Orecchiette Recipe

I had a lot of roasted chicken leftover and needed a recipe to use it in. I spent some time perusing recipes but none of them appealed to me. So I looked in my pantry to see if I could find inspiration and I did. I found a box of orecchiette and went from there.

First I caramelized 3 large onions in a few tablespoons of olive oil. This takes quite some time. It took a good half hour for them to look like this.


Remove them from the pot to a bowl as above.


Leave the stuck on remnants in the bottom of the pot.


De glaze the pot with a couple tablespoons of sherry.


Oops....out of order!


Add the cooked chicken which has been diced into cubes. I used about 4 cups of chicken.


Add 5 diced garlic cloves.


Add a tablespoon of cracked black pepper.


Add about 4 cups of chicken stock. I had homemade but you can use store bought.


Boil a pound of orecchiette (Italian for little ears) pasta and cook for 11 minutes then drain.


Add the pasta to the chicken and add 4 tablespoons of crumbled blue cheese.


Return the caramelized onions to the chicken and pasta. Stir to combine and add more stock if it is too dry.


Serve sprinkled with a bit of parsley. This is a rich and delicious pasta.


A few people have asked what kind of bowls I use to bake my bread. This is my favorite. It is a Marcrest covered bowl. You can find them on ebay. I look at these bowls as being little clay ovens inside your regular oven.


Here is a bowl I use for smaller loaves. You leave the lid on for the first half of the baking time. This traps in the moisture which acts like a professional bread baking oven with a mister.


This is my other favorite covered bowl which I also found on ebay.

Trapping the moisture while baking gives you the perfect blistered crisp yet chewy sourdough crust.

You can use a dutch oven but these bowls work the best. If you use a covered bowl, make sure it does not have an inward lip that will trap the bread after baking. The bowl has to allow the bread to slip out at the halfway point.

I also always have a pizza stone in my oven so the bread finishes baking on it. These bowls are preheated along with the oven. They must be at the same temperature as the oven when the dough is transferred to them.

Comments

I have a sore throat today and this recipe looks tasty, warm and comforting. I'll give it a try. Not up to baking bread today. Maybe tomorrow.

Have a great day!

xoxo to "Teddy Tiptoes through the Snow".
Teresa said…
Those bowls look so cute. I am always amazed at your creativity and shopping finesse.
Anonymous said…
I´ve never even heard about that kind of pasta before, but I guess I can use the kind I have at home when I have made my chicken that I have in the freezer. It looks delicious!

Have a great day now!
Christer.
Anonymous said…
This looks drool worthy! Everytime I visit your blog, I get hungry!:)
i LOVE the bowls...and i make a recipe kind of like this out of my alice waters pasta cookbook...about the only difference is the addition of mushrooms...it is a wonderful pasta dish....

teddy is right here in my lap :-)

kary and teddy
brokenteepee said…
That dish sounds like heaven. I adore bleu cheese.
Diane said…
This dish sounds magical, it is on my 'to make' list. Thanks Diane
Rosemary said…
Between the sour dough bread and this pasta dish you are not good for my waist line. LOL. Still I think I will be trying both of these.
Anonymous said…
It amazes me that you can come up with such an amazing recipe on the fly. You have such a gift.
Debbie said…
Hey sweetie....been away for a while. I'm just checking on you. I see you are still honing your cooking skills! It all looks wonderful...especially on a diet! I am trying to lose a ton of weight. Miss coming here....will be back soon. My best to the blog tech!
Danni said…
So, there I am, reading through your recipe and it's sounding (and looking) SO good and then...then I get to the part about the blue cheese.
My mouth started watering like you wouldn't believe and it's barely even breakfast time here right now!
Lol - I *love* blue cheese. :-)
GardenGeek said…
Thanks for sharing this and the bowls. Between just these two posts, I'll be busy this weekend- but my family will be happy!