Post by Loupy on Aug 15, 2013 16:50:58 GMT -7
White Cheddar Chicken Alfredo in a Bread Bowl
From: JulieMay@ menumusings.blogspot.com/2013
My kids have been big fans of the "pasta in a bread bowl" concept ever since a popular pizza chain started making something similar. Wow - talk about culinary sins?! Carbs on top of carbs! But you know what? Sometimes life calls for that. And when you have growing, bottomless pit teenagers, they sure aren't worried about counting carbs!
So consider this a "fun" recipe. Not that you would want to eat this all the time, but occasionally won't kill you!
Tip - To make my dinner come together a little faster, I chopped the shallots and garlic ahead of time. I also shredded my cheeses. I had all of these things covered and stored in the fridge, ready to go!
Serves: 4 - 6 servings
Ingredients:
1/2 pound rigatoni pasta
2 Tbsp butter
2 chopped shallots (about 1/4 cup)
2 Tbsp freshly chopped garlic
1/4 tsp table salt
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
2 cups milk (maybe a bit more in the end)
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes, julienned
1/2 cup Gruyere cheese, freshly shredded
1/4 cup Parmigiano reggiano cheese, freshly shredded
3/4 cup white cheddar cheese, freshly shredded
black pepper to taste
6 - 8 ounces cooked chicken breast strips
prepared pizza dough
plus flour to roll it out if needed
plus corn meal to prevent sticking on pan or pizza stone
Italian seasoning to taste
1 cup shredded mozzarella
Written Method:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F with your pizza stone in it.
If you do not have a pizza stone, you may need to cook these longer, as you will be starting out on a cold pan.
The hot pizza stone gives you a nice crunchy crust.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add in the pasta and some salt and cook according about a minute less than package directions.
Since we'll be cooking it longer after it gets mixed in the sauce.
Drain the noodles and rinse well in cold water.
We want to stop the cooking process and also rinse off the starch so it won't stick together into a big lump! HaHa!
Then just set aside.
Heat the butter in a fairly large skillet over medium heat.
Add the shallots and garlic.
Cook until they are soft and fragrant.
Add in the salt and flour and stir well to make a paste.
Add the milk, stir to combine, and cook until it starts bubbling.
Let's get it seasoned up now!
Add in the oregano, basil, and sun dried tomatoes.
I love the tanginess of the sun dried tomatoes and the pop of color. (Kids like colorful food.)
But really, you could add just about anything in here that you would enjoy in your pasta.
So it should be starting to bubble by now.
Now lets add in the cheeses..... Gruyere, Parmesan, and white cheddar.
We are looking for it to begin bubbling up and thickening.
Add in the drained pasta.
I added a little more milk at the end (didn't measure).
I wanted the sauce to be a little bit soupy since it will tighten up in the oven, and also the dough will absorb some of it.
All ready for the chicken to go in now.
We don't want to "cook" the chicken.
It's already cooked.
We just want it warmed through.
So we are adding it in right at the end.
One more little adjustment here.... add in the black pepper.
If I was making this for only grown ups, I would add some red pepper flakes that you find in pizza parlors.
They would be great in this!
I had more of the chicken Alfredo here than would fit in the 4 bread bowls.
I knew that my little two would prefer it NOT in the bread bowl.
I just wanted to give you a heads up that you would either have extra pasta, or would need more dough.
For the bread bowls, I used the premade pizza dough.
I cut each one into 2 - 3 pieces, rolled into a ball, rolled them out, and made a little pizza crust out of each.... leaving the edges about an inch higher than the middle.
Thin middle!
I seasoned them up with Italian seasoning.
You want to OVERfill the bowl, about 2 inches higher than the edge of the dough.
The bread will bake up around it.
I have sprinkled the pizza peel with yellow cornmeal.
This will help the dough slide off of the peel and onto the hot pizza stone.
Next time you go to to a restaurant known for their brick oven pizzas, check out the bottom of the dough and you'll likely see cornmeal just like this!
Sprinkle a little mozzarella over each, then pop them into the oven.
Since I'm using a very hot pizza stone, I baked these for only around 10 - 12 minutes.
If you are starting with a cold pan, you'll probably need to bake them longer.
Garnished the hot pizza bowls with some fresh basil.
From: JulieMay@ menumusings.blogspot.com/2013
My kids have been big fans of the "pasta in a bread bowl" concept ever since a popular pizza chain started making something similar. Wow - talk about culinary sins?! Carbs on top of carbs! But you know what? Sometimes life calls for that. And when you have growing, bottomless pit teenagers, they sure aren't worried about counting carbs!
So consider this a "fun" recipe. Not that you would want to eat this all the time, but occasionally won't kill you!
Tip - To make my dinner come together a little faster, I chopped the shallots and garlic ahead of time. I also shredded my cheeses. I had all of these things covered and stored in the fridge, ready to go!
Serves: 4 - 6 servings
Ingredients:
1/2 pound rigatoni pasta
2 Tbsp butter
2 chopped shallots (about 1/4 cup)
2 Tbsp freshly chopped garlic
1/4 tsp table salt
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
2 cups milk (maybe a bit more in the end)
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes, julienned
1/2 cup Gruyere cheese, freshly shredded
1/4 cup Parmigiano reggiano cheese, freshly shredded
3/4 cup white cheddar cheese, freshly shredded
black pepper to taste
6 - 8 ounces cooked chicken breast strips
prepared pizza dough
plus flour to roll it out if needed
plus corn meal to prevent sticking on pan or pizza stone
Italian seasoning to taste
1 cup shredded mozzarella
Written Method:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F with your pizza stone in it.
If you do not have a pizza stone, you may need to cook these longer, as you will be starting out on a cold pan.
The hot pizza stone gives you a nice crunchy crust.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add in the pasta and some salt and cook according about a minute less than package directions.
Since we'll be cooking it longer after it gets mixed in the sauce.
Drain the noodles and rinse well in cold water.
We want to stop the cooking process and also rinse off the starch so it won't stick together into a big lump! HaHa!
Then just set aside.
Heat the butter in a fairly large skillet over medium heat.
Add the shallots and garlic.
Cook until they are soft and fragrant.
Add in the salt and flour and stir well to make a paste.
Add the milk, stir to combine, and cook until it starts bubbling.
Let's get it seasoned up now!
Add in the oregano, basil, and sun dried tomatoes.
I love the tanginess of the sun dried tomatoes and the pop of color. (Kids like colorful food.)
But really, you could add just about anything in here that you would enjoy in your pasta.
So it should be starting to bubble by now.
Now lets add in the cheeses..... Gruyere, Parmesan, and white cheddar.
We are looking for it to begin bubbling up and thickening.
Add in the drained pasta.
I added a little more milk at the end (didn't measure).
I wanted the sauce to be a little bit soupy since it will tighten up in the oven, and also the dough will absorb some of it.
All ready for the chicken to go in now.
We don't want to "cook" the chicken.
It's already cooked.
We just want it warmed through.
So we are adding it in right at the end.
One more little adjustment here.... add in the black pepper.
If I was making this for only grown ups, I would add some red pepper flakes that you find in pizza parlors.
They would be great in this!
I had more of the chicken Alfredo here than would fit in the 4 bread bowls.
I knew that my little two would prefer it NOT in the bread bowl.
I just wanted to give you a heads up that you would either have extra pasta, or would need more dough.
For the bread bowls, I used the premade pizza dough.
I cut each one into 2 - 3 pieces, rolled into a ball, rolled them out, and made a little pizza crust out of each.... leaving the edges about an inch higher than the middle.
Thin middle!
I seasoned them up with Italian seasoning.
You want to OVERfill the bowl, about 2 inches higher than the edge of the dough.
The bread will bake up around it.
I have sprinkled the pizza peel with yellow cornmeal.
This will help the dough slide off of the peel and onto the hot pizza stone.
Next time you go to to a restaurant known for their brick oven pizzas, check out the bottom of the dough and you'll likely see cornmeal just like this!
Sprinkle a little mozzarella over each, then pop them into the oven.
Since I'm using a very hot pizza stone, I baked these for only around 10 - 12 minutes.
If you are starting with a cold pan, you'll probably need to bake them longer.
Garnished the hot pizza bowls with some fresh basil.
