So I finally reheated something.

I’ve been straying from my kitchen lately.  I’ve been eating out and ordering in far too often.  I’m starting to miss cooking.  You see, I am a Foodie.  I love to eat.  I love to cook.  I love to make food and share it with my friends.  I love to write short choppy sentences.  Its time I got back to my roots and started focusing on what why this site was created.

Good food doesn’t have to come from 4 star restaurants and expensive magazines.  It can just as easily come from the heart, soul, and refrigerators of normal folks.  So grab your tupperware, we’re gonna make some primo grub…and then we’re gonna reheat it and eat it again tomorrow.

This is an easy dish that packs a lot of flavor.  It can easily be expanded to serve multiple people and the leftovers keep well.

Ingredients:

1 frozen chicken breast
1 serving left over rissoto
6-8 broccoli florettes (frozen or fresh)
2 cloves garlic, sliced long and thin
1 T olive oil
1 T worcestershire sauce
1 T butter, cubed
salt and pepper

Method:

In a small oval dish, add the olive oil, worcestershire sauce and the frozen chicken breast.  Put a foil tent over the dish and place it in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.  That should cook the chicken through.  If it doesn’t, put it back in for 5 minutes at a time till its done.  Once the chicken is cooked, remove the foil tent (carefully, we’re gonna put it back on) and add the risotto around the outside of the chicken.  On top of that, space the brocolli pieces so that none are touching.  Toss the garlic slices in and place the butter cubes evenly around the dish.  Replace the foil tent and put it back in the oven for another 15 mins.  Check that the broccoli is cooked.  If not, put it back in the oven.  Don’t worry aboutdrying out the chicken.  With the foil in place, very little of the moisture in the dish can escape.  Once everything is cooked through, remove the foil and serve hot.

Enjoy
-E

Tags: Broccoli, Chicken, Risotto

A sick wife sent me scurrying the internet to find a new Chicken Noodle soup recipe the other weekend. I found one that I modified for my own needs, and it turned out pretty well. You can use any kind of chicken you like, but I use the bone-in chicken thighs/leg quarters because I love the flavor of dark meat, the skin/fat/bone flavors the broth really well, and you get a lot of good protein out of it.

Ingredients:

2 lbs. bone-in chicken thighs
4 cups low-sodium chicken stock
4-6 cups water
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 celery ribs, washed and sliced
1 small onion, chopped
1 zucchini, sliced
6 oz. egg noodles

The recipe I found seemed workable, but huge – I don’t need to serve twelve, just a few – or me, a few times. So I worked backwards a bit and shrunk the ingredient size proportionally. I also sort of followed Michael Ruhlman‘s rules for stock usage – if you don’t make your own stock, don’t use the canned stuff – just use water. I used a 50/50 mix, and the flavor turned out pretty well.

In a large soup pot, bring your stock and water to a boil. Once heated, put your chicken in and make sure the fluid covers your bird. Simmer/cook for about 20 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Then remove the chicken, let cool, and take the meat off the bone. Throw away the skin, and everything else from the bird – unless you want to use it to make a stock for next time.

Strain your broth, and if you’re really feeling ambitiously healthy, chill it in the fridge to get the fat to the top, and remove. I skimmed the fat off the top but didn’t get all of it – in a perfect world I would have waited but godblessit, I wanted that soup now. Return the broth to the stockpot and return to a simmer. Add your onion, carrot and celery to the broth and cook for about 8 minutes or until the veggies are soft.

Then return your chicken to the mix, add your egg noodles and zucchini, and cook until the noodles are done to the specifications on the bag or to your taste. I added my zucchini at the same time as my other veggies and it turned out well-cooked but a little too soft and overdone for my taste. Salt and pepper as you see fit, and serve.

Plenty of other soups require hours of cooking or use of a slow-cooker, but this one should be ready in about an hour or so, and got us about 5-6 servings. Oh, and it reheats pretty well, too.

Tags: carrot, celery, chicken soup, comfort food, onion, stock, thigh meat, zucchini

This was one of thoe unplanned happy accidents. It was late, I was hungry, so I went digging through the kitchen to see what I could find. Grabbed some spaghetti, a 6 ounce can of tomato paste, and a frozen chicken breast and I set about combining them. I started by putting the tomato paste into a sauce pan along with an equal amount of water. Tossed in some black pepper, minced garlic, and dried basil then let the whole thing reduce to about a third of its original volume. The chicken went from the freezer straight on to the foreman grill. When it was about 3/4 cooked, I took a bit of thyme and some rosemary and added a bit of olive oil to make a loose paste and smeared it on top of the chicken, then placed it back on the foreman grill to finish cooking. The spaghetti was simply boiled then strained. To serve, make a nice bed of noodles in the middle of the plate, pour some of the sauce on top, then place the chicken on top of that. Just like that, you have yourself a simple dinner for one with no pre-planning required.

Enjoy,
-E

What’s the point, you ask? Well, I see what you’re driving at, and I agree – a heaping plate of deep fried chicken parts is truly one of life’s great pleasures. Pulling apart some dangerously hot meat covered in vinegar, spices and butter with no regard for personal safety could probably be in some ways considered illegal in many southern states. I have personally walked out of wing restaurants so full of fried meat and spice, I was lightheaded. I was literally high on buffalo wings.

Point is this – frying stuff is messy. And unless you have the patience to clean up a few pints of boiling hot oil off of everything in your kitchen (I’m assuming none of us have a handy-dandy McDonalds sized fryer in our homes), it’s a hell of a lot easier to throw some wings on a baking sheet, throw them in the oven and forget about ‘em for an hour. Oh, and it’s healthier too. But don’t tell anyone else that.

Besides, you don’t want to make ‘em better than the bar does, right? What other reason do we have to go out and drink excessive amounts of beer on a Monday night? It’s ten-cent wings night, honey! See you in 5 hours!

Ingredients:

2 lbs. chicken wings, separated at the joint
1 cup hot sauce
1/2 stick butter
Spices to taste
Celery & carrot
Blue cheese dressing (No ranch. Ever.)

That’s it. Pretty simple, huh? Heat your oven to 350 degrees, grease up a baking sheet or two and put those wings in there for about 45 minutes to an hour. When you’ve got about 5 minutes to go, melt down the butter and incorporate it with the hot sauce. The brand isn’t important; most supermarkets will have a big 32oz. bottle of average stuff one can kick up with your preference. I typically add in a few dashes of whatever I have in the fridge, usually Crystal, some cayenne pepper and so on. Toss to coat your wings and enjoy with the sporting event of your choice.

Beer pairing: 40oz. of Old English 800, or 7 bottles of Miller High Life.

Tags: bar food, beer, blue cheese, celery, Chicken, fried food, wings

The morning newscaster said, “If you’ve got anything to do, do it today because it’s going to get cold.” Like, zero degrees cold. Too cold to go out and do just about anything. So I shuffled out to the grocery store, and picked up all that I needed (which wasn’t much) to throw together the Chicken in a Pot I saw in the last Cook’s Illustrated I got.

Last time I tried roasting a chicken, either I timed it poorly, my oven was calibrated wrong, or I just plain screwed up – no matter what, there was raw bird in there. Not good. So I’ve got my new instant read thermometer ready, and I’ve boned up on my roasting techniques – I should be ready to go.

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken (3-4 pounds)
1 medium onion, medium dice
2 celery stalks, chopped thick
6 cloves garlic
1 sprig rosemary
1 bay leaf
2 tsp. vegetable oil
Salt and pepper

Preheate your oven to 250. Heat the veggie oil in a dutch oven til’ it’s just about smoking. Dry off your chicken with paper towels, then season with S&P. Brown each side of the chicken, about 6-8 minutes per side. When you flip the bird to brown the second side, add your garlic, rosemary, bay leaf, chopped onion and celery.

When the bird is browned, put a piece of foil over the top of the dutch oven to create an airtight seal, place the lid on the foil and crimp the edges around the side. This dry-roasting style needs no basting – just leave it in your oven for about 80-110 minutes or so (check your temps!).

When the bird is done (about 160 degrees at the breast, 175 at the thigh), remove to cutting board and let it rest for about 20 minutes. Take the juices from the bottom of the pot, strain them and let sit for 5 minutes.

Strain the fat from the juice and return to a small saucepan and simmer til’ you’re ready to serve. Add a little lemon juice and serve with the bird. Some roasted potatoes on the side, maybe some peas or green beans and you’ve got a meal. Best part – the whole thing costs under $10 depending where you get your bird. Leftovers go great in chicken salad or on greens – chicken Caesar, anyone? Maybe that should be next.

Tags: Chicken, dry roast, dutch oven, potatoes, roast