French Country Chicken

I found this recipe in Cook's Country magazine. The picture looked just OK, but I wanted a new chicken recipe. This turned out FABULOUS! This may just be the best chicken dish I've ever had! Dave wasn't crazy about the artichokes in the recipe, so I may try to find a substitute, but other than that he loved it too! It was super easy to make as well.

Ingrediants:
4 skin-on split chicken breasts (about 3 lbs), halved crosswise
salt and pepper for seasoning
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 14 oz. can of halved artichokes (drained)
1/2 c. low sodium chicken broth
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried savory
1 tsp dried rosemary
4 tbsp butter cut into pieces
2 tsp white wine vinegar (cider or white vinegar can be used)

Pat chicken dry with papaer towels and season all sides with salt and pepper. I also pick up the skin and season underneath the skin.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until smoking. Cook chicken skin side down until well-browned, about 6-7 minutes. Reduce heat to medium, cover and cook until meat registers 160 degrees, about 15-20 minutes. Transfer chicken to a plate and tent with foil.
Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of fat from skillet. Add artichokes and cook until lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Transfer to plate with chicken. Add broth, honey, herbs and any acculmulated chicken juices to skillet and simmer, scrapping up any browned bits and vinegar.
Pour sauce over chicken and artichokes. Serve.

Manic Mondays

So I finally got around to making the Thai lettuce wraps tonight. Even though its not exactly a quick fix, it didnt take all that long. There's plenty of leftover sauce and can make for a quick meal again later in the week. Alot of the prep work can be done in advance and the sauces can be ahead of time as well. This recipe contains chicken, but it can easily be substituted with tofu or shrimp.

Start by making the dressing.

1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar (I used white wine vinegar as I was out of rice wine vinegar.)
2 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/8 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp hot mustard (I used spicy brown mustard)
2 tbsp hot water

Dissolve the sugar in the 1/2 water in a small bowl. Add soy sauce, vinegar, ketchup, lemon juice and sesame oil. Mix well and refrigerate this sauce until ready to serve.
Combine the 2 tbsp hot water with the hot mustard and set this aside. You will combine this with the sauce above before serving.

Next you will need:

3 tbsp Olive oil
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup water chestnuts (I left this ingredient out because I despise the nasty little things!)
2/3 cup mushrooms
1 small onion diced
1 tsp minced garlic (1 large clove)
5-6 large leaves of lettuce (You can use Iceberg, Bib lettuce or Boston lettuce)

Place 1 tbsp of oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. When oil is hot, place chicken in the frying pan. Saute for 4-5 minutes per side or until done. Remove from pan and set aside to cool.
While the chicken is cooking, dice the onion and mince the garlic. Mince the water chestnuts and mushrooms to about the size of a pea. (This can be done quickly in a food processor, but be careful not to over process. And do them all separately.)
As the chicken cools, prepare the stir fry sauce.

2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp rice wine vinegar (again, I used white wine vinegar)

Combine the above ingredients.

Add 1 tbsp of oil to the frying pan used to cook the chicken and warm over medium heat. add mushrooms, water chestnuts and onions. Let the items cook down for about 3-5 minutes, stirring often. Add the garlic after a minute or two.
While these items are cooking, dice the chicken breast into pea-sized pieces. Add the chicken and the stir fry sauce to the pan. Turn up the heat to medium-high and cook for a minute or two, just enough to thicken the sauce a little.

To serve, place a lettuce leaf on a place so that its like a cup. Scoop desired about of chicken mixture on to the cup, drizzle with some dressing, fold over the edge of the lettuce to secure the contents and enjoy!

Manic Mondays

I've gotten off my 'usual' schedule due to the holiday and later this week we're going down to D.C.
So this week will also be a mix of postings, if I get to them. The next few weeks maybe sporadic as well because my class is ending soon and I need to start studying for my final.

But tonight's dinner is going to be a concoction. Basically, I opened the fridge (after being away for the weekend) and I am trying to salvage stuff. I have a package of mushrooms and a bunch of asparagus that both need to be used today or tomorrow at THE latest. I also have some green onions and chives. The bean sprouts I thought of using are too far gone.

So I'm cooking down the mushrooms in a non-stick pan with a tablespoon of olive oil. I'm also cooking the asparagus in another pot at the same time. I diced up about 4 stalks of the green onion. I added half to the pot cooking the asparagus and the other half to the mushrooms once they were 75% cooked down. After about 5 minutes in a pot of boiling water, the asparagus was ready to come out. I pulled out the asparagus with tongs, leaving the green onions and water.
I set the asparagus aside to cool. It will get cut up into 1/2" pieces and added to the mushrooms. In the meantime, I added 3 large chicken breasts to the boiling water, along with some salt.
(The chicken was frozen when I added it to the water.)
I decided to add rice to the meal. I didn't want to repeat my undercooked rice again, so I actually read the instructions on the bag of rice. I added 1 cup of rice to the pan of mushrooms, green onions and asparagus, hoping the veggies would give the rice a nice flavor. Then I added the recommended 2 1/4 cups of water (I ladled the water from the pot the chicken was cooking in.) I then added another 1/4 cup of chicken broth, just to be sure I had enough liquid. I also added some salt and pepper. I brought the liquid in the pan to a boil for about 30 seconds then turned down the heat to low (2), covered and let it simmer for about 50 minutes. If I didn't have time to wait for the rice to cook, I always have the boil-in-the-bag rice on hand (plus I just cant seem to cook rice.) It's not the same texture or flavor but it's quick and is never under cooked!
When the rice was nearly finished, I added 1/2 c heavy cream and about a teaspoon of rosemary to the pan to give the sauce some thickness and flavor.
I took the chicken breasts out of the water, trimmed the excess fat off and patted it dry. I then heated up a skillet and melted a tablespoon of butter. I added the chicken when the butter started to bubble. I just wanted to brown the chicken and give it a little flavor. Browning the chicken quickly will also help seal in the moisture (boiling chicken tends to dry it out a little.)
Once the chicken was browned, I added it to the mushroom and asparagus rice mixture. I stirred it up and let it sit for 5 minutes, then served.
The rice with the mushrooms and asparagus came out great! The chicken was a little bland. Next time, I think I would removed it from the water sooner and give it more time in the frying pan. Maybe with some garlic and onions or I could add it to the pan with the mushrooms and asparagus at the same time I added the rice. This way it could collect all the other flavors.

What's for dinner tonight?

I always wonder what other people are having for dinner. I'm always looking for ideas. So I decided to do a simple post each night listing what we're having for dinner! Don't be surprised to see "cheerios" or PB&J pop up here frequently!!

Tonight:
Chicken Parmesan