Smoked Chicken Pesto Stuffed Shells

Here’s a simple yet tasty dish that utilizes one of the most versatile of all smoked foods, smoked chicken. 

Unlike pork and beef, chicken doesn’t really have a long history as a smoked food.  Historically, it was boiled, but at some point in the early Twentieth Century, someone got the bright idea to throw a chicken into a smoker, and the results were fantastic.  Unlike tough cuts like beef brisket and pork shoulder, which need a lot of low and slow cooking to become tender, chicken is natively tender, unless of course you overcook it.  It’s also very moist and porous, which means it takes on smoke flavor readily, and doesn’t need a long time to cook.  I usually buy lots of chicken when it is on sale, smoke it, and freeze the pieces for later cookery.  You can find more info on my yard bird smoking technique here.

Anywho, for this dish, I’m utilizing some of the smoked chicken I’ve pulled from the freezer and thawed.  You could of course make this dish with chicken you’ve cooked any old way (hopefully not boiled, though), but I think the smoke flavor combined with the cream cheese and other ingredients really makes this dish sing. 

Smoked Chicken Pesto Stuffed Shells

2 Cups Smoked Chicken, Diced

6 Oz Mushrooms, Sliced

1 Medium Onion, Diced

3 Tablespoons Olive Oil

2 or so Cloves Garlic, Minced

1 Package (8 oz) Cream Cheese

1 Cup Freshly Grated Parmesan cheese

1 Cup Freshly Grated Asiago cheese

1/2 Cup Prepared Pesto

Salt and Pepper to taste

12 or so Jumbo Pasta Shells, Cooked Just Under Al Dente

Parsley, for garnish

Start water boiling for your pasta shells.  Preheat Oven to 350˚F.  Sauté mushrooms and onion 

until cooked and just start to turn golden.  

Add minced garlic and cook one minute more. 

Meanwhile, tend to that chicken breast.  

This recipe uses a breast that I’ve presmoked.  You can use whatever you like, but the smoke flavor really makes the dish.  Dice the fully smoked breast up into small pieces. 

Add the chicken and the cooked mushrooms and onions to a food processor.  Pulse a couple times to chop everything up.  Add to this the cream cheese, 3/4 cup of the Parmesan, 3/4 Cup of the Asiago and the Prepared Pesto.  Salt and Pepper to taste.  

Pulse a few times until everything is mixed up, but don’t do too much, or you’ll end up with a paste.  We still want some small chunks of chicken and mushroom in there. 

Cook your pasta shells until they are firm but not cooked through.  This will help them hold their shape and stay together while you stuff them.  They will finish cooking in the oven. 

Stuff the shells with a tablespoon or two of the mixture.  

Place the shells in a greased casserole dish.  

Cover with foil.  

Bake 30 Minutes at 350˚F, then remove foil and dust the shells with the remaining Parmesan and Asiago.  Increase temp to 450˚F and bake another few minutes, until cheese topping melts and starts to turn golden brown.  

Remove from oven and serve. 

These go great by themselves or you can drizzle some red sauce over them, or serve with a side salad, or whatever.  This one’s all about simplicity. 

Until next time,

Chris

  

North Shore Shrimp Truck Shrimp

For several years some friends of mine lived on the Island of Oahu, and I was fortunate to get to visit them several times.  They introduced me to some great beaches, great hikes, great bars, but perhaps the most wonderful thing they introduced me to were the North Shore Shrimp Trucks.

These little rickety trucks are all over the Oahu North Shore, and there seem to be more and more every time I go back.  But the original truck was Giovanni's White Truck, which first went to shrimping in 1993, predating the recent food truck phenomenon by a decade or two.

Giovanni's serves their shrimp three ways--an original Scampi style, a Hot and Spicy, and a lemon-butter, which is basically the scampi minus garlic.  My fav has always been the hot and spicy, which is so hot and so spicy that they practically make you sign a waiver before they'll let you purchase them.  But their original scampi style is pretty darned awesome as well, so that's the one we'll feature today.

North Shore (Kahuku) Shrimp

1 Lb Large Shrimp (20-30 per Lb),
15-20 Garlic Cloves, Coarsely Diced
Juice of 1 Large Lemon
1 Stick Butter, Halved
Olive Oil
1 Teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes


This one starts with garlic.  Lots of it.

Dice the 15-20 cloves coarsely and place in a large Ziplock bag with a couple tablespoons of olive oil.  Add the red pepper flakes.  De-vein the shrimp and, if you want to be authentic, leave the shell on.  That's how they do in on the North Shore.  Here, I've gone ahead and shelled them as well.  Either way, take the shrimp and add them to the Ziplock.  Toss to coat the shrimp well.  Let sit a few minutes.

Meanwhile, melt half the butter in a small saucepan.

Melt the other half in a large skillet.

When the skillet butter starts to foam, toss in as many shrimp as will fit without crowding.  Cook about 2 minutes and then flip the shrimp.

Maybe a little longer if you went with shell on, but just let them start to get pink.  Nothing worse than overcooked shrimp.

Once the butter in the saucepan his melted, add the rest of the garlic to it,

as well as the lemon juice.

Cook your shrimp in batches until finished.

Drizzle shrimp with the garlic/butter/lemon sauce and serve immediately, preferably with some steamed rice and a bit of extra lemon for garnish.

A simple dish, yes, but sometimes it's good to keep things simple.  Particularly if you're running on island time.

Until next time,


Hang Loose,


Chris