Adventures in Shaw » Chicken

Modern Day Coq Au Vin

Shaw_Girl — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:24:34 +0000

Hey, Mother Nature? Can we talk for a minute here? See, I am usually the first one who loves a good snow storm. I was positively giddy as I read the reports of historic snow accumulations this past weekend. And when I woke up to a Winter wonderland on Saturday, I happily jumped outside to make a snow angel. And I really appreciate the snow day today, I really do. I don’t hold the idiotic local “Blizzard 2010″ snow coverage against you…how were you to know anchors got punchy and stupid after hours of sleep deprivation. But now I’m hearing reports of another significant snow storm set to hit the area tomorrow afternoon…and I’m starting to get a little, well, annoyed.

First of all, have you watched daytime television lately?!? It’s mind numbing to say the least. And I don’t care what Comcast commercials tell you, their On Demand service does NOT help you through cabin fever. I can only watch the last few tired episodes of CSI: Where-the-Fuck-Ever so many times. And Comcast, you STILL haven’t updated your service with the latest episode of Archer (asshats). And as much as I love the Boy, I’m this close to bouncing a Swingline stapler off his head (no offense, dear). One can only take so much togetherness…

Look, I know I’m sounding a bit unhinged right now but you’re really starting to test my patience. I was fine when Tony Perkins told me not to worry about the precipitation on the extended forecast for Tuesday. But you’ve turned Tony into a liar…a LIAR!!!! I.NEED.TO.GET.OUT.NOW!!!!

Recipe: Modern Day Coq Au Vin (adapted from Cook’s Illustrated)

Ingredients

1 bottle fruity, smooth, medium-bodied red wine
10 sprigs fresh parsley leaves
2 tbs minced fresh parsley leaves
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
4 oz bacon, diced
2 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs , trimmed of excess fat and cut in half
5 tbs unsalted butter
24 frozen pearl onions , thawed, drained, and patted dry (about 1 cup)
8 oz pkg cremini mushrooms , wiped clean, stems trimmed, quartered
2 medium cloves garlic, minced
1 tbs tomato paste
2 tbs all-purpose flour
Salt and pepper

Instructions

In a large saucepan, combine the wine and the parsley and thyme sprigs. Cook the wine/herb mixture over medium heat until it’s condensed to about 3 cups.
In a large Dutch oven, cook the bacon until crispy (be very careful not to burn the bacon bits) over medium high heat. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon to a plate lined with paper towels. Measure out three tablespoons of the bacon fat and remove the remaining fat from the pot.
Return the pot to the heat and pour one tablespoon of the bacon back into the pot.
Lightly salt and pepper the chicken thighs and add a single layer of the thighs to the Dutch oven. Cook them until they’re lightly browned on each side (about 2 minutes per side). Remove the first batch of thighs from the pot and place them on a plate.
Repeat this process until all of the chicken thighs are browned. You may have to add more bacon fat as you brown the remaining chicken thighs.
Keeping the Dutch oven on the heat, melt 3 tablespoons of the butter. Once the butter bubbling has subsided, add the onions and the mushrooms. Saute the onions and the mushrooms until they are soft and browned, about four minutes. Add the garlic and continue cooking for about another 30 seconds.
Add the tomato paste and the flour, stirring to incorporate everything.
Pour in the wine mixture and scrape the browned bits off the bottom of the pot. Salt and pepper to suit your taste and then add back the chicken thighs (and any accumulated juices). Turn the heat back up to high to bring the mixture to a boil.
Reduce the heat, cover the pot and allow everything to simmer until the chicken is tender – about 25 to 30 minutes.
Remove the chicken thighs from the pot with a slotted spoon onto a plate. Tent the plate with foil to keep the thighs warm.
Increase the heat to medium high and allow the sauce to thicken and reduce to about 3 cups (which should take only about 5 minutes). Remove the pot from the heat and add the remaining butter to the sauce. Taste the sauce to see if it’s seasoned to your liking. If not, add more salt and pepper. Return the chicken thighs to the pot, immersing all of them into the sauce. Serve over egg noodles or steamed rice with a sprinkling of the minced parsley.

Chicken Parmesan

Shaw_Girl — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 23:46:50 +0000

Is it just me or is Sophia from the Golden Girls the funniest television character ever created? Between her “Picture This” stories and wise cracks about her ex-son-in-law Stan, she has me laughing every time I watch. Which is pretty much every night since I have all seven seasons on DVD (or I turn on the Hallmark channel, which is pretty much just The Golden Girls interspersed with episodes of M*A*S*H now). I was thinking about her as I made this classic Italian dish and laughing the entire way through.

There’s an episode where Sophia is trying to perfect her marinara sauce for the Daughters of Italy cooking contest. She offers Blanche and Dorothy a taste of it and when they don’t get “the look” she knows the sauce isn’t an absolute winner. Like most old world cooks, Sophia never needed a recipe…she relied on her instincts to create a wonderful meal. For me, I still need a recipe from time to time. But when I have fresh, good ingredients, I can throw something together fairly easy. This is how my chicken Parmesan dish came about. I had all these wonderful jars of tomato sauce and lovely chicken breasts from EcoFriendly Foods, so it seemed only natural to throw them together. Toss in fresh herbs from my container garden and fresh mozzarella from Blue Ridge Dairy and it was Chicken Parm heaven. This entire meal takes about 30 minutes to cook, so it definitely goes in my Fast Food category!

Chicken Parmesan

3 tablespoons quality extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped

1 teaspoon fresh oregano, chopped

1 teaspoon fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped

1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped

Salt and pepper

6-three ounce boneless chicken breasts

1 ball fresh mozzarella, sliced into six pieces

2 cups fresh tomato sauce

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

In a small bowl, combine the chopped herbs, salt, pepper and olive oil. Mix well and allow to stand for at least 5 minutes. Once the herbs have marinated into the oil, brush both sides of each chicken breast with the herbed oil. Heat a skillet over medium high heat and add the chicken breasts (this may have to be done in batches). Cook the chicken breasts until golden brown on each side, about 4 minutes.

Place the sauteed chicken breasts in a large casserole pan. Pour the tomato sauce over the chicken, ensuring each breast is evenly coated. Top each breast with the sliced mozarella and then sprinkle the parmesan evenly over all the breasts. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.

Chicken Pinata…Or Rosemary and Lemon Chicken with Capers

Shaw Girl — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:07:15 +0000

Someone (who shall remain nameless but they know who they are) bitched that I didn’t IMMEDIATELY post about what I served with the rosemary garlic new potatoes. Normally I ignore such whining, but given the fact that this person defends our national security, I decided to acquiesce.

So dear readers, I present to you Chicken Pi-nata. This isn’t completely chicken piccata because there isn’t any breading, I didn’t saute it and I added rosemary. But the butter, lemon and capers really give this dish a piccata feel. Hence the name…clever, huh?

So this was basically thrown together after I decided I didn’t really want to bother with the added step of dredging the chicken in flour. Yes, I was being lazy but the results were divine, so I should be forgiven. Using the butter as a baster for the chicken meant no dry oven roasted chicken. Instead, the cutlets came out moist and full of lemon and rosemary flavor. I meant to add garlic to this recipe but forgot and I’m glad I didn’t. The lemon and the rosemary worked so well together, I think the garlic would have taken away from this great combination.

1 pound boneless chicken breasts or cutlets (I used cutlets)

2 tablespoons butter at room temperature

Zest of 1/2 lemon

Juice of 1/2 a lemon (can of course use the same lemon you zested)

1/2 lemon, sliced (use the other half of the lemon you juiced and zested…nothing goes to waste!)

3 tablespoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped

Salt and pepper

Good handful capers

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

Pat the chicken breasts dry and place them on a baking sheet lined with foil. Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken breasts. Whisk together the butter, two tablespoons of the rosemary and lemon zest and using a spatula, thinly brush the butter mixture on each side of every chicken breast. Squeeze the juice of the lemon over the breasts, making sure to flip them over and juice the other side as well. The butter mixture may start to run but this is fine.

Slice the other half of the lemon and place them strategically amongst the chicken breasts. Sprinkle the capers over the chicken and the remaining rosemary. If you used cutlets, roast them in the oven for approximately 15 minutes. If you used chicken breasts, roast them in the oven for approximately 30 minutes. The chicken will not turn a golden brown, so do not use its color to gauge doneness.

Hopefully this will shut up the aforementioned complainer. But considering there were already complaints from him about my lack of meat related posts, I don’t think so.