Grilled Chicken and Peppers with Skillet Corn

Longer days + warm weather = grilling in this household. And so, with Chris' help, I made this super simple meal that paid off with big flavors. Don't skip the basil, it really is the perfect touch.


Grilled Chicken and Peppers with Skillet Corn
serves 2

for the peppers:

1 red bell pepper
reserved chicken marinade (see below)
sea salt
freshly ground pepper
sweet basil leaves (for garnish)


Prepare a charcoal grill. When the coals are grey and nice and hot, grill the pepper until black and blistered on all sides. Place hot pepper in a Ziploc bag and let stand for 10 minutes. Remove from bag and rub or peel skin off. Slice into strips and toss with the reserved marinade, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and set aside.



for the chicken:

.75 lb. chicken breast tenders
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 Tbsp white wine
2 Tbsp chicken stock
juice of 1 small lemon
sea salt
freshly ground pepper


Mix all ingredients other than chicken. Reserve 2 Tbsp of marinade for the peppers, then add the chicken to it, turning each piece to coat. Marinate for 20 minutes. Grill over medium-high heat for about 3 minutes per side.

for the skillet corn:

3 ears corn
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp salted butter

Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the shallot and cook until soft and starting to brown, about 3 minutes. Add corn and saute for another 3-4 minutes, until the corn is bright and still crisp. Add salt and pepper if desired, but we found the corn so sweet and perfect on it's own, I didn't add a thing.


To put it all together, I recommend placing the chicken on a bed of corn, topping with the red pepper slices, and garnishing with the reserved pepper marinade and a few basil leaves. We ate this warm, but I think it would make a great lunch cold or at room temperature.

Sweet and Savory Balsamic Poached Chicken

After last week's successful venture into the world of poaching, I have been thinking about trying it again with a new combination of flavors. After doing some research, I decided that balsamic vinegar would make a good flavor base, much like the white wine was last time. The result? Lovely caramel-colored chicken, filled with flavor with no added fat. I'm starting to really like this poaching thing. It's so easy and nearly fool-proof.


Sweet and Savory Balsamic Poached Chicken
serves 2

2 boneless, skinless chicken breast fillets
1.5 cups chicken stock
.5 cup balsamic vinegar
sea salt
freshly ground pepper
2 Tbsp brown sugar


Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Bring stock and vinegar up to a boil in a medium (2 quart) saucepan, add chicken, and reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 15-18 minutes, turning once (cooking time will depend on thickness of chicken). Remove chicken from pan, set aside. Turn heat up to high, add brown sugar, and reduce cooking liquid to about .25 cups. Slice chicken thickly, spoon some pan sauce over, and serve.


We had this with Herbed New Potatoes and some pan seared asparagus. The spring asparagus is making its first appearances, and I really encourage you to pick some up and pair it with nearly anything. It was a really simple, easy meal with lots of complimentary flavors.

Creamy Roasted Vegetable Curry

The inspiration for this recipe came to me from Erin at Erin Eats, a great blog full of healthy recipes, including calorie counts. I took her recipe for Low-Calorie Creamy Curry Chicken and tweaked it to make a smaller portion, as well as a few other adjustments. The roasted vegetables were fantastic with the creamy curry sauce, and that same silky sauce was glorious over rice.


I left out a few things (like celery, I just don't care for it sometimes), and replaced the onion with some leek. The leek was an unexpected twist, but the sweetness really works nicely with the spicy curry. I would have used onion, but I've had a bad run of luck lately, buying two bags that rotted within a week--I need to talk to my grocer about that. Anyway, this is a roundabout way of saying that you can sub out an onion for the leek.


Creamy Roasted Vegetable Curry
serves 2-3

1 boneless chicken breast, cubed*
2 medium carrots, chopped*
1 red or orange pepper, chopped*
1 medium leek (white and light green part), sliced*
2 cloves garlic, grated or minced
4 oz. sliced bamboo shoots
4 oz. sliced water chestnuts
4 oz. mushrooms, sliced and sauteed
1 medium Yukon Gold potato, cubed*
.5 cup reduced fat sour cream
1 Tbsp oyster-flavored sauce
1 Tbsp soy sauce
curry powder (or paste), to taste
olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground pepper
1 cup cooked rice, any variety

*I chopped all of these into about the same smallish bite-size. I wanted to be sure that you could get several flavors into each bite, and it worked really well. If you chop into a larger dice, you will need to adjust cook times.


Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Toss the potato chunks in a little olive oil and a sprinkling of salt and place them in a baking dish. Roast them for 10 minutes, since they take a little longer to cook than the other vegetables. Toss the pepper, carrot, and leek in a bit more olive oil and salt, and add them to the pan with the par-roasted potatoes. Roast for 30 minutes more, until tender and just beginning to brown around the edges. The leeks might get a little more brown than everything else, but they are crispy and wonderful. I kind of want to eat roasted leeks every day now.


Back on track, set aside your roasted vegetables. Season your chicken with a little salt and pepper. In a large nonstick skillet, heat up a splash or two of olive oil over medium-high heat. Brown the chicken chunks on all sides, then reduce heat to medium. Add the garlic, shoots, and water chestnuts, saute for about 1 minute, until warmed through and fragrant. Be careful to not burn the garlic.


In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and surry paste/powder (I used a combination of the two). Adjust curry seasonings to desire spice level, and add a splash of water to thin. Pour over the chicken mixture, toss well to combine. Add mushrooms and roasted vegetables to the pan, toss several times to coat in the sauce. Cook for about 2 minutes more, until everything is warmed through and the sauce has thickened slightly. Serve over rice.

Wine-Poached Chicken with Charmoula

This recipe comes almost straight from Martha Stewart's "Healthy Quick Cook", a nice little cookbook featuring light, simple menus divided by season. I use it mostly for inspiration, but some of the recipes are wonderful. I actually managed to only make a few changes to this recipe, in fact. The sauce is very lively, and while Stewart (or whoever did the actual writing) classifies it as Moroccan, Chris and I agreed that it would be fantastic with Mexican dishes as well. Must be the cumin, cilantro, and tomato juice. Start to finish, this meal took about 20 minutes to make, so it's a great dinner for busy times.



I have never poached chicken before, and to tell the truth I was skeptical. I mean, just look at it, stark white and as bland-looking as can be. However, with this dish, it made sense. It was lightly flavored, moist, and served as a perfect backdrop to the piquant sauce. So, don't be scared when you are faced with these flabby-looking slabs of poultry, it's really quite good.


Wine-Poached Chicken with Charmoula
serves 2

for the charmoula sauce:

1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
.5 tsp cayenne pepper
1 Tbsp minced garlic
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tsp olive oil
.25 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsely
.25 cup tomato juice (more to thin)
.25 cup chopped fresh cilantro
.5 tsp sea salt
freshly ground pepper


Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Add more tomato juice, if necessary, to reach a sauce-like consistency. Set aside to let flavors meld.

for the wine-poached chicken:

1 cup dry white wine
.5 cup chicken stock
5 sprigs flat-leaf parsely
8 whole peppercorns
2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
sea salt
freshly ground pepper


In a heavy sauce pan big enough to hold the chicken in one layer, combine the wine, stock, parsely, and peppercorns. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a lively simmer. Add the chicken and poach, turning once, for 15-17 minutes. Season to tast with salt and pepper. Remove to a cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes.


To serve, slice the chicken into 4 slices and pour Charmoula over the top. Delicious alongside Toasted Israeli Couscous and a chopped green salad. Enjoy!

Roasted Chicken Bread Salad

I've been hearing about San Francisco's Zuni Cafe Tuscan Bread Salad for months now, and the recipe never fails to tempt me with its complex combination of flavors and textures. So while the salad I put together today did not follow the Zuni example, exactly, I do have to give them credit for inspiring me.


My mother was coming for lunch today and I wanted to make something that would knock her socks off, but would also make use of some leftovers I had on hand. Once I surveyed the roasted chicken, Perfect Vinaigrette, and crusty french loaf before me I knew that it was bread salad time, indeed.

Roasted Chicken Bread Salad
serves 3-4

4-5 cups of cubed French bread (stale is good)
olive oil
red wine vinegar
handful of dried cherries
1 large clove of garlic, slivered
3-4 scallions (shallots would be good, too), sliced
leftoverRoasted Lemon Chicken
small head Bibb lettuce, torn into pieces
two handfuls baby spinach
handful fresh parsley
Perfect Vinaigrette


Start by slicing the crust off of the loaf of bread, and then cubing it. Toss the bread in some olive oil and then broil until deep golden brown on all sides. I really toasted the bread pretty thoroughly--it was important to me to maintain some of the "crunch" texture even after it soaks up some vinaigrette. Once it is out of the oven, toss it back into the olive oil-slicked bowl and add the dried cherries and a few splashes of the vinegar. Toss well and set aside.


Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place the leftover chicken into a small roasting dish (adding whatever pan juices you have--some of the fat skimmed from your stock would work, too), and cover loosely with aluminum foil. Heat for about 15 minutes.

While the chicken is reheating, drizzle the bread generously with the vinaigrette. Toss well. In a small saute pan, heat the garlic and scallions in a little olive oil over medium low heat. You want them to soften, but not brown. Add to the bread mixture.


Place greens in serving dishes. Top with bread mixture, then a few slices of the roasted chicken. Drizzle a Tbsp of the chicken pan juices over the salad and serve immediately. Enjoy!

Roasted Lemon Chicken

Yes, I know. Roasted chicken--there are a million and three recipes out there. Still, I'm giving you mine, because I'm terribly vain and think it's just really, really good.


Roasted Lemon Chicken

1 5-6 lb. roasting chicken
2 lemons, quartered
1 large yellow onion, peeled and coursely sliced
olive oil
sea salt
herbed butter*

*Whenever I have extra fresh herbs on hand, I chop them up and mix them into a stick of butter. This butter can then be frozen and utlized in a multitude of culinary endeavors. Very good stuff.

Pull all of the nasty inner bits out of your chicken and dispose of them. Rinse the bird inside and out with cold water, pat dry with paper towels. Place on a rack over a pan and refrigerate uncovered for several hours--this will ensure you the crackling golden skin that we all know we shouldn't eat, but can't resist when it's this good.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Once the chicken has had it's rest in the fridge (you can even do this overnight), toss the onions in some oilve oil in a medium baking dish. Salt and pepper the cavity of the chicken, stuff with the lemon quarters, and place on top of the onions. Tie the legs shut with butcher's string or a bit of cheesecloth, as I've done. Melt the herbed butter in the microwave and brush generously on the outside of the bird. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.


Roaste for approximately 1.25 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between the leg and thigh. Baste once with remaining melted herbed butter. Remove chicken from oven, tent loosely with aluminum foil, and let sit for 15 minutes. Carve it up and dig in!

Remove leftover meat from the carcass and drizzle some of the pan juices over (this will be wonderful with tomorrow's bread salad). Save the carcass, lemons, and onions for the stock recipe I'll be serving up in the morning.

Chicken Soft Tacos with Tequila Spiked Pico

I'm just going to say it right off the bat: don't knock it until you've tried it, tequila haters--a few drops of the stuff takes this pico de gallo from ordinary to special. Don't you want special pico? I know you do.

Okay? Okay.


Now, tonight's dinner is not exactly exciting. Rather, it is pretty representative of the dinners we have the night before a big grocery trip. I keep this chicken in the freezer to have on hand for just these kinds of nights. Everything else is in the pantry, or the vegetable basket.

The chicken is one of those classic crockpot recipes that has been given to me by several helpful friends over the past few months. It couldn't be easier: place your boneless, skinless breasts in the pot, pour a jar of salsa over it (it doesn't have to be very nice, I usually use Pace), and pour a packet of taco seasoning over the whole lot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Remove the chicken from the pot and shred it up (it shouldn't take any effort at all). Add a few dollops of sour cream to the salsa mixture in the pot, mix it up, and pour it over the chicken. Viola! Instant taco, burrito, or enchilada filling. Eat some right away and freeze a portion for nights where creativity escapes you.

Tonight I decided to whip up some pico de gallo, using what I had and improvising the rest. It is actually pretty good, but it would be even better with the finely diced fresh jalapeno, lime juice, garlic, and avocado I normally add. But tonight's recipe was simply:

Tequila Spiked Pico

4 medium Campari tomatoes*
half a yellow onion
splash or two of tequila
lemon (or lime) juice to taste
cilantro
sea salt
tabasco sauce (optional)

*these seem to be the only tomatoes worth eating this time of year, I really love them and use them a lot

Seed and dice your tomatoes, and dice the onion. Chop up the cilantro as finely as you can (it sticks to the blade something awful, so I usually don't put too much effort into it).

Toss these three ingredients together in a bowl, add tequila and lemon juice and sprinkle with salt. Mix well and let sit for a half hour or so (lets the flavors introduce themselves to each other). Do a little taste test and add more lemon, salt, or tequila if needed (you don't want to really taste the tequila, it should just enhance the other flavors).

If you like a little spice, you can add a few dashes of Tabasco as well.

As for the tacos themselves, they are pretty self explanatory. The crockpot chicken described above with pico and sour cream, wrapped up in a soft flour tortilla. The requisite black beans and rice as a side is up to you, but that's what we almost always have. You get bonus points for some slices of fried plantain as a sweet garnish.

Sometimes you just need a simple, filling dinner.



Mrs. C.

Staple: Jerk Chicken Breasts

Another regular feature on our dinner table, this Jerk Chicken is flavorful and tastes like a lot more work than it is. Even better, once you have all of the spices on hand, you have the means to make it again and again.

You don't have to have the chicken on a bed of potatoes and scallions, but if you do you will find that the fat from the chicken and the flavorful spices caramalize the potatoes and make them into a delicious side dish. Often I will just steam up a little broccoli and make it a complete meal.

You can use boneless, skinless chicken breasts if you want to, but I encourage you to try the bone-in, skin-on variety. Not only are they almost always cheaper (due to less processing), I find that the skin and bones lock in the moisture and flavor excellently. If you do decide to go with boneless, skinless, toss the potatoes in a little more vegetable oil before roasting, they need the fat to get nice and crisp.

Jerk Chicken Breasts

1 bunch scallions, trimmed
2 Tbsp paprika
1.5 Tbsp garlic powder
1.5 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground nutmeg
.75 tsp cayenne pepper more or less, depending on preferred spice level)
1 tsp kosher salt
.25 tsp freshly ground pepper
1.5 Tbsp olive oil
Juice of half a lime
2 Tbsp molasses
3-4 bone-in, skin on chicken breasts
3-5 Yukon Gold potatoes, cleaned and sliced into wedges, tossed in a splash of vegetable oil
lime wedges (optional)

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Place the potato wedges in a large roasting pan and roast them for 15 minutes alone, then remove from the oven and lay the scallions on top of them. This dish is also good with sweet potatoes, but if you use them this pre-roasting is not necessary.

In a small bowl, combine the spices, oil, lime juice, and molasses. Spread the spice mixture over and under the chicken skin*. Place the chicken on top of the scallions and potatoes.

Roast until the chicken is cooked through, about 45 minutes. Serve the chicken with the roasted scallions, potatoes, and lime wedges, if desired.

*For even stronger flavor, let the spice-rubbed chicken sit in the refrigerator for 6-8 hours before cooking. If you have time in the morning before work, this would be a great time to throw it together.

This chicken is also good leftover and I have a jerk chicken salad in mind for the summertime. Enjoy!

Mrs. C.