Self Care: Rigatoni with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Let's talk about self care, y'all.  It's important.  Many of you have probably read Ken Schneck's Huffington Post article about the alarming lack of self care in our field.  We need to do a better job taking care of our emotional and physical health, and for me nothing says emotional health like a big, creamy bowl of pasta.  This pasta dish is one of my favorites.  It's creamy, tangy, and has the most beautiful orange color.  

One of the great things about this dish is that the food processor does most of the work.    You don't have to work too hard to chop up the vegetables, which you'll see reflected in the photos. Roughly chop your peppers, tomato, onion, and garlic and add them to a saucepan over medium-high with 1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes.  

Let's talk about the tomato in there for a minute.  I developed this recipe after reading a lot of similar recipes that only had red peppers in them, and that's what I did the first time I made it.  I found the pepper taste to be a bit too tangy, so after playing around with the proportions I added one medium sized tomato to round the flavor out.  Tomatoes have a lot of water in them so make sure you seed the tomato before you add it to the pan to eliminate some of the liquid in the final sauce.

Once the vegetables are cooked through add them to the bowl of a food processor to make the base for the sauce.  The pepper mixture should be a gorgeous bright orange color.

Add the red pepper mixture back to the pan and pour in the heavy cream. Yeah baby, heavy cream - this is a self care meal after all.  Don't forget to season your cream salt and black pepper.  I love black pepper and cream, so I was pretty generous with it.

Stir the cream and red pepper mixture together and bring to a simmer.

Add the cooked rigatoni to the pot with the sauce and the basil and mix together.

I usually serve this with an arugula salad dressed with lemon juice, oil oil, and parmesan cheese.  Or you can just forget the salad and grab a glass of wine, and plop down in front of the TV, this meal is for you after all!

Rigatoni with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Ingredients 

• 1 lb. rigatoni
• 1 8oz. jar of roasted red peppers
• 1 medium tomato, seeded
• Half of a large yellow onion (or 1 small-medium onion)
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes
• Half pint of heavy cream
• 1/4 cup of fresh basil, cut in chiffonade

Instructions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil and cook pasta to al dente (about ten minutes)
2. Drain the jar of red peppers
3. Coat the bottom of a large saucepan with olive oil and put on medium-high
4. Roughly chop the peppers, tomato, onion, and garlic and add to pan with crushed red pepper flakes.  Season with salt and pepper
5. Sauté the peppers onions, and garlic for about five minutes or until the onions are translucent and transfer them into the bowl of a food processor
6. Blend vegetables to the consistency of a thick sauce
7. Add the blended pepper mixture back into the saucepan and add the heavy cream.  Season the heavy cream with salt and black pepper
8. Bring the pepper mixture and cream to a simmer while pasta cooks, stirring occasionally
9. Drain the pasta and add to the sauce.  Add the fresh basil and serve with grated parmesan or romano cheese

Quick Dinner: Brown Butter Sage Chicken, Cous Cous, and Turnip Greens

I work with the student programming board right now; if you've ever worked in programming you'll know that it's a lot of fun and involves a lot of time outside of the traditional workday.  This means time is precious and sometimes you need to get dinner on the table quickly.  If you're looking for something really quick after getting home from a late meeting or event this meal is for you.  I was able to get all of this on the table a mere twenty minutes after I took everything out of the refrigerator.  

Cous cous and dark leafy greens are two of my favorite ingredients for quick cooking.  Cous cous is added to boiling chicken broth (or water, or beef broth, or veggie broth - you do you) and is taken off the heat and covered for five minutes.  It's also the perfect bed for the juicy chicken and brown butter.  I like to use this whole wheat cous cous from Trader Joe's:

Dark leafy greens quickly wilt when sautéed with olive oil and garlic.  I used turnip greens here, but spinach, kale, arugala, or even baby bok choy would also work.  Simply coat a pan with olive oil and let the crushed garlic begin to cook on medium heat.  Before the garlic begins to turn golden add the chopped greens, salt, and pepper, and allow the greens to wilt, stirring occasionally.

With your sides complete you can move on to the main dish, brown butter and sage chicken.  This chicken has a big flavor coming from a deceptively simple list of ingredients: chicken, butter, and sage.  Melt two tablespoons of butter over medium-high in a non-stick skillet and allow it to become brown, and fragrant.  Meanwhile cut chicken breasts into 1 inch cubes - cutting the chicken into small and uniformly sized pieces will ensure it cooks quickly and evenly.  Season the chicken with salt and pepper before adding to the pan in one, even layer.  Add the chiffonade of sage on top of the chicken and let it cook undisturbed for 3.5-4 minutes.  Letting the chicken cook without stirring it is really important to create a beautifully crispy exterior and to let all of the wonderful brown butter flavor the meat.

After 3.5-4 minutes give the chicken and sage a stir so it can finish cooking. Spoon the chicken and remaining brown butter sauce over your cous cous and serve with your greens.  I hope you enjoy this quick recipe on a night when you need something good to eat fast!

Brown Butter Sage Chicken

(Adapted from Kevin & Amanda)

Ingredients 

• 1 pound chicken breasts
• 5-10 sage leaves
• 2 tablespoons of butter

Instructions

1. Melt butter in a non-stick saucepan over medium-high heat, and allow to turn brown and fragrant
2. Cut chicken into 1 inch cubes and season with salt and pepper
3. Stack sage leaves on top of each other and roll like a cigar. Cut the cigar into strips to create a chiffonade 
4. Add chicken to browned butter in a single layer and put the sage leaves on top of the chicken
5. Allow chicken to cook for 3.5-4 minutes undisturbed.
6. After 3.5-4 minutes stir chicken and sage and allow chicken to finish cooking, about 2 minutes.