I want to introduce you to Chef Mark Vogel, culinary instructor, food writer and doctor of psychology.  He has contributed several food articles on my web site including So You Want To Be A Chef that I just recently posted.

Chef Vogel graduated from the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City and has been writing a syndicated food column “Food for Thought” for a number of periodicals and web sites. I’m hoping he may help me on occasion with my “Ask A Chef” feature answering your cooking questions more thoroughly.

Mark just told me about his new web site Food For Thought that contains all of his writings plus a bunch of Mark’s recipes. I encourage you to check it out when you have a free moment (and come back to The Reluctant Gourmet when you are finished of course).

And to really wet your appetite on what you will find at Chef Vogel’s new site, I’m posting his recipe for Pasta with Basil Cream Sauce. I think you will enjoy it. And don’t forget to read my Novice to Pro interview with Chef Vogel.

PASTA WITH BASIL-CREAM SAUCE
 
12 oz. pasta
Olive oil and/or butter as needed
Pinch of hot pepper flakes
1 small-medium onion, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 14.5 oz. can chicken broth
1 cup light cream
1 medium to large batch of basil, cut en chiffonade
 
While the pasta is cooking heat the oil and/or butter in a pan with the hot pepper. 

Add the onion, salt and pepper and cook until the onion softens. 

Add the garlic and cook one more minute. 

Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. 

Add the cream and barely return it to a gentle simmer.  Since it is light cream, over cooking can cause it to break.  Of course you could use heavy cream and dismiss that anxiety. 

Add the basil and additional salt and pepper if needed. 

Add the pasta, stir to incorporate it into the sauce and serve. 

What to do with leftover roasted chicken breasts?

I roasted a couple of chickens the other night and will write about roasting chickens another time.  I thought as long as I was roasting one whole chicken; I might as well roast two and use the meat from the second chicken for something else. And as long as I was going to roast chicken, I might as well roast a bunch of vegetables too.

We ate part of the first chicken one night with the vegetables and wanted to use the leftovers for another meal so I looked to see what I had in my refrigerator and pantry and decided to make a Penne with Chicken & Peas in a Cream Sauce. I basically had everything I needed in stock thus avoiding another trip to the supermarket.  Not that I don’t enjoy hanging out in the supermarket but two or three times a week is enough.

I put together a recipe and it was good but thought it needed a little more flavor help so I wrote to my friend Chef Ricco, who happens to be working in India right now starting a restaurant, and asked what I could have done to make this recipe better. The recipe below is a combination of what I came up with and Chef Ricco’s suggestions.

Roast Chicken Alternatives

If you don’t feel like roasting whole chickens, you can either buy already roasted chickens at the supermarket or use uncooked chicken breasts that you cook in the pan yourself. The advantage of cooking raw chicken is extra flavor you’ll get from sautéing the chicken (see fond on my Pan Sauces page).

I hope you enjoy it and please write and make your own suggestions or comments.

Penne with Chicken & Peas in a Cream Sauce
Serves 2

1/2 lb. penne pasta, cooked to al dente
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoons butter
2 thin slices from a large red onion, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, finely diced (Ricco suggested using roasted red peppers for more flavor and adding them toward the end of the recipe)
¼ cup white wine or brandy
1 chicken breast, cut up into pieces (cooked or uncooked)
1 cup half and half
1 pinch nutmeg
1 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
1 cup frozen peas
Grated cheese like Parmigiano or Romano or you could even try some crumbled Roquefort cheese.
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
Salt, to taste

How to Prepare at Home

Heat a large saucepan over medium heat until hot. Add the oil and butter. When hot but not smoking, add the onion and diced pepper. Sauté until the onion is translucent.

Deglaze the pan with the white wine or brandy and continue cooking until most of the wine has cooked off. This will add another layer of flavor.

Season the already cut up cooked chicken with some freshly ground pepper and add it to the pan to reheat for about one minute.

Add the half and half, nutmeg, parsley and peas being sure to mix together with a wooden spoon. Raise the heat to medium-high but as soon as the half and half comes to a boil, lower the heat to medium or medium-low and reduce the sauce to desired consistency (thickness).

When the sauce is just the way you like it, add some freshly grated cheese or try the crumbled up Roquefort. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.

Drain the pasta but reserve a few tablespoons of the pasta water to add to the sauce if the sauce appears to be too thick. This thins out the sauce while giving it a little flavor from the cooked pasta.

Add the pasta to the saucepan; toss well and serve.

Uncooked Chicken Method

If you are using uncooked chicken, you’ll start by sautéing the chicken first, before the onions and peppers. So cut up the chicken into bite sized pieces and sauté them in butter and olive oil.  Cook until almost done but not all the way. You can finish cooking the chicken when you return it to the pan otherwise you risk overcooking it.

Remove the chicken from the pan, add the onion and pepper and follow the rest of the recipe above.

An alternative would be to sauté the chicken breast whole, let it rest while you are making the sauce and cut it up just before adding it back to the pan. I don’t think it makes much difference but if you try it both ways, please let us know which you like better.

We often visit State College, PA (Town of Knowledge and Penn State Football) to visit my wife’s parents and her sister Judy who is an excellent home cook and someone you will here me write about often.

On a visit a couple of months ago Judy told me about her neighbor’s son who was just starting his own Italian import business and was having an open house for friends and family next door that weekend. Of course I wanted to go over and see what was available and I found lots of my favorite Italian treats including imported Gnocchi with potato and pumpkin.

What are Gnocchi?

The word gnocchi is Italian for dumplings and they are sort of like a cross between a dumpling and pasta. The gnocchi I purchase were 70% mashed potatoes, wheat flour, pumpkin, seasonings and a preservative.

They are shaped like little balls or tiny loaves of bread, are solid and make an excellent side dish or main dish when served with a hearty sauce. You can make your own homemade gnocchi but it is a time consuming process.

Just like making your own homemade pasta, the results are fantastic but who has the time during the week. I would like to try and make a bunch gnocchi with my kids one weekend. We could make up a lot of them, have some for dinner and freeze the rest.

I prefer to find a really good quality commercial brand like the ones I purchased in State College and you can probably find in your supermarket or if you have an Italian specialty store in your area. I will do some research and see if I can find a good source online.

What to Serve With Gnocchi?

What’s great about Gnocchi is you can think of them as a substitute for mashed potatoes and serve them with pot roast, braised short ribs, or even ossobucco. On the other hand, you can think of them as pasta and serve them with many of your favorite pasta sauces like I did in this recipe.

What is Pancetta?

Classically, this sauce would be made with Pancetta, Italian bacon that is cured but not smoked. I used regular bacon because that’s what I had in my refrigerator. You can find Pancetta in most supermarkets these days but unless you are making a lot of Italian dishes, you are not going to use it enough to justify buying it when plain old bacon will to the job.

However, if you don’t mind the extra expense, go for the Pancetta. You will love the flavor and you can always portion it out, wrap it up tightly and freeze what you don’t use.

Gnocchi served with a Bacon & Peas Cream Sauce

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 medium sized onion red or yellow
4 cloves garlic
3 strips of bacon
¼ cup chicken stock
½ cup heavy cream
1 cup of frozen peas
1-pound gnocchi
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
Salt & pepper to taste

Prep the Ingredients

Peel and slice the onion into rings and separate them. Mince the garlic and cut the bacon lengthwise and then into 1-½ strips. Thaw the peas anyway you like and grate the Parmesan.

Assemble the rest of the ingredients and you are ready to go.

How to Make at Home

Start by heating up a large pot of water for cooking the gnocchi. You don’t want the sauce ready and have to wait for the gnocchi to cook although they don’t take but 2 minutes to cook.

Heat your sauté pan over medium-high heat to get it hot. Add the oil and butter to the pan and when the butter is melted and hot, add the onion and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the garlic and continue sautéing for another minute.

Add the bacon and cook for 3 – 4 minutes until the bacon doesn’t have that white fatty look any more. You don’t want the bacon crisp, just cook through. The down side of using bacon over Pancetta is the bacon takes longer to cook but if that’s what you have available, what the heck.

Add the chicken stock to deglaze the pan, stirring up any of the bacon bits that may be sticking to the pan. Add the cream and then the peas. Simmer for 3 – 4 minutes and you will notice the sauce start to thicken.

Right after you add the cream you want to start cooking the gnocchi. They only take 2 –3 minutes to cook but by the time you cook and drain them the sauce will be finished. You will know when the gnocchi are done because they float to the top of the water. The trick to preparing any pasta dish with a great sauce is getting the timing down so everything is done at the same time.

Add the drained gnocchi to the sauce along with the Parmesan cheese and nutmeg. Give it a gentle stir and cook to warm up and incorporate the sauce with the gnocchi.

Taste and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper.

Not the lightest meal you will ever be serving but one of the tastiest.