One pot chicken

After a long week last week and a weekend that was far too short tonight all I wanted was to curl up with a glass of wine and a book. Sadly however, that was not to be. Laundry needed to be done and real dinner needed to be made (if I'd been alone I probably would have just gone for the wine but the other half needs real dinner). So the question was what to eat? What to make? My first thought was cereal because it's easy. but I wanted something more fulfilling than that. I knew I had chicken in the freezer so I pulled that out right away and let it start to defrost.
Here's what I ended up with:

3 chicken breasts, chopped into bite sized pieces
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 onion, chopped
1 1/2 to 2 c peas and carrot frozen mix
1/2 c chicken stock
1 can cream of mushroom soup
paprika
thyme
1 heaping tablespoon flour
2 1/2 c Bisquick
2/3 c milk

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the stock, soup, thyme, and paprika together in an oven safe dish, I used a Corningware dish with a glass lid. Add the chicken breast, peppers, onion, and the pea and carrot mix. Stir until the vegetables and chicken are coated with the stock/soup mix.

Cover and cook for 30 minutes.

Add flour and mix.

Cover and cook for 20 minutes.

Increase the oven temp to 450 degrees.

Mix the Bisquick and milk together (follow the directions for biscuits on the box) kneed the dough. Cut and place on the top of the now cooked chicken mixture. (remove the glass cover first, I know I shouldn't have to say that... but someone will forget or not understand) Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, until the biscuits are golden brown and delicious!

I really wasn't expecting much from this. For some reason I had a feeling it was going to fail or be terrible, to which you might say "well why did you try it?" Because I can be very very wrong sometimes. This happened to be one of those times!! I still have a happy and well fed husband! He gave me the full mouth joy-filled groan plus the thumbs up today :)

Pumpkin Risotto

Happy Fall! If you couldn't tell by the lower temperatures and the changing leaves, you can definitely see the change in the grocery store. The baking pumpkins are back! I thought I'd do something different with pumpkin; most recipes are for pie or bread, which are great but sadly not dinner.

If you read enough food blogs you’ll have read at some point how hard it is to make a good risotto. Well I’m here to tell you it’s not that hard, it just takes some time (total prep time: about 2 hours, including roasting the pumpkin). And since it's fall I have a really awesome recipe for pumpkin risotto with sage chicken. I know this looks like a lot of ingredients but it’s a really great fall food that you can make ahead of time. 

            

This recipe got two thumbs up from the husband while reaching for a second helping. That's all I can ask for!

 

1 C chopped onion

1 to 2 teaspoons butter

1 C Arborio Rice

1 whole baking pumpkin – ½ chopped and baked; ½ pureed

Vegetable oil

Nutmeg

Cinnamon

Thyme

Fresh sage leaves

Salt

Pepper

4 to 5 C chicken stock

Chicken or turkey parts (breast, thigh, leg, whatever you’ve got around) enough to make the meal a little more hearty.

½ c parmesan cheese

 

Cut pumpkin in half. Peel both halves. Chop one half into ½ inch pieces, coat with vegetable oil, sprinkle with nutmeg, sage, and cinnamon. Spread out pieces on a baking sheet and bake at 325 until they begin to brown a little bit and soften, they should be cooked through. Coat the 2^nd half of the pumpkin with vegetable oil and bake at 325 until it begins to soften. Puree and set aside (I used my stick blender, yay).

Bring a 2 to 4 qt stock pot (I like cast iron for this) to medium heat and sauté onion in butter until it is fragrant and start to soften. 

Add 1 C chicken stock to the stock pot and bring to a simmer. Add the Arborio rice. Stir pretty regularly, you don’t need to stand over the pot but come back every 2 or three minutes. Cook until the liquid has almost completely absorbed. Add 1 more cup of stock. Cook again until the liquid is gone. Stir in pumpkin puree, thyme, sage, salt, and pepper (all to taste). Add another cup of chicken stock. Cook until the liquid has absorbed. Continue to add chicken stock until the rice is cooked and creamy. It should be pretty thick and gooey. Stir in the parmesan cheese. Add the chopped baked pumpkin and pulled chicken (no need to remove the sage, add it all in together). Stir. Serve with extra parmesan. 

 

This is a great thick hearty stick to your ribs kind of meal. Every bite is full of autumnal, earthy, pumpkin flavor.

After Turkey

Part of the reason I love making a whole turkey is the day after. I love turkey sandwiches made with the breast meat and the ease of dinners and lunches the next few days!

Tonight's dinner: Turkey sandwiches on challah bread with roasted Anaheim peppers and Pub Cheese. Plus stuffing and potato salad. Can you say starch overload? I am a carbaholoic.

"Hello. My name is Marie and I am a carbaholic."

"Hi Marie."

It's probably something that I need to work on... maybe cut back a little... a very little. I tried South Beach once. I was not a happy camper. I looked good but I wasn't nice. I could have been a professional model! OK maybe not, I wasn't that mean.

Challah Bread and Turkey

So I started my morning baking bread and ended it with a turkey dinner. What a day! I love Sundays! Football and food!

 Apparently challah bread takes 12 hours to proof. I had no idea. I started last night at 6 putting the dough together. This beyond almost anything that I need to read the whole recipe before I start. I bloomed the yeast before I realized how long it was going to take to rise so I decided I'd let it rise over night and get up early to bake it.




 To start you'll need:
1 packet dry active yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
1/2 C water (105 to 115 Degrees)
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons Salt
3 tablespoons oil
2 eggs lightly beaten
2 egg yolks lightly beaten.
1/2 C all purpose flour
2 1/2 C bread flour

This is a pretty simple recipe but it's the technique that makes it difficult (it takes a long time).
Add yeast and warm water to mixing bowl and leave for 5 minutes. It should look like the picture above.
add the sugar, salt, oil, eggs, egg yolks, and all purpose flour, mix until combined. Add the bread flour slowly until it is combined.
Kneed for 8 minutes or until the dough is elastic and smooth.
Move the dough to an oiled bowl and turn once to coat. Cover lightly with plastic and let the dough rise in a warm place (75 to 80 degrees) for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until the dough has doubled in size.
Punch down and kneed for a minute. return to the oiled bowl and place in the refrigerator for 4 to 12 hours, or until it has doubled in size.
Cut the dough into 3 or 4 pieces and  roll into balls. Allow the dough to rest for 10 minutes.
Roll into 14 inch long strands that taper at the ends.
Grease a cookie sheet and sprinkle corn meal over it.
Place all 4 strands on the greased cookie sheet with one end touching. Pinch the end together. If you are braiding 4 strands like I tried to do turn the outside ends over the middle then twist the middle strands, then repeat. It's not the prettiest loaf but it's tasty!

Take 1 egg and a pinch of salt and beat them together.

Brush the egg wash on the bread, try to get into all the nooks and crannies. This will allow for a more even browning.

<-- I swear this isn't the turkey I made for dinner.





How GOOD does that look? Even though I've eaten dinner I want to go cut off another slice of this and eat it! All it needs is a little bit of butter. The crumb is really delicate and the air pockets are really small. And the smell...Oh it was amazing! I love the smell of fresh baked bread. There's no real word to describe that smell other than happy.

AND NOW... On to dinner!

Dinner tonight was turkey (a whole frozen turkey), stuffing, and acorn squash with two different toppings.

The first squash was a little bit of vegetable oil (I used a mister) and brown sugar and cinnamon.
I baked this for about 15 minutes on one side then flipped them over and baked for another 10 minutes



The second was a little balsamic vinegar, a few tablespoons of fresh squeezed orange juice, honey, and nutmeg.I brushed this on both sides of the squash then put them on an oiled baking sheet (covered with aluminum foil for easy cleanup).

Both were baked at 350 degrees.

The turkey was a brined turkey thanks to my food muse Alton Brown.
You can find his recipe here:
Brined Turkey Recipe

It's an easy recipe that makes a very moist and juicy turkey. I am going to try other brines but there one is pretty darn good.

 

Happy Sunday! Don't forget it doesn't need to be a holiday to enjoy a special meal!

The book store

I survived the bookstore! I was in Barnes and Noble this evening and they always have cook books on sale. Usually not the big heavy black and white, actually useful cook books but the "Pillsbury dough boy's favorite cookies" or "Hershey's best chocolate recipes" I'm not going to lie... I wanted them... all of them. But I was really good. I picked up about 7 cook books and ended up putting each one back.
The most tempting though had to be the 365 days of the Joy of Cooking. They have a pull off calendar. I so wanted it and only $14. I'm just saying... for anyone reading... Christmas is coming .

I'm still living up to my promise not to buy more cook books!! YAY ME! :) 

Until we meet again, eat well!

The Reading Terminal Market

I have the great fortune of working only a few blocks from one of the greatest indoor food markets in the country. The vendors bring fresh fruits and vegetables in daily from the farms in Lancaster county and south Jersey. The sights and smells in there are amazing.

Yesterday I decided to venture over to the market, I needed a walk and it seemed like the place to go. Normally I only go over there if I know I’m looking for something or to grab a bite at one of the lunch places. I love sitting at the counter service and watching the world go by. 

Yesterday I was greeted with the sweet smell of chocolate as I opened the door. Two of the first vendor stalls are Chocolate by Muller and the 2^nd Street Cookie Company. This is a dreadful thing for your diet if you’re really hungry. I was able to get past them both without drooling on their counters too much (I had eaten lunch before I took my walk). Soon my eyes and nose feasted on the cornucopia of fresh produce; beautiful slabs of fresh cut red meat, chickens, turkeys, and ham; ripe apples, peppers, onions and melons, fresh herbs. This is what heaven must be like. Colors seemed richer, smells seemed to linger in the air around my nose, sales people seemed nicer.

Add to all this bustle the sound of a piano playing in the distance and you have a pretty awesome lunchtime walk. I’m amazed I came home with only one small bag. And it was something I actually needed. I bought some mineral oil for my cutting boards.

Useful tip: unfinished wood cutting boards need to be oiled every so often so the wood does not dry out and crack. I read this somewhere but entirely forgot until yesterday (thanks Mom!). Now all my cutting boards have been oiled and dried and are ready for anything! It’s interesting they look different now. They get a little darker when you oil them. I assume that will continue over time and they'll continue to gain a little color each time.

I've been lax on my thank you notes at the end of my posts so here goes:
Chris- Special thanks for the insider's guide to the Reading Terminal Market!
Thank you to the Eshers and the Zooks for all the bakeware, as you can see they're awesome and perfect for home made bread!
Julie and Jason, love the glass mixing bowl, it's awesome to have 2 bowls for the mixer, I can do 2 different projects without having to completely stop and clean up and start all over again!
Linda and Kathy- thanks so much for the Pyrex! It's perfect for all kinds of things, particularly lasagna.
Bill and Tom for the crystal dish. I'm amazed at how often we use it. It's almost always full of something! We think of you every time we use it.
The Manzo family- Can I tell you how often I use the gloves? Sadly they don't fit Ryan but I love them!
I'm sorry to the people I forgot. I'm sure I'll use whatever I forgot again and hopefully I'll write about it!

10 Things Every Baker Needs

My list is in no special order; however I feel that this is a pretty comprehensive list of the basic needs of every baker. Even if you’re not using a state of the art, super high powered, “it mixes, it chops, it makes julienne fries, and it walks your dog” type counter top mixer you can make some pretty awesome baked goods with a few simples and important tools.

1. Measuring cups & spoons – liquid and dry measure are both really important. I actually have 2 sets of dry measure in my kitchen. One 18/10 stainless steel and one plastic. There’s no real rhyme or reason I have one or the other however I can use the stainless steel ones on the stove top. I use them to melt butter in small quantities when I don’t want to do it in the microwave. I also have 6 liquid measuring cups. Why? Because I can. They’re all different sizes, from 1 cup to 4 cups, 3 plastic and 3 glass. I actually find myself using the glass more often, no real reason except that they’re in the drawer with the prep bowls.

This may go without saying, but the spoon you use to eat your cereal is not a measuring spoon. Although we call it a “tea spoon” it is really not a teaspoon measure sadly. You need actual measuring spoons, they’re not particularly expensive. If you buy mental go for a heavy 18/10 stainless steel, the steel content will be marked somewhere on the spoons. You want a heavier spoon so you don’t bend it out of shape when you’re trying to scoop out particularly hard baking soda. 

2. A butter knife – this goes with the measuring cups. When you’re making cookies or bread or anything else that you’re using a dry measuring cup for you should always run the straight side of a butter knife over the top to clear the excess off the top to get the exact right measure.  

3. 2 Heavy jelly roll pans/cookie sheets – I use cookie sheets for all kinds of things, to bake cookies (obviously), to catch the drippings from a casserole or pie, to bake loaves of round bread, or to lay out gnocchi to freeze it. 

4. 2 round cake pans 8 or 9 inch – not just for cake anymore! I used mine for cinnamon rolls and for a custard water bath. Even with all these uses however; you really never know when you’re going to be called upon to bake a great cake and a good standard is to have round pans. It’s the most common household birthday cake shape; unless you have 30 people in your household, then you need a sheet cake every time.

5. Pie pans (at least 1 if not 2, I think I have 4)– I personally love my clear Pyrex pie pans. They take the heat really well and they look nice on the table. You can also use them to my layered dips, I think it’s nice when you can actually see the layers so you have some idea what you’re about to get on your chip!

6. A timer – I know this should already be in your kitchen if you’ve read my “10things every kitchen needs” but I say it again for anyone who might have missed it! (but how could you have?) You need a timer. I know most baked goods say “X time to Y time, or until golden brown” so some other description, but what if you’re watching TV? Or got lost in a book and forgot to check on your muffins? Then all your hard work would be for naught. You’d have to throw them away, and you’d be pissed, or at least I would be. There should be at least 1 timer in your kitchen, on your microwave. But you’ll need more than that. I personally like multi timers, I have a quad timer, so I can have 3 or 4 things going at once and know how long everything had left! It’s great! 

7. 2 Good loaf pans – almost every bread recipe makes 2 loaves of bread, so if you’re going to buy one you might as well buy 2 so you’re not stuck with ½ a batch of bread dough that you can’t bake because you didn’t get an extra loaf pan. I’m currently using Calphalon non stick loaf pans. I don’t think they need to be non stick because I always grease the pan with Crisco anyway but it’s a nice added feature.

8. Pizza stone – because I’ve lived in an apartment for so long I’ve never had a new oven so I’ve always kept a pizza stone in my oven. It never comes out. Leave in on the floor of the oven in an attempt to keep the oven temperature fairly stable. Now that I have a gas stove again I’m feeling a little more confident about the stability of the oven temp but it’s still nice to have in there. I’ve never used mine to actually cook pizza, just to regulate temps! 

9. Whisk – I know almost everyone beats their eggs with a fork but it’s nice to have a dedicated tool for the job right? Plus if you need to beat to a foam or a meringue you already have the tool on hand. If you’re making a meringue I’d suggest an electric hand mixer, it’ll make the job much easier, but if you don’t have/don’t want/or can’t afford an electric hand mixer you certainly can do it by hand, I know the Amish can do it so why can’t we?  

10. Lots of prep bowls – I use bowls of all different sizes when I’m baking. I try to measure out all my ingredients before I start so I know I have enough of everything and I’m prepared when it’s time to start adding the ingredients to the work bowl. Some things need to be added in a certain order or at a certain time so it’s nice to have everything laid out and ready. Often I find myself using almost every bowl in the kitchen!

I don’t think I’ve missed any of the truly important basics. If I have let me know in comments!! Of course from here you can go all different routes with bunt pans, popover tins, muffin pans, and all different shapes and sizes of cake pan but this list is what I classify as the basics.

Now that you have all the tools to bake I have one thing to say in the words of a wise man who loved food:

“GET IN THE KITCHEN AND MAKE ME SOME PIE” – Cartman, South Park