Lemon Cream Rotini with Veggies: an adaptation of an Ina Garten recipe

We were having company over and I wanted to make a dinner that was nice and refreshing cause it had been a hot one here lately. I already had one pork tenderloin in the freezer, so I went out and got another one to make sure it fed everyone and then I started looking up side dishes. I looked through my mess of recipes on my computer and found a lemon herb pasta salad...I read it over and wasn't too impressed but I liked the idea of lemon because it's so refreshing and light.

Then I remembered back in the day Ina Garten made some sort of lemony, creamy pasta entree. So I went searching on Food Network's website and I found the perfect side dish, Lemon Fusilli with Arugula. I sort of adapted it to what I thought would taste good so here's what I did:

Lemon Cream Rotini with Veggies
(adapted from the original here.)

1 T olive oil
2 cloves garlic, mince or grated
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup half and half (I used fat free)2 lemons, zested and juiced
Salt and pepper
1 bunch broccoli
3/4 pound cauliflower florets, or about 1/2 a head of cauliflower
1 cup fresh corn kernels, or kernels cut from one ear of corn
1 pound dried Rotini pasta
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved

Heat the olive oil in a medium sauce pan and add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the cream, zest and juice from 2 lemons and salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes until it starts to thicken.

Meanwhile, cut the broccoli in florets and discard the stems. Cook the florets in boiling, salted water for 2 minutes, remove with wire strainer and set aside. Bring water back to a boil and add the cauliflower florets and cook for 3-4 minutes until tender and drain and set aside.

Bring large pot of water to a boil and cook your pasta according to directions. Drain the pasta in colander and place back in pot and immediately add the cream sauce mixture. Cook on medium until the pasta as absorbed most of the sauce. Pour the hot pasta into a large bowl and add the tomatoes, corn and the cooked broccoli and cauliflower. Toss and serve hot.

Picture courtesy of Food Network

Now I made this as a side dish because it was pretty rich. I replaced some of the cream in the original recipe with half and half cause I felt 2 cups of cream was a bit much. Also my grocery store didn't have Arugula so I just didn't use it and I added corn because it's in season and it looked great at the store.

This was surprisingly delicious. I had never really had a real citrus-y flavored pasta before and this was so good and like I said, refreshing. It was great for a summer day and I think went very well with the spicy, cajun seasoned pork tenderloin I grilled up.

I used a Cajun seasoning from Wild Tree Herbs which on of my girlfriends is selling. This seasoning is great! I used it on chicken once before but I was really excited to slather it on these pork tenderloins and then throw them on the grill. It was amazing! So good and with the lemon pasta...they just balanced each other out perfectly. The spicy kick from the Cajun and then the cooling Lemon Cream sauce. Perfect Match!

Sorry I don't have pictures, I was entertaining and didn't want to be a dork and take pictures.

Eat, Drink and Be Merry...
and entertain with a refreshing summer meal!

-BellaRosa

Spicy-Honey Glazed Shredded Chicken Sliders

I had this recipe for Spicy-Honey Glazed Chicken from the Everyday with Rachael Ray Magazine and I have made it a few times a few different ways. But I found out they have small foccacia rolls at Blackbird, the bakery across the street from us, and the Hubsie suggested to use them for sliders when I first told him about them, so I had that idea in my head. I decided to do the Spicy-Honey Chicken with some fresh, crisp lettuce and some sweet corn to add crunch.

Spicy-Honey Glazed Shredded Chicken Sliders
(adapted from Rachael Ray find that recipe here.)

3 T Olive Oil
1 clove garlic, grated or minced
3 T honey
1 tsp. hot sauce
1/2 tsp. chili powder
Squeeze of lime juice

(Not gonna lie, these measurements are approximate. The original recipe is for 8 chicken breasts, I am usually only making 2, so I just use enough of everything to make a nice amount of glaze for 2 chicken breasts.)

Heat the olive oil in a small pan. Add the garlic and let that soften. Add the honey, hot sauce, and chili powder and stir to combine. Remove from heat and add a squeeze of lime juice and set aside.

Place your chicken in a skillet and pour enough chicken broth to just about cover the chicken breasts. I season the broth with salt, pepper, red pepper flake and garlic powder. Bring to a simmer and let simmer for 1o minutes and then flip the chicken over and simmer on the other side for about 5-8 minutes until completely cooked through. Remove from pan and let cool a bit until you can handle it. Shred the chicken into the spicy-honey glaze and toss to coat.

Split your rolls and line the bottom with a piece of lettuce and some heated up, canned corn (you could use fresh I just used some that I had leftover.) Place some shredded chicken on top and add your roll top that has been slathered with mayo.

Looks picnic perfect!

I served mine with some roasted red skinned potatoes and a pickle.

For the potatoes I just cut them into wedges and coated them in olive oil. I then spiced them up with salt, pepper and garlic powder and roasted them at 375 for about 15 minutes, tossing after 10 minutes.

These little slider sammies were delicious!!!!!! So good!!! Those foccacia rolls from Blackbird are amazing!!! They are really delicious and airy, but have a good texture to them. The chicken was great with just enough glaze so that it wasn't dripping all over the place but still had great flavor.

Hope you try this recipe out...it rocks!

Eat, Drink and Be Merry!!!

-BellaRosa