Tag: farro

Mustard Banana Chicken Pasta + Beer

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I have to admit, I’m worried that none of you are going to try this recipe, which is a shame, because it’s really spectacular! Spectacularly good, that is, just so we’re clear.

Even Oatmeal was skeptical when I first mentioned my plan. She was all, like, “Banana’s in a pasta sauce? With mustard and beer? That’ll never work!” Now, if you tell Oatmeal this, I’ll deny it, but I was pretty nervous about it too! I had already grouped the three ingredients together and smelled their combined scent, and was happily surprised to find their perfume pleasant. But even I balked at the thought of mixing bananas and mustard!

However, once Oatmeal starts questioning me, it makes me want to prove her wrong even more, so I decided to go ahead with it. And it totally worked! This sauce is fantastic! It’s sweet, tangy, and flavorful! It’s something that deserves to be tasted at least once, if not many times!

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Mustard Banana Chicken Pasta + Beer

  • Olive Oil, to coat the skillet
  • 1 small yellow onion, chopped
  • 3 chicken patties (or 3/4 lb other meat), chopped
  • 3 ripe bananas, mashed
  • Slightly less than ½ cup Dijon Mustard
  • ½ cup Beer (light ale)
  • Salt
  • 1 lb pasta (I use farro pasta, but you can use whatever you have on hand)

Combine the mashed bananas and the mustard in a small bowl. Set aside.

Start boiling a pot of water for the pasta, and add a small handful of salt to the water.

Cover the bottom of a large skillet with olive oil and place over medium high heat. Add the chopped onion and sautée it until the onion becomes transparent. Add the meat and sautée for another 3-5 minutes. Add the banana-mustard mixture and stir until fully incorporated. Stir while cooking for another 1-2 minutes. Add the beer (I tend to use a light, Belgian Ale. Anything darker tends to add flavor, making it more unpredictable in recipes), and reduce heat to medium. Let it cook without stirring for 5-10 minutes, until the alcohol has cooked off.

While the sauce is cooking, add the pasta to the boiling water. Pasta is always best al dente, which means that it should be firm, but not crunchy, and certainly not soft! Usually, I start tasting the pasta two minutes before the box says it should be done. My box says seven minutes, so I start checking after five.

Once the five-ten minutes are up, stir the sauce and remove from heat. Strain the pasta and combine it with the sauce, and it’s ready to be served!

The dish should be tangy, flavorful, and sweet! The mustard is powerful, the banana is slightly noticeable, and the beer hides in the background.  Not to mention all those lovely morsels of chicken packed in every bite. Enjoy!

Mustard Chicken Burgers with Farro

Oatmeal and Ice CreamLeave a comment

Hello, and welcome to Oatmeal and Ice Cream, where we take leftover food and ingredients and make strange, but delicious, new meals! However, you can’t use leftovers if you don’t have any left over food to begin with! So here’s a little recipe to start us off. 

The idea behind this one is that Oatmeal and I were eating a dinner which consisted of chicken burgers topped with rice, pesto sauce, and a lightly fried egg. As I was eating, I asked myself: “Could I cook the rice inside the patty without it getting mushy?” This recipe is an experiment to answer that question! What results is a delicious burger with a consistency you wouldn’t normally expect.

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Now, Oatmeal tells me that I need to describe how the burgers taste so that you guys can make sure that you got the recipe right. Look, if the end-result tastes good, who cares if it’s the same result I got?! But here’s my description, just in case you’d like a guide.

The meat of the burger should be soft and tender, but the farro is cooked al dente, so when you bite into it, there should be a nice chew to it. As for taste, the onion and garlic will sing out from the burger itself, while the mustard adds a very nice sweet/tangy flavor. The tomato will add a refreshing, sweet burst at the top. Overall, the dish is slightly sweet, tangy, and flavorful, with a satisfying chew.  It should not taste burnt or caramelized (unless you like that sort of thing! In which case, instead of searing the burger, I would sautée it in olive oil at a high heat for 3-5 minutes per side instead of 1-2 minutes without oil.) If you have any other questions, feel free to ask them in the comments!

And remember, save some of the leftovers so you can use them in another meal!

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Mustard Chicken Burgers with Farro

  • 1 yellow onion, peeled and chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped (or pressed)
  • 1 cup uncooked farro, washed (If you’d like, you can substitute with rice or other similar grain)
  • 1 egg
  • 2-2.5 lbs ground chicken (You can substitute with turkey or other white meat).
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Dijon mustard
  • Two tomatoes, cut into thick slices

Preheat the oven to 225°F

In a large bowl, mix together the chopped onions, garlic, farro, egg, chicken, salt and pepper until thoroughly combined. (I didn’t add any salt or pepper, so add these at your own discretion.) Divide the mixture into eight, thick patties, and set aside on a strip of parchment paper (or on anything, really. Just something to get them out of the way without creating more dishes to clean later). Place a non-stick skillet over a medium-high flame, and let it heat up until drops of water sizzle on contact. Once the skillet is hot, place the patties in the skillet and sear them for 1-2 minutes. Then flip and sear them on the other side for another 1-2 minutes, before moving them to a baking dish.

Once all of the patties have been seared and placed in the baking dish, spread a layer of mustard on top of each of the patties. (Make note: The mustard is really the star of this dish, so don’t skimp on it! You can definitely use way more than what is shown in the accompanying pictures.) Put a slice of tomato on top of each patty.

Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake it in the oven for 30 minutes at 225°F, or until the chicken is thoroughly cooked and the mustard is just starting to brown. (I put them on the bottom shelf of my oven, but you’ll have to adjust for your own oven’s quirks.)

Once the burgers have been cooked to your liking, take them out of the oven and remove the aluminum foil. They are now ready to eat! You can eat them on their own, with a side of vegetables, or you can put them in a bun and eat it like a regular hamburger. We enjoyed them with an extra dollop of the mustard. Be sure to keep experimenting!