Month: October 2007

Tonight’s dinner is adapted from this Epicurious/Bon Appetit recipe. I substituted Baby Bam for the mustard (Boy and Girl aren’t fans) and added green pepper, bay leaf and garlic and cut the amount of onion a bit.

The verdict: this was okay, but I think I’ve concluded that I just don’t like cornish hens: they’re a lot of trouble to prepare and to eat, with all of those bones and skin, and it’s hard to make them flavorful, since it’s hard to get seasoning deep into the meat. If I make this again, I would probably use boneless, skinless chicken breasts that have been marinated with something instead of hens.

As some commenters on epicurious said, the stuffing was a little sweet, because I used the Jiffy mix, which does have some sugar in it. It didn’t bother me enough, though, that I would make cornbread from scratch for a weeknight to make this stuffing (I only do that for Thanksgiving).

Cornish Hens with Cornbread-Ham Stuffing

1 box Jiffy cornbread mix, prepared into 7 muffins according to package directions
(you’ll need 1 egg and 1/3 cup milk)
2 Cornish game hens, halved lengthwise, with the backbone removed, rinsed well and patted dry
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped white onion (about 1/4 of a large onion or 1/2 of a small one)
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper (about 1/2 of a large one)
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1 large garlic cloves, pressed or minced
1 bay leaf, broken into 3 or 4 pieces
1 cup cubed smoked ham
1/3 to 1/2 cup chicken broth
2 Tbsp. fresh Italian parsley, chopped
3/4 tsp. dried rubbed sage
1 1/2 tsp. Baby Bam seasoning, divided

For stuffing:
Heat oil in a heavy, medium skillet over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, celery, bell pepper and bay leaf; saute until onion is translucent and other veggies have softened, about 5 minutes. Mix in ham, sage, parsley and enough chicken broth to moisten the stuffing, but not make it soggy; stir until heated through. Remove skillet from heat. Season stuffing with 1 tsp. of the Baby Bam seasoning. Cool slightly.

For hens:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 13 X 9 X 2 baking dish and place the stuffing in the dish, in 4 separate “piles” or mounds (remove bay leaf pieces, if you can find them). Season hens with remaining Baby Bam seasoning and set one hen half on each stuffing pile. Roast hens until golden brown and juices run clear when thighs are pierced, about 45 or 50 minutes. Transfer hens to platter and serve.

Tonight’s dinner was adapted significantly from this recipe in the September 2007 issue of Cooking Light magazine. A huge hit with all of us. We’ve had our first wave of chilly fall weather this week, and this was the perfect warming dish. YUM.

Chicken & Spinach Risotto with Fresh Mozzarella, Grape Tomatoes and Basil

2 bonesless, skinless chicken breasts
1 1/2 tsp. Baby Bam seasoning
(I REALLY wasn’t kidding – I totally use it in EVERYTHING!)
6 oz frozen chopped spinach, cooked according to package directions and wrung of excess water
(the remaining 6 oz. left in the 16 oz package after you use 10 oz to make Chicken Lasagna Florentine)
4 to 6 Tbsp. olive oil
2 to 3 Tbsp. bottled balsamic glaze sauce (most larger grocery stores carry this)
about 6 cups chicken broth (you may need slightly more or less)
2 cups chopped leek (light green and yellow parts only – rinsed well)
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup half-and-half
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 cups halved grape tomatoes
1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh basil
8 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, finely diced (a little more than a cup)

Blot chicken breasts dry with a paper towel. Sprinkle them with 1 tsp. of the Baby Bam seasoning and grill them. Let them cool slightly and then cut them into bite-sized pieces (or slices) and set aside.

Bring broth to a simmer in a medium saucepan (do not boil). Keep warm.

Heat 1 Tbsp. of the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add leek to pan; saute 3 minutes or until tender. Add rice; cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Stir in wine, and cook 1 minute or until liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly. Stir in 1 cup broth; cook 5 minutes or until liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium.

Add remaining broth, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly until each portion of broth is absorbed before adding the next (about 25 minutes total). About halfway through (after about 2 more cups have been absorbed, after the initial first cup), stir in the chicken pieces and the spinach, a little bit at a time to maintain a constant temperature. After rice is cooked and tender (the only way to really decide is to taste it with a clean spoon), stir in half-and-half and pepper; cook 2 additional minutes. Remove from heat; stir in tomatoes, basil, remaining 1/2 tsp. of Baby Bam and cheese. Spoon about 1 cup risotto into each serving bowl and drizzle each bowl with 1/2 tsp olive oil and 1/2 tsp balsamic glaze.

Another option: Prepare the risotto without adding the chicken and then add the chicken slices, in a decorative fan pattern, on top of the risotto.

These were SO good!

Yummy Chicken Kebabs with Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:

for marinade:
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 cup pale, dry sherry
1/4 cup Italian parsley, finely chopped

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 large bell pepper, cut into bite-sized chunks
1/2 of a white, cut into bite-sized chunks

for dipping sauce:
1 cup sherry
1/4 cup brown sugar
4 Tbsp. soy sauce
3 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
3 green onions, sliced (optional)

6 to 8 wooden skewers

Mix the marinade ingredients together and pour over chicken in a sealable plastic container. Refrigerate for 4 hours, shaking or stirring about once an hour, if possible. While chicken is marinating, soak skewers in water in a plastic bag or another plastic container (this will keep them from burning later).

After 4 hours, remove chicken from marinade and skewers from water. Thread chicken on the skewers, alternating with the onion and peppers. Set aside while you start to prepare the dipping sauce: combine ingredients in a small, heavy saucepan and bring to a gentle boil. Lower heat and simmer for 15 minutes. While sauce simmers, grill kebabs until chicken is cooked through.

Serve on a bed of rice with grilled pineapple and Edamame with Smoky Salt (flavored with lapsang souchong tea).
You may put the pineapple on the skewers, if you prefer, but Hubby’s not a big pineapple fan, so I served mine on the side.

I’ve made this recipe before, with much success. It’s definitely Hubby-friendly, but I don’t think the kids had it last time, so I wanted to see what they would think. At first, they were excited when they heard be say we were having chili for dinner (they are Texans, after all), but protested a bit when they saw what was in their bowls: “Where’s the chili? You said we were having chili!”

Once they tasted it, however, they were won over.

Of course, I did make some adaptations to the original recipe:

I sprinkled a bit of Baby Bam on the chicken before adding it. I wasn’t kidding when I said that I use that stuff on everything!

I added a tiny bit (1/2 tsp.?) of chili powder with the other spices.

I used 2 fresh, pressed garlic cloves (add with the onions) instead of the garlic powder and about 3 Tbsp. fresh, finely chopped cilantro instead of the dried cilantro leaves.

I added about 1/2 cup coarsely chopped baby carrots (I had them in the fridge) and about 1/2 cup pre-cooked green beans (leftover from last night’s dinner). This turned it into more of a stew than a chili.

I don’t like using the “caldo” (the liquid that comes in canned beans), because it’s very high in sodium, so I drained and rinsed them and used a chicken stock (1 additional cup) and corn starch (about 3 tsp.) slurry, instead, to give the “chili” some thickening.

I used cheddar, instead of monterey jack cheese, because that was what I had on hand. Pepper-Jack would have been even better.

The only thing that I would do differently (and I should have known better), if I make this again, would be to pat the chicken dry before adding it to the pan. There was a lot of “juice” on it (I had cut it up and refrigerated it early in the day, to make the prep faster at dinnertime) and the pan wasn’t very hot, so the chicken was more braised than browned. It would have been better with a little “sear” on it.

I served this with a salad (romaine hearts, bell pepper, tomato, purple onion and balsamic vinaigrette) and some Great Harvest bread with butter. I big hit with everyone; both of the kids said that they really liked it.

I have to admit that I wasn’t expecting much when I first saw this recipe: I thought it would be kid-friendly and easy, but wasn’t expecting it to be terribly tasty or sophisticated. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised. The funny thing is that this ACTUALLY TASTED a bit like tamales. It was sort of an upscale version of Frito Pie, but much better and it was ridiculously easy to whip up.

We served it with the leftover green beans from last night.

This was a big hit with all four of us. If I do it again, I might break up the polenta and make it into more of a “paste” so that I can spread it into two layers, rather than having the “rounds” of polenta, which made the dish a little difficult to cut/portion/serve.