Recipe: Roast Chicken

I found an awesome-looking roast chicken dish in the October issue of O, and decided to try it out. I didn't have any kosher salt, white wine, scallions, artichokes, or parsely on hand, so I had to modify it a bit. And, as usual, I just eyeballed it, so no measurements provided.

Don't let the sad-looking beans fool ya (we left the chicken in the oven a while to keep it warm). This was yummers!

Roast Chicken with Green Beans
Serves 2

Ingredients

Half a chicken,chopped
Dried oregano
Salt
Ground black pepper
Chili pepper flakes (optional--I lurve a bit of spice!)
Half an onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
Olive oil
Red wine (it was all we had)
Chicken broth
Half a chorizo Pamplona, sliced
Green beans
Half a lemon, sliced into rounds

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Rub oregano, salt, ground black pepper, and chili flakes on chicken. Place in a pan or baking dish, along with onion and garlic, and drizzle with olive oil. 
2. Pop into oven for about 30 minutes.
3. Remove from oven. Pour wine and chicken broth over chicken. Add chorizo, green beans, and lemon, making sure that they're partly submerged in the wine and broth.
4. Return to oven for another 10 minutes or until done. 

You can serve it with rice or mashed potatoes. So good! I wouldn't think twice about serving this at a dinner party.:)

Recipe: Chicken Tikka Masala (Plus Two Side Dishes)

It had been a while since I last had dinner at my Indian family's house, so I was seriously craving for Indian cuisine. I thus declared last night Indian Night at our household! (Belated Happy Diwali!)

Found a recipe at allrecipes.com, but made do without cilantro--the supermarket was all out. Boo. I thought there was too much salt in the original recipe, so I cut it by about a third. Also, the chicken is supposed to be grilled, but since I still don't have my own grill (double boo), I just lightly fried it. This is quite spicy, so if you're not a fan of the burn, you might want to take it down a notch by cutting all spices in half.

Chicken Tikka Masala

Ingredients

1 cup yogurt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1-2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

1 tablespoon butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1. In a large bowl, combine yogurt, lemon juice, 2 teaspoons cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, black pepper, ginger, and 4 teaspoons salt. Stir in chicken, cover, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
2. Preheat a grill for high heat.
3. Lightly oil the grill grate. Thread chicken onto skewers, and discard marinade. Grill until juices run clear, about 5 minutes on each side. (Note: I lightly fried the chicken in a bit of oil instead.)
   
4. Melt butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Saute garlic and jalapeno for 1 minute. Season with 2 teaspoons cumin, paprika, and 3 teaspoons salt. Stir in tomato sauce and cream. (Note: Make sure to scrape the spices from the bottom of the pan.) Simmer on low heat until sauce thickens, about 20 minutes. (Note: I only simmered it for about 10 minutes.) Add grilled chicken, and simmer for 10 minutes. (Note: I only simmered it for about 5 minutes.) Transfer to a serving platter, and garnish with fresh cilantro. Serves 3.
   

Because it's so spicy, you'll want a lot of starch to sop it up. Aside from rice, I prepared two side dishes (shown in the photo above): a simple potato dish which I got from my BFF Madhuri, and a super-refreshing cucumber dish that I got from some forum and modified.

You Say "Po-tah-to"

Ingredients

1 clove garlic, minced
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 small-ish potatoes, cubed
Juice of half a lemon
Salt
Curry powder

1. Saute garlic and pepper in a bit of oil until garlic is lightly browned.
2. Add potatoes, lemon juice, salt, and curry powder. Mix well.
3. Cook for five minutes. Done!

Cool as a Cucumber

Ingredients

1 cucumber, peeled and diced
2 tomatoes, chopped
Juice of half a lemon
Salt
Cumin

1. In a bowl, mix all ingredients together. You can add cilantro if you've got it.
   
2. Place in refrigerator until ready to serve. Nice and refreshing!
   

Recipe: Buffalo Wings

This recipe is from the July issue of Good Housekeeping. It's a three-step process, (make bleu cheese dressing, make seasoned flour, make hot sauce glaze), and each step has its own sub-steps. I think next time, I'll just use store-bought coating instead of making my own to cut down on prep time. Enjoy!

Buffalo Wings

Ingredients

10 chicken wings
Oil for deep frying

For bleu cheese dressing:
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayo
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard seed
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
50g bleu cheese

For seasoned flour:
1/3 cup cornstarch
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

For hot sauce glaze:
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2/3 cup hot chili sauce

1. Make bleu cheese dressing: In a large bowl, whisk all ingredients except cheese together. Crumble bleu cheese and whisk into dressing. Transfer to a container and let flavors develop overnight in the refrigerator. (I just left it in the fridge for about an hour and it was fine.)
2. Make seasoned flour: Mix all ingredients together. Coat chicken wings. Set aside 10 minutes. Toss in seasoned flour to coat wings again. (Husband took over as I was a little scared of the oil!) In a deep frying pan, heat oil. Deep fry chicken wings until juices run clear when pierced. Drain on paper towels. Set aside.
3. Make hot sauce glaze: In another frying pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add Worcestershire sauce and chili sauce, and stir to mix. Add chicken wings and toss to coat. Serve with bleu cheese dressing and celery sticks on the side. (Note: The chili sauce I bought wasn't so spicy. Next time, I'll probably add loads of hot sauce as well as chopped siling labuyo.)
   

DIY Spicy Chicken Burrito Day!

My husband and I had a pretty awesome lunch at home yesterday. For some reason, I wanted to make burritos. And I'm glad I did--they turned out yummers, if I do say so myself!

I got mini whole-wheat tortillas, instead of the usual big ones. We ended up polishing off 9 of them. Har.

Spicy Chicken Burritos

Ingredients

2 chicken breast fillets
Onion, chopped
Garlic, chopped
Cumin
Chili powder
6 small tomatoes, chopped
Onion, chopped
Garlic, chopped
Black beans, drained
Whole-wheat tortillas (the chicken's enough for about nine; you can probably make 4 or 5 big ones)
Rice, cooked (we're a brown rice household)
Cheese, grated
Sour cream

1. Cook the chicken: You can opt to grill it, but I boiled it for a bit, just til it was cooked enough to shred. Then after boiling--yup, you guessed it--remove from heat, drain, and shred.
2. In a pan, heat a bit of oil and saute garlic and onions. Add chicken, season with cumin and chili powder (adjust to taste--you can tell from the red chicken in the photo that we like it hot!). You can add a bit of salt and pepper. (Don't overdo it with the salt though--the black beans available in supermarkets pack a salty punch. I had to wash and drain 'em a few times.) Remove from heat.
   
3. Make salsa: Mix together chopped tomatoes, garlic, and onions. You can add cilantro leaves if you wish.
4. Assemble burrito: In the center of a tortilla, place cooked rice, chicken, beans, salsa, cheese, and sour cream. Fold on two sides (to seal) then roll. Enjoy!

Note: Should you decide to heat the tortillas, keep an eye on them. If heated too long, they become tortilla chips.:s

Recipe: Baked Chicken with Sour Cream Paprika

For lunch today, I whipped up something fairly simple: baked chicken breast with sour cream paprika, served with brown rice and a side of corn and carrots.

I posted this on my Facebook wall, and it seems that a few people were thrown off by the whole "baked" and "chicken breast" thing. They automatically assumed that this was a healthy dish. Let me warn you--it ain't going to win any nutrition awards, as far as I can tell. I've come to associate the color white in food (except for egg whites) with an alarming amount of calories--cream, sugar, bad carbs like white rice and white bread--and this is no exception! But you know what? It tastes pretty good, if I do say so myself. My husband, after having two servings, remarked, "I haven't eaten this much in a long time!"

Baked Chicken with Sour Cream and Paprika

Ingredients
1 can cream of mushroom soup (evil white food)
1 container sour cream (evil white food)
A dash of paprika
Juice of half a lemon
Salt and pepper
4 chicken breasts (aha! Good white food!)

1. Preheat oven at 350F.
2. In a bowl, mix together cream of mushroom soup and sour cream. Add paprika, adjusting to taste. (Ours ended up quite spicy, which we both liked.)
3. Mix in lemon juice, then sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Place chicken breasts in an 8" x 8" pan or baking dish. Pour enough of the cream mixture to cover the chicken.
5. Cover pan or baking dish with foil and pop into the oven. Bake for about 20 minutes.
6. Take out of oven, remove foil, and return to oven. Bake until chicken is cooked through.