Chicken Souvlaki from Monique....

Thank you Monique for your inspiration and this wonderful recipe! If you have never visited my friend at La Table de Nana you should not delay. Monique is such a talented cook and photographer...a true artiste! More than anything else she is a warm, kind, and just lovely human being. Here is a link to her post and the recipe...
I prepare Greek Food often...but this one is just a little different than the one I usually make. The guys declared it a keeper and so do I. I served this with Tzatziki and a big Greek salad and Greek pocketless pita that I heated right on the grill...never got time to take a pic of my Tzatziki...oh well.

Wonderful summer meal....

I have not been around for a while and more than likely will not be here too much for the rest of the summer.
I am getting my youngest son ready to go away to college. We have been spending a lot of time together and it has been lovely...bittersweet ...but lovely. In a matter of weeks he will be gone. My nest will be empty for the first time in almost 21 years.
This weekend everyone is home and we are all together as a family for the last time until October when both my college boys come home for Fall Break. Today is my birthday and we are having a lovely family day. I made this dinner last night...we all enjoyed it. In fact this is the second time I made it since she posted the recipe. I have made this with both chicken breast and boneless chicken thighs. Comes out great either way.
Thanks again Monique!

Roast Chicken with Potatoes, Lemon, and Asparagus

 I have really been absent from my blog. I have been checking in on all of my friends but life has just gotten very hectic and something had to give. One boy is home from college for a bit and leaves again in a few days for a summer job. The other one, my baby, is going to graduate from high school and will be leaving the nest very soon. Everything is good...and I feel like I need to be in the moment right now enjoying my family while they are here and we are all together.

As you can see by some of the other posts I have made, that I am a big fan of the easy, delicious, chicken dinner. This one comes from Everyday Food...I had it in my files marked to try, and then a friend from a message board I belong to tried it and loved it and that gave me a little push. I made this for Sunday dinner last night and all of my hungry guys gave this a huge thumbs up!

We have gorgeous local New Jersey asparagus here now and it was perfect for this dish. What I loved about it was one pan to wash...that was it. Very little prep and the guys adored this. The original recipe calls for a whole chicken cut up...but we love the juicy thighs. I used two pounds of new tiny creamer potatoes and there was not a one left. There are lovely, lemony, juices after this is roasted...I will make this one many times again I am sure. The light was horrible in my kitchen last night...so please excuse the pics.
  
Roast Chicken with Potatoes, Lemon, and Asparagus
adapted from Everyday Food
Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds new potatoes, halved
3 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
Coarse salt and ground pepper
 Bone in, Skin on chicken thighs , about 3 pounds
1 bunch asparagus (1 pound), trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces
1 lemon, cut into 8 wedges 
3 cloves of garlic, sliced
6 sprigs fresh thyme

Directions
Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Place potatoes and half the butter in a roasting pan; season with salt and pepper. Roast, tossing once, until potatoes are golden, 20 to 25 minutes.

Place chicken, skin side up, on top of potatoes; season with salt and pepper. Roast until chicken begins to brown, about 20 minutes.

Scatter asparagus,garlic, lemon, remaining butter, and thyme around chicken. Roast until asparagus is tender and chicken is opaque throughout, 5 to 15 minutes. Serve chicken, vegetables, and lemon drizzled with pan juices.

Pollo alla Calabrese... Chicken with Potatoes, Onions, and Tomatoes

 I have been getting a newsletter email from Tori Ritchie every week for quite a while now and get a new recipe with each one. There have been some very good ones. My friend Laura , who is a personal chef  told me about this and I signed right up.  Recently I got one for this chicken dish and I knew as soon as I saw this recipe, that I was going to make it. It is so very simple...not rocket science...but on a busy night when you need to get dinner on the table with a minimum of fuss, you throw this in the oven....make a salad and or a nice green veggie and you are in business. 

 

You can find the recipe here on Tori's blog called Tuesday Recipe. I suggest you subscribe to her her Tuesday Recipe, I love getting an email with a new recipe almost every week...here is the link to subscribe.

Tuesday Recipe

Everyone loved this...the leftovers were wonderful...it was a good thing! The kid declared it a keeper...what more could I want.

Thai Chicken with Fresh Basil

My sister in law reached out to me today because she is in need of chicken recipes as my Brother in Law has gout and he can only eat chicken and turkey. I never posted this recipe here because I was not happy with the quality of the photos...but a chicken emergency is a chicken emergency. So Priscilla...this is for you!

I first heard about this recipe while driving and listening to the Everyday Food radio show on Martha Stewart Living and the host was raving about this recipe and how quick, easy and delicious it was. She had dinner on the table in under 30 minutes and she certainly did not lie. I went home and searched around the internet and found the recipe and made it myself that very night. I have since purchased this great cookbook ...
Quick and Easy Thai by Nancie McDermott. It has come in very handy on busy nights. The tastes and flavors are very authentic and the recipes use mostly items you can get in your local supermarket or already have in your pantry.

Thai Chicken with Fresh Basil 
adapted from :Quick & Easy Thai by Nancie McDermott

3 tablespoons Canola Oil
1 tablespoon coarsely-chopped garlic
1/2 cup coarsely-chopped onion
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut in bite-size pieces or 1 pound  coarsely ground chicken
2 tablespoons fish sauce ( I use Vietnamese- Three Crabs Brand)
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce or regular soy sauce
2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons coarsely-chopped fresh chile peppers (Thai chiles, serranos, or jalapenos)
1 packed cup Thai basil or other basil leaves
2 cups cooked rice, optional


Heat a wok or large, deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add the oil and swirl it to coat the surface. Add the garlic and onion; stir briefly until they begin to release their aroma, about 45 to 60 seconds. Add the chicken pieces, tossing well with a wooden spatula or spoon, to help the meat brown evenly. If using ground chicken you want to break up to meat to achieve a crumbly texture.

Add the fish sauce, soy sauce, water, and sugar; cook 2 to 3 minutes, tossing now and then, just until the chicken is cooked and the seasonings form a thin, smooth , sauce. Add the chile peppers and basil; toss and stir fry just until the basil begins to wilt.

Transfer to a serving plate and serve hot or warm with cooked rice ( we love this with Jasmine rice), if you desire. Garnish with some leftover basil leaves.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

My notes: I added some julienned yellow, red ,and orange peppers for some color and crunch at the time I added the jalapenos. I have also added some diced green beans or asparagus to the dish as well.
I did not have Thai basil so I used regular Italian basil and it worked out just fine. I also add about a tablespoon or so more of water if it looks a tiny bit dry toward the end. 

I know this says it feeds 4 to 6 ...but in my house with hungry teenagers it feeds two to three. You can easily double this recipe. BUT....I would not crowd the pan with the chicken, so brown it in batches so the chicken browns nicely and does not stew in the marinade. There is not much sauce left over. I garnish it with cilantro and a slice of fresh lime. You could also add some sliced cucumber and tomato to the plate and you have dinner in a flash. 

Check your chiles for heat before you use them. I made this last night and used two serrano chiles.They were pretty spicy...we enjoyed the dish but in retrospect one chile would have sufficed.
Now why I did not take a picture of this when I made it last night...I will never know. There were from last June and not very good....please excuse the poor pics...but the recipe is too good to not tell you about.

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Vinegar Glossed Chicken....

This is such a simple dish and so delicious....it comes from Lucinda Scala Quinn's cookbook...Mad Hungry: Feeding Men and Boys...It is a beautiful collection of simple, delicious, and easy recipes. I have been feeding men and boys for over 20 years here and I know what they will and will not eat. I must admit I have a pretty spoiled bunch here. They have loved everything I have tried from this book. Lucinda's recipes are very much in the style that I love to cook. It is never too late to teach an old dog...ME...a few new tricks. It makes everyday cooking more exciting to add a new twist to things.  I am going to give this book to my college aged son for his first kitchen. I think it would be a lovely gift for any boy or young man going out on their own. Girls for that matter too... I have been enjoying it a lot myself. Especially when I need to get dinner on the table quickly...this lovely dinner was on the table in less than an hour. A wonderful meal for a busy weeknight, and one I would serve for company anytime. I served this with creamy polenta and roasted greens beans and grape tomatoes.

 Vinegar Glossed Chicken
Mad Hungry/Lucinda Scala Quinn
Mad Hungry Blog
 Serves 6 to 8

• 1 cup best-quality red-wine vinegar
• 2 to 3 garlic cloves, minced (about 2 tablespoons)
• 3 sprigs fresh rosemary, chopped (about 1 tablespoon)
• 5 1/2 pounds bone-in chicken pieces (each part should be cut in half)
• Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 3/4 cup chicken broth, plus more as needed

1. At least 15 minutes and up to 2 hours before cooking, combine the vinegar, garlic, and rosemary to marinate.
2. Thoroughly season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Heat a 14-inch skillet (or two smaller skillets) over high heat and swirl in enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the skillet. Place the chicken in the skillet, skin side down. Don't crowd the chicken; leave space around each piece. Work in batches if necessary. You should hear an immediate sizzle when the chicken pieces hit the pan. Don't move them; it takes a couple of minutes to sear the chicken so it doesn't stick. Brown all sides; this will take 10 minutes per batch. Regulate the heat so it stays high but does not burn the chicken. Place all the browned chicken back in the skillet.
3. Add the chicken broth and scrape up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Lower the heat, simmer, and reduce for 15 to 20 minutes. Increase the heat to high and pour in the vinegar mixture. Swirl the pan and stir around as the vinegar evaporates to form a simmering glaze, 8 to 10 minutes. Serve immediately or refrigerate, and reheat with some extra broth.  

My notes: I already had about 4 1/2 plus  pounds of small organic chicken legs and thighs to use, so that is what I did. I did not cut the pieces in half because they were already on the small side. I also was a little bit short of my good red wine vinegar so I topped off what I had with a bit of really nice Balsamic vinegar to make a cup. I probably used two or three tablespoons of the Balsamic in all. I admit that I threw in a few more cloves of garlic...so I used 5 in all. What can I say. We really love garlic. Since I had a lot of fresh Rosemary that needed to be used I used more of that as well. I was lucky to have some of my home made chicken stock on hand and I used that for the reduction.The vinegar reduces down to a lovely ,syrupy, sweet and sour sauce...this  chicken was wonderful reheated the next day for lunch and great cold. Uh, can you tell we loved this.

I have been making a dish we always called "Vinegar Chicken" in my family for over 30 years. It originally came from a dish called Chicken Savoy...this is very similar. But much better!

My son took this action shot of me stirring the polenta!  His first time using my camera...how could I not include it! He was very interested in this dinner, just from the aromas wafting from the kitchen. That was a good thing...