Guest post courtesy of Jeff Webster
As a continuous student of cooking and avid reader of this blog, I was pleased to be asked to contribute a post which gives you a glimpse into my kitchen. Normally, I would provide insight into a dish that takes an hour of preparation and at least an hour of cooking. On top of that, I would use a variety of cooking techniques and ingredients. Not this time. I have found over the years that simple ingredients combined with a high level of patience usually results in some of the best dishes. More importantly, these dishes keep my wife happy and keep me out of the hot seat as it was 7 hours ago when she last ate a substantial meal. (Oh, the life of a 1st grade teacher- living a pseudo life of a 7 year old and having little to no time for a lunch break, yet alone a break in general!) So, as you can imagine those 2 hour dishes are not her favorite, but the flavors are. This dish takes a mear 45 minutes.
Sausage-stuffed Tortellini/minced chicken pan sauce/arugula chips
Ingredients:
1 package of Buttoni Sausage-stuffed Tortellini (make my own- are you kidding me!)
4 oz chicken breast
½ medium onion
1 cup grape tomatoes
¾ cup chicken stock
½ cup white wine (I used a pinot)
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon rosemary
1 cup arugula
1 tsp steak grill seasoning
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
Vegetable oil
Salt
For the arugula chips:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with tin foil or parchment paper. Wash and dry arugula making sure to get them as dry as possible. Lightly toss arugula with vegetable oil, making sure not to over dress. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Spread arugula on baking sheet and cook for 8 minutes. Allow to cool and set aside.
For the main dish:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Slice onions into 2 inch pieces. Chop rosemary and thyme and set aside. Cover chicken breast with grill seasoning. Heat a medium-sized skillet over medium-high heat. Add a tablespoon of oil to the pan and sear the chicken on both sides creating a good amount of fond (crispy bits at bottom of pan), about 3 minutes on each side. With a minute left on the second side, add onions and sauté until translucent. Deglaze pan with wine and cook for 1 minute to allow the alcohol to cook off. Add tomatoes, rosemary, and thyme and cover for about 10 minutes until the sauce reduces to a thicker consistency (to a point where it looks good!). Check chicken after about 5 minutes and remove from the pan once it is fully cooked, set aside.
Cook pasta according to package and drain. Once chicken has sat for 5 minutes, mince and add back to pan sauce with crushed red pepper. Sauce should be a thicker consistency and tomatoes should have burst creating at creamier sauce. Place cooked tortellini at the bottom of the bowl and top with the pan sauce. Top the dish with the arugula chips and serve.
