Valentine's Day Part 4: Chicken Breasts, Smashed Artichoke Potatoes and Mixed Greens with Lemon Vinaigrette

Okay, so I have been pretty bad about blogging lately. A few things have come up that have kept me from blogging. However, I haven't stopped cooking and now have QUITE the backlog to post! I am going to try to get on it as much as possible, but it may be tough with finals coming up. I promise I will do my best to get through it all!

So for our main course, Awesome Sauce and I dined on Cognac Flambeed Chicken Breasts, Smashed Artichoke Potatoes and Mixed Greens with Lemon Vinaigrette.

This part of the meal was incredibly simple. There was no real recipe for the chicken. You take chicken breasts and coat them in a light layer of kosher salt and cracked black pepper. You then take a pan and put a large pat of butter in said pan (about a tablespoon). You then toss in some sliced almonds and put the whole thing over a medium flame. Once you can smell the almonds, you add the chicken breasts and turn up the heat, searing them on both sides. Finish cooking in the oven or very slowly over the stove. Once you take them out, toss about a shot glass worth of cognac over the chicken breasts and light it on fire!! This is best done at the table for a fun presentation. Unfortunately for us, the chicken breasts didn't want to light! :-( I have heard that others have been successful so we will definitely have to try again sometime. I can be a bit of a pyromaniac :-P

Overall the chicken wasn't bad, but wasn't anything special. We served it with a chardonnay that was recommended for buttery dishes. They did go exceptionally well together. The mixed greens were the same as the bed I placed the Crab Cakes one, so it is reviewed in an earlier post.

The smashed artichoke potatoes were a new one for us and were quite tasty. They were a unique recipe from Allrecipes and can be found here:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Artichoke-Mashed-Potatoes/Detail.aspx

I really liked these and am always fascinated by different variations on mashed potatoes. These ones were creamy and garlicky. They artichoke added a "freshness" to them that is difficult to describe. I would definitely recommend these and am considering making them the next time I grill up a steak. Something about the artichoke has me thinking that they would really compliment a steak well. I have tried some strange ones in my day (including peanut butter in mashed potatoes...yes, I am looking at you little sister....), but they are always fun to try.

Here is what the finished dinner looked like:





So, time for the Ratings:

Cognac Flambeed Chicken Breasts:
The Clumsy Gourmet: 6
Awesome Sauce: 4 (Awesome Sauce didn't find them very interesting and was bored by the basically plain chicken breasts. He did, however, very much like the wine with the butter sauce.

Artichoke Smashed Potatoes:
The Clumsy Gourmet: 8
Awesome Sauce: 8

Chicken Pesto Pizza

So last night I came home in the mood for pizza. In this economy I am not going to whimsically order pizza on a week night just because I am having a craving. Instead, I opened my freezer and fridge to figure out what I could put on this pizza. I have to go food shopping tomorrow so the pickings were slim. I did find an older bunch of basil and half a bag of mozzarella cheese in the fridge and there were chicken breasts in the freezer. I set about defrosting the chicken and began the crust.

I decided it was a good time to pull out How to Cook Everything and try a new recipe. I turned to the Basic Pizza Dough recipe on page 258. I was disappointed that there was not a wheat option, but decided to try this recipe anyway. If I liked it, I could always substitute some of the unbleached white flour for wheat flour when I made it again. I followed the "To make this dough with a standing mixer" variation along with the baking instructions.

I used 1 cup of bread flour and two cups of unbleached all-purpose flour. Following the recipe, the dough was a bit sticky. As recommended by Mark Bittman, I added another TBSP of flour. at that point it was perfect. The dough tasted a bit salty to me, but I decided to go with it.

I also have to admit, true to my name, I got flour EVERYWHERE!!! Note to self: If making this pizza for a crowd...use an apron and don't wear black!

When it was time to let it rise for an hour, I followed a trick I learned from a friend who bakes bread. Our apartment is kept at a rather cold temperature and I have trouble getting breads to rise in a reasonable time. I turned on my empty microwave for two minutes. When it was done I shoved the bowl filled with dough in the microwave and quickly shut the door. This creates a warmer environment for the dough to rise. It worked like a charm. Check out the before and after pictures:

Finished dough waiting to rise.

After rising for an hour in my microwave.

While the dough was rising, I had a chance to do some of my school work. About 10 minutes before it was finished, I put together the pesto. I threw the basil in my trusty blender/processor. This is similar to a Magic Bullet but it is the Bella Cucina brand. Just a quick recommendation here: this product is awesome! I have used it for making salad dressing, smoothies, pesto, grated cheese and pancake batter. I strongly recommend it to anyone who can't afford a large food processor right now or who doesn't have the room for both a food processor and blender.

In the little cup I tossed in all of the basil, three garlic cloves, a few pinches of kosher salt, a few pinches of fresh ground pepper, a small handful of toasted pine nuts, a three small chunks of fresh parmesan and good amount of extra virgin olive oil. I didn't use a recipe. I have made pesto so many times at this point that it is easiest for me to just toss the ingredients together and let it blend.

I would like to note at this point that pesto (or its ingredients) is something I love to have around. You can spread it on sandwiches instead of mayo. You can put it on pasta or on pizza. If you put a dollop of pesto on small, toasted bread rounds and place a small shaving or parmesan cheese on top, it makes an excellent appetizer. I also enjoy pesto shrimp and pesto "garlic" bread. You can really do quite a lot with this stuff and it keeps well in the refrigerator for about a month.

Here are some pictures of the pesto-making process.

Loading up the Bella Cucina processor.

Side view of the processor loaded up.

Blending!!! Sorry for the mess in the background. I am NOT a neat cook. I try to clean up as I go along, but usually end up making more of a mess. I do clean up well when I am done!!

Sorry this picture is a little blurry. But I posted it to show the gorgeous green color of the finished pesto. Fresh pesto is absolutely one of my favorite things.

While I was making the pesto, Awesome Sauce took the defrosted chicken and covered in in garlic powder, parsley, oregano, salt and pepper and cooked it in a pan with a little extra virgin olive oil.

When the dough had risen, I spread it on a greased sheet as Mark Bittman suggested. I did do something that he didn't recommend. I added a little cornmeal to the greased pan. I love this trick. It makes moving the pizza much easier. I used a pastry brush to add a nice layer of pesto. Awesome Sauce added the cooked chicken which he had cut into small pieces. We then added a layer of shredded mozzarella cheese and some fresh grated parmesan. See the pictures below:

Pizza dough covered in pesto.

Awesome Sauce adding his chicken.

Oooh! Chicken on Pesto!!

Mozzarella and Parmesan added!

Finally, it was time to bake our pizza. Mark Bittman suggests you turn your oven to the highest possible temperature and cook the pizza 6-12 minutes. I had never cooked a pizza at that high of a temperature before and admit to being a bit skeptical. I learned that my oven goes to 550 degrees. Once it reached the desired temperature it took 8 minutes for the pizza to look "right" to me.

It was perfect!! We really enjoyed this pizza dough recipe. I will definitely be making it again. Next time I am going to try to add some whole wheat flour. Here is a picture of our finished pizza.

Finished pizza!!

A yummy slice!!

A few minutes after it was done, Junky Monkey walked into the door and had a slice. She enjoyed it as well. Both she and Awesome Sauce requested having the pizza again, only this time instead of a Chicken Pesto Pizza they want a traditional marinara and salty meats pie. As an added bonus, we had over 2/3 of the pizza left for lunches today and snack this weekend! If anyone wants an easy, quick pizza, this recipe is definitely tops!

Pizza Dough Recipe Ratings:
The Clumsy Gourmet: 8
Awesome Sauce: 8.5
Junky Monkey: 9.5