Creamy Chicken Asparagus Fettuccine

I've been thinking of ways to add one of my favorite vegetables (asparagus) into a pasta dish and figured out a great combination!  I will admit I got some advice from two friends at the Art Institute of Dallas, one I work with and the other is taking culinary class there.  This is one of those dishes you want to make for a special occasion, because if you eat this every night you'll pack on the pounds quick.  Clarified butter and heavy cream make things taste delicious!  I also made a nice sweet side salad with strawberries, aged white cheddar cheese, red onions and candied pecans ( I sauted them for 2mins and then added some brown sugar, turned out great) with a balsamic vinaigrette.  Pictured below.

Cook time: 1 hour including prep
 Level: medium
Yields: 2 serving (there will probably be leftovers because it is filling)

Ingredients

•    6 thick stalks asparagus
•    ¼ red pepper roasted and thinly sliced
•    2 boneless skinless chicken breast
•    9 ounces fettuccine noodles
•    1 cup heavy cream
•    ¾ cup white wine (I used Riesling)
•    2/3 cup parmesan cheese
•    4 cloves garlic minced
•    ¼ cup shallots
•    3 tablespoons clarified butter
•    1 tablespoon minced parsley for garnish
•    Salt and pepper

Directions

Blanch (drop in boiling water) the asparagus for 30 seconds, remove, shock (drop in ice water) and then take out and dry with paper towel.  Cut off the tips and set aside for garnish.  Run stalks through a mandoline so they look like fettuccine noodles and set aside.

Add 2 tablespoons of clarified butter to pan and heat to medium high.  Flatten chicken and season with salt, pepper and a pinch of the minced garlic.  Place chicken in pan skin side down and cook until a golden brown forms on bottom (about 4mins).  Flip over and finish cooking, remove and set aside.

In the same pan add remaining clarified butter to the juice that is already in pan.  Add garlic and shallots, sauté for 3-4mins.  Add white wine, bring to boil and then simmer until liquid is almost gone.  Add the heavy cream, parmesan cheese and simmer for about 4-5mins.  Add asparagus and cooked fettuccine, season with salt and white pepper and toss so noodles are covered.

Serve in a shallow bowl.  Place pasta in the middle, slice chicken at an angle and place around the pasta.  Add roasted red pepper slices on top of chicken, place 3 asparagus tips on top of pasta and sprinkle with parsley.

Yummy Rice Krispie Sushi Rolls

There isn't anything raw in these sushi rolls! If you are interested in a fun and easy dessert recipe where you can get creative and have fun ... this is it! Even though I don't have children of my own yet, I can already picture having fun making these dessert rolls with my kids when they are out of school for the summer. My wife and I had so much fun going through the candy aisle and making these, because you really can't go wrong with what you come up with.

Roll Ingredients (the outside)

Follow the Rice Krispie treat recipe on the box:
- 3 tablespoons Margarine or Butter
- 1 package (10 oz., about 40) regular marshmallows or 4 cups miniature marshmallows
- 6 cups Kellogs Rice Krispies cereal

Sushi Ingredients (the insides! you can use whatever you think will work but this is what we used)

- Swedish Fish
- Gushers
- flavored frosting or cool whip (we used strawberry and cream cheese flavored frosting)
- Fruit by the Foot
- Gummy Worms
- Sprinkles (we used red sugar sprinkles)

Directions

Melt margarine or butter in large saucepan over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.

Mix in Rice Krispies cereal. Stir until well coated.

Spread the mixture using a butter spatula or waxed paper evenly in a 13x9x2-inch pan coated with cooking spray.

While the Rice Krispies are still warm, cut them into strips about 1 1/2" x 4".

Take frosting or cool whip and spread a layer on Rice Krispie strip.

Add 3 Gushers and a Swedish Fish to one of the Rice Krispie strips and roll the strip into a sush roll.

Sprinkle the outside of the roll with red sprinkles and wrap a piece of Fruit by the Foot around the roll.

Make some more and try new creative ways with each one... Enjoy!!

Scallops With Mango Jalapeno Puree

I'm not a huge seafood fan, but have decided it's time to start giving it a shot.  One of the first types of seafood I can recall enjoying was blackened scallops.  While looking through a cook book the other day for some ideas, I saw a recipe for scallops with mango sauce that looked delicious.  It was a very plain recipe, but seemed to be a good starting point.  I had some mango's at the house since they are in season and decided to run over to Market Street to pick up some jumbo scallops.  While in the vegetable area a great idea came to me, I'll add jalapenos and honey to the sauce, now I was getting excited!  This souped up recipe was one of the best I've ever made and highly recommend giving it a try!

Ingredients

• 5 or 6 jumbo scallops
• 1 mango peeled (click here for best way to peel)
• 1/4 jalapeno seeded and diced
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon milk
• dash of cayenne pepper 
• 1 tablespoon clarified butter
• a few pinches of The Salt Lick Original Dry Rub

Directions

Put mango, jalapeno, honey, milk and cayenne pepper in blender and puree the mixture.  Don't over do the cayenne pepper or you will make the puree too spicy.
  
Preheat non-stick pan with clarified butter to medium high.  Sprinkle scallops with The Salt Lick Rub and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side.  This should achieve a nice brown glaze look on the scallops. 
*Hint: Scallops are done when the center is still clear and appears raw.  If overcooked, they become rubbery and tough.

Place the mango jalapeno puree in the middle of plate and add the scallops on top.  Garnish with parsley.

Easy Cream Cheese Chicken

Kristi always told me about this dinner she made back in college called cream cheese chicken.  Now, I've never been a big fan of cream cheese so it's not a recipe I would normally think about making, but last weekend she was craving this dish.  She went to the store, bought the ingredients and I made it (and of course added my personal twist to make it even better).  Pleasantly surprised, I came to find out that I enjoyed it much more than what I expected!  I was happy to have leftovers the next day and couldn't believe how good this turned out.   I'll be making this quick, easy and tasty recipe again!!!

Ingredients

• 4 small skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 8oz light cream cheese softened
• 4 slices of turkey bacon (Kristi's choice)
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/4 cups chopped scallions
• 1 jalapeno seeded and diced (my added touch)
• 1 tablespoon melted butter

Directions

Preheat over to 350 degree

First thing you have to do is flatten the chicken.  Another option is to butterfly the chicken if it is too thick to flatten.  Mix garlic, scallion and jalapeno into the cream cheese, form cream cheese into 4 balls and place each ball on a piece of chicken.

Roll the chicken around the ball, wrap with a piece of bacon and stick it with a toothpick.

 

Place in a baking dish and pour over melted butter.  Bake for 25-30mins or until chicken is completely cooked (this is why it's important to get chicken flat).

Pork Chop Baked With Apples And Onions

Tonight I wanted to use the "other white meat"....Pork.  I  love pork chops but haven't been eating them as much lately because Kristi doesn't like pork.  I was at Market Street the other day and they were having a sale on boneless pork chops so I had to get some.  Pork chops can dry out and be tough if not cooked right so I decided to find a recipe that would keep them tender and juicy.  A friend suggested The NY Times website under Dining & Wine for great recipes.  I started looking for pork chop recipes and ran across this one which seared the chops to lock in the juice.  I also like apples and onions so I figured this was a can't miss recipe. 

Just as I thought, it was excellent!  Kristi tried it and even she liked this dish, enjoy!

Cook Time: 40mins

Level: Easy

Yields: 2 servings (for me at least, 4 servings for most)

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 4 ¾-inch-thick pork chops
• 1 medium onion, peeled and thinly sliced
• ¼ cup sherry
• ¼ cup apple cider
• 2 large macintosh apples, peeled, cored and cut into ¼-inch-thick slices
• Salt, pepper and cinnamon for seasoning

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat oil in large, ovenproof skillet over medium- high heat. Add pork chops(seasoned with salt, pepper and a dash of cinnamon) and sear on each side until golden brown(about 1 ½ mins. each side). Place on plate and set aside.

Add onions to the skillet and cook for 2mins. stirring often. Add sherry and apple cider and cook while stirring and scraping up any brown bits stuck to bottom of pan. Add the apples, salt and pepper and reduce heat to low and cook for about 5mins.

Place pork chops back in the skillet and pour any juices from plate over top. Cover skillet and put in oven for 15-20mins until pork chops are tender and cooked through. Season with salt and pepper and divide into 4 plates. Garnish with a fresh mint leaves.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

 

I received a request today for a Red Pepper Hummus recipe.  To be honest, I haven't eaten much hummus and certainly never made it so this would be something new to try.  As soon as I saw Red Pepper, I  knew I'd be a fan.  I checked out a few different recipes and this one from Guy Fieri looked the best.  Turns out I made a great choice, this hummus is unbelievable and simple to make!  Thanks for the request Ricky, give it a try and I promise you'll like it.

Ingredients

·    16oz can chickpeas drained

·    6oz roasted red bell pepper

·    1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped

·    1 tablespoon chopped garlic

·    3 tablespoons chopped cilantro

·    3 tablespoons chopped red onion

·    1 teaspoon paprika

·    1 tablespoon chipotle pepper and adobe sauce

·    ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

·    1 teaspoon salt and pepper

·    Toasted pita bread, to serve

Directions

Add all ingredients except oil and pita bread to food processor, blend until a puree, then slowly add in olive oil.

Refrigerate for an hour and then serve with toasted pita bread.

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

Who knew cooking was contagious?  For the most part, Kristi (my wife) leaves the kitchen creating to me, but when I came home from work tonight the house smelled wonderful!  I went straight to the kitchen to find out what the sweet aroma was and saw these mouth watering cookies ... Strawberry Shortcake Cookies and had to try them immediately....Wow, they were even better then they smelled!  Great job Kristi!!!  See what she says below.

Tis the season for strawberries!  In case you've been hiding in a cave over the last few weeks, you can't make a trip to the grocery store without being greeted by an abundance of this red fruit.  So needless to say, I wanted to make a dessert incorporating this ingredient and instead of going with the traditional Strawberry Shortcake... I turned it up a notch and with the help of Martha Stewart and some delicious red berries I picked up from Market Street I decided to make Strawberry Shortcake Cookies!    

First off, here a few interesting facts about strawberries:

• On average, a strawberry has 200 seeds
• Strawberries are the only fruit with seeds on the outside
• If all the strawberries produced in California, in one year, were laid berry to berry, they'd wrap around the world 15 times
• Strawberries are grown in every state in the United States and every province of Canada
• Strawberries are a member of the rose family
• Ninety-four percent of US households consume strawberries
• Strawberries are the first fruit to ripen in the spring
• Strawberries are low fat, low calorie; high in vitamin C, fiber, folic acid, potassium
• In medieval times, strawberries were served at important functions to bring peace & prosperity

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

This recipe makes about 3 dozen cookies.