Spicy Chicken Rigatoni

Here's a dish that a friend turned me onto one night when we were out having dinner at Bucca Debeppo. Though I didn't have the dish that night, I did have on another visit to Bucca and I thought it was amazing. The key to reproducing this dish was to find a sauce that tasted similar to Bucca's which they make from scratch. Vodka sauce is the ticket and I like Trader Joe's version because it's the most healthy, but still has all the flavor. Second, use Barilla Mezzi Rigatoni if you can find it because Barilla is the best pasta! Mezzi rigatoni means "short rigatoni" and is best for this dish.

 Ingredients:

1/2 lb. (1/2 box) Mezzi Rigatoni (short rigatoni)

1 jar Trader Joe's vodka pasta sauce

1 Chicken breast, poached and shredded

1/8 Teaspoon red pepper flakes

Preparation:

Prepare a large stock pot with liberally salted water. Cook the pasta according to the directions, in this case perfect al dente in 12-13 minutes.

Heat the vodka sauce, shredded chicken breast and red pepper flakes up in a 12" sauté pan. The reason you're using a sauté  pan is because you're going to finish the dish in it.

When your pasta is done, drain and add pasta the sauté pan.  Cook the pasta and sauce together for two minutes. Serve with grated cheese and additional red pepper flakes if you like it more spicy.

Grilled Asian Chicken Thighs

What I like about this recipe is that I wrote it down. Seriously, this is an awesome marinade and I would always make it different and half the time it wasn't as good as I remember. The key to this dish is to marinate the chicken overnight. Secondly, remove the chicken from the marinade and place onto some paper towels and dry the chicken thighs before grilling.

Ingredients:

Skinless boneless chicken thighs
Green onions

Basmati rice

Marinade:

3 Tablespoons lite soy sauce

2 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar

1 tablespoon canola oil

3 Garlic cloves minced

1 Tablespoon brown sugar

1/8 Teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/8 teaspoon grated ginger or powdered

Preparation:

Marinate the chicken overnight if possible, if not then at least 4 hours. Grill over hot fire to get some char and color he outside of the chicken. Cook about 15 minutes and serve with basmati rice mixed with fresh green onions.

Side Dish Serving Suggestions:
Asian Style Eggplant

Ground Bison Enchilada in Red Sauce

Enchilada's can be such a wonderful dish. Here I'm using ground bison, which is one of my favorite ingredients. My enchiladas use very little cheese and still taste amazing. The key to making great enchiladas is to cover them in sauce and let them bake until the flavor of the sauce has baked through the tortilla and into the filling.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground bison
1 tablespoon taco seasoning
1 medium yellow onion
2 green onions
1 clove minced garlic
6" corn tortillas
12oz can Las Palmas red enchilada sauce
Monterey jack cheese

Preparation:

Heat a 12" sauté pan to medium high and cook the bison like you would ground beef. As the bison begins to cook add the diced yellow onion, diced green onion, garlic and taco seasoning. Cook for about 10 minutes and set a side.

Take a 8" sauté pan and heat to medium. Add a couple of drops of canola oil and toss in a tortilla. All you want to do is give the tortilla 30 seconds on each side or until the tortilla is pliable. When the tortilla is done, place on a paper towel and move on to the next tortilla.

Take your red sauce and spoon a couple tablespoons into the bottom of the baking dish. Take one of your tortilla's and add about 1/4 cup of ground bison filling and a little shredded cheese. Roll the tortillas up and place seam side down in the baking dish. Cover the enchilada's in red sauce. Loosely cover the enchiladas in aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes at 325 degrees.

After 30 minutes, remove the foil and cook for another 15 minutes. With 5 minutes to go, add a little cheese to the top of the enchiladas. Serve the enchiladas with a scoop of sour cream.

Elin's Guacamole

This guacamole recipe is spot on, great recipe Elin! Ripe avocados are essential to this dish, but the key is you take the salsa fresca (tomatoes, onions, peppers and cilantro) and squeeze out the moisture with a paper towel and then add to the mashed avocados.

 Ingredients:

4 medium avocados
2 tablespoons lite sour cream
1 tablespoon salsa fresca
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Take the avocados and cut them in half. Carefully remove the pit and scoop out the avocado with a large spoon into a plastic or ceramic bowl. Take a potato masher and mash the avocados so they're mostly smooth, but still have some small chunks. Add the sour cream and salsa fresco and mix well. Taste to see if you need any salt and pepper and transfer to a serving bowl.  

Tuscan Toast

I'm telling you that once you have this, you'll be hooked. This is a great addition to so many dishes and the only complaint you'll find is that you ate too much...

Ingreadients:
1 rustic french bagguette
2 cloves garlic
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Parsley

Preparation:
Cut the bagguette into long diagonal pieces and toast in the oven so just crispy on the edges. Take the raw garlic clove and rub directy onto the sliced bagguette. Take your spray olive oil and lightly coat each slice of bread. Stack the bagguette slices on a plate and give a tiny grind of salt and pepper if you like and a pinch of parley for color.

Grilled Chicken Garlic Caesar Salad

When I make a chicken Caesar salad I like to take minced garlic and add to my favorite Caesar dressing, Gerard's light Caesar and this really gives the dressing a kick. Second, adding fresh grated parmesan cheese takes this dish to the next level for sure.
 

Ingredients:
Grilled chicken breast
Romaine lettuce
Gerard's light Caesar salad dressing
2 cloves minced garlic
4 tablespoons fresh grated parmesan cheese


Preparation:

Prepare you lettuce by cutting the lettuce into bite size pieces washing in a salad spinner. Make sure the lettuce is perfectly dry because if there is water on the lettuce, the salad dressing will get watered down and won't be nearly as good.

 

Place the prepared lettuce in a large salad bowl. Take the salad dressing and add to a small bowl. Add the minced garlic  to the salad dressing and mix well. Add the salad dressing and parmesan cheese to the lettuce. Mix the salad very well so the dressing is evenly coated all the lettuce.

 

Plate the salad and grate a little more parmesan cheese and a grind of fresh ground pepper. Top with sliced grilled chicken and tuscan toast crouton.

 

See my Tuscan Toast recipe here:

Tuscan Toast