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A Week of Hectic Action Finally Calms for Chicken Tenders with Honey Mustard Sauce

Hectic week seem to drive me crazy when they come along. This week it is seemed like it has been one thing after another every time I turn around. I finally got settled with my new computer and had a lot of work to catch up on. Throw on top of that that we had Sean’s birthday, my birthday, lots of work to do, Christmas cards, shopping for Christmas presents, and all of the other daily chores and assignments that come up around here and I just have not seem to have time to do much of anything lately. Add to that that Michelle will be traveling again shortly so I haven’t had a lot of opportunity to do much cooking lately either. One thing that I have been able to put together though, was an easy recipe for another one of Sean’s favorites, chicken tenders. Chicken tenders are always a great option for younger kids but they can be a crowd pleaser for just about anybody and make a great easy dinner when you need something to fall back on. This particular recipe that I am using today comes from Food Network and is from Patrick and Gina Neely. It’s a pretty simple recipe for chicken tenders with a simple honey mustard sauce to go along with it.

Chicken Tenders with Honey Mustard Sauce

Peanut oil or vegetable oil, for frying

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts

3 eggs

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 cups Panko breadcrumbs

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Honey Mustard Sauce, recipe follows

For the Honey Mustard Sauce:

1/2 cup Dijon mustard

1/2 cup honey

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat the vegetable oil or peanut oil in a Dutch oven or large cast-iron skillet to 350°. Cut the chicken breasts into long strips and set them aside. Beat the 3 eggs in a separate bowl and measure the flour into another separate dish. Measure the breadcrumbs into a pie plate or shallow bowl and season them with the garlic powder, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. Dip the chicken strips into the flour, then the beaten eggs and allow any excess to drip off. Then dredge the chicken strips in the seasoned breadcrumbs. Fry the chicken in the hot oil for 6 to 8 minutes, until the chicken is golden brown on all sides, and remove the pieces to a paper towel lined sheet tray. Fry the chicken in batches so as not to crowd the pan while cooking. Serve the chicken tenders with the honey mustard sauce.

For the honey mustard sauce, mix the Dijon mustard, honey, mayonnaise, lemon juice, salt and pepper together in a small bowl. This sauce can be made ahead of time and held in the refrigerator for up to one week.

These chicken tenders come out nice and moist on the inside with very crispy skin, which is perfect for what you want. These are great for all kinds of occasions beyond just weeknight dinner. You could use them to make a batch for a party or for when you’re watching the game or as an appetizer. The mustard sauce has good flavor to it and you could certainly use that for anything else besides the chicken if you have other appetizers that you like to dip in a honey mustard blend. This is certainly a better alternative than anything that you could buy frozen in a bag at the supermarket and these easy enough to make where you probably have all the ingredients on hand at home most of the time.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on December 12, 2014 in Appetizers, Cooking, Dinner, Poultry, Sauce

Tags: chicken tenders, chicken tenders recipe, chicken tenders with honey mustard sauce, food network, honey mustard sauce

For Holidays or Any Time, Try Bobby Flay’s Roast Turkey with Mustard Maple Glaze

08 Dec

Just before Thanksgiving came around I had a turkey that I had purchased at the supermarket. Even though we weren’t going to be home for Thanksgiving, it’s hard to pass up a bargain when they’re selling fresh turkeys for $.79 a pound so I picked up one and decided I would make it after Thanksgiving and try a different approach with a new recipe. I had seen before Thanksgiving recipe from Food Network that was made by Bobby Flay for a roast turkey with mustard maple glaze that sounded delicious and looked relatively easy to make. It incorporated some different ingredients to make the glaze, such as maple syrup, horseradish, Dijon mustard, and chili powder. There was also a nice gravy that went along with it, so I decided this was going to be the one to give a try to, and I’m glad I did.

For the glaze:
1 1/2 cups pure maple syrup
2 heaping tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 heaping tablespoons prepared horseradish, drained
1 tablespoon ancho chile powder
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

For the turkey:
1 17 -pound fresh turkey, patted dry (neck and giblets removed)
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
10 tablespoons butter, slightly softened
12 cups homemade chicken stock
3 large carrots, cut into 2-inch pieces
3 large stalks celery, cut into 2-inch pieces
2 large onions, quartered

For the gravy:
1 stick unsalted butter
7 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Splash of dry white wine (optional)
1/4 cup chopped mixed fresh herbs (such as sage, parsley and tarragon)
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

To make the glaze: Whisk the maple syrup, mustard, horseradish and chile powder in a bowl and season the mix with salt and pepper. Cover the mixture and let it sit at room temperature at least 30 minutes to allow the flavors to meld. The glaze can be made up to 2 days in advance; store the glaze, covered, in the refrigerator. Bring it to room temperature before using.

Prepare the turkey: Remove the turkey from the refrigerator 1 hour before roasting. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Season the cavity of the turkey with salt and pepper. Rub the outside of the turkey with the butter and season it liberally with salt and pepper. Put 4 cups of chicken stock in a medium saucepan and keep it warm over low heat.

Place the carrots, celery and onions in a large roasting pan and place a roasting rack on top. Put the turkey on the rack, place the roasting pan in the oven and roast the turkey until it is a light golden brown, about 45 minutes.Tent the turkey loosely with foil if it is browning too quickly. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees, baste the turkey with 2 cups of the warm stock and continue roasting, basting with 2 more cups of warm stock halfway through, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thigh registers 155 degrees, about 1 hour. After the turkey reaches 155 degrees, begin basting the turkey with the maple glaze; continue roasting, basting with the glaze every 10 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thigh registers 165 degrees, about 20 more minutes.

Remove the turkey from the oven and transfer it to a large cutting board. Tent the turkey loosely with foil and let it rest at least 45 minutes before slicing. Strain the drippings into a bowl and discard the solids. Add enough of the remaining chicken stock to make 6 cups of liquid.

To make the gravy: Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook until the flour is light golden brown, about 8 minutes. Slowly whisk in the stock-drippings mixture, then bring the mixture to a boil and whisk until the gravy begins thickening and the flour taste has been cooked out, about 10 minutes. Add more stock until you reach the desired consistency. If desired, add a splash of white wine and cook 2 more minutes. Stir in the herbs and season with salt and pepper to taste.

To serve, reheat the remaining stock in a saucepan over low heat. Remove the legs and wings, then remove the dark meat and shred. Remove the breasts and cut crosswise into 1-inch-thick slices. Place the meat on a platter and ladle some of the warm stock on top.

I think this recipe was fantastic. The glaze that was on the turkey made the skin perfectly brown and gave it a nice taste. The combination of the mustard and the maple syrup along with the horseradish, really did it for me. The original recipe uses 17 pound turkey so quantities are quite high. The turkey I bought was only 11 pounds so I cut the recipe by about one-third when I was making it. I think if you have a large bird, even bigger than 17 pounds, this recipe would work out pretty well. The meat was perfectly cooked and everything came out nice and juicy. Everyone seemed to really like the gravy as well. This is definitely a recipe that I will use again.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on December 8, 2014 in Cooking, Dinner, Gravy, Holidays, Poultry, Sauce, Turkey

Tags: Bobby Flat roast turkey with mustard maple glaze, food network, mustard maple glaze, roast turkey for the holidays, roast turkey recipe, roasted turkey with mustard maple glaze, turkey

Try Guacamole the Alton Brown Way!

24 Sep

I have been using the same basic recipe for guacamole that I make for years. Everyone seems to like it and I haven’t really deviated from that since I went with the old adage if it isn’t broken don’t fix it. National Guacamole Day was just recently (yes, there really is such a thing, and it seems pretty much everything and everyone has a day now, but that’s a topic for another time) I saw some other recipes for guacamole come up and I hit upon this one from Alton Brown, who is always one of my favorites and hasn’t steered me wrong yet with a recipe. His recipe for guacamole is very simple, as most of them are, but does seem to give you extra layers of flavor as well.

Alton Brown’s Guacamole

3 Haas avocados, halved, seeded and peeled

1 lime, juiced

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 onion, diced

1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced

2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced

1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

1 clove garlic, minced

In a large bowl place the scooped avocado pulp and the lime juice and toss the avocado pieces to coat them well. Drain the bowl, reserving the lime juice, after all of the avocado pieces have been coated. Using a potato masher, add the salt, ground cumin and cayenne pepper and mash the avocados. Fold in the onions, jalapeno pepper, Roma tomatoes, chopped cilantro and the minced garlic to gently blend the ingredients together. Add 1 tablespoon of the reserved lime juice. Let the guacamole sit at room temperature for 1 hour and then serve.

A couple of things I noticed about this recipe. One, you get great flavors of everything and can get the freshness of the avocado, the lime, the cilantro and the onions and tomatoes with every bite. Two, using a potato masher does make a big difference as it allows you to get chunky guacamole so you get pieces of avocado with each bite instead of the results you get from a food processor or blender where you just get green liquid. I had always used a potato masher in the past when I made it anyway, so this made good sense to me. Coating he avocados with the lime juice before you mash them makes a difference in the flavor and seems to help with preventing the guacamole from turning brown quickly, just as adding the lime juice back in at the end does as well. Also, I had always refrigerated my guacamole right after I made it, but Alton Brown suggests that the cold refrigerator mutes the flavors of the guacamole, while when left at room temperature all you will need to do is give it a gentle mix and maybe add some salt and lime juice to adjust the seasoning. It is important to remember that even though you added lime juice, oxidation is still going to occur if you leave the guacamole uncovered while its resting. Make sure you cover it with plastic wrap, pressing it right down onto the top of the guacamole, and this will help it from turning brown. it’s a great and versatile dip that goes well with chips, crackers, tacos, quesadillas, hamburgers and countless other meals.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on September 24, 2014 in Appetizers, Cooking, Picnic Fare, Produce, Snacks, Vegetarian

Tags: Alton Brown, Alton Brown guacamole recipe, Alton Brown's guacamole, avocado, food network, guacamole recipe

Elegant and Easy – Filet Mignon Roast with Roasted Winter Vegetables

23 Sep

Today is the first day of Fall and the look and feel around our area of New York certainly indicates that much. The weather is cool and crisp, the leaves are starting to turn and thoughts turn to fall and autumn fruits, vegetables and meals around here. Sure, that means soups, stews and the like but it can also mean fall entertaining with some elegant but easy meals that you can put together when you have friends and family over. We had just such a dinner this past weekend and I decided to make a filet mignon roast. It’s not something we have very often because of the price but it is a nice treat when you are having a larger party over. This recipe from Food Network is the perfect answer for your meal with a tender filet mignon roast along with some of your favorite roasted winter vegetables.

Filet Mignon with Roasted Winter Vegetables

For the Vegetables:

2 large parsnips, peeled and chopped

1 butternut squash, peeled and chopped

2 to 3 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 pound mini carrots, well cleaned

2 bunches beets, scrubbed, tops trimmed and halved

2 red onions, quartered

1 head of garlic, cloves separated and peeled

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

For the Filet Mignon Roast:

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 tablespoons stone ground mustard

6 cloves garlic, minced

3 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary

2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper

1 (6-pound) whole beef tenderloin (filet mignon)

Kosher salt, to taste

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. For the vegetables, add all of the vegetables, the garlic, the olive oil, the rosemary, the salt and the pepper, to taste, in single layers on 2 rimmed baking sheets. Toss the vegetables until they are well coated with the olive oil. Roast the vegetables until they are golden brown and tender, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Cover and keep warm until you are serving.

For the roast, preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Combine the olive oil, minced garlic, mustard, rosemary and pepper in a small bowl until they are blended. Coat the tenderloin all over with the mustard mixture. This can be done the day before and left in the refrigerator overnight if you like. Just before roasting, season the tenderloin generously with kosher salt, to taste. Set the tenderloin in a large roasting pan and place it in the center of the oven on the middle rack. Roast the tenderloin until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the tenderloin registers 135 degrees, about 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the roast from the oven to a cutting board and tent it with aluminum foil. Allow the tenderloin to rest for 10 minutes before slicing. Arrange the slices on a platter and serve alongside the warmed roasted vegetables.

It is a simple dish that looks great, smells great and tastes awesome. The meat was done just perfectly so that it was medium-rare to medium throughout and the vegetables were nicely browned and tender and full of flavor. Of course, you can always add whatever vegetables you like best to the dish besides what is in the recipe, like mushrooms, fingerling potatoes, acorn squash, Brussels sprouts or whatever happens to look good at the grocery store when you are shopping. I used golden beets in mine because I liked the look and the flavor but any beets you like will work here. Everyone really enjoyed it and it was a great night with some good food.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

1 Comment

Posted by MikeG on September 23, 2014 in Beef, Cooking, Dinner, Produce, Vegetables

Tags: filet mignon, filet mignon roast, filet mignon roast with roasted winter vegetables, food network, roasted vegetables, roasted winter vegetables, whole beef tenderloin recipe, winter vegetables

Indoors or Out Enjoy Grilled NY Style Sausages with Balsamic Onion Sauce and Grilled Tomatoes

09 Sep

Not having a grill to use can be a detriment when I come across recipes that sound wonderful and would taste great. An electric grill just does not provide the same type of results and experience as a gas or charcoal grill, in my opinion, so when I see a grilling recipe I want to try I often try to adapt it to indoor cooking and use either a grill pan (much to the chagrin of my smoke alarm many times) or find a way to cook it in the oven. While the results may not be exactly the same for me, they can still get pretty close, or at least good enough for my purposes.. Such is the case of this recipe I saw from Bobby Flay for grilled New York-style sausages with a balsamic onion sauce and grilled tomatoes, a great alternative to the average hot dog on the grill. I am posting the grilling recipe that Bobby Flay uses even though I did everything indoors in cast iron pans or in the case of the sausages, in the oven.

Grilled NY Style Sausages with Balsamic Onion Sauce and Grilled Tomatoes

For the Balsamic Onion Sauce:

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 large Spanish onions, halved and thinly sliced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ancho chile powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup ketchup
1 teaspoon hot sauce

For the Grilled Cherry Tomatoes with Basil:

1 pint cherry tomatoes, cored
1 tablespoon canola oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

For the Grilled Sausage:
4 hot Italian sausage links
4 sweet Italian sausage links
1 loaf seeded semolina bread, cut into thick slices

For the balsamic onions: Put the balsamic vinegar, oil, onions and some salt and pepper in a medium skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are very soft and soupy, about 15 minutes.

Stir in the chile powder and cinnamon and cook for 1 minute. Add the ketchup, 1/2 cup of water, the hot sauce, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper, and bring to a simmer. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has thickened, about 10 minutes. Transfer the onions to a bowl and cool to room temperature before serving.

For the grilled tomatoes: Heat the grill for high direct and indirect heat. Put the tomatoes in a bowl and toss them with the canola oil and some salt and pepper. Transfer the tomatoes to a grill basket and grill over direct heat, tossing occasionally, until the tomatoes are slightly charred all over and softened, about 5 minutes. Transfer the tomatoes to a bowl, drizzle them with the olive oil, and crush them lightly with a fork. Toss the tomatoes with the basil, then set them aside.

For the sausage: Put the sausages over the direct heat and cook until they are slightly charred on all sides, about 2 minutes per side. Move the sausages to the indirect heat, cover, and cook until they are just cooked through, about 10 minutes.

Transfer the sausage to a cutting board. Grill the bread over direct heat until it is lightly charred, about 15 seconds, then transfer the bread to a platter.

Slice the sausages about 1-inch thick. Top each slice of bread with some of the grilled tomatoes, a few slices of sausage and a dollop of the onion sauce.

As I stated, I made everything inside, using a cast iron skillet for the onion sauce, a grill pan for the tomatoes and the oven for the sausages. The onions were straightforward as I could follow the recipe. The tomatoes on the grill pan were cooked over low heat for about 4 minutes until they blistered and popped and then I took them off the pan and proceeded with the recipe. The sausages I baked in the oven for about 45 minutes in a 375 degree oven, half the time covered in foil and the other half without, allowing them to crisp up a bit. To me, this works out better than simply frying the sausages in a pan and you get better texture and pop. Overall, I loved the mix of the sausages with the tomatoes and the onion sauce. The onion sauce is the real winner, in my opinion, and we used it again on hamburgers and even as a topping on some pizza. It makes a great grilling alternative for you when you want something more than a hot dog or hamburger. I forgot to take a picture of the sausages, but I do have a picture of the onions and the tomatoes.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on September 9, 2014 in Cooking, Dinner, Grilling, Pork, Side Dishes, Vegetables

Tags: balsamic onion sauce, Bobby Flay, food network, grilled cherry tomatoes with basil, grilled NY style sausages, grilled NY style sausages with balsamic onion sauce and grilled tomatoes, grilled sausages, grilled tomatoes, sausages

50 After-School Snacks

06 Sep

50 After-School Snacks.

One thing that all kids seem to have in common, no matter what the age, is that they want to have some kind of snack as soon as they get home from school. They need something to tide them over before dinner and you want to try and give the best options possible when you can. Food Network has put together 50 after-school snack recipes for you that cover all kinds of options so you have something great to offer the kids when they get home. Check it out!

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Posted by MikeG on September 6, 2014 in Beverages, Cooking, Cooking Websites, Fruit, Snacks, Vegetables

Tags: 50 after-school snacks, after school snack ideas, after-school snack recipes, food network, Food Network 50 after-school snacks recipes, Food Network after-school snacks, snack recipes

You’d Be Crazy Not to Try This Strawberry-Rhubarb Greek Yogurt Fool

07 Aug

There’s still plenty of time to get some great strawberries to use in all kinds of wonderful recipes for the summer. You can use strawberries in any meal you have during the day. Make a smoothie or just chop some up for your oatmeal for breakfast, put some in a tasty salad for lunch and you can even work them into your chicken dinner if you like. Of course, my favorite way to use them is in some kind of dessert. I was looking for an easy dessert that would just take a few minutes to make, taste great and be a bit healthier than perhaps a standard pie or tart. I came across this recipe from Bobby Flay for a strawberry-rhubarb fool that makes use of Greek Yogurt to give it some extra flavor and make it a bit of a healthier option than whipped cream or ice cream.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Greek Yogurt Fool

2 stalks rhubarb, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 cup sliced strawberries

1/2 cup sugar

One 3-inch strip orange peel, plus 1 teaspoon grated orange zest

2 cups nonfat Greek yogurt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons honey

1/2 cup chopped pistachios

Combine the rhubarb, strawberries, sugar and orange peel in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook until the rhubarb and strawberries are soft, stirring frequently, about 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer the fruit mixture to a bowl and let it cool completely. Remove the orange peel before making any servings. The strawberry-rhubarb mixture can be made 2 days ahead of time and stored well covered in the refrigerator.

Whisk together the Greek yogurt, orange zest and the vanilla extract in a bowl until combined. Swirl the rhubarb mixture through the Greek yogurt mixture. Do not fold the rhubarb mixture completely into the yogurt. Divide the mixture among dessert bowls or glasses. Drizzle the tops of each serving with some honey and top with the chopped pistachios.

This really easy dessert looks great and tastes even better. You get the awesome mix of the strawberries and rhubarb swirled into the tangy flavor of the Greek yogurt. When you mix in the honey with it makes it even better, but perhaps may favorite part is the crunch and saltiness you get from the pistachios. It just seems to all go really well together and you can have them made in about 15 minutes, giving you a really easy dessert that you can whip up at the last-minute and have it look elegant.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on August 7, 2014 in Cooking, Dessert, Fruit

Tags: food network, Greek yogurt, strawberries, strawberry-rhubarb fool, strawberry-rhubarb Greek yogurt fool

Save Time and Effort with Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

10 Jul

While the temperature and humidity around here have eased a bit today, it is typical for July around these parts of New York to be very sticky and humid, making it uncomfortable all day long and making you feel like you really do not want to put much effort into dinner. Nights like that for use are usually good for really simple meals that involve little or no cooking at all, which means making things like sandwiches, salads, hot dogs and the like for dinner. Sure you can always get take out or go out if you like, but that gets expensive to do too much and you don’t have control over the ingredients you are eating. You can always compromise somewhere in the middle and buy some pre-cooked items, such as a rotisserie chicken, and make good use of that in a meal for you and your family in a bunch of ways. One thing I recently did was use a rotisserie chicken to make some pulled chicken sandwiches for a meal. You can do this just as easily with leftover chicken and simply shred it yourself and even use your favorite bottled barbecue sauce if you like, but I decided to make my own sauce to get the flavor we really like. The basis of this recipe comes from Ellie Krieger on the Food Network site.

Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 (14-ounce) can tomato sauce
1/4 cup tomato paste
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
5 tablespoons molasses
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke
1 whole rotisserie chicken, skin removed, meat shredded into thin strips (about 4 to 4 1/2 cups)
6 hamburger rolls
Lettuce leaves, for garnish

Pickle slices, for garnish

Coleslaw, store-bough or homemade, for garnish

Heat the vegetable oil in a large saute pan set over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until they are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more until the garlic is fragrant. Add the tomato sauce, tomato paste, water, cider vinegar, molasses, pepper and liquid smoke and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the chopped chicken, return the mixture to a simmer, and cook for an additional 10 minutes.

Split the hamburger rolls. Place a leaf of lettuce on each roll, then pile on 3/4 cup of the chicken mixture onto the roll and top with pickle slices, coleslaw and additional sauce, if desired.

That’s all there is to it and it tastes great. You get a nice barbecue sauce to simmer the chicken in without a lot of work and the liquid smoke adds great aroma and flavor to the sauce. I used the pickleback slaw recipe I have made before as the coleslaw for a topping and we just had the sandwiches with some chips on the side to keep things simple, though they would go well with some potato salad, macaroni salad or even just a simple side salad. You could even make these as sliders if you wanted to use them for a buffet or party and have them done in minutes.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of you day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on July 10, 2014 in Cooking, Dinner, Leftovers, Lunch, Poultry, Sandwiches

Tags: chicken sandwiches, Ellie Krieger, food network, pickleback slaw, pulled barbecued chicken sandwiches, pulled chicken, pulled chicken sandwiches, rotisserie chicken

Too Hot to Cook? Try These Easy Chicken Tostadas

03 Jul

It has been very hot, humid and sticky here the last few days, making it so that the last thing you feel like doing is standing in front of the stove or oven and cooking a detailed meal. It is days just like this that are perfect for a nice rotisserie chicken and doing something different and inventive with it, like this recipe from Marcella Valladolid of the Food Network for easy chicken tostadas. Tostadas are simply deep fried tortillas, so you can make these yourself if you like but I have also seen them available in some stores. You can use tostadas, a rotisserie chicken, a can of refried beans and your favorite store-bought salsa or make your own tomato salsa or try the recipe for a tomatillo avocado salsa included with this recipe.

Chicken Tostadas

8 tostadas

1 cup refried beans, warmed

4 cups cooked chicken, shredded

2 cups finely shredded lettuce

1 red onion, thinly sliced into rings

8 radishes, thinly sliced

1 cup crumbled queso fresco or other mild cheese

Sour cream or Mexican sour cream (crema) for drizzling

Tomatillo-Avocado Salsa:

8 ounces tomatillos, husked, rinsed and coarsely chopped

1 avocado, halved, pitted and peeled

1/2 cup packed fresh cilantro leaves

1 Serrano chile

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the tostadas, spread the tostadas with the refried beans. Top the tostadas with the shredded chicken, shredded lettuce, red onion rings, sliced radishes and the cheese. Drizzle the top of each tostada with some of the sour cream, top each with a dollop of salsa, and serve.

For the tomatillo-avocado salsa, combine the tomatillos, avocado, cilantro leaves, Serrano chile, and the lemon juice together in a blender and puree the mixture until it is smooth. Season the salsa with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer the salsa to a serving bowl, cover and refrigerate for up to 2 hours or until you are ready to use it.

This is a very easy meal that you can put together with mainly leftovers and have it ready in just a few minutes. Use leftover chicken or a rotisserie chicken and you can even just use leftover beans instead of making refried beans if you want to. you canalways include other fresh vegetables on the tostadas if you like as well and the salsa has great flavor of its own and is great for chips or as a side dish to this meal or others. We’ll be making this one again during the summer for sure.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on July 3, 2014 in Beans, Cooking, Dinner, Poultry

Tags: chicken tostadas, food network, homemade salsa, Marcella Valladolid, refried beans, rotisserie chicken, shredded chicken, tomatillo-avocado salsa, tostadas

Sweet and Simple – Sweet Glazed Chicken

20 Jun

I have made a lot of chicken lately because it has been on sale a lot around here and quite frankly right now it is one of the most affordable meats for a family. All it takes is a simple trip to the grocery store lately to see that the price of just about everything has gone up lately, causing most people’s food bills to skyrocket and bust your budget. That is why I look for the best deals I can find and go to BJ’s Warehouse to buy some meat where I can things at bulk for a good price for many meals. This was the case recently when I bought big packages of chicken thighs, breasts and drumsticks and portioned them out into the freezer, cramming it full of chicken for the foreseeable future. Now the trick will be just what to do with all of that chicken. I decided to make some drumsticks and thighs the other day and saw this easy recipe from Sunny Anderson on the Food Network for a simple, sweet glazed chicken. While she used a whole chicken on the grill and butterflied it, I opted to just use chicken pieces and my grill pan as an alternative. I’ll post the original recipe here, but I’ll also tell you how I adapted it for my needs.

Sweet Glazed Chicken

One 5 to 7-pound chicken, butterflied

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Canola or vegetable oil, for oiling the grill grates

3 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons grated onion

1/8 teaspoon allspice

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 cloves garlic, grated or finely minced

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1 tablespoon stone-ground mustard

2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

1/4 teaspoon hot sauce

For the chicken, season the chicken generously with salt and pepper all over. Rest the chicken on the counter, covered, until the chicken comes to room temperature, about 2 hours.

Preheat a grill to 400 degrees. Lightly oil the grill grates with canola or vegetable oil.

Grill the chicken over indirect heat, rotating the chicken occasionally,until the internal temperature of the chicken registers 165 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, about 50 to 60 minutes.

For the glaze, while chicken is grilling, melt the butter in a small saucepan. Add the grated onion, the allspice, a pinch of kosher salt and a pinch of black pepper. Cook the mixture until the onions are tender, then add the grated garlic and cook until it is tender but not browned. Add the brown sugar, the stone-ground mustard, the cider vinegar and the hot sauce. Cook the mixture until it has begun to reduce and thicken, about 5 minutes, then remove the glaze from the heat.

When the chicken is nearly cooked through, brush on the glaze. Cover he grill and continue to cook the chicken until the glaze begins to color and the chicken is done. Cover the chicken loosely with foil and allow it to rest for 15 minutes to allow the juices to redistribute in the chicken. Cut the chicken into sections and serve.

Since I decided to just make chicken pieces and use the grill pan inside, I cooked the chicken in the grill pan over medium-high heat until it was browned on all sides and got some grill marks on it. I also made the glaze as directed and then put the glaze on the chicken pieces and then put the whole pan in a 400 degree oven to finish cooking. This allowed me to get the crispy skin, a nice glaze and I still had the grill marks as if it was grilled. The glaze had just the right amount of sweet to it from the brown sugar and nice flavor from the allspice to make it a little different from other glazes you might try. It was certainly easy to put together and we all enjoyed the chicken pieces with some sweet potatoes and green beans.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!