This plate looks like a hodgepodge, and it is. This plate may look bland, but let me assure you that it is not! The acorn squash has been roasted with garam masala, turmeric & cumin, and the chicken was coated with a spice oil with cumin, red pepper flakes, garlic and paprika. Yum.
The chicken was actually from a dish I made earlier this week. It was originally roasted with chickpeas and cherry tomatoes. The chickpeas dried out and were not that great, and the cherry tomatoes just didn't seem to go with the rest of the flavors. Well, I was roasting my squash and trying to think of what else I could eat for dinner. I remembered that I still had chicken left. Really not wanting the same left overs again, I decided to make chicken salad and eat that on a whole wheat baguette! The bread is what really makes this unlike my left overs from yesterday, but it was just enough of a change!
I really like the yogurt sauce that goes along with the chicken. This was my first time having greek yogurt, and I loved it! I'm not sure how it would be to eat daily, since it was so tangy. But, in this savory spicy dish, it was really wonderful. Greg loved the chicken, too, so we'll make this again. The only thing I will change (other than leaving out the chickpeas and tomatoes) is that I would remove the skin from the chicken thighs & marinate them for a few hours.
Recipe:
Chicken: Serves 5
2.5 lbs chicken thighs, skinned
1/4 C. extra-virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced or grated
1 tbs. smoked paprika
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. dried crushed red pepper
1/2 C. plain yogurt or Greek yogurt
-Mix oil, garlic, paprika & cumin together. Add 1 tbs of oil to the yogurt, stir and chill.
-Coat chicken with oil and roast for 20-30 minutes at 450 degrees. Serve with the cool yogurt.
Acorn Squash: Serves 5 as a side.
1 large acorn squash
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp cumin
olive oil
-Cut squash in half crosswise. Scoop out seeds and fiber. Slice each half in half lengthwise. Set each quarter down on a flat/cut side. Now make 1 inch thick slices. Using a pairing knife, remove the skins. Cut each slice into cubes. In a large bowl, combine with all ingredients. Stir to coat. Roast at 425 degrees for 20 minutes. After the first 10 minutes, stir the squash.
-Enjoy!!!
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Roasted Squash & Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad
Monday, October 6, 2008
Moroccan Chicken
Yum, yyyyuuummmmmm, YUM! Well if you couldn't tell, we really enjoyed this dish. I found the recipe on epicurious while searching for recipes that have chickpeas. Ironically, I forgot to add the chickpeas. The name lead me to do a bit of research on Moroccan food. It appears that this is actually based on traditional Moroccan cooking! I was so impressed. All of the spices, and cooking method for this particular cut of meat checked out to be fairly authentic. I used chicken thighs, and the less ideal cuts of meat are cooked in a Tajine (large pot) in a sauce, creating a "stew". Very cool.
All of the flavors in this are very familiar to American tastes, so if you are even a bit adventurous, this would be worth trying. One word of warning, it is very aromatic, so crack open a window while cooking!
I made this while Greg was at work, and he had a re-heated serving once he got home (10pm..better than midnight!). It was even great re-heated. I was a bit nervous to see if he would like it or not, but after one bite he started getting his tell tale "let's make this one again" smile.
Recipe: (doubled version from epicurious, serves 4-5)
2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
1 pkg chicken thighs or meat with bone and skin (~2.5lbs)
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp lemon zest, fine
3 tsp flour
3 C. chicken broth
2 TBS honey
1 C. chickpeas
2 C. rice, cooked
1/2 onion, chopped
-Cook rice as directed by package. If you are using dry grains, when there is about 20 minutes left on the rice, start cooking the chicken. If you are using instant rice, start cooking when you return the chicken to the pan after searing (step 5).
-Heat oil in a very large skillet (large enough so that the pieces of meat do not touch) around medium high to high. I actually had to use two skillets, splitting the ingredients in half into each.
-Season chicken with sea salt and ground black pepper. Sear skin side down.
-Remove chicken, set aside.
-Reduce heat to medium, add chopped onion, cumin, paprika, cinnamon, lemon zest & flour. Stir to create a paste. About 1 minute. Add the chicken broth and honey. Stir to combine. The sauce will be very thin and water like at this point.
-Add the chicken, skin side up. Turn down to a simmer and cook for 8-10 minutes, until cooked through. Leave uncovered so the sauce can reduce.
-Once the chicken is cooked, remove from pan. Add chickpeas and continue to simmer for 3-5 minutes.
-Serve chicken over rice. Pour sauce with chickpeas on top of chicken.
-Enjoy!!!
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Honey BBQ Chicken
This past Labor Day Greg and I went to Dan and Rebecca's to grill. We provided the meat, they provided the grill! We had a nice day. Rebecca and I relaxed while Dan and Greg washed and waxed Dan's car. If you thought it looked fast before, watch out! This was the first car Greg washed since we moved last summer. Well, other than hang out, we also ate some awesome food. Rebecca made sweet potato fries (which we believe that recipe is courtesy of Sister-in-law Beth), corn bread muffins, bbq chicken, grilled pineapple, and lemon dessert. My mouth is watering just thinking about it all! We tried to take some pictures of our feast, but unfortunately our camera batteries were low, and absolutely nothing was in focus. It's really too bad, because everything together just looked amazing.
Labor Day was also a day of many firsts! My first time butterflying a chicken, grilling, making my own bbq sauce, and everyone's first time seeing a whole chicken on the grill. It was very fun. The chicken recipe came from my most recent Fine Cooking magazine. I stayed in line with the recipe for the most part. I changed a few things based on ingredients that I already had, and then again for preference. For example, I really like my bbq sauce on the sweet side, so I added more honey that originally called for, and knowing that Rebecca dislikes vinegar, I left that out. Next time I would like to put an oven themometer in the grill, so we can better judge how long it will take to cook. And, though our meat thermometer read that the meat was cooked, the meat around the bones was not cooked. Nothing that a little microwaving coudln't take care of, but next time I'd really like for it to be cooked through the whole way. I don't really have that problem when I oven roast chickens.
Chicken Recipe:
1 whole chicken, butterflied
2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp paprika
1 1/2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp thyme
3/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp chipotle chile powder
1 clove garlic, crushed/minced
BBQ sauce Recipe:
1/3 C. honey
1 TBS soy sayce
2 TBS ketchup
2 tsp dried mustard
2 tsp WOrcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp chili powder
-Prepare the chicken: Mix olive oil, sat, chili powder, paprika, brown sugar, thype, black pepper, chiotle powder and garlic in a small bowl. Massage onto chicken, inbetween skin and muscle, and on top of the skin. Let sit either overnight in the fridge or 30 minutes on the counter.
-Prepare the sauce: Add all sauce ingredients
-Sear the chicken skin side on the grill at high heat (450 degrees).
-Once seared, turn down heat to about 350, or move to a cool place on the grill. Start brushing on the bbq sauce every 5-10 minutes until the chicken is cooked. Let stand for a few minutes once cooked all of the way through.
Sweet Potato Fry Recipe:
(Please correct me if this is wrong, Beth or Rebecca!)
1 large sweet potato
1 TBS extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt to taste
-Juline cut the sweet potato, leaving the skin on.
-Toss with olive oil and place on a jelly roll pan
-Roast at 400 degrees for 45 minutes
-Sprinkle with kosher salt once done cooking
-Enjoy!!!
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Pan Seared Chicken with Vegetables
Last week was a bit cooler, gray, and rainy. It looked like fall outside. What a perfect opportunity for some comfort food! This dinner filled our apartment up with warm and familiar scents, and made us really feel like it was November.
I took this recipe out of the March 2008 issue of Gourmet, generously provided by my good friend, Sasha. Sasha and her fiancee, Phil, are both wonderful and avid cooks! The original title is "Chicken in Riesling", but we didn't feel much like buying a bottle of wine to just use one cup for cooking. I think the wine would have added more flavor, but it was just fine with out. When I was at the store, they only had packages of chicken breasts with the skin and rib meat, no whole chickens, thighs, or pick-of-the-chicks. The recipe calls for 1 whole chicken, and I think that would have worked out much better, since the breast meet gets a bit more dry than everything else. And finally, the recipe calls for you to skin the potatoes, but then you are throwing away flavor, color, and nutrients!
In general, this was pretty good. Very comforting, easy, and a bit different from just baking chicken (but just about as easy). I should have seared my skin sides a bit more, and I think next time I make this I might brine it the night before, just so the chicken stays nice and moist. Greg and I also think that the presentation is nice. It's a bit rustic since you can present everything in the same dish it has been cooked in, but I think that adds to its charm!
Recipe:
About 3.5 lbs of chicken with bone and skin
1 TBS extra virgin olive oil
3 TBS butter, divided
4 leaks chopped or 2 C. sweet onion chopped
4 Medium carrots, halved
6 asparagus sprigs, cut into half
1.5 lbs small redskin potatoes
2 TBS fresh chopped parsley
1/2 C. heavy cream
1/2 C. lemon juice
-Heat oven to 350 degrees
-Rub chicken with salt and pepper.
-Heat oil with 1 TBS of butter in a wide oven proof pot or cast iron.
-Brown chicken in 2 batches. Transfer to a plate.
-Pour off fat from chicken. Add 2 TBS butter, leaks/onion and salt. Stir until golden.
-Add chicken, skin side up. Add carrots and asparagus. Add 1 C. of water or wine, boil until the liquid is reduced by half (about 4 minutes)
-Cover the pot and bake until the chicken is cooked through, 20-25 minutes.
-While chicken is baking, clean and boil potatoes until they are just tender. Drain, sprinkle with parsley, salt and pepper.
-Stir in heavy cream to the chicken, add potatoes and lemon juice.
-Enjoy!!!
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Asparagus and Chicken Pizza
I love pizza. If I didn't care much for my health or wallet, I could probably eat pizza at least once a week. One of the qualities I love so much about pizza is that anything goes. Literally, anything. You can eat pizza in just about any setting, too. It's nice stadium food, but it can be dressed up with goat cheese and roasted veggies and served with a glass of wine.
Making pizza is pretty great, too. Especially with the wide variety of pre-made crusts. I prefer the Jiffy mix (a whole whopping 49 cents for a box!), and add Italian herbs while I mix it. I think the crust gets a bit more firm than the chilled doughs, too. But that might be due to the directions; the box calls for you to pre-bake the crust, then add toppings. I'm sure this would work just fine for the roll out doughs.
Greg and I love chicken on our pizza, but it's often such an expensive item to add. It just makes more sense to make our own. Asparagus was on sale this week, so that prompted the Asparagus-Chicken combo. We also added the zest of 1/2 lemon. It turned out really well! It felt very summery because of the asparagus and lemon (it washed down great with a glass of fresca). I think the bright green is so pretty, too. All in all, I'm pleased with how this turned out. I think a bit of asiago cheese would compliment the stronger flavor of the asparagus, and next time I'll probably add a bit in.
Recipe:
1 box Jiffy pizza mix
1/2 tsp Tuscan spice blend (We really like Penzey's).
1/2 C. hot tap water
1/2 can of pizza sauce
8 oz. shredded mozzarella
1/4 C. parmesan, shredded or grated
3-5 sprigs of asparagus, depends on how thick they are
lemon zest to taste
3 chicken breast tenders
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1/8 tsp each of rosemary, basil, oregano
1 tbs corn meal
-Mix Pizza mix with Tuscan blend and water according to directions, let stand.
- Heat olive oil and spices in a pan. Cut chicken into bite size pieces. Add the chicken to the oil, stir fry until just about cooked.
-When the dough has risen, sprinkle corn meal onto a baking sheet. Spread the dough out into a rectangle. If you use the Jiffy Mix, I've found it very helpful to keep my hands wet to keep the dough from sticking to me. Pre-bake according to directions.
-Rinse asparagus and cut into 1 inch pieces. Cut width in half if needed.
-When pre-baked, add pizza sauce, shredded mozzarella, parmesan, asparagus and chicken. Add the zest of lemon on top.
-Bake as directed by pizza dough. Let cool.
-Enjoy!!!
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Enchilada's
These are about as Americanized as you can get, but very delicious! I say they are Americanized because the recipe includes: canned beans, condensed soup, instant rice, bottled salsa, pre-packaged tortillas, and shredded cheese. Hm...makes me feel a bit gross just writing about it! Greg and I try to keep things as least processed and most homemade as possible, but this recipe is definitely a huge, yummy exception.
Well, ingredients aside, these are very good. My Mom makes enchilada's and they always have super creamy nice rice, and she shared her secret! Instead of cooking rice in plain water, she cooks hers in a watery condensed creamy soup! It really makes a wonderful texture.
To come up with this recipe, Greg and I looked at what we had in the cupboard that we could make a dinner out of. We had: 1 can of kidney beans, frozen chicken, instant rice, cheese, and salsa. The only ingredients we needed were soup and tortilla's! We ended up with a super tasty, super filling, super easy supper (ok, that was a bit lame, I know)! Now, when I say filling, I mean it! With three sources of complete protein, rice that expands, and carbs to help wash it all down, these will fill you up fast!
Recipe:
1 can creamy cheese soup (Cheddar or Fiesta Nacho Campbell's soup)
1 pkg large tortillas
6 oz shredded cheese
2 C. salsa
4 chicken tenders or 2 chicken breasts
1 1/2 C. instant rice
1 15 oz can red kidney beans
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 TBS chipotle chili powder
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried oregano
ground black pepper
-Bring 1 can creamy cheese soup plus 1 1/2 cans of water to a boil, add rice. Reduce to a simmer and cover for about 15 minutes, or until most of the liquid is absorbed.
-While rice is cooking, cut chicken into very small pieces.
-Drain and rinse kidney beans
-Turn oven to 350 degrees
-Coat a pan with extra virgin olive oil. Add chili powder, cumin, oregano and black pepper. Heat.
-Add chicken and beans to oil. Stir to coat. Add 1 C. salsa. Cook on medium-high heat until chicken is cooked through, stirring often.
-Once cooked, remove from heat.
-Add the rice/soup combo once the liquid has been absorbed. Stir to combine. Set aside.
-Place 1/2 C. salsa in the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan. Spread around to coat the whole bottom.
-Place about 3/4 C. of the rice/chicken/bean mixture into a tortilla. Roll and place in the pan.
-Once they are all in the pan, cover with the rest of the salsa. Spread cheese on top of the enchilada's.
-Bake for about 15 minutes until the cheese is all melted.
-Enjoy!!!
Friday, July 4, 2008
Jambalaya
We do thank Paula for her inspiration and her proportions, because we absolutely love this dish. The flavor and texture are great, and it really transported us to the South. It's also pretty healthy (again, I think this makes up for my last few posts, this was turning into a dessert blog!) and very filling. It's easy to cook, though it takes a bit of time since there are different stages.
What I think is most fun about this recipe is that it is a combination of Creole and Cajun cooking! I didn't realize we were mixing cooking styles until I looked them up afterwards. From what I can gather, Creole jambalaya has the tomatoes and the meat is not browned. In Cajun jambalaya, the meat is browned and the "trinity" is added: onion, celery and green bell pepper. In our recipe, we cooked the onion with spices, added our (yellow) bell pepper, then added our meat, browned it, then added our tomatoes, rice and chicken stock.
Recipe:
1/2 lbs Andouille sausage
1 lbs chicken
1 C. instant brown rice
1 C. chicken stock
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1 small bell pepper, chopped
2 gloves garlic, crushed or micro planed
14 oz. diced tomatoes
8 oz. tomato sauce
2 bay leafs
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp sage
3/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp dried mustard
1/4 tsp ground coriander
Sea salt and ground black pepper
Olive oil
-In a large stock pot or dutch oven, add olive oil, onion, bell pepper, garlic, sage, thyme, ground mustard, ground coriander, cayenne pepper, sea salt, black pepper and bay leafs. Stir to combine, cook until the onion is transparent but not yet caramelized, medium heat, 5-10 minutes.
-Cut the chicken and sausage into small bit size pieces. Add these to the onion mixture. Stir to combine. Turn up to medium high heat. Let the meat brown on one side.
-Add the rice, tomatoes, tomato sauce and chicken stock. Stir it all and scrap any pieces of meat of the bottom of the pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for about 10 minutes (or as directed for your rice). Once the meat is cooked through and the rice is tender, remove from heat and let stand. Serve warm and enjoy! Also goes great with a slice of chocolate cake!
-Enjoy!!!
Friday, April 18, 2008
Pineapple Chicken Stir-fry
This is a newer recipe and one of my favorites! I saw a not so similar version on Better Crocker's website that was a cold turkey salad with pineapple and cauliflower. Everything was cooked using the stir fry method, then chilled and covered in a vinaigrette. Though I love cauliflower, I didn't think it had much of a place along side pineapple.
I will absolutely make this dinner again. It's tasty, pretty, easy, and healthy! Greg helped me prep the veggies and stir everything so nothing burned. Of course, he also helped eating a serving or two. Another great thing about this meal is that it re-heats wonderfully! The zucchini ends up a little overdone after you re-heat it, but the flavor is still great, especially that of the chicken. The next time I make this, I want to add some green onion to the soy sauce mixture, I think that would add a nice layer of flavor.
There isn't really a set recipe I follow for this, more of a technique. These measurements are all guesstimates.
Recipe:
3 Chicken breasts, sliced against the grain, each slice about 1/4 inch thick.
1-2 Zucchini, cut into slices, again about 1/4 inch thick.
1/2 Pineapple, cut into 1/2 inch -1 inch pieces
3-4 Carrots, julienne cut
1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
1/2 C. Soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp dry ginger or 1 tsp freshly grated ginger
1/2 tsp garlic powder or 1 smashed garlic clove
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes (more if you want it spicy!)
1 tbs brown sugar
Mix the soy sauce with ginger, garlic, pepper flakes and brown sugar, set aside.
Cut the veggies, set aside
Cut the chicken, set aside
Add about 1 TBS extra virgin olive oil to a large skillet or wok, set to (high) medium high. Once to temp add the veggies and pineapple and half of the soy sauce mixture. Stir frequently. Once they are cooked about half way pour them (and the sauce) back into a large bowl, cover and set aside.
Add the chicken and the remaining soy sauce. Stir frequently. Cook until chicken is no longer pink. Add the veggies back in and stir. Enjoy!!!
