This week he chose chicken breasts and rice.  And though I love chicken and rice, I was drawing a blank on what I wanted to do.  So this recipe is, for the most part, his recipe. His choice was chicken, rice, an onion, and an orange bell pepper.

He used quick cooking white rice, while I used a rice blend by Rice Select, called the “Royal Blend”, which is a blend of Texmati white rice, brown rice, wild rice, and red rice.  It is also a quick cooking (15 minute) rice, but this recipe could very easily be done with long cooking brown, black, or red rices with the addition of a bit more stock, and a few more minutes cooking time.  I really enjoyed the nutty flavor this mix of rice gave to the dish, and cannot wait to make it again.  I plan to do some experimenting with the rice mix as soon as possible.

Chicken and Wild Rice, with Onion and Orange Peppers

Orange Bell Peppers

2 pounds chicken cutlets, cleaned and cut into bite sized pieces *See note
1/2 small onion, diced
1 medium bell pepper (red, orange or yellow)
2 cups wild rice (or rice of your choosing), preferably quick cooking rice
1 3/4 cup chicken stock* See note
2 teaspoons olive or vegetable oil
Salt to taste *

In a large pan (suitable for putting into the oven), saute the onion and bell pepper in a bit of olive oil for about 1 minute.  Add in the chicken, and chicken stock.  Cover and put into a 400F oven for about 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, add in the rice, and stir.  Leave the lid on for about 10 minutes.  After the 10 minutes, remove the cover completely, and stir.  Don’t put the cover back on.  Continue to bake in the oven until the rice is cooked through.

This method works well with quicker cooking rices.  If you are using wild rice, or brown rice, add in the rice when you add in the chicken.

Note:

• As noted above, I used a quick cooking texmati white, brown, wild and red rice blend.
• You can use whole boneless chicken breasts, or bone-in chicken breasts, just give it 10 more minutes in the oven, before you add in the rice.
• If you do not have chicken stock or chicken broth, use water instead, and adding chicken 2 bouillon cubes (or 2 teaspoons bouillon paste).
• Regarding the salt:  First, if you are using a store bought chicken stock, get the lower sodium version.  Second, if you are using bouillon cubes, taste mid-way through cooking, adding salt then if necessary to keep from having the dish over salty.

Chicken & Black Bean Burritos

1 Small onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 pound of chicken breasts, cut into thin strips
1 can (12 ounces) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 cups salsa, prepared
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
6 8-inch tortillas
Cheddar cheese, shredded
Sour Cream
Cilantro, chopped
Black Olives, chopped

In a frying pan, saute onion & garlic in the oil over medium-high heat, until the onions are translucent.  Add in the chicken and cook until no longer pink inside — about 4-5 minutes.  Mix in the beans, salsa and chili powder.  Cook about 5 more minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the tortillas.  Easy way to do that is to layer the tortillas on a plate, with a damp paper towel between them, and microwave for about 30 seconds.

Lay a tortilla out flat, and the spoon 1/2 cup of filling into the tortilla, top with cheese.  Fold the bottom 1/4 of the tortilla up over the chicken, and then roll the tortilla to form a burrito.

Top with more cheese, and bake in the oven at 450, for about 2 minutes, or until the cheese has melted.  Top with sour cream, cilantro, and black olives.

Serve with Spanish Rice.  (recipe to follow tomorrow)

Notes:

• - You can use dried beans – just soak over night, then rinse, and simmer for about 1 1/2 hours.
• - I usually use Goya Black Beans – these, imo, are the best
• - If you cannot get Black Beans, Pinto beans will work just fine, or, even, left over refried beans.
• - You can serve these right away, without having to bake these for 2 minutes.  Just make sure the tortillas have been pre-warmed.

I had originally thought to get thin sliced pork culets, to make the following recipe.  But.. alas, as oft happens when I am in the market, I forgot what it was I wanted, and came away with something different. I picked up about a pound of thin sliced chicken breast cutlets, instead of pork, and still made the same recipe – chicken instead of pork.

Encrusted Chicken Cutlets with Mayo & Mustard

1 Pound thin sliced chicken breast cutlets
3 tablespoons mayo
1-2 tablespoons brown mustard (or to taste)
1 egg
Milk or buttermilk
Flour
Bread Crumbs
Oil for frying
Salt & Pepper to taste

If you don’t have thin sliced cutlets, just clean and cut a thicker cutlet horizontally into about 1cm slices.

Combine the mayo, mustard and egg, and whip until the egg is completely mixed in.  Add in just enough milk or buttermilk to thin the mayo mixture out, so that you can dip the chicken cutlet into it, and not come away with a glob.  Start with about 2 teaspoons.

Heat the oil in a frying pan to a medium-high heat, and then begin to prepare the cutlets.

Dip the cutlets into flour, shaking off any excess flour.  Dip into the mayo-mustard mix and then into the bread crumbs, shaking off any excess crumbs.  Immediately place the cutlet in the hot oil, and cook 2-4 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of your cutlet.  Salt and Pepper to taste.

Place the finished cutlets in a 200F oven to keep warm, until all the cutlets have been cooked. Try to get a piece before they disappear ;)

I just had a foodgasm..

And then another..

And then another..

And then another..

Until all the chicken rolls were gone.  And now I’m so full I can hardly move.

Sander (DukeLupus) has been making these chicken rolls for a while, and always says how amazing and delicious they are.  So, last night when I went to the market, I picked up the ingredients he uses, as well as a few of my own, and made these chicken rolls.  He was absolutely right.  They are freaking amazing.  Sander’s recipe is a bit different — he spread the mayo on the chicken, and then the cream cheese.  I, however, loved the idea of the cream cheese, but wanted to try it with basil and tomatoes – which, in my opinion, creates a perfect combination.

I hope you like these as much as we did.  Thank you for the idea, and the recipe, Sander. :)

Enjoy!

Stuffed Chicken Rolls with Basil and Roma Tomatoes

1 pound chicken breasts, boneless
4 ounces softened cream cheese
2 tablespoons mayo
1 tablespoon Romano or parmesan cheese
basil, chiffonade
seeded and diced Roma tomatoes
bread crumbs

In a bowl, mix softened cream cheese, mayo, cheese, and basil together.  Set aside.  Seed and dice the tomatoes, and set these aside as well.

If you are using whole, boneless chicken breasts (or cutlets), you can do a couple of different things here.  Slice them very thin to make several thin cutlets, or butterfly the cutlets (as shown here).  I opted for butterflying, and then pounding the cutlets until very, very thin.  To pound them, place the butterfiled cutlet between 2 pieces of plastic wrap, and, using your mallet, pound the chicken outwards, to create a thin cutlet.  The thicker the chicken rolls, the longer they take to cool, therefore, your goal is to have very thin cutlets, without ripping them.

Once the cutlets are ready, lay one out, and spread the cream cheese mixture on the cutlet, leaving 1/2 inch of space around.  Sprinkle with a bit of the tomatoes, and roll up.  If the roll won’t stay closed, you can use a wooden toothpick to keep the roll closed – just remember to remove it before serving.  Don’t overfill the chicken — too much and the filling will ooze out during cooking.  Roll the chicken rolls in the bread crumbs. 

Heat 2-3 tablespoons of oil in a non-stick skillet, and one the oil is hot (but not smoking!!), add the chicken rolls, being careful not to crowd the pan, or they will cook unevenly.

Cook the chicken 2-3 minutes per side, until the chicken is completely done.  If your chicken is a bit thicker, they may take a few more minutes.

If you are making a lot of these, as soon as the chicken breasts are done, place in the oven set to 225F, to keep warm.  Serve as soon as possible.

Notes:

I’m sure there are a lot of variations to these, but a few that I would like to try would be:

• Replacing the tomato with red pepper.  You’d have to lightly saute the pepper before you put it on the rolled chicken, though.
• Adding onion to the red peppers above.
• Using chopped scallion (green onions or spring onions), mixed in with the cream cheese instead of basil.

The very first time I had Chicken Piccata, I was just amazed at how delicious it was.  The lemon was not over-powering, or over-acidic, and the butter added to the depth of flavor.  I have since had many versions of this recipe — some so acidic they were downright unpalatable, some with so much added butter that the chicken seemed to be floating in it.  Or perhaps there were so many different ingredients that the delicate flavors of the chicken, lemon and shallot were completely overwhelmed.

This particular recipe is quick and simple — full of lemon flavor, but not overpowering.  This should take no more than 15-20 minutes, from start to finish.  A quick evening meal that I usually serve with linguine (this recipe, in particular), and some good bastone italian bread.

The term “piccata” is defined as a thin slice meat – veal, beef, pork or chicken, with lemon and caper sauce.

Some people either don’t care for capers, or don’t have access to them. Replace them with black olives – not necessarily for the taste, but for the texture.

Enjoy!! 

Chicken Piccata

2 Lemons
4 chicken breasts, boneless (about 1.5-2 pounds) – sliced thin
1/2 cup flour
4 tablespoons oil
1 shallot, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup chicken stock or white wine (not a sweet wine — use Pinot Grigio, or similar)
capers
3 tablespoons butter, softened
2 tablespoons parsley, minced (optional)

Heat the oven to 200 Fahrenheit.

Halve one of the lemons from tip to bottom lengthwise (from pole to pole), and then cut 1/2 of the lemon into thin slices and set aside.  Juice the other half, as well as the remaining lemon.

Salt and pepper the chicken breasts, and then coat the chicken in flour, shaking to remove any excess flour. 

Heat a skillet to medium-high heat and then add 2 tablespoons of the oil.  Saute the cutlets — don’t move them — about 2-2.5 minutes on each side.  Then move them to the oven.  Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil, and then saute the remaining cutlets as before.

Once the chicken is cooked and in the oven, add the shallot and garlic to the pan.  Saute for about 20 seconds, and then add the stock and sliced lemon.  Heat on high, and stir, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan to get all the good bits mixed in.  Reduce this to about 1/3 (should take less than 5 minutes), and then add the lemon juice, a tablespoon or so of capers (or not, if you don’t care for them, replacing with black olives if you have them), and then reduce this to about 1/3 again — should take less than 2 minutes.  Take the pan off the heat, and stir in the softened butter, and stir until melted.  This will thicken the sauce a bit. Add the parsley. 

Remove the chicken from the oven and pour the sauce over the chicken.

This recipe started out as one of my Grams casserole recipes from the early 60′s.  It contained 2 cans of condensed cream of mushroom soup.  I’m not so much of a fan of those.  So, I dissected the recipe, and instead of using the cans of soup, came up with this recipe – which is similar to Grams, but a fresh tasting version.  No sodden and spongy mushrooms, or over thickened gelatinous mass of condensed soupy.. stuff.  This is the grownup and away from Back Of The Label cooking ..as we call it..lol

The original recipe had this served over some sort of pasta.  I actually like it over boiled potatoes, but also like it over rice, even wild rice as this recipe can stand up to it and play with the flavors and texture of the wild rice with ease.

Enjoy!

Chicken & Mushrooms

12 ounces sliced fresh mushrooms
1 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup butter
2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup White Wine (NOT Cooking Sherry or Cooking Wine!!  if that’s all you have, use chicken broth or water)
1 cup sour cream
ground black pepper to taste

1 small bunch parsley, coarsely chopped

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and mushrooms, and cook until tender. Remove the onions and mushrooms from the skillet with a slotted spoon; set aside in a warm oven (200-225F)

Add chicken pieces to the pan, and sprinkle with garlic. Cook and stir until evenly browned, and cooked through.  Remove chicken and add to onions and mushrooms in oven.

Whisk the flour and salt into the pan drippings until smooth. (Note:  if there are not enough ‘drippings’ add 2 tablespoons butter and 1/4 cup chicken stock, bring to a low simmer and then add flour and salt).

Gradually whisk in the chicken broth and wine, and simmer over low heat until slightly thickened. Stir in sour cream and return the mushrooms, onion and chicken to the pan. Warm until heated through.

Serve over linguini, boiled potatoes, or rice.  Sprinkle the parsley over top, and serve.

So, what I’m saying is this: There are lots of recipes for chicken. And the same recipe /name/ might be a totally different recipe, depending on where in the world you come from. Recipes, with totally different names, might be exactly the same recipe. Great Grandma Who’s so-secret recipe for sweet rolls, might be Aunt Mini’s sister’s aunt’s 3rd cousins recipe for cinnamon rolls, that she found in a 1974 Church of the Divine recipe book.

Recipes get changed, they live a life of their own, are handed down to family and friends – some die a quick death, never to be repeated (may I say that my Dad’s ‘Hamburger Surprise’ outwitted death by quite a few years, but has since been buried, as it should have been in 198-freaking-2), and some recipes, like the classic recipe for chicken nuggets gets changed around, as it has here.

This is one of my favorite chicken recipes to make – simple, quick and tasty. I called this “Grownup” because the first time I made it, my son was about 6, and he was very impressed that chicken nuggets could taste so good….they were, to him, very grownup. (Until he smothered them with ketchup, of course).

“Grownup” Crunchy Parmesan Chicken Nuggets

Olive Oil
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts (boneless)

For bread crumbs:

1 cup bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon parsley flakes
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/3 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 1/4 cups freshly grated Parmesan

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F.

Oil a large baking sheet well. And I do mean well. Unless you want the chicken to stick, of course ;)

Clean the chicken breasts of fat, if any. Slice into ‘nugget’ sized pieces, about 1 1/2 inch-2 inches or so. Put buttermilk into a fairly large bowl, and add the chicken pieces to it, and stir. Let it stand for about 20-30 minutes.

While the chicken is having a buttermilk soak, put together your bread crumb mixture. Add the parmesan and mix well.

Wait 18 more minutes. Wait however you like. Just don’t touch the soaking chicken.

Remove the chicken from the buttermilk and dredge in the bread crumbs, coating completely. You might need to press the crumbs onto the chicken. Place on the well oiled baking sheets, leaving a bit of space between.

Drizzle 2 tablespoons or so of oil over the chicken nuggets and bake until they are cooked through and golden brown, about 10-12 minutes.

Garlic-Balsamic Vinaigrette

2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Freshly ground black pepper

In a medium bowl, mash the garlic well. Add salt and continue to mash it together. Whisk in the balsamic vinegar, and 1/2 cup of oil. Add pepper to taste, again whisking well. I keep this in the mixing bowl, until just ready to serve, when I whisk it well again, and then pour into a serving bowl.

Use the vinaigrette as a dipping sauce for the nuggets.

Notes:

Now, the first time I made this, I followed the recipe exactly — 500F for 8 minutes. Loved the taste..AFTER I pried it off the baking sheet, and left 1/2 stuck to it. I reduced the heat, and upped the time, and it comes out perfectly.

I included a recipe for bread crumbs, because, well, I’m a snob. :P Although I don’t mind store-bought seasoned bread crumbs, I find it simple to make my own, and have flavor by doing so. Store bought tend to be stale.. old herbs, long past their prime, in a tasteless mix overwhelmingly smelling of old garlic. 1 minute flat, and you can mix your own. Even if you buy the store-bought plain bread crumbs. The whole recipe is here, for those interested.