Indian-Spiced Chicken and Asparagus

I am totally an asparagus junkie. I bookmark piles and piles of asparagus recipes every spring. Unfortunately, I never seem to make as many of them as I'd like - when we have a bunch of asparagus we usually just throw it on the grill. Grilled asparagus is one of life's great pleasures - just toss the spears with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. So simple, so fast and so delicious.

After grilling several bunches of asparagus last week, I did manage to bring myself to use some in a real dish. This is a recipe that I bookmarked two years ago - only now have we gotten around to making it (you see what I mean about my backlog).

I loved the creaminess of this dish. It has lots of flavors going on, with the spices, the chile, the ginger, the garlic, and the asparagus itself, but the coconut milk manages to bind everything together into a tasty whole. The wet, crunchy texture of the asparagus provided a nice contrast with the soft chicken and rice. It made for a yummy dinner - and the leftovers were even better for lunch the next day.

Indian-Spiced Chicken and Asparagus
From Eating Well March/April 2011.

1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1 lb chicken breast, cut into 1" cubes
3/4 tsp salt, divided
2 tbsp canola oil, divided
1 onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno, minced
1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
1 1/2 lb asparagus, woody ends snapped off
1/2 c light coconut milk
1/2 c cilantro, roughly chopped

In a small, dry skillet, toast the cumin and fennel seeds over medium heat until they begin to brown (keep an eye on them so they don't burn - I overdid mine a bit, though they ended up tasting fine). Transfer to a spice grinder and grind to a fine powder. Toss the chicken with half the spice mixture and 1/4 tsp salt.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add the chicken and cook, stirring, until browned on all sides. Remove to a plate.

Reduce the heat to medium. Add the other 1 tbsp oil to the pan. When hot, add the onions, garlic, jalapeno, and ginger. Cook 2-4 minutes, until softened. Add the asparagus and the remaining spice mixture, stir well, and cook another 2 min.

Add the coconut milk and remaining 1/2 tsp salt and cook another 2 min. Return the chicken to the pan and cook 2 minutes more, until asparagus is tender but still crisp. Garnish with cilantro and serve over rice.

Mustard Milanese Chicken

It is not often that I make a recipe for dinner and run to my computer to immediately blog about it. I ate this less than an hour ago and here I am, kitchen cleaned up, photos edited, and blog entry in progress. That should tell you that this is a special one.

This recipe comes from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, which is probably the best Christmas present I got this year. The recipes on Deb's blog are always brilliant, so I expected no less from her book, but it is much more than that. Even as I sit down to write this post, I find myself lovingly flipping through the pages, sighing over the gorgeous photography and engagingly-written recipe intros. I want to make every single recipe (even the ones with ingredients I don't normally eat, like fish). So far I've made four recipes from the book in the two and a half weeks I've had it at home, which is undoubtedly the fastest I've ever gotten into a cookbook. Everything I've made has been wonderful.

This recipe stood out to me because of the gorgeous picture. Honestly, it's just a piece of chicken, breaded and fried. I recognized that when I noted the recipe on my mental must-do list, but something about it called to me, and I'm glad it did.

You see, while I pretend to be all bad-ass in the kitchen with my fancy food blog, when it comes to breading and frying meat, I sit back and leave things to Jeff. My husband is brilliant at this. When he asked me to put chicken parm on the menu this week (which is one of his specialties), I showed him this recipe and got him to redirect his enthusiasm. Chicken parm is great and all, but why douse a perfectly crisp, golden-brown breading in tomato sauce if you don't have to? Jeff executed this recipe perfectly, pounding the chicken thin, breading it and crisping it to golden perfection in the pan. The chicken was crunchy on the outside while staying moist and succulent on the inside. The mustard and lemon juice in the batter added a delicate zing to what appeared to be an ordinary chicken dish.

I'm glad we have leftovers, because (as Jeff so astutely observed during dinner) this will make one hell of a sandwich for lunch tomorrow.

Mustard Milanese Chicken
Adapted from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook.

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
salt and pepper
1/3 c flour
2 eggs
4 tbsp Dijon mustard
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp lemon zest
2 c panko breadcrumbs
canola oil for cooking
lemon slices, for garnish

Lay one chicken breast on a cutting board, cover it with plastic wrap and pound it to 1/4" thickness with a meat pounder (you don't want a spiky tenderizer because it will flay your plastic wrap to shreds). Slice into relatively equal thirds. Repeat with the other chicken breast. Season the chicken with salt and pepper.

Add about 1/4" of oil to a large skillet and heat over medium-high.

Arrange three large plates or shallow containers on your counter. Add the flour to the first and the panko to the third (we advise only adding a small amount at a time, to reduce waste at the end). Whisk together the eggs, mustard, garlic, oregano and lemon zest and add them to the second container (you will have more than is pictured below - the original recipe called for half this quantity, but because we cut our chicken into more pieces, we ran out halfway through).

Dredge each piece of chicken lightly in the flour, then in the egg mixture, then coat well with panko, patting it into any naked crevices.

Carefully lay the breaded chicken in the hot oil. Cook 3-4 minutes per side, until golden-brown. Continue to dredge the rest of the chicken as these cook. As each piece is done, remove it to a paper bag or folded up paper towel to drain. (You may need to replenish your oil for subsequent batches of chicken - if so, make sure it gets nice and hot before adding any more chicken to the pan!)

Serve with lemon slices and a nice salad. Drizzle your chicken with a small squeeze of lemon juice before enjoying!

Old-Fashioned Chicken Soup

Sometimes the tastiest recipes take me by surprise. So it was with this chicken soup - it was thrown together almost as an afterthought after a full day of fall canning, but turned out to be the most delicious thing we made all day. In fact, I took the above picture of my bowl after I'd already started eating it - I had no intention of blogging this recipe. But when I took the first bite and realized that it was the most delicious chicken soup I'd ever had, I knew I had to get it on the blog - as much for your benefit as for mine, so we can recreate this recipe soon!

We made chicken soup because we had a chicken carcass available. We've done this before - no big deal. But this time was a little different, because the carcass was raw. Last week I made a recipe calling for bone-in chicken parts, so I bought a whole chicken and had Jeff cut it up into the pieces we wanted. His butchery skills (as he admitted at the time) leave something to be desired, so we ended up with a lot of meat left on the carcass. Soup was the perfect solution - we could get all of the flavorful goodness out of the bones and have some meat to add to the soup. Brilliant!

In practice, once I began the recipe, I was skeptical. Raw chicken grosses me out. Raw chicken stewing in its own juices sounds like a terrible idea. I added everything to the pot, turned up the heat, and wondered if we'd end our evening by ordering take-out. There was no way I was going to eat that. Fast forward two hours, though, and the chicken had cooked through and created a rich, gorgeous stock. A delicious, homey aroma wafted around our house as the stock simmered. My attitude changed. The raw chicken was able to poach in its own juices and fats, making the meat tender and moist. I don't think a pre-cooked chicken could achieve this same texture and flavor. Clearly, what I initially thought was a bad idea was really the best idea ever!

The final product is worth the long wait. Trust me. This is no over-salted Campbell's creation - this is real soup, homemade and unprocessed, perfect for a lazy, chilly weekend afternoon.

Old-Fashioned Chicken Soup
Adapted from a food.com recipe.

1 raw chicken carcass, preferably with some meat still attached
8 c water
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 onion, quartered and unpeeled
6 carrots - 2 roughly chopped and 4 sliced into small half-moons
2 celery stalks - 1 roughly chopped, with leaves, and 1 sliced
2-3 sprigs fresh dill
2 handfuls egg noodles
2 tbsp parsley, chopped

Place chicken carcass, salt, pepper, onion, 2 roughly chopped carrots, 1 celery stalk (with all leaves) and dill in a large Dutch oven. Pour water over them (we cut the carcass into pieces so that the water would mostly cover it - I'm not sure how much this matters, though, as long as the pot is covered). Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, for at least two hours.

When the stock is ready, pour the entire mixture through a cheese cloth or wire mesh strainer, reserving the liquid (I skimmed off about half of the fat that rose to the top at this point). Remove the chicken bones and pick the meat off of them, reserving it for later. (Eat the delicious mushy carrots.) Discard the remaining solids (chicken bones, soggy celery, onions, dill).

Add the remaining sliced carrots and celery and chicken stock to the pot. Add 2-3 more cups of water or other stock, if necessary (we neglected to cover the stock pot the whole time, so ours reduced down a lot more than we wanted - we had less than half the liquid we had started with, which wasn't enough for the rest of the soup, so we added liquid - half water, half veggie stock - to get it back up over the original mark). Bring the soup to a boil, then simmer 30 minutes. Taste and re-season, if necessary. Add uncooked egg noodles and cooked chicken, simmering until egg noodles are cooked through (our noodles took 12-14 minutes). Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.

Chicken Salad with Ginger-Soy Vinaigrette

I had a delicious quick salad for dinner the other night. I feel like the last two months have been a constant battle to consume all the lettuce I get from the farm before I have to pick up some more. Most of the time, I'm eating the same salad - lettuce, carrots, peas or radishes, and honey mustard dressing. I'm happy with it, but it gets boring after so many weeks. I added some leftover tandoori chicken and dried cherries (they're not in the picture - I forgot them the first night, but ate them with my leftovers) and tried out a different dressing. Quick, easy and tasty. Served with my farro salad, it was a nice fresh meal for a hot summer night.

Chicken Salad with Ginger-Soy Vinaigrette
Inspired by Rachel Ray's 30-Minute Get Real Meals.

1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 tbsp lime juice
1 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp tamari
1 1/2 tbsp canola oil
4 c salad greens
2 carrots, sliced (I used a purple one and a yellow one, for color)
1/3 c snow peas, sliced
3/4 c cooked chicken (mine was leftover tandoori chicken from the night before)
1/3 c dried cherries

Combine the first five ingredients in a bowl and whisk well to combine.

In a larger bowl, combine greens, carrot, snow peas, chicken and cherries. Toss with dressing and serve!

Farm Fridays: Chicken Chow Mein with Spring Vegetables

Welcome to my new feature: farm Fridays! I spent my winter thinking about how I could integrate my CSA, Honey Brook Organic Farm, into my blog more effectively. I knew I wanted to move toward offering seasonal recipes. What better way than to blog about my CSA share each week?

So here's the plan: I'll be picking up my share on Friday mornings, going home to plan a menu, doing my grocery shopping for the week, then cooking up something tasty for dinner from the day's produce and blogging about it. While it sounds like a lot of work, it's pretty much what I would do anyway - I'm just adding a deadline for myself. Hopefully, this will help out my fellow CSA members who may be mystified by their piles of produce each week.

Speaking of piles of produce, this is a picture of my haul for this week. My kitchen is currently buried in leaves: lettuce, arugula, bok choy and spinach (and this picture doesn't even show half of my spinach - two pounds is a lot! I can't imagine what people with family shares are doing with four pounds!) There are also some leeks, so it's not a total leaf monopoly. I went out and picked some herbs as well - parsley and garlic chives - which I'm going to use in a lovely cold potato salad tomorrow. I love that potato salad, so it may be making it to the blog soon!

When I was looking for something to make today, I immediately fixed in on the baby bok choy. It's so cute and perky. I knew I could find something delicious to do with it. I settled on this chicken chow mein from Jamie Oliver's Jamie's Food Revolution. I have been loving this cookbook lately (my awesome potato salad comes from there as well!). Jamie Oliver's attitude toward cooking is really laid back. His cookbooks don't contain precise measurements and he offers lots of suggestions about substitutions and extra twists you can put on each dish. Perhaps that is what inspired me this morning, because I played around with this recipe quite a bit, taking inspiration from the fresh spring produce sitting in my fridge. The result, as you will see, was fantastic. I only wish it used a bit more of my bok choy!

Note on servings: the original recipe says it serves two, but we had a whole serving of the meat and veggies left over. If you want to stretch it out for three, you may want to cook 6 oz of noodles and some extra baby bok choy. 

Chicken Chow Mein with Spring Vegetables
Adapted from Jamie's Food Revolution.

1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced (about a thumb-sized piece)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 chile pepper, minced (I used a green cayenne I had frozen from my garden last fall - remove the seeds if you don't want a really hot dish)
1 1/2-2 tbsp peanut oil
1 chicken breast, sliced into thin strips and seasoned with salt and pepper (6-8 oz)
2 spring onions, chopped, tops and bottoms separated
4 shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and sliced
6 baby bok choy 
8 oz asparagus, chopped into 2" segments
4 oz chow mein noodles (or linguine, if you can't find them at the store, like me!)
1 tsp cornstarch
8 oz can water chestnuts (don't drain it - you'll need the water too)
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 lime, juice only

Put a large pot of salted water to boil for the noodles. (The recipe says to cook the chow mein noodles 3-4 minutes, but my linguine took 12. Check the package directions and make sure you have enough time, since the rest of the cooking is quick and you don't want your food getting cold!) Add the noodles and cook for the allotted time. About 2 minutes before the noodles are done, toss in the bok choy and asparagus. When everything is done, scoop them off the top and set them aside, then drain the noodles in a colander.

Meanwhile, heat a large wok over high heat. Add the peanut oil and swirl to coat. When the oil is hot, add the chicken and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly, until cooked through and slightly browned.

Add the ginger, garlic, chile and mushrooms and the white part of the spring onions. Stir-fry for another minute or so, stirring constantly. Then add the cornstarch, water chestnuts and their water to the wok. Stir well to combine everything. Make sure nothing is sticking to the bottom of the wok, then remove it from the heat.

Add the soy sauce, lime juice and boiled asparagus to the pan and toss everything to combine. Serve over noodles, with bok choy on the side.

Carne, Vale! (and Chicken with Brussels Sprouts and Mustard Sauce)

Carne, vale! (For those of you who are rusty on the Latin, that means "goodbye, meat!")

Yes, once again, Jeff and I are going vegetarian for Lent. We tried this last year and it was very successful, so we're giving it another go. Unlike last year, when I was a bit skeptical of our ability to cook so many meatless meals (I remember compiling recipes in advance to see if we could make it), this year I've been looking forward to it. This past week I planned more meat-based meals than we'd had in months, to send it out in style, but the fact is that it doesn't appeal to me as much anymore. Besides having the confidence that we can cook delicious vegetarian meals for forty days, my priorities have shifted. Last year, I was primarily motivated by environmental concerns, as well as a vague sense that this would be a healthier choice. This year, health has become a primary factor. Meat made me sick four times between mid-October and New Years Eve, and now that I have to lower my cholesterol, I've been leaning away from it even more. A vegetarian diet is really best for me - lessening my impact on the environment is now just a bonus. I'm really looking forward to the next several weeks of plant-based eating.

That being said, we made a pretty delicious chicken dish yesterday - a great way to send meat out of our diets in style. This tender chicken is slathered in a cidery-mustard reduction, paired with luciously soft Brussels sprouts. I've always thought Brussels sprouts had a bit of a mustardy kick on their own, so they pair beautifully with the Dijon. I felt like a bit more of a kick would have really put this sauce over the top - next time we might throw in some red pepper flakes for a bit of heat, or perhaps cider vinegar for an acidic bite. But even without that extra something, I all but licked my plate clean.

What makes this a great go-to recipe is that, while it does take a bit of time, there seems to be a lot of down time. Jeff and I were in the kitchen together and there were several lulls where neither of us had anything to do. That leaves plenty of time to prepare another veggie side dish (or some flaky biscuits, if you're not watching your cholesterol!). Even though I won't be eating any meat for awhile, I plan on doing it again as soon as I can! There are still Brussels sprouts in April, right?

Chicken with Brussels Sprouts and Mustard Sauce (for two!)
From Cooking Light December 2011.

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil, divided

2 6 oz boneless chicken breasts

1/2 c chicken broth, divided

1/8 c unfiltered apple cider (we used cider from Terhune Orchards, which is a staple in our fridge)

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp butter, divided

1/2 tbsp dried parsley

8 oz Brussels sprouts, halved

 Preheat oven to 450°F.

Heat a cast-iron (or other ovenproof) skillet over high heat. Add 1/2 tbsp oil. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper, to taste, and place in the pan. Cook about 3 minutes until browned. Turn the chicken over. and then place the pan in the preheated oven for about 9 minutes, or until cooked through. Remove the chicken to a plate and cover with foil (or a pot lid) to keep warm.

Return the pan to the stove over medium-high heat. Add 1/4 c broth and cider and bring to a boil. Scrape the pan to loosen any browned bits. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer about 4 minutes, until thickened. Add mustard, 1/2 tbsp butter and parsley and whisk to blend well.

Meanwhile, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 tbsp oil and 1/2 tbsp butter to the pan. Add the Brussels sprouts and saute 2-3 minutes, until they begin to brown.

Salt the Brussels sprouts and add 1/2 c chicken broth to the pan. Then cover it and cook another 4 minutes, until tender. While the sprouts are finishing, return the chicken to the pan and coat it with the sauce. Serve the remaining sauce over the sprouts.

Mexican Chicken Casserole

I watched an episode of Good Eats today in which Alton Brown used leftover tortillas to make a Mexican version of lasagna with enchilada sauce. I was very amused, because I have leftovers from just such a recipe in my refrigerator right now. His recipe was startlingly similar to the one we used (from Cooking Light), although ours contains a much higher proportion of vegetables (just the way I like it). In fact, this time I really overloaded on the vegetables, using up what I had rather than following the recipe. More veggies = more healthy, right?

I originally pulled out this recipe because it sounded interesting, but I didn't actually make it for another nine months, and then only because it fit the ingredients I was trying to use up (a surplus of plum tomatoes from the farm). It turned out to be a keeper - delicious layers of fresh produce, grilled chicken, enchilada sauce, corn tortillas and cheese all melded together. I particularly like the way the corn tortillas - which can be dry on their own - get all mushy and moist in the final product. ("Mushy" is perhaps not a word with a positive connotation when it comes to food, but in this case, it's a good thing!) The fact that this can be put together a day ahead of time makes it even better - perfect for football Sundays when you just want to toss something into the oven at half time!

Mexican Chicken Casserole
Adapted from Cooking Light January/February 2011.

salsa:

8 plum tomatoes, halved and seeded (I used Plum Dandies, which seed easily and have a lot of firm flesh)

3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

1 small onion, peeled and roughly chopped

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and quartered

cooking spray

1/3 c fresh cilantro (the cilantro I had waiting for this decided to kick the bucket a day early, so I used a bunch of partially-dried parsley that I had on hand - it's not the same, but sometimes you have to roll with the punches in the kitchen!)

3 tbsp lime juice (fresh tastes best, but I went with the bottled juice I had on hand)

1/8 tsp black pepper
rest of casserole:
1 c onion, chopped
1 c corn kernels (I used one ear)
1 c zucchini, diced (I used two very small ones - probably about 2 c)
1 c red bell pepper, chopped (I used the whole thing)
3 c chicken breast, cooked and shredded (I used two organic chicken breasts)
1 tbsp garlic, minced
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
10 oz can green chile enchilada sauce
4 oz can chopped green chiles
12 6" corn tortillas
1 c (4 oz) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 c (4 oz) crumbled goat cheese

For salsa:
Preheat broiler. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray (I lined mine with foil as well), and put tomatoes, crushed garlic cloves, small onion and jalapeno on it. Broil 20 minutes, until lightly charred. Remove from oven and cool slightly. Put the mixture in the food processor with cilantro, lime juice and black pepper. Process until smooth.

Preheat oven to 350° F. To prepare the primary casserole filling, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Lightly coat the pan with cooking spray (off the heat, please!). Add onion, corn, zucchini and bell pepper and saute until tender (~6 minutes). Add the chicken, garlic, cumin, chili powder, enchilada sauce and green chiles. Saute a few more minutes until heated through. (It's really tasty - I might eat it on its own, or over rice, as another option!)

Coat a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray. Spread about 1/2 c of salsa along the bottom of the pan (this prevents the tortillas from sticking). Arrange six tortillas over the salsa. Spread half the chicken mixture on top. Top with half the remaining salsa, then half of each cheese. Repeat layers, starting from the tortillas.

Bake at 350° for 25 minutes, until nice and bubbly. Cool slightly before serving. (The leftovers are great, too - just reheat them in a toaster oven!)

Grilled Chicken and Vegetable Kebabs

This is probably the last post you're going to see here for a few weeks. I'm going off to London in a few days to do some research, and I hear the cooking facilities in the University of London dorms aren't up to par (yet another reason that I do not miss dorm living).

Since I will soon be reduced to eating stale crackers and reheated takeout, I'm trying to make the most of the few fresh, healthy meals I have left. Naturally, we've been using the grill. Of course, it would be far pleasanter if we were grilling while chilling out on the deck, enjoying the summer evenings. But alas, triple-digit temperatures have been lasting well into the evening, meaning that dinner has been on the couch, in front of the TV, and near the A/C vents. These are not the bucolic sort of evenings they should be. Nevertheless, the food has been excellent!

I love anything grilled. Even a gas grill manages to impart some sort of magical flavor to everything that lands on it. Grilled meat is just so much more delicious than meat prepared any other way. And that goes the same for vegetables. These skewers showcase summer produce at its best: tender zucchini with its skin beginning to blister, extra-sweet bell peppers and red onions, bright little tomatoes bursting open with the heat, and soft, juicy chicken with tiny bits of char at the edges. It would be delightful on its own, but the addition of a garlic-lemon-parsley marinade really puts it over the top, binding all the flavors together. We've done this recipe three times already - once for a crowd - and it hasn't failed to please. The original recipe calls for a creamy pesto dipping sauce (I originally bookmarked the recipe as a way to use up some basil), but I see no need. What makes this so delicious is that the flavors of the individual pieces are allowed to shine through - even the marinade serves to highlight the beautiful summer produce.

If you're looking for something to make on a lazy summer's evening, chatting in the backyard until the sun goes down - or even if you're huddling around the A/C vents like me - this is a great recipe to try with any summer veggies that you have available.

Grilled Chicken and Vegetable Kebabs
Adapted from myrecipes.com.

zest and juice of 1 lemon

2-3 stalks fresh parsley

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 bell pepper, cut into 1" pieces (I cut mine into eighths)

8 cherry or grape tomatoes

1 red onion, cut into 1" pieces

1 zucchini, cut into 1" pieces (I cut the smaller zucchini into rounds and the bigger one into half-moons)

1 chicken breast, cut into 1" pieces

Combine lemon zest, parsley and garlic in the food processor and chop.

Pour mixture into a large bowl and add lemon juice, oil, salt and pepper. Whisk to blend. Toss with vegetables and chicken.

Thread onto skewers (this recipe made six skewers for us - enough for dinner and leftovers!). Coat your grill with cooking spray. Lay the skewers on the grill and cook 12 minutes, turning occasionally. Enjoy!

Skillet Rosemary Chicken

I've been on a huge comfort food kick lately. I guess it's the cold. And the fact that it snows significantly every five to seven days (or maybe three to five days, judging by the current 10-day forecast). All of my meal choices seem to revolve around having a pot simmering on the stove for several hours (this may also be because I'm in love with my new Dutch oven - it's orange!): chicken cacciatore, beef stew, arroz con pollo, baked potato soup.

I know, I know - you want to know why I didn't blog about most of these. Sometimes one is so concerned with getting the stew in the pot so it'll be cooked by dinnertime that taking pictures falls by the wayside. And other times one takes meticulous pictures of, say, a baked potato soup that comes out more like mashed potatoes (the most delicious mashed potatoes ever, but not quite a soup). These things get filed under "next time."

But what I have for you today is better, in many ways, because it has all the comfort of comfort food in a fraction of the time. Roast chicken is awesome - simple, yet juicy and tender. Carrots and potatoes will soak up all the juices and flavor from the bottom of the pan. But it can take hours, depending on your chicken and your roasting temperature. And you have to handle a whole, raw chicken, which I find nasty.

Never fear, however. You can have all the benefits of roast chicken without all the hassle. This recipe takes about 40 minutes and the results are just as good as if it had spent hours in the oven. The biggest hassle, in my eyes, is portion size. It uses bone-in chicken breast halves, which are far too big for one person. I suppose they could be cut in half, if you had a meat cleaver and felt like butchering raw chicken. If you, like me, do not have such inclinations, you can be careful to only eat half. It's worked for me so far.

Skillet Rosemary Chicken

Adapted from Food Network.

3/4 lb small red-skinned potatoes

2 tsp kosher salt, plus more for potatoes

2 sprigs fresh rosemary, plus 1 tbsp leaves

1 clove garlic, smashed

pinch red pepper flakes

1 lemon, halved and juiced (don't throw away the juiced halves!)

1 tbsp olive oil

2 bone-in chicken breasts (the original recipe calls for four, but I found that two is plenty for my skillet)

3 carrots, cut into chunks

Preheat oven to 450°F. Quarter potatoes and put in a pot. Add enough cold water to cover. Salt and bring to a boil. Boil for ~8 minutes, until tender. Drain and reserve.

Pile rosemary leaves, garlic, 2 tsp salt and red pepper flakes in a mortar and grind to a paste. (Fresh rosemary is obviously going to work best here, since it will release oils which will contribute to the paste. Unfortunately, my rosemary bush is covered in snow at the moment, so I used dried leaves and some extra garlic for lubrication. It seemed to work fine.)

Transfer the paste to a bowl. Stir in the olive oil and half the lemon juice. Add the chicken breasts and turn to coat.

Heat a cast-iron (or other oven safe) skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken, skin-side down. Cover and cook ~5 minutes, until skin is browned.

Turn the chicken. Pile the potatoes and carrots underneath the chicken and drizzle with the remaining lemon juice. Add rosemary sprigs (again, I skipped this for want of fresh ones and it was still ok) and lemon halves. Transfer the pan to the oven and roast, uncovered, 20-25 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and the skin is crisp. Enjoy!

Chicken Cacciatore

It's good to be back in the kitchen.

The last month or so has been crazy. We've been out of town, at parties - eating everywhere but at home. But we're now back to our regular routine of cooking three to four times a week. Usually, that cooking includes two or three new recipes. When I put together the menu for the current week or so, I was obviously suffering from kitchen withdrawal, because every recipe on the list is new. That's ten new recipes in ten days. Today alone I did two of them.

This post is focusing on the entree: chicken cacciatore. I don't believe I'd ever eaten this before, but it looked like some great Italian comfort food. I've been yearning for something that I could leave simmering on the stove, filling the house with beautiful aromas. This was definitely it. First the house smelled browning chicken. Then like sauteed peppers and onions, then sweet roma tomatoes. And the flavors were as delicious as the aromas. The meat was fairly tender, although I think a longer simmer could make it fall-off-the-bone tender. The sauce was deliciously complex, with layers of flavor interacting: the garlic, the wine, the browned chicken skin, the delicious sweetness of the tomatoes, the fresh herbs.

What surprised me the most about this recipe was its lightness. When I put this on my menu, I expected a heavy Sunday dinner, but it was far from it. Now, part of that was due to our own reduction of the recipe. Jeff and I decided we had too many leftovers lying around and skipped the chicken breasts, which left out more than half the the meat. Also, I really should have put it over some sort of pasta (which is what I think I'm going to do with the leftovers tomorrow!). Still, a single chicken thigh with a thick, vegeabley sauce was exactly what I needed after weeks of sweet and heavy meals. And the buttermilk chive biscuit and roasted broccoli I served with it put it over the top. Don't worry - you'll get the biscuit recipe soon! 

Chicken Cacciatore

Courtesy of Giada de Laurentiis.

4 chicken thighs, skin-on and bone-in
2 chicken breast halves, skin-on and bone-in, halved crosswise
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 c flour
3 tbsp olive oil
1 red bell pepper, chopped (the recipe wasn't specific about this - I did a rough dice)
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3/4 c dry white wine
28 oz can diced tomatoes, with juice
3/4 c low sodium chicken broth
3 tbsp capers, drained
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 c fresh basil, chopped

Sprinkle chicken with 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper. Dredge in flour to coat lightly.

In large sautee pan, heat oil on medium-high. Add chicken to pan and saute until brown, about 5 minutes per side (do in multiple batches if necessary). Transfer chicken to a plate and set aside.

 

Add garlic, onion and bell pepper to the same pan and saute over medium heat until onion is tender, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Add wine and simmer until reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Add toamtoes and juice, broth, capers and oregano.

 

Return chicken to the pan and turn to coat with sauce. Bring the sauce to a simmer. Continue simmering over medium-low heat until chicken is cooked through (20-30 minutes).

Transfer the chicken to a platter. Bring the sauce to a boil until it thickens (3-5 minutes). Spoon off any excess fat. Spoon sauce over chicken, sprinkle with basil and serve.

Chicken Parm!!!

Today was a gorgeous fall day - almost spring-like in its temperateness, but also breezy with falling leaves. We spent most of the day doing badly-needed yardwork. My twelve-foot butterfly bush is now a manageable six feet, space was cleared for an extended 2011 vegetable garden, and the front garden was rearranged into ruliness (although Jeff claims we were simply rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic). Much was accomplished. Even more importantly, many calories were burned.

An active afternoon was a necessity - required by what was going to go down this evening. We made chicken parm. When we make chicken parm, it's a lot of food. A full chicken breast, pounded out and nestled in a bed of pasta. It's major.

Fortunately, today I managed to lighten things up. I've been trying to eat smaller portions of meat. I knew Jeff wouldn't be willing to sacrifice any part of his chicken parm, so instead I included only a tiny portion of pasta (only enough to wipe up the sauce) and a vegetable accompaniment - roasted cauliflower. This morning the farmer's market had some orange cauliflower. I've never tried the other varieties, so I jumped at the chance. The taste is essentially the same, although a bit milder, but the orange kind comes with extra vitamin A, which is always a good thing.

In the end, my efforts at lightening the meal weren't necessary anyway - the whole chicken breast was too much for me. I only ate about half. And I'm glad, for two reasons: now I have extra leftovers for tomorrow, and now I have more room for apple crisp later on!

Chicken Parmesan à la Jeff

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin

1/2 c plain bread crumbs (We prefer to use Italian, but I keep messing up at the store and buying plain, so  today we just added some Italian seasoning.)

2 tsp Italian seasoning

2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese

1 egg

1/2 tbsp milk

2 tbsp flour

salt and pepper

3 tbsp olive oil

~4 oz mozzarella cheese

~ half a jar of tomato sauce

Preheat oven to 350°.

Set up the breading area:

Spread flour, salt and pepper on a dinner plate. Combine bread crumbs, Italian seasoning, garlic powder and Parmesan and spread on another dinner plate. Whisk egg and milk together in a bowl. (These amounts should be adjusted to the amount of chicken you have. The flour and egg mixtures were just right for three chicken breasts, but there was probably enough bread crumbs for a fourth. Jeff ended up packing the extra crumbs onto the chicken anyway, but they would have been fine with a little less breading as well.) Coat the chicken in the flour, then in the egg, then in the bread crumbs. Make sure all sides are covered.

Brown the chicken:

Heat the oil in a deep-sided skillet (in case of splatter) over medium-high heat. Brown the chicken for about four minutes per side, then remove to a brown paper bag to drain. (I suppose you could use something else, but my mom always used brown paper grocery bags. Just make sure you're not putting the food on any printing, because the ink might leach into the food.)

Prepare the dish:

In a baking dish, pour a layer of sauce across the bottom (to taste - I like a lot of sauce, because I love how thick and flavorful the baking process makes it). Lay the chicken on top. Sprinkle about half the cheese on the chicken, add some more sauce, then sprinkle on the remainder of the cheese. Bake for about 25 minutes, until chicken is cooked through. Cool slightly and serve.