The New Chef's Journal

This recipe comes from the Pioneer Woman , also known as Ree Drummond. Personally, I'm a big fan of her recipes, though she has a fair number of critics. I understand why her personal manner bugs some people, and I recognize that she sometimes uses an almost Paula Deen-esque amount of butter, but she also has some really great recipes. This recipe isn't overloaded with butter and is actually a good, light spring pasta dish. I bought fresh grape tomatoes and spinach from Eastern Market in D.C., which gave the dish a nice bright flavor. Ingredients 1 pound Penne 4 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts Salt And Pepper, to taste 2 Tablespoons Butter 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil 4 cloves Garlic, Minced 3/4 cups Dry White Wine 3/4 cups Low-sodium Broth, More If Needed 1 bag Baby Spinach 2 cups Grape Tomatoes, Halved Lengthwise 4 ounces Shaved Parmesan Cheese Directions 1. Cook pasta according to package directions in lightly salted water. Drain and set aside. 2. Cut ...

This is another recipe that comes from the Pioneer Woman , which is one of the absolute best food blogs around. I'm a huge fan of her work. There are so many good recipes on her site. I chose penne alla vodka, because its one of my favorite Italian dishes, but I've never made it myself. The vodka really adds a unique flavor to traditional tomato sauce. You can use whatever brand of vodka you want, but as usual, the better the ingredients the better the final product. I was really happy with how this dish turned out. To add some protein to the dish I sauteed some chicken with garlic, basil, parsley, salt, black pepper and crushed red pepper. Below are the original ingredients and directions with my notes in italics. Ingredients: 1 pound pasta (I prefer penne, but you can use whatever you want.) 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 tablespoons butter 1 whole medium onion, chopped finely 2 cloves (to 3 cloves) garlic, chopped ¾ cups (to 1 cup) vodka 1 can (about 14 Oz.) tomato pur...

For Valentine's Day I decided to make one of my girlfriend's favorite dishes - shrimp fra diavolo. This shrimp dish has a little bit of a kick thanks to the crushed red pepper. I've done this dish over both pasta and creamy polenta. My preference is to mix it with thin spaghetti, which is what I did this time. The recipe I'm using for this comes from the Food Network's Giada DiLaurentiis. Of all the chef's on the food network I've had the most success using Giada's recipes, though Tyler Florence, Rachel Ray, Ina Garten, Emeril and the Neeley's have some great stuff too. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/shrimp-fra-diavolo-recipe/index.html The original recipe calls for fresh herbs, which because of time constraints I didn't have available. This recipe still works well with dried herbs. The rule for converting from fresh to dried is that 1 tablespoon fresh herbs = 1 teaspoon dried herbs. Or in this case 3 tablespoons fres...