Cajun Chicken Pasta and (mostly) Failed Gnocchi

Mmmm cajun chicken pasta, so delicious and so much simpler than those frustrating gnocchi. It all starts with my cajun seasoning blend that I make myself. I mix garlic powder, onion powder, salt, black pepper, oregano, chipotle powder, and cayenne pepper. I cut up three chicken thighs for the pasta because that was what I had, but any kind of chicken will do. Season the chicken with extra salt and pepper and the cajun seasoning while you're heating about two to three tablespoons of oil in a big pan. When it's hot, sautee the chicken until it's almost cooked through (it'll finish cooking in the sauce). The picture below shows the color you're looking for on the chicken.

While the chicken is cooking dice about a cup of red bell pepper, one medium onion, and two cloves of garlic. When the chicken is as above, remove from the pan and set it aside. In the same pan, sautee the peppers, onions, and garlic making sure to get all the tasty browned bits up off the bottom. A picture of what this should look like is below. You can see some of the fond (those tasty bits I mentioned) mixed in with the vegetables.

Next add the chicken back to the pan along with cream. I used two pints because I was making this for a crowd of seven people, but one pint would be plenty for probably three to four people. This then needs to boil so that it will reduce and thicken, as seen below.

The sauce is thick enough when it coats the back of a spoon. Be careful not to let it thicken too much because the starch from the pasta will make it a lot thicker just don't rinse the pasta after it's done cooking or you'll lose all that starch. I used penne noodles since they're my favorite, but you can use pretty much any cut pasta that you like. The picture below is the finished product and it was a big hit.

My other dish for the night was gnocchi in a brown butter sauce with rosemary and thyme. As the title of this post implies, the gnochhi were not an overwhelming success. I had never made them before and it was quite a bit more difficult than I had hoped. I would have pictures from the process, but things got a little chaotic. I will try it again and post more pictures of the actual gnocchi making process. Here's a picture of the finished product. They were less terrible than I had anticipated after first blanching them and seeing how they looked. The biggest issue was how tough they were because they actually had pretty good flavor. More on gnocchi another day. The chicken soup I promised will be coming shortly.

Superbowl Spread

Why not start this blog with a post about the mother of all food events, the Superbowl! Here's a picture showing the feast we enjoyed (and when one of your roommates has been a die hard Packers fan since birth, and they just happen to be playing in the biggest sporting event of the year, a feast you must have.)

Hot wings are right in front with a sauce made using Frank's hot sauce, butter, chipotle powder, and smoked paprika. Going clockwise is the super simple chili I make by sauteing peppers, onions, and ground beef, to which I add beef stock, crushed tomatoes, and seasonings. Next to the chili is barbecue wings with just store bought Famous Dave's Sweet & Zesty sauce, but I did add some of my awesome barbecue rub to it for some extra flavor. Then there is just plain wings seasoned with salt, pepper, and chipotle powder. To the right of the that is the pulled pork, which was a shoulder roast that I cooked slowly in the oven almost all day with that same rub on it. Of course cheese dip is a must and this is the classic mix of Velveeta cheese and Rotel tomatoes. And in the center we have good old Lighthouse blue cheese dressing, (because what are hot wings without blue cheese?)

Everything was delicious and many compliments were given to the cook. Tonight is soup night and since my roommate is sick I'm making chicken noodle. Oh yeah! Chicken noodle soup and Jersey Shore yeah! Expect a post about that shortly.