Originally Posted By velo Inspector - carmelized onions are onions cooked until they're nice and golden brown - heat not too high, onions glossy and translucent (that's your big word for the day). And, I'd add some Feta or Chevre to your pasta, that adds a yummy (IMHO) smoky taste I think.
Originally Posted By Lisann22 Inspector I love this sun-dried pesto with penne recipe. As it's light but tasty and GREAT when you add a grilled chicken to it with other spices. It's also super easy to fix. I grill/fry chicken breasts strips in some red pepper, garlic, and ground pepper. I do not use salt as the there's enough in the pesto already. Follow the instructions and just add your chicken into the pasta or on the outsides of the dish - looks and tastes wonderful. You can add to or replace the parmesan with the cheese velo suggested for a more earthy taste. ;> 12 ounces penne pasta 1 (8.5-ounce) jar sun-dried tomatoes packed in olive oil 2 garlic cloves Salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 cup (packed) fresh basil leaves 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Meanwhile, blend the sun-dried tomatoes and their oil, garlic, salt and pepper, to taste, and basil in a food processor and blend until the tomatoes are finely chopped. Transfer the tomato mixture to a large bowl. Stir in the Parmesan. Add the pasta to the pesto and toss to coat, adding enough reserved cooking liquid to moisten. Season the pasta, to taste, with salt and pepper and serve.
Originally Posted By Inspector 57 Mmmmmmmmmmm! Thanks, amazedncal2, velo, and Lisann! I'm definitely going to try your suggestions! Here's what I did with the ingredients I had on hand. It worked out pretty well, since my audience (Mr. Bill) likes his pasta dishes fairly plain. He most loves the PASTA in pasta dishes. In retrospect, though, *I* would have added mushrooms, pinenuts, and celery for more texture and flavor. Also, the dish ended up with a very light (but tasty) sauce/coating. Mr. Bill thought it needed more oil. You be the judge. 1 box bowtie pasta 2 chicken thighs Olive oil 2 medium onions 1 head garlic 1 red pepper Herbal seasoning Salt and pepper Coat bottom of frypan with oil. Heat to medium high. Cut onion into thin slices. Drop onion into oil. Stir every once in a while. Reduce heat to medium after a while. Separate cloves of garlic. Chop off ends of each clove and remove dried skin. Toss into pan with onions. Add herbal seasoning. Fire up broiler. Cut red pepper through core into six pieces. Remove seeds and glick. Flatten each piece of pepper, skin side up, onto cookie sheet. Place under broiler. Cook until skin of each piece is completely charred. (It'll blister and turn black around the edges. Some pieces will blacken before others. You'll be tempted to remove them then. But wait until the skin of all pieces is completely blackened. Burnt. Charred.) Remove sheet from oven. Using spatula, remove each piece of pepper and place it in plastic zipper bag. When done, squeeze air of out bag and seal shut. Let stand. After a while, remove pieces. Using hands, remove burnt skin from roasted pepper pieces. Rinse pieces. Chop into strips. Drop chicken pieces into boiling water. Cook until done. Remove. Drain. Cool 'til handle-able. Remove skin and fat. Pull meat off bones in strips. Cut off remaining meat as necessary. Cook box of pasta until barely al dente. Add red pepper and chicken strips to carmelized onion/garlic mixture. Stir to coat. Add water -- ounce by ounce, up to about four ounces -- to deglaze the pan and create a smoky brown sauce. Drain pasta. Add as much of it as you like to the sauce in the pan. Stir to coat pasta with sauce. Serve.
Originally Posted By Sara Tonin I made the Caribbean Chicken Stew...step-grandchild liked it, eldest grandchild gave it a thumbs down, one grandchild (the trouble maker and only boy of the crew) said it looked gross and immediately was sent to bed for saying that in front of Grandma (me), and the little one sat there smiling and eating the crackers I served with the stew, my daughter had a second bowl and her husband ate the rest between dinner and breakfast the next morning...I suppose that's called mixed reviews. I liked that it was thickened with the cooked sweet potatoes instead of flour or cornstarch. I went easy on the crushed red pepper because of the wee children, but the next time I make it I'll zip it up a notch with more pepper (since the the little nose miners didn't like it much anyway).
Originally Posted By velo Sara - yep, I should have said I throw in a bit more red pepper flakes than called for. I also serve it over rice, which adds a bit more oomph. You can also throw in some curry powder for a different flavor as well.
