Juicy Tender Grilled Sticky Chicken

The weather has been so gorgeous lately, you can’t help but want to grill outdoors. First, there’s nothing better than smelling food that is being grilled. Brings back spring and summer memories of bbqing with family and friends. Second and best of all, there usually isn’t much of a mess in your kitchen.

I’ve got a super easy and flavorful sticky chicken recipe for you to try. You only need about an hour before hand to marinate the chicken and that’s it. It comes out deep brown and finger licking good. Give it a try on a busy week night. Here’s how I made it.

Ingredients

8 skinless chicken thighs or a mix of drummers and thighs
1/2c soy sauce
1/2c orange marmalade
1/4c honey
2T worchestershire sauce
1T sambal or chili sauce of your choice
3 cloves garlic minced
Salt and pepper

Mix above ingredients (besides chicken) in a dish. Lay the chicken meat side down in the marinade and let sit at least 30 before turning. You can do it overnight for more intense flavor. Cook over a medium grill. When you put the chicken on the grill spoon or brush a thick coat of the marinade on the chicken.

I served it with jasmine rice and grilled squash. Simple and easy.

Ode to Spring Pasta – Meatless Monday

Springtime is officially here in California. Yay!!! Some of my favorite veggies are now available especially asparagus. I wait all year for it to arrive. It seems like it is here for just a short time and then gone. Or you find it in the supermarket, out of season, tasting bland and $5 a pound. Not for me.

Yesterday was Monday and Scott was home so I thought I would try a meatless Monday night again. That’s always a challenge. So I was thinking about what I could make that would fill him up and he wouldn’t miss the meat. I thought about the first meatless meal I made and it had noodles. Viola, I’ll make a springtime pasta.

I took a trip to my fridge to see what I had…asparagus, leeks, peas all spring veggies. That sounded like a good match for pasta. I added some garlic, of course, wine and I had some leftover creme fraiche for creaminess. It came out great. Scott even said he was stuffed and didn’t have to have meat. Yay for me. Here’s how I made it….

Ingredients

1 lb bowtie (Farfalle) pasta
2T xv olive oil
2 leeks cleaned and sliced white only
3 cloves garlic minced
1t red pepper flakes
1/2c dry white wine
1 lb asparagus trimmed and cut on the bias
1c veggie broth
Zest and juice from a lemon
3T fresh mint minced
2T fresh chives minced
3T fresh parsley minced
1c defrosted peas
1/2c creme fraiche
1/2c parm
Salt and pepper

Bring water to a boil in a large pot. Season with salt. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil. When hot add the leeks, salt and pepper and cook until soft and just browning, 4 – 5 minutes. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook 1 minute. Deglaze with the wine and cook until almost evaporated. Add the pasta to the pot and cook one minute shy of package directions. Add the asparagus and stock to the skillet and cook until the asparagus is tender crisp, 5 – 7 minutes. Add the zest and juice and stir. Then add the herbs, peas and creme fraiche. Stir to combine and taste for seasoning. Add the pasta and parm and toss to combine. Add more parm if needed.

Serve it with a little salad and crusty bread and enjoy!!!

Third Night – Iran

Well I think my husband thought he could stump me with the country he picked for tonight’s dinner but he didn’t. He pick Iran. I thought, at first, it might be difficult to research and find recipes but I was so wrong. Iranian food is similar to Indian food and has a lot of influence from the countries that surround the country. Rice and meat are usually the go to food with the addition of fruits and nuts.

Similar to other countries, the recipes differ from region to region. There are four major regions in Iran but each region have a few provinces. Rice is definitely a staple in each region but just like any other country, it has it’s wealthy areas where seafood is prominent. Lamb is usually eaten over beef and eggplant is their “potato”

I really enjoyed researching Iran and found several recipes which I would love to try. I picked Dolmeh-Yeh Felfel which is peppers filled with ground meat, rice and herbs. I used ground beef since ground lamb is hard to find and expensive although I prefer lamb. It has a sweet and sour taste when cooked but was really delicious. I couldn’t find garlic chives so I used one garlic clove with a handful of chives. Give it a try.

Ingredients

2 medium onions, finely chopped
1/2 lb ground lamb or beef
3-4 teaspoons of tomato paste
cooking oil
1/3 cup parsley, finely chopped
1/3 cup mint, finely chopped
1/2 cup spring onions, finely chopped
1/3 cup garlic chives, finely chopped
1/3 cup tarragon, finely chopped (optional)
1/2c of long-grain or basmati rice
4 large green or red peppers
2-3 teaspoons of sugar
3-4 spoonfuls of fresh lime juice
salt and black pepper

METHOD

Fry onions in cooking oil over medium heat until golden. Add ground meat and fry further until meat changes color. Add 1/2 cup water, salt, pepper and most of tomato paste. Mix and cook further until water boils off.
Fry prepared vegetables in cooking oil over medium heat until wilted. Boil two cups of water in a small pot. Add 1 teaspoon of salt and rice and boil further until rice softens. Drain the water and let cool slightly.
Cut a circle at the top of the peppers and remove seeds. Boil 2 cups of water in a large pot. Add 1 teaspoon of salt and the peppers. They should be placed side by side (make sure not to stack them). Cook until they soften slightly. Take care not to overcook or they might fall apart later on. Drain the water and let cool.
Mix well prepared meat, vegetables, most of lime juice, most of sugar, and rice. Sprinkle some salt inside peppers, fill them with the mix and close the tops. Again place the peppers side by side (avoid stacking them) in a large pot. Prepare sauce by mixing 1/2 cup of hot water with the rest of sugar, lime juice and tomato paste. Pour the sauce in over the peppers and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Serve this wonderful dolmeh hot with the sauce.

Second Night – Germany

Continuing with my quest to make answering the question, What’s for Dinner, easier, my husband picked Germany for last night’s meal. He is 3/4 German so I can see why he picked that country. So off I went to research German food and recipes. I typed in German recipes and found a couple of good sites that have traditional German food. I’m trying to find traditional sites that are from German heritage to avoid the food being Americanized. The best one I found was germanfoodguide.com They not only list traditional recipes, they also have a guide to finding traditional food in the US. They also provide information including beer, Oktoberfest, food, cheese, wurst and more. It is worth checking out.

The recipe I picked is really traditional in German and Austrian food, schnitzel. Wiener schnitzel is probably one of the best known German foods so I went with a version of it because Wiener schnitzel is made from veal which can be expensive. I knew that they made schnitzel with pork so I looked through the recipes and found Jager schnitzel. It is a pork cutlet that is breaded in the same way however it is served with a mushroom sauce on top. It was very easy to make but somewhat time consuming. Here’s the recipe I found….

Ingredients

For the Schnitzel
1 pound thin pork cutlets
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup fine, dry bread crumbs
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons vegetable oil

For the Sauce
1 lb Mushrooms, washed and cut into bite-size slices
2-3 slices Bacon, chopped into small pieces
1 small Onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup Vegetable or Chicken Broth
1/2 cup Cream
1/2 teaspoon dry Thyme
A small bunch Parsley, finely chopped
A little extra milk as needed

Season each pork cutlet with salt and pepper (both sides). Let stand at room temperature for 10-15 minutes.

In the meantime, prepare your work area. You will need 3 plates – add the flour to the first one, add the eggs to the second one, and add the bread crumbs to the third plate. Arrange the plates in a row, close to the stove. Heat the butter and oil in a large, heavy skillet or pan over moderately high heat for about 2 minutes. For each cutlet, coat the cutlet with flour, dunk it in the eggs, then coat it with bread crumbs. Put the coated cutlet immediately in the hot skillet. Cook each side for about 3 minutes, or until each side is a deep golden brown. Remove the schnitzel and place on a rack inside a baking sheet (to absorb any extra oil). Keep warm.

Using the same pan as you made the Schnitzels in, fry the mushrooms until they begin releasing water. Remove them from the pan and set aside.

Add a little butter to the same pan. Add onions and bacon. Cook until onions begin to brown. Add mushrooms back to the pan, then add the broth and cream. Add salt, pepper, and thyme. Bring mixture up to a simmer, and continue simmering until liquid has noticeably reduced (about 15-20 minutes) – stir occasionally.

Stir milk into the sauce until the sauce reaches the desired consistency (the sauce shouldn’t be too thin and be creamy). Remove pan from heat. Stir in 2/3 of the chopped parsley. Add additional salt and pepper as needed.

To serve, place a Schnitzel on a plate and top with the sauce. Sprinkle some chopped parsley over the sauce.

I served boiled potatoes with parsley and dill. That is a traditional side dish for Germany. I boiled 2 lbs yukon gold potatoes that were chopped in a pot of salted boiling water. When cooked, I drained the potatoes and put them back into the hot pot. I added 3T butter, 1/2c chopped parsley, 1T dried dill weed, salt and pepper and stirred well to combine.

First Night – Russian

If you read yesterday’s post, you will understand the title, First Night – Russian. I am trying to make answering that infamous question, What’s for Dinner, easier by having my husband pick a country and then I will research a main dish to make from that country. His first pick was Russia so I did my research and found an unbelievably delicious and easy chicken dish to make called Gorky’s Chicken. I found it on a site dedicated to traditional Russian food called ruscuisine.com. They have a ton of recipes on the site so if your spouse or kids pick Russian, you’ll be able to pick a good one. Here’s my interpretation of the recipe. I say that because I don’t use dried parsley just fresh and I only could find fat free feta. I lessened the cooking time to 18 – 20 minutes. I felt 20 – 30 could really dry out the chicken.

Ingredients

5 tbsp butter
3 lb chicken breasts boneless (4 breasts)
1/4 c onion chopped
2 oz vodka heated
1 ea garlic clove minced
1/2 tbsp dried parsley
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp tomato paste
3/4 c chicken broth
1 1/2 c sour cream or plain yogurt
4 tbsp feta cheese crumbled
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt

Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Brown chicken in butter with the chopped onions. Pour heated vodka over the chicken & onions. Add the garlic, salt, pepper, & parsley. Remove chicken from the pan. Add the flour to the pan and stir one minute, add the tomato paste, and chicken broth to the pan. Stir-in the sour cream and feta cheese. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Add the chicken again to the mixture, reduce heat and simmer for 18 – 20 minutes.

I served it with a Russian rice pilaf called Chrov Plav. It is a rice pilaf with dried fruit and nuts. I didn’t have any dried currents, prunes or apricots so I substituted golden raisins.

Ingredients

1 cup long-grain white rice
2 tbsp currants
4 ea medium prunes, pitted and cut lengthwise into narrow strips
4 tbsp butter
1/2 cup of dried apricots, cut into narrow strips
1/4 cup blanched almonds finely chopped
1 tbsp honey

Soak currants and prunes (I soaked golden raisins) in a bowl of warm water for 15 minutes, then drain and pat them dry with paper towels. Melt the butter in a skillet over high heat and add the apricots, currants, prunes and almonds. Reduce the heat to low and cook uncovered for 5 minutes. Stir in the honey and rice, cover with 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pan and simmer for 25 minutes, or until the liquid has been absorbed. Serve hot.

What’s For Dinner – A Hard Question

What’s for dinner? You’re kids ask, your spouse asks and you think it everyday. Even for someone like me who loves to cook, it still is hard to think of something good and easy to make every day of the week. And if you don’t really like to cook and only cook out of necessity, it is really hard. I start out first thing in the morning trying to figure out what to have. First thing I do is ask my husband but really, I should know by now that I am going to get the same answer each time I ask, steak or a burger. Well we obviously can’t have steak or a burger every day of the year even if he would love to so this morning I decided I had to change it up. I had to think of something to do different. Something that would make it fun but I didn’t have to do all the thinking. Then it came to me. A great idea. So when my husband came home I asked him…..

Pick a country and I will make something traditional from the country you pick. It can be any country. How hard can that be? I don’t think it will be very hard at all. Then for the rest of the week I will ask him to pick a new country each day. How fun does that sound? I think it sounds great. It won’t just be good food but educational as well. If you have kids, you should ask them to pick the country. They could use the internet and look for recipes. If they are wee ones, then you can help them. This is a great way to include them in dinner planning and when they plan and shop for the food, they will most likely eat what is made.

The first night, which will be tomorrow, my husband picked Russia. I already did my research on Russia and it didn’t take me long at all. I will be making Gorky’s Chicken which is chicken breast with a vodka sauce, rice pilaf with fruit and nuts and a beet salad. I will post the recipe and pics tomorrow and what will let you know what he picked for the next night. It should be a fun adventure through the world. Maybe we will do it for two weeks, who knows. If it makes coming up with what to have for dinner easier, I might have to come up with different ideas all the time.

Follow with me each night for our world adventure.

Braised Short Ribs with Balsamic Vinegar

Well I think this might be one of the last slow cooked meal this year. The weather seems to be staying around 70 most days which makes me want to cook lighter food. My husband wanted slow braised short ribs one more time and the weather yesterday was a little dreary so it was perfect.

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The key to making great short ribs is browning the ribs first on all sides. You need to get them really brown to seal in the juices so while they braise, the fat melts turning the meat so tender it almost melts in your mouth. It is so flavorful. For this braise, I added bacon and balsamic vinegar. They came out very moist, tender and with a lot of flavor. Here's how I made them……

Ingredients
8 short ribs bone in
4 slices thick cut bacon
1/2c wonder flour or reg all purpose flour
1 onion chopped
2 carrots peeled and chopped
2 ribs celery chopped
4 cloves garlic chopped
2T tomato paste
2 cans diced tomatoes
1/3c balsamic vinegar
2T brown sugar
1 – 2c beef stock
Salt and pepper

Heat oven to 325. In a large dutch oven, cook the bacon over medium heat until crisp. Remove. Up the heat to medium high and brown the short ribs until brown on all sides. Don’t crowd the pan. Do in batches if necessary. Remove. Add the onion, carrot, celery, salt and pepper and cook till soft, 3 – 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute. Add the tomato paste and cook a couple minutes till orange. Add the tomatoes, vinegar, brown sugar, salt and pepper and stir to combine. Add the ribs and the stock to halfway cover the ribs. You don’t want to submerge them completely. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, cover and cook in oven for 2 1/2 hours. When it comes out of the oven, skim the top with a paper towel to remove excess fat. Add the bacon in and serve.

I served it with instant polenta but you could serve it over mashed potatoes, mashed parsnips or rice.

You could do this in a crockpot by browning the ribs and bacon first. Place all other ingredients except ribs and stock in the slow cooker. Add the ribs on top and add 2c beef stock. Cook on low 8 – 9 hours.

Clam Arrabiata

I have to get creative when I serve pasta to my husband. It isn’t his favorite thing to eat especially if there isn’t any meat in the sauce but he actually said he loved it. I was shocked. It has clams and tomato with some spices. That’s it. Easy to make but full of flavor. Here’s how I made it……

Ingredients

2T olive oil
4 cloves garlic minced
1/2t red pepper flakes
1/2t dried oregano
1T tomato paste
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
2 cans chopped clams
1T capers (I like the large capers)
1/4c parsley chopped
1 lb spaghetti
Salt and Pepper

Heat a pot of salted water over high heat. Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the garlic, flakes, oregano, salt and pepper and cook 1 minute. Add the paste and cook 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and the juice from the clams, and salt and cook 5 minutes or till thickened slightly. Add the pasta to the water and cook 1 minute shy of package directions. Add the clams and capers to the sauce and heat through. Add the pasta reserving some water if the sauce is too thick. I like to use tongs to transfer the pasta to the sauce. Toss a couple minutes in the sauce. You know when it’s done when you can’t see any liquid when you draw the pasta back. Taste for seasoning.