Chicken

Ingredients
1 cup white wine
1 cup onion, sliced vertically
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (1 ¹⁄₂-2 pounds)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt
¹⁄₄ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Instructions
1. Combine first 6 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag; seal. Marinate in refrigerator 4 hours or up to 24 hours, turning occasionally.  (I marinated mine for about 18 hours.)

2. Preheat oven to 375*F.

3. Place chicken in an 12x9-inch baking dish. Pour marinade over chicken. Cover and bake at 375*F for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 40 minutes or until done.  Discard bay leaf and marinade. Sprinkle chicken evenly with salt and pepper and serve.  

Comments
This is another recipe from Cooking Light 2009’s Annual.  Apparently this was the week of the marinade since it seemed like half the recipes I made this week involved an overnight marinade.  Please take this into account when planning meals, nothing is worse than going to start dinner at 5pm only to realize that you’ve got to marinate your meat overnight!  

This was very flavorful and moist it was, however, a bit, well, dull.  Be sure to serve this with something exciting so it’s not just a piece of chicken on a plate.  It would pair well with a nice risotto or pilaf, for example.

Cooking Light 2009

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
¹⁄₂ onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 ¹⁄₂ pounds), cut into 1-inch strips
Dash salt
Dash black pepper
1 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard     

Instructions
1. Heat the olive oil in a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until tender, about 4 minutes.

2. Turn the heat up to medium-high. Season the chicken with salt and pepper.  Add garlic and chicken to the skillet. Sauté the chicken until it is golden brown on all sides, about 4-6 minutes.

3. Add the chicken broth and stir with a wooden spoon to release any bits that are stuck to the pan. Cook until the chicken broth has reduced by half. Stir in the mustard.

4. Serve with rice.

Comments
I found this recipe on FoodFit while I was looking up the recipe for Honey Roasted Chicken.  It looked like it had the potential to be tasty and it was.  I did modify it slightly so that we’d have a saucier finished product to serve with rice.  The flavor was great and the dish was extremely simple to prepare.

Shown here with Parmesan-Roasted Broccoli.

Internet - FoodFit

Ingredients
1 whole chicken, about 5 pounds
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
3 sprigs fresh rosemary
¹⁄₄ cup honey
1 lemon, zested, halved and juiced
4 cloves garlic, peeled
¹⁄₂ yellow onion, quartered

Instructions
1. Remove giblets and rinse the chicken under cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Season inside and out with salt and pepper.

2. Place the chicken in a slow cooker.  Mine is a 5 quart round pot and I’ve been able to fit birds up to 7-8 pounds into it.  It’s a tight squeeze, but it can be done.  For this recipe I used a chicken that was 5.8 pounds and it fit easily.  

3. Roughly chop two sprigs of the rosemary.  In a small bowl, mix together Dijon mustard, honey, chopped rosemary, lemon juice, and lemon zest.  

4. Turn chicken on its end and place the remaining sprig of rosemary, the onion quarters, garlic and both lemon halves if you can fit them in the cavity of the bird.  One lemon half is enough if you can’t fit both.  Using a pastry brush, coat the outside of the bird with the lemon honey glaze.  Place chicken breast side up.  Pour any remaining glaze over the top.  

5. Cook chicken on LOW for 6-8 hours or until you can grab a leg and wiggle it freely.  

6. If you’re around during the cooking time, pour the juices that collect in the bottom of the pot out into a container once or twice during the cooking time.    Save the liquid in a container in the fridge or just collect it all at the end of the cooking time.  Place the liquid into a pot on the stove, bring to a rolling boil for 5 minutes, strain, and then save for later use in the freezer or fridge.  If you don’t care to save the delicious broth, skip this step.  I find it makes a delicious soup base.  

7. Remove chicken carefully, it will be very tender and falling off the bone.  Pull the meat off the bones and serve.  

Comments
I first tried cooking a whole bird in the slow cooker in February 2009 as a dinner for my parents.  It worked so well that I cooked my own that very weekend.  While the chicken won’t have the same crispy skin it would from being roasted in the oven, this method is pretty much a no-brainer which makes it suit me just perfectly!  I reserve the liquid for freezing and use it in soups or risottos, and leftover meat goes into tetrazzini.  

This is based on a recipe from FoodFit that my mom sent me one day with a note of “Do you think this would work in a crock pot?”  I read over the recipe and it seemed like it would work well enough, so I told her I’d try it out and report back to her.  The verdict is that, yes, it does work in a crock pot.  Quite well in fact!  The only real difficulty I run into when doing a whole chicken in the slow cooker is that it’s extremely hard to remove from the pot due to the meat falling completely off the bones.  

If you’ve never tried chicken in a slow cooker, I can’t recommend it enough.

Internet - FoodFit

Ingredients
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half to make cutlets
¹⁄₂ teaspoon kosher salt
¹⁄₂ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Cooking spray

Instructions
1. Prepare grill, or other cooking surface, to medium-high heat.

2. Combine first 4 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag; seal. Marinate in refrigerator 30 minutes, turning occasionally. Remove chicken from bag; discard marinade. Sprinkle chicken evenly with salt and pepper.

3. Place chicken on grill rack, or skillet, coated with cooking spray; cook 6 minutes on each side or until done.  

Comments
Another recipe adapted from Cooking Light.  This recipe calls for a grill but for reasons that shall go unmentioned; I do not have such a wondrous gadget.  Woe.  I cooked these in a skillet and they still turned out wonderfully.  I’m sure they’d work just as well on a griddle and, if you really wanted to, you could bake them at 350*F until done.  The goodness is in the marinade more so than the cooking method.  

I’m always looking for relatively simple ways to prepare protein to go along with more exciting side dishes and this method fits the bill.  It also had the bonus of reminding Art of the lemon chicken he used to have when he lived in Italy as a child.  This recipe is a keeper.

Shown here with Tomato Zucchini Tart with Herbs and Parmesan.

Cooking Light

Ingredients
Marinade
4 limes
Tequila (around 1 cup)
8 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
4 tablespoons cilantro leaves, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoon ground coriander

Filling
2 pounds preferred meat, trimmed (I’ve used chicken and flank steak, both are fantastic.)
Vegetables of choice: yellow onion, zucchini, yellow squash, bell peppers, mushrooms, anything that would work well in fajitas (I used 6 zucchini, 5 yellow squash, and 2 yellow onions)

For assembly
Flour tortillas, warmed
Sour cream
Salsa
Shredded cheese

Instructions
1. Zest limes into a 2-4 cup measuring cup.  Then squeeze the limes into the same cup.  Add an equal amount of tequila.  (For example, if you have 1 cup of zest and juice, add 1 cup of tequila.)  Add the garlic, cilantro, oil, Worcestershire sauce, oregano, pepper flakes, cumin and coriander; whisk or stir to mix.  Alternatively, you could add these ingredients whole to a container appropriate for a handheld blender, and blend them until fully incorporated.  That’s what I did.  I love my handheld blender.  

2. Pour half of marinade into a large zip-top bag, add the meat, and seal. Place in a container in case of leakage and refrigerate until ready to use, turning occasionally.  (Length of marination will depend on the meat you’re using.  I marinate chicken for 3-4 hours and flank steak for 12-14 hours.)  Reserve the rest of the marinade in a sealed container and refrigerate.  

3. About 45-75 minutes before you plan to eat, preheat the oven to 450*F.  Slice vegetables and place into a large bowl.  Pour the reserved marinade (NOT the marinade that has been on the chicken) into the bowl and gently stir the vegetables until evenly coated.  

4. Spread out vegetables on one or more baking sheets.  You’re aiming for a single layer of vegetables and will want do as many batches as necessary to achieve this.  

5. Place baking sheets into oven and roast for 30-60 minutes, until the edges of the vegetables are browning.  Stir the vegetables every 15-20 minutes, flipping as many over as you can.  (With the amounts of vegetables listed above, and the size of my baking sheets, I had to cook the vegetables in 4 batches.  Each batch took about 30-45 minutes to brown nicely.)  

6. Meanwhile, remove the meat from the bag and pat dry. Discard marinade.  Season both sides with salt and pepper.   Prepare a grill or skillet on medium to medium-high heat.  Grill or sauté meat until done, this will vary greatly based on the thickness of the meat, the type of meat, and your personal preferences for doneness.  When meat is done, remove to a cutting board and slice thinly.  

7. To assemble fajitas, place spoonfuls of meat and vegetables into your tortilla and add desired toppings.  

Comments
I have made fajitas many, many times in the last 12 years, but this is the first time I’ve done the seasoning from scratch.  In the past I’ve just used a spice packet from the store.  That works perfectly well and the method is similar to the one described here, just skipping the assembly of the marinade.  I decided that, for this post, I should do something cooler.  This is loosely based on a recipe from Emeril Lagasse.  

Fajitas are, in my opinion, one of the best ways to use zucchini.  Since this week marks the first zucchini of the season, it seemed like a requirement to make fajitas.  The marinade was delicious, a bit fiery, and extremely flavorful.  All of the components in the marinade were identifiable in the final product.  

While I might still use the packet method once in a while, when I want something quick and easy, this was amazing.  These were probably the best fajitas I’ve ever eaten and I’m looking forward to trying the recipe with flank steak in the future!

Edited 2014

I make these a lot during zucchini season.  Now, however, I grill the meat and vegetables.  I cut the zucchini into long planks and the onions into thick rounds.  Then I marinate them and grill them until starting to char.  After things are cooked, I chop them up.  

Internet - Emeril Lagasse

Ingredients
1 pound uncooked pasta (I used elbows but any small shape would work)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small red onion, chopped (About ³⁄₄ cup, my onion was 3-4 inches in diameter)
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts - cut into bite-size pieces (This was three breasts, but chicken varies so much in size these days)
1 (14 ounce) can marinated artichoke hearts, or more if you like, drained and chopped (I used about 20 ounces from a jar)
1 large tomato, chopped, or smaller tomatoes to equal about 1 cup
¹⁄₂ cup feta cheese, crumbled
3 tablespoons fresh parsley. chopped
Juice of 1 lemon, about 2 tablespoons
2 teaspoons dried oregano
Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions
1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook pasta in boiling water until al dente; drain.

2. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and onion, and sauté for 2 minutes. Add in the chicken. Cook, stirring occasionally, until chicken is no longer pink and the juices run clear, about 5 to 6 minutes.

3. Reduce heat to medium-low, and add the artichoke hearts, tomato, feta cheese, parsley, lemon juice, oregano and cooked pasta. Stir until heated through, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat, season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve.

Comments
This recipe came to me through a community online and I knew I had to try it.  Artichokes?  Feta?  Tomatoes?  What’s not to love!  I have developed a weakness for artichokes in the last 5 years, I had never liked them before and now I can’t seem to get enough of them.  

This had a nice, lemony flavor and all of the components complimented each other well.  I think I might consider using frozen, thawed artichoke hearts in the future, since I find the marinade taste to be a bit unpleasant with the jarred variety, but that’s just a matter of personal preference.  I would also consider using grape or cherry tomatoes that are simply halved the next time to add more colour to the dish.  It was delicious and tasted great just the way it was, though!

Unknown

Ingredients
Chicken Filling
5 tablespoons butter
¹⁄₄ cup all purpose flour
Salt, to taste
1 ¹⁄₂ cups milk
1 bunch green onions, chopped
2 cups chicken, cooked and cut in ¹⁄₄” cubes
¹⁄₂ cup white wine
¹⁄₄ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
¹⁄₈ teaspoon pepper
Dash cayenne

Crepes
1 cup milk
³⁄₄ cup all purpose flour
¹⁄₄ teaspoon salt
Oil for skillet
2 eggs

Topping
1 egg yolk
¹⁄₈ teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter, melted
2 teaspoons lemon juice
¹⁄₄ cup sour cream
Parmesan cheese, grated

Instructions
1. Make Chicken Filling: To make white sauce, melt 4 tablespoons butter in medium saucepan; remove from heat. Stir in ¹⁄₄ cup flour and ¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt until smooth. Gradually stir in milk; bring to boiling, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and set aside.

2. In 1 tablespoon hot butter in medium skillet, sauté green onion 1 minute. Add chicken; sauté 2 minutes longer. Add wine, ¹⁄₄ teaspoon salt, the Worcestershire, pepper, and cayenne; cook over medium heat, stirring 3 minutes. Stir in 1 cup of the white sauce just until blended. Refrigerate while making crepes. Set aside remaining white sauce for topping.

3. Make Crepes: In medium bowl, with rotary beater, beat milk with flour and salt until smooth. Add eggs; beat until well combined.  Or blend the crepe ingredients in a blender until smooth.  (You can do this with a hand blender or a real blender.) 

4. Slowly heat a 5 ¹⁄₂-inch skillet until a little water sizzles when dropped on it. Brush pan lightly with oil. Pour about 1 ¹⁄₂ tablespoons batter into skillet, tilting pan so batter covers bottom.  (I pour the batter from a 2-cup measuring cup.  It makes this process much easier.) 

5. Cook until nicely browned on underside. Loosen edge; turn; cook until browned on other side. Remove from pan; cool on wire rack. Then stack on waxed paper. Repeat with rest of batter, to make about 18 crepes. Lightly brush pan with oil before cooking each one.

6. Preheat oven to 350*F. Remove filling from refrigerator. Spoon 1 rounded tablespoon into each crepe; fold two opposite sides over filling. Arrange in shallow baking dish, seam side up; cover with foil. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, or until heated through.

7. Meanwhile, make Topping: In small bowl, with rotary beater, beat egg yolk with salt until foamy. Gradually beat in 2 tablespoons melted butter. Mix remaining butter with lemon juice, gradually beat into egg yolk mixture. With wire whisk or rubber scrapper, fold in remaining white sauce just until combined. Fold in sour cream.  (I’ve always done all of this mixing with a fork, not a rotary beater.) 

8. Uncover hot crepes. Spoon topping over them; sprinkle lightly with grated Parmesan cheese. Broil, 4 to 6 inches from heat, until nicely browned. If desired, carefully transfer to chafing dish.

Comments
When I was 13 or 14, my mom and brother went on a trip to visit colleges that my brother was interested in.  This left me home with my dad and I remember being pretty excited about planning meals and cooking for the two of us.  I had mentioned to my mom that I was interested in making chicken crepes, so she helped me find a recipe in one of her many cookbooks.  I can’t even remember what the cookbook was called, I think it might have been something like “McCall’s French Cuisine.”  I pretty sure that the requirement for a recipe to be in this cookbook is “must dirty every pot in a normal household, plus one.”  

I believe that the original recipe called for curry powder and maybe heavy cream instead of the sour cream?  I’m not entirely sure, though, as I’ve been making it this way for so long that I can’t imagine having it any other way.  

I’m pretty sure that was during the phase I went through where I refused to touch raw meat, so my mom even cut the chicken into cubes for me before she left with my brother.  

The big night came and I started cooking dinner around 5pm, thinking that it would take about an hour and be ready at 6pm.  My dad was working in the basement.  Around 6pm he asked how much time he had to keep working and I said, probably sheepishly, “another hour?”  

7pm rolled around and I called down the stairs to him, asking if he was feeling super hungry.  I guessed that dinner was probably still about an hour out.  

If memory serves me correctly, we probably ate around 8pm that night, if not closer to 9pm.  

In the 18 years I’ve been cooking this recipe, I have gotten much faster and more frugal in my pot usage.  It now only uses 2 skillets, a saucepan, a blender, and only an hour or so!  Impressive, eh?  I still wonder what I did that first time to make this so complicated!

This is definitely a well-loved recipe in my family and it’s always the first recipe that comes to mind when I want to impress new friends and company.  It’s safe to say that everyone who has eaten in my home has eaten this, assuming they eat chicken.

McCall’s French Cuisine

Ingredients
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 ¹⁄₂ pounds), cut in half – like you’re butterflying them, but cut all the way through and patted dry
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
All-purpose flour (about 1/4  cup)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 green onions, thinly sliced
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced (I used regular button mushrooms since they’re my favorite)
1 ¹⁄₄ cups chicken broth
³⁄₄ cup half and half (or cream)
2 cups sugar snap peas, stemmed and halved lengthwise

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 250*F. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Add 1 tablespoon oil to the skillet. Dredge 3 chicken pieces in flour, shake off any excess and place in the skillet. Cook until golden, about 2 minutes per side; transfer to a baking dish. Repeat with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and the other 3 chicken pieces. Cover the dish loosely with foil; place in the oven while you prepare the vegetables.

2. Add the butter to the hot skillet, then add the green onions and mushrooms; cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms brown, about 4 minutes. Pour in the broth and bring to a boil, scraping up any browned bits with a wooden spoon. Cook until the liquid is reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Add the half and half and boil until the sauce thickens slightly, 3 to 4 more minutes. Stir in the snap peas and heat through; season with salt and pepper.

3. Serve the chicken over rice and topped with the creamy vegetables.

Comments
This recipe is adapted from Food Network.  I found it while looking for a recipe to use the gorgeous sugar snaps that I got from my farmer’s market.  Cutting them lengthwise seemed odd, but it had the effect of making them into pea pod shells that captured the sauce of the dish perfectly.  The peas also fell out so added colour, taste and crunch throughout the dish.  

I don’t always want to be singing the praises of local produce, but I was really struck by how much more flavorful fresh green onions are than the ones I get in the grocery store out of season.  I wouldn’t have expected such a significant difference in taste, but it’s amazing.

Internet - Food TV

Ingredients
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tablespoons spices of choice (I really like McCormick’s Montreal Chicken Seasoning.)
3-4 tablespoons all purpose flour

Instructions
1. Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large, nonstick skillet.  

2. Meanwhile, add spices to zip-top bag.  Add chicken to bag, then seal, and shake to coat chicken.  Add flour.  Seal again and shake again to coat.  

3. Saute chicken over medium-high heat, 4 minutes per side or until nicely browned. Cover, reduce heat to low, simmer for 20 minutes. Turn chicken over and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes more.

Comments
This is a recipe from my mom, hence the name.  This is what fried chicken was for me when I was a kid and it was a great day in my life when I finally remembered to ask my mom to show me how to make it.  Now it’s a staple when we want a basic protein to serve with a neat side dish.  It yields tender and moist chicken every time.  

I love this recipe for many reasons.  It’s easy to modify for however many people you’re serving.  It’s easy to tweak the flavor by using different spices - I’m fond of the McCormick Montreal Chicken and Montreal Steak blends.  It’s also easy to change the level of spice by adding more or less as you see fit.  It’s also great for company because, after those first ten minutes, the cooking time is largely unattended which leaves you time to entertain and enjoy time with friends.

I love this recipe.  And my mom too!

Shown here with Garlic Scapes and Pasta Amatriciana.

Person - Mom

Ingredients
3 boneless, skinless breasts
1 cup brown sugar
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
²⁄₃ cup white vinegar
¹⁄₄ cup lemon soda
1 teaspoon lime juice

Instructions
1. Add the chicken into your slow cooker. Cover with the brown sugar, vinegar, garlic, soy sauce, and pepper. Add the vinegar, soda and lime juice.

2. Cover and cook on low for 6-9 hours, or on high for 4-5. The chicken is done when it is cooked through and has reached desired tenderness.  I cooked it for 6 ¹⁄₂ hours and the chicken shredded nicely.  

3. Serve over white rice with a few spoonfuls the sauce.

Comments
This is adapted from the fantastic website A Year of CrockPotting which is a great resource for anyone who enjoys slow cookery.  The original recipe calls for lemon-lime soda but due to the high fructose corn syrup issue, I went with San Pellangrino Lemon soda and added some lime juice.  The recipe called for 6 chicken breasts however the breasts I get are usually freakishly large, so I only used 3.  ²⁰⁄₂₀ hindsight, 6 would have probably worked fine, if not better.  

If you have a sweet tooth, this would be a good recipe for you.  It is very, very sweet and, sadly, was a bit too sweet for any of us to want to rush out and have for dinner again.  

If I get the urge to make this again, I’ll up the chicken to 6 breasts and reduce the brown sugar at least to ¹⁄₂ cup if not ¹⁄₄ of a cup.  I don’t think I’ll be rushing out to try it again!

Internet - A Year of Slow Cooking