You Can Stuff It

I am always proud of myself when I’m able to come up with a recipe on my own, using whatever I have in the fridge.  It doesn’t have to be fancy or pretty looking, but this one turned out to be both.

First, I boiled some noodles and made a “kitchen sink pasta sauce” with all of the veggies I had in the fridge – this one can be adjusted to accommodate all your remnants:

olive oil
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 leek, white and light green parts diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
splash of red or white wine
1/2 fennel bulb, diced (fronds saved for garnish)
1 small turnip, diced
beet stems, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 (15oz) cans diced tomatoes
1-2 Tbsp tomato paste
s&p to taste

Saute the onion, leek and garlic in olive oil until softened.  Add a swig of wine from your glass, then add the vegetables in order of firmness (if you’re using any greens they should be added last).  Cook until the vegetables are slightly softened, then add the tomatoes and paste.  Cover and cook until everything is soft.  Depending on your preference, you can blend some of the sauce or just leave it all chunky – I use an immersion blender to make it a little more creamy.  This is a great sauce to make when you need to use up all your fresh produce – it also freezes really well.

Next up, stuffed chicken breasts!  Usually these are done by putting stuffing between the skin and meat, but all I had were skinless, so improvised.

Stuffed Chicken Breasts a la Carrie

olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 bunch spinach, washed and stems removed (should’ve thrown them in the sauce!), cut into bite sized pieces

~1 cup ricotta cheese
handful shredded mozzerella cheese
1 egg

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of any fat and seasoned with salt and pepper

kitchen string

Preheat the oven to 425°.  Saute the garlic in olive oil until golden, then add the spinach and cook until wilted.  Remove from heat and set aside.

Mix together the cheeses with the egg, then add the spinach to combine.  Cut the chicken breasts in half lengthwise, and stuff each breast with your spinach and cheese mixture.

Tie the chicken in two places using kitchen string.  Heat a heavy ovenproof skillet over medium heat, then add a little olive oil.  Cook the chicken breasts until browned, about 2 minutes on each side.

Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake until the chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes.  Cut off the twine and serve in a fancy-pants presentation so it looks like you meant to do it, and weren’t just cleaning out the fridge.