Crock Pot Sliders

Somehow I must have known I wouldn't feel like cooking.
And then I got a cold (well an ear inflection really . . . but I digress).
I started this dinner yesterday in my trusty crock pot.
I dumped (there is no other word for it) in 2 peeled chopped apples, a small jar (about 7 ounces) of homemade apple jelly, 1 1/2 cups of ketchup, 1 bottle beer, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup molasses, 1/3 cup honey, 1/2 tsp cloves, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 jalapeño pepper (seeded and cut in half), about 1 TB chili powder, and 1/2 tsp ground celery seed. Now all of that may have been measured more or less, and in truth I had to taste it and make revisions as the cooking went on but I think that's where it ended up. All of that cooked on low in the crock pot for about 6 hours.
When the sauce was thickened (after a good whisking) I added in 4 chicken breasts (well okay 2 breasts or 4 half breasts if you want to be chicken technical) and let everything cook for about 4 hours more until the chicken was ready to fall apart.
I shredded the chicken, mixed it back down into the sauce and let it wait until we were ready for dinner . . . today.
When the time came I toasted James' favorite, King's Hawaiian Rolls -- prepared each bun with sliced red onion and homemade dill pickles (maybe a little mustard wouldn't be a bad addition) and spooned on the warmed up barbecued chicken.
Easy, tasty, and done.

James Called Me "Beautiful Spaghetti Genius"

This might be my new favorite dinner.
Somehow tonight I just didn't want to work too hard. I didn't want to wash too many dishes. I didn't want to stand at the stove.
But we were in the mood for spaghetti.
Now when I was young and impressionable I lived in Italy for a little while. That sunny year or two left me with the melodic, poetic Italian language and the vague feeling that no day is truly complete without strong coffee and pasta. I quickly adapted to a daily pasta "primo" (sometimes two) and never got the least bit bored.
Here in the states (a couple of decades later), dinners are one plate, spaghetti is the only course, and reasonable eating dictates that carbs are limited and vegetables take center stage. So, spaghetti isn't every day -- it's a special day.
I started out to make lemon chicken pasta -- kind of a scallopini on spaghetti -- but the panko bread crumbs called my name and I quickly butterflied the chicken breasts, coated them in seasoned, beaten egg, rolled them in panko and pan fried them in olive oil until crunchy golden brown. For the spaghetti I still wanted simple, but with hearty, assertive flavor. No fade into the background filler but a garlicky duet with the crispy chicken.
When the chicken was browned and tucked into a 200º oven to wait for the pasta, I cleaned out the skillet and poured in about 1/2 cup of olive oil and 8 chopped cloves of garlic and half a small lemon very thinly sliced. The garlic and lemon simmered on medium low heat for about a minute -- maybe 2 -- you don't want the garlic to brown just flavor the oil. Then I added in 1 tsp of red pepper flakes, 2 TB of capers, 8 chopped anchovy filets, a pinch of salt and a good quantity of black pepper and let the oil cook for just another 30 seconds or so.
When the pasta (17 oz package) was cooked and drained (with a bit of the pasta cooking water reserved) I returned the spaghetti to the pot along with the oil mixture, the juice of half a small lemon, about 1/4 cup of chopped parsley, a splash of pasta cooking water and a chunk (maybe 1 1/2 TB) of butter.
Everything got a good stir, until the butter melted and the noodles were fully coated with sauce.
This might be my new favorite sauce. Easily pulled together with pantry ingredients. Super fast -- the whole thing can be whipped up while the pasta water boils, and crazy delicious.
The only way it could have been better -- if I say so myself -- was if we'd had a tiny bit of parmesan in the house. Yes, so sad -- we are trying to cut down on cheese too. Sigh. I hate being an adult. But we love spaghetti.

Trendy Tasty Rice Bowl

We start every year pledging to be healthier and stronger and somehow a couple months in we find ourselves back living in bacon city. I am the cook. I am probably to blame. I fall back on what I know and, I guess, take the easy way to flavorful foods.
I can't say this year will be different but I was encouraged by a slew of interesting, grain based and vaguely Japanese recipes in the January issue of every food magazine I read so I decided a little pantry update and lighter cooking might just be in order -- for now.
Clearly there are more healthful and interesting grains but tonight, not yet ready to brave the grocery store, I started with rice -- plain old white rice. I love it. Then I went searching through the fridge for what might add color and texture.
A little bit of leftover broccoli, a little past it's prime, was quickly boiled and dressed with a tiny drizzle of sesame oil. Butternut squash, sitting on the counter since I didn't serve them for Christmas dinner, was sweet and gingery. I quickly fried several slices of ginger in canola oil, added in the squash cut in 1 1/2" pieces,  1/2 tsp of salt, 2 tsp of sugar (okay not quite the healthful star here but it is very Japanese) and 1/2 cup of water. I brought the liquid to a boil, covered the pot, reduced the heat to medium low and let the squash cook for about 10 minutes until tender.
With rice in the rice cooker, squash and broccoli cooked and set aside to be served room temperature on hot rice, I got a little more ambitious.
Every rice bowl (and Japanese meal) needs something pickled and a sauce. I quickly combined 1 cup rice wine vinegar, 2 TB of sugar, a pinch of salt and ground chile and let celery sticks and carrot rounds soak in that brine for about 1/2 hour. Easy. I'd have used a little lemon zest if I'd had any. For the sauce I mixed 1 TB tahini, 1 TB honey and 1 TB soy sauce with 1 tsp sesame oil. Ready. All that was left was to put it all together -- almost.
When it came time for dinner I cooked a couple eggs seasoned with soy sauce and a touch of sake into a flat omelette that I rolled and cut into slices over one side of the rice. Facing that a bit of sautéed chicken -- leftover legs and wings I tucked in the freezer after a holiday season Hainanese chicken dinner.
I wasn't too sure what to expect when James sat down to dinner. But, he seemed pleased by the lighter style and lighter plate.
It's fun to step out of my comfort zone and try something new. Not a bad way to cook in 2016.

Roast Chicken

Not much to say. The ultimate one pot (okay pan) dinner. Roast chicken, slathered in butter, thyme and lemon cooked to crisp perfection on a bed of potatoes, red onions, and carrots.
Forty five minutes at 425º. As the bird rested I tossed spears of romaine in the flavorful pan juices and served with plenty of Dijon mustard.
Dinner. Done. One pan to wash.
Weekend flavors on a regular weekday.

Caramelized Black Pepper Chicken

I figure when I can't even find a bottle of soy sauce in the house I've really got to go shopping. But I do hate to admit defeat. I had a lonely little kabocha squash sitting on the counter and decided to roast that tossed in chili power, brown sugar, and butter. Done. But what to go with it?
The freezer turned up a package of chicken breasts. Since I started with Japanese pumpkin I was leaning towards something vaguely Asian and had all settled on soy sauce chicken only to find the jumbo bottle that seemed like it would never be used up was gone. Stuck.
When I first get home I am so happy to be there I really don't want to leave, even to go to the store. So, when I come in at night -- too late for grocery shopping -- it tends to get put off . .  too long.
But I digress -- I had to do something about dinner.
Pouring through recipes and online ideas I came across a dish from one of my favorite restaurants, San Francisco's Slanted Door. Black pepper chicken, at once sweet and savory, peppery and caramelized. And easy.
Following Charle Phan's recipe, in a small bowl I mixed together 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup fish sauce, 1/4 cup water, 3 TB rice wine vinegar, 1 tsp minced garlic, about 1 tsp minced fresh ginger (Phan of course calls for fresh ginger which I didn't have so sadly I substituted powdered), 1 tsp coarsely ground pepper, and two fresh chilis. I happened to have chilis in the house since our very generous neighbors had a bumper crop. The rest couldn't be easier.
I sautéed 1 thinly sliced shallot in about 1 TB of oil for about 4 minutes until soft. Then I added in the fish sauce mixture and the chicken cut into 1 inch pieces. The mixture simmered over high heat for about 10 minutes until the chicken was cooked through and I ladled it out -- with plenty of the appealingly sweet sauce, over steamed rice. Maybe not culinary artistry but another episode of food from nothing -- my favorite kitchen game.

Chicken and Dumplings: Fluffy or Flat

"Someday" James said quietly. " Can we have chicken and dumplings? With corn and sauce and not those big dumplings . . . "

Now I usually have some carrot or celery in my sauce but I've never seen corn in chicken and dumplings. And I always make fluffy herb scented "big" dumplings. But still, James rarely makes requests -- and honestly I thought he didn't even like chicken and dumplings (and those old Southern standards are some of my favorite things to cook) so I figured I'd give it a try.

Like many traditional foods, there is no one recipe for Chicken and dumplings. Some are chock full of tasty vegetables, some (the way I used to make it) leave meat on the bone, some use a milk-based gravy. But the most controversial element is the dumplings themselves. Some, like me, use fluffy drop biscuit style dumplings that steam over the savory stew and some -- apparently like James' grandmother -- use flat rolled dough, like thick squares of pasta.

I started the way I usually do by making a quick stock. I covered 1 whole chicken, 2 carrots, 2 stalks of celery, 2 bay leaves, 1 onion (cut in half), 1 bulb garlic (cut in half but not peeled), fresh thyme and fresh parsley with water. I brought the pot up to a boil and let it simmer for about an hour. I drained the stock and while the chicken cooled I started on the sauce.

After a couple TB of butter and a splash of oil heated together in a dutch over I added in about 1 cup each (maybe 3/4 cup) diced carrots and celery, minced garlic (4 cloves), a bay leaf, and some dried thyme. I seasoned the vegetables with salt and pepper and let them cook until softened, about 5 minutes, then added not quite 1/4 cup of flour to start making a roux. Once the floury taste had cooked out -- about 2 minutes, I slowly added the drained chicken stock (about 8 cups total), added both frozen peas and frozen corn (somehow I just couldn't do the corn alone) and let the sauce simmer for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile I started to tackle the dumplings. I had never made these rolled flat style dumplings before. But I was not going to be bested by flour and milk so I turned to every cooks best friend -- the internet and started to read how other people make them. Most of the recipes I found imitated Cracker Barrel's recipe and used a hefty amount of crisco. Now I suppose vegetable shortening has been around so long some cooks even consider it a traditional ingredient but I don't like it. I'd rather spend my fats with real butter and lard and bacon grease instead of chemical stabilizers. So for my dumpling recipe I fork mixed 1/3 cup of bacon grease (yes I save it in the fridge) into 2 cups of flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder, a pinch of salt and plenty of black pepper. While the bacon grease was still in big pieces -- like making pie dough -- I poured in 1 cup of buttermilk and mixed the ingredients together into a loose dough. I turned the dough out on a well floured board and kneaded it just a few times to bring it together to a smooth ball. I rolled out half the ball of dough to 1/4 inch thickness  (on a well floured board) and cut the dumplings into smooth squares and rectangles with a pizza cutter. I'm sure that's not the way James' grandmother did it. None the less I let the dumplings rest sprinkled with flour and let the other half of the dough rest until I was ready to roll more.

Back to the pot. When the sauce had thickened to my liking (just barely coating the back of a spoon but not too thick as the dumpling flour would add body to the sauce) I stirred in a 1/2 cup or so of whole milk for a creamy texture, checked the seasoning and brought the liquid to a gentle boil. In went the first batch of dumplings. I covered the pot and let it simmer over very low heat for 10 minutes. These first dumplings -- from what I read -- thicken the sauce. I rolled out the rest of the dough and turned back to the now cooled cooked chicken -- remember the stock we started with -- and pulled meat off the bones in large pieces to add to the bubbling sauce.

After the first batch of dumplings had cooked for 10 minutes I added in the second batch and some chopped parsley along with the chicken, covered the pot and let it simmer for 10 minutes more. Then uncovered I let the stew simmer with very little stirring to not break up the dumplings for about 5 minutes more until the dough was cooked through.

Sprinkling chopped parsley over bowls of creamy stew I wondered if my maiden effort would live up to James' expectations. The rosy memory of a childhood taste.

James didn't say much as he ate, but "Mmmm so good." When he asked for seconds I silently declared that a victory and figured we might just have a new traditional dish for our little family.

Simple Chicken and Vegetables

I never really think much about the recipes that dot the William Sonoma catalogue. I just page by while scanning all the things I am not going to buy. But today, looking for something homey and warm and most importantly a one pot supper (I am just not in the mood to scrub pans) I stumbled across this rustic quick braised stew. WS' recipe called for carrots and potatoes. I had a couple carrots but also the lonely end of a bunch of celery and some still pretty nice bright pink radishes. I adapted. First I seasoned 4 chicken thighs with salt, pepper and paprika and browned them (about 2 minutes a side) in some bacon fat. Yes, I admit I do save it in the fridge. Then I set the chicken aside and dumped 2 small mild peppers (pardon), 1 chopped shallot (I wish I had more), the carrots I had (3 little runts from the garden and 1 respectably sized), a couple stalks of celery in big pieces, a bunch of radishes (cut in half), and two potatoes cut into big cubes into the pan. Seasoned with salt and peppers the vegetables sautéed for about 5 minutes. I sprinkled 1 1/2 TB flour over the skillet and let that cook just a bit before adding 1 1/3 cup  chicken stock and 1/3 cup white wine (and a pat of butter) which I brought to a boil. I nested the chicken (and the collected juices) back into the pan, brought the liquid up to a bubble, covered the pan and let everything cook together for about 25 minutes.
Usually James isn't so enthusiastic about chicken for dinner -- unless it's fried. But he found plenty to like in these long cooked potatoes and silky sauce. I'm gonna look more closely at those Williams Sonoma pages from now on.

Chicken and Spinach Salad

One of James' favorites and maybe the quickest dinner ever -- crisply fried chicken cutlet over -- in this case -- a warm spinach salad. A rare treat, with these bright green super fresh leaves I tossed up a warm bacon vinaigrette.
First I fried several slices of bacon over medium heat to render out the fat. I removed the bacon from the pan (leaving about 3 TB bacon fat) and added in a thinly sliced shallot. After about 30 seconds -- just long enough for the shallot to soften I poured in 3 TB of red wine vinegar and a half teaspoon of dijon mustard and whisked over low heat. Just when the dressing had come together I poured the vinaigrette over the waiting spinach mixed with sliced hard boiled eggs (wish I had a couple mushrooms) and served before the leaves really had a chance to wilt.

Korean Style Chicken

How can something that looks so bad taste so good?
A while back I helped a friend cook for a Hawaiian style party and ended up with a tub of delicious Korean chile paste, gochujang. I love the hot peppery taste, but honestly other than the chicken wing recipe I bought it for (and never made) I couldn't think of what to do with the little red tub. And so it sat. And sat.
After some courage via the internet I mixed up a marinade that's going to be come a regular dish around here. To flavor about 1 1/2 pounds of boneless chicken thighs I used: 1 thinly sliced onion, 3 cloves minced garlic, 4 TB soy sauce, 3 TB Gochujang, 1 TB honey, 1 1/2 tsp Sesame oil, 1/4 cup mirin (or you could use sake for less sweetness), 1 TB chile flakes. I let the meat sit in the fridge for several house and then because we don't have a grill set up -- sigh -- I cooked our chicken in the oven. First for 30 minutes covered and then for another 30 uncovered so the edges were nicely browned and crisped. Though the onions were intended as flavorings they were so delicious bathed in the red marinade that I served them -- along with the chicken -- over rice with plenty of spicy kimchee.

Bittman's Way With Chicken

I trust Mark Bittman.
When I have a recipe question or am looking for the proper technique for a dish I turn to NY Times columnist and the man who has been called the America's best home cook, Mark Bittman. He is an authority. Not the chef expert high and mighty expensive ingredient and multiple steps kind. Or the ready in 30 minutes overly cheerful open a can of this or that pour in the cream as long as it tastes good variety. He is reasonable and practical and thinks of cooking as not just an enjoyable pursuit (not an obsession) but as a necessary life skill. Bittman's recipes probably won't impress your most important worldly guests (some might though), but they will guide you through the day in and day out necessity of making healthy, quality food from scratch at home -- and teach you to improvise along the way. For years I have been recommending his "How To Cook Everything" to anyone who tells me they want to learn to cook.
Today I just couldn't think of another way to make a chicken breast. I knew I didn't want to use the oven, and I didn't want to bother with bread crumbs. I turned to Bittman and found a perfectly easy method I hadn't tried before. I took boneless skinless chicken breasts, seasoned with salt and pepper, and dredged them in plain flour. The floured pieces went into a skillet where I melted a combination of butter and olive oil and cooked for about 4 minutes on a side. As the meat was cooking, after about 2 minutes I rotated each piece to bring the thicker part into the hottest part of the pan and keep the slightly thinner part from overcooking. So simple but the perfect solution to the age old problem of dry chicken. After the chicken was crisp and golden brown on the outside I let it rest on a platter covered with tin foil (instead of in a 200º oven as Bittman suggested) while I made the sauce. I poured about 1/4 cup of white wine into the pan and let it bubble as I scraped up the brown bits left from cooking the chicken. When the wine was reduced by about 1/2 I added in 1/4 cup of water (that could have been stock) and let the mixture cook down again. As a finishing touch off the heat I added 1 TB of butter, chipped parsley and sage, and the juice of half a lemon.
Chicken and pan sauce. Real food, real simple. With steamed potatoes and green beans, dinner in less that 15 minutes.

A House Regular

Our favorite quick dinner. A thin chicken cutlet dipped in seasoned egg and a mix of panko breadcrumbs flavored with tangy aged goat's milk cheese and fried crispy brown in butter and olive oil. It takes minutes to prepare and is always a hit. Tonight I paired the golden cutlet with oven roasted carrots and potatoes tossed in spicy harissa and a fresh green salad right from the garden topped with quick fried padron peppers.
Crispy, spicy, crunchy -- perfect.

A Simple Stack

Creamy polenta, a crisp breaded chicken cutlet, bitter carrot top pesto and a peppery salad of arugula, cress (and sheep's milk cheese) from our overflowing garden. Simple summer suppers.

Sweet Green Pea Shoots

Many years ago prodded by a waiter at an unfamiliar Chinese restaurant (and by nearby diners digging into the as yet unknown vegetable) I first discovered snow pea shoots quickly sautéed with plenty of garlic. I fell in love with the sweet springy flavor: somehow a more delicious cross between peas, baby spinach and parsley. A vibrant vegetable taste crying out for fluffy steamed rice and a hint of chile sauce.
Since that night I've searched out the spring favorite in Asian restaurants and farmer's markets everywhere. I crave them when weather turns warm and tonight I based our dinner on a fresh picked bag I brought home this afternoon. I sautéed the greens with garlic and caramelized red onion with a quick sauce of chicken broth, rice wine, and fish sauce after a recipe from Charles Phan -- chef and proprietor of one of my long time favorite San Francisco restaurants, The Slanted Door. Grilled chicken breasts marinated in garlic, fish sauce, molasses, lemon juice, sesame oil and chile pepper flakes became a savory side for our steamed rice. Though it's probably not a traditional pairing, savory peanut sauce (1/4 cup creamy peanut butter, 1 TB soy sauce, 2 tsp minced garlic, 5 tsp apple cider vinegar, 11/2 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper mixed with 1/4 cup hot water) offered a salty foil for the meal's gently sweet flavors.

Simple Weeknight Dinner

Some nights I just don't feel up to a big production. I've got a vicious case of poison oak and just want to lay around and try not to itch. Dinner has to be easy.
I love to roast vegetables. So simple. Peel (or trim), cut, toss in a little olive oil and seasoning and pop in the oven. Tonight at the same 425º setting I did cubes of butter nut squash sprinkled with cayenne pepper and fresh broccoli with garlic topped with parmesan cheese for the last couple minutes in the oven. In the middle, maybe a misnomer, crock pot fried chicken. I toss chicken pieces in seasoned flour and layer them in the slow cooker drizzled with melted butter. 8-10 hours on low makes the ultimate walk away and forget it entree. James always likes it and has no idea how easy it is. A great weeknight dinner -- itch or not.

Chicken For Dinner

"They must be popular because I've never heard of them," our neighbor and self confessed luddite quipped while her daughter and I rattled on trading recipes featuring and professing our affection for Panko bread crumbs.
"James love them too," I said. "In fact he is having them for dinner tonight." And with that our dinner menu was settled.
I butterflied and pounded (just a bit) boneless skinless chicken breasts until about plate sized. I dipped each breast in seasoned milk and then in a mixture of seasoned panko breadcrumbs and grated pecorino Romano cheese. Pressing to make sure the coating adhered I laid the chicken in a skillet with hot olive oil. After about 4 minutes on each side the chicken was tender and cooked through and the crust was flaky and golden brown.
Meanwhile, beet greens -- a gift from this same generous neighbor -- sautéed in a separate pan with olive oil, garlic, and crisped pancetta.
Schnitzel, Milanese, Paillard, chicken fried, Katsu -- nearly every cuisine has a similar dish because it's quick and just plain good.
Crispy, silky, crunchy all one one plate.

Plain Baked Chicken

 Kind of a plain Jane (or plain James) dinner. Simple baked chicken, fresh green beans and steamed buckwheat.
Looking around for something a little different I happened on one of Ina Garten's recipes where she made a quick olive oil sauce to bake along with the chicken. Following the Barefoot Contessa's lead I heat 1/4 cup olive oil with 9 minced cloves of garlic. Then I added in (off heat) 1/3 cup white wine, 1 1/2 tsp oregano, a pinch of crushed red peppers, 2 TB lemon juice, the zest of 2 lemons, and a handful of thyme sprigs. I poured the sauce into the baking pan, nestled in the chicken breasts and a lemon cut into eighths and dressed the chicken with olive oil, salt and pepper. The chicken baked for nearly 40 minutes until just golden brown and the sauce became a tasty dressing for our green beans.
Simple weeknight dinner.

A Little of This a Little Of That

Some days I just want mini-bites, a combo platter of tastes to pick up bite by bite. Tonight I looked through the fridge and came out with a semi Middle-Eastern semi North African platter. Harissa roasted cauliflower, za'atar (James loves this Middle Eastern spice blend) grilled chicken, tangy feta cheese with olive oil and chiles, piquant arugula salad and spicy hummus with chile roasted chickpeas.

The End (I hope) Of Excess

The holidays are over -- well at least part one -- and I'm more than ready to get back to simple, clean(ish) eating and cooking. Tonight a crispy chicken cutlet (I love Ian's gluten free panko bread crumbs) with a zesty bitter salad of radicchio and arugula. Step one towards getting back to the new normal around here.

It Started In A movie

James and I watched David O'Russell's latest film American Hustle today. At one point in a crowded old school Italian restaurant Jeremy Renner's character asks for the "skinny" chicken, "very thin" and out comes a beautiful pan of scallopini.
"That looks good," James leaned over. "What is that?"
"Scallopini," I said." Do you want that for dinner?"
Now in truth being New Jersey in the 70's that could have been chicken scallopini, francese, marsala or piccata. All similar dishes of thinly pounded chicken breast with quickly reduced pan sauce. I like scallopini's lemon and caper sauce combination (without the egg dip of francese).
I dredged two thinly pounded chicken breasts in seasoned flour (gluten free for our current diet craze) and browned them a mixture of butter and olive oil (2TB and 2TB), about 2 minutes on a side. Setting the chicken aside to keep warm I added 1 cup of chicken broth (if I'd had some white wine I would have done 1/2 cup wine and 1/2 cup broth), the juice of half a lemon and 2 TB of capers. I let the sauce reduce for about 2 minutes then stirred in 2 TB of butter and a sprinkling of chopped parsley before serving the chicken quickly swirled in the pan.
"If you make chicken you should always make it like this," James said between bites.
Not quite an oscar, but good enough for me.

Sunday Stew

I don't remember exactly what I did. Not much help am I? I started early in the day. I know I roasted the leftover poblanos in the fridge. I know I had plenty of tomatillos -- our best crop this year -- and chicken breasts. I remember cutting up the tomatillos and sautéing them along with garlic, onion and hot peppers in the tiniest, diet friendly bit of olive oil. Then I think I just piled everything in. Cubed chicken breast, peeled roasted poblanos, cumin, chopped cilantro, oregano, S&P, and chicken broth.  And, I can see from this picture, a can of white beans. Everything simmered for about 35 minutes. I remember it was warm and flavorful and that it felt positively virtuous. Not much of a recipe.