Time to bust out the Chicken Francais recipe. This is one of the first ones I came across/developed when I started this recent interest in cooking. It is simple, quick, easy and makes a dish which tastes like it came out of a New York gourmet restaurant. This is definitely one for company; never ceases to impress.
I came to this when I first ordered Chicken Picatta, then Chicken Francais down at Mamma Maria's. I looked up a few recipes on the internet to get a feel for what they were, then started cooking. This recipe is where I wound up. Basically, it is chicken in a white wine, lemon, caper sauce.
Chicken breast, 1 1/2 lb sliced thin
Chicken broth, 15 oz can
White wine, 1 cup
Lemon juice, 1 cup
Capers, 1.5 oz
Flour, some, like 24 g
Grated Parmesan Cheese, some , like 36 g
Garlic, 2 cloves, 8-10 g
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil, 2 tbl
Make a dredge by mixing the flour, Parmesan, salt, and pepper. I use a 10" stainless steel skillet to make this. Heat the oil in the skillet, coat the chicken pieces with dredge, and brown in the skillet. Reserve the browned chicken. Add more oil if you need to but I try to minimize it. Add the garlic to the remaining oil. Add the can of chicken broth (you can use home made, of course, if you happen to have it on hand) and mix in dredge and browning leavings from the bottom of the skillet. Add wine, lemon juice, and drained capers. Carefully dust the remaining dredge onto the surface stirring it in carefully to avoid clumping (you may have to get out the old whisk and go to work here to break up the lumps) to thicken the sauce. Add the chicken back to the skillet and cook until chicken is done and sauce thickens.
That's it. Takes about 45 minutes. The Italian restaurants serve this over linguine, but I prefer Pennsylvania Dutch egg noodles. We generally have it with a fresh veg, which often means steamed broccoli with lemon juice these days.
Getting fancy? Add in thin slices from a real lemon (as opposed to ReaLemon, which is what I generally wind up using) and garnish with parsley.
It's goood. I know people who will not eat chicken who will eat this dish (Cousin Jim Adams, if you can believe it) after having it served to them.
VARIATIONS
For Zoe, I substitute slices of low fat Tofu for the chicken - works great. I haven't tried it, but I assume you could substitute vegetable broth for the chicken broth and with the Tofu make this truly vegetarian.
These days I seem to be adding 1/4 tsp of ground mustard to everything I make, so I did to the last time I made this.
If you want a little excitement, sprinkle in some red pepper.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Roasted veggies
Yesterday was supposed to be cool and rainy all day, and I was craving red meat. A quick look in the freezer turned up a small rump roast, which let me to think "roast beef!" In trying to put together a menu idea, I also thought of the three pounds or so of CSA Savoy cabbage and all the other little bits and pieces of random veggies crowding up our fridge. A quick check of google let me know that roasting cabbage is not a new idea, and I was off and running. So last night, after a day that turned out to be mostly sunny and warm (the rain didn't come in until after we went to sleep), we had a small roast beef, and roasted cabbage, potatoes, asparagus, and fennel (I forgot the carrots, whoops!). It turned out to be a pretty great meal. It was also super easy to prepare: For the potatoes and fennel I just chopped them and then mixed with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper. I sliced the cabbages into about 3/4" thick slices, then made a dressing of equal parts melted butter and lemon juice that I brushed on the slices. I then sprinkled them with some crushed fennel seeds and popped them into the oven. The asparagus got brushed with the same dressing. Everything cooked at around 425 for about 20 min, with one turn in the middle. Cleanup was super easy too: my baking pans are so old and rusty that I always just cover them with aluminum foil before putting anything on them. So, when everything came out of the oven, I transferred the food to different bowls, threw away the foil, and put the pans right back in the drawer where I keep them! We also had a couple cilantro sauces (one cilantro mint chutney and a chermoula - recipes another time) left over from some chicken kabobs we made a week or two ago, so I brought those out to go with the potatoes. Otherwise they probably would have needed some more flavor. I guess I also made some popovers to increase our protein content, since the roast was really small. But, all in all, it turns out that you can roast just about any veggie and making a medley of roasted veggies is a great way to turn small amounts of various veggies into a nice meal.
-Maggie
-Maggie
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Asparagus Quiche
I made my first quiche the other night following Mom's verbal directions. Quiche, it turns out (you all probably know this already) is incredibly easy to make and yields a first rate dish, definitely something you can feed to company. My first try at it was really good. Classic quiche is made in a pie crust but an alternative which I really like and which is ridiculously easy to make is a rice crust. You press warm cooked rice to the inside of a glass pie plate to form the crust, spray with a small quantity of oil (Pam), and bake at ~350 F until it dries out and starts to brown slightly. This is particularly easy if you happen to have some leftover rice to warm in the microwave; gets rid of leftovers, too. Then you just add grated cheese, onions (sliced and separated into rings), and whatever else you are including - we had fresh asparagus from the garden chopped into 1/2 pieces - cover with beaten egg and milk mixture, and bake at 350 until done, about 45-50 minutes. I used a mixture of cheddar and Swiss cheeses, mostly because we have some not-very-good Swiss cheese that I have been trying to use up. Here are the quantities (in grams; aren't kitchen scales great?) I used, in detail:
I seasoned the beaten egg and milk mixture with salt, pepper and chopped savory from the herb garden.
Obvious flavor options are what vegetable you use, what cheeses you use, what herbs you use, what crust, etc.
NUTRITION:
Add it all up and here is what you get:
The recipe comprises 1084 grams containing 1474 calories. Cut it into 6 servings and each is 181 g with 246 cal. Big boys are likely to eat two pieces, so double that for them. The breakdown is:
246 cal 57 carbs 123 fat 65 protein
100% 23% 50% 27%
Whoada thought this classic "health food" would be 50% fat calories? Well, that's what you get from eggs and cheese. Our local has recently started stocking reduced fat cheddar cheeses from Cabot Creamery, 50% less and 75% less (made from 1% milk). I plugged these into the calculator to see what effect using them would have on the quiche nutritional composition:
212 cal 57 carb 90 fat 65 protein
100% 27% 42% 31%
197 cal 57 carb 75 fat 65 protein
100% 29% 38% 33%
So you could skinny this up by using the low fat cheese. I bought some of each to try: not bad but noticeably not as good as the full fat cheddar when just eating it. They would probably be OK in cooking. On the other hand, growing kids need fat to make lipid membranes and nerve sheaths, etc. so you do not want to take too much fat out of the diet. Couple a piece of quiche with a veg (we had broccoli) and a piece of fruit and your total for the meal is 466 calories in a 48/32/20 ratio. That's pretty healthy eating and you can always control total calories by adjusting portion size.
By the way, if you use whole milk instead of nonfat, it adds another 12 fat calories per serving.
So, adjust the fat as appropriate to the crew you are feeding by selecting the milk and cheese you use, eat with some fruits and vegetables to add carbs, and adjust total calories through portion control.
Delicious, nutritious, and versatile. Oh, and easy. Oh, and people think it is gourmet so you can serve it to company. And, there's a gazillion ways to play with the flavor combinations.
With the heat, the spinach is reaching end-of-season in the garden, and the chickens have been getting ahead of us on eggs, so I pulled a bunch and made fresh spinach quiche for dinner.
We had just enough asparagus for two and Zoe picked the first baby beets of the season. Great dinner from the garden (and hen house).
L
Rice, white, cooked 205
Onion 41
Garlic 9
Eggs (6 large) 358
Olive oil 1
Milk, nonfat (1 cup) 245
Cheese 142
Asparagus, raw 83
I seasoned the beaten egg and milk mixture with salt, pepper and chopped savory from the herb garden.
Obvious flavor options are what vegetable you use, what cheeses you use, what herbs you use, what crust, etc.
NUTRITION:
Add it all up and here is what you get:
The recipe comprises 1084 grams containing 1474 calories. Cut it into 6 servings and each is 181 g with 246 cal. Big boys are likely to eat two pieces, so double that for them. The breakdown is:
246 cal 57 carbs 123 fat 65 protein
100% 23% 50% 27%
Whoada thought this classic "health food" would be 50% fat calories? Well, that's what you get from eggs and cheese. Our local has recently started stocking reduced fat cheddar cheeses from Cabot Creamery, 50% less and 75% less (made from 1% milk). I plugged these into the calculator to see what effect using them would have on the quiche nutritional composition:
212 cal 57 carb 90 fat 65 protein
100% 27% 42% 31%
197 cal 57 carb 75 fat 65 protein
100% 29% 38% 33%
So you could skinny this up by using the low fat cheese. I bought some of each to try: not bad but noticeably not as good as the full fat cheddar when just eating it. They would probably be OK in cooking. On the other hand, growing kids need fat to make lipid membranes and nerve sheaths, etc. so you do not want to take too much fat out of the diet. Couple a piece of quiche with a veg (we had broccoli) and a piece of fruit and your total for the meal is 466 calories in a 48/32/20 ratio. That's pretty healthy eating and you can always control total calories by adjusting portion size.
By the way, if you use whole milk instead of nonfat, it adds another 12 fat calories per serving.
So, adjust the fat as appropriate to the crew you are feeding by selecting the milk and cheese you use, eat with some fruits and vegetables to add carbs, and adjust total calories through portion control.
Delicious, nutritious, and versatile. Oh, and easy. Oh, and people think it is gourmet so you can serve it to company. And, there's a gazillion ways to play with the flavor combinations.
May 31, 2012
With the heat, the spinach is reaching end-of-season in the garden, and the chickens have been getting ahead of us on eggs, so I pulled a bunch and made fresh spinach quiche for dinner.
We had just enough asparagus for two and Zoe picked the first baby beets of the season. Great dinner from the garden (and hen house).
L
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Nutrition Data
When I want nutrition data on any food, I Google "[foodname] Nutrition Facts". In the first or second hit, there will usually be one for a website called nutritiondata.self.com. That's where I go for my data. Actually, you can just go to that website and use their search engine to search for your food or you can browse their database. I like this source because the data is exhaustive; each of nutrition sources is broken in detail - how much of what kind of sugars, how much of what kinds of fats, amount of each amino acid in the protein, etc. Plus, they list vitamins and minerals. I use copy and paste on each of the columns of data to transfer it to an Excel spread sheet (it is an html table so it parses into Excel cells automatically), then use VLOOKUP to transfer the data to database record/field format on another page. I have to fill in the food name and portion weight by hand in the Excel SS, then use Copy and Paste Special As Value to move the info into a database list. In time, my database contains all of the foods of interest to me.
Then I use VLOOKUP to create a recipe calculator, where I can list the ingredients and amounts and get them transferred to another table where they are summed. Results from a recipe can then be copied up into the database. Similarly, I have a menu calculator which sums up all the components of a menu to get the total calories and nutrition breakdown.
Lindsey
Then I use VLOOKUP to create a recipe calculator, where I can list the ingredients and amounts and get them transferred to another table where they are summed. Results from a recipe can then be copied up into the database. Similarly, I have a menu calculator which sums up all the components of a menu to get the total calories and nutrition breakdown.
Lindsey
Moroccan Chicken Pot Pie
Dad's post about chutney reminded me of this recipe. I think it was his mention of raisins that got me thinking about Moroccan Chicken Pot Pie.
I first had this when a friend brought it to a potluck. Much to my dismay, it disappeared before I could grab seconds. Not to worry, I found her source and made it myself. This is a simple weeknight dinner that will not dissappoint.
Here's the recipe (copied and pasted from Epicurious.com)
I first had this when a friend brought it to a potluck. Much to my dismay, it disappeared before I could grab seconds. Not to worry, I found her source and made it myself. This is a simple weeknight dinner that will not dissappoint.
Here's the recipe (copied and pasted from Epicurious.com)
Monday, April 23, 2012
Chutney
A few weeks ago, I tried making a chutney to go with a dinner. The dinner was a flop because the chutney I made did not go with the main dish or with the lemon-dill raita I made the same day. Also, the raita had not had enough time for the flavor to develop well. However, the lemon-dill raita turned out great in the end, as mentioned in previous posts and the chutney is pretty good also if you find the right thing to serve it with, so the evening was not a total failure.
I looked up chutney recipes on the internet and read several. It turns out chutneys are just cooked up goodies (usually a sweet and a bitter, I think, but maybe not always) and spices with brown sugar and vinegar. It opens door to picking the goodies and the spices to match the meal. Lots of room for creativity here.
The chutney I made was citrus-raisin. I included lemon slices, thinly sliced orange peel, and thinly sliced grapefruit peel. As far as I am concerned, the grapefruit does not contribute anything worthwhile. And I picked the lemon slices out after it was done because they were difficult to eat. The lemon and lemon juice contributed to the flavor, however. So here is the recipe I made (minus the grapefruit rind):
Onion 1 small (65 g)
Garlic 2 cloves (10 g)
Ginger root ~1 1/4 inch (33 g)
Orange rind 38 g
Juice from the orange
Lemon 1 (109 g)
Raisins 145 g
Vinegar 1/2 cup, I used apple cider vinegar
Brown sugar ~ 1/4 cup (37 g)
Vegetable oil 2 Tbl
Garham masala 1 1/2 tsp
Mustard, gnd 1/4 tsp
Nutmeg 1/4 tsp
Hot pepper pinch or to taste, I used African Bird Pepper (very hot)
Mince the onion, garlic and ginger root. Slice the orange rind into very thin slices about 1 to 1 1/2 inch long. Slice the lemon into very thin slices.
Heat the veg oil in a wok. Add the onion and garlic. When the onion is translucent, add the ginger root. Adding small amounts of water as needed to keep the wok from drying out, add the lemon slices, orange rind, and raisins. Stir continuously while cooking. Add vinegar and brown sugar. Add spices. Continue to stir until the raisins are hot and the orange rind is soft and cooked thru. As I said above, I wound up picking the lemon slices out after it was done.
Or something like that.
I thought this came out well. The whole concept is very open to experimentation. I hope to hear about what you try next time you need a chutney. I see there are a lot of suggested recipes using cranberries...
Lindsey
PS Do not serve this chutney with fish; that was my flop. Maybe pork chops...
I looked up chutney recipes on the internet and read several. It turns out chutneys are just cooked up goodies (usually a sweet and a bitter, I think, but maybe not always) and spices with brown sugar and vinegar. It opens door to picking the goodies and the spices to match the meal. Lots of room for creativity here.
The chutney I made was citrus-raisin. I included lemon slices, thinly sliced orange peel, and thinly sliced grapefruit peel. As far as I am concerned, the grapefruit does not contribute anything worthwhile. And I picked the lemon slices out after it was done because they were difficult to eat. The lemon and lemon juice contributed to the flavor, however. So here is the recipe I made (minus the grapefruit rind):
Onion 1 small (65 g)
Garlic 2 cloves (10 g)
Ginger root ~1 1/4 inch (33 g)
Orange rind 38 g
Juice from the orange
Lemon 1 (109 g)
Raisins 145 g
Vinegar 1/2 cup, I used apple cider vinegar
Brown sugar ~ 1/4 cup (37 g)
Vegetable oil 2 Tbl
Garham masala 1 1/2 tsp
Mustard, gnd 1/4 tsp
Nutmeg 1/4 tsp
Hot pepper pinch or to taste, I used African Bird Pepper (very hot)
Mince the onion, garlic and ginger root. Slice the orange rind into very thin slices about 1 to 1 1/2 inch long. Slice the lemon into very thin slices.
Heat the veg oil in a wok. Add the onion and garlic. When the onion is translucent, add the ginger root. Adding small amounts of water as needed to keep the wok from drying out, add the lemon slices, orange rind, and raisins. Stir continuously while cooking. Add vinegar and brown sugar. Add spices. Continue to stir until the raisins are hot and the orange rind is soft and cooked thru. As I said above, I wound up picking the lemon slices out after it was done.
Or something like that.
I thought this came out well. The whole concept is very open to experimentation. I hope to hear about what you try next time you need a chutney. I see there are a lot of suggested recipes using cranberries...
Lindsey
PS Do not serve this chutney with fish; that was my flop. Maybe pork chops...
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Green Bean Salad
This recipe makes green beans about as healthy as Dad's Mashed Potatoes make potatoes...and it. is. awesome.
Very simple recipe for you today. Tucson was flirting with 100 degrees today, so I spent the afternoon playing tennis, lounging in the pool with a beer in hand, and now I'm about to go to a BBQ. This recipe is summery, simple, and delicious. Start with the following cast of characters:
Green beans, cherry tomatoes, pesto, and vinegar (I used red wine).
The hippie in me reached into my freezer to take out some pesto I had made with basil I grew in my "garden" last summer. However, it looked like this compared to what I bought...
The brown/grey color was suspicious. The freezer burned texture wasn't the most appetizing. The flavor...where was the garlic!?
Mmm..green beans - you're healthy now...but just wait.
Anyway, all ya do is cook the green beans (don't forget to throw them in an ice bath!), halve the tomatoes, and throw them in a bowl together. I then used the vinegar to thin out the pesto a bit and make a little vinaigrette. Add that to the tomatoes and green beans and toss.
Then, my favorite part, steal a green bean or two to test it out. Add more pesto/vinegar as needed. I added more pesto...it seemed like the right thing to do.
I have a suspicion that this gets better with time. Had I not been laying on a raft in the pool all afternoon, I would have made this earlier so it had time to really blend. I'm still happy with my decision.
As for the health side of this...I think it's all fine and good except for the gobs of olive oil and cheese in the pesto. All in all, better than french fries.
Happy Summer!
Molly
Very simple recipe for you today. Tucson was flirting with 100 degrees today, so I spent the afternoon playing tennis, lounging in the pool with a beer in hand, and now I'm about to go to a BBQ. This recipe is summery, simple, and delicious. Start with the following cast of characters:
Green beans, cherry tomatoes, pesto, and vinegar (I used red wine).
The hippie in me reached into my freezer to take out some pesto I had made with basil I grew in my "garden" last summer. However, it looked like this compared to what I bought...
The brown/grey color was suspicious. The freezer burned texture wasn't the most appetizing. The flavor...where was the garlic!?
Mmm..green beans - you're healthy now...but just wait.
Anyway, all ya do is cook the green beans (don't forget to throw them in an ice bath!), halve the tomatoes, and throw them in a bowl together. I then used the vinegar to thin out the pesto a bit and make a little vinaigrette. Add that to the tomatoes and green beans and toss.
Then, my favorite part, steal a green bean or two to test it out. Add more pesto/vinegar as needed. I added more pesto...it seemed like the right thing to do.
I have a suspicion that this gets better with time. Had I not been laying on a raft in the pool all afternoon, I would have made this earlier so it had time to really blend. I'm still happy with my decision.
As for the health side of this...I think it's all fine and good except for the gobs of olive oil and cheese in the pesto. All in all, better than french fries.
Happy Summer!
Molly
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