Greek Chicken Roulades

Well, it has been a while since I have blogged more than one  item in a week!  I have been in the mood to try new recipes.  Here are two recipes from Cuisine at Home.  I did not have enough Kalamata olives to make this dish, but did have olive tapenade in my fridge that I used in the filling.  Also, I doubled the recipe from the original.  I made Cuisine at Home’s recipe for Creamy Orzo to go with this.  Both recipes are easy to prepare, prepared in about 30 minutes, and tasty, in short: they are keepers. Start cooking the Orzo first. Now for the recipes:

Creamy Orzo with Feta and Sun-dried Tomatoes

adapted from Cuisine at Home | Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup dry orzo pasta
• 4 oil packed sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
• 2 Tbsp crumbled feta cheese
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp black pepper

Instructions:

In a small saucepan, bring chicken broth to a boil.  Add the orzo and bring to a boil again.  Reduce heat, and boil, uncovered, for 9 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until most of the liquid is absorbed.  Turn off heat.  Drain any excess liquid.  Stir in sun-dried tomatoes, feta cheese, salt, and pepper.  Serve warm with Greek Chicken Roulades.

 

Greek Chicken Roulades

adapted from Cuisine at Home | Serves 4 (doubled from original)

• 1/2 cup olive tapenade (originally 24 Kalamata olives)
• 6 Tbsp breadcrumbs
• 6 Tbsp minced oil packed sun-dried tomatoes
• 2 Tbsp grated lemon zest
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, trimmed of fat
• 4 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup minced shallots
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 3 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 12 Kalamata olives, chopped
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp cornstarch

Instructions:

Combine the olive tapanade, breadcrumbs, minced sun dried tomatoes, lemon zest, minced garlic, and dried oregano in a small bowl.

Slice or pound the chicken breast halves to 1/4 inch thickness.  Spread about 1/4 of the tapenade mixture on the chicken breast halves.  Roll up and secure chicken roulades with toothpicks.  Repeat with remaining 3 chicken breast halves.

In a large non-stick skillet, heat olive oil over medium high heat.  Sear the rolls of chicken about 3 or 4 minutes each side until golden brown.  Remove the chicken to a platter.

Saute the minced shallots in the same pan you cooked the chicken in for about 2 minutes.  Add the white wine.  Cook for a few minutes until the wine has reduced by about half.  Add the chicken broth and the chicken rolls back into the pan along with the chopped Kalamata olives.  Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low.  Cover, and cook for about 10 minutes.

Remove the chicken roulades to a clean platter.

In a small bowl, combine the lemon juice and cornstarch and stir to a slurry.  Add to the sauce in the pan and whisk in.  Cook to thicken.

Remove toothpicks and cut the chicken rolls crosswise to show the filling. Serve with Creamy Orzo and the white wine sauce.

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Sage Butter Sauce

I love cooking!  My passion for cooking started in my Mom’s kitchen as a small child.  Of course now, I may need therapy because I can not stop myself from looking at cookbooks and cooking magazines.  I am afraid to count how many are in my collection – one gem that I often look through is the magazine Cuisine At Home. I recently re-visited an issue that had a recipe for Parmesan-crusted chicken, but what really caught my eye was the sage butter sauce that was with it.

I did make chicken cutlets to go with it, but it was not the same recipe. (Slice chicken thinly into cutlets, dredge in flour, then in egg, and coat in bread crumbs on both sides, fry in canola oil, over medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes each side until golden brown.  Keep warm in 300 F preheated oven on wire rack.)

Sage Butter Sauce

adapted from Cuisine at Home Magazine | Serves 4

• 1 medium shallot, peeled and minced
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 4 Tbsp butter, cubed
• 2 tsp minced fresh sage
• salt, to taste
• ground pepper, to taste
• cayenne pepper, to taste

Instructions

In a small sauce pan, over medium heat, melt the tablespoon of butter and saute the shallots until softened, about 4 or 5 minutes.  Add white wine, heavy cream, chicken broth, and lemon juice.  Cook stirring occasionally for about 8 to 10 minutes or until the sauce has reduced by about half.  Add butter to the sauce,  one tablespoon at a time until butter melts completely after each addition, whisking constantly.  Add chopped sage, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper to taste.  Stir and keep warm until serving.

Serve over chicken cutlets and cooked pasta.

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Shaking Beef

My husband had a dish called Shaking Beef at PF Chang’s and gave me a taste of his dish.  I loved the flavors instantly.  Months have passed since then and it still was a dish I wanted to make at home.  I found this recipe by Mark Bittman at the NY Times. It is not quite like the one at Chang’s, which has roasted potatoes and broccolini in the dish as well. Perhaps next time I will make it using roasted potatoes and broccoli.  I did use watercress and lettuce (half and half each) this time, but next time will just stick with the lettuce as it is cheaper and in my opinion tastier.  I did use beef tenderloin like the recipe called for, but next time will change that to something like flat iron steak and cut it thinly to save on costs there!  That said, it was a really tasty dish and I look forward to making it again.  Here is the recipe:

Shaking Beef

adapted from Mark Bittman (NY Times) | Serves 4 | approx

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lbs beef tenderloin, trim of excess fat and cut into 1 inch cubes
• 2 Tbsp chopped garlic
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• salt and pepper
• 5 Tbsp canola oil
• 1/4 cup rice-wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup white wine (or rice wine)
• 3 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp fish sauce
• 1 red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
• 3 scallions, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1 bunch watercress and half a head of red leaf lettuce, washed and dried
• 1 lime, cut into wedges

Instructions:

In a zip top bag, combine the garlic, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and 1 tablespoon of the canola oil and add the steak cubes.  Refrigerate for about two hours.

For the sauce: In a small bowl, combine the remaining tablespoon of sugar, rice-wine vinegar, white white, soy sauce, fish sauce and stir.

In a small bowl, combine 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. (This is for additional seasoning at the table if you desire)

Cut the lime into wedges (also for seasoning just before eating).

Thinly slice the red onion and cut the scallions into pieces.

Heat a wok over medium high heat and add 3 tablespoons of canola oil.  When the oil is shimmering add half the beef cubes at a time.  Sear for 4 minutes, turn the steak cubes over and repeat to brown.  Add half the red onion slices and scallions and cook for half a minute longer. Add half the sauce to the beef mixture and cook for a minute longer.  Melt half the butter into the sauce and remove the beef onion mixture to a large bowl.  Repeat with remaining oil and beef following the same process. Finishing with the sauce and butter. Add to the bowl of cooked beef and onions.

Place the watercress and lettuce on a large platter and arrange the beef and onions on the bed of lettuce. Pour the sauce over the beef and onion mixture.

Serve.  Season with additional salt and pepper mixture if desired and squeeze lime juice over the beef.

Enjoy!

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