Penne with Chicken, Sweet Potato and Sage

I was very surprised by how deep the flavors were in this dish. I found this recipe on Blue Kitchen, and Mike and both love sweet potatoes, so we figured we'd give it a try. This recipe is a keeper - delicious flavors and very cheap to make. I made only a couple of minor adjustments to the published version.

Sweet Potato Sage Pasta with Chicken

from the Blue Kitchen recipe

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 medium onion, sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
4 cloves garlic, minced
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
3 tablespoons chopped fresh sage (or 2 teaspoons dried)

1 package of penne pasta

Parmesan cheese to taste (optional)

Start a pot of water for the pasta. Put the cubed sweet potato in a lidded, microwave-safe container. Add 2 teaspoons of water and microwave for 2 minutes with the lid vented. Test sweet potato with the tip of a sharp knife; the knife should insert easily. You want the potato just tender, but not mushy. If not, microwave it for an additional minute and test again. (Cook's Note: this took us 4 minutes.)

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium flame. Drain sweet potato and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring and turning occasionally. Add onion and toss to coat. If using dried sage, add to pan now. Cook for a minute or two, stirring occasionally. Season chicken generously with salt and pepper and add to pan. Cook until chicken is just cooked through, stirring occasionally, 5 to 6 minutes. Add garlic to pan and cook until just fragrant, about 45 seconds. Remove from heat.

Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions. Drain, reserving 1/4 cup cooking water. Add to skillet with sweet potato mixture and toss to combine. If the dish seems dry, add a little reserved pasta water, a tablespoon at a time (I didn’t need any). If you’re using fresh sage, sprinkle with 2/3 of the sage and toss to combine. Divide among shallow pasta bowls and top with remaining sage. Serve immediately.

We also added some Parmesan cheese to the finished dish - because pasta's always better with a little Parm. :)

So simple. So delicious!

Roast Chicken with Tunisian Potato Turnovers and Curried Lentil Soup

We had some friends over for dinner last night. One of my go-to dinner party entrees (okay, who am I kidding, it's one of my most frequently prepared entrees) is roast chicken. Unless you're a vegetarian, it's bound to be satisfying in the most innocuous way, and it's a great complement to almost any type of cuisine - Italian, Mexican, Indian, or in this case, Tunisian(ish). I prepared some potato turnovers and Mike made one of our other favorites - curried lentil soup - as sides.

Tunisian Potato Turnovers
(from Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites)

2 cups of potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 cups of sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
4 garlic cloves (or 5, or 6)
3 tbsp of plain nonfat yogurt
2 tsp ground caraway seed
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp cayenne
salt to taste
3 tbsp scallions, chopped
2 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 package Fillo dough
3-5 tbsp olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cook the potatoes, sweet potatoes and garlic in water to cover until tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain the potatoes and thoroughly mash them by hand with the yogurt, scallions, caraway, coriander, cumin, cayenne, lemon juice and salt until very smooth. Add more salt to taste.

Prepare a baking sheet with a light coating of cooking spray. Set aside near your work area.

Place the filling, filo, oil, a pastry brush and a clean damp towel on the counter top within easy reach. Unfold the stack of filo and in one smooth motion, remove a sheet and place it flat on the counter top with one of the short sides nearest you. Brush it lightly with olive oil. Working quickly, add a second and then a third sheet, oiling each lightly. Cover the remaining stack of filo with the damp towel as you work to prevent it from drying out and becoming brittle.

Cut lengthwise through the three oiled sheets to make three strips. Place two rounded tablespoons of filling on each strip, one near the bottom and one about a third of the way up. With a table knife or the back of a spoon, spread the filling to thinly cover the bottom half of each strip. Fold the lower left corner up and over diagonally so that the bottom edge is aligned with the right side. Fold straight up and then to the left. Continue to fold as you would a flag to make a small triangular pastry. Place each triangle on the baking sheet.

Repeat three more times until all of the filo and filling has been used and you have 16 turnovers. Brush the tops with any remaining oil.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until puffed and golden. Serve immediately.

Jeremy and Kendra both seemed to enjoy the meal and did mildly rave about the lentil soup. After dinner we started watching Gone With the Wind, but only made it through the first act. We'll be heading over to their place later this week to let them cater us a meal and to finish the epic movie.

Turkey Burgers, Veggie Salad, and Homefries

The June issue of Food Network Magazine is apparently "The Grilling Issue" and included 136 summer recipes! Woo! Well, it wasn't really that tacky and actually had some great ideas in it. Brit spotted the "Perfect Turkey Burger" and decided it must be made. In addition to the main dish from Food Network Magazine, Brit had also spotted a recipe from the June issue of Bon Appetit. Brit wasn't so impressed with Gwyneth Paltrow on the cover, but got excited for a recipe for a cucumber, tomato, and feta salad. To round out the meal, I decided I would make some sweet potato homefries.

Perfect Turkey Burger
(adapted from Food Network Magazine's recipe from their June 2011 issue)

Makes 8(ish) patties

1 large portabello mushroom cap
1 small onion, coarsely chopped
6 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tbsp lightly packed parsley
1 to 1.5 lbs ground turkey
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup crumbled feta (I had this left over from the veggie salad)
Bread crumbs to coat
English muffins
Butterhead lettuce
thinly sliced onion, for topping
sliced avocado, for topping

Pour about 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs onto a plate for coating the burger patties.

Use a spoon to scrape out the gills from the underside of the mushroom cap. Dice the cap into small pieces. Pulse the mushroom, onion, garlic and parsley in a food processor until chopped.
Move the mushroom mix into a large bowl and add the turkey, feta, and Worcestershire sauce. Season with a few tsp of salt and pepper. Form balls from the turkey mix and press down into 1-inch-thick patties. Coat both sides of the patties in breadcrumbs, then place them in the freezer (the original recipe just recommends placing in the fridge for 30 min) to help them solidify.

Cook's Note: Since I live in an apartment with no outdoor space, I use a cast iron grill pan to grill the turkey burgers, which works surprisingly well (although it gets a bit smoky in the kitchen when we use it).

Spray the grill pan with olive oil or cooking spray and grill the burgers over medium heat. Turkey burgers need between 5-7 minutes on each side before they're cooked thoroughly.

When Mike and I make burgers, we usually make an aioli to complement the flavors we use in the burger mix - I feel like every good burger deserves an equally good condiment to enhance the experience. This time was no exception.
We then stacked the burger, a few slices of avacado, the butterhead lettuce, and spicy brown mustard on the top english muffin.

Cucumber, Tomato, and Feta Salad

Serves a lot

3 small cucumbers, chopped coarsely
2 large tomatoes, chopped coarsely
1 bunch scallions, chopped
1 cup Kalamata olives, chopped coarsely
1/2 lbs goat milk feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 cup mint, chopped coarsely
4-5 tbsp olive oil (was supposed to be 6)
1/4 cup lemon juice (I squeezed 1.5 lemons)
Salt and pepper
Balsamic vinegar (not in the original recipe)

Combine the first six ingredients. When it gets close to serving, mix the olive oil and lemon juice and use to dress the salad. Season with salt and pepper to taste and then add a few drizzles of balsamic vinegar.

Sweet Potato Homefries

Serves 2

2 sweet potatoes, cut into wedges
Few tsp curry powder
Few tsp cumin
Few tsp smoked paprika
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Mix everything in a bowl together and season to smell and taste . I never measure out the ingredients that I use, so you'll just have to use some logic on how much to use. Bake on a non-stick sprayed baking sheet at 450 F for 15-20 min.


The burgers turned out so well; very moist and delicious. Brit and I almost always make an aioli with our turkey burgers but this condiment wasn't part of the original Food Network Magazine recipe. The aioli is always a critical part of the burgers we make and I'm definitely glad Brit made it this time.
The salad was also delicious. The original recipe had not called for any balsamic vinegar, but Brit felt it was lacking an acid. It definitely made a difference and was well worth adding. We might add some more lemon juice next time we make this dish, and I'm sure we will make it.
My homefries are almost always made with a different combination of spices, but almost always include the smoked paprika. They usually don't end up all that crispy, which we could probably fix by putting them under a broiler for a few min, but we're often too hungry to care and they taste great anyways.