Dinner By Accident

One of Logan's favorite past times these days is to open all the drawers in the kitchen and pull out all my recipes and cook books. While cleaning up his mess for the 3rd time yesterday, I came across a Rachael Ray cookbook with tabs for recipes I wanted to try. Of course I had never gotten around to any of them, so I decided I would make one for dinner. One look at the pasta carbonara and I was sold. I've made it once before using Tyler Florence's recipe and it was ok, but I wanted to try it again with a different recipe.

As for the protein part of the meal, chicken won the toss up and I decided to blacken it with a blackening recipe I recently saw on my friend Dela's website. She used it on fish, as was my initial plan, but I figured it would be good on chicken too. It was FANTASTIC! Thank you Dela! I will be using this any time blackening is required from now on. It was a little spicy for Logan, so he had some smoked sausage I threw on the grill with the chicken.

Blackened Chicken Carbonara:

Pasta Carbonara
Source: Rachael Ray, my changes/additions in italics

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 pound pasta, such as spaghetti or rigatoni
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (enough to coat bottom of pan)
1/4 pound pancetta (Italian bacon), chopped (I used regular bacon)
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
5 to 6 cloves garlic, chopped (I found I was out [gasp!] and so I minced some onion and used it instead)
1/2 cup dry white wine (I used water because I was even out of chicken stock which is my usual substitute for wine)
2 large egg yolks
Freshly grated Romano cheese
Handful of finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, for garnish (Omitted)

1. Put a large saucepot of water on to boil. Add a liberal amount of salt and the pasta. Cook to al dente, about 8 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the olive oil and pancetta. Brown pancetta 2 minutes. Add red pepper flakes and garlic and cook 2 to 3 minutes more. Add wine and stir up all the pan drippings.

3. In a separate bowl, beat yolks, then add 1 large ladleful (about 1/2 cup) of the pasta cooking water. This tempers the eggs and keeps them from scrambling when added to the pasta.

4. Drain pasta well and add it directly to the skillet with pancetta and oil. Pour the egg mixture over the pasta. Toss rapidly to coat the pasta without cooking the egg. Remove pan from heat and add a big handful of cheese, lots of pepper, and a little salt. Continue to toss and turn the pasta until it soaks up egg mixture and thickens, 1 to 2 minutes. Garnish with parsley and extra grated Romano.

Blackening Recipe
Soure: Dela from Not Your Mama's Southern Cooking

2 teaspoons ground paprika
4 teaspoons dried leaf thyme (I used basil because I was out of thyme and I love basil!)
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper, or to your taste
1 teaspoon dried leaf oregano
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (I omitted because I didn't have any)

I actually doubled this and had plenty left over to use later!

Pop Goes The Weasel

This song goes round and round in my head whenever the word pop (or the likenesses there of) is involved in any sentence. Maybe it is because I have a 7 month old. Maybe not. ;) Anyway, no weasels were harmed in the preparation of this recipe. Deer however, were not so lucky.

My freezer is full of venison again. Not because my husband went hunting, but because my father-in-law gave us some of his. I've put off cooking it because it isn't my favorite meat, but my husband really likes it. Therefore I went in search of something new and different. I found Deer Poppers! Everyone raved about them (except some guy who was offended that the marinade overshadowed the natural taste of the venison). I really liked them. I do tend to have problems with foods wrapped in bacon though. The bacon just never gets crispy enough for me. In my opinion, bacon should never be chewy. Other than that, they had great flavor and were nice little bites to "pop" in your mouth. The husband LOVED them, and so did his friends. (He took the leftovers with him when they went camping)

I followed the recipe exactly and it can be found here. I did not have toothpicks though, so I had a little trouble with some of them coming apart.

Mama Mia!

I wish I knew some Italian because these little pizzas are amazing!! I love pizza, but don't have it near as often since I've had a baby. We don't like to spend the money on delivery, and even the frozen pizzas (the good ones) are expensive! Before Logan was born, we made homemade pizza a lot. It was easy, inexpensive, and most of all...good!

I was watching a recorded episode of Rachel Ray and she made mini deep dish pizzas. They looked so good and easy I decided I had to make them for dinner. I changed them up a little and made them cheeseburger pizzas. They were so good and the great thing is, you can eat three and it is only the equivalent of 1 biscuit! I do have some hints to make them easier for you, so before you make them be sure to read all the way to the end of the recipe.

Bacon Cheeseburger Mini Deep Dish Pizzas
Source: Inspired by Rachel Ray, my additions are in italics

1 can refrigerated biscuits
1/2 lb. ground beef
6 pieces bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1/4 cup onion, minced
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
tomato sauce
parmesan cheese
mozzarella cheese

Cut each biscuit into thirds and press into rounds. Press each round into a cup of a muffin tin that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Cook according to the package's directions. Brown ground beef, drain fat, add onion and cook until tender. Add garlic and worcestershire sauce and cook an additional few minutes. Put cooked meat into a medium bowl and toss with crumbled bacon. Fill each mini crust with tomato sauce, about a spoon full in each cup. Not enough to make the crust soggy. Top with parmesan cheese and then fill with the toppings and top with mozzarella cheese. Place back in the oven just to melt the cheese.

My tips: My crusts puffed up instead of spreading around the cup, so about 3/4 through the cooking time, I took them out and used a spoon to mash them back into cup form. Then placed them back in the oven to finish cooking. Also, be sure to spray your pan with cooking spray and use a large spoon to remove the mini pizzas. They come out great!

Pasta alla Carbonara

Bacon? Yum!  Garlic?  Yum!  Pasta? Yum!  Yeah, that pretty much says it all.  What more do you need?  Click here for Tyler Florence's recipe I used.  Fab-U-lous!  I did use cilantro instead of parsley.  I just like the flavor better.

Changing It Up

I took 2 recipes I previously blogged about and changed them up slightly.  I used the exact marinade I used for my shrimp skewers but sauteed the shrimp instead.  Then I made mashed potatoes just like the stuffing of my twice baked potatoes.  I think it turned out really nice.