Chicken Milanese and Carrots

I was sooo excited to roast some carrots, or do something with them.  Problem is, I have been crazy busy lately and not been able to do much cooking or had much desire to the one free night I have a week.  So I bought this lovely bunch of carrots and was set to make something, I can't remember what anymore, but it took me a week or so to get to it.  When I pulled the carrots out, they had gone soft.  I was seriously, very sad.  I really wanted to make whatever with those carrots and now I couldn't.  My dinner was ruined.  I don't remember what I ate instead, probably a bowl of pasta with a bit of salt. Tear. 


On the next grocery run I picked up carrots again and made a point to use them as soon as possible.  I also had the recipe for Chicken Milanese bookmarked in my Fresh Flavor Fast, so I decided to give it a try and add the carrots as a side.  I use a quick recipe from Great Food Fast  to make the carrots.  It all turned out great.  It was fast, yummy and great as a leftover.  I don't have a rack that I can put in the oven so I used a pizza pan that has holes in it to bake the chicken on over a pan.  It seemed to work fine.  While the chicken was in the oven, the carrots cooked up quickly and everything was ready pretty close to the same time.    I kept the onion with the dressing separate from the arugula so that it didn't wither or go brown waiting for the next meal.  

Chicken Milanese
4 servings 

• 1 1/4 cups plain dried breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 6 ounces each)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus lemon wedges, for serving
• 5 ounces baby arugula
• 1 small red onion, thinly sliced

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss breadcrumbs and oil until well combined; spread on sheet. Cook, tossing once, until golden brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl. 
2. Place flour and eggs in separate bowls; season with salt and pepper. Place a rack on another rimmed baking sheet (or make it up like me!).
3. One at a time, place chicken breasts between two large pieces of plastic wrap. Using a meat mallet or bottom of a small heavy pan(I used the pan route), pound until 1/2 inch thick. 
4. Coat chicken on both sides with flour (shaking off excess), then dip in eggs (allowing excess to drip off); dredge in breadcrumbs, pressing firmly to adhere.
5. Bake chicken on rack, without turning, until opaque throughout, 10 to 15 minutes.
6. In a bowl, whisk together remaining 2 tablespoons oil and lemon juice; season with salt and pepper. Add onion and toss.  Top a bed of Arugula with the onion mixture and place the chicken on top. 

Roasted Carrots
4 servings (unless you're like me, then its 2)

• 9 carrots (1 1/2 pounds)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Pepper

1. Quarter and cut carrots into 2-inch lengths. 
2. In a skillet, bring carrots, sugar, 1/2 cup water, butter, and salt to boil.  Reduce heat; simmer, partly covered, 6 minutes.
3. Cook uncovered, over high, tossing often until tender, 3 to 4 minutes.  Season with pepper.

Enjoy! 

Chicken Pot Pie

Look at those tasty veggies! 

Ok- I must appologise for my mini hiatus.  I  have posts lined up to go, but just haven't finished them to get them online.  It has been a busy couple of weeks with Architecture for Humanity NY  stuff going on and other architecture related events.   I promise to try and get myself back on track!  
Today I bring you a yummy recipe from Real Simple  that I have been holding on to from the February 2009 issue.  It was cold around here for about, oh... five minutes?  In that time I was so excited for hearty, warm comfort foods like this Chicken Pot Pie.  In fact I really want it to get cold again for two reasons: I want to have an excuse for more meals and soups like this and I have a trip to Montana planned at the end of this month to do some skiing and snowmobiling- I NEED SNOW!  Oh and I want to wear my amazing warm and fuzzy winter boots and this 40 degrees weather is too warm for such things.  They require cold.  Freezing.  Snow.  I might be going through withdrawals...
Sorry, I'll get back to the recipe, I just really love snow.  OK- so, even though this recipe is a bit time consuming with all the vegetable chopping and cook time it is completely worth it.  I made it on a Monday and it was my lunch for the rest of the week.  (I love not having to think about what I am going to take for lunch every day or what dive near my office I will be getting lunch from!)  I thought about making my own crust, but since I knew  I would be making this on a week night, I stuck with the store bought crust.  Unlike the recipe, I used both crusts, (two came in the package), for a top and bottom, I have a soft spot for crust.  One think I kind of screwed up, was I did not cut the carrots small enough.  Everything tasted fine, but the carrots were still a bit crunchy after all of that cooking and baking.  I substituted dry thyme for fresh since I didn't have any.  I hope some of you are still able to enjoy your winters and can whip this up, because it is so tasty.  
Chicken Pot Pie
Makes 6 to 8 servings

• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 onions, chopped (about 1 pound)
• 4 carrots, diced (about 1 pound)
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 2 cups  milk
• 1 10-ounce package frozen peas
• 1/2 tablespoon dried thyme
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 2 9-inch store-bought pie crusts, thawed if frozen

1. Heat oven to 400° F. Cook the chicken in a pot of simmering water until cooked through, 10 to 12 minutes; let cool, then shred.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat.  Add the onions and carrots and cook, stirring, until they begin to soften, 6 to 8 minutes (do not let them darken). 
3. Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.  
4. Add the wine and cook until evaporated, about 5 minutes. 
5. Add the milk and simmer until the sauce thickens, 2 to 3 minutes. 
6. Stir in the chicken, peas, thyme, ¾ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper.  
7. Place one of the crusts in a shallow 1 1/2 to 2 quart baking dish.  Transfer the chicken and vegetable mixture to the dish.
8. Lay the crust on top, pressing to seal the crusts together.  Cut several vents in the crust.  Place the pot pie on a baking sheet and bake until bubbling and the crust is golden, 30 to 35 minutes.

Enjoy! 

Chicken with Coconut Rice & Black Beans

This recipe is easily one of my favorites that I do not make enough.   I found this recipe in the August 2007 issue of Real Simple. It is really easy to make and the leftovers still taste great.  I end up just mixing the black beans and rice together, it all goes together so well.  I normally use a red pepper as the recipe lists, but this round I had a green one that needed to be used.    
Since I love warm rice and milk with cinnamon and sugar, I like to double the amount of rice I make.  This way I use all the coconut milk, since you only use one cup for the recipe.  The coconut flavor is really subtle  (in both dishes) and just tasty.  



Chicken with Coconut Rice & Black Beans
4 servings 

• 1 cup long-grain white rice
• 1 cup coconut milk (1 14 oz can)
• 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 2 1/2-inch pieces
• salt and pepper
• 1 large green bell pepper, sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 1 large clove garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 19-ounce can black beans, drained
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1. Cook the rice according to the package directions, replacing 1 cup of water with the coconut milk.
2. Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Pat the chicken dry with paper towels.  Season the chicken with ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper and cook for 3 minutes. Turn the chicken and move it to the sides of the skillet.
3. Add the bell pepper and cook, stirring often, for 3 minutes.
4. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until the bell pepper is slightly soft and the chicken is cooked through, about 4 minutes. Transfer to plates.
5. Add the beans, cumin, ¼ teaspoon salt, and the remaining oil to skillet. Cook until heated through, about 2 minutes. 
6. Serve with chicken and rice.

Enjoy! 

Hurricane Irene!

For those of you who didn't know, Hurricane Irene was spinning itself into a little tizzy towards the Big Apple.  All the public transportation was shut down yesterday afternoon in preparation, there was a mandatory evacuation for the lowest areas of the city, (no need to worry, I live about a block from the highest point in Brooklyn), and people freaked out buying large quantities of water.  This could have been the worst storm New York has seen in a very long time.  We were on lock down.  In the end it was overkill and the storm was down graded to a tropical storm before it reached us.  It still accomplished plenty of damage, though not too much that we could see around us.  It seemed to hit places farther north and inland like Connecticut and Vermont more.  

The view of the Sunday sunset after the storm

I thought about using the  time stuck inside to make a few new things that are a bit time consuming.  In the end I went with a classic: caramel rolls.  They were perfect for an after dinner treat last night.  And breakfast this morning.  My new roommate however, is from Louisiana.  Apparently having gumbo and yelling at the storm is a tradition and we were not about to break it now.  Originally, the storm was suppose to spin through Sunday afternoon, but it was pretty much over this morning by 7AM.  So we kinda missed the bulk of it being asleep and all.  

The winds have kept up their rage though and we all stuck to the indoors, minus a few trips to the roof and coffee shop and we still had gumbo.  My roommate and his friends he was staying with until he could move in, came over around 11 and started cooking the gumbo (they had started prepping Saturday).  We didn't eat it until about 6.  The kitchen was a mess.  There were 3 pots boiling at one point in time on the stove.  It smelled amazing.  Seriously.  We all hung out with the neighbors watching bad movies and playing a game or two to pass the time until it was ready.  His friends also made an amazing potato salad and boiled collards.  It was so good.  So good.  

Stupidly I didn't think to take a picture until it was all cleaned up. From the right: potato salad, chicken gumbo, & the boiled collards. 

I haven't asked him for the recipe yet, and I'm guessing a large part of it is unmeasured and all stored knowledge, but I really hope he shares it with me because I definitely want to make something like it sometime in the future.  And if god knows what kind of other things he makes but I am looking forward to having a roommate that can cook like this.  I will stay out of the kitchen if he wants to keep making dishes like this, although my bike riding may not be enough to counter act it. 

The End of Slump: Enchiladas with Pumpkin Sauce

I have been in a bit of a slump.  Maybe it's the weather, but I love all the snow, I want more.  Maybe it's real work or the fact that I haven't been out on my bike in months and the tires are flat as it hangs in my room or maybe it's the upcoming holidays.  Whatever it is, I have been totally uninspired to bake, cook, or many other things that need to be done.  I mean, it's not that I wanted to eat pot stickers twice last week, I just didn't feel like even thinking about making something I that didn't come out a bag.  Saturday night I was so uninspired and didn't want to eat another veggie burger, so I went next door to my friendly (sometimes) neighbors and asked what he was feeding me.  I was very lucky cause Kurt and Mel were making up some squash risotto. I felt I had to make something worthy this week, so while waiting for dinner to be finished, I went to find something yummy to make myself and found Enchiladas with Pumpkin Sauce.  

This recipe is pretty simple and made much more than four servings.  It was Sunday dinner and payback to Mel and Kurt for Saturday, and lunch for two days. Since I bought a whole rotisserie chicken and shredded the whole thing, I had extra for another meal.  (The other half I mixed with some ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and honey for bbq sandwiches tonight.)  It was really good, but I think it would have been better if the pumpkin sauce was made with some milk or half and half instead of water, but maybe I am just crazy.  Thoughts anyone and if you agree any idea how much you would change the recipe? 

• 1/2 rotisserie chicken with the skin removed, meat shredded
• 7 scallions, thinly sliced
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 jalapeno chile, quartered
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon dried ground chilies (my brothers special mix)
• 8 corn tortillas (6-inch)
• 1 1/2 cups grated sharp white cheddar cheese (6 ounces)

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine chicken and scallions. Season generously with salt and pepper; set aside.
2. In a blender, puree pumpkin, garlic, jalapeno, chili powder, 2 1/2 cups water, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper until smooth (hold top firmly as blender will be quite full). Pour 1 cup of sauce in the bottom of an 8-inch square (or other shallow 2-quart) baking dish.
3. Lay tortillas on work surface; mound chicken mixture on half of each tortilla, dividing evenly. Roll up tortillas; place, seam side down, in baking dish.
4. Pour remaining sauce on top; sprinkle with cheese. Place dish on a baking sheet; bake until cheese is golden and sauce is bubbling, 25 to 30 minutes. 
5. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.
6. Enjoy!  

Last Dinner Creation in South Dakota

 Tomorrow is my last full day in South Dakota until who knows when.  I am really going to miss the kitchen that is larger than my kitchen and living room combined in New York.  I am also going to miss a kitchen filled with many random ingredients and utensils and gadgets that your lucky if you use once a year, but I still want them. And not doing anything days on end, although I must admit that I am starting to get cabin fever.  Especially since a little blizzard ruined my night out for New Year's Eve. 
Anyway, back to the subject, all three of us older kids will be leaving on Monday, and my pickier-than-me little sister was on a "date" tonight so we decided to make tonight the last "new" meal of my trip.  She claims to be suffering from all these "different" meals that she has had set in front of her the last two weeks.  (Sunday's dinner will be calm and nice like the tocos last night.)
 Tonight I made something with peas, garlic, and onions. Mixed together.  I present you with Chicken and Dumplings. We changed a few things, but this was base recipe.  We thought we had some red and green peppers to add in, but my brother finished them off last night.  It was really good and even my brother ate it with out added more salt and pepper or salsa or sour cream.  I especially like the dumplings, I think I am going to add sage to some simple biscuits.
 

• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 package (10 ounces) frozen green peas
• 4 cups cubed cooked chicken
  DUMPLINGS:
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons dried basil
• 3 tablespoons butter, chilled
• 3/4 cup milk

1. In a large saucepan, saute the onion and garlic in butter until tender. Stir in the flour, sugar, salt, basil and pepper until blended. Gradually add broth; bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 1 minute; reduce heat. Add peas and cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Stir in chicken. Pour into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish.
2. For dumplings, in a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and basil. Cut in the butter until it resembles small crumbs.  Stir in milk with a fork until moistened. Drop by tablespoonfuls into mounds over chicken mixture.
3. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 30 minutes. Cover and bake 10 minutes longer or until a toothpick inserted in a dumpling comes out clean. 

  

Enjoy! 

Barbecue Chutney Chicken

While on my snowed in cooking spree, I decided to try another slow cook recipe from Jenn's book. While flipping through the pages, I was hoping something would jump out at me. It's funny how we gravitate towards flavors or ingredients and choose recipes accordingly. While I have limited experience with it,curry is one that intrigues me. Additionally, I have a big jar of curry that I am hoping to get some use out of.

Note: All curries are not created equally. I am the furthest thing from an expert on the subject, but I do realize that the Muchi Curry I purchased from Whole Foods is one of the spicier varieties. It is full of strong flavor but also makes me sweat and my nose run. Get comfortable with whichever curry you have and use responsibly :)

My meat-phobia also extends to poultry. The original recipe called for various chicken pieces (bones included). While still a little gross to handle, boneless, skinless chicken breasts are more my speed (no surprises), so I just cut the raw chicken into bite size pieces.

Barbecue Chutney Chicken

1 medium onion, cut into wedges

3 pounds chicken pieces (I used boneless skinless breasts, but feel free to use bone-in pieces)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1/2 cup mango chutney

2/3 cup bottled barbecue sauce

1 teaspoon curry powder

hot,cooked rice

Place onion in the slow cooker. Add chicken pieces and sprinkle with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, combine chutney, barbecue sauce, and curry powder. Pour over mixture in slow cooker and combine. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 7 hours or high for 3 to 3-1/2 hours. Serve chicken mixture over rice.

An Old Favorite & a New One

Since I am home in my mom's large, counter spacious kitchen and four to six people have to be feed each day, I am taking full advantage.  I brought home recipes that seemed like too much work to half or make for one or won't keep forever as leftovers.

Last night I decided to make a Chicken Braid, an old favorite that I haven't had in years.  The first time I had it was at my friends house and his mom gave me the recipe which I brought home and made with my mom a few times, but it has been hiding in my recipe files for awhile. I have to admit that when it was time to start dinner last night I was sent over to my grandparents to drop off some of the candy and cookies we made yesterday and mom ended up starting and finishing the chicken braid before I returned through the trees.  Never the less, here is the tasty recipe. 


Chicken Braid

• 2 cups cooked chicken, chopped
• 1 cup broccoli, chopped
• 1/2 cup red pepper, chopped 
• 1 garlic clove, chopped 
• 1 cup shredded chedder
• 1/2 cup mayo
• 2 tsp dill weed
• salt & pepper to taste
• 2 packages cresent rolls 
• 1 egg white
• 2 tbsp almond slivers

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 
2. Mix Chicken, broccoli, and pepper in bowl. 
3. Add mayo, dill, salt and pepper to chicken mixture and blend well.  
4. Unroll 1 package of crescent rolls and DO NOT separate. Arrange longest sides of dough across wide baking stone. Repeat with the second package. On long side cut dough 1 1/2" apart and 3" deep (leave 6" in the center to fill). 
5. Spread mix over center of dough.  Pick up strips and twist over mix. 
6. Brush egg whites over dough top and sprinkle with almonds. 
7. Bake 25 to 28 minutes or until deep golden brown. 

Tonight I made a new recipe I found in Real Simple, Sweet Potato Risotto.  I made it once before and thought that my family might like it, even my picky little sister (she is much worse than I am or ever was).  It's not hard, it just take some time to chop everything and it takes about 45 minutes to cook.  I followed my friend Melissa's advice and measured ever thing out in advance since it starts out rather quick and there is not a lot of time to do so when your in the middle of cooking.

Sweet Potato Risotto

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 2 small sweet potatoes (about 1 pound), cut into 1/4-inch pieces
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 cup Arborio rice
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan (2 ounces)
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 3 to 5 minutes.
2. Add the sweet potatoes and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, for 1 minute.
3. Add the rice and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the wine and cook, stirring frequently, until absorbed.
4. Measure 3½ cups of water. Add ¾ cup at a time and cook, stirring occasionally and waiting until each addition is absorbed before adding the next. It should take 25 to 30 minutes for all the water to be absorbed.
5. Stir in the Parmesan and oregano.

My sister did eat it, but she refused to try the sweet potatoes and picked them out.  She claims she would have picked out the onion, but that was too hard.  I think she would have liked the potatoes if she would have tried, I may be picky, but at least I try things.  She also mixed in French Dressing.  I don't know how that made it better and given her picky eating I can't believe that she would mix them together.  I think its fine the way it is and it's great as a leftover. 

Enjoy! 

Zucchini: Not just for Baking Anymore

When I was growing up zucchini was explicitly used for brownies and bread.  In all honestly, I don't think I would have eaten a zucchini if mom had tried to feed us a dish like the one I describe below. Perhaps that is why I didn't know you could use zucchini for anything else or that you would want to pick them while they are small. We would grow these huge zucchinis in the garden that would be at least two feet long and several inches around. Around here you are lucky to get one that is more than two inches in diameter at its thickest, which doesn't leave much for shredding once you take out the seeds.

Due to this lack of baking sized zucchini, I started playing with dishes that use it as an actual vegetable, (interesting fact from Wikipedia: it is an immature fruit, being the swollen ovary of the female zucchini flower) and have found some really good recipes with pastas or sauteed with other veggies.  Needless to say, the zucchini has worked it's way into my normal dinner menu in many ways.  My favorite dish is something following a recipe I found, I think, from Great Food Fast that I have modified and just toss together what I have on hand but it is generally like this:

1 small zucchini cut into rounds
1 small yellow squash cut into rounds
1/2 green pepper and red pepper cut into 1/2" pieces
1/4 vidalia onion cut into 1/2" pieces
(basically equal pieces of each one cut up)
olive oil
Salt and Pepper
Over medium heat in a large skillet heat oil. Add the vegetables and sprinkle with salt and pepper to you liking. Cook, stirring frequently, until squashes are golden brown.
Depending on what I'm what else is for dinner, I also like to toss in some chicken that has been cubed. I really love this recipe especially since you can add other veggies to mix it up and it's really quick.

While I  was at the farmers market on Saturday in search of zucchini and a few other things, I was very excited to see large (for this area) ones that would be perfect for shredding and baking. I had these two large zucchinis sitting on the counter with the small ones waiting to be used, or until last nights terrible discovery. When I went to grab the smaller ones to mix up dinner, I moved a large one and realized that it was complete mush inside.  I was rather upset since I bought them three days before and they seemed fine. I set it a side while I inspected the small ones which were fine but the other large one had mold growing on half of the underside. Annoyed I chopped off the bad half and sent it all to the neighbors compost bin and tried to decide what I was now going to bake with only 1/4 of the zucchini I thought I had and that was semi quick since it was already 9 PM. I found the following recipe in 500 Cupcakes that used a small amount of zucchini, and I modified it a bit to the ingredients that I had on hand. Oddly, while it has Chocolate Chip in the title, the recipe did not have chocolate Chips in it...

Low Fat Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour (I ran out of all-purpose flour and had to use a tiny bit of wheat flour)
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
2 eggs lightly beaten
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup shredded zucchini

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix the dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl mix the rest of the ingredients except the zucchini together with an electric mixer until combined.
3. Add the flour mixture to the milk mixture until just mixed. Add the zucchini.
4. Spoon batter into a greased muffin pan and bake for 20 minutes. (I had to bake them for about 25 minutes)

5. Remove and cool on a wire rack.

You can really taste the pepper in these and it is balanced well with zucchini and the tiny bit of chocolate. They are nice and soft on the inside and perfectly moist.  I think that they would be excellent if I had used half all-purpose and half wheat flour. A note for next time.