Take your grilling FLAVOR to the next level!

It is no secret I love weekends. The ungodly hours that I spend at work are enough for me to set a personal rule - i will never spend a minute on anything related to my work during the weekends since investment banks are never open on Saturdays and Sundays; the only exception to the rule is the urgent need that is on a do-or-die basis which happened only once last year.

My weekends are mine to spend with family and friends who happen to love house gatherings and home-cooked food; all these factors combined is a no-fail formula for a time very much well-spent with people who matter the most. It is through these gatherings that I get to do my thing in the kitchen - I get to try recipes that have been running in my head for meals at home (and now sharing it here in my blog) and turn my dreams of being a home-baker into reality by whipping up desserts for most of our family gatherings that became the testing ground of the sweet treats I occasionally sell if I have the time to bake. Simple Sunday lunches are no different. Even if there's no occasion to celebrate, weekend lunches with family are in itself simple gatherings over good food and being thankful for the blessings we have in life.

Over the years, I have come to appreciate that good food doesn't necessarily mean it has to be complicated. Although there are dishes that would require me to hunt down and spend on specific ingredients for special occasions, I also love the fact that there are quick wins in cooking with the help of readily available and affordable mixes from the grocery like McCormick Grill Mates. Each pack of McCormick Grill Mates Seasoning Mixes (Pepper Steak, Hickory Smoked, Cajun, Steak a la Pobre, and Korean BBQ) gives you a wonderful blend of authentic McCormick herbs and spices. I've always been inclined to Southern dishes, so I guess it's a given that my favorite among them is the Cajun Seasoning Mix.

I love making pasta for three reasons: (1) they are easy to make, (2) they are easy to eat and (3) there's an endless list of every possible combination of ingredients to come up with a good pasta dish. For my birthday lunch last year, I made the Cajun Chicken Pasta with the help of Grill Mates Cajun Seasoning Mix by McCormick. Since the summer heat was quite unbearable to bring out the charcoal grill at that time, the chicken strips were pan-fried instead which still turned out good as everyone had second (and more) servings until there's nothing left in the pasta bowl. Thanks to great Amazon deals and balikbayan boxes, I get to test-drive my new iron-cast grill pan by Lodge I've bought online while mom was in the US last year. So, coming up is my recipe for this pasta, from our home to yours. Happy Sunday!

Grilled Cajun Chicken Pasta
Ingredients:
1/2 kilo chicken fillets
1 package of McCormick Grill Mates Cajun Seasoning Mix, with 2 teaspoons set aside for the pasta sauce
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
225 grams linguine (or any pasta of your choice)
2 tablespoons salted butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large red capsicum or bell pepper, diced
2 red tomatoes, diced
1/2 white onion, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup white wine
1/3 cup cream
salt and freshly ground pepper
ground cayenne pepper (optional)

1. Marinate the chicken fillets in the cajun seasoning mix. Remember to set aside 2 teaspoons of the cajun seasoning for your pasta sauce. Dilute the remaining cajun seasoning with water and vegetable oil. Add the chicken fillets, making sure that they are well coated. Marinate for at least 30 minutes, but the chicken fillets taste better if they are marinated overnight.

2. Cook the linguine according to package instructions until al dente. Drain and set aside.

3. Prepare the vegetables. Let's start with the capsicum or bell pepper. Don't you find dealing with its tiny seeds quite annoying when they are scattered on your chopping board? But, there's a way to keep the slicing and dicing neatly which I picked up from watching Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course. Trim off the stem in such a way that your capsicum will be able to stand on its own with the top side down which happens to be its flat side. Then, starting the from the center part from the top (which is the bottom of the capsicum), slice the sides in a direction as if you are peeling a banana. Do this around the capsicum, then all the innards stay intact, no mess! Then that's the time you get to dice your capsicum.

4. Dice the tomatoes and white onion. I want the vegetables to be chunky (not too big, but not too fine) since these will be holding on to the flavour so it's best to dice them in the size that you can still poke them with your fork when eating. Then, mince the garlic.

5. In a skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. When heated, add the garlic and sauté until slightly golden. Add in the peppers, tomatoes and onions, then sprinkle with one teaspoon of the cajun seasoning mix. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook for about 3-5 minutes until the vegetables start to juice. Remove them from the pan and set aside.

6. On the same pan, turn the heat half a notch higher. Pour in the chicken broth and white wine and cook for 5 minutes. Since you are using the same pan from your sautéed vegetables, the juice that remained will deglaze along with the broth and white wine. If you notice that the liquid has slightly reduced, lower down the heat back to medium low then add the cream and the remaining cajun seasoning mix. Stir constantly so that the cream won't curdle. The sauce will thicken after a few minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. If you want your sauce to be a bit spicy, add a few dashes of ground cayenne pepper.

7. Add back the vegetables to the sauce and cook for another 2 minutes. Then, add this to the linguine and toss the pasta until each noodle is covered with the sauce.

8. With the iron-cast grill pan over high heat, heat the remaining butter and olive oil, making sure that the ridges and the in-betweens are well-greased to avoid the meat from sticking. Reduce the heat down to medium-low since the iron-cast pan retains heat longer than ordinary pans. Place the marinated chicken fillets and cook each side for 3-5 minutes. Don't overcook the chicken fillets so that they won't get dry. No one likes dry chicken meat.

The iron-cast grill pan was still hot that it was still sizzling minutes after it was taken out from the stove.
Good way to warm the grilled chicken fillets just before serving.

9. Place a couple of chicken fillets on top of the pasta in the serving dish. You can serve the other grilled chicken fillets on the side. You can add shavings of parmigiano reggiano as desired (grated parmesan cheese that you buy from the groceries tend to overpower the taste of the pasta). Since we liked the pasta as it is with the grilled chicken on the spotlight complementing the sweet capsicum, we skipped the cheese shavings for today.

What's up for the next weekend? My brothers' kids will be around so maybe we'll try something Asian for snacks. The famous Korean dish Bulgogi, which means “fine beef” is now readily available to savor with your grilled beef, pork and chicken with McCormick Korean BBQ Seasoning Mix.  It has the right mix of bulgogi marinade of soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic and other spices to easily provide you an appetizing Korean meal. The spices aren't too overpowering and the kids will still like this. I have a week to come up with a recipe for a finger food.




Learn more about the McCormick Grill Mates in the upcoming event after Holy Week as this is open to everyone. Be a part of the McCormick Grill Nation on April 7, 4pm onwards at the Bonifacio High Street! See you there!