Tuscan Chicken and White Bean Ragout

 

The ragout in this recipe on its own is brilliant!  I paired mine with some chicken breast lightly coated in olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano and granulated garlic and then sauteed until golden brown.  This recipe is really simple and packed with lots of flavor.  Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:

14.5 oz can of cannellini beans (drain the liquid and reserve it – add water to equal 1 1/2 cups)

1 T olive oil

3 large cloves of garlic chopped

1 medium onion diced

1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary

1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flake

3 c of escarole or spinach leaves, torn

14.5 oz can diced tomatoes

1 T unsalted butter

2 T flat leaf parsley chopped

1/2 c grated parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat and add garlic.  Cook for 30 seconds until fragrant and then add onions, rosemary and red pepper flakes.  Cook gently for about 7-8 minutes until softened.  Add the beans and bean liquid with water and season with salt and pepper.  Let mixture simmer for 5 minutes.  Stir in escarole or spinach and simmer until wilted.  Add tomatoes, butter, parsley and cheese.  Remove from heat and stir until butter is melted.  Taste and season with additional salt and pepper if needed.  You can drizzle with additional olive oil or flavored oil when serving.

 

 

Rosemary Paprika Roasted Potatoes

Here is an easy and hearty side dish to serve along a grilled steak or a grilled burger.  These potatoes are slightly smoky and I love the sprinkling of rosemary mingled in.  Make sure you salt them liberally before going into the oven.  The result will be a crispy potato wedge packed with flavor and yummy potato softness on the inside.

6 medium to large red potatoes (cut each potato into six wedges)

2 T extra virgin olive oil

2 tsp granulated garlic

1 T smoked paprika

2 sprigs of rosemary, finely chopped

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 425F and place a baking sheet in oven.  Toss potato wedges with oil and mix to moisten each potato.  Toss in garlic granules, paprika, salt, pepper and rosemary and mix thoroughly.

Roast for 20 minutes turning over halfway through cooking.

 

Puffy Chicken Tostadas

We enjoyed our Mother’s Day by making some homemade corn tortillas and frying them up to make Puffy Tostadas.  They were very yummy.  There’s nothing like the taste of a homemade tortilla made with corn masa.  Enjoy!

Puffy Tortilla

INGREDIENTS (makes 14 tostadas)

3 cups corn masa mix

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 1/4 cups warm water

DIRECTIONS

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix thoroughly. When the dough is consistent begin rolling dough balls about the size of a ping pong ball.

Using a tortilla press that is lined in a thick plastic, press out the dough. You use the plastic (it can be a Ziploc bag that has been cut) so that the dough does not stick to the tortilla press

  2-3 c shredded chicken

  1 large yellow onion, chopped

  1/2 head garlic clove, peeled and chopped

  1 (4 ounce) can diced green chilies

  1 cup chicken stock

  1 tablespoon smoked paprika

  2 tablespoons ground cumin

  2 tablespoons chili powder

  2 teaspoons Mexican oregano

  1 teaspoon salt

  1/2 teaspoon pepper

  1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)

Place everything except the tortillas and oil in a crockpot or slow cooker and set to high for three hours or until meat is easily removed from the bone (the thickest part of chicken should read 180 degrees on a meat thermometer).  Remove chicken and let cool, leaving sauce in the vessel.  When cool enough to handle, pull the chicken meat from the bone and shred. Add shredded meat back into the sauce. Discard chicken skin and bones.  Reduce crockpot or slow cooker to low and simmer meat in sauce for at least one additional hour (the longer the better).  Meanwhile, pour vegetable oil into a frying pan until 1/4″ deep. Heat oil to 350 degrees or until a flour tortilla “puffs” up and browns quickly.  Add one flour tortilla at a time into oil and fry one side until lightly browned.  Flip over and fry the other side until lightly browned.  Remove from oil, add a pinch of kosher salt and place on a cooling rack.  Repeat until desired number of Puffy Tostada Shells are done.  Serve with lettuce, tomato, cilantro and queso fresco cheese.

 

Ode to the Clove – Garlic Breadsticks

 

Ode to the Clove

Your fragrent smell

Is known far and wide

My stinky breath

Is hard to hide

I cannot give up

My beloved clove

For garlic, you had me at “hello”

Okay, enough poetry.  I’m here to share a recipe for garlic breadsticks that I tried recently.  The dough has a slight eggy flavor to it, but the breadsticks puff up and are pretty soft and yummy.  My picky eight year old son asked for seconds!

Ingredients:

1 c water

1/2 c olive oil

1 1/2 tsp salt

dash of pepper

pinch freshly grated nutmeg

1 c gluten-free flour blend (I used Bob’s Red Mill all-purpose)

2 tsp xanthan gum

4 large eggs

2 T chopped parsley and thyme (or you can use basil, rosemary, etc.)

2 cloves of garlic finely minced

2 T grated parmesan or asiago cheese

Preheat oven to 425F.  Lightly grease two baking sheets.  Mix flour blend with xanthan gum and set aside.  In a medium saucepan combine water, oil, salt, pepper and nutmeg over medium heat until liquid begins to simmer.  Add flour blend to saucepan stirring until dough forms.  Cook for another 2-3 minutes over low heat stirring constantly.  Pour the hot mixture into a food processor and add eggs, herbs and garlic.  Pulse until combined and dough is elastic and smooth.  Spoon mixture into a pastry bag or ziploc bag with one corner cut off.  Squeeze out 7-8 inch long dough lines about 1/2 inch wide onto baking sheets.  Dampen fingers with water to press down ends if necessary.  Sprinkle tops with cheese and bake for 15-18 minutes turning over halfway through cooking process.

Dijon Sage Porkchops

I’m always looking for new ways to prepare pork chops because my daughter really loves them.  This time I decided to marinate them with some dijon mustard, chicken stock and herbs.  The result was a juicy flavorful chop that my daughter devoured in no time.

Ingredients:

4-5 pork chops

1/4 dijon mustard

3 stems of sage leaves

1 tsp dried thyme

1 1/2 c of chicken stock divided

3 cloves of garlic roughly chopped

salt and pepper

2T olive oil

2T butter

Combine mustard, 3/4 c stock stock, thyme, garlic, salt and pepper and 2 stems of sage leaves chopped in a ziploc bag.    Mix it in the bag and add your chops.  Marinate the chops for at least an hour or overnight.  Preheat oven to 350F.  Heat olive oil in a large non-stick skillet or dutch oven and brown the chops on both sides.  Remove the chops from the pan and place them in the oven.  In the same pan you browned the chops add remaining stock scraping up brown bits and simmer to reduce.  When your sauce has reached the desired consistency season with additional salt and pepper as needed and add butter at the end.  I cooked my chops in the oven for about 10 minutes or so until they were done, but my chops were pretty thin.

I fried the remaining sage leaves in some hot oil for few seconds and crumbled on top of the chops.  I served mine with latkes and sauteed apples with dried cranberries and chopped pecans.

Romana di Pollo

Yesterday I was in a mediterranean mood so I decided to make some roman chicken and it turned out favoloso!  The crispy proscuitto and sauteed peppers and garlic are enough to make anyone’s mouth water.  Give it a try!

Ingredients:

4 large skinless chicken breasts

1/2 tsp salt plus 1 tsp

1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper plus 1 tsp

1/4 c olive oil

1 red bell pepper sliced

1 yellow bell pepper sliced

3 oz prosciutto chopped

2 cloves of garlic chopped

15 oz can diced tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano

1/2 c white wine

1 T fresh thyme leaves

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 c chicken stock

2 T capers

1/4 c flat-leaf parsley chopped

Season chicken with 1/2 tsp each of salt and pepper.  Heat olive oil in large heavy skillet over medium heat.  Once oil has gotten hot cook chicken until browned on both sides.  Remove chicken from the pan and set aside.  Add peppers and prosciutto and cook until prosciutto is crispy.  Add garlic and cook for 1 minute.  Add your tomatoes, wine and herbs scraping up the bits in the bottom of the pan.  Return the chicken to the pan and add your stock.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low and simmer for 20-30 minutes until chicken is cooked through.  Add capers and parsley and serve immediately. 

I served this dish over some fluffy white rice and then some vegetables.  You could also pair it nicely with a yummy salad.

Hushpuppies

I hope everyone had a great New Year!  Mine was pretty low-key.  We made a delicious seafood dinner at home, some martinis and then played board games until midnight.  We had a great time and I wanted to share this recipe for the yummiest gluten-free hushpuppies I’ve ever had.  I dunk them in rotel tomato cheese dip 🙂

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c yellow cornmeal

1 c rice flour

3 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp adobo seasoning

3 scallions with green tops sliced thinly

1 small onion finely diced

1 egg

1/2 c buttermilk

1/4-1/2 c water (add a little at a time until dough is the consistency you want)

Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk to break up lumps.  Stir in scallions and onion.  Add egg and blend well and then add buttermilk.  Slowly add water until batter is consistency to form balls.  Heat oil in a cast iron skillet or dutch oven to 350F.  Form batter into 3/4 ” – 1″ balls and drop them in hot oil.  Cook on all sides until golden brown (about 2 minutes) and remove with slotted spoon.  Place on paper towels to drain off oil.

I’m embarking on a new adventure in 2012…..getting my other children’s books illustrated and published.  I can’t wait to see the finished product for my second book in late February.  This is going to be a great year!

Crockpot Shout Out….Taco Soup

This time of year I love my crockpot.  This is an amazing device that you can fill up with ingredients and it cooks everything all by itself…what an invention!  This is one of my favorite one-pot meals that is perfect for those wintry nights and it is so easy to pull together.  This recipe comes from Paula Deen, but I usually half her recipe and it is plenty for my family of 4.  If you live in the south you know who Paula Deen is.  She is a sassy southern cook who makes wonderfully delicious comfort food that may not be the healthiest in the world, but they taste amazing! 

Ingredients for my version:

1 lbs ground beef

1c diced onion

one 15.5 oz can of pinto beans

half of a 15.5 oz can of kidney beans

half of a 15.25 oz can of whole kernel corn drained

one 14.5 oz can mexican style stewed tomatoes

one 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes with green chiles

one 4.5 oz can diced green chiles

one 4.6 can sliced black olives

1/4 c sliced green olives

half of an envelope of ranch salad dressing mix

1T each of ground cumin, garlic powder, kosher salt

1/2 tsp each freshly ground black pepper and chile powder

couple of dashes of cayenne pepper

To garnish use tortilla chips, sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese and sliced scallions

Brown your ground beef and onions in a large skillet and then drain off fat.  Transfer your beef and onions to the crockpot and add all remaining ingredients.  Set your crockpot to low and cook for 6-8 hours.  If you don’t have a crockpot you can also simmer on the stove top for about an hour over a low heat.  Ladle in bowls, garnish and enjoy!

My Go-To Dip

This is the time of year when lots of people are having parties and gatherings with family so what is better to serve than a really good dip for snacking?  This is one of my go-to dips care of Giada De Laurentiis that everybody seems to love.  Most of the ingredients are things you will usually have on hand in your pantry except for maybe the white cannellini (also called white kidney beans) so stock up on some of these if you don’t have them already and get to dipping!

Ingredients:

 One 15-ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

2 cloves of garlic

2T fresh lemon juice

1/3 c plus 4T olive oil

1/4 c italian parsley

salt and freshly ground pepper

1 tsp dried oregano

Place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped.  Add salt and pepper to taste and then transfer bean dip to a serving bowl.  Serve with some gluten-free chips like the ones pictured here which you can score at Vitacost for $2.50 per bag:

Quick Chicken Cacciatora

I’ve been watching Nigella Express on the cooking channel recently.  I absolutely love her british accent!  She makes everything sound so delicious.  I’m always looking for new ways to prepate chicken so I decided to adapt one of her recipes over the weekend.  The result was a quick and good tasting hearty chicken dish with lots of italian flavor.

Ingredients:

2 cloves of garlic

1 T olive oil

4-5 strips of thick cut bacon

5 large scallions finely sliced

1 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary

2 large chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces

1/2 tsp celery salt

1/2 c white wine

14 oz can diced tomatoes

2 bay leaves

1/2 tsp sugar

14 oz can cannellini beans drained and rinsed

salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a pan over medium high heat and add your garlic, rosemary and bacon.  Fry for about 5 minutes then add your chicken and celery salt.  Stir well and cook for about 5 minutes.  Pour in wine and let it come to a boil.  Continue to cook for 2 minutes and then add the bay leaves, sugar and tomatoes.  Turn the heat to a simmer and cook covered for about 20 minutes.  Add your beans and cook another 5 minutes until beans are heated through.