Since I know a lot of you cook, I'm willing to trade a fantabulous recipe for stuffed pasta shells* for some good chicken leg quarter dishes. There are a few guidelines. Keep in mind that my dear sweet husband is something of a picky eater, so anything with rice, potatoes, or many veggies will likely be snubbed. I can always make adjustments as long as it's not a main ingredient (i.e. chicken and rice is out). I'll also come clean and admit that the stuffed pasta shells recipe was stolen from Lauren, but it's so darn yummy I can't help but share. I think it was Sandi who had previously asked for easy prep meals, so I'll add that these freeze up really well. If you make enough for two meals you can freeze half before baking, then when you're ready to eat just pop them in the oven for a little longer to give them time to defrost. Since I trust you to help me out, I'm going to go ahead and post the recipe:
Stuffed Shells
12 to 16 jumbo pasta shells (I usually use manicotti since I can't find jumbo shells)
16 oz. cottage chest or ricotta, drained
8 oz. mozzarella cheese, grated
4 oz. parmesan cheese, grated
pasta sauce
1 egg
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
1/16 tsp nutmeg
1/16 tsp cayenne pepper
4 tbsp seasoned bread crumbs
1 small box frozen spinach, thawed and thoroughly drained (optional)
Pre-heat oven to 350°.
Boil pasta, drain and lay out on paper towels to cool. Mix all ingredients except ⅓ of the mozzarella and the pasta sauce. Using a large spoon, stuff shells with mixture. Coat the bottom of a baking dish with pasta sauce. Place shells on top. Cover with additional pasta sauce (amount of sauce depends on the desired moistness) and remaining mozzarella. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional five minutes until cheese is browned.
*If stuffed shells doesn't float your boat, I can substitute Lauren's smoked gouda alfredo recipe. Have I mentioned that Lauren is a really good cook?
7 comments:
This one is easy (as long as you have the ingredients) and is amazingly flavorful:
1. heat broiler
2. place leg quarters skin side up in a foil lined pan
3. In a small bowl, mix:
1/2 cup honey
1/4 lime juice
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
brush chicken with half
broil 8 minutes (or longer depending on the thickness of chicken)
sprinkle with chopped cilantro
Serve with remaining sauce.
the flavor is amazing!
and yes... I would LOVE, LOVE the smoked gouda alfredo recipe...
Italian is my FAV!!!!!!!!!
Yum. That does sound tasty. And of course I have every single one of those ingredients at home! I will give that a try. I wonder if I could use my broiler pan for that or if it would be too tall... I always have a hard time judging because I now have a gas stove with the broiler in the bottom, which means you can't adjust the height. I hardly ever use it because it kinda scares me a little, but I will be bold and give it a try!
I'll try to remember to post the alfredo recipe tonight. It's absurdly easy.
Not too long ago, we had some chicken already boiled up, but we wanted something different. We decided to coat it with some spices, heat up some oil and sear it in the pan.
Made a huge difference, and that boring chickent was snapped up like that. Oh, and we served it with pasta.
SUSAN..... big edit mistake... BIG mistake.
#2 should have said place BAKED leg quarters. The chicken quarters are baked first before step #3.
(doing so allows some of the fat to bake off before the glazing the chicken).
The broiling is to set in the honey-lime glaze.
That would have been some raw chicken! lol
Because baking chicken quarters can be time consuming (350 degrees for any where between 45 minutes and 1 1/2 depending on size and quantity)...another great trick that works well with this honey-lime chicken is to do this:
Place chicken quarters in microwave-safe dish and pour water over the top. Cover the dish and cook on high for 8 to 10 minutes, rearranging the pieces after 5 minutes. Drain the chicken and let come to room temperature then continue with step #3.
Sorry about all that. It really is an easy, flavorful dish. I'm making it sound way too complicated. =)
Now that's just funny in itself. And so something I wouldn't even think about until I sat down to eat some raw chicken!
you can always boil them up in some "mexican seasoned" (use prepackaged fajita seasoning...or cumin, chili powder, garlic, caynne, onion powder)water or chicken stock then shred the meat for quesadillas or chicken tacos.
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