Chicken with Pecan Cream and Mushrooms

I don't know why I never thought to pull recipes from the Cooking Light website a long time ago.  Everything I've tried so far in the last week or so has been fantastic.  Seriously. 

I would never have thought to use pecans as a base for pasta sauce.  Ever.  I was a bit concerned making the sauce as I'd over-toasted the pecans before putting them in my food processor.

By the way, I just got a Cuisinart food processor the other day at JC Penney's.  It was on sale for $99.99.  I've been dying to get one and finally broke down.  So I thought it would get it's debut helping me make this dish.  When I smelled the pecan puree, I worried that the dish would taste burned, but it didn't.  And then adding the mushrooms to the sauce?  It was fabulous--I mean FABULOUS!!!   

Both my husband and I devoured this dish.  I really had to try hard to leave some leftovers to take for lunch today.  And today, I couldn't wait for lunchtime.  Now I'm sad it's all gone.

Chicken with Pecan Cream and Mushrooms

by Cooking Light

3/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans, toasted

1 cup water

1 1/4 teaspoons salt, divided

6 (4-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Cooking spray

1/4 cup finely chopped shallots

1 (8-ounce) package presliced mushrooms

4 cups cooked egg noodles

Chopped parsley (optional)

 

1. Place pecans in a food processor; process until smooth (about 1 minute), scraping sides of bowl once. With processor on, add water and 3/4 teaspoon salt; process until smooth, scraping sides of bowl once.

2.  Sprinkle chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper.

3.  Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add chicken; sauté 3 minutes on each side or until done. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm.

4.  Add shallots and mushrooms to pan; sauté 3 minutes or until mushrooms are tender. Stir in pecan cream; bring to a boil. Cook 1 1/2 minutes. Place 2/3 cup noodles on each of 6 plates. Top each serving with 1 chicken breast half and 1/3 cup sauce. Garnish with parsley, if desired.

I will, without a doubt, be making this pasta dish again and I want to try variations of the recipe...perhaps try a different nut (walnut maybe?) and pair it with rice. Delicious!

Thanksgiving with Dorie: Thanksgiving Twofer Pie

Wow! It's been forever since I've made a post. With school being busy just before Thanksgiving break, working for my mom this entire week and having hordes of family members come in from all over the U.S. (and having them stay over at my place), I just haven't had the time. Until now! And I'm happy to be back. This week, we were given an extension for this week's recipe challenge since everyone would be busy preparing their Turkey Day feasts. This week's recipe--a pumpkin and pecan pie combo (hence, the "twofer" nickname) chosen by Vibi of La Casserole Caree --was the perfect dessert for my family's meal last night. The recipe is featured on her blog and received pretty good reviews from my family, even though it shared counter space with my more-favored Macadamia Nut Pie (which I'll post about later).

I know a lot of people can't stand pumpkin, but I love, love, love it...especially at this time of the year. I thought it would make a sensational accompaniment to the traditional pecan pie. This is what the pie looked like after filling the partially-baked pie shell with the pumpkin filling and then topping it with the chopped pecans.

Here, the pecans are soaking in a bath of the pecan filling, which consisted of dark corn syrup, eggs, brown sugar and some other yummy goodness!

As rude as it was, I insisted on having the first slice. I have a HUGE family and I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to take a test test so I could make a proper review. Now even though this pie was outdone by the aforementioned macadamia pie, it was delicious in it's own right. Others agreed. The pecan crust as well as the pie crust were so nicely crisped and the pumpkin neutralized the sweetness of the pecan filling. Perfecto! I'll definitely be making this one again!

Please stay tuned for more thanksgiving recipes. I've been doing so much cooking and baking lately that I'll be making posts for the next few days!