Greek lemon chicken and potatoes

Chicken with the skin on has been a serious adversary in my oven. Some combination of the size of the oven, my roasting pan, what vegetables I try to roast along with the chicken, and the heat has made it really hard to get good skin with a little crisp and nice browning.  I finally found a recipe that works. This has the right amount of crowding in my roasting pan (not much) and roasting potatoes (and only potatoes) seems to have provided the right conditions to get pretty, tasty chicken.

Thank you, Chef John at Food Wishes (with video)!

Ingredients (3 servings)

• 3 legs and 3 thighs (about 2.25 pounds total)
• 2 large baking potatoes, sliced into eighths (about 2 pounds)
• 1/2 T kosher salt
• 1/2 t black pepper
• 1/2 t dried rosemary
• 2 t dried oregano
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 cup chicken broth to add to the roasting pan + a splash more to de-glaze

You’ll need

• large mixing bowl
• large roasting pan

Preparation (cooking time 45 minutes to 1 hour)

1. Pre-heat oven to 425.
2. (Peel and) section the potatoes. (Peeled potatoes are prettier but I like potato skins.)
3. Remove the excess skin flap from the thighs and put the chicken in a large bowl.
4. Add the salt, pepper, rosemary, oregano, and minced garlic to the chicken.
5. Add the lemon juice and olive oil.
6. Add the potatoes to the bowl.
7. Toss the chicken and potatoes until the marinade is well-mixed.  You can leave it in the fridge for a few hours or just cook immediately.
8. Lightly oil the roasting pan.
9. Add everything to the roasting pan, chicken skin-side up, and space it all out.
10. Add most of the cup of chicken broth to the pan. (This is to keep things from burning to the roasting pan.)
11. Roast for 20 minutes, and toss.
12. Roast for 25 to 40 minutes more (and check).
13. Take out any chicken that is nicely browned and set in a serving dish.
14. Finish the potatoes (and pale chicken) under the broiler for 3 or 4 minutes. (Keep your nose on the job so you don’t burn it!)
15. De-glaze the pan with a little more broth or water and spoon the liquid over the dish.

Serve with a simple arugula salad or something like that.

Chicken with Meyer Lemon Shallot Sauce

This simple chicken dish is easy to make quickly.  The general approach of cooking chicken covered in a skillet with a simple rub is something I need to incorporate into my cooking.  This goes reasonably well over a simple pilaf (or egg noodles, if fast is the name of the game), with some roasted vegetables on the side (especially beets, given the lemoniness) or a simple salad.

The recipe will be revamped as the flavor isn’t really there yet (it was inspired by this recipe, from an untrusted source, not that I should blame the source, seeing as I didn’t follow to anywhere near the letter).

Calorie estimate: 1050

Ingredients

• 2 skinless chicken parts (breasts, thighs), 3/4 – 1 lb.
• salt, pepper, and allspice
• 1 T olive oil
• 1/2 Meyer lemon, zested and ready to be juiced
• 1/2 small shallot, diced
• 1/4 C chicken broth
• 1 T butter
• splash of white wine
• pinch of thyme

Preparation

1. Pat the chicken breasts dry.  Season with salt, pepper, and a few dashes of allspice.
2. Place a little oil in a pan over medium-high heat.  Place the chicken in the pan and cover.  Cook for 4-5 minutes until browned.  Flip and cook covered for 5 more.
3. Zest half a Meyer lemon and dice half a small shallot.
4. After the chicken is cooked, take it out of the pan.  Deglaze with a 1/4 cup of chicken stock and a splash of white wine. Add the butter, shallot, lemon zest, a pinch of time, and a squeeze of lemon juice (be sure not to squeeze all of it now).  Reduce over medium heat for a few minutes until you have a proper sauce.  Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
5. Serve the chicken over a simple pilaf or egg noodles, and pour the sauce over the mix.  Maybe some roasted vegetables on the side. Finish with the remaining lemon juice.

Chicken Teriyaki

I’m not proud of this one, and I hesitate to post it, but it kinda didn’t suck and I could see myself making it again under similar circumstances.

So I’ve got two chicken breasts in the fridge and they either gotta get cooked or tossed.  It’s 9 pm and I’m hungry and my brain’s got no room for thinking.  So I slice the chicken thin, throw it in a non-stick soup pot, not yet on the stove (maybe I’ll end up poaching the chicken?) and then what?

Forget poached chicken (thankfully). I figure I’ve got some salty asian condiments that never go bad.  The chicken goes on the heat, some dark soy sauce gets poured in, a little miso paste, some chili-garlic sauce, and a splash of sesame oil.  Things cook and I figure, what the hell, let’s add a little honey…

Calorie Estimate: 900

Ingredients

• 1 lb. chicken breasts, sliced thin
• a few tablespoons of soy sauce
• 1 or so tablespoons of chili-garlic sauce (Sriracha brand)
• a dab of miso paste
• a splash of sesame oil (1/2 T maybe)
• 1-1.5 T honey

Preparation

1. Slice the chicken.  Throw all the ingredients (except the honey) into a nonstick pan of some sort, adding amounts until things look about right.
2. Cook over high heat until the chicken is cooked but still tender, a few minutes.
3. Take the chicken out, leave the liquid in the pot. The chicken will already have a bit of flavor from the cooking liquids.
4. Add some honey t0 the liquid in the pot and reduce into a sauce, maybe adding a pinch of corn starch if you need it.
5. Pour over the chicken, feel shame, then enjoy, maybe over some rice.

Done like above, things come out as salty and strongly flavored as at a Seattle-teriyaki joint, but not so sickly sweet.  I put in enough honey so that it’s there, but not the dominant flavor.

Chicken Paprikash

Edit: this recipe gets and “ehh” from me.  It smelled wonderful as the chicken browned, but the taste was pretty boring–sorta like cheap italian red sauce that happened to have chicken in it.  I’ll have to do more research before I try it again, especially given the smell of the browning chicken.

Stolen almost verbatim and slightly repentantly from chow.com. I got my hands on some excellent hot paprika from my friend’s visiting German boyfriend awhile back.  So far, I’ve only used it to good effect in polenta, but here’s a traditional-ish recipe.  The only major changes I made were to use 6 drumsticks instead of a whole chicken and to leave out sour cream because I really have almost no place for that stuff in my life.

Calorie Estimate: 2400 (without noodles or sour cream)

INGREDIENTS

• 6 chicken legs (1.75 lbs)
• Kosher (coarse) salt to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Garlic powder to taste
• Dried oregano to taste
• Sweet or hot Hungarian paprika
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 medium-size onions, finely chopped
• 2 to 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 can (28 ounces) whole tomatoes, coarsely chopped, juices reserved
• 1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (if using sweet paprika)
• 2 large green bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, and chopped
• 1 pound white mushrooms, sliced
• 1 cup nondairy sour cream (optional)
• Hot cooked egg noodles, for serving

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Season the chicken on both sides lightly with salt. Then lightly sprinkle pepper, garlic powder, and oregano over the chicken. Finally, season with the paprika—very liberally if using sweet, a light sprinkling if using hot. Set the chicken aside.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a Dutch oven or other large, heavy pot over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, cook, stirring, for 1 minute more, and then transfer the onions and garlic to a plate.
3. Raise the heat to medium-high and add the remaining 2 tablespoons oil to the pot. When the oil is quite hot but not smoking, add the chicken pieces and brown them on both sides, 3 to 4 minutes per side.
4. Remove the chicken from the pot. Stir the tomatoes with all their juices, tomato paste, the reserved onion/garlic mixture, and the red pepper flakes (if using sweet paprika) into the pot. Return the chicken to the pot, making sure to cover all the pieces with the sauce. Simmer, covered, for 30 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add more paprika if desired too.
5. Add the bell peppers and mushrooms and continue to simmer, covered, until the chicken is cooked through, 20 to 30 minutes.
6. Just before serving, remove the chicken from the pot and keep it warm. Add the sour cream, if using, to the sauce and heat it over medium-low heat, being careful not to let it boil. Serve hot, spooning the sauce over the chicken and noodles.

http://www.chow.com/recipes/27903

More Molto Mario Ideas

From the Napoli Trattoria episode.

1. Braciola di Pollo = stuffed, de-boned chicken.  Looks delicious.  Probably a lot easier to do with skin on chicken breasts, although the whole chicken would probably be worth it.
2. Crostini Napolitani:  my interest is the anchovies and seasoned ricotta idea.

Chicken panino with Sicilian Caponata

I’ll republish this with a caponata recipe next time I make it.  Seeing as I wasn’t exactly in the mood to cook yesterday, I went with Trader Joe’s store-bought Caponata (not bad–all the ingredients are actually food, but it’s sweetened with sugar, which I didn’t notice while shopping) boosted with a tablespoon of Classico Pesto (honestly quite good and cheap, if a little salty).

Calorie Estimate: 800

Ingredients

• Toasted focaccia bread (or other suitable soft bread)
• 4 T-ish caponata (eggplant, celery, tomatoes, oil, onions, olives, capers, wine vinegar, salt)
• 1 T pesto
• 2 oz “fresh” (store-bought, soft) mozzarella
• 3 oz poached/grilled/baked chicken

Preparation

1. Cook chicken in a suitable manner.  I went with poached in salted water for about 15 minutes because I didn’t need to add much flavor or oil directly to the chicken since there’d be plenty of flavor in the caponata and focaccia.
2. Mix caponata and pesto together.  Heat in the microwave.
3. Make a sandwich.  Err, umm, make an open-faced sandwich if your bread is too thick like mine.

Carrot, Spinach, and Rice stew

Based on this recipe by Mark Bittman.  A tasty, cuminy, very nutritious stew.

Calorie Estimate: 1900

Ingredients:

• 1 onion, diced
• 3/4 pound carrots (1/8-inch medallions)
• 1 pound spinach (chopped or baby)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 C long grain rice
• 6-8 cups water/chicken broth
• 1 can chick peas, drained and rinsed
• 1-2 T cumin
• 1 T coriander
• 1 T black pepper
• 1-2 T butter
• salt to taste (1-2 t)
• optional: 3/4 pound chicken thighs or lamb, 1/2 inch pieces

Preparation

1. Place sliced carrots into 6-8 cups of water/broth.  Bring everything to a boil.  Put in a generous pinch of salt.  Add in 1 pound of spinach, diced onion, chick peas, rice, and any meat you’re including. Add pepper, cumin, and coriander.  Reduce to a simmer.
2. Stir occasionally for next 40 minutes.  Spinach should get silky and the mix should set up into more of a stew than a soup.
3. Add garlic and butter.  Check the seasoning.  Cook for 5 more minutes.   Let it sit for as long as you have patience, and enjoy.

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

care of chow.com.

Calorie estimate for the pot:  1950 (check next use)

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
• 3 medium carrots, peeled and finely chopped
• 3 large celery stalks, finely chopped
• 2 medium garlic cloves, minced
• 8 cups (2 quarts) low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 1/2 cups wild rice blend
• 1/2 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, medium dice
• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, medium dice
• (or chicken hearts (cheap!, but very high in cholesterol))
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped Italian parsley

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. When it shimmers, add onion, carrots, celery, and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened, about 10 minutes.
2. Add broth and rice, season with salt, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer, covered, until rice is tender but still has some firmness, about 25 to 30 minutes.
3. Add chicken, and season with freshly ground black pepper. Simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, add parsley, taste, and season with additional salt and pepper as needed.

Meal Salad (800-900 calories)

Salad mix, dressing, cheese, bread, protein (smoked salmon, chicken breast, flank steak, sausage, etc; about 350 calories)

Asian chicken soup

Estimated calories for my serving: 950

Ingredients

• 1 chicken breast, cubed
• wedge of cabbage, sliced into ribbons
• rice noodles (or spaghetti etc)
• 6 cups water
• fish sauce
• hot pepper or hot sauce
• soy sauce
• miso paste
• lime juice, thai basil, and bean sprouts

Preparation

1. Add 6 cups of water to a soup pot, bring to a boil.
2. Poach cubed chicken.
3. Right after starting the chicken, add miso paste, until broth is suitably cloudy.  If you’re using an actual hot pepper, dice it and add it now.  Otherwise, add hot sauce with the fish sauce and soy sauce to taste (and adjust as needed later on).
4. Then, add in long rice noodles (or whatever equivalent you like/have), and cook them for the required amount of time.
5. A couple minutes before the noodles are done, add in the cabbage, stir and cook down.
6. Serve with a few squirts of lime juice and maybe some thai basil and bean sprouts if you’ve got them.