POMEGRANATE CHICKEN THIGHS & CARROT MASH

Posted in Poultry, Side dishes by sallybr

I am feeling quite generous these days, so you’ll get two recipes in a single post. It turns out they went so well together, that it would be sad to separate them. The source of inspiration for the chicken was a blog I found not too long ago, and started following right away: The View from Great Island, hosted by Sue. Her photography is beautiful, and I’d be happy sitting at her dinner table anytime! The mashed carrot was in the latest issue of Fine Cooking magazine as an option for Thanksgiving side dish. Roasted asparagus rounded our meal quite nicely.

POMEGRANATE AND LIME CHICKEN THIGHS
(adapted from The View from the Great Island)

for the chicken
1 cup Greek yogurt
1/2 cup pomegranate juice
1 tsp salt
4 bone-in skin-on chicken thighs

for the glaze
1/4 cup pomegranate molasses
juice of 1 lime
2 Tbsp agave nectar
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard

To marinate the chicken, put the yogurt, pomegranate juice, salt, and chicken in a large zip lock bag. Massage everything until well combined. Put in the fridge to marinate for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Set the oven to 300 F. Remove the chicken from the marinade, place the pieces skin side down on a large baking dish, and cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour at this low temperature. Remove the foil, if there is a lot of liquid accumulated in the dish remove most of it and discard. Turn the pieces skin side up, cover with foil again and bake for another 20 minutes. At this point, prepare the glaze by combining all ingredients together. If too thin, gently warm it on a small saucepan to thicken it a little. Watch it carefully because it can burn due to all the sugar.

Remove the aluminum foil from the baking dish, increase oven temperature to 425 F. Bake for 15 minutes, once the skin starts to get some color brush the glaze all over the chicken thighs and bake for 10 more minutes or until very dark. You can also broil the pieces at this point, but pay attention to prevent it from burning. Serve with lime wedges.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

CARROT MASH WITH ORANGE AND MINT
(adapted from Fine Cooking magazine)

2 lb. carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
salt
1 oz. (2 Tbs.) unsalted butter, cut into 2 pieces
2 Tbs. almond milk, unsweetened
2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp dried mint
1 tsp finely grated orange zest
Put the carrots in a large saucepan with enough cool water to cover by at least 1 inch. Add 1 tsp. salt and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down and cook at a gentle boil until the carrots can be easily pierced with a fork, about 25 minutes.

Drain well in a colander, letting the steam rise for a few minutes. Meanwhile, heat the butter, almond milk, oil, mint, orange zest, and 1/2 tsp salt in the saucepan over low heat until the butter melts.

Purée the carrots in a food processor until smooth and then add them to the pan, stirring well to combine.

Adjust seasoning and serve.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: My main modification of the chicken recipe was to adapt it to my favorite method of cooking chicken thighs: low and slow followed by high and fast. I like the way the meat gets super tender and the skin super crisp. You should stop by Sue’s blog and check her version too. She actually made the glaze from pomegranate juice, reducing it with sugar. Since I had a bottle of pomegranate molasses, I followed a slightly different path. The full idea is to have a reasonably thick glaze to coat the chicken.

The carrot mash: my only tweak was to use almond milk instead of heavy cream. I love almond milk and use it every chance I get. A lot more orange zest went into the recipe then called for, because the music playing got me carried away with the Microplane. Such a cool gadget! Phil thought it was slightly too orange-y and not enough carrot-y, but when we had leftovers next day that flavor had mellowed down considerably. As to a side dish for Thanksgiving, I was a bit shocked by how little puree 2 pounds of carrots produced… If you will be feeding an army of people, be ready to peel a ton of carrots and scale this recipe up by a factor of 3 or 4. 😉 Still, a delicious option, bright color, bright flavor, it will shine on your Thanksgiving table next to that big bird.

ONE YEAR AGO: The Many Faces of Kale

TWO YEARS AGO: Short and Sweet

THREE YEARS AGO: Ciabatta, a Classic Italian Bread

FOUR YEARS AGO: Magical Lamb Stew

28Oct2013

SECRET RECIPE CLUB: MOZZARELLA-STUFFED TURKEY BURGER

Posted in Poultry, Secret Recipe Club by sallybr

October is coming to an end. The last couple of years have been so busy for us! Months go flying by, each one bringing new challenges, but the last Monday of each month is always special: it is reveal day for The Secret Recipe Club, the best group event in the cooking blogosphere. Food bloggers are paired in secret, stalk each others’ site in search of a recipe, cook it and blog about it at the exact same time. The group is very popular now, there is a huge waiting list for new members, so if you are interested, send your name in. Just keep in mind you need to be blogging for a while so that you have enough recipes in your database, and also a recipe index in your site.

This month I got a GREAT site to cook from: Cooking Whims. Megan is funny, witty, her cooking style similar to ours. I love this little bit she wrote about herself:

“I love goat cheese, all things pumpkin, chocolate, and dancing to Sinatra while I experiment in my kitchen”.

Awesome! Now, back to my assignment. The fact that we were away for 10 days on a trip to California and that our kitchen was still undergoing hellnovation made this month’s participation a bit of a stretch, but by now I am used to cooking stresses of many kinds. Several recipes called my name during the stalking period. For instance, her Oatmeal Ricotta Buttermilk Pancakes… or Fish Tacos with Spicy Tomato-Cucumber Salsa… but I also flirted with her Beet Hummus, and the Hungarian Paprika Chicken. So, what did I choose in the end? A turkey burger. I could not resist that one, made ultra special by home-made marinara sauce and a stuffing of mozzarella.

MOZZARELLA-STUFFED TURKEY BURGER
(slightly modified from Cooking Whims)

for the marinara sauce
2 tsp olive oil
1 small shallot, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 cups plum tomatoes, chopped
6 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
1/2 tsp salt & pepper

for the burgers
1.5 lb ground turkey (50:50 dark and white meat)
1/4 cup chopped scallions
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
grated zest of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt
3 Tbsp fresh parsley, minced
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
2 tbsp minced fresh basil
4 thin slices of mozzarella cheese (optional)

For the marinara sauce: Heat the oil in a medium saucepan on medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally until translucent, 5-7 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook until the tomatoes have broken down. Pulse a few times in a food processor. Set aside on very low heat to keep warm.

For the turkey burgers: Place the turkey, scallions, Worcestershire sauce, lemon zest, oregano, parsley, pepper and salt in a large bowl. Mix with your hands, then shape into 8 thin patties.

Combine 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese and basil. Divide evenly on the center of 4 patties. You may not need all the cheese. Cover each patty with the remaining patties and crimp closed.

Grill the burgers turning once, for a total of 8 to 10 minutes on a medium-high grill. When the burgers are almost cooked through, top with a slice of cheese and allow the cheese to melt before serving with a helping of marinara sauce on top.

We enjoyed our burgers “naked”, but for a real burger experience, have some toasted buns ready… and

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Megan’s description of this recipe started with “This burger belongs on a show called burger wars.”. Then, she says that another version from her blog would fight for the number one spot, the “Hummus Turkey Burger with Cucumber & Feta Cheese“. Of course I intend to make that one soon. Stay tuned.

We loved these burgers! She is absolutely right, the lemon zest is a key component of the recipe, but everything comes together in perfect harmony, including the simple but tasty marinara, that calls for sun-dried and regular tomatoes.

I slightly modified the recipe by mixing dark and light ground turkey, and using about 50% more meat than she did to end up with 4 stuffed patties. Since we were going to enjoy them without buns, I wanted each to be slightly bigger. I also included fresh Italian parsley because I had some in the fridge and it seemed like a good herb to incorporate in the mix. Once you have the mixture ready, portion 8 equal amounts over parchment paper, flatten them, add the cheese to half of them, cover with the other portion.

Pinching the sides seems hard to do, but don’t worry, it will work. I cooked my burgers on the grill, as it would have been impossible to cook them in our improvised kitchen.

Now, as if I did not have enough grievance in my life, when I was getting ready to take the first photo, I could not find the lemon. Keep in mind that the fridge was still in the garage, to get to it we needed to jump over a few pieces of wood and squeeze through some furniture. So, I am going crazy searching for my lemon. The thoughtful man I married suggested that “maybe you think you got it from the fridge but you didn’t“. His remark caused me to go into a blazing hot monologue that traumatized for life two of our three dogs. Chief was spared thanks to being deaf. A second lemon quickly showed up at the scene, and we put the citric incident to rest. Later that evening, Phil calls me in the TV room: cozy inside a dog bed between the sofa and the wall, a lemon was peacefully resting.

Never a dull moment, folks. Never a dull moment…

Megan, I loved getting your blog this month, and hope you had fun with your own assignment too!

For those who want to see what Group D cooked up for the final Monday of October, click on the blue frog at the end of the post. She loves a little click! 😉

ONE YEAR AGO: Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wraps

TWO YEARS AGO: Clay-pot Pork Roast

THREE YEARS AGO: Panmarino

FOUR YEARS AGO: A Classic Roast Chicken

10Jul2013

CELEBRATE WEDNESDAY WITH HOISIN-GRILLED CHICKEN & SOBA NOODLES

Posted in Celebrate Wednesday, Pasta & Noodles, Poultry by sallybr

I adore soba noodles. Whenever I serve them, the meal feels special to me. For this dinner, I used green tea soba noodles, immediately kicking things up a notch (remember Emeril from the old days of FoodTV?). Green tea soba has a nice color that fades just a little during cooking. Of course, you can use any type of noodles, including whole-wheat, if soba is not available where you live. The whole menu came from the latest Cooking Light issue, which is full of great recipes, by the way. The hardest part of the preparation was cutting the sugar snap peas, but other than that, very fast from beginning to end, making it ideal to celebrate that evening still a bit far from the joys of the weekend… 😉

HOISIN-GRILLED CHICKEN WITH SOBA NOODLES
(adapted from Cooking Light June 2013)

2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
1 + 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
3 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
salt
green tea soba noodles (or regular soba)
1 + 1/2 cups sugar snap peas, trimmed and halved diagonally
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon Sriracha sauce
toasted sesame seeds to taste
sliced green onions, to taste

Combine hoisin, balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and five-spice powder in a large bowl. Add chicken; toss to coat. Grill for 10 minutes or until done, flipping the pieces half-way through cooking time. Remove from the grill, let it stand for 5 minutes tented with aluminum foil. Thinly slice across the grain.

Meanwhile, bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Prepare the dressing for the noodles by mixing rice vinegar, sesame oil, soy sauce, and Sriracha in a small bowl. Reserve.

Add noodles to the boiling water; cook for about 4 minutes. Add peas; cook 1 minute or until noodles are tender. Drain. Add reserved dressing to the noodles & peas mixture. Toss to coat. Arrange noodles on a serving plate, top with chicken slices. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and green onions right before serving.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: The recipe calls for cooking the sugar snap peas in the same pot with the noodles. It is a nice thought to simplify things and avoid having two pots of water boiling, but next time I will cook them separately. It will be easier to assemble the dish, tossing noodles with dressing, then adding the snap peas and mixing them gently. I like sugar snap peas barely cooked, almost blanched, to retain their bright color and bite. Leftovers next day were still very tasty, but just a minute in the microwave turned the peas into a sad dark green, dangerously pointing towards the gray. Delicate creatures they are!

I served cucumber salad as a side dish, as suggested in Cooking Light. The recipe is on the link I provided. You may notice I omitted the peanuts. Cucumbers have been a constant side dish these days. They are simply perfect for this weather. 😉

ONE YEAR AGO: The Manhattan Project

TWO YEARS AGO: Carrot “Nib” Orzo

THREE YEARS AGO: A Sticky Situation

FOUR YEARS AGO: The Garden

13Jun2013

ENCHILADAS SUIZAS A LA MARCELA VALLADOLID

Posted in Poultry by sallybr

Today we are leaving to present our work at a meeting (Gordon Conference on Mechanisms of Membrane Transport, very exciting venue!) and visit former colleagues & collaborators.
I have posts scheduled for publication during our trip, but my ability to reply to comments or leave comments on blogs will be limited until
June 26th.

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Watching an episode of Mexican Made Easy the other day made me crave this dish. Pure comfort food. As everyone knows, enchiladas are a typical Mexican concoction of corn tortillas rolled around some type of meat (or veggies, or cheese) and baked under a blanket of chile sauce, often tomato-based. Enchiladas suizas are a variation that resulted from the influence of Swiss immigrants to Mexican cuisine. A real happy marriage! This was a fun dish to prepare, perfect activity for a Sunday afternoon. The tomatillo sauce is superb, the recipe makes more than you’ll need, so you can enjoy it in other dishes later.

CHICKEN ENCHILADAS SUIZAS
(slightly adapted from Marcella Valladolid, Mexican Made Easy)
.
9 tomatillos, husked and rinsed
1/2 medium white onion
1 Serrano chile
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves, loosely packed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup vegetable oil
6 (6-inch) corn tortillas
1 + 1/2 cup shredded cooked chicken breasts (I used from rotisserie chicken)
1/2 cup Mexican crema or sour cream (I used a little more than 1/4 cup)
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
.
Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Put the tomatillos, onion, Serrano pepper and 3/4 cup water in a medium, heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cover and boil until the tomatillos turn olive-green color, about 10 minutes. Let it cool a little, then transfer the tomatillos, onion and pepper to a blender. Add as much water as you need to make a smooth sauce (I added almost all the liquid left in the pan). Add the garlic and cilantro and blend again until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.Heat the oil in a small skillet over medium-high heat. Fry the tortillas until golden but still pliable, about 10 seconds per side. Transfer to paper towels to drain.
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Put the tortillas on a work surface. Divide the shredded chicken evenly among the tortillas and roll up each like a cigar. Spread 1/3 cup sauce in a 9 by 13-inch glass baking dish. Arrange the enchiladas, seam-side down, in one layer snugly inside the dish. Pour the remaining sauce over the enchiladas.
.
Drizzle with the Mexican crema and sprinkle the cheese all over. Bake until the cheese melts and starts to brown in spots, about 30 minutes. Serve immediately.

ENJOY!
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to print the recipe, click here

When you make this recipe, use good quality corn tortillas, not flimsy ones that are too thin or too soft. Those would pretty much disintegrate during baking. For me, two of these enchiladas make a nice meal. We had leftovers and they were still delicious on the following day. Not as good as fresh from the oven, but definitely a tasty option for a quick lunch at home. We warmed them up in the microwave, which is not ideal. If you have time, warm leftovers in a low oven, covered with aluminum foil.

The tomatillo sauce is absolutely delicious! The level of heat I like, not too much, but definitely there. You can add more Serrano peppers or other chiles too, using the basic recipe as a starting point. I had a moment of unique inspiration to use the leftover sauce, and will blog (brag? ;-)) about it in the near future… Stay tuned!

ONE YEAR AGO: The Little Apple

TWO YEARS AGO: Majestic Sedona

THREE YEARS AGO: Watermelon-induced Daze

30May2013

CHICKEN-APRICOT SKEWERS

Posted in Poultry by sallybr

We grill pretty much the whole year, including this past winter, definitely the hardest I’ve endured, but somehow survived. I actually feel I survived against all odds, but my beloved (rolling his eyes to the ceiling) insists that “it wasn’t that bad”. We fully disagree on this. Anyway, as I was saying, we use our grill all the time. If necessary, we brush the snow off and go to work. Of course, it’s much nicer to grill when the sun is shinning and the temperature starts to get where I like it, mid 90’s. We are not quite there yet, but the sun has been shinning as bright as the apricots for these skewers. The recipe from Bon Appetit is absolutely delicious! Coconut milk, peanut butter, and cilantro make a marinade-sauce combo very hard to beat.

CHICKEN-APRICOT SKEWERS
(slightly adapted from Bon Appetit, August 2012)

3/4 cup canned light unsweetened coconut milk
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt (I used non-fat)
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons dark brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt plus more for seasoning
1/4 cup cilantro leaves
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped jalapeño (about 1 large)
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 24 chunks
12 firm ripe small apricots, halved, pitted
Freshly ground black pepper

Purée first 6 ingredients and 3/4 tsp. salt in a blender until smooth. Add 1/4 cup cilantro leaves and jalapeño and blend briefly to combine. Transfer 1/2 cup marinade to a small bowl; cover and chill for serving. Place remaining marinade in a resealable plastic bag; add chicken, seal bag, and turn to coat. Chill for at least 3 hours or overnight.

Heat your grill to high. Holding 2 skewers parallel to each other and 1/2″ apart, thread 1 piece of chicken onto skewers, then 1 apricot half. Repeat with 1 more chicken piece and 1 more apricot half (using 2 skewers helps hold the meat and fruit together). Repeat with remaining skewers, chicken, and apricots for a total of 12, each holding 2 pieces of chicken and 2 apricot halves. Season with salt and pepper. Brush apricots with some marinade from bag; discard remaining marinade.

Grill skewers on one side until chicken is well browned, 3—4 minutes. Turn and grill until other side is well browned, 3—4 minutes longer. Move to a cooler part of grill. Cover grill and cook until chicken is cooked through, about 2 minutes longer. Transfer to a serving platter, and serve drizzled with the reserved marinade (bring it to room temperature before serving).

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Not sure if it is my Brazilian nature, but I have a real soft spot for anything with coconut milk. As I mentioned before, I normally go for the light version that has a lower fat content, unless specified in the recipe that it won’t work. For sauces and marinades the lower-fat performs as well as the regular one. My preference is for the brand Thai Kitchen. I had a small problem making the marinade because unexpectedly there was no cilantro in our fridge. I made the marinade without it, and next day got some cilantro, shredded the leaves and added to the sauce reserved for serving the skewers. I actually think it turned out very good, the cilantro retained a fresher flavor this way. If you make this dish, consider my tweaked version. 😉

The apricots were pretty soft after grilling, in fact some bits stayed behind on the grill, but I am not sure this could be avoided. Maybe apricots a little less ripe than the ones I used would stand the heat better. If you prefer a firmer fruit, consider grilling the apricots by themselves, just for a couple of minutes. I actually did not mind their softness, they almost turned into a component of the coconut sauce. Delicious!

ONE YEAR AGO: Asparagus Quiche

TWO YEARS AGO: Two-stage Pea and Prosciutto Risotto

THREE YEARS AGO: Mellow Bakers: Corn Bread