Happy Valentines Day !  It’s going to be a cold, hopefully rainy night in the desert so this is what is on my menu for dinner tonight!  A simple Vodka Pasta with crispy chicken cutlets, green salad and some cream puffs for dessert.

Here is a simple Vodka Pasta recipe – taken from my aunt Tracey Lorang in South Dakota

1 T. olive oil

1 T. butter

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 shallots, minced

1 cup vodka

1 cup chicken broth

1 – 32oz. can crushed tomatoes

salt and pepper to taste

16 oz. penne rigate

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

20 basil leaves, shredded

Heat a large skillet over med. heat.  Add oil, butter, garlic and shallots.  Gently saute shallots for 3-5 minutes to develop their sweetness.  Add vodka to pan.  Reduce the vodka by half over the heat; this will take 2-3 minutes.  Add chicken stock and tomatoes.  Bring sauce to a bubble and reduce heat to a simmer.  Season with salt and pepper.  While sauce simmers, cook pasta in salted boiling water until cooked al dente.  Stir cream into sauce.  When sauce returns to a bubble, remove from heat.  Drain pasta.  Toss the hot pasta with sauce and basil leaves.

CRISPY PANKO CHICKEN CUTLETS – adapted from www.food.com

Directions

Using a mallet, gently beat the chicken breasts to a uniform thickness. (This prevents the chicken breasts from shrinking and promotes even cooking.).

1. Combine the flour, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper in one bowl. Place the egg and water mixture into another. Put the Panko bread crumbs into a third bowl. Dredge chicken with seasoned flour and pass through egg mixture. Shake off excess egg. For an even crispier crust, dredge with flour again and pass through egg mixture one more time.
2. Now completely cover chicken breasts with Panko crumbs, pressing crumbs down gently if needed.
3. Heat oil in frying pan on medium-high heat. Cook for 4 minutes on each side (or until no longer pink inside) and serve.

Cheers! (Don’t forget the vino

Chef Kathy

When I got this new cookbook for Christmas (Giada’s Kitchen) I saw this recipe for Eggplant Timbale.  The pictures in the cookbook looked so good, I had to give it a shot!  This dish originated in Naples.  It is filled with a delicious cheesy mixture!

The only way I have ever had eggplant was sliced, dipped in egg, rolled in cracker crumb then FRIED!  Oh so good!

I did do some alterations to the original recipe.  I added a little more sauce and a little less cheese so it was a little more friendly to the waistline.

Don’t let all of the directions, intimidate you….It is a little time consuming; but not complicated at all!

EGGPLANT TIMBALE:

2 – medium eggplant, sliced lengthwise 1/4 inch thick

1/3 cup plus 2 T. olive oil

Salt and pepper

1/2 # penne pasta

1 medium onion – diced

1/2 # Italian sausage

1/2 # lean ground beef

1/4 cup Marsala Wine (I used Sherry)

1 cup frozen peas, thawed

1 jar of Classico Tomato Basil Pasta sauce

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1 cup shredded Pecorino Romano cheese

1 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped or you can use 1/3 cup dried basil

Using a pastry brush, lightly brush both sides of the eggplant slices with olive oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Preheat your grill on medium heat.  Grill the eggplant on both sides until tender and colored with grill marks; about 4 minutes per side.  Be sure to watch the grill carefully so the eggplant doesn’t burn.  When done, set aside.

Cook the pasta – only 8-10 minutes.  You don’t want to fully cook the pasta, as it will finish cooking in the oven.  Set aside.

In a large skillet, add 2 T. olive oil and saute the onion until tender.  Add ground beef and pork sausage.  Brown the meat, breaking into bite size pieces.  Pour off any excess fat.  Add the wine and cook until the liquid has evaporated about 3 minutes.  Turn off the heat.  Add the peas and marinara sauce and stir to combine.  Add the mozzarella, 3/4 cup of the Pecorino, the basil and the cooked pasta.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 9 inch springform pan with the grilled eggplant, making sure that the slices overlap and hang over the edge of the pan; reserve a few slices.  Fill the pan with pasta mixture, pressing down to make sure the filling is evenly distributed.  Fold the eggplant slices up over the top of the pasta and top with the reserved slices to enclose the timbale completely.  Bake the timbale until the filling is warmed through and the cheese has melted, about 45 minutes.  Let the timbale cool for 10 minutes.

Invert the timbale onto a serving plate and remove the pan.  Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup grated Pecorino , slice and serve.

I don’t know about you; but the week of Christmas is always hectic.  I bring a lot of it on myself – procrastinating and waiting until the last minute to shop, wrap and figure out what to serve.

My aunt Tammy has made this dish since I was a little girl.  It is the best lasagne you will ever taste!  The best part is, it is pretty easy and your family and guests will rave!  I have made it several times for different clients and they love it! If there are leftovers, they freeze great!

I think what makes it so good is that there is no “canned” spaghetti sauce or cottage cheese.  There is a lot of meat, veggies and mozzarella cheese!

The only thing that I miss is we always used a quart of those good Minnesota canned garden tomatoes.  I have gone to the farmers market and bought tomatoes and canned them myself.  They are way better than anything you will buy out of a can at the grocery store.  However, I have used the store bought ones in a pinch and I got almost the same result 

CANNING TOMATOES:

Lots of  fresh tomatoes

Salt

Quart jars

Lids and rings

Blanche your tomatoes so the skins come off easy, pack the tomatoes tightly in quart jars, put a teaspoon on salt on top, seal with a lid and ring.

Place in a water bath, bring to a boil for 20 minutes.  Remove and let cool over night on the counter – put away in the pantry!

Pretty easy and they are so good in chili & hotdishes too!

Here is the recipe for the LASAGNE:

9 boiled lasagne noodles (I boil them in a long “roaster pan” so they don’t break)

1 1/2 #’s Lean ground beef

1 tsp. garlic salt

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 – onion chopped

sliced fresh mushrooms

2 tsp. ground oregano

2 tsp. dried basil

1 qt. tomatoes or a 28 oz. can

4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Spray a 9/13 inch pan with cooking spray.  Boil lasagne noodles (I’ve tried the no- boil noodles for this recipe, it didn’t work) rinse with cold water and lay out on waxed paper until ready to use.

Brown the ground beef with the chopped onion, garlic salt, salt and pepper.  Take 1/4 cup of the tomato liquid and whisk it with 3 T. flour to make a rue.  Add the tomatoes, remaining liquid and the rue, stir to dissolve.  Add your mushrooms, oregano & basil.  Bring mixture to a boil, then simmer for 15 minutes, stirring once in a while.

Place in this order:  1/3 of sauce, 3 noodles, 1/3 of cheese – repeat 2 more times making sure to end with cheese!  Bake uncovered for 20 minutes at 375 degrees!  Let set on counter for 10 minutes to set up before slicing.