Weeknight meals vs Weekend meals - Garlic Chicken Pasta

In my kitchen there are two types of meals, weeknight & weekend.  A weekend meal is something that takes more than 1 hour, has multiple courses and usually involves one or more fancy kitchen tools or ingredients. A weeknight meal on the other hand comes together in 30-45 minutes and generally consists of items I have on-hand in the kitchen.

This is a tasty weeknight meal - Garlic Chicken Pasta. I make a few variations on this same meal which at it's core is simply a seasoned and sautéed protein plus pasta and an easy to wilt/cook vegetable.  I generally look at what I have on hand in the kitchen and decide from there.

Two not so "usual" ingredients used on this particular weeknight were my secret kitchen weapon, Gourmet Garden garlic blend and the very versatile, Lemon-Herb seasoning from Williams Sonoma.  Although I do keep these in MY kitchen all the time, they may not be something everyone purchases on a regular basis, but I do recommend them both!

Two of my favorite things about this recipe is that is uses only 2 pots to cook and comes together quickly.  One of the steps that helps add big flavor in short time is to start by making a garlic olive oil in the microwave, which will be used to cook the chicken and at the end of the cooking process to bring all the ingredients together.

BEFORE

There are many substitutions you could make are baby spinach instead of arugula, shrimp instead of chicken, basil added in or tomatoes to make it more of a caprese garlic chicken. Play around with what you have in your kitchen - there is no wrong way to make this recipe.

AFTER

To add this to your weeknight meal menu:
GARLIC CHICKEN PASTA
Ingredients:

• 3 teaspoons, Gourmet Garden garlic blend (you can also substitute 4 garlic cloves, minced)
• 6 tablespoons extra-vigin olive oil
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces
• Salt and pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon-herb seasoning
• 1 pound penne pasta
• 5-oz bag baby arugula 
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

1. Bring 4 quarts water to boil in large pot.
2. Meanwhile, combine garlic and oil in a small bowl and microwave until garlic is golden and fragrant, about 1 minute - set aside.
3. Pat chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt, pepper & lemon herb seasoning. 
4. Add 1 tablespoon of salt & pasta to the boiling water and cook until al dente
5. Add 2 tablespoons of the garlic oil to a large skillet and heat over medium-high heat.
6. Add chicken and cook until well browned and cooked through, about 5 minutes per side. 
7. Take chicken skillet off the heat.
8. Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 cup of cooking water and add pasta to the large skillet.
9. Turn heat back on to low and add arugula, lemon juice, Parmesan, and remaining garlic oil. 
10. As the ingredients come together, add reserved pasta water as needed.
11. Season with salt and pepper to taste & serve.

Parmesan Crusted Chicken & dinner party guidelines

I read recently that there are general rules to follow with regard to serving food at a party based on the number of people attending.  The rules listed were as follows:

• Less than 6 people - serve a plated meal, restaurant style with pre-portioned plates
• 7-10 people - family style service, with large bowls of all items easy to pass around a single table
• 11-25 people - buffet style service
• more than 25 people - family style or buffet style service at several tables/areas in the house

Interesting right? Well, we happened to be having some friends over for dinner on Friday night - just 4 of us, so the perfect time to give the rules a try and serve a plated meal.  

My Parmesan crusted chicken got the job of helping make this happen.  This recipe is great and the cooking time is around 10 minutes, making it an easy plated meal to execute and complete while guests are in the house.

BEFORE

You can see this is a simple recipe from the basic ingredients.  I actually had everything on hand in my kitchen already, they are all general staples.  Note there are 2 types of cheese and also this new stuff I bought recently called "Better than bouillon" which is a jarred paste that can take the place of bouillon in any recipe.  So far, it has worked great and can be found in a number of flavors at most grocery stores.

AFTER

Here is the complete plated meal as it was served to all the guests.  It was easy to plate and kept the dirty dishes to a minimum.  Plated service means no serving bowls or serving utensils for the chicken or the pasta.

Once of the great things about this dish is that it tastes fried, but it actually cooks in the oven. Here is how you can make it at home:

Parmesan crusted chicken

Ingredients:

• 5 tablespoons butter melted
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tbls "Better than boullion" (you can also use dijon mustard - 3 tbls)
• 2 cups panko breadcrumbs (Japanese breadcrumbs - look in the asian food aisle in your grocery store)
• 1 cup shredded parmesan cheese (note: this is SHREDDED not grated)
• 1/2 cup shredded romano cheese
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground pepper
• 6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, butterflied

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees (yes you read that correctly 500 degrees)
2. Spray a large rimmed baking sheet with non-stick spray (if you have butter flavored use that)
3. Whisk eggs and "Better than boullion" (or dijon mustard) in a medium bowl
4. Combine panko, parmesan, romano, salt & pepper in a large bowl (you can also add any other dry seasonings you want to this mixture)
5. Dip chicken on piece at a time into the egg mixture and then into the panko mixture coating generously
6. Place on the prepared baking sheet
7. Drizzle melted butter over the chicken
8. Bake chicken until browned about 10 min - flipping once at around the 6 min mark.

Serve over potatoes, vegetables or as I did with a rigatoni pasta covered in a simple 1/2 marinara & 1/2 Alfredo sauce.

Fish and chips - Wednesday night dinner

Making the menu for this week at the house was pretty easy, we had plans over the weekend & are going out of town on Monday, so a small menu of just 2 meals was needed to fill in the blanks.

I was torn between a few things, but after seeing the fresh tilapia available at the supermarket - fish & chips jumped to the top of the list.

BEFORE

You can see the amazingly fresh fish, my sliced potatoes (these are yellow butter potatoes), flour for dredging and the simple batter made with flour, eggs and various seasonings.

AFTER

Drew LOVED the fish and made a point to mention that the "perfect bite of fish, potato & the remoulade was the best fish I have ever made for him".

So you want to make this recipe too?  It is quite easy to do:

Fish

• 4 pieces of tilapia cut in half lengthwise
• Vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup flour for dredging
• Fish fry batter:
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 eggs
• Seasoning - I use whatever is on hand, for this meal, I used seasoned salt, garlic powder, garlic pepper, onion powder and some extra sea salt as well.

Chips

• 4 medium potatoes sliced - you can go thick or thin with the cut, just make sure they are uniform so they cook evenly
• Seasoning - I used the same seasonings that I put in the batter.  It made for a very consistent flavor to the whole meal.

Remoulade 

• I don't measure for this and really it's just a fancy way of saying flavored mayo.  So just put some mayo in a small bowl and add whatever you think will taste good.  
• I put a little heat with a pinch of cayenne pepper along with the same garlic & onion flavors I used for the fish & chips.  
• Also added was a little bit of smoked olive oil, which gave it just a little hint of something difference.

Directions:

1. Mix the batter ingredients together with a whisk.
2. Fill a skilled 1/2 way with oil and heat it up.
3. Turn on your oven to 350 degrees which will hold the fish and keep it warm while the chips are being cooked
4. Once the oil is hot - time to get the fish going.  Dip each piece in the the dregding flour and then into the batter. Place into the hot oil and fry until golden brown. My large skillet held 3 pieces of fish at a time.  
5. When they are all fried put them in an oven safe container & place in the oven.
6. Time to pop those potatoes into the oil - go gently as there will be a little bubbling as the potatoes hit the oil. 
7. Cook to desired doneness - I like mine crispy on the edges but not too crunchy.
8. Sprinkle with salt & any other seasonings you like.Serve with the fish and a side of the remoulade.