Chicken with Lemon

I went crazy over this recipe! It really tastes restaurant genuine. This may have been my first time using flour to dredge chicken and I'll surely be trying it more in the future! I loved it so much that after making it for someone else's dinner, I ran home and whipped up a batch for my own dinner and served it over...(you guessed it) spaghetti squash. Omg, awesome and filling! I was definitely satisfied and there was no snacking after dinner this night.

 

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper, to taste
Flour, for dredging
2 Tbsp olive oil

2 garlic cloves, whole
1 Tbsp capers
1 cup white cooking wine
1 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

1 Tsp onion powder

 

Recipe Adapted from The Recipe Club

Cut your chicken into bite sized pieces, you can do this right in the package it comes in. Coat the chicken in enough flour just to cover it. Add salt and pepper to taste.

 

In a saucepan, heat up oil on medium heat. Add the garlic and capers and cook for a minute or two. Add the chicken, browning on all sides. You will see the "sauce" start to thicken naturally as the dredged chicken makes it's own roux! Add the remaining ingredients, cooking for an additional 5 minutes or so. The sauce should be thick and look creamy. If you don't want someone to mistake a garlic clove for a piece of chicken and get a big surprise, find the cloves and smash them at this point and then mix thoroughly.

This can be served over almost anything and it will taste great. The flavors are very bold. Throw it over pasta or mashed potatoes if you are in the mood for carbs.

Greek Shrimp

A few years ago, I signed up for a Greek cooking class from North Shore Community College. I really just wanted to learn how to use Filo dough better and the teacher quickly asked why I wasn't teaching the class instead! While I was having a good time catching up with my high school friend Katie, who had recently married a Greek guy and wanted to surprise him with a few dishes, I did manage to perfect my use of the dough as well as nab this great dish that I never would have really thought of by myself. It's a wonderful wine reduction that I never fail to get rave reviews on! My friend, Alyssa, also took this to a party and told me that the dish was scraped clean!

 

Just make sure you use a good wine because it will be the dominant taste of the dish. Never cook with any wine if you wouldn't want to drink it.

 

3 Tbsp olive oil

2 ½ cups chopped onions

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

1 clove minced garlic

½ Tsp sugar

3 Cups chopped plum or cherry tomatoes

1 Cup Retsina or white cooking wine

1 ½lbs peeled shrimp

1 cup crumbled feta cheese

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Warm the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and saute until a light golden brown, about 7 minutes. Add the parsley, garlic, and sugar and stir to mix. Add the tomatoes and cook until they soften and the liquid is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Add the wine to the skillet and cook until the liquid is absorbed. Add the shrimp and cook, stirring occasionally, for 30 seconds. They will cook really fast!

 

 Remove from the heat. Pour contents into a casserole dish. Top with feta cheese and bake until cheese melts, about 5 minutes.

 

 

Broccoli and Rabe Sausage with Orzo

The other day I ran into Stop & Shop to pick up a few things. I really never shop there so I decided to look around a bit. I found this great broccoli and rabe sausage! I mean look at the colors in the photo below, it just looked so good. I searched Pinterest for some inspiration on sausage dishes but didn't come up with much. I actually really didn't even know what rabe was!
 

(räb) A vegetable plant (Brassica rapa) related to the turnip and grown for its pungent leafy shoots. Also called rapini.
 

I sent myself into the kitchen and came up with this little gem that my husband raved about.

1 lb broccoli and rabe sausage

(or really any sausage if you can't find something like this)

1/2 box cooked orzo

1/2 cup white wine or cooking wine

1/4 cup milk

1 Tbsp flour

1 cup chicken or beef broth

1 Tbsp minced garlic

1/4 cup chopped onions

1 Tbsp olive oil

4 cups steamed broccoli

Parmesan cheese (to taste)

Cook orzo to package directions and steam broccoli (I did use a Fresh n' Steam package because it was all I had at the time). Chop up the sausage links into about 1 inch pieces and saute over medium heat until thoroughly cooked, about 5 minutes. Add the chopped onion and garlic.

 

I love cooking with garlic and onions, so I buy minced garlic to keep in the fridge and cut up an onion or two at the beginning of the week and keep it in an onion saver to cook with it.

 

Let the oil from the sausage caramelize the onions a bit and then you can begin to assemble your sauce in the pan. Add the oil and stir and then add in the chicken broth. After a few minutes of simmering, add in the wine.

 

I used a Pinot Grigio, which just happened to be the "3 buck Chuck" from Trader Joe's my husband was working on in the fridge at the moment.

 

The last steps are adding the milk and flour to cream up and thicken your sauce. If you don't trust yourself adding the flour directly to the pan and being able to avoid any lumps, mix it ahead of time in the cold milk and then add them. I cooked this sauce as a reduction so I simmered everything for about 10 more minutes on medium-low and then tossed in the broccoli and the orzo. Add some Parmesan cheese to top this and you have one delicious original meal!

 

 

Hindsight:

(My plan is to add tips to my recipes. I tend to experiment a lot and not usually follow recipes so if I discover something along the way in writing these, I'll share the tips here.)

My husband likes everything with "light sauce", so I tend to cook that way. If I make this dish again, I'd like it a bit saucier. I'd up the recipe on everything in the sauce by 50% so you might consider doing that.