Chicken, Kale, Mushroom, and Cheese French Bread Sandwich

Do you ever just want something easy to make for dinner to compensate for lack of easy in your life?  I have my hand raised over here.  My weeks have been passing at warp speed, yet I still like to fix something for dinner I know we can sit down and enjoy together.  That is always a challenging task I might add considering my families diet seems to change on a daily basis.  

My normal self would say why not a six hour braised rack of something, but the saner version of me said, "How about just throwing everything into one delicious package!"  I kind of like her, I should probably listen to her more often.  I'm thinking she has a lot going on in the common sense department.

My mom always made a stuffed French bread sandwich for us with a ground, beef, spinach, and bread stuffing. My daughter really likes that version, but my husband insisted on grilling some steaks this weekend and he can only have so much beef (that is a seriously long story) so I decided to re-vamp the sandwich in a healthier way.

I was trying to sneak the mushrooms past my daughter, but she saw one and it was over.  I'm telling you, I'm thinking I'm just going to walk out to the curb and start giving away dinner to passer-byers instead of the rough regular customers I have.  If you share the same mushroom aversion as my daughter, feel free to leave them out.    

Chicken, Kale, Mushroom, and Cheese French Bread Sandwich
3 teaspoons vegetable or canola oil, divided
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small package baby portabella mushrooms or about 8, sliced
1 bunch kale, leaves only, chopped
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme or 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
1 pound chicken breast, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 ounces Monterey jack cheese, diced 1/2"
3 tablespoons butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons brown mustard
1 loaf ciabatta bread or a regular French loaf

1.  Heat oven to 375 degrees F.

2.  Add 1/2 the oil to a large skillet and heat on medium-high heat for a minute or so and add the chopped onions. Stir and cook for 4-5 minutes until onions are starting to look translucent.  Add the garlic, stir and cook for an additional minute.  Add the mushroom, stir and cook for 2-3 minutes.  Add the kale and stir and cook until the kale is wilted.  Stir in the salt, pepper, and thyme and place the whole mixture on a plate.

3.  Place the skillet back on the heat, add the remainder of the oil and the chicken and cook until browned on both sides, about 4-5 minutes, you could also sprinkle the chicken with a little more salt and pepper at this point.  You don't need to cook the chicken through since you are going to cook it longer in the oven. Add the vegetables back to the skillet and add the cheese, stir until all the ingredients are combined. Remove from the heat and set aside.

4.  Cut the top off of the bread and remove the insides.  (I just set it aside for my daughter, turned out to be a good call).  In a small bowl combine butter and mustard and spread this mixture on the inside of the bread including the inside of the top piece.  Fill the bread with the chicken mixture.  Don't add all the liquid in the pan or the bread might get soggy.  Place the top piece of bread back on the sandwich.

5.  Wrap the whole sandwich in foil and place directly on the oven rack and bake for 40-45 minutes.

6.  Unwrap the sandwich and slice with a serrated knife.

You can easily get 4 good sized sandwiches.

I thought it was better than the original and healthier for sure; you will have to be the judge and let me know.

Enjoy,

Gina

Zuppa Toscana gets a make over

When my oldest daughter was little she went through what I like to call a "white food phase".  I wish I was exaggerating about just how particular she was.  If there was a speck of parsley on her pristine plate of white pasta with white cheese; she would sit there with the saddest pouty face ever and not touch it.  I would either have to send it back and try and not insult the chef who thought he or she was being a food stylist by adding that parsley masterpiece or sit there and painstakingly pick every green speck off that plate.  She was already on the thin side (sure didn't get that from her mother), so I tended to make sure we always had something on the table that met her critical eye.

I began to feel like a short-order cook, I would fix a huge dinner and then proceed to fix her a separate dinner just so she had something to eat that night.  I'm blaming the fact I did this squarely on my mother.  My younger brother (also painfully thin, and God why didn't that happen to me?) would never touch what my mom made us for dinner; he was allowed to eat a salami sandwich every night while the rest of us were forced to consume nasty stuff like liver or have our Dad yell at us (long story short, yes I still resent my Brother for being the special child, I'm totally kidding about that, well actually maybe I'm not).

Now that I'm all bent out of shape, let's move on to something more pleasant.  One place that my daughter enjoyed going out to eat was Olive Garden, not my first choice, but childhood traumas have a funny way of resurfacing at odd times.  I did however enjoy a bowl of their potato, kale and sausage soup or Zuppa Toscana as they called it. Being the picky food person I am I felt it needed a little something more (no that couldn't be where my daughter got her food issues, has to be my mother).

Zuppa Toscana Updated

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 leek, washed, cut in half and sliced

1 pound Italian Sausage, casings removed

1 - 32 ounce box of low-sodium chicken stock

2 russet potatoes, peeled and sliced

8 ounces whole crimini or button mushrooms, stems removed

5-6 ounces kale, chopped (I buy it ready to use in the bag)

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/3 cup heavy cream

Heat a heavy stock pot on medium heat and add the olive oil and leek.  Cook for 3-4 minutes, until the leeks are wilting.   Add the sausage and break it up with a spoon and cook until browned.  Add the chicken stock and bring it to a boil.  Add the potatoes and cook for 5 minutes.  Add the mushrooms, kale, salt, red pepper and cook for 8-10 minutes more, until the potatoes are soft.  Add the heavy cream at the last minute and serve.

Makes 4 large servings.

This soup packs more flavor than the original and uses only the minimal amount of cream.

As for the really good news, by the time my daughter left home she would eat pretty much anything I served her and I got to quit my short-order cook job.

Enjoy,

Gina

Orecchiette, Butternut Squash and Kale Pasta

Does anyone else not want to look at food at the moment?  I don't even want to eat anymore but I have to suck it up and eat again because we are having our Pig Roast and tamales on Friday.

I have a couple of new desserts that I'm trying out on Friday so cross your fingers we get a bit of sunlight so I can get a photo of them.  All etiquette is going out the window too, if I have to cut those desserts up and taste test them I will.

Feeling bloated and miserable from the previous weeks' food extravaganza I had this bright idea to get in some exercise and a vacation at the same time.  I suggested Disneyland to the family.  We can admire all the holiday lights and soak up some of Southern California's sunshine while we are at it I promised them.

I had been dreaming of lying on a beach with warm tropical breezes, palm trees swaying in the background and a nice cold Pina Colada in my hand.  Instead I was plummeted from 100 feet in the air at warp speed to what I was sure was certain death.  Although the kids sure did think it was fun, or perhaps it was just me they were laughing at.

Orecchiette, Butternut Squash and Kale Pasta

1 1/2 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1/2" cubes

1 bunch kale, stemmed and chopped

4 ounces chopped pancetta

1 teaspoon olive oil

2 cloves minced garlic

3 tablespoons butter

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 pound orecchiette pasta

1/2 cup pasta water - reserved

Grated Parmesan cheese

Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (if you don't the butternut squash will stick badly). Place the cubed butternut squash on the tray and bake for 25-30 minutes until tender.  Stick a knife in a piece and if it goes in easily it is ready.  Let cool and set aside.

Put a large pot of water with a little salt on to boil.  Once the water is boiling, drop the pasta in and stir, cook for 8-10 minutes.

To a large skillet add the olive oil and pancetta and cook on medium heat until the pancetta is barely starting to brown.  Add the garlic and turn the heat down to medium-low.  Stir for a minute then add the kale, put a lid on the skillet and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring after each minute. Add salt and pepper now.

Once the kale is wilted add the butternut squash to the skillet, add the butter and pasta water and stir together, then add the drained pasta.  Stir gently so you don't break up the squash.  Top with grated Parmesan cheese.

Serves 4.

Try this pasta, it's much tastier and way less scarier than those roller coasters.  If you happen to be in the neighborhood on Friday, I happen to know where there will be a ton of food just waiting to get eaten.

Enjoy,

Gina