Posts Tagged ‘chicken’

I’m working on my spice tolerance and this is one of those dishes that helps me with it. If I make it too spicy, I’ll chug a beer down with it, but that won’t stop me from continuing to eat it. It’s that good.

This recipe comes from Cook’s Illustrated. They say that they’ve kept this version relatively mild, but I find it too spicy to use all the chiles. I should also mention that I find some types of gum too spicy to handle so take that into consideration when making this dish.

Ingredients

2 cups fresh basil leaves, tightly packed
3 medium garlic cloves, peeled
6 green or red Thai chiles , stemmed
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast , cut into 2-inch pieces
3 medium shallots, peeled and thinly sliced (about 3/4 cup)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions

1. Process 1 cup basil leaves, garlic, and chiles in food processor until finely chopped, 6 to 10 one-second pulses, scraping down bowl with rubber spatula once during processing. Transfer 1 tablespoon basil mixture to small bowl and stir in 1 tablespoon fish sauce, oyster sauce, vinegar, and sugar; set aside. Transfer remaining basil mixture to 12-inch heavy-bottomed nonstick skillet. Do not wash food processor bowl.

2. Pulse chicken and 1 tablespoon fish sauce in food processor until meat is chopped into -approximate 1/4-inch pieces, six to eight 1-second pulses. Transfer to medium bowl and refrigerate 15 minutes.

3. Stir shallots and oil into basil mixture in skillet. Heat over medium-low heat (mixture should start to sizzle after about 11/2 minutes; if it doesn’t, adjust heat accordingly), stirring constantly, until garlic and shallots are golden brown, 5 to 8 minutes.

4. Add chicken, increase heat to medium, and cook, stirring and breaking up chicken with potato masher or rubber spatula, until only traces of pink remain, 2 to 4 minutes. Add reserved basil-fish sauce mixture and continue to cook, stirring constantly until chicken is no longer pink, about 1 minute. Stir in remaining cup basil leaves and cook, stirring constantly, until basil is wilted, 30 to 60 seconds.

Only recently I’ve become a fan of Indian food. Because everything is so spicy, it was hard for me to like it. Most of it is still spicy, but I tolerate my face being flush and “glowy”. A lot of Indian recipes are very time consuming with many spices so I bought Madhur Jaffrey’s Quick & Easy Indian Cooking.

The recipes are very straight-forward, but you will still need a variety of spices to make a lot of dishes in this book.

Silken Chicken is a favourite of mine, it’s moist and flavourful and the only thing that takes time is the time it takes the oven to preheat.

You can try the recipe here.

If there was one cookbook where I’d want to try all the recipes out of, this is the cookbook I would choose. Donna Hay’s No Time to Cook is such a great book that it’s a shame it’s not being sold on amazon.com.

I’ve made about a dozen things out of this book and I like how all the recipes have pictures so you know what to expect. The recipes are no fuss and many of them can be done quickly. Those that have longer cooking times have minimal hands on time.

Some favourites have been the balsamic chicken stack, the curry-crusted chicken is in regular rotation, and her marinades and sauces are a breeze to make and so versatile.

I find that I have to do a bit of adjustments with her recipes because she’ll call for too much of something that completely overwhelms the dish. An example is the squashed tomatoes and spaghetti that called for way too many tomatoes. It was easy to see that it was too much and it’s hardly an issue to not make that dish again. The final dish was excellent.

I made the Crunchy Parmesan-Crumbed Chicken with good results. The ingredient list is 6 items (including pepper) and was really easy to throw together. In the recipe, you make a large batch of breadcrumbs that you can portion off and freeze for future use.

Apparently it’s National Curried Chicken Day so here is an oldie but a goodie for me, this dish is simple and easy — perfect for a beginner.

This is from Clueless in the Kitchen, something I picked up almost 10 years ago and I’m pretty sure I only bought it because of the title. There aren’t any pictures, just a few diagrams, but the text is straightforward. This honey glazed curry chicken isn’t too spicy for the intrepid, it’s subtle and sweet. Considering how many meals I’ve only made once and never went back to, I do like making this on occasion.

Curry Glazed Chicken adapted from Clueless in the Kitchen
Serves 2

1 Tablespoon butter
1/4 Cup honey
3 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 Teaspoons curry powder
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 pound chicken*

*for me, this varies. I’ve used boneless skinless thighs and breasts. Sometimes whole, sometimes cut up into pieces so they get more sauce on it. The original calls for a 3 pound chicken cut up into pieces, but I like having extra sauce

Preheat oven to 375. Put butter into a 8 x 8 baking dish (9×13 if using the original 3 pound chicken) and pop it in the oven to melt. Once melted, stir in the honey, mustard, curry, and salt. Add the chicken and make sure they are well coated.

Bake for 45 minutes (this can vary depending on the chicken you’ve chosen, boneless chicken breasts that are cut up will cook up quicker, so check in on it a little earlier).

While my cookbook collection isn’t as big as others, it is pretty darn big. What started out as 2 very basic (how to make a grilled cheese sandwich anyone?) cookbooks to help me not eat frozen dinners twice a day has grown to about 50 cookbooks. With that many cookbooks I could review one a week for almost the whole year. It’d also force me to try out more recipes and review ones that I made a long time ago.

First book is Jaden Hair’s The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook. I first came across her site looking for a fish recipe. Since then I’ve made her German oven pancakes and her baby back ribs with orange glaze and have many more recipes bookmarked. So when her cookbook came out I was very excited to get it.

The book is in-depth going into tools, ingredient, and basic recipes for sauces, stock, and salts. If you’re a visual learner, there are pictures for almost every single recipe in the book. It’s always nice to know if the dish you made looks similar to the one in the book. For some of the recipes how to photos are provided in case you don’t know how to make rolls or wrap wontons. And the photos? Jaden has done a fabulous job of food styling and photographing the dishes. Stunning!

Recipes are simple and quick to make. I’ve started to make my way through the book and have made the Pad Thai, Garlic Butter Noodles, and Quick Omelette with Shrimp and Peas all with excellent results. There’s many more I’d like to try.

One of my favourites in the book (so far) is the Baked Crispy Chicken with Citrus Teriyaki Sauce. It is crazy delicious and so simple to make. The temperature of the oven needs to be at 475F. My oven runs a lot cooler on higher temperatures so my oven thermometer was a big help. The timing was perfect and the chicken came out incredibly moist.

You must try this recipe.

Baked Crispy Chicken with Citrus Teriyaki Sauce (reprinted with permission from Jaden Hair)
Serves 4 as part of a multicourse meal

1/2 cup (50 g) all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1 cup (120 g) panko breadcrumbs
1 lb (500 g) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Nonstick cooking spray

Citrus Teriyaki Dipping Sauce
3 Tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons orange juice
3 tablespoons sake
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons mirin

1. In a saucepot, bring all ingredients for the Citrus Teriyaki Dipping Sauce to a boil. Turn the heat to low and let simmer for 6 minutes until slightly thickened.
2. Preheat the oven to 475F(245C).
3. Line up 3 shallow bowls. Put the flour in the first bowl, the eggs in the second (and beat with fork), and the panko in the third bowl. Also have nearby a sheet pan with a baking rack placed in it (Note: I used a broiler pan that worked fine)
4. Pound each chicken breast to 1/4 to 1/2 inch (6mm-12mm) thickness. Season each piece of chicken on both sides with salt and pepper.
5. You’ll work with one piece of chicken at a time. Lightly dredge a piece in the flour on both sides. Then dip in the beaten eggs, making sure that you coat the entire piece. Then, pat in the panko, pressing gently to adhere the crumbs. While the chicken is still in the shallow bowl with the panko, spray the topside with cooking spray. Place the chicken piece onto the baking rack with the side you’ve just sprayed facing down. Then spray the other side with cooking spray. Repeat with the remaining chicken pieces.
6. Bake for 15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes, then cut into several pieces. To serve, lay a bed of shredded lettuce on a plate, top with the sliced chicken pieces and serve with the Citrus Teriyaki Dipping Sauce.

This is my third cookbook review despite my cookbook collection pushing the 50 item mark. I have to talk about this book because it gets used often for dinner. I have made several recipes and all the dishes have been winners and repeat worthy. Unfortunately because it’s a dinner cookbook not too many photos get posted because they end up looking like crap. And it’s hard to convince someone that something is good when the picture looks less than appetizing.

Gotta love my Lowel ego light! I have to say that this dinner picture turned out pretty well — the steam even got captured.

The recipes for this book are fairly straight forward. We love the Mustard-Soy Glazed Salmon with Brown Sugar and Ginger it’s a household favourite and I’ve even made it for his family as a somewhat fancy dish. There are many recipes in this book, but there aren’t many pictures. A problem if you like to know how your food should turn out. I haven’t minded the lack of pictures because everything I’ve made has turned out.

Also, even though it’s geared for weeknight cooking, this is not a 30 minute meal book, some recipes do take about an hour or a little longer.

This recipe is the Mexican Chicken with Beer Glaze and Sweet Potato Fries. I didn’t even make this dish, the husband did. He’s a cookbook-phobe but did just fine. One warning though: R has never de-seeded a jalapeno. So he just used his fingers to rip those suckers out. Then his fingers burned until the morning. So don’t do that. Here’s a helpful youtube video I found and the Pioneer Woman shows you how to de-seed with a spoon here. Just make sure you’re very careful about not touching your face or rubbing your eyes when you’re cutting them. And wash your hands thoroughly. I worry one day I’ll be cutting a jalapeno, rub my eyes, and try to start pouring milk on my eyeballs for some relief.

This book never would have been on my radar if I didn’t pass by it at Costco to look for my “Valentine’s Day present” (this year I told the husband to skip the flowers and get me a cookbook instead, totally worth it!). It’s definitely worth checking out.

Mexican Chicken with Beer Glaze and Sweet Potato Fries From Not Your Mother’s Weeknight Cooking by Beth Hensperger

Ingredients:

4 boneless skinless chicken breast cut into 1 inch strips
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 clove of garlic crushed
1/2 to 1 whole jalapeno de-seeded and minced (we used 1/3 because we’re wimps and thought the dish would be too hot when we tried a tiny bit raw. But you can use the 1/2 and it’ll give it a little kick. Use the whole for extra spicy and don’t de-seed if you want it fiery.)
1/2 to 3/4 cup light-coloured beer (we used a dark beer because that’s what we had in the fridge)

Spice rub:
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried crushed thyme
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne, chili powder, or ground chipotle chile
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Sweet potato fries:
1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges or strips
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
salt

Directions:
1. Combine spice mixture and rub on chicken. Let it rest for 10-20 minutes at room temperature.
2. Preheat oven to 450F with the baking sheet lined with foil in the oven. This is a tip I learned somewhere online so you get nice and crispy fries without flipping. Toss the potatoes with olive oil, sprinkle salt liberally on it and when the oven is done preheating, throw the fries on there and bake for about 15-20 mins.
3. While the fries are cooking, heat the oil and butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add half the chicken and saute until golden. No need to cook the chicken completely through as it gets cooked again in the glaze. When the chicken is golden, remove to a plate and do the other half.
4. When the other half is golden, return the other chicken that’s on the plate in the pan. Add the garlic, jalapeno and beer. Cover and reduce heat to low. Cook for 15 minutes and every 5 minutes make sure the chicken gets turned in the broth so all sides are coated. It’ll be all nice and glazed.
5. Serve hot with fries.

More recipes can be found on the website here

I first tried these wings at a friend’s bbq. I was worried they would be too spicy for me because they had Sriracha in it, but it wasn’t. They were AMAZING. I wanted more and found out there was nothing left. Then I cried.

So I decided to make the recipe for my sister and brother-in-law for dinner. I bought the Costco sized package of wings. It didn’t look like the marinade was covering most of the chicken so I doubled the recipe. Including the Sriracha. After I was done mixing it all together I decided to try a very tiny amount of the hot sauce. Searing hot! After downing some milk my tastebuds are still numb. I don’t think the wings I had at the bbq had the recipe doubled and those were 30 huge meaty wings. Would I even be able to eat this meal I made?

The answer…yes. The wings did have a bit of a kick, but it wasn’t so spicy that it was inedible for me. Which is great because the wings were still good. We couldn’t fit both baking sheets in the oven so one had to be on the bbq grill. We should have grilled them directly on the bbq, but a certain person wanted to have the wings in their juices so we put the baking sheet on the grill. The wings ended up charred on one side and the aluminum foil practically fused to the pan. The pan needs to be thrown away. I’m just happy I didn’t listen to R when he suggested I use my good expensive baking pan. I would have been very upset if I had to throw it out. Next time we decide to make these wings on the bbq, they’ll be put directly on the grates to avoid untimely deaths of baking pans.

Recipe here. Ketjap Manis, a sticky sweet Indonesian condiment can be found at your local Asian grocer. There’s also a recipe here on how to make it yourself if you have trouble finding it.

“Was I a good cook when you first met me?” I ask R.
“I wouldn’t say you were really a cook then baby, you ate chicken.”
“I make chicken now.”
“I mean just chicken.”
“I made a pork chop.” (Note singular. I had 2, but in the flipping process the other one fell to the floor.)

I’ve come a long way since then. After venturing out on my own and buying beginner cookbooks (something I still love doing now), I didn’t really get into cooking. I cooked to survive. Most of my staples back then involved a lot of canned soup and frozen foods.

I was really clueless in the kitchen. At one point I asked my friend how to cook canned soup.

I wanted to be able to make a dish. Something that didn’t involve cooking chicken on my George Foreman grill. My friend took pity on me and taught me how to make chicken parmesan, her family’s recipe. I was able to make this recipe without her help many times and it’s never turned out bad for me. I haven’t made it in years, but I had a craving for it so I decided to make it for dinner when the in-laws were over. I looked at the recipe and didn’t realize how vague the instructions were. Considering how measurement crazy I am now I’m surprised I always had tasty results when I made it back then. I’m certain you cannot go wrong no matter what you do with this recipe.

So here is my version of it (with measurements in case you’re nervous about winging it).

No Fail Chicken Parmesan (serves 4)

Ingredients:
Soaking solution
- 1 cup milk
- 3 eggs
- 4 chicken breasts
- pinch of salt
- pinch of pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder

Breadcrumb mix
- 1 1/2 cups breadcrumbs
- pinch of salt
- pinch of pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons onion powder

Sauce
- 1 can of crushed tomatoes
- 1 can of tomato paste
- water
- salt
- pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- 3 cloves of garlic finely minced or with a garlic presser
- 1 yellow onion

Other ingredients:
- mozarella, grated (2 cups or so)
- parmesan

Directions
1. Combine ingredients for soaking mixture (except chicken) and mix together. Put chicken in mixture and let soak 4-6 hours in the refrigerator. Make sure mixture covers the chicken. (Note: I was once told that this may be a safety risk, but I haven’t died yet and can’t seem to find out if this is true through Googling. If it makes you feel uneasy, omit the eggs or just don’t soak it and immediately bread it and fry it.)

2. Make Sauce. On medium heat, put enough oil to just cover the bottom of the saucepan. Dice the onion and add to saucepan. Cook until onion is translucent. Add garlic and stir it around for about a minute before adding the crushed tomatoes and tomato paste. Add 1/2 can of water from the crushed tomatoes. Stir. Add onion and garlic powder and sugar. Stir and reduce heat. You want a nice thick sauce. Taste sauce and adjust seasonings to taste.

3. Preheat oven to 325F.

4. Bread chicken. Combine breadcrumb mixture and make sure chicken is well coated on both sides. In a frying pan over medium-high heat, add oil and fry chicken on both sides. You want a nice golden brown colour. The chicken doesn’t have to be completely cooked as it’ll be going in the oven.

5. In a baking pan or casserole dish (I used a 9×13 Pyrex), pour enough sauce to cover the bottom. Add the chicken pieces making sure they don’t overlap. Pour the rest of the sauce all over the chicken and grate parmesan all over the pieces.

6. Bake for 20-35 minutes. Sprinkle the grated mozarella on the chicken and bake for 10 minutes more.

Note:
- These seasonings can be played around with. I usually just put how much I think should go in.
- I didn’t have garlic or onion powder on hand so I used garlic granules and onion flakes. When I used to make this I used to give a few shakes of garlic powder and onion powder.
- Pre-foodie days I used to use the grated parmesan that came in a can. You can use that too, I won’t judge.

Another recipe from my Cooking for Two magazine. These America’s Test Kitchen/Cook’s Illustrated recipes are really thorough and they will go through the trouble of telling you why they’re doing it that way. For example, the chicken only gets marinated for 15 minutes because any longer the chicken gets mushy.

I really enjoyed this dish and I think I’ve discovered that I enjoy grilled vegetables. Considering I’m the kind of person who doesn’t eat salad, that says a lot. I’d like to do this recipe again making it more like a burrito with some cilantro-lime rice, guacamole, and sour cream.

The last time I made this, it was too spicy for me but I still loved it. This time I was prepared for the spice.

This is from Donna Hay’s new book No Time to Cook. It came home with me after I spotted it at Costco and refused to put it down as I walked around the store. The book is gorgeous with pictures for every recipe and all of them are quick and easy. I also have the urge to make every recipe in this book. I’ve made several things in it already and the sauces and marinades are very good. I’ll write again when I’ve made more recipes.

The curry chicken to my surprise, was spicy but not insanely hot like last time. I figured out where I went wrong the first time. I forgot to baste the chicken beforehand so I did it afterwards and I forgot to mix it with oil. This meant the chicken was basted in thai curry paste. If you want to make this dish spicier, use less oil. I also omitted the green chili as I thought this dish would be spicy enough on its own, but I’ll add it in next time. The coconut noodles are delicious, but a bit messy with the coconut milk. If you don’t want it to be so messy, you can reduce it.

Even though R doesn’t remember most of the food I make, his eyes lit up and said “Oooh, is this that curry chicken thing again?”

Notes:
- This recipe calls for 4 green onions. I used the full amount and it was just way too much, I reduced it by half this time.
- To cook the noodles you place boiling hot water over them and let stand for 10 minutes. Last time, the noodles were still quite hard so this time around I covered the noodles and that did the trick.
- The next day, the noodles absorb more of the milk and become more creamier and less soupy.
- This recipe serves 2 and asks for 100 grams of noodles. My noodles came in a 400 gram pack and are split into 2. If you want to save some frustration of trying to get 1/4 of the noodle pack to come loose, just cook the 200g and double the recipe.