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Food For Parents: Crockpot Chicken Cacciatore

Here's another pretty basic slowcooker recipe. It's great because you can throw it together and come back 6 hours later to a finished meal. Just remember to put it on some pasta. I recommend a big fat spinach or whole wheat fettucini noodle. Note: This recipe doesn't have mushrooms because I'm not a fan, but feel free to add your own toward the end of the cooking time if necessary.

Crockpot Chicken Cacciatore

3 lbs. boneless skinless chicken thighs
14 oz. can diced tomatoes
6 oz. can tomato paste
1 large onion, sliced
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
2 red or green bell peppers, chopped
3/4 cup dry white wine
2 tsp. dried basil
2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. salt

Place all ingredients in 4-5 quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours until chicken is thoroughly cooked and tender. Season to taste. Spoon meat and sauce over pasta.

Food for Parents: Crock Pot BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

Crock pots are genius. You throw a bunch of stuff into them and leave for 6-8 hours and you have dinner. My favorite thing to make in the crock pot is BBQ. You can use beef, pork, or chicken for this, but the big bags of frozen chicken breasts are the easiest and healthiest way to make as much or as little as you want. It's really best to make a ton and then keep the rest for leftovers, because it keeps well in the fridge and is almost better the longer it sits.

Crock Pot BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

4-6 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 Jar BBQ Sauce
Tbsp salt and pepper
Rolls or buns

Put chicken, onion, 1/4 of bottle of BBQ sauce, salt, and pepper in crock pot on low. Let cook for at least 6 hours. Using 2 forks, pull apart and shred meat into chunks and pieces. Drain most of the liquid from the pot. Mix in remaining BBQ sauce and serve on rolls or buns.

99 Cent Chef Jambalaya: Bloghungry Version

Bloghungry is looking to cut back on his day job hours a lot when the baby comes. That also means cutting back on the grocery bill a bit. I have been inspired by the food The 99 Cent Chef has been cranking out. For those of you in other areas of the country, California has 99 cent only stores that offer a surprising variety of foods. The 99 Cent Chef tries to use only ingredients that can be found at the 99 cent store.

If you don't have a 99 cent only store in your area, his recipes can still be cost effective and tasty. Watch the chef and his mom make an authentic jumbalya. Food network could learn something from the authenticity of these two. For my jambalaya, I added tomatoes and some wine and served it over sauteed spinach with my favorite skillet cornbread.

Bloghungry's Jambalaya (altered from 99 Cent Chef)

1 lb. boneless chicken breasts
1 lb. boneless pork
1 lb. spicy breakfast sausage links
1 onion choppped
6-8 cloves of garlic, minced or freshly chopped
1 green pepper, diced
2 cups rice (long cooking)
28oz can of diced tomatoes
3/4 cup white wine
3 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons of oil for browning meat
1 tablespoon of cajun seasoning (readily found at 99c only Stores)
Pepper to taste (add salt if you do not have cajun seasoning)

Cut or section meats into bite-sized chunks. Add oil and saute meat over medium heat in a large cast iron pot (any pot really - should hold at least 12 cups) until very brown for about 45 minutes; add sausage toward the end because it browns quickly (take out pork and chicken if too crowded for sausage.) Add chopped onion, garlic, cajun seasonings, pepper and sautee until tender. Add tomatoes with juice, wine, and water. Cover and cook all meat at low boil for about 45 minutes. Add rice and cook for 20 minutes more. Afterward, stir meat and rice, cover again, turn off heat and let stand for 15 minutes more while you have a glass of wine and set the table. Jambalaya freezes then reheats with a microwave nicely. It's a dish that tastes better the next day.

Chicken in White Wine Sauce with Brie Mashed Potatoes

You all give Rachael Ray a hard time, but the proof is in the chicken and white wine sauce. She gives good recipe, kids! The chicken is rich and full of flavor and the mashed potatoes are creamy with the subtle flavor of brie. Plus the whole thing is sprinkled with crispy bacon. She serves the whole thing with warm crusty bread to sop up the sauce with. I added a side of sauteed spinach because I felt guilty not having any veggies. It was pretty great.

Chicken in White Wine Sauce with Brie Mashed Potatoes

2 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs and breasts
1/2 bottle dry white wine
2 pounds baby Yukon gold potatoes
Salt
1/2 cup cream
1 Golden Delicious apple, peeled, cored and chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus a drizzle
4 slices deli-cut bacon or thick cut pancetta, chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
Flour, for dredging plus 2 tablespoons
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped or 1 cup shredded carrot
1 bay leaf
1 tsp dried thyme
1/3 pound wedge brie, cut into pieces
Crusty, warm bread

For Chicken:
In a large bowl, add the chicken, cover with wine, and set aside.

Drizzle olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat, add the bacon and crisp 3 to 4 minutes. Remove to a plate.

While bacon crisps, remove the chicken to a work surface, reserving the wine. Cut chicken into large bite-size pieces, season with salt and pepper, dredge in flour then brown in bacon drippings. While chicken browns chop vegetables. Remove the chicken to a plate, then add 2 tablespoons olive oil to the skillet, season the vegetables with salt and pepper and add bay leaf and thyme. Cover pan to sweat vegetables 5 minutes then remove lid, stir in 2 tablespoons flour, cook 1 minute then stir in wine, add chicken back to pan and simmer together to thicken and the chicken is cooked through, a couple of minutes more.

For Mashed Potatoes:
Quarter the potatoes, leaving the skin-on. Place in a large pot, cover with water and bring up to a boil over medium heat. When the potatoes are cooked, drain and place in a medium bowl. Mash the potatoes, season with salt and set aside.

In a small pot, combine apple and cream and reduce over medium heat 15 minutes.

To a food processor, add the apple-cream and brie, process until smooth and season with salt. Combine apple-brie mixture with the mashed potatoes.

Serve chicken with wine over brie mashed potatoes.

Zuni Chicken

Apparently the best roast chicken ever made has been discovered at the Zuni Cafe in San Francisco. The gays have been raving about Zuni chicken for months and have finally forced me to make it. The verdict: It's roast chicken. I don't feel like the effort put into this recipe really did anything special to the flavor of the bird. I'd much prefer a hickory smoked bbq chicken, fried chicken, or a pounded and seared chicken breast with a lemony buttery wine sauce. Let's move away from light subtle flavors and start craving food again. Furthermore, I encourage the gays of the world to eat more food to better understand the what truly delicious eats there are out there to get excited about. That said here is the recipe for those who want to be apart of the fad. Beware it's a 2-3 day process.

Homemade Zuni Chicken

1 small chicken, 2-3/4 to 3-1/2-pounds.
4 tender sprigs fresh thyme, marjoram, rosemary or sage, about 1/2 inch long
Salt
Black pepper
1 lemon or orange

1-3 days before roasting:
Remove and discard the lump of fat inside the chicken. Rinse the chicken and pat very dry inside and out. Be thorough—a wet chicken will spend too much time steaming before it begins to turn golden brown.

Approaching from the edge of the cavity, slide a finger under the skin of each of the breasts, making 2 little pockets. Now use the tip of your finger to gently loosen a pocket of skin on the outside of the thickest section of each thigh. Using your finger, shove an herb sprig into each of the 4 pockets.

Season the chicken liberally all over with salt and pepper. Season the thick sections a little more heavily than the skinny ankles and wings. Sprinkle a little of the salt just inside the cavity, on the backbone, but don’t otherwise worry about seasoning the inside. Twist and tuck the wing tips behind the shoulders. Cover loosely and refrigerate. put a quartered lemon or orange on the inside of the bird.

Day of roasting:
Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Depending on the size, efficiency and accuracy of your oven, and the size of your bird, you may need to adjust the heat to as high as 500 or as low as 450 during the course of roasting the chicken to get it to brown properly. If that proves to be the case, begin at that temperature the next time you roast a chicken. If you have a convection function on your oven, use it for the first 30 minutes; it will enhance browning, and may reduce overall cooking by 5 to 10 minutes

Choose a shallow flameproof roasting pan or dish barely larger than the chicken, or use a 10-inch skillet with an all-metal handle. Preheat the pan over medium heat. Wipe the chicken dry and set it breast side up in the pan. It should sizzle.  

Place the center of the oven and listen and watch for it to start browning within 20 minutes. If it doesn’t, raise the temperature progressively until it does. The skin should blister, but if the chicken begins to char, or the fat is smoking, reduce temperature by 25 degrees. After about 30 minutes, turn the bird over — drying the bird and preheating the pan should keep the skin from sticking. (If the chicken is closer to room temp, this also helps the skin not to stick.) Roast for another 10 to 20 minutes, depending on size, then flip back over to re-crisp the breast skin, another 5 to 10 minutes. Total oven time will be 45 minutes to an hour. Since mine was a larger bird, slightly over 4 pounds, it took an hour. I switched from convection to regular bake mode after the first 20-30 minutes of browning.

Finishing and serving

Remove the chicken from the oven and turn off the heat.

Lift the chicken from the roasting pan and set on a plate. Carefully pour the clear fat from the roasting oven, leaving the lean drippings behind. Add about a tablespoon of water to the hot pan and swirl it.

Slash the stretched skin between the thighs and breasts of the chicken, then tilt the bird and plate over the roasting pan to drain the juice into the drippings. If the chicken sits in any juice, the skin will get soggy again so make sure you drain ALL the juice.

Set the chicken in a warm spot and leave to rest. The meat will become more tender and uniformly succulent as it cools.

Set a platter in the oven to warm for a minute or two.

Tilt the roasting pan and skim the last of the fat. Place over medium-low heat, add any juice that has collected under the chicken, and bring to a simmer. Stir and scrape to soften any hard golden drippings. Serve in the warm platter.

Cider Brined Fried Chicken

A friend of mine wanted fried chicken on cheddar jalapeno biscuits for her birthday this year. I don't usually fry chicken at home because it tends to get messy and not end up that tasty. However, this recipe changes everything. Brining the chicken makes it moist and flavorful, seasoning the egg instead of the flour is genius, and the paper bag saves a lot of time and messy hands. My biggest tip to the home chicken fryer is too have a deep electric hotplate that can self regulate the temp of the oil so you don't have to worry about it.

Cider Brined Fried Chicken

2 cups apple cider
1/2 cup salt
3-pound bag boneless skinless chicken breast (thawed)
Water
2 eggs
2 tablespoons cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 quart vegetable shortening or oil, for frying

Cut chicken breasts in half to make fist-sized pieces. In a large bowl, whisk together cider and salt until salt dissolves. Add chicken pieces and enough water to coat and soak for 1 hour or longer in the refrigerator. Chicken should be completely submerged in brine. In a large pot, heat vegetable shortening until a deep-fry thermometer reaches 325 degrees F. Line a sheet tray with a wire rack. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, cayenne and black pepper. In a paper bag, shake together flour and cornstarch. Drain chicken from brine and dip in batches first in egg mixture then in flour mixture to coat. In batches, fry chicken until golden brown, about 7 minutes per side (14 minutes per piece), depending on the size. Remove from oil to drain on paper towel-lined plate.

Chicken Milanese

So I have been really driven to pound some meat these days. Branching from my love affair with Chicken Picatta is Chicken Milanese. It's more breaded and less complex in flavor since there are no capers involved, but otherwise it's pretty similar. I like Picatta better, but it's important to broaden your horizons sometimes. Note: Milanese goes best with/on/under a light salad of spicy greens.

Chicken Milanese with Arugula Salad

4 skinless boneless chicken breast halves
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cups panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, divided
2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 cups (packed) baby arugula leaves (about 2 ounces)

Using meat mallet or rolling pin, pound chicken between sheets of plastic wrap to thickness of 1/2 inch. Whisk eggs in medium bowl to blend. Mix panko, 2 tablespoons parsley, oregano, salt, and pepper on plate. Dip chicken in beaten eggs; turn to coat. Dredge in breadcrumb mixture, coating completely.

Heat 3 tablespoons oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add chicken and sauté until golden brown and cooked through, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to plates; sprinkle with lemon juice. Toss arugula with remaining 1 tablespoon oil in medium bowl to coat; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Mound salad atop chicken.

Chicken Piccata

I love a good pounded meat and not just in a crass pornographic sort of way. In fact I'd be willing to give up naked pictures for a really good chicken piccata. Follow this recipe for a thin, juicy, and flavorful piece of chicken to call your own. It goes really well with mashed carrot puree.

Chicken Piccata

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, about 6 ounces each
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon drained bottled capers, rinsed and chopped
Additional kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Thin slices lemon and chopped
fresh parsley leaves, for garnish

Sprinkle a small amount of water on a large plastic sheet of plastic wrap. Place 2 of the breast halves on top of the plastic and sprinkle again with water. Cover with another sheet of plastic wrap and pound with a rolling pin or meat pounder until about 1/4-inch thick. Repeat with the remaining 2 breast halves.

Mix the flour with the salt and pepper in a shallow pie plate. Heat half of the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until almost smoking. Working in 2 batches, place the chicken in the flour mixture and turn to coat on all sides. Shake off the excess flour and add to the skillet. Cook until lightly browned and cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate or platter and cover loosely with foil. Repeat with the remaining oil and chicken.

Pour off the fat from the skillet and return the skillet to the heat. Add the chicken stock and lemon juice. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil, stirring to pick up and browned bits in the bottom of the pan. Simmer for 3 minutes. Return the chicken to the skillet and simmer, turning often, until warmed through and the sauce is thickened, about 2 minutes. Add the butter and the capers. Season with salt and pepper and heat just until the butter has melted. Serve on warmed plates with a spoonful of the skillet sauce, topped with lemon slices and parsley.

Fried Chicken

Popmuse wanted homemade fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and biscuits for his birthday this year. So I did a little research to see if I could modernize my grandmother's recipe for the big night. There are millions of fried chicken recipes out there, each with their own spin on the process. After reading through them all, I came up with this recipe loosely based on one from Alton Brown. It is also a lot easier to regulate the temperature of your oil if you fry the chicken in a hot plate dish with temperature settings. That said, my grandmother fried chicken for years in a skillet and it always came out golden and cooked to perfection. Don't let Alton Brown's OCD methodologies rain on your fried chicken parade.

Fried Chicken

4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
3 cups low fat buttermilk
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons thyme, ground if possible
1 tablespoon black pepper
2 teaspoons garlic powder
Self-rising Flour (or regular with added baking powder), for dredging
Vegetable shortening (Crisco), for frying

Slice breasts in half or into smaller equal-sized pieces to assure even and through cooking if necessary. Place chicken pieces into a plastic container or casserole dish and cover with buttermilk. Cover and refrigerate for 8 to 24 hours.

Melt enough shortening (over low heat) to come 1 or 2-inches up the side of a 12-inch cast iron skillet or heavy fry pan. Once shortening liquefies raise heat to 325 degrees F. Do not allow oil to go over 325 degrees F.

Combine salt, pepper, thyme, and garlic powder. Liberally season chicken with this mixture. Mix flour with some salt and pepper. Dredge chicken in flour and shake off excess.

Place chicken into the pan. The oil should come half way up the pan/chicken. Cook chicken until golden brown on each side, approximately 10 to 12 minutes per side. More importantly, the internal temperature should be right around 180 degrees.

Drain chicken on a rack over a sheet pan. If you need to hold the chicken before serving, cover loosely with foil.

 

Feta and Spinach Stuffed Chicken

Everyone loves a stuffed chicken breast. They are juicy, flavorful, and full of all kinds of good stuff. This is a recipe from Weight Watchers with a light and flavorful way to stuff your chicken with deliciousness. I also added thinly sliced sundried tomatoes to mine because I had some on hand. You could add roasted red peppers or olives if you were so inclined.

Feta and Spinach Stuffed Chicken

1  tsp   olive oil, divided
1  small   onion(s), chopped
10  oz   spinach, fresh
1  tsp   lemon zest
1/4 cup   feta cheese, crumbled
1  tsp   table salt, divided
1/2 tsp   black pepper, divided
1  pound   uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast, four 4 oz cutlets

In a large nonstick skillet heat 1 teaspoon oil; sauté onion until golden, 5 minutes. Wilt spinach (steam spinach or heat damp spinach over medium heat in nonstick pan); stir in zest, feta, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Set aside. Divide spinach mixture between cutlets. Roll up and secure with toothpicks. Sprinkle with remaining salt and pepper. In same skillet, heat remaining oil over medium-high heat. Cook chicken, turning occasionally, until golden brown and cooked through, about 10 minutes. Remove toothpicks.