Thursday, February 7, 2008

The Thursday Three...

Rather than steal Rotten Correspondent's comment section, I thought I'd share my new-found favorite FAST recipe with you all! In her Thursday Three post, she asked what our favorite pasta dishes are, and I've created one recently that is, to me, wonderful and worth sharing!

I'm all about cheating when I cook - so my fav pasta dish right now is Crabcakes with Broccoli Fettuccini Alfredo. Then, the next night I use the leftover pasta to make Parmesan Chicken Broccoli Alfredo. Genius, no?

I buy a package of frozen Shaw's Original Crab Cakes (delicious, a bit spicy, and you wouldn't know they aren't freshly made), a box of fettuccini pasta, a bag of frozen broccoli, and a jar of Bertoli's Alfredo sauce.

I put the crabcakes in to bake for 20 - 25 mins while I thaw the broccoli in a bowl of water and start the pasta cooking. Once the pasta is done I drain it and pour in the alfredo sauce (1/3 to 1/2 jar will do for 4 servings of pasta). I add about 1/4 cup of milk to thin the sauce, and then add the broccoli (I chop mine into finer pieces as I add it). Reduce the sauce for a good 5 mins.

Interestingly enough, I find that if I start the water boiling when I put the crabcakes in everything is ready to go at about the same time. Even though the pasta is supposed to only take 10 - 12 mins to cook. Meh, I'm no chef, but I seem to be loosing some minutes somewhere... :)

You know, those seasoning mixes that you are supposed to add to oil and dip your bread into? Well, they just happen to make one hell of a chicken seasoning! I have a jar of the seasonings with 4 or 5 blends in it, and I just choose the one that suits me for that evening.

So, on night # 2, I sauté chicken tenderloin or cutlets in bread-dip seasoning typically I choose "parmesan basil". Then I pour the leftover pasta and broccoli into the skillet, add some of the leftover alfredo sauce from the jar, if I think it needs it, and a bit more milk. I bring it to serving temp and yell for hubby to come eat!

Enjoy!

1 comment:

the rotten correspondent said...

Oh my god, does that sound good. And I just ate dinner and that still sounds great. I don't know if we have that brand of crab cakes here - I'll have to check and see.

Thanks for the great idea. (and the plug!)