11/05/2010

Dinner… Ricotta, piselli, di pollo cannelloni con pana

Ricotta, piselli, di pollo cannelloni con pana
Ricotta, peas, and chicken filled rolled pasta with cream

This is a super lush fantastic way to have filled pasta.
I used a bunch of crap i had at home
and made is snazzy

Italian my go to under pressure…

So here’s whats inside

3/4 bag frozen peas
1/2 lg container of ricotta cheese
about 1 1/2 cups of grated mozzarella
3 cups of heavy cream
2 chicken breast cut in half
1/2 box of lasagna sheets
about 2 tablespoons of dried parsley
about 2 tablespoons of dried basil
1 tablespoon of garlic powder
1 tablespoon of onion powder
1/2 white onion minced
1 tablespoon of red chili flake
salt
black cracked pepper

this is what you get when your done

okay here’s the deal kiddies
get a big pot of water boiling away add some salt to it so that you can taste it in the water
preheat oven to 400 degrees
Clean up the chicken breasts so there’s none of that nasty connective chewy stuff on them or fat. Then slice them across the center not down the middle but length wise so you have flat pieces of chicken this will help you to cook the breast more evenly and faster
looking like this

now season the hell out of em
use the basil, parsley onion powder and garlic powder as well as some salt and pepper and get those babies lookin coated but not too much salt there’s enough salt in the cheese and both sides mind you

okay now i always sear my chicken in a pan 1st getting those nice juices locked into that chicken. so you get a real hot pan put enough extra virgin olive oil in the bottom to just coat it a bit. and place the chicken in the pot. you should have 4 pieces don’t crowd the chicken or it will cool the pot down too much and you’ll get white chicken that looks boiled not what you going for.

so you can do 2 at a time if your pots not big enough. Okay good now cook each breast about 3 minutes each side. They should still be kinda raw your gonna put them on a sheet tray or you can use a casserole dish cause your gonna need it anyway. so one less dish and put them in the preheated oven cook for an additional 5-6 minutes till cooked through out.

I always cook my chicken this way it comes out much more moist. if you have an old ass oven or its not hot enough just make sure your chicken isn’t raw when you take it out. check the thickest part of the breast, also it doesn’t have to be dry as a bone which most people believe chicken has to be which is disgusting so don’t do that… you want nice tender pieces of chicken so keep to the time table. take the chicken out and let it rest on the counter. the juices should run clear . when the chicken cools down so your fingers can handle it your gonna then shred it. I use two forks with a back and forth movement over the chicken that makes for nice shredded pieces. If you find a part of your chicken you think is still not cooked just throw it in that pan you used and cook it a little more. No harm, no foul…

if you already had chicken from a left over meal this is a good use for it as well just chop it up and use it

your pasta water should be boiling have a bowl with ice water ready along side of it and put the pasta in the water. Cook per instruction about 8-10 minutes and then drain the noodles and put them in the ice water so they don’t get over cooked

Tada noodles

So now the sauce. In the pan you seared the chicken in add just a tiny bit more oil if it seems like there is enough still left in the bottom of the pan to cook the onions in it then you don’t have to add anymore just use the chicken juice to cook the onions. so anyways add the onions to the pot cook till translucent add chili flake. more or less depending on if you like spicy or not. crack some pepper in that bad boy… now add the cream let the sauce simmer so turn down the heat and make sure you stir every once in a while or the cream will bubble over and thats not a nice mess to clean up at all…

oolala panna… this is what the sauce should look like. Its not supposed to be thick like Alfredo its supposed to be just a cooked cream so it should reduce about 1/4 its previous volume…

Now the pea mixture… easy get frozen peas and run them under warm water until they are no longer frozen… add the ricotta and peas together crack some pepper in that bad boy and add about a 1/2 of a cup of mozzarella

and this is what that looks like

So now you got noodles you got chicken cheese and peas

great
put it together

Alrite now to make the cannelloni is the tricky part and i made a video of how to do it but I’m to embarrassed to post it cause i sound like a chipmunk

So you’ll have to envision it
and to help you envision it i’ve made this ms paint horrible diagram hahahahahahaha!

you lay the pasta out flat on a board now take a tablespoon and a half of the pea mixture and place it 2 inches away from the end of the pasta add a few slices of the shredded chicken on top

then as the picture clearly shows you fold over the pasta so that it covers the filling and do it on both sides till the meet in the middle
Keep going til you make them all and they fit in a 9 13 dish

PS if you aint got time or patience to roll em up just layer the fuck out of it and you’ll be fine

when their all done
add the sauce over the top of the noodles
then add reminder of cheese and if you have left over pea filling and chicken through it on top there too waste not want not

mmmmm