Pages, Pucks and Pantry

Chicken Chili Verde

I can't tell you how this tastes with the dish fully completed as I forgot the garnish. Yes, I had the sour cream, cilantro and the cheese all ready but just forgot to put it on the finished dish. Mr. L and I got home to the most wonderful smells coming from the slow cooker. I never bothered to look at the recipe before plating, I just opened up  that slow cooker and dished out dinner (did I mention we didn't even bother to cook veggies or a side dish to eat with this?).

The smell was so good that I also almost forgot to shred the chicken into the sauce once I'd served it, something you really want to do. As you can see, I even photographed the chicken before I shredded it. Did I mention it smelled so good we just wanted to dig in? Okay, I'll even admit we had started eating it before I remembered the shredding. If you just eat the chicken whole, it's kinda dry, but once you shred it and mix it with the sauce it's pretty good. And I'm sure adding the sour cream and cheese will help. If you use hot green salsa (which I did) the dish can get pretty spicy. For those that don't want the spice, use mild salsa but do add the jalapenos for a bit of  bite.

I did have a problem with the "chicken bouillon" as I put the two teaspoons on the top as directed but when I went to take the dish out of the slow cooker they hadn't dissolved. It was just kind  of a blob on top of the chicken. I scraped the bouillon stuff off and mixed it with the salsa sauce before serving.

I'd definitely make this again, just for the wonderful smell alone! Of course I'm curious as to how it tastes with the garnishes.

This was supposed to be low carb, but I can totally see putting this in taco shells or tortillas or serving over noodles!

The recipe came from the 200 Low-Carb Slow Cooker Recipe book.

CHICKEN CHILI VERDE

1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 1/2 cups prepared salsa verde
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon minced garlic or 2 cloves garlic crushed
1-2 tablespoons jarred, sliced jalapeno (2 can make it hot)
2 teaspoons chicken bouillon concentrate
Guar or xanthan (optional)
Sour Cream
Shredded Monterey Jack cheese
Chopped fresh cilantro (2 tablespoons makes the chili hot)

Place the chicken in your slow cooker and add the salsa verde, onion, bay leaf, pepper, cumin, garlic, jalapenos, and bouillon on top. Cover the slow cooker, set it to low, and let it cook for 9 to 10 hours.

When the time's up, shred the chicken with a fork. Stir it up, thicken the chili a little with the guar or xanthan if you think it needs it, and serve with sour cream, cheese, and cilantro on top.

Serves 5; 190 calories each (analysis does not include garnishes)

Note: I used organic chicken, hot salsa verde, crushed garlic. I did not use the guar or xanthan. I completely forgot the garnishes.

Note: I used the two jalapenos and the hot salsa and even though it was spicy, it was a good spicy. Mr. L doesn't like things as hot as I do but he didn't find it too hot. I'm sure the sour cream and cheese would cut the spice if needed.

Roasted Cornish Hens With Grapes

Growing up, Cornish Game Hens were "guest food". You didn't make them for yourself at home on a Monday night, no this was "special chicken" that you saved and made for company. Anytime I saw recipes for them in magazines it was always surrounded by your best linens and china with guests and hosts all dressed up. It wasn't food just two of you ate on the couch in front of the TV while wearing jeans (or pajamas if you've really had a bad day). Around our house, we make game hens for 'just us' all the time now.

I picked this recipe because Mr. L had picked up a couple of pre-packaged game hens while at Safeway. None of the recipes I was coming across in my unused cookbooks sounded simple and tasty enough so I decided to cook from the Great Food Fast book again.

The recipe called for four game hens at 1 to 1 1/4 pounds each. I only had two at about a pound each so I cut the recipe in half. Sort of. I was to lazy to get out my scale to figure out how much the grapes I had weighed so i just threw in enough to cover the bottom of the pan. In retrospect, this was probably twice as much as was needed. Mr. L, though he liked the taste of the finished dish, wished for more shallots and less grapes.

I didn't expect a lot of flavor from the pre-packaged hens but they turned out to be very nice. I liked the taste of the chicken with the warm grapes.

I was a bit concerned about the grapes. They came in these Ziplock bags and I had to dig to find a bag that didn't seem to be going bad, but the ones I used were fine (I did use both red and green seedless but I don't remember what type).

ROASTED CORNISH HENS WITH GRAPES

1 1/2 pounds mixed red and green seedless grapes
8 shallots, root end intact, halved if large
6 springs thyme, plus additional leaves for hens
2 tablespoons olive oil
Coarse salt and fresh ground pepper
4 Cornish game hens
(1 to 1 1/4 pounds each)

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss the grapes and shallots with the thyme sprigs, olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Tie the legs with kitchen twine; nestle the hens among the grapes on the baking sheet, breast side up. Season the hens generously with salt and pepper; sprinkle with thyme leaves.

Roast, basting the hens occasionally with the pan juices, until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the leg (avoiding the bone) registers 160 degrees F, 30 to 35 minutes.
Serves 4.

Note: The cookbook says you can substitute four bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts (10 to 12 ounces each) for the Cornish hens.

Note: This reheated very well for lunch the next day. I was worried about the grapes being reheated but they were fine.

Baked Chicken With Dill

Sometimes things don't turn out like you'd like. And this chicken dish didn't. It's not that it was bad, it just didn't wow me. This dish came from The Lemon Cookbook. I picked it because it seemed pretty quick and simple for an after work dinner. Unfortunately I used  a five pound free range chicken which was to much chicken for the recipe. I even cooked the dish longer but I don't think I cooked it enough, the skin was inedible, pretty rubbery. Mr. L said it tasted better when he reheated it for lunch the next day (tossing the skin beforehand of course). Didn't really taste much lemon flavor. With these old cookbooks I really need to just use regular chicken.

BAKED CHICKEN WITH DILL

1 (2 to 3 lb) chicken, cut into 8 pieces or 8 chicken breast halves
Salt
Pepper
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 to 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
1 small onion, thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Place in a 13" x 9" baking dish. In a small bowl, combine lemon juice, lemon peel, garlic and dill. Using a pastry brush, coat chicken pieces with lemon juice mixture. Place onion slices on top. Cover pan with foil and bake 45 minutes. Uncover and bake 15 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned and juices run clear when chicken is pierced with a fork. Makes 4 servings. (For a variation the recipe says you can add 1 to 2 cups fresh or frozen green peas or green beans for the last 15 minutes of baking.)

Mme. Lascourreges's Chicken with Shallots

I actually cooked an entire meal out of The French Farmhouse Cookbook and this was the main dish. Very simple, but wonderful flavors.

I am finding that using free range chicken though, causes a few problems. They usually weight a lot more than the amount of chicken called for in a lot of my old cookbook recipes so sometimes the cooking takes longer and I need to add more ingredients. Or quite frankly, the chicken doesn't fit into the called for pan size! I had to cook this longer to get the chicken to temperature.

MME. LASCOURREGES'S CHICKEN WITH SHALLOTS
or Poulet aux Echalotes de Mme. Lascourreges

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 chicken (3 1/2 to 4 pounds) cut into 8 pieces
  (2 breast pieces, 2 wings with portion of breast attached,
   2 legs, 2 thighs)
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
4 large shallots, peeled and minced
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup (loosely packed) flat-leaf parsley leaves

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Drizzle the oil into an ovenproof baking dish that is large enough to hold the chicken in one layer. Add the chicken pieces and turn them so they are thoroughly coated with oil. Drizzle the vinegar over the chicken, and sprinkle with the shallots. Turn the chicken so the shallots are evenly distributed over and under the pieces. With all the pieces skin side up, sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.

Place the dish in the center of the oven and roast until the chicken begins to turn golden, about 20 minutes. Remove the dish from the oven, turn the chicken pieces over, and season with salt and pepper. Return the dish to the oven and continue roasting until the chicken is thoroughly cooked (the juices should run clear when the flesh is pricked with the tip of a sharp knife), 17 to 20 minutes.

Mince the parsley. Remove the chicken from the oven, sprinkle the parsley over it, and turn the pieces so the parsley is mixed evenly throughout. Let sit 10 minutes, and then serve. 4 to 6 servings.

Note: My chicken was over five pounds and I just had the butcher cut it into 8 pieces, there wasn't any breast attached to the wings.

Note: Since the chicken took longer to cook I was glad I was serving the Rosemary Baked Potatoes along with it as they were able to stay in the oven until the chicken was done.

Note: This made a wonderful sauce...I wished I had some rustic bread or rice to use with it.

Moroccan Chicken with Lemons and Olives

This recipe came from the Garic, Garlic, Garlic book. I was a little leery about this dish when I decided to make it. I'd never combined all these ingredients together before and having never made anything Moroccan I had nothing to compare it with. But wow, this turned out tasty. Not really happy with the directions as several times I thought maybe I should be doing something in a different order (see notes below). Plus, I would have liked clearer measurements on some spices. But this had a great flavor and the sauce was delicious. This would be great served over some rice to go with all the good juice this makes.

This might seem like a lot of work, but it's not. You can pretty much just measure into bowls to toss together.

MOROCCAN CHICKEN WITH LEMONS AND OLIVES

1 chicken, cut into serving pieces
1 Tablespoon cumin
2 teaspoons paprika
1/2-1 teaspoon ginger
1/2-1 teaspoon turmeric
5 garlic cloves, chopped
several handfuls of fresh cilantro, chopped
juice of 2 lemons
black and cayenne pepper, to taste
3-5 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 tomatoes, chopped (either ripe or canned)
10-15 each (three types in total): green olives of choice, black olives,
     cracked olives, oil-cured olives, purplish-red olives, Kalamata, pimiento-stuffed green
     olives, etc., drained
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup chicken broth
1 lemon, cut into 6 wedges
extra lemon juice to taste

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Combine the chicken with the cumin, paprika, ginger, turmeric, garlic, cilantro, lemon juice, and pepper; and place in a baking dish in a single layer. Leave to marinate for 30 minutes, then add the flour, and toss together to coat well.

Add the tomatoes, olives, lemon wedges, olive oil, and broth to the dish. Bake uncovered for about 1 hour or until the chicken is tender and a delicious sauce has formed. Serves 4.

Okay, lots of notes on this one so pay attention!

Note: Lots of "handful" or "to taste" or "1-2" measurements...not knowing what I'm doing, that left me in a quandary as to exactly how much. So, I went to excess...if it said "1-2" I put in two. Juice of 2 lemons? I had some big ass lemons and there was a lot of juice. I added about a teaspoon of black and cayenne pepper but I think you could have added more. My handfuls or my husbands handfuls? I just sort of winged it and added a bunch of cilantro. I honestly don't think it matters, I think it would taste great even if you used the smaller amounts.

Note: For the olives, I just went to my local supermarket olive bar and picked out 15 olives. I think mine were Kalamata, onion-stuffed green and some regular black ones (maybe a few others for fun). I used ripe tomatoes.

Note: Combing the marinade and coating the chicken was interesting. I got the marinade all over my hands. I need to find a better way to do this. The turmeric turned my nails yellow!

Note: Get a bigger dish. No, get a bigger dish. I put all the chicken in a 13x9 pan to marinate and when that was done I had to "add the flour and toss to coat" yeah right...with what room in the pan? So I transfered the chicken to a big bowl to flour. There really wasn't a lot of room for the tomato/olive oil/broth mixture but I managed to squeeze it in there. A bigger pot/pan would have helped.

Note: As for the "extra lemon juice to taste" the dish as finished tasted fine so I didn't add any more. I did add a bit of fresh lemon juice to the leftovers when I reheated them.

I was really surprised how good this tasted, and I loved the sauce it made. We didn't cook rice with this, but I wish I'd had some. The Right Hand Woman didn't get any chicken but I at least let her taste the sauce and she agreed it was yummy.

Tequila Lime Chicken

This is another Ina Garten recipe that I had heard good things about and it did not disappoint (as usual). It was pretty easy to throw together and it had a nice flavor to it. Though this was supposed to be grilled I had to bake it, we ran out of gas for the grill!

TEQUILA LIME CHICKEN

1/2 cup gold tequila
1 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (5 to 6 limes)
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (2 oranges)
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon minced fresh jalapeno pepper (1 pepper seeded)
1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic (3 cloves)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 whole (6 split) boneless chicken breasts, skin on

Combine the tequila, lime juice, orange juice, chili powder, jalapeno pepper, garlic, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Add the chicken breasts. Refrigerate overnight.

Heat a grill with coals and brush the rack with oil to prevent the chicken from sticking. Remove the chicken breasts from the marinade, sprinkle well with salt and pepper, and grill them skin-side down for about 5 minutes, until nicely browned. Turn the chicken and cook for another 10 minutes, until cooked through. Turn the chicken and cook for another 10 minutes, until just cooked through. Remove from the grill to a plate. Cover tightly and allow to rest for 5 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature. Serves 6. (Notes from Ina: if you like cilantro, add 1 tablespoon, minced, to the marinade. She uses Cuervo Gold tequila. She also says there is no substitute for freshly squeezed lime juice).

Note: It took me 7 limes but only one orange. My jalapeno was pretty big so I probably had a half more tablespoon than required. I used bottled pre-chopped garlic (I know, my bad). I baked for about 35 minutes which was probably a bit to long.

Baked Pesto Chicken

This isn't the best looking dish I've made but it's something that Mr. L and I have on a regular basis. Mainly because it's quick and easy to make and I know the recipe by heart.

It's a Phase One South Beach recipe from The South Beach Diet Quick & Easy Cookbook. Not exactly low calorie, but did I mention it was quick and easy? This also reheats well.

BAKED PESTO CHICKEN

4 (6-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup pesto (from jar)
2 ounces shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese (1/2 cup)
Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Spread 1/4 cup of the pesto in a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Lay chicken breasts over pesto in an even layer and spread with remaining pesto.
Cover baking dish with foil and bake chicken until cooked through, 20-25 minutes. Uncover and top with cheese. Bake until cheese is melted, 5 minutes more. Serve hot. Makes 4 servings.

Note:  I think this recipe calls for small chicken breasts like the frozen ones you buy in bulk. I usually get chicken breasts from the butcher which are much bigger and they take longer to cook. I usually buy a big jar of pesto from Costco and keep it in the fridge for this dish.

Note: I no longer even bother to measure the pesto or cheese. I probably put way more than South Beach recommends but I like a bit more cheese.

Note: Depending on the pesto you use, you might have lots of oily stuff left in the baking dish. I pour some over the chicken and some over veggies. Again, if you are doing South Beach, you should probably limit this.

Did I mention this was quick and easy? :) Seriously, I can whip this up in no time if I know we are going to be home late and still need to eat.

Sticky Chicken from The Single Guy

There are many food blogs I read regularly. One of my favorites is "Cooking With the Single Guy". He's local (SF Bay Area), writes well, does great reviews of local restaurants, and he can cook...whats not to like!

Sticky Chicken is his moms favorite recipe. I'm going to make you go get the recipe from his blog because I think everyone should check him out. The recipe calls for chicken drumettes, soy sauce, white vinegar, sugar, fresh ginger and garlic. This tasted great even if I didn't get it quite to the sticky stage.

One of the reasons I like trying The Single Guys recipes is because he is clear with directions and he also gives you tips as to what might go wrong...perfect for me. His recipe explained that getting the right sticky consistency took patience...and even though I didn't quite (almost) get it to the sticky, at least I knew that it was probably because there was to much fat in my chicken.

I thought this dish might be a lot like adobo chicken, but this had a much richer taste. Both Mr. L and I really liked how simple this was but how good it tasted.

Again, go here for the recipe and be sure to check out Cooking With The Single Guy!

Chicken Salad Veronique

This is one of those recipes where I immediately knew when it was all done, that I could have done it better. This is a recipe from the Barefoot Contessa At Home. I remember a version of this from my childhood that had sliced almonds in it. Considering it was hot out, I thought this would be a great recipe to try.

One of the problems I had with this was to much chicken. I bought range chicken breasts at Cosentinos and once the salad was made, I realized there was way more chicken in ratio to everything else. So I had to start adding more of the other ingredients. I added at least another half cup of grapes and probably another half cup of mayo. I also made this right after work so the chicken didn't have enough time to cool properly. I think this tastes much better slightly chilled. And several tasters mention that the chunks of chicken seemed too big, so next time I'd cut them smaller.

Once I started adding additional ingredients I think I didn't add enough tarragon, the salad could have used more...I think it would have blended the flavors together better.

And this is probably better eaten right away. After a few days in the fridge it got kind of mushy which my mom didn't like.

It still wasn't a bad recipe. I think any problems with it were completely cooks error!

Chicken Salad Veronique

4 split (2 whole) chicken breasts, bone in, skin on
Olive Oil
kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper
1/2 cup good mayonnaise
1 1/2 Tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon leaves
1 cup small-diced celery (2 stalks)
1 cup green grapes, cut in half

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Place the chicken breasts, skin side up, on a sheet pan and rub them with olive oil. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. Set aside until cool.
When the chicken is cool, remove the meat from the bones and discard the skin and bones. Cut the chicken into a 3/4 inch dice. Place the chicken in a bowl; add the mayonnaise, tarragon leaves, celery, grapes, 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper and toss well.
Serves 4

Again, this didn't taste bad, but with all the changes mentioned above, I think it would taste pretty good.

Notes: It is just against our nature to toss that wonderful roasted chicken skin. So we ate it...made a nice appetizer!

Day After Enchiladas

Having recovered from the margaritas on Saturday, I was able to make my enchiladas on Sunday. This recipe came from the May issue of Everyday Food from Martha Stewart. Before anyone makes a comment, let me just say I am a fan of Marthas, so don't even go there. These were pretty tasty. We took some over to Mom and she said I could make this for her anytime so between Mom and I and Mr. L, this had three thumbs up. My only comment...you have to dip both sides of the tortilla in the sauce then add the filling. The only way I saw to do this was to put them (sauced) on the counter to roll up which made a bit of a mess. It only occurred to me after I should have used a piece of wax paper. Did waste a bit of sauce.  Yes, this was the first time I've ever made enchiladas like this from scratch. Used rocky the range chickens from Cosentinos which I think made them tastier than using the pre-frozen skinless/boneless (I skinned and boned the chicken myself after cooking, thank you very much, yea me). Makes a large batch so we had plenty of leftovers.

NOTE: I used 2% cheese and "lite" sour cream. I also used one jar of "hot" green salsa mixed with one medium. I did not use the meat thermometer and I completely forgot about the cilantro (which sat and spoiled in the fridge).

CHICKEN ENCHILADAS WITH CREAMY GREEN SAUCE

3 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken breast halves
course salt and ground pepper
5 garlic cloves, unpeeled
2 jars (16 oz each) medium green salsa
3/4 cup heavy cream
12 corn tortillas (6-inch)
12 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, coarsely shredded (3 cups)
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Season chicken with salt and pepper; place with garlic on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until an instant-read thermometer inserted in thickest part of breast (avoiding bone) registers 165 degrees, 25 to 30 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine salsa and cream.

Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees. Once chicken is cool enough to handle, shred meat, discarding skin and bones. Peel and chop garlic. In a large bowl, combine chicken, garlic, and 1/2 cup salsa mixture.

Stack tortillas flat, and wrap in damp paper towels; microwave on high for 1 minute to soften. Working with one tortilla at a time, dip in salsa mixture, lay flat, and fill with  1/3 cup chicken mixture. roll up and arrange, seam side down, 8 enchiladas lengthwise and 4 crosswise in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. top with remaining salsa mixture, then cheese.

Bake until cheese is browned and salsa is bubbling, 40 to 45 minutes; let rest 10 minutes. Serve, sprinkled with cilantro, if desired. Serves 6.

No tequila was consumed with this meal!