May 24
If I’m going to defend Gwyneth Paltrow’s cookbook, it seems fitting to cook some of her recipes and let you know how they turned out. This last week I made corn chowder on a rainy day involving a tornado (or three) touchdown, and her “Best stir fried chicken” which she makes “when craving Chinese, but don’t want the MSG.”* Read more
I have always put chicken tenders in the category of kid food, or something on a fast food menu board…never really a great option for an at-home meal. Well, Frank persuaded me to try it, and try it with Buffalo Sauce (I have a weakness for buffalo sauce).
Plain Chicken Tenders
Prep
1 large chicken breast halved or 6 chicken tenders to start (You want these to be thin, so they cook fast in the oil). In a shallow but large bowl, combine 1 cup of flour with salt, flour, paprika and cayenne pepper (about 1 teaspoon of each, unless you want it spicy, add more cayenne). In a separate bowl, whisk an egg. Meanwhile, in cast iron pot or pan (a dutch oven works for this too), fill with canola or peanut oil, about 3/4 inch. Bring to a hot temperature (not smoking, but hot when you hold your palm over the oil).
Make
For each piece of chicken, dredge through flour mixture, then into egg mixture, then back through the flour mixture.
Add the pieces of chicken to the hot oil and let cook for two minutes – that side should start to turn a nice golden brown. Then flip and cook another 2 minutes. Pull out of oil and set on a plate with a paper towel to absorb the oil.
Chicken Tenders with Buffalo Sauce
In a shallow but large bowl, pour in 1 cup of buffalo sauce. After you’ve let the (plain) chicken tenders cool just a bit on the paper towel, submerge each chicken tender through the buffalo sauce. If you’re going to make a sandwich out of it, place between two buns!
Blue Cheese
I will definitely be making blue cheese to go with the buffalo chicken tenders next time, and will look to this recipe from Bon Appetit:
Ingredients
8 ounces blue cheese (such as Maytag), finely crumbled (about 2 cups)
1 16-ounce container sour cream
1/3 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
Preparation
Whisk blue cheese crumbles, sour cream, and parsley in medium bowl until well blended. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to serving bowl. DO AHEAD Dipping sauce can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.
Herbed Chicken Tenders with Marinara
For a pre-dinner snack at the next large gathering, this seems like a quick and tasty way to do it.
On the prowl recently for a new cookbook/cook to read and follow, I picked up Jamie Oliver’s latest cookbook, Cook with Jamie: My Guide to Making You a Better Cook. While I hesitated over the years that I’ve cooked (yes, all two of them) to pick up Jamie Oliver (also known as “The Naked Chef”) I did watch a few episodes of Food Revolution and found myself intrigued. A fan of Alice Waters and the Slow Food Movement, I became rather enchanted by Jamie after doing a little more poking around in his history: Jamie’s School Dinners where he attempts to radically change British dinners for kids in school; Fifteen, the charity restaurant where he trains disadvantaged youth to give them a chance to enter in the restaurant business; and his tv show Jamie at Home, where he elevates the kitchen garden, cooking from scratch and all so effortlessly. These were the reasons that prompted me to buy this fantastic cookbook, emphasizing flavor and fresh ingredients in pared down recipes that one feels could be easily dished up in no time. If you’re looking for more Jamie Oliver, watch an episode or two of his cooking show, Jamie at Home, or pick up this cookbook the next time you’re at the bookstore. His cooking technique, recipes and teaching style are so accessible. Peruse his website, or see for yourself.
Jamie Oliver’s Gorgonzola Gnocchi
2 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons heavy cream
6 tablespoons Dolce Gorgonzola
1 lb/package Gnocchi (or make from scratch)
(And, if you want, fry or grill chicken breasts or tenders)
Melt the butter in large saucepan over medium-low heat, add in heavy cream and when warm, add in Dolce Gorgonzola and melt (break up bits with the back of a wooden spoon). Meanwhile, bring salted water to a boil and add in gnocchi. Once cooked, remove from water and add into the gorgonzola sauce. If you have a little marjoram, add on top of servings.
*The second time I made this, I used egg tagliatelle instead of gnocchi and added chicken.
Feb 25
This recipe is the best way, in my opinion, to utilize a chicken breast, prosciutto and cheese. Savory, hearty, and oozing with cheesy goodness. And it’s so easy. I served them with green beans in melted butter.
Stuffed Chicken Breast with Prosciutto and Mozzarella
Serves 2
Butterfly 2 1/4lb. chicken breasts
Lay 2 slices of prosciutto on each half of the chicken
Butterflied Chicken with Prosciutto slices
Top with slices of mozzarella (or cheese you prefer)
Close chicken, salt and pepper both sides
Fry on high-med heat about 6 minutes each side
Dec 23
I don’t love chicken, but I love the different ways one can make chicken. After many months of making Roast Chicken, I turned to oven fried chicken but again, failed recipe after recipe. Julia + Tasty Chicken = Persistence. Last week, with everything at home to make Roast Chicken, I imagined the way it would taste (familiar), and the look on Frank’s face (again?). I turned to Epicurious and the 87 recipes turned up from the “fried chicken” search. I would look through them all until I found the right one. This one got me by the “By” which is Pam Ross, Stephen Pascal’s sister; this told me everything I needed to know: It’s a family recipe. This would be the one. I got home, announced oven fried chicken and away we went. I changed a few things from the original recipe, which is added in parenthesis below:
For the chicken
Make chicken:
Soak chicken in milk to cover for 20 to 30 minutes (I did 30 minutes). Spray a baking dish (one that will accommodate all the chicken pieces comfortably in one layer) with nonstick vegetable-oil spray.
Preheat oven to 400°F. Put the butter (yes, the entire stick of it) in the baking dish and heat it in the oven until the butter melts. Mix flour and seasonings together in paper sack or plastic baggie (1-gallon size) (I put in a large bowl). Shake each piece of chicken in seasoned flour (I rolled the chicken in the bowl, and patted in the seasonings). Place chicken pieces, skin-side down, in baking dish. Bake for 20 minutes. Turn chicken over and bake an additional 20 minutes or until cooked through and crispy (we went an extra 10 to 15 minutes in the oven for crispiness). Remove chicken and set aside in a warm place (or as we did, we ate it).
It was so worth it, in part because it was absolutely delicious, but mostly because Frank liked it so much he enthusiastically put away the leftovers for himself (success!). This is a recipe I will keep in my back pocket, but in all honesty, I hope making this recipe gets me one step closer to making Ad Hoc’s famed Lemon Brined Fried Chicken.
Theme: Linen by The Theme Foundry
