When we last left our hero (me), he had revealed his passion for Sunday, his ability to engage in fierce battle with the cheesesteak, and his complete lack of motivation for Monday mornings.
Let’s find out how our fearless leader deals with broken arms, drunken dog adoption, and a new love for fromage in this week’s edition of Sundays With Evan. Thank you everyone, and welcome back.
The menu was hot and the beer list was deep as people came out in droves to experience the growing phenomena of end-of-the-weekend mayhem. On the stove was “Evan’s Bippity Bippity Chicken and Pasta,” a culmination of my culinary experiments combined with the good words of my butcher Joe at Carlino’s.
Every good man needs a good butcher, and I’m convinced Joe is one of the best around, as his one-pan meal ideas not only kick a lot of ass but have pretty much sealed the deal on any date I’ve had. Thanks, Joe!
This is a great dish to whip up as far as cleanup and yielding the most food for your dollar. It’s flavorful, fun to make, and an overall impressive meal from just a few basic ingredients. I prefer to use my All-Clad four-quart saute pan, because of the amount of liquid needed to make the sauce.
To complement the grub, I sought out the perfect drink. The wonderful beer I packed into my fridge was Nemesis, a tasty little treat by the Founder’s Brewery of Grand Rapids, Mich.. With a big nose of brown sugar and piney hops, along with flavors of sweet malt and toffee, this boozy brew is not shy about its 12 percent alcohol by volume. It was rocket fuel to my system. I was damn lucky to find this beer, and for a limited time, she’s hiding out at The Drafting Room in Exton.
This past week’s series of events had a fair amount of strange and intense occurrences. As if the MacGyver-like moves
Out of the four co-workers who made the trip to enjoy Sunday one got schmammered enough to adopt the neighbor’s dog, only to wake up the next day to regretfully return it. One became belligerent enough to lock himself in his female companion’s car and refuse to come out for the remainder of the evening. This particular individual also failed to make it into work the next day, and will be stuck buying flowers for said girlfriend for the next month.
But the best was the peach of a co-worker who engaged in a bit of futon Olympics downstairs, leaving me with a futon that will find its way to a local Dumpster as soon as I find a truck. Thanks, buddy!
Stay tuned for the adventures of next week as I host my annual “Crabbyfest.” It’s sure to either burn West Chester down or, at the very least, render me homeless.
Evan’s Bippity Bippity Chicken and Pasta
– 4 chicken breasts
– 1 lb. fresh linguini
– Prosciutto end, cubed
– 2 handfuls baby spinach
– 8 oz. Baby Bella Mushrooms, sliced
– 1 1/4 cup white wine
– 1 cup heavy cream
– 2 cloves of garlic, diced fine
– 1/2 a lemon
– Small handful of capers
– Salt/pepper/olive oil to taste
– Sprinkle of flour
Serves 4
I begin the dish by placing my chicken out. It’s important to bring your chicken to room temperature to promote even cooking. (From the point of view of food safety, you’re taking a risk if you leave it outside the refrigerator for more than two hours.)
I like to lightly season my chicken with a rub of extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle of salt, and some fresh cracked black pepper.
Bring four quarts of water to a boil in a large pot and drop in the fresh pasta. Stir occasionally and toss a li’l dab of olive oil in if you see the pasta sticking. Cook time on fresh linguini is around 6 to 8 minutes, but I prefer to pull out early since it will finish off in the sauce later in the dish. Drain, rinse under cold running water to stop the cooking, and again drain thoroughly.
Pull out saute pan with a decent depth (I prefer my four-quart All-Clad saute pan) and place chicken in on medium heat. Watch the chicken. With a properly seasoned pan, the meat will naturally release from the surface of the pan when it’s ready to flip, and again when cooked thoroughly. Pull chicken and cover.
In same pan, toss in your prosciutto, and on medium heat, saute until brown. At this point add your garlic, being very careful not to let it burn.
Once everything is cooked to your preference, add your white wine, cream and baby bella mushrooms and allow sauce to come to a simmer.
Once everything is rolling, place the chicken back in the pan, along with the sprinkle of capers, juice from half a lemon, and spinach. Allow to cook for an additional five minutes until the spinach is evenly wilted.
Pull chicken from pan and place on serving plate. At this point, sprinkle a dusting of flour in order to thicken the sauce while you slowly toss in your linguini, mixing with the sauce. Continue cooking until pasta is al dente.
Serve pasta aside chicken, pour additional pan drippings on everything and kick dish up by shredding Bellevitano on top (as opposed to your typical parm/reggiano).
Rawk out and enjoy….
