I'm a pretty avid cook when I'm off the road and out of the studio. It started quite rudimentary with the simple and ubiquitous hamburger, steak, and the like. I've moved on to breaded veal in a red wine reduction over sun-dried tomato pasta and other Italian inspired dishes, after living in Florence, Italy for almost half a year. Yes, I am a lover of the Food Network. Giada De Laurentiis is gorgeous.
I was giving this recipe to a friend via email and thought I'd also share it with the world, to those interested in trying. It's an easy one, so don't be turned off by the length here. I'm just really verbose.
VODKA CHICKEN CASSEROLE with PROSCIUTTO
Your Ingredients:
-Box of ziti
-jar of vodka sauce
-3-4 breasts of boneless skinless chicken
-1/4 lb of good sliced prosciutto
-good extra virgin olive oil
-fresh parmigiana cheese
-fresh mozzarella cheese
-lots of garlic
-Half a red onion
-package of small mushrooms
-fresh flat leaf parsley
-fresh basil
So, dice a few cloves of garlic, toss them into a hot pan with olive
oil. Let them sweat for a few seconds. Slice red onion and add those
to the garlic and oil. Slice the shrooms into small-medium pieces and
add those also. Let it all mix together with salt and pepper for a
minute so the flavors blend.
Cube up your chicken breasts. Salt them. Pepper them. Touch them. Add
them to the pan with the onions, garlic, etc. Dice up your prosciutto into small
pieces or strips only an inch in length. Add those to your chicken pan AFTER the
chicken is cooked through. Grab a pasta pot. Boil water and salt that water for the ziti.
Time this right. The pasta cooks faster than the chicken. So, put the
pasta in the water at the tail end of the chicken's cooking time. You
want the chicken to be brown. While all of this craziness is going on,
pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees.
A minute or so before the pasta is finished, open the jar of vodka
sauce. quickly sauté some more garlic pieces in olive oil in a sauce
pot (medium size). Add the sauce to the oil and garlic. keep the heat
on low for the sauce. When the sauce is hot, add the
chicken/onion/mushroom mixture from the pan directly into the sauce
pot. Stir well.
Grab a casserole dish, that is deep. Add the ziti into that casserole
dish. Add the sauce with all the goodies into the casserole dish. Stir
well and mix. Spoon over a liberal amount of parmigiana cheese over
the top as well as a nice helping of freshly minced basil. Slice your
mozz cheese into olympic medal-sized circles. Place those on top of
the casserole.
Put the dish into the over for about 15 minutes...but keep a close eye
on it. You want the cheese to melt, but not burn. After that, take it
out, sprinkle more parmigiana on top and finish with freshly minced
parsley.
cookin' love to all,
-Alex
