Mid-Week Dinner: Chicken & Broccoli Pasta Bake

The IT Manager at Coronation is also a Foodie... Can you Adam & Eve it? He shared a recipe with me yesterday and I had to give it a go. My family was overly impressed with this dish, asking me to add it to my repertoire. My dad also popped on and raved about my 'special recipe'. Here's how to do it...

Ingredients:
4x Chicken Breasts
2x heads of Broccoli, separated into small florets
1x cup of Wine
1x cup Water
Salt and Pepper
250ml Cream
1 cup Mayonnaise
1 cup of Chicken Soup (already made)
3t curry powder
3t lemon juice
1 and 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, grated (for the liquid)
2 cups grated cheddar (for the topping)
3/4 packet of shell noodles (the 500g packet)

Method:
It is good to start with putting your oven on at the beginning. Set it to 180 deg.

1. Grease a oven proof dish and set aside.
2. Place the chicken breasts in a small saucepan, add the wine and the water (add more water if necessary to just cover the chicken).
3. Season with salt and pepper and apply the heat, simmering for about 10 minutes, until chicken is cooked but still tender.
4. In another saucepan, add a little water and add the broccoli. Season with salt, cover and steam for around 8-10 minutes.
5. Fill a large saucepan with water. Add salt and bring to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 12-15 minutes, until el dente.
6. Drain the pasta. Drain the broccoli.
7. Remove the chicken from the liquid, retaining 1 cup of the stock.
8. Shred the chicken.
9. Mix the pasta, chicken and broccoli and place in the oven proof dish.

For the sauce:
1. In a large mixing bowl / jug, add the stock, chicken soup, mayonnaise, curry, lemon juice, cheese and cream. Mix well.
2. Pour over the pasta.
3. Cover with a layer of cheese.
4. Bake for 30 minutes.

Serve piping hot, with a green salad and some garlic bread. Simply delicious!

Tx Philip!

Weekend Meals: Butternut & Ricotta Ravioli

On Sunday, my daughter and I decided to make some ravioli. I must admit that this was only my second attempt at ravioli - the first was a dismal failure for the simple reason I did not use what I made immediately. Not realizing they don't keep well in the fridge, they all grew mould before I could cook them!
This time around, things went much better. This may be due to the help I received from my 9yr old daughter... child's play!

Ingredients:

For the Pasta
3 cups cake flour
1/2 t salt
2 eggs
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup water

For the Filling
1 medium butternut
1 block of Ricotta Cheese (about 250g)
Salt & Black Pepper

For the Sauce
1x Can of Tomato, Basil & Garlic
3 t brown sugar
1/2 cup tomato sauce

Method:

For the Filling (make this first)
1. Peel and dice the butternut
2. Place in a saucepan, with a little water and cover with a lid.
3. Put this on the heat and cook / steam until soft.
4. Drain the excess water
5. Add salt & black pepper
6. Allow to cool slightly and add the ricotta, stirring in.
7. Taste, checking your seasoning.

For the Pasta (make this while the butternut is cooking)
1. In a bowl, beat the eggs with a fork.
2. Mix in the water, oil and salt
3. Add a cup of flour and mix.
4. Continue adding the flour and mixing until you have a dough mixture (you can add water if it it too dry and flour if it is too wet.
5. Remove the dough from the bowl and knead it for at least 10 minutes, working on a flour-covered surface to prevent sticking.
6. Wrap the dough in cling-film and leave for about 30 minutes.

Making the Ravioli
1. Run the dough through a pasta maker, forming sheets of pasta. My pasta maker has thickness settings starting at 7 and counting down - I go down to 3 when making ravioli. This is approximately 2-3mm thick.
2. Using an upturned glass, press out pasta circles (see picture)
3. Place a teaspoon of the filling on one half of the circle.
4. Wet the edge, around the filling.
5. Fold the non-filled side over (pushing out all the air) and make a half-moon.
6. Use a fork to go around the edges, making sure they seal properly.
7. Repeat until you have lots and lots of ravioli.

TIP: Flour each one lightly to prevent them from sticking to each other.

The Cooking

1. Bring a large pot of water to the boil and add about 2t salt
2. Add the ravioli and cook for no more than 4 minutes. You will see the ravioli come to the surface just before they are cooked.
3. In another saucepan, add the tin of tomato, basil & garlic. Bring to a simmer.
4. Add the tomato sauce and brown sugar & simmer for about 20 minutes.
5. Drain the ravioli and place in a serving bowl. Cover with the tomato mixture.

Serving
Serve in individual bowls and grate some pecorino cheese over the top.

I served this with an apple juice with chunks of fresh orange adding to the flavour.

I must mention that the feedback I received from my family was mixed. My daughter loved it but my wife was not overly impressed. I think this could be due to fact that it is a vegetarian dish... no meat! Next time, I'll make a mince filled ravioli. Mmmmm....That sounds good!