A New Start

This is my second foray in attempting to blog. My last attempt fizzled within a month of its inception due to crazy work, school and life schedules.  Hopefully this time around, it will be different.

This time, I'm blogging for myself in an attempt to catalog all the recipes I recreate at home. Often, I would remember the dish, the vague ingredients in there but can never seem to locate the recipe (even though I catalog them all in my Gmail inbox)! It is utterly frustrating trying to hunt down the recipe as if I am Sherlock Holmes, so hopefully this blog will be useful in tracking what I make and what I would do differently the next time around.

As for the recipes I will recreate, I am armed with no less than 30 different food blogging websites (some of my favorite Blogs are Use Real Butter, Steamy Kitchen, Rasa Malaysia, Cooking Chronicles, Tarlette, No Recipes, and Peabody), books such as Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Joy of Cooking, and lastly, recipes passed along to me by friends and family.

For tonight's dinner with hubby, I made a Pan Roast Chicken Breast with Baby Spinach, (recipe from Michael Smith), and a Creamy PHILLY Rosé Penne (recipe from Cooking with Philly). I followed both recipes exactly, except I do not own a heavy duty pan that is oven proof so after I seared the chicken breast, I used a pyrex glass and baked the chicken a little longer than the time listed on the recipe. 


My thoughts on the recipes: The chicken turned out wonderfully tender, juicy, and delicious. The pan roasting yielded a nice golden brown and crispy skin. The pasta was extremely easy to make and was every bit as creamy as a dish you would get in an Italian restaurant. I would definitely remake both recipes again.


Here are the recipes:


Pan Roast Chicken Breast with Baby Spinach

Yield: 1 (Increase to number of people served)

Ingredients

• 1 chicken breast
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• Splash white wine
• 2 handfuls baby spinach

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F.
2. Preheat a heavy skillet over medium-high heat and add a splash of oil. When the oil is hot add the butter into the middle of it. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and carefully place in the pan. Sear until golden brown and delicious looking. Flip the breast and put the pan in oven to finish cooking, about 8-10 minutes.
3. Remove the pan from the oven and place the chicken on a plate to rest. Put the pan on a burner over medium-high heat and when it's hot, pour in the wine, scraping up any brown bits from bottom of pan. Let bubble and reduce by half then add the spinach. Stir to wilt. Serve chicken with spinach and drizzle with pan juices.

Creamy PHILLY Rosé Penne

Prep: 20 minute(s)

 

Ready in: 20 minute(s)

 

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 3 cups penne pasta uncooked
• 1/3 cup (1/3 of 250-g tub)  PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese Spread
• 1-1/2 cups  pasta sauce
• 1/4 cup  fresh basil

 

Instructions:

Cook pasta as directed on package, omitting salt.

Meanwhile, heat pasta sauce in nonstick skillet on medium-high heat. Stir in cream cheese spread; cook and stir constantly 2 to 3 min. or until melted.

Drain pasta; toss with sauce until evenly coated. Top with basil.