Chicken Breast Strips with Vegetables

All the veggies I used in this recipe were from my garden and it did taste very fresh. From start to finish it took just little under 30 minutes.

Main thing is to do all the prep first, start boiling water for pasta and you are on a roll. Also, I just do not like mushy vegetables, texture is terrible, they are tasteless and void of any vitamins, so I cook them just until they are al dente or “soft to the tooth”. Same goes with the chicken breasts, they are so easy to overcook. I just cook them till juices run clear when pierced with sharp point of knife or if there is no pink meat when you cut half way in.

I served this meal with wide noodles but I could have used gnocchi, rice or even potatoes with this sauce.

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts cut into 1” strips across

3 shallots or 1/2 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 cup of chopped eggplant

2 red peppers, seeded and chopped

3 tomatoes, chopped or small can whole tomatoes

1 tsp. dry basil or 1 Tbs. fresh chopped basil

1 Tbs. balsamic vinegar

Salt and pepper

2 Tbs. olive oil

Wide noodles or gnocchi, rice or even potatoes

Season the chicken breast strips with salt and pepper and coat with 1 Tbs. of olive oil. (I like to use small but deep stainless steel bowl.)

Cook pasta, toss in tablespoon of butter and keep warm.

Heat remaining oil in medium hot frying pan or skillet, drop in the chicken strips and cook on all sides. Test if they are done and remove to bowl. Set aside and keep them warm.

In the same skillet sauté shallots and garlic until shallots are translucent and garlic is fragrant, then add eggplant, peppers and tomatoes and cook on medium high heat until peppers feel soft, about 5 minutes.

Add basil and balsamic vinegar and stir to mix.

Add pasta, chicken strips and mix till pasta is coated with the sauce and chicken and pasta are reheated.

Serve on warm plates and garnish with extra basil.

Chicken Breast with Gnocchi and Sundried Tomato Sauce

To describe this dish that I have created for Marjo tonight on a whim would be “Pan fried and roasted chicken breast with sweet and Russet potato gnocchi served over smooth sauce made from roasted red peppers, sun dried tomatoes, chopped tomatoes and cream”. Yup, a real mouthful but it pretty well describes what I did. According to her it was incredibly light despite 1/4 cup of 35% cream that finished the sauce. I used store bought sun dried tomatoes and grilled red peppers in the sauce. These gnocchi were the lightest I have ever eaten.
I’ll post recipe if there is any interest.

Chicken Tenders with Gnocchi

In this recipe I used frozen Gnocchi. Just drop frozen Gnocchi in boiling water and cook same way as fresh. Do not thaw or they will stick together.

Sauté chicken tenders or skinless and boneless chicken breast cut into strips for about 3 minutes on each side, steam or microwave broccoli, heat up tomato sauce. Toss Gnocchi in the sauce and serve with chicken and broccoli flowerets on the side. Sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese. Meal is ready in 15 minutes.

Potato Gnocchi

(Pronounciation)

This recipe is the simplest, fastest and as foolproof as you can get. Main reason is because the Russet potatoes are “baked” in microwave. You can serve gnocchi as a starter or as a light meal.

To serve 3 as meal or 6 as starter.

2 Russet potatoes, washed and pierced in 4 places with tip of knife

2 egg yolks, lightly beaten

½ cup of flour plus more for dusting

Salt

Nutmeg, freshly ground

Place potatoes in microwave safe dish with paper towel on bottom and nuke for 4-½ minutes. Turn over and nuke 4 minutes more. Remove and cut in half, lengthwise, to release steam. As soon as they are cool enough to handle remove the skin, cut in smaller pieces and pres through potato ricer, food mill or as Chef John of Food Wishes does use spatula and strainer. Mix in egg yolk until well combined and then add pinch of nutmeg and start adding flour one tablespoon at a time till dough doesn’t feel tacky. This is very much cooking-by-feel. As Chef John says on his Blog:

“There is no such thing as an exact recipe for gnocchi. If you don’t like cooking by feel, and need exact measurements before attempting to cook something, this recipe is not for you. Potato sizes vary, the starch/water contents vary, how you cook it, and how much flour you add not only depends on the aforementioned factors, but also on the desired texture/density of the gnocchi.” Amen.

When dough feels right, roll it into a log and divide it into 8 parts. Roll each piece into a “snake” about ¾” in diameter and then cut into pieces about 1” long. Roll each piece over fork tines to create ridges for sauce.

Drop gnocchi into boiling water and when they float to top count 15 seconds and remove. You can drop them into a tomato sauce, pesto or frying pan with hot butter and olive oil. Sprinkle with Parmigianino cheese and serve.

Watch this great video.

  



To riced potatoes add egg yolks, salt and nutmeg and mix.

Mix the flour in tablespoon at a time.

Roll into a log and divide into equal smaller pieces...

then roll into snakes about 3/4" diameter.

Cut 1 inch long pieces...

and shape over fork tines.

Drop into boiling water and when they float to top let simmer for 15 seconds more.

Scoop gnocchi out, drop them into a hot tomato sauce and toss.

Grate Parmigianino on top and serve.