Salsa Verde

Salsa Verde

October 27, 2020 Adam Lapsevich , 3 comments

I’m always searching for ideas for healthy breakfasts. Every night when I hit the sheets, I grab my iPad and fiddle around looking at recipe ideas. Several nights ago, I came across a recipe for Healthy Breakfast Tacos on the website blog Love and Lemons, and before you know, I’m going down a rabbit hole with ideas for salsas and was up until 1am!

As I got tangled in the web of different ideas for salsas, I came across a few recipes for Salsa Verde, the green salsa made with tomatillos. I never made it before and immediately started to crave it. Naturally, I wanted it with a “healthy breakfast taco”, but first had to start by making the salsa for the first time.

Fast forward to today. At 5am my pooch Rusty decided he needed to go outside. He woke me up and as I grumbled all the way downstairs to the back door, my stomach decided to start grumbling as well. I’m always hungry in the morning, but it was only 5am!

I went back to bed but by this time, I was a goner. I’m up now and hungry. So what did I do at 5:30am? Why, what any normal person does when they cannot sleep anymore. They head to the kitchen and and start making salsa verde!  And while I was at it, I made a jar of pickled purple onions and roasted a pan of sweet potatoes too…. more on that later!

Roast. Pulse. Cool.

It really isn’t hard. I purchased the tomatillos at Heinen’s yesterday so I knew I was going to be making this – I didn’t think I would be doing it at 5:30 in the morning though, but what the heck!

I roasted the veggies for 15 minutes on 350 degrees. When they were done, I added the cilantro, along with some salt and pepper, and pulsed it all in my handy Ninja Food Processor.

I stuck it in the freezer for a quicker cooldown.

Now I’m going to make my breakfast tacos! I’ll share those soon too! In the meantime, the salsa verde came out delicious.  Give it a whirl! You’ll love it!

Homemade Salsa Verde

A sweet yet tangy green salsa made from roasted tomatillos, garlic, jalapeno, and sweet onion.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 mins
Cook Time 15 mins
Total Time 25 mins
Course Sauces
Cuisine Mexican

Equipment

  • Ninja food processor or similar

Ingredients
  

  • 8 tomatillos (husks removed and cut in half)
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1/2 jalapeno (cleaned and seeded)
  • 1/4 c sweet onion
  • 1/2 c cilantro
  • 1 tbsp vegetable or canola oil (for foil)

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  • Cut tomatillos in half and place cut side down on foil-lined cookie sheet, with oil
  • Slice 1 jalapeno lengthwise; remove seeds (unless you want it hot), and add it to the pan
  • Add 2 garlic cloves to the pan
  • Chop onion into medium sized chunks and add to roasting pan
  • Rub oil on foil and coat everything slightly
  • Roast in oven for 15 minutes, turning once midway through
  • Add all ingredients, including cilantro and salt/pepper to a food processor and pulse. You don't want it too smooth! Keep some thickness to it.
  • Cool and serve with chips, with eggs for breakfast tacos, or use as you would with any other salsa! Enjoy!
Keyword Green Tomatoes, Salsa Verde, Tomatillos
Adam LapsevichSalsa Verde
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Crispy Thin Chicken and Pasta with Sundried Tomato Cream Sauce

Crispy Thin Chicken and Pasta with Sundried Tomato Cream Sauce

October 26, 2020 Adam Lapsevich , , No comments

When I was in college I worked at Morton’s Steakhouse. They had a dish on their lunch menu called “Chicken Christopher”. It was a very thin chicken breast, breaded crispy, with a garlicky-cream sauce.

I’ve been making it ever since, but I have always “Adam-ized” it, meaning, I made it my own. It can be made from a variety of garlic cream sauces, but if you like sundried tomatoes, you will go crazy of this version I created.

I’m not going to lie, this takes a lot of cookware. You need a pot to boil the pasta, a pot to blanch the asparagus, a pan to saute (fry) the chicken, and a deep pan to make the sauce!  Plus, a baking pan to put the chicken in the oven to finish cooking! If you think you can do it, here goes!

The full recipe is in the recipe card below, but if you can handle multiple pots going on your stove at the same time, it’s a breeze!

Start off by creating the breading for the chicken. Slice the chicken thin and then pound it to make it even thinner. This is important! It just makes the meal so much tastier.

Saute the chicken in olive oil in a pan on the stove, until it gets crispy. Then set it in a baking Pyrex dish and slightly tent with foil. Place in a 350 degree preheated oven. Now you can start making the sauce.

Pasta and Cream Sauce

This is actually pretty easy. Saute some butter in a deep pan. I use an All-Clad Weeknight Pan, but a wok would do just fine.

Start off boiling a pot of salted water and cooking the pasta to the package directions. Then, start the sauce.

Add the butter, olive oil, garlic, and sundried tomatoes to your deep pan. Use some of the olive oil from the jar as well. Add the cream. Stir and let it simmer on low. While you’re doing this, blanch the asparagus.

Once the pasta is done, drain and reserve 1 to 2 cups of the pasta water. Add the pasta to the sauce. Add the Pecorino cheese.  A lot of it! And add kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

If the sauce is too thick, add some of the pasta water. Get it to the consistency that you like. Not too runny, and not too thick.

Toss in the asparagus and stir it all to coat.

Simmer it on low until the chicken is done.

Plate it and enjoy! It’s sooooooo good!

Thin Crispy Chicken with Sundried Tomato Cream Sauce

This is an unbelievably delicious meal. Thin chicken, with a lite sundried tomato cream sauce!
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 30 mins
Cook Time 30 mins
Total Time 1 hr
Course Dinner
Cuisine American
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
  

Chicken Breading

  • 1 c Panko bread crumbs
  • 1 c Panko bread crumbs
  • 3 chicken breasts (sliced thin, and pounded really thin)
  • 1/2 c grated parmesan
  • 2 eggs (beaten, for dipping and breading chicken)
  • 1/2 c olive oil (for frying chicken breasts)
  • 1 handful parsely finely chopped
  • 1 tsp each salt and pepper

Pasta and Cream Sauce

  • 1 lb Bucatini pasta (or pasta of choice)
  • 1 c Pecorino romano cheese (get a high quality cheese and grate it)
  • 1/2 pint heavy cream
  • 2 cloves garlic (pressed)
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 2 tbsp Kosher salt (divided, for pasta water, and sauce)
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 3 tbsp sundried tomatoes (from jar, packed with olive oil)
  • 10 spears asparagus blanched
  • 1 c pasta water (reserved from cooking pasta)

Instructions
 

Prepare chicken

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • pound chicken breasts thin (I use a Pampered Chef meat pounder)
  • Beat 2 eggs in a bowl, large enough to dip chicken in to coat
  • Create breadcrumb mixture using both types of breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, and fresh parsley, finely chopped, and a dash of salt and pepper.
  • Heat nonstick skillet with olive oil until hot
  • Dip chicken in egg wash and breadcrumb mixture. Pat breadcrumbs on thick on both sides.
  • Place chicken in hot skillet and let it get crispy (approx 2-3 minutes per side). Turn and fry other side.
  • Repeat until all chicken is crispy fried with breading. WORK IN BATCHES! CLEAN THE PAN IN BETWEEN IF NECESSARY. This prevents burnt breadcrumbs coating chicken.
  • Set in baking dish. Lightly cover with foil and place in preheated oven for 20-30 minutes tops.

Prepare Pasta Sauce and Pasta

  • Boil pot of salted water
  • In another deep pan, add butter, sundried tomatoes, pressed garlic, 1 tbsp olive oil and stir until butter is melted. Add cream and stir. Reduce heat to a very low simmer.
  • In another pot, place asparagus for 3 minutes in boiling water. When finished, cut each stalk into 3-5 pieces, depending on the size of each asparagus stalk. Set aside.
  • Once pasta water boils, add pasta and cook per package instructions. Drain and reserve 1-2 cups of pasta water.
  • Slowly add pasta to the sauce and coat.
  • Add the grated Pecorino cheese slowly. Add pasta water to maintain creamy consistency.
  • Add more cheese if necessary. Feel free to add more cream and/or pasta water if necessary as well. There are no rules. Make it to your liking.
  • Add asparagus. Toss. Add salt and pepper.
  • Remove chicken from oven and plate with a side of pasta. Drizzle some of the sauce over the chicken.
Keyword Chicken, Pasta
Adam LapsevichCrispy Thin Chicken and Pasta with Sundried Tomato Cream Sauce
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