But the important thing here is the soup.  It’s my cheesy, chunky comfort stew.  I originally made it for Paul and Josh last week for dinner.  Paul and I had a very good trade going: if I made dinner, he would bring cinnamon pie for dessert.  (I freaking love cinnamon pie and Paul makes it brilliantly.)  And since I knew I was going to want to have a really large piece of pie for dessert, I figured I would make something for dinner that was simple (cause I was tired), quick (cause I was short on time), vegetarian (because Paul is not of the meat-eating persuasion) and filling without being super heavy (cause pie).  Oh and delicious, of course, because that’s how I roll.

So I flashed back to the awesome soup tutorial I got from the Soup Queen herself, Miss Bee of the rightfully celebrated Beezy’s, and I made a roux base and threw in whatever veggies I had on hand.  And then lots of cheese.

It worked out so well that I then made a second batch this weekend to have as lunch during the week, only this time with some shredded roasted chicken for extra protein and filling-ness.  But whichever way you decide to make this soup, it’s delicious and easily modified.

I’ve listed the chicken version below.  For the vegetarian version, simply omit the shredded chicken and substitute your favorite vegetable broth wherever chicken broth is listed.

Related posts:

1. Tortellini-Are-Little-Puffs-of-Heaven Stew
2. Pretend you’re a chicken…parmesan
3. Linguine with Lemon, Swiss Chard and Chicken Meatballs

Like most people who pray at the altar of spicy food, my favorite edible deity is srircha sauce, or rooster sauce as it’s sometimes called (check out the bottle).  It is amazing, not just because it’s hot—and it’s hot—but because it’s packed with flavor.  I love hot sauce (have you tried making it?) but the thick, complex taste of sriracha is a perfect accompaniment to a lot of things, like pasta sauce.  It is also, I’ve discovered, an excellent addition to a meat brine.

Josh is a big fan of brining for two main reasons: 1) it gives poultry a much better flavor and more moisture and 2) he likes to do science to things and brining is really easy science.  As I explained in the brining pork ribs post,

If you don’t know, brining is the process of soaking meat in a salt solution that’s generally spiked with herbs, spices and other flavorings, for a few hours or overnight.  It tenderizes, moistens and flavors meat, making it really great for drier cuts of pork and poultry, in particular.

A really complicated brine might have lots of herbs, fruit peels, spices, any number of things.  The most basic brine you can do is salt and water.  That’s it.  That alone will give you extremely tender, though not really ‘flavored’ meat.  This brine here is one step above that.  It’s salt and water and then as much sriracha as you feel comfortable.  If you’re worried that the chicken will end up tasting super hot, as if you’ve just dumped a bunch of rooster sauce on it, don’t.  A bit of the heat comes through, yes, but mostly what you get is the delicious sriracha flavor.

Then you just cook the chicken as desired.  I was going to roast this one, but at the last minute decided against it, ended up cutting out the backbone and cooked it brick-chicken style in the oven.  Actually I used a cast iron pan, since I didn’t have a brick.  Not one that isn’t currently attached to a wall, anyway.  So I guess this is “cast iron pan-style.”

On the side, I just served a simple salad of olive oil poached tomatoes and fresh avocado chunks and served the whole thing over a mixed lettuce salad.  How’s that for effortless chic?

Sriracha-brined chicken

3-4 pound whole chicken, cleaned and prepared
1.5 cup kosher salt
1/2 gallon of water + 1 gallon
64oz chicken stock (or two regular sized boxes)
1/2-3/4 c. sriracha sauce (more if you want hotter)
1 clean garbage bag
1 clean bucket
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter
1/2 tbsp black pepper
1 tbsp dried sage

Combine salt, stock and 1/2 gallon of water in a large pan and bring to a boil.  When the salt has dissolved, pour in the other gallon of water.  Let cool.  Add in sriracha sauce and stir thoroughly.

Place the chicken  in the garbage bag and place the bag inside the bucket.  Pour the salt brine solution over the chicken (inside the bag).  Add more water as needed to completely cover the chicken.  Close the bag tightly and place in a cool location overnight or up to 24 hours.

When you’re ready to cook, pull the chicken out of the brine; throw the solution away.  Gently rinse the chicken and pat it dry thoroughly.  Cook as desired.  To cook it as I did:

Preheat oven to 375.  Cut out the backbone.  This will help the chicken lay flat.  Sprinkle the chicken with the pepper and sage all over the outside and inside.  Heat the olive oil and butter in a  large cast-iron pan over high heat.  Place chicken breast-side down in pan, place another cast iron pan (spray the bottom with baking spray) or a tinfoil wrapped brick on top and sear well, about 5-7 minutes.  Move the pan(s)/brick into the oven and cook until the juices of the chicken run clear, about 30 minutes.  Let sit for 10 minutes.  Cut and serve.

Olive oil poached tomato and avocado salad

1 c. olive oil
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 ripe avocado
salt and pepper to taste

Put olive oil in a sauce pan and heat over medium high flame.  Add in tomatoes (carefully).  Let cook for 3-4 minutes, or until the skins start to crack.  Remove tomatoes with a slotted spoon, and save the now slightly-tomato-y olive oil for something else later.
Cut avocado into chunks.  Toss with tomatoes and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Serve.

Related posts:

1. eat mor chikn: chicken and avocado panini
2. Happy Thanksgiving!
3. Here’s a New Year’s resolution for you: eat tasty food. like apricot chicken

Days where it’s just me for dinner can be even worse.  I won’t order dinner out just for me.  Often I take the opportunity to experiment and make something that I know Josh won’t really like to eat but as stated above, sometimes I don’t want to spend an hour in the kitchen doing this or that.  Now, partially to combat cooking malaise like this, we bought a chest freezer last weekend so that we could buy frozen dinners and pull them out when necessary (well, the freezer is partially to store frozen dinners and partially to store large amounts of pork shoulder for when I feel like some slow cookin’).  This is slightly odd for me, because I don’t often eat packaged dinners, with the notable exception of occasional box of Kraft Mac & Cheese (it’s the best powdered cheese-product you can buy and you know it).  It got worse when, after purchasing the freezer and a few bulk packages of Lean Cuisine steamer dinners (thanks CostCo), I got home, ready to crack open and try out a meal of Orange Chicken and realized…we don’t have a microwave. 

We haven’t had a microwave since we moved…last January.

We don’t use a microwave.  Because we rarely ever eat packaged foods.  Or do we rarely eat packaged food because we don’t have a microwave?  It’s a chicken-and-egg argument, but the important point has been made.

Some people upon finding out that we don’t have a microwave are awed.  “How can you live?” they ask.  Biting back my natural inclination to provide a snarky retort about the inhalation of oxygen, the pumping of blood through the body and other biological processes, I just say, “It’s not really that hard, actually.”  Cause it’s not.  If I need to defrost something, it goes in a warm water bath (or gasp! I plan ahead and let it thaw in the fridge).  If I need to say, heat up some water or milk or melt butter, I do it on the stove.  If we eat at home (on a non-pizza night), we generally make most of our food from scratch or something close to scratch.  It doesn’t take that long and hey, you’ve read my recipes (right?  right?!), it’s not that hard.

It does, however, prevent me from resorting to one of those Lean Cuisines when I’m tired and on my own for dinner.  Or at least encourages me to find an oven-capable version which, this past week, I was clearly unprepared to do.  On the upside, I instead managed to make a delicious, healthy and quick dinner for myself–with leftovers for lunch the next day–using staples that I just keep in my pantry and fridge: canned chicken (which Josh won’t eat, but I take to work for lunch), spinach (my favorite green off all time, followed by arugula and collards), sriracha sauce (you could use any hot sauce, or omit it altogether) and a jar of Indian tomato relish from Trader Joe’s, which has tomatoes, tamarind and various spices in it.  It smells and tastes zesty and adds a lot of flavor with pretty much no effort on your part.  I combined all of those things with some petite French lentils and chicken stock.  And there you go.

I’d actually never made lentils before which seems odd because I love lentils in Indian food, and Casey’s Tavern in Ann Arbor makes an awesome vegetarian “sloppy joe” with lentils, rice and beans.  But Josh isn’t a huge fan and I just never bothered to try them on my own.  Lentils, if you’re wondering, are what’s known as pulses, a legume that produces seeds inside of a pod and are high in protein and amino acids.  There’s a wide variety and they come in different colors.  French lentils, or puy lentils, are very small and green and a bit pricier than other lentils, but extremely tasty and still pretty economical–I bought them from a local bulk store, By the Pound.  Like rice or beans, they swell up when cooked and are very filling.

This dish, recipe below, was so easy that all I did was cook the lentils in the chicken stock (cooking anything in chicken stock automagically makes it better), drained them, then heated up the canned chicken in a pan, tossed in the lentils and spinach to wilt and stirred a couple spoonfuls of the relish.  My “active” time?  Like 5 minutes.  Took me a total of 35 minutes or so, most of which I admittedly spent playing piano.  Depending on the lentils you choose to use, your mileage may vary.

Chicken Lentil
*So good you’ll think the sky is falling.
*Ok, that was kind of lame.

3/4 c. French lentils (or any kind you like), sorted and any debris or stones removed
3 c. low sodium chicken stock (or veggie stock)–or enough to cover the lentils with an extra inch or so of room
1 7oz canned chicken
2 c. fresh baby spinach
2 tbsp tomato relish, or to taste
1 tsp black pepper
sriracha or other sauce, to taste

Cook the lentils.  Seriously, you don’t want to eat them raw.  Cooking times will vary by lentil type and whatever you add to the water.  Salt and acidic items should be added at the end of the cooking time.  I combined the low-sodium chicken stock and lentils in a medium saucepan and simmered over  a medium flame and it took about 30 minutes for the lentils to get soft.  When lentils are done, drain any excess liquid.

Drain chicken and toss in a pan over medium heat.  Add in tomato relish and spinach and cook for about 4-5 minutes, warming the chicken, wilting the spinach and letting everything mingle.  Pour in lentils, sriracha and black pepper and stir to combine.  Let cook together 2 minutes more.  Pour into a bowl and eat.  Yum.

Related posts:

1. Little pig, little pig, let me come…to dinner
2. Monday Night Pantry Pasta Pretty Damn Quick
3. Pomegranate-braised ancho-chocolate beef: it's what's for dinner. And maybe dessert. No, just dinner. Maybe dessert.

Actually let’s try this post again.

CHICKEN!

I took the afternoon off yesterday.  It was just one of those days where I just didn’t want to be in the office; I wanted to unwind and relax a bit.  So after having a long lunch with Josh and a couple of friends, I headed down to Kerrytown in Ann Arbor to hang out at the market and do a bit of shopping.  I ended up at Sweetwaters, which if you’re not from around these parts, is a small local coffee shop chain and this particular location is inside/adjacent to Sparrow Market in the Kerrytown shops.  I hung out for a while, people-watching and debating internally what I wanted to make for dinner.

If you’re like me, the problem of what to eat next is at its very core an existential one.  Which means, if you’re like me, we should both be pretty thankful for the obviously comfortable circumstances in which we live.  Yet beyond that, yes, I take “What’s for dinner?” very seriously for a number of reasons.  One, obviously cooking is my hobby; I consider each meal an opportunity to practice my skills.  Two, as a human, I have the ability to raise eating from a basic level of instinctual need to one of enjoyment; you have to eat, you might as well enjoy it.  Three, as an extension to Reason #2, if you’re going to put something in your body and thereby make it a part of your being, it should be high-quality and it should be as tasty as possible.  I mean, what if you really are what you eat?  When the zombie apocalypse comes, I want the droning, vacant cannibalistic hordes of the reanimated to fight over who gets the remains of my mutilated corpse because I am that delicious.

And while to that end, I have amassed a small fortune (if bytes were worth bucks) of recipes, digitally and otherwise, I still find that often the best inspiration comes from grocery shopping, preferably while hungry.  I know they say you shouldn’t shop while hungry because you’ll just end up buying any and everything and that’s true.  But if you’re looking for inspiration to make a new dish, sometimes it’s best to let hunger push the cart.  So I wandered about the Kerrytown markets, starting with Sparrow’s.  I knew that I wanted to make something with chicken; it’s been awhile since I made a really good chicken dish and we’ve been eating a lot of pork and beef.  Boneless skinless chicken breasts are healthy, easy and quick to cook but anything with a bone and skin are going to be tastier and cheaper.  I started off with a couple of chicken leg quarters (which include the drumstick and thigh).  I knew at home I had garlic…and had a feeling this had to be a good, garlicky dish.  What else could I find?  In quick succession I picked up some prosciutto (love that stuff), some mushrooms and a medium-sized spaghetti squash.

Then I wandered upstairs to get some olive oil from Fustini‘s, a shop that sells exclusively flavored olive oils and balsamic vinegars.  I’ve been to such a shop before (there’s something similar in downtown Plymouth–Old World Olive Press) and am amazed they can survive but hey, I love olive oil so the more sources the better.  I do also like going around and sampling the different oils.  They had a chipotle one I’d never seen before, for instance, and that’s pretty cool.

Later on that night, I threw the ingredients I bought together with some basic things I already had–garlic, cumin, chicken stock, etc.–and made this delightful dinner.  I liked it because it was delicious (Lauren tested, zombie approved), could easily scale up or down and was fairly hands off–a little bit of stovetop work and then boom, into the oven.  Who doesn’t love that?  Vampires maybe.

4 out of 5 zombies approve

Garlic Chicken with Mushrooms
A Dinner for Two

4oz proscuitto, diced
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp dried basil
2 chicken leg quarters
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tbsp molasses
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp red pepper flake (or adjust to taste)
6 cloves garlic, whole, peeled
1/2 c. chicken stock
1/2lb mushrooms, sliced and stemmed if necessary

Preheat oven to 450F.

In a cast-iron or other large, oven-capable frying pan, melt butter and olive oil over medium high heat.  Add in proscuitto and dried basil and cook until browned but not too crispy, a couple of minutes.  Toss in garlic cloves.  Sprinkle chicken quarters with salt, pepper and cumin and place top-side down in the skillet.  Let brown on one side, about 5-7 minutes.  While it’s doing it’s thing, mix molasses, olive oil, lemon juice and red pepper flake thoroughly.  Brush onto the chicken and flip over the pieces.  Brush the top side as well and let brown for another 4-5 minutes.

Pour in chicken stock and place pan in oven.  Let cook for about 30 minutes, or until chicken is fully done (no pinkness, juices run clear).  Remove pan from oven and set on a burner, over medium heat.  Pull chicken out of pan and let rest on a plate.  Stir around proscuitto and garlic, rubbing up any bits from the bottom of the pan.  Add in mushrooms, tossing and coating in the sauce, and cook for about 4 minutes more, until mushrooms are suitably soft but not icky and the sauce has reduced a bit.

Serve sauce with chicken.  Eat chicken with sauce.  And a side of spaghetti squash.  Wait for zombies.

Related posts:

1. Mushroom Ragout, from the “Keep Going Til It Tastes Good” Cooking School
2. Pretend you’re a chicken…parmesan
3. Tomato Chicken Sauté, or “Let’s See Hansel and Gretel Push Me into THIS Oven”

I also had this fantastic cheese I picked up at Whole Foods.  You can probably find it in other places, but I found it there a few weeks ago and we are completely hooked on it.  Like, ridiculously hooked on it.  It’s fantastic in everything–melted on burgers, shredded and stirred into scrambled eggs, eaten by itself…delicious.  It’s a jack cheese from Great Midwest that’s studded with leeks and morels.  Yes.  Leeks and morels.  I know.  You’re drooling right now as you read this.  Go out and pick some up.  You can thank me for it later.

Anyway my grand plan finally came down to this:

Step 1: Stuff chicken with morel-leek cheese and grill.  Serve with pomegranate cream sauce.

Step 2: Eat

Step 3: Delicious.

And I love it when a plan comes together.  And boy did it.

What I did to the chicken was pretty basic: slice each breast in half lengthwise, not all the way, just enough to open a nice deep pocket for the cheese.  Place in one slice, about an ounce worth, of the jack cheese in the middle and fold the chicken breast back over.  Brush with olive oil, salt, pepper and thyme.  Grill to cheesy perfection.  (As a note, I usually start out with the grill on high–I use a gas grill, we can argue about that later–and place the meat on it.  As soon as the meat goes on the grill, I turn the temperature down to medium.  I do this because I want the grates to be screaming hot so that immediately the chicken begins to cook and brown and sort of seal up, and then as the temperature goes down it continues to cook perfectly.  Your methods may vary.)  I also sliced the summer squash lengthwise, brushed with olive oil and placed them high on the grill rack as well.  Then I went into the kitchen to tackle the sauce…

Which took about 5 seconds.  This is one of the easiest sauces I’ve ever made, with a lot of payout—it was delicious, creamy, sweet but not overly so, and Josh actually really loved it.  It went marvelously with the leek-morel cheese, and the chicken and…well, everything.  It would go fabulously with any white meat or fish, I think.  I’m going to try putting it on pasta next…my thinking is to make cannelloni stuffed with shredded chicken or pork and goat cheese and then pour this sauce on top.  I’ll let you know how that goes.  Anyway, here it is:

Pomegranate Cream Sauce
8oz Pom Wonderful pomegranate juice
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 c. heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste

Pour pomegranate and lemon juices into a small sauce pan.  Simmer over medium heat until the juice is reduced down to a third, about 15-20 minutes.  Take off the heat, stir in cream until well combined.  Add in a sprinkling of salt and pepper to taste.  Serve over..anything.

Yep, it’s that easy.  Just serve and eat…maybe with a mojito slushy on the side? 

Related posts:

1. My Big Fat Greek..nah, that’s too obvious a joke.
2. A little cream makes everything better
3. Farm Share Goodies: July 10

This may actually be my favorite of the experiments so far.  Granted, there have only been 5–so far—but this is still one of my top ones.  My fabulous cousin Carmen picked this Puerto Rican chicken and rice stew to try out; I made it as dinner for Josh and myself tonight and bundled up a bunch to take her for lunch.  This dish is not only tasty, it’s informative.  It’s taught me at least 3 yummy things.

1.  There’s such a thing as “annatto oil,” which is made by infusing oil with achiote seeds .  It’s used to flavor and color foods in South American cooking.  I didn’t actually use it here.  I used olive oil.  But good to know it’s possible.

2.  Sofrito is awesome.  Sofrito is another thing I didn’t know about before this recipe.  It’s a sauce made with tomato and onion and it’s the base of lot of Puerto Rican dishes.  You can make it yourself or buy it jarred from the store, like I did, in the Hispanic aisle at the grocery store.  It smells fantastic.  It tastes fantastic.  And how could it not?  This particular one has tomatoes, bell peppers, garlic, onion and herbs.  I am very much looking forward to trying it out in other recipes.

3.  This one-dish meal is super filling, pretty cheap and layered with flavor.  Chicken and rice stew is bland no more.  Nay, it is tomato-y and delicious!

You can make this yourself, in a little over a half an hour.  You can.  You too.  Yep, even you, Sophia.  I know you’re reading this.  Do not fear the succulent savorings that await you.  Do not fear the chicken.

I will admit that I made one major omission, on purpose: I skipped the alcaparrado, which is a mixture of green olives, pimentos and capers, mostly because neither Josh nor I are fans of green olives, pimentos or capers.  Not at all.  If you do like those things, you’ll want to add them in; I’m sure they add just another good layer of flavor (good for you, anyway…not good for me).

I also want to point out that this recipe says to use a “large nonstick skillet.”  Well I did that.  And it was fine.  Until I got to the part where they say to “Add in 15oz of chicken stock and 4 cups of water.”  Apparently when they say “large skillet,” they really mean large skillet.  Like just a giant freaking skillet.  Which I didn’t have.  Well, I didn’t have one that had a lid.  So I just poured the goodness into a large pot and then added all the liquids.  Should I have anticipated that before hand?  Yes.  Did I?  No.  What have we learned here?  “You’re gonna need a bigger pan.”

Asopao de Pollo
from CookingLight–makes 5 servings (serving size: 2 thighs and 1 3/4 cups rice mixture)

1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
10 chicken thighs (about 3 pounds), skinned
2 tablespoons Annatto Oil or olive oil
1 1/2 cups Sofrito
3/4 cup diced plum tomato
1 1/2 cups uncooked medium-grain rice
2/3 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup diced lean ham (about 2 ounces)
1 (4.4-ounce) bottle alcaparrado, drained, or 3/4 cup pitted green olives and 1/4 cup capers
4 cups water
1 (15.75-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 cup frozen green peas, thawed

Combine the first 4 ingredients in a small bowl. Sprinkle chicken with the oregano mixture.

Heat Annatto Oil [or olive oil]  in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken; cook 8 minutes, turning once. Reduce heat to medium. Add Sofrito and tomato; cook 3 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add rice, wine, ham, and alcaparrado; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add the water and chicken broth; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes.

Stir in the peas, and cook for 5 minutes or until the rice is tender.

Eat, enjoy.  Well, we enjoyed it.  A lot.  Will Carmen?  We’ll see….

Related posts:

1. the Great Recipe Experiment: #4-peanut butter cups
2. the Great Recipe Experiment: #6-Chocolate Thumbprints
3. the Great Recipe Experiment: #2-Cranberry Bars

I have a new oven.

Do you know what that’s like?  It’s like Papa having a brand new bag, that’s what it’s like.

It’s beautiful—all shiny and black and stainless steal.  The oven at our old apartment was a trustworthy thing; while I am not a fan of electric stovetops, the oven got hot quickly and stayed that way.  When we moved into the house on Saturday, we knew the stove (gas) worked but that the oven didn’t.  So despite my fear-of-change-driven emotional need for brownies, I had to sit and wait until a new stove was ordered and delivered.  But I could still use the stove, and I did.  It was a bit odd changing over to a gas range from an electric one—things heat up so fast!  Lovely.

The new oven (I haven’t named it yet, but I might–any suggestions?) was delivered yesterday.  Josh decided he was going to hook it up himself. This required a trip to the hardware store to get a connector-thingy.  Me, I was all twinge-y with excitement, holding the flashlight while Josh fiddled around behind the stove (which was very shiny—did I mention it was shiny?  I like shiny things). I had it all planned out—first I was going to make a chicken tomato sauté with chicken breasts I had acquired from the store that very afternoon for this very purpose, as well as some plump round cherry tomatoes, garlic and balsamic vinegar.  Then I was going to make a super-quick side dish of tricolor couscous and steamed spinach.  And then there’d be cookies.  Chocolate chip, of course, with maybe some oatmeal and I could nearly taste the chewy delici—

“It’s not going to work,” said Josh.

Well of course it’s going to work, I thought, oatmeal and chocolate go great together.

But no, he meant hooking the stove up.  Because apparently our 150 year old house has many surprises in store…and sadly, none of them are ghosts.  No, this surprise was that our gas pipe was apparently a commercial-sized one.  Hm.  Maybe that’s better than a ghost. If I ever need to go into business for myself, at least I have the gas hookup!  But sadly, that meant my delicious chicken dinner would have to be put off until tomorrow, when Josh could find a bigger connector-thingy (I am so technical).

Le sigh.

But today!  TODAY!  Today he did it.  Hooked up the hoses.  Turned on the gas.  Waited.  Watched.  Fiddled.  Turned the knob….and behold: fire.  Man’s greatest invention outside of Nintendo.

Of course this stove needs to be tested.  And tamed.  And taught the ways of the Meatball.  So today’s task was twofold:

1. Try out the burners.
2. Bake!

Number one turned out pretty well, and the recipe for that is below.  Baking, I’m not sure yet.  I attempted to make cookies but it seems my baking soda was flat because my cookies turned out flat too.  And I’m not convinced of the oven’s heat reliability because it seemed to take a much longer time to get the cookies to finish than it should have.  Still, this is something that will require many tests.  I’ll have to suffer through dozens of cakes, muffins, cookies and cornbread before I am fully satisfied with the oven’s capabilities.  It’s a tough job but someone has to do it.  Someone has to eat all that delicious stuff.  Me.  I’m that someone.

Chicken Sauté with Cherry Tomatoes

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 pint cherry tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp dried mixed herbs
2 tbsps olive oil
1 tbsp butter

This recipe is pretty simple and probably endlessly flexible.  I made enough for Josh and I each for dinner, plus had some leftover to go into my lunch for tomorrow.  Woohoo, lunch!

Anyway, in a medium skillet over medium high heat, melt the butter into the 2 tbsp of olive oil and add in the garlic.  You just want the garlic to flavor the oil and butter a little bit.  Remove it once it’s begun to brown nicely; you don’t want it to burn.

Sprinkle the chicken breasts all over with the salt, pepper and herb mix.  Place into the pan and brown on one side, about 4-5 minutes before flipping the meat over.  Add in the tomatoes, sprinkling around the chicken breasts.  Drizzle the tomatoes with the balsamic vinegar and chicken stock.  Cover and let sit on the heat until the tomatoes have popped a bit and released their juices and the chicken is cooked through and tasty, about 10 minutes more or so depending on the size of your chicken breasts.  Use a meat thermometer or pierce one of the breasts to see if the juices run clear.

I served the chicken with a pot of couscous that I had cooked in chicken stock with a bit of butter, some fresh baby spinach and a sprinkling of Swiss cheese.  This would be extremely good atop some other kinds of pasta as well, like orzo, orecchiette, penne or even linguine.  You could also just serve it along with some crispy potatoes or a good slice of crusty bread.

Voila!  Dinner is served.

Related posts:

1. Tomato, Tomahto, Totally Tasty
2. Here’s a New Year’s resolution for you: eat tasty food. like apricot chicken
3. Garlic-Mushroom Chicken: Drive away those pesky vegetarian vampires

Anyway, I was inspired by this chicken wing recipe and decided to play around with a sweet-and-spicy chicken recipe myself.  The store I stopped at this morning didn’t seem to have sriracha sauce specifically, so I went with the chili paste, which I’m sure I’ll be using pretty often because it smells great.

And let’s face it–we can all use a light meal now and again.  Especially in these heady days between Christmas, Christmas, more Christmas and New Year’s.  So this dish, bundled up with some fresh guacamole and a delicate side of lemony green beans (blanch green beans in boiling salted water, then drop into ice water, then pan-fry in a sauce of a tablespoon of butter, a half tablespoon of olive oil, lemon zest, salt, pepper and herbs) was a welcome breath of delicious, moist, tender air.  I know what you’re thinking: moist is a creepy word.  Yeah, it is.

But the chicken will make you forget all that.  The chicken is here to help.

Spicy Apricot Chicken
(Feeds–no wait—nourishes 2)

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 c. apricot preserves
2 tbsps hot chili paste
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Mix together preserves and following ingredients in a bowl, incorporating thoroughly. I love chili paste; you can smell the heat as soon as you open the can; it’s fantastic.  Use a little less if you’re worried about spice, use a little more if you like things hotter.  Taste the apricot mixture and adjust the ingredients to your liking.

Place chicken breasts in a sealable plastic bag, add in the apricot mix.  Seal the bag and sort of knock the chicken breasts around in the preserves for a little bit, to get them nice and coated.  Refrigerate and let marinate for 8 hours, or at least two.

About 20 minutes before you begin cooking, take the bag with the chicken out of the fridge and let it sit on the counter, in a shallow bowl.  You want the meat to come up to room temperature.

Line tin foil in a small baking dish; add in chicken breasts and pull more foil over the top, creating a nice little delicious package.  Bake at 400F for 25-30 minutes, or until the juices run clear when the chicken is skewered with a fork.  Remove the tin foil from on top of the chicken; place the chicken bag in the oven under the broiler and turn the broiler on.  Let continue cooking like that for about 5-8 more minutes or until the chicken has developed a nice crunchy crust.  Let sit about 5 minutes and serve.

Related posts:

1. Apri-can: Apricot Crumbcake
2. Apricot and cinnamon are totally going together but don’t want anyone to know
3. Linguine with Lemon, Swiss Chard and Chicken Meatballs

If you peruse food sites as much as I do, you’ve probably already seen hundreds of Thanksgiving recipes already.  Turkeys, side-dishes, pie after pie after pie.  Well I’m going to jump ahead a bit with recipe for Thanksgiving leftovers.

Leftovers?!? you say.  How can you possibly think about leftovers when I’ve yet to even set my deck on fire while frying my first bird?  Well, I’ve already had one Thanksgiving so far—yesterday, in fact, at my inlaws.  It was delicious.  And it gave me plenty of leftover turkey to take home to experiment with.

Now, there’s one thing I tend to want the day after a good holiday meal: something light.  I love rich food but it only loves me for so long before it brings out the claws (rawr).  So tonight when looking for a good light meal and considering the bag of turkey goodness I had in the fridge, I thought….turkey cakes.

As is well known, I don’t eat seafood.  I don’t eat anything that swims at all.  In fact, if a cow has so much as wandered across a stream, I don’t want anything to do with it.  I don’t know why, it’s just a thing I have.  But I am entranced by crab cakes.  I partially blame one of my old roommates, Steph, who was from Maryland; I think she was a bad influence.  But mostly it’s because crab cakes just look so freaking good.  And I’ve thought, I could easily do these and just replace them with chicken.  But I never got around to it because hey, there’s so many dishes and so little time.  But now I’ve got all this turkey…turkey’s kind of like chicken.  It’s like a bigger chicken.

Anyway long story short–I glanced at a few crabcake recipes for guidelines, got out my turkey, badabing, badaboom…turkey cakes.  Now if only I could think of a better name….

A Crab Cake Called Leftovers

1 c. breadcrumbs
1 pound cooked, shredded turkey
2 tbsp chives
1/4 c. shredded pecorino romano cheese
1 tbsp dried herbes de provence
2 tbsp mayo
1 large egg white
1 tsp red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil

Combine turkey and all the ingredients that follow in a bowl, mixing well.  Divide mixture into 8 equal portions and form each portion into a patty about a half inch thick.  Put breadcrumbs in a shallow bowl; dredge patties in breadcrumbs until well covered.

Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet, or on a griddle, over medium heat.  Add patties (if using a skillet, do half the batch at a time).  Let cook for about 3-4 minutes on one side before flipping over and cooking the other side another 3 minutes.  Don’t move the patties around the pan!  You want them to brown nicely and to set into a nice firm patty, so the less you move them the better.  Repeat procedure with the rest of the patties.  Makes 8 patties; usually you can serve 2-3 patties per person.

That’s all there is to it.  Simple, right?  Especially after all that work you had to do for the Big Event the day (or days) before.  And let’s face it–for some (crazy) people, turkey, especially leftovers, can get a little boring.  But no longer–now you can get a delicious crispy outside and a succulent turkey inside.  Serve it with some delicious leftovers or do what I did—just serve them on a simple bed of fresh baby spinach sprinkled with olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper.  This is a creative, refreshing way of doing leftovers—light, healthy and in convenient cake-like form.

Just…work on the name.

No related posts.

Since I was on my own tonight while Josh was out at a super exciting computer society meeting, I figured I’d make myself a very easy one pot Asian-inspired dish that Josh actually loves but never wants: peanut chicken stirfry.

Consider this less of a recipe, more of a guideline.  Actually, consider everything I write a guideline.  In fact, consider everything I don’t write a guideline too.  Just in case.

Anyway, I love this dish because it’s fast and delicious and only really requires one pot.  And you can swap all sorts of things in and out.  Basically what it is is a pasta dish with vegetables and meat and a creamy peanut butter sauce.  Let me tell you, it might sound odd, but if there’s one way to get your kids (and yourself) to eat vegetables, it’s to smother them in peanut butter.  Trust me.

Let’s start with the basics.  Choose a pasta type.  Any long-strang pasta will work—you can use a soba or buckwheat or rice noodle if you want, but I actually prefer using whole wheat linguine.  I love whole wheat pasta; it takes a minute or two longer to cook but it’s got this nice nutty flavor and it’s more filling.  I usually make about 3oz per person.  Cook the pasta as directed on the package.

While the pasta is on, get your veggies ready.  Generally I throw in whatever I have; my favorites are edamame, shredded or thinly sliced carrots, shredded or thinly sliced zucchini, thinly sliced red bell pepper, broccoli florets,  bok choy and spinach.  Tonight I had carrots, bell pepper and broccoli and I use at least a half cup of each per person.

In the last couple minutes of the pasta’s cook time add the veggies to the pan.  This will help brighten their color and soften them just a bit; you still want them to have a nice crunch but not be totally raw.  Pour the pasta and veggies into a colander and drain.

Now the protein.  This dish is good for tofu, chicken (obviously) and pork.  You could use beef but I myself have not yet come around to the peanut butter beef philosophy, so that’s up to you.  3-4oz per person is good, you just want the meat that you choose to be thinly sliced so that it cooks quickly.  Tonight I went with boneless skinless chicken breast.  Often, to make this dish even faster, I just buy a rotisserie chicken from the store and pull the meat off and use that.  It’s fantastic.

So put the pasta pan back on the stove, jack the heat up to high and add in a couple tablespoons of peanut or canola oil and then add in your protein (if you’re not using pre-cooked, that is).  Season (salt, pepper, any spices you like) and stirfry the meat, stirring often, until browned and cooked through.  Spoon the meat out of the pan and set aside.

Now, turn the heat on the pan down to medium low and add in 2-3 good tablespoons of peanut butter and let it slowly melt.  Add to that a couple tablespoons of rice wine vinegar, a dash of soy sauce and then a bit of water to thin it out as needed, as well as any spices you like—I generally stick with a bit of salt, a lot of black pepper and a healthy dose of red pepper flake because peanuts and spicy things love each other.  Stir until the sauce has turned smooth and creamy.

Add in your veggies and proteins and toss in the sauce, coating thoroughly.  Sprinkle with chopped peanuts and/or scallions if you like.  Ooh and aah.  Serve and eat!

Related posts:

1. Linguine with Lemon, Swiss Chard and Chicken Meatballs
2. Pretend you’re a chicken…parmesan
3. Here’s a New Year’s resolution for you: eat tasty food. like apricot chicken