Piccata More Better Dish

Since first making this recipe some time ago, I've served it now over rice, over egg noodles, over nothing, with breading and without.  It's become a staple in our dinner menu; something I can now whip out in 30 minutes or less and the family gobbles it down, capers and all. Tonight is just a revisit of this recipe simply because I killed it, it was amazing.

 

Here's a few adjustments I've made over the years:

• Chicken, not always breaded.  This cuts calories, and minutes.  Tastes the same. Been sautéing in olive oil instead of all that butter.
• Sauce, bouillon has been working great! Fresh chives out of my garden instead of scallions. Onion powder when I have neither. Garlic, 2-4 gloves, minced and sautéed first. Oregano, dried, sautéed with the garlic. Butter, not always stocked so margarine has worked just fine. Thickening agent, flour/water or cornstarch/water. Fresh lemon and the entire jar of capers since my kids love them so much!
• Sides, have been over rice, usually, but tonight I served over spaghetti, and it was awesome.

My kids have been watching a lot cooking competition shows lately so I was also being judged.  This has become a nightly routine.  Tonight, I was given a 4/5 stars, with the chicken losing points because I offered dark meat in addition to breast meat. The capers were of course a huge hit and my pasta was cooked "nicely." Overall the 5 and 8 year old voted to let me stay. Phew.

And here's the cool part.  I made extra chicken and doubled the sauce. Freezing it all for a second meal.  It's gonna be great.

Stir Fry Fun

It was mentioned to me the other day that I hadn't updated my blog in a while, so of course I ran home and decided to do something interesting for dinner to blog.  And wouldn't you know, about half way through I realized I wasn't taking any pictures.  So, I have a picture of this final product, but no step by step instructions.  But really, you don't need visuals for this, it's super simple and very quick.  I made this meal in under 30 minutes and 1 out of 2 kids enjoyed it, and even the husband took a second helping.

Inspiration for this dish actually came from my three year old.  Walking through the grocery store she finds Chinese Bean Thread, or what some may call Cellophane Noodles.  Any time the kids pick up something in the store that is "out of the ordinary" I jump at the chance to bring it home and try something new, or introduce them to something they normally would not have considered.  So of course I grabbed the bag and tossed it in the cart and banked it for a future dish.  And that dish just happened to be the other night.

Bean thread cooks quickly in a pot of boiling water.  Not 5 minutes and they're done.  So plan the associated dish carefully enough and you have a dinner that can be cooked in 20 minutes.  And I didn't exactly know where I was going with this meal until I started tossing items in the pan and started to play.  It made itself along the way.

Ingredients

• Chicken, diced into small pieces (or Shrimp!)
• Carrots, I used diced frozen
• Peas, I used frozen
• Broccoli, I used frozen
• Mushrooms, fresh if you have them, canned if not
• Bean Thread noodles
• Sesame Oil
• Sesame seeds
• Soy sauce
• Sugar, brown if you have it preferred, White if you're out (like I was)
• Ginger, fresh is best grated 1/4t., I used powdered as I was out of fresh
• Garlic, fresh is best, minced 1t, I used garlic salt as I was out of fresh
• Scallions, 2 or 3 smalls one chopped, I used onion powder as I didn't want to go out in the rain and dark to find mine in the garden

Time to Play

1. Fill pot with water, bring to boil, toss in bean thread.  
2. Let boil for 5 minutes and drain.  
3. Let sit until ready to use.  

Meanwhile, waiting for the pot to boil...

1. Heat your frying pan (12" minimum, needs to be big), or wok to high.  
2. Generously drizzle sesame oil.  
3. Toss in your frozen veggies and saute until no longer frozen, but not yet cooked.  
4. Then toss in the diced chicken.  
5. Keep the food moving so it doesn't burn and all sides get cooked.

Meanwhile, waiting for the veggies to cook, and water to boil...

1. In a small bowl, pour in about 1.5c of soy sauce
2. Add to that 3T (roughly, I don't measure, ever, when making sauces, always TASTE) sesame oil
3. Add the ginger, the garlic, the scallions, the sesame seeds, the sugar
4. whisk together
5. TASTE it.  needs something more, add it

Going back to your frying pan...

1. When the veggies are cooked through and the chicken is done, grab the bean thread and dump into the pan
2. Pour your sauce over the bean thread and start tossing everything together for 2-3 minutes allowing the sauce to permeate the noodles and soak into the chicken.
3. Remove from heat
4. Serve.

Almost Like Green Bean Casserole but not...

School is back in session.  Dance classes have started up.  In another month or so, we will add swim class and Girl Scouts.  No mom has time for dinner after all that, let alone DISHES.  So finding something I can whip up in less than 30 minutes, ideally less than 20 minutes with as few dishes as possible is key.  Talk all you want about crock pot meals.  My family (not me) doesn't like them, they're a waste of food for us, they go uneaten... finding one they all love is rare.  So, if I can whip it up in one pot and make it look like it took all day, even better.

This particular meal is by no means gourmet, it's not "unhealthy" or "healthy" but it's grub, it's devoured, quick and less mess.  Once what took me 3 pots, is now 1.  It almost tastes like green bean casserole.  It almost tastes like tuna noodle casserole.  A good chicken substitute just might be tuna... but that could cause 2 pots since you'd want to toss that in LAST after just barely sauteing it.

Ingredients 

• Egg Noodles
• Frozen Green Beans
• Cream of Mushroom Soup (condensed)
• Milk
• Chicken, diced
• Olive Oil
• Salt/Pepper

Directions

• Bring a large (but not massive) pot of water to boil, toss in egg noodles and cook until tender.  Drain, let sit. 

• Return empty pot to stove, pour in ~2T olive oil and toss in your chicken.
• Heavily salt and pepper the chicken.  If you think it's enough, toss in a bit more, remember we're adding more to this pot later.
• Saute the chicken until all sides are browned.

• Toss in the green beans.

 

• Dump in the can of mushroom soup and one can of milk.

 

• Stir and bring to boil, don't let burn.
• Turn heat down and let simmer for about 5 minutes.
• Get your noodles.  Remove pot from heat, and dump in noodles and stir.
• Serve.

Optional components.. if your family really likes mushrooms, you can toss in some diced ones while you're sauteing the chicken.

The recipe isn't rocket science.  It's not that "original" but it gets the job done.  But who knows, maybe you've never seen it before and now I've added time back into your evening.  And with that, I have a crying child to attend to.

Not Your Average Chicken & Corn Chowder

Every once in a while I get in the mood for soup.  Which is great, because soup is so easy to make, and there are so many different ways to make the same soup, adjusting ingredients to your individual liking or taste at the time.  I don't think I've ever made the same soup twice.  The bad part is, I have yet to figure out how to make soup for 1, with a couple nights' leftovers.  When you make soup, you make for the masses.  One of these days I will have to master how to make soup for 5, and not 25.  See, I'm the only one in the household who will eat soup.  5 year old girls tend to be picky eaters at this phase, 2 year olds don't yet have the ability to manage it on a spoon, and well husbands... the one in my house just doesn't like soup.  And that's OK.  More for me!

Several weeks ago, some time around Valentine's Day, my mother in law throws this really fun party for the adult women of the family.  Much laughter, as you can imagine.  This year, I was unable to attend, but was there to drop my girls off for the afternoon.  Her menu for the party that day included Corn Chowder.  She makes a great corn chowder.  After finishing two and a half bowls of it quickly before we had to leave, I was determined to get it on the menu at my house in the following weeks.  And wouldn't ya know... Sunday night, I made a roast chicken.  How convenient for me, now I can make my own stock.  Score! 

I like chicken in my corn chowder.  Growing up, my dad was a Boy Scout Executive leader, and there was this one troop that had a chicken and corn chowder meal every year.  Raising funds for some project or another.  Well, the gentleman who was in charge of making the chicken and corn chowder had the most amazing recipe.  I have never had another like it.  So I always think back to that, and eventually I will find my recipe falling into that memory.

So, last night was Chicken & Corn chowder.  I didn't even bother with a recipe, I figured I could get it close enough.  I had a general idea of what is supposed to go into it and what it supposed to taste like.  I must say, I was right on.

Chicken Stock

One leftover roast chicken.  Put it in a large pot, fill with water to just 1 inch over the height of the bird, and boil it for about 3 hours.  Not a high boil, but a medium simmer.  You shouldn't have to add too much extra flavoring to this, since your chicken should have already had flavor to it when you roasted it.  We're going to add flavor to this stock later anyhow when we make it soup.  Once the 3 hours are up, you'll want to drain the stock into a collander over another large stock pot or bowl to save for later.  Keeping the bones out, but retaining the stock.

SOUP Time!


Ingredients
4-6 cups chicken stock
Chicken, shredded or cut into small pieces (as much as you like)
4-6 carrots (chopped to 1/2 inch pieces or smaller)
4-6 celery stalks (chopped to 1/2 inch pieces or smaller)
1 medium vadallia onion (chopped to 1/2 inch pieces or smaller)
2 cans sweet corn
1 can creamed corn
1 dozen small (golf ball size) red potatos - can't find the golf ball size, then adjust accordingly - chop in to bite size pieces
1 pint Light Cream
Olive Oil
Salt/Pepper


In the bottom of a stock pot, drizzle the olive oil and heat to med-high heat.  Add your carrots, celery and onion.  This is a classic mirepox, or the holy trinity, of soup. Some people use this in just making the stock only and then dispose of it.  In this case, I like a colorful soup.  If it's not fun to eat, then why eat it?  I decided to leave these in.

Add salt and pepper.  Saute over medium heat until they are soft and the onions become translucent.  Don't rush this part, the longer they sit and marry, the better the flavor.  If you get a touch of burning on the bottom, that is ok, it's not actual burning, it's "fond" which I've talked about in past posts.  You'll scrape this off once you add the stock.

Once the mirepox is soft and translucent, add the corn and creamed corn.  Give them a good stir and let saute for just a moment.  Then add your chicken stock.  So how much?  How thick do you like your chowder and how much soup are you making?  Start by adding 4 cups and go from there.  After you add just 4 cups of stock, add the whole pint of light cream.  Stir everything together.  If you need more stock, adjust accordingly as you add the potatoes and chicken.  Bring the heat to high to boil 1-2 minutes, watching not to burn the milk.  Turn back to low and simmer until potatoes are tender.

Remove from heat, let cool so you don't burn your tongue... enjoy!

Whatsa Matta... Chicken Piccata!?

Tonight, this is not a recipe that I played with, but more about how insanely proud I am about how it came out.  Having just recently finished the book Julie & Julia, I have been, of course, inspired.  Now, I'm not about to run out and buy Mastering the Art of French Cooking but I am inspired to try new things, more often.

My biggest obstacle in this however are the other residents in my home.  The 15 month old is typically a human garbage disposal and willing to eat anything I put on her plate.  Well, at least try it anyhow.  My 4 year old, she'll eat sushi, but she won't try a new BBQ sauce and grimaces if I ask her to try a slice of chocolate pie she's never before seen.  And my husband.... steak and rice, every day of his life with Teriyaki sauce and he'd be content to never have to consume "spices" ever again.  So finding just the right recipe to try out on the critics in my home can be a challenge.

But every once in a while, I throw caution to the wind and pull out my standby bible of recipes The Joy of Cooking.  What?  You don't have a copy in your kitchen??  My binding is worn.  I'm surprised pages aren't falling out yet!  When I got married, I registered for this cook book and that cook book.  And several years back a chef at a hotel I worked for emptied her shelves for me and I added 20 books to my collection.  But do you think I ever open them?  Never.  My standby, the book that never, ever fails me is my Joy of Cooking.  It's not fancy.  It's back to the basics.  It's usually ingredients I can find in my cabinet.  (Usually.)  Even if I'm not going to rock a recipe directly, I continue to pull it out just for inspiration.

And this is how I came to Chicken Piccata.

Monday I was in the mood for chicken so I pulled out the book.  Flipped to the chapter "All About Chicken" and started perusing the recipes, and ingredients.  And wouldn't you know, none to be found.  Wait... I didn't even HAVE chicken in the freezer.  Did someone say hot dogs and macaroni and cheese?  So tonight, we stopped at the grocery store first and chicken breasts were procured.  Along with, a lovely jar of capers.  Which, I have had, but honestly they have never been stocked in my pantry, nor have I ever cooked with them.  Wow.  I hope I even LIKE capers...  When I got home I opened the jar and popped one in my mouth.  You can't cook with something you've never tasted.  Voila, ok, it's like an olive, only saltier.  I don't like olives.  At all.  But professional chefs SWEAR by cooking with capers.  I have to make this work.  They're small, I can stomach it.  Who knows, maybe the taste will change when I'm done.  And I've had chicken piccata before, I like it...I think.

Book out.  Scramble for ingredients.  Holy crap, that's a lot of butter!!  Dinner ultimately served 4 people, and I used 7 Tablespoons of butter for the whole meal, includes side dishes.  So, I guess Weight Watchers is out the door tonight.  Hello Butter, hello butt, oh I'll hate the scale Thursday, but it's gonna be worth it tonight!

Here's the Recipe:

Ingredients:
For the chicken:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves - and I sliced them into chicken finger size knowing that I was serving a toddler and a pre-schooler who would appreciate the size.
• Salt & black pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter - make sure it's unsalted.  I used salted and could taste the difference.
• 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

For the sauce:

• 2-3 tablespoons minced shallots or scallions - I used dried scallions from my spice rack
• 1 cup chicken stock - BOULLION worked just as well!!
• 3-4 tablespoons strained fresh lemon juice - totally used the concentrated stuff
• 2 tablespoons nonpareil capers, drained
• 2-3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened - unsalted, a must.

How to make them play nicely:

• Rinse and pat the chicken breasts dry. Trim any fat etc.
• Sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper to tast
• Spread the flour on a plate and coat the chicken on both sides.  Shake off the excess flour.  You really don't want a lot of flower on it, you're not making "fried chicken"
• Heat the butter  in a heavy 10-12″ skillet over medium-high heat until fragrant and nut-brown, then add the olive oil.  DON'T BURN IT!  If you burn the butter, just toss it, wash the pan and start over.  No, I didn't burn it this time, but I have done so before and burned butter, is just bad.
• Swirl the butter and oil together, then add the chicken and cook @ 4 minutes each side.  Keep the pan as hot as possible without burning. - Chicken is done when it's firm to touch.
• Put it on a plate/platter and keep warm.  I used the microwave.

The sauce:

• Remove all but 1 tablespoon of fat from the chicken skillet. 
• Heat the scallions or shallots over medium heat and cook, stirring, until wilted about 1 minute. 
• Increase the heat to high and add the chicken stock.
• Bring to a boil, scraping the bottom of the skillet with a wooden spoon to dissolve the brown bits. (those lovely brown bits we call "fond" - remember?)
• Add the lemon juice, and capers and boil until the mixture is reduced to @ 1/3 cup, @ 3-4 minutes. 
• Add the accumulated chicken juices and reduce again.  Remove from the heat and swirl in the butter. - I didn't have any because I put my chicken on a paper towel to sop up excess oil. I am on Weight Watchers after all.
• Pour sauce over the chicken and serve immediately.

Now, I didn't pour my sauce over all the chicken that I cooked.  Remember my picky eater audience?  Yeah, both the 15 month and 4 year old recieved sauceless chicken.  And I knew that if husband really didn't like it, he could eat plain chicken.

End result?  I gobbled it up like it was going out of style.  It was by far the best Chicken Piccata I have EVER had.  Maybe because I made it, or maybe just because Joy of Cooking is that good, that simple, that yummy.  Or maybe it was all that butter....  Even my 4 year old asked if she could try capers when I told her they tasted like little olives.  She LOVES olives, the freak.

Can't wait to make this recipe again!

Burritos, Enchilada Style

We seem to do Mexican at least once a week.  Usually it's a last minute, "well I have ground hamburger and happen to have seasoning, oh yeah and tortillas, lets have tacos."  But every once in a while I like to take my time and plan Mexican night.  And by plan, I really mean take chicken out of the freezer ahead of time and say "huh, ok this might work" and then realize that I don't have tortillas, pre-packaged seasoning or sour cream.  So I pick up the phone and ask the husband to get tortillas and sour cream on the way home, it's Mexican night. 

Daughter wants black beans, I like rice and husband just wants meat and cheese.  So I decide to just toss them all into a tortilla, call it a burrito.  Oh, and I have salsa in the fridge, oh and CHEESE, so I'll bake them enchilada style!  But that still leaves me without taco seasonings.... why pay for pre-packaged when you can make your own!?  Oh yeah, let's play.

Ingredients

• Chicken Breast, Thighs
• I used 1 large breast and 2 thighs - adjust for how many you're going to cook for.  This made enough for 5 people
• Pre-packaged yellow rice
• 1 can black beans, drain and rinse
• A mirage of seasonings - what, your cabinets aren't well stocked?  Then, go stock them.
• Chili Powder
• Garlic Salt
• Onion Powder
• Salt
• Pepper
• Oregano
• Paprika
• Red Pepper Flakes (yay!)
• Chicken bouillon (3 cubes or 2T from jar)
• 8 inch flour tortillas
• Mexican shredded cheese, Cheddar shredded cheese
• Your favorite salsa

Rice & Beans

• Make the rice according to the package directions
• When just about all the water is gone, add the black beans, cover back and up and finish cooking.
• Remove from heat when done.

 Chicken

• Saute Pan - I use stainless, but non-stick would work, put in your chicken (frozen or thawed, doesn't matter) and fill with water to just the top of the chicken
• Salt, Pepper and Chili powder both sides of chicken
• Bring to a boil and add the chicken bouillon
• Why bouillon?  Well, it just seemed right to me.  Season every step of the way, add layers to your dishes.
• Let boil until chicken is cooked (turn them over from time to time for even boiling)
•  
• When chicken is done, remove from heat and set pan aside.  Put chicken on cutting board.
• Take 2 forks and start pulling the chicken apart and shred it.
• Discard of 1/2 the water left over after boiling (you should probably have just about 1/4 cup left in the pan) - add the chicken back to the pan.

Taco Spices

• I found myself without taco seasoning one time during Mexican night after I had ground the beef.  So to the internet I went searching for how to make my own.  From this recipe and from that recipe I took here and there, and then modified the ratios to my own taste.  I encourage you to do the same.  My level of spice in this recipe is set for my family.  They like a zip on the tongue but not fire hot.  I'd love to spice it up some time.
• In a small bowl combine the following spices.  Now remember, I'm not going to tell you Tablespoons or teaspoons.  This will all depend on your personal flavor preferences.  I will however this time give you how many parts of each. 

• 3 parts chili powder
• 1/4 part garlic salt
• 1/4 part onion powder
• 1/4 part oregano
• 1/2 part paprika
• 1.5 part cumin
• 1/2 part salt
• 1/2 part pepper 
• Stir/shake to mix

 Chicken Re-Do

• Return the chicken and 1/4 c of the boiling juices back to the stove on med-high and add your taco seasonings.
• Cook down until liquid is gone. Don't let it burn.  Take off heat when done.

Assuming that your rice and beans were cooking at the same time you were doing your chicken, you should now have 2 separate hot dishes.  Let's combine them.

Let's Get Rolling

1. Zap the flour tortillas in the microwave to warm them up.
2. Lay it out on the counter (you cleaned it right?) and add your rice and beans, then your chicken.
3. Roll, tightly.
4. Place in a baking dish.
5. Repeat 1-4 until you've made 4-6 rolls.
6. Pour salsa over and use back of spoon to make sure all tortilla is covered, otherwise it dries out and gets hard.
7. Cover them with gobs and gobs of cheese.  1/2 cheddar, 1/2 Mexican blend.
8. Place under a broiler until cheese is melted and has a slight crispy top.  DON'T BURN IT!

And.... serve it on a plate with fork an knife with a dollop of sour cream.

Oh My Marinade - Chicken Thighs

Having had a kitchen torn apart since... January (?) most of my cabinet stock foods have been in brown boxes sitting in my dining room.  And because I have decided that when it comes time to put them back in, I will be weeding out the old and expired and using up what I can without buying new, I've tried to do as much "home made" as I can.  One of our biggest money wasting purchases is keeping a well stocked cabinet.  While this is great from one angle because I can then say I always have this or that on hand, it's also bad, as I lose track of what I really have.  I have found duplicate spices, having purcahsed Ginger recently because I didn't think I had it, so now I have two bottles of ground ginger.  Same with Curry.  At least it's two good spices though.  However I have about 4 bottles of cinnamon... why do I have so much cinnamon?  So before I put all my food items back into what will hopefully be a super organized, labeled and categorized set of cabinets, I'm trying to use and create and make what I can from scratch.  Which means, a lot of playing.

I first made this marinade a few weeks ago and applied it to chicken wings.  I really, really wish I had taken a picture then for you.  The wings came out FANTASTIC.  I mean, they could not have been more perfect.  They were crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside with just enough sauce to give you sticky fingers.  Oh they were divine!  But alas, I did not have my camera near by and so I did not get the opportunity to share this marinade with you then.  Last night however, I applied my new sauce to chicken thighs and behold, the same succulence came forth from my grill.


Now I present to you the ingredient list:

• Soy Sauce (I prefer low sodium)
• Sesame Oil
• Fresh or Dried Chives
• Ground Ginger
• Garlic Salt
• Red Pepper flakes (didn't I tell you I've been crazy about them lately, they go into everything!)
• Toasted sesame seeds
• Sugar

And you ask me, as always, but HOW MUCH Jenn?  And my answer to you this time... depends on how much chicken!  I served 8 chicken thighs with this.  And my combined amount of liquid could not have been more than just 1 cup.  I cook by taste.  Grab a bowl.  Pour in  some soy sauce and sesame oil.  Equal parts, that I know for sure.  Add to that sugar and the rest of your spices.  How sweet do you want it, adjust accordingly.  Note that your pepper flakes will give more flavor the longer they sit in the sauce and once they get heat up, so it may take you once or twice of making the sauce to get your heat adjusted correctly.  First time I made it, it had a nice zing on the tongue and last night it was just a soft undertone.

Now, I'm sure by now you've also noticed that I've said "sauce" and I also say "marinade" - well, you could use it either way!  This would be so yummy having let the chicken sit in it for an hour or more and I have a variation that includes White Wine Vinegar where I do just that.  But the last two times I've made this sauce, I have used it as just that, a sauce.

Let's get cooking.
Prep your chicken, trim what needs to be trimmed.  I used boneless, skinless thighs last night.  I have also used wings and drumsticks.  This is best with skin on, as you can get things nice and crispy.  Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken parts you have decided to use.

Get your grill nice and hot.  Get the chicken on.  What, Jenn, no sauce?  Oh nooooo... why get my grill all dirty?  Get the chicken on the grill naked (aka. no sauce).  Use your grill skills and make those lovely grill marks.  Turn the heat back a bit and flip them when it is time.  Cook your chicken to its desired doneness (you know, not pink).  If it's chicken parts with skin, keep an eye on them as you don't want flare up or burns.

When the chicken is just about done, that's when you bring out your sauce.  Douse those babies and make 'em happy.  They've been roasting under that hot fire and they are asking for some cool sauce.  Turn the heat to low and just let them sit for a few minutes under a closed lid, let the sauce start to caramelize a bit on top.  Flip, sauce the other side.  Let them sit.  Repeat this until you have sauced the chicken at least 2 times per side.  And as a side note, this is a good time to let yourself get sauced.  Any of my drinks from this blog go very nicely with grilling.  Stay cool while your meat heats.  LOL



Ok, when they're done, you should be out of sauce for the most part, and your chicken should be a beautiful amber brown and glistening. 

Serve with pasta or rice, and of course a vegetable.  Enjoy!

Just a Simple Dish, Really

So, there I was sitting at lunch yesterday, chatting with coworkers and enjoying my meal.  We're talking food.  Of course.  The conversation, while I don't remember how it started, happened to fall upon salting one's food and how it is perceived by others around you; showing your personality.  It is said that if you salt your food prior to tasting it, then you are one to make certain assumptions prior to testing, and tend to jump to conclusions.  And if you're one to taste your food first, and then salt after if necessary, you are a more cautious person, not one to jump to assumptions.  This method has been used by employers taking potential job candidates out to lunch.  Now, I find this interesting, because for me, I taste and salt later, which would "tell" you that I don't make assumptions.  But if you know me, I'm the first one to jump into a situation with "well I think this and that" and am far too over opinionated for my own good.  But enough about me, back to salt.

Pre-salting your food can also seen as a great insult to the chef.  You're, again, making an assumption that the food is not good enough and requires salt before you even taste it.  But, you can look at the other way too and one who tastes and salts afterwards can be viewed the same way.  I did experience this once with a family member; only it wasn't salt, it was hot sauce.  Before I knew that he hot sauced everything, I was quite insulted to watch him "ruin" several of my meals with hot sauce over, and over, and over again.  Until I learned, he just liked things hot.  So, it is the same with salt.  One who salts, simply, just likes salt.  Regardless, I do tend to under-salt most of my food, for that very reason.  I let my diner salt it up to their desire, and I will add other spices to compliment.  So, word to the novice chef, salt is good but too much salt is bad.  Use your discretion and cater to the crowd you're serving.

Anyhow, back to lunch.  I was asked what it is that I'm eating, because apparently, it looks good.  When I told them it was just a simple throw together meal, they insisted I provide the ingredients and was asked if it was on my blog.  Of course it was not, it's not "gourmet."  I just tossed some stuff together!  Pretty sure I saw a similar recipe on Worst Cooks in America.  So I'm embarrassed to admit how stupidly simple this recipe is, but if executed correctly can feed a family of 4, with leftovers and can pass as dinner no problem and is disguised as gourmet.  I was so taken by the compliment however, that sure, I'll toss it up on the blog for others to enjoy.  After all, I was only playing with new variations of an old recipe.  Anyone remember Chicken Tonight?   Yeah, it's like that, only now mine is "semi-homemade" and yes, that theme song resonates through my brain the whole time I make this dish.

Ingredients:
Rice, just plain white
Chicken, I use both breast and thigh (boneless)
Green beans, frozen
Mushrooms, canned or fresh (I used canned as I was in a rush and no fresh in the fridge)
Cream of Mushroom Soup (any brand, but really, Cambell's is best)
Salt & Pepper to taste

 - But Jenn, how much of everything?  Well, now that depends on how many people you want to serve.  You know how much chicken you, personally, can eat.  How much can your toddler/child eat?  How much can your husband eat?  Decide if you need 2 breasts and 1 Thigh, etc.  (yes, that's what I used)  And since I can't stand leftover rice, I just did 1/2c uncooked rice to 1c water.  1 small can of mushrooms, and I pour the green beans in until it "just looks right."  And the soup is a regular 8oz can.

Prepare your Rice:  I've been getting creative lately with my rice, trying to give plain white rice some pizazz and flavoring up my food.  My absolute favorite rice is Jasmine rice.  But it's not cheap, so I really only make it with meals that I know it's going to compliment nicely.  And having had and love jasmine rice, plain old white rice is now just extremely boring.  So, here's how I prep my white rice.  In the water that you're boiling for the rice (according to the package directions), I add SALT.  Yep, that's right, I pre-salt my rice water.  It's a must in this case.  How much?  You decide.  1T for 1c uncooked rice usually does well.  But you know me, I don't measure, so it's just an estimate.  Along with the salt, I am now adding dry parsley.  Again, how much?  Just toss some in until it looks "right."  Why parsley?  Well, it adds some pretty color to the rice and flavors it just enough.  Parsley has a flavor, but not over powering.  So, boil your water, add your rice, cook according to directions.

Prepare the Chicken:  If your chicken is defrosted, cut it up into bite size cubes.  If it's not defrosted, get it to that state in your preferred method and then cut it into bite size cubes.  Get them into a frying pan with 2T olive oil, salt and pepper, and cook them on Med-High until golden brown on the outside.  Once brown, add your mushrooms and cook until also heated through.  Once the mushrooms are done, toss in your frozen green beans and the can of mushroom soup + 1/2 that same can of milk.  (Meaning, empty the soup from the can into the pan, then fill 1/2 that same can with milk and add that to the pan as well.)   Get everything stirred in nicely together and bring it to a soft boil and let simmer until the green beans are cooked through and the soup is hot.

Make Your Dish: I have a saucer bowl that I like to use for dishes like this, but you can also use a plate or an actual bowl.  On the plate/bowl lay down 1/2-3/4c of the rice.  Next to that, pour in 1-2c of the chicken mixture.  I like to let the chicken and rice overlap a bit, since by the end I've completely stirred everything together.  But it starts out visually appealing anyhow.

Enjoy:  Now, you can sit down and enjoy a meal that literally just took you 20 minutes to make.  And it only took that long because the rice had to cook.  If you have leftover rice, you can cut your cook time in half!  A 10 minute meal, yes please!!!  Oh yeah, and don't forget to place the salt on your table.  It's bound to happen, no matter what you cook, no matter how much you season, so just chalk it up to personal preference, don't look into it and know that you placed a fine meal on the table, salt or no salt.

(No picture of this meal since I hadn't planned on sharing it - perhaps next time I make it, I'll snap a few and edit for historical purposes)

Chicken Fingers Aren't Just for Kids

Sometimes, even moms want to eat chicken fingers and french fries for dinner.  But the frozen variety that come out of a bag, just not my style.  Well, OK, maybe sometimes when Kassidy hasn't finished all hers, and I'm really hungry.  But regardless, sometimes we just want that chicken finger feel, but as a parent, not the chicken finger experience.

Walking around Market Basket last night, all I had on my mind really was asparagus from yesterday's entry.  And along with that I was hungry for chicken fingers.  How on earth do you combine the two?  Easy, make your own.  So, I grabbed a package of chicken breast, a bundle of asparagus and potatoes.  I took a white russet potato for Rob, and sweet potatoes for me.

This will easily feed a family of 4, or in our case, a family of 3 (an extra piece for mom, and leftover for Kassidy's lunch)

• 3 Chicken breasts, fillet them into strips, much like chicken finger strips.  Make them as long as the breast itself, no more than 1/2 in thick, and no more than 2 inches wide.  From the 3 breasts I think i got 16-18 fingers.
• Place them all into a bowl.
• Add to this bowl 1 beaten egg and enough milk to just cover all the chicken.
• I add in many shakes of Franks Red Hot as well.  Something I picked up from Paula Dean several years ago on the Food Network.  As Kassidy gets older I will be dumping more and more hot sauce in.  Right now, it was really just used as an acidic seasoning.  You don't taste it in the finished product.  But eventually, I'll add enough so you do.  For last night, it was enough to turn the milk/egg mixure into a pink color.
• Let the chicken sit in this and get happy for 20-30 minutes
• Or, for however long its going to take you to prep the asaparagus and potatoes.

• Wash the asparagus, break them, put them into a frying pan, drizzle with oil, salt and pepper.  Don't turn on, that comes later.  Also, while you're waiting for the chicken to get happy, prep your potatoes for french fries.

• Peel skin off the potatoes.  Slice into thin strips that look like french fries.  The thinner you cut them, the less time it takes to cook, just remember that.
• Cover a cookie sheet with tin foil, spray it with cooking spray (so they don't sick) and lay out the fries.  Drizzle with olive oil, generously coat with salt and pepper, get your hands dirty and toss them around.  Pop them into a high broiler and close the door.  Keep a watch on these, you'll want to turn and flip them every so often.  

• OK, back to the chicken.  Time to prep the cooking station.  I use Peanut Oil.  You can use Vegetable, Olive, etc, but I find that Peanut oil for frying gives the most consistent heat and stays a good moderate temperature.  
• You need a sturdy frying pan.  I use a Calphalon 16" skillet, you can also use a well seasoned cast iron pan, or if you're lucky enough to have a deep fryer, you can try them in there too, but this is a pan fried chicken finger recipe.  Results should be the same.
• Pour enough oil into the skillet to give it a good covering.  Let me put it this way, when the chicken is lying it in, the oil should cover just over 1/2 the depth of the chicken.  Remember, you sliced them thin, so 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch of oil in the pan.
• Heat the oil on Med to Med-High heat, depending on your range this could vary.  You'll know the oil is hot enough when 2 things happen:  1.)  you start to see rings in the oil and 2.) if you toss a droplet (and I MEAN A DROPLET) of water into the pan and it POPS.  

• Back to your chicken.  Now, I've fried chicken several times, and I go back and forth between a a flour base and a bread crumb base.  It really depends on what you're in the mood for and what type of meal you're making.  In this instance, I used Italian Seasoned bread crumbs.
• In a separate bowl, sprinkle a good layer of bread crumbs in and place 4 chicken fingers onto the bread crumbs.  Pat down, flip, pat down, give them a good covering.
• Using long handle tongs, GENTLY place 1 finger at a time down into the oil.  We're only going to do 4-8 of these at a time, giving them room to cook, not shocking the oil and keeping things at a nice even temperature.
• Let them sizzle and get happy.  You know they're ready to turn when you can visibly see that the chicken is hardening.  Flip them, move to another side of the pan and place 4 more in.  This way, you're always rotating 4 fingers at a time, optimizing your time and keeping htem all warm so they don't end up at the table cold.
• Hey, did you check the french fries?  Open the oven door, give them a toss.
• If you turn your chicken over and find that it's black, then you either left it in there too long, or your oil is too hot.  Adjust accordingly.  Remember, these are going to continue to cook a little once you remove them from the pan, placing them on a paper towel to soak up the excess oil.
• Keep repeating these steps until all your chicken has been cooked.
• Hey, check your fries!  Toss and check tenderness.
• When you have 8 chicken fingers to go, turn your asparagus on Med-High Heat and cover.
• You're basically steaming these like any other vegetable to an al-dente, still crisp state, but cooked through.  Give them a toss about 1/2 way through cooking.

• All your fingers done?  Good, your fries should be too, remove them from the oven.  Check the asparagus, and remove everything.
• Plate & Serve
• I enjoyed these with a glass of Virginia Pearmund Cellars Viognier.  Kassidy chose chocolate Milk, and husband had water.  Very versatile meal.
• Enjoy!

Chicken Soup - Have a Bowl

The last few blogs have been within a 24 hour period of me actually cooking the food that I've described and provided the steps for.  Today however, I was inspired by Rob bringing chicken thighs home last night to cook up so he could have chicken salad.  It reminded me about my home-made chicken soup.  Which, is probably how I got started with playing around with recipes.  I mean, it's soup, throw stuff into a pot, cook it, call it done.

This recipe makes soup for an army.  I mean really, you can't make soup for just one, let alone two, or even four.  You make stock, and you make STOCK.  I came about this recipe several years ago after realizing that I had a lot of chicken left over after making a roast and just wasn't sure what to do with it.  So, this is really a "left over meal."  But, you could make fresh, it's just  more work the night you make it, that's all.

This recipe has gone through a few changes over the years as well.  This is the best part about playing with food.  It started out as just plain old chicken soup.  Then I realized that I "could" add noodles and made chicken noodle soup.  Few years later I was reminded of this chicken and corn chowder that I used to get growing up.  My father was in the Boy Scouts of America, and they had this dinner every year and "this guy" (hey, I was like 8, how am I supposed to remember what the dinner was for and who the guy was?) and he made GREAT chicken and corn chowder WITH dumplings.  Now, I have not yet added dumplings to this soup, but it's an option to consider later down the road.  What I really did with this soup was make it taste like my great grandfather Pappy Bro and Grammy Ester's soup.  THEY made an awesome chicken and corn chowder.  Odd thing is, I can only remember having it once or twice.  But I have memories of it nonetheless.  And I put noodles in mine, they didn't.

So, while I call this "chicken soup" it's probably more appropriate to call it "Chicken Chowder Noodle Soup" since that's what goes in it and how it comes out.  Get ready to feast and let's play.

Pre-Ingredients:

• You will need an already roasted chicken carcass.  You can use a leftover that you recently made or simply go get a rotisserie from your local supermarket.
• Make sure that it's scraped clean of the meat and set the meat aside in a bowl or bag.  If you don't get all of it, don't worry about it, that just adds extra flavor and the 4 hour boil you're about to put it through will help it come off the bone later. 
• Chicken - you can use your leftovers, or you can bake up more parts and use those, and/or saute up a bunch of chicken breasts, add the meat from here to that bowl/bag from above.

Stock:

• Of course I make my own stock!  It's EASY
• You'll need:  Olive oil, Carrots, Celery, Onion, Salt, Pepper, Your chicken carcass, Water
• Get a giant pot.  How big?  Well, how much soup do you want to make and how big is your chicken?  Yep, that big.
• Give the bottom a quick splash of the olive oil, covers about 1/2
• Add your carrots, celery and onion - these have been roughly chopped, looks don't matter, we're going to toss them later
• heat them up and stir them around until they are just "squishy" and the bottom of the pan is mildly brown
• Toss a little water in and deglaze (we've covered this, it means srape the brown off the bottom)
• Add the chicken carcass
• Pour water into the pot until it's about 2 inches over the carcass
• Generously salt and pepper
• Cover, bring to a boil, turn down and simmer it for about 3 hours
• Every once in a while, open the lid and skim off the white frothy fat with a spoon
• After 3 hours, turn it off.  Time to strain it.  KEEP the stock, toss the rest.
• Put your stock aside in another container, we're going to reuse the pot (don't clean it) for the soup

Soup's On

• Carrots, chopped nicely
• Celery, chopped nicely
• Onion, chopped fine (not a fan of huge pieces in my soup, but love the flavor)
• So, this combination is known as Mirepoix - hence forth to be called "The Holy Trinity" of soups
• OK, back to our pot, olive oil again, toss in the Holy Trinity and saute until soft
• Pour in the stock over the top and bring to a high simmer, not quite full boil
• Add more vegetables!!
• You can use frozen veggies, which I usually do, or you can use fresh
• Corn, Green Beans, Peas, more Carrots
• Locate the chicken meat that you placed aside from pre-ingredients
• Shred or chop this up to bite size pieces
• Add it to the pot
• Keep the temp so that the soup is still at a good simmer
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• I tend to under salt, allowing the consumers to salt their bowl to taste
• Right now, you have CHICKEN SOUP  

• Add Noodles:  optional
• I like egg noodles personally
• Now, you have CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP

• Time to thicken things up a bit, get the soup to a rolling boil
• If you need this to be gluten free, use cornstarch, if you don't care, use flour
• Mix up 2oz of flour/cornstarch to 8oz of water and shake/whip until combined
• While the soup is at a rolling boil, start to slowly pour the thickener into the pot, keep stirring at all time so you don't get lumps.
• Pour about 1/2 the slurry in, let bubble and thicken.  Want it thicker?  Add more slurry.
• Now you have CHICKEN CHOWDER NOODLE SOUP

I like to serve this with a  nice crusty piece of bread.  You might choose Italian or even French.  It's GREAT for dipping into.

Whatever you don't consume that night, you can freeze.  This soup freezes really well.

I'm overdue to make this.  Hrm.  Now I'm hungry.  Anyhow, enjoy and happy souping!