Tag: Italian Dinners

Daily Thoughts · Starches · Uncategorized · Vegetables

Lemon-Green Bean Pasta

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This week I saw this recipe on FB and decided that I had to try it. We cooked it Friday evening and it was delicious. No meet, yet, it was so good that we didn’t even miss the meatballs! Quick and easy, you might even have everything in the house that is needed to make it. We have decided next time to add some fresh spinach along with the green beans but you will love this wonderful meatless Italian dish.

1 box angel hair or spaghetti
Salt & Pepper to taste
2 tables olive oil
1/3 cup finely chopped purple onion
5 tables unsalted butter
4 teas lemon zest
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 teas Italian Seasoning
1/2 teas crushed red pepper
2 cups fresh green beans (I bought the bag of fresh green beans that you can cook in microwave in the bag and cooked them for 3 min in microwave before adding to the skillet.
1/3 cup grated Parmesan
2 teas lemon juice

Cook pasta according to directions on box, set aside saving about 1/2 cup pasta water.
Add olive oil and butter to skillet and stir until butter is melted. Saute onion, garlic and green beans in the oil/butter mixture until onion is clear. Add salt and pepper to your liking. Add the crushed red pepper and Italian seasoning and cook until green beans are tender (remember I cooked them first in the microwave to save on time). When these vegetables are done, add the pasta to the green bean mixture along with the pasta water, lemon juice and zest to mixture. Add the Parmesan cheese to the mixture before serving. Serve with garlic bread and Tomato-Mozzarella salad!

Chicken · Daily Thoughts · Meats · Starches · Uncategorized

Cast Iron Chicken Piccata

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Isn’t this time of year so awesome when we sit and go through old magazines because well, its just one of those things that Fall gets us in the mood to do. Look through recipes to see what we want to make for friends/family. This is one of those foods that I tend to order quite a lot when we are out eating Italian. When I saw this it showed me how easy it is to make and now I don’t need to wait until I am at Vito’s or Maggianos to have chicken piccata.

Taken from Southern Living magazine April 2016 (yes, I tend to hoard my SL magazines and don’t throw them away until Mr. We Don’t Have Room For ALL These Magazines, makes me get rid of them)

4 (5-6 oz) chicken cutlets
1/2 cup (2 oz) flour
1 1/2 teas kosher salt
1/4 teas black pepper
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
6 tables salted butter, divided
2 tables olive oil, divided
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tables brined capers, drained and rinsed
1/3 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
Hot cooked pasta

Place each chicken cutlet between two sheets of heavy duty plastic wrap and flatten to 1/4″ thickness, using a rolling pin or flat side of a meat mallet. Stir together flour, salt and pepper. Dip each cutlet in egg white and dredge in flour mixture.
Melt 2 tables butter with 1 tables olive oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Add 2 cutlets, and cook until golden brown, 2-3 min on each side. Transfer to a plate. Wipe skillet clean and repeat process with 2 tables butter and 1 tables olive oil and remaining 2 cutlets. Discard drippings; but do not wipe skillet clean.
Add broth, lemon juice and capers to skillet. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring and scraping bottom of skillet to loosen browned bits. Reduce heat to medium and simmer, whisking occasionally for 5 minutes. Whisk in remaining 2 tablespoons butter and parsley. Spoon sauce over chicken and serve over pasta.

Daily Thoughts · Starches · Uncategorized

Fettuccine Alfredo With Asparagus

Chocolate CastlesLeave a comment

This has been such a great week. Not only did I find a great new series on Netflix called The Paradise about a turn of the century shopping store, we have had so much rain. Rain always makes me want to live in the kitchen because of the coolness in the air and the black clouds which (apparently I must be half witch because I love dark clouds and rain) always brings out my baking mood. Because we are going to the evening church service instead of our normal “get up and git to church” routine, we were able to make taquitos for breakfast and homemade cinnamon rolls, which just came out of the oven. We have a friend going with us to church and back here for dinner tonight, so of course, there is now a pork roast in the crockpot.

Sundays are the perfect day for baking, before or after going to worship. When I saw this recipe in an old Southern Living magazine, I realized that the only thing that needed to be purchased before making it was the asparagus. So this will be our new recipe for this week. I’m trying to decide if I will post the recipe for the cinnamon rolls and the pork roast. If I can stay out of the kitchen long enough to blog, I will post pictures of the rolls and the roast and will probably post the recipes. In the meantime, as you begin to think and plan this weeks menu, put this recipe on your list. You will be glad you did.

8 oz uncooked fettuccine
1 tsp olive oil
1 lb fresh asparagus spears, trimmed and cut into 2″ pieces
3/4 teas kosher salt, divided
1/2 teas ground black pepper, divided
1 teas lemon zest
2 teas fresh lemon juice
1 tables butter
1 tables vodka or water
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup milk (I use half & half)
6 tables grated Parmesan cheese
1 tables chopped fresh chives

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain in a colander over a large bowl. Reserve 1/4 cup cooking water.
Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add oil, swirl to coat. Add asparagus,1/4 teas salt and 1/4 teas of the pepper. Sauce until tender crips, about 6 minutes. Remove from heat. Add lemon zest and juice; toss. Keep warm.

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium. Add vodka (or water) and garlic. Cook 1 minute. Add team cheese, stirring until smooth. Stir in milk, Parmesan cheese and remaining 1/2 teas salt and 1/4 teas pepper. Stir in reserved cooking water pasta and asparagus. Toss. Sprinkle with chives