Sunday, September 14, 2008

Dinner Divas #3 YUMMO!

First off, you will never here me say yummo again, I promise! It is just that it is a Rachel Ray recipe, so I feel like it is necessary to say yummo, oops there is was again, and EVOO. Alright, I have them out of my system now, on to the review.
Honestly, we really liked this macaroni and cheese. It was simple and authentic tasting. I made a few changed, which are noted below, but we will revisit this recipe in my kitchen, it may even enter regular rotation!
Also, I must note that I got to pick 2 September recipes for my cooking group Dinner Divas, so this was one of my picks, and there will be an Emeril Apple Pie coming up in the near future. Both of these recipes were picked on behalf of Michael. He has been asking me to cook both, so he was my inspiration when looking for recipes this month.


Mac and Cheddar Cheese with Chicken and Broccoli
From Rachel Ray
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS:
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound chicken breast tenders, chopped
Salt and pepper
1 small onion, chopped
1 pound macaroni elbows or cavatappi corkscrew shaped pasta twists (we used fussili)
2 1/2 cups raw broccoli florets, available packaged in produce department (no broccoli for Michael, but we added peas)
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper ( didn't have any, added some tapatio)
1 teaspoon paprika
3 cups whole milk (I used a mixture of whole and nonfat)
1 cup chicken stock
3 cups yellow sharp Cheddar (I also added some goat cheese)
1 tablespoon prepared Dijon mustard (I used about 2 TB)
DIRECTIONS:
Place a pot of water on to boil for macaroni.
Heat a medium pan over medium to medium-high heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil and chicken and season with salt and pepper. Saute a couple of minutes then add onion and cook another 5 to 7 minutes until onions are tender and chicken is cooked through. Turn off heat and reserve.
To boiling pasta water, add pasta and salt to season the cooking water. Cook 5 minutes, then add broccoli and cook 3 minutes more or until pasta is cooked to al dente and florets are just tender.
While pasta cooks, heat a medium sauce pot over medium heat. Add butter and melt, then add flour, cayenne and paprika and whisk together over heat until roux bubbles then cook a minute more. Whisk in milk and stock and raise heat to bring the sauce to a quick boil. Simmer until the sauce thickens about 5 minutes.
Drain macaroni or pasta and broccoli florets. Add back to the pot and add chicken to the pasta and broccoli.
Add cheese to milk sauce and stir to melt it in, a minute or so. Stir in mustard and season sauce with salt and pepper. Pour sauce over chicken and broccoli and cooked pasta and stir to combine. Adjust seasonings and transfer to a large serving platter and serve.

3 comments:

Brooke said...

Looks great. I have been thinking about Dinner Divas, just haven't tried any of the recipes yet. I might do the apple pie one tho.

Kira said...

I'm making this tonight! Glad you liked it. Some of the comments on the FN site were not so good, so I was getting worried.

Michele said...

I'm cracking up! Just found your blog and I too have a dinner group called The Dinner Divas! LOL I'd love to hear about your group and what you ladies do. Feel free to email me at www.myitaliangrandmother@hotmail.com

Looks great by the way!!!!