Monthly Archives: March 2009
Chicken Braised in Coconut Milk
| March 31, 2009 | Posted by Lauren Keating under Chicken and Poultry, Light, One Pan, Salads, Weekend Meals |
Last week, Faith over at the kitchn posted a recipe for a chicken roasted in milk and lemon. I knew immediately that I had to try this one, and Sunday was the perfect lazy, rainy day for a chicken. I switched it up a little by using coconut milk, which gave it a nice subtle coconut flavor.
This is by far the moistest chicken I’ve ever had. The bones literally fell right out when we tried to take it out of the pot! Which was nice, because it meant we got every scrap of meat that was to be had… since the chicken was only $4 to begin with (it would have been even cheaper, but I went with a natural/humanely raised/vegetarian fed bird) this meal was super cheap. I want to say we’ll get at least 6 meals out of this.I served it originally with multigrain pilaf and sauteed spinach and then had leftovers on top of a salad with feta, kalamata olives, diced cucumber, and Newman’s Own light cesear.
- 3.5 pound chicken
- sea salt and cracked black pepper
- 2 T butter
- 1 T olive oil
- 1 cinnamon stick
- palmful dried sage
- zest of 2 lemons
- 6 cloves garlic (skins left on)
- 1 can coconut milk
- 1/2 can water
Preheat oven to 375. Season chicken with salt and pepper. In a pot just large enough to hold your chicken, heat butter and oil. Add chicken, and brown on all sides (if you plan to eat the skin relly cook it and get it nice and crispy; if you don’t eat the skin just brown it a little for flavor). Remove chicken from pan and discard the leftover oils. Put chicken back into the pot along with the rest of your ingredients. Place a lid on the pot and put the whole thing in the oven for 90 minutes, basting occassionally. Remove chicken from pot and let sit for a few minutes. Serve with the cooking liquids spooned over top.
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Have I ever mentioned that my dog’s favorite toy is his stuffed lobster? He’s pretty spoiled when it comes to dog food too- he definitely has his favorite flavors! How cute??
Asparagus Ice Cream in an Almond-Lemongrass Cookie Cup
| March 30, 2009 | Posted by Lauren Keating under Desserts |
The ingredients for this month’s Royal Foodie Joust were tough: Almond, Asparagus, and Lemongrass. I’m not a big fan of almonds and I’ve never really worked with lemongrass before. I love asparagus, but I usually like it prepared simply- just blanches with a little olive oil.
After a lot of thinking, I remembered that I had asparagus ice cream at a Beligan restaurant once and that it was really gI’m much more a fan of almonds in sweet preparations than savory, so I decided that this would have to be the route I would take.
This actually came out really good. The ice cream definitely tastes like asparagus, which is a little weird, but its very tasty! And the cookie cups are just awesome. The cookeis stay pretty pliable, and I found that I also like to shape them around the ice cream… almost like a little cannoli. That way, its really easy to just pick up and bite. I think it would be fun to play around with the ice cream as a componant of a main dish as well… it could be a pretty fun way to get your veggies in!
For the ice cream:
- 2 egg yolks
- 3/4 c heavy cream
- 3/4 c skim milk
- 1/3 c sugar
- 1/2 bunch asparagus, trimmed
Stir together egg yolks and half the sugar. In medium saucepan, heat the cream, milk, and remaining sugar to 175 degrees. Remove from heat. Slowly stir a ladle full of the cream mixture into the eggs to bring them up to temperature. Slowly add the egg mixture to the rest of the cream, stirring constantly. Heat to 185 degrees. Remove from heat, let cool, and then chill for several hours. Meanwhile, boil asparagus until they are pretty soft. Add to food processor and puree, adding a tablespoon or two of water if you need to to get a creamy consistency. Combine chilled custard and asparagus puree. Freeze according to your ice cream makers instructions.
For the cookie cups:
- 2 T butter, softened
- 1/3 c sugar
- 1 egg white
- 2 T flour
- 2 oz almonds, smashed into a course powder
- 1 T lemongrass
- drop vanilla
Preheat oven to 375. In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add egg white. Stir in remaining ingredients. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Drop dough into sheet by the Tablespoonful (Cook just 1 or 2 at a time,and leave plenty of room since these will spread a lot.) Flatten out a bit with the back of the spoon. Cook until browned, about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and let cook for a few minutes. Remove from baking sheet with a spatula, and drape over the bottom of a small bowl to shape. Let cool, about 20 minutes, before removing from the bowl. (Yields about 6-8 cookies)
To make the chocolate garnish: melt a few Tablespoons of chocolate chips in the microwave. With a fork, “paint” the melted chocolate onto a sheet of wax paper- I made a crosshatch type shape. Let cool to reharden chocolate (sticking it in the fridge will speed this up). Once rehardened, you can break the chocolate into pieces and use as garnish.
Thanks to the Leftover Queen for hosting this challenge! I had fun!
Tweet Tweet!
| March 29, 2009 | Posted by Lauren Keating under Uncategorized |
Healthy Delicious is now on Twitter! You can follow me here to make sure you never miss a new post and to find out what other foodie thoughts I’m having.
Meat-Free Fridays: Tuna and Strawberry Chirashi
| March 27, 2009 | Posted by Lauren Keating under Asian, Fish and Seafood, Lent, Light |
We used to have a really good (and ridiculously overpriced) sushi restaurant here, but unfortunately they closed recently. They had all the standards, but they also had some really unique rolls. My favorites were the love roll and the peace roll. The peace roll included smoked salmon, cream cheese, and pear and the love roll included tuna, strawberry, and tobiko. The fruit and fish combination may seem weird, but trust me: its really awesome.While both combinations are phenomenal, there’s something about strawberry that really compliments tuna. I’ve actually blogged this combination before here.
Tonight, I made a chirashi inspired by the love roll. Chirashi is so simple- just fish over a bed of rice. Rolling your own sushi really isn’t hard either, but you do have to let the rice sit for a while first and it does take a little longer than just throwing everything in a bowl. With chirashi, you get instant gratification which is always a plus in my book. I seared my tuna today, but this is great with it fully cooked or totally raw too. Whatever you’re in the mood for.
- 1 cup sushi rice
- 2 T rice vinegar
- 1 T black sesame seeds
- 3/4 lb tuna steak
- 1/2 c strawberries, sliced
- 1/2 jalapeno, minced
- nori strips (dried seaweed)
- wasabi, ginger, and soy sauce for serving
First cook your rice. Remove from heat and stir in vinegar and sesame seeds. Cover and let rest. While your rice is cooking, toss your strawberries with the jalapenio. Set aside. Prepare your tuna to your liking, and slice. To serve, add some rice to your bowl and wrap it in some nori. Arrange tuna and strawberries around/ over rice. Serve with soy sauce, wasabi, and ginger.
Strawberry Shortcake
| March 26, 2009 | Posted by Lauren Keating under Desserts, Quick Weeknight Meals |
with cream on top….
The food gods were laughing at me today. Since I still hadn’t been to the grocery store (that’ll teach me to go away for a weekend!) I had absolutely nothing to bring for lunch today. I went down to the cafeteria and, while standing on line, I heard some staff arguing about whether something one of them was holding expired last August or if it was good until 2045. They decided it was good. Um, really? I say “if in doubt, throw it out!!” And what on Earth could possibly last until 2045? Nothing I’d want to eat!! Needless to say, I won’t be eating there anymore!
Then I got off work at 5 (I know! I can’t believe it either!) and I was so excited that I was going to get to cook. I had this really nice idea for a pork schnitzel that I was going to make. But I was out of eggs, and had nothing else I could use to adhere my breading to the chops. And since I had absolutely nothing else in the house, we went out. One order of braised lamb tacos and two pinot noirs later, I finally had my first decent meal of the day.
So. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about strawberry shortcake! I wanted something sweet but light, and since I was picking up strawberries for tomorrow’s dinner (It’ll be good- I promise! AND I have all the ingredients now!) I decided a simple strawberry shortcake was the way to go. This is a cheater’s shortcake. I didn’t have time/ energy to bake cakes, and I didn’t want to go the sponge cake route. So I used chessmen cookies. These are pretty much the best cookies ever, and they go perfectly with berries. I also used low fat cool whip. Sue me. I at least doctored it up a little. This was really easy and light, and totally hit the spot.
- 4 large strawberries, sliced
- pinch of sugar
- 4 mint leaves, chopped
- 2 T cool whip, or other whipped cream
- splash vanilla
- 2 chessmen cookies
Sprinkle the strawberries with sugar and set aside to mascerate for at least 10. minutes. Stir mint into strawberries. Genly mix vanilla into cool whip. Arrange cokies on a plate. Top with strawberries and cool whip. Garnish with a mint spring.
Spicy Peanut Chicken
| March 25, 2009 | Posted by Lauren Keating under Chicken and Poultry, One Pan, Quick Weeknight Meals |
When given my choice of PB&Co peanut butters, I couldn’t resist getting one of the more “weird” varieties. The heat is on is a spicy peanut butter! This stuff has some serious heat to it! From the moment I finally settled on getting this flavor, my mind has been a flurry of ideas of how to use it. One of my first ideas was in a stiry fry, which I decided to make tonight. Good choice! Not only was tis amazingly good, it cooked up really quickly. And since I had yet another late night at work, that was a very good thing.
- 2 cups whole grain rice, prepared
- 3 heaping teaspoons of “the heat is on” peanut butter*
- Juice from 1 lime
- 1/4 c fat free chicken broth
- 1 T. grapeseed oil (or other high smoke point oil)
- 1 lb chicken tenders, cut into bite sized pieces
- 2 T flour
- salt and pepper
- 1 c. snow peas
- 1 large handful bean sprouts
In a bowl, combine th peanut butter, lime juice, and broth. Combine until smooth.
Toss chicken in flor and season with a little salt and pepper. Heat oil in a medium sautee pan over high heat. Add chicken and brown on all sides. Reduce heat to medium and add snow peas and peanut butter mixture. Stir everything around realy well so it all gets coated with sauce. Add in bean sprouts. Cook about 3 minutes or until vegetables are heated and chicken is cooked through. Serve over rice.
*the ingredients in this include peanut butter, chili powder, cayanne pepper, and paprika. Feel free to play aroundwith your own blend!
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