Engaging stories of love, joy, comfort and friendship with proven scrumptious, healthy recipes, we celebrate LOVE as the secret ingredient for wonderful food!

A different chicken dish!

January 27, 2012 by Mary Frances 4 Comments

Sesame braised chicken with shiitake mushrooms and daikon on a white plate.

Sesame Braised Chicken with Shiitake, Daikon & Ginger

This is a great Sunday dish, as it does take some time. It’s a Melissa Clark recipe from The New York Times that I have altered, again. Not much, but I just can’t help myself. But I really do like Melissa’s recipes! She and I must be on the same wavelength. That’s the thing. There are millions of recipes out there. I pick the ones that I think I’m going to love, (based on the ingredients, time to prepare, ease of preparation, will it be fun to make?) If you make things you love, you will serve them with love – because love really is the secret ingredient!

Now I did make a mistake in making this – had to do with not reading the recipe all the way through carefully. I threw in the scallion tops into the pot to roast with the chicken so you don’t see raw scallion rings in my photo. No matter, the dish was great – and different!! We all love chicken but we’re always looking for something different, right? Melissa talks about the daikon radish getting silky and she’s right. You’ll want to crawl right into this dish. Perfect for a winter night.

I also used the stems of the mushrooms but I don’t think I’d use them again as they were a bit woody. Maybe save them to chop fine and use in a risotto later.

I served this with Jasmine steamed rice and some sautéed okra. It was yummy!

SESAME BRAISED CHICKEN IN A POT WITH SHIITAKE, DAIKON AND GINGER – adapted from Melissa Clark and The New York Times
– serves 4

3 bunches scallions (about 3/4 pound)
3 tablespoons peanut oil
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 pound Daikon radish, peeled and cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks
1/2 – 3/4 cup shiitake mushroom caps
8 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
2 inches ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
1 whole chicken (3 1/2 pounds)
2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup dry sherry
1 tablespoon soy sauce
4 whole star anise pods
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Trim the roots off the scallions. Separate the dark green tops from the bottoms.

In a 5- or 6-quart Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons peanut oil and 1 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil over medium-high heat. Add the scallion bottoms, daikon, mushrooms and garlic cloves. Cook, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 7 minutes. Add the ginger and cook 1 minute more. Use a slotted spoon to transfer vegetables to a platter.

Pat chicken dry; season inside and out with salt and pepper. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon peanut oil and 1 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil to the Dutch oven. Brown chicken, turning, until the skin is well browned about 3 – 4 minutes on each of the 4 sides. Turn chicken breast-side up. Scatter the vegetables around the chicken. In a small bowl, whisk together the stock, sherry and soy sauce. Pour over the chicken. Drop in the star anise pods. Tightly cover the pot and transfer to the oven. Cook until the chicken is no longer pink, 40 to 60 minutes.

Remove to a cutting board. Skim fat from the surface of the cooking liquid. Chop the scallion tops and stir in, with the vinegar. Carve chicken and serve, topped with vegetables and pot juices.

Spicy Chicken Chili for a Snowy Football Weekend!

January 21, 2012 by Mary Frances Leave a Comment

Spicy chicken chili

Tomorrow, we are entertaining for the big Giants game. I thought this chili would be perfect to serve with all the garnishes and hot cornbread, plus a big tossed salad.

What can be better than to make a big pot of chili on a beautiful snowy Saturday with a fire going in the fireplace? NOTHING!

This is a favorite recipe of mine, adapted from a very old Food and Wine Magazine. It gives you the big chili flavor and isn’t nearly as heavy as it’s made with chicken. It has a melody of spices and heat from the jalapeños. If you don’t like so much heat, remove the seeds, but I like to keep them in. I also like to use Greek oregano which is much more potent and grind cumin seeds for the cumin powder. Again, more powerful flavor.

Joko – I hope you like this!!

SPICY CHICKEN CHILI
-serves 4

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 large cloves garlic, minced
1 pound skinless boneless chicken thighs (about 4), cut into thin strips, all fat removed
4 teaspoons chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1 jalapeño pepper, chopped fine with seeds
1 28 oz. can of whole San Marzano tomatoes, hand crushed, with their juice
2 1/2 cups canned low-sodium chicken broth or homemade stock
1 15.5 oz can of drained and rinsed pinto beans
1 15.5 oz.can of drained and rinsed black beans
1/2 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper

For garnish:

Minced sweet onion
Grated sharp cheddar cheese
Sour cream
Cilantro leaves
Sliced pickled jalapeños

Serve on top of a few tortilla chips or steamed rice

Serve with warm cornbread

In a large saucepan, heat the oil over moderately low heat. Add the onion and garlic; cook, covered, until they soften, about 20 minutes.

Increase the heat to moderate and stir in the chicken strips. Cook until they are no longer pink, about 2 minutes. Stir in the chili powder, cumin, oregano, and salt. Add the jalapeños, the tomatoes with their juice, and the broth. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.

Uncover the saucepan and stir in the beans and black pepper. Simmer until the chili is thickened, about 15 minutes or even longer. Serve topped with the onions, sour cream, cheddar cheese or more jalapeños. It is nice to give your guests a choice. Top all with cilantro leaves.

Wedges of corn bread are always a good complement to chili. Or serve the chili over steamed rice or a few tortilla chips.

Paula Deen and my fatness rant

January 18, 2012 by Mary Frances 9 Comments

Ok, I have to get on my soapbox now. Paula Deen has Type 2 diabetes!!! Duh!!! Are you kidding me? I mean, really, you are what you eat and if she’s surprised after eating all the butter, cream cheese, fried food and sugar she eats, she’s nuts. And believe me, I’ve spent a lot of time in the South. Southern cooking is not all that, or just that.

First of all, the fact that she hid it from her audience and fans for three years is despicable. She had to get all her ducks in a row with whatever diabetes drug she decided to take, make the deal to negotiate to endorse it, and get the money from them. This is incredible! I think she is scum. (I won’t hold back.)

I have always told my children, look at the chef whose recipes you’re making. James Beard’s recipes were always loaded with butter, cream, mayo and everything fattening. He was huge. His recipes were incredibly tasty and frankly, not all of them were fattening. In fact, I still use his Canadian method for cooking fish as a standard.

Never to put her name in the same category as James Beard, as she is not a chef, I was watching Rachel Ray two weeks ago while making dinner with one of my sons. She was promoting four weeknight dinners with pork, each dinner for four people had a full stick of butter!!! That’s ridiculous. That’s two tablespoons of butter per person, per day, not counting the fats from the sausages and other cuts of meat, because she doesn’t drain the fat. Look at Nigella Lawson – I love her personality and I like a lot of her recipes – but you can’t eat like that all the time. Maybe just a few times a year. I splurged with Bobby Flay’s Nacho Burgers I made two weeks ago.

Now Melissa Clark and Mark Bittmann, they are both average-sized, slim people and their recipes speak to it. The article in The Times today talked about all the butter used in Michelin star restaurants like Bouley. But you don’t eat at Bouley but maybe once a year for a special occasion – at least for me – and these people – Paula and Rachel are encouraging folks to eat like this every night of the week. It’s absurd! And by the way, Thomas Keller of The French Laundry and Per Se is mighty thin, as the portions at his restaurants are small too. All of his dishes are just one or two bites. Chef Anthony Bourdain said that Paula Deen’s fatty food made her “the worst, most dangerous person” on the Food Network. It’s true, because she’s got all of America listening to her.

I even try to use less oil whenever possible. And I do love my olive oil. But if a meat recipe that calls for browning, calls for three tablespoons of olive oil, I try to do it with two. I even have a recipe for four chicken breasts that calls for one teaspoon of olive oil to brown the skin side, and believe me, it works!

Take a look at the line up of people waiting to get in to Paula Deen’s restaurant. You’re not surprised, are you?

Deen

Eat right, eat healthy!

January 17, 2012 by Mary Frances 2 Comments

From the gothamist.com – this is terrible that half of Americans will be obese – obese – not just overweight by 2030!

Planes, Trains And Automobiles Struggle With Fat Americans

2012_01_obeseseat

In Sao Paolo, there are “fat seats” for obese transit patrons

Shortly after learning that half of all Americans will be obese by 2030, the Times has decided to investigate the pressing issue of fat Americans on public transportation. It’s a real problem, you guys! Just ask Kevin Smith.

New Jersey Transit is adding new trains cars with 2.2-inch wider seats, a move that will change the configuration of the entire train from three seats on one side and two on the other to two on both sides. Amtrak is introducing “designs that will be able to accommodate the larger-sized passengers” next year. The Federal Transit Authority is proposing changing bus testing regulations to “more accurately reflect average passenger weights.” Metro-North is attempting to trick fat passengers by making the middle seats look larger with a center seam instead of arm barriers, though they’re not actually making the seats bigger. (Not all passengers are pleased with this: “They are just as uncomfortable as before,” said Jim Cameron, chairman of the state-created Connecticut Metro-North Rail Commuter Council. “Anything they did on the M-8’s to give the illusion of more space cannot deny the physics of time and space.”)

“It’s clear that the U.S. population is getting heavier,” said Martin Schroeder, chief engineer for the American Public Transport Association, in what could be the understatement of the century. “We are trying to get our hands on that and figure out what is the best average weight to use.” Or, as Cameron puts it, “Why subject my girth to other people?”

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

For Football Sunday

January 13, 2012 by Mary Frances Leave a Comment

Or shall I say, how to love your man and make him ADORE you.

I made this for dinner last Sunday and my husband was so so happy, and the Giants won!! So maybe it’s also our good luck burger. Now I don’t usually make things like this – too rich, too fattening, too, too and not special enough for a Sunday dinner, but Steve was so excited about the game last week, we had to rush home from the country and be here in Manhattan to see it. We don’t have TV in the country – just Netflix on the Internet, which by the way, the selection there stinks, and DVD’s on our old Sony.

But I saw this Bobby Flay Nacho Burger recipe on the cover of the January issue of Food and Wine and it just seemed so right for the day. It was really good. Really.

However in my inimitable way of constantly tinkering with recipes, if I were to make it again, I might do ¼ lb. sharp cheddar and ¼ lb. Monterey Jack cheese in the sauce, instead of all Jack. And I thought the salsa was too sweet. Rather than the pickled jalapeños on top, I think I would put in ½ of a fresh, thinly sliced jalapeño, with the seeds, directly in the salsa and skip the pickled ones all together.

I have also switched the order of his process – you need to make the cheese sauce first so it cools and gets thick.

Let me know what you think.

GO GIANTS!!!

(Fortunately we are invited to our friend’s house upstate for this weekend. They have a TV and Margaret is going to make rabbit! A bit more elegant than this!)

NACHO BURGERS from Bobby Flay and Food and Wine magazine

Cheese Sauce
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 pound Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons freshly grated pecorino cheese
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Salsa
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
Salt
2 tablespoons red onion, finely diced
3 plum tomatoes, finely diced
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 chipotle chile in adobo, seeded and minced (I left the seeds in)

Burgers
Vegetable oil, for brushing (I used olive oil)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Sliced pickled jalapeños and blue corn tortilla chips, for topping
1 1/2 pounds ground beef chuck
4 hamburger buns, split and toasted

MAKE THE CHEESE SAUCE In a small saucepan, melt the butter. Stir in the flour and cook over moderate heat for 30 seconds. Whisk in the milk and cook, whisking, until smooth and thickened, 5 minutes. Stir in the Jack cheese until melted, then stir in the pecorino; season with salt and pepper. Let the sauce cool until it is very thick and spreadable.

MAKE THE SALSA In a bowl, combine all of the ingredients and season with salt.

MAKE THE BURGERS Light a grill or heat a grill pan on high heat. Form the beef into 4 patties (try to handle the meat as little as possible) and brush with oil; season with salt and pepper. Grill over moderately high heat until browned outside and medium-rare within, about 3 – 4 minutes per side, depending on your heat.

Place the burgers on the buns. Top with the cheese sauce, salsa, pickled jalapeños and chips. Close the burgers and serve.

A disaster!

January 11, 2012 by Mary Frances 2 Comments

So I came home last night, all pumped to make this Classic Chicken Teriyaki recipe I had read about in the January issue of Food and Wine magazine.

I have all the ingredients but the sauce seems a little too sweet to me, but then again, what do I know about classic Japanese cooking – nada! However, 1/3 cup of sugar, mirin and sake all at once, with chicken broth and soy sauce sounds like a lot of sugar. So you’re supposed to boil this mixture for 20 minutes and reduce it down to 1/2 cup. Well, at about the 12 minute mark, I had turned away from stirring and was at the sink for a moment and suddenly it started smelling bad – like burnt sugar. I whip around, try to stir this mixture and it is suddenly a hard, dark black mass of concrete!! I take it to the sink, knowing it’s ruined and run water into the pot – it is awful and disgusting and suddenly the room starts to fill up with a thick smoke and smell terribly and I’m convinced that not only have I ruined our dinner but I’ve also completely ruined and charred my All-Clad pot. Booooo. What a disaster!!

And now it’s late and we have no dinner. Fortunately, that was just the sauce but I have to think quick and get moving. So I decide to make a one dish meal, combining the sliced garlic, bok choy, boneless, skinless chicken thighs (which I cut into strips), and red pepper rings all together. I season it with Tamari sauce, 1/2 of a jalapeno pepper sliced thin, and then I add in 3 heaping tablespoons of shallots confit from France that my friend, Mary Beth, brought over one night. I wanted to achieve a salty, hot, sweet combination, and quick! So I was grabbing at what seemed good and was handy.

The dish was amazing! Probably much better than any Chicken Teriyaki could have ever been. Unfortunately this Shallot Confit has a lot of wonderful ingredients like black current cream and wine and olive oil and a touch of lemon juice so I can’t really tell you how to duplicate this recipe unless you have this handmade stuff. But the picture looks pretty, doesn’t it?

Regarding the teriyaki sauce, I guess the heat was too high and it should have been simmering rather than boiling but still, that’s a little sensitive, don’t you think? My dear husband did manage to get the pot clean, but boy, he scraped out this thick black stuff that was thick and shiny on the outside. It actually looked like car paint. Maybe I invented a new process to make plastic?!?

Chicken teriyaki disaster on a white plate.

Served plate of “chicken teriyaki disaster”