Baby Kale, Black Olives And Capers Cavatelli

 

Just a simple blog tonight. Yesterday's simple side dish became tonight's pasta dinner. I love to re purpose leftovers, Sunday I made a simple sauteed dish of baby kale, black olives, capers, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper for dinner and hubbs refused to even taste it so I had lots leftover. He had to work overtime tonight so I cooked for me, myself and I, everything I like!! No real recipe here yesterday I just toss into a skillet 2 cloves of sliced garlic, some sliced black olives,(about one cup), a handful of capers, a few tablespoons of olive oil, a bag of baby kale and salt and pepper to taste. Tonight I tossed the leftover kale into a skillet and added a few chunks of butter and red pepper flakes to reheat. I boiled up 1lb of ricotta cavatelli and tossed it in the skillet with a little of the pasta water, topped with some grated parmesan and just that easy dinner was served in about 20 minutes tops!!

*Any green and pasta will work

**I think a little lemon zest would have really brightened the whole dish, next time

Chicken Breast Stuffed with Shiitake Mushroom Duxelle

     Today I decided to make stuffed chicken breast for Sunday dinner so I raided my fringe and decided as I went along how the dish was going to turn out, my favorite way to cook!!

For the stuffing I used:

1 lb of shiitake mushrooms finely chopped

1 shallot finely chopped

1 clove of garlic finely chopped

2 tablespoons of butter

1/4 cup marsala

1/4 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon of chopped parsley 

some diced cheese of your choice

salt and pepper to taste

In a skillet melt the butter, add the shallots and garlic, cook for about 2 minutes. Then add the chopped mushrooms and cook until all the liquid is evaporated and slightly brown. Season with salt and pepper and deglaze with the marsala wine. Now add the heavy cream, cheese and parsley and set aside to cool.

    Now prepare the chicken breast to be stuffed, butterfly and season with salt and pepper, spread the mushroom mixture over top and I also added some diced cheese. Roll and secure with toothpicks. Season some flour with salt and pepper and roll the chicken in it to coat, set aside in the fridge for about 1/2 hour to firm up.

 Now add 2 tablespoons of butter and an equal amount of olive oil to a skillet and brown the chicken lightly on all sides, transfer to a baking dish. Put the chicken in the oven and move on to make a pan gravy in the same skillet. I had about a tablespoon of the mushroom stuffing left over so I added it to the skillet, degalze the pan with a little more marsala, a splash or two. Then I added a 14 1/2 oz can of chicken stock and reduced by half. Now I added another 1/4 cup of heavy cream and thicken it with about a tablespoon of beurre manie (equal amounts of butter and flour kneaded together) simmer for about 3-4 minutes.

 Remove the chicken from the oven and let rest for about 5 minutes, slice and top with the gravy.
*Make sure you have time to make this it takes a while
**The beurre manie is the best way to thicken sauces and gravy's, I always have some on hand in the fridge
***I served this with a side of baby kale sauteed with garlic, olives and capers and rice pilaf