love them - Tessie, my roommate’s dog, will jump almost four feet in the air for one of these things, and when I take them to the shelter for the dogs on the adoption floor, even the pickiest dogs perk right up for one of these!

Dogs are man’s best friend; bake a batch of these and you’ll be their best friend!

Canine Crumpets

½ pound chicken livers
1 cup chicken stock
½ cup corn oil
¼ c. chopped parsley
1 cup powdered milk
1 cup rolled oats
½ cup brewer’s yeast
1 cup soy flour
1 cup cornmeal
3 cups whole wheat flour

Preheat the oven to 350. Slice the chicken livers into smaller pieces and cook them over high heat in a frying pan. When they are fully cooked through, place them in a blender with the chicken stock, corn oil, and parsley. Blend until liquefied.

In a large mixing bowl, combine all remaining ingredients and mix well. Add the chicken liver puree and mix again, using your hands - the dough will be very stiff.

When dough is completely mixed, break off a tennis-ball section, wrapping the rest in plastic. Take the dough ball and roll it into a quarter-inch thick sheet. Using a small cookie cutter, cut into shapes and place on a baking sheet lined with foil. Bake them 16-20 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool completely, then transfer to a plastic container. They will keep longer if stored in the refrigerator.

Pumpkin Pecan Biscotti

3 ½ c. unbleached all-purpose flour
2 ½ t. baking powder
½ t. salt
¼ cup melted butter
1 ¼ c. sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg whites
1 cup grated raw pumpkin
1 cup toasted and chopped pecans
1 t. vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 375. Combine the first three ingredients in a mixing bowl; set aside.

In a separate bowl, beat all remaining ingredients with a mixer until well-blended. Stir in the flour mixture until flour is fully incorporated and a moist dough is formed.

Lightly dust a countertop and your hands with flour. Divide the dough in half, shape each half into a log shape (about 11 x 1.5 inches). Place both logs on a cookie sheet lightly greased with butter and flatten them slightly. Bake for 25 minutes. When done, set aside to cool enough to handle.


Once logs are cool, transfer them to a cutting board and slice them crosswise into half-inch thick slides. Return the slices, cut side down, to the baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the baking sheets from the oven, turn the slices over, and bake for 10 more minutes or until they begin to turn golden-brown.

Let cool, serve dunked in hot coffee.


Roasted Garlic Focaccia

For dough starter:
2/3c. warm water
2.5t. active dry yeast
1c. flour

For dough:
2.5c. unbleached flour, plus extra for dusting
1 head roasted garlic
1/3c. water
1/3c. olive oil, plus extra to grease bowl and pan
1/3c. white wine
1t. salt

Olive oil, salt, and oregano for topping
Equipment: two large mixing bowls, cookie sheet lined w/ aluminum foil, water-filled cake pan

First, make the dough starter. In a mixing bowl, combine 2/3c. warm water and the yeast. Cover with a dish towel and let this sit for 10 minutes or until the water looks murky and bubbly around the edges.

Next, add 1c. of the flour to the bowl. Stir until all the flour is incorporated into the water and a sticky dough forms. Again, cover with a dish towel and let this sit for 30 minutes. During this time, the dough should puff up a little. Use this time to remove the individual cloves from a head of roasted garlic – if the individual cloves are soft like a paste, set them aside. If any are still a little firm, chop them up a bit and set aside. Also, coat the inside of the clean mixing bowl with a splash of olive oil and set aside.

Now it’s time to make the dough. Add 2.5c. flour, prepared roasted garlic, 1/3c. water, olive oil, white wine, and salt to the mixing bowl containing the dough starter. Combine all until fully incorporated and dough is formed. Turn the dough out onto a clean countertop dusted with flour, and knead the dough for 8-10 minutes, dusting the countertop with more flour if the dough starts to stick.

Once the kneading is complete, put the ball of dough into the mixing bowl coated with olive oil. Cover with a dish towel and set aside to rise for approximately one hour, or until the dough has doubled in size. In the meantime, line the cookie sheet with aluminum foil and grease the foil with a splash of olive oil.

Once the dough has risen, turn it out onto the greased cookie sheet. Stretch the dough so that it covers the cookie sheet. Once the dough has stretched, use your fingertips to create “dimples” in the dough – the surface should not be even. Be careful not to poke holes in the dough – small craters will do the trick. Once you’ve dimpled the dough, cover it with the dish towel and let it rise for an additional 45 minutes. Use this time to preheat the oven to 425, placing a water-filled cake pan on the bottom rack of the oven (this creates steam inside the oven).

Once the dimpled dough has risen, remove the dish towel and brush your dough with a thin coat of olive oil, and sprinkle it with a few pinches each of salt and oregano. Now it is time to bake – place the cookie sheet on the middle rack of the oven, above the water pan. Lower the oven temperature to 400, close the oven, and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Remove the focaccia from the oven. Once it is cool enough to handle safely, slice it up and serve. 

Black Pasta with Roasted Garlic & Orange Sauce, Focaccia, Roasted Red Pepper Bruschetta

I promised recipes, and while I may not always post them in a timely manner, I always keep my word!  Here are the recipes for this weekend's dishes:


Black Pasta with Roasted Garlic and Orange Sauce

I created this recipe a few years ago in an attempt to impress a guy. Since I’ve always heard that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach and I knew that the object of my affection liked high-quality food, I wanted to show off a little and serve something ostentatious. I picked up a bag of black pasta from a local producer at the farmers’ market (this was before I knew where to find squid ink!), and I decided that a sauce based on orange and roasted garlic would look original and memorable. Unfortunately, while the pasta water was boiling, the guy texted me to tell me he wasn’t coming. At first I was devastated, but once I tasted the final product my pain was alleviated – more pasta for me!

1 navel orange
1 head roasted garlic
½ c. white wine
1/4c. chopped Italian parsley (plus extra sprigs for garnish)
Drizzle olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Chile flakes

Zest one orange using a zester (you can buy one for about $10 at any good kitchenware store). Divide the zest in half – one half goes into the sauce, the other is set aside for garnish. Peel the remaining skin and as much of the pith as possible from the orange, divide into segments, and slice each segment into half-inch chunks.

Remove the cloves from 1 head of roasted garlic and put them in the blender with the orange segments, half the orange zest, and the wine, parsley, and olive oil. Puree until liquefied, adding more wine and olive oil if necessary.

Transfer puree into a saucepan large enough to hold all cooked pasta, and cook over low heat until the sauce is hot

While you are making the sauce, cook a batch of black pasta. Once pasta is done, drain it, add it to the pan with the sauce, and toss until all pasta is coated. Season with salt, pepper, and chile flakes.

Divide equally among 4 shallow pasta bowls, garnishing each with a pinch of the remaining orange zest and a sprig of parsley.

Roasted Garlic Focaccia

This recipe is time-consuming, but not labor intensive - active prep lasts approximately 20 minutes; the rest of the time is spent waiting for the dough to rise.  This is a perfect recipe to make on a lazy Sunday during football season, as most of the active work can be done during commercial breaks if you measure your ingredients ahead of time!   

For dough starter:

2/3c. warm water

2.5t. active dry yeast
1c. flour

For dough:

2.5c. unbleached flour, plus extra for dusting
1 head roasted garlic
1/3c. water
1/3c. olive oil, plus extra to grease bowl and pan
1/3c. white wine
1t. salt

Olive oil, salt, and oregano for topping
Equipment: two large mixing bowls, cookie sheet lined w/ aluminum foil, water-filled cake pan

First, make the dough starter. In a mixing bowl, combine 2/3c. warm water and the yeast. Cover with a dish towel and let this sit for 10 minutes or until the water looks murky and bubbly around the edges.

Next, add 1c. of the flour to the bowl. Stir until all the flour is incorporated into the water and a sticky dough forms. Again, cover with a dish towel and let this sit for 30 minutes. During this time, the dough should puff up a little. Use this time to remove the individual cloves from a head of roasted garlic – if the individual cloves are soft like a paste, set them aside. If any are still a little firm, chop them up a bit and set aside. Also, coat the inside of the clean mixing bowl with a splash of olive oil and set aside.

Now it’s time to make the dough. Add 2.5c. flour, prepared roasted garlic, 1/3c. water, olive oil, white wine, and salt to the mixing bowl containing the dough starter. Combine all until fully incorporated and dough is formed. Turn the dough out onto a clean countertop dusted with flour, and knead the dough for 8-10 minutes, dusting the countertop with more flour if the dough starts to stick.

Once the kneading is complete, put the ball of dough into the mixing bowl coated with olive oil. Cover with a dish towel and set aside to rise for approximately one hour, or until the dough has doubled in size. In the meantime, line the cookie sheet with aluminum foil and grease the foil with a splash of olive oil.

Once the dough has risen, turn it out onto the greased cookie sheet. Stretch the dough so that it covers the cookie sheet. Once the dough has stretched, use your fingertips to create “dimples” in the dough – the surface should not be even. Be careful not to poke holes in the dough – small craters will do the trick. Once you’ve dimpled the dough, cover it with the dish towel and let it rise for an additional 45 minutes. Use this time to preheat the oven to 425, placing a water-filled cake pan on the bottom rack of the oven (this creates steam inside the oven).

Once the dimpled dough has risen, remove the dish towel and brush your dough with a thin coat of olive oil, and sprinkle it with a few pinches each of salt and oregano. Now it is time to bake – place the cookie sheet on the middle rack of the oven, above the water pan. Lower the oven temperature to 400, close the oven, and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Remove the focaccia from the oven. Once it is cool enough to handle safely, slice it up and serve it with Roasted Red Pepper Bruschetta, or with seasoned olive oil for dipping.

Variations –replace the head of roasted garlic with ¼ cup of one, or a combination, of the following: capers, slivered oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, minced olives, gorgonzola crumbles, chopped fresh herbs, etc. The possibilities are endless.




Roasted Red Pepper Bruschetta

6 slices roasted red peppers
1/4lb. provolone, sliced thin
1 small clove garlic, sliced paper-thin
2T. olive oil
1T. white wine
1T. chopped parsley

Preheat the broiler. In a shallow baking dish, place the roasted peppers in one thin layer. Next, evenly sprinkle the garlic slices across the roasted peppers. Drizzle with the olive oil and the white wine. Now, layer the provolone across the top of the pepper and garlic layer, making sure all the peppers are covered.


Place under the broiler and broil until the cheese is melted and starting to brown at the edges. Remove from oven, sprinkle with parsley, let cool slightly, and serve pepper slices over focaccia bread.



I do hope you'll try these recipes!

Busy Weekend! Pina Claddagh, Recipe Basics

Whew!  I am exhausted, but not too exhausted to post.  I made some delicious food this weekend - Black Pasta with Roasted Garlic and Orange Sauce, Roasted Garlic Focaccia, Roasted Red Pepper Bruschetta, Ranch Pizza, and a wonderful cocktail called a "Pina Claddagh" (as you may have noticed, I love putting a Celtic spin on recipes that originated far from Ireland and the U.K.!).  Below are the recipes for the Pina Claddagh and for the building blocks of my recipes - Roasted Garlic, Roasted Red Peppers, and Black Pasta.  I will post the full dinner recipes tomorrow.  Yes, this is a cop-out because I'm too tired to write, but think about it this way - before you take the cool class with the cool professor, you've gotta sit through the required intro class before you get your hands dirty with the fun stuff!

Before I get to the recipes, I would like to share my experience with the ranch pizza, which came dangerously close to being an epic fail and frustrated me to the point where I almost burst into tears - after all, my roommate's sister, her husband, and their children were over for dinner, and I would have been humiliated if I'd served a pizza that was simultaneously undercooked and burnt while saying, "By the way, I'm writing a food/recipe blog!"  Had I not been able to salvage the pizza, I would have felt like my credibility had just been flushed down the crapper, but I managed to rescue the pizza and it turned out OK.  I felt like one of the Top Chef contestants who just barely escapes being voted off the show!  Anyway, now that I've done a test run on the Ranch Pizza I can tweak the recipe so it turns out the way I intended, and once that happens I'll share the recipe.  P.S.- it contains bacon! 

As promised, here is the cocktail recipe and the three basic building blocks of the recipes that worked: 

Pina Claddagh
I must warn you - the Pina Claddagh is what I call a "Danger Drink," meaning that you may not be completely able to taste the alcohol in your drink.  Helpful hint - it's there!

1 17.6oz can Goya Toasted Coconut Water*
1 cup fresh cubed pineapple
3oz. Irish whiskey
splash maraschino cherry juice
several ice cubes
maraschino cherries, to garnish

In a blender, puree the coconut water and pineapple.  Pour the puree through a fine sieve, then pour the strained liquid into a cocktail shaker with the whiskey, cherry juice and ice cubes; shake for 20 seconds.  Pour into two stemless martini glasses and add a maraschino cherry to each.  Enjoy responsibly. 

Variation - To make into a frozen drink, divide the can of coconut water.  Make half into ice cubes; reserve the other half.  Puree the coconut ice cubes, remaining coconut water, and remaining ingredients except cherries in blender.  Pour into two glasses and garnish with cherries. 

*  You can use plain coconut water, but the toasted has a sweeter flavor.  Find in the Hispanic/Latino section of most major supermarkets. 

Roasted Garlic:
1 head garlic
1-2t. olive oil
1t. white wine

Preheat the oven to 350.  Peel away the garlic's papery skin so all that remains is the skin sticking to the individual cloves.  Once this is done, trim off the top of the head so that the tips of the cloves are exposed (as seen in the picture).  Place on a sheet of aluminum foil. 

Next, pour the olive oil and white wine on the exposed cloves.  Bring up the ends of the tinfoil to make a little package - it should be shaped like a Hershey's Kiss.  Place this in the oven and bake for about an hour.  Once it is cool to touch, you can easily remove the individual cloves from their skin and use them for recipes.  Any cloves that you do not use for recipes can be stored in a jar covered in olive oil.  If you choose to store them, add a pinch of salt and make sure that the cloves are completely immersed in the oil and none are exposed - exposure to air could cause them to spoil and become unsafe for consumption. 





Roasted Red Peppers
red peppers, cored and sliced lengthwise at natural rib

Preheat the broiler on high.  Arrange the peppers on a baking sheet covered in foil (this makes clean-up much easier).  Pop these under the broiler for 5-10 minutes, or until the peppers' skins have turned black and charred. 

Remove the baking sheet from the oven.  Using tongs, a fork, or some other kind of tool so you don't burn yourself, place the roasted peppers in a bowl.  Cover the bowl and let the peppers cool. 

Once peppers have cooled, you can remove their skins.  Gently peel off the charred skin and discard skin.  The peppers are now ready to use for recipes, and, like the roasted garlic, any unused peppers can be stored in a jar covered in olive oil.







Black Pasta
2c. flour
2 eggs
2t. squid ink
1t. salt
1T. olive oil

In all honesty, the hardest part of this recipe is tracking down a retailer who sells squid ink!  Once you do that, the rest is a piece of cake.  Simply follow the same steps I listed in my tagliatelle recipe, adding the squid ink at the same time as the eggs, olive oil, and salt.  The squid ink will make the pasta dough a little stickier, so be sure to dust with extra flour.  Here are some photos from the process: