Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Chicken with Carmelized Onions and Basil Pesto


This recipe incorporates fresh basil pesto and caramelized onions -two of my favorite things.  I thought I could not make Basil Pesto until summer, but I was able to find a large bunch in my local grocery store. The recipe follows.

  Basil Pesto 

Ingredients:
 2 cups of basil pesto tightly packed
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
½ cup of extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup toasted pine nuts. Be very careful because they burn easily. I put them in the toaster
  Oven for only 2 minutes at 350 degrees
¼ cup chicken stock
3 cloves of garlic chopped
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
Preparation:
Place all ingredients in food processor and blend until smooth

Chicken with Caramelized Onions & Mushrooms

 Ingredients:

1 lb of boneless chicken breasts, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 large onion sliced
8 oz of button mushrooms cleaned and sliced
4 tablespoons extra virgin oil
12 oz farfalle, cooked al dente

Preparation:

Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to large fry pan. Heat until hot but not smoking
Cook chicken in large fry pan until lightly browned .Remove and set   aside
Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the same pan and heat oil over medium high heat
Sauté onions until they take on the color of real maple syrup about 10 minutes
In separate pan, cook mushrooms using the final tablespoon of olive oil
Mushrooms have a lot of water in them. You must cook them until no more steam is
formed.  They will then start to brown. This takes about 15 minutes
Add mushrooms and chicken to the pan of caramelized onions and heat thoroughly

Assembly:

Place cooked farfalle in a large bowl
Add ½ cup of pesto and stir until pasta is a shade of light green
Add chicken, onion and mushroom mixture to bowl
Mix thoroughly and serve 
Serves 4

                                                             Photo by Buzz Krivonak

   

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