Spaghetti with Chicken Ragu

I haven't blogged them yet, but after making spaghetti sauce and a thai noodle soup, I had some whole canned tomatoes and chicken thighs in the freezer...why not cook them up into a chicken tomato sauce for some pasta...



Like many poultry dishes, the key here is layering flavors.
Using the base of braised chicken thighs adds flavor to the tomato sauce. Here I used skinless, boneless chicken, while the fat from the skin and flavor from the bones would add a lot more flavor, here I went for a healthier style, especially paired with a hearty whole wheat pasta.

You can make this sauce your own. I love a good garlicky taste, so I added it two ways: First, simmering garlic with the onions will add a sharp garlicky bite to the sauce, second mixing in some roasted garlic to the cooking mixture add a mild, sweet flavor to the sauce.

If it's in season, I would recommend a few leaves of fresh basil as well, although it's fine without. Also, a sprig or two of fresh thyme.

Ingredients:
- 3skinless, boneless chicken thighs
- 12 cloves garlic (i prefer buying it already peeled)
- 4 diced
- 8 roasted (put garlic cloves into the center of a sheet of aluminum foil, add salt, a bit of olive oil, fold closed and heat in 350 degree oven for 15min, about until you smell the garlic cooking)
- 1/2 onion
- Wine (2-4 oz, of whatever you're drinking the meal with)
- salt/pepper
- 1 pinch red bell pepper flakes (more if you like it spicier)
- 1 pinch italian seasoning or oregano
- 1/2 can whole tomatoes & sauce
- whole wheat pasta
- parmesan cheese (i prefer shredded to grated as it adds a better bite of flavor)
- olive oil



1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees (you can do this while roasting the garlic). Season chicken thighs with salt/pepper. Cook for 2-3 min on each side in a med pan of olive oil.



2. Remove chicken and place on a sheet in the oven to finish.
3. Deglaze pan with a bit of wine, scraping off all of the cooked bits from the chicken. Heat for 4-5 min to cook off the alcohol.
4. Add chopped garlic and cook through 2 min.
5. Add onion and cook through until soft and translucent. Add 1 tsp of salt & 1/2 of pepper.
6. Add tomatoes (and sauce from can). Stir in together and crush tomatoes with a fork. Add red pepper flakes, herbs, and roasted garlic. Simmer on low-medium heat.
7. Put pasta on to boil in salted water and check chicken. It should be cooked through. Remove chicken and pour juices into simmering pasta sauce. Shred remaining chicken meat and add to pasta sauce.
8. Continue to simmer sauce until pasta is ready. Ladle 1/2c of pasta water into sauce. Strain pasta and add to sauce. Check for taste, if necessary, add salt/pepper.
9. Heat through and top off with parmesan cheese

Chicken Italiano

Stuffed Chicken with Balsamic Glaze



Ingredients:
- Boneless skinless chicken breasts
- Fresh mozzarella
- Basil leaves
- Sun-dried tomatoes (or tapenade)
- Dried Oregano
- Balsamic Vinegar
- Butter
- Salt/Pepper

- Toothpicks

1. Prep ingredients:
- Slice mozzarella (one thick slice per breast)
- Tear off 1-2 basil leaves (per breast)
- Slice 1 pat of butter (per breast)
- In a bowl, 2 tbs each salt, pepper, oregano
2. Slice straight down the length of the breast (cutting only half way). Slice sideways to create a pocket on each side.
3. Season inside and out with salt/pepper mixture
4. Insert pat of butter, leaves of basil, slice of mozzarella, sun-dried tomatoes.
5. Stuff ingredients inside of pocket and pull chicken around to close hole. Secure with toothpicks.
6. Place chicken in an oven-proof pan and drizzle with olive oil.
7. Cook in 350 oven for 15 min, then drizzle each with balsamic vinegar.
8. Continue cooking for 10 min or until chicken is cooked (juices run clear)

Chicken Stir-fry

Super delicious, quick and easy stirfry



Ingredients:
- 1-2 Chicken breasts (cut into strips)
- Chopped veggies:
I like 1/2 bell pepper (red and green), 1 head broccoli, carrots, snap peas
- 1/2 onion
- Soy-Vay Teriyaki Sauce
- Kikkoman stirfry seasoning mix (1/2 packet)
- 2c Jasmine Rice/4c water - oil and salt

Metal colander

1) Marinate chicken strips in Teriyaki sauce and set aside for 30 min.
2) Chop vegetables to bite size (2-3 cups of vegetables is a good amount) and set in a metal colander, covered with a large pot lid.
2) Slice onion into thin slices
3) Place colander over pot containing rice, water, oil, salt and bring to a boil.
4) Cook until veggies are softened. (Also, keep an eye on rice -- you can also steam veggies over an empty pot of boiling water)
5) Dissolve Stirfry seasoning mix in 1/2 c water, and toss with cooked veggies.
6) Heat oil in a large skillet and saute onion until softened. Add chicken strips, and a few tbs of marinate. Cook until chicken strips are cooked through (5-7 min)
7) Add chicken to large bowl with vegetables and toss.
8) Add mixture back to skillet and cook for an additional 2-3 min stirring to coat with sauce.
9) Serve stirfry on bed of white rice.

Crab-stuffed Chicken

In honor of HBO Sunday and the return of Treme, I decided to cook a dish with some New Orleans flair...while the must-taste list goes on for pages (Uptown Looter at Cooter Browns, Fried Shrimp PoBoy at Ramparts, Laura's Pralines, Crawfish Monica) the possible favorite would be the deep-fried crab-stuffed shrimps we ate at Jazz Fest, which sadly were not from a restaurant and thus can be found but 2 weeks a year...so with that in mind, I made some delicious chicken breasts so stuffed with crab they needed a handful of toothpicks to close.



Ingredients:
- 2-4 Boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 2-3 oz fresh Crabmeat (per breast)
- 1/2 c diced onion
- 2 tbs white wine
- 2 tbs lemon juice
- 1/2c breadcrumbs
- 1 tbs softened butter
- salt/pepper
- Italian seasoning

Sauce:
- 1/4c white wine
- 2 tbs butter
- 1 tsp flour

Wooden toothpicks


1) Pre-heat oven to 375.
2) Prepare stuffing: Saute onion until softened. Add to bowl. Add in crabmeat, wine, lemon, and breadcrumbs and mix well.
3) Prepare chicken breasts: Placing palm on the chicken, slice through the middle, but not all the way through, so that sides of chicken breasts open like a book.
4) Lay open and season with salt, pepper, and italian seasoning
5) Rub inside with softened butter.
6) Scoop a generous mound of stuffing into center of each chicken breast, then roll outside ends in to form a roll. Secure opening with toothpicks (criss-crossing two to hold).
7) Heat skillet with butter and olive oil and place chicken toothpick side up in pan. Cook for 2-4 min.
8) Turn chicken over and transfer chicken to baking pan and cook in oven 45min-1hr.
9) Add butter, flour, white wine to saucepan (which chicken was cooked in)
10) Cook until mixture forms a smooth sauce. Serve atop chicken.

Chickie Chickie Parm Parm

Parks & Rec's Tom Haverford explains his food slang: "Zerts are what i call desserts, tre-tres are entrees... I call cakes big ol' cookies, I call noodles long-ass rice. Fried chicken is fry-fry chicky-chick, chicken parm is chicky-chicky parm-parm."

OK, I see a trend of featuring Parks & Recreation cast members and in particular Aziz Ansari, but c'mon, Chicken Parm is classic and delish. The key to making this batch come out sooo good was definitely secret ingredient: Panko breadcrumbs. It sounds silly, but they really made all the difference!



Ingredients:
- 1 pkg thin chicken cutlets - about 4 (obviously you can just slice chicken breasts yourself, or pound them out...but if they already sell that at the market like this, why not just pick up a pack?)
- 1 bottle tomato sauce - warmed or room temperature (I use Classico)
- 1 container shredded Parmesan cheese (never the powdered stuff)
- 1 8oz pkg shredded mozzarella (or two if your friends like to eat it plain while you cook)
- Italian flavored Panko breadcrumbs
- 2 eggs beaten
- Flour
- Olive oil
- Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil (for easy clean up) and place in oven to heat up.
2. Prepare batter stations, fill 3 shallow trays with the following (or use can use plates):
- 2 eggs beaten
- 1c flour (seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic)
- 1 1/2c panko breadcrumbs mixed with two handfuls of shredded parmesan
2. Season chicken cutlets with a bit of salt/pepper
3. Dip chicken first in egg (wiping off excess), next coat in flour until cutlet is dry to the touch, finally in breadcrumbs (you may need to sprinkle a handful on top and press into the chicken to get it to really stick)
4. Coat skillet with olive oil (be generous) and heat (med/high)
5. Place chicken in (2 at a time) and cook until golden brown on both sides (about 2-3 min each).
6. Remove from heat and place chicken on cookie sheet in oven. (repeat with all chicken)
7. Remove cookie sheet and spoon a generous amount of tomato sauce on each cutlet, cover with mozzarella cheese.
8. Place chicken back in oven until cheese is bubbly and browned.
9. Serve with spaghetti and garlic bread.

Recipe Test: Bakesale Betty's Chicken Sandwich

Ask any New Yorker who has passed Magnolia Bakery on Bleeker or Grom gelateria on the UWS, and they won't be surprised by the concept of waiting in long lines for food. Of course, in New York, the feeling of waiting anxiously for delicious food is accompanied by the scorn of other New Yorkers silently (and not so silently) judging what they see as useless behavior. Myself included. So I was surprised and dismayed to see it had been duplicated on the west coast, where I saw a line of folks standing outside of an unmarked storefront. No food could possibly be worth all that fuss, I was assured.

This assumption was questioned, when I read a review raving about a delicious new sandwich in New York Magazine. This must be a new hip restaurant in Brooklyn of course... No! It was the un-assuming restaurant, which I found was named Bakesale Betty's and being just a few miles from my house, I decided to give it a try.

My findings: It was good and it was simple! I'm really not a huge fan of raw cabbage, especially in a coleslaw form, but the combination with the vinegar and peppers and even parsley made it the perfect combination to the fried chicken. (not to mention, the abundance of veggies made me feel better about eating fried food) The flavors simple and fresh, with just a hint of sweetness and spice. Not only did I not mind eating it, I wanted to re-create it right away...minus the waiting.

Bakesale Betty’s Fried Chicken Sandwich
recipe from the San Francisco Chronicle

Serves 4

This makes a hefty sandwich in all regards – you’ll need two hands to eat it.

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, about 6 ounces each

The vinaigrette
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

The coleslaw
1 small red onion, very thinly sliced
1 cup red wine vinegar
2 jalapenos, seeded, cut in half and sliced crosswise --
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/2 green cabbage, core and outer leaves removed, and very thinly sliced
Kosher salt

4 Acme** Bakery torpedo rolls, sliced lengthwise

For the vinaigrette: Combine mustard, vinegar and salt in a bowl. Slowly whisk in olive oil until well blended.

For the coleslaw: Macerate onions in red wine vinegar -- this means let them soak in the liquid--and let sit at least 20 minutes. Remove onions and discard vinegar. Toss onions with jalapeno, parsley, cabbage and salt. Toss with vinaigrette until evenly coated.

For the sandwich: Place fried chicken breast on bottom of torpedo roll and top generously with coleslaw.


**Acme is a local Bay Area bakery, but any sandwich roll will do.

Out of ease, I also skipped all the steps for frying the chicken and used store-bought fried chicken breasts instead.

Enjoy -- with a nice glass of fresh lemonade!

Lemon Garlic Roast Chicken w/ Veggies

So, I made this dish for Christmas and was surprised at how easy it was. I'm usually a big fan of dishes that are ready right away, but doing a little prep and then getting to hang out for an hour is a good deal too. Especially since it makes the house smell a-mazing! I was also looking for a simple easy dish that requires few additional ingredients and a simple no-cook side dish. So i added a bed of potatoes and carrots. Yum - as you can tell, it was so good, I hate to take a bite!

First, the veggie bed:




- 4 red potatoes (roughly chopped)
- 2 carrots (peeled and chopped)
- 3 cloves garlic (smashed)
- 1 onion (peeled and sliced)

1. Pre-heat oven to 375.
2. Mix the veggies in a roasting pan (I used an aluminum one from the grocery store).
3. Season generously with salt, pepper, thyme.
4. Drizzle with olive oil and toss with hands to combine.
5. Set aside.

Next, the chicken:

1. I prepare the area by setting down a layer of aluminum foil on the counter to hold the chicken.
2. Next, I get my spices ready:



- 2-3 tbs salt
- 1 tbs pepper
- 1 tbs thyme
- 1-2 tbs butter
- 1 lemon (cut off excess rind and chop into 4 pieces)
- 1 head of garlic (halved across the middle)







Put salt, pepper, and thyme in a small bowl for ease of use so you don't contaminate your spices. Put butter in separate bowl.



1. Rinse chicken with cold water. Remove giblets. (I usually just fill it with water and then shake it upside down until all the stuff falls out, but make sure it's all out of there!) Cut off the piece of fat that covers the cavity opening.
2. Pat chicken dry inside and out.
3. Place butt-side up on foil (I don't know if butt-side is a word, but...) Sprinkle generously with salt, pepper, thyme.
4. Pick the chicken up under the wings so the cavity is pointing up, sprinkle inside with spices.
5. Place chicken breast-side up. Stuff with lemons and garlic. Sprinkle top with seasonings, be sure to get legs and wings.
6. Mix remaining seasoning with butter. Using your fingers to pry the breast skin away, stuff clumps of seasoned butter under the skin. Push the skin to disperse the butter.
7. Add 1-2 tbs olive oil to butter bowl. Using your fingers to coat the top of the chicken with oil. Rub well to disperse.
8. Transfer chicken to roast pan.
9. Bake at 375 degrees for 1 1/2 hrs, until golden brown and registering 165 degrees.


*Without a rack to raise chicken above vegetables, the underside of the chicken can get undercooked. To help this, I flipped the chicken over after 1hr to properly cook the underside and then extended the cooking time for 20-30 minutes*

Gravy: Remove chicken from pan, drain juices from veggies and combine in a saucepan with 1/2c chicken stock and 2 tbs flour. Whisk until flour is incorporated and heat on medium until gravy thickens.

Sesame Chicken Skewers

This recipe from Women's Health sounds really yummy, pretty easy, and also healthy (check out nutritional facts at the end)! Too bad my Foreman grill is packed or I'd give it a try... For now, it's on the "to-do" list.

Sesame Chicken Skewers

• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 6 mins
• Total Time: 31 mins
• Serves: 8
• Average Rating: 5/5

No Description

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup defatted reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
• 1/4 cup finely chopped scallions
• 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 4 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 3 drops hot-pepper sauce
• 24 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 6 breast halves), cut into 1/2" wide strips
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds

Directions

1.

In a medium bowl, combine the broth, parsley, scallions, soy sauce, oil, garlic, ginger, coriander and hot-pepper sauce. Add the chicken and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.

2.

Preheat the broiler.

3.

Drain the chicken. Discard the marinade. Thread the chicken strips on separate 6" metal skewers in loose S shapes. (See note if using wooden skewers.) Sprinkle with the sesame seeds.

4.

Place the skewers on the rack of a broiling pan. Broil 4" from the heat for 3 minutes. Turn the skewers over and broil for 3 to 5 minutes more, or until the chicken is no longer pink

Nutritional Facts (per serving)
26 Calories
2.3 grams Fat
1.1 grams Carbohydrates
.5 grams Protein