Best Love Nests Recipes

LOVE BIRDS - CHICKEN IN PASTRY

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• Season the chicken with salt, pepper and rosemary. Cut each piece of chicken in half across the breast giving you 8 equal portions. Heat the oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Lightly brown the chicken on both sides, 5 minutes total. Remove from heat.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut pastry into 8 pieces. Place a piece of cheese on each pastry square and top with spoonfuls of fig preserves and the chicken pieces. Pinch and seal the dough up and over the meat and cheese, seal with egg wash, flip the pastry packets over and brush the tops with remaining egg wash. Bake 12 to15 minutes, until golden.
• For entree portions, simply leave chicken breast whole and cut the pastry into quarters. Trim off excess dough and use it to decorate the pastry with small cut outs such as heart shapes.

LOVE NESTS

Steps:

• Heat deep fry pan then add oil; fry onions for about 3 minutes; add garlic; fry additional 2 minutes until onions are soft.
• Add in tomato paste; stir for about a minute until combined.
• Add in diced tomatoes in tomato juice, bay leaf, anchovies, water, red pepper flakes and xylitol; adjust to personal taste.
• Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer 45 minutes.
• In additional fry pan, fry pancetta and chorizo sausage meat until golden brown; add to marinara mixture.
• Marinara done! :).
• In a saucepan, add all bechamel ingredients (except cheese) and stir "continuously" with a wooden spoon until sauce thickens.
• Heat oven to 180°C (350F).
• Place breadcrumbs on a baking tray; bake for 5 minutes (until dry, not browned); remove; set aside.
• In a bowl, combine ricotta and spinach.
• Cook spaghetti in boiling salted water; cook for 7 minutes (al dente); drain; oil spray; set aside for about 10 minutes.
• Place 1/2 cup of cooked pasta into a plastic measuring cup. Place the 1/4 plastic cup inside the cup with pasta. If you don't have plastic measuring cups, you get the idea that the spaghetti needs to be "packed" down tightly; can do by hand while pasta is "in" something.
• QUICKLY, turn measuring cup over onto marinara sauce; be gentle but quick lol You want it so it looks like a mound.
• G-E-N-T-L-Y, with the back of a teaspoon push down on the spaghetti to form a round hold without going through the bottom of the spaghetti. You can stop with the teaspoon fits inside the nest with a bit a room around it too!
• Place 1 - 2 teaspoons of spinach ricotta mixture in the base of the nests. with a spoon (or with your fingers ;-) ) GENTLY push down until it covers the base. You do not want to push too hard that the nest will collapse. ;-).
• Top with 1 -2 teaspoons of bechamel sauce.
• Top with breadcrumbs; can add a few pieces of shredded cheese (optional).
• Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.

SPAGHETTI NESTS

Steps:

• Place an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottom and sides of four 4-inch-diameter springform pans.
• For the pasta: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain the pasta and place in a large bowl. Add the spinach, cheese, oil and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Toss well until the spinach is wilted. Set aside to cool.
• For assembly: Beat the Parmesan, milk, salt and egg together in a large bowl until smooth. Pour the sauce over the spaghetti mixture until well combined. Twirl 1/2 cupfuls of the spaghetti mixture around tongs or a large fork and transfer to the prepared pans. Make an indentation in the middle of each nest of pasta and drizzle with olive oil. Bake 15 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before removing the sides from the pans. Remove the bottoms of the pans from the nests using a thin metal spatula.
• Spoon 1/2 cup of the marinara sauce on each of 4 serving plates. Place the spaghetti nests on the sauce. Place 3 balls of the mozzarella in each nest and serve.

BIRDS IN A NEST

Steps:

• Place a very large nonstick skillet over low heat. Add the oil and garlic clove into the skillet and gently infuse the garlic flavor into the oil. In the meantime, using a round cookie cutter or an empty can, cut out the center of all 6 slices of bread. Add the prepared bread slices to the garlic infused oil. Crack the eggs 1 at a time and drop them into their "nests" or, the center of each slice of bread. Drain and slice red pepper. Add a strip or 2 of red pepper to each nest. Season the birds in their nests with salt and pepper and sprinkle a little cheese into each nest. Gently turn the birds in their nests and turn off the heat. Let the eggs sit in their nests 5 minutes more, then transfer to a platter and serve.