Chicken and Polenta

I have a confession - I sometimes forget about Polenta. Then I make it and wonder why I haven't made it in such a long time.  I get so wrapped up in my rice and quinoa side dishes that I forget there is a whole other world of sides out there.

Polenta is super easy to make and can be used in so many ways - hot and creamy is my favorite, but if you let it cool and get nice and thick, then cut it in big chunks and throw it on the grill, oh so good I can feel the summer heat thinking about it.

I got back on a polenta kick earlier this week with a goat cheese polenta served with orange chicken.  The kids weren't fans of the goat cheese polenta - they like it when I keep it simple with just a little Parmesan - but the rest of the meal was a big hit.

Orange Chicken (Printer Ready)
4-5 boneless chicken breasts
3 Tbsp. Poultry Seasoning (see below)
½ cup marmalade
½ cup balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp. Cointreau (or orange juice)
1 Tbsp. brown sugar

Trim fat from chicken breasts and lightly pound.  Generously season both sides with seasoning mix.  Place large saute pan over medium high heat, drizzle pan with olive oil to coat.  When pan is hot add chicken, reduce temperature to medium low.  Cook until brown, then flip.  While chicken is browning mix marmalade, vinegar, cointreau and brown sugar together in small bowl.  Once both sides of the chicken are brown pour sauce over chicken cover pan and let simmer at medium low heat until chicken is cooked through and sauce has thickened.  Total cook time will be 15-20 minutes depending on the thickness of the chicken.  
Serve sauce and chicken with goat cheese polenta.  


Poultry Seasoning Mix
2 Tbsp dried parsley
2 Tbsp. dried sage
2 Tbsp.  dried thyme
2 Tbsp. dried oregano
1 Tbsp. dried marjoram
1 Tbsp. celery salt
1 Tbsp. ground garlic
1 Tbsp. ground pepper

Combine all ingredients, mix well.  Store in a small airtight container.  


Goat Cheese Polenta (printer ready)
1 quart chicken (or vegetable) broth
1 cup coarse ground cornmeal
3 Tbsp. butter
1 tsp. salt
4 oz. goat cheese

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large oven safe saucepan bring broth to a boil.  Whisking continuously gradually add the cornmeal.  Once all the cornmeal has be added cover and place in oven.  Cook for 40 minutes stirring every ten minutes, this will prevent lumps.  Once the mixture is creamy remove from oven, add the butter and salt and pepper to taste.  Slowly begin adding the goat cheese stirring continuously while adding.   

Root Beer Chicken

I know grilling season is coming to an end for most, but for me this is my favorite time of year for it.  It is so much more enjoyable to be outside when it is in the 60's and 70's rather than in the 90's with 100% humidity.  And I find I have more of a craving for many of the traditional grilled food, this time time of year.  One of my favorite things to make on the grill is Beer Butt Chicken.

For me this is not only a super tasty food it is also a very funny food.  Starting with the name, it just sounds like a funny thing to serve someone, but it's the look of it, that I find particularly humorous.  It is very entertaining, while at the same time slightly disturbing, to open the grill and see a headless chicken looking as if it is about to run right off the grill.

If you haven't made beer butt chicken it is super easy and a great way to cook chicken on the grill.  You get a moist and flavorful chicken that is beautifully browned and golden on all sides.  Traditionally a can of beer is used, but you can use pretty much any canned beverage, and my favorite is a can of Root Beer.

For the outside I like to go with a pretty traditional seasoning mix - salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika. By keeping it simple the chicken can be used in a variety of ways and the pairing options are endless.

When making beer butt chicken you only need half a can of liquid, which means you can either enjoy the other half while cooking or use it in another dish to tie your meal together.  While I am often tempted to use it for a root beer float, I usually push the temptation aside and make a BBQ sauce instead. This sauce is incredibly flavorful with a wonderful sweet, spicy tang.  You may want to have some extra bread with dinner to sop it up with, otherwise you may find yourself digging in with a spoon and eating it right out of the bowl.

I am sorry I don't have any pictures of the delicious dinner, but it was inhaled so quickly I didn't get a chance to snap any!

Root Beer Butt Chicken with BBQ Sauce
printer ready
1 whole chicken
Chicken Seasoning (see below)
1 can root beer
1 cup ketcup
¼ cup lemon juice
¼ cup orange juice
3 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. molasses
½ tsp. ginger powder
½  tsp. garlic powder
½ tsp. onion powder

Prepare grill, for indirect cooking, leave back half of burners off and turn front half of burners to medium high heat.  

Wash and pat dry chicken.  Generously sprinkle entire chicken with chicken seasoning.  Pour out and reserve, 1 cup of root beer.   Place chicken on top of open can, so chicken is standing upright.  Place chicken on back half of grill, use the legs and can as a tripod to help the chicken stand.  Close cover and let chicken cook for at least an hour or until thermometer, placed in thickest part, reads 160°-165°.  Remove from heat, let chicken rest for 10 minutes, slice and serve.  

While the chicken cooks, combine the 1 cup of root beer set aside and remaining ingredients in a small saucepan.  Place over medium high heat, stirring continuously bring to a boil.  Once mixture has reached a boil reduce temperature to medium low and let simmer for about 20 minutes.  Let cool slightly then serve with roasted chicken.    

Chicken Seasoning

2 Tbsp. paprika
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. Lemon Pepper (can use plain pepper and lemon zest)
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. marjoram
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cayenne pepper

Place all ingredients in small bowl, stir until combined.

SRC - Simply Cooked

Chicken and peanut butter is one of my favorite combinations.  I could eat it every day and never grow tired of it, so when I saw Sarah over at Simply Cooked had a recipe for Bang Bang Chicken I new what I would be trying this month for the Secret Recipe Club.

As always the SRC club introduced me to another wonderful site.  Sarah has a great assortment of recipes, a lot of the recipes are vegetarian, but there are options for the carnivore lover as well.  In addition to her recipes Sarah also has some fabulous book reviews from her Kitchen Reader book club.  I spent just as much time reading these posts as I did her recipes, so not only did my recipes to make list grow, but so did my books to read list.

Sarah's recipe for Bang Bang Chicken is wonderfully simple.  It is a great dish to have in your repertoire as it can be prepared ahead of time and is just as yummy cold as hot.  I actually prefer to it cold, the flavors are much more enhanced.

 I followed Sarah's recipe pretty much exactly, but did add some carrots for a little added crunch.

Bang Bang Chicken 
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Recipe from Simply Cooked and adapted from A Little Taste of China

Make this with leftover roasted or poached chicken. Or poach the chicken at the beginning of the recipe, then use the same cooking water for the noodles.

1 1/2 cucumbers
1 t salt
30 g Rice vermicelli
1 t toasted sesame oil
2 c. Cooked chicken, shredded
2 scallions (spring onions), sliced

for the dressing:
1/4 c (peanut butter
1 t soy sauce
4 t sugar
3 T rice wine vinegar
1 T toasted sesame oil
1 scallion (spring onion), sliced
1 T minced ginger
1 t chilli paste
1/4 c (60 ml) chicken stock or water

Slice the cucumbers into sticks. Toss with the salt and set aside in a bowl for 20 minutes.

Make the dressing by whisking together all the dressing ingredients.

Cook the noodles according to the packet directions; this will only take a few minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water so they cool to room temperature.
Combine the cucumbers, noodles, sesame oil, and chicken. Pour the dressing over and toss to combine. Sprinkle with the scallions.

As always there are lots of great recipes to check out with this month's SRC. You can check them out here and be sure to visit the Secret Recipe Club site throughout the month for more recipe reveals.

Buffalo Chicken Wings

I love buffalo chicken wings.  Messy spicy sauce with cool blue cheese dressing - yumm!  I remember my Dad making them for parties when they were a new fad food.  In college my roommates and I started many evenings out at a local bar that served the best wings, we would often finish the night here as well.  I am constantly searching for a place that comes close to The Monopole, but I still haven't found it.

Despite my love for wings I have never tried to make them. Last weekend I decided to finally give it a try, maybe I could make wings that could compare to what I remembered from college.  The result - a total flop.  Now I am just craving wings even more.  The sauce never stuck and the result was a boring wing with no flavor.  We still managed to eat them all, but that was because of the blue cheese dressing which was very yummy.

I am so sad about this flop, it had the makings of a perfect Fall afternoon feast.

I think wings are best when fried, but I know they can also be good when just baked.  So what happened?  Here is the recipe I used.  I forget exactly where I found it, but it is comparable to many others I looked at.  Any suggestions on why these were such a flop?  Anybody have a good no fail recipe to share?


Buffalo Chicken Wings

3 lbs Chicken Wings
1/2 c. Butter, melted
1/2 c. Franks Red Hot Sauce
2 1/2 tsp. Tabasco Sauce
1 1/2 Tbs. Chili Powder


Place wings in single layer on baking sheet.  In 375 degree oven bake until wings are cooked through and slightly crispy.

While wings are cooking combine remaining ingredients in large bowl.  Add cooked wings and toss to coat thoroughly.  Return coated wings to baking sheet.  Lower oven temperature to 300 and bake wings for an additional 10 to 15 minutes.

Blue Cheese Dressing

2 oz. Blue Cheese, crumbled
1/4 c. Buttermilk
1/4 c. Sour Cream
1/4. c. Mayonnaise
Juice of 1/4 lemon
Salt and Pepper to taste

In small bowl combine all ingredients.

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Summer Salsa Chicken

Every year I try to do some canning.  I have never done the same thing twice, I have had more failures than success and I rarely use the things that do come out successfully.  Every Spring I have visions of a beautiful garden producing massive amounts of wonderful vegetables that I will can and savor throughout the winter.  Well, for many reasons I am still waiting for this vision to come true, but that is another story.  Anyway this summer we had a couple of weeks where we were swimming in peaches and tomatoes so I decided to make these ingredients my canning experiments for the season.  I came across a reciepe for Summer Salsa, it sounded yummy and I had all the ingredients on hand.  It was a little spicy, but I was really happy with the results.  I made dozen jars, I have 11 in the pantry - I used one jar to make a quick dip, combined with cream cheese it was super yummy, but everything is better with a little cream cheese - and now that Fall is quickly turning into Winter I thought I would try to use another jar or two.   I didn't do anything fancy, I just dumped the salsa over chicken breasts, but the meal tasted so yummy.  Next year I am definitely going to do more canning, and I am definitely making this salsa. 

 

Summer Salsa (from "Complete Home Presererving")

4 c.  Tomateoes, peeled, chopped cored

2 c.   Peaches, peeled, chopped pitted

2 c.   Pears, peeled, seeded chopped

1      Red bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped

1 c.  Red onion, finely chopped

3-4  Jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped

1/2 c.  loosely packed finely chopped cilantro

1/2 c.  Honey

Gated zest and juice 1 lemon

1/4 c.  Balsamic vinegar

1 Tbs.  Mint finely chopped

In large stainless steel saucepan combine tomatoes, peaches, pears, red pepper, onion, andjalapeno peppers.  Bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring constantly.  Add cilantro, honely, lemon zest and juice, vinegar and mint.  Reduce heat boil gently stirring frequently, until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. 

Ladle hot salsa into prepared canning jars, leaving 1/2 inch of head space.  Wipe rim, center lid on jar, screw band down.  Place jars in canner, process 8oz jars for 15 minutes, pint jars for 20 minutes. 

Chicken Satay Salad

The kids have been taken down by a nasty cold so I am keeping them out of the kitchen, but I will post a kids cook later in the week.  I had been planning on making chicken satay lettuce wraps for dinner, but due to sick grumpy kids and a change in our vegetable delivery I changed things up a little.  Satay is is a great meal to make with kids, there are a lot of things they can do and it is a fun meal to eat.  When I cook with the kids I typically have them do the cutting, but with satay I do the cutting and they get to do more of the actual cooking, so it is a meal they take a lot of pride in.  I know some people don't like the idea of kids handling raw chicken, but I think it is important to have kids do all types of jobs and learn the responsibilities, like washing well after handling, that go along with the various job.  I cut the chicken into strips, but let them flavor and skewer.  Not all kids love touching chicken, but my kids love slimy gooey things, and for them chicken is one of the best slimy things around so they will always jump at the chance to "play" with it.  Skewering is a great activity for kids, weather it is putting on a bunch of different items, or putting one long piece of chicken on a stick, it helps develop fine motor skills and dexterity.  Plus it only takes a few times of watching food fall off the stick before kids realize the importance of getting the stick through the center of the item.  I often put my oldest son, 5, in charge of making the peanut sauce.  I use a very simple kid friendly receipe, so kids are familiar with all the ingredients and can often do all the mise en place and measuring alone.  The sauce is not cooked making  it a great solo activity for young cooks. 

As I said my meal for last night changed slightly.  I had originally planned on doing wraps, with chicken skewers, but we got a bag of lettuce instead of a head of lettuce, so i went with a salad with chopped chicken,  instead of wraps, which was just as tasty.

Chicken Satay Salad

1 lb Boneless Chicken breast cut into strips
2 Tbs. of Ginger, finely chopped
1 Tbs. Garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup Apple Juice
1/4 cup Peanut Butter (creamy or chunky)
3 Tbs. Soy Sauce
Dash Hot Sauce
1 Cup Shredded Carrots
1 Cucumber, peeled and julienned
1 Bag/Head of Lettuce


Heat pan with oil, add chicken, ginger and garlic.  Cook until chicken is cooked through, remove from pan, cool slightly and chop roughly.
For sauce heat apple juice slightly.  Add peanut butter and soy sauce.  Toss half of the sauce with the chopped chicken, use remaining sauce as dressing for salad. 
Combine carrots, cucumber and lettuce top with chicken and additional dressing if desired.

Crunchy Kale

I hate kale.  Unless it is like this.  Tossed with oil, salt and pepper and baked, then drizzled with vinegar, and I can eat an entire bunch.  I just devor it, last night I ate half of it before dinner.  I think it is the mouth feel.  It becomes so airy and crunch, it just vanishes when you put it in your mouth.  Plus I am a complete sucker for anything with salt and vinegar.  My kids even eat this stuff, again I think it is because of the texture,  it really is fun to eat.  I haven't tried it with any other leafy green, but I have read you can use almost any type.   I paired this with lemon chicken and we had a meal that everyone ate.  Such a happy day.

This is my receipe for lemon chicken.  I have never written it down before, but it is something I make at least once a month.  The receipe came from my Mom, who doesn't have much interest in the kitchen, but this was one meal she enjoyed making and eating, so I have been eating this dish for a long time

Lemon Chicken

4 Chicken bonless chicken breasts cut into bite sized cubes

1/2 onion diced
2 Tbs butter
2 lemons - thinly slice one lemon
1/4 cup flour
2 cups Chicken broth

Sautee chicken until golden brown.  Remove chicken from pan leaving all the little bits in the pan.  Add a little more olive oil and sautee onions. Once soft add the butter, when melted add the flour cook for a few minutes.  Add the sliced lemons, allow the juices to come out.  Add the chicken broth and juice from second lemon cook until thick.  Return chicken to pan and cook for about 5 minutes. 

My Mom always served this with peas and rice, but you can decided on your own sides.   Like I said the kale is fabulous.

Menu Planning Monday

I am usually pretty good at planning our dinners for the week, but I have never been very formal about it and the weekly menu and shopping list are usually jotted down on some random scrap of paper.  As a result I don't have a record of favorite meals and reciepes.  When I want to make something again I have to look through cookbooks/magazines and search on-line, I often find something, but it isn't always the orignal receipe.  Maybe this will get me away from the scraps of paper and actually get my receipes organized.

On the menu this week:
Monday - Shepherds pie
Tuesday - Roasted Chicken with squash (no receipe just throwing it in the crock pot) tomato soup
Wednesday - Tuna Noodle Casserole (can't beat the classic)
Thursday - Mongolian Beef  (love Mongolian beef, trying a new receipe for it this week)
Friday - Baked Ziti