Penne Senese

How it's supposed to look:


How Mines looks:

As you guys can probably tell, I am obsessed with the recipes at the Olivegarden.com. It's amazing. Its having all this great tasting food without leaving your home. I'm a huge huge fan. I tried a new recipe, just because one day I had my friend come over and I wanted to cook a good dinner for my guest. :-)

Penne Senese

Prep Time:	20 minutes
Cook Time:	30 minutes
Serving Size:	4 8 12

Ingredients
1 lb penne pasta, cooked according to package directions
2 Tbsp butter
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ cup yellow onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
½ lb mushroom, sliced
6 Italian sausage links, casing removed
¼ cup + 2 Tbsp white wine
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 quart heavy cream
¼ lb prosciutto ham, chopped
1 Tbsp fresh sage (or 1 tsp dry)
1 Tbsp fresh parsley (or 1 tsp dry)
½ lb grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp garlic pepper (optional)
Salt to taste

Procedures

1. HEAT pan over medium heat. Add butter and allow to melt. Add oil, onions and garlic. Reduce heat and cook for 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and sausage. Cook until pink is no longer visible in sausage.
   
2. ADD white wine and bring to a boil. Whisk in flour and let cook for 1 minute to remove flour taste. Add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes, or until sauce reaches desired consistency.
   
3. ADD cooked, drained pasta to pan with sauce. Toss well.
   
4. TRANSFER to large serving platter and garnish with fresh basil, sage and additional parmesan cheese, if desired.

Conclusion:
I really enjoyed this. One of the better pasta dishes I've made. The issue is there's a lot of butter and oil that goes into this. It's hard to shake the idea that you're eating fat. lol

How it's supposed to look:


How Mine Looks:

As promised in my Food to Come entry I wanted to make Tandoori Chicken. I love Indian food and my Chicken Vindaloo was such a success, I decided to make another Indian chicken. With that I decided to make my fave rice ever, peas rice or as the Jamaicans call it rice and peas.

Tandoori Chicken Recipe

Ingredients

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut in half
• 1 cup full fat Greek Yogurt
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 1 teaspoon tumeric
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Method

1. Prepare chicken by pricking it with a fork to create holes for the marinade to get into the chicken breasts. Then combine all ingredients, except chicken in a large bowl. Mix well. Add chicken and marinate for 2-3 hours, or overnight, refrigerated.
2. Preheat oven to highest temperature, for me that’s 550 degrees. Bake chicken on wire rack over baking dish until golden and internal temperature is 165 degrees. You can also prepare this chicken on the grill.
3. To get the chicken a little more charred, I turned the broiler on high in the last few minutes of cooking, while watching carefully, so I didn’t burn it.

Peas Rice

2 cups of rice
Kidney Beans 4 cups of Water

Directions:

1. Boil the beans in Water until cooked.

2. Add the rice and then put low to a simmer until rice is soft.

Conclusion:

So this was interesting cuz I messed up. The beans, were not cooked. These kind of beans need to cook for awhile by its self before you put in the rice. I felt the beans saw they were almost cooked and then put in the rice. The rice cooked, but the beans weren't so the rice was difficult to eat...

The chicken came out extremely dry. Not sure why. I'm going to have to try again.

A different recipe for fried rice

Here's how it's supposed to look:


Here's how mine looks:



Ok, so as you know earlier on in the blog I made fried rice. I liked it, but I didn't love it. I found a new recipe, that I LOVE!

Fried Rice with Shiitake Mushrooms Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 cup shiitake mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 sweet onion
• 1/2 green pepper, diced
• 1/2 red pepper, diced
• 2 stalks celery with leaves
• 1/2 cup shredded carrot
• 1/2 lb fresh snow peas
• 3 stalks green onion, sliced
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 cups cooked rice

Method

1. Preheat large skillet or wok. Add 1 teaspoon of soy sauce to the beaten eggs. Add one teaspoon sesame oil to the preheated wok, and scramble eggs until set. Remove from wok and set aside.
2. Add the tablespoon each of sesame oil and olive oil to wok. Add onions, green and red peppers, snow peas, and celery to wok. Stir fry for 1 minute. Add mushrooms and stir fry for 1 to 2 minutes longer.
3. Add cooked rice and carrots. Sprinkle in the 2 tablespoons soy sauce. Add more olive oil if necessary. Cook the rice for about 5 minutes, until heated through.
4. Add cooked eggs and green onions, and cook for 1 minute more before serving.

Conclusion:

So, I loved this. Love it, like I'll make it any day of the week and enjoy it. I did make some changes, I didn't use carrots, red pepper or peas. I added chicken and broccoli instead. Soo good, love it. LOVE IT.

Chicken with Lemon Sage Sauce and Saffron Rice

I saw this chicken on the Olive Garden website and I just HAD to try it. I was like wow that looks fancy. I also decided to try a fancy rice and got this recipe for Saffron rice Allrecipes.com. Which is fast becoming my fave website.

Chicken with Lemon Sage Sauce

Prep Time:	45 minutes
Cook Time:	45 minutes
Serving Size:	4 8 12

Ingredients
PICCATTA BATTER
6 eggs, whole
1/4 cup fresh parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 cup fresh Romano cheese, grated
2 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (or 2 tsp dry)
2 Tbsp fresh basil, chopped (or 2 tsp dry)

CHICKEN
4 ea 6oz. chicken breasts, boneless skinless, split
2 cups flour, seasoned with salt and black pepper
1/2 cup olive oil (or as needed)

LEMON SAGE SAUCE
1/4 cup shallots, finely chopped
1 Tbsp garlic, chopped
2 Tbsp fresh sage, finely chopped
2 Tbsp parsley, chopped (or 2 tsp dry)
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 Tbsp lemon zest
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup heavy cream
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, cold
Salt and pepper to taste

Procedures
Pre-heat oven to 350ºF.

PICCATTA BATTER

1. COMBINE eggs, cheeses, parsley and basil together in a large mixing bowl.

CHICKEN

1. POUND chicken breasts until ¼” thick. Dredge chicken in the flour mixture and dip it in the Piccata batter; coat evenly on both sides.
2. HEAT olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Place chicken in the skillet and fry until edges are golden brown on each side. Transfer chicken from skillet into a baking pan.
3. BAKE in a 350ºF oven for 5-6 minutes, until juices run clear.

SAUCE

1. DRAIN 3/4 of the oil from skillet and add the shallots, garlic and herbs. Saute over medium heat until shallots are transparent. Add lemon juice, lemon zest, white wine and reduce liquid by 1/2. Add heavy cream and simmer until the sauce has thickened slightly.
2. REMOVE pan from heat and whip in the cold butter. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

SERVE

1. POUR ¼ cup of sauce on plate and place chicken on top. Serve immediately.]

Saffron Rice

Ingredients

• 2 cups uncooked long-grain rice
• 3/4 teaspoon crushed saffron threads
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 6 whole cardamom seeds
• 4 whole cloves
• 3 cinnamon sticks
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cups boiling vegetable broth
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Cover rice with cold water and set aside to soak for 30 minutes.
2. Soak saffron threads in 2 tablespoons boiling water.
3. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat; add cardamom, cloves and cinnamon and fry 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in onion and saute, stirring occasionally, until golden brown. Stir in the rice, reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
4. Pour in the boiling broth and stir in the salt and saffron.
5. Cover and cook until rice is cooked and all liquid is absorbed, about 40 minutes.

Conclusion:

Wow, one of the best things I have ever made. I am SUPER UPSET that my camera is not working, because I would love to show you guys what my food looks like. It was soo good, different in taste. Especially the rice, between the cardamom, cinnamon and saffron, it's such a different, but tasty feel,

Gnocchi with Spicy Tomato and Wine Sauce

So my camera broke. Which really sucks, because I have no pictures of what my version of the food looks like. It's close enough to the official picture that it shouldn't be too difficult.

The recipe is from the Olive Garden.


Gnocchi with Spicy Tomato and Wine Sauce

Prep Time:	15 minutes
Cook Time:	30 minutes
Serving Size:	4 8 12

Ingredients
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
6 cloves fresh garlic
1 pinch chili flakes
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup chicken broth
2 14.5-oz cans tomatoes
1/2 stick sweet cream butter, chilled, cut into 1” cubes
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
Salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 lb gnocchi (potato dumplings), cooked according to package directions
Fresh chopped basil to taste

Procedures

1. SAUTE olive oil, garlic and chili flakes in a pan on medium heat until garlic turns a light golden brown. Add white wine and chicken broth and simmer about 10 minutes.
2. REDUCE wine and broth by half, add tomatoes and continue to simmer for 30 minutes.
3. PUREE half of the sauce in blender with butter and Parmesan cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove sauce from blender and stir in with other half of sauce that was not pureed.
4. REMOVE gnocchi from boiling water, drain and mix with sauce.
5. SERVE gnocchi topped with Parmesan cheese and basil.

Conclusion:

This was a bit disappointing. I didn't have chili flakes so I used my chili seasoning and just wasn't good enough. It was also very watery. It was ok, but I just didn't like it.

Chicken Castellina

How it's supposed to look:

How Mines looks

So, the Olive Garden has recipes. Yup, recipes for food. I have been cooking from the website nonstop and here is the first meal I tied from there.

Chicken Castellina

Prep Time:	25 minutes
Cook Time:	25 minutes
Serving Size:	4 8 12

Ingredients
Sauce
1/4 cup pancetta (or bacon), diced
6 Tbsp butter, cubed
1 tsp garlic, chopped
¼ cup sun-dried tomatoes, diced
1 ½ cups heavy cream
1 ½ cups milk
1 oz cornstarch
¼ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
½ cup smoked Gouda cheese, chopped
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
8.5 oz can sliced artichokes, drained
1/4 tsp pepper
¼ cup mushrooms, sliced
1 1/2 lbs pasta of choice, cooked according to package directions

Chicken
1 1/2 lbs skinless/boneless chicken breasts, cut in 1 - 1 ½” pieces
¾ cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3 Tbsp olive oil
¼ cup white wine

Fresh parsley, chopped (for garnish)

Procedures
Sauce

1. SAUTÉ pancetta (or bacon) in a 3-qt sauce pan or large pot, over medium/high heat until crisp and golden brown. Reduce heat, add butter and allow it to melt. Add garlic and sun-dried tomatoes. Sauté for approximately one minute, stirring frequently (do not brown).
2. WHISK in cream, milk and cornstarch. Raise heat to medium/high. Whisk in Parmesan and Gouda cheeses. Once cheese melts, add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil, stirring continuously.
3. REMOVE from heat and let stand uncovered.

Chicken

1. MIX flour with salt and pepper. Coat chicken in seasoned flour, shaking off excess flour.
2. HEAT olive oil in large sauté pan. Add chicken in a single layer and cook until golden brown on both sides (approximately 7 minutes total). Juices should run clear.
3. ADD wine to chicken in pan (caution: there will be a low flame in pan). Toss gently until wine is evaporated. Add sauce and bring to a boil on medium/high heat.
4. TRANSFER drained, cooked pasta to large platter. Evenly distribute chicken and sauce over pasta.
5. GARNISH with chopped parsley and serve.

Conclusion:

I used Penne instead of bowtie, and I have the unfortunate urge to never listen to directions. They always say pour the sauce over the pasta, and I always drench the pasta in the sauce. I also cooked the pasta too long, so it was super soft and stuck together.


It was the first time I've made sauce from scratch and it was great. I took a bowl to work and my friend totally chomped away at it without my permission. That's how good.