Chicken Stew

Recipes are rarely perfect from the start; minor tweaks and personal touches usually serve to make them even better. This chicken stew, however, is almost as perfect as it gets. With a velvety sauce, slightly crisp vegetables, and crumbly herb-laced biscuits on top, it is comfort food at its finest. By the way, don’t be fooled by the name. While I’m enchanted by the moniker “chicken stew” this is really just code for a glorified pot pie.

Because we had two leftover chicken carcasses and plenty of leftover chicken meat, I made the stock from scratch and used shredded, leftover chicken rather than roasting the breasts. While this certainly enhanced its flavor, I think it would still be wonderful with roasted chicken breasts and canned stock. I wouldn’t change a thing about the flavors and textures of this dish. The only reason I prefaced my praise about its perfection with the word “almost” is that it contains an ungodly amount of butter. I’m determined, however, to work on that problem next time I make it. If I’m successful, I’ll share my results with you. In the meantime, I urge you to pull this out on a cold, rainy (or snowy!) night this December. I promise it will make you feel warmed and comforted.

Southwestern Shepherd’s Pie

Don’t ask me why I haven’t capitalized on this fact in the past, but it just dawned on me that the library has a wealth of cookbooks available for checkout. I’ve been visiting our downtown branch about every other week lately to check out books on tape for my commute to Raleigh. Each time I visit, I pick out a couple of cookbooks to page through at home in the ensuing weeks. One of my more recent picks was The Foster’s Market Cookbook by Sara Foster. For some reason I don’t have this book, although I do have Fresh Every Day. For those of you not from this area who therefore don’t know about the wonder that is Foster’s Market, check out this website. Be prepared to drool.

This cookbook immediately had about 1/3 of its pages tagged with sticky notes. It was hard for me to pick the first recipe to try. But since my class schedule has been forcing me to prepare meals earlier in the day to reheat when Jeff and I return home, I focused on those that could be prepared entirely in advance. This has meant a lot of casseroles around here. It’s a good thing cooler weather is on the way, because I think my slow cooker is going to be my best friend in the coming months.

Branching Out

In continuing the trend of trying some dishes outside of our comfort zone, we went for this Indian-influenced chicken dish last week. Jeff, not the biggest fan of Indian cuisine, does love tandoori chicken, so I figured this was a good next step. I really loved this recipe. It was very forgiving and impressed me with its well-rounded, vibrant flavor. I didn’t plan ahead very well so I only marinated the chicken for about an hour but it didn’t seem to suffer. Halved, this recipe made enough for both of us with probably a portion and a half left over. We ate it with rice and store-bought naan. Substitutions/omissions are listed in bold.

Cool Weather Comfort

I’ve tried lots and lots of recipes for pot pies before. Veggie, chicken, white-sauced, tomato-sauced, biscuit-topped, pie dough-topped, etc. My favorite is an Ina Garten version with, among other items, fennel, saffron, and butternut squash with a made-from-scratch pastry topping. It is worth the time and effort it takes to pull together, but is definitely a weekend meal.

This was a great shortcut version from Cooking Light. It’s topped with a puff pastry sheet and uses a combination of fresh and frozen vegetables. The herbs gave the lightened white sauce a bigger punch of flavor. I’d imagine you could substitute any of your favorite vegetables for those you aren’t fond of. Enjoy!

Pretzel Chicken

I have a hard time making the same thing with any frequency. For one thing, I really try to cook with what is in season, looks good, and is at the right price point. Also, I have such a huge file of recipes to try, it’s hard to resist picking new ones each week. But most of all, I just get tired of having the same thing over and over again. Whenever J is asked what his favorite meal is, he always replies, “I couldn’t say! Whenever we have something I like, we never have it again, so I can’t choose favorites.” So I do try to make things I know he likes as often as I can. Some are already posted here, like our favorite butter beans and banana bread. Pretzel chicken is another. The pickles totally make this recipe – the sour with the salt from the pretzels is such a great combination. Being a Rachael Ray recipe, it’s pretty quick, about 30 minutes from start to finish. And it tastes good without the cheese sauce, which J avoids. I’ve seen him eat it plain, with ketchup, or even with barbecue sauce. Enjoy!

A Cream Sauce Without the Cream

This summer I was thrown a wonderful bridal shower, at which I was given recipes by all the guests. Do they know me or what? Unfortunately, it’s been taking me a while to cook through them, but I hope to cook them all soon and will post about the ones for which I have permission… one friend’s recipe was a super-top secret family recipe. I don’t think she would appreciate me plastering it all over blogosphere for everyone to see!

J’s aunt gave me a Cooking Light recipe for chicken with a pecan cream sauce. At the top she wrote: “A cream sauce without the cream… thought it would be a good one for J.” It basically calls for making your own pecan butter, which you use as the base for the sauce. The intro at the top says that you can use prepared almond butter in place of the pecan cream. I love pecans and am always looking for ways to use my new food processor (seriously… I don’t know how I lived so long without it). But in a pinch, I’m sure any kind of nut butter would work well. 

Here’s the finished pecan cream:

We enjoyed this meal, though it’s still a little summery outside for this kind of hearty-tasting meal. It came together very quickly, probably in about 20 minutes start to finish. Similar to beef stroganoff, it did taste creamy without the cream! The color just isn’t that appetizing, so excuse the pictures. 

 

Farmer’s Market Salad

This was another salad recipe from Real Simple that piqued my interest. I made lots of additions using various goodies from the market. We used some baby yukon gold potatoes, added mixed yellow and green beans, barely steamed, and tossed in some mixed cherry tomatoes that had been halved. I subbed red wine vinegar for the white because I was out of white wine vinegar. It made a great lunch several days last week. 

And yet another shout-out to Brinkley Farms. We bought some of their pork kielbasa at the market on Saturday and grilled it this weekend with some mixed vegetables. It was super tender and flavorful – not even the same species as grocery store fare! 

Now back to the salad…

 

Berry season!

Yes, I know. The sauce is pink. Very pink. My mom makes a delicious hazelnut chicken with an orange cream sauce. This recipe is very similar but does not use any dairy in the sauce, so I was interested in trying it. The honey mustard – mint –  mayo wet coating was a nice change from the traditional egg. Next time I will chop my hazelnuts finer so they adhere better during the saute. Otherwise, a tasty, unique, and easy meal. We served with sauteed spinach  and squash instead of over baby greens. 

Hazelnut-Crusted Chicken with Raspberry Sauce
Serves 4

Raspberry sauce:
3/4 cup lightly packed fresh raspberries (about 3 1/2 ounces)
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup safflower oil
3 to 6 teaspoons water (optional)

Chicken:
1 cup chopped hazelnuts (about 4 1/2 ounces)
3/4 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) or plain dried breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
3 teaspoons coarsely ground black pepper, divided
1/3 cup honey mustard
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh mint leaves
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
4 large skinless boneless chicken breast halves, butterflied
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
3 tablespoons peanut oil
4 cups baby salad greens
1/2 cup fresh raspberries

For raspberry sauce:
Puree raspberries, white wine vinegar, and sugar in blender until smooth. With blender running, gradually add safflower oil. Add water by teaspoonfuls as needed to thin to desired consistency. Season raspberry sauce to taste with salt and pepper.

For chicken:
Preheat oven to 375°F. Mix hazelnuts, panko, 1 tablespoon coarse salt, and 2 teaspoons pepper in shallow bowl. Mix honey mustard, mint leaves, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, remaining 1 teaspoon coarse salt, and remaining 1 teaspoon pepper in bowl. Add chicken; coat.
Dip chicken pieces, 1 at a time, into crumb-nut mixture, coating both sides and pressing to adhere. Transfer coated chicken pieces to baking sheet.
Divide equal amounts of butter and peanut oil between 2 large nonstick skillets; heat over medium-high heat. Add 2 chicken pieces to each skillet; reduce heat to medium and cook until chicken is light brown, about 4 minutes per side. Place chicken on rimmed baking sheet; transfer to oven. Roast chicken until cooked through, about 15 minutes.
Divide salad greens among 4 plates; top with chicken. Garnish with fresh raspberries and serve raspberry sauce alongside.

From Bon Appetit