Balsamic Chicken, Spinach and Tomato Pasta Salad

Balsamic Chicken, Spinach and Tomato Pasta Salad

Serves 8

Prep: 15 min

Cook Time: 15 min

Ingredients:

1 (20-oz) pkg cheese tortellini

1 lb skinned and boned chicken breasts, cooked and diced

1 ½ c Newman’s Own Balsamic Vinaigrette Salad Dressing

1 tsp Dijon mustard

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

2 cups firmly packed fresh spinach, chopped

¼ c. fresh basil, chopped

1 ½ c fresh cherry tomatoes, halved

½ c. diced yellow bell pepper

Directions:

Place chicken in a zip-lock bag with 1 cup of balsamic vinaigrette.  Marinate for at least 2 hours, but best if marinated overnight.  Take chicken out of bag and discard marinade.

In grill pan, grill chicken, about 5-6 minutes on each side until cooked through. 

Place yellow bell pepper slices in grill pan and grill about 2 minutes on each side.

Whisk together balsamic vinaigrette and yellow mustard in a bowl.

Cook pasta according to package directions.  Drizzle with olive oil and let cool for 10 minutes.

Toss together pasta, chicken, balsamic mixture, spinach, and remaining 3 ingredients in large bowl.  Serve immediately, or, if desired, cover and chill 1 hr before serving.

Sweet Potato Fries

I've made sweet potato fries before, but I never quite get it right. They'll be soggy, or burnt, or underseasoned. These were delicious. Crispy on the outside, soft in the middle, a little spicy. Yum!

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Peel sweet potato (or, you can mak e them with the skin on). If you need to wash your potato, make sure to dry the potato really well. Slice the potato into fries that are 1/2 - 3/4 of an inch thick.

Put fries into a bowl. Sprinkle with coarse salt (kosher or sea salt) and generously with freshly ground pepper. Drizzle lightly with olive oil. Don't use too much oil or fries will turn out soggy. Add only enough that fries are slightly coated. Toss the fries so they have an even coating of oil, salt, and pepper.

Put fries on a cookie sheet. Spread them out and avoid having them touch each other. You may wish to sprinkle more salt and pepper on them. Put in oven and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and turn them over, then bake for another 15 minutes. Fries should be browned to a golden color. If they don't look cooked enough, bake longer, in 5 minute intervals, turning them over as needed.

Remove from oven and enjoy!

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

These are the delicious mashed potatoes from Mom's cooking class.

Servings: 12

Ingredients:

3 lbs Idaho potatoes

2 Tbsp Kosher salt

1 bay leaf

½ cup yellow onion, diced ¼”

½ cup milk

1 cup butter

1 cup roasted garlic **

      1 cup fresh, peeled garlic

      1 cup olive oil

1. Peel and cut potatoes into quarters.  Place cleaned quartered potatoes and 2 Tbsp of kosher salt, bay leaf, and diced yellow onion into a 4-qt stock pot.  Cover potatoes by one inch with cold water, place over high heat.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, continue to cook until potatoes are fork tender.  Approx 22 minutes total cooking time.

2. In a 1-qt. sauce pot, add: milk, butter, and roasted garlic.  Bring to simmer.

3. Drain potatoes as soon as they are done; if you let them over cook or sit in water too long, your potatoes will be soupy or glue-like depending on your choice of potatoes.  When completely drained, return potatoes to large pot.

4. Add a third of the warm liquid mix to potatoes.  Mash potatoes.  Add remaining liquid.  Continue to mix until liquid is completely incorporated.  Taste and check seasoning, adding more kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper if needed.  Serve.

**TO ROAST GARLIC:

1. Place 1-cup of peeled garlic cloves in a 1-qt sauce pot with a 1-cup of olive oil.  Cover pot with a lid and place in a 300F oven for 60-70 minutes or until garlic is soft and golden brown.

Note: This dish can be made ahead of time and re-heated in a microwave oven or conventional oven at 375F for 35-45 minutes (or until hot all the way through; to check for “hot all the way through”- stick a stainless steel knife tip directly into center of the pan.  Immediately remove.  Tough the tip of the knife to your skin just under your lower lip.  If the knife blade is hot to the touch, your product is “hot all the way through”).

Cranberry Salsa

In food processor combine:
12 oz bag of cranberries
1/4 cup chopped green onion, about 4-6
1 bunch of cilantro (I got a bunch of cilantro at the store, and probably used 1/3 of it. I guess it depends what size of a bunch you buy and your taste preference)

In a separate bowl combine:
1 cup sugar (I used 3/4 cup, you could probably even use less)
Juice of two limes
1/4 -1/2 tsp cumin powder depending on taste. 

Mix everything together and chill for an hour. Serve over cream cheese or just with chips. Also would be yummy as a side sauce with turkey, pork or chicken.


Compliments to the chef

Tupelo Rice of Santa Barbara

1 pkg of Zatarain's yellow rice, prepared as directed
about 1 cup of corn
1 can of kidney beans (or other bean)
several handfuls or so of fresh spinach
2 tomatoes
1 large yellow onion
oil, salt, pepper, garlic for sauteing
fresh parsley

1. Cook rice according to package.
2. Saute corn in a bit of oil and season with salt, pepper, and garlic, until it gets a little brown.  Remove from heat and set aside.
3. Follow step 2 for the remaining items.
4. Combine all ingredients together and gently mix.  Sprinkle with Parmesan, Romano, or mozzarella cheese.
5. Garnish with fresh parsley

*Make note that you can add other ingredients to your liking, such as sauteed zucchini