Broccoli and Cheese Pasta

This pasta dish is a straight indulgence.  I'm not even going to try to pretend otherwise just because there is something green in here, this is thick, dreamy, cheesy indulgence.  If you grew up a fan of Velveeta shells and cheese, this is right up your alley.

I was having a craving the other day for something cheesy and filling and comforting.  It was cold and I was the kind of exhausted that makes you want to get in bed and stay there until spring.  All I could think of was bacon cheeseburgers and Velveeta shells and cheese. So I started thinking maybe I should make the kids broccoli, cheese and rice soup, but I couldn't quite convince myself of it because I wanted something richer, more decadent.  So I decided to make my version of Velveeta, but with some broccoli and chicken thrown in there, all over pasta instead of rice.

This cheese sauce is stick-to-your-ribs thick, but you can thin it out a little more if you want, and the cheese level is easy to adjust to your taste as well.  Once you master a sauce like this, the possibilities are endless. Next up, I am going to make a homemade version of the Annie's White Cheddar sauce.  Stay tuned for that!

Broccoli and Cheese Pasta

Serves 6 - 8

Ingredients:

• 8 - 16 oz of pasta, cooked and rinsed (I made the whole box and then added until it was my desired cheese-pasta ratio)
• 6 chicken tenders
• 1 white onion, minced
• 3 tbs. butter
• 1 tbs. minced garlic
• Salt and Pepper
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup of flour
• 2-3 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup whole milk
• 8 - 12 oz of sharp orange cheddar cheese, freshly shredded
• 4 oz. (half a block) cream cheese
• 2 cups frozen broccoli florets

In a dutch oven, over medium-high heat, melt 1 tbs. of butter.  Season one side of your chicken tenders with salt and pepper, then place seasoned-side down into the dutch oven and brown, about 3-5 minutes.  Season the uncooked side of the chicken and then turn it over, browning the other side.  After the outsides are browned, add enough chicken broth to cover half the depth of the chicken.  Flip the chicken and cover the pot, turn the heat to medium, and let the chicken simmer and steam in the broth until cooked through and tender.  Once the chicken is cooked, remove the chicken from the pot and set aside on a plate. 

Add the minced onion and garlic to the broth, saute and simmer in the broth until onions are soft.  Add the remaining 2 tbs. of butter and let it melt.  Sprinkle 1/4 cup of flour over the broth mix and whisk together.  There should be enough flour to absorb all the liquid, if you need to add more flour, do so a little at a time until all the broth is absorbed. 

Slowly add the milk, whisking until smooth. Turn heat down to medium-low. Add the shredded cheese, a handful at a time, and stir after each addition until cheese had completely melted and incorporated.  Add your desired amount of cheese, I recommend at least 8 oz, but go for more to your taste.  Stir in the cream cheese until incorporated. 

If the cheese sauce is too thick for your liking, slowly add chicken broth until it has thinned to your preference.

Add the pasta, a handful at a time, mixing to coat in the cheese sauce.  Add the broccoli florets and stir to incorporate.  While the broccoli heats through, chop the chicken tenders into bite sized pieces and add to the pot.  Season with salt and pepper, serve immediately.

Easy Chicken Carbonara

When I was pregnant with my second baby, my homecooking took a nosedive.  I was so tired or nauseous that most of the time standing in the kitchen for 20 minutes seemed impossible.  So we ate a fair amount of take out which didn't make me super happy.  The one shining star in our food arsenal though was the Whole Foods and Central Market prepared food departments. 

We relied a lot on picking up dinners from Central Market.  Often times, Whole Foods was just too busy and overwhelming for me with my exhaustion and my toddler, so off to Central Market we went and Thank Goodness! They make the most amazing casseroles that you can just take home and pop in the oven: the cowboy casserole, the king ranch chicken and the chicken carbonara.

They are all delicious, but the chicken carbonara really takes the cake.  Its creamy, small enough to be eaten without having to cut anything up for a toddler, it has veggies, proteins and some pasta.  It was a life saver when I was pregnant - but now almost two years later, that is not the case and I always love a challenge.

I prefer to make anything myself because I know what is going into it and I can have more creativity with ingredients and flavor so this week I decided to take on the Chicken Carbonara casserole.

Now a traditional carbonara uses proscuitto, but you could easily substitute bacon for a kicked up flavor and I would absolutely recommend it that way too.  And the stand out factor in a carbonara is that the rich sauce is made rich with egg yolks rather than all cream.  Don't be intimidated by this, its really easy and really is tasty.

Lastly, the way I make the chicken for this pasta is a great tool to hang on to for lots of other recipes - it produces really soft, juicy chicken, with a nice crisp outside, without the time of a slow cooker. 

Quick Chicken

To cook 1 package of chicken breast tenders, season one side of the tenders with salt and pepper.  Melt 2 tbs of butter in a skillet over medium heat.  Add the chicken tenders, seasoned side down and turn the heat up to give the skin a good brown, just a couple of minutes.  Season the other side of the chicken, and turn over to brown the other side. Add enough chicken broth to cover the bottom half of the chicken and bring the broth to a simmer.  Turn the chicken over and cover the skillet.  Let the chicken simmer for 3-5 minutes, then turn the chicken one more time and recover. Simmer until the chicken is soft and cooked through, another 3-5 minutes.

This method will work with whole chicken breasts as well, but you will need to simmer them for longer to ensure they are cooked through.  Covering the skillet traps the moisture of the broth inside and acts like a rapid slow cooker which keeps the chicken tender and soft - browning the chicken first produces more flavor and helps avoid that yucky boiled chicken look.

Easy Chicken Carbonara

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg. (about 8) chicken tenders, cooked and chopped
  
• 1/2 lb of bacon or 1/4 lb of proscuitto, diced
  
• 1 lb. orrichette pasta, cooked and drained
  
• 1 1/2 cups frozen broccoli florets
  
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
  
• 1 tbs. minced garlic
  
• 1/4 white onion, minced or 2 shallots, minced
  
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
  
• 1 cup heavy cream
  
• 2 eggs and 1 egg yolk
  
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan
  

In a large pan or braiser, heat 1 tbs. of oil over medium high heat.  Add the bacon or proscuitto and cook until just crispy.  Remove the bacon from the pan and set aside on a paper-towel lined plate. Drain the excess fat from the pan, but do not wipe clean.

Add another tablespoon of oil or butter to the pan, add the garlic and onion or shallots and saute for a few minutes until tender.  Add back in the bacon and the chicken.  Stir and cook for a few minutes more.  Add the broccoli and peas, stir to combine.

Add the chicken broth, season with salt and pepper and bring to a simmer.  Cover, turn the heat down to low and allow to cook while you prepare the sauce.  In bowl, combine the eggs, egg yolk, cream and Parmesan.  Whisk together until smooth and season lightly with salt and pepper.

Turn the heat down to low, it is important not to let the cream mixture boil or you will have scrambled eggs, then add the pasta to the pan and stir to combine.  Add the cream mixture, stirring constantly, until the sauce is thickened and coating the pasta.  If you want a creamier sauce you can add more cream and Parmesan, or if you prefer a thinner sauce, you can add a bit more chicken broth. Remove from heat and serve immediately.

Make it a casserole!

You can easily make this dish into a bubbly casserole with just a few extra steps.

Preheat your oven to 350° and butter or grease an oval baking dish or 9 x 12 rectangle.

Pour the prepared pasta into the dish.  In a separate bowl, toss together 1 cup panko bread crumbs, 1/2 stick melted butter, 1 tbs. grated parmesean, 2 tsp. dried basil.  Set aside.

Sprinkle 1/2 cup of shredded Italian cheese on the top of the pasta (any Italian will be fine, mozzarella, provolone, an Italian blend).  Top with the bread crumb mixture.

Bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until bubbly. 

Baked Potato Shepherd's Pie

I love comfort food.  So much that I wish it was a cold season almost all the time because my favorite feeling is being cold, putting on a warm sweater, leggings, and big socks and settling down with a warm mug of soup or digging into a hot meal - I know, I'm so basic, don't hate.

In any case, it rained in Austin today and I felt a cool breeze so I immediately put a sweatshirt on (and started sweating a little) and walked to the grocery store to pick up food to make a comfort food feast for dinner.

Chanel had suggested Shepherd's Pie or Loaded Baked Potatoes - I'm terrible at choosing, so I made both.  The concept is really simple, it's a little time consuming for a weekday dinner I suppose; it probably took an hour start to finish before we were sitting down eating.

I kept it simple and "baked" my potatoes in the microwave - you probably need to do it 5-7 minutes per potato.  So if you are doing three potatoes at a time (more than that won't fit in my microwave) you poke each potato all around with a fork, put them in the microwave, cover them with a damp paper towel, and microwave on high for 15-20 minutes.

While I cooked the two batches of potatoes I was able to cook the bacon and make the sausage and veggie filling.  This was a much better use of time than wrapping them in foil and waiting an hour while they did their thing in the oven. The "Shepherd's Pie" filling was a simple variation on the standard ground beef, peas and carrots.  My kid's seem kind of burnt out on peas this week, so I decided to mix it up and chop some broccoli really small, saute it with onion and garlic, then add ground sausage instead of beef (I love all the extra flavor), season it with a bit of sage and basil, thicken it with a little gravy and it was ready to go.  I think the standard beef, peas and carrots would be divine though and you could make the gravy the same way.  Use your imagination!

I made the mashed potatoes with cream, butter, salt, pepper, broth, and some shredded cheese. Once that was mixed up, its all assembly!  Line your scooped out potatoes with a little bit of mashed potatoes, then fill with meat and veggies, sprinkle a little cheese, top with heaps of mashed potatoes, cheese, bacon, and green onions.  Bake till the cheese is melty and enjoy!

Baked potato shepherd's pie

Serves 6

ingredients:

• 6 medium-large russet potatoes
• 2 sticks of butter, divided
• 4-6 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 small white onion, diced
• 1 cup fresh broccoli, chopped small
• 1 lb. ground sausage
• Salt and Pepper
• 1 tsp. ground sage
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• 2 tbs. flour
• 1 -2 cups beef broth, divided
• 1/2 cup or more heavy cream
• 2 cups shredded cheddar
• 1 lb. bacon, cooked, drained and diced
• 1 bunch (6-8) green onions, green parts sliced

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Begin cooking your potatoes in the microwave. Rinse your potatoes and poke them all over with a fork.  Fit as many in your microwave as you can comfortably (don't stack them - I only fit three) and cover with a damp cloth or paper towel.  Microwave on high for 5-7 minutes per potato - my two batches of three potatoes each took 20 minutes. As the first batch is done, remove them and set them on a cookie sheet to cool.

While your potatoes are baking and cooling, make the filling.  In a large pan or dutch oven over medium-high heat, melt three tbs. of butter.  Add the garlic and onion and saute until translucent and fragrant.  Add another 2 tbs. of butter and then add the broccoli.  Season with salt, pepper and the sage and basil.  Saute gently for a few minutes until warmed.

Push the veggies to the side and add the ground beef to the pot.  Using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, break up the sausage as it cooks, working it into the veggie mix.  Once the meat is all broken and cooked, stir to combine evenly with the veggies. 

Sprinkle the flour over the sausage mixture and stir until coated and combined.  Slowly add 1/2 cup of beef broth, stirring to create a thick gravy holding the sausage mix together.  If you want it with more gravy, stir in more broth until its the consistency you like.  Remove from heat and set aside.

Prepare the potatoes.  With the potatoes cool enough to touch, slice the very top layer off the potatoes and scoop out the middle, leaving 1/4 inch of potato lining to skin to hold it together.  Fill a large mixing bowl with the scooped out potatoes and set the six remaining skins on a cookie sheet.

Add 6 tbs. of butter to the potatoes in the bowl with some salt and pepper.  Using a hand mixer, beat the potatoes on low.  Slowly add the heavy cream a little at a time.  I like the potatoes to be more the consistency of a fluffy paste, not runny, so add just a little at a time to make sure there isn't too much liquid.  Once that is well combined, add 1/4 cup (or more) beef broth and mix.  Finally, whip in a good handful of shredded cheese.  Set aside.

Finally assemble the potatoes.  Using a spoon, line the inside of the potato skins with a thin layer of mashed potatoes. Next, fill the rest of the potato up with the sausage and broccoli mixture (evenly distribute the mix among all six potatoes).  Top with a sprinkle of cheese.  Top the potato with heaping spoonfuls of mashed potatoes, then shredded cheese, bacon, and green onion.

Arrange the assembled potatoes on a baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes, until the cheese is melted and gooey.  Serve immediately.

Beef and Broccoli: NY Chinese Take-Out

There are a lot of things I love about living in Texas, and lots of foods I love eating in Texas, but there is one (of a couple things) that I can not get here that just kills me: Chinese Take-Out. 

When I lived in New York growing up, we could get it anywhere really.  Every town had at least two different places, and truthfully, they tasted the same, the menus were the same, and they were perfect.

My asian-take-out game stepped up a few notches when I moved to San Francisco in college - suddenly, there wasn't just chinese.  There was Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Pan-Asian, Asian-Indian, the list goes on.  SO. MUCH. GOOD. FOOD.  And, it was all take-out. 

Such simple beauty in just calling it in, picking it up, boarding a cold, wet, smelly, MUNI bus, sitting in a cold, hard seat smelling it's delicious aroma through its Styrofoam encasement, and finally walking up three flights of stairs to your apartment, flopping down on your bed and devouring take-out perfection with a plastic fork and trashy TV.

Beauty like this does not exist in Austin, Texas.  Sorry, Austin, but take-out is not your forte.  The only thing I could order for delivery to my house when I first moved here was Pizza.  That was it. And even if I wanted to venture out and drive to get it myself, there was ONE decent Chinese place and it was so far away, it wasn't worth the effort.

Four years of missing Chinese later and I stumble upon this recipe from Table for Two and everything changed. A little tinkering on getting it right, and before I knew it, I could close my eyes and pretend I was eating it out of a cardboard contained with plastic fork, and I wouldn't be the wiser.

I am still missing my Chicken Lo Mein, but man, this hits the spot for beef and broccoli any day.

New York Style Beef and Broccoli

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. boneless beef roast, sliced into thin strips
• 2-3 cups beef broth
• 1 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 2 tbs. sesame oil
• 2 tbs. garlic powder
• 1 tbs. corn starch
• 3 tbs. flour
• Broccoli florets, large bag, frozen
• Cooked white rice, for serving

Cut the strips of beef in to 1-inch pieces.  Set aside.

In the bowl of a crockpot, whisk together 2 cups of beef broth, the soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, and garlic powder.  Add the meat to the bowl and toss to coat.

If there is not enough liquid to cover the meat, add just enough broth to ensure the meat is all covered.  Sometimes the roast I am able to buy is heavier than 2 lbs, but not to waste I just use it all - in this case I adjust my liquid appropriately.

Cook on high for 5 hours (or until meat is cooked to your preference, I like it very tender to a fork).  Keep in mind with crock pot cooking times, that all crock pots vary greatly depending on how large the capacity is and your cooking temp options.  Check your your meat as it cooks and when it is done, its done, don't fret over what the recipe says.

In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and flour.  Whisk in 4 tbs. of the broth from the crock pot to form a paste.  Stir this paste back into the crock pot and allow the sauce to thicken for 20 minutes.

After the sauce has thickened a bit, add in the desired amount of frozen broccoli florets.  I happen to love broccoli so I put in an entire bag, but its entirely up to you.  Stir, re-cover the crock pot and let the broccoli heat through (about five minutes). 

Serve over rice immediately.