Another Chicken Dinner

Note: I don't know what is going on with some of the fonts and font sizes in this post - I can't fix them!

A lovely dinner for 4 or fewer: Lemon Chicken with Croutons, Spinach in Puff Pastry, and Plum Cake Tatin. All three recipes are from Ina Garten's book Barefoot in Paris. I can pick up any of her books and make a million combinations for an awesome meal.

This is a very complete meal, with the bread in the chicken dish and the vegetable as either the first course or the side dish. You can add any extra vegetables or potatoes in with the chicken to roast; I added quartered button mushrooms. If I'd had carrots I definitely would have tossed them in too.
Next time I make this - and I most definitely will - I'll not put all the croutons on the platter under the chicken with all the juices like the recipe instructs. I'll put some around the chicken, whole or cut into pieces, on the platter, and try not to let them get completely soaked because they end up very quickly (big surprise:) just soggy. The best part of having croutons is the crunch! I might make a gravy out of the juices too, or reduce it a little, or add a squeeze of fresh lemon to the juices right before pouring them over the chicken next time. But without taking those extra steps it was still really great! Lemon zest over top on the plate was a perfect final touch for me because I love lots of lemon flavor with chicken.
A perfect bite! Chicken, mushroom, caramelized onion, crouton, with pepper and lemon zest:
Lemon Chicken with Croutons
Ina Garten, Barefoot in Paris

• 1 (4 to 5-pound) roasting chicken
• 1 large yellow onion, sliced
• Good olive oil
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 lemons, quartered
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 6 cups (3/4-inch) bread cubes (1 baguette or round boule)
• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Take the giblets out of the chicken and wash it inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pinfeathers. Toss the onion with a little olive oil in a small roasting pan. Place the chicken on top and sprinkle the inside of the cavity with salt and pepper. Place the lemons inside the chicken. Pat the outside of the chicken dry with paper towels, brush it with the melted butter, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken.

Roast for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between the leg and the thigh. Cover with foil and allow to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes. (The onions may burn, but the flavor is good.)

Meanwhile, heat a large saute pan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil until very hot. Lower the heat to medium-low and saute the bread cubes, tossing frequently, until nicely browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Add more olive oil, as needed, and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Place the croutons on a serving platter. Slice the chicken and place it, plus all the pan juices, over the croutons. Sprinkle with salt and serve warm.

I made a lot of tiny changes to this spinach in puff pastry recipe, so I'll note them within the recipe below.

Spinach in Puff Pastry
Ina Garten, Barefoot in Paris

• 4 T. (half a stick) unsalted butter
  
• 2 cups chopped onions (about 2 onions)
• 1 T. chopped garlic (3 cloves)
• 2 - 10 ounce - boxes frozen chopped spinach, defrosted
  
• 1/3 cup chopped scallions (2 scallions)
• 1 cup grated Gruyere cheese (I used small cubes of Swiss - flavor is perfect and it's cheaper!)
• 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 4 extra-large eggs, beaten (I only had 2 large eggs to use, and it turned out just fine. More eggs would have made the filling firmer, but I didn't mind because I was serving this on a plate with a fork anyway.)
  
• 1 T. dry bread crumbs, plain or seasoned
• 2 t. kosher salt (do use this full amount - it seemed like a lot to me so I didn't, but then it needed to be salted later)
  
• 3/4 t. pepper
• 1/2 t. ground nutmeg (I left this out)
  
• 1/4 cup toasted pignoli (pine) nuts (Left these out too)
• 2 sheets (one box) frozen puff pastry, defrosted overnight in the refrigerator (Without fail I forget to do this or don't plan ahead. Leave the frozen puff pastry on the counter near a hot stove for a little while and it will be fine. Just make sure it doesn't get too warm or it will get sticky.)
  
• 1 extra-large egg beaten with 1 T. water, for egg wash (so I ran out of eggs, right? So I used melted butter in place of egg wash, no problemo.)
  

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Heat the butter in a saute pan and cook the onions over med-low heat for 5 to 7 minutes, until tender. Add garlic and cook for one more minute. Meanwhile, squeeze most of the water out of the spinach and place it in a bowl. Add the onions and garlic, scallions, both cheeses, eggs, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and pignolis. Mix well.

Unfold one sheet of puff pastry and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Spread the spinach mixture in the middle of the pastry, leaving a one inch border. Brush the border with egg wash. Roll out the second piece of puff pastry on a floured board until it's an inch larger in each direction. Place the second sheet of pastry over the spinach and seal the edges, crimping them with a fork. Brush the top with egg wash but don't let it drip down the sides or the pastry won't rise. (At this point I used a sharp knife and trimmed all four sides.) Make three small slits in the pastry top, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and bake for 30-40 minutes, until the pastry is lightly browned. Transfer to a cutting board and serve hot.

And, dessert! Hot, sweet, fruity, cakey, delicious! There are some interesting steps to this dish, but it's fun to make and can be made mostly ahead of time and then baked while you're eating dinner. I thought it looked so cool too, like an upside down cake. The red color is from the plums alone, darkened from the caramel. Andrew, my 2 year old, called it "jelly cake" because it did look like red jelly.

The intimidating part of this recipe is the sugar syrup. You have to cook water and sugar in a saucepan over high heat until it turns "a warm amber color, about 360 degrees." I think that a digital thermometer is an ESSENTIAL piece of kitchen equipment, but if you don't have one, still do make this recipe!! Cook the syrup until it turns brown - take it a little farther than you're probably comfortable with, but keep a close eye on it the entire time it's on the heat because it will burn fast once it's beyond it's perfect stage. However the syrup looks, because you will be skeptical, just continue with the recipe and it will turn out just fine.

Plum Cake Tatin
Ina Garten, Barefoot in Paris

nocoupons

• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing the dish
• 10 to 12 purple "prune" plums, cut in half and pitted (I just chose the purple ones over the orange/purple ones; they weren't labeled "prune." It took 5 and a half of them.)
  
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar, divided
• 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature (I used large because that's what I had.)
  
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• Confectioners' sugar (optional - I think unnecessary)
  

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously butter a 9-inch glass pie dish and arrange the plums in the dish, cut side down.

Combine 1 cup of the granulated sugar and 1/3 cup water in a small saucepan and cook over high heat until it turns a warm amber color, about 360 degrees F on a candy thermometer. Swirl the pan but don't stir. Pour evenly over the plums.

Meanwhile, cream the 6 tablespoons of butter and the remaining 3/4 cup of granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, until light and fluffy. Lower the speed and beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the sour cream, zest, and vanilla and mix until combined. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt and, with the mixer on low speed, add it to the butter mixture. Mix only until combined.

Pour the cake batter evenly over the plums and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes, then invert the cake onto a flat plate. If a plum sticks, ease it out and replace it in the design on top of the cake. Serve warm or at room temperature, dusted with confectioners' sugar.

Pizza Party!!

How to have your own make-your-own-pizza party:

Step 1: Friends. Invite over some awesome friends, the more certifiable the better! Haha just kidding - normal people will be just fine, too.

Step 2: Ingredients. You definitely don't have to make everything from scratch, but why not?? It doesn't take much time and it's fun and satisfying. The menu was Caesar salad, pizzas with several toppings to choose from, and almond cake.

Step 3: Assembly. Do what you can ahead of time, and do what you must last minute. I prepped every single thing for this party that day, including shopping for the groceries. I first made the pizza dough, then the almond cake, the Caesar dressing, and then prepared the pizza toppings and cubed the leftover sourdough baguette for croutons. All of this can be done a day or more ahead of time.

Step 4: Party time! Fry up the croutons, toss the salad, let your friends serve themselves. Later roll out the pizza dough and set out all the toppings, and all you have to do is throw them in the oven.

I forgot to take a proper picture of the salad, so I snapped one half-way through my bowl. It was lemony, salty, creamy, cruncy, and delish! Caesar Dressing
Ina Garten

1 extra-large egg yolk at room temperature (or substitute 2 T. mayo)
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 large cloves garlic, chopped
8 to 10 anchovy fillets (optional) - I used a big squirt of anchovy paste
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (3 lemons)
2 teaspoons kosher salt - I used only 1 t. and that was plenty
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups good mild olive oil
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Place the egg yolks (or mayo), mustard, garlic, anchovies, lemon juice, salt, and pepper into the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Process until smooth. With the food processor running, slowly pour the olive oil through the feed tube until thick. Add the grated Parmesan cheese and pulse 3 times.

If you don't have a food processor (or don't want to get it out and have to clean it after...), wisk together all the ingredients in a bowl. Store the dressing in a container that you can shake before adding it to the lettuce, and use it cool or at room temp.

Croutons
Bakery bread such as French or Italian bread, baguette, or sourdough
Extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and pepper

Preheat broiler, or oven to 450. Cut the bread into medium-sized cubes. Toss them onto a baking sheet in an even layer and drizzle generously with olive oil, add salt and pepper, and toss to coat evenly. Broil or bake them just until nicely browned and crunchy.

Alternately, these can be made on the stove top in a large skillet. Heat the largest skillet you have on high. Add the olive oil, then the bread cubes, salt, and pepper. Stir around to coat, and cook them until browned and crunchy.

Yesterday I used a sourdough baguette and cooked them in a skillet on the stovetop.

OK, next comes pizza! Here are the before and after pics:Top left is Eric & Lisa's (aka the "Pile It On and Pile It On Good" pie). You wouldn't believe what's under that mountain of mozarella and blanket of pepperoni! They get an A+.

Top right is the masterpiece of the brothers Garcia, Marcelo and Hugo. It is supposedly Cindy Crawford with a mustach and a booger (did I mention this is more fun when your friends are certifiable??). They get a B because besides the fact that it's a creepy looking abstract face, it actually looks quite easily edible.

Bottom right is the work of Gretchen. Irratic sauce placing, sparce cheese, clemintine segments???? ("But people put pineapple on pizza!!" she says.) She gets a B-. Love ya, girl, but that's one sloppy looking pizza pie! LOL!! But she did say it tasted good.

Bottom right is mine and Erol's - his half is sausage and mushroom and mine is pepperoni and green peppers. It tasted great!

Here was the set-up: rolled out pizza dough on cornmeal, jarred tomato sauce (I was going to make my own, but decided to take this shortcut), shredded mozzarella (freshly grated in the food processor - I don't buy pre-shredded unless I really need the convenience), cooked Italian sausage, pepperoni, sliced mushrooms and green peppers. (Aparently the bowl of citrus was placed in too close proximity to the rest of the toppings; the mistake could have been made by any of us. I'll bump G's grade up to a B+.) Pizza Dough
Martha Stewart Baking Handbook

Makes 2 12-inch pizzas (I made the recipe twice for our pizza party)

1 cup warm water (about 110 degrees)
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1 envelope (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
14 ounces (about 2 3/4 cups) flour, plus more for dusting work surface
1 t. table salt
1 1/2 T olive oil, plus more for bowl

In a small bowl, sprinkle sugar and yeast over warm water; stir with a fork until yeast and sugar dissolve. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.

In a food processor, pulse the flour and salt to combine. Add yeast mixture and oil; pulse until mixture comes together but is still slightly tacky. Dough should pull away cleanly from your fingers after it's squeezed. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured work surface; knead 4 or 5 times, until a smooth ball forms.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, smooth side up. Cover with plastic wrap; let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 40 minutes.

Punch down dough. Fold dough back onto itself four or five times, then turn smooth side up. Replace plastic wrap; let dough rise again in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 30-40 minutes.

Punch down dough; turn out onto a floured work surface. Using a bench scraper or knive, divide the dough into two equal pieces. Knead each piece four of five times, then form a smooth ball.

--> At this point each ball of dough can be wrapped loosely in plastic wrap and refrigerated until you're ready to use them. Let them come back to room temp before the next step though.

Preheat the oven to 400. Sprinkle your work surface with cornmeal and use a rolling pin to roll the dough to form the crust. Transfer the dough onto a sheetpan and add your favorite toppings. (Or if you have a baking/pizza stone, let it preheat in the oven and add then top your pizza on a flat surface like the back of a sheetpan, something that allows you to easily slide the pizza, with toppings, onto the baking stone.) Bake until it's done according to how you like it, about 10 minutes or so. For a crisper crust without using a baking stone, when the pizza is almost finished cooking slide it off the pan and directly onto the oven rack for a few minutes.

For dessert we had almond cake, which was so easy to make and smelled soooooooo yummy. I'll definitely be making this cake again!

Almond Cake
from Cooking for Mr. Latte, which I discovered from the Amateur Gourmet blog post that raved about this cake

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sour cream (8oz), at room temperature
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups all purpose flour
½ tsp salt
1 ½ cups sugar
7-ounce tube almond paste
4 egg yolks, at room temperature
1 tsp almond extract
Confectioner’s sugar, for dusting the cake

Preheat the oven to 350F. Generously butter the bottom and sides of a 9 inch springform pan.

Mix the sour cream with baking soda. In another bowl, sift the flour and salt together.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add the almond paste, a little at a time, at medium speed, and then beat for 8 minutes. Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time; mix until incorporated. It will look curdled; don't worry. Blend in the almond extract and sour cream mixture. Mixing at low, gradually add the flour mixture; beat just until blended.

Pour the batter into a prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake about 1 hour, until dark golden brown and it shrinks from the sides of the pan. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack. It will sink in the middle as it cools. Dust with confectioner’s sugar and serve.

You can store this cake for up to two weeks in the fridge. I recommend bringing it back to room temp before serving.

Mediterranean Pasta in Minutes

Over the holidays, I took a semi-cookcation and didn't do much cooking at all. I had made so many cookies, as you know... so I was ready for the break and more than willing to let my momma feed me! OOhhh baby you should have been there for her shrimp and grits too man, WOW.

But back at home I've been messing up my kitchen every day as usual. I became a huge fan of kalamata olives recently, and wanted to use them in a recipe, so I started searching and found the perfect one. This dish has many of my very favorite things: pasta, feta, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, cream, chicken, and oregano! All these things would make my "top 25 favorite foods" list for sure (hey maybe I should write that list...). Plus I'm likely to have most of these things already at home, which is always nice.

I found this recipe on foodtv.com, and it's been up for a few years and has hundreds of reviews and 5 stars. Also a good sign. I rely the reviews for tips, such as to reduce the amount of pasta and/or up the cream to make a nice sauce. I did both and found it to be necessary, as there is no sauce in your bowl because it's all soaked up by the pasta and chicken. These are strong flavors, so if I made this for company I'd probably leave out the chicken and serve it as a warm pasta side dish.

I didn't use the basil, which is yet another very strong flavor, but I think it would be good if you have it on hand. Rather than wasting the olive oil that the sun-dried tomatoes are packed it, I put some of it in at the end and it really made it good. Oh, and the jar of sun-dried tomatoes we got was 7oz, rather than 8 1/2, which of course is just fine (esp because they're not cheap). I also modified the recipe to use a block of feta and chop it into large chunks instead of pre-crumbled feta. I love getting a nice bite of it, but not having a little in every bite, sort of like it's cool to have the whole olives.
Mediterranean Pasta in Minutes
adapted from Tyler Florence's recipe

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pound skinless boneless chicken breasts, sliced diagonally (omit to use as a side dish)
  
• 1 (8 1/2-ounce) jar sun-dried tomatoes, julienned (reserve oil)
• 2 tablespoons (at least!) garlic, minced
  
• 3/4 to 1 pound fresh angel hair pasta
• 1/4 cup fresh basil (optional)
  
• 1 (8 1/2-ounce) can artichoke hearts in water, quartered and drained (1 cup)
• 1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted (1/4 pound)
• 6 ounce block feta cheese, diced
  
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Boil water for pasta in a pasta pot, fitted with a strainer. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Brown chicken strips until no longer pink -- about 3 minutes each side. Add sun-dried tomatoes and garlic to skillet. Saute for 2 minutes. In the meantime, add the fresh pasta to boiling water, cook until al dente, about 5 minutes.

Now add the basil, artichoke hearts, olives and feta cheese to the skillet. Saute 1 minute then stir in the cream. Strain the pasta and transfer to a large pasta bowl; add the chicken saute to the pasta and toss (or add the pasta to the skillet to combine). Season with oregano, salt, pepper, and a drizzle of the sun-dried tomato oil before serving.

This is just before adding the cream.

Roasted Chicken and Roasted Garlic

Winner winner chicken dinner!!!!!!!! This was dinner the day I made the Challah. (I know that this was a long time ago, but I'm trying to catch up on my posting here...)
Roasted chicken with gravy, roasted garlic, and broccoli (yes, roasted). Me like roasting.

This was the wine of choice for this dinner, and I'm mentioning it because it was absolutely splendid! I pair food and wine so generally (meat = red wine, chicken = white), but a lot of the time I just go for any wine I'm in the mood for, regardless of the food. On this occasion the pairing was spot on and all flavors were enhanced to the point where it was really noticeable. In the future I plan on paying more attention to the food-wine pairing because I see what a difference it makes, even to unrefined palates such as ours.
Hahn Piesporter Michelsberg Riesling, $10 at The Wine Shop in Leesburg.Perfect Roast Chicken
recipe from the Barefoot Contessa Cookbook by Ina Garten

1 (5 to 6 pound) roasting chicken
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 large bunch fresh thyme, plus 20 sprigs (I used rosemary instead this time)
1 lemon, halved
1 head garlic, cut in half crosswise
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted
1 large yellow onion, thickly sliced
4 carrots cut into 2-inch chunks
1 bulb of fennel, tops removed, and cut into wedges (I didn't use fennel...)
Olive oil

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pin feathers and pat the outside dry. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, both halves of lemon, and all the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Place the onions, carrots, and fennel in a roasting pan. Toss with salt, pepper, 20 sprigs of thyme, and olive oil. Spread around the bottom of the roasting pan and place the chicken on top. Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove the chicken and vegetables to a platter and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes. Slice the chicken onto a platter and serve it with the vegetables.

Brine!
I brined my chicken, which I HIGHLY recommend. It makes the inside of the chicken meat taste very flavorful, which is especially important if, like me, you don't eat much of the skin. Wash your chicken completely inside and out with cold running water, removing and discarding the junk from the cavity. Place the chicken in a bucket or other large container that will fit the chicken and will fit in your fridge; I use the lid of my cake tupperware. Fill it with water and a cup of sugar and a cup of salt. You may also add lemons, peppercorns, herbs, all sorts of stuff, but the sugar and salt is the base and that's all I use on a normal day.

Brine the chicken overnight. When you're ready to roast, get organized because this can be a very messy process. Read the recipe again and lay out all your ingredients so that you won't have to wash your hands a million times before you get the bird in the oven. Don't for get to set aside your salt and pepper too! Dry the chicken very well with paper towels, place it in the roasting pan, then go ahead with the recipe. When you brush on the butter, it may look kinda weird and the first time I did this I was like "eww what is happening?!" As the melted butter is smeared on the cold chicken, it solidifies a bit making it look and feel funny. I may be the only one who's noticed this, I don't know, but I wanted to mention it :o)

Roasted Garlic
OK now, if you have your oven on such a high temperature for that long of a time, you simply MUST roast some garlic for that meal or for the next day. All you have to do is cut the top 1/4 of a head of garlic off, place it on a piece of foil, spash on some olive oil, salt and pepper. Bunch up the foil into a tight bundle and throw it in the oven.
Cooking time or temp isn't very important; with the roasted chicken at 425 for 1.5 hours it comes out perfectly, so you can adjust from there according to whatever else you are cooking.

You get this rich garlic smear for your chicken, bread, broccoli - everything on your plate no matter what it is pretty much. Count on one head of garlic for every 2-3 people (or if you're Erol, one per person). The flavor isn't pungent at all like raw garlic, it's roasty and toasty and mellow and delish.
Unwrap the top of the foil package, and squeeze from the bottom up and scrape the soft cloves of garlic that squirt out into a little dish. Or, unwrap the top, and then place it in the dish and let people squirt out what they want at the table.

Classic Pot Roast

From the "All-Purpose Cookbook": Joy of Cooking! I love this cookbook. I googled this recipe so I might copy and paste the recipe (I cheat, I know), and didn't find it, but found a really cool blog that seems kinda similar to mine (as in lots of crazy pictures of each step): The Joy of the Joy of Cooking. Definitely gonna have to check that one out more later, I only glanced through.

So this recipe is for your basic pot roast, nothing extraordinary but very delicious and exactly what you want pot roast to be. You never know where inspiration is going to come from, and I got the idea to make this for dinner from the show Desperate Housewives last week; there were several references to pot roast and it sounded good to me!

Beef Pot Roast
from Joy of Cooking

3 to 4 lb chuck, shoulder, top or bottom round, brisket, blade or rump
Flour
2 T. vegetable oil
1 carrot
1 rib celery
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
1 small onion
2 cups vegetable stock or part stock and part dry red wine
1 bay leaf

Heat the vegetable oil in a large, heavy stockpot. Dredge the meat in flour and brown on all sides. Roughly chop the carrot, celery, green pepper and onion, and add to the pot when the meat is about halfway browned. When the meat is browned, spoon off excess fat and add the stock (or stock and wine) and bay leaf. Cover and bake 3-4 hours in a 300-325 degree oven, or simmer on the stove. During this time, turn the meat several times and, if necessary, add hot vegetable stock and salt and/or pepper.

I made this one day to have for dinner the next - I let the big pot cool a bit after cooking and then just stuck it in the fridge, and the next day I took out the meat and cut a few slices, just what we'd eat that night. I put the slices in a small saucepan with some juice from the large pot and heated it up on the stove.

I served it with little potatoes that I cut and roasted with olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon zest and rosemary. Usually I think of potatoes as something that takes a long time to cook, but I cut them small and under the broiler they took just a few minutes. Just enough time to heat up the pot roast.

I added a new tag called "DINNER" and will go back and add that to the appropriate recipes to make searching for dinner ideas easier on this blog.

Cream Cheese & Scallion Stuffed Chicken, and Beige Food

I'll start with my discussion on beige food. It's usually delicious, and not necessarily unhealthy. The end.
I love cooking chicken. Lots of foodies think boneless and skinless chicken breasts are worthless pieces of poultry, but I beg to differ! You can do anything with chicken; the sky's the limit when it comes to seasoning and flavor, type of cuisine, kind of dish, and method of cooking.

Every time I make chicken it's always Erol's "FAVORITE!!" This time he said he takes back all the other times he's ever said that because this is truly number one. I think he really believes it each time he says that, but I know he'll say it next time too.

Doesn't the name of this recipe just make your mouth water! I insist you make this if you like cream cheese, and of course you do because everyone does! Make it for guests and they will be so impressed simply because it's rolled and seems kinda fancy. Let them think you slaved over it, but it is so easy and most importantly when you have company: it can be completely assembled ahead of time and clean up is as easy as tossing a piece of foil in the trash!

The prep, however, will turn your kitchen into a very messy one, but no one has to see that.

I get lots of compliments when I make chicken, and besides the fact that I've had a lot of practice at knowing when it's done, I don't mess around and almost always use a digital cooking thermometer. It is easy to overcook chicken, and I still do sometimes, and no recipe can help that by providing a cooking time because the size and shape of each piece is unique. A digital thermometer is a must and there's no way around it. I have mine set to beep at 165 degrees, the lowest acceptable internal temperature for cooked poultry. I let it get to 168 degrees most of the time before removing the pan from the oven or the stovetop. The very very very worst way to check a piece of meat to see if it's done is to cut into it. If you are on a desert island cooking chicken without a digital thermometer and you absolutely must cut into it, do it only to the piece you will eat yourself and don't let on that it's dry, which is what will happen. (Sorry for getting a little fired up there, I've got the presidential debates on and I guess I'm feeling the tension!)

So back to this recipe - one day last week my shopping list included 1 lb of chicken for another recipe, and my frugal husband scored a 4 lb pack for only $3 more than the cost for only 1 lb. Yesterday I had three huge chicken breasts and not much else by way of other ingredients to make a recipe, so being unable to get to the store, I perused my fridge and found four scallions and a package of cream cheese. It made me think of the flavor of a dip or something, I can't remember exactly how I've had chicken and cream cheese together, but it just seemed like it would work.

I rolled and breaded this like chicken Kiev, but this is easier because Kiev is filled with butter and the chicken must be sealed tight or it will all leak out before it hits the plate. As you can see in my pictures, the cream cheese can leak out and puff up and it's still perfect and actually made it more appealing to me since it gave a little preview of what's waiting inside!

It took a lot of hand washing, but I took pictures of each step of assembling this recipe to make it more helpful because I really want everyone to try this! I will write the recipe for 3 large chicken breasts because that's what I had to use, but you can follow the same technique for any number of them. If your chicken breasts are this large, one will feed two people (or if you're Erol, one and a half will feed you. Just kidding, honey!) To make ahead of time, completely assemble them and place on the oiled baking sheet and refrigerate. They can go straight from the fridge to the preheated oven, just drizzle the olive oil on the top before placing in the oven.

Cream Cheese & Scallion Stuffed Chicken
Chicken and filling:
3 large boneless and skinless chicken breasts
8oz cream cheese
4 scallions, chopped
olive oil
9 toothpicks

Breading:
1 cup flour
2 eggs beaten with a splash of water
1 cup panko bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prep breading ingredients in three separate bowls and season each bowl with salt and pepper. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly oil it.

Mix together the cream cheese and chopped scallions. Inside the bowl make a little mound for each chicken breast so it's easy to pick up with your hands.

Using a sharp knife, cut each chicken breast in half and spread open to create a larger, flatter piece. One at a time, place the pieces in a large freezer Zip Lock bag and pound out to make it even larger and flatter.

Lay out the pieces one at a time, cut side up and tapered end closest to you. Pick up a mound of the cream cheese and spread it on the lower 3/4 of the chicken.

Roll up the piece of chicken from the tapered end up, tucking in the edges as best you can. It's perfectly fine if there are some holes! Secure shut each piece with three toothpicks.

Once all the pieces are rolled up, bread them by dipping into the flour bowl, then egg bowl, then roll in the panko breadcrumbs. Place them on the oiled baking sheet, and drizzle olive oil on the top.

Bake for about 30 minutes and then insert a digital cooking thermometer into the center of the largest piece. It's done when it reaches 165 to 170 degrees, which may take up to an hour.

Don't forget to remove the toothpicks before serving.

Turkey Meatballs

Alright, moving on from Fakesgiving, I have 3 dinner recipes I'm ready to post. I can't find the magazine with the recipe for the sweet potato biscuits we made anyway, but when I find it I'll post it.

My family eats dinner very early in the evening; actually you could prob call it late afternoon. Erol gets home from work by 4:00 usually, and is always starving. We had been having a lot of take out, and one day wanted a home cooked meal, so when he got home I ran to the grocery store with no idea about what to buy. I first stopped by the magazine aisle to find inspiration in the food magazines, but didn't find them helpful. So I wandered over to the meat section, and ground turkey was on sale, so I thought: Meatballs!

Meatballs are quick, healthy, satisfying, and I didn't need to buy too many ingredients. Erol's a rice man, so I knew I'd be serving them over rice for dinner, but what kind of sauce to use? I searched around in the condiment and bottled marinade section and a sesame and ginger flavored one caught my eye. There were many brands to choose from of this, and tons of other flavors, but I got Paul Newman's because it was cheap. Picked up an onion and red pepper to add moisture and flavor to the ground turkey, and I was all set to make dinner!

Erol noted that these could be made a little smaller and they'd be a great appetizer with toothpicks.

Taste the marinade before you use it, I have a feeling that different brands will taste very different. It will have a very strong, vinegary flavor. You may want to adjust the amounts of marinade and honey to balance the flavors for your taste.
Turkey Meatballs
1 lb. ground turkey (or chicken - do not substitute beef)
half an onion, diced
half a red bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
1 egg
1/2 t. salt
pepper
2 T. olive oil
1/2 cup sesame and ginger flavored marinade, such as Paul Newmans' brand
2 T. honey

In a large bowl combine the ground turkey, diced onion and red bell pepper, breadcrumbs, egg, salt and pepper; do not over mix. Roll into balls and place them on a separate plate. (I wear latex-type gloves to mix and roll meatballs because it feels yucky.)

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil on medium-high, then add the meatballs. Don't push them around or turn them until they are nicely dark browned on the bottom; when they are ready to turn they will release easily from the pan. Let brown on all sides.

Once they are fully cooked and dark brown almost all over, turn down the heat to low and add the marinade and honey to the pan, and turn the meatballs to coat in the glaze. Serve over rice.

Manicotti and Roasted Vegetables, and shortcuts

I had a cooking marathon last night, and one of the dishes I made was manicotti. I split the recipe between two dishes so we had some for dinner tonight and the second half is nestled in the freezer for another day. Later I'll post pics and recipes for the other things I made: a huge pot of soup and a pear and apple crisp. Those recipes make a ton of food, and we shared them with a family with a brand new baby.

On shortcuts: I am not 100% comfortable with taking shortcuts, but I'm trying to get used to it. What I'm talking about is that I want to make everything possible from scratch, and I don't like using a lot of store-bought products. It's not how my momma raised me, and now especially that I have a boy I'm reading labels and thinking Andy doesn't need to eat highfructosemonoglucosisreddye#12andwhoknowswhat!! But, it's life and there's really no avoiding it. Sometimes I struggle with just getting dinner on the table each night of the week because I make such a huge production of cooking, and it's not possible to do that every day. So I need to take help from the store sometimes and rely on shortcuts. I still try to get products that are closest to nature, or at least with less salt and sugar. And I do NOT EVER buy diet or non-fat versions of products that should have fat in them (like cheese - what is in non-fat cheese? I do not want to know!), or have the fat replaced by a huge amount of sugar, or the sugar replaced by some unnatural ingredient.

Wow that was really a rant, sorry! See I have some strong feelings about food! I could go on.......

But about my manicotti shortcut: I didn't make the sauce. It is very simple to make, but compare A) shopping for and heaving around, along with your one-year-old, a heavy bag of cans, produce, herbs, and spices (after looking to see what you already have in the cupboard), getting out the big pot, chopping the onions, etc, etc, etc, until you have sauce, OR B) buying one jar and opening the jar. Whenever I can help it, A does win, but B is pretty hard to resist sometimes when just cooking for the family!

I also took a shortcut, rather a convenience-cut, with the garlic bread - it's frozen. Tons of bad, unpronounceable ingredients, I know, but we didn't give the boy any! OK, finally, the recipes!
Manicotti
based on an America's Test Kitchen recipe (which, of course, does not use jarred sauce!)

3 cups part-skim ricotta cheese
4 ounces grated Parmesan cheese (about 2 cups), divided
8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese (about 2 cups)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, squeezed dry, and chopped fine (optional)
Table salt and ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
16 no-boil lasagna noodles
1 1/2 jars spaghetti sauce

Combine ricotta, 1 cup Parmesan, mozzarella, eggs, spinach, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and basil in medium bowl; set aside.

Pour 1 inch boiling water into 13 by 9-inch broiler safe baking dish, then add noodles one at a time. Let noodles soak until pliable, about 5 minutes, separating noodles with tip of sharp knife to prevent sticking (don't skip this part!). Remove noodles from water and place in single layer on clean kitchen towels; discard water in baking dish and dry baking dish.

Spread bottom of baking dish evenly with 1 1/2 cups sauce. Using soup spoon, spread generous 1/4 cup cheese-spinach mixture evenly onto bottom three-quarters of each noodle (with short side facing you), leaving top quarter of noodle exposed. Roll into tube shape and arrange in baking dish seam side down. Top evenly with remaining sauce, making certain that pasta is completely covered.

Cover manicotti with aluminum foil. Bake until bubbling, about 40 minutes, then remove foil. Remove baking dish, adjust oven rack to uppermost position (about 6 inches from heating element), and heat broiler. Sprinkle manicotti evenly with remaining 1 cup Parmesan. Broil until cheese is spotty brown, 4 to 6 minutes. Cool 15 minutes, then serve.

Roasted Vegetables
This is my all time favorite way to cook most vegetables, and I think they are even more nutritious this way than steaming them because nothing gets lost in the water.

Use (any combo of) broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, onions, squash, zucchini, green beans, Brussels sprouts, cherry tomatoes, corn kernels, asparagus, or whatever you like!

Crank up the oven to the hottest temp, or turn on the broiler. Toss the vegetables on a sheet pan with some olive oil, salt and pepper, and throw them in the oven to roast for a few minutes. Especially if they are under the broiler they will burn fast, so don't walk away! Roasting should only take a few minutes, you'll just have to check to see when they're browned on the edges and tender on the inside (poke them with a knife to check). If you want to add spices, herbs, cheese, or garlic, add it close to the end or after cooking because it will burn.

Ribeyes and Pommes Anna

Steak and potatoes - what could be better! I don't have a grill, but a good seasoned cast iron skillet can work, once you've had some practice. At least for me, because it's impossible to have an exact recipe to follow when cooking steak and you must learn through practice how a steak looks, sounds, and feels when it's cooking properly, needs to be turned, and is finished to the desired doneness. These are the best guidelines I can provide:

Steak cooked in cast iron

1. great steaks are not cooked, they are bought. Buy the best quality steak you can.
2. remove the steak from the refrigerator well before cooking in order to let it come to room temperature. The time it needs depends on the thickness of the steak.
3. salt and pepper it well (and don't mess around with too many other spices), while it's sitting out. When you think it's been salted enough. salt it some more! Some live by the theory that you do not salt meat until just before cooking because it draws out the moisture - but my theory is that I want it to draw out some moisture from the very outside. Unless you marinade the steak with salt for several hours, the salt will not penetrate very deeply. This means that the steak will get that nice, dark brown, salty, delicious, crust on the outside, because it's not soggy. If the outside of the steak is not salted and the moisture not drawn out from the edges, you run the chance of steaming your steak! And by the time it's browned you've killed it on the inside.
4. set your cast iron skillet on HIGH heat and let it sit there for about ten minutes.
5. put a little vegetable oil in the skillet, then immedately throw in that steak.
6. don't touch it.
7. don't stick anything into it, like a fork. Check and flip it with a spatula or two, or tongs.
8. flip it over one time, and one time only.
9. after several minutes on one side, check the bottom to see if that side looks done. If so, flip it and don't touch it. Keep watching it, but resist the urge to poke it around.
10. when the bottom side is browned and you think it's almost done, take the steak out of the skillet and place in on a platter.
11. don't stick it with a fork or knife or anything yet!
12. put a nice pat of butter on the top, and put a piece of foil loosely over the platter.
13. now if you have a second steak, repeat the process but you don't need to add extra veg oil to the pan.
14. after the steak has rested for ten minutes or so, you may eat it!
15. if it's not well done enough, this is what I do (or if I'm sharing a steak with Erol, who likes it less well than I do): slice the steak and put the slices back into the very hot skillet for a few seconds on each side.

I served the steak with a kind of fake demi glace, which in it's true form is an intensely flavored brown meat glaze that is super complicated to make. I have no idea how I came up with this, I must have read something about this technique somewhere, but what I did was bought a carton of low-sodium beef stock that had the best ingredients list, knowing that I would reduce it and therefore concentrate the flavor. I put a couple of cups of the stock into a saucepan and set it on medium for an hour or so, until it reduced to about half a cup. Then I took about a tablespoon of flour and kneaded it into an equal amount of butter, and then slowly whisked that into the stock to thicken it further. I didn't really know what to expect, but it was SO good! If you try this, a low-sodium stock is a must, and use unsalted butter if possible, because even so it was pretty salty. This is the kind of sauce that you only need a tiny dab of because it's so flavorful and rich tasting.

We also had chopped garlic and parsley on our steak and potatoes. The raw garlic became almost spicy, and it was a nice addition.

Speaking of the potatoes - these are so simple and can be assembled and refrigerated ahead of time, then simply baked.

Pommes Anna
based on a recipe from Gourmet Magazine

1 1/2 pounds potatoes
1/2 stick butter

Preheat oven to 450. Brush the bottom of a 9 inch ovenproof skillet with butter and sprinkle generously with kosher salt (this will add flavor of course but also help the potatoes to come out of the pan after cooking).

Slice the potatoes very thin and put them in a large bowl of cold water. Drain the slices and pat them dry between paper towels.

Arrange the potato slices in the skillet, overlapping them slightly, in layers, brushing each layer with the melted butter and seasoning it with salt and pepper. Cover the layered potato slices with foil, and bake it for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender and golden. Invert the potato cake onto a cutting board or large platter and serve.

We ate like kings! Nobody can eat like this all the time, but we really enjoy it when we do. Especially when we had dessert: Chocolate Souffle!!

Pasta with Croutons

This is a great recipe because it uses pantry only ingredients. The recipe calls for rigatoni pasta, but any big noodle will do (not a long noodle like spaghetti or linguini though). Today I used Simply Enjoy garlic & basil straccetti. (Yes, I said today, and it is before 10am. I totally had it for breakfast!) I also added some canned artichokes. I, obviously, like this dish anytime, but it's a great lunch or side dish for something like roast pork tenderloin.

Pasta with Croutons
based on a Giada De Laurentiis recipe

1 pound rigatoni, or other large pasta
3 cups flavored croutons (about 5 ounces)
1/4 cup slivered almonds (about 1 ounce), toasted
1 cup julienned roasted red bell peppers
1 can quartered artichoke hearts
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Place the croutons and the almonds in a food processor. Pulse until it becomes the texture of bread crumbs. Place this mixture in a large bowl with the roasted red peppers and artichoke hearts.

Cook the pasta according to the package directions, drain, and add it to the bowl with the other ingredients. Toss together and add the olive oil.