Chicken Pasta Salad

I made chicken pasta salad last week. It has chicken that I grilled with lemon pepper, red wine vinegar and olive oil marinade. I chopped that up. And then added cooked whole wheat rotini pasta, chopped fresh tomatoes, chopped sun-dried tomatoes, chopped roasted yellow, green and red peppers, grated mozzarella cheese and then all of it was tossed with a little bit of fat free half and half, basil,and Italian dressing.

Balsamic Chicken and White Beans with Pancetta and Sage

Dinner one night this summer...

Balsamic Chicken
4 pieces boneless, skinless chicken breast
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar, enough to coat chicken
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 stems rosemary, leaves stripped and chopped, about 2 tablespoons
Salt and coarse black pepper

Coat chicken in balsamic vinegar, then olive oil. Let stand for 10 minutes. Season chicken with rosemary, salt and pepper.

Heat a medium nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken breasts to the pan. Cook chicken 12 minutes, or until juices run clear, turning occasionally. The balsamic vinegar will produce a deep brown, sweet finish on the chicken as it cooks. Remove chicken from skillet when cooked through. Serve.




White Beans with Pancetta and Sage
1/2 pound large dried white beans -- corona beans (have used lima beans too...whatever larger white bean I can find)
2 bay leaves
3 garlic cloves
1/2 cup all-purpose flour - for dredging
salt and ground black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 pound thinly sliced pancetta (when I have not been able to find it as I live in a smaller town I by just regular bacon or some prosciutto)
4 sage leaves - chopped

Prepare beans - put the dried beans in a large bowl and cover with cold water. Soak the beans overnight in the refrigerator.

Drain the soaked beans, place them in a large pot and cover with fresh cold water. Put the beans over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Toss in the bay leaves and garlic (I also added some of the sage this time and it really added a good flavor to the beans and extra pop of flavor). Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 1 1/2 hours until tender. Drain the cooked beans and spread them out on a sheet pan to cool slightly and dry off a little.

Put about 1/2 cup of flour in a shallow platter and season it with salt and pepper; mix with a fork to distribute evenly. Toss the beans in the seasoned flour to coat completely.

Place a large skillet over medium-high heat and coat with the oil. When the oil is hot, add the pancetta, fry for a couple of minutes to crisp it up. Toss in the sage leaves and fry for about 1 minute. Remove the pancetta and sage to some paper towels; now you have a flavor base. Shake off excess flour from the beans and put them in the pan in a single layer. Fry the beans for a good 10 minutes to form a golden crust on the outside of the beans, tossing to cook both sides.

Return the pancetta and fried sage to the pan, stir everything together, and serve.

Calzones

I made calzones tonight for dinner...
A whole wheat crust stuffed with ricotta cheese, roasted chopped peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, ground sweet Italian turkey sausage, mozzarella cheese. Topped with some tomato sauce.


Oh yes...I have a bread machine and I love it and use it often. This recipe I use the bread machine on the dough setting.

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust
1 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons basil
2 teaspoons oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 1/2 teaspoons yeast

Place all ingredients in the bread machine in order used by machine. Run on dough cycle.

Calzones

When done, divide dough into 4/6 balls depending how big of calzones you want to make. All to rise for 10 to 20 minutes. Roll out dough balls on a lightly floured surface to 6 to 9 inch circles (depending on the size you want for your calzones).

Layer your favorite pizza ingredients on half of each dough round. Fold dough over filling and pinch edges of dough firmly together to seal. Move dough to baking sheets and pierce in several places. Bake calzones 15 at 350 degrees and then turn and bake another 15 minutes or until tops are golden brown.

For the above calzones I used roasted mixed peppers, sundried tomatoes, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese and browned ground Italian turkey sausage. Topping each calzone with tomato sauce after they are baked.