I stumbled across this Good Eats video on hulu.com. I personally have not tried it yet as I am unsure about the terra cotta pan. Do we just get one of these things from the local garden center?? Anyone?
Fantastic idea, nevertheless…
Honey Curried Chicken & Root Vegetables
It is the first day of autumn and there is nothing better than to fill the kitchen with warm spices and fresh bounty of fall vegetables.
Ingredients:
- 2 – 2 1/2 pounds of skinned chicken breasts
- 3 large potatoes quartered or 9 – 12 whole baby potatoes
- 2 medium turnips peeled and cut into eighths
- 3 – 6 carrots peeled and cut into large bites
- 6 – 9 shallots cloves separated and cut in half *
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/4 cup whole dijon mustard
- 2 – 3 tbsp water
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp curry powder
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp crushed dried chiles
Directions:
Place all vegetables in a steamer and steam for about 15 – 20 minutes (you can also boil in a large pot in you prefer). While vegetables are cooking preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a small saucepan, add honey, water, mustard, garlic, butter, chiles, curry, salt & gingers and bring to a slow boil stirring constantly. Remove from heat and set aside.
Trim any excess fat off the chicken breasts. Spray a shallow pyrex roasting pan with cooking spray and lay breasts evenly. Add steamed root vegetables and fill any open gaps. Pour 1/2 of the curry honey mixture over the chicken and with a basting brush, spread sauce over the chicken and vegetables. Bake uncovered for 35 – 40 minutes basting the remaining sauce every 10 – 15 minutes until no more mixture remains.
Serve hot.
* If you do not have shallots, you can substitute quarter chipolini onions or even add 2 tbsp dried minced onions to the sauce instead.
Chicken Shepherd’s Pie – A Quick Way & The Slow Way a.k.a Why The Fuss Over A Potato?
You have leftovers taking over your fridge? Try this fairly quick ‘mash-up’ so to speak:
The Quick Way:
Ingredients:
- 2 – 2.5 lbs leftover mashed potatoes
- 1lb cooked chicken diced
- 8oz. or one cup of cooked leftover veggies
- 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup or 10oz of left over chicken or mushroom gravy
- Salt/Pepper/Spices to taste
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375F degrees. With cooking spray, lightly coat a 9×9 baking dish (or 2qt dish). Using your hands, use some of the mashed potatoes (about 2/3 of it) and lay a ‘crust’ on the bottom and sides of the dish.
In a large bowl combine the diced chicken, vegetables, and condensed soup (do not add milk), season as necessary. Pour mixture evenly over crust. With the remaining mashed potatoes, mold a top crust.
Bake for 30 – 45 minutes, serve hot.
The Slow Way:
The slow way is simply starting from scratch and it is labor intensive. Here is my recipe for the mashed potatoes:
Ingredients:
- 2 – 2.5 lbs potatoes cut up w/ skins
- 2 – 4 Garlic cloves minced
- 1 – 2 tbsp prepared white horseradish (optional)
- 2 tbsp fresh chives (hint: Chive blossom petals are really good!)
- 3/4 cup lowfat milk (More or less)
- 1/4 cup butter cubed
Directions:
Thoroughly wash the potatoes and cut into the large chunks with leaving the skins on.* Cook in a large pot of water for about 20 minutes, drain.
Immediately, add about 1/2 of the cubed butter and begin mashing using a manual potato masher, add a little milk. Continue mashing, sprinkle garlic. Continue mashing, add horseradish. Add more milk, mash. Add remaining butter, mash. Add chives. By now, you can hand-whip your fluffy (albeit lumpy) potatoes.
* I mentioned that in a previous post that it is my intention to let nothing go to waste, this is especially true for potato skins. In fact there are health benefits in keeping on the skins and sadly, most people people just toss it aside! My own grandmother would never let me leave the dinner table until my baked potato was eaten entirely. It stuck with me to this day. She told me it was the best part of the vegetable, and less waste in your garbage can.
Two things should be noted here. If you plan on making the change from going skinless to skinned, buy organic. Non-organic will have pesticides that remain and it can actually be detremental to consume the skins. Better to peel here. Also if the skin is green, DO NOT EAT the potato. It will have developed solanine and is considered to be toxic. Potatoes go green from exposure to light, so make sure your potatoes are stored in a dark, cool place. If you buy a bag of potatoes, and find that the skins are green upon washing, demand an exchange or refund from the store. This is especially true of organic potatoes as not as many people buy them and they sit out in bright light much longer. Ok, enough with the ramblings…onward to the chicken.
Quick Chicken:
Ingredients:
- 1lb chicken breasts defatted
- Sea Salt (Optional)
- Coarse black pepper
- Lemon juice or white wine
- Olive oil
Instructions:
In a large skillet, coat lightly with olive oil (about 2 tbsp) over medium high heat. Rub salt and pepper on both sides and put in skillet. Cook about 10 minutes on each side adding lemon juice or white wine to prevent from drying. You can also use just plain water as well, especially if the lemon juice will make your chicken too tart. When dicing, if it appears pink on the inside, it is still considered raw and needs to be put back in the skillet to cook longer.
Now read the quick recipe and finish your pie! Enjoy!
Rising Cost of Food & How To Go Local
My day job has been on major slow-down for the past few weeks and we are paying dearly for the big birthday bash that my hubby was so gracious in letting me put on for myself (he is off the hook for the next 35 years). After gas prices hit $3.35 for regular and one of us has to commute two hours a day we are really starting to feel the pinch. My nerves really started to go on edge when I read this blog post and this article to know that I am not alone.
What does this have to do with food? A lot, really. Food that is imported from other states and countries need fuel for transportation. At the time of this writing, oil is at $117 per barrel!
We are now more determined than ever to make sure the NOTHING will go to waste regarding our CSA produce, and gradually start converting as much as possible to a regional/seasonal diet. I found a very good web page that gives tips this very subject. Mind you, the web page is mainly directed at Northeasterners, such as myself. I also know that going to a more vegan-based vegetarian diet (and we are what is commonly called a semi-vegetarian, meaning we eat fish & fowl) might help with food bill, albeit a very small portion. Good thing we are not allergic to soy and nuts.
Over the next few months I will do my best in posting tips and sites that I find to help stretch your hard-earned dollar bill and ways that will avoid as much food as possible to going to the compost. Here’s a couple of tips off the top of my head that I do or should do.
Tip #1: Start A Veggie Garden
Your veggie garden does not require acres of land. In fact you might be surprised to know that my garden is only 4×4 feet using a method called Square Foot Gardening. I am not as active with the gardening as much as I’m used to since I have been using the CSA, but this can be geared to most people, even those who have no experience in gardening! Before joining the CSA I would have veggies (with the help of a 73 green house over the garden) from April going into November. If you live in an apartment with a balcony, use large pots, plant a tomato plant and add stagger over a week or two a couple of lettuce seeds around the tomato plant and it will love the shade! Instant salad. If you have absolutely no space, find a community garden. You meet some great people and exchange gardening tips and if you must, share your bounty with others.
Tip #2: Buy In Bulk
I do not do this often enough, but right off the top of my head, I would buy my poultry when it goes on sale in minimum batches of 3lb trays and divide them up into 1lb sections and freeze. It is also suggested to also buy flour, sugar, nuts, dried fruits, chocolate chips, and coffee in bulk as well and keep in air tight containers (not zip lock bags as they do not keep fresh and possibly subject to critters).
Tip #3: Save the skin & bones
Want to make some amazing broth and stock? Get out your slow cooker, add your left over skin/bones/meat from your chicken or turkey (never tried beef but can’t hurt, I’m sure) and fill with water. Using a cheese cloth, wrap some fresh thyme, rosemary, 1/4 of an onion, and parsley. Tie together and add to pot. Cook overnight on low. Next morning remove carcass, bones, and spice wrap and strain through a sieve. If you want to remove a goodly portion of fat, no kidding use a non-bleached #4 coffee filter in the sieve. When liquid cannot go through, it is too full of fat and replace with a new one until all the liquid is strained. Freeze in batches of 1 cup, pop out of container and freeze in zip lock bags. Pull out what you need in single cups.
Let’s hear from you regarding your best tips and sites!
Scalloped Potatoes With Celeriac
The last two weeks of our CSA boxed delivery and we get for the first time celeriac or better known as celery root. I have always seen them in the grocery store but never knew what to do with it so I never bothered to try them until now. It was suggested to try to make scalloped potatoes with added celeriac, so I gave it a shot. I initially used this recipe, as a base since I never made scalloped potatoes from scratch, but made some adjustments which is marked with an asterisk (*). Still needs work as you will see in my notes below, but it is a great start and will try again.
Ingredients:
3 tbs butter
1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp dried minced garlic*
1/8 tsp dried thyme*
2 cups chicken broth or vegetarian equivalent
1 1/2 cups grated extra sharp cheddar cheese
1 lb boiling potatoes*
1 lb celeriac root peeled*
1/2 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs*
Salt and Pepper to taste
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
In a heavy saucepan, melt butter over moderately low heat and whisk in flour to make a roux for about 2 – 3 minutes. Whisk in broth and bring to a boil. Whisk in garlic and thyme and simmer for about 2 more minutes, then whisk again until thickened. Remove from heat and whisk in cheese and any salt and pepper you wish to add, until cheese is fully melted.
Peel potatoes (optional) and celeriac (a must) and slice to about 1/8 inch thick. In a 2-quart shallow baking dish, butter or spray cooking oil and make a layer of potatoes and sauce, celeriac and sauce, and repeat until you have between 4 – 5 layers. Sprinkle bread crumbs on top and bake uncovered in the oven for 1 hour or until potatoes are tender.
Overall Impressions
Not sure if it was my oven, but 1 hour does not cut it, more like an hour and thirty minutes. The celeriac took longer to soften. Will try raising the temp to 375 and see if that helps. Also even with the extra sharp cheddar and added spices I found it somewhat bland. Will go for fresh minced garlic next time and add more thyme and a stronger cheese like parmesean or a vecchio asiago d’Allevo.
One thing I found with peeling celeriac is that like apples, it browns quickly. So I would recommend preparing at the last possible moment. But the flavor should not diminish.
