Chicken Marbella

For years when I was dreaming of becoming a chef, The Silver Palate cookbook was my bible.  I thought everything in it was so chic, so delicious...except this recipe for Chicken Marbella that the authors raved about.  It was for chicken pieces marinated and cooked with prunes, green olives, and garlic among other things.  Even though I like those flavors, the combination puzzled and repulsed me.

Then one day a respected chef- colleague of mine mentioned that Chicken Marbella was her go-to party dish, and I decided to give it a try.  Now it's a go to dish for me, too.  Not only is it sublime, but the prep is mostly done the night before- making it perfect for weeknights as well as parties.

I've made some changes and have not peeked at the actual recipe in years...here's my version:

Marinate the skinless chicken thighs overnight.  I always score the meat so the flavors can really penetrate.  The marinade is  a big clove of garlic (crushed), salt, about a quarter cup of brown sugar, 3T red wine vinegar (mild balsamic would be OK too), a bay leaf, a shake of oregano or Italian herb blend, half a cup of pitted green olives, half a cup of prunes, a big drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, and 1 T of capers in brine.  I put everything in a big Ziplock and turn it over a few times during the marinating time.

The next day, simply dump it all into a baking dish, pour a little white wine over, sprinkle with a touch more brown sugar, and bake for about 50 minutes at 375'- until the chicken is definitely cooked through, browned, and the juices have reduced to a slightly syrupy consistency. Baste occasionally.  The chicken will be very moist and flavorful.  I served it with buttermilk mashed yukon gold potatoes, and roasted broccoli with cherry tomatoes.

New York Pizza? NOT!

A new pizza delivery place opened up around here promising New York Style Pizza.  My husband was all excited as he loves NY (and only NY) pizza.  Well.  This pizza had as much cheese on it as 4 New York Pizzas.  I love cheese.  I mean. Please.  But, come on, Wisconsinites, learn a little subtlety with the cheese already! Show some restraint!  Less is more, and more is way too much.

Yuk!  Look at these pictures and weep for us.  The crust was pliable under the toppings, but it was still all wrong.  A New York Pizza has an outer rim of puffed crust that is shatteringly crisp on the outside, pillowy soft on the inside.  It bends but does not snap when you fold the slice to bring it to your lips.

*sigh*

Parmesan Peppercorn Dressing

Remember the '80s?  Parmesan peppercorn dressing was on all the menus.  I still like it- more importantly, the basic formula is a good one to be familiar with- for improvising slaws, drizzles, dips....

Parmesan Peppercorn Dressing

1 cup real mayo

1 cup buttermilk or- sour cream if you dare

pinch sugar

splash vinegar or lemon (especially if you use sour cream)

salt to taste

Whisk together.  This is your creamy dressing base.  from here, you can go...lots of places.  Chipotle lime?  Sesame ginger?  Mixed herb?  Blue cheese?  Blue cheese and Bacon???  

But for this one, you need grated Parmesan..about 2/3 cup

Fresh ground black pepper....a lot...to taste

A dash Worchestershire for a base note

Keeps a week or two.  Give it to the kids with their chicken nuggets.

I like to use creamy dressings on crisp, crunchy lettuces like romaine or iceberg.  For the main dish, I roasted up a turkey breast, served it with a stuffing I threw together from bread out of the freezer, and leftover cheesy cauliflower.  Now I also have fresh roasted turkey for sandwiches :)

Meat and 3

Meat and Three is what you get at some old school family restaurants, particularly in the South.  You pick your main entree, the meat, and then get three choices from a list of sides.  My husband asked for steak for dinner, and I really am trying to eat healthy here, so I made three vegetable sides.  Only one was fattening- the cauliflower gratin.  I also made a baked sweet potato and some steamed haricots vert.

Usually "3 cheese" is such a gimmicky Olive Garden thing- but in some cases different cheeses can really improve the flavor of a dish.  This is often true in cheese sauce, where you want to use the minimum amount of cheese to get the best flavor. If you were to use a mild cheese and add enough of it to get a good cheese flavor, the sauce could be unpleasantly stringy and would be more prone to the fat seperating out when heated.  I made a basic white sauce (bechamel) with whole milk, then added super sharp cheddar, Gruyere, and Parmesan which are all strongly flavored.

Poured over steamed cauliflower, topped with some crushed croutons (what's on hand), and run under the broiler- delicious!  My kids loved this.

SO that's it.  Steaks well seasoned and cooked in the cast iron skillet- 

Oh, don't forget the wine!

Old Standby

Wednesday nights I have to make something for the rest of the family before I go out to Zumba, then I eat when I get home.  An old favorite fits the bill: homemade Hummus with sauteed zucchini and roasted red pepper, in whole wheat pitas.

Mardi Gras

I almost forgot it was Fat Tuesday!  I found myself planing the meal while I was at the grocery store.  We had New Orleans "BBQ" shrimp,

Blackened scallops, collard greens, and macque- choux, which is a Cajun corn dish.

I have had macque -choux, but when I googled a recipe I found such a huge variation in ingredients that I just winged it with this stuff:

A good trick for slicing corn  off the cob is to stand it in a large bowl.  That way the kernels don't fly off everywhere.

I browned half an Andouille sausage,

added scallions, red peppers, and celery and cooked briefly,

then added the corn, diced tomato, some thyme and a little broth.

When the corn was tender, I boiled off all the broth and added a little cream.  Macque -choux is supposed to be decadent.

New Orleans BBQ shrimp is not grilled or with BBQ sauce.  It's shell on shrimp cooked in butter with Cajun spices and Worcestershire sauce.  I added a little beer, too. The idea is the spicy seasoning gets all over your fingers as you peel the shrimp and you slurp it off...messy. 

The seasoned scallops blackening in butter in my smoking hot cast iron skillet.  Be sure to buy the "dry processed" scallops if you want to get them nice and brown.  Frozen or wet pack will never work for something like this.

Woo hoo.  That was our crazy Mardi Gras!  It seems like the big retail holidays get ever bigger and more prolonged while all the fun little ones get forgotten about.  I guess that's my job as a mom- to keep the traditions alive.  

Oven crispy Ceasar chicken strips....with salad

Finally a good oven baked chicken that is not dripping in butter!  I've always been drawn to crispy oven baked chicken, but nothing compared to the flour>melted butter>Parmesan breadcrumb technique that I learned many years ago.  That is SO fatty though, and when done with boneless breasts it's lackluster anyway.

This does not qualify as diet food, but it's reasonable enough for everyday.  The grown ups had the chicken over a nice salad with slow roasted tomatoes, red peppers, and balsamic vinaigrette.  The kids had some raw cherry tomatoes and some fruit with theirs.  Everyone liked it.

For the "marinade" I mixed equal parts mayonnaise and grated Parmesan cheese with Dijon, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper.  The chicken breast strips sat in there for about an hour...

While I roasted the tomatoes and peppers at 325'  to concentrate their flavors.

Next, I mixed about 3 parts Panko bread crumbs with 1 part Parmesan, salt and pepper, and just enough olive oil to lightly coat the crumbs so they crisp up.  For this bowlful it was about a tablespoon.  Keeping a good thick coating of the marinade on, I rolled the strips in the crumbs and baked than at 425'  for about 15 minutes.

They got nicely browned, crunchy, and tender and juicy inside with good caesarey flavor.

While the chicken was cooking I made a balsamic vinaigrette with more Dijon, olive oil, and fresh parsley, tossed in the vegetables, and then when I was ready to serve dinner I just mixed the mesclun into that.