There are some nights when I don’t feel like preparing a multi-step recipe. Nights like those, I appreciate a recipe by Dan Pelosi from The New York Times/NYT Cooking and his 40-minute meal for Creamy Tuscan Chicken. This is his riff on a combination of Chicken Florentine and Marry Me Chicken. For the recipe you’ll need boneless and skinless chicken breasts, salt, pepper, extra virgin olive oil, butter, cherry or other small tomatoes, an onion or shallot, garlic, chicken stock, dried or fresh oregano, fresh or dried basil, heavy cream, Parmesan cheese and baby spinach.
The recipe begins by seasoning the chicken with salt and pepper followed by a quick sauté just to get the meat golden brown on both sides, but not cooked through. The chicken is removed from the pan and set aside.
In the same pan, butter is melted followed by the addition of tomatoes, onion, garlic and seasoned with salt. This mixture cooks until tomatoes and onions have softened and garlic releases its flavor. The broth, oregano and basil are added while scraping the fond from the bottom of the pan. The liquid is reduced by half. The heavy cream, Parmesan and cream cheese are added and stirred to allow the cream cheese to soften and melt. The sauce will thicken as it cooks. Spinach is added and stirred in until it wilts. The chicken is returned to the pan and cooked through. To serve, garnish with additional Parmesan cheese.
This was a scrumptious meal with tender and juicy chicken enrobed in a delightful creamy sauce. The tomatoes added a bit of acidity while the spinach added color. The herbs added an earthiness to the dish. This was a perfect quick weeknight meal.
Easter this year was a small gathering, just my husband, son, daughter-in law and grandson. My menu was Endive Salad with Oranges and Blue Cheese a recipe from America’s Test Kitchen, Maple Bourbon Pork Loin Stuffed with Apples and Sun-Dried Cranberries from Fresco by Scotto and Strawberry Layer Cake from Claire Saffitz’s book, “Dessert Person.”
For the salad you’ll need, oranges, a red onion, extra-virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, honey, blue cheese, toasted walnuts, Belgian endive and pepper. Let me start by saying, this salad left some at the table disappointed. My husband would have preferred fewer red onions and my son didn’t enjoy the bitterness of the endive. My daughter-in-law and I enjoyed it.
In a large bowl, the orange is zested. The outer peel of the orange is removed and membranes separated. Using a paring knife, you’ll slice between the membrane and remove the orange wedges placing them in a large second bowl. this is called supreming an orange. When done, the membrane is squeezed over the orange zest to release its juices.
Thinly slice the onion and place in the same bowl as the orange wedges. To this bowl you’ll add red wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil and salt. Toss and set aside. This step is to reduce the harshness of the red onions.
To the bowl containing the orange juice and zest, add the honey and extra virgin olive oil; whisk to combine. Add crumbled blue cheese, toasted walnuts and toss.
Separate the endive leaves, add to bowl with red onion and orange segments, season with salt and pepper; toss to combine. Layer mixture on a large platter and garnish with the walnut and blue cheese dressing.
I thought the salad was a wonderful change of pace for an appetizer course. The combination of sweetness from the orange, against the pungent blue cheese played well in tampering the bitterness of the endive. Although the red onion was marinated with the red vinegar, it still had some harshness. Next time, it would be better to soak them in plain water to reduce their strong flavor.
For our main course, I selected a recipe from the book, “Scotto Sunday Suppers and Other Fabulous Feasts,” from the Scotto family of famed New York restaurant “Fresco by Scotto.” While I usually make ham for Easter, this year I wanted to make Maple and Bourbon-Glazed Roast Pork Loin Stuffed with Apples and Sun-Dried Cranberries. The fill is comprised of sun-dried cranberries, butter, onion, celery, Granny Smith apple, well-seasoned Italian sausage, breakfast sausage, bread crumb, fresh parsley, salt, black pepper and the pork loin. The glaze is made with [pure] maple syrup, unsalted butter, Dijon mustard, dark brown sugar, fresh lemon juice, freshly ground black pepper and bourbon whiskey. All of these ingredients, except the bourbon, go into a sauce and simmer over a low heat until it lightly coats a spoon. Off heat, the bourbon is added and set aside.
For the stuffing, the cranberries are reconstituted in hot water, drained and set aside. In a large sauce pan, butter is melted and finely diced onion and celery are cooked until softened. Coarsely diced apple is added and cooked until the moisture evaporates from the pan. Cranberries are mixed in and the mixture is placed in a large bowl to cool. When cooled, ground Italian sausage, breakfast sausage (casing removed), bread crumbs, and parsley are incorporated into the vegetable/fruit mixture. The stuffing is seasoned with salt and pepper.
The oven is preheated to 400° with a sheet pan placed inside. To maximize the surface area for stuffing, I butterflied the pork loin. I was now ready to add the filling and roll. I took my time to tightly roll the meat and made sure not to lose any of the filling. Using butcher twine, I tied the roast securely; one at each end and at 1-2-inch intervals. Once this was done, I removed the preheated sheet pan and placed the roast on it. Back into the oven, but with the temperature now reduced to 325°. The meat cooks for 30-45 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 150°. The meat needs to rest. Just before serving, the twine is removed and reheated glaze is brushed onto the pork loin. The meat was sliced approximately 1/4-inch thick and placed on a platter with additional glazed drizzled on top.
My pork came out beautifully. I cooked the pork to 150°, however, I think the next time I make a stuffed pork loin, I will cook to 140° and tent after it comes out of the oven. The internal temperature will rise another 10° with carryover cooking. While the meat was tender, we all felt that it was a tad overdone. The stuffing was flavorful. You could taste the pork in the filling contrasting with the sweet cranberries and apple. The bourbon-maple glaze added another layer of flavor and nice complexity to the overall taste of the dish. A winner of a recipe.
What to serve for Easter dessert was a small problem for me. I was in New York City the Saturday before Easter seeing a Broadway show with my daughter. With church and a quick run to my local food store for last minute produce items, I needed a “do ahead” dessert. My daughter suggested Claire Saffitz’s recipe for Strawberry Cornmeal Layer Cake.
For the recipe you’ll need 9-inch springform pan or 9-inch cake pan with 2-inch sides, butter, yellow cornmeal, buttermilk, vanilla extract, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, Diamond Crystal Salt, sugar, lemon zest, unsalted butter, eggs, 1-1/2 pounds of strawberries, lemon juice and heavy cream. There is a video that shows how this cake is prepared and assembled.
The cake batter was quite easy to prepare. Instead of cake pans, I used a 9-inch springform pan lining the bottom of the pan with a piece of parchment. When the cake was done, I cooled it in the pan, ran a knife around the edge and removed the sides. The cake was inverted onto a cooling rack whereupon I removed the springform bottom and peeled off the parchment. I flipped the cake over again using another cooling rack.
While your cake cools, the strawberries are prepared for the filling. Ms. Saffitz has you save five large strawberries to act as pillars between the layers. The rest of the strawberries are sliced and macerated in a mixture of lemon juice and sugar. The cream can be whipped, but not more than an hour before cake assembly.
Here’s a quick rundown on how to assemble the cake. The cake is split into two layers, as evenly as possible, using a serrated edge knife. The top layer is removed and the five reserved strawberries are placed on the cake, one in the center and the balance equally spaced around the perimeter. Two-thirds of the macerated strawberries with some juices are placed on the bottom layer, followed by spreading half the whipped cream over the berries. For the top layer, it’s reversed, the remaining whipped cream followed by the balance of the berries and any juices.
The cake was delicious, tender and moist. I chose this recipe as my daughter-in-law’s favorite cake is strawberries shortcake. The cake had a slightly larger crumb, but the cornmeal made for a lovely texture. Overall, a truly wonderful recipe.
Creamy Tuscan Chicken
By Dan Pelosi
The New York Times/NYT cooking
Time: 40 minutes
Serving: 4
Ingredients
1-pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half horizontally (see Tip) or 4 thin-sliced boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and black pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons butter (salted or unsalted)
1 pint cherry or other small tomatoes, halved
½ small onion or 1 medium shallot, minced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1½ cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon dried oregano (or 1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano)
1 teaspoon dried basil (or 1 teaspoon chopped fresh basil), optional
½ cup heavy cream
½ cup grated Parmesan, plus more for serving
2 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
2 cups packed baby spinach (about 3 ounces)
Preparation
- Season both sides of the chicken breasts with salt and pepper.
- Heat a large pan over medium. Heat the olive oil in the pan. Add the chicken and cook until golden brown (but not cooked through), about 4 minutes on each side. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.
- Add the butter to the pan and let it melt. Add tomatoes, onion, garlic and a pinch of salt, and cook, stirring, until the tomatoes and onion have just softened and the garlic is aromatic, 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add broth, oregano and basil (if using), and stir to combine, scraping the browned bits from the bottom of the pan, and let simmer until the liquid has reduced by about half, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the heavy cream, grated Parmesan and cream cheese, and stir, allowing the cream cheese to soften and melt, until thickened, about 6 minutes. Add baby spinach and stir until the spinach begins to wilt, about 1 minute.
- Return the chicken breasts to the pan and simmer until the chicken is cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and serve immediately with more freshly grated Parmesan on top.
Tip - To cut boneless, skinless chicken breasts in half horizontally, place them individually on a cutting board, leaving a few inches in between each. Place the palm of your hand on the chicken, apply pressure down, raise your fingers up and out of the way of your chef’s knife, then slice breasts in half as evenly as possible, creating two thin cutlets.
Endive Salad with Oranges and Blue Cheese
From America’s Test Kitchen
Video Link to Recipe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko95LSLl1K8
Ingredients
Salad
4 heads Belgian endive (4 ounces each), root end trimmed and leaves separated
2 oranges
1 tablespoon orange juice squeezed from orange membrane
½ red onion, sliced thin
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar*
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
¼ teaspoon salt
Dressing
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
½ cup crumbled blue cheese
½ toasted walnuts, rough chopped
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
Preparation:
1. In a medium bowl, zest one orange until you have 1-1/2 teaspoons of zest.
2. Cut skin and pitch from both oranges and separate orange wedges from membrane (watch video). This is called “citrus supreme.” Add the orange wedges to bowl with zest.
3. Squeeze membrane over bowl with orange zest to capture 1 tablespoon of juice.
4. Cut red onion in half and cut off root and stem end. Using lines on onion, cut into thin wedges. Add to bowl with orange wedges.
5. Add red wine vinegar, extra-virgin olive and salt to bowl; toss. Set aside for 30 minutes to let flavors meld and allow the vinaigrette to soften the harsh bit of the onion.
6. Into the bowl containing the orange zest and juice, add the honey and extra-virgin olive oil; whisk together.
7. Add crumbled blue cheese and toasted walnuts to dressing; stir to combine.
8. Tear leaves off of endive and place in bowl containing orange wedges and onion. Season with salt and pepper. Toss to combine.
9. Place endive on large platter top spoon blue cheese and walnut dressing on top.
Donna’s Note – You can soak the onion wedges in plain cold or ice water to reduce their strong flavor.
Maple and Bourbon Glazed Pork Loin Stuffed
with Apples and Sun-Dried Cranberries
from “Scotto Sunday Suppers and Other Fabulous Feasts,” The Scotto Family
Servings: 6
Ingredients
Maple-bourbon glaze
½ cup pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
½ cup good quality bourbon whiskey
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Stuffing
½ cup sun-dried cranberries
3 tablespoons butter
½ onion, finely diced
¼ cup celery, finely diced
1 cup coarsely diced Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored
½ pound Italian sausage, casings removed, cooked and crumbled
1 pound breakfast sausage meat, casings removed, cooked and crumbled
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
½ cup chopped fresh parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
One 5-to-6-pound boneless pork loin roast, split lengthwise down the middle for stuffing
Preparation
For the glaze:
Mix all the ingredients, except the bourbon, in a nonreactive saucepan and bring to a slow simmer over low heat. Cook, stirring, until the ingredients lightly coat a spoon. Off heat add bourbon to the desired flavor and season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
For the stuffing:
1. Reconstitute the cranberries in 1 cup of boiling water for 30 minutes or until soft, then drain and set aside.
2. Melt the butter over medium heat in 10-inch sauté pan. Add the onion and celery and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add all apples and cook until all the moisture has evaporated and the mixture starts to stick, then add the cranberries. Transfer this mixture to a large bowl and let cool.
3. When cool, add both kinds of sausage, the breadcrumbs and parsley. Season with salt and pepper to taste and mix well to combine.
For the roast:
1. Preheat the oven to 400°F with the roasting pan inside.
2. Spread the stuffing on the pork and roll up the loin. Fasten it securely with skewers and tie with butcher twine.
3. Place the loin on the preheated roasting pan and roast for 30 minutes, then reduce the heat to 325°F. Roast until the internal temperature reaches 150°F*, about 30 to 45 minutes. Let the loin rest for 15 to 20 minutes, and then reheat the bourbon glaze in a small pan over low heat.
4. Remove the skewers and twine, then brush the loin with the glaze. Slice the loin in 1/4-inch slices, arrange on platter and glaze again just before serving.
Donna’s Notes – I found cooking the roast, left it a bit dry. I suggest baking to either 140° or 145° and remove from oven. Loosely tent, the carryover cooking time will raise the temperature by 10°.
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