Creamy Curried Chicken with Crunchy Vegetables (Ethiopian Style)

• Creamy Curried Chicken with Crunchy Vegetables 

  (we served it with our Ethiopian Injera Bread)

  
  

  Ingredients:

  
  

  2 tablespoons sun dried tomato oil, from the jar

  3 tablespoons butter

  2-3 skinless chicken breasts, cut in half into flat thin pieces. 

  Salt and pepper, to taste

  1 tablespoon garlic cloves, minced & sautéed in brown butter 

  1 cup chicken stock, or 1/2 cup of stock & 1/2 cup white wine

  1-2 teaspoons curry seasoning, season to taste

  ¼ -1/2 teaspoon chili flakes, or to taste depending spicyness

  1 cup red pepper and green peppers, cut into small chunks 

  1/2 cup red onion, cut into small chunks

  1 1/2 cup heavy cream, can use coconut cream 

  1/2 cup softened cream cheese

  3/4 cup parmesan

  1 cup chopped baby spinach leaves or fresh parsley

  
  

  (We added a cup of hot, cooked whole baby carrots to our recipe at the same time as the peppers)

  
  

  Instructions 

  Heat sun dried tomato oil with butter in a cast iron skillet.

  
  

  Season thin cut chicken breasts with salt and pepper, placing each piece of breast in hot skillet cooking for 2-3 minutes on one side until golden. Then, flip and cook for 2 more minutes. Remove from pan. Do not over cook, they may seem still under cooked but they will finish in the sauce.

  
  

  Add minced garlic and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add stock/wine and deglaze the skillet, removing bits that stuck to the bottom for flavor. 

  
  

  Season skillet with curry seasoning, salt, pepper, and chili flakes. Stir for almost 1 minute to bring the roasted flavors together. Add cream cheese and stir until mixed into the liquid. 

  
  

  Stir in heavy cream and parmesan. Add peppers, red onions and spinach, return chicken breasts to the skillet, Turn off stove and cover skillet to allow the spinach to wilt and the pepper will steam to semi-crunchy, about 5 minutes. 

  
  

  Serve Warm with Injera Bread.

  
  

  

  
  

Sesame Crusted Roast Chicken with Purple Potatoes

still snowing... Day 4... And I had nothing better to do than to curl up with my new issue of "Better Home & Gardens" and my new dutchoven. It all started with dinner last night. First recipe was the "Sesame-Crusted Roast Chicken" with purple mashed potatoes and corn. Followed by second recipe, dessert was "Red Velvet Whoopie pies" 

Hawaiian Chicken Kabobs

Our Family loves to grill and we spend most of our summer evenings and weekends trying and creating new recipes and ideas. Today our Super Saturday Blog Hop is all about HAWAIIAN KABOBS and we are featuring a new recipe we came up with using chicken. Our Challenge ingredient was to use Lawry's Hawaiian Marinade and actually this was the first time we had ever used this marinade at the pantry. We were really impressed, but found it to be a little to much on the savory side, we were expecting a little sweeter tasting sauce. 

Step #1 - Rinse, pat dry one pound (about 8 small pieces) of chicken breasts and cover with one full bottle of Lawry's Hawaiian Marinade. Cover, chill and let chicken marinade in sauce for at least two hours. (We let ours set for about 4 hours)

Step #2 - Turn grill on to heat on medium and pull Chicken breasts out of the marinade. Discard extra liquid, we don't use this liquid for glazing and grilling because it is filled with raw meat juices. 

Step#3 - While grill is heating up, cut chicken and assorted favorite grilling veggies into bite sized chunks or 1 x 3 inch strips and place on bamboo skewers (remember to soak your skewers). We used red pepper, mushrooms and onions. These also would have been good with fresh grilled pineapple chunks. 

Step#4 - Place Kabobs on grill and cook for about 5 - 6 minutes on each side, brushing every two minutes with more glazing sauce. For our glazing sauce, we used a marinade of 1 cup Larwy's Hawaiian Marinade, 1 teaspoon Worchestershire sauce and 1 tablespoon honey. 

Step #5 - We served our Kabobs hot over Sweet Peas & Rice.

TWD: "Baking With Julia" - Savory Puffs

I have been trying to come up with a fun and easy treat to take to share with the girls for lunch at camp tomorrow. Plus I am craving my mother's chicken salad. So making "Savory Puffs" was a great way to combine both.

Cream Puffs... Are the world's most temperamental pastry next to meringue and divinity candy! And even though they can be time consuming, I make them often using this recipe and they always turn out perfect. :)

We really like to serve ours filled with my mother's Chicken Salad. You can find that recipe here...

CREAM PUFFS & CHICKEN SALAD

"French Fridays with Dorie" - Curried Chicken, Peppers & Peas en Papillote"

So excited for "French Friday's with Dorie" today... That means dinner will be ready on time or at least early, lol! The recipe featured today can be found in Dorie Greenspan's "Around My French Table" on page 221.
Our group seemed to have had fun with this one this morning and it tasted very yummy. In French the term "En Papillote" mean to cook "in parchment" or "in a pouch". So, its super easy with no hassle clean up, great for a back to school dinner, for when there is lots of homework or extra activities... :)


Another way we like to fix this yummy dish is to make it just like the recipe describes only placing it all together in a baking dish and then making a "Curry Cream Sauce" to pour over the top to bake it in.

CURRY CREAM SAUCE RECIPE

• Salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh garlic
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder, or to taste
• 3/4 cup heavy cream

 Heat oil and butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in flour as if you were making a rue for gravy. Add the chicken broth, wine, garlic, and curry powder. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Cover and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes longer. Stir in sour cream, mayo and heavy cream, add salt, to taste. Heat through. If sauce is kept chilled, it will be good for up to a week.

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

Here is another yummy treat from Kalee's Wednesday Wish List... We made homemade "Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos" and we used the recipe found here: "Chef in Training"

Very simple and easy to make, they would be great to make ahead, freeze and have on hand. They would make a great, quick afterschool snack for kids of all ages. LOVED THEM!!!!!

"ATW80DS" - Jamaican Sweet & Sour Wings

Prep Time:15 mis Total Time:1 hr 15 min Makes:  6 servings

 This unique dish is distinctly from the island’s Chinese heritage that dates back to the descendants of migrants from China to Jamaica in the Early the 19th century.

Ingredients

• 24 chicken wings or chicken drumettes
• 1/4 cup vinegar
• 4 cups water
• 2 tablespoons Jamaican Sweet & Spicy Sauce
• 1 large onion
• 1 teaspoon garlic
• 6 slices fresh pineapple 
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1 small sliced carrots
• 1 small sliced green pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 3 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 1 cup chicken stock*

Directions

1. Soak chicken wings in a 1/4 cup vinegar and 4 cups of water solution for 30 mins and rinse, then season with salt and pepper, set aside.
2. Finely chop onion and garlic, 
3. Cut pineapple into bite sized chunks, sliced other vegetables.
4. In a wok, heat Vegetable Oil, add half of the garlic and onion, saute for 1 minute.
5. Add chicken and keep stirring, as soon as chicken is cooked, add soy sauce, pineapple, vegetables, vinegar, sugar and stock.
6. Add the remaining garlic and onion and allow to simmer for 10 minutes. PREHEAT oven to 400°F. Place chicken wings in greased 13x9-inch baking pan. Bake 30 min or until well browned and sauce is thickened.

SERVE hot over rice.

"ATW80DS" - New York

When we think about all of our favorite things that we love about New York, our memories immediately think of all the delicious food at Carmine's. Today is our oldest son's birthday and his favorite place in the whole word is Carmine's.... so to celebrate and wish him a Happy Birthday.

We give you..... Chicken Parmesan
 

1 jar (26 oz.) spaghetti sauce

1/2 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese, divided

8small boneless skinless chicken breast halves

2 cups seasoned bread crumbs 

1-1/2 cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Bread chicken breast with seasoned bread crumbs and fry in frying pan until light brown about 3 - 5 minutes on each side. Heat oven to 375°F. Place chicken breast into 13x9-inch baking dish. Cover with sauce and 1/4 cup (4 Tbsp.) Parmesan cheese. Cover with foil and bake 30 min. Uncover, top with Mozzarella cheese; bake 5-7 minutes and cheese is melted. Serve with a side of hot pasta!

"ATW80DS" - Indonesian Ginger Chicken

We really enjoyed this recipe even though I think it would be better grilled. We served saffron rice and sauteed spinach with it.

Ingredients:

1 cup honey
3/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup minced garlic (8 to 12 cloves)
1/2 cup peeled and grated fresh ginger root
1 (3 1/2 pound) chicken, quartered, with backs removed

Directions:

Cook the honey, soy sauce, garlic, and ginger root in a small saucepan over low heat until the honey is melted. Arrange the chicken in 1 layer in a shallow baking pan, skin side down, and pour on the sauce. Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil. Marinate overnight in the refrigerator.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the baking pan in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover the pan, turn the chicken skin side up, and raise the temperature to 375 degrees F. Continue baking for 30 minutes or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh and the sauce is a rich, dark brown.

 Because we got a great deal on bulk chicken this week, plus adding the rice & spinach as the sides... After doing all the math, the dinner including dessert (see next week's recipe) came to $4.96.

"ATW80DS" - Chicken & Pineapple Curry

Chicken Curry is a favorite in Culcutta, India
 

Serves: 4

6  halves of skinned chicken breasts (cut into 1/3s)

1 egg

½ cup flour

1 teaspoon curry powder

1 teaspoon chicken seasoning

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 can pineapple chunks in juice water

1 1/3 cups water

1/4 cup coconut dessert mix

1/4 cup brown sugar

2  tablespoon chicken soup base

1/2 teaspoon curry powder

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

4 to 6 cups cooked rice

Dip chicken breasts in beaten egg; coat with mixture of flour, curry powder and chicken seasoning. Place in shallow baking pan. Mix together melted butter and juice from pineapple chunks; drizzle over chicken. Cover with foil and bake at 350*F for 30 mins. Remove foil and continue to bake 30 mins more.

Combine pineapple chunks, water, coconut

dessert mix sugar, chicken soup mix, the

1/2 tsp curry powder and black pepper, in a saucepan. Cook over med heat until mixture comes to a boil and thickens slightly, stirring constantly; remove from heat. Serve chicken over rice, top with pineapple coconut mixture.

Cream Puffs & Chicken Salad

	Ingredients: 1/2 cup butter 1 cup water pinch of salt 1 cup all-purpose flour 6 eggs In a large sauce pan, bring butter, salt and water to a rolling boil. Stir in flour until the mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat and using a wooden spoon, beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing really well after each. Drop with a teaspoon onto an ungreased baking sheet. ( I use parchment baking sheets)
	Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven,  until golden brown. Centers should be dry.
	When the shells are cool, either split and fill them with chicken salad, ham salad or your favorite pudding. Traditionally they are just filled with whipped cream. You can also use a pastry bag to pipe the pudding or cream into the shells.

 I was sweetly surprised, the chicken salad filling below was to die for... I wish all of you could have been here to try them.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon sour cream
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 cups finely chopped, cooked chicken meat
• 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1/8 cup finely grated carrots
• 1 green onion minced
• 1 very small garlic clove minced
• (optional additions depending on your likes and dislikes... diced cucumbers, pimentos, tomatoes, almonds, grapes, apples, and or green peppers )

Directions

In a medium bowl, mix all the ingredients together and let set for at least a half hour before serving. This chicken salad is the salad that I fill my cream puffs with and that is what I will be doing tomorrow.  

Also thinking about going back to school, These make a great snack and fun for kids lunch, Send some salad along with a baggie full of empty cream puffs and let them fill their own while they visit with their friends. They will surely be the hit at the lunch room... :)

Outdoor Cooking USA - Day 6, South Carolina

Today, July 6th, 2012 is National Fried Chicken Day. Okay, so it may not be the healthiest thing for you, but the Southern belles swear that the secret to perfectly fried chicken is as follows: soak your chicken overnight in buttermilk, the next morning season your flour (the spices you use are up to you) and be sure to dip your chicken in egg before your dredge it through the seasoned flour. Cook in oil until golden brown and you've got some darn good southern fried chicken. It's as American as apple pie! History has it that the perfection of the breaded and seasoned came about among the African slaves in the southern states and rumor has it that the Europeans have been eating fried chicken since the Middle Ages, though the actual idea of fried chicken came from Scottish immigrants who deep-fried their chicken in fat. This is the way my family use to make their fried chicken. In the summer time my grandfather use to fill large dutch-ovens full of lard and melt it down and fry the chicken in it. I loved to hear the sounds and smell the fantastic aromas of the mutton and chicken popping in the oil over the open fire. Today is also International Kissing Day, so be our guest and try some "lip-smacking" southern fried chicken and grits for dinner tonight! :)

Southern Fried Chicken

Ingredients

• buttermilk
• 4 - 6 large eggs
• 3 cups shortening
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon  paprika
• 1 (2 to 3 pound) whole chicken, cut into pieces

Directions

1. The night before cut and wash chicken, place pieces on a large dripper pan (large cake pan) and cover with buttermilk. Let soak overnight. 
2. Heat the shortening in a large, dutch-oven or large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Beat eggs in large bowl. Pull chicken out of the buttermilk and dip in egg mixture.
3. In a brown paper lunch bag, combine the flour, salt, and pepper. Shake two chicken pieces in the bag to coat, and place them in the skillet. Repeat until all of the chicken is coated and in the skillet.
4. Fry the chicken over medium-high heat until all of the pieces have been browned on both sides. Turn the heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for 25 minutes. Remove the lid, and increase heat to medium-high. Continue frying until chicken pieces are a deep golden brown, and the juices run clear.

Tour of Italy ~ Day 21... Tuscany Tradition

Love Tuscany! I could spend a whole month just cooking and sampling all the known recipes from there, but my favorite that I have sampled many times is a Tuscany Tradition. Taverna dei Barbi is a well-known winery in Tuscany. Vin santo is an aged, sweet wine produced in Tuscany. Add the vin santo wine at the last minute so that the wine's rick flavor and aroma do not dissipate before teh chicken is served. So today we bring you...

Chicken in Vin Santo ~ (From Taverna Dei Barbi, Tuscany, Italy) 

• 1 (4 lb)  chicken, cut into 10 pieces
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 large onions, cut into 1/4-inch thick slices
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 3/4 cup dry white wine
• 1/4 cup sweet vin santo (such as Avignonesi)
• chopped fresh parsley

Preparation:

1. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper.
2. Melt butter with oil in heavy large pot over medium heat.
3. Working in batches, add chicken to pot and cook until brown on all sides, about 8 minutes total.
4. Transfer chicken to bowl.
5. Reduce heat to medium-low.
6. Add onion and garlic to pot; saute until tender and pale golden, about 8 minutes.
7. Stir in 3/4 cup dry white wine.
8. Return chicken and any juices to the pot.
9. Reduce heat to low.
10. Cover and simmer 15 minutes.
11. Uncover and simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes.
12. Stir in vin santo.
13. Sprinkle with parsley.

Saying Good-Bye to Summer!

Last night, a small group of my Husbands co-workers were having a pot luck, end of summer/end of season get-together. I guess a variety food options were suggested and in the end everyone just decided to bring what ever they wanted. My hubby decided that he wanted to make & take Chicken Enchiladas, which I profusely disagreed with, stating that "There is no quality control to our recipe", "They are hard to keep warm", "You never know if they are burnt on the bottom until served".... etc...etc....etc.... to which every time I would come up with what I thought was a good reason why not it he would respond with "They will be just fine!" So... in the end he won and the enchiladas were made. And to make bad matters worse, they turned out beautiful, wonderful and was the biggest hit at the party! All I could do was Bite my tongue and eat my words..... SO in honor of my patient hubby, I give you....

"CHICKEN ENCHILADAS"
(Party Style)

6 Chicken Breasts (cooked and cubed)
6 cups of Chicken Stock (reserved from cooking chicken)
1/2 cup diced onion
1 clove garlic (diced)
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
4 cans of Cream of Chicken Soup
1 (16 oz) Sour cream
1 (12oz) can Evaporated Milk
1 1/2 cup grated cheese
1 small can diced green chillies
12 medium four tortillas

Place chicken breasts in a large pot, add salt, pepper & seasonings as if your going to make chicken soup, then boil. While boiling, place butter and olive oil to a small pan and warm, chop onion, garlic add to melted butter and olive oil. Sauté until flavors are mixed well and onion has become soft but not brown. Set onion mixture aside, drain cooked chicken reserving 6 cups of stock. Cool Chicken and then cut into cubes.

In a large bowl, combine 4 cans Cream of Chicken soup, the sour cream, milk, onion mixture, half of the cheese and the green chillies. Mix well, this mixture will be thick. Add chicken stock, 1 cup at a time) until mixture is of sauce consistency. Add chicken and stir.

Grease or Spray a large 9'x13 baking dish, coat well. Pour 2 cups of chicken mixture into the bottom of the baking dish. Now take 2 flour tortillas and place flat on top of chicken mixture. Cover with 2 more cups of chicken mixture. Next take remaining tortillas and fill each center with 1/4 cup of chicken mixture and roll each tortilla, enchiladas style as you go, placing each filled tortilla side by side until all ten are fill. Pour and Spread remaining chicken mixture over the tortillas until completely covered. Top with remaining cheese and some parsley.

Cover and bake on 350* for about 1 hour or until center is hot