So today is my wife’s birthday and since she loves scampi and fried artichoke hearts, I delivered. Mrs Legs deserves this.
We’re going to jump right into this because it is a lot of little steps.
For the scampi sauce we’ll need:
4tbspn butter
A cup of dry white wine
Half a cup of chicken stock
Half a cup of FRESHLY grated parmigiana
Half a cup of FRESHLY grated Asiago
I red bell pepper thinly sliced
1/2 green bell pepper thinly sliced
I shallot diced
5-6 toes of garlic minced
Angel hair pasta (with half a cup of the pasta water)
Fresh basil
Parsley
Juice of a lemon
Zest of one lemon
SPG (Salt pepper garlic powder)
Red pepper flake
For the chicken.
I use breast and butterfly them; but use whatever you like.
Flour
Onion Powder
Pepper
Salt
Italian dressing
The night before butterfly the breast, pound them out, season them, and place in a ziploc with the Italian dressing
When you are ready to cook have all of the above ingredients ready and close by.
Lightly dredge the chicken in the flour mixture and save the flour.
Pan fry the chicken in 50/50 mixture of olive oil and frying oil. You want the flavor from the olive oil and the smoke point from the frying oil.
Don’t cook the chicken all the way through but cook until it is golden brown and remove from pan.
Throw the peppers into the pan when you remove the chicken and deglaze the pan with the white wine. Be sure to scrape up all the flavor bits! Let the wine reduce by half and add in the shallot and chicken stock.
At this time start the pasta water and drop in the pasta when the water is boiling.
Let the stock reduce by half.
After the stock is reduced add in the garlic, crushed red pepper and herbs.
When the pasta is done drain the pasta and set aside.
Add in a quarter cup of pasta water with the cheeses and lemon juice then mix all together well. Drop in the pasta and fold everything together. It should be nice and thick at this point.
Place the chicken on top and cover.
Will be ready to serve in 5 minutes
Fried artichoke hearts:
Use the leftover flour mixture above and add cayenne and crushed red pepper
Strain a can of artichoke hearts and drop them into the flour. Fluff to combine.
Add hearts to 350 deg oil and fry until golden brown. Remove and salt.
Garlic aioli
This is a great dipping sauce for the Artichoke hearts
1 cup of Mayo- store bought or homemade.
Lemon juice
Freshly minced garlic
Parsley
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Combine all ingredients and place in fridge for at least 20 minutes