Chicken Marsala

The absolute best recipe I have made in a long time... Chicken Marsala from the Italian Chef.  I used more mushrooms than the recipe called for, since I love fresh shrooms!  I served it with brown rice and a side tossed salad...

Chicken Marsala


Serves 2


2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin

flour, spread on a plate

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 pound of mushrooms, sliced

1/2 cup Marsala wine

2 tablespoons of butter

1/2 cup chicken broth

Salt and Pepper to taste

1.Heat olive oil in large saute pan over medium-high heat.

2.When the oil is hot, dredge both sides of the chicken breasts in flour, shake off excess flour and place in pan. Saute chicken, turning once, until lightly browned on both sides. Transfer the chicken to a warm plate.

3.Drain all but a little bit of the oil and add mushrooms. Saute the mushrooms until they begin to release their juices.

4.Add the Marsala wine, and scrape loose with a wooden spoon all browning residues on the bottom and sides of the pan.

5.Add butter, chicken broth, salt and pepper. Cook until the liquid is reduced by half, approximately 5 minutes.

6.Place the chicken breasts back in the pan and cook until heated through. Transfer the chicken breasts to warm serving plates, pour sauce over them and serve.

Does anyone know what type of tree this is..noticed it other day?  Now I have to wait until spring to see what it looks like with leaves.  Just love the shape and look of it!

Thanks for Stopping By ...

Chicken Scampi

I've been looking for a tasty Chicken Scampi recipe and over the Holidays I tried one I really liked...

Just look at those sliced onions and peppers of all colors....green, red, yellow and orange! Then some nice chicken tenders and angel hair pasta, what's NOT to like.  Add a slice of garlic toast or bread and you're ready to go.

CHICKEN SCAMPI

White Sauce Base:

Heat 1 tablespoon butter in nonstick skillet.
After it's melted, add 2 tablespoons flour and cook for 2 minutes on medium heat. Slowly add milk and stir constantly to get rid of lumps.

When you have added enough milk, you should have like a white gravy consistency. Set this aside.
You will have much more white sauce than you will actually need.


Scampi Sauce:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

2 tablespoons crushed garlic (real garlic; not salt or the dried stuff)

2 tablespoons chicken stock

3/4 cup Chablis, Riesling or any white as long as it's not too sweet
1 cup water

1/4 cup white sauce

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

2 tablespoons Italian seasoning

Black pepper to taste

Heat butter over a slow heat.

Add the garlic, Italian seasoning and crushed red pepper. Cook for about 2 minutes on low heat.

Add the wine, water, and chicken base. Stir until combined.

Add the white sauce mix and stir until slightly thickened.



Cook 1/2 package angel hair, cooked according to package directions.

Thinly sliced bell peppers (red, green and yellow )

Thinly sliced red onions, about

10 whole garlic cloves


Put the garlic cloves in a small nonstick skillet with some oil and braise them for about 20 minutes on low heat. Just put the lid on the skillet and let them cook, they should be golden and really soft when they are done.


In a large nonstick skillet, saute the peppers and onions for a few minutes. Also, saute chicken tenderloins (however many you feel like cooking or eating!)

Add the angel hair and pour the sauce over. Saute until everything is mixed together and sauce is reheated.

Add garlic cloves, and when mixture is cooked\heated through, serve immediately.

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Firmly believe you should have conversation pieces in most rooms of your house...even the bathroom!  (Hopefully you will be conversing with yourself)  I like "cutesy" items, like this giraffe

NOW, put it to good use.....

I just love him

Thanks For Stopping By....

Last flowers of the year

About the only thing still blooming are the Glorious Daisy... love these!  The ornamental pepper, Black Pearl I'm going to bring indoors and try to keep it through the winter.  If I can get diamond frost make it through the winter the black pearl should be easy! (fingers-crossed)

Cleaning out the fridge again used a half jar of Prego over chicken breasts made a nice yummy meal... Baked in the oven was quick and easy

Thanks for Stopping By.....

Chicken Oscar

Possibly my favorite meal other than a Fillet Mignon from Forbes Locker in Spirit Lake.  I don't make this often and for the life of me I don't know why!  It's so easy to put together and so well worth the effort.

You start off with two toasted English Muffins, topped with a chicken breast, top that with some roasted asparagus spears, top that with some creamy Hollandaise and crown off the entire creation with some tender crab meat.  You're drooling aren't you???

I only had some chicken tenders on hand so I coated them in an Italian style Panko crumbs and slowly pan fried them.  You can use a nice piece of steak also if some in your family prefers that over chicken.  Fix a nice small salad as a side, a dish of tart raspberry jello with raspberries topped with a dollop of whipped cream and you have a meal that would please anyone.  (Sorry about no pics of the salad and dessert but they were consumed before I realized I hadn't taken photos)  Even decided to make the meal a little more special by using some of the dishes I had stored away...time to bring out more of the dishes I have and start to use them for everyday.

NOW, what to do with the leftover Hollandaise ????  Sounds like I just may be having Eggs Benedict with a refreshing Mimosa soon!

Even though we're having Thanksgiving at my sisters house I put together my own little fall centerpiece for my dining room table... love the candleholders with their own little "snuffer" attached.  (Yes, I know I should have burned the candle before the photo..just forgot)

Want to wish my beautiful great niece Mackensie a very Happy 13th Birthday tomorrow!!

 

Thanks for Stopping By.....

Teriyaki Chicken Thighs

Along with many others, I have been trying for a long time to find a teriyaki sauce that I REALLY liked!  There is a restaurant in town, Mother Natures, that has the best Teriyaki Wings, Teriyaki Burger etc.  In the past I have tried to duplicate the taste and have not had much luck.... UNTIL NOW!

Ran across a recipe for Baked Teriyaki Chicken at allrecipes.com that I think is spot on.  After reading the reviews I made some changes to the original recipe, but not many.  Doubling the sauce ingredients I used 1/2 Cup Brown sugar and 1/4 Cup of white sugar as someone suggested.  Also baked it at 375 degrees, the first 30 minutes foil covered and the last 30 minutes uncovered. 

The sauce was perfect with just the right amount of "tang" !   I could see marinating the chicken overnight in this so the flavors would meld together even more.  I used the boneless, skinless thighs since I had them on hand, but skinless breasts or tenders would be just as good.  Planning on making the sauce again to refrigerate and use it to baste hamburgers on the grill!!  If you love the taste of teriyaki you could put this on any meat, poultry or fish... YES, it's that good!

Finished up the meal with some roasted potatoes and sweet corn from Georgia (of all places). In Iowa we won't get the peak sweet corn until the end of July, so until then the ears from Georgia were very good.

NOW, I can stop looking for a Teriyaki Sauce

Thanks for stopping by...

Chicken Tenders with a Five Spice Sauce

Still cleaning out the freezer...tonight was to come up with a recipe for chicken tenders.  As usual.... quick, simple and EASY were in the forefront of my mind. 

Oven-Fried Chicken Tenders with Five Spice BBQ Sauce

These turned out to be excellent! (As I'm patting myself on the back)  The recipe makes a great meal, snack or could be used as a fantastic appetizer for any occasion.  Since we all know it takes time to take the photos...by the time I actually got to taste one they had cooled off and were still delicious.   The dipping sauce had an unusual kick to it, a little sweet and spicy at the same time.  The Chinese Five Spice powder was the crowning ingredient!

Follow the recipe to the letter..it says NOT to turn them and you don't need to.  The Panko crumbs and sesame seeds made them super crispy, making it an ideal "finger" food.  If there is a large crowd you may want to double the sauce or make an array of sauces to suit everyones taste buds!  I know my boys would like them with a Ranch dipping sauce or a Honey Mustard sauce.

I found the recipe at Good Housekeeping quite by accident - you can get it HERE

ENJOY.....

Crispy Rosemary Chicken

Trying to clean out my freezer, I came across some packages of boneless, skinless chicken thighs.  I was looking for something very quick, simple but flavorful and this looked like it fit the bill.

I love the flavor of rosemary, the taste is subtle giving the chicken just the right amount of pizazz!  The thighs stayed very moist with the outside lightly crispy.  I didn't have the small red taters so I just used my old standby of sliced thin gold Yukons.  You can find the recipe HERE at allrecipes.

You  have to love recipes that call for spices that you readily have in your cupboard.  I cut back on the oregano just a little since I was using Mexican Oregano, it has a more robust flavor.  The garlic powder, from Penzeys, was one of the spices gifted to me from a dear S&S buddy, Jayne from A Grain of Salt.  Though the recipe called for fresh rosemary... you got it, used what I had!  As long as your dried spices are fresh and haven't been sitting on your shelf for a few years, you'll be fine using the dried rosemary.

The spices lightly sprinkled on the potatoes also gave them such a nice flavor that I may use it on a regular basis!  Rounding off the meal was a nice cool Spring Pasta Salad (grocery deli), a nice change-up from a lettuce salad.

Made for a nice simple and EASY Sunday night supper.  Best of all, very few dishes to clean up afterwards which is always a plus especially on a Sunday night!

Thanks for stopping by.....

CATALINA CHICKEN

As I was waiting in line in the grocery the other day I spotted the new Taste of Home 2010 Chicken Cookbook.  Actually, It's a magazine with 250+ chicken recipes for Appetizers, Skillet & Stovetop, Oven, Casseroles, Grilled, Slow Cooker, Cooking for 1 or 2, and Soups, Salads & Sandwiches. What's really great about it is..theres is a photo for every recipe! (I like to visualize what it is supposed to look like!)

First one I tried is the Catalina Chicken... only one substitution.  I didn't have grape jelly, so I used blackberry.  Turned out great...the chicken was nice and moist and the sauce flavor was superb.  Next time, I may decrease the amount of onion soup mix... it tends to overpower the other two ingredients in the sauce.  Even the oldest son gave his approval!

Make sure you brown the chicken breasts before putting it in the oven...I know how easy it is for SOME people to forget steps!

Catalina Chicken

Yield 2 servings


Recipe from Frances Roberts, Silver Springs Maryland


Taste of Home Chicken Cookbook 2010


2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (5 ounces each)


2 tsp canola oil


¼ Cup Catalina salad dressing


4 ½ tsp onion soup mix


1 Tbsp. Grape jelly


In a large skillet, brown chicken in oil. Transfer to a shallow baking dish coated with cooking spray. Combine the salad dressing, soup mix and jelly; pour over chicken.


Bake uncovered, at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 170.


Serve over rice, if desired.

I used the rest of the package of onion soup mix on the roasted potatoes and added some sugar snap peas to round out the meal..  I will be making this again!

Look for the magazine...

Popover Chicken Tarragon ...

Sounds interesting doesn't it???  I ran across this recipe as I was checking the internet for chicken recipes.  Trying to turn over a new leaf and fix more chicken and fish rather than beef and pork.  I couldn't believe the number of recipes out there for chicken!!

What is unique about this one is the bread/stuffing actually "pops" up over the chicken as it bakes.....

You can find this recipe at Recipezarr  - I didn't use their mushroom sauce, instead I used one I have made before which I really like on Help With Coooking..  there are three of them and I like the last one!

Using skinless chicken thighs, I would think you could use any cut of the chicken you prefer.

Use as much as the mushroom sauce you wish but it tastes great even without it!

A quick and simple meal - which is a must for me most of the time!

 Trust Me, you won't be disappointed!

Revol Red Rooster Roaster.....

Just try and say that 5 times really quick!!

My dear friend, Marsha from Marsha's Kitchen , gave me the heads up on this cute red rooster roaster, and to top it off it was Revol ... Ordered it right away and arrived wrapped in so much bubble wrap there was no way it was going to break!  It is a beautiful bright red and looks fantastic on the wonderful red kitchen towel with lemons given to me by another dear friend Susan from Savoring Time in the Kitchen

First I had to get myself a chicken to roast, picked a 6 # one at Wal-Mart (first time I have ever seen a chicken with a pop-up timer!) That IS a chicken and not a turkey

Then, the seasoning.  Since I didn't have a lemon to stick up it's butt... see Carol's blog There's Always Thyme to Cook for the explanation of that!  I slathered garlic, rosemary, thyme on the inside of the chicken and then pushed a med onion up it's butt!  After rubbing on some olive oil I used Herbs de Provence, rosemary, thyme and just a little sage on the outside.

Roasted at 350 for a little over two hours... 

I couldn't believe all the juices at the bottom of the roaster...It was the most tender and juiciest chicken I have ever made.  Even my oldest son, who invited himself over, thought it was fantastic!

A few thinly sliced potatoes, tossed in olive oil with sea salt and freshly ground pepper were roasted the last 30 minutes with the chicken as a simple side...these are so good!!

To finish off the meal was a large Romaine salad with everything I could find in my veggie bin...tomatoes, carrots, radishes, cauliflower topped off with homemade croutons which I buy from a local gal.

 (Sorry, no photo on that)

A great meal for a Sunday evening...

I'm also joining Mary from the Little Red House for Mosaic Monday..make sure you check out her blog for links to some great mosaics!

COCONUT CRUSTED CHICKEN

Swiped this recipe from Jonna at “Get Off Your Butt and Bake”, a great blog for some super recipes!

I've always loved coconut on chicken and especially shrimp! Since some of my family doesn't care for the sweet concoction I halved the recipe, instead of the coconut I just added some panko bread crumbs. They used a Ranch dressing dip and I used a sweet orange marmalade!

My “strips” were somewhat larger than Jonna’s which is just a personal choice and to be perfectly honest a lazy choice so I didn’t have to cook as many!

I added some baked potato chunks made from the Lipton Dry Onion soup box...my family loves these as an addition to any meal.



Definitely satisfies my craving for anything coconut crusted!

A "JULIA" Recipe !

After seeing Julie & Julia I knew I just had to try one of Julia’s recipes. I “googled” or “gurgled” a number of them and found one that made me salivate a tad too much! Anytime the sauce has wine and heavy whipping cream you just know it will be delicious!!

I followed the directions to a tee… using shallots, beef stock & vermouth. I used my Calphalon “Everyday pan” since I didn’t have the type of casserole mentioned. I was VERY skeptical of the chicken being done in 6 minutes…and it wasn’t! I checked it at the end of the six minutes, turned the breasts over and put the wax paper back on and returned to oven for another 4 minutes. After I placed the chicken on the platter I turned off the oven, covered the platter and returned it to the oven while I made the sauce. The chicken was ‘perfect”, so moist and juicy.

As you can imagine, what makes this dish is the sauce. When I was boiling down the stock and wine with the butter and mushrooms the recipe said it would get syrupy…I didn’t think it did at all! When I thought it was at a decent consistency I added the cream and stirred vigorously until it thickened. Some comments I had read online were if not stirred fast enough the butter and cream may separate, so I took those comments to heart. The sauce turned out so velvety and bursting with flavor.

This is a dish I will definitely make again and again – especially when I want to impress someone!

Bon Appėtit !!




Supremes de Volaille aux Champignons

Julia Child’s Chicken Breasts with Mushroom & Cream
Serves 4

4 supremes (boneless, skinless chicken breasts)
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
Big pinch white pepper
5 Tbsp. Butter
1 Tbsp. Minced shallot or green onion
1/4 pound diced or sliced fresh mushrooms
1/8 tsp salt

SAUCE:
1/4 Cup white or brown stock or canned beef bouillon
1/4 Cup port, Madeira or dry white vermouth
1 Cup whipping cream
Salt & Pepper
2 Tbsp. Minced parsley

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Rub the chicken breast with drops of lemon juice and sprinkle lightly with salt & pepper. Heat the butter in a heavy, ovenproof casserole, about 10 inches in diameter until it is foaming. Stir in the minced shallots a sauté a moment without browning. Then stir in the mushrooms and sauté lightly for a minute or two without browning. Sprinkle with salt.

Quickly roll the chicken in the butter mixture and lay a piece of buttered wax paper over them, cover casserole and place in hot oven. After 6 minutes, press top of chicken with your finger. If still soft, return to oven for a moment or two. When the meat is springy to the touch it is done. Remove the chicken to a warm platter. (leave mushrooms in the pot) and cover while making the sauce.

To make sauce, pour the stock and wine in the casserole with the booking butter and mushrooms. Boil down quickly over high heat until liquid is syrupy. Stir in the cream and boil down again over high heat until cream is thickened slightly. Off heat, taste for seasoning and add drops of lemon juice to taste. Pour the sauce over the chicken, sprinkle with parsley and serve immediately.