Lemon Chicken Breasts

I am back from a trip to Maui with my family and it has been hard to reenter real life again.  It had to be done though, and now we have sweet memories to look back on.

I was looking for an easy recipe to make that did not mean going to the store for stray ingredients… this one fit the ticket and it is another winning recipe from the brain of Ina Garten.  This recipe is from Ina’s cookbook “How Easy was That?” (link) on page 120  I adapted it to serve my family of five.

Lemon Chicken Breasts

adapted from Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa How Easy Was That? Page 120)

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 Tbsp minced garlic
• 1/3 cup dry white wine
• 1 Tbsp lemon zest (2 lemons)
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice (1 lemon)
• 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp fresh minced thyme leaves
• Kosher salt, to season
• freshly ground pepper, to season
• 4 (6 oz) boneless chicken breasts with skin on
• 1 lemon sliced into  8 wedges lengthwise

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

Warm a small sauce pan with the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the minced garlic and cook for about 1 minute, but don’t let it brown.  Turn the heat off and add the white wine, lemon zest, lemon juice, oregano and thyme.  Pour these into a large Pyrex baking dish.

Dry the chicken breasts with paper towels to remove excess moisture.  Season each chicken breast with salt and pepper and drizzle each lightly with olive oil.  Place them into the baking dish.  Tuck the lemon wedges between the chicken breasts.  Bake for 30-40 minutes or until done.   If the chicken skin is not browned place it under the broiler for a few minutes.  Remove from the oven, cover with foil and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

Serve with a fresh vegetable and rice or risotto.

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Pasta with Sun-dried Tomatoes

I don’t think I have ever made a recipe by Ina Garten aka “Barefoot Contessa” that I have not liked!  Here is another winner from her.  Thank you Ina!

I love the combination of sun-dried tomatoes with the cheese and Kalamata olives.  It is certainly a grown up taste.  My kids are not fans of olives that come in cans and in vinegar – so this salad is more for me and my hubby.  I used tri color spiral pasta instead of white ones – I think it looked prettier.  I will be adding this salad to a semi regular rotation though.

PASTA WITH SUN-DRIED TOMATOES

adapted from Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa Family Style Cookbook p 58)

For the Pasta Salad:

• 1 lb tri color spiral pasta, cooked and drained
• kosher salt
• olive oil
• 3 ripe roma tomatoes, medium dice
• 1/2 cup black olives (Kalamata), pitted and diced
• 1/8 lb fresh mozzarella cheese, cubed in 1/4 inch dice
• 6 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped

For the Dressing (use a food processor) to process the following ingredients:

• 5 sun-dried tomatoes, drained
• 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• 6 Tbsp quality olive oil, (the green stuff)
• 1 clove garlic, diced
• 1 tsp capers, drained
• 2 tsp Kosher salt
• 3/4 tsp black pepper

Last minute ingredients:

• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup fresh basil, julienned (thin ribbon like strips)

Directions:

Cook the spiral pasta in boiling salted water and a splash of olive oil according to package directions.  Drain well and allow to cool.  In a large bowl, place the pasta, chopped tomatoes, chopped olives, diced mozzarella, and sun-dried tomato pieces.  Toss to combine the ingredients.

Process the ingredients listed for the dressing in a small food processor.  Pour the ingredients over the pasta salad and toss to coat the salad with the dressing.  Sprinkle the salad with the grated Parmesan cheese and basil.  Chill and serve.

Warning: this salad is highly addictive!  If you are like me, you will not be able to stop eating it until it is gone, and then you will make some more the next day!

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Chocolate Cake

I do not bake often.  I much rather cook!  With baking you have to be exact and I like to improvise in my cooking. I add a little of this a little of that.  Well, I had a friend request I make her a cake for her husband’s Birthday.  I said I would.  Then I went on the hunt for that perfect chocolate cake recipe.  The chocolate cake that got a lot of high ratings on the internet was that published by Ina Garten.  Only the cake called for 8 inch cake rounds and all I had was 9 inch.  I proceeded to follow the recipe.  Only instead of using 1 cup of hot brewed coffee I used the room temp coffee that I had brewed earlier in the day.  I used the 9 inch cake rounds that I had and baked them… but they fell. That is right the center of the cake collapsed during baking.  It rose around the outside perimeter, but there was a definite valley in the center of my cakes.  But we tasted the cake and it was delicious!  The hint of coffee was good.  I was about to abandon ship on this recipe.  But it was good… so I went in search of the 8 inch cake tins.  I hit up 6 stores before I finally found disposable foil ones in the right size at Walmart.  Armed with this, and the information that the HOT liquid makes all the difference I tried again.. and my second attempt was much better! But it also was full of issues.  I do not bake.. I do not bake.. I do not bake…

About 15 minutes into baking time my blower on the oven stops blowing, which only means one thing: the oven has come to a cool enough temperature that the blower is not blowing!!! WHAT!!!?? I had the oven all preheated and now my second attempt is in the oven? and the blower stops blowing?  Sure enough.  My oven is most decidedly OFF!  This is not good!  I removed the cakes, got the oven back up to baking temperature and baked them again.  Keeping my fingers crossed!  They came out beautifully, but it was the stress I could have lived without.

A few reviews of the frosting were negative, but I had a Vanilla Frosting that I have used before that came out with good success, so I decided to use that.  My friend was thrilled! For the frosting recipe I used please go to my Choir Cake.

You can find the original recipe at this link.  Thank you Ina for a winning recipe of Chocolate Cake.  I may make it again.. once I get over the shock of this past baking experience.  And my dear readers can learn from my mistakes – do use HOT coffee!!! or your cake will look like this:

As a side note:  I have not been as active on my blog in recent months.  I have taken on home schooling my high school student and have found less time to cook creatively.  I have been still cooking, but many recipes I have already posted here.  Next year I am home schooling two of my three kids, so I imagine I will have even less time to blog.  Home schooling is going pretty well overall, other than it is even harder to get the kids up in the morning.  I never saw myself to be a home school mom, but I have found a great support group and do not feel alone in this endeavor.  My son has also started to play baseball. While he is brand new to the sport, it is quite fun to see him learn a sport I have no knowledge about.  My husband and I joke that we don’t have the sports gene.  We don’t watch it on TV.  I used to ride horses, and occasionally play volleyball, but I was not into sports by any means!

 

Chicken Piccata

My husband asked me if I took a picture of dinner for my blog.. of course I had – no one is allowed to eat until I have taken a picture of the food around here!  “Well, David, should I blog it?”  His answer: “Yes, you should blog it and make it often!”  I think he liked it!  Chicken Piccata is breaded chicken breast with a nice lemon wine sauce.  Delicious!

The recipe is from one of my favorite cookbooks: Barefoot Contessa At Home by Ina Garten (page 96).  I used chicken breasts that were sliced into 1/4 inch thickness rather than pounding the chicken thin like suggested.  I think it made it easier to make and I will do so again.  Randall Farms makes a package that has about 8-10 sliced pieces of chicken breast that worked out perfectly for my family. Also, I did not season the chicken before breading them, as the breading has salt in it- and it didn’t need it.

Chicken Piccata

adapted from Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa At Home pg 98)

• 1 package thin sliced chicken breasts (or pound out chicken breast halves into 1/4 inch thickness)
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 1 1/2 cups seasoned breadcrumbs (Italian by Progresso is what I used)
• olive oil for frying
• 3 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided use
• juice of 2 lemons (keep the halves for the sauce after squeezing the juice)
• 1/2 cup white wine
• sliced lemons, for serving
• 1 Tbsp dried parsley (or fresh if you have it)

Preheat the oven to 400F.  Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

Pound out the chicken breasts to 1/4 inch thickness (or use thinly sliced chicken breasts like I did and skip the mess!)

Set out 3 shallow bowls.  Fill the first with the cup of flour and season with salt and pepper.  In the second beat 2 or three eggs.  In the third bowl, pour the seasoned breadcrumbs.  Dip the chicken first in the flour and coat; then in the egg and finally, coat the chicken breasts with breadcrumbs.

Heat a non stick skillet over medium high heat.  Add enough olive oil to cover the bottom about 1/4 inch.  After it has come to heat place 3-5 of the chicken tenders in the pan and fry them for 2 minutes on each side.  After they are golden brown remove them to the prepared sheet pan.  Continue cooking the chicken breast tenders until they are gone.  Place the sheet pan in the oven for 10 minutes.  Pour off the excess oil and wipe the pan out so there are no breadcrumbs left in the pan.

Reduce the flame to medium.  Add 1 Tbsp of the butter and add the lemon juice and white wine, lemon rinds, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper.  Bring to a boil and let it reduce by half (about 2 minutes).  Take the pan off heat and add the remaining 2 Tbsp of butter, stirring constantly until it is fully incorporated.  Add chopped parsley and stir into the sauce.

For serving: place the chicken cutlets on a platter, top with additional lemon wedges and pour some of the sauce over the chicken.  Serve the remaining sauce on the side.

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