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Tag Archives: Chicken
Some twenty years ago I took my first and only trip to New Orleans. I wish I could say I was there with a lover or a friend, but instead it was purely a business trip. It was in May, and it was hot and muggy. We were hungry wandering the streets of New Orleans. After a couple cocktails to cool down, and a couple turns down some side streets, we found it. The smell of spice and sticky nights was drawing us into the darkened dinning room. I had no idea of what to expect; but, what was put in front of me was memorable and unforgotten. Until now …..
Recipe: Chicken Etouffee
I am not sure about you, but the holidays seem to leave me in a whirlwind. They always sneak up on me, and just run right through our household. I never feel like we have enough time to really enjoy them. And every year, on January 1, I say the same thing, “this year will be different”. Now, I find myself staring at the calendar as I flip to December, wondering how I am going to get everything done, with no idea of where to begin. I hate it.
 
I do know, that having a couple meals planned out in advance seems to help. I am a big fan of one-pot meals, during moments when I feel like life is taking whirling by, and no better time then the holidays. Right? This is only one of many one-pot meals I love, and it is a favorite. My friend, Evelyn, introduced this to me, early in our relationship. When I first saw it, I thought she was losing her mind. I mean, prunes with chicken?! Then I tried it. I was sold. I have changed around the recipe over time. Now I add rosemary as well as fresh Meyer Lemons. Otherwise, it is the same comfortable meal, that I had for the first time 10 years ago.
This recipe is filled with flavors from zesty lemons, all the way down to gooey, sweet prunes. In my opinion there is nothing like slow-braised chicken fat, mixed with lemon, rosemary, prunes, and a little sugar; yum! I am sure if you put this on the table, even the pickiest of your eaters will love it!
Recipe: Chicken Marabella
* was developed and featured for Eat Boutique
It is that time of the month again; time for the Let’s Lunch group to get together to nosh. This month’s nibble is pies. No, I did not instantly think of a sticky, gooey, and sweet pie. Instead, my thoughts jumped to savory. Particularly, chicken pot pie. You know the kind; thick chunks of chicken, sweet veggie niblets, and a saucy but savory gravy that wraps it all together. The kind that drips off of your fork, and runs down your chin pot pie.
I have been thinking about this savory chicken pot pie since I picked up these cute chicken shaped ramekins. I know …. dorky to buy a dish just for a certain meal. I could not resist. Let’s Lunch seemed like the perfect time to perfect my pot pie recipe. Which by the way is very simple. I decided to fore-go the traditional chicken pot pie; you know the one full of chicken, peas, carrots, and celery. I wanted this one to be a little French and to ooze summer time.
I had planned to use chicken thighs for this recipe, but had a very large breast left over from another meal, so I used that. I started by using a little carrot, celery and shallot as my base and then threw in summer fresh green beans, and summer squash. As well I added a diced russet potato which acted as a thickener. The saucy sauce that brought the dish together was made with a little olive oil, butter, flour, chicken stock, and an abundance of fresh tarragon – the French part of the dish. Don’t all French recipes seem to use so much tarragon. The tarragon seemed to make, what can otherwise be a heavy meal, light. The pot pie was fresh tasting, and the vegetables were still slightly crisp, not over cooked. I did cheat a bit by using a premade puff pastry as the topping; Dufour is my favorite to use, as it is light and fluffy, and browns perfectly. Our summer pot pie recipe is so easy, that I had dinner on the table in an hour.
*note if you decide to use chicken that has not been cooked you will need to allow at least 15 minutes extra to precook the chicken.
Recipe: Summer Chicken Pot Pie
What you need:
- 1 carrot, diced very small
- 1 celery, diced very small
- 1 small shallot, diced very small
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 3 tablespoons tarragon, torn into pieces
- 1/4 lb green beans, cut into small pieces
- 1 small yellow summer squash, cut into small pieces
- 1 russet potato, small dice
- 1 large pre-cooked chicken breast, cut into small pieces
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 2 cups chicken broth
- salt and pepper to taste
- puff pastry, cut to fit your baking dishes
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon water
What you need to do:
Heat oven to 400. Butter two large ramekins or 4 smaller ones. In a large dutch oven, drizzle a small amount of olive oil; heat over medium heat. Add the shallots, stir, and cook until soft; about 3 minutes. Add the carrots and celery, stir, and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the green beans, summer squash and russet potato; stir and cook for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and tarragon, stir, and cook for 1 minute. Turn off the heat and set aside. In a small saucepan, add the olive oil and butter, heat over medium heat until the butter is melted. Whisk in the flour, and continue cooking until slightly bubbly; about a minute. Add the chicken broth, whisk until smooth, and cook over low heat until thick; about 3 – 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Pour the sauce over the vegetable mixture, and gently stir in the chicken. Pour the mixture into the buttered ramekins. Cover the tops of the ramekins with puff pastry that has been cut slightly larger than the top of the dish. Lightly crimp the sides of the puff pastry over the sides of the dish. Beat the egg with a tablespoon of water, and gently brush the tops of the puff pastry. Put the ramekins onto a baking sheet, and slide into the oven. Bake until the tops are golden, and the inside is bubbly, it will begin to come out the sides; will take approximately 25 – 35 minutes. Serve. Eat.
Be sure to see what other #LetsLunch folks are slurping up this month.
A Tiger in the Kitchen
Blog Well Done
A Cow Girl Chef
Geo Fooding
Show Food Chef
Hot Curries and Cold Beer
Free Range Cookies
Kitchen Dreamer
Cooking the Fruit Bowl
Can It You Nit
Beyond the Plate
Caitlin Shetterly
Who doesn’t love crispy chicken fat, cooked with tangy lemon, and salty capers? Hmmmm, we feel it goes hand in hand. We have been whipping up chicken piccata for the past couple weeks. It is simple. It is tasty. Of course, we do it a bit differently; otherwise, we’d be like all the other chicken piccata cooks out there.
We don’t use dried-out chicken breasts; instead of we use succulent, meaty thighs. Dark meat really does have more flavor, and is moister than a breast. We don’t bread it, think “healthier”. No flour coating. No bread crumbs. Just juicy thighs, cooked until golden brown. We use lots of garlic, as well as finely minced shallots; just because we can. We toss in a sprinkling of fresh rosemary, a heavy dose of capers, and some marinated sun-dried tomatoes. Finished off with some rich chicken stock, and a splash of white wine, and a very generous squeeze of fresh lemon juice.
Succulent. Really, it is succulent. Perfectly paired with a bowl of pasta, that is lightly seasoned; we used some left over that was seasoned with a little pancetta, garlic, and olive oil. Pass the green salad, warm crusty bread, and a glass of wine. Life does not get much better than this.
Do you add extra ingredients into your chicken piccata recipe? If so, won’t you share with us.
Recipe: Chicken Piccata
*serves 2
- 4 chicken thighs, skinless
- 5 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
- 1 small shallot, finely minced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, finely minced
- 5 plump sun-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 2 medium lemons, one sliced into slices, the other used for juice
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1/2 cup chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon capers, drained
- kosher salt
- black pepper
In a large frying pan, heat the olive oil, over medium heat. Add the shallots, stir, and cook until soft; about 3 minutes. Add the garlic, stir, and cook another 3 minutes. Remove from heat, and put the shallots and garlic into a small bowl. Season the thighs with salt and pepper. Turn up heat on the frying pan, to medium high; add the thighs. Cook until golden brown; about 3 – 5 minutes per side. It will depend on the heat of your stove. I like to use a fork, and them them loose, from sticking to the pan. Once browned, remove and set aside. Deglaze the pan with the white wine. Bring to a low boil, and cook for a couple minutes. Add the chicken, and shallot mixture back to the pan. Pour in the chicken stock, add the rosemary, tomatoes, capers, juice from 1 lemon, and the lemon slices; lower heat to a simmer. Cook until the sauce is reduced; about 20 minutes. Serve. Eat.
If you like this recipe, check these out:
Chicken Piccata with fried capers
Chicken Piccata
Chicen Piccata
Football and chicken wings pretty much go hand-in-hand. Actually, I should say, an icy cold beer goes hand-in-hand with a big basket of chicken wings. As soon as I got the Bite Me cookbook in my grubby little hands, the first recipe I flipped to was ……… wings. I could not wait to gnaw on them with an icy cold one.
long post, keep reading, something fun is being given away ……
Bite Me by the sweet and spicy sisters, Julie Albert and Lisa Gnat, is the funniest cookbook I have read in a long time; make that forever. From the playful photos (our friend Bryan, his brother Michael Alberstat was the photographer) to the funny anecdotes with each recipe; it is a true joy to browse through and cook from.
We have tried three of the recipes, so far, and already have our fourth on the back-burner (French Toast Souffle). The first recipe we tried was the Fiesta Bowl Salad, I have to admit the photograph really drew me in, it is a big bowl of chicken, tomatoes, tortilla chips and creamy dressing sitting on astro turf; so fun. I loved the anecdote, about how Lisa serves her husband the “best gridiron grub. Citrus glazed wings for the Orange Bowl, Creamy Fudge for the Sugar Bowl and Fiesta Bowl Salad, for the Fiesta Bowl.” The recipe is perfectly simple for a mid-night week dinner; pick up some lettuce, tomatoes, avocados and a roasted chicken. The creamy dressing is tangy and a bit spicy, it wraps the salad together with an added crunchy bite of tortilla chips. Perfect! The next dish we tried was the Lustful Creamy Chicken; all I am going to tell you about this one is ….. move over Alfredo, there is a new guy in town. Outstanding creamy dressing smothers grilled chicken breasts and fettuccine to make this to die for pasta dish; spicy, creamy and sexy. It would be great for your stay-at-home Valentine’s Day dinner. The last dish we have tried, so far, is the Crunch Chicken Wings with Sweet and Savory Dipping Sauces. Not only did the name draw me in, but I love how Julie, gives a dating tip: less is more, let him pay, don’t eat chicken wings, respect his mother. She sealed the deal with her husband at the $4.99 Wing Night, where she rolled up her sleeves and devoured a basketful. Love that honesty. I mean, come-on, how many women eat salads and carrots, during the court-ship, then blossom during the marriage; live it up from the beginning. Guys, this goes for you as well. I loved that Lenny could pound an entire meat-loaf during one dinner. This man loves to eat and loves my food. Back to this drool-worthy, lip-smacking recipe. The wings are marinaded in buttermilk (which makes them really moist) then rolled in a cornmeal mixture that has been seasoned with chili powder and cumin. Baked, grease-free, until crispy. The sweet and tangy dipping sauce is made from apricot jam and Dijon mustard. The savory dipping sauce is a blue cheese buttermilk dipping sauce; that has become our new favorite blue cheese dressing for salad as well. Both sauces are perfect with the cumin scented and slightly spicy chicken wings. We both loved that they are not greasy; easy to finish an entire basket or two.
I love this book. The recipes are not only fun to read but easy to make. They are deliciously sassy and right on every time. I can definitely see this becoming my new go-to cookbook when I need something quick, easy and delicious.
In addition to giving me permission to print the recipe for the Crunchy wings (perfect for Super Bowl), Julie, has graciously offered to send one lucky reader the following fun items: A signed copy of the book – YEAH!! As well as these fun Bite Me items: a Bite Me reusable shopping tote, a Bite Me apron and a Bite Me hat (sorry no water bottle or Swiss Miss). We will be picking a winner on February 6, 2011, Super Bowl Sunday. What you need to do is one of the following or all of them, by mid-night (pst) on February 5:
- Leave a comment below, telling us what your favorite wing recipe is or what you are making for Super Bowl
- Sign up for the Daily Dish, so you can keep up with all of our culinary capers
- Tweet this post @chezus, with the hash tag #BITEME – come back here and leave a copy of your tweet
Recipe: Crunchy Chicken Wings with Sweet & Savory Dipping Sauces
Chicken Wings
3 lbs chicken wings, you are suppose to remove the wing-tip, we didn’t (lazy)
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Sweet Dipping Sauce
1 cup apricot jam
1/4 cup cider vinegar
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
Tangy Blue Cheese Dipping Sauce
1 cup crumbled blue cheese
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Place wings in a glass 13×9-inch baking dish. In a medium bowl, whisky buttermilk and egg. Pour over the wings and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours, up to 24 hours (we did 24 hours – super tender wings). For the wings, preheat oven to 400 F. Line a baking sheet with foil and coat with non-stick cooking spray. In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, salt chili powder, cumin and pepper. Remove wings from marinade (discard used marinade) and working a few at a time, coat in cornmeal mixture. Place on prepared baking sheet. Bake 40 – 45 minutes, turning once halfway through baking.
Sweet Dipping Sauce
In a small saucepan, combine jam, vinegar, brown sugar, dijon and ginger. Heat over medium heat until sugar has dissolved and ingredients are combined. Cool before serving.
Blue Cheese Dipping Sauce
In a medium bowl, use a fork to mash together blue cheese and buttermilk until it looks like cottage cheese. Ad sour cream, mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper, stirring well to combine.
Serves 4 – 6 as an appetizer or snack. Or in our case 2 very hungry wing lovers. Eat.
Want to learn how to eat a Chicken Wing; yes, there is a way, check it out.
If you enjoyed this recipe, you may enjoy these others as well:
Spicy Asian Chicken Wings
Honey Glazed Chicken Wings
Spicy Orange Chicken Wings
THE WINNER IS MEGAN!!
We first heard of Chicken Normandy when we were in Paris this summer. No, we are noshing on it over in France. Instead we were watching a French cooking show on TV and were drooling over the tenderly cooked thighs that were being bathed in French apple cider and heavy cream. Not only was the dish drool worthy, but it was set in the romantic countryside of Normandy in an uber intimate bistro, with dark wooden beamed ceilings and lots of sexy candle light. We tried a few times to get to Normandy during that trip to France but never quit made it and were never able to find the dish on a menu in Paris.
I have not been able to stop thinking about how delicious that dish would taste while dining alongside a loved one. Before we left for Boston, I had it set in my mind that we had to have it, so I took this romantic memory and recreated the dish. I had no recipe to follow, just the notes I took while watching the show: chick thighs, onions, garlic, crimini mushrooms, cider and cream …. the rest of the recipe was made with passion and love. It is delicious and a bit sexy, too; especially when served with duck fat fried potatoes.
Recipe: Chicken Normandy
4 chicken thighs, skin on
1/2 medium yellow onion, finely minced
1 garlic close, finely minced
drizzle of olive oil
hard apple cider, preferrabley from the normandy region
handful of crimini mushrooms, cleaned and cut in half
1/4 cup heavy cream
kosher salt to taste
fresh cracked black pepper
italian parsley, for garnish
In a large frying pan, heat the olive oil, over medium heat. Season the thighs with salt and pepper and add to the frying pan. Over medium heat, brown the thighs, about 3 – 5 minutes on each side; remove to a plate. Add the onion to the frying pan, stir and cook until slightly soft, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic, stir. Add the chicken back to the frying pan and pour in any juices that have accumulated. Lower the heat to low, and let cook for about 15 minutes; stirring occasionally. Pour about half of the cider over the chicken, add the mushrooms, stir and continue to cook until the liquid is reduced by half. Stir in the cream, season to taste and gently heat over low for about 1 minute. Remove from the heat. Garnish with parsley. Serve. Eat.
Recipe: Duck Fat Fried Potatoes
1/2 lb baby red potatoes
1/4 cup duck fat
maldon salt, to taste
fresh cracked black pepper, to taste
Boil potatoes, until fork tender, about 15 minutes. Drain. Pat dry. Heat duck fat in a large frying pan, over low heat. Add potatoes, stir, turn up heat to medium. Cook until the skins are slightly crisp, about 10 minutes. Put into a serving dish, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Serve. Eat.
Rainy weekends are meant for making your own stocks. There is nothing like a big pot of stock bubbling away on the stove for hours; the house smells wonderful and the kitchen is warm.
I like to keep a freezer full of rich stock to use in soups, sauces, stews, risottos, etc… homemade definitely tastes better. I made a turkey stock for gravy over Thanksgiving and it was amazing. Once we got home from the holiday I decided to take the same method and stock our freezer full of it. It does take a bit of patience but it is well worth the wait.
Recipe: Rich Homemade Chicken Stock
- 4 chicken backs
- 1/2 whole roasted chicken – leftovers from the night before
- 3 ribs of celery, washed, cut into large pieces
- 1 yellow onion, quartered; leave the skin on
- 3 large carrots, scrubbed clean, skin left on, cut into large pieces
- 2 cloves garlic, skin left on
- handful of cilantro
- 4 star anise
- drizzle of olive oil
- sprinkle of kosher salt
Heat oven to 300. In a large roasting pan, toss all ingredients together. Put into the oven and let roast until golden and slightly caramelized; about 3 hours. You may have to add small amounts of water, to prevent sticking and/or burning. Toss the caramelized mixture into a large stock pot, cover with water, to make 8 quarts. Bring to a boil; lower heat to a low simmer. Season with kosher salt to taste. Cover. Let cook for at least 3 hours. I believe the longer the better. Let cool. Skim off any fat that has risen to the top. Strain into another large pot, using a colander. Pick through the leftovers, for pieces of chicken. Add the meat to the stock. I freeze 2 cup containers of the stock. This recipe will make about 8 quarts.
I have been on the road, traveling for work and have not had a chance to post our small but delicious round-up for this round of HHDD #35. This recipe is really simple to make and very tasty – easy for a mid-week dinner.
As well with the holidays around the corner and everyone’s busy schedules, the next round of HHDD will be announced after the Thanksgiving holiday in the states. It will be sweet!
Sally from My Custard Pie, made a vegetarian version of this recipe. Instead of chicken breasts she used yellow and red peppers and stuffed them with the rice. I loved the color of her dish – so fresh and inviting. Thanks Sally for making this veggie friendly version of a flavorful recipe.
Jan of Kitchens Heal Soul heard about HHDD from her friend Laura, after she posted another Donna recipe. She followed this recipe to a T. Her dish looks so inviting and elegant. Jan is a fan of Donna’s simple and flavorful recipes as well and she looks forward to participating every month and hopefully she can get Laura to do the same!
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We made this dish last night for dinner and the the next round of HHDD (Hay Hay it’s Donna Day). I won’t make this a long and wordy post …. you know how I love Donna Hay recipes already. Well, this dish was equally as good as all the others I have tried. Easy. Delicious. Quick. I did make some changes to the orginial recipe; used kabocha squash instead of pumpkin and I used rice vinegar instead of white. The combination of roasted chicken, squash, basil, and chilis is really fantastic, the vinegar really brought it all together by adding a little “tang”. It is the perfect one dish meal.
You still have time to make this recipe and to get your entry in for this round of HHDD! Vegetarians I would love to see your take on the recipe??? I have some ideas of my own!
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