Orzo Caprese Salad

One thing I like to do, to mix things up is adapt some of my favorite salads into a pasta side dish.  These work great for summertime gatherings, BBQ's and more...and add more of a filling quality to otherwise light salads.  This time I decided to work with Orzo Pasta because I like the texture and shape of the pasta, its very much like rice, but in pasta, and think it lends itself to a cool summer salad dish.

Orzo Caprese Salad

Here's what I used:

1 box orzo pasta
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
1/2 lb fresh mozzarella, cubed small
1/2 red onion, fine chopped
6-8 fresh basil leaves, rough chopped
4-5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp garlic salt
S&P

Here's what I did:

Set large pot to boil with liberal sprinkling of salt in water.  Cook orzo 8-10 minutes, or until al dente.  Drain and add olive oil to pasta, to keep small pieces from sticking.

Once pasta has cooled to a luke warm, add all ingredients, and salt and pepper to taste.  Serve warm or cold.

Greek Couscous

So this is an original recipe that I have made several times. I love the classic caprese salad, and I love greek salad. I also love renditions of recipes where warm ingredients, like brown rice, or in this case, couscous, are added to the fresh veggies and cheeses to make a warm salad. So in deference to those recipes, I thought up a greek couscous salad that can be served warm or cold. I prefer warm because it breaks down the cheese a little bit and makes it nice and luxurious to eat. Yes, I said luxurious. About a salad.

Greek Couscous (or Whole wheat couscous with feta, basil and tomato)

Here's what I used:

2 cups uncooked whole wheat couscous
2 1/2 cups water (or as directed by couscous instructions)
1 crate (~1 1/2 cups) quartered cherry tomatoes
1 package (~4 oz) low fat feta cheese (or mozzarella!)
1 package (~10 large leaves) fresh basil
2 tsp garlic powder
S&P
4-5 tbsp good olive oil

Here's what I did:

Brought water to a boil with a little salt, and half the garlic powder. Once boiling, quickly stirred in couscous, and removed from heat. Covered, and allowed to sit for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepared the vegetables. Quartered all of the cherry tomatoes, and stacked and rolled all the basil leaves into a cigar-shape, and then cut width-wise to "julienne" them into thin ribbons.

Once the couscous was done, transferred to a large mixing bowl and drizzled with olive oil. Added in the tomatoes, basil and feta, and stirred to incorporate all ingredients. Added 1 tsp salt, pepper to taste and remaining garlic powder.

I served this alongside a simple grilled chicken. Sydney also loved this, so she now has some waiting for her in her lunch bag. This is a great recipe to make a large batch of, and then save some to eat throughout the week. Its healthy, quick and packs a lot of flavor for very little effort.

Chicken Chevre with Creamy Basil Polenta

This chicken recipe is soooo SIMPLE. It packs a gourmet punch without the effort or skill required. Sounds perfect to me. Also, I have never tried to make my own polenta, but its so inexpensive (corn meal and chicken stock, basically) and a very yummy, different starch to serve. It only takes about 15 minutes to make, too!

The original Barefoot Contessa recipe requires skin-on chicken breasts (which is the BETTER way to do this), but another way to do it, is to cut, lengthwise, into the top 1/3 of the chicken breast (skinless) and stuff it that way, being sure to smooth the flap back over the stuffing when finished and before oven time.

Chicken w/ Herbed Goat Cheese & Basil

Here's what I used:

3 skinless chicken breasts
4 oz Herbed Goat Cheese (Chevre, en francaise)
6 large, fresh basil leaves
3-4 tbsp good olive oil
S&P

Here's what I did:

Preheated oven to 375 F. Cut 1/3 lengthwise slit into chicken breasts to create a pocket for my stuffing. Seasoned entire chicken breast with S&P. Sliced the Chevre (cheese) into 6 or so pieces, and laid them inside pocket, followed by 2 basil leaves each. Smoothed top flap of chicken back over top of stuffing. Drizzled generously with olive oil. Let bake for 35 to 40 minutes.

ALTERNATIVELY:  Carefully separate three sides of the skin off of a bone-in, skin-on breast, and place cheese and basil leaves underneath.  Replace skin overtop the cheese and basil, and season.  Amazing.

~

Creamy Basil Polenta

Here's what I used:

1 cup cornmeal
4 cups chicken stock
1 tsp minced garlic
1/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1/2 cup whipped cream cheese
1 tbsp julienned basil (roll into cigar shape, and cut widthwise)
S&P

Here's what I did:

Brought chicken stock and garlic to a boil in large nonstick stockpot. Once boiling, brought down to med/low heat, and slowly added cornmeal, whisking constantly to break up lumps. I then turned my flame down to low, and stirred constantly for 7 minutes. If you leave it, the polenta will burn/stick to bottom of pot, so you really have to watch it. Then, with a spatula, I mixed in the parmesan, cream cheese, basil and S&P.

I served the polenta immediately. Its not something that you can easily reheat, so make sure you time it towards the end of your meal preparation, and once your protein is nearly done. I added a large dollop to each plate, and then set my chicken breasts on top. I think this also would have been great with some sort of drizzle, so I might try that next time.

For reviews, my husband liked the chicken, as always. It is a meal favorite of ours. On the polenta, I don't think he's ever had it before. He did say it was a lot like mashed potatoes, but could have used a bit of a kick. I suppose I could add red pepper flake or maybe a touch more black pepper next time. I have no review from Sydney, due to the fact that she passed out cold at 6pm...about 20 minutes after we arrived home. I'm guessing growth spurt or missed 2nd nap. We missed her last night.