Mustard-Herb Crusted Panko Chicken with Basil Parmesan Orzo

I owed my friend a home-cooked meal, so we looked through a couple of recipes and ended up making panko crusted chicken with a side of basil parmesan orzo. I went grocery shopping right before Blizzard Nemo, so supplies were thin and I managed to snag the only pack of chicken breasts left within the entire supermarket. Unfortunately, I was now saddled with $17 worth of chicken. The breasts were huge, so we only used two and cut each in half and it was more than plenty for the two of us. I also greatly underestimated how much orzo one box makes - hint: it's a lot. So even though only the two of us ate it, this will most likely serve four.

I pretty much made the chicken to the letter, only substituting dried herbs, since the supermarket was a mad house and there were no herbs left :( The orzo was a different story. Neither of us had a lot of experience making orzo, so we pretty much messed up the entire recipe. Here's what we did (though I would advise you to never follow it):

Ingredients
1 box orzo
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons dried basil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1. Cook orzo as directed on the box. Strain, and then add the chicken stock. The orzo will still absorb all the liquid. Add the parmesan, basil, salt and pepper and mix until creamy. Bam.

We were left with slightly awkward tasting orzo with an odd texture. You couldn't really taste the basil, and the orzo was still on the drier side so the cheese made it drier, rather than creamier. It was also pretty bland, adding the chicken stock after cooking the orzo, instead of cooking the orzo in the chicken stock. I will definitely have to make this recipe again and see if I can make a better version. Maybe follow the recipe or something.

Spaghetti with Chicken and Corn in a Cream Sauce

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, things have been busy and I swear I've been cooking, it's just the blogging part that's slowing me down. I'll add the posts from the last two weeks later since I still need to upload those photos. I surprised myself tonight by throwing together a couple of ingredients I had lying around to make a pretty yummy pasta dinner! This recipe is all me!

Spaghetti with Chicken and Corn in Cream Sauce

Ingredients:
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 cloves minced garlic
1 chicken breast, cubed
1 bag frozen corn
half box spaghetti, cooked
handful of monterey jack
1/4 cup pecorino romano, grated
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp flour
1 tsp butter
salt and pepper
chili powder

1 tbsp canola oil

Directions:
1. In a large skillet, add the onion, garlic and oil and cook until the onion is soft and translucent (I ended up using only half an onion since I spilled half on the ground in the transfer.....I would recommend actually using the entire onion for some yummy goodness)
2. Season chicken with salt, pepper and chili powder and add to the skillet. Cook until the chicken is almost done, but not quite. I tested this just by poking the cubes of chicken with my fork.
3. In a separate pot, steam the frozen corn for about 4 minutes, or until just cooked. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. In a new small skillet, create a roux by combining the flower and butter on medium heat. Add the milk and stir until it thickens. Add both cheeses. I only added the amount above because it was all I had left. I would suggest adding more pecorino, like about 1 cup to make this more of a mac and cheese-like consistency.
5. Combine chicken, corn and sauce in the large skillet and stir to combine. Let simmer for 5 minutes. Add the spaghetti to the skillet and voila you're done!

This dish was thrown together on a whim, but it actually tastes pretty great! It's creamy, but not heavy and this recipe makes a lot! Serves 4

Cauliflower Fritters

Eeep I'm so excited for this recipe! Let me preface: I'm not the biggest fan of cauliflower. It's kind of weird. But these fritters were so good, I forgot I was eating vegetables until I hit a particularly large chunk of cauliflower since I was very confused about how to even cut a cauliflower. Also, please bear with me, I know the pictures this week are pretty terrible. I pretty much followed the recipe found here, and added about a half cup more cheese to better hide the cauliflower taste.

Cauliflower Fritters

Notes to self:

1. Creating a nice brown crust makes these absolutely delicious

2. Don't store with paper towels - I decided to layer them in a tupperware with paper towels in between the layers to absorb the excess oil, but apparently they weren't completely cooled when I chucked them in the fridge so the paper towels got wet from the steam and held the moisture, making the rest of my fritters extremely soggy :(

3. The best way to reheat these bad boys is in a toaster oven to maximize crustiness and minimize sogginess - believe me, for some reason the soggier the fritter, the more it actually tastes like cauliflower.

4. This is now my absolute favorite way to make cauliflower. I fed a couple to some of my veggie-fearing college friends and they liked them too! Win for me!