Wine Wednesday

So the title of this post is a bit deceiving since I have not in fact had a glass of wine tonight, but rather I wanted to post about an amazing dinner we made a couple nights ago in honor of our normal Wednesday night tradition. Because of Andrew's job schedule, Wednesday has always been the first night he isn't working late, so between that and the fact that it's usually worth a celebration to make it though the first half of a work week, we typically will go to Red or White, which is one of our favorite Mobile restaurants (that's conveniently about a quarter mile from our house!) Unfortunately though, a new year means a new schedule for my hubby, so we've decided to try out wine night on Monday...and this week was a success! We didn't do Red or White since they're actually closed for dinner on Mondays, but we didn't miss out on any of the amazing flavors we normally have!

We started the night with a cheese board and a glass of Apothic Red, which is a semi-dry table wine and one of my favorites! The board we made had a spicy capocollo meat, apricot fruit paste, roasted nuts, goat cheese, cheddar, and camembert. Andrew also toasted a french bread loaf in a little olive oil which is the perfect compliment to any cheese!

To make the roasted nuts, we heated 2 tablespoons of honey over low heat until it had thinned out, and then we added 1/2 cup each pecans and walnuts, and cooked for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Once done we laid them out on a sheet of wax paper to cool.

(Credit the snazzy slate cheese board to my hubby who despite tsk-ing at my shopping habits has extremely good taste in design and decor!)

As we munched on our tasty cheese board, we assembled our pizzas. Now, in true Red or White fashion, we didn't want to make a "normal" pizza that we could order just anywhere, so we made what I called a "rustic farmhouse" pizza featuring a pesto base and topped with roasted chicken, fresh corn, red peppers, roasted garlic, and parmesan cheese. We used pre-made flat breads which made the process much easier and faster too!

Once all three pizzas were perfectly topped, we put them in a 450 degree oven for about 10 minutes, until the crust had turned golden and the cheese had melted.

Based on how delicious and fun this meal was to make, I have a feeling that Mondays may just have to be our new date night. And to that, I'll raise my glass....and maybe go pour myself one :)

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Dinner - Chicken and Mushroom Orzo

After our weekend getaway, which you can read about here, I was happy to have leftovers for lunch today from a dinner I actually made last week. (To me, the best kinds of dinners are the ones that you can eat for a week after you make it!) It was a pretty simple recipe that started as creamy Italian orzo, but by my own fault...aka not cleaning out the fridge often enough...I had to forgo the "creamy" and instead make it "brothy." Read on to see my recipe!

I started with two chicken breasts, a quarter of an onion, mushrooms, orzo pasta, fettuccine sauce, pesto, and lemon juice. 

However....I did not realize that the fettuccine had passed its limit on tastiness until I was about halfway through cooking...so instead I substituted chicken broth and parmesan cheese.

I first diced the onion into small pieces and added them to a pan with one tablespoon butter and one tablespoon olive oil. I added a pinch of salt and pepper to taste and then cooked it over medium heat for about 5 minutes, until the onions started becoming translucent.

I then minced three cloves of garlic and added them to the onions and cooked for another 3 - 5 minutes.

Finally, I sliced the chicken and added it to the simmering mixture.

Once the chicken was about halfway cooked through, I roughly chopped a handful of mushrooms and added them to the mix as well.

Once everything was in the pan together, I added the pesto, lemon juice, broth and parmesan cheese and let it continue to cook together over low heat for another 10 minutes or so.

While the chicken mixture simmered away, I cooked my orzo by adding it to boiling water for about 10 minutes. You can also cook it more like rice and add a small amount of water and set it over low heat until all the water is absorbed, but I find that cooking it like typical pasta makes it much easier to achieve al dente.

Once everything finished cooking, I added the cooked chicken mixture to the orzo and let it simmer for just a few minutes to combine. To finish the dish, I served the pasta with some roasted broccoli and fresh parsley.

As I said...it was a great lunch leftover meal :)

Chicken and Mushroom Orzo

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts

1 cup diced onion (about 1/4 large onion)

3 cloves garlic

8 - 10 white mushrooms

1 Tbs. basil pesto

1 Tbs. lemon juice

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 Tbs. butter

1 Tbs. olive oil

1/2 box of uncooked orzo pasta

Salt and pepper, to taste

Steps:

1. Add butter and olive oil to a pan over medium heat.

2. Dice onion into small pieces and add it to the oil. Add salt and pepper.

3. Cook for 3 - 5 minutes until onions become translucent.

4. Mince garlic cloves and add to pan with onions. 

5. Slice chicken into medium pieces and add to the pan.

6. Cook another 5 minutes until chicken is halfway cooked.

7. Roughly chop mushrooms and add to the pan with the chicken and onions.

8. Add the pesto, lemon juice, parmesan cheese, and broth.

9. Continue cooking about 10 minutes until all ingredients are cooked through.

10. Add orzo to a pot of boiling water and cook for 10 minutes until al dente.

11. Combine all ingredients and continue to cook on low for another 5 minutes.

12. Serve with green veggies and fresh parsley (optional)

Dinner - Southwestern Chicken Fettuccine

Today the hubby and I were out shopping most of the afternoon for camping and backpacking gear (the backpacks were his Christmas present...I'm sure that will be in an upcoming episode of our adventures!) so I didn't feel like putting much effort into dinner. Pasta always seems to be an easy crowd-pleaser with minimum effort involved so I scrounged up the ingredients for a simple, quick southwestern chick fettuccine. 

The ingredient list is actually very simple:

- creamed corn
- fettuccine sauce (yes, I buy the jarred kind for a quick meal - Rago Roasted Garlic Parmesan is my fav)
- bow-tie pasta (or whatever your favorite pasta is!)
- roasted red peppers 
- jarred jalapenos (I like them pre-diced because they're easier to cook with and you don't have to worry about scrubbing your hands before touching your face, but if you have whole ones just dice them up!)
- red onion
- parmesan cheese (to garnish)

First, get your water salted and boiling, then throw in your pasta. I used half the box in this recipe, but I like a large sauce-per-pasta ratio so use however much you think you will need!

Chop about a quarter of the onion and 4-5 red pepper strips.

 Saute the onions in some olive oil for a few minutes, until they start to get translucent. Add the roasted red pepper strips and a tablespoon of the diced jalapenos.

To the sauteing vegetables, add a half teaspoon of each oregano, cumin, paprika (I used Target's smoked paprika...probably one of the best spices I own), salt, and pepper. If you need any extra liquid, you can use lime juice (my preference here), water, or chicken broth. Or Tequila...I suppose you could use tequila too...

I also cooked up some chicken for this recipe and threw the veggies in with them...if you are a non-meat-eating person, just omit this step :) 

Let everything simmer for 15 minutes or so, while the pasta finishes cooking. Once it's al dente, drain the pasta and add half the jar of sauce, half the can of corn (the other half will be a yummy addition to a meal later this week!), and the veggie/chicken mix. Cook for another few minutes until everything is piping hot!

Serve with parmesan cheese and some bread...and of course your favorite white wine. Bon appetit!