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Chicken Sausage & Zucchini Penne

Chicken Sausage & Zucchini Penne

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with Pink Sauce and Mozzarella

Yield: 2

Adapted from: EveryPlate

Penna pasta and savory chicken sausage mixed with zucchini, garlic, and pink sauce.
Cook: 35

  • 1zucchini
  • 3cloves garlic
  • 1tsp Italian seasoning
  • 1TBS tomato paste
  • 2TBS cream cheese
  • 9oz Italian chicken sausage mix
  • ½cup mozzarella cheese
  • 6oz penne pasta
  • salt & pepper
  • cooking oil
  • butter

Prep:

Heat the broiler to high. Bring a medium pot of salted water to boil. Wash and dry produce. Trim and quarter zucchini lengthwise, slice crosswise into ¼-inch-thick pieces. Peel and finely chop garlic.

Sauté zucchini:

Heat a drizzle of oil in a large, preferably ovenproof, pan over high heat. Add zucchini and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until browned and tender, 4-5 minutes. Turn off heat, remove from pan and set aside.


Cook pasta:

Once water is boiling, add pasta to pot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente, 9-11 minutes. Reserve ½ cup pasta cooking water, then drain.

Cook sausage:

Meanwhile, heat a drizzle of oil in pan used for zucchini over medium-high heat. Add sausage, cook, breaking up meat into pieces, until browned and cooked through, 4-6 minutes. Add garlic and Italian Seasoning, cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds. Stir in tomato paste until thoroughly coated.

Make sauce:

Slowly stir 1 cup plain water into pan with sausage mixture until combined. Reduce heat to medium. Simmer, stirring often, until sauce has thickened, 3-5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in cream cheese and 1 TBS butter until melted.

Stir in drained pasta and zucchini. If needed, add splashes of reserved pasta cooking water until everything is thoroughly coated in sauce. Taste and season with salt and pepper. (If your pan isn’t ovenproof, transfer pasta mixture to a baking dish now.) Evenly top with mozzarella. Broil until melted and lightly browned, 2-3 minutes. (Watch carefully to avoid burning. The broiler is a powerful tool!) Let cool slightly, then divide between plates.

Chicken Parmigiana

Chicken Parmigiana

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Yield: 6 portions, simple to double
Scott Nowell

Early 90’s: This is Gayle and my variation on a Pillsbury recipe for Veal Parmesan. It needed a lot of fixing. We’ve been making it for many years and like it for its simplicity. Unlike a lot of Chicken Parm recipes, this is baked in the sauce rather than coated just before serving. The sauce for this is very simple and uses inexpensive canned sauce. You can certainly substitute your favorite sauce, but it will likely be a different dish.  That’s a double batch in the photo above.

  • Chicken:
  • 3boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • ¾cup grated parmesan cheese
  • ¾cup plain bread crumbs
  • 1egg beaten with 2 TBS milk
  • ½cup flour seasoned with salt and pepper.
  • vegetable oil
  • 1-2TBS butter
  • Sauce:
  • 1medium onion, chopped
  • 48 oz cans tomato sauce
  • 1tsp oregano
  • 1/8tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • Assembly:
  • 8oz grated mozzarella cheese
  • ¼cup grated Parmesan cheese

Trim and halve the chicken breasts to form equal sized pieces. You can pound the chicken to get a uniform thickness, but I usually don’t do that. They come out fine as-is. Season with salt and pepper.

Set up a coating station in 3 dishes or 1 dish or plastic bag for the egg and 2 for the dry mixes. Put flour, seasoned with salt and pepper in the first. Beat the egg and milk in the second and season with salt and pepper. Mix the grated Parmesan cheese with the bread crumbs in the third.

Dredge the chicken breasts in flour, shaking off excess. Dip in egg mixture to coat, then press into cheese and crumb mixture. Turn to coat on all sides. Set aside and repeat with the remaining breasts.

Heat a pan until hot, add 1 TBS each of butter and oil. Heat until butter stops foaming. Brown chicken in batches on one side, turn and brown other side. Arrange chicken in 9 x 13 inch baking dish.

Sauce: Discard used oil and wipe out the pan so remaining crumbs don’t burn. Add 1 TBS oil and heat over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and sauté for about 5 minutes, until translucent but not browned. Add the tomato sauce and oregano. Stir and heat until boiling.

While the sauce is heating, divide the Mozzarella and place on top of the chicken breasts. When sauce is hot, carefully pour over the chicken breasts. Top each breast with equal amounts of the remaining Parmesan cheese.

Bake:

In 375°F oven for 20 to 30 minutes or until the sauce is bubbling in the center of the pan and the chicken is 165°F in the thickest part.

-or-

In 300°F oven. Cover dish with foil and bake approximately 1 hour. Remove foil and increase heat to 400°F, and bake until cheese is browned, 5-10 minutes.

Serve with:
Starch: duh! Pasta, of course.
Veg: Salad

Filo Tomato Tart

Filo Tomato Tart

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Yield: 20 3-inch squares
Sunset July 2007

Fantastic summer appetizer that is worth the effort.

  • 7sheets filo dough, thawed
  • 5TBS unsalted butter, melted
  • 7TBS grated Parmesan cheese, divided
  • 1cup very thinly sliced onion
  • 1cup shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 8roma tomatoes, sliced 1/8 inch
  • 1TBS fresh thyme leaves
  • salt and freshly ground pepper


Preheat oven to 375°F.

Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper and spray paper with cooking-oil spray (or brush lightly with vegetable oil).

Lay 1 sheet filo on paper and brush lightly with a little melted butter. Sprinkle allover with 1 TBS Parmesan. Repeat layering 5 more times (with filo, butter, and Parmesan, pressing each sheet firmly so it sticks to the sheet below. Lay the last filo sheet on top, brush with remaining melted butter, and sprinkle on remaining 1 TBS Parmesan.

Scatter onion across filo, top with mozzarella, and arrange tomato slices in a single layer, overlapping slightly Sprinkle with thyme and salt and pepper to taste. Bake until filo is golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes, then serve.