Elegant dinner but super easy. You’d think it’s complicated and time consuming, but it’s really not. 

A post from Carolyn.  Someone asked me recently what chefs I follow . .. . my answer? I don’t really follow many chefs. Probably my two favorite food TV shows are Ina Garten and Rachael Ray. Neither of them are professionally trained. They’re both excellent cooks who make very approachable food. Do I have cookbooks from famous chefs? Yes, I do, but I can’t say I turn to them all that often for inspiration. I love reading cookbooks, however.

So, a few weeks ago I was watching a Rachael Ray show and she made these delicious little  morsels and I couldn’t wait to try it. Since I always have chicken thighs in my freezer, and I always keep shallots on hand, it was an easy “yes” that I’d make them. She explained that this recipe is Canadian and on a trip she saw a recipe in a magazine and tore it out and probably made it her own somehow. She thought these tournedos were worthy of even a wedding dinner. And I would agree. They’re really fabulous.

I changed just two things in her recipe: (1) I spread a bit of mustard on the insides of the chicken thighs; and (2) I added a little splash of cream to the sauce. You can certainly eliminate both of those if you want to be true to Rachael’s recipe. Usually tournedos refer to beef, but the word refers to the shape, I think (normally it’s beef tenderloin). So someone, ingeniously, decided to try the techniques with chicken.

So first you spread the inside of the chicken thighs with grainy mustard. The first thigh you mold (as best you can) in a roll, a log shape. Then drape the other thigh over the first one. Then wrap the bacon slice (use thick sliced if you can) around the outside edge and loop kitchen twine to tie it. It’s a little awkward getting the bacon in the right place and the twine just in the middle and then tied properly. Just takes a little bit of fussing. The chicken is sprayed with oil or some kind of spray and baked for a mere 30 minutes, until the chicken reaches 165°F. Use an instant read thermometer to make sure you don’t overcook them.

Meanwhile, make the sauce – butter shallots, sherry, mustard, maple syrup, Worcestershire and cream. Some is poured over the chicken, and the rest you can serve on the table. Poppy seeds are sprinkled on the top (kind of an unusual garnish for chicken, I thought) but it looks good.

What’s GOOD: everything about this is good – the moist chicken, the lovely bacon flavor and the sauce. Altogether wonderful. Easy too.

What’s NOT: nothing at all.

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Do you ever wish you could make something that is just bursting with lemon flavor? And garlic too? Throw in rosemary as well?

A post from Carolyn. Since I didn’t name this recipe, I guess I really shouldn’t re-name it; even so, it would be difficult to do, because these three flavors (lemon, garlic, rosemary) are just all there. Equally so. I think the lemon is predominant, however.

My friend Dianne made this chicken for the luncheon I told you about in my last post (for the classic rice pilaf – that went with this chicken). She told me that a few years ago her grown kids and grandkids were visiting and her daughter said “what’s for dinner,” and Dianne suggested they try one of the recipes from Zov’s (a local restaurant). It’s since become a favorite in her family and whenever they visit, it’s a regular on the menu. The recipe comes from Zov’s cookbook, Zov: Recipes and Memories from the Heart. It was published in 2005, (also updated in 2008) but it’s still available. Zov is Armenian by heritage and her recipes certainly reflect the Mediterranean and beyond culture and cuisine.

So, the recipe uses boneless, skinless chicken breast halves. Dianne pounds them to an even thickness (so you get even cooking on the grill). Then they’re marinated for about 24 hours. The recipe indicates you can marinate them a shorter period, or even longer, but Dianne likes the 24 hours as a regular benchmark. They are patted dry with paper towels, then grilled swiftly over a medium-high grill heat. Then she carefully slices them on the diagonal (so you get slightly wider slices than when cutting straight down). Put them onto a heated platter (because they cool very quickly) and serve immediately. Do put some fresh rosemary and a wedge or two of lemon on the platter when serving  – it looks so pretty.

Dianne made more than enough of this, so when we were divvying up the leftovers, she generously let me have a bunch. My granddaughter Taylor and I had two dinner meals with the leftovers, and still had more for some evening dinner salads with the chopped up cold chicken on top.

What’s GOOD: the flavors are, as I mentioned, just bursting through. Does that tell you enough – the lemon, the garlic and the rosemary. Absolutely delicious. So worth making.

What’s NOT: only that you must plan ahead at least 24 hours to get the most out of the marinating.

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Butter Chicken is a favorite of mine, and this version of it is SO very easy, you simply won’t believe it. Everything for this dinner is cooked right in the Instant Pot.

A post from Carolyn. My Instant Pot sits on a shelf in my laundry room (mostly because I don’t have room in my kitchen for it), but it gets a pretty good workout even so. And this recipe is going to make your day. It’s so very easy, and dinner is ready in a flash – truly, under 30 minutes. This recipe came from Food52, from Urvashi Pitre. She’s known as “The Butter Chicken Lady,” and rightly so. She’s a celebrated author of numerous instant pot cookbooks, and let me just say, this recipe is a winner. I’ve followed her blog for several years (called twosleevers.com), and have made a few of her recipes in the past, but it’s for this one that she’s the most famous. She even got a write-up in the New York Times.

Her title for this recipe is “Now and Later Instant Pot Butter Chicken.” That’s because when you make this, you’ll end up with about 1 1/2 cups of extra sauce, which you’ll save (and freeze perhaps) to use with some other leftovers another night. What I love about this recipe is that into the instant pot you combine the canned tomatoes, ginger, garlic, turmeric, cayenne (or Kashmiri chile powder in my case), paprika, salt, cumin and garam masala. You stir it just a bit, add the chicken thighs, stir that just a bit so the chicken is coated in the flavorful sauce.

Meanwhile, you will use a small glass or ceramic bowl (that will fit into the Instant Pot) to which you’ll add basmati rice, water, butter and salt. After placing a trivet (I used the instant pot trivet that has the two handles) on top of the chicken, you place the rice bowl on top. Put the IP lid on top and pressure cook the chicken for 10 minutes. Then you let it sit for 10 minutes, undisturbed. Release the pressure, remove the bowl of rice (now fully cooked) with the trivet handles, remove the chicken to a bowl (large enough so you can pull apart the chicken easily). The sauce on the bottom of the Instant Pot gets smoothed out with an immersion blender, which takes about 20 seconds or so, then you add cream (or coconut milk), 4 T of butter and some chopped cilantro plus another teaspoon of garam masala. Your butter chicken is done. Put the chicken back in the pot and stir it around, and serve with the rice.

What’s GOOD: how absolutely simple this is. It’s genius, as they say at Food52. This is going to become my go-to butter chicken recipe henceforth! Only thing I might do differently is add some chopped up onion to the mixture. Not sure that’s authentic, but I’ll try it that way next time. I served it with some steamed broccoli on the side.

What’s NOT: nothing at all – such a simple dish, easy and flavorful.

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Oh goodness, is this good. Easy to make, and sensational to eat.

A post from Carolyn. This recipe is such a winner. Really quite easy to make – the creamy white sauce starts it off, but then you add cream cheese to it, and Caesar salad dressing. Not a lot of the dressing, but just enough that you can barely taste a hint of Caesar flavor. If you’re into EASY, then do buy a rotisserie chicken, which yielded about 3 cups of shredded chicken for me, just the right amount for this casserole.

After that, it’s the usual kind of lasagna, cooked noodles (I undercooked them slightly), layered with the cheeses and the creamy sauce and chicken. Plus some baby spinach added into each layer. Originally this recipe came from A Pinch of Yum (from 2013!), but I altered it a bit – increasing the sauce quantity and another layer of noodles, and I used a grated cheese blend. Although I’m more of a traditionalist about cheeses (almost never using pre-grated cheese because they put something on it so it won’t clump), this time I was into speed, so I bought Kraft’s Italian blend of cheeses in 8-ounce bags. I used 1 1/2 bags for this recipe. My only caution: make sure you have enough cheese left over to put on the top layer of noodles – you don’t want crispy edges. I also added a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg to the sauce – certainly not traditional! In savory dishes like this with a creamy sauce, I just think nutmeg is a sure-fire winner. You don’t really taste the nutmeg.

I made this the day before I wanted to serve it, and just let it warm up to room temp for about 45 minutes before I put it in the oven. It took a little longer to get it all heated through. I cut it into lunch-sized portions (for one of my ladies’ book groups, a potluck), so use a sharp knife to cut the slices evenly. Do let it cool about 10 minutes before serving.

What’s GOOD: oh gosh, the creamy sauce; altogether deliciousness. It’s easy to put together; can be made ahead too. Loved the leftovers as well.

What’s NOT: not a thing. This recipe is a keeper.

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The picture above shows the chicken in mid-bake – – – forgot to take a photo of the finished goods! When finished, the grapes were mostly wrinkled and had oozed some juice that went into a sauce.

A post from Carolyn . . . I’m back home from my 2 1/2 week road trip and haven’t had time to write another post about my trip – but this recipe was sitting in the drafts – something I made a month or two ago . . . . I had friends and family here for dinner. I served some various cheeses with crackers, this chicken alongside the layered salad that’s already been posted. I’d stewed some cherries, already on my blog, called Bing Cherry Compote, that I’d made a few days before, that were put on the top of some vanilla ice cream, for dessert. We opened an old bottle of red wine from the cellar and there was dinner!

There were 5 of us, and two of them hungry men, so I figured I’d best make two chickens. Probably I could have made do with just one chicken, but oh well, I’ll make soup or something with the remaining chicken. My cousin Gary is visiting as I’m writing this (although he’s driving back to the Bay Area in a couple of days) and he’s expressed interest in learning more about cooking. So I suggested HE make the spatchcocked chicken. I know I can buy already uncooked, but dressed/marinated spatchcocked chicken at Trader Joe’s, but those are seasoned, and I wanted to try this recipe. Besides which, I was happy to have Gary’s strong hands to cut out the backbone of those two birds. Sometimes I struggle cutting the largest bones. If you don’t know how to spatchcock a chicken, there’s a 1 1/2-minute video on youtube.

You know that when you flatten a chicken, it cooks more evenly. The breast meat and the thigh meat seem to cook to just the right temp without compromising each other. The recipe came from The Splendid Table, from Melissa Clark. It was described in a podcast I listened to and I promptly came to my computer to look it up. It’s a great recipe.

The essence of this recipe – the chicken is flattened on the baking sheet and a rub is added to it (EVOO, salt, fennel seeds, pepper and lemon zest) both top and bottom. I used two sheetpans obviously, as a flattened chicken takes  up a good part of the big pan. After the chickens rest a bit (sitting with the rub), they’re baked at high temp (475°F) for 20 minutes. Then you add the grapes (I bought a mixture of colors because they’d be pretty on the plate) which have been lightly tossed in EVOO and salt and pepper and a tiny sprinkling of sugar. The pans go back in the oven for another 20-25 minutes until they’ve reached the correct temp. Once they were removed, the chickens were put off onto a cutting board, and they rested under foil for about 15 minutes while we put the pan on the cooktop (without the parchment), simmered the juices there (after having removed the grapes) and then added a pat of butter and some sherry vinegar. What a lovely combination! The grapes and sauce were heated on the stove, poured into a pitcher and people drizzled the sauce over the chicken.

My friend Cherrie’s husband Bud carved the birds for me, and we sat down to eat. Daughter Sara had driven up from San Diego, as she wanted to visit with cousin Gary, so she came for dinner too. Anyway, we all went back for seconds on everything, I think.

What’s GOOD: liked the fennel flavor in the chicken, and oh gosh, the grapes were a genius idea to serve alongside chicken. Loved the flavored sauce and did I say how good the grapes were? Oh my.

What’s NOT: nothing other than you need spatchcocked chickens to make this. It’s a relatively easy recipe otherwise.

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My riff on a chicken curry recipe similar to what’s served from food carts in India.

You all know who Ruth Reichl is, right? From the venerable halls of food writers and editors, and cookbook authors. Memoir writers too. She used to work at the Los Angeles Times, so I’d been familiar with her for decades. I’m not sure which one of her books this recipe came from (I own a couple of her books, but not all of them). She’s such a good writer, witty and informative, providing plenty of humility when it comes to cooking. Anyway, this came through on one of my feeds from a blog – not sure which one. So the story goes, Ruth has spent more than one trip food-crawling in India, or maybe it was a similar food-crawl in New York City, but no matter how, this is one of her favorite pastimes, partaking of the chicken served from street food carts. She wrote:

The entire city smells like curry. Passing the fourth halal chicken cart, I can’t resist.

Spicy, tangy, irresistible. The taste of now.” Ruth Reichl

Lately I’ve been craving curry again, and since this was a recent recipe I added to my chicken recipes, it was what was on my mind. As I’m writing this it’s early October and this won’t post until later in the month, but what’s important is that I finally began going to grocery stores. It had been 7 months since I’d set foot in one. For my first foray, I visited a nice, new one, a bit smaller than the mega-grocery chains, and found it not crowded, which made me feel better about being there. I was able to buy a red onion for this dish, then I defrosted a pouch of chicken thighs. I used most of them in a soup that I’ll post in a few days, but I saved out some and made this chicken curry and served it on a bed of cauliflower rice.

Several hours ahead I marinated the chicken in a mixture of spices, with some EVOO and lemon juice added. That rested in the frig. Meanwhile I pulsed some fresh cauliflower (I’ve made a big decision – I much prefer prepping a big whole cauliflower into “cauliflower rice” than I like eating the stuff already prepared and sold as “cauliflower rice.” I’m guessing that by the time it gets to stores, it’s several days old. I may never buy the cut up bag  (but still raw) stuff again. I cooked the cauliflower rice in butter over low heat until it was just barely tender.

The CHICKEN: When you’re ready to cook, have everything ready, as the dinner comes together quickly. Into a nonstick pan the chicken goes – it doesn’t need any fat as there is enough in the marinade. Cook it low and slow – it takes about 10 minutes. Test a little piece of chicken to see if it’s done. As I said, meanwhile I did the cauliflower with nothing more than butter in it. I plated the dish.

The ZUCCHINI: I also chopped up one big zucchini and sautéed it in the same pan once I removed the curry. The pan still had a bit of fat in it, AND some of the wonderful spices too. So I got two portions of veggies – the cauliflower rice under the curry AND the zucchini on the side.

I scaled down this recipe since I’m just one person, but two chicken thighs made enough for me to have at least 2 meals. I might even stretch it to 3. Especially if I serve a moderate portion of the zucchini as well. The only change I made to this recipe was to add some Greek yogurt at the end. And I used a bit more of the oregano than the original called for. As for the yogurt – I like a creamy curry. Street carts don’t do that, apparently, so I did veer off a little bit. Food carts serve a cold sauce on the side that’s a mixture of yogurt, mayo, sugar, salt, pepper and vinegar. So, your choice. I let the yogurt simmer too long so it began to separate – so do as I say, not as I did – simmer the yogurt for just long enough to heat it through, then serve.

What’s GOOD: This dish is divine! What else can I say – SO delicious. So comfort-food for me. I nearly licked the plate. Everything about it was fantastic. I’ll be making this again and again. Thank you, Ruth Reichl!

What’s NOT: only that you need to start this the night before or at least 4 hours ahead to marinate the chicken. The seasoning permeates the chicken well during that time – don’t eliminate that step.

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Maybe I’m bored with my own cooking of late. Decided to do something outside the box.

As I’ve mentioned many times here, most days I have soup (laden with lots of veggies) for lunch. But you probably heard earlier this month here in SoCal, the temps were in the 100s. One day it was 108 here at my house. Even though I have AC in my house (thank you, Lord!) I could still feel hot around the edges. I didn’t want hot soup, and the soup I had in the frig wasn’t one that could be eaten cold. So I decided to fix myself an open faced sandwich. I didn’t even have leftover chicken – so I used canned chicken. I do that sometimes when I’m not wanting to cook a chicken breast. Costco’s canned chicken is very good, if you’ve never tried it.

These days, with the pandemic still keeping me at home (oh, I’m so very tired of it), I don’t always have food items I need to make something new. So I used what I had and created a chicken salad and served it atop a nice wheat type thin slice of toast, some sliced avocado (hidden under the greenery) and with arugula. So, I thought about what I could do to make this salad different. Well, I had dill. Good, that would work. I had almonds in the freezer, so that was easy, although I didn’t toast them (it was just too hot even to turn on the toaster oven). I combined the chicken, Best Foods mayo, some minutely diced celery, lemon juice, a minced up green onion, some red grapes that I diced up (optional) and then I threw in a heaping tablespoon of mango chutney. That chutney was just the ticket. It added that slight bit of sweetness and flavor variation that I was seeking. I had enough to make this sandwich three times, although only the first time did I use the toast and avocados.

It took me very few minutes to make the salad, toast the bread, slice the avocado, chop up the arugula, mince the dill, and it was done. Don’t add salt until after you’ve tasted it – the mayo has some already – so I didn’t add any, though I did grind in some pepper.

What’s GOOD: very easy and quick to make. The mango chutney was the surprise flavor here, and I really liked it. The dill was another flavor profile I enjoyed. I don’t suppose this recipe will win any county fair prizes, but it was just the answer to my wish for something easy and different.

What’s NOT: well, during a pandemic, you might not have all the ingredients. I always keep Major Gray’s mango chutney in my refrigerator – it virtually keeps forever, and the other ingredients were all staples, except for the dill. I wish I could grow dill at my house, but it’s always too hot. This sandwich isn’t low calorie – I was kind of surprised when I looked at the nutrition count. Must be the mayonnaise!

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Absolute divine chicken and vegetables.

A few weeks ago I was reading Smitten Kitchen (blog) and Deb had written up a recipe for smaltzy chicken with a bed of cabbage underneath it. I know enough Yiddish to know that schmaltz is chicken fat. I laughed at Deb’s naming of the recipe – schmaltzy – to connote the fat that drips down from the chicken into and onto the bed of cabbage underneath. When I made the dish, it was absolutely fabulous. I mean drop-dead fabulous. And I took pictures of it. But when I tried to work with the photos, it was just so “brown.” You know me and dull, brownish pictures. Hate them. I used all of that chicken, and ate all of the delicious cabbage that had been permeated with the chicken juices, and fat, of course. So, with another chicken in my frig, but no cabbage, I decided to try it with different veggies.

To make this recipe work, I think you DO need to use firm brassica vegetables (Brussels, cabbage, turnips and/or cauliflower). I had Brussels, but nothing else, so I added onions on top. Onions aren’t of the brassica family, but they do take a long time to cook through. So, I thought, why not? Oh my goodness. A marriage made in heaven.

This dish is a cinch to put together. I mean it. The Brussels sprouts are halved if they’re big, otherwise left whole, and they’re placed cut side down into an oiled iron skillet. One that’s big enough to hold all the vegetables and the whole chicken sitting on top of them. Then the halved and sliced onions are put on top of that. I seasoned them with salt, pepper and dried thyme (my favorite go-to herb). The whole chicken is dried off, then oiled with EVOO, salted, peppered and more dried thyme, then set atop the veggies. Into a VERY hot oven (450°) it goes for about 50 minutes. My oven runs a tad hot, so I used 445°F. At the halfway point I turned the pan around 180°F in the oven.

When I made chicken before, I removed it when the thigh had reached 165°F, the usual temp cooks say it needs to reach. But I wasn’t totally happy with the chicken – to me it wasn’t quite done. It was done, but it wasn’t done enough. The leg wasn’t loose – the sure sign that a chicken is cooked through. So this time when I opened the oven at 50 minutes, the chicken was very golden brown. So I turned the oven down to 420°F and let it roast for another 10 minutes, at which point the thigh had reached 180°F. If you have a smaller chicken or a larger one, you might need to adapt the total baking time. I removed the pan with all the wonderful chicken and onion flavors floating around my nose, tented it with foil for about 10 minutes, and was ready to serve.

The vegetables stayed plenty warm in the hot-hot frying pan while I carved  up the chicken. My portion control went right out the window. I hate a leg (thigh and drumstick) and a big scoop of vegetables. And as I peeled off all the chicken from the carcass later, I nibbled on more juicy, dripping chicken. Oh my.

What’s GOOD: there is nothing that wasn’t sensational about this chicken. If I don’t have brassicas to add to the pan, well, I’ll just use more onions. But the combo of Brussels and onions was doubly wonderful. If you’re not a Brussels sprouts fan, use cabbage and onions.

What’s NOT: nothing that I can think of – you do need some kind of veg that needs long, hot cooking. Hence I didn’t think broccoli would work here. Cauliflower would, however, so I’ll try that next time, providing I have some.

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Corn is in season – get yourself some – and make this delicious topping for grilled chicken.

Remember, I went to a cooking class a week or so ago and came home with 3 chicken recipes. One more to go after this one. Phillis Carey did a riff on Mexican Street Corn, a recipe I have here on my blog. In this version she Italianized it with different herbs – she also cut it off the cobs and used it as a side/topping/relish.

The chicken breasts, cut and pounded to an even 1/2” thickness, are marinated in an Italian-style mixture with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, garlic, rosemary, thyme and a little bit of brown sugar. Some of the marinade is removed and set aside to use on the chicken as it’s grilling. The chicken can be marinated for a max of 3 hours, but 30 minutes is fine too.

The corn – it’s grilled while it’s still on the cob – then cut off the cobs and mixed while it’s still slightly warm with olive oil, mayo, rosemary, thyme and some grated Parm. Meanwhile, the chicken gets grilled until just cooked through – don’t overcook it or no one will be happy – and serve with the corn mixture on top.

Easy. Delicious.

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Bet you thought you wouldn’t hear from me again. Gotcha! Carolyn here. After attending a cooking class last night. Had to share a few recipes with you. There will be two more chicken recipes plus a dessert coming up in a bit.

That photo may not be the best representation – brown food never looks that photogenic – it’s a red onion (grilled) with Cotija cheese crumbled in it set atop a grilled (marinated) chicken breast. Oh gosh, was it good! Phillis Carey said we’d all likely want to have the whole bowl of onion relish. Yes. My hand would have poked in the air begging for an extra serving. There weren’t any leftovers at the class, alas. Hence I’m going to have to make this dish sometime soon.

What makes this is the onion relish, for sure, but the marinade gives the chicken lovely flavor and I know for sure the fresh lime juice squeezed over the top just before serving added a whole lot of extra piquancy. But I could have eaten several servings of the red onion relish.

So first you marinate the chicken in jarred (Trader Joe’s) salsa verde along with oil, lime juice, garlic, chili powder and cumin. The chicken breasts were given the royal Phillis Carey treatment (she being the queen of the myriad uses of chicken breasts and the pounding of them). She has a new technique, however. Since so many chicken breasts are SO big, she first cuts each breast in half crosswise in about half. Note, crosswise, not lengthwise. The thinner end is probably already thin enough, you don’t need to pound it at all – if any, just the thicker end a tiny bit. The other piece she cuts horizontally in half which gives you two equally sized pieces and those two get pounded just slightly (put the pretty side down, cover with plastic wrap and gently pound to equal thickness). So each big chicken breast = 3 nice sized entrée serving pieces. And all will cook evenly.

The onions are oiled and grilled until soft and caramelized, then removed. They’re chopped up coarsely (see photo) and some of the reserved salsa is added plus some Cotija (a dry, Mexican style salty cheese, similar to Feta) that’s crumbled up into it. The chicken is grilled as well and taken off before they overcook. Some salsa is put on the flipped over side, then you serve it with the onion piled on top. Done. You’ll hear raves, I just know it. Oh, don’t forget the grilled lime half that you grill also and squeeze that over each person’s serving. Grilled limes look so pretty – let each person squeeze their own.

What’s GOOD: the onion relish, tender, juicy chicken, everything.

What’s NOT: nothing.

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