Tuscan Chicken Pasta Salad

It's Summertime, here in A Great City by a Great Lake. Oh, and that Great Lake is gorgeous, in all her shimmering beauty! Her 'shimmery-ness' draws me to her in any season, but in Summertime, The LS (Little Sweethearts) and I stand on her shores and throw rocks. I stand sentinel, behind them, as they throw, plunk, and skip stones. LS #4 still needs to get the hang of picking up just the stone -- I end up with a faceful of sand as he sends his rock, skyward.

Summertime = do not heat up the kitchen on a hot, humid day. This recipe is inspired by Penzey's Spice Stores. I was bumming through Penzey's the other day and found the recipe that prompts this post. While it does require the services of the stovetop, pasta salad screams Summertime, to me.

I've shied away from making pasta salad, because everytime I've had it, there is always some sort of oil-like aftertaste. That is until the birthday party for LS #1. FDIL made pasta salad and is was delish; no aftertaste. Made me want to try pasta salad, so when I saw this recipe card displayed at Penzey's, I tore it off.

There are several distinct steps to this meal, but it is not labor intensive....and you know how I feel about 'labor intensive'. This is one of those recipes where you can do alot of the prep ahead of time ----- you know, like when you are watching House Hunters Sends A Family On A Maui Vacation In A House That Rents For $50,000 A Week.

It is easy, quick, and really good. Mr. RQ was raving about it, 2 forksful in.

Tuscan Chicken Pasta Salad

Inspired by Penzey's

Serves 2, but see my notes if you want more

Musical sous chef: I Like The Way You Move

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, trimmed of all the fat

8 oz dry pasta (I used rainbow rotini)

1 bunch asparagus tips

1 red bell pepper, sliced thin (I used half)

1 orange or yellow bell pepper, sliced thin (I used half of an orange pepper)

1 medium onion, sliced thin

2 T. fresh lemon juice (half a lemon)

2 t. Tuscan Sunset seasoning blend

Pasta Dressing:

2 T. Tuscan Sunset seasoning blend

2 T. water

3 T. canola oil (or vegetable oil)

2 T. red wine vinegar

For the dressing:

In a bowl large enough for the finished product, mix the Tuscan Sunset seasoning with the water and blend well.

Let stand for 1 minute.

Whisk in the oil and red wine vinegar.

Set aside.

The rest of the stuff:

The pasta: Get the water boiling and cook the pasta, as you normally would. Drain, rinse and put into the bowl with the dressing. Toss thoroughly.

Place in frig. (sometimes I say 'refrig', which sends LS #1 into hysterics.)

The chicken: You want to smash the holy heck out of the chicken breast, between 2 pieces of plastic wrap, to flatten it to about 1/2". I use my WaWa's rolling pin for this (and when I do, I think of her using it in the Roaring 20's). If you have a traditional meat 'flattener', consider yourself 'modern'.

Dress up that chicken breast with a little drizzle of EVOO, a sprinkling of lemon juice, and a good sprinkle of the Tuscan Sunset seasoning.

Using a large skillet, get some EVOO and 2 T of butter hot. Just about to the smoking stage.

Add the chicken breast, flavored side down. Once you've added the chicken to the pan, dress up the side facing you with the EVOO, lemon juice and seasoning.

Pan saute the chicken until nicely browned on each side.

Remove from pan; place on a plate and cover with foil. Let it relax. After it has relaxed, slice into thin strips when ready to plate.

The vegies: In the same skillet in which the chicken was sauted, place the onions and saute, about 5 minutes. Turn down the heat and let caramelize about another 5 minutes.

Add the peppers. Sprinkle generously with Tuscan Sunset seasoning. Squeeze in some lemon juice. If you are feeling Restaurant Quality, grate in some lemon zest.

Saute until peppers begin to get soft.

Add asparagus tips. Saute for a couple minutes, only. Save the stalks of the asparagus for dinner on another night.

Now, it's time to layer your dinner. Pasta -- vegies -- chicken.

Voila..................

My Notes:

You will have to get yourself to a Penzey's to purchase the Tuscan Sunset Seasoning.

The recipe, as stated above, made more than enough pasta for 2 servings. The 8 oz of pasta could easily feed 3; maybe 4. The leftover pasta is delish the next day.

For 2 servings, I use one large chicken breast, flattened with WaWa's rolling pin and then cut in half, BEFORE I season and pan saute. You could easily use 2 chicken breasts, to serve 4 people.

The dressing recipe, as stated above, just covers the 8 oz of pasta. No residuals in the bowl. Alert and Aware for those of you who like dressing (it really is a viniagrette). If you make more than 8 oz. of pasta, double the viniagrette recipe.

Recipe calls for 1 red pepper and 1 yellow or orange pepper. I found 1/2 red and 1/2 orange to be plenty.

I did not measure out the seasoning for the chicken/vegies. I just sprinkled on what looked good to me.

I did not measure out the lemon juice. I cut the lemon in half and just squeezed out the amount of juice that looked good to me. I used one half lemon, total.

The viniagrette/pasta combo can be made ahead of time.

The vegies can be cut ahead of time.

The chicken can be made ahead of time, if you don't need warm chicken on your pasta salad. Ms. Viola Vineyard MUST have warm chicken on her salad, so this does not apply to her.

Broccoli Salad

Hi,

Am back with the aforementioned Broccoli Salad recipe.

Hope you have all had a good week. Busy one, here at Restaurant Quality. Little Sweeheart #5 and her Mommy and Daddy were here for supper on Memorial Day. The featured menu item was Sliced BBQ Pork, from Memphis Best Barbeque, a small restaurant near us. The owner is part of the extended Neely family -- as in the Neelys on FoodNetwork. Man oh man (as James K. would say) is it good. FD #1 and FSIL have been hearing about it for months.

So, I call Memphis Best on Memorial Day. Dang --- closed for the holiday. In hindsight, makes sense that the owner would close on Memorial Day. He is retired USMC. When we go to the restaurant, Mr. Restaurant Quality dons one of his USMC shirts and they give each other that silent acknowledgement that Marines give each other. Then, come the warm handshakes........

What became the featured menu item???? Brats. Can never go wrong with brats. Mr. Restaurant Quality took over the featured menu item. Dashed to the store. Parboiled them in beer and sauerkraut. Grilled them. Placed them in a simmering saucepan with the beer and sauerkraut and hovered over them for about 3 hours.

Best brats I've ever had. Felt like I was tailgating at Miller Park. I digress to envision driving past Miller Park on gameday ------- smoke drifting over I-94 from all the perfectly grilled brats.
And, the smell of the grills drifting into the car. Catching a 55 MPH glimpse of rows and rows of Brewer fans, sitting on lawnchairs, playing the beanbag game that FS #2 dominates, standing at tables groaning with 'ballpark' food.

Next time I go, Broccoli Salad will be on that groaning table. The recipe comes to me from FS #1, who makes restaurant quality food in his own kitchen (and at the firehouse).........


Broccoli Salad

suggested musical background: Sway, by Michael Buble


Recipe is as FS#1 gave it to me.


1 head broccoli
1 cup raisins
1 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup red onion, chopped
crushed bacon

1 cup mayo
1/2 cup sugar
4 T. orange juice
2 T. white vinegar


Mix dressing ingredients and add rest of stuff.


My Notes:

FS#1 knows what he is doing in the kitchen, so his recipe instruction is succinct, shall we say.

The broccoli: cut it up so that you are using the 'flowerets', not any of the stalk.

The sunflower seeds: Am not a sunflower seed gal. I use pine nuts, lightly toasted in a small pan. But, you can use them raw.

The red onion: RestaurantQuality never uses raw onion. Mr. RestaurantQuality has few caveats, but raw onion is one of them. Now, fried onions????? Yes, yes, yes. Not in this salad, but on cheeseburgers and Italian sausage.

The crushed bacon: RestaurantQuality uses 4 slices of bacon, crisply fried and then broken (by hand) into small bite-size pieces.


In a large bowl, combine the broccoli, raisins, sunflower seeds, onion, and bacon. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, combine the mayo, sugar, OJ and vinegar.

Pour the 'sauce' over the broccoli stuff. Combine well. Refrigerate.


This recipe allows for lots of 'adjustments'. You can easily halve the recipe for a smaller bowl of salad.

You can easily follow the recipe, using a head of broccoli, but adjust the amount of raisins, nuts/seeds, onion, bacon.

If you like cauliflower (this is one of my caveats - I say 'a no-no-no'), throw some in the bowl.


Life is good................