Chicken of the Week – Balsamic Shallot Sauce

Four years ago I made an offer to my children. The first one who can facilitate welcoming Chef Jacques Pepin into our home will receive a brand new Ford Mustang.

Why Jacques? Because he’s my go-to chef.

There’s only one recipe of his that I have made that has not been amazing…and that one I blame on lackluster ingredients.

So far, I haven’t had to buy a Mustang. But I haven’t given up hope yet!

This past Thursday, as I was heading home, I was stymied. (Isn’t that the greatest word?) I had no idea what to make for dinner. I had defrosted a potroast the night before, but had been in a rush that morning heading out the door, so I hadn’t put it in the crockpot. The only other option I could think of that I had ingredients for and was quick was tuna casserole.

But I wasn’t in the mood for tuna. Or casserole.

Suddenly, I had an inspiration. Not long ago, as I was looking through Jacques Pepin’s cookbook for the Quick Tenderloin Stew recipe, I saw a picture in his “Fast Food My Way” cookbook (if you don’t have this book, you really should get it…there’s some real treasures in it.) The picture caught my eye. It looked amazing. I remembered the name of the dish was Balsamic something something chicken. Well, I knew I had balsamic vinegar, and of course I had chicken. So I hoped I was good to go.

When I got home and looked at the recipe, I was shocked. It was simple! After browning chicken breasts on the stove, the sauce is simply sauteed shallots (I used some onion too because I didn’t have enough shallots for the recipe) and then add in a surprising amount of balsamic vinegar, a little ketchup and some water. His recipe called for mushrooms also, but I didn’t have any, so mine was mushroom-free. The sauce is fantastic without mushrooms, so I’m almost afraid of how good it would be with mushrooms!

Once the sauce is boiled down and thickened, just pour it over the chicken breast that have been resting in a warm oven, and serve. Everyone…children and grownups at the table loved it.

I suggest you make this and make it very soon.

And if you know Jacques, please invite him to my place for dinner so I can thank him in person for his amazingly inspiring recipes. He makes it all so simple.

Garlicy Scampi Chicken

If I was ever going to write an ode, I think it would be an ode to garlic.

Garlic, dear garlic, how do I love thee?
Let me count the ways…

But don’t worry…I wrote one good poem back in sixth grade. It was a Haiku. It was really good and I don’t think I can top it. So I’m not going to try.

Ever.

So, instead of writing a poem proclaiming my love to this sharply frangranced, near perfect food from the gods, I’ll just give you a terrific recipe instead.

It’s for chicken scampi, and its a great thing to do with leftover roasted chicken. If you like shrimp scampi, you’re gonna love this.

Chicken Scampi

4 chicken breasts, cooked & shredded

4 T butter (c’mon, keep breathing. Use 1/2 olive oil if it’ll make you feel better.)

2 cloves garlic

1 bunch green onions, chopped

1 T fresh basil, chopped (or 1 tsp dried basil)

1 T fresh oregano, chopped (or 1 tsp dried oregano)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 c lemon juice

1/2 c dry white wine

1/4 c heavy whipping cream

1/4 c fresh parsley, chopped

1 pound penne pasta, cooked

In a large pan, melt butter. Saute garlic and onions 2-3 minutes. Add shredded chicken and saute 2-3 minutes. Season with salt & pepper. (Add the basil & oregano here if you’re using dried. For fresh herbs, add after you’ve reduced the liquid in the next step.)

Deglaze the pan with lemon juice and white wine. Continue cooking until liquid is reduced by half. Add basil, oregano and cream.

Cook until heated through.

Garnish with parsley and serve with pasta.

Serves 4 -6.

Will Work for Food

I’m certain there are times that the boys don’t think raising chickens is worth it. Like at 5:30 a.m. when the have to feed and water them before school.

Or when they want to go out with friends, but they have to make sure that someone will check in on them every 4-5 hours, or more often if it’s hot.

And then there’s the weekends when they have to get up at 5 a.m. and process 50-100 chickens for customers who are on their way.

But the one time they really don’t complain is when dinner’s on the table. And they get Barbeque Chicken that looks like this:

Or Parmesan Chicken that tastes as good as it looks:

Strange how they don’t complain about the work so much at dinner time.

Scribbling

Can you read that? Does it make sense? It’s for a one-pot chicken and rice dish.

I hate printing out internet recipes. It seems like such a waste of paper and ink. So I usually just grab a scrap of paper and start scribbling.

I jot the most important things down (spelling doesn’t matter), but sometimes my shorthand confuses me and I have to run back to the computer and doublecheck myself.

The method works fine when I’m cooking right away. However, I do occasionally find stray papers around the kitchen with ingredient lists and cryptic notes that make no sense.

The recipe above is based on the one found here:

It turned out really good, and was very simple. I ended up browning the chicken quickly under the broiler right before serving to make it look more appetizing. But the taste was right on.

Oh, and please, don’t analyze my handwriting…I don’t want to know.

Serving Sizes

On a regular basis, I cook for seven people. Four adults, two teenagers and an 11-year-old who almost doesn’t count because he doesn’t like to eat things that aren’t cereal. So when I cook dinner, its important that I make enough for dinner. And if I’m lucky, there’ll be enough leftover for my lunch the next day.

So when I make a recipe I usually aim for 6-8 servings. That’s a fairly safe number for us. Usually.

The other day, after watching the Throwdown with Bobby Flay Arroz con Pollo episode, I decided to make Bobby’s Adobo Seasoned Chicken and Rice. I was almost scared away by the 27 ingredients. Seriously Bobby? 27 ingredients? Do you know how much concentration it takes to not lose your place in a list of 27 ingredients? We don’t all have two sous chefs!

Anyways…the recipe says it serves 4. I should have known it was lying. I should have thought it through. But I had just gotten home from work. I was tired and my brain had already gone through it’s shut down procedure. And I was much more worried about how much turmeric I had because that’s not a spice I keep close track of.

When I saw that it called for 4 chicken thighs AND 4 chicken breasts, I should have known. Then the 3 cups of rice should have clued me in. But I blindly followed along. Used 2 whole cut-up chickens (they were small birds) and 6 cups of rice. And it made enough for 2 whole meals AND a leftover lunch.

It was good…next time I may have to find a way to kick up the flavor of the chicken some, but the flavors were all really good. I must admit that I only used 26 ingredients. I didn’t know how green olives would go over as an ingredient, so I skipped them. But otherwise, it was really good. Which is a good thing when it makes as much as it did! For you, I’ll give you the “4 serving” sized recipe.

But consider yourself warned.

Adobo Seasoned Chicken and Rice
Recipe courtesy Bobby Flay, 2008 (www.foodnetwork.com)

Mix together:
2 T kosher salt
2 t granulated garlic
1 t granulated onion
1 t paprika
2 t freshly ground black pepper
2 t ground turmeric
1 T finely chopped fresh oregano leaves (I used 1 t dried oregano)

Season both sides of chicken with above spice mixture.
Heat:
3 T olive oil
in a large Dutch oven over high heat. Place chicken in oil skin-side down, in batches, in necessary, and saute until golden brown. Turn the chicken over and cook until the second side is golden brown.
Transfer the chicken into a separate pot with all cooking juices, cover and alow to cook through over medium heat. Keep warm.

Place the browning pan back over high heat, add:
2 T olive oil
1 large Spanish onion, finely diced
1 medium green bell pepper, finely diced
1 medium red bell pepper, finely diced
Cook until soft.

Add:
About 1/3 c tomato powder or 1-2 plum tomatoes, seeded and finely diced (I used 2 T tomato paste)
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Cook for 1 minute.

Add:
3 cups long-grain rice
Stir to coat the rice in the onion mixture, and cook for 1 minute. Then add:
4 3/4 c chicken stock
1 bay leaf
Salt & pepper
Bring to a boil. Stir well, cover, reduce heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes.

Add:
1 c frozen peas (not thawed)
Cover and continue cooking until rice is tender. (About 8 minutes)

Remove pot from heat and let sit 5 minutes covered. Remove the lid, fluff the rice and gently fold in:
3/4 c pimento stuffed green olives
3/4 c pitted picholine olives
Freshly chopped cilantro leaves
Freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley
Finely chopped fresh oregano
Squeeze lime juice.
Add the chicken to combine and serve.