Pasta and Zucchini Salad

I had some leftover grilled zucchini from last night's dinner. That was the starting point for this salad. I had read a recipe on the New York Times Cooking site from the cookbook "Plenty" by Yotam Ottolenghi. I used that recipe as the base. I omitted a couple of ingredients. The link above will bring you to the original recipe. Here is my take on it -

Ingredients-
Leftover grilled zucchini
1 cups basil leaves, shredded
1/4 cup parsley leaves
2 1/2 tbsp olive oil
6 oz penne pasta
Zest of 1/2 lemon
1 tbsp capers, drained
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
3 oz buffalo mazzarella, torn into chunks
Salt
Pepper
Crushed Red Pepper

Method-
Cut the leftover grilled zucchini into small cubes. Set aside.

In food processor, combine the basil, parsley and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and process until smooth. (I think this could have been completed by just chopping the herbs and mixing them with the oil, salt and pepper instead of dirtying the food processor).

Cook the pasta in boiling water until al dente; drain and rinse under cold water. Return the pasta to the pot and add the zucchini, basil sauce, lemon zest, capers, mozzarella, and vinegar. Stir together and season with salt, pepper and crushed red pepper.

Chicken Francais & Shaved Summer Squash Salad

I had this recipe cut out from local newspaper from last year. It is from J Roo's restaurant in North Haven. A reader wrote into the food writer asking if he could get this recipe for her. I am glad she asked for the recipe. It was delicious. 

Chicken Francais

10 oz. chicken breast, pounded

1 cup flour

3 eggs beaten

6 oz vegetable oil

1 tbsp lemon juice

6 oz chicken stock

1 tsp Parmesan cheese

1 oz butter

salt and pepper to taste

Dip chicken breast in flour and then in eggs. Heat oil on high heat and place chicken in until golden brown. Drain oil, leaving in the pan and flip (Okay I removed the chicken and then poured the oil out so I would not either drop the chicken or the pan!). Add wine, and be careful for any flame-up, lemon juice, pinch of flour, chicken stock, Parmesan, butter, salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes on medium high flame. 

The recipe is written for one serving. I used a whole breast chicken breast that I butterflied. I also only used 2 eggs. I did not change the amount of any other ingredients. There was plenty of sauce for the extra meat.

 Now on to the side dish. Shaved Summer Squash Salad is from the new issue of Bon Appetit. So this was officially the first "summer" salad for the year. Chris and I both liked it a lot. It will be showing up on the blog quite often this summer.
Chris picked up a couple bottles of a wine we had not tried before. 2009 Pennywise Cabernet Sauvignon. It is from the Sebastiani Winery. It was a nice choice!