Earlier in the week, I shared with you a big crock pot of delicious shredded chicken for my Slow Cooker Spicy Chicken Thigh Tacos. The tacos were awesome – with just the right amount of chicken to spice. The recipe made a giant pot of filling, more than we could possibly eat in one meal. Tonight I took that filling and created super quick, oh so delicious Chicken and Rice Burritos.
Continue reading “Spicy Chicken and Rice Burritos – An Entire Meal Wrapped in a Flour Tortilla”
Have you ever had a craving for something old? Something that once was a part of Americana – especially on Sundays in the summer? I can remember my mother frying up chicken in a big black skillet. The sounds of the skin sizzling in hot grease – the wonderful smells floating through the kitchen. I can see my parents so clearly in my mind’s eye – Dad swinging a meat cleaver, cutting up a big, plump broiler chicken for Mom to fry up. We always had our fried chicken with biscuits that Dad made from scratch and fresh corn that we picked that day from the small patch of corn growing out back.
I hadn’t made fried chicken in years. Oh sure, “oven-fried” is one thing, but it’s not the big-skillet-real-deal fried chicken of my simple country childhood. And I wanted some of that. I wanted the chicken I remember as a child, only this time without the bones. For one thing, Kiddo won’t eat chicken that is cooked with the bones. I guess that’s because he’s grown up eating the boneless, skinless variety of chicken that is “healthier”. With a good, double-coating of breading, you can almost achieve that outer “crunch” of the skin-on fried chicken. And that’s what we are really after – that bite into a crisp fried chicken with a tender, moist piece of meat. Yeah, that’s the good stuff!
Fried Chicken and Sunday Suppers go hand-in-hand all year round. Served up with some mashed potatoes and fresh-canned green beans. My oh my – my mouth is watering!
Fried Chicken with Creamy Gravy
Ingredients – Chicken
10 Boneless Chicken Thighs (or 5 boneless Breasts)
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 Cup Crushed Ritz Crackers (finely crushed)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup milk
2 large eggs
oil for Frying
Open thighs flat and season with salt and pepper. Set aside. (Note: If using breasts, cut in half width wise for faster cooking)
Combine cracker crumbs, flour, baking powder, remaining salt and pepper in a pie pan. Whisk together 1 1/2 cups milk and eggs in another pie pan.
Dredge chicken in cracker crumb mixture; dip in milk mixture, and dredge in cracker mixture again. Place chicken pieced on a wire rack and let sit for the breading to adhere to the chicken.
Pour oil to a depth of 1/2 inch in a 12-inch cast iron skillet (do not use a nonstick skillet). Heat oil over medium high heat (more on the high side). Once the oil is hot, fry chicken, in batches, 10 minutes, adding oil as needed. (If chicken begins to burn, adjust temperature).
Turn and fry 4 to 5 more minutes or until golden brown. Remove to a wire rack over a cookie sheet. Keep chicken warm in a 225-degree oven.
Carefully drain the hot drippings, reserving cooked bits and 2 -3 tablespoons of the drippings in skillet.
Ingredients – Pan Gravy
1/3 cup flour
2 – 3 tablespoons pan drippings
3 cups milk
salt & pepper to taste
1 Tablespoon Chicken Bouillon Granules
Carefully drain the hot drippings, reserving cooked bits and 2 -3 tablespoons of the drippings in skillet. Add 1/3 cup flour to the skillet with the drippings. Cook over medium high heat.
Using a whisk mix the flour into the drippings until it starts to brown, creating a roux. If the roux looks to oily and runny you can add another tablespoon or so of flour and mix again. Whisk constantly until the paste becomes nice and brown.
Slowly add the milk whisking constantly and blending the liquid with the flour mixture until combined. Add seasoning.
Let the gravy come to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer until the gravy thickens up. If the mixture thickens too much add more milk as needed until the gravy is the consistency that you want. This could end up being more than the required 3 cups.
Taste and generously season again with salt and pepper as needed.
Did you know that Cacciatore means hunter? Chicken Cacciatore, traditionally speaking, is a stew that was easy for a hunter to prepare at camp with only a large pot to cook in. Traditionally speaking, it was made of chicken or rabbit and whatever else could be found – herbs, wine (red in the north, white in the south) and spices. Traditionally speaking, tomatoes weren’t part of the dish. Today, tomatoes and a tomato based sauce is commonly found in Cacciatore. And this is “today”, so I’m going with the less traditional, more modern rendition of Cacciatore, so no hunting and gathering required. Just a few basic ingredients (bet you have them on hand) and a nice, big crock pot.
The weather is still beautiful. Perfect for some late season barbecuing on the old trusty grill. Let’s face it, nothing beats meats cooked over an open fire. It has got to be one of our favorite methods of cooking. I especially like grilled foods because Hubby gets involved. I just adore it when we cook together. It is one of the most romantic, intimate things a couple can do together.
I came across the original recipe for Carolina Style Barbecue while strolling through Mary Yonkin’s blog – Barefeet in the Kitchen. I just love the name she’s given to her blog – it sounds so down to earth and inviting, don’t you think?
Anyway, we gave her recipe a try about a year ago, and have made it several times since – with a few alterations along the way. You know me, I can’t resist tinkering with recipes. Mary’s original recipe called for 6 pieces of chicken – 3 legs and 3 thighs. I’ve doubled that, and in so doing doubled the marinade as well. Her recipe uses a lot more Dijon Mustard (1/3 cup in a single batch of marinade), while I’ve cut that way back. If you are a fan of Dijon, go for it. Hubby thought the Dijon was a bit too strong the first time around, so I’ve played with the amount to find a happy medium before coming up with the current version of the recipe. Mary has you soak the chicken in half the marinade, reserving the other half for basting while cooking. I pour it all on and skip the basting. The other difference is that I let the chicken sit on the counter for about an hour before grilling over a nice bed of coals.
There are two schools of thought when it comes to letting food sit on the counter to “warm” before grilling – one says it makes no difference, and that letting food come to “room temperature” isn’t safe. The other swears that allowing the food to warm allows for a more even cooking, and that letting the food sit out isn’t all that risky. Personally, we have found that taking the chill off the meat does make for easier grilling. I wouldn’t do this with ground meats or sea food – but it’s fine for large cuts of meat such as tri-tip or bone-in meats – be it steak, chicken or even pork. If you aren’t comfortable letting the meat rest on the counter before grilling, skip that part. Whatever works best for you, your grill and cooking style is fine.
This recipe renders a chicken that isn’t too sweet or spicy (despite the use of brown sugar and Sriracha). The Dijon mustard isn’t overwhelming – giving a little kick to the flavors. The chicken is moist and oh so delicious. My guys rave about how great it tastes – and that’s always a good thing.
Sweet Carolina Style Barbecue Chicken
6 Tablespoons Dijon mustard, divided (3 tablespoons per batch)
9 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, divided (4 1/2 tablespoons per batch)
2/3 cup brown sugar, divided (1/3 cup per batch)
2 tablespoon Sriracha sauce (1 tablespoon per batch)
1 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (3/4 teaspoon per batch)
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
6 chicken legs
6 chicken bone-in thighs
Season all the chicken well with salt and pepper. Place legs in a gallon size Ziploc bag, thighs in another. Spread chicken out so that the bag lays flat and the chicken is in a single layer.
In a small bowl, whisk together half of remaining ingredients for the marinade. Pour the marinade into one of the bags, turn to coat evenly. Repeat with the remaining marinade ingredients. Pour into second bag. Let chicken marinate in the refrigerator for at least a couple of hours. DO NOT marinade overnight, as the vinegar will react with the chicken if left too long and “burn” the meat.
Remove the chicken from the refrigerator and place bags flat on the counter for an hour before grilling. While the chicken rest on the counter, build a nice fire in the grill for direct cooking. Make sure the grate is clean and freshly oiled to prevent chicken from sticking.
Once the coals are ready and the chicken has warmed on the counter, place chicken directly over the fire. Raise the grate or lower the coals, however your barbecue is build, so that the chicken isn’t so close to the coals that it burns. Grill 15-20 minutes per side, or until cooked through. Cooking time will depend on the size of your chicken pieces.
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To view Mary’s original recipe; follow this link:
http://www.barefeetinthekitchen.com/2012/01/carolina-style-barbecue-chicken.html
It’s mid-September and summer is lingering just a bit longer. It’s always nice to get a few extra days, or even a few extra weeks of grilling season. Those beautiful days of Indian Summer are special and deserving of more than just barbecued hamburgers and potato salads.
Continue reading “September’s Summer and Backyard Barbecues”
My family spent the summer of 1965 in the Philippines, getting to know Mom’s side of the family. We stayed in her childhood home and immersed ourselves in a world that at first glance seemed very different from the one we knew “back home” in America. Yet, strip away the outward surroundings, and it really wasn’t different at all. The same can be said for families everywhere. Families gathered, visited, enjoyed one another and ate. When you think about it, a typical family scene plays out every day throughout the world. The “native” foods vary from country to country and the language spoken might not be the same, but the warmth, laughter and the love for one another are universal.
Here’s a delicious Mexican supper that utilizes leftover Spanish Rice. If you’ve made my Authentic Spicy Spanish Rice, then you know this recipe will cook up a ton of spicy rice. The leftover rice is great to reheat as a side for so many Mexican dishes or to use in burritos. Or you could try a Rosemarie Original.
Continue reading “Spicy Chicken Thighs Smothered in Spanish Rice”
Years ago, a couple of friends opened a restaurant in a little strip-mall food court. Their place was called “The Teriyaki Hut”. They were Filipino-Hawaiian transplants to the Nevada desert. Their little eatery predominately specialized in dishes from Hawaii (although Teriyaki is actually a Japanese cooking technique of broiling or grilling foods that are glazed in a mixture of soy, mirin and sugar). I often wondered why they didn’t concentrate on the Filipino side of their heritage. After all, Las Vegas has a huge Filipino population. I suppose my friends wanted to set themselves apart since there were already a number of established strip-mall eateries serving up Pancit, Adobo and Lumpia.
Do you love garlic? I mean really love garlic? If the answer is yes, then oh are you in for a treat. One of my favorite dishes is French Country Forty-Clove Garlic Chicken. Leave it to the French to truly endulge!
Continue reading “For the True Garlic Lovers – Awesome Garlic Chicken Thighs”
In recent weeks, I’ve been organizing and reorganizing my Yumprint recipe collection. Originally my “cookbooks” within Yumprint were organized in categories such as a beef cookbook, a chicken, a pork and so forth. In other words, all my beef based recipes were lumped into one book aptly named Beef. As the collection grew, finding something Italian or French within a sea of Beef or Chicken recipes became increasingly more difficult. While searching through recipes often brought inspiration, it was also a pain if I were looking for a particular type of cuisine in a hurry. Naturally, I went through all my various cookbooks and redefined the recipes (Yumprint sorts recipes in an alpha-numerical listing within each book). the only way that seemed to make sense – I read each recipe, then gave it a country of origin such as Chicken – Italian: Chicken Parmesan for example. This worked well for a while, but did not completely solve the hunt and peck grind. Sure, I could have simply typed Chicken Parmesan into the search parameters, but when you have thousands of recipes to search, it takes a minute. No, this simply would not do – more information was needed. What if I were standing in front of a freezer packed with chicken legs that I needed to use up but did not have clue one as to what I wanted to make with all those legs. Now the focus had shifted from just a country of origin to inspiration using a particular cut of meat. Problem solved. Everything was renamed yet again. Chicken- French: Chicken Provencal became Chicken, Legs – French: Chicken Provencal. Now all my recipes using breasts or legs or thighs are lumped into separate groups, followed by country, followed by the actual name of a dish. As I plunged head-long into this process, I began to notice something that caused me to wonder. Chicken, Breast – American held far more recipes than Chicken, Thighs – American. Why was that? Do Americans eat more white meat than dark, thus explaining a broader assortment of recipes calling for breast? The answer? Yes, we do. Studies indicate that an average, meat-consuming American will eat approximately 60 pounds of chicken a year. (Obviously this study does not take into consideration chicken wings and Super Bowl Sunday). Of the chicken eaten, a whopping 80% of that is breast meat. Wow! The real kicker here is that most professional chefs would rather work with dark meat – thighs in particular. Dark meat is less dry that white meat, it has more depth of flavor and that slightly gamey wow factor. So what gives with the rest of us? There are all sorts of theories floating about, but the bottom line is we need to embrace the deliciousness of dark meat. I for one intend to do just that!
To begin with, isn’t the picture lovely? In all fairness, it’s not mind – the photo; like the recipe, is a William-Sonoma creation (http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/paprika-chicken.html). When I cooked for my guys, they were far to hungry to wait for the usual “photo” section – we cooked, we ate, we enjoyed. Boy, it was good!
This recipe is perfect for a delicious week-day meal. From start to finish, it took under an hour. Okay, so maybe it’s not speedy-quick, but it’s one of the tastiest chickens I’ve prepared in under an hour. I will admit, I did find that the cooking time was a little longer than the recipe called for, but then again I had fairly large thighs in the skillet, so it would make sense. Not only was the finished dish very tasty, it was juicy, too. Hubby and Kiddo have let me know this recipe is a real “keeper”. Now Hubby has always been a fan of dark meat, so it’s no surprise that he enjoyed it. However; Kiddo is funny when it comes to chicken – he rarely likes chicken on the bone, although I don’t have a clue as to why. And he prefers white meat over dark meat hands down. So for Kiddo to say he want this again, that’s two thumbs up. Yeah, it’s good!
As usual, I made a few changes to the original recipe. First off, as the photo shows, William-Sonoma uses legs and thighs in their recipe (3 each). I elected to go with just the thighs (7 – strange package) because it’s what I had in the freezer. As it turns out, the rub was perfect for the amount of chicken I had on hand. I did change the rub just a bit – using chopped roasted garlic rather than roasted garlic powder. (What can I say, I’m a huge fan of garlic!) The only other change I made was to lift the skin from the thigh (without removing it) and put some of the rub between the meat and the skin, thus increasing the wonderful flavor throughout the meat. Beyond that, no other changes or alternations were necessary.
Now that I’ve shared my tips and alterations, let’s get down to the real reason we’re here – to cook up a wonderful chicken recipe using dark meat that is fast and tasty.
Smoked Paprika Chicken
1 tablespoon Smoked Paprika
1 teaspoon Chopped Roasted Garlic
1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
1/8 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
1 teaspoon Brown Sugar
6 Chicken Thighs, bone-in; Skin-on*
1 Tablespoon Cooking Oil
Note: I prefer thighs, but this recipe will work with all legs or a combination of legs and thighs.
In a small bowl, stir together the paprika, garlic powder, salt, cayenne and brown sugar. Set aside.
Gently lift skin from meat without removing the skin. Sprinkle a little rub under the skin, gently message into meat. Rub remaining spice mixture evenly over the entire chicken pieces.
In a nonstick fry pan over medium-high heat, warm the oil. Add the chicken skin side up. Reduce the heat to medium, cover and cook about 15 minutes. Turn chicken, cover and continue to cook until juices run clear, about 10 minutes longer.
Uncover the pan, increase the heat to medium-high and cook until the skin begins to crisp, 2 to 3 minutes. Serve immediately.
I love my brother dearly – for two reasons. He’s the only brother I had and he had the biggest heart. Up until he became ill, my brother wandered around the city caring for stray cats. He fed them, made sure they had fresh water and even took them to the vet when they got sick. In an effort to cut down on the stray cat population, he captured those he could to have them spayed or neutered – all out of his own pocket. My brother didn’t make much – he worked as a delivery person for our town’s only paper by day and drove a taxi by night. As a taxi driver, he would pick one passenger each night to give a free ride to, based on conversation or circumstance. He didn’t let them know the ride was free until they had reached their final destination. Generally, he picked someone that struck a cord with him, someone he was able to relate to on some personal level. Like the young mother who wanted to surprise her Airman husband returning from a tour of duty and needed a lift to an Air Force Base in another city. She was excited to see her husband, but worried about the cost of a taxi ride. He thought of our parents when they were newly weds and liked to think that someone would have helped them. You can see why I love my brother. More than that, I admired him. In so many ways, he was and still is my hero.
My brother lived with Hubby, Kiddo and I for a while. When he became very ill, he moved in with our younger sister, a retired school teacher who lives in a small town two-hours north of here. She was in a better position to care for him in his final days. Our brother has been fitted with an LVAD (it’s a heart pump for transplant candidates to keep them going as they wait for a new heart). While waiting for a heart, our brother was diagnosed with cancer. Every minute we spent with him from that point forward was borrowed time that we will forever be grateful for. Every time I saw my brother, he asked the same question “What was that chicken you make with the olives? The one I really liked.” My baby brother was the pickiest eater on the planet. When he “really” liked something other than burgers and pizza, it’s high praise indeed! His favorite dish was my Spanish Chicken with Mushrooms and Green Olives. He always smiled when I answered him, remembering it fondly. Since his passing, whenever I make this dish I know he is smiling down at me. When I get to heaven, I’m going to make it for him again.
Spanish Chicken with Mushrooms & Green Olives
1 Can condensed Tomato Soup
1 1/2 tablespoons Italian Seasoning
1 tablespoon Dried Oregano
1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 package Chicken Thighs, about 1 lb
2 Cups Fresh Mushrooms, sliced (about 6 oz)
½ Cup Water
½ cup wine red wine
¼ to ½ Cup California Pimento-Stuffed Green Olives (more to taste)
In a bowl, mix soup with Italian Seasoning, Oregano and Garlic Powder. Set aside until ready to use.
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large, high-sided skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook until browned on both sides, about 5-6 minutes per side. Remove and place on warmed serving platter, tent to keep warm. If necessary, you can brown your chicken in batches, adding a bit more olive oil as necessary. Just remember, your skillet has to be large enough to hold everything including the sauce once the chicken has been browned.
Reduce heat to medium. Add remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Cook mushrooms until tender and liquid has evaporated, stirring often.
Stir in soup mixture, water, olives and wine. Heat to boiling. Return chicken to skillet. Reduce heat to low; cover and cook 15-20 minutes or until chicken is tender and is no longer pink, stirring occasionally. Remove chicken to serving dish, keep warm. Increase heat, stirring sauce until slightly reduced and thickened, about 5-8 minutes. Pour sauce over chicken and serve.
Serve with plenty of warm bread to soak up all the goodness of the sauce.
Note: This can also be made with a combo pack of breast, thighs and legs – just cut the breast meat in half to make the chicken more uniformed in size.
I’m thinking ahead to Sunday . . .
If it’s Sunday, it’s gotta be chicken! Sunday is just around the corner, and already my mouth is watering in anticipation.
Continue reading “French Country Forty-Clove Garlic Chicken”
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