I talk about food, you read it.
chicken
tandoori prawns
21 year ago
Easter dinner was at my parent’s house this year and my mom asked that I bring an appy. I think there was about 16 people so I wanted to bring something easy and also that didn’t require extra cooking or complicated assembly. I also didn’t want it to be filling either since I knew we would have a huge ham to eat (so good). A dip would normally be my staple appetizer but I wanted something a little better then bread, crackers or chips to dip. I decided to make tandoori shrimp with a yogurt sauce.
After researching some recipes I realized that it would cost me more money to buy all the different spices then to just buy a pre-packed tandoori mix so I cheated and went and got a paste packet. I knew that superstore had a pretty decent ethnic section so I found a packet that was inexpensive and very authentic tasting.
All I had to do was mix the paste with yogurt and let the shrimp marinate before grilling. After about an hour of the prawns sitting in the sauce they turned a vibrant pink/red colour that screamed tandoori. I grilled them on the bbq and they came out amazing! I first thought they were really spicy but as they cooled the spice also tamed down as well.
If you want to make an easy appy without spending a lot of money then you must try this. Perhaps one day I won’t cheat and try making tandoori on my own but for now this is the next best thing.
Chicken Tornato
0I found this delicious sounding recipe online called Chicken Galliano and I really wanted to give a shot. The only problem was I didn’t have Galliano. To be honest I have never had it and have no idea what it tastes like. I googled it and some sites said licorice, others said anise and J said banana. I couldn’t really wrap my head around mushrooms, chicken and banana so I decided to just make my own version.
The hurricane part comes in because as I was adding my own booze to the sauce it started to remind me of the Roseanne episode when Becky had her friend Dana over and they made tornado drinks out of almost every type of booze in the cupboard. Gotta love Roseanne!
Ingredients
- 6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, pounded 1⁄8″ thick
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper,to taste
- 12 tbsp. herbed goat cheese, softened ( I used plain not herbed)
- 6 thin slices prosciutto
- 6 tbsp. unsalted butter, chilled
- 10 oz. cremini mushrooms, sliced
- Flour, for dredging
- 2 tbsp. canola oil
- 1 1⁄2 cups chicken broth
- 1⁄4 cup Galliano liqueur
- 1 tbsp. finely chopped parsley ( I chopped mine coarsely)
- 4 cups cooked rice, for serving
1. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Working with one breast half at a time, spread one side with 1-2 tbsp. goat cheese and top with one slice prosciutto; roll into a tight cylinder. Using kitchen twine, tie chicken roll 1″ in from each end. Snip off excess twine. ( held it together with toothpicks)
2. Heat 3 tbsp. butter in a 12″ skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and cook, without stirring, until browned, 4–5 minutes. Stir mushrooms and continue cooking until softened, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate; wipe out skillet. Put flour on a plate; dredge each chicken roll in flour. Heat 2 tbsp. butter and the oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook, turning, until browned and cooked through, 12–14 minutes. Transfer chicken rolls to a plate. Add broth and Galliano to skillet; boil, stirring, until sauce has reduced by a third, 4–5 minutes.
(this is where I get creative, I didn’t have Galliano so I added some 1/2 ounce vodka, 1/2 ounce whisky, 1/4 ounce banana liquor. I then realized it was too much booze and added more broth)
Return mushrooms and chicken to skillet; cook, turning to coat in sauce, until warmed through, about 5 minutes.
3. Transfer chicken to a platter. Remove skillet from heat; swirl in remaining butter to make a smooth sauce. Spoon sauce over chicken; sprinkle with parsley. Serve with rice.
Even though I added a tornado of booze to my chicken it didn’t taste like I did at all, which I am pretty thankful for. Its probably best to just omit the booze entirely instead of what I did. The sauce ended up tasting like a light, sweet, mushroom sauce which was nice. The prosciutto and goat cheese is as tasty as it sounds and pairs up pretty well with the sauce.
Lettuce Wrap
3Every now and then I get these crazy cravings for lettuce wraps, I don’t know why or where it comes from but I hardly make them because it’s just so much easier to go out and order them. I think I’ve made them once for J last year so last week I decided to just suck it up and make them again!
I used 2 different recipes, one from a fitness website, and another on foodnetwork.com and blended them together. The reason I wanted to reference the fitness site is because these unsuspecting little wraps can be really high in calories and sodium. Blame the beef and all the sauces for that. Substituting chicken or turkey for the beef and making your own sauce controls those levels and making a lettuce wrap healthy again.
Ingredients
For the Chicken:
- 1 large egg white
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp Chinese rice wine vinegar or dry sherry
- 1 tablespoon white wine (I added this because I reduced the amount of rice wine, due to sodium but if you don’t have it add t tbsp of rice wine vinegar)
- 2 boneless chicken breasts, diced (I used my food processor and lightly ground them, or buy pre-ground)
For the Stir-Fry Sauce:
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
- 1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
- 1 tsp Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
- 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
- 1 teaspoons cornstarch
For the Stir-Fry:
- 2-3 table spoons of light cooking oil
- 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon minced peeled ginger ( I grated mine with a rasp)
- 1/2 pound shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and diced (or any mushrooms you like)
- ½ large red pepper diced small
- 1/4 cup diced water chestnuts
- Small lettuce leaves, for serving
- grated or peeled carrots
Directions
Prepare the chicken: Whisk the egg white, cornstarch and rice wine in a bowl. Add the chicken and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes (or while you’re making everything else)
Make the stir-fry sauce: Whisk 1/4 cup water, the oyster, hoisin and soy sauces, the rice wine and sesame oil in a bowl, then whisk in the cornstarch until dissolved. Set aside.
Make the stir-fry: Heat 1 tablespoon cooking oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook, stirring, 2 to 3 minutes (until no longer pink). Remove to a plate. Add the remaining cooking oil to the skillet; stir in the garlic, ginger, red pepper, mushrooms, stir fry for about 4 min. Add the stir-fry sauce, water chestnuts and chicken and cook for 2-3 minutes, until sauce thickens. SERVE!
**Other things I omitted was salt (soy sauce and hoisin sauce are FULL of salt so it’s not needed), sugar, onion, jalapeno, scallions (I didn’t have any, but that would be nice touch.
To prep the lettuce take off the outer 1-2 leafs or 3 if needed to make sure there isn’t limp old lettuce, chop off the big nub on bottom, then cut in half. Serve one of the halves and people can just peel off a layer for their wrap. Bring out the second half if needed.
I also peeled some carrot and put in out so it could be added to the wrap. Carrot would be a great addition to the actual stir fry mixture but I got lazy and just peeled it quickly and threw in a small bowl.
I also put out some dry chow mien noodles. I like the addition of the crunch, not that the lettuce isn’t crunchy, but this added just a bit more.
I like my food spicy, J not so much, so I made a small dish of sriracha sauce, soy, and hoisin to drizzle on top. This isn’t necessary since the sauce on the chicken is great as is, but I just wanted the extra heat.
Chicken Enchiladas
0The other night J and I had roast chicken and even though at the time it felt like we annihilated the bird there was still enough left over that I could make chicken enchiladas, which is my favourite thing to do with leftover roast chicken.
I tried to cheat this time and buy enchilada sauce but it wasn’t too good and I had to spruce it up a lot. I added a small can of tomato sauce, cumin, chilli powder, lime juice, oregano and a small amount of taco season I had bought from trader Joes. This definitely fixed it and we were ready to go. The filling was even easier.
Ingredients
- 2-2 ½ cups shredded chicken
- ½ package of cream cheese
- ½ green pepper, sliced
- ½ onion sliced
- 1 jalapeno, seeded and sliced
- 1 small can diced green chillies
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp chilli powder
- Small bunch of cilantro chopped (optional)
- Salt and pepper
- ½ lime
- 2 cups jack cheese
Shred your leftover chicken, or shred whatever chicken it is that you’re using.
Heat medium pan with olive oil and cook sliced green pepper, onion, and jalapeno on med heat until soft. Set aside to cool. While peppers are cooling mix together shredded cooked chicken, add green chillies, cumin, chilli powder, cilantro, lime, ½ cup jack cheese, cream cheese, salt and pepper into a large bowl. Add warm peppers to mixture, the cream cheese will melt against the warm peppers to fully incorporate.
Spread about one cup of enchilada sauce into bottom of baking dish. Scoop ¼ cup or more, if you want but fat enchiladas, of the filling into soft flour tortillas and wrap together, placing folded side down onto the sauce. Once all tortillas are wrapped pour remaining sauce over tortillas covering all sides. Cover the remaining jack cheese.
Cook at 375 for approx 30 minutes. If your cheese is browning too fast, cover with tin foil.
I made 4 large enchiladas but you could make them smaller by adding less filling. I might do that next time because after finishing one, my stomach was way too full. I topped mine with sour cream and my homemade tomatillo guac.
Roast Chicken
0Since I have been so sick last week unable to really cook a proper meal I wanted to make a home cooked meal and just chill at home and relax. J picked up a bottle of wine and I made us a delicious roasted chicken with gravy, mashed potato and carrots.
When my mom used to make this is seemed so intimidating that I never cooked my own roast up until about 2 years ago. I really wish I tried this sooner because it’s so easy and such a great meal.
The chicken itself doesn’t require much seasoning but it does give a nice flavour if you do just a few simple things. I stuffed the cavity of my chicken with half an onion and some garlic. I also like to rub a small amount of butter or olive oil on the actual bird, season with salt and pepper. You could also season with rosemary, thyme, sage or tarragon as well if you have some or put a wedge of lemon inside. If you decide to put lemon or onion in the bird it will cook slightly faster because you’re creating steam inside the bird.
To cook the bird, preheat oven to 350 degrees, and cook until done and nicely browned on the outside. A general rule would be to cook the chicken for about 25 min per pound. I also recommend to baste the chicken every 20 min or so. You can use a baster to do this, I personally don’t have one but I have a silicone bbq brush that I dip into the chicken juice and baste. It works perfectly!
If you’ve never cooked a chicken before then you might want to pick up meat thermometer. It should read 180 degrees F when done. The juices should run clear and the drumstick should move about freely when wiggled. Rest the chicken for about 15-20 min after you take it out of the oven for the juices to settle. Any juices that come out of the chicken while resting can go into the gravy, YUM!
Parmasan stuffed chicken
0I know, I have been extremely MIA lately. I finally got over a bad cold and then was hit with strep throat which knocked me out completely. I don’t know if it’s the stress of trying to sell my place or maybe there is an obscene amount of germs flying around but I really hope this is the end of all my illnesses.
Back in my healthy days, before being taken down with strep I made Parmesan Stuffed Chicken Breasts from one of Martha Stewarts cook books and it was really quite tasty and the assembly was really very easy.
Ingredients
Serves 4
- 1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped
- 1/4 cup plain dried breadcrumbs
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- Grated zest of 1 lemon (about 1 tablespoon)
- Coarse salt and ground pepper
- 4 bone-in chicken breast halves
Directions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a small bowl, mix parsley, breadcrumbs, Parmesan, and zest. Season with 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper.
- Divide parsley mixture into four mounds. Carefully loosen chicken skin with fingers; tuck parsley mixture under skin. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Place in a 9-by-13-inch roasting pan.
- Bake until skin is crispy, chicken is cooked through, and an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the meat registers 165 degrees, about 30 minutes. Serves 4
This time I tried to follow the recipe exactly how it was written, which was really very hard for me. I caved and added garlic to the stuffing last min. It was very lemony and fresh. I would probably re-name this lemon parmesan chicken because the lemon was the dominant flavour. The garlic I added complimented everything as well and I am glad I added it. The only weird thing was the texture of the chicken. J noticed first and said that it was a little tough or rubbery. Not sure how to explain it but he was right. It wasn’t the juicy tender chicken that we’re used to which surprised me because bone in chicken usually is more flavourful and juicy. I am going to blame this on cooking the chicken at 450 degrees. I thought it seemed high but since its Martha I didn’t question it. Next time I would try 350-375 and cook it for 45 min to an hour. I think waiting longer for a better texture would be well worth it. I served mine with rice cooked in chicken stock and leftover parsley flakes, and broccoli. YUM! I will totally try this one again!
Rosemary chicken
0I was super excited yesterday because I decided to make rosemary chicken in the oven. I absolutely love the fresh taste of rosemary and it pairs up perfectly with the mild flavour of Chicken. Little did I know, J doesn’t really prefer the herb? He thinks it tastes like trees?!??! The recipe I made up, so I will just guess at the amounts so make sure you taste it as you add ingredients to your liking.
Ingredients
- 2-3 sprigs of rosemary chopped
- ¼ cup of Olive Oil
- 3 table spoons of White wine vinegar
- 1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice
- 1-2 cloves of garlic minced
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried rosemary
- 1 tsp original mrs dash
- 2-3 table spoons white wine
- Salt and pepper
I am pretty sure this is everything I added. I didn’t measure and I started to add dried herbs because I was too lazy to go outside for more fresh herbs. I mixed everything in a bowl first and tasted it to make sure it was just the way I wanted it. I poured the mixture over chicken in a baking dish and cooked at 400 degrees for about 30 min
I served this with plain rice and also a sliced tomato salad that is similar to bocconcini salad. I used mozza cheese instead and with my sweet balsamic reduction it tasted amazing. The Olive oil, balsamic reduction sort of spread out into the sauce that coated the chicken making the meal even better….everything tasted absolutely perfect together.
Chicken Parmesan
0I was at a little bit of a loss yesterday trying to decide what to make for dinner. Since I have Monday’s off I sometimes think that I should make something extra extraordinary since I have all the extra time, but I just wasn’t feeling like going all out yesterday. I wanted something along the lines of comfort food, but still fairly easy. I also had the urge to recreate the prize winning meal from the Disney movie Ratatouille, but since J doesn’t like eggplant or zucchini I didn’t think that would go over well. I will have to make that meal for someone else.
Instead of making the classic colourful dish Ratatouille, I decided to make Chicken Parmesan instead. It’s easy, yummy, and I could make it even better by making my own homemade marinara sauce. I didn’t make the chicken parmesan the traditional way, and baked the chicken instead which makes it slightly more healthy.
Ingredients
- 4 skinless, boneless, chicken breasts (about 11/2 pounds)
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 cup dried bread crumbs
- ½ cup fresh mozzarella
- Freshly grated Parmesan
- 1 pound spaghetti pasta, cooked al dente
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Get the ingredients together for the chicken so you have a little assembly line. Put the chicken breasts side by side on a cutting board and lay a piece of plastic wrap over them. Pound the chicken breasts with a flat meat mallet, until they are about 1/2-inch thick. Put the flour in a shallow platter and season with a fair amount of salt and pepper; mix with a fork to distribute evenly. In a wide bowl, combine the eggs and water, beat until frothy. Put the bread crumbs on a plate, season with salt and pepper. Lightly dredge both sides of the chicken cutlets in the seasoned flour, and then dip them in the egg wash to coat completely, letting the excess drip off, then dredge in the bread crumbs. Bake in the oven for about 10-15 min until done. Remove from Oven. Turn on Oven Broiler.
Ladle the tomato sauce over the chicken and sprinkle with mozzarella, Parmesan, and basil or parsley. Bake the Chicken Parmesan until the cheese is bubbly. Serve hot with spaghetti.
I used panko bread crumbs for my recipe but you really could use any kind of bread crumb of your liking. I also tossed the spaghetti with marinara sauce before placing the chicken on top. You don’t have to do this but spaghetti without sauce is weird to me. I also used whole wheat spaghetti as well. If you don’t have spaghetti use any pasta of your choice.
pesto goat cheese stuffed chicken wrapped in prosciutto with carrots and herbed rice pilaf
1As you can see by my blog posts, I’ve been going out for dinner a lot and since I had the day off today I had all day to try and come up with something yummy for use to eat. J also had hockey so I needed to make sure it was going to make him get through a game. I decided to make chicken stuffed with a pesto goat cheese wrapped in prosciutto with carrots and herbed rice pilaf.
I had a pesto craving but wanted to do something different then pasta or a sandwich so I stuffed it into chicken. It was so easy and delicious.
Goat Cheese Pesto (this was enough for 2 stuffed breasts)
• small bunch of basil leafs
• 1 tbsp toasted pine nuts
• ½ lemon juiced
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• One ounce goat cheese (about half of those small packages)
• One clove garlic
Throw everything into a mini food processor until completely incorporated. Taste, and make adjustments if needed. Season with salt and pepper. My measurements are probably a little off because I didn’t measure but you can really use any pesto recipe and basically just add a chunk of goat cheese.
Filling the chicken is fairly easy as well. Remember to take out a bunch of toothpicks out so you’re not reaching your chicken covered fingers into the box.
I took my chicken breasts and cut them, almost in half, while they’re lying flat. Once they’re opened (or butterflied) then you will probably want to cover in saran and pound down a bit so they’re a little flatter depending on how thick your chicken is. Throw down some of your pesto goat cheese, roll up and toothpick it so it doesn’t unroll.
Cook on 350 for about 15 min or until done on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Once cooked, I took 2 pieces of prosciutto and laid them down lengthwise slightly overlapping, placed cooked chicken (toothpicks removed!!) and roll into the prosciutto. I put them back in the oven for 5 min just to warm up the prosciutto but that’s not necessary.
The rice Pilaf is also fairly easy and is a nice change from your everyday rice. This was my first time making it, and I think it tasted just like moms! Rice usually is one part rice to two parts liquid so this recipe is based on that. If the rice you have is different than change the rice to water ratio and cook for the time it instructs you to.
Ingredients
• ½ onion diced small
• One garlic clove
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup white rice
• Herbs of your choice
• 2 cups of chicken stock (reduced sodium if possible)
Heat a pot or frying pan to medium high heat with olive oil and sauté onions until translucent. Add garlic until fragrant and mixed in. Add rice and stir for about 5-10 min. The rice should slowly start to brown and give off a nutty scent. Once you’ve reached this point pour in your chicken stock and add herbs. Turn heat down to low and cover, cook for 20 min. Take rice off heat and let sit for another 5-10 min and fluff with a fork. It will be so flavourful and yummy that you won’t need to add a thing. JUST REMEMBER to check the cooking instructions on the rice you have and change the rice to water ratio if its different then one part rice to two parts liquid.
J was super impressed with this meal, especially the chicken. He told me that I could make this any time! I have to agree, it was pretty good. The creamy yet tangy pesto works so well with chicken and then wrapping it up with another super flavourful meat added a whole new level. Next time I might use one piece of prosciutto per chicken breast instead of 2 only because it’s pretty salt but J had to problem with the extra delicious pork product around his chicken. YUM!
