Caprese Grilled Cheese

You are gonna need a few components for this sandwich.

Butter tomato jam (recipe below)
Pesto - make your own or get some in a jar
sliced fresh mozzarella
bread
butter

Quick butter tomato jam

• 1 pint cherry tomatoes
• 1 clove of garlic
• 2 tablespoons butter divided
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper

1. place cherry tomatoes into a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat. 
2. once they start to get a little charred on the outside drop in 1 tablespoons of the butter and stir
3. reduce heat and mash up the tomatoes with a spoon or potato masher
4. add garlic, balsamic and the remaining tablespoon of butter, stir and simmer until thick like jam
5. season with salt and pepper to taste.

Now it is time to build your sandwich

1. grab your bread and layer on the pesto, tomato jam and cheese
2. butter the outsides of the bread
3. drop some butter into a skillet over medium heat and put the sandwich in the pan and cover
4. after a couple minutes flip the sandwich to brown the other side returning the cover to the pan.

all that is left to do is eat!

Chicken with lemon cream sauce and Mushroom risotto

Today's post is a two for one special! 

First off lets start with some Chicken with lemon cream sauce, here is what you are gonna need

• Chicken - either 4 boneless breasts or thighs...your choice
• Salt and pepper
• Chicken stock - 1 cup
• Lemon juice - 2 tablespoons
• Minced garlic - 1 tablespoon
• Red pepper flakes - this depends on how spicy you like your food
• Olive oil - 1 tablespoon
• Shallots - one large or two small, about 1/3 of a cup diced
• Salted butter - 2 tablespoons
• Heavy cream - 1/4 cup
• Fresh flat leaf parsley - 2 tablespoons chopped

Here is how you are going to put it all together!

1. Preheat your oven to 375 and make sure you have a rake in the middle
2. The Chicken, if it is thicker than a half inch, cover it with plastic and pound it down with either a mallet or the bottom of a heavy pan like the one you are gonna be using in a little bit.  then season both sides with some salt and pepper
3. Combine the stock, lemon juice, garlic and pepper flakes in a dish
4. Take a large skillet and put it on medium-high heat and add your oil
5. Brown your chicken about 2-3 minutes on each side, then remove the chicken to a plate and lower heat to medium
6. Toss the shallots and the dish of stock/juice/garlic/flakes to the pan
7. Use a wire whisk to scrape up any of the fond (brown bits on bottom of pan) 
8. Increase the heat to medium-high and let it reduce down about 1/3..it should take like 10 or 15 minutes depending on your stove
9. Once reduced take pan off the heat and toss in the butter to melt..whisk it around and add the cream and whisk a little more so everything is combined.
10. Put the pan back on the heat and put the chicken in and cover with sauce, you can either spoon it over or do it the easy way and put the chicken in and then flip it over.
11. Turn off the heat and put the pan in the oven for about 7 minutes, just need to make sure its cooked through
12. Remove pan from oven, let the chicken rest for a few minutes before cutting and serving, this is when you want to top it will the sauce and some of that parsley you chopped up earlier.

Here comes part 2...the mushroom risotto!

For this dish i used my Fagor Multi-Cooker, if you have an Instant-Pot you'll be set..if not just make risotto the old fashioned way.

Get this stuff ready

• Olive oil - 2 tablespoons
• Shallots - one medium diced, about a quarter cup
• Mushrooms - cut up, how much depends on how much you like them
• Arborio rice - 1 cup
• Chicken stock - 2 cups
• White wine - 1/4 cup
• Parmesan cheese - 1/4 cup grated, use fresh if you can
• Parsley - 1 tablespoon, should have some left from the previous dish

The simple 3 step process is...

1. Turn the cooker to saute mode, add the oil and saute the shallots, mushrooms and the rice for about 5 minutes - turn off the saute mode
2. Add the stock and the wine, lock the lid in pressure mode and press the risotto button and set for 7 minutes
3. Turn the pressure valve to steam to do the quick release method and remove the lid.  stir in the cheese and the parsley and serve it up