CHICKEN! HOW DO I LOVE THEE? LET ME COUNT THE WAYS...

  

CHICKEN! HOW DO I LOVE THEE?

LET ME COUNT THE WAYS…

(Chicken with Mushrooms & Wine)

Well, for those who know me (and my blog), you know I love chicken a million ways. This is the millionth and one… AND, my new favorite.

Like many people around the globe, Richard and I curl up on Sunday morning with the New York Times.  I know - many now curl up around their computer to read the Times, but call us old-fashioned, we love the “smell” and “touch” of the real paper paper.  So every Sunday morning, cup of coffee in hand, one of us goes out to our driveway and brings it in, then the divvying of sections begins, followed by the curling up while we sip steaming coffee part.

Anyway, some weeks ago as we were going through our Sunday morning ritual, Richard found three “sautéed” chicken recipes in the magazine section – one was with mushrooms and wine.  Since we both love mushrooms and, heaven knows, we love wine, the recipe sounded pretty good to us.

Richard made it the other night (with kale as the “side”) and “pretty good” really doesn’t cut it.  Loved, loved, loved every morsel.

CHICKEN w/ MUSHROOMS & WINE

Ingredients:

boneless, skinless chicken breasts 

¼ cup of flour

3 tablespoons of butter

2 tablespoons EVOO

1 pound of mushrooms, sliced

½ cup of wine (Richard used white wine)

chopped parsley

Directions:

Put a large skillet over medium-high heat for 2 or 3 minutes.

Add 2 tablespoons of butter to the skillet and swirl it around.

Put ¼ cup of flour on a plate.  When the butter foam subsides, dredge the chicken in flour, shaking to remove the excess.   

 

Add breasts to the skillet and cook of there is a constant sizzle but no burning.  Cook, turning once, until the chicken is browned on both sides and nearly cooked through, about 5 minutes per side.  

 

Transfer the chicken to a plate and cover loosely w/ foil to keep warm.

Add 1 pound of sliced mushrooms to the skillet and cook, undisturbed, until the liquid from the mushrooms evaporates completely... A Richard hint: egg slicers make great mushroom slicers.

With the heat still on medium-high, add ½ cup of any wine to the skillet and let it bubble, stirring, until it is reduced by half, about 2 minutes.  

Add the 3^rd table spoon of butter and cook until the sauce is thickened; return the chicken breasts to the skillet, turn them in the sauce and serve.

 

Garnish: Chopped parsley.

 Bon Appetit!!!

NOT YOUR 60's COMMUNE KITCHEN - Halibut from Portland's Higgins Restaurant & Bar

NOT YOUR 60’s COMMUNE KITCHEN

(Halibut w/ Citrus Couscous, Red Onion Marmalade

And Cilantro-Almond Sauce)

OK, I’m a child of the 60’s… cooking together is what you did if you lived on a commune and grew your own vegetables.  You smoked dope, wore love beads and wore flowers in your hair.  You made compost.  You macramé-d and threw whatever you grew into one pot and stirred. Or, a few years later, you watched the kitchen scene in “The Big Chill” where former children of the 60’s cooked together, danced and, yes, smoked dope, and thought how fun that looked.  Then you went home and cooked alone.

How things have changed.  Food has trended even before “trending” became a “trend” in some twitterer’s head.  Now, we share a 95 point bottle of cab instead of a joint.  Gourmet groups have sprung up all over the country along with farmers’ markets, and organic food has become a big buck industry.  I’ve often wondered if any of the old commune hippies grew up to be the farmers at those farmers’ markets.

As Richard and I fell into the foodie tsunami, we were participants in gourmet groups for years, but these groups never cooked together.  Each couple would bring their assigned dish prepared in their own kitchen.  Yes, at times, we might have had to sauté something last minute in that dinner’s host kitchen, or nuke something – but we all cooked in our own homes - that is until we were invited to a recent dinner party where the hosts, Ron and Gail, and guests would all cook together.  A commune kitchen.

A commune, communal kitchen – yes.  But, no way was this a “commune” kitchen like the ones I experienced in the 60’s.  This one had beautiful dark wood cabinetry, granite counter tops and stainless appliances.  And the kitchen wasn’t in a “farmhouse” in the middle of nowhere, but a lovely home on a suburban, hillside street in Bel Air.  No one wore tie-dye.

Ron and Gail are new friends and, as we began to prep the meal, Ron poured some of that 95 point fine wine and we all helped ourselves to cheese and crackers.   

 

The idea to cook together was Gail’s and, after thinking about it for a moment, I realized that it’s really a perfect way to get to know people… especially ones who like to cook, because I get to sample everything as it comes off the stove or out of the oven.

As we made a simple appetizer of cream cheese topped with cocktail sauce and shrimp, we did just that.  

 

We dove in as we talked, chopped and diced, spiced...

    and blended...

  and as a result, some of our pasts were shared and blended as well as the sauces we were cooking.

The first course was a lemony asparagus soup which simmered as Richard and his sous chefs, Gail and Eleanor, made the main course of halibut w/ citrus couscous, red onion marmalade and cilantro-almond sauce. 

We didn’t dance around the kitchen as they did in “The Big Chill,” but we all bonded over fresh asparagus and cilantro.

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/lemony-asparagus-soup

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/halibut-with-citrus-couscous-red-onion-marmalade-cilantro-almond-sauce-10000000222874/

  

Ingredients 

• Marmalade:
•  1/4 cup fresh orange juice
• 1/4 cup port or other sweet red wine
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 cup vertically sliced red onion
• 1 teaspoon grated orange rind
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• Dash of black pepper
•  
• Sauce:
• 1 1/2 cups chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted
• 1/4 cup finely chopped seeded jalapeño pepper (about 2 large.  This is optional. Richard does not use them)
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 3 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled 

          Couscous:
         3/4 cup water
         1/4 teaspoon grated lemon rind

• 1/4 teaspoon grated orange rind
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
• 1 teaspoon chile paste
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon curry powder
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup uncooked couscous
•  
• Halibut:
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 (6-ounce) skinned halibut fillets (about 1 inch thick)
• Cooking spray
• 2 cups gourmet salad greens

Preparation

1. To prepare marmalade, combine first 4 ingredients in a small non-aluminum saucepan. Bring to a boil; cook until reduced to 1/2 cup (about 5 minutes). Add onion and 1 teaspoon orange rind; cook 5 minutes. Sprinkle with 1/8 teaspoon salt and dash of black pepper; set aside.
2. To prepare sauce, combine cilantro and next 9 ingredients (cilantro through peeled garlic) in a blender or food processor; process until smooth.
3. To prepare couscous, bring 3/4 cup water and next 9 ingredients (water though minced garlic) to a boil in a medium saucepan; gradually stir in couscous. Remove from heat; cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.
4. To prepare the halibut, combine curry and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Rub the fillets with curry mixture. Lightly coat with cooking spray. 
5. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add fillets, and sauté 4 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Place 1/2 cup salad greens on each of 4 plates, and top each serving with 1 cup couscous. Arrange fillets on top of couscous, and top with 2 tablespoons marmalade. Spoon 1/4 cup sauce around plate. 

  

Around the candlelit dining room table, Gail and Ron, Eleanor and Thomas, and Richard and I continued to sip wine and share stories about ourselves as we proudly shared the meal we prepared.

 

Then it was time for dessert.  A dreamy traditional cheesecake smothered in blueberries that Gail had made the day before… 

the perfect dish to end a fun and delicious way to spend an evening with new or old friends.

"THE MURDER BOOK" PASTA

"THE MURDER BOOK" PASTA

I love mysteries – spy books, detective novels, legal thrillers – I devour them.  Which is why I had to write one… (shameless plugs R us!)

www.createspace.com/3698070
www.amazon.com/dp/1466392150

… and food has become an ingredient in many of these tales.

Kinsey Millhone loves Big Macs, Stephanie Plum loves donuts and her mom’s cooking, and Spenser loves to cook anything from pork chops in a skillet to an omelet made with leftovers from his fridge.  He also likes to drink a cocktail now and again, fine wine and a variety of beers.  In fact a Spenser book is where Richard first learned about Rolling Rock Extra Pale, a beer he still drinks on occasion.  Lorna Raven, the heroine in my book, craves Grey’s Papaya hot dogs and the cheeseburgers at Prime Burger in Manhattan.

But it was in Jonathan Kellerman’s “The Murder Book” an Alex Delaware mystery, where I found my new favorite pasta.  It made me stop reading and “smell the aromas.”

Often a movie made from a book is disappointing, but a recipe from a murder mystery?  Well, Richard took the ingredients and “produced” a dish that killed!  Definitely better than the book.  We’re taking an option on it.

"The Murder Book" Pasta

Richard’s Interpretation

Ingredients:

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast (this was not in Alex’s dish, but Richard decided to add it. Shrimp would also work)

pasta (Richard used spaghetti)

pine nuts – toasted (to taste)

olives – pitted and chopped (to taste)

capers – (to taste)

1 clove minced garlic

2 shallots

½ cup of white wine

fresh parmesan cheese

fresh parsley (optional)

Directions:

Cook the chicken breast and cut into cubes.  Put aside.

While cooking the pasta (Richard used spaghetti)…

Sautee shallots in extra virgin olive oil until soft but not browned

Add garlic, cook 30 seconds

Add white wine and reduce a bit

Add olives and capers

In a separate skillet fry the parsley in hot EVOO for no more than 30 seconds!  Drain on a paper towel

When the pasta is cooked and drained, put it in a big pasta bowl, add the sauce and more olive oil if needed, to taste.  Toss and serve. 

Grate fresh parmesan cheese over each serving, then sprinkle on the fried parsley.

Green light it!