Herbed Orzo and Chicken Salad

This was a really nice salad, great for a weeknight dinner. It serves 6, easily, which means that there is plenty for last minute company or to pack for lunches the next day.

Salad:

about 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts

canola oil

salt and pepper

1 cup orzo

1 15oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

1 bunch green onions, white and light green parts sliced thinly

¼ cup chopped curly parsley

leaves from about 5 thyme sprigs

6oz crumbled feta cheese

Vinaigrette:

juice from 2 small lemons

roasted garlic oil, to taste

kosher salt

fresh cracked pepper

(adjust as necessary to have about ¼ cup of vinaigrette)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Rub chicken breast lightly with canola oil and sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper. Bake in a casserole dish for 30min or until cooked through. Set aside.

Boil water and then cook the orzo until tender. While orzo is cooking, mix green onions and tomatoes in a large bowl with chickpeas. Add herbs and feta. Dice baked chicken and add to bowl.

Drain pasta. While pasta is cooling slightly, mix together vinaigrette ingredients and season to taste. Add orzo to bowl. Drizzle vinaigrette over top and toss salad.

Serve warm or chilled. Salad is nice over a bed of arugula or baby lettuces.

[Recipe adapted from Orzo Salad with Chickpeas, Dill, and Lemon, Cooking Light, August 2002: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/orzo-salad-with-chickpeas-dill-lemon-10000000338370/]

Chris’ Conquistador Chicken Pasta

Chris named this pasta as tribute to the mix of old and new world flavors. Did you know that tomatoes are native to Central America and South America? Read more about tomato history in this About.com article by Peggy Trowbridge Filippone (http://homecooking.about.com/od/foodhistory/a/tomatohistory.htm). However you identify the flavors, this is a chicken pasta dish that is simple enough for any weeknight.

1 cup pasta, cooked to al dente (select any pasta you like, such as elbow macaroni or rotini)

½ lb chicken, seasoned, grilled (or baked), and chopped (I used Penzey’s Spices’ Arizona Dreaming seasoning)

2 slices bacon

Salt

Fresh ground pepper

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 pint cherry tomatoes

1 cup baby spinach leaves

2 oz fresh goat cheese

Instructions:

Ensure that your chicken and pasta are prepared, or boil pasta and grill chicken while beginning the other steps. Cook bacon in skillet until crisp over moderate heat. Set aside bacon strips. Add olive oil to bacon drippings and swirl around pan. Add the cherry tomatoes and stir to coat. After about 2 minutes, add garlic and sauté mixture until the first few tomatoes threaten to burst. Add the baby spinach and stir. Once the baby spinach has wilted, toss in the chicken and pasta. Heat through and then crumble in the bacon strips and fresh goat cheese and stir to warm the cheese and incorporate. Season with salt and pepper and then serve.

Pasta Alla Carbonara

Do you want to know a wonderful and easy recipe for a Friday night? I found an amazing recipe for Pasta Alla Carbonara in a Williams-Sonoma catalog. It’s such an easy dish, but serve it up on a cozy night, light a candle, and pour a couple glasses of red wine (we had a 2008 Ruffino Aziano Chianti) and it becomes a lovely, romantic evening in.

Pasta Alla Carbonara

3 eggs, room temperature

1 ½ cups grated pecorino romano cheese, plus more for serving

2 Tbsp olive oil

6 oz diced pancetta

Kosher salt

1 lb dried thin spaghetti

Freshly ground pepper

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs and the 1 ½ cups of cheese and set aside. Warm the olive oil in a large skillet. Add pancetta and cook until sizzling, browned, and fat has rendered, about 8 minutes. Set off heat.

Meanwhile, boil pasta at high heat in lightly salted water until al dente. Drain, reserving about 1 cup of cooking water. Slowly whisk ¾ cup of the reserved cooking water into the egg-cheese mixture.

Return skillet with pancetta to medium heat and rewarm. Add pasta and the rest of the pasta liquid to the skillet and toss to combine. Turn down heat and pour in egg-cheese mixture, tossing well to combine. Serve immediately, seasoning each serving generously with freshly ground pepper. Pass extra cheese for sprinkling. (recipe adapted from Williams-Sonoma)