Recipe: Rachael Ray's chicken and green bean casserole

(In case you are wondering, I didn't just put a large clump of fried onions on the top of this and forget to spread them out.  We had this on Valentine's day weekend, so I was trying to be festive with a heart.)

I saw this recipe on Rachael Ray one day while I was ironing. Not that ironing has anything to do with this story but I like to be as accurate as possible and I watch a lot of weekday television shows that I've DVR'd while ironing. Anywho, this recipe caught my eye and has been a favorite for Mike and I ever since.  The leftovers are also good...and this dish can feed an army (not that that is necessary for a household of just 2 people, but I always like to have an arsenal of recipes in the back of my head for when we have guests staying with us.  We don't have much space in our kitchen to make or store large meals, so one dish casseroles like this really work well. 

I'm a sucker for a the fried onions that come in a container from the grocery store. Not sure what it is but man, oh man do I love them.   But over the past year or so, we've decided that green bean casserole using the cream of mushroom soup in a can just tastes a bit gross.  I don't know what it is but every time I made green bean casserole, we were both thinking, eh...better luck next time.  

I have also just learned that most soup cans are lined with BPA - you know that nasty contaminant that gives you cancer?  Yep, that one.  So it seems like our taste buds were ahead of their time in telling us to not eat that stuff anymore and make green bean casserole from scratch.  And that, my friends, is what I did.  And I'm sold.  This recipe is a keeper.  As with any recipe it seems, I have a few additions or subtractions to make it my own. My notes are in italics.  This recipe is a great use up for leftover chicken breasts.  I also like to add frozen peas to just about anything I can, so this recipe has them too. I mean, why not toss in a few more green veggies?  Anytime I can add vegetables to the main dish I do. 

Ingredients:

Salt

1 1/2 lbs green beans, trimmed and cut into thirds (I just toss a few big handfuls of fresh green beans into a bag and call it good enough.)

1T. Olive oil

4 T. butter

1 pkg of button mushrooms, sliced

2 large shallots, chopped (I don't have these on hand all the time, if I do, I'll toss them in, otherwise I omit them)

3-4 garlic cloves, chopped

pepper

2 T. fresh thyme, chopped (I used this the first time I made it, it's really good, but not necessary as I forgot to pick it up from the grocery store the next time I made this dish and everything turned out just fine.)

4 T. flour

1/2 c. white wine

2 c chicken stock

1 c. half and half

1 (5.4 oz) wheel of garlic and herb Boursin (this is key! it's the secret-but-not-secret ingredient)

1 1/2 lbs of pulled chicken (Typically I just use 2 chicken breasts)

1 c. frozen peas

1 container of fried onions 

Rachael Ray makes her own fried onions, since I have a love of the already made fried onions, I don't spend the time making my own. But check out Rachael's complete recipe in case you want to make them from scratch. 

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (instructions below if you want to make this ahead, if you are doing that, don't preheat the oven.)

Bring a few inches of water to a low boil in a skillet. Add salt and beans, cook 3-4 minutes until tender-crisp, drain.  I use the colander double boiler thing (because I have it and I like to be equal opportunity in the kitchen with all the lovely all-clad pots and pans that I have, so I just cook the beans in the double boiler thingy, but you can go about whichever way you wish.) 

Heat olive oil and butter in a large skillet over medium to medium high heat. Add mushrooms, brown them lightly for 7-8 minutes.  Add shallots, garlic and season with salt, pepper and thyme.  Stir 2-3 minutes.  Add flour. Stir 1 minute.  Add wine. Stir in chicken stock and thicken.  Add cream and reduce heat to a simmer. Add Boursin cheese, beans, frozen peas, chicken and thicken just a bit. 

Transfer to a baking dish.  If you are making this ahead of time, you can cool this, cover and refrigerate and then on the day you want to eat it, bring the dish back to room temp before backing at 374 until bubbly (about 50-60 minutes). 

If you are going to make it and eat it on the same night. Stick the dish in the oven at 375 for about 25-30 minutes or until bubbly.  Top with either the homemade or store-bought fried onions and cook for about 5 more minutes until the onions are browned. 

Serve and enjoy!

recipe: crispy orange hoisin chicken

[photo credit]

In my constant quest to pin chicken recipes, I found this one on pinterest and made it last night.  It's a good one, although as you can see in the title of the recipe it's called Crispy Orange Hoisin chicken.  And I totally forgot the Hoisin when I was at the grocery store.  So this recipe turned into Crispy Orange-toss-in-whatever-asian-condiments-I-have-in-the-frig-Chicken was still quite tasty. Next time I'll have to remember the Hoisin for a new twist.  Here's the original recipe - with my changes in italics.

Preheat a baking pan in a 425 degree F oven.

·       4 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut in thick strips (about 4 or 5 per breast)

·       1 egg + 2 tbsp water whisked together to make an egg wash

·       Combine


o   1 cup flour

o   ½ tsp black pepper

o   ¼ tsp cayenne pepper

o   1 tbsp ground ginger

o   1/2 tsp ground nutmeg 

o   1 tsp salt

Dip the chicken pieces in the flour mixture, then in the egg wash then dredge them again in the flour mixture. Place on a lightly oiled baking sheet and lightly drizzle or the tops with a little more peanut oil. Bake at 425 degrees F for about 20 minutes. Flip the pieces at half way through the cooking time. While the chicken is baking, prepare your sauce.

·       3 cloves minced garlic

·       3 tbsp peanut oil (I used canola oil.)

Heat peanut oil in a wok over med-high heat. Quickly add the garlic and stir fry for only about a minute. (I don’t have a wok.  I just used the biggest pan we have.)

To the wok add 2 cups orange juice.

Simmer to reduce the orange juice volume by half before adding all at once

·       1/2 cup  Hoisin sauce (I forgot to pick this up from the store therefore, it wasn’t in our version.)

·       4 tbsp rice wine or Chinese cooking wine (I didn’t have this either)

·       3 tbsp rice wine vinegar (or apple cider vinegar in a pinch)

·       6 tbsp brown sugar

·       2 tsp chili paste (optional or to taste or use chili flakes to taste)

·       4 tsp soya sauce (I have no idea what soya sauce is…I assumed this was soy sauce and tossed that in.)

·       2 tsp toasted sesame oil

·       1/2 c. Sweet Ginger-chili sauce (this was my substitution to the hoisin sauce)

Bring to a boil and thicken with a slurry of 2 tsp corn starch dissolved in 1/4 cup cold water. Toss in:

·       1 diced red pepper

·       1 cup sliced button mushrooms (optional)

·       1 cup steamed snow peas (I didn’t have any of these either.)

·       1 cup broccoli steamed

Toss in the baked chicken pieces. Serve over rice or Chinese noodles.

Things I should know how to make: one whole chicken

I've decided that this is the year to expand my cooking horizons. There are a few things that I have never made (they seemed scary) and I thought at 32 years old, I shouldn't be afraid to cook anything. 

Here's my list of scary recipes to conquer:

• one whole chicken - done (see above), recipe to follow
• brownies from scratch - done, not all that impressed.
• cheesecake - done
• Dutch apple pancake - this is one of those fancy breakfast for dinner recipes my mom always used to make, I felt like we should be eating with the Rockefellers on Dutch apple pancake night.
• Lobster tails - this one is kind of cheating.  Because I've already made it twice, and it couldn't be simpler.  But again, it's one of those foods that I thought the only time I eat this is at a restaurant therefore it belongs on this list. 
• Cooking a fish in salt (there must be a fancier name for this, I think I better get one of Julia Child's cookbooks from the library - this seems like something she would have made.)

That's all I can think of currently, but it's still early in the year, I have plenty of time to try (and occasionally fail) all sorts of "fancy" recipes.

One giant chicken was actually super easy.  I called my mom on this one to find out if I should be looking in the bird for anything unusual.  She said frankly, just stick your hand in there, if there's something there, pull it out.  Simple as that.  I did. It was empty. Phew.

Next I did just what the fine chefs on The Chew suggested - if you don't have a roasting pan, just prop your bird up on a bed of veggies. And I did (after I dirtied about 4 different dishes trying to find out which one was big enough for the veggies and the bird.)

About 2 hours later. I pulled out the bird in all its glory.  And I ate it. And I complemented myself 17 times.  

As it turns out "fancy" recipes in my head are not actually that hard.  

recipe: creamy spring pasta

It seems like this year, I've been bookmarking more Creamy Spring Pasta recipes than I ever have before.  Michael Symon on The Chew did one here.  When I was at the grocery store buying the ingredients to make this recipe the asparagus looked thicker than the diameter of the great California redwoods, so I decided to fore go the asparagus and picked up some broccolini instead. (Because who doesn't love to just say the word broccolini, let alone eat it?) I also added some chicken that I had cooked up in a pan.  However, I think next time I'll just shred up a store bought rotisserie chicken to make it even easier.  We are big fans of having 1 bowl dinners every few weeks - in that the veggies, protein, etc. are all in one bowl so that we can sit in front of the tv and watch a Giants game while eating dinner. This recipe is definitely a keeper, and I think I'll keep sticking with adding the brocollini instead of the asparagus just because we eat roasted asparagus on a regular basis, that the broccolini was a bit of a treat. Also, I'm not sure why adding toasted bread crumbs on top makes it so special but it almost felt decadent to have them. I'm sold. Loved it.

Below is the recipe from April's Cooking Light but with my notes in italics.  

[*]

Creamy Spring Pasta

Ingredients

• 3 quarts water
• 2 ounces French bread baguette, torn into pieces  (I just toasted up store bought bread crumbs.)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 3 garlic cloves, minced and divided
• 1 1/2 cups (2-inch) diagonally cut asparagus (or Broccolini)
• 1 cup frozen green peas
• 6 ounces uncooked fettuccine
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/3 cup finely chopped sweet onion
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup 1% low-fat milk
• 3 ounces 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
• 1 ounce Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, grated (about 1/4 cup packed)
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon (I didn't have any of this, so it didn't get included in my recipe.)

Preparation

1. Bring 3 quarts water to a boil in a Dutch oven.
2. Place torn bread in a food processor; process until coarse crumbs form. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 garlic clove to pan; sauté 1 minute. Add breadcrumbs; sauté 3 minutes or until golden brown and toasted. Remove breadcrumb mixture from pan; wipe pan clean with paper towels.
3. Add asparagus and peas to boiling water; cook for 3 minutes or until crisp-tender. Remove from pan with a slotted spoon. Rinse under cold water; drain. (I cooked up the broccolini just about how they say to cook the asparagus. However I didn't use the same pot for cooking the pasta as I did for cooking the broccolini...something about the green water just didn't appeal to me.)
4. Add pasta to boiling water; cook 10 minutes or until al dente. Drain and keep warm. (I used fresh fettucine so it cooked in about 3-5 minutes.)
5. Heat olive oil in skillet over medium heat. Add onion and the remaining 2 garlic cloves; cook for 3 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently. Place flour in a small bowl; gradually whisk in chicken broth. Add broth mixture and milk to pan, stirring constantly with a whisk; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cook 1 minute or until thickened. Remove from heat; add cheeses, salt, and pepper, stirring until cheeses melt. Add pasta, asparagus, and peas; toss well. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and tarragon.  (Since I also added cooked chicken, I tossed that into the pot after the cheese had melted.)

Ann Taylor Pittman, Cooking Light
APRIL 2012

recipe: chicken and rice with mushrooms

[recipe]

Ingredients

2 cups boiling water

1/4 cup dried porcini mushrooms (about 1/4 ounce)

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

3/4 teaspoon salt, divided

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided

3/4 cup chopped onion

8 ounces cremini mushrooms, sliced

3/4 cup uncooked brown basmati rice

2 cups frozen green peas, thawed

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

Preparation

1. Combine 2 cups boiling water and porcini mushrooms; let stand for 20 minutes. Drain through a sieve over a bowl, reserving soaking liquid. Finely chop mushrooms.
2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to pan; swirl to coat. Sprinkle chicken evenly with paprika, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Add chicken mixture to pan; sauté for 5 minutes or until chicken is browned, stirring occasionally. Remove chicken from pan.
3. Return pan to medium-high heat. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add onion and cremini mushrooms; sprinkle with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper; sauté 4 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring occasionally. Stir in reserved porcini liquid, chopped porcini, and rice; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer gently for 35 minutes. Stir in the reserved chicken, peas, and thyme. Cover and cook 10 minutes or until rice is tender and chicken is done.

Wendy Kalen, Cooking Light

JANUARY 2012

........................

January's edition of Cooking Light has done it again! This recipe was a keeper.  Not much to change (other than a personal note to myself to stop cooking chicken too long!) But that's just my own personal battle of figuring out timing in the kitchen when I'm trying to cook the meat and other things all at once.