Silky Garlic-Basil and Parmesan Chicken Linguine with Baby Kale

Ah this dinner has been one of my all time fave creations that we have repeated several times already!  It's so silky, creamy and gourmet tasting to me!  I feel like I'm eating at a fancy restaurant!  It's pretty easy to make and you can always use the basic idea of it and recreate it in lots of various ways.  Pretty much it's as simple as cooking some chicken to perfection adding some garlic and a veggie using the fond (brown bits) left in the pan and then adding in some butter, parmesan and reduced chicken stock with water when adding the cooked noodles to the pan!  So here's what we did.

We have been wilting greens for this recipe and in each photo it's either Baby Kale or regular Kale both work well.  Baby Spinach, Baby Arugula and Collard Greens would also all work well for this.  You can either pre-wilt the Kale in a non-stick pan sprayed with a good cooking spray or some olive oil and add a little bit of water as needed to help it steam and wilt down, I also add a lid to trap heat and steam to help it cook faster, season with salt and pepper.  Or you can add it with more water when you add the Knorr Reduced Stock to the fragrant minced garlic in the step below.  I prefer pre-wilting it because it's faster to finish than if I have to wait for it to cook down later on.

We used 2 servings (55g each) of Trader Joe's Garlic Basil Linguine‬ cooked for 6 minutes in salted water.  Once finished reserve about 1/4-1/2 cup of the pasta water.  (Sometimes I forget and have to just use plain water but it's extra nice to use the pasta water.)  Drain and Set Aside till ready to add it to the veggies and sauce later on.

Perfect Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast you make in a skillet so you can get the fond in the bottom of the pan.  Add 1/2-1 Tsp. Olive Oil heat on medium high till hot add chicken loosely cover with aluminum foil to keep in heat and let out steam for 3 minutes and 30 seconds, flip recover and cook for a second 3 minutes and 30 seconds (or until cooked through, that time is usually perfection for us).  Remove from pan and let chicken rest on a warmed plate covered with aluminum foil for at about 5 minutes.

Using the same pan that you cooked the chicken in, heat on medium another 1-2 Tsp. Olive Oil, usually I only need 1 Tsp.  Add 4 Cloves Minced Garlic and cook until fragrant (only about 30 sec. to a minute) then add 1 Tsp. Knorr Reduced Sodium Reduced Stock and the pasta water or plain water.  Let Reduced Stock melt.  Only add just enough water usually about 1/4 cup, if you need more add more and if you add too much just let it reduce.  Add the Wilted Baby Kale, Cooked Pasta, 1 Tablespoon Butter, 1oz. (28g) Grated Parmesan (grated from the wedge is the best kind and worth the effort).  Season with Salt and Pepper to Taste.  Stir till throuoghly combined and till sauce is tightened up.  Divide between two warmed plates.  We love to slice up the Chicken and place it on top.  Usually it's around 2-4 oz. of Chicken each depending on how much I want that day, typically it's 4oz.

Take about a Tablespoon or 2 amount of Fresh Basil Leaves and either chop them or for a more fun and pretty version roll them up and thinly slice to create ribbons.  Top the Chicken with the Basil.

1-2 Tablespoons Fresh Basil Chopped or Chiffonade/Ribbons
2-4 Teaspoons Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Unsalted Butter
1oz. (28g) Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
1 Teaspoon Knorr Reduced Sodium Reduced Stock
4 Cloves of Garlic, Minced
1 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast Seasoned with Salt and Pepper
1 Bag or 2 (85g) Servings of Preferred Greens (Baby Kale, Chopped Kale, Baby Spinach, Baby Arugula or Collard Greens)
2 Servings (55g each 110g total) Trader Joe's Garlic Basil Linguine (You could use any pasta you desire in it's place it just won't taste exactly the same as mine did. LOL)

In this photo I reserved some of the Grated Parmesan to sprinkle on the top.

In this photo we used regular Kale chopped up instead of Baby Kale.  Also a note about a nice wine pairing is a good buttery Chardonnay like Kendall Jackson's Vintner's Reserve!  Super yummy!

Blue Apron: 4 Recipes This Week

This week we opted for the Vegetarian Options to be sent to us but I really wanted to try the Chicken Recipe for that week too so we bought the ingredients for it and made it as well!  Here's the results of what we made!

First we made the Japanese Okonomiyaki with Dressed Mizuna & Garlic-Lemon Sauce!  I was a bit worried about this recipe, I'm not fond of whole wheat flour and such and I was unsure about the cabbage as well.  But we loved it!  All of it!  The two sauces really made the whole thing taste amazing.  One sauce was sweeter and the other sauce was nice and garlic-y and the two played together really well!  As for the cabbage I didn't really notice it so it was a great combo of veggies, and the whole wheat flour you couldn't really tell that was there because the sauces were strong enough!  Also the Mizuna dressed with lemon really added a brightness that also played amazing with the sauces.  I had never had mizuna before or a Japanese Okonomiyaki and I loved it all!  We would make this again for sure!  It was one of those things we would never have tried or made on our own but did because of Blue Apron!  I really appreciate how many things I'm getting to make and try new and loving them!

Next we made the Fresh Cavatelli & Sun Gold Tomatoes with Basil Seed Ricotta & Opal Basil.  This one we really enjoyed the ricotta with basil seeds but the pasta was good but not our favorite and I put a bit too much red pepper flakes so it was a tad too hot for my tastes and for some reason I don't really care for those little cherry tomatoes.  I think it might be the skins on them are a bit too, what's the right word to describe maybe tough or too thick.  I also wish I had added a bit less of the basil.  I do like basil but if it's too strong it's not my favorite.  I could see lots of people really liking this, it's just not my preference is all.  Again really loved the ricotta with the basil seeds that was a really nice touch!  I could see stuffing some little tomatoes with that mixture for a little snack or appetizer!

The last recipe we made from the shipment was Rose Romaine & Painted Oak Lettuce Salad with Plums, Cucumber & Toasted Brie Baguettes!  This was a real winner!  We will make this again for sure!  One note the instructions say to peel the cucumber and I say DON'T!  I kept the peel on for the nutritional benefits and it was still amazing!  The new delectable treat I got to try for the first time was BRIE!!!  Oh my goodness I've been missing out!  LOL  I also loved making the vinaigrette it was fun and I loved the flavor of it too.  It was sweeter using the sherry vinegar and honey as well as the shallots being sweeter, it was a nice tangy-sweet dressing!  It pairs so perfectly with the flavor of the Brie!  The plums really made the sweetness stand out and the cucumbers went well too.  We'll make this dish again.  We've already bought some Brie and I plan on making baguettes from the Artisan Bread in 5 Master Dough.  For the lettuce I'll just buy a baby lettuce mix, it's easy to substitute since it's simply a leafy lettuce and a romaine so any combo of those types will work.  Also I'll probably up the size of the salad and lower the size of the bread and use only 1 serving of cheese next time.  I do so love my salads!  LOL

Here's the bonus meal we made!  And it's for sure a winner-winner-chicken-dinner!!! LOL  It's the Chicken & Snow Pea-Radish Sauté with Candied Pistachios!  This is OMG!!!  We made sure we bought chicken breasts with the bone in and skin on and I'm so glad we did because it was so juicy and flavorful!  It's simply seasoned with salt and pepper but oh wow it was like eating at a restaurant!  You use the fond and juices from the chicken left in the pan to saute the potatoes, radishes and snow peas and it's just amazing!  I've never had cooked radishes before and I have to say I liked them that way too!  They mellow out and aren't spicy like they normally are raw.  All the flavors worked together so well like the sweetness of the snow peas and the candied pistachios were out of this world good and went with all the flavors really well too!  They were so easy to make I was so surprised and we will make them again just on their own as a special little treat!
The only difference we had to make was that I can't find fresh tarragon locally so I had to settle for adding a quarter teaspoon of dried tarragon when I added the shallots to the saute pan.  It worked, but of course the fresh herbs make a huge difference.  I'm now dreaming of an herb garden with tarragon as one of the new herbs I have fallen in love with that is used a lot in Blue Apron meals!
Have you any doubt that we will be making this one again?!! LOL  This is one I would say you HAVE to try and make yourself even if you normally wouldn't!
And for this meal we tried out Kendall-Jackson's Vintner's Reserve Sauvingon Blanc 2012 the brightness of the lime and crispness of this wine went well with this meal as well as the nice mineral finish and it had a sweetness too!  It just really worked.  It reminded me of an unoaked chardonnay.

Food Adventure with Blue Apron's Fresh Gnocchi & Maitake Mushrooms with Sweet Corn & Thyme Brown Butter

   Last night we made the third meal that was shipped to us this week by Blue Apron!  It's the Fresh Gnocchi & Maitake Mushrooms with Sweet Corn & Thyme Brown Butter!  WOW was it great!  I'm already a fan of Gnocchi since as I said before I lived in Italy as a kid because my Dad was stationed there.  I remember the first time I ate Gnocchi I was being picky at a restaurant where my Dad had taken me with him to go to lunch with someone.  I was a difficult one, being picky, I knew what I liked and didn't like, but he convinced me somehow to trust him and try the Gnocchi.  So I received a shallow bowl of little white oblong things with a bright red tomato sauce over it!  Now I LOVED tomato sauce so I figured I would like it...maybe that's how he convinced me to try it in the first place!  LOL  I tentatively took a bite and YUM!!!  Soft and pillowy!  And the tomato sauce was so fresh and simple, I still try and recreate that simple beautiful tomato sauce it's hard to come by!  One day I will hit upon how to make that sauce, or find one that matches...it will be a great day!  So over the years I've tried various store bought Gnocchi and they are never as good as what I remember in Italy, hardly anything is...LOL!  I've also made my own a couple of times and it's kind of tricky but I have made some that came pretty close.  This one being the closest!  I think with practice I could make them perfect, the only trouble is they are very time consuming!

    That leads me back to this delicious little bite!!!  I really loved the buttery, nutty flavors, with a light sweetness!  I tell you the bright thyme flavor played so well with the sweet creamy flavors too, I really enjoyed this dish and I want to make it again!  If there was a downside I would say it was the actual Gnocchi they sent.  While it WAS impressively fresh, they were a bit gummy to me, still better than most store bought kinds so I enjoyed them still.  Just not how I remember the perfect Italian Gnocchi tasting like.  I believe it was the use of egg in them, an authentic Gnocchi doesn't use egg at all.  I think if I made my own and then used them in this recipe it would be even more out of this world than it already was!  And what you see that looks a lot like Roast Beef is Maitake Mushrooms!  This is my first time having them and cooking them and I REALLY loved them!  I am wanting to see if my local grocer can stock them because I think these, if I can get my hands on them, will become a regular part of my diet!!!

   Another first for me was taking corn on the cob and cutting the kernels off.  I would normally just buy frozen corn to add in the recipe instead but I figured why not give it a try and see what difference it makes.  Not sure it makes that much of a difference, especially if you use a very good frozen kind that tastes the same as fresh, but it's more convenient than cutting the corn off the cob yourself.  I enjoy eating the corn ON the cob the best when I get it in cob form!

   Lastly, but definitely not least!  The wine paring!  We chose a nice toasty Dark Earth Chardonnay, that has a wonderful buttery note that plays so well with all things buttery!  (We found it at our Local Stater Bros.) When we first tasted this wine we loved the creamy toasty flavors and then Hubby stated "You know what, I think this would go well with?  CORN!" and at once I replied "YES, it totally would!" so we did what any sane wine pairing connoisseurs would do and whipped out a fresh Corn On The Cob we had in the fridge, cooked it up, split it between us and slathered it with butter and a sprinkle of salt and WOW does that pairing work spectacularly!!!  The buttery corn just sang with the creamy-toasty-buttery chardonnay!  It was food and wine synergy at it's best!  It's worth hunting down this chardonnay just to try it out with with buttered corn on the cob!

   Now that you've heard the background story, you can see why we chose this wine to pair with this meal, and it certainly worked really nicely with the browned butter and sweet corn as well as the mushrooms and potato gnocchi!  I also think that the Toasted Head Chardonnay would also pair well since it's also very toasty and creamy.

Food Adventure with Blue Apron's Spice-Rubbed Pork Medallions with Peach Salsa and Cilantro-Green Bean Rice

Me and Hubby signed up for Blue Apron and got our first box in the mail tonight!  We tried our first recipe tonight and OH WOW was it amazing!  It was the Spice-Rubbed Pork Medallions with Peach Salsa and Cilantro-Green Bean Rice!  Everything we needed arrived already proportioned out so all we had to do was follow the instructions.  It was really fun and I simply trusted the recipe and made it all as is.  I was worried about the basil being a bit too much but when it was all put together it was all perfect!  In fact we loved it all so much that we are planning on buying the ingredients on our own to make it again!!!  It was just really fun to make something I would have never done on my own and have it be such a success!!!  There was a lot of firsts, I never zested a lime before and we've never cooked pork at home and had it be edible before either!!! LOL  The Peach Salsa went perfect with every bite of Pork it was just amazing!  The spice rub played really well with the sweet peach and tart lime and basil flavors!  The rice...oh the rice...it had flavortown all up in there since it used the aftermath of cooking the pork to flavor it!  I really enjoyed that the green beans were in it too and they didn't overpower the awesome flavor going on in the rice!

For a wine paring we had a hard time deciding but ended up picking a 2013 New Zealand Marloborough Sauvignon Blanc by Nobilo's Regional Collection.  The flavors paired so well with the peach salsa with it's basil and lime because of it's tropical and citrus fruit notes as well as it's subtle herbal notes!  It really brought out the sweetness in the peach!  We found this wine at our local Von's!

By the way, you can make this recipe as well since Blue Apron freely shares the recipes and instructions online!  How cool is that!  I must say I probably would never have made any of this on my own, but I am so glad that it all came to my doorstep so I could try it out after-all!  So even if it's something you might not make, maybe you should!?!

UPDATE (8/28/14): We have been making this recipe again here and there, and have actually made it a total of 3 times now!  It is such a hands down winner!  My friend, and also my sister have both made it with success and love it too!  OH and for the spice rub we substituted dried tarragon instead of the ground fennel since we couldn't find it and the flavors are similar and it worked well.  We simply used 1 Tbs. Brown Sugar, 1 Tsp. Paprika, 2 Tsp Dried Tarragon, 1/2 Tsp Hot Curry Powder and found it a decent match, it's not exactly the same as what they sent us but it is very similar and the flavors that we loved are there!