Italian Baked Chicken with Potatoes

I have a new and very easy, practically one pot dish to share with you today.  What I love about this dish, besides the ease of it, is the lack of pasta. Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE pasta, but really it's my downfall so something that allows me to enjoy a good red sauce without the temping issue of eating too much pasta is a good thing.

I found this recipe on Pinterest.  Well not really, I found the inspiration for this dish on Pinterest.  I was food surfing and came across a temping picture of a dish call Italian Baked Chicken with Potatoes and Tomatoes or something like that.  One look at the pic and I decided I knew how I thought it should be made.  Well it wasn't, it had Italian dressing in it and tomatoes over tomatoes. In fact mostly it wasn't what I pictured at all, so I went a head and created my own recipe.

Italian Baked Chicken with Potatoes

INGREDIENTS

Olive oil

5-6 chicken thighs

1 med onion sliced

5 cloves garlic, peeled left whole

Salt and pepper

Garlic salt

5 medium size potatoes, peeled and cubed

28 oz crushed tomatoes

1/3 cup Marinated Artichoke Hearts, quartered

Basil

Oregano

8 oz mozzarella cheese, thickly sliced and torn into pieces

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Place chicken, onions and garlic in long casserole dish. Drizzle generously with olive oil. Season to taste with salt, pepper and garlic salt. Brown in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and reduce the temperature to 350 degrees.

Meanwhile boil the potatoes until slightly tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and season with salt.

Remove the chicken from the pan. Smash the garlic and add the crushed tomatoes.  Stir to blend.  Add the potatoes and then place the chicken back in the pan nestled between the potatoes. Do not cover with the sauce. Place the artichoke pieces throughout the pan, also nestled in the sauce. Sprinkle basil and oregano across the top to taste.

Return the pan to the oven and bake uncovered for 30-40 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and potatoes are tender.

Remove the pan from oven and layer the cheese on top of the potatoes and artichokes, but not the chicken, then bake another 5 minutes or so until the cheese is melted. Let rest for about 10 minutes before serving.

Chicken Tortellini Soup

This dish started out as a quick easy meal for a busy night.  Some chicken broth, frozen tortellini, onions, carrots, spinach, throw in some crusty bread and you've got dinner.  You know that's all fine and good, and while canned chicken broth may do in a pinch, I've gotten to the point where it wont do at all.  If you have the time, make your own.  It's very simple and is best done with the last of a roasted turkey or chicken, but when that's not what's in your fridge, take a few chicken wings and use those.  Lots of good skin and bones for flavor and just the right amount of meat for soup.

Okay I'm getting ahead of myself, so please don't let my food snobbery stop you from making this with canned broth. It still makes a easy and quick weeknight dinner.  But if you have the time, try it with homemade stock; you may never go back. In that case it's not a quick weeknight meal unless you happen to have homemade stock in the freezer, which I suggest.

Chicken Tortellini Soup

Stock
8 chicken wings or roasted chicken carcass
1 gallon water
1 onion roughly chopped
2 carrots roughly chopped
2 stalks celery roughly chopped
2 bay leaves
generous amount of salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon sage or to taste
several fresh sprigs of thyme
3 cloves garlic smashed

Soup
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion diced
6-8 cups stock or canned chicken broth
2 carrots peeled and sliced in 1/8 disks
3-4 cups fresh or frozen cheese tortellini
6-8 ounces fresh spinach roughly chopped
reserved chicken meat
freshly shredded Parmesan cheese for garnish


For the stock add all ingredients to a stock pot and bring to a low boil, turn down heat to low an allow to simmer.  After about 1 1/2 hours use a slotted spoon to pull out the chicken pieces,  Remove the meat and store it in the refrigerator for later.  Return everything else back to the pot.  Simmer a few hours longer.  Use a fine mesh strainer to strain the stock into another pot for the soup or to a large container for storage.  Discard all the material in the strainer. If you have time this is the best method because once the stock has cooled you can go back in and skim the solidified fat from the surface.

For the soup, in a large stock pot, saute onion in oil until soft.  Add the stock.(Note: if using canned broth add some sage, thyme, garlic etc to pump up the
flavor a bit). Add the carrots and bring to a boil.  Add the tortellini and simmer until the tortellini are done.  Add the spinach and chicken meat.  Once the spinach is limp turn off heat.  Let set until ready to serve.  Garnish with Parmesan and serve with some crusty bread,

Baked BBQ Chicken Wings

Wings and football, they go hand in hand. But wings can be quite calorie laden.  I do two versions of baked wings to satisfy the craving for wings throughout the football season without tipping the scale too much.  This is my lazy version, it really couldn't get any easier.

I use parchment paper for this dish,  It helps with the cooking process as well as clean up.  Because believe me if you make these without the protection of the parchment paper, or if you don't have it, a sheet of foil, you will be sorry.

Baked BBQ Chicken Wings

Chicken wings, as many as you want, sectioned, tips removed
olive oil
salt and pepper
BBQ sauce of your choice ( I like Sweet Baby Ray's Honey BBQ)
blue cheese or ranch dressing for dipping, if that's your thing

Prepare your wings then put them in a zip lock bag. Drizzle a bit of olive oil over them and season with salt and pepper.  Shake the bag to coat all the wings. I usually do this ahead of time and let them sit in the refrigerator until I am ready cook them.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Line an appropriate size pan or pans with parchment paper.  Make sure you leave room around each wing, or they wont get crispy enough. Start out with the wings skin side down.

Put the wings in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Open the oven (do not turn the wings) and brush the top side with BBQ sauce.  Cook for another 10 minutes.  Open the oven, turn the wings, and brush the top side with BBQ sauce.  Cook another 10 minutes and they are done!

Grilled Chicken Breasts and Yukon Gold Potatoes

Grilling is just like any other cooking process, it can be simple or complicated and the possibilities are endless.  Today's recipes are on the simple side, even though you need a little lead time for preparation. Unless you're going for burgers and dogs, and really aren't most of us sick of these things by now, good grilling takes some up front time.  It doesn't have to be a Herculean effort, but take the time you need to get flavors infused into your food. Get this recipe started about an hour or two before you are ready to grill.  At that point most of work will be done and you can relax with and have a beer with your friends while you are cooking.

Don't have garlic scapes? Use garlic cloves (half as much) or scallions (twice as much).  Use any herbs you have on hand.

Grilled Chicken Breasts

chicken breasts, flattened

2 garlic scapes, chopped

Several sprigs of marjoram, chopped

Several sprigs of lemon thyme, chopped

Kosher salt

pepper

olive oil

water

white wine vinegar

Pound the chicken breasts to tenderize them and then place them in a gallon size zip lock bag. Blend the marinade ingredients with an immersion blender on in a regular blender.  Pour the marinade over the chicken and make sure all the chicken pieces are well covered. Marinate for 1 hour or more. Grill the chicken breast over indirect heat for 10-12 minutes or until cooked through. let sit for 5 minutes before serving or carving.

Grilled Yukon Gold Potatoes

Yukon Gold Potatoes, cubed and parboiled
several sprigs of dill, roughly chopped

4 garlic scapes cut in 1-2 inch pieces

white wine vinegar

olive oil

Kosher salt

pepper

Parboil the potatoes, drain and cool. Toss the the potatoes with the remaining ingredients and refrigerate until ready to grill.  Using a pan with slots created for use on the grill and grill the potatoes over medium heat until nicely browned.

Baked Teriyaki Chicken

"The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray." That was the story last night.  I am working on a standardized menu to cover the span of 8 weeks. Basically, this is to get a plan in place that I can follow when I am too busy to think. It rotates a nice variety of recipes we love, and keeps the number of plant based foods high and number of meat and pasta dishes at a moderate level. Because when I have no plan, meat and pasta are my go to meals. I'll post more on this menu once it is finalized.

The beauty of the menu is that it's not based on the day, but a rotation so there is flexibly to accommodate leftovers, dinner out or just the preference of the day. That's want happened last night. A friend was in need of the use of our stove because hers was not working. She brought over a saucepan with a teriyaki marinade containing cornstarch that she needed to heat and thicken.

As we talked, she stirred and heated her teriyaki mixture and it smelled really good. I asked her about the recipe and she told she found it on Allrecipes so I looked it up for future reference. Our plan for the night was to have a nice vegan meal of Mushroom Stroganoff (over brown rice pasta) and salad,which is a favorite in our house. After she left, the house still smelled like the wonderfully tangy sauce and realizing I had some chicken thighs in the refrigerator, I knew I needed to go astray.

I pulled up the recipe and saw I needed to make a few changes. More garlic and less sugar, a few other tweaks to measurements and definitely leave the skin on the thighs. I like the skin, plus if the sauce is to strong for my daughter she can remove the skin from hers and have milder flavor. The results were very good and this chicken recipe has found a slot on my developing standardized menu!

Note of caution, the brown sugar can cause havoc with your pans, I recommend lining your pan with foil before putting the chicken in.

Baked Teriyaki Chicken

(adapted from Allrecipes Baked Teriyaki Chicken)

1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 1/2 tablespoons cold water

1/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup soy sauce

3/8 cup cider vinegar

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon ginger, grated

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

12 chicken thighs

In a small saucepan over low heat, combine the cornstarch, cold water, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, ginger and ground black pepper. Let simmer, stirring frequently, until sauce thickens and bubbles.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Place chicken pieces skin side down in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking dish. (Better yet, line the pan with foil and then spray with cooking oil.  Brush chicken with the sauce. Turn pieces over, and brush again.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Baste and bake for another 20 minutes, brushing with sauce every 10 minutes.

Moroccan Chicken Thighs

Once again I find myself thawing a pack of chicken thighs and needing something new to do with them, have you been there?  I am sure that you have.  I spend a good amount of time surfing Pinterest looking for recipes and today's post is the product from one of those searches.  I came across a kabob recipe on Womenist Women Interest, and decided a with a little modification I could apply it to my chicken thighs.

The marinade is super simple starting with nice fresh herbs.  Once you blend it up, the scent is awesome.  Since I was using thighs and not boneless breast chunks, plus it was raining so no grill, I utilized an oven roasting method that I use for another thigh recipe. The result was perfectly cooked chicken with wonderful Moroccan flavors.

Moroccan Chicken Thighs
Modified from Womenist Women Interest Grilled Moroccan Chicken

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 scallions, white with some green chopped
1/3 cup chopped parsley
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 cloves garlic, pressed
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
¼ black pepper
6 chicken thighs

Put the marinade ingredients in a food processor and pulse until well mixed. If you don't have a food processor use a blender or mince the herbs and scallions until fine and then mix by hand.

Wash thighs and trim excess fat and skin.  Find a spot on the thigh and carefully run your finger under the skin to create a pocket.

Put about a tablespoon or two of the marinade in each pocket.  Then put the thighs in a zip lock bag and pour in the remaining marinade.

Refrigerate for at least a half an hour, but several hours is even better.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Arrange the chicken thighs in a roasting pan. Roast for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 400 degrees and cook another 25 minutes.

Chicken Piccata over Rice

People seem to love the chicken recipes.  Of course I know why, we all need to keep adding new chicken recipes into the rotation to keep things fresh.  In today's post I am going to share a longtime favorite recipe, chicken piccata.  An old friend shared the basic recipe with me many, many years ago and I still make it often. It is very simple and what I love about it is the little bit of work there is to do is all done up front   So once you get it going, go grab a glass of wine and relax while it cooks.

Chicken Piccata over Rice

2-3 chicken breasts, sliced into to cutlets, or i package chicken tenderloins

1 egg

2-3 tablespoons milk

1 1/2 cups Italian bread crumbs

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

12 ounces chicken broth

juice of 1 lemon

1 cup rice

Get rice started, cooking it according to package instructions, then move to the chicken prep.  Beat milk and egg in a bowl large enough to dip the chicken pieces. Pour bread crumbs onto a large plate. Heat butter and olive oil in large skillet on medium high heat.  Working one piece at a time, rinse chicken and dip into the egg mixture, then coat with bread crumbs.  Lay each piece into the pan and move to the next until all pieces are coated and in the pan.  Brown the chicken on both sides, adjusting temperature as needed, then add the broth and lemon juice.  Turn heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.  Serve with rice.

Chicken Pho - In the Crock Pot!

Do you love the Vietnamese noodle soup known as pho?  I do. I've perused a number recipes for this dish and found myself a bit intimidated by the all the seasonings and the meat bones that go into making the broth.  It seems to make good pho, you need to make a good broth. 

The other day I ran across a recipe on Pinterest for chicken pho, in the crock pot no less.  I thought that could be doable.  First because I never buy chicken pho, it's always beef, I thought I wouldn't get caught up in comparisons. Second, because it's made in the crock pot, how hard could it be!?  Turns out not hard at all.  The only item I didn't have on hand was the star anise which I found in the Badia spice section of my grocery store.

The original recipe Load & Go Spring Slow-Cooker Chicken Pho was posted on Shine food on Yahoo. As usual, I made few changes that I thought would work for me.  One thing I like about this recipe is that everyone in my house liked it, even my daughter who does not like traditional pho.  Also because of the condiments, you can easily personalize the heat in your own serving.

This was super simple and although it is not the same as traditional pho, I think now that I've used it to get my feet wet, I will need to give the traditional one a try.

Crock Pot Chicken Pho

adapted from Load & Go Spring Slow-Cooker Chicken Pho

Ingredients:
10 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 tablespoons fish sauce
8 whole star anise
6 whole cloves
1 2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 cinnamon stick
2 bone-in chicken breasts
10 ounces wide rice noodles
6 cups chopped bok choy

Garnishes and Condiments:
1 cups mung bean sprouts
1/2 cups fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves
3 jalapeno peppers, thinly sliced
1 lime, cut into wedges
Hoisin sauce
Sriracha sauce

Combine broth, brown sugar, fish sauce, star anise, cloves, ginger and cinnamon stick in a 5- to 6-quart slow cooker. Add chicken breasts, meat-side down. Cover and cook on High for 4 hours (or on Low for 8 hours).

Remove the chicken and let it cool. Also remove the spices and discard. Remove the skin and bones from the chicken and shred the meat with two forks. At this point the broth can simmer on low in the crock pot until you are about 30 minutes away from serving.  Refrigerate the chicken until needed.

When ready to resume, turn the slow cooker up to high and add noodles and bok choy. Cover and cook for 20-30 minutes.

When the noodles are tender, stir in the shredded chicken and reheat. Serve the bowls of soup with bean sprouts, basil, cilantro, peppers, hoisin sauce, sriracha sauce and lime wedges on the side so everyone can add their own toppings.

Slow Cooker Chicken

This one's for the working moms out there, well really everyone, but mostly the working moms. Sometimes with busy schedules it seems really hard to get a good healthy meal on the table and the result is sometimes something less than healthy such as take out, delivery or fast food. For this reason I turn to my slow cooker. I love my slow cooker, I use it several times a month.  One of my favorite things to cook in it is a whole chicken.  I have no problem roasting chicken in the oven, but I have to say I love the fall off the bone results with the slow cooker.  Plus when I put the chicken in the slow cooker in the morning I know, come pre-dinner time, my job is going to be really easy.

This chicken couldn't be easier. Put it in the slow cooker on top of a few old forks to make a makeshift rack, which keeps the chicken from sitting in too much liquid, and then brush some barbecue sauce over the top. I know this isn't the what you have come to expect from my blog, so let me assure you that I have many other slow cooker recipes that are a bit more complex, but this one is tasty and FAST and that's what crazy-busy moms need. Plus let's face it, even those of us who like to spend a lot of time dabbling in the kitchen have days when we just want it done so we can focus on something else, like blogging and such.

The key to rounding out this super easy, super fast meal is to keep healthy sides in your freezer.  My family loves oven baked sweet potato fries, so I keep a bag from Costco in my freezer at all times. Twenty-five minutes before dinner time, throw them in the oven sprinkled with a little extra seasonings such as seasoned salt, garlic salt or powder, kosher salt and pepper with a quick spray of Pam. Then 10 minutes before dinner time put some frozen broccoli florets (or fresh, it only takes a few minutes to prep) on the stove to steam.  Not only do you have a super simple meal, it's also nice and healthy.  Much better than delivery, fast food or even Stouffers, with only about 10 minutes total hands on time.  Get your hubby to do the dishes.

Slow Cooker BBQ'd Chicken

1 roasting chicken
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup barbecue sauce

Put the chicken in the slow cooker, add water and brush sauce on the chicken.  Set on low for 8-10 hours or high for 5 hours.

Tavuk Izgara (Yogurt Marinated Chicken)

I've got chicken pieces, what can I do with them?  It's a constant issue.  I love this recipe because it has different flavors than all of my other chicken recipes.  Plus, when I mix up the marinade, the wafting scent is incredible.  The end result is crispy, super-flavor infused chicken.

Don't let the Turkish title fool you, as with many of my other marinate and roast recipes, this is super easy with very little hands on time. I use thighs but you could use whatever pieces you wish.

I found the original recipe on The Whole Foods site and now that I have gone back to find it, it is no longer there. Well it is, but with a new name and a few changes. Ha! it's gone from Turkish to Indian on their site.  Good thing I printed it! As usual, I have made a few small changes to the original recipe. The other thing is the original recipe only had grilling instructions and I can't see the point of only doing this on the grill, so I line a broiler pan with foil and set a rack on top and then roast it in my oven.

Tavuk Izgara (Yogurt Marinated Chicken)
Adapted from Whole Foods Market Indian Spiced Yogurt-Marinated Chicken

6 chicken thighs or other pieces

Marinade:
8-10 ounces plain Greek yogurt
1 small onion, grated
4 cloves garlic, pressed
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon paprika
1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Mix the ingredients for the marinade.  Place chicken pieces in a large zip lock bag and pour in the marinade.  Make sure all the pieces are well covered. Marinate in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight.

Prepare a broiler pan and rack and preheat over to 450 degrees.  Place the chicken pieces, skin side up on the rack and discard the remaining marinade. Roast for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 400 degrees and roast for 25 more minutes.

Deviled Chicken Thighs

In our household, as with many households, chicken makes an appearance on our table at least once a week.  The trick is keeping it interesting. 

This recipe came to me one morning while walking on the treadmill and watching the today show.  I had some chicken thighs in the refrigerator that I knew I would be cooking that evening.  I am sure I had some plan for them such as my over used oven fried chicken recipe, but the cooking segment gave me a fresh idea.  A chef was making a chicken dish and I would link to it, but I can't find it. Anyway this isn't her recipe, she used different ingredients, but it is her method, which I thought was genius. Now I know stuffing seasonings under the skin of the chicken isn't a new thing, I 've done it for years with the whole bird. But I have to confess, as much as I like cook and experiment, I never thought about stuffing seasonings under the skin of individual chicken pieces.

I started to think about a wonderful deviled chicken recipe that I used to make. I stopped making it because it contained tons of butter, plus it required several trips to the oven to baste the chicken during the roasting time. I decided to utilize the method I had just watched on the Today Show to recreate the essence of the deviled thighs recipe without all the butter and forget the basting!

This is a great go-to dinner party dish to have in your back pocket.  It is an attractive dish that is quite tasty, it allows for easy serving since it is individual pieces, most of the work (what little there is) can be done early in the day, and it can be mostly ignored while you are entertaining your guests.  Really, it is EASY and DELISH, great qualities for a dinner party dish or a even a quick week night supper.

When it comes to chicken pieces, unless I am specifically making spicy wings for football snacking, I tend to gravitate to thighs. I find them easy to deal with and I like the meat better than breasts. So many of the chicken dishes I post here will be made with thighs. For the most part, if you prefer breasts you can easily swap them for the thighs.

Deviled Chicken Thighs

5-6 chicken thighs

Marinade:
3/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
juice of 1 lemon
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1 tablespoon grainy mustard
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Mix marinade ingredients in a bowl.

Wash thighs and trim excess fat and skin.  Find a spot on the thigh and carefully run your finger under the skin to create a pocket. 

Put about a tablespoon or two of the marinade in each pocket.  Then put the thighs in a zip lock bag and pour in any remaining marinade. 

Refrigerate for at least a half an hour, but several hours is even better.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Arrange the chicken thighs in a roasting pan. Roast for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 400 degrees and cook another 25 minutes.

A quick weeknight supper:  Deviled Chicken Thighs, Sauteed Fresh Spinach and Oven Baked Sweet Potato Fries

Enchiladas with Poblano Sauce

I love enchiladas, it doesn't matter whether they are filled with chicken, cheese, beef, veggies, or whatever.  The thing that really makes a good enchilada is the sauce.  You've got to have a great sauce.  There is a restaurant near us called Azucar that does it right.  They have the most wonderful spinach enchiladas.  They are stuffed with fresh spinach and have this incredible light green creamy sauce. I have no idea what is in the sauce, but after searching high and low on the Internet, I found an enchilada recipe made with a poblano pepper sauce by Rick Bayless that seemed to be the place to start.

This recipe is fairly simple, but one of the things that put me off was blackening the peppers.  I don't know why, it's really very easy but something I never do.  Maybe it's because I don't have a gas stove or oven, so blackening without a real flame seems to be a challenge. When shopping for my ingredients I was really hoping to find some canned poblanos so I could skip it.  Fortunately, I did not find the canned poblanos and ended up blackening the fresh peppers on the broil setting in my electric oven.  It worked out just fine and now that I have had it, I think this sauce would have been compromised had I used canned instead of fresh.  Although, if this process will stop you from trying this recipe, I say go ahead a use canned peppers.

The original recipe is for chicken enchiladas, but my goal was to replicate the spinach enchiladas from Azucar.  I knew that spinch filled enchiladas would not go over big with my daughter, so I decided to make half the pan spinach, and then use some leftover roasted chicken to make the other half of the pan chicken.  You can do the same, or double either of the filling recipes for a whole pan of one type.

Enchiladas with Poblano Sauce

 

Enchilada Sauce

2 fresh poblano chilies

1 1/2 cups spinach leaves, chopped

2 cups milk

14 oz vegetable broth

6 tablespoons olive oil

3 garlic cloves, pressed

1/2 cup flour

2 teaspoons kosher salt

 

Spinach Filling

2-3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, pressed
large bag of spinach, washed and lightly chopped
shredded monterrey jack cheese

Chicken Filling
leftover roasted chicken (about 1/2 med. chicken), meat only shredded
1/2 - 3/4 cup sour cream
shredded four cheese mexican blend

12 corn tortillas

fresh salsa

 

Roast the poblanos on a baking sheet 4 inches below a broiler, until blackened and blistered all over. Remove from oven and cover with a damp paper towel until cooled. 

 

Once cool rub off the blackened skin and remove the stem and seeds. Rinse the pepper pieces, chop them in large pieces and place them in the food processor along with the 1 1/2 cups spinach.

 

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for a minute then whisk in the flour for another minute.  Add the veggie broth and then the milk and turn the heat up to medium-high. Whisk the mixture constantly until the sauce comes up to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

 

Pour about half the milk mixture into the food processor with the chilies and spinach and pulse until smooth. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining sauce. Season with kosher salt and set aside.

 

In a large frying pan or wok, heat the olive oil for the spinach filling.  Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute, add the spinach and stir-fry until wilted. Set aside.

 

In a bowl mix the shredded chicken with enough sour cream to moisten. Set aside.

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

 

Wrap the flour tortillas in damp paper towel and heat in the microwave for 1-3 minutes.

 

Spray 9x13 inch baking dish with PAM or other spray oil and ladle a small amount of the pepper sauce into the bottom.

 

Working with on tortilla at a time, sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of cheese down the center of the tortilla and then about 1/2 cup of the filling.  Roll the tortilla up and place seam side down in the pan.  This recipe should make 5-6 or each type.

 

Pour the remaining sauce over the enchiladas. Sprinkle with any remaining cheese and bake 25 - 30 minutes until hot and bubbly.

 

Serve with fresh salsa.

Erik's Slow Roasted Chicken

Is it funny to name a recipe after the person who told you about it?  I mean it's not even his creation, but since I had never cooked chicken like this and my friend Erik is the one who gave me the low down on it, in my mind it is filed away as Erik's Slow Roasted Chicken.

I am constantly seeking out new recipes, but some of the best ones just find their way to you.  This is one of those recipes.  It came up in casual dinner conversation and now that I have made it, I know it will be a go to recipe for years to come. Since this was a casual conversation, I do not have exact measurements, and really it's not so much about the exact seasonings and amounts, it's about the method.

What I love about this recipe is the the low and slow process. It is almost like crock pot cooking in your oven yet without the excess moisture, so maybe it is even better, especially for chicken.  Like crock pot chicken this is fall apart, tender and juicy chicken, but unlike crock pot chicken, this chicken has a nice crispy exterior.  By the way, Erik recommends using chicken thighs instead of breasts, because breasts could dry out.  Very set it and forget it.  Give it try, I know you'll like it.

Erik's Slow Roasted Chicken
6 Servings

6 Chicken thighs
1 onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, pressed
garlic salt
salt
pepper
celery salt
Olive oil

Place chicken thighs, onions and garlic in a casserole dish. Sprinkle with desired amount of garlic salt, salt, pepper and celery salt.  Drizzle some olive oil over the chicken.  Roast, uncovered at 250 degrees for 2 1/2 hours.

Nutritional Information (from MasterCook):

Per Serving: 227 Calories; 17g Fat (66.8% calories from fat); 17g Protein; 2g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 79mg Cholesterol; 401mg Sodium.  Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 2 1/2 Lean Meat; 1/2 Vegetable; 2 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.

Chicken Ga Kho over Sauteed Napa Cabbage and Rice

A friend of mine posted this recipe from The Ravenous Couple on facebook a while back.  I made it several times and then forgot about it.  Last fall we got a head of napa cabbage in our CSA box and I needed to figure out what to make with it.  The chicken ga kho recipe popped into my head, which is funny since the orginal recipe does not contain cabbage.

I tried to think of why I stopped making it.  I think it was the cooking process, specifically caramelizing to the end on the stove was too much frying for me.  So I decided to make a few modifications to the process.  I thought about the way I cook steak, get the good sear then finish it in the oven.  I thought I would adapt that process for this chicken. Once I caramelized the chicken on both sides, I would put it in the oven to finish cooking.  I also decided I would leave the skin on.  While the original recipe is super good, I really like the modifications I made, and think it helps keep the chicken moist and juicy.

Let's get back to the cabbage, because that's the whole reason I decided to revisit this recipe in the first place.  The original recipe is served over rice, so in my mind it was in desperate need of a veggie.  I am sure I served some sort of veggie on the side when I made it before, but my new plan was to make it a complete creation. Slicing and stir frying the cabbage is a quick process that can be done while the chicken is finishing in the oven. So now if I plan to make the chicken, I also pick up a head of napa cabbage, they are permanently wedded in my mind

While it may seem that there are a few steps and three pans, this dish comes together very easily and will look and taste like it took much more effort than it actually does.

Caramelized Chicken Ga Kho over Sauteed Napa Cabbage and Rice
Adapted from The Ravenous Couple's Caramelized Chicken Ga Kho

Servings: 6

Marinade
2 tbs  fish sauce
1 tb  brown sugar

6 chicken thighs
 
Sauce
3/4 cup  brown sugar
1/3 cup  fish sauce
1/3 cup  rice vinegar
1/3 cup  water
4 cloves  garlic -- pressed
2 tbs  ginger -- grated
2 shallots -- minced
2 jalapeno peppers, sliced (remove seeds for mild, keep the seeds for hotter)
2 green onions, sliced
pepper

2 tbs  olive oil

Sauteed Cabbage
1 tablespoon  olive oil
2 cloves  garlic -- pressed
1/2 tablespoon  ginger -- grated
1 head  napa cabbage -- thinly sliced
1 tablespoon  soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon  sesame oil

1 cup jasmine rice

Combine 2 tbs of fish sauce and 1 tbs brown sugar.  Put chicken in a plastic zip lock bag and add the marinade.  Marinate in the refrigerator for at least a half hour.

Combine remaining brown sugar, 1/3 cup water, rice vinegar, and fish sauce and mix until the sugar dissolves. Add the ginger, shallots, and garlic.

Put the rice and 2 cups water in a rice cooker and set to cook.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Heat a large oven safe pan on high with olive oil and add the chicken skin side down.

Allow to brown without touching them for a minute or so and then pour in about 1/4 of the sauce. Do not move the chicken.

Let the sauce begin to thicken and the chicken will brown after a few minutes.

Once it is caramelized, turn the pieces of chicken over and pour in the rest of the sauce. Add the chilies and green onions and pepper to taste. Transfer to the oven to finish for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a wok and add the garlic and ginger.  Cook for about 1 minute.

Then add the napa cabbage and stir fry until wilted.

Dress with soy sauce and sesame oil.

Serve the cabbage on the rice and then place chicken thighs on top.  Drizzle the sauce over the top.


Per Serving: 599 Calories; 25g Fat (36.7% calories from fat); 19g Protein; 76g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 82mg Cholesterol; 264mg Sodium.  Exchanges: 1 1/2 Grain(Starch); 2 1/2 Lean Meat; 1/2 Vegetable; 3 1/2 Fat; 3 Other Carbohydrates.