Here's an easy one for you, @minstrel, that I learned from my college roommate. I've been making ever since. I call is simply prosciutto chicken, she used to call it PWT Chicken. Call it whatever you want. 3 - chicken breasts 1 - 4 to 5 oz package of prosciutto 2 - cans of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup (condensed) 1 - 8oz container of sour cream ground red pepper Cut the three chicken breast through the flat plain of the breast so you end up with 6 thin fillets. Put them aside. Mix the 2 cans of soup with the sour cream until completely blended. Line the bottom of the casserole with 3 or 4 leaves of the prosciutto, then three of the chicken breast fillets. Dust the chicken with ground red pepper. Layer half of the soup mixture over the chicken, covering it thoroughly. Repeat the process starting with another layer of the prosciutto leaves, chicken, ground red pepper and finally the remaining half of the soup mixture. Bake covered at 400 Fº for about an hour and 20 min, until you can see the bubbles coming up at least an inch in away from the edge of the casserole. Try and use a smaller casserole, one where the three breast filets pretty much cover the bottom with no space, but also not too much overlap. Serve with rice and veggies of your choice. I like a rice pilaf. When fresh basil is available, I chop up about half a cup of basil leaves and add them into the soup mixture. Makes for a nice change. When you serve it, if you feel like there aren't quite enough calories on the plate yet, sprinkle some cheese on that stuff. Cheese makes the world happy. Unless you've got lactose issues, then not so much.
Thanks, Wreybies! Sounds good. I'll give it a try! If I can't find prosciutto (I'm in the San Fernando Valley - a cultural wasteland), I'll try it with bacon (yum already ...). And my roomie loves mushrooms - I'll probably add a handful of them.
Cappacollo (capicola) also makes a decent substitute for prosciutto. and most supermarket deli counters will have that. Or spiced ham. Give cream of celery a try for a casserole base too.
When I order a cheeseburger, it doesn't matter to me if it's medium-rare or medium-well. How about you?
Re: Leftovers -- I couldn't live without them. I love being able to have a delicious meal that I just heat up, without spending hours cooking (either because I already did it, or because I had a yummy restaurant meal the previous night.) When I have them for lunch, it is likely a much better lunch than I would have otherwise eaten. (Leftover paella versus turkey sandwich? Paella, please.) Re: How much $$? Well, I hate spending tons of money, but I LOVE going out to good restaurants. I think the most expensive meal we ever had (my husband and I, so this was for two of us) was $300. That was at Charlie Trotter's in Chicago quite a few years ago. Usually, though, a very expensive meal, and a special meal is about $200. Last year I had one of the best meals ever at a place called The NoMad in NYC. That was fantastic. This year, we went to Craft in NYC and it was very good. In both of these cases, however, the meal WAS my birthday gift. I still think of one of the dishes I had at NoMad, which was one of the best things I ever ate. Re: Wrey's recipe -- that sounds good. I will have to try making that this week or next week, although I'll probably substitute some other seasoning for the pepper. I don't like pepper and I tend to minimize it in my cooking or substitute it if possible.
Cooking happens to be another thing that I enjoy quite a bit. Figure I'll share one of my favorite pasta dishes. Linguine with Red Clam Sauce (makes 3-4 servings) 1 tbsp olive oil 4-6 cloves of garlic, minced (more or less depending on your taste for garlic) 1 28oz. can of Italian diced tomatoes, undrained (I cheat here; I've made it with my own tomatoes and seasonings and it worked just as well, but takes much longer) 2 tsp dried oregano 1 lb. shucked baby clams or 2 (7 1/2oz) cans, undrained (I use cans, again for time and simplicity. If you use fresh add 1/4 cup clam juice to the recipe) 1/4 cup dry white wine (I usually use a decent chardonnay, nothing special) 1 tbsp lemon juice 1/4-1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper (amount again is personal preference; I use 1/2 as it gives a nice building heat to the dish) 1/4 tsp black pepper 8oz. linguine, boiled separately Saute the garlic in olive oil until soft and fragrant. Add tomatoes and oregano, heat to boiling, reduce and simmer for 10-12 minutes until sauce thickens slightly. Add clams, wine, lemon juice, cayenne and black peppers. Bring back to boil, reduce and simmer for another 7-10 minutes to cook clams through. A very important step is to finish your noodles by cooking them with a serving of the sauce for at least a good 30 seconds. I like to top it off with a little fresh grated parmesan. Definitely make some garlic bread for this meal. The sauce is very chunky, so after you finish your noodles you'll want to scoop up all that goodness with some bread.
On thursday I cooked all this food in my dorm, thinking that my other 3 suitemates would eat some. I told them I was going to cook and the food would be for all of us(I hate cooking for just myself), and they were all cool; they thought it was nice. But once I got done they decided it would be unfair to eat any of my delicious food because they didn't contribute to any of it. I cooked all of this: fried chicken; fried mushrooms, onions, and green pepper; steamed broccoli, carrots, and brussel sprouts; and nearly 2 cups of rice. It was enough to feed 4 people and still have one plate of left overs, but none of them ate. So I've been eating it for dinner and still have enough to last me til Monday if I want. View attachment 5132
It all came out very good! I would have appreciated sharing >.< Next time I won't make so much, or I'll invite other people ha ha!
Tonight I had hot dogs for supper. More often than not, I enjoy hot dogs that are black after they've been cooked on an outdoor grill.
If it weren't so darn hot here in Phoenix, I'd take my Ramen noodles, an egg, and my veggies and seasonings and make a nice soup. For now I think I'll settle for a classic pb&j. Once my banana's ripen a bit more, I'll make some banana bread. I'm glad my new dorm has a decent kitchen!
That sounds good, did you cook it yourself? I was thinking about cooking Apricot Chicken Au Provence sometime in the next few weeks.
One of my Indian friends introduced me to butter chicken and I haven't looked back since. I swear to God India has some of the most delicious food. If I'm ever on death row, I'll probably have butter chicken as my last meal.
Thanks. I've been searching for the perfect butter chicken recipe for over a year now. I hope this is it. I'll have to try it out next weekend.
Okay, I googled butter chicken masala just to find out what it is. I now want to dive headfirst into a pool full of the stuff. I am going to have to check my local store for Indian spices, and if I can find some, I will master this dish. I may have to force it down my roommate's throat (he doesn't like spicy food, especially Indian food), but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.
That's why I went with the recipe in the link. There are other "more authentic" recipes to be found, but where I live (tiny island in the Caribbean) Indian pantry items are very much an eBay/Amazon kind of deal. I already had the garam masala. Everything else was local farmers market. Same place I found the rambutan!
If there are any authentic Indian restaurants in the area, try and see if any of them have butter chicken (most do). I've found that different restaurants make it a bit differently, so you'll eventually find one that's better than the others. Once you know what it should taste like, then you can try making it at home and see how that compares to the real thing. That's what I did. Sadly, I've never come that close to restaurant quality butter chicken.
This isn't somethign I've made, but I have to confess... Golden Oreos are addicting... On another note I did use Pillsbury chocolate chip cookie dough and classic Oreos to make some declicious Oreo Chip Cookie cups. It's simple and delicious! (Basically you put the choc. chip dough in a cupcake tin, put and oreo inside, then cover the oreo with more dough, and then bake.) As to why there are six uncovered oreos, my sister decided to make some cookies the night before. Sadly, she burnt the mess out of them and we couldn't eat them. What a waste ha ha! View attachment 5136
