Rosemary Chicken Breasts, Brown Butter and Balsamic Ravioli, and Steamed Broccoli

CHICKEN

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar, just enough to coat the chicken lightly

2 tbsp evoo

2 stems of rosemary, leaves stripped and chopped

salt and pepper

2 cloves garlic



RAVIOLI

Salt and pepper

1 pkg fresh ravioli (12-16 oz), any flavor

3 tbsp butter, cut into small pieces

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 handfulls grated Parmesan Cheese

1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped


Broccoli


DIRECTIONS

(It is not in the recipe, but I pounded the chicken breasts so that they would cook more evenly!)


Marinate the chicken: coat the chicken in balsamic vinegar, then evoo. Season the chicken with rosemary, salt, pepper, and garlic. Let stand for 10 minutes.


Start the ravioli: Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt the water and drop ravioli in water. Cook 6-8 minutes or until raviolis expand and float to top of water and are al dente. Drain.

(After I drained the ravioli, I filled the pot with about 1/2 cup water and added the broccoli. Season with salt and pepper. Put the lid on and allow the broccoli to steam on low for 10 minutes, stirring a few times.)

Heat a medium nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add chicken breasts. (The recipe does not say to oil the pan... I'm assuming because you marinate the chicken in evoo, however, I found that the chicken burned this way, so I would spray the pan with cooking spray before adding the chicken!) Cook chicken until juices run clear, 10-12 minutes, turning occasionally. The balsamic vinegar will produce a deep brown, sweet finish on the chicken as it cooks.

When the chicken has cooked midway, 5-6 minutes, start to prepare butter for ravioli: to a cold skillet, add butter and turn on medium heat. Let the butter brown. If you start with a cold pan, the butter should be lightly browned by the time it comes to a bubble. When the butter for the ravioli has browned, add the cooked ravioli to the pan and turn in butter to heat through. Add balsamin vinegar to the ravioli and cook 1-2 minutes longer to reduce the vinegar and glaze the ravioli. The vinegar will become think and syruplike. Add the cheese, parsley, salt and pepper to the pasta and remove the pan from the heat.

(Be careful when adding the ravioli, I walked away to attend to the parsley and the ravioli started to crisp up a bit.... which it turned out we ended up liking, but you might not, so just watch your heat level carefully).

Slice cooked chicken on an angle and serve with ravioli and broccoli.


VERDICT: We both give it a 3/5

Grant thought the chicken was okay... from what he said, it seems like he didn't like the balsamic vinegar part.

He thought the pasta was okay as well... again, the balsamic vinegar. He likes creamier sauces he said. We decided that with mozzarella cheese instead of Parmesan it would be better.

He said the broccoli tasted like broccoli.... which is good I guess... I know I didn't ruin the broccoli!

I enjoyed the whole dinner... I thought the pasta was really yummy! It was different though, a different sauce unlike anything I've ever had... but it was good different.