Sausage, Red Pepper and Broccoli Pasta

While perusing one of my favorite cooking blogs, Mary Ellen's Cooking Creations, I came across this gem. It's a great way to get a good serving of vegetables, something my husband and I fail at a lot. The vegetables were incredibly crisp and brightened up the flavor of the dish.

Ingredients
3/4 lb dry pasta
4-5 medium Italian sausages (your choice hot or sweet)
2 medium or 1 large head of broccoli, chopped
1 large red pepper, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups light cream
1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 cup of white sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1-2 tbsp flour

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. In a frying pan, cook sausages until brown on all sides. Set aside, slice once cool to handle. Once water has begun to boil, add peppers and broccoli. Cook for 30 seconds and then remove from water. Rinse vegetables to cool. Cook pasta in water until al dente. Drain, do not rinse.

While pasta is cooking, heat oil and butter in a large skillet. Add garlic, cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Add flour, cook until just golden brown. Add cream, let reduce slight. Remove from heat and add cheeses, whisk until melted.

Mix sauce, pepper, broccoli, pasta and sausage in a large bowl until thoroughly incorporated. Place in an oven safe casserole dish. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.

Italian Chicken Panini with Parmesan Fries

I'm not quite sure how I came up with this idea but it works!

Ingredients
1 loaf of ciabatta bread
2 chicken breasts, sliced into 4 cutlets
8 slices of provolone cheese
1 roasted red pepper, sliced
1/4 cup of Italian dressing
3 tbsp of light mayo
1/2 packet of Good Seasonings Italian dressing mix
2 cups of spring mix, spinach or arugula
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 package of frozen french fries
1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
Marinate the chicken breasts in dressing for at least 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook chicken in dressing marinade for 35-40 minutes. (Alternatively, you can grill the chicken.) Place fries on a cookie sheet and place on rack below chicken in oven and cook for the same length of time.

While chicken and fries are cooking, mix mayo and dressing mix together. Set aside.

Optional step: If you want to roast your own red pepper, it's very easy. Turn your gas burner on medium high heat and place pepper directly on the burner grate. Cook each side for 1 1/2 - 2 minutes. The pepper will hiss and make noise, fear not. Remove the pepper, let it cool and slice.

In the last 5 minutes that the fries are cooking, sprinkle Parmesan cheese evenly over fries. Once fries and chicken are finished cooking remove from oven. Slice bread lengthwise and then into four sections. Separate the bread, you should have 8 pieces of bread. Spread each slice with mayo. Place chicken cutlets on 4 pieces of bread; top each cutler with 2 slices of Provolone cheese. Top remaining slices of bread with spring mix and peppers. Top each chicken half with a spring mix/pepper half.

Heat a cast iron skillet or flat top grill on medium high heat. Brush with tablespoon of olive oil. Add sandwiches to pan. Press down with a bacon press or a brick wrapped in aluminum foil. Toast sandwich until golden brown; repeat on other side.

Serve each sandwich warm with fries.

Southwest Corn Chowder

With the cooler temperatures and rainy weather we've been treating ourselves to lots of comfort food. I had some fresh Jersey corn in my freezer that I wanted to use before it was destroyed by frost bite. Velvety and warm corn chowder was just the thing to make. I don't particularly care about the calories from using heavy cream but if you do you could easily substitute half and half or light cream instead. Serve this with some crusty bread and you have a warming and satisfying meal.


Ingredients
5 ears of corn, kernels cut off
1 1/2 cup of heavy cream
32 oz of chicken or vegetable broth
1 yellow onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 tbsp flour
2 tsp of chili powder
2 tsp of paprika
1 tsp of extra virgin olive oil
salt
pepper

Directions

In a large stock pot, add oil and onions stirring to coat. Cook over medium heat until onions begin to carmelize. Add garlic and continue cooking until pale golden brown, about 2 minutes. Sprinkle flour over onions and garlic and stir to coat. Add chicken broth and bring to a vigorous boil. Continue to boil for 10 minutes. Add the heavy cream and continue to boil for an additional 10 minutes, be sure to stir to prevent the cream from burning or boiling over. Add the corn and red peppers, simmer for 5 minutes or until corn is tender. Add paprika and chili powder, salt and pepper to tasty. Serve hot. You can garnish with cheddar cheese and/or scallions.