Sweet Potato and Chicken Risotto

Are you ready to love me? THIS STUFF IS HEAVEN.  My dad took me out to Brio last week and I was super sad because at $20/plate there is no way I can justify ever going there on my own. But making it on my own... YES! Check out the video and be prepared to LOVE me (or the chef who made this deliciousness.)

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2010/oct/05/video-cook-it-sweet-potato-and-chicken-risotto/

Sweet Potato and Chicken Risotto

Ingredients

2 ounces olive oil
4 ounces pancetta
12 ounces sweet potatoes, roasted (recipe below)
8 ounces asparagus, grilled, cut on a diagonal
24 ounces chicken stock (may be purchased)
24 ounces risotto, cooked (recipe below)
12 ounces pulled oven-roasted chicken (I got a rotisserie chicken)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
8 tablespoons Reggiano or Parmesan cheese, shredded
4 pinches salt and pepper
4 teaspoons pine nuts, toasted (place in 350 degrees oven for five minutes and toast till golden brown-- or in a dry pan till they're browned)
4 teaspoons fresh thyme, chopped

Preparation

Heat oil in a sauté pan.

Add pancetta & sauté until golden brown and crispy.

Add sweet potatoes, asparagus, chicken stock and risotto.

Stir to combine and cook risotto.

Add chicken, butter, Reggiano or Parmesan and salt and pepper.

Stir to mix.

Place on a serving plate and garnish with pine nuts and thyme.

Serves 4 (large portions)

Roasted sweet potatoes

Dice 2 sweet potatoes, mix with salt and pepper and olive oil to coat. Place in a 350 degree oven for 35 minutes and cook until slight browning occurs.

Risotto

Ingredients

1 quart chicken stock
2 cups water
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
1 cup Arborio rice
½ cup white wine
2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces

Preparation

In a large pot, heat the stock and 2 cups water over medium low heat.

In a risotto pot or large skillet with a rounded bottom, heat the extra-virgin olive oil over medium to medium-high heat.

Add the onions and garlic to pan and saute to soften 3 to 4 minutes.

Stir in the rice and heat the rice for one to two minutes, then add the wine and cook until evaporated.

Add in the hot stock a few ladles at a time and stir for a minute with each addition to develop the starch and the creamy aspect. Total cooking time will be about 18 minutes or so. Keep adding stock each time the pan starts to become dry at the edges.

When rice is cooked to al dente, stir in the butter and cheese. Season with salt and pepper, to taste and transfer to a sheet pan and cool.

Garden Success

I have had my first garden success! I recently planted 6 pansies in the back yard (all of which are still alive, yea!) and with the empty container I filled it and planted 6 tomato starters inside. As of today, three have started to bud out of the soil! This proves that I am not a complete plant killer. I also planted some outside directly in the ground, but none have come up yet. Fingers crossed that they will...

Gardening diary

Since moving I have acquired a small patch of dirt in my back yard. I have decided to man the land and make something  grow. I feel completely out of my comfort zone since I have never managed to keep a plant alive for more than a couple of weeks, but I will share my success/failures in an attempt to help others who may feel lacking or lost in this area. I figured the best place to start was to clear out the weeds and prepare the ground with some soil/feed stuff. My mother agreed. Here are my first efforts.

 From the corner to the left will be flowers.

This whole section will be vegetables and herbs.

Nothing too exciting yet. I did plant a flower but it is not in photo condition yet. We will get there.

Easy Chicken Cordon Bleu

Post-Easter left us with a lot of extra ham, therefore I thought it would be yummy to take another stab at making chicken cordon bleu. My first attempt, hardly worth blogging, turned out just okay. So, after much research I used some of the tips mentioned in this blog to make a better dish. One of the best tips is to have absolutely everything prepped and ready to go so that the assembly line goes smoothly.

Ingredients
4 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
4-8 slices of ham (depending on the size of the meat. Mine was freshly cut from the deli and was huge so I only used 4 pieces).
4 slices of swiss cheese (the lady in the aforementioned blog used shredded, whatever works).
Salt & Pepper
olive oil
 toothpicks, if necessary

1 1/2 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs
2 TBS butter, melted

1 egg
2 TBS dijon mustard

Preheat oven to 350

Beat your egg, dijon mustard, and a splash of water together in a shallow dish. Set aside. Mix the melted butter into your bread crumbs. They will clump up, but if you continue to work your fork through the crumbs they will separate back out. The butter will help your crumbs to get nice and crunchy.

For the chicken, you will want to first roll up your ham and cheese into nice little rolls. Then, cut pockets in your chicken large enough to fit the ham/cheese rolls. I put my fingers on top of the chicken to act as a guide to make sure I didn't cut all the way through.Salt and pepper your chicken breasts, then stuff in your ham and cheese rolls. If you press together the open edge, it should reseal. If it doesn't, you can always use a toothpick to keep the chicken sealed together.

Dip each breast into the egg wash, making sure both sides are evenly covered. Then transfer your breast to the bread crumbs and evenly coat both sides.

Place them on a greased cookie sheet, and drizzle them lightly (like just a few drops on each) with your olive oil. Bake for 20-25 min. 

Here is the link again, but this is what your ham rolls should look like inside your chicken. She was able to fit 2 rolls per breast, but due to the size of mine I only fit one.
 

Sunday Comfort: coq au vin

Yesterday was a cloudy, snowy Sunday and that means that we needed some yummy comfort food. This meal is particularly meant for a special occasion or for once in a while.The reason I say that is this is not the type of recipe where you happen to have all of the ingredients lying around. I used the recipe from Ina Garten and my modifications are in parentheses.

Coq Au Vin (in other words, yummy French stew)

Ingredients

• 4 ounces good bacon or pancetta, diced ( I used bacon)
• 1 (3 to 4-pound) chicken, cut in 8ths (Seeings how I'm pregnant again, I was not about to butcher in anyway a chicken. I bought drumsticks, breast, and thighs separately and froze what I didn't use. I also trimmed the skin and fat from the thighs since they are such a fatty cut.)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 pound carrots, cut diagonally in 1-inch pieces
• 1 yellow onion, sliced (I omitted this completely)
• 1 teaspoon chopped garlic (also sold conveniently in pre-chopped squeeze tubes :) )
• 1/4 cup Cognac or good brandy (I omitted this completely--it wasn't worth the purchase)
• 1/2 bottle (375 ml) good dry red wine such as Burgundy (I used a Cabernet Sauvignon 375mL= 1 1/2 cups. We have used both wines and honestly I couldn't tell a difference. I'm no wine connoisseur. Also, if you're like me you don't have a corkscrew at home. Luckily wine comes with twist-off tops)
• 1 cup good chicken stock, preferably homemade (I used it from a can, homemade is way too involved for me)
• 10 fresh thyme sprigs (I used an italian blend of thyme and oregano for a little more depth, about 1 tablespoon)
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, divided
• 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 pound frozen small whole onions (I could not find them frozen so I had to buy them fresh and the bag was larger than 1/2 lb, hence the reason I omitted the yellow onion.)
• 1/2 pound cremini mushrooms, stems removed and thickly sliced (no creminis where I shopped, so I used baby bellas--still just as good).

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.

Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven. Add the bacon and cook over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove the bacon to a plate with a slotted spoon.


Meanwhile, lay the chicken out on paper towels and pat dry. Liberally sprinkle the chicken on both sides with salt and pepper. When the bacon is removed, brown the chicken pieces in batches in a single layer for about 5 minutes, turning to brown evenly. Remove the chicken to the plate with the bacon and continue to brown until all the chicken is done. Set aside.

Add the carrots, onions (here I put in the pearl onions since they were fresh. I didn't want al dente onions as this recipe calls for the pearls at the end), 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper to the pan and cook over medium heat for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are lightly browned. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the Cognac and put the bacon, chicken, and any juices that collected on the plate into the pot. Add the wine, chicken stock, and thyme and bring to a simmer. Cover the pot with a tight fitting lid and place in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, until the chicken is just not pink. Remove from the oven and place on top of the stove.


Mash 1 tablespoon of butter and the flour together and stir into the stew. Add the frozen onions (I did this much earlier to ensure they were fully cooked). In a medium saute pan, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter and cook the mushrooms over medium-low heat for 5 to 10 minutes, until browned. Add to the stew. Bring the stew to a simmer and cook for another 10 minutes. Season to taste. Serve hot.

My notes: depending on how much your chicken cooked in the browning process depends on how long you need yours to stay in the oven. Because I bought mine all separately, the pieces were smaller and so they cooked much faster. I did not have to leave it in as long. 

If you get stuck buying fresh pearl onions, a quick tip to peeling them is to boil a pot of water, dump in the onions and let them boil for about a minute, then remove them. The onions skins will come off super easy this way and you don't have to worry about peeling a bajillion onions.

Remember to get wine with a twist-off top if you don't have a wine key/cork screw. Nothing is worse than getting home and not being able to open the wine, or having to knife away at the cork until it disintegrates or falls inward to the wine.

 Browning the bacon. As you can see I did not use a dutch oven-- this is an oven-safe pot and it worked great!

 Diagonal cuts. I used baby carrots, mostly because they are easier to eat than big ol' chunks of regular carrot.

 Post-boiled onion: you can see the skins peeling right off. I chopped the ends and it was easy to get them peeled.

 Browning the chicken. I recommend rotating the chicken in terms of placement because if your oven/coil is like mine, all of the fat sat at the bottom and cooked whatever was down there a lot quicker than what was at the top.

 Sauteeing the carrots and onions. I did chop some of the pearls so that they would spread more of their flavor since I omitted the yellow onion.

 Added the chicken back in with the vegetables, as well as the stock and wine. This is pre-oven.

 This is post-oven. The chicken will get a dark exterior from the wine, but the inside stays nice and white and juicy!

 Sauteeing the mushrooms. This is the first time I used baby bellas and they are kind of a sensitive mushroom, meaning they bruised easily.

 All together in the pot.

Served atop mashed potatoes--enjoy!

COMING SOON!!

You didn't know we were taking a break, did you? Neither did we. Needless to say, between Rachel's baby and my cross-country-move/family tragedy/christmas/working 500 hours a week, this blog has been sadly neglected!

Today at work (whre it is painfully slow (I've been here 4 1/2 hours and the phone has rung ONCE) I decided what I am going to make for me to eat next week. (I cook a big meal or two once a week, then freeze in tupperware. Then I pull out a tupperware when I leave home at 8:30ish and by 6:30 it's thawed and ready to be popped in the microwave and eaten at my desk) This serves 2 purposes, it fills my cooking urges (which have a tendancy to DIE on my way home at 8:00 pm), and saves me from eating out which is bad for the budget and for the waistline. It also keeps me happy, as my quota a for mac-n-cheese has been already filled this quarter (and by quota I mean ONCE, I've had it once).

So, here are the meals I'll be making Today and tomorrow, This way I'll be accountable for taking pictures AND for posting them (I have pictures of some stuff that I just haven't managed to get up here in all the disastratastraphy! (yes, it is a real word).

Pizza: I know, you're wondering how it will freeze, Honestly, I'm wondering too! We'll find out, but let me tell you-- this is THE BEST pizza dough recipe I've ever had. And I'm planning on some BBQ chicken as well as some 'trash' pizza. I think they'll be pretty small, and wrapped in saran wrap then foil... I think...

PF Changs Lettuce Wraps. (I made another lettuce wraps recipe over christmas, but I want to try this one... since PF Changs' lettuce wraps are amazing) (I'll probably actually just make it a salad, as lettuce wraps are messy-- and that should work, right? small containers of the filling ready to heat up and toss on a bed of greens.

Char Sui Bao: What? what?  I know... it's a foreign language. These are delicious Chinese buns with BBQ pork filling. YUM, right? Again... I tried once recipe over Christmas, and I'm going to try a different one this time, to see if I can get it right. Also, this one doesn't require 1/2 cup of red food coloring... (ok the other one just called for 1/4 tsp of the GEL... hello red dye #40!)

Anyway-- be excited, because I am... also because I found pork loin chops for 1.18/lb. I LOVE Provo food prices :)

Also, theoretically coming soon-- awesome melty crayon art inspired by pinterest... we'll see if my hairdryer is good for anything besides making my hair awesome (with help from the moisture sucking place that is the Utah desert).

Veggie Bars

A few months ago I went with Kristen to church, and the teacher of the class we went to brought these veggie bars. They are so darn good! I went home, googled, and made the first chance I got! 

Check these bad boys out! I mean... I had to make the picture extra large so you could see all the goodness on here, the best part is you can pretty much use whatever veggies you want to!

Here are the directions. It's a nice counter to a buffet full of sweets, and you can feel healthy eating all the veggies (even if you have to ignore the crescent rolls and the cream cheese).

2 (10 1/8 ounce) packages crescent shaped dinner rolls
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 (1 ounce) package original ranch dressing
black olives, chopped
sharp cheddar cheese
choose you favorite vegetables, such as carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, red onions, radishes, bell pepper, zucchini, etc

Directions:
1 Preheat the over 350°F Lay out the rolls on a jellyroll pan to make a crust. Bake in a preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes; cool.
2 Combine the cream cheese, mayonnaise, and ranch dressing.
3 Spread the cream cheese mixture over the crescent crust.
4 Chop the veggies into small pieces; press the black olives and your choice of veggies into the cream cheese mixture.
5 Top with shredded sharp cheddar cheese.
6 Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight, cut into bars and serve.

Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/vegetable-bars-56670#ixzz1aWt1y6nh