Oven Fried Chicken

The James Beard Foundation awards were announced the other day. For those of you who don't know who his is, I guess the best way to put it is he's the male Julia Child. What she did for French cooking, he did for American. The JBF awards are considered the Oscars of the Food world and are given to cookbooks, TV/Radio, restaurants and chef and even bloggers. You can see a list of this year's winners here. I'm excited to say I have 2 books that won this year (recipes to come!)


Today's recipe comes from one of James Beard's many cookbooks. The Essential James Beard Cookbook, is a compilation of his cookbook and a must for any chef. I made a few changes, to adjust for what I had on hand, but all in all it was delicious!

Enjoy!

Oven-Fried Chicken
Adapted from The Essential James Beard Cookbook by James Beard

1 cup plain yogurt
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 Tbs mustard
2 Tbs hot sauce
Salt
Pepper
2 Chicken Leg Quarters, separated
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 Tbs paprika
1 Tbs Garlic powder


Combine yogurt, garlic, mustard and hot sauce in large bowl or dish. Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper and add to yogurt mixture. Toss to completely coat chicken and marinate at least 1 hour, turning occasionally.

Preheat oven to 350 combine flour, cornmeal, paprika, and garlic on large plate. Remove chicken from yogurt mixture and dredge in flour/cornmeal mixture. Arrange pieces on lightly oiled baking pan and bake in oven for 1 hour, turning once, until chicken juices run clear.

Steak Quesadillas

Since yesterday was Cinco de Mayo, I gave David the choice of two things I'd make to celebrate. Of course he picked the Steak Quesadillas. This recipe was slightly inspired by Mexican Made Easy by Marcella Valladolid. I made a few changes to the recipes, you can basically call these clean out your fridge quesadillas. You can basically put anything between two tortillas and call it a quesadilla. I had a few things leftover from previous dinners and added them. Cook these up with a nice glass of sangria and it's a happy day!

Enjoy

Steak Quesadillas
Inspired by Mexican Made Easy by Marcella Valldolid

1 lb sirloin tip or skirt steak
Salt
Pepper
Adobo
2 Tbs butter
2 Tbs Vegetable Oil, divided
4 oz mushrooms, sliced
1/4 onion, sliced
1 cup yellow rice with red beans, prepackaged or homemade
1/2 tomato, chopped
1 avocado, sliced
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
8 Flour tortillas

1. Season steak on both sides with salt, pepper and adobo. Let stand 15 minutes.
2. Melt butter and oil in heavy skillet over medium high heat. Add mushrooms and onions and saute until softened, about 5 minutes. Set aside in bowl
3. In same skillet, add remaining oil over high heat. Add steak and cook, turning once, to desired doneness, about 3 minutes on each side for rare. Transfer to cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes before thinly slicing.
4. Wipe down skillet and heat over medium high heat. Add 1 tortilla and warm slightly, about 30 seconds. Top with cheese, mushroom onion mixture, rice, avocado and steak. Cover with 2nd tortilla and carefully flip once and heat until cheese melts.
5. Slice into quarters and serve with sour cream, if desired.

Baked Chicken with Mushrooms, Olives and Artichokes

Today's recipe has a few of my favorite things - chicken, olives and mushrooms; with those three things, how bad could it be right? I found this recipe in The Best Casserole Book Ever by Beatrice Ojakangas. There were so many delicious recipes in this book it was hard to choose. One thing that stood out to me was this was sized down for 2. I always have a hard time cooking for just the two of us, which is ok since we'll have it for lunch the next day or depending on the recipe I'll freeze it for a "lazy day".

There was a note  in the description of the recipe saying that sometimes, she added artichokes to the dish, so that's exactly what I did. It had a lot more sauce than I expected, but David loved it so much he ate the sauce with the olives, mushrooms and artichokes by itself.

Enjoy!

Creamy Baked Chicken with Mushrooms, Green Olives and Artichoke Hearts
Adapted from The Best Casserole Cookbook by Beatrice Ojakangas

Ingredients

2 chicken legs and thighs, split
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
1/2 tsp Paprika
1/2 tsp Garlic powder
1 Tbs butter
1 tsp flour
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup heavy cream
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup green olives, sliced
1/4 cup artichoke hearts, chopped
1 tsp herbes de Provence

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375. Wash the chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Combine the next 4 ingredients and sprinkle over chicken on both sides.

2. In a large skillet, melt butter. Add the chicken and brown thoroughly on both sides. Transfer to a 1 quart casserole.

3. Stir flour and mustard into the drippings in skillet. Whisk in the wine, broth and cream, bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Continue cooking at a gentle boil for about 3 minutes, or until sauce is thickened. Stir in mushrooms, olives, artichokes and herbes de Provence. Pour sauce over chicken in the casserole.

4. Cover and bake for 30 minutes or until the chicken in tender. Uncover and bake for another 5 minutes.

Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Homemade Coleslaw *slow-cooker*

When I showed David this week's menu, his eyes lit up with joy when he saw pulled pork. When it comes to barbecue people go a bit nutty when it comes to who has the best barbecue. People swear you get the best from Memphis, I've been told Texas, the Carolinas, St. Louis, you get the gist. This recipe is "North Carolina" style, which means it has more of a vinegar based sauce. David likes to add some bbq sauce to his sandwich, while I stick to the vinegar sauce.

This recipe is so easy. I prepared the pork and vinegar sauce the night before, put it in the slow cooker that AM and had dinner ready by the time I got home from work. The recipe for the pork rub, I found in Steven Raichlen's The Barbecue! Bible. I only used the rub recipe for the North Carolina Pulled Pork, added  few things and adapted it for the slow cooker. The recipe for the vinegar sauce and cole slaw are my own. While you can chop your own cabbage, carrots and such, I took the easy way out and bought cole slaw mix from the produce department.

The recipe is for a 6-7 lb bone-in pork shoulder.

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Adapted from The Barbecue! Bible by Steven Raichlen

Rub for Pork

1 Tbs smoked paprika

1 Tbs Adobo seasoning

2 Tbs brown sugar

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp dry mustard

Olive oil.

2-3 Onions - quartered

Vinegar Sauce

1 cup Apple Cider Vinegar

1/3 cup Worcestershire Sauce

2 Tbs liquid smoke

2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp dry mustard

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Cole Slaw

1/4 cup mayonaise

1/4 cup Greek yogurt, plain

2 tsp sugar

1 1/2 - 2 Tbs white vinegar - to taste

salt and pepper - to taste

1 bag cole slaw mix

Instructions:

To prepare pork:

Combine all dry ingredients for rub in small bowl. Combine all ingredients for Vinegar sauce in bowl and refrigerate. Rinse pork and pat dry with paper towels. Using a very sharp knife, carefully remove thick part of fat layer, leaving some behind for flavor. Using gloves (if desired) rub a small amount of olive oil around pork to moisten. Spread rub mixture around pork, making sure to get all sides. Wrap in plastic wrap or place in plastic bag and refrigerate for at least 2 hours to overnight.

Place quartered onions on bottom of slow cooker. Place pork on top of onions, fatty side up. Pour 1/2 of vinegar mixture over pork. Cover and cook on low 8-10 hours. When pork is fork tender, about 8 hours, depending on size, carefully remove pork from slow cooker and put on serving platter. Using 2 large forks slowly pull pork apart, spoon some of the liquid from slow cooker over pulled pork. Serve with Cole Slaw and remaining Vinegar sauce or remaining sauce from slow cooker.

For Cole Slaw:

In bowl, combine mayo, yogurt, sugar, vinegar and salt and pepper. Add more salt, pepper or vinegar if necessary. Add cole slaw mix and toss to combine. 

Ramen with Beef, Mushrooms, and Spinach

Ramen noodles have grown up, no longer are they the staple food for the poor college student. You'd be surprised what people have been making with these dried blocks of noodles. I know there is a restaurant in New York that is making ramen burgers, while I have yet to try it; it does pique my interest and taste buds.


David will tell you that I use ramen fairly often, I just don't use that salt filled seasoning packet that it comes with. I'd say at least once or twice a month on a rainy day, David will look at me and just say "Soup?" While I make my own version of chicken soup to use with the ramen, any kind of broth will work. I've even used ramen to make a quick lo mein if we have leftover meat from the night before. So when I was flipping through cookbooks for today's recipe this one caught my eye. I found it in Cook's Illustrated The Best Skillet Recipes. It has to be one of my favorite cookbooks out there, actually I'm in love with most of Cook's Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen books. Just a few changes to go with what we had on hand, but overall this was a great meal!

Enjoy!

Ramen with Beef, Mushrooms and Spinach
Adapted from Cook's Illustrated The Best Skillet Recipes

Ingredients


1 lb flank steak, sliced thin, against the grain
4 Tbs Soy Sauce, divided
2 Tbs Vegetable oil, divided
2 tsp Sesame Oil, divided
6 oz shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced thin
6 oz white mushrooms, sliced thin
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbs ginger, grated
3 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 Tbs fish sauce
4 packages instant ramen noodles, discard seasoning packets
2 tsp sugar
1 (6oz) bag, spinach


1. Pat beef dry with paper towels and toss with 2 tablespoons of soy sauce. Heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil and 1 teaspoon of sesame oil in skillet until shimmering. Add beef and cook, stirring occasionally and breaking up clumps, until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Transfer to clean bowl.


2. Add remaining Vegetable and sesame oils to skillet and heat to shimmering. Add mushrooms and cook until browned, about 4 minutes. Stir in garlic and ginger, cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.


3. Stir in broth. Break bricks of ramen into quarters and add to skillet. Bring to simmer and cook, tossing ramen constantly with tongs to separate, until ramen is just tender but there is still liquid in pan, about 2 minutes.


4. Stir in remaining 2 tablespoons soy sauce, fish sauce and sugar. Stir in spinach, handfuls at a time until wilted and sauce is thickened. Stir in beef and toss to combine.

Braised Chicken with Baby Vegetables and Peas

Someone must have ticked off Mother Nature something fierce. The weather in NJ has been so crazy I don't think I'll be putting my winter clothes away until June. They say it's spring, but I don't consider the 50's very springy.


Today's recipe is perfect for one of those chilly "spring" days. It's hearty, filling and the best part ever it's fairly healthy. I found this recipe in Cooking Light Cooking Through the Seasons: An Everyday Guide to Enjoying the Freshest Food. I changed a few things from the original recipe - I subsitiuted baby potatoes for baby turnips, added mushrooms, used frozen peas instead of fresh and used leg quarters instead of a whole chicken cut-up.

We also had some friends over for dinner. (Shout out to Ian and Shannan!) They both enjoyed today's dish, which is a big complement to me because Shannan is a great cook also. One of the pluses of having Ian and Shannan over is that Ian is a professional photographer - check out his site here.- and he was nice enough to take a picture of today's dinner.

Enjoy!

Braised Chicken with Baby Vegetables and Peas
Adapted from Cooking Light Cooking Through the Seasons: An Everyday Guide to Enjoying the Freshest Food


2 Tbs butter, divided
4 Chicken leg quarters, separated and skinned
Salt
Pepper
2 (14.5 oz) cans Chicken broth, Low Sodium
1 cup Dry White wine
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
15 baby potatoes
15 baby carrots
15 pearl onions, peeled
8 oz large mushrooms, quartered
1 Tbs chopped fresh parsley
2 bay leaves
2 Tbs all purpose flour
3/4 Cup frozen green peas, defrosted

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Sprinkle chicken evenly with salt and pepper. Add chicken to pan; sauté 5 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove from pan.


 Add broth to pan; cook 1 minute, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Add wine and next 7 ingredients (through bay leaves); stir. Add chicken to pan, nestling into vegetable mixture; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until chicken is done. Discard bay leaves. Remove chicken and vegetables from the pan.


Place a zip-top plastic bag inside a 2-cup glass measure. Pour cooking liquid into bag; let stand 10 minutes (fat will rise to the top). Seal bag; carefully snip off 1 bottom corner of bag. Drain drippings back into pan, stopping before fat layer reaches opening; discard fat. Return liquid to pan. Bring liquid to a boil; cook until reduced to 1 1/2 cups (about 5 minutes).


Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter in a small skillet. Add flour, stirring until smooth. Add flour mixture to cooking liquid; cook 2 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring constantly. Return chicken and vegetable mixture to pan; stir in peas. Cook 3 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Garnish with chopped parsley.

Arroz Con Pollo

Don't you just love new supermarkets? I don't know about you, but I LOVE new supermarkets. I'm not sure what it is about them that I love so much, it could be the newness, the bright and clean stocked shelves or the fact that it's somewhere different I can buy stuff. They opened a new Shoprite by my office a few weeks ago and while I'd been there several times, my mom had yet to go. She'd been nagging asking me to take her since it opened, so finally I had the time go with her. Luck was on our side this trip because there were giving out several samples of new things they were selling. LOVE free samples of food :) 

As we were leaving, here I am carrying about 6 bags (god forbid I actually grab a cart)while I'm looking for my car keys, a nice man offers to help carry our bags. I turn and see it's the Imperial Chorizo sample guy, I tell him no thank you because our car is right in front, but I do tell him how delicious his chorizo was. He was very excited and told me that it's been so popular he had to run out to the truck to get more. I smile and tell him "well it's that good!" He laughs and says to me "hold on, let me give you a piece of our reserved blend". Now I'm expecting a little piece that he has already cut up, but no he hands me a whole link of Chorizo! I thank him profusely and this is why we are here now. I guess you can say the nice Chorizo man inspired tonight dinner. I got today's recipe from Gourmet Today: More than 1000 All-New Recipes for the Contemporary Kitchen. Only change I made was adding Chorizo and using fire roasted tomatoes. David liked it so much he gave it an A+ and had 2 servings!


Enjoy!

Arroz Con Pollo
Adapted from Gourmet Today: More than 1000 All-New Recipes for the Contemporary Kitchen


For chicken

3 large garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

3/4 teaspoon black pepper

4 chicken leg quarters, separated

1 Tbsp Vegetable Oil

1 Tbsp Unsalted Butter

For rice

1 lb onions, chopped (2 1/2 cups)

2 green bell peppers, chopped

3 large garlic cloves, minced

4 oz Chorizo, chopped

1/4 teaspoon crumbled saffron threads

1/4 cup dry white wine

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons salt

1 Turkish or 1/2 California bay leaf

1 (14- to 15-oz) can diced fire roasted tomatoes, including juice

1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 1/2 cups water

2 cups long-grain white rice

1 cup frozen baby peas (not thawed)

1/2 cup small or medium pimiento-stuffed green olives 

Preparation

Purée garlic, orange juice, lime juice, salt, and pepper in a blender until smooth. Put chicken pieces in a large bowl and pour purée over them, turning to coat. Marinate chicken, covered and chilled, turning occasionally, 1 hour.
           
Transfer chicken, letting excess marinade drip back into bowl, to paper towels, then pat dry. Reserve marinade.
           
Heat oil and butter in 6- to 7-quart pot over moderately high heat until foam subsides, then brown chicken in 2 or 3 batches, without crowding, turning occasionally, about 6 minutes per batch. Transfer chicken as browned to a plate, reserving fat in pot.


Put oven rack in middle position and preheat to 350°F.
           
Sauté onions, bell peppers, chorizo, and garlic in fat in pot over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally and scraping up brown bits from chicken, until vegetables are softened, 6 to 8 minutes.
           
While vegetables cook, heat saffron in a dry small skillet over low heat, shaking skillet, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add wine and bring to a simmer, then remove from heat.
           
Add cumin and salt to vegetables and cook over moderately high heat, stirring, 2 minutes. Stir in saffron mixture, bay leaf, tomatoes (including juice), broth, water, and reserved marinade and bring to a boil.
           
Add all chicken except breast pieces, skin sides up, and gently simmer, covered, over low heat 10 minutes. Stir in rice, then add breast pieces, skin sides up, and arrange chicken in 1 layer. Return to a simmer.
           
Cover pot tightly, then transfer to oven and bake until rice is tender and most of liquid is absorbed, about 20 minutes.
           
Scatter peas, olives, and pimientos over rice and chicken (do not stir) and return to oven, covered until peas are heated through and any remaining liquid is absorbed by rice, about 5 minutes.  Discard bay leaf.