Comfort Food That Works On The Run

Welcome back to that lovely time every year where the weather has no better idea what it's doing than we do! Even the professionals appear to be clueless. Centuries of weather research and technology, and still the best we can do is educated guesses.

This week, let's do a recipe that can be a comfort food on chilly, rainy, dreary days... But that doubles as something easily portable in the event the weather is actually pleasant and the games or outdoor plans are good to go. (We've all had those nights, haven't we? The ones where we're sure beyond sure that the soccer games would be cancelled, only to hear from the coach two hours beforehand that the field is dry enough for the kids to play? That's just our house?)

Let's make some seared ravioli with Italian chicken!

Ingredients:

1 25 ounce package frozen cheese ravioli (or 48 ounce, depending on how much your family eats per meal)

1 pound thin chicken cutlets or tenderloins (again, adjust to how much your family eats)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 10 ounce bottle Italian salad dressing

1 8 ounce can diced tomatoes, drained

1/2 of a small yellow onion

1 zucchini

2 cups fresh spinach

2 teaspoons dried parsley

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram

salt and pepper, to taste

Tools:

Knife, cutting board, dutch oven or deep pot with lid, colander, mixing bowl, measuring cups and spoons

Fill your pot up with water, plop the lid on it and turn up the heat - we'll have to boil your ravioli for a few minutes to start off. But we can make use of the time we'll spend waiting for it to boil. Whatever you do, don't check on it too frequently. Surely you know a watched pot won't boil (okay, it will, but why bother staring at it? It's boring).

While we're waiting for the water to come up to a boil - and totally not looking at it, right? - take the half an onion and your zucchini and dice them up. Smaller chunks for pickier eaters, just like the last few veggie recipes (or if you really want to hide them, shred them with a grater). Open and drain your can of tomatoes. Put your tomato and zucchini together into the mixing bowl and set them aside for later. If you've grated the onion, you can add that here, too - but if it's diced, you'll want to sauté it. We'll address that in a later step.

By now the water should be boiling. Drop in your frozen ravioli - being mindful of the splashes, of course - and set the timer for about two minutes shy of however long the package says they'll take. For example, if the package says five minutes, it's wiser to go with three minutes for the purposes of this recipe. You can always cook them a little longer if necessary, but you can't un-boil them if you overdo it.

Once your ravioli are par-cooked, drain them into the colander and put the pot back on the burner. Add that olive oil to the pan and once it's back up to medium heat, put in your chicken. Sear the chicken for about five minutes each side. We find it helpful to put the lid on while the chicken is cooking, since it usually means fewer oil spatters to clean up later.

After you've cooked your chicken (if you're not sure, check it with a meat thermometer!), drop your diced onion into the pot and sauté it until it's translucent. (This adding-onions step only applies if you did, in fact, dice your onion instead of grating. If you grated it, skip to the next step. No, that's not an excuse to skip checking if your chicken is done.) 

Make sure you still have some oil left in the pan. If not, add a little more, because we're about to add pasta. Ravioli sticking to the pan at this stage will lead to ravioli pieces after the next step, so this ‘checking for oil’ thing is highly important for presentation value. Take your ravioli from the colander and add them to the pan in a single layer. Keep the heat on medium and sear the outsides of them. Flip once you can both smell and hear them getting a good sizzle on. You might need to remove them to make room for another wave - if you do remove some, put them in a covered dish to keep them warm, and allot a little extra time when you mix everything together just to make sure they're as warm as the rest of the meal.

When your ravioli are nice and toasty, go ahead and pour in your vegetable mix from a few steps ago. This is a good time to add your seasonings (the garlic powder, parsley, oregano, marjoram, salt and pepper) too, and to add back any ravioli you may have had to set aside. Add in your spinach, and give it a good stir - we want to wilt the spinach, but we don’t want it to disintegrate. Cover the pot again and let everything simmer for about three or four minutes.

Now comes the fun part. Taste test! Everyone reacts differently to seasonings, and everyone's preferences are individual. That's why we saved that Italian dressing until the very end. The dressing is a very punchy taste, and it can quickly take over a dish if you aren't careful. So add however much or little you prefer to your portion, and allow the rest of your family to do the same. That should prevent the worst of the "I don't like it" faces from the kids and veggie haters.

So, what’s your opinion on this one? Does it sound tasty enough for a weeknight attempt? Or are you still a little unsure? Let us know in the comments below or over on  our Facebook page. We’d love to hear from you. 

And if maybe your appliances are making you make some faces, give us a call. We can't fix it if your face gets stuck like that (thanks, Mom) - but we can do something about the machines. You can get hold of us at our website, or by calling us at ((214) 599-0055).