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! 

Carrot Soup

It has finally started to get cold here.  It even snowed for the first time since Halloween this weekend.  I have been on a bit of a soup kick and I like to have it for lunch since I spend most of the morning in my office typing in mittens.  I have been wanting to try a carrot soup for a while, but have never got around to it until last weekend.  Big Girls Small Kitchen posted up a recipe for Roasted Carrot Red Curry Soup and it sounded delicious and not too time consuming.   

I personally did not think the recipe had enough curry paste in it.  After I doubled the amount, I just keep tossing in teaspoons until I decided it was enough- I think I probably quadrupled it.  That was the only thing I really changed in the recipe.  It was a bit cool for my liking, so I would suggest warming it more before serving, or at least testing it before hand. I also have to keep stealing the neighbors blender/processor since mine broke and then I have to repay them in soup.  I might need to invest in an attachment for my Kitchenaid sooner than later...


Roasted Carrot Red Curry Soup
Makes 4 servings

• 1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces 
• 2 small red onions, quartered
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 inch ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
• 2 garlic cloves roughly chopped
• 1 to 2  tablespoons Thai red curry paste (some of you may want to start with less and do taste test as you go adding more. 
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• One 15-ounce can coconut milk 

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, toss carrot and onion with oil, sugar, and salt. 
3. Spread the veggies evenly on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Roast in the oven for 30-40 minutes, until browned and tender, stirring once halfway through.
4. Transfer the vegetables to a food processor or blender along with the ginger, 1 teaspoon curry paste, and the stock.  Blend until incorporated. 
5. Add coconut milk and blend until smooth. Taste for seasoning and add salt and additional curry paste if you like. 
6. Reheat and serve. 

Enjoy! 

Simple Meals

Two Mondays ago I was biking my way to work and a woman decided to step out in front of me with out looking.  The result was me swerving to miss her, hitting her bag and being thrown off my bike.  It could have been much worse I realize, but it did result in me having a radial fracture in my left elbow, which is my dominate arm.  For a week my arm was in a sling making it very difficult to do much of anything.  It is now out of the sling but still has a sleeve on it and I cannot put much weight on it or do simple things like spray perfume.
Needless to say, this has put a kink in my cooking and baking ambitions.  The plans for the meals I had in mind grocery shopping the Sunday before the accident have mostly been put on hold.  My roommate has helped me with a few meals that required more work than my poor right arm could preform.  The only new creation I have tried is simple salad that I found in my Great Food Fast cookbook called Spinach Salad with Dried Cherries.
I had every intention of following this recipe to the T, except maybe buying the pumpkin seeds already roasted because I was feeling lazy.  That did not end up being the case.  First of all, I thought I had Dijon mustard already, so I did not buy anymore. Turns out I had spicy brown mustard instead.  Then at the grocery store I couldn't find any kind of pumpkin seeds or dried cherries.  I decided to use roasted sunflower seeds and cherry flavored Craisons.  This all actually worked out really well and I thought it was pretty tasty.  The sweetness of the Craisons balanced the red onion and dressing out really well. Plus the bonus of only having to toss things in a bowl made it one arm friendly.  I'm sure Martha's recipe is equally tasty or better but my messy version will be making repeat appearances in my kitchen even when I have the ability really cook something up.


Spinach, Red Onion and Cherry Craison Salad

Dressing

• 4 teaspoons red-wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon spice brown mustard
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Coarse salt and ground pepper

Salad

• 5 ounces baby spinach
• 1/3 cup thinly sliced red onion
• 1/3 cup dried cherry flavored Craisons
• 1/8 cup roasted sunflower seeds

Instructions

1. Mix together the ingredients for the dressing in a medium sized bowl with a wisk and set aside. 
2. Toss the salad ingredients together and top with dressing as desired. 

Enjoy!