kbecker57

Lemon butter chicken

I have a confession to make…hello, I am an RD (Registered Dietitian), and I like dark meat. I also like the skin when it’s cooked perfectly crispy. And yet, I have not had great luck with boneless chicken thighs (see chicken quinoa soup, though I have also stopped trying to convince myself that I like quinoa!). I don’t know if it was the bone, or the skin, or the roasting, but these chicken thighs were “damn delicious!” I have to say, I was pretty impressed with myself, and I am already looking forward to my leftovers.

I made some adaptations, mainly decreasing the butter and increasing the spinach. I think the sauce got a bit too liquid-y because I used a whole container (5 ounces) of baby spinach, so next time I would probably decrease the amount of broth. I think it would be tasty with mushrooms too, or grape tomatoes…so many options! With very little prep needed, this might just become my new go-to weeknight meal.

Roast chicken thighs with some perfectly crispy skin

Lemon butter chicken
Serves: 3-4
Source: adapted from Damn Delicious

Ingredients
4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
Smoked paprika, salt, and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 Tablespoon butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup light cream
1/4 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano
Juice from 1 lemon
1 teaspoon dried thyme
5 ounces baby spinach

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Season both sides of chicken thighs with paprika, salt, and pepper.

3. Melt butter in a large oven-proof skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken, skin-side down, and sear on both sides until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes per side. Set chicken aside.

4. To the same pan, add garlic, and cook 1-2 minutes until fragrant, stirring frequently. Stir in chicken broth, cream, Romano, lemon juice, and thyme. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and stir in spinach. Simmer until spinach has wilted and sauce has slightly thickened, 6-8 minutes. Return chicken to the skillet.

5. Place skillet in the oven and roast until chicken is cooked through, about 25-30 minutes.

Bulgur with grape tomatoes and goat cheese

This is a super versatile, “no cook” dish, that would lend itself well to a lot of different veggies (must remember this for next year’s CSA). I stuck with tomatoes and goat cheese, as per the original “Mediterranean grain salad” recipe, but also added Great Northern beans.

Bulgur with grape tomatoes and goat cheese
Serves: 4-6
Source: adapted from Everyday Food January/February 2008

Yummy grains

Ingredients
1 cup bulgur wheat
3 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
2 small shallots, minced
1 can Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
4 ounces fresh goat cheese, crumbled

Directions
1. In a heatproof bowl, mix bulgur with salt and 3 cups of boiling water. Cover and let stand until tender but slightly chewy, about 30 minutes.

2. Drain bulgur in a fine-mesh sieve or cheesecloth, pressing to remove liquid; return to bowl. Add tomatoes, parsley, shallots, beans, oil, vinegar, and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper, and toss. Toss with cheese.

Slow-cooker bacon jam

This recipe came from the clean-out of my December Everyday Food magazines (six years!). I thought it would be a good dish to bring to my NYE hosts, and it also made an appearance at a family Christmas gathering after Christmas.

It was a little time-intensive, and required using the stove, slow cooker, and food processor. That’s kind of a lot of equipment (and dishes) for one recipe! It was also a LOT of bacon. But all in all, it was totally worth it. It was so delicious, served warm on slices of baguette with a shmear of whole milk ricotta. We also tried putting it on deviled eggs, which was a very delicious experiment.

Slow-cooker bacon jam
Source: Everyday Food, December 2010

A whole lotta bacon!

Makes: 3 cups

Ingredients
1.5 pounds sliced bacon, cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces
2 medium yellow onions, diced small
3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
3/4 cup brewed coffee

Directions

Bacon jam in mason jars

1. In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium-high, stirring occasionally, until fat is rendered and bacon is lightly browned, about 20 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towels to drain.

2. Pour off all but 1 Tablespoon of fat from skillet; add onions and garlic, and cook until onions are translucent, about 6 minutes. Add vinegar, brown sugar, maple syrup, and coffee and bring to a boil, stirring and scraping up browned bits from skillet with a wooden spoon, about 2 minutes. Add bacon and stir to combine.

3. Transfer mixture to a 6-quart slow cooker and cook on high, uncovered, until liquid is syrupy, 3.5-4 hours. Transfer to a food processor; pulse until coarsely chopped. Let cool, then refrigerate in airtight containers, up to 4 weeks.

Slow-roasted salmon with fennel, citrus, and chiles

I recently tried another approach to salmon, slow roasting. It was pretty simple, but I don’t think it compares to the parchment paper method. The recipe suggested also trying it with cod, halibut, John Dory, or turbot fillets.

Slow-roasted salmon with fennel, citrus, and chiles

Source: adapted from Bon Appetit, January 2014

Serves: 2-3

Beautiful citrus, fennel, and dill

Slow roasted salmon

Ingredients

1/2 medium fennel bulb, thinly sliced

1/2 navel orange, very thinly sliced, seeds removed

1/2 Meyer or regular lemon, very thinly sliced, seeds removed

1/2 red Fresno chile or jalapeno, with seeds, thinly sliced

4 sprigs dill, plus more for serving

Kosher salt and coarsely ground black pepper

1 pound skinless salmon fillet, preferably center-cut

1/4 cup olive oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees F. Toss fennel, orange slices, lemon slices, chile, and 4 dill sprigs in a shallow 3-quart baking dish. Season with kosher salt and pepper.

2. Season salmon with kosher salt and place on top of fennel mixture. Pour oil over salmon. Roast until salmon is just cooked through (the tip of a knife will slide through easily and flesh will be slightly opaque), 30-40 minutes for medium-rare.

3. Transfer salmon to a platter, breaking it into large pieces as you go. Spoon fennel mixture and oil from baking dish over; discard dill sprigs. Season with salt and pepper and top with fresh dill sprigs.

Spinach chickpea curry

Recipe

Recipe Notes

This quick curry was the second dish I planned for the week, prompting my trip to the grocery store on Sunday…along with everyone else in the northeast! I had no idea canned chickpeas and fresh spinach would be such hot commodities, and I actually had to go to two different stores to find my ingredients. I had planned to use fresh baby spinach but had to resort to using frozen chopped spinach. This was actually a good thing since fresh spinach cooks down so much, but make sure you squeeze as much liquid out of the frozen stuff as you can.

Source: adapted from Everyday Food, January/February 2010

Photos

Juno soup (sausage and lentil)

I have a history of cooking or baking in preparation for or during a snowstorm (see Nemo cookies and Nika cookies). On Sunday, not knowing anything about the snowpocalypse heading our way, I did some meal planning and headed to the grocery store. Based on the state of the grocery store, I knew something was up, which I then confirmed via social media. Luckily I was not in the market for milk, eggs, or bread. It was also lucky that one of the meals I planned to make was this sausage lentil soup, a perfect blizzard meal…it was warm, hearty, and delicious.

It probably does not come as a surprise to you that I omitted the zucchini from the original recipe. I also left out the olive oil (sausage renders enough fat for cooking), decreased the salt, and forgot to add the red wine vinegar.

Juno soup (sausage and lentil)

Serves: 6-8

Pretty green lentils!

Source: adapted from A Hint of Honey

Ingredients

1 pound dried green lentils

1 pound sweet Italian sausage, removed from casings and broken up into small pieces

1 large onion, diced

4 stalks celery, diced

2 large carrots, peeled and diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (more to taste)

1 teaspoon dried basil (or Italian seasoning)

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon dried parsley

6 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 can (28 ounces) fire roasted crushed tomatoes

Olive oil and freshly ground black pepper (optional)

Directions

1. In a large bowl, cover the lentils with boiling water and let sit for 15 minutes. Drain.

2. Add sausage to a very large pot and cook on medium-high, stirring occasionally, until browned and no longer pink.

3. Add the onion, celery, carrots, garlic, salt, pepper, red pepper, and dried herbs. Cook for about 15 minutes, stirring often.

4. Add the chicken broth, crushed tomatoes, and drained lentils. Increase heat to high, cover, and bring to a boil.

5. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for about 30 minutes or until the lentils are cooked through and tender, stirring occasionally. If needed, add water partway through cooking to thin the soup.

6. Drizzle individual bowls with olive oil and season with freshly ground black pepper, and serve with crusty bread.

Delectabites

The infamous nut chopper

I do not know the story behind the name for these cookies or where the recipe even came from…I just know that, when made correctly, they are delectable.

I haven’t made these cookies in years (they used to be part of the regular Christmas cookie repertoire), and I accidentally doubled the amount of butter…using two sticks instead of just one. Even though they didn’t turn out as planned (flat, crumbly cookies instead of balls), they were still pretty tasty. I mean, how can you go wrong with two sticks of butter?

Delectabites
Makes 50 cookies

Butter (times 2) cookies

Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1 cup finely chopped walnuts
Powdered sugar

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In a medium bowl, thoroughly mix butter, sugar, and vanilla. Gradually stir in flour and walnuts. Chill.

3. Shape into marble-sized balls. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 15-17 minutes, until firm but not brown. Roll gently in powdered sugar. Cool; sugar again.

Hot chocolate mix

Ingredient prep

Happy Christmas Eve! I love me a warm mug of hot chocolate in the winter, especially if it also involves my couch, a warm blanket, and a good movie or a bad reality TV marathon. I have tried to graduate myself from Nestle and Swiss Miss hot chocolate packets (with marshmallows of course) but have not had much success. Last year I bought some organic fair trade mix that was gritty and not very enjoyable. This recipe in Cook’s Illustrated caught my fancy because it acknowledged (and tried to address) the grittiness problem.

Prepping the mason jars

I hope it’s tasty because this also became part of my holiday gifts for my coworkers. A bit risky to gift something I’ve never tried, but I do usually trust the America’s Test Kitchen folks and based on the list of ingredients, how bad could it be?

Hot chocolate mix
Makes: about 12 servings
Source: Cook’s Illustrated, November/December 2014

Ingredients
1 cup (7 ounces) sugar

Voila…gift ready

6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped fine
1 cup (3 ounces) unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup (1.5 ounces) nonfat dry milk powder
5 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

To make one serving of hot chocolate
1. Heat 1 cup of milk in a small saucepan over medium heat until it starts to steam and bubbles appear around the edge of the saucepan.

2. Add 1/4 cup of hot chocolate mix and continue to heat, whisking constantly, until simmering, 2-3 minutes longer.

3. Pour hot chocolate into a mug and enjoy!

Hard cider pork chops with apples and onions

What did I do to celebrate the end of another semester? I tried out this quick pork chop recipe, which I think is one of the first and only things I’ve really cooked this month. This week I also had time to bake two batches of cookies (M&M and molasses), though it wasn’t the same without my baking partner. This is the first year in more than 10 years that we haven’t gotten together to do our Christmas cookie bake-a-thon. Sad face.

I liked this recipe because it looked quick (great for a weeknight) and it forced me to face my fear of overcooking meat. I also liked it because I bought a 22-ounce bottle of Crispin cider and got to drink the rest while I was cooking (since the recipe only called for 1 cup).

Mise en place

The pork browned nicely, but could have used a little more flavor. I think next time it could be marinated a bit ahead of time (I can’t take credit for that idea) or I would brown (but not cook through) the pork, then finish cooking it in the sauce.

My pork to apple/onion ratio was also a bit off. I only bought two pieces of “butterflied boneless pork loin”, which I cut in half to make four chops (the original recipe called for 8 pork chops or about 2 1/4 pounds). There were a lot of onions and apples leftover, which I saved but couldn’t figure out a good use for them,

Pork prep, on a different cutting board (safety first!)

Hard cider pork chops with apples and onions
Serves:
Adapted from Aggie’s Kitchen via Pinterest

Ingredients
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/2 Tablespoon olive oil
4 thin, boneless pork loin chops
1 Granny smith apple, washed and sliced
1/2 large red onion, sliced

Deglazing the pan

1/2 large yellow onion, sliced
1 cup hard apple cider (or non-hard apple cider)

Directions
1. In a small bowl mix together salt, pepper, garlic powder, and rosemary. Liberally rub seasoning mix on both sides of pork chops.

Dinner is served

2. In a large heavy skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Place the pork chops into the pan. Cook on one side for 4 minutes until chops are golden brown and they release from the pan easily. Cook the other side for additional 4 minutes or until golden brown. Remove pork chops from pan and set aside.

3. Place sliced onions and apples into skillet. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Pour in about 1/4 cup of the hard cider and deglaze the pan while tossing the apples and onions. Add the rest of the hard apple cider and simmer for 5 minutes uncovered or until liquid reduces a bit. Add pork chops back into the skillet and cover. Turn off heat and let sit for 1-2 minutes.

4. Using tongs, take out pork chops and place in dish. Pour apple and onion mixture over pork chops and serve.

December RC – Ward 8

Bacon cashew caramel corn

December 2014, the conclusion of another successful year of RC – nine years in the books. Wow! This was also Lorelei’s initiation, aka first pick. She chose Ward 8, which is the space where Nebo used to be (Nebo moved to Atlantic Ave). We had 90% attendance this month, and all the gays got the pink drinks!

In general, I am a “starter” person…I am often perfectly happy to have an appetizer (or a few) as my dinner, and I think this would definitely have worked for me at Ward 8. It also may be a function of having eyes too big for my stomach, or wanting to try everything, but I could have easily gone without ordering an entree.

Maple chili duck wings

Braised short ribs

So what were these appetizers that filled my belly? We started with bacon cashew caramel corn x 5 orders (they are small!), 5 layer dip with crisp tortillas, maple chili duck wings with celery chips and ranch, and the fried cheese steak dumplings with siracha aioli. I had never had duck wings before, which seemed to be the consensus around the table…and I was impressed; it was my favorite of the starters. The bacon cashew caramel corn was yummy, though I wanted more salt. Perhaps our dish didn’t have as much bacon. You’ll see later on that we found some other creative uses for the popcorn (aka with dessert). I do think it is something that could have been on the table when we sat down (like their version of bread), rather than a starter to order off the menu. The cheese steak dumplings sounded interesting and different, which is why I wanted to try them. And they were interesting and different, though possibly a little too “fried”-tasting. After all of those starters, I should have just skipped to dessert…but we didn’t.

Lobster “hole”

For my entree, I ordered the braised short ribs with cauliflower puree, green beans, and friend leeks (as did three other people at the table). The short ribs were cooked very nicely but were a bit under-seasoned. Without access to salt on the table, there wasn’t much we could do about that. Two people ordered the lobster “hole” (fresh shucked lobster, black truffle mayonnaise, griddled bread, sweet potato fries, and salad). Yes, the web site calls it a traditional lobster roll, but Jimmy found the “hole”. There were also orders for the grilled shrimp salad, the sole francaise, and the steak frites:

Grilled shrimp salad with bibb lettuce, roasted fennel, carrots, onions, oranges, avocado, and cucumber yogurt dressing
Sole francaise with Beluga lentils, broccolini, and lemon butter fried capers
Steak frites with sauteed mushrooms and onions, seasoned fries, and blue cheese butter

There’s the hole!

I heard rumors that the shrimp salad was “ok” and the steak frites was a little too charred, even though it was cooked to the correct temperature. I did quite enjoy the frites part of the steak frites! And of course, it wouldn’t be RC if we didn’t order a couple of entrees for the table. In this case, we went with the mac & cheese and the chicken & polenta poutine:

Ward 8 mac & cheese with local New England cheeses, Vermont smoked ham, and garlic spinach
Chicken & polenta poutine with free range chicken and poutine-style polenta fries

Mac & cheese

The mac & cheese was my favorite of the entrees I tasted (disclaimer, I did not try the sole or the shrimp salad). In the chicken poutine dish, the chicken was a little dry but the polenta fries were yummy.

Dessert!

If I was full after the first course, I was super full after the entrees. But somehow I still managed to fit in some dessert. There’s a separate compartment in my stomach for dessert…well at least that’s what I like to tell myself. We ordered the valrhona chocolate cake and multiple orders of the vanilla soft serve with assorted toppings. The chocolate cake was flourless cake with coconut and cream cheese filling and cherry berry compote. There was some disagreement about the compote…some people loved it (this jam is #bae) and some people were unimpressed. Jerel and I shared a dish of the soft serve with bourbon-butterscotch and peanut butter cups. The yogurt was tasty but the bourbon-butterscotch was disappointing, mostly because we wanted MORE of it, and we wanted to taste more bourbon! A couple of smarties in the group requested a DIY order of the soft serve with the bacon cashew caramel corn on top…that was definitely a winning combination!

Great pick, Lorelei! We also learned a new hashtag, #bae, before anything else.

The damage
$75 per person (maximum of 5 credit cards per table)

The rundown
Ward 8
90 North Washington Street, Boston
@WARD8Bos