Country Ham & Manchego-Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Howdy!

The wedding countdown is on.  Less than 2 months away, we're starting to chip at what we have left to  do bit by bit.  The past week or so, my engagement ring has been at the jeweler's in order to get the bands molded.  I almost feel naked without it!  Like men are just gawking at me like I'm a single woman.  Hehe, I'm pretty vain aren't I?

The end of this quarter of Culinary School is almost upon us.  And I'm definitely ready for the break.  The middle of the month is also my last day at my day job at the pharmacy.  I've worked there for 7 years and it'll be hard to say good-bye.  But I know I've been lifelong friends and it won't be good-bye to those people.  But it also marks the day I'll be moving on.  Really getting on.  I'll be able to work at the restaurant more, especially since I'll be switching to Day-time classes for the next quarter.  Nights and weekends were alright, but I'd be there double the time.  Day-time classes allow me to finished faster (and cook more!) - as well as being able to work at the restaurant more often. 

But all in all, everything is great - except for the fact I've cut myself twice in the past two weeks.  Once on my pinky (sliced the sucker right open) while cleaning my knife - and the second time was just this past Sunday at work - with a bread knife.  Not pretty.  And by the time I went to the Immediate Care Center (my stubborn ass went the next day instead of right after work), it was too late to get stitched up.  So I'll just have to suffer with the battle wounds for now.

Anyway, this is an easy weeknight dinner that's tasty and quick!  Let's get at it!

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
2 pieces of country ham
2 slices of manchego cheese (or cheese of your choice)
1/4 cup flour
salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil (or olive oil)

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Wrap your chicken breasts loosely in plastic wrap.  You want it loose enough that they'll be able to comfortably expand, but not too loose that they're "expand" in little pieces all over your kitchen when you smack the crap out of them.

Take a meat mallet or bottom side of a pan and get to smacking.  Flatten the breasts to about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thickness.

Remove plastic wrap from chicken breasts.

Place a piece of country ham on chicken breast.

Place a piece of manchego cheese on top of country ham.

Using butcher's twine or toothpicks (these are more ideal), wrap the chicken breast around the ham and cheese.  If I had toothpicks handy, I would have used those, but the twine sufficed.

Place the flour in a shallow dish.  Season with salt and pepper.  Dredge the chicken in the flour, shaking off any excess flour.

Heat the oil in an oven-proof skillet under medium high heat.  Place the chicken in the pan, seam-side up.  Cook chicken until you get a nice golden crust, about 3-4 minutes.  Flip chicken over and cook for an additional minute.

Transfer chicken to the oven to finish, about 10 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 165F.

Serve chicken with barbecue sauce (or sauce of your choice) and side of your choice.  We paired this with macaroni and cheese for a nice comforting meal!

Coq au Vin

Yes, it's me again.  Took a little bit of a hiatus, didn't I?  I'm telling you, life.  Life does funny things.  Keeps you busy.  Keeps you sleepy.  Doesn't necessarily keep you bloggin'.  But thanks for sticking around...

Anyway, Coq au Vin.  A classic French dish, but how in the hell do you pronounce it?  I swear I was one of the only people in my Culinary lab to have even heard of it before.  It almost was annoying having to repeat it over and over again after people asked what I was making.  But regardless... it's "Coke (in a nasally kind of tone)-O-Van (again, nasally!)". 

Now that we've gone over how to say it.  What the heck is it?!

The literal translation is "Cock of the wine" (no giggling all of you immature folk, hehe) - but we can use our common sense and say it's "Chicken cooked in wine."

One of the biggest mistakes when making Coq au Vin is that people end up with "purple chicken." You don't want purple chicken.  It's just not natural.  So the best way to avoid purple chicken, you ask?  Get a good coating on your chicken in the first place.  And don't go overboard on the wine.  If you want to go overboard on it, don't put it in the pot, put it in a glass and drink it.  Deal?  Okay, let's get to it!

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken, broken down into 8 pieces
flour, as needed for dredging
salt and pepper, to taste
2 T unsalted butter
4 T Brandy
Bouquet garni (the following wrapped in a cheesecloth) made of:
     4-inch carrot stick
     4-inch leek, split in half
     1 sprig of thyme
     1 bay leaf
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 cups red wine
2 cups chicken stock
2 pieces of bacon, chopped into 1/4 inch pieces
18 pearl onions, peeled
10 button mushrooms, quartered

Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper.

Place the flour in a shallow dish and dredge each piece of chicken, shaking off any excess.  You want to get a good dredging because ideally, the flour that ends up on your chicken will ultimately be what thickens up your sauce throughout the cooking process.

In a large dutch oven heat the butter under medium high heat.  Add the chicken, in batches, and cook until both sides are browned nicely.  Set the chicken aside on a plate.

Add bacon pieces to dutch oven and cook until fat is rendered and bacon is crispy.  Drain all but 2 tablespoons of fat from pot.  Add the brandy and ignite.  Cook until flame dies out.

Return chicken to pot and add bouquet garni, garlic, wine, and chicken stock.  Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.  Cover and let simmer for about 45 minutes to an hour.  Or until chicken is tender and sauce is thickened.

About 20 minutes before ready to serve, add in pearl onions and mushrooms.

Season with salt and pepper.

We served this over some butter sauteed egg noodles and it was just the perfect pairing. 

I know there hasn't been much of a winter (or at least in my part of the world), but this would be the perfect dish to curl up on the couch with and get warm.  It's comfort in a bowl, I tell ya.  The chicken is tender and falling off the bone.  The sauce is rich, yet delicate. 

Hope everyone is doing well, I know I am, albeit busy as hell!  Have a great weekend guys!

Secret Recipe Club: Fall-Inspired Chicken Salad

It's that time of the month.  Secret Recipe Club reveal day!  (It's basically the only day I can consistently keep up with this blog, too!)

I was real excited this month because I got Isabelle from Crumb: A Food Blog.  I've been reading her blog for quite a while, even when it was still called Good Food, Good Wine, and a Bad Girl.  She always has interesting blog posts - and there's always a point where I leave with my mouth watering.  You know that's a good sign!

As always, it's hard to pick what recipe to choose, but since Andy and I are on a bit of a healthy-eating food kick right now, I picked one of Isabelle's delicious looking salads - The Fall-Inspired Grilled Chicken Salad.  Isabelle had a fancy Cuisinart Griddler to do her grilling for her, but since I don't have one of those, and refuse to bust out the George Foreman - I simply sauteed my chicken breasts over the stove.  Besides that minor detail, I pretty much stuck to the recipe as is because it was just that good!

Ingredients:
Adapted Recipe from Crumb

1 large chicken breast, butterflied
2 tablespoons cajun seasoning (I made my own mix from this recipe)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons spicy brown mustard
1 small shallot, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
salt and pepper, to taste
mixed salad greens
1 Granny Smith apple, cored and sliced
1/4 cup mixed fruit and nut trail mix

Season each side of the chicken breast with the cajun seasoning mix.

Heat a large saute pan under medium high heat and add about a tablespoon of olive oil.  Add chicken breast and cook for about 4-5 minutes, or until browned.  Flip over and cook an additional 4-5 minutes, or until cooked thoroughly.  Set chicken aside on cutting board to rest.

Make vinaigrette by combining olive oil, apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, Dijon mustard, spicy brown mustard, shallot, and garlic in a small bowl.  Whisk until mixture is emulsified (no separation of acid and oil).  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

In a large bowl, toss the greens with about 2 tablespoons of the vinaigrette and divide among two plates.  Top greens with trail mix and sliced apples.  Then top with sliced chicken breasts.  Serve with additional dressing, if desired.

Like I said, this was an amazing meal - and I would expect nothing less from something on Isabelle's blog!  Feel like being adventurous?  Join the SRC today!

How-To: Break Down a Chicken

It's been almost a week, but I'm back with my first how-to post!  There are probably just as many ways to break down a chicken as there are ways to fix eggs, but the way I was taught in our second week of classes is by far the easiest way I've come across!

I did a Google search on "how to break down a chicken" and found video after video tutorial.  But I don't think I found a single post (or maybe Google just didn't recognize any) with a picture-by-picture tutorial.  I don't know about you, but I learn better with still images.  Videos are great, but I don't want to have to watch a whole video or pause every 5 seconds while I'm trying to learn how to do something.

So I can use the excuse that because there were so many pictures in this post, that that is the reason it took me so long to get another post up!  But we all know that isn't the case.  I'm just a busy bee - I had my first day in a restaurant kitchen last Thursday - It was definitely a LOT to take in, and a completely different scenario than cooking in my own kitchen (duh!).  So I'm excited about going back this upcoming Thursday and learning more!

Anyway, this post is going to be long enough, so I'm sure you want me to stop yapping!  Let's get to breaking down this chicken!

So let's see what we need...

 You want a bowl of ice so that you can keep your chicken at a cool temperature.  If you just set it out on the cutting board, 1. you'll run out of room quick, and 2. the warmer your chicken gets, the more it's prone to grow bacteria (and that's a bit gross, now don't you think?)  After each piece is cut off the chicken, you'll put it in this bowl.

And I didn't label it, but it should be obvious... you'll also need a cutting board.

So the first thing we do is cut off the wing.  You'll want to spread the arm out and look for the ligament between the wing and the drummette. Most important part here is to cut through the cartilage (the soft cushioning between bones)... NOT through a bone. 

Use the dotted line as a guide

Right through the cartilage - if you have any resistance, you're cutting through bone, not cartilage.  Cartilage should be as easy as cutting through butter.

 And you'll want to do the same thing with the other arm/wing area.  (Every step will be done twice, obviously - so I won't restate the obvious from here on out.)

Next we'll take off the thigh and the leg.  It's easier to see what you're working with if you grab the chicken by both legs and sort of bend them down - this pulls the meat away the carcass and allows you to better see the "hip knuckle" that you cut behind next.

 The knuckle should be in the crease between the thigh and the carcass.  Once you find it, you'll make your cut behind it, cutting the leg from the carcass.

Follow the line, not my knife

Cut off any excess fat, as desired

So if you like having the whole leg quarter then you don't need to go any further.  But if you want to break this down even more and end up with a thigh and a drumstick, then we make this cut...

You'll want to find the natural fat seam between where the drumstick and thigh meet. 

Then score against the fat seam until you can find the cartilage between the bones.  Remember, we cut through cartilage, NOT bones!  

 Then you can make a clean cut to have that leg separated into two pieces - the thigh and the drumstick.

And the final components to remove from the chicken are the breast and the drummette.

You'll want to score the middle of the chicken until you find the Keel Bone. (It's a small flat bone that divides the chicken.  And technically, it's more cartilage than bone, but we won't get into specifics).

Once you find the Keel, you'll want to make long strokes along the side of it, running your knife along the outside of the ribs, as well.  You can pull gently on the breast to peel it away from the middle, but a good 4-5 strokes of your knife (if it's properly sharpened, that is) should do it.

When you're close to having the breast almost removed, grab the drummette and breast in one hand.

 Find the cartilage in between the carcass and breast and make a clean cut through that cartilage to release the breast and drummette.

To remove the drummette from the breast, find the cartilage in between the breast and the drummette.  Cut behind that to remove the drummette from the breast.

Remove the skin from the breast, if you'd like, and remove any excess fat.

There should be a small flap-like piece of meat on the breast, which is the tenderloin.  Just lift it up and make a clean cut to remove it from the breast.

And you've got yourself a breast and a tender.

And now all you should be left with is a carcass!

So I know this was long, but I hope it was helpful!  If not, it at least helped me "study"!  Knowing how to break down a chicken saves you money in the long run!  A whole chicken costs way less than the already cut up parts - and is an invaluable skill to possess! 

In the next couple of posts, I'll be doing recipes with what to do with all that cut up chicken - so the only waste we will have had is the excess fat.  And honestly, if you wanted to, you could use it, but we don't want to be too glutinous over here!

See you guys in a couple of days!

How do you break down a chicken?  Was this helpful to you?  Do you like these "How-To" posts? 

Chicken Tostadas

It's getting pretty ridiculous in the heat department, isn't it?  It is here in Louisville, anyway.   It's sitting at a nice 97F right now.  And yes, I do still have to play volleyball in this crap tonight.

So when it's hot like this, firing up the stove or the oven is the last thing I want to do.  This is when I have to start getting creative for dinner.  And we all know how fun it is to get creative with leftovers, right?  So if you just roasted a chicken the day before - or possibly made Jonathan Waxman's Chicken Al Forno (which is AMAZING, by the way) the night before for dinner (which, if you haven't gotten the hint - I did) - then you can have dinner the next day ready in no time.  Well, that is if you planned to have leftovers of the al forno!


Ingredients:

Leftover chicken, shredded
Salsa verde, homemade or store-bought
15 oz can seasoned black beans, drained
1 large tomato, chopped
Shredded cheddar cheese (I had a chipotle blend that was THE bomb!)
6 corn tortillas

Now, I know I promised I wouldn't turn on the oven for this one - but it's really only to crisp up your corn tortillas.

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Place corn tortillas directly onto the center oven rack (or if you wanted to dirty up a baking sheet - be my guest).  Bake for about 3-5 minutes, or until tortillas are crisp and golden.

Heat your shredded chicken in the microwave (if you want - I left mine cold because we're trying to cool down remember?).

Place 3 tortillas on a plate.  Top with desired amount of black beans, shredded cheese, chicken, tomatoes, and salsa verde.

Easy as pie right?  And totally hits the spot, too!  You could definitely do this with any leftover protein and veggie combo.  I just used what I had on hand and had dinner ready in no time!

Hope you guys stay cool - I'm off to get ready for my volleyball game (and seriously contemplating letting Andy spray me with the hose before I go - he's out watering the grass right now, hehe)

Pretzel-Crusted Chicken Breasts

Happy Wednesday guys!  How's everyone's week going so far?  So far so good with us!

Picked up our CSA box this afternoon and it was LOADED with goodies!  Can't wait to share all of our goods with you tomorrow!

And on to today's recipe...

When I think of pretzels, I don't usually immediately think to use them as a coating/breading - although it's quite common these days!  But the salty snack is a great breading for chicken and fish!  This recipe proves it!


Ingredients:

Adapted from Savour Fare's recipe

1 & 1/2 cups pretzel sticks
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup spicy brown mustard
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon water
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 & 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
salt and pepper, to taste
2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Tabasco, optional

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Place a rack over a baking sheet.

Place pretzels into a plastic bag and seal.  Run a rolling pin over the pretzels until they reach a desired consistency.  I liked them somewhat pulverized, but still with small chunks of pretzel still visible. 

Transfer crush pretzels to a shallow dish and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine spicy brown mustard, Dijon mustard, water, and vinegar.  Whisk to combine.  Slowly whisk in the olive oil until fully incorporated and homogenous.  Add in cayenne pepper and season with salt, if needed.

Dip chicken breasts in mustard mixture and coat well.  Then dip in dish with pretzels and coat well.  Place chicken breasts on top of rack on baking sheet. 

Bake chicken until cooked through, about 30-40 minutes, depending on the size of your chicken breasts (ours were quite large).  Slice and serve with some buttered pasta and Tabasco sauce (couldn't resist the added heat!).

This was such a quick and easy weeknight meal, I'm really thinking about keeping it in my rotation for a while!  I loved the added crunch of the pretzels and the mustardy/Tabasco kick!  Loved it - and I hope if you try this, that you will too!

Have a great Wednesday guys and hope you're back tomorrow to see our CSA goodies!  And Friday, I'll be posting the Derby Pie fudge recipe, so you know you can't miss that!  I'm off to play some volleyball (we've just got to do better than last week's 0-3 showing!)

Red Curry Chicken Wings

Happy Monday guys!  We had an eventful weekend, indeed!

I spent Saturday morning handing out water and Powerade at the Derby Festival Mini & Full Marathon!  I saw about 20 or so of my friends running their hearts out (and for those of you I missed, good job on the race!).  Maybe next year I'll get out there and run my butt off... but then again, it may end up being the same weekend of my wedding, and I don't think I need that added stress of a race. 

We also spent Saturday night out at the Waterfront seeing Soul Asylum (yeah, the band from the early 90's).  It wasn't half bad - Andy and his friend Ike had a good time, while me and Ike's fiance Becca just talked about wedding stuff.  We're pretty excited about this upcoming Thursday because there's gonna be a free Cage the Elephant concert out at the Waterfront.  Now that's a band I can get into!  And that I actually know more than 1 song of!

Sunday was pretty lazy for us.  I slept in and decided to ditch spinning class.  I can play hookie once or twice, right?

I'm pretty excited, as well, because our CSA starts back up on Wednesday!  I'll definitely be glad to be getting some fresh and local produce on a weekly basis again!

Speaking of local products, I made a trip to my nearest farmer's market (which happens to only be a block away now - SCORE!) and bought some chicken wings from Barr Farms.  I knew I had to do something funky to them, because honestly... Buffalo-style wings are too "normal".  I need a little flair to my wings!

Ingredients:

1 cup coconut milk
1 & 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon red curry paste
1 tablespoon olive oil
small handful of cilantro, chopped
10 chicken wings

In a medium bowl, combine coconut milk, fish sauce, brown sugar, red curry paste, and olive oil.  Mix until sugar is dissolved and curry paste is mixed throughout.  Stir in half of the cilantro.

Add chicken wings to marinade and coat well.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator.  Marinate for about 4-6 hours, turning wings once or twice.

Preheat oven to 400F.

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray.

Remove chicken wings from marinade, shaking off any excess.  Place wings on baking sheet and bake for about 25 minutes.  Brush the wings with any pan drippings and flip over.  Bake for another 10-15 minutes, brushing with pan drippings once more. 

Turn oven broiler to high and broil wings for about 1-2 minutes, or until slightly charred.  Remove wings from oven and let cool for about 5 minutes.

Place on serving platter and garnish with remaining cilantro.  Serve with fried rice or with your favorite dipping sauce.  Honestly, they're absolutely delicious all on their own!

These were some of the best wings we've ever had.  Hands down.  I don't know if it was the Barr Farms chicken wings, the marinade, or just a combination of the two.  But seriously, this is a marinade worth trying!

Enjoy the rest of your Monday guys!

Shortcut Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo

How was everyone's weekend?!  Ours was pretty good.  Well.  Besides the fact that we froze our butts off on Saturday.  Seriously, 40F?! 

And I know what you're thinking, if it was so cold, why were you outside Peggy?  Well, it was Thunder Over Louisville this past Saturday.  What exactly is that?  Well, it's one of the biggest fireworks shows in the United States and the masses gather outside for an all day event (tons of street food, an air show, a Bats baseball game, FIREWORKS, etc.).  It's definitely great people-watching material.  Seriously... the people of Kentucky really come out.  We won't get too into it, but just sayin'.  Entertainment is everywhere.

I took a video of the fireworks finale (it's kind of shaky because I was FREEZING) but I'll post it tomorrow to give you guys a taste of what the fireworks are like.

Anyway, about this meal.  I remember when I was a kid, my mom would make "alfredo" using a can of Campbell's Cream of (insert whatever you want here: chicken, mushroom, celery, etc.)  Not an authentic "alfredo" by any means, but I think most moms took this shortcut every now and then.  Am I right? 

So I decided to bust this out to remember what this was like.  And I made a few changes, just to jazz it up and it came out pretty tasty.  I definitely prefer an actual homemade alfredo to this, but it's definitely a quick fix that hits the spot in a hurry!

Ingredients:

12 oz. package of penne pasta
1 large broccoli head, chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 lb. of chicken (you could really use any part here, breasts, thighs, drumsticks - I had drumsticks in the freezer so I just skinned and boned them, and then cut them into cubes), cut into cubes/strips
10 & 3/4 oz. can of Cream of Mushroom soup
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook pasta according to package directions.  Mine took about 10-12 minutes for a nice al dente.  Add broccoli to pasta during last 4-5 minutes of boiling.  Drain pasta and broccoli well and return to pot.

In a large skillet, melt butter under medium high heat.  Add chicken pieces and cook until browned and cooked through, about 10 to 15 minutes (depending on the chicken part that you use).

Mix in soup, milk, parmesan, and cayenne.  Season mixture with salt and pepper, to taste.

Pour mixture into pot with penne and broccoli and bring mixture to a boil, about 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally.   

Serve pasta hot and top with additional shredded Parmesan, if desired.

See... easy right?  It's good for a quick meal.  I'm not ashamed to use those condensed soups.  I mean, there's just some things from childhood you just can't give up, right?

Have a great Monday guys!  Be back tomorrow for some firework action!