Dining In: Mediterranean Chicken and Grains

Sometimes nothing is better than a whole bunch of grains, veggies and meat, all mixed up in one dish (unless you're vegetarian, in which case, not having the meat is better).

I had half a bag of Trader Joe's Harvest Grains Blend (Israeli cous cous, orzo, baby chickpeas and quinoa) to use, so I decided to make a Mediterranean casserole-y dish out of it (although I guess it's not technically a casserole since I didn't cook it in a casserole...)

There isn't really a recipe, but here is the general idea: I cooked the mixed grains according the the package with Better than Bouillion Chicken while I roasted a whole eggplant, cubed, for 20 minutes at 425F with some olive oil and kosher salt.  While that was all going I browned some chicken sausage with rosemary and feta.  Finally, I mixed everything up with red onion, green pepper, kalamata olives, sundried tomatoes, about 3 large handfuls of baby spinach and some fresh mint and thyme from the balcony garden.  Added a bit of allspice, red pepper flakes and salt and pepper (all to taste, I didn't measure), topped it off with some feta, and we were ready to feast!

It wasn't the fastest meal, but it was really delicious and very filling.  We made 5 large servings out of it - hurray for freezer leftovers!

The Lunch Box: Rosemary Chicken Salad

Chicken salad is one of my favorite sandwiches to make, primarily because it's such a blank slate. We needed something quick and easy to take to work this week for lunches, so I made up a giant batch of chicken salad on Monday night. Back in July MG and I roasted the two chickens we had in the freezer and shredded up all the leftover meat. So, all I had to do was pull out a bag of shredded chicken, let it defrost, and voila! Delicious homemade roast chicken all ready to be dressed up.

I used a recipe for rosemary chicken salad from Cheap, Healthy, Good as my canvas, and added my favorite ingredients - walnuts, grapes, green apple and celery. I also omitted the mayo and upped the Dijon mustard and it was plenty moist for my liking. This made 6 good sized portions - I enjoyed mine on an English muffin with some of the last of the balcony garden arugula and a ginormous peach on the side.

MG's desk is much neater than mine. Also, apparently he gets real plates.

And again, chicken salad can be made in so many different delicious ways.  So have fun! Try out some of their other variations, play with the amounts, make it your own.

What are your favorite chicken salad add-ins? Leave your answers in the comments!

Rosemary Chicken Salad
Adapted from Cooking Light via Cheap, Healthy, Good

Makes 6 servings

8 oz roasted chicken breast, shredded (as a time saver, freeze leftovers from a chicken dinner)
3 tbsp scallions, finely chopped
3/4 cup of red grapes, halved
1/2 cup celery, finely chopped
1/2 medium Granny Smith apple, chopped
6 tbsp fat-free plain Greek yogurt
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
2 tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Put ingredients in a bowl. Mix. Enjoy on your favorite bread or wrap!

Dining In: Simple Roast Chicken

When combining two apartments, there are a lot of things to consider.  MG and I did a great job of inventorying our kitchen supplies and book collections, and both donated several bags of clothing to make space in our new shared closet.

The one thing we did not do a good job of planning for was combining our food. We try to be relatively frugal in our shopping which means stocking up on deals, and since we cook a lot, we each had well-stocked pantries. Somehow it didn't occur to us how this would play out until the movers had left. MG went back to paint his old apartment and I started unpacking the kitchen. First I unpacked a bag with 5 boxes of pasta and several cans of plum tomatoes. Then I unpacked another bag with another 4 boxes of pasta. And another. Fast forward five minutes and several more bags, and embarrassingly I must report that we had a combined total of 15 lbs of dry pasta. That's right, fifteen. Not to mention the seven cans of tomatoes, 6 cans of various types of beans and 5 bags of dried cranberries. D.C. residents: in case of disaster, I've got your food covered. If you don't mind pasta with beans and cranberries.

The other holdover from our separate apartments was the two small chickens we'd bought several months ago when they were on sale, and had stored in our freezers. Funny thing about a whole chicken: it takes up a lot of space. And since MG and I are cooking all the time and saving leftovers for later, freezer space is at a serious premium. So, last night we decided to roast up our last chicken. I followed a very simple recipe using some fresh herbs from the balcony garden and we paired it with steamed corn on the cob and veggie skewers thanks to the strategically located farmers' market in front of our building every Saturday morning.

Starting off with some fresh produce and our resident fowl.

Ready for the oven!

Delicious and colorful!

Resting before the real fun begins.

We shredded up the leftovers and popped them in the freezer for future use in enchiladas, soup, chicken salad, you name it!

Let me just say: I love Indian curries, basil-y tomato sauces and spicy marinades, but sometimes there is nothing more satisfying than a simple roast chicken with really good fresh vegetables and a glass of white wine.

So, enjoy!

Simple Roast Chicken
Adapted from Thomas Keller via Epicurious

1 2- to 3- pound chicken
5-6 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 lemon, quartered
4 sprigs of fresh rosemary
4 spring of fresh thyme
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 450F.

Remove giblets from cavity. Rinse the chicken. Using paper towels, dry the chicken thoroughly, both outside and inside the cavity. Water will cause steam, and you want to roast, not steam, the chicken.

Salt and pepper the cavity, and insert the quartered lemon, 2 cloves of garlic, and some of the rosemary and thyme. Carefully slip the remaining garlic cloves, rosemary and thyme under the skin of the breast. Truss the chicken and place in a roasting rack in a pan, breast-side up.

Coat the chicken with several tablespoons of kosher salt and some freshly ground pepper.* Place in the oven and roast, uncovered, for 75 to 90 minutes.** The chicken is done when an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the thigh reads 165 degrees.

When chicken is done, remove from the oven, baste with the juices, and let it rest for 15 minutes on a cutting board before carving. Serve as desired!***

Notes:
*Keller's recipe doesn't call for putting butter or oil on the chicken or for basting during roasting. I was skeptical at first, but the chicken was actually really moist!
**The recipe says to roast the chicken for 50-60 minutes. This was the second time we've roasted a chicken of about the same size in our oven, and both times it's taken closer to 90 minutes. This is probably our oven, so I recommend checking the bird at 50 or 60 minutes, but don't become frustrated if dinner isn't ready for another half an hour.
***Keller recommends serving the chicken simply, with a little Dijon mustard on the side. Having tried this, I can say: Keller knows what he's talking about.

The Boy Bakes: When Things Go Wrong, Completely Change Your Plans

Today is the first guest blog by the one and only Cookies and Kale boyfriend, MG. He's been cooking and baking since he was a teenager and has quite a few notches on his cutting board. He's definitely been an inspiration to me in the kitchen (cue: aww) and I know for a fact that his famous raspberry-rhubarb pie (with real homemade butter crust!) has earned him more than a few groupies among our friends. So without further ado: MG.

The plans you make in the kitchen will not always work out, that is an ironclad rule of the space. There have been too many times to count when I have burnt a screw-head from the oven door into my leg because I was wearing shorts and forgot where I was and times when my produce has been too past its prime to use. At these times, once the cursing dies down and salve is applied, you basically have to completely change what it was you were going to do that day.

Sunday was a day like that for us. The intention was for me to start on my Bread Project and then we would go for a late lunch using a coupon we had and end with a nice one-pot dish for dinner. None of those things happened exactly as we had planned. The bread I attempted to make was the famous no-knead bread. I failed, miserably. The yeast never woke up and performed its magic, I suspect it was a combination of it either being dead yeast (a distinct possibility) or that day was simply too hot and humid (also a likely culprit). That failure was quickly followed by another.

The face of failure. 

I re-read the coupon and lo and behold, it couldn't be used until after 4 p.m. At least I looked before we left with a meal in mind. That left one viable option: it was lunch time and we would just have to move up the dinner idea. The Tex-Mex Arroz con Pollo was indeed a success and I know first-hand that it can take as little as an hour to prepare (and you can take a quick shower while it's in the oven to no ill effects).

Bubbly now, delicious later.  Homegrown hot peppers from a co-worker.

Fresh is better, no?

The finished product.   Served with a side of fajita-style veggies.

Tex-Mex Arroz con Pollo

Adapted from Prevention Magazine's Easy One-Dish Meals via Esther's mama

2 tsp olive oil

1 large red bell pepper, diced*

1 med. onion, diced

2 celery stalks, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 bay leaf

12 oz. skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch chunks

3/4 cup long-grain white rice

2 tsp chili powder

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp ground turmeric

1/8 tsp ground red pepper (cayenne)

1 cup chicken broth*

1/2 cup water

14-oz can chopped green chilies, drained*

1 15-oz can black beans, rinsed and drained

1/2 cup diced tomato*

Fresh cilantro or parsley sprigs for garnish*

Servings: 4-8*

*Lots of notes: 1. We used a green pepper because I bought the wrong kind, no harm, just a little different color. 2. I actually used Better Than Boullion and it worked fine. 3. We used fresh cubanelle peppers because Esther's co-worker generously shared some with us. 4. We used a whole can of diced tomatoes, some of the liquid drained. 5. I hate cilantro, so we didn't use it. We had parsley, but didn't use that either. 6. The servings would be gigantic at 4, lunch-sized at 8, we went with 6 and were more than satisfied.

As a general rule for me, the seasoning measures are a suggestion. I like things spicy, so I used a bit more cayenne and added some homemade hot sauce to the diced tomatoes (Esther didn't know that when I made it). I also like to organize my cooking area so that everything that gets added in the same step is together. All the veggies are in their own bowl, all the spices and rice, etc. It makes adding things a little easier and saves time.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In an ovenproof pot or pan (I used my trusty 5 qt Dutch oven), warm the oil over medium-high heat. Add the bell peppers, onions, celery, garlic and bay leaf (do it, I know it seems out of place), if you use fresh green chiles add them now and saute for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the vegetables begin to soften.

Add the chicken, reduce the heat to medium (I did not do this since my pan was pretty crowded) and saute for 3 minutes (or around 5), or until the chicken is lightly browned or no longer pink outside. (I turned the heat down to medium once I was done with the chicken, you should too at this point).

Stir in the rice and remaining spices, cook for 1 minute, or until the spices are fragrant and have coated everything.

Add in broth, water and canned chiles (if using). Cover and bake for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, uncover, stir in beans and tomatoes. Leave uncovered and bake for an additional 5 minutes or until beans are heated. Add garnishes if you desire.

The recipe is fairly straightforward. Esther's mom made it on the stove (as opposed to in the oven), and it turned out fine - the veggies might be a little softer. We ate it with a side of fajita veggies I just whipped up from an onion, a summer squash, some peppers, a tablespoon of vegetable oil, spices and heat.