Spinach and Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken

We eat a lot of chicken in our house so I'm always looking for new ways to prepare it. I made this recipe up so I'm not 100% sure of the exact measurements but either way, I assure you this is a tasty dish. I decided to stuff it with goat cheese because Brian doesn't really like goat cheese, I'm lucky enough that I got him hooked on feta. So I can't put goat cheese on a salad, or else he won't eat it, but if I stuff it into chicken, he'll never know....well until he asks and then at that point I say, "it's feta cheese, dear." See the trickery....I'll be fully prepared when we have kids.

Ingredients:
Package of chicken breasts or cutlets
goat cheese
spinach (could probably use frozen)
2 cloves of garlic
1 1/2 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup lemon (1 lemon)
1/2 cup white wine
2 tbs oil
rosemary
kosher salt
pepper

Wash and pat dry chicken breasts. Mix together goat cheese and spinach - add a pinch of salt. If you are using cutlet, you can add a spoonful of the mixture into the center of the cutlet. Roll the cutlet, starting with the bigger end, and then secure it with a toothpick or two or kitchen twine. If you are using breasts you can slice along the side and stuff the mixture in and secure with a toothpick. Sprinkle eat cutlet/breast with salt, pepper and rosemary.



In a hot frying pan, add the oil and the breast. Cook for a couple minutes on each side so they get slightly browned. Add garlic and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes but be careful not to burn the garlic. Pour in broth, lemon and wine. Let chicken simmer in sauce for about 15-20 minutes. Take out chicken, remember to remove all of the toothpicks, and boil the sauce for 5 minutes to thicken. Pour sauce over chicken and serve immediately.

I served this chicken over orzo but you could use aborio, angel hair, couscous, pilaf, etc.

Chicken Piccata

I struggle with posting some of my recipes because when I cook it's usually a little of this and a little of that. I rarely measure anything unless I'm making it for the first time. So when I made chicken piccata the other night I made an effort to watch how much of each ingredient I was using. This recipe was passed on to me by my mother. It's absolutely delicious but the way she makes it clogs your arteries just looking at it. So I've scaled back on the butter and oil a bit, however, it's still not considered "light" by any means!

This recipe is great for dinner parties as well. If I make it in advance I'll use cut up chicken breasts instead of cutlets and I'll reserve the sauce until I'm about to serve it so it does not get dry. I serve it over penne or ziti.

Ingredients:
1 package of chicken cutlets, washed and patted dry
1/3 cup of flour
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tbs olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup lemon (usually two lemons)
1/2 cup of white cooking wine
1 cup chicken broth
1 tsp dried parsley
2 tsp capers (optional)
1 tsp butter

Wash and pat dry the chicken cutlets. Mix flour, salt, pepper and paprika. Dredge chicken in the flour and shake off excess flour. Heat oil in pan. Put cutlets in pan and sautee until brown, about 4 minutes each side. If you don't have a pan big enough to fry all the cutlets at once, fry them in batches. Place cooked cutlets on a cooling rack (prevents them from getting soggy) or a plate.

Add a little more oil to pan and sautee garlic until lightly brown. Pour in chicken broth and scrap up the brown bits from the pan with a fork. Add wine and lemon and bring to a boil. Add parsley and capers. Let sauce simmer for 1-2 minutes or until thickens. If you want to thicken sauce more wisk in cornstarch a teaspoon at a time. Add the butter. Simmer for another 3 minutes or until butter is melted.

Plate the cutlets over rice or pasta and spoon sauce over.

Caramelized Onion Chicken

This past weekend was beautiful. The warm sun had finally melted the last bit of snow away. Just in time for the Nor'easter. Well if you ask me, and remind you I'm from Texas, the big Nor'easter proved to be a huge disappointment. It started yesterday when Brian and I made a trip to Costcos. It was chaos. You would have thought they were giving away free food (think Super Market Sweep). I knew we were getting snow, but come on people. Then last night they started announcing school closings and I think pretty much every town was shutting down. When I woke up this morning I expected more than what I saw. I mean, sure it snowed, cars were covered, etc but they blow everything out of proportion. Most of the people made it into the office, besides the lucky few who worked from home. Ahhh, the joys of New England.

So here's a Caramelized Onion Chicken recipe from Cooking Light (but it was given to me by Sue). I love pretty much anything with caramelized onions. This sweet and savory dish will not disappoint. I think this is something kids would even enjoy. They can do what Brian does and pick out all the onions. I served this over jasmine rice and thought it was another quick and easy dish.

Ingredients:

1 lb of chicken breast or tenders cut into pieces

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 tsp olive oil

1 cup of sliced onion (I used sweet)

1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam

1 tbs red wine vinegar

1 tbs low sodium soy sauce

1 tsp bottled minced ginger

1/2 tsp dried rosemary

Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and saute for 5 minutes. Add chicken to pan; saute for about 10 minutes or until chicken is done. Remove onion and chicken from pan and set aside.

Add jam and remaining ingredients to pan. Cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly with a whisk. Return chicken mixture to pan. Cook 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. However, the longer it cooks, the more thicker the sauce gets.

Enchiladas Verdes

If you know me, you know that I love Mexican food. I think my first words were "green limes and no beans extra rice." I could eat it morning, noon and night, and I'm pretty sure most Texans feel the same way. I'm convinced that I was a Juanita in my former life. We eat Mexican food so much Brian's dad thinks that our kids are going to be born with a sombrero and a mustache.

But it's hard to find good Mexican, or shall I say, Tex-Mex, in Boston. Nearly impossible. We live up the street from what I thought was fairly decent Mexican restaurant, Mexico Lindo, but when we took my dad there during his visit to Boston, he snubbed his nose at it. I've searched high and low and it's the best I can come up with. So I'm trying to recreate my favorites at home. It's not the same but it'll have to do until my next trip to H-town.

Here's an enchiladas verdes recipe that's become a favorite in our household. When I want to go all out, I make the verdes sauce from scratch. If you don't have the time, you can buy green sauce in the supermarket (La Victoria is my favorite brand). If you forgo the homemade sauce, this is a relatively quick and easy recipe, not to mention good for crowds.

The homemade verdes sauce calls for tomatillos and serrano chiles. I've included a picture for those who don't eat, sleep and dream Mexican food.

Ingredients:

1 pound of chicken breast
1.5 cups of light sour cream
½ cup of thinly sliced scallions
¼ cup of minced fresh cilantro
½ of a white onion
3 cups of chicken broth
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon of salt

½ teaspoon of garlic powder
2 garlic gloves minced
8 flour tortillas
1 cup of cheddar cheese

Verdes Sauce

2-4 serrano chiles (depending on how hot you want it)
1 pound of tomatillos, husks removed
¼ cup of minced cilantro
¼ cup of chopped white onions
1 tablespoon of cooking oil
½ teaspoon salt or to taste

To make the enchiladas:
Sprinkle chicken with salt. Place chicken in a skillet with the garlic and half of a sliced white onion. Pour in 3 cups of chicken broth or enough to cover the chicken. Simmer until chicken is no longer pink inside. Let chicken cool a little and shred with your hands. Put shredded chicken in a bowl with the sour cream, scallions, cilantro, ½ cup of shredded cheese, ½ teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder. Mix. Spray a baking pan with non stick cooking spray. Put two-three spoon fulls of chicken mix in a tortilla. Roll and place in the pan seam side down. I spread a little extra sour cream on each enchilada. Top with verdes sauce and cheese. Bake covered in a 350 degrees pre-heated oven for 25-30 minutes. Last 5 minutes remove foil and back uncovered. I used another recipe to base this from but really I made this up so you can add anything you want to it.

Verdes Sauce:
Place chiles in a sauce pan with three cups of water, bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the tomatillos, cover, and continue to simmer for an additional 8 minutes. The tomatillos should be cooked through but not falling apart. Remove chiles and tomatillos from pot and reserve the cooking liquid. Allow chiles and tomatillos to cool then move the stems and seeds from the chiles and cut into small pieces. Place chiles, tomatillos, cilantro, and the onions in the bowl of a blender and blend for about 30 seconds. The sauce should be well blended but still retain some texture. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat, add the content of the blender and ½ cup of the reserved tomatillo cooking liquid and simmer for about 10 minutes. The sauce should firmly coat a spoon. Add the salt and cook for another minute. Remove from the heat and reserve. This makes about 2 cups.

Arriba arriba!

Pan-Seared Chicken with Artichokes and Pasta

I have to say this is one of my favorite dishes to eat and make. It's fairly easy and it's great if you're having a dinner party. However, Brian hates it. He destroys this dish by picking out the artichokes, olives and tomatoes. It makes me cringe when I see him doing this, although he does give me all his scraps.

When I make this dish I use my huge anodized calphalon pan because I'm able to fit everything in there. If you don't have a pan this size (and once I figure out how to write html, I'll include a link to the picture of the pan) just sear the chicken in a pan and then mix everything together in the pot you use to boil your pasta.

Oh and by the way...this is another SSCC recipe. Shout out to Sue, who I believe got this from a Cooking Light magazine. I make some changes to the recipe which I've noted below.

1 large jar marinated artichoke heart quarters, undrained
about 1 ½ lbs chicken (I use chicken breast but the orginal recipe called for thighs)
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
½ cup sliced green onions
½ cup dry white wine
4 cups cooked cavatappi or fusilli (I use the whole box)
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, drained
1 tbsp chopped pitted kalamata olives
2 tbsp grated fresh parmesan cheese

Drain artichokes reserving marinade.

Dredge chicken in small amount of flour, salt and pepper. In a large skillet cook chicken in olive oil until done and slightly browned. (This is a one pan meal, so the larger the pan the better). Add garlic and onions. Sauté about one minute. Stir in reserved artichoke marinade and wine, scraping the pan to loosen browned bits. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and stir in artichokes, pasta, olives and tomatoes. Cook a few more minutes until thoroughly heated. Sprinkle with cheese.