RSS

Category Archives: One Pot Meals

Cook’s Country Recipe Week Part 5 – Pan Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

If you follow along regularly with this blog, then you likely know that not only do we eat a lot of chicken, but also that I love to make roast chicken in various ways. I am always on the lookout for a new roast chicken recipe to try and when this one came along in Cook’s Country magazine, I knew right away that I would be giving it a try. The only thing that makes this recipe even better is that you can do the whole meal in just one pan and have it done perfectly in under an hour.

Pan-Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

3/4 pound Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved

3/4 pound red potatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces

1/2 pound shallots, peeled and halved

4 carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces, thick ends halved lengthwise

6 garlic cloves, peeled

4 teaspoons minced fresh thyme

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary

1 teaspoon sugar

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons butter, melted

3 1/2 pounds bone-in chicken pieces (2 split breasts cut in half crosswise, 2 drumsticks, 2 thighs), trimmed

Adjust an oven rack to the upper-middle position and heat the oven to 475 degrees. Toss the Brussels sprouts, potatoes, shallots, carrots, garlic, 2 teaspoons of thyme, oil, 1 teaspoon of rosemary, sugar, 3/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper together in a bowl. Combine the butter, the remaining 2 teaspoons of thyme, the remaining 1 teaspoon of rosemary, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/8 teaspoon of pepper in a second bowl; set aside.

Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Place the vegetables in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet, arranging the Brussels sprouts in the center. Place the chicken, skin side up, on top of the vegetables, arranging the breast pieces in the center and the leg and thigh pieces around the perimeter of the baking sheet.

Brush the chicken with the herb butter and roast until the breasts register 160 degrees and the drumsticks and thighs register 175 degrees, about 35 to 45 minutes, rotating the pan about halfway through the cooking process. Transfer the chicken to a serving platter and tent loosely with aluminum foil and let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes. Toss the vegetables in the pan juices and transfer them to the platter with the chicken. Serve.

There are a few things about this recipe you want to keep in mind. Here is one time where it really pays to have a good, large rimmed baking sheet. You want a big one that will hold everything well without overcrowding so that everything roasts well instead of steams in the baking sheet. You also want one that will hold up well under high heat and not warp at all. The high heat used in the recipe lets you cook everything in under an hour, gives you great caramelization on the vegetables and makes the chicken skin crispy and perfect. Adding the herb butter the chicken really helps to give it extra flavor and crisp the skin too. The vegetables get a lot of great flavor from the drippings of the chicken. Having the Brussels sprouts in the middle of the pan makes a difference here too. Since they tend to cook faster than the carrots and potatoes, you want them in the middle and the other vegetables on the outer part of the sheet where there is more heat. Same goes for the chicken breasts. Keeping it in the cooler part of the sheet helps everything be at the right temperature at the same time.

That’s all I have for today. I hoped you liked the Cook’s Country recipes for this week. Check back tomorrow for the peach-blueberry ice cream pie recipe I have been promising all week. I am also planning some recipes for next week as well, so we’ll see what I can come up with and decide to make. until next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

2 Comments

Posted by MikeG on August 2, 2013 in Cooking, Dinner, One Pot Meals, Poultry, Vegetables

Tags: Brussels sprouts, Cook's Country, Cook's Country pan-roasted chicken and vegetables, pan-roasted chicken and vegetables, roast chicken recipe

Cook’s Country Recipe Week Part 3 – Spicy Pork and Broccoli Stir Fry

31 Jul

For day three of using Cook’s Country recipes, I picked out this stir fry to give a try . I love making stir fry dinners since they are quick and easy and make good use of some fresh vegetables. Don’t be put off by the name of this recipe; it is not very spicy at all and has great flavor to it. There aren’t a lot of ingredients in this one at all. The only item I had to go out and buy was the Asian chili-garlic sauce, and you could easily omit it or just use any chili sauce you would like as a substitute and I think it would be just fine.

Spicy Pork and Broccoli Stir Fry

3/4 cup chicken broth

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 tablespoon Asian chili-garlic sauce

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1 (16-ounce) pork tenderloin, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch thick slices, each slice cut into 1/2-inch thick strips

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 pound broccoli florets cut into 1-inch pieces, stalks trimmed, peeled, and sliced 1/4-inch thick

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

1 garlic clove, minced

Whisk 1/2 cup of the chicken broth, soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of the cornstarch, chili-garlic sauce and the sesame oil together in a bowl. set aside. Toss the pork, 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil and the remaining 1 tablespoon of the cornstarch together in a bowl. Heat 2 teaspoons of the vegetable oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Brown half of the pork, about 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer the pork to a plate. Repeat the process with 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil and the remaining pork.

Heat the remaining 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil in a now-empty skillet until just smoking. Add the broccoli and cook until it turns bright green, about 1 minute. Add the remaining 1/4 cup of the chicken broth and cook, covered, until the broccoli is tender, about 3 minutes. Add the ginger and the garlic and cook until they are fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the soy sauce mixture and cook until it is thickened, about 2 minutes. Return the pork and any accumulated juices to the skillet and cook until the pork is heated through, about 1 minute. Serve.

I did add some yellow, orange and red pepper and a shallot to the recipe, putting them in the skillet and cooking them for about a minute or two before I put the broccoli in the skillet. I think they added some nice color and flavor to the dish. The sauce adhered nicely to the pork thanks to the cornstarch and it had a good flavor with just a little kick to it. I served this dish with white rice and that was it. It is a great, simple dinner that you can have prepared and done in under 30 minutes so it is perfect for any weeknight meal.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another Cook’s Country for this week. The next recipe up will be for some quick chicken Parmesan sub sandwiches that I am making tonight, so you want to check back for that one. I also have a recipe from Bon Appetit for a wonderful peach-blueberry ice cream pie that I made that I will be posting soon. You don’t want to miss that one. Until next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

Leave a comment

Posted by MikeG on July 31, 2013 in Cooking Tips, Dinner, One Pot Meals, Pork

Tags: Cook's Country, Cook's Country spicy pork and broccoli stir fry, pork and broccoli stir fry, pork stir fry, spicy pork and broccoli stir fry

Down by the Bay Scallops

29 Jun

I don’t often buy bay scallops for myself. While they are the cheaper alternative to good sea scallops, most of the time bay scallops are soaked in solution and chemicals and they just don’t taste very good. The exception is if you can find “dry” or chemical-free bay scallops to use. These can be a lot better and can actually make for a great tasting and inexpensive seafood meal if you can catch them at just the right price. The trick can often be finding them dry and on sale, and I happened to stumble across them when I was shopping this past week so I picked up a pound. Bay scallops are great just sautéed over with some garlic, butter, white wine and parsley over rice or pasta, but I was looking to do something a little different this type out. I found a recipe from Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa of the Food Network and this recipe sounded like it would taste great and took no time at all to make.

Bay Scallop Gratin

6 tablespoons butter, at room temperature

6 garlic cloves, minced

2 medium shallots, minced

2 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, minced

4 tablespoons minced fresh parsley, plus extra for garnish

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tablespoons Pernod

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

6 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

6 tablespoons dry white wine

2 pounds bay scallops

Lemon, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Place 6 (6-inch round) gratin dishes on a sheet pan.

To make the topping, place the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (you can also use a hand mixer). With the mixer on low-speed, add the garlic, shallot,prosciutto, parsley, lemon juice, Pernod, salt and pepper and mix until combined. With the mixer still on low, add the olive oil very slowly as though making a mayonnaise, until combined. Fold the panko bread crumbs in with a rubber spatula and set aside.

Place 1 tablespoon of the white wine in the bottom of each gratin dish. With a small, sharp knife, remove the white muscle and membrane from the side of each scallop and discard (many times this is already done with bay scallops, but if it’s not, you should do it). Pat the scallops dry with paper towels and distribute them evenly among the dishes. Spoon the garlic butter mixture over the top of the scallops. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the topping is golden and sizzling and the scallops are barely done. If you want the top crustier, place the dishes under the broiler for 2 minutes, until they are browned to your liking. Finish the dish with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and a sprinkling of chopped parsley over each dish and serve with crusty French bread.

Just a couple of things about this recipe. Since I was only making this for 3 of us, I cut the recipe in half and found that a pound of bay scallops was more than enough for 3 dishes. The recipe does call for a couple of items most people may not have on hand for cooking, but there are substitutions available. I do not have prosciutto on hand most times, so I simply fried a couple of pieces of bacon beforehand and crumbled them up to use in the dish. If you don’t have any white wine on hand or don’t like to cook with alcohol, don’t fret. I didn’t have any white wine either and just dotted the bottom of each dish with some extra-virgin olive oil. You could easily leave it out of the dish altogether. The same can be said of the Pernod, which is a particular brand of anise flavored liqueur. If you have anisette, ouzo or Sambuca, you can use them in the recipe instead if you really want the licorice-like flavor you get from them. I didn’t have any of them on hand, so I simply left it out and I don’t think it hurt the dish at all. One final thing about scallops in general – don’t overcook them. Scallops, whether sea scallops or bay scallops, need to be barely cooked cooked, just until they are opaque, otherwise it will feel like you are eating pencil erasers.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for some new recipes I have been trying, including a polenta pizza, a new chicken dish and a few other things I have planned. Until next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

1 Comment

Posted by MikeG on June 29, 2013 in Cooking, Dinner, One Pot Meals, Seafood

Tags: bay scallops gratin, bay scallops recipe, food network, Ina Garten

Back to School: A Cook’s Illustrated Stir Fry Primer

27 Jun

I make a stir fry dinner about once a week, mainly because it is one of the easiest meals you can put together in a short amount of time. While any stir fry can come out tasting okay, you want yours to taste great every time you make one so it seems different and special. While it’s true that a stir fry often stems from trying to use up the leftovers in the refrigerator, you can also put some planning and strategy into what you use and how you make it. In the latest issue of Cook’s Illustrated Magazine, they have a wonderful article on steps you can take and follow to make a great stir fry every time.

A good stir fry usually starts with three basic components – some type of protein, vegetables and some type of sauce. Of course, you can vary this to fit any type of taste, but ideally you want to try to mix up texture and color as much as you can to create a vibrant, enticing plate. Another thing to remember is that while having lots of color can make the plate look nice, having too much can really clutter things up for you. If you can limit the types of produce you use to three at the most it will help avoid this and advance the flavor of your dish.

For proteins, you want to keep the quantity to around 1 pound of whatever you choose and select tender cuts that will soften up faster with this type of cooking. Sirloin tip steaks, boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pork tenderloin or shrimp are just some ideal examples that you can use. To make things even easier for yourself, try freezing your protein before cutting it so you can slice easier and get more uniform cuts. Generally about 30 minutes of freezing should suffice. You also want to make sure you take some time to pre-treat the protein you are using. it can really help to tenderize the protein and give it more flavor.Try soaking the protein for 15 minutes in 1 teaspoon of baking soda dissolved in 2 tablespoons of water. Don’t go longer than the 15 minutes or it will start to break down the protein too much and be sure you rinse the protein off before you start marinating it.

You want to marinate the protein in some type of salty liquid. This will help to brine the meat and boost the flavor. Just make sure you drain it well before you cook so you can make sure the meat will brown nicely and not steam in any excess liquid. Soaking the meat for 15 minutes in just 2 tablespoons of soy sauce or fish sauce can make a big difference. For shrimp, salty marinades can be a bit overwhelming. Cook’s Illustrated recommends using a simple mix of 3 tablespoons of oil, 6 cloves of minced garlic and 1/2 teaspoon of salt for 30 minutes to get great flavor from the shrimp.

For vegetables, again you want to stick to about a 1 pound limit of whatever combination you choose. Some vegetables, like broccoli, carrots, snap peas or cauliflower, need longer cooking times, about 3 to 7 minutes. Softer vegetables like mushrooms, onions, snow peas, peppers or asparagus need only about 1 to 3 minutes of cooking time. Smaller, more tender vegetables such as frozen peas, scallion greens, water chestnuts, tomatoes, bean sprouts or greens like spinach only need 30 to 60 seconds. Try to cut everything to a uniform size so that it all cooks evenly.

Lastly, you want to have some type of sauce to cook it all in. The sauces you buy in the jars in the store may work fine for some people, but I find them to be very sweet and loaded with salt. You can very easily make your own sauce in a minute or two with a few ingredients. A classic sauce, which I used in the chicken stir fry recipe below, has chicken broth, dry sherry, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, cornstarch and sesame oil.

I followed this simple recipe for a great chicken stir fry, but you can follow the same pattern for beef, fish or even tofu.

Easy Chicken Stir Fry

Sauce:

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup dry sherry

3 tablespoons hoisin or oyster sauce

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon sesame oil

Chicken:

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/4-inch slices

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons soy sauce

6-8 teaspoons vegetable oil

1/3 pound broccoli, trimmed and cut into 1/4-inch slices

1/3 pound carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch slices

1 small onion, sliced

1 red bell pepper, seeded, cored and cut into 1/4-inch slices

1/3 cup frozen peas

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon ginger, grated

For the sauce, whisk all the ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside. Heat a large, nonstick skillet over high heat. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons of oil and heat until just smoking. Add half of the chicken slices, breaking up any clumps, until browned, about 3 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a bowl and cover it to keep it warm. Repeat the process with another 1 1/2 teaspoons of oil and the remainder of the chicken. Remove the chicken to the bowl and cover to keep warm.

Add another 2 teaspoons of oil to the pan. Add the broccoli and cook until seared, about 3 to 5 minutes.Remove the broccoli from the skillet and add the carrots and cook, stirring occasionally, until seared, about 3 to 5 minutes. Remove the carrots and add the onion and bell pepper, stirring occasionally, until seared, about 1 to 3 minutes.Remove the onions and peppers from the skillet and add the frozen peas to the skillet and heat until seared, about 30 to seconds.Add the broccoli, peppers and onion back to the skillet and toss.

Clear the center of the pan and add the garlic, ginger and 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil. Mash the mixture until fragrant, about 15 to 30 seconds, then mix it into the vegetables. Return the chicken to the pan. Whisk the sauce to re-combine, then add it to the skillet and toss constantly until the liquid is thickened, about 30 seconds. Pour the stir fry into a serving bowl and serve with white rice or fried rice.

There are a few other tips you may want to follow when making a stir fry. First, as I have said before, while it is nice to have a wok, I don’t think they are very effective for cooking at home. unless you have a professional stove with the right kind of burners, a round-bottomed wok won’t work nearly as well as a large skillet when it comes to browning. Second, don’t put too much in the pan all at once. A crowded skillet won’t give you the searing that you want for a stir fry; it is just going to steam everything. Take the time to cook everything in batches and you will be well rewarded with nice browning. Third, try not to stir everything too much. I know it’s called a stir fry and everything tells you that you should be stirring constantly, but the thing is that most stoves don’t give you the kind of heat you get at an Asian restaurant’s stove or flat top so by moving things around all the time you don’t allow them to brown well. Give them a chance to cook and stir infrequently. Finally, remember that you don’t have to cook everything fully during the searing process. You want to remove items just before they are done. Everything is going to finish cooking in the end when you add it back into the pan with the sauce.

Of course you can do things in many combinations or try different sauces instead of this classic sauce if you want something different. You can vary things up each time by using different seasonal vegetables as well to make things different or top the final product with scallion greens, toasted seeds or nuts or whatever herbs or oils you may find appropriate or like. The combinations are endless here, so you can have a lot of fun with it.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for some new recipes I have tried recently, including a very simple Italian bread salad and a great bay scallops I used recently. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

Leave a comment

Posted by MikeG on June 27, 2013 in Cookbooks, Cooking, Cooking Tips, Dinner, One Pot Meals, Poultry, Sauce, Vegetables

Tags: chicken stir fry, cook's illustrated, easy chicken stir fry, stir fry 101, stir fry basics, stir fry primer

Taking the High (Roasted Chicken) Road

24 Jun

While this may not be the recipe you want to try while going through a heat wave as we seem to be here in New York the last couple of days, there are times where high roasting a chicken can be an ideal strategy. When you may not have a great amount of time to spend roasting a chicken and would like that wonderfully crispy skin that you can get from roasting you can give it a try. The danger with high roasting of course is that you can really dry out the meat and create a lot of smoke if you aren’t careful. This recipe, from the Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook, combats both problems. They butterfly the chicken so it stays moist and roast it on a broiler pan over potatoes so that potatoes absorb the dripping fat, thus no smoke and a very nice side dish is created all in one.

Crisp-Skin High-Roast Butterflied Chicken and Potatoes

1 (3 1/2 to 4-pound) whole chicken, giblets removed

Salt and pepper

1/2 cup sugar

2 1/2 pounds russet or Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and sliced to 1/4 inch thick

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons butter, softened

With a pair of kitchen or poultry shears, cut along both sides of the backbone of the chicken to remove it. Flatten the breastbone and tuck the wings behind the back. Dissolve 1/2 cup of salt and the sugar in 2 quarts of cold water in a large container. Submerge the chicken in the brine, cover and refrigerate for 1 hour (if you are using a kosher chicken you can skip this step).

Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 500 degrees. Line a broiler pan bottom with aluminum foil. Toss the potatoes with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 3/4 teaspoon of pepper in a bowl. Spread the potatoes evenly in the prepared broiler pan bottom and cover them with the broiler pan top.

Remove the chicken from the brine, rinse it thoroughly and pat it dry with paper towels. Using your fingers, gently loosen the center portion of skin covering the breast and thighs. Place the softened butter under the skin directly on the meat in the center of each side of the breast and on the thighs. Gently press on the skin to distribute the butter over the meat.Rub the skin with the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil and season well with pepper. Place the chicken on the broiler pan top and push each leg up to rest between the thigh and the breast.

Roast the chicken until the skin has crisped and turned a deep brown, the breast registers 160 degrees and the thighs register 175 degrees, about 40 to 45 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the roasting. Transfer the chicken to a carving board and allow it to rest for 10 minutes.

While the chicken rests, remove the broiler pan top and, using paper towels, soak up any excess grease from the potatoes. Transfer the potatoes to a serving platter. Carve the chicken, transfer it to a platter with the potatoes and serve.

There’s nothing like really crispy chicken and this recipe sure gives it to you. The potatoes were also a great treat as well since they absorb some of the flavor of the chicken as well. I actually put them under the broiler for a few minutes while the chicken rested to crisp them up a bit before they were done. I had also put one sliced onion in with the potatoes for some extra flavor. I think you could try this if you have a lot of chicken pieces you are looking to cook, but you need to keep a close eye on them as they will cook faster than the whole chicken and you don’t want to dry them out. It’s a great way to get a juicy, whole bird with great skin in under an hour. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of this one when I cooked it so I don’t have one to display, but trust me, it was great.

That’s all for today. Check back next time for some more recipes, including a chicken stir fry, pork tenderloin, a panzanella salad and more. I am planning to cook out on the grill some this week since it is warm here right now, so we’ll see what we can do. Until next time, enjoy the rest of your day, and enjoy your meal!

Leave a comment

Posted by MikeG on June 24, 2013 in Cooking, Dinner, One Pot Meals, Poultry

Tags: Cook's Illustrated Cookbook, crisp skin chicken, high roast chicken, high roast chicken and potatoes

Quick and Easy One Pot Chicken and Rice

12 Jun

As the weather starts to warm up and we move closer and closer to summertime, not only will more people be grilling and cooking out, but you also want to make meals that are quick and easy to cook and can all be done in one pot or pan. I’ve made chicken and rice before in different ways but I came across this recipe in the Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook and saw how easy it was and thought it would make a great weeknight meal. Dinner for anyone during the week can get a little hectic, so if you have a recipe like this in your arsenal that you can pull out any time you have some chicken, it can make things a lot easier. While this particular recipe uses a whole chicken, I actually substituted since I only had chicken thighs on hand and used them exclusively.

Chicken and Rice With Tomatoes, White Wine, and Parsley

1 (3 1/2 to 4-pound) whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces (4 breast pieces, 2 drumsticks, 2 thighs)
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped fine
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice
2 cups water
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained with 1/2 cup of juice reserved
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley

Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and season well with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking. Place the chicken skin side down in the pot and cook until it is well browned, about 6 to 8 minutes, reducing the heat if the pan begins to scorch. Flip the chicken skin side up and continue to cook until lightly browned on the second side, about 3 minutes; transfer to a plate.

Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of fat from the pot, add the onion, and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until it is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the rice and cook, stirring frequently, until it is well coated and glistening, about 1 minute. Stir in the water, tomatoes with the reserved juice, white wine, and 1 teaspoon of salt, scraping up any browned bits. Nestle the chicken thighs and legs into the pot and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer gently for 15 minutes. Nestle the chicken breast pieces into the pot and stir the ingredients gently until the rice is thoroughly mixed; cover and simmer until both the rice and the chicken are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes longer. Stir in the parsley, cover, and allow the dish to sit for 5 minutes.

One of the things you want to be sure of is that you stir the rice as the dish goes along. When you cook a meal of this nature, some of the rice tends to get undercooked if you just leave it alone without mixing it up as you go along.The recipe actually puts the breasts in after the other chicken has started cooking so they do not dry out and get overcooked while the dark meat pieces cook.There are many different variations you can try on this – if you want to change it around every time you make it. You could certainly add different spices such as paprika, cilantro, saffron, cumin or even things such as bell peppers, peas, chili peppers, olives, anchovies or some lemon or lime juice. The combinations seem nearly endless depending on what exactly you want to go for. As I said before, you can use whatever pieces of chicken you happen to have on hand if you do not have a whole chicken. The meal only took about a half an hour to cook and clean up was a breeze since everything was done all in one pot.

That’s all I have for today. Check back again later on in the week as I’ll have some of the recipes of things I have cooked recently or things I am planning for later on in the week. I already made some chicken sandwiches, Alton Brown’s potato salad recipe and some braised pork chops with cherries, among other things. Until next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

Leave a comment

Posted by MikeG on June 12, 2013 in Cookbooks, Cooking, Dinner, One Pot Meals, Poultry, Rice

Tags: chicken and rice, chicken and rice with tomatoes, Cook's Illustrated Cookbook, one pot meals

One Pot Meal : Roast Provencal Chicken and Vegetables

06 Jun

Making a one-pot meal for dinner has some great advantages to it. Not only does it make cleanup after the meal simple and easy, but cooking everything together in one pot or pan gives all the food the chance to meld flavors. As soon as I saw this recipe in bon appétit Magazine, I knew I was not only going to give the recipe a try, but that I was going to add vegetables to it so we could have the complete meal together.

Roast Provençal Chicken with Roasted Vegetables

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/4 cup herbes de Provence
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 3 1/2 to 4 pound chicken, cut into 8 pieces
4 carrots, peeled and chopped
4 parsnips, peeled and chopped
2 onions, peeled and cut into quarters
2 sweet potatoes, chopped
2 Yukon gold potatoes, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 475°. Mix the garlic, herbes de Provence, oil, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Rub the mixture all over the pieces of chicken, covering the skin on both sides. Place the chicken on a wire rack.

Add the carrots, parsnips, onions, sweet potatoes, and potatoes to the roasting pan. Mix the olive oil with the vegetables, tossing to evenly coat everything. Season with salt and pepper. Place the chicken on top of the vegetables and roast the chicken in the oven until the skin begins to brown, about 25 to 30 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350° and roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the largest piece of chicken registers 165°, about 30 to 40 minutes longer. Remove the chicken from the oven to a separate platter and cover to rest for 10 minutes. Put the roasting pan back in the oven to allow the vegetables to roast longer and caramelize for another 10 minutes. Remove the vegetables and place on a separate serving platter.

If you didn’t want to cut the chicken up beforehand, you could certainly leave it all and then rub the herb mixture inside and outside the chicken before you roast it. If you like your vegetables a little crisper, when you place them back in the oven after removing the chicken you could turn the heat up on the oven to 450° and let them roast at a higher temperature for a little bit longer. I particularly like the way the spices came out on the chicken itself. They tasted great with the vegetables and you could use any vegetables that you like here, although vegetables work best for this type of roasting because they can sustain in the oven a little bit longer than the other vegetables like broccoli or cauliflower or the like.

That’s all there is for today. Check back again next time to see what other recipes I use for the week. I still have a couple of other things planned for the coming days so hopefully I can get to them. I know I’ll be making something with Italian sausage, some type of chicken sandwich and I also have a couple of pork recipes that I want to try out soon so keep checking back to see what I decide to make. Until next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

Leave a comment

Posted by MikeG on June 6, 2013 in Dinner, One Pot Meals, Poultry, Vegetables

Tags: bon appetit magazine, roast Provencal chicken, roast Provencal chicken with roasted vegetables, roasted vegetables

Ethiopian Stir Fry

24 May

I try to make a stir-fry recipe at least once a week now. It is always an easy dinner to make and comes in handy when we may not have a lot of time to put a meal together. I had seen this recipe posted on the website run by Marcus Samuelsson, who many view of probably seen on the Food Network or may have even read his book “Yes, Chef.” As soon as I saw the recipe I was intrigued about how it would turn out in new I wanted to give it a try. It is a recipe for Ethiopian-style beef stir-fry.

Ethiopian-Style Beef Stir Fry

1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup thinly sliced red onion
1 1/2 pounds hangar steak or beef tenderloin, cut into half-inch cubes
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 garlic cloves, cut into quarters
3 tomatoes, chopped, or 1 1/2 cups roughly chopped canned tomatoes
2 jalapeño chili peppers, seeds and ribs removed, thinly sliced
1/2 cup dry red wine
2 red onions, sliced
1/2 cup peanuts, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 pounds baby spinach

Mix all of the dry spices in a bowl and add the meat. Toss well to combine and set aside. Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until they begin to color around the edges, approximately 2 to 3 minutes. Add the meat, sprinkle with salt, and stir-fry until the meat is browned on all sides, about 3 minutes on each side. Carefully add the tomatoes, jalapeños, peanuts and wine. Allow to simmer for one minute, then season with salt if necessary. Stir in the spinach and cook until the spinach is just heated through and starting to wilt, about 2 minutes. Season with salt to taste and serve.

The combination of the cardamom, ginger and chili powder on the meat added some great flavor. You could certainly eliminate the jalapeños if you didn’t want them added to the recipe, but I think they add a nice little hint of heat to the dish and go very well with the tomatoes. Also, you could eliminate the peanuts if you have any type of allergies to deal with. I think they added a nice crunch to the meal and added them in. I served this with white rice as I do with many of the stir-fries I make, but you could certainly use brown rice instead. Chef Samuelsson actually recommends serving it either just with some crusty bread or with a side of couscous, which I think would also be quite nice. The whole meal itself literally takes minutes to prepare so it’s great for a weeknight meal.

That’s all there is for today. I hope everyone enjoys their holiday weekend and gets to do some grilling. It’s supposed to rain here in New York for most of the weekend so I don’t know how much grilling will get to do. We’ll have to see what happens. I still have to plan out next week’s menu is so I don’t really have a good idea to yet of what I’m going to try, but check back and see what comes up and what I decide to post. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

Leave a comment

Posted by MikeG on May 24, 2013 in Beef, Cooking, Cooking Websites, Dinner, One Pot Meals

Tags: beef stir fry, Ethiopian beef stir fry, Ethiopian-style beef stir fry, Marcus Samuelsson, stir fry recipe

Mother’s Day Dinner, Part 3- Baked Sausage and Peppers

17 May

For the third part of the dinner I made on Mother’s Day, we decided to make something for those who may not be into pasta and tomato sauce as much. I had bought some Italian sausage and was intending just to make plain sausage and peppers and have some rice to serve with it on the side. There’s not much different you can really do with sausage and peppers, but I thought it would be much better, cleaner and maybe even healthier if possible if I did the whole thing in the oven. It’s quick, it’s easy and if you use a disposable foil pan, fast clean-up too.

Baked Italian Sausage and Peppers

1 1/2 pounds sweet or hot Italian sausage links (about 6 links)

2 large onions, sliced

1 red bell pepper, sliced

1 yellow bell pepper, sliced

1 orange bell pepper, sliced

2 tablespoons olive oil

Salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Slice the onions and peppers, seeding the peppers along the way.Place the onions and peppers in the bottom of a large 9 x 13 baking dish. Toss the peppers and onions with the two tablespoons of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Top the vegetables with the Italian sausage links. Prick each sausage several times with a sharp knife or the tines of a fork on the bottom and the top of each link. This will help to release some of their juices to flavor the peppers and onions.

Cover the pan with foil and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove the foil so that the sausages can brown and bake for another 20 minutes. Turn the sausages over to brown on the opposite side and bake for another 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve.

That’s all there is to it. I actually added some extra pepper and onions on top of the sausages when I first put them in the pan to get even more flavor. You could certainly serve these on hoagie rolls as a traditional sandwich if you wanted to go that route. You could even do the same recipe on your grill if you wanted, perhaps getting some grill marks on the sausage before you put them in the pan to cover them. Steaming them for that 20 minutes really helps to release some flavor and then browning them for 40 minutes makes them perfect and crisp, just the way I like it. Everyone loved them and there were no leftovers at all and they were taken so fast I never got a picture of them!

I still have a couple of recipes leftover from the Mother’s Day meal that I will post tomorrow. Work kind of slowed me down this week so I didn’t get to post as often as I would like, but tomorrow we will have the wilted spinach salad with warm bacon vinaigrette and the tomato and mozzarella. Very simple and easy recipes for both of them. I am also working on the meals for next week so I hope to get to them as well. Keep checking back and see what we come up with. Until next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

5 Comments

Posted by MikeG on May 17, 2013 in Cooking, Dinner, One Pot Meals, Pork, Sandwiches, Sausage

Tags: baked Italian sausage and peppers, italian sausage and peppers, sausage and peppers, sausage and peppers and onions, traditional sandwich

Sweet and Sour Pork Stir Fry

07 May

I try to do a different stir-fry each week for one of our dinners. It gives us a chance to have a good meal loaded with vegetables and it usually only takes about 15 or 20 minutes to actually cook. The cleanup from a stir-fry meal is also very easy as there are usually only two pots to clean, one for this stir-fry and one for the race. The leftovers are also make a great lunch for the next day or so. This past week, I used the recipe I found on Food Network for a sweet and sour pork recipe.

Sweet and Sour Pork

1 pound pork tenderloin, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Kosher salt
2 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon cornstarch
3 tablespoons ketchup
3 tablespoons sugar, plus a pinch
3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, thinly sliced
3 scallions, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3 cups snow peas, cut in half

Toss the pork with 1/2 tablespoon of the balsamic vinegar and a pinch of salt in a bowl. Mix the remaining 2 tablespoons of vinegar, the soy sauce, cornstarch, catch up, 3 tablespoons of sugar, 1/3 cup of water and half a teaspoon of salt in another bowl.

Heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the pork and slowly stir until it turns mostly opaque, about two minutes. Remove the pork with a slotted spoon and transfer it to a plate. Discard the oil and wipe out the skillet.

Keep the remaining 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in the skillet, then stir-fry the garlic with the pinch each of salt and sugar, about 15 seconds. Add the carrots and scallions and stir-fry until crisp-tender, about two minutes. Add a little water if the garlic starts to stick to the skillet. Add the pork, snow peas and soy sauce mixture; stir until the pork is cooked through and the sauce is thickened, about three minutes.

As usually happens when I am making a stir-fry, I don’t always use the vegetables that are exactly in the recipe. As I’ve said before, I usually have the bag in the freezer of mixed frozen vegetables that are packaged specifically with a stir-fry in mind. This is what I ended up using this time as well. The mixture had broccoli, carrots, water chestnuts, snow peas, peppers and onions. You can always use whatever vegetables you like where keep things simple and just use the carrots and snow peas that are in the ingredients for this recipe. I served it with white Rice, but you could certainly use brown rice or any of the type of race you like or no rice at all if you are trying to eliminate the starch.

That’s all I have for today. I need to get back to work to try to get as much done as I can. Sean and I are heading out to the Mets game tonight at Citi Field. Were hoping to see a good game and of course we always enjoy whatever food happens to be available while we watch the game. I know they have a few new places as far as eating this year, so I’ll have to check it out and see what they have and report back. Until the next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!