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Archive for the ‘Yum’ Category

Honey and Soy Sauce make me happy

Chicken:

6 chicken tender strips, pounded flat

1 cup honey

1/4 cup soy

2 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp vegetable oil

red pepper flakes

cumin

onion powder

cayenne pepper

– mix honey through pepper and coat chicken in Ziploc bag, store in fridge to marinate for at least 30 minutes

Stuffing:

1 1/2 to 2 cups prepared, plain couscous

1 TB parmesan cheese

3 TB shredded Italian blend cheese

1 egg, beaten

Italian seasoning

salt

pepper

cumin

– mix all together in small bowl and set aside until chicken is ready

Sauce:

2 TB chicken broth

2 TB honey

2 tsp soy sauce

cayenne pepper

cumin

– mix all together and set aside

Preparation:

– preheat oven to 350 degrees

– in lightly buttered/greased casserole, spread a half-inch layer of plain couscous (I made an entire box of instant couscous and used some for stuffing and some for pan, with a little leftover)

– with one piece of chicken, lay flat, top with 1-2 TB of stuffing mixture and roll. repeat with all pieces and place them on top of couscous in casserole

– cover casserole with foil and place in heated oven and bake for 20 minutes

– remove cover and baste with half of reserved sauce

– return to oven for another 10 minutes and repeat basting with rest of sauce

– cook for another 5-10 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through

In the oven…

I love pasta shapes.  Most of them have fun names that come from their appearances, and adorable tiny things make me smile 🙂

Gemelli roughly means "twins" in Italian (think Gemini, the twins) and they are two little rods twisted together. Any short, hefty-ish pasta would work well.  I tend to avoid long noodles in casseroles, because it is difficult to mix sauce and pasta evenly.  I had milk, chicken, and random stuff around, so I got gemelli and made this tonight. It’s a beautiful PINK 🙂

Gemelli Blush Alfredo Bake

• 4 Tb. butter
• 4 Tb. flour
• 1/2 quart of milk
• salt & pepper
• grated parmesan cheese (I used one small bag)
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 can petite diced tomatoes
• 1 pound par-cooked gemelli pasta

1. melt butter over medium low heat
2. add flour and whisk together and let heat for a minute or two (this gets the raw flour taste out)
3. off of the heat, slowly add milk, whisking constantly to get rid of any clumps
4. return to heat and stir while it slowly thickens
5. salt and pepper liberally (this seasons the sauce, the pasta, the tomatoes, and anything else you add, so don’t be stingy)
6. add parmesan and stir until melted
7. off heat, add chicken broth, tomatoes (this is when it gets wonderfully pink!), and pasta (I also added one chicken breast, sliced, because I had it on hand…you could also use veggies, broccoli, whatever)
8. coat a casserole pan with cooking spray and pour in pasta mixture, making sure to spread everything evenly around the pan
9. cover with foil and cook at 350° for about 30 minutes
10. uncover and bake another 20 to 30 minutes (until pasta is cooked through)
11. top with mozzarella if desired and bake for 5 minutes until cheese is melted

From soup to enchiladas!

I spent two years re-making leftovers for my roommate Veronica while I lived in KY.  She was super-wonderfully fussy and generally wouldn’t eat straight leftovers, so I learned to take whatever dinner we had and make it into something completely new (roast beef turned into mock-Philly steak & cheese; garlic chicken turned into stir fry or lo mein; smashed potatoes turned into amazingly creamy fried potato cakes for breakfast; etc.) 

Anyway, I had a ton of Chicken Tortilla Soup leftover….

I strained the liquid out of the solid parts of the soup (veggies and chicken basically) and put the liquid, a cup or so of shredded cheese, and a little bit of the chicken and veggies on low heat to melt the cheese and make it into a thickened sauce-type-of-thing.

The rest of the chicken and veggies got rolled up into four leftover, unbaked tortillas, lined up in a baking dish coated with cooking spray.

The melted, hot sauce went over the filled tortillas, just to cover, and then the whole thing got topped with a little more cheese.

Covered with foil, baked at 350 degrees for 30 minutes…uncovered and continued to bake for 10-20 minutes.

DELICIOUS.
Probably not technically enchiladas, but close enough for my tastes. 

Chicken Tortilla Soup

I tried to find a recipe, got fed up with the intertubes, and made my own…

-1 large onion, frenched or sliced

-1 orange bell pepper

-1 hungarian yellow wax pepper (medium to hot…you can substitute whatever kind of peppers you want, depending on how much heat you want from them)

-1 Tb minced garlic

-chili powder, paprika, salt, thyme (all to taste)

• saute all of this in a little bit of olive oil until the onions have softened a bit

– 3 chicken breasts (about a pound)

– 1 large box of chicken stock

– 1 can diced tomatoes with green chiles

• add these three ingredients into the onion mixture and make sure the chicken is covered by liquid as much as possible
• cover and cook at a low simmer for half an hour or so…basically until the chicken is cooked through
• pull chicken breasts out of soup and tear/chop and return to soup

– 1 bag of fresh corn, cooked in the microwave according to the directions on the package (you could also use 1 can of corn)

– 1 bunch green onions/scallions thinly sliced

• add corn and green onions into soup and add chicken stock or water to get it to the soup-y consistency that you want
• re-cover and cook until heated through
• serve with tortilla strips (cut up flour tortillas, coated in cooking spray, and baked in 350 degree oven for 10-20 minutes), sour cream, and cheese…all of this helps to cut through the spice of the soup, so don’t be afraid to make it a little spicier if you plan to use cheese & sour cream.

…even Brussels sprouts?

So, mostly everyone I’ve talked to about this recipe eventually responds with something along the lines of, "yeah, well, cream and bacon will make anything delicious." Probably fairly true…I am a huge fan of bacon. I really align myself with Homer on this one…Simpson that is…the pig is indeed a "wonderful, magical animal."

That being said, I was really surprised at how wonderful this dish turned out. (I had this dish at a dinner party a little over a year ago, and this was my attempt to replicate it without a specific recipe)

Brussels sprouts are a type of cabbage, which I’m usually not a fan of unless it’s in a really well-made coleslaw. When we bought the pack of B.sprouts at Pike Place, I remembered my mom always being crazy about them, and I remembered that I was generally fairly disgusted by them. I also remembered that I think that disgust was based on smell, cooking method (steamed until super soft), and general childhood fussiness. However, I also remembered that a year ago, I was shocked by how much I loved the dish that Stacey had made for our group dinner.

So, I searched the internet for a recipe…and couldn’t find one. I could find recipes that incorporated one or another part of what I remembered, but couldn’t find the whole thing. So, with a few recipes in the back of my mind, I sort of just made it work. I was scared….it was worth it. It was a delicious side dish (I served it with Sole, aromatic veggies, and orzo, but it would have worked better with a stronger main dish…beef, chicken, pork, even a salmon or something). Sure, it’s not exactly healthy, but B.sprouts are full of nutrients (the darker, more colorful a vegetable, the more nutritious it is), and this is a great way to introduce them into your diet. Just make sure the rest of your meal isn’t full of bacon and cream, and you’ll be fine.

The stuffs you need:
• 1 crate thingy of B.sprouts (probably about 2 cups, before we trimmed them?)
• 4 slices of bacon, cut into small (about 1/2 inch) pieces before cooking
• 1 large shallot, sliced
• 1/4 cup water or chicken stock/broth (obviously the stock/broth will add more flavor than the water)
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup heavy cream (this just depends on how much you want to add)
• A little parmesan cheese & fresh ground black pepper

The cookings you do:
1. First thing’s first…trim the B.sprouts. I’m not sure if we did this completely right, because it seemed like we almost halved the amount of veggie we had left by the time we cooked. I checked a couple websites, cooking blogs, random internet things to find out how to clean and trim, and they all talk about trimming the stem (where it’s harder, dried out) and the outer leaves (any that are loose or damaged or anything and could negatively affect the taste and texture of your food). The further in you get, it seems the leaves just get sweeter and more tender, so I guess over-trimming is better than under-trimming. Anyway, we (mostly Matt) trimmed all the B.sprouts and then cut them in half down the middle of the stem, so we had twice as many pieces, all with a flat side. Rinse and set aside.
2. Delicious thing’s second…cook the bacon. If you’re going to chop or crumble bacon into a dish, it’s always easier to cut it into small pieces before you cook it. If your knife isn’t super sharp, it will be annoying, but you can get around this by either using kitchen shears (if you don’t have a pair of scissors set aside specifically for your kitchen, you really should) or by using slightly frozen bacon (I’d recommend the shears). The chopped bacon can go directly into a cold pan and cooked over medium high heat. It doesn’t need as much attention as bacon slices, but just stir it once in a while, and keep an eye on it. Take it out and drain on paper towels when it’s done to your desired crispness. Then hide the plate of bacon in the microwave or under a larger dish…or anywhere someone like Matt won’t pick at it. 🙂
3. Drain off all but about 1 Tablespoon of the bacon grease and lower the heat to medium/medium low.
4. Slowly cook the shallot in the pan with the bacon grease. You can cook them anywhere from soft and translucent to lightly caramelized. You can also use regular onion for this, but I really love the soft, sweet flavor of shallots.
5. When the shallots are just before where you’d like them to be (they’ll cook a little bit longer), push them out to the sides of the pan, leaving a wide space directly on top of the burner. If your bacon grease is completely gone after cooking the shallots, spray a little cooking spray or add just a tiny bit of oil (or butter!) in the pan so the B.sprouts won’t stick.
6. Place the B.sprouts in the center of the pan with the flat side face down, in one single layer. If your pan isn’t big enough to let them all squeeze in there in one layer, brown them in two layers, then put all of them back in the pan when you add the water/stock/broth later.
7. On medium-ish heat, let the B.sprouts’ flat sides brown (about 4-5 minutes or so, until they get beautifully golden brown). Don’t stir them or move them around, but check one half-way through to make sure they aren’t burning.
8. When they’re browned enough to make you smile, toss them gently together with the shallots (they might fall apart a bit, but that’s not a big deal), and add the water/broth/stock to the pan, stirring just a little to scrape up any yummy bits that have stuck to the bottom. Let this water/broth boil off for a few minutes, until it’s almost completely gone. This finishes cooking the B.sprouts, so if you want them firmer or softer, decrease or increase the liquid accordingly.
9. Add the cream, stirring slowly, and stick by the pan from this point on, because the cream will thicken up quickly and will be pretty nasty if it burns.
10. When your cream has thickened enough so that it’s coating the B.sprouts and is not soupy (if you find it’s too much cream, just decrease the amount you use), add parmesan cheese and black pepper to taste.