Puff Pastry With Chicken

Well this recipe was born out of my curiosity and a need of trying something new with puff pastry that... may not appear to be edible ;) Surprisingly, it appeared to be very tasty :) What is it? My mum said it looks like a chicken mummy ;) Seriously speaking, this is stiffed with vegs and spicy chicken crunchy puff pastry :) worth trying!

Ingredients:

• Puff pastry*
• 500g of chicken breasts
• 500g of mushrooms
• 1 onion
• 1,5-2 peppers (not necessary red one)
• mascarpone/philadelphia (cream) cheese
• a couple of cheese slices (2-3 per one)
• spices: salt, pepper, cayenne, oregano, basil
• 1 egg, beaten

Optional ingredients:

• green/black olives
• tomatoes (preferably dried)
• zucchini
• courgette
• carrot
• instead of an onion - a leek

* depending on a number of people eating there might be 2 packagings of puff pastry needed

Preparation:

1. Wash, peel (if necessary) and chop all the vegetables into cubes (zucchini, courgette and carrot might be cut into slices, though it doesn't matter that much).
2. Wash and cut chicken breasts into thin slices, season both sides with all the spices.
3. Take a frying pan, grease, put mushrooms and onion/leek, zucchini, courgette and carrot on it. Start frying, till bright gold (3-5 minutes). Turn off the heat, put aside till it cools down.
4. Prepare puff pastry, as the picture shows. (These pieces can be shorter, then, instead of 2-3 big ones, it is possible to get 4-6 smaller ones). It is good to leave the puff pastry on its paper (it's easier to move it later on the baking tray).
5. Start preheating the oven to 180C.
6. Add peppers to the frying pan and other additionals if desired.
7. Take the first piece of puff pastry. Distribute cream cheese on the bottom, put cheese on it, add chicken and 'sprinkle' with all the vegs. Cover with another pieces of cheese. Do up, like shoelaces. Repeat with all the pieces of puff pastry.
8. Take the beaten egg, put some on every top of prepared puff pastry chicken. 
9. Put in the oven for 25-30 minutes. If the top starts burning, cover the top with foil.
10. Bon Appetit!

Spicy pasta with chicken

This is my old idea of making a delicious dinner out of simple ingredients! And, what is more important, with that dish, everyone will find something suitable for themselves, for example: 

For children - there is pasta, which, if they are faddy - might be served only with chicken or with butter+sugar. 

For vegetarians: just take away the chicken.

For those on a diet - no mushroom sauce and no cheese.

Perfect!

The recipe is mostly mine, I took the recipe for the sauce from this website.

Ingredients:

• 500g of chicken breasts, chopped
• 1 packaging of wholemeal Fusilli pasta
• 100-200 g of cheese, grated (or some slices to put on the top)
• 1 onion, chopped
• pepper, salt, cayenne pepper (be careful with cayenne, it is spicy)
• parsley - leaves, to sprinkle the top

Mushroom sauce:

• around 1/2 kg of mushrooms (penny buns)
• 1 small onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 50 g of butter
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 125 ml of 30-36% cream 
• pepper, salt
• 2-3 tablespoons of fresh, chopped parsley

Optional sauce ingredients:

• 5 tablespoons of beer or white wine

Preparation:

Pasta:

1. Take a bigger, clean pot, pour water and a pinch of salt inside. Put on a stove, boil on a middle heat. When it reaches 100C, add pasta, stir, change the heat into low. Boil  for 7-12 minutes. Stir from time to time*.
2. When it's done, put the pasta on a colander and pour cold water on the pasta.**

*It is important, because pasta tends to stick to the bottom of the pot and burn as well as it tends to boil over.

** This is a good way to avoid sticky pasta.

Meat:

1. Chop into pieces, season with salt and pepper and cayenne.
2. Take a very big frying pan, grease it a little bit with oil. Turn the heat on.
3. Put the chopped chicken on the frying pan and fry for 10-15 minutes.

Mushroom sauce:

1. Clean the penny buns very precisely using a knife or a brush. If necessary - clean them quickly under cold water. Dry on a paper towel. Chop.
2. Chop the onion and garlic.
3. Take a frying pan, put 30g of butter and 1 tablespoon of oil on it. Add chopped onion and fry for 5 minutes on a middle heat. Add garlic and fry for another 1-2 minutes on a low heat. It needs to be gold, not burnt.
4. Add optional ingredients. Boil till water evaporates and a thick substance appears.
5. Add the rest of the buter and the oil. When it starts frying, add penny buns and fry on a high heat for around 6 minutes, stiring from time to time. 
6. Take the cream, add 2-3 tablespoons of sauce from the frying pan, stir. Pour everything on the frying pan and boil on midle heat. Season with salt (1-2 pinch(es)). Stir. Boil for around 2 minutes so that the sauce has a chance to get thicker. At the end, add parsley and season with pepper. Stir, turn the heat off.

1. Take the sauce and pour it on the frying pan with meat. Add pasta, boil for few minutes, stiring. Turn the heat off.
2. Bon Appetit! :)