Make-Fast Mondays: Pesto Chicken Polenta Bowls with Artichoke Hearts and Spinach

Nothing beats the taste of fresh, homemade pesto, but that doesn’t mean you can’t keep a store-bought jar or two stashed in the cabinet for those times when you want pesto in a pinch. Crack open a jar of your favorite store-bought variety and give this recipe a try. Wondering what to do with the rest of the jar? Find just a few ideas for what you can do with the leftover green goodness here.

Pesto Chicken Polenta Bowls with Artichoke Hearts and Spinach 
1 quart chicken broth
1 cup polenta
2 bay leaves
¼ cup grated Parmesan, plus extra for garnish
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into chunks
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
14 ounce can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
3-4 tablespoons pesto
1 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
8 ounces chopped spinach

Bring broth to a boil in a large saucepan. Gradually add polenta and bay leaves, stirring for a minute, before reducing heat to low and covering the saucepan. Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring the polenta for a minute every 10 minutes. Remove pan from heat, remove bay leaves, and stir in the grated Parmesan. 

Once polenta is simmering, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes or until chicken is completely cooked. Transfer chicken to a plate and set aside.

Heat remaining olive oil and add mushrooms to the pan, cooking until mushrooms are slightly softened. Add the chicken, artichoke hearts, pesto and red pepper flakes to the pan, stirring once or twice, until everything’s nice and warm. Add spinach and continue to cook for just a minute longer, until spinach wilts but is still a vibrant green, and everything’s got an even coating of pesto sauce. Divide polenta evenly among 6 bowls, followed by the pesto chicken mixture. Garnish with Parmesan and enjoy!

Make-Fast Mondays: Chicken with Chickpeas and Artichoke Hearts

Want to make something zippy and zesty in just a matter of minutes? Here you go!

Chicken with Chickpeas and Artichoke Hearts 
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into chunks
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 14-ounce can artichoke hearts, drained and halved
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons lemon juice

In a large frying pan, heat olive oil over moderate heat. Add chicken, garlic and oregano and cook until chicken is thoroughly cooked, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low and add artichoke hearts, chickpeas and lemon juice. Cook, stirring occasionally, until everything is nice and warm, about 5 minutes. Enjoy!

Chicken artichoke cassoulet, oh la la!

This isn’t the most traditional take on a French cassoulet you’ll find, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give it a go the next time you’ve got a hankering for a delicious, hearty meal.

Chicken and Artichoke Cassoulet 
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into small chunks
1 cup pearl onions (or diced onion)
12 ounces frozen artichoke hearts, thawed
2 tablespoons minced garlic
½ cup chicken broth
¼ cup dry white wine
3 cups prepared Great Northern beans (or other white beans)
½ cup diced Italian parsley, plus extra for garnish
Salt and pepper, to taste
½ cup bread crumbs
½ cup grated Parmesan
1 tablespoon butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

To make the topping, combine bread crumbs, Parmesan and melted butter in a bowl, stirring briefly with a fork until blended. Set aside.

In a Dutch oven or other oven-safe dish (I used my Le Creuset braiser), heat olive oil over moderate heat. Add chicken, garlic and onions and cook until chicken is thoroughly cooked, stirring occasionally. Add broth, wine and beans to the pot. Stir in parsley and let everything simmer for a couple minutes, seasoning with salt and pepper as needed.

Cover cassoulet evenly with topping before transferring dish from stove (don’t forget to turn off your burner!) to oven. Bake, uncovered, for 20-25 minutes, until topping is toasty brown. Remove from oven, garnish with remaining parsley and serve.

Would you rather make your own pot of beans for this recipe instead of busting out the can opener? 

White Beans
1 pound dry Great Northern beans, picked through and rinsed
3 garlic cloves
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon salt

Soak beans in water (covered with 1-2 inches of water) in a medium pot for 8-10 hours. Drain beans in a colander. Return beans to pot and cover with 1 inch water. Add garlic, bay leaves and salt and bring pot to boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 1-2 hours, until beans are tender.

A different-yet-delicious take on lasagna

While grocery shopping the other night I passed by some rotisserie chickens that smelled particularly good. Before I knew it, I had tossed one in my shopping cart and started formulating a plan to make the following dish using meat from the ready-to-eat bird. Pesto makes everything taste better, including the jars of alfredo sauce that also ended up in my cart. The pesto and alfredo tasted so good together that I found myself sampling the sauce a few times (quality control, right?) while assembling what turned out to be quite a winner of a midweek meal.

Creamy Pesto Chicken Lasagna
2 15-ounce jars alfredo sauce
 ½ cup prepared pesto
 12 oz. bag frozen artichokes, thawed
3 cups cooked chicken meat, diced
9 lasagna noodles
1 bunch spinach, rinsed and chopped
8 oz. cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 cup grated mozzarella (optional)

 Heat oven to 350 degrees. Bring large pot of water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8-10 minutes, drain and rinse with cold water. Whisk alfredo and pesto together in a bowl. Pour ¼ cup sauce into 9-inch-by-13-inch baking dish. begin layering remaining ingredients, starting with three lasagna noodles and continuing with chicken, spinach, artichoke hearts, mushrooms and sauce. Ingredients should be enough for two layers, topped with three final noodles and sauce. I noted that cheese is optional with this recipe because I think the lasagna has plenty going for it already without the cheese. If you want cheese, sprinkle it on top of the lasagna before covering the dish loosely with aluminum foil. Cheese or no cheese, you’re going to want to bake the lasagna for 30-40 minutes. Remove the lasagna from the oven and allow it to sit for a few minutes before serving.

An ever-evolving soup recipe

Sunset Magazine recently featured some chicken soup recipes that looked mighty tasty, including one for Italian Chicken Sausage and Artichoke Soup. 

The shopping list is pretty simple — sausage, some broth, chard, a pound of artichoke hearts and Parmesan cheese.

How I did it:
I made some changes based on the fact that I only wanted to hit one grocery store on my way home from work. Trader Joe’s had most of what the recipe called for, with the exception of chard, so I bought a one-pound bag of their pre-cut Southern greens instead.

The original recipe also suggests starting with two tablespoons olive oil, and adding the sausage to the pot once the oil is heated. The sausage I used yielded a lot of fat once cooked, which I drained, so I don’t really think starting the recipe off with oil is necessary.

1 pound chicken Italian sausage, casings removed
8 cups chicken broth
12-ounce bag frozen artichoke hearts
8 ounces (half bag) Southern greens blend
2 cloves garlic, minced

Cook sausage and garlic in large pot over medium-high heat until browned, stirring often, about 10 minutes. Drain fat from pot. Add broth and artichoke hearts. Bring to a boil and add greens. Cover pot, reduce to a simmer and cook until greens are soft, which will take a few minutes (the chard the original recipe calls for will probably wilt faster than the heartier greens I used).

How I’ll do it next time:
I really like tangy twist the artichoke hearts give this soup, and the sausage was good too. I’d change things up a bit by using baby spinach instead, anywhere from 8 ounces to a pound, stirred in just a minute before the soup’s served. I’d also thicken the broth up. Two eggs and two tablespoons grated Parmesan whisked together in a bowl and then stirred into the soup should do the trick.

Presto Pasta Salad!

The meals I’ve had the last couple days haven’t really been leftovers material, so I put together a big, colorful pasta salad tonight. Now we’ll have something fresh and easy to pack into lunches this week.

Presto Pasta Salad
Two cooked boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
1 12-ounce box tri-color rotini, cooked al dente
1 English cucumber, sliced in half lengthwise and then sliced into chunks
1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced
One can black medium olives, drained
2 cups artichoke hearts, coarsely chopped
1 bottle fat-free Italian dressing
1 tablespoon Herbes de Provence
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine chicken, rotini, vegetables and seasonings in large bowl. Add salad dressing to salad ½ cup at a time and stir until everything’s coated. Chill and serve.