Lemon Pepper Yogurt Chicken Kebobs

I have a thing for dry chicken - I hate it! Which is why I'm always looking for ways to keep it moist. I like to seal in moisture by baking chicken in a covered casserole dish, or wrapping it in foil before grilling it, or marinating it in yogurt. The acid from the dairy helps tenderize the meat, keeping it moist and juicy. I marinate the chicken all day long, but 4 hours is minimum.

Making kebobs is a great way to cook the chicken quickly, since you're grilling smaller chunks of it rather than a whole breast, so it's the perfect thing to make during the week when you're busy and short on time.

I like this recipe because it combines the fresh flavors of lemon, yogurt and chicken and makes for a light lunch or dinner. I’ve made it several times, serving it with green beans and maybe the occasional steamed potato (which I would roughly mash on my plate with butter and salt. The lazy way to "mashed potatoes"). The lemon yogurt sauce that's served with these kebobs is delicious over the potato and veggies, too. You could also make a little orzo salad to serve with it.

A glass of Chardonnay, Chablis or Viognier would be a nice accompaniment. To make it dinner-party worthy, I'd start off the meal with a mixed green salad and end it with a good quality lemon sorbet or some lemon or pistachio macaroons. Nothing too difficult or tedious to prepare, but would still make a lovely summertime/warm weather meal with friends of family.

Now, on to the recipe:

Marinated Chicken Kebobs with Lemon Pepper Yogurt Sauce

Ingredients:
2 cups extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 3 lemons
2 Tbsp chopped garlic
3/4 Tbsp each fresh rosemary leaves and thyme leaves
6 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts, cut into large cubes
Salt and pepper to taste
Bamboo skewers

Sauce:
2 cups yogurt (or you could use Greek yogurt and forego the sour cream)
4 Tbsp sour cream
3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
Zest of 2 lemons
Juice of 1 lemon
2 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp black pepper
2 tsp sald
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint (optional)

Directions:
1. For the kebobs: in a plastic bag, combine olive oil, lemon, garlic, rosemary and thyme. Add chicken, toss well to coat evenly, and refrigerate overnight.
2. For the sauce: combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and refrigerate at least 2 hours.
3. Remove chicken from marinade and season well with salt & pepper. Grill chicken for 5 minutes on each side, until golden brown and juices run clear when pricked with the end of a skewer. Thread cooked pieces of chicken onto each skewer and serve with the Lemon Pepper Yogurt Sauce.

Makes about 20 kebobs (serves 10).

The End of Dry Chicken

I recently started reading “The Food Lab - Better Home Cooking through Science” by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, a James Beard Foundation winner. At nearly 1,000 pages, it’s a veritable encyclopedia. As its name implies, the author delves into the science of cooking, unravelling the mysteries of cooking. Kenji is a self-proclaimed science geek who luckily found an outlet for his nerdy tendencies at Cook’s Illustrated, where he worked in the test kitchen and got to play mad scientist with food all day long. From his experience he put together this book of what really goes on with your food once you start cooking it. It’s incredibly enlightening. If you are at all interested in the science behind cooking, this is the book for you. With its over 300 recipes, complete with explanations of why he does what he does to make the dish incredible, you cannot help but improve your cooking.

When it comes to chicken, he says we all tend to overcook it. That’s because the USDA has scared us with dire warnings to cook it long enough to kill everything that might be lurking in it. But Kenji explains that's not necessary. We’d avoid getting stuck with a bird that’s dry if we’d simply stop overcooking it. We really can allow it to reach a lower internal temperature than the 165 degrees F the USDA recommends and not die!! The result is a juicier, moister chicken devoid of bacteria. The key is to let it rest for a period of time after cooking it.

For example, rather than allowing the bird to come to 165 before we stop the cooking process, we cook it until it reaches 150 and then allow it to rest for 2.7 minutes, and we’re good. I’m not kidding. This is how scientific he gets. He really is a geek. In his book he has a whole table of how many minutes the meat needs to rest if you bring it only to 145, or 150 or 155 and explains what the chicken would be like at each of these temperatures. Most importantly, stop buying boneless, skinless breast. For moist, juicy birds, get the breast with skin and bones. Makes all the difference in the world.

“The Food Lab” explains that the most important tool to use in the kitchen or when grilling, especially when cooking meat, is an instant read thermometer. I have a probe for my oven and a regular inexpensive guage that takes a while to get to temperature, so I bought an instant-read one. Why keep guessing, when a simple tool can tell you within 4 seconds what the internal temperature of your meat is?

So last night, I used my new thermometer and made Chicken with Basil and Garlic and it was
magnificent...truly. The chicken was perfectly moist and juicy and flavored so beautifully with fresh basil and garlic.

Ingredients:

Chicken with Basil and Garlic

4 chicken breasts or thighs, with skin on and bone-in
Fresh basil leaves
3 garlic cloves, sliced
3-4 whole garlic cloves, unpeeled
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 Tbsp heavy cream
Salt and pepper

Directions:

Take your chicken and stuff the sliced garlic and a few fresh basil leaves under the skin of each piece. Set aside for now.

Start your sauce: cook a few cloves of unpeeled garlic in the chicken broth for 15 minutes. Add wine and cook 10 minutes longer. Stick a meat thermometer or your oven’s temp probe into the thickest piece and bake until the internal temperature reaches 150 degrees.

While that’s cooking return to your sauce: remove the garlic and peel it. Place garlic in food processor with fresh basil leaves and whirl. Return it to the broth/wine in the sauce pan and add cream, salt and pepper and reduce for about 10 minutes. If you like a smooth sauce, strain out the chunks of garlic and basil, or use an immersion blender to whirl it even finer. If the sauce is too thin to your liking, add a little corn starch or arrowroot powder in a little water first to dissolve it, then add to thicken the sauce, cooking it for about 10 minutes longer.

When chicken is done, cover with foil and let it rest for the requisite 2.7 minutes to ensure its safety. Plate and pour the sauce over the top of each.

Delicious with mashed potatoes, and a side of roasted vegetables with a sprinkling of good quality balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. Serve with a glass of a good quality oaky Chardonnay or my preference, Viognier. If you prefer red, choose a lighter one such as a Pinot Noir or Gamay Beaujolais.

This is a tasty, delicious, juicy dish that’s dinner party-worthy. What more could you ask for on a Sunday night?

Lemon Artichoke Spinach Pasta

I’ve been enjoying lemons for months now, thanks to my husband’s co-worker who’s willing to share. He must have a gigantic tree in his backyard because I get 30-40 lemons at a time from him and this year alone I’ve received at least 5-6 bags from him (love you, Rick!). His tree seems to put out an endless supply.

I realize my last post was also about lemons but it seems I’m still not done talking about them.

So my story is this: my work organized a luncheon for us last week and one of the things on the menu was a pasta with chicken and mushrooms drowning in some goopy sauce. It was “meh” and didn’t finish it. But it got me in the mood for something like it that I knew I could make much tastier. So on the way home that day, I went to Trader Joe’s and purchased everything I needed for this dish I wanted to put together. I envisioned lemons and artichokes, chicken and spinach in a light sauce, all coming together in a lovely marriage of flavors.

What I bought at Trader Joe's:
Lemon Pepper Pappardelle (see photo below but get GF pasta instead if you’re gluten-free)
Crimini mushrooms
A bag of pre-washed spinach
A jar of the artichoke antipasto shown here on the right --->
A can of artichokes in water (or get the marinated kind if you prefer)
Parmesan cheese, grated
Chicken breasts *
1 lemon
Fresh thyme

You should already have these at home:
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1-2 garlic cloves or garlic powder
Butter, about 2 tsp.

I used about 1/2 of each of the items I bought, which makes about 2-3 servings.


Directions:
Start 1 pot of water to cook the pasta and another pot where you’re going to poach a chicken breast (if you didn’t buy their Lemon Chicken). While those pots of water are coming to a boil, wash and slice the mushrooms and chop the garlic. Add these to some butter you’ve melted in a sauce pan over medium heat. When the mushrooms and garlic are nearly cooked, add a few handfuls of spinach to wilt. Turn off the sauce pan and remove from the heat.

When the pots of water are boiling, add the pasta to the 1 (cook per the directions) and add the chicken to the other (it’ll cook a bit faster if you cut the chicken breast in half). Add a pinch of salt to each pot. To the chicken, I also added 1/2 lemon. I squeezed the juice into the pot and then threw in the actual lemon to the pot as well. I also added a sprig of thyme and a garlic clove to the chicken. When the water comes back to a boil, turn down the heat to simmer and poach for about 10 minutes. When cooked, remove from poaching liquid and slice the chicken.

Browning the artichokes would add another
dimension of flavor. Mmmhh...next time!

Turn the sauce pan with the ’shrooms, garlic and spinach back on. Add the pasta and chicken. Give it all a good stir until it’s good and warm. Add the artichoke hearts and a few tablespoons of the antipasto and continue stirring until just heated through. Add salt and pepper to taste. Unload onto a plate, squeeze some lemon juice over the whole thing, sprinkle on some parmesan cheese and OMG! Enjoy!

*You can either cook some raw chicken yourself or get their pre-cooked Lemon Chicken if you’re short on time. You can poach the chicken, like I did, or grill it, or just bake it. But know that that will all take a little longer than poaching it.

Coconut Green Curry

I really love Thai food and all the fabulous flavors they use. Coconut, chilis, fresh vegetables, lemongrass, lime....oh man! Flavor bursting all over the place.

One of my favorite dishes is Coconut Green Curry. While it’s nice to eat out, it’s really not difficult to make at home. It’s just a few ingredients and can be whipped up in no time, even on a busy week night. 

Plus, you can customize it a little by changing up the protein, sometimes using chicken, sometimes pork, sometimes tofu or a ton more vegetables, but 2 things remain unchanged: the coconut milk and the green curry paste.

There are a lot of brands of green curry paste out there and I haven’t really tried many of them. The Thai Kitchen brand is the one I usually reach for. But if you shop at an Asian market, I’m sure the selection is much larger and you can experiment with how different ones taste.

When it comes to the coconut milk, though, be forewarned. If you’re at all concerned about the quality of ingredients you use, you’ll want to read the labels. I am often fairly surprised at what all gets put into a can of coconut milk. You’d think it would be as innocuous as just coconut milk (what a concept!) but alas, it is not always so.

I prefer no-nonsense brands without artificial ingredients or thickeners that can upset my stomach, and the best for the price that I’ve found is at Trader Joe’s. Even my health food store coconut milk has stuff in it I like to avoid.

Go for the full-fat version if they have it. They also offer a reduced fat version but I tell you it’s not the same. Go for the real deal. There is no need to fear the fat in coconut milk. It’s one of those “good fats” we are supposed to be eating. The creaminess, by the way, also takes food to another level of wonderfulness.

So grab a can of TJ’s organic coconut milk and make this.

Coconut Green Curry

Snap Peas

1 head of broccoli, divided into florets
1 small handful of snap peas
Coconut oil
1 small onion, or 2 green onions (green parts only if following a low-FODMAP diet)
1 lb. protein of your choice, cut into cubes (the equivalent to 2-3 small chicken breasts)
3 baby bok choy
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can full-fat coconut milk
1 Tbsp. green curry paste

Let’s start with the broccoli. I need to eat this veg pretty well-cooked, so I steam this separately and then add it to my dish later.  Steam the snap peas along with it. 

While this is steaming, chop the onion fine and add to a sauté pan of heated coconut oil. Cook until translucent (if using green onion, add after the protein has been added). Add your protein (I like to use cubed chicken breast) and brown on all sides. When almost cooked through, add chopped bok choy and finely minced garlic and sauté another 3-4 minutes.  Now add the whole can of coconut milk along with the curry paste (whisking to dissolve). Bring to a boil, then simmer a few minutes. Turn off heat, add the broccoli and peas, and stir everything together well.

You could serve this over a bed of steaming rice, or if you’re on a grain-free plan like me, over a bed of “cauliflower rice”.

Lettuce Wraps

The heat of summer is upon us. It’s been pretty warm here in Southern California. Normally we don’t see these kinds of temperatures until July or August, but, here we are, burning up already. Last week we had an unprecedented 110 degrees F! Insane.

When temps reach this high, I crave something cool to eat, or at least something light. Lettuce wraps are perfect for that. Often they can be found on restaurant menus under the appetizer section, but I like eating them as a meal. I just eat more of it! In fact, this recipe is a copycat of those famous wraps everybody loves at P.F. Chang’s Restaurant.

But, of course, it’s been modified. And what makes this recipe so fantastic is that wonderful marriage of sweet and spicy flavors that I like so well. There are probably no less than a million recipes out there for lettuce wraps, but what tends to be a big digestive problem for me with most Asian food is either the corn-starchy, sugary component, or tons of soy sauce in their sauces, which I find sometimes overwhelming anyway. This sauce is completely digestion-friendly, and soy-free, as it’s both Paleo as well as SCD-compliant. I found it on a site called cavegirlcuisine.com and I think it rocks.

I love the crunch of the nuts, the slight sweetness from the little bit of honey, all balanced by the spiciness of the Sriracha. I plan to make this dish a lot this summer. It’s probably the best lettuce wrap I’ve ever had!

Give this recipe a try when you’ve craving something light on a hot summer evening. Makes good leftovers for lunch the next day. Serve with a side of cauliflower rice (recipe to follow soon), or if you eat grains, regular white of brown rice, or maybe a fried rice dish. If you’re especially hungry, add a side of stir-fried vegetables.

Make sure to properly chop everything very fine. You want the mix to be small enough so that you can adequately wrap a lettuce leaf around the filling. Big chunks won’t do!

Also, you can make this dish vegetarian if you like by using a soy crumble, or breaking down tofu with a fork to resemble ground meat. Tofu, however, has no flavor, so you’ll want to season it with some spices to give it a little more oomph.

Ingredients:
1Tbsp. coconut oil
1 lb. ground chicken
5 oz. mushrooms, finely chopped
1/3 cup green onion
1 Tbsp. minced fresh ginger
3 Tbsp. coconut aminos
4 cloves of finely minced garlic
1/4 cup almonds, sliced or rough chopped
1 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp. Sriracha hot sauce
1 Tbsp. honey
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. finely chopped cilantro (optional)

Directions:
Heat oil in a wide sauté pan. Add the chicken and brown, making sure to crumble the meat into the smallest possible bits. When almost cooked all the way through, add mushrooms, onion, ginger and garlic and cook until limp. Add remaining ingredients, except for cilantro, and stir together for a couple of minutes, then remove from heat.

Serve with either Boston Bibb (my favorite) or iceberg lettuce leaves that have been washed and thoroughly dried. Sprinkle chopped cilantro on top.

Mexican Chicken Soup

The weather is going to be a bit nasty this weekend. Rain is forecast for the next 4 days - unheard of in Southern California! Could it be El Niño (gasp)? We’ve been expecting it for months now, and we’re still waiting. Regardless, you know me - at the very mention of rain and the inevitable cooling of the temperature (however slight it may be) I’m off making soup! And in honor of El Niño, this time we’re making it Mexican.

I’ve made this soup several times now and love it more each time I have it. It’s a great combination of flavors. The addition of the roasted tomatillo salsa makes it "the bomb!" The traditional version of this soup is “chicken tortilla soup” but as I’m avoiding grains right now, there are none in this version. It’s from Danielle Walker’s cookbook, “Against All Grain”, a cookbook geared towards those with digestive trouble. It’s very digestion-friendly.

The recipe calls for it to be prepared stove top but I recently made it in my slow cooker because I was leaving the house and wanted it ready when I got back. So please note that I  only cooked it this way for a few hours. All day would be too long for the chicken, which would overcook and become dry.

The soup is very simple to make but do make sure you use homemade (chicken) bone broth for best flavor and superior nutrition. A simple soup needs a boldly flavored broth to lend backbone to it. Don’t use a wimpy stock from the grocery store unless you absolutely have to.

You can either choose, at the end of the cooking, to puree half the soup in a blender and return it to the pot to thicken it somewhat, or you can just leave it as it is.

Mexican Chicken Chowder

Ingredients

2 pounds chicken thighs, boneless, skinless, trimmed of fat
2 cups roasted tomatillo salsa
4 cups Chicken Broth
3 cups peeled and cubed sweet potatoes or butternut squash
2 cups peeled and sliced carrots
2 tsp. fresh lime juice
1 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 tsp. sea salt (or more to taste)
2 cups chopped pre-washed spinach
Garnish: chopped fresh cilantro and avocado slices


Directions

Place the chicken, salsa, broth, sweet potatoes, carrots, lime juice, garlic and salt in a stockpot over medium-high heat.

Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer 1 hour over medium-low heat.

Remove chicken, and using 2 forks, shred the chicken and set it aside.

Scoop 2 cups of cooked vegetables from the soup and puree in a blender. Make sure there is at least 1/4 cup of broth with it. Puree for 15 seconds or so and return to the soup pot.

Add the chicken back in and then the spinach and simmer 10 minutes until the spinach is slightly wilted.

Serve hot, garnished with the cilantro and avocado.

Curried Chicken Salad

Summer is the perfect time for lighter foods when it’s hot and we don’t want to turn on the oven. And chicken salads are ideal. They are also easy to prepare.

I’ve been making this salad for several years and I never tire of it because I really like the flavor combination of spicy and sweet. I came across the recipe this morning and am thinking about making it again this weekend since the weather remains hot and muggy where I live. There’s something cooling about this salad even though it has some spice from the chutney and curry. The spice is minimal, though, and is really just there to add flavor, not heat.

The salad's great served on a bed of Boston or Bibb lettuce. You could even use the lettuce leaves to sort of scoop up the salad with.

There is no substitute for the wine. If you leave it out it really does affect the taste, even though it’s only 1/3 of a cup. Trust me, I’ve tried. For the mayo, you can use a dairy-free variety if you’re lactose intolerant. I like Vegenaise from Follow Your Heart. I think it’s one of the best-tasting, healthy, dairy-free and eggless mayos out there. They make a variety of mayos to choose from. I usually get mine at the health food store where you’ll see a larger selection, but I’ve even seen 1-2 varieties at the regular supermarket.

Here’s the recipe.

Curried Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

6 chicken breasts (depending on the size, you may need only 4)

1 1/2 cup good quality mayonnaise 

1/3 cup white wine

1/4 cup mango chutney

2-3 Tbsp. curry powder

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup chopped celery (finely diced)

1/4 cup chopped scallions

1/4 cup raisins

a little grated fresh ginger

Instructions:

Roast the chicken breasts in a 350 degree F oven for 35-40 minutes. While those are cooking, puree the mayo through the salt in a food processor until smooth. This will be your sauce. 

Combine the celery through ginger in a bowl. When the chicken breasts are cool enough to handle, cut them into bite-sized chunks. Add the sauce, toss, and chill for a few hours.

When you’re ready to eat the salad, add 1 cup of warm, salted toasted cashews, if you like. Pecans also work nicely.

Enjoy for lunch on a hot day!

Chicken Noodle Soup

Most of you know by now that I just love soup. I inherited this gene from my mother. And this week the temperatures here in Southern California provided the ideal conditions for “soup weather”. So I looked for something new to try out. New to me, but certainly not new to most. The humble, but ever popular, Chicken Noodle Soup sounded good.

This recipe contains digestive-friendly ingredients that soothe the digestive tract. There is nothing in it that could irritate, so just like when you have a cold and aren’t well, a bowl of chicken soup is perfect for when you need a little something soothing for your insides.

Just like in my post a few years ago on that wonderfully fragrant Vietnamese soup called Pho, this soup, as nearly all of them, calls for a rich bone broth to start. If you’re short on time, you can certainly use a prepared chicken or vegetable broth, but as I stated in that article, making your own homemade bone broth is not difficult and because of the rich nutrients that a bone broth contains, it’s definitely worth making.

Here’s the recipe I made this week.

Chicken Noodle and Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp olive or coconut oil
3 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
2 large stalks celery, finely chopped
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp. turmeric
5 thyme sprigs, plus 1 Tbsp. finely chopped
3 marjoram sprigs, plus 2 tsp. chopped, or 1-2 tsp. dried
8-10 cups of homemade chicken bone broth
10 oz. boneless skinless chicken thighs, thinly sliced
1 cup corn kernels (frozen is fine)
1 cup rice vermicelli, broken into short lengths
salt and pepper
2 Tbsp. finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

Instructions:
1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the carrot, celery, bay leaf and turmeric, and cook, stirring regularly, for 10 minutes, or until the vegetables have softened.
2. Add the chicken and brown a little with the vegetables. Add the herbs sprigs, broth and corn kernels and simmer over medium heat for 10-15 minutes (10 minutes if you’re using fresh or canned corn, 15 minutes if you’re using frozen).
3. Meanwhile, pour boiling water over the vermicelli noodles and let them soak in a bowl until they soften. Drain.
4. Remove the bay leaf and herb sprigs from the soup, add the noodles (*see note below) and cook an additional 2 minutes. Stir in the chopped thyme and marjoram, season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve with a sprinkling of parsley.

*You will surely have leftovers. In that case, I have found that the noodles soak up too much of the broth and get mushy the next day. What I do in Step 4 is leave the noodles out and instead, when the soup is ready, I take my bowl, put some noodles in the bottom and pour some soup over the top, and then sprinkle with parsley. I keep the noodles separate when storing them in the fridge overnight as well. So I would just add the herbs in Step 4, and leave out that bit about adding the noodles, and proceed with the rest of the directions.

The right way to slow cook

What is it about the slow cooker lately? Clearly, its convenience and ability to produce easy one-pot meals makes it a great, inexpensive item for every kitchen. I must admit that for the longest time, I thought of the slow cooker as a sort of relic - a throwback to a time when American cuisine was unadventurous and unexciting - and mine sat in the far reaches of a kitchen shelf for the longest time. But these days I am seeing every cooking website and magazine imaginable boasting their favorite slow cooker recipes! What's going on? It seems the slow cooker has come back.

And you know what, that's fine by me, because last year I actually got mine out again and started using it. There is a trick though, to ensuring that these one-pot meals turn out with a maximum of flavor.

Be forewarned: though you may think slow cooking is as easy as piling everything into the cooker and turning it on, that's not the best way to achieve the most flavor out of the foods that go into it. To do that, go one step further by browning the meat and vegetables in a saute pan before putting them in. The carmelization that comes from browning on the stovetop cannot be achieved in the slow cooker, and that is what adds so much flavor to the dish.

If you have a slow cooker and you are only cooking out of the recipe guide that came with it, you are missing out. I have yet to find a recipe in there that really stands out (although you usually can't go wrong with your basic chili). I found a lovely cookbook called "The Gourmet Slow Cooker" by Lynn Alley, from which I have many numerous recipes, and I've enjoyed nearly every one I've tried. If you need some inspiration for your slow cooker, I highly recommend it.

I have 3 favorites from the book that I wanted to share with you: Baked Eggplant, Greek Bean Soup, and Provencal Chicken Stew. It's the Baked Eggplant that I plan to make again this weekend that prompted this post. I serve it along with numerous "mezze" (Middle Eastern appetizers or nibbles). I will scoop up the eggplant with sliced veggies, and have feta cheese, kalamata olives, roasted peppers handy. If you eat bread, warmed pita is perfect, or crackers. It's all vegetarian, fantastically flavored, and makes for a light supper.

Baked Eggplant

1/2 cup olive oil
2 large or 3 medium eggplants, peeled and cut into cubes
3 cloves garlic, pressed
juice of 1 lemon
salt
extra virgin olive oil for drizzling
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley for garnish
1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh mint leaves for garnish (optional)
4 oz. feta cheese, crumbled, for garnish (1 scant cup)

Pour 1/4 cup of the olive oil into the slow cooker and rotate to coat the bottom. Add the eggplant and the remaining oil and toss lightly. Cover and cook on high for about 2 hours or on low for about 5 hours, until the eggplant is quite mushy. Stir 2-3 times during cooking.

Add the garlic, lemon juice, and salt to taste, and stir well to break up any large chunks of eggplant (sometimes I puree it if I want a smoother texture, especially if I'm going to be using it as a dip). Transfer to a bowl, drizzle with olive oil and garnish with the herbs and feta. Serve warm or at room temperature. Scoop up with pita bread or pita chips.

Greek Bean Soup

2 cups dried white beans
6-8 cups water or chicken stock
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
3 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
3 celery stalks, finely chopped
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1 ham bone (optional)
3 large ripe tomatoes, peeled and diced, or 1 (14.5 oz.) can crushed tomatoes
Leaves from 2 sprigs oregano, coarsely chopped
1 cup packed spinach leaves, young dandelion greens, or arugula
1 Tbsp. salt
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

Rinse and sort the beans. Place them in the slow cooker and add enough of the water/stock to cover. Cover and cook on high for about 2 hours, until the beans begin to soften. Or, better yet, soak the beans with water to cover overnight, the drain, rinse, and transfer to the slow cooker. Add the water/stock to cover.

Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat and add the oil. Add the onion, carrots, celery, and garlic and saute, stirring frequently, for 10 min. or until lightly browned. Add the vegetables and ham bone to the beans in the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, until the beans are tender. (At this point, you can puree some of the beans for a thicker consistency if you like).

A few minutes before serving, stir in the tomatoes, oregano, spinach, and salt. Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with the parsley. Serve immediately.

Provencal Chicken Stew

3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt

1 chicken, cut into serving pieces and skinned

1/4 olive oil

1 yellow onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup dry white wine (sometimes I use red, if I already have that open)
1 (14.5 oz.) can crushed tomatoes
freshly ground black pepper

For garnish:
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves, cut into a chiffonade
1 cup kalamata olives

Combine the 3/4 cup flour and salt in a resealable bag. Add chicken to the bag, several pieces at a time, and shake to coat completely.

Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat and add oil. Add chicken and cook, turning once, for 8-10 min. until browned on all sides. Using tongs, transfer to paper towels to drain, then arrange in the slow cooker.

Set the saute pan over the heat again and add the onions and 2 Tbsp flour. Saute, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Add garlic and stir 2-3 min. Add the wine and stir to scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Increase to high heat and add the tomatoes and pepper to taste. Cook, stirring frequently, for 10-15 minutes until some of the tomato liquid has evaporated.

Pour the onion mixture over the chicken in the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 3-8 hours, until chicken is tender. At 3-4 hours, the chicken will still be firm and hold its shape. At 6-8 hours, the meat will be falling off the bone.

Divide the chicken among dinner plates and garnish with the parsley, basil and olives.
_____________________________________________________________

A word about slow cooking safety.

"When cooking large pieces of meat, remember that they will take some time to come to temperature.  Browning the meat in a saute pan before slow cooking can jump-start the heating process and kill any bacteria on the surface of the meat. Don't fill the insert of the slow cooker more than 2/3 full or the food near the top will take too long to cook. Place those ingredients that take longer to cook, such as larger pieces of meat, carrots or potatoes, near the bottom."

And these bits of information I found on wikipedia.

"Cheaper cuts of meat with connective tissue and lean muscle fibre are suitable for stewing, and tastier than stews using expensive cuts, as long slow cooking will soften the connective tissue without toughening the muscle."

"Raw kidney beans, and some other beans, contain the toxin phytohaemagglutinin, which is destroyed by boiling for at least ten minutes, but not by the lower temperatures of a slow cooker, so dry beans must be boiled prior to slow cooking to avoid poisoning. Even a few beans can be toxic, and beans can be as much as five times more toxic if cooked at 175°F (80°C) than if eaten raw, so adequate pre-boiling is vital. Cases of poisoning by slow-cooked beans have been published in the UK, poisoning has occurred in the US but has not been formally reported."

Some websites highlighting their favorite slow cooker recipes: myRecipes.com, Sunset.com, and Food Channel.com.

If you have a favorite slow cooker recipe you'd like to share, please do!

Fall for Mushrooms

Mushrooms. Their earthy fragrance and taste makes me think of the forest after rainfall. Their meaty texture is often used to provide a hearty, deep flavor to foods. Great alone, simply sauteed, or used as a base for soups and sauces, there are many varieties of mushroom to choose from to enhance our dishes.

Button mushrooms are the most common, but you can also find crimini, dried porcini and portobellos in most supermarkets and if you have never tried these, they are a real treat.
Earthy and very fragrant. 

Other cultivated species used a lot in Asian cuisine include shiitake, maitake, oyster, and enoki (the majority of mushrooms are grown in Asia, by the way). Of course there are truffles, "hunted" by specially trained dogs or even pigs, in the forest. A medium sized basket can bring the truffle hunter upwards of $10,000!

Though often eaten raw in salads, I think mushrooms are best cooked. My favorite way to enjoy them as an appetizer is to simply saute small mushrooms in garlic and butter, then sprinkle freshly chopped parsley and salt and pepper over them, or to take larger "stuffing mushrooms" and fill them with grated Jack cheese, garlic powder, parsley, salt and pepper and grill them for a few minutes on a stove top grill or bake them in the oven with a little bit of a sprinkling of bread crumbs on top.

For mushroom meals, there are a couple of delicious recipes I wanted to share. If you try them, please let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.

Mushrooms with Paprika and Sour Cream

 

Chanterelle Mushrooms

1 1/2 Tbsp. each butter and olive oil

1 bunch scallions, including some of the greens, chopped

1 pound large white mushrooms, thickly sliced or quartered*

salt and freshly milled black pepper
1 tsp. flour

1 Tbsp. sweet Hungarian paprika

1/2 cup mushroom stock (or chicken stock or beef stock if you prefer)

1/2 cup sour cream or creme fraiche

* My mother makes a version of this using Chanterelle mushrooms. If you can find them in your supermarket, grab some for a little different flavor.  Recipe calls for white mushrooms but I actually used a combination of shiitake and crimini (Italian brown) mushrooms for a little interest.

Heat the butter and oil in a wide skillet over high heat. Add the scallions and mushrooms and saute until the mushrooms begin to color, about 6 min. Lower the heat and season with 3/4 tsp. salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle the flour and paprika over the mushrooms, add the stock, and simmer, covered, for 3-4 minutes. Stir in the sour cream, and gently heat through, but do not boil. Serve over wide flat egg noodles, wild rice or barley.

Serves 3-4.

_____________________________________________________________

The following dish is absolutely terrific. I have prepared it often. You will wish you had made more!

Pollo alla Cacciatora (Hunter's Chicken)

1 cup dried porcini mushrooms

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 Tbsp. butter

4 chicken pieces, on the bone, skinned

1 large onion, thinly sliced

1 can (14 oz.) chopped tomatoes

2/3 cup red wine

1 garlic clove, crushed

leaves of 1 sprig fresh rosemary, finely chopped

1 3/4 cups fresh field mushrooms, thinly sliced

salt and freshly ground black pepper

fresh rosemary sprigs for garnish

Put porcini in a bowl, add 1 cup warm water and soak for 20-30 minutes to rehydrate them. Remove from the water and squeeze the porcini over the bowl, strain the liquid and reserve. Finely chop them.
 

Heat the oil and butter in a large flameproof casserole until foaming. Add the chicken and saute over medium heat for 5 minutes or until golden. Remove and drain on paper towels. Add the onion and chopped mushrooms to the pan. Cook gently, stirring frequently, for about 3 minutes, until the onion has softened but not browned. Stir in the tomatoes, wine and reserved mushroom soaking liquid, then the garlic and rosemary, salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, stirring the entire time. Return chicken to the pan and coat with the sauce. Cover and simmer gently for 25 minutes. Add the fresh mushrooms and stir well to mix into the sauce. Simmer for 15 min. more or until chicken is tender. Taste for seasoning. Serve hot with mashed potatoes or polenta. Garnish with rosemary.

Serves 4.

Around the World … Indonesia

We recently had a house guest from Australia. One evening he offered to make dinner. It was a dish called nasi goreng, something he had come to love from his many travels to Malaysia. So much of Asian cuisine is completely foreign to me because I wasn’t brought up on it, so I was interested and looked forward to him making it for us.

Frying rice in a wok

Nasi goreng is often described as Indonesia's twist on fried rice. And like many fried rice recipes in Asia, it can probably trace its origins to Southern China. It isn’t clear though when Indonesians began to adopt the Chinese fried rice and create their own version. 

What is known is that nasi goreng had the same beginnings as other versions: as a safe, delicious way to avoid wasting rice. Nasi goreng is traditionally served at home for breakfast and is made out of leftover rice from the night before. Besides ingredients like shallot, tomato, pepper and chili, the rice is fried with scraps of chicken or beef; usually leftover from a chicken or beef dish. Nasi goreng can also be found made by street vendors, and there are even dehydrated versions you can just add hot water to, like Top Ramen, in Asian supermarkets.

Indonesian fried rice distinguishes itself from its Indian, Chinese and other Asian counterparts mainly by the application of sweet soy sauce. Indonesians also have a preference for stronger and spicier tastes and often include fried shallots and fried onions for a crispier texture.

Ingredients for nasi goreng usually include the following: pre-cooked rice (fresh rice is too sticky), sweet soy sauce, salt, garlic, shallots, chili pepper, spring onions, nutmeg, turmeric, vegetable oil, onions, palm sugar, ginger, garlic paste. Some recipes may add black pepper, shrimp paste, fish sauce, or powdered broth for seasoning and as a taste enhancer. Eggs might be mixed into the fried rice or fried separately. Many recipes I looked up liked the addition of a fried egg on top.

But I like the idea of adding more vegetables. I think it’s too starchy without them.

So how was it, you ask? It was delicious!

I love the idea of taking just one pot (a wok is preferred) and adding all the ingredients to it in stages. Pretty soon you have a great-smelling dish to dive into and all you messed up is one pot. It’s a great way to use leftover meat, vegetables and rice. You can easily take it to work the next day for lunch or eat it as leftovers for dinner. And it’s a simple way to cook for a crowd.

Here’s what the Australian added to his:

Vegetable oil (I would use coconut oil because of the high heat cooking)

Onion, thinly sliced

Peas (we used frozen)

Corn kernels (we used frozen)

A few garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 – 3 eggs, beaten

Zucchini

Bok choy

1 packet Nasi Goreng Spice Mix, or a blend of all or as many of the following spices: salt, ground coriander, curry powder, cumin, white pepper, chili powder, freshly grated or ground ginger, soy sauce, fish sauce (optional)

Chicken, shredded from a previously roasted chicken

Long grain rice, previously cooked and allowed to cool completely

I’m not going to list quantities because it seems unnecessary. Add however much you want of one thing, leave out or add other things. The jist I got from all the versions of recipes I read was to simply be creative and use what you’ve got.

Directions:

Heat oil in wok or other sauté pan. Add onion and sauté until translucent (about 5-10 minutes).  Add frozen vegetables and garlic. Saute for a few minutes until thawed, bring pan up again to high heat (the frozen veggies will have cooled the pan down), make a well in the center and add your egg, stirring around with a fork. Add zucchini and boy choy, then your seasonings and cook about 10 minutes more. Finally add your cooked chicken and rice until just warmed through. The entire process should take you about 30-35 minutes.

Next time we have it, which I think will be this weekend, I’ll make the following changes: leave out the corn and add some shredded Chinese cabbage for more greens, include some thinly sliced red bell pepper, and a few red pepper flakes for a little heat (or maybe I’ll finally be brave and try those little Thai red chilies I’ve seen at the Asian farmer’s market stall), and do a combination of chicken and shrimp. If you’ve wanted to try an Asian vegetable and haven’t known what to do with it, this would be a good way to try it: add it to your nasi goreng.

If you have any versions of fried rice that you make that you’d like to share, please do!

Mushrooms as a bed for chicken

Winter is here alright. I know, you're thinking, "you're in California. How bad can it be?" Well, it's cold for us, ok? It got down to 34 degrees last night and there was frost on everything this morning. This kind of weather is perfect for a meal that makes us toasty warm. Chicken on a bed of mushrooms.

Oh, I hated mushrooms as a kid. All slimy and rubbery and moldy. Ick! I’m even still repulsed to this day when I go out into the yard and unearth the weird and wacky specimens that are freely popping up in my lawn. I have to wear gloves – I can’t seem to touch them with my bare hands.

My taste for mushrooms waxes and wanes. Sometimes I like them, other times I don’t. I guess it’s kind of a love/hate relationship, but this is the time of year when I want them.  Their chewy texture and meaty taste adds heartiness to otherwise bland dishes. Their woodsy nature makes them pair especially well with herbs. It’s as if you were going out into the forest. There is something so earthy about mushrooms that makes them ideal to appreciate in the winter.

So I was craving a dish with mushrooms and began searching the archives (i.e., cookbooks). I hadn’t looked in my Silver Palate cookbook in a while and was delighted when lo and behold I found “Chicken with Mushrooms”. How perfect to use mushrooms to boost the flavor of chicken. It is easy to make, although the soaking of the dried mushrooms calls for a 2 hour time span, I don’t know that you can’t achieve this in 30-60 minutes. If you have time, you can certainly go with 2 hours. I went with 1.

If you do an internet search for Silver Palate Chicken with Mushrooms recipe, you’ll find quite a number of sites featuring it. Clearly a popular and much-loved dish over the years. People are in love with it.  You can make this dish with some degree of certainty that it will be one you go to over and over again.

Chicken on a bed of mushrooms

Ingredients:

1/2 cup chicken broth

2/3 ounce dried wild mushrooms, thoroughly rinsed under running water,and drained (such as cepes, morels, etc, all one kind or a mix)
1/3 lb fresh cultivated mushroom, wiped clean with damp paper towel (button)
3 1/3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup finely-chopped shallot (or 3 green onions, finely-chopped, plus 1 T minced garlic)
2/3 to taste salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup medium port wine
1/4 cup heavy cream
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
a few tsp. chopped fresh parsley

Directions:
In a small saucepan, bring broth to a boil; pour over the wild mushrooms in a small bowl and let stand for about 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
Thinly slice cleaned mushroom caps, discarding stems.
In a skillet over medium to medium-to-low heat, melt butter and gently saute shallots or onion/garlic mixture for about 5 minutes (do not brown).
Drain liquid from wild mushrooms and reserve.
Finely chop the wild mushrooms and add them and the fresh mushrooms to the skillet with the shallots (or onion/garlic mixture) and saute over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 7- 10 minutes.
Add the reserved mushroom liquid, Port, and cream to the skillet and simmer for about 5 minutes, or until slightly thickened.
Pour mushroom mixture into a shallow baking dish and arrange chicken breast halves in a single layer on top of the mushrooms.
Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper and cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil.
Bake in the middle level of the oven for about 25- 30 minutes, until chicken is done.
Sprinkle with finely chopped parsley.

Serves 4.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!

Around the World...Persia

Where is "Persia" anyway?

In 1935, "Persia" became what is now known as Iran, so Persian cuisine refers to the traditional and modern styles of cooking related to Iran. 

Situated in the Middle East, the Iranian culinary style is unique to Iran, though it has historically both influenced and been influenced by its neighbors at various stages throughout its history. It includes a wide variety of foods ranging from roasted meats, often on a skewer (kabob), stews served with rice (khoresht), thick stew-like soups (ash), vegetable souffles (kuku), white rice with the addition of meat and/or vegetables (polo), and a diverse variety of salads, pastries, and drinks specific to different parts of Iran.

It's a shame that Persian cuisine is not more widely recognized. Maybe the reason for this is because it's sometimes confused with Middle Eastern cuisine, a much broader and more general term. Persian cuisine is similar to Turkish and Greek cuisines mostly because of its kebabs. The problem is that many Persian supermarkets and restaurants are labeled as Middle Eastern or Mediterranean in order to broaden their appeal to the Western consumer. In multicultural cities such as London and Los Angeles, Vancouver, Washington D.C. and Toronto, which have significant Persian populations, Persian food is gaining popularity. Los Angeles and its outlying areas are well known for the number and quality of Persian restaurants which are usually centered around the kebab, but many also serve other traditional fare as well.

Typical Persian entree with meat, rice and veg

Typical main dishes are combinations of rice with meat, lamb, chicken or fish and some onion, vegetables, nuts and herbs. Typical flavorings include saffron, dried limes, cinnamon and parsley. Fresh green herbs are frequently used along with fruits such as plums, pomegranates, quince, prunes, apricots and raisins. Stews are big in Persian cooking, mixing many of these ingredients together. In general, Persian cuisine is delicious; not spicy, but full of flavor.

I read somewhere that the eggplant (aubergine) is considered “the potato of Iran” and so it features prominently in many Persian recipes, and that's a good thing because I LOVE eggplant. Once at my Persian neighbors for dinner, I enjoyed a chicken and eggplant stew that Amir’s wife made from his mother’s recipe collection. I have modified the recipe somewhat, finding that I enjoy the addition of more herbs and garlic. I think the Persians wouldn't have minded, since they love adding highly flavored ingredients to their dishes.



Eggplant Koresh

Eggplant Koresh

Ingredients:

2 white onions, sliced
6 or more garlic cloves, chopped
3/4 can tomato paste
2 - 14 oz. cans Italian style tomatoes

4 diced fresh tomatoes (soft)
1 Tbsp. fresh chopped oregano
3-4 chicken breasts (kabob cut, or cubed)

2 eggplants (peeled and cubed)

Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

Saute the onion over medium high heat in a little grapeseed oil until browned. Add the garlic, saute another minute. Add the tomato paste, mashing it into the vegetables, and saute another minute or two until browned. Add the chicken and the two kinds of tomatoes, as well as the oregano. Turn down the heat, cover and simmer 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, saute eggplant in a separate pan in a little olive oil until soft (also about 30 minutes). Add eggplant to chicken, simmer together another 20-30 minutes. Add seasoning to taste.

Serve with basmati rice and a green vegetable of your choice. I like green beans.