Showing posts with label Chicken. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chicken. Show all posts

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Chicken and Dumplings

Chicken and dumplings mean different dishes depending on where they originate. In southern Louisiana, it’s fluffy drop dumplings, cooked in a roux-based simmering rich brown gravy with stewed chicken, just like my grandmother used to make.

Food Lust People Love: Chicken and dumplings mean different dishes depending on where they originate. In southern Louisiana, it’s fluffy drop dumplings, cooked in a roux-based simmering rich brown gravy with stewed chicken, just like my grandmother used to make.



When one lives in a place where bargaining is standard practice, there is a hierarchy of pricing guidelines and most folks assume I’m a tourist. So, when I am out and about in a local market and someone asks, “Where are you from?” I always answer, “I live here.” And then, if I am truly interested in buying the thing, I start chatting with the vendor. “I live here” puts me squarely in Resident Expat sector, which usually gets me a decent price but not as low as it could be if I cajole my way up the Friendliness/Bargaining Savvy Continuum. If you know what I mean. Here, I’ve drawn you a handy chart.

Sadly, I've met folks from a few countries who could qualify as "ugly Americans."



It’s only when someone pushes further, that I might say that I am from the United States. If you prod even more, you’ll get “The South.”  We have to be having a real conversation for me to get into, “Well, I was born in Louisiana but I lived more years in Texas, but Louisiana is still kind of home because that’s where my grandparents were. Actually, I’ve lived overseas even more years than I have lived in the US.” Whew.

But when it comes to cooking, the first hometown favorites that come to mind are my grandmothers’ traditional Cajun dishes, like chicken and sausage gumbo,   courtbouillonmaque choux, smothered pork chops, smothered cabbage with pork, eggplant casserole with shrimp or crawfish etouffee, just to name a few. I’ve shared all of those already, as you can tell by the links, so I was wracking my brain for another of my grandmothers’ dishes that I haven’t shared for this week’s Sunday Supper hometown favorites theme. Perhaps smothered round steak or cabbage rolls or crawfish fettuccine casserole? And then it hit me!

A couple of years ago, when we were living in Cairo, it was chilly, my heater was broken and I was cold and lonely. I needed some comfort food. So I called my mom on Skype and discussed the ins and outs of my grandmother’s chicken and dumplings recipe. I made it that day and even took photos but I never shared it here. It's the perfect dish for this week’s Sunday Supper Hometown theme, and it's kind of chilly here in Dubai, so I made it again. The roux-based gravy is wonderful, the chicken is tender and falling off the bone. And the dumplings! The dumplings are light and fluffy, so wonderful that my husband went back for seconds of just the dumplings with extra gravy. As my grandparents would say, “Talk about good!”

Chicken and Dumplings

Any recipe that includes a copper-penny-colored roux is a good recipe in my book. If you'd like to see photos of the evolution of your roux from blonde to dark copper, check out this post: https://www.foodlustpeoplelove.com/2015/09/how-to-make-roux.html

Ingredients
For the chicken stew:
1 whole chicken
Sea salt
Black pepper
Cayenne
Olive oil
4 tablespoons flour
1 medium onion
2 long stalks celery

For the dumplings:
2 cups or 250g flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup or 180ml milk
1 large egg

Note: My grandmother would have undoubtably finished this dinner with a sprinkling of chopped parsley. I plumb forgot.

Method
Cut your chicken up into at least eight pieces and season liberally with salt, black pepper and cayenne. If the breasts are large, I cut them in half again to get 10 pieces. I go pretty heavy on the cayenne because we like things spicy but use your best judgment for your family’s tastes.



Heat a good drizzle of olive oil in a frying pan and panfry the chicken until it is golden on both sides.



While the chicken is browning, dice your onion and celery.



Once the chicken is browned, remove it from the pan and set aside.  Add the four tablespoons of flour into the pan and stir until it is completely combined with the oil in the pan. Use a wooden spoon to loosen all the lovely browned bits that are stuck to the pan.



Cook the flour/oil mixture, formally known as a roux, over a medium heat, stirring almost constant, until it reaches a lovely dark copper color. Make sure not to let it catch and scorch or your gravy will taste burnt.



Add in the chopped onion and celery and continue cooking for several minutes until they soften.


Slowly add in a couple of cups of water and stir. Keep stirring until you have a lovely brown gravy without lumps of flour.

Add the browned chicken back into the pot, along with any juice that is in the plate it was resting on.

The gravy should come most of the way up the sides of the chicken. Add a little more water, if necessary.

Cover the pan and turn the fire down to simmer. Leave to simmer for about 45-55 minutes, checking occasionally that the water doesn’t completely evaporate and adding more if necessary. About halfway through the cooking time, turn the chicken over.



When the chicken is tender and cooked through, lightly whisk your egg with your milk and then combine your dumpling ingredients in a mixing bowl, stirring until just mixed.



Remove your chicken from the pan and set aside. Cover it so it stays warm.



Use a tablespoon to spoon the dumpling batter into the simmering gravy, leaving room between the dumplings so they can puff up as they cook. The batter comes off the spoon more easily if the spoon is wet so rinse it with water first and between scoops. Put the lid on for a few minutes.



Remove the lid and turn the dumplings over and replace the lid for another minute or two.



Transfer the dumplings to a plate and keep them warm until ready to serve, while you cook the remaining dumplings. They will soak up some of the gravy so you can add in a little water and stir well between the two batches if you need to.

Serve the chicken and dumplings with the remaining gravy from the pan. And my grandmother would always have had a vegetable or two alongside.

Food Lust People Love: Chicken and dumplings mean different dishes depending on where they originate. In southern Louisiana, it’s fluffy drop dumplings, cooked in a roux-based simmering rich brown gravy with stewed chicken, just like my grandmother used to make.


Enjoy!

Food Lust People Love: Chicken and dumplings mean different dishes depending on where they originate. In southern Louisiana, it’s fluffy drop dumplings, cooked in a roux-based simmering rich brown gravy with stewed chicken, just like my grandmother used to make.
So fluffy inside!


I am so excited about this week’s Sunday Supper because I know I am going to learn about dishes from so many different places around the US and the world through the loving, perhaps even a bit nostalgic, eyes of my fellow Sunday Supper colleagues and our wonderful host Coleen of The Redhead Baker. What a fabulous list, don’t you agree?!

Breakfast
Drinks
Appetizers and Snacks
Main Dishes
Side Dishes
Desserts

Pin the Chicken and Dumplings!



Thursday, December 11, 2014

Le Poulet à l’Estragon - Roasted Tarragon Chicken

Le Poulet à l’Estragon - Roasted Tarragon Chicken is a classic French dish of chicken roasted with tarragon. It is simple but delicious - so much more than the sum of its few parts. It is traditionally served alongside potatoes or rice.

Food Lust People Love: Le Poulet à l’Estragon - Roasted Tarragon Chicken is a classic French dish of chicken roasted with tarragon. It is simple but delicious - so much more than the sum of its few parts. It is traditionally served alongside potatoes or rice.


Home is where the heart is
We have lived it so many places that I have fallen at least a little bit in love with, if not head over heels. I am an unabashed Anglophile starting from my first few years of school on the British system from 1968-70 and a large piece of me will always love tropical Trinidad.

I can cook and samba with the best of Brazil and my deep relationship with Malaysia defies borders and description. Tanah Airku. My homeland. Although, of course, it’s really not.

I’ve been a devoted Francophile since the spring sun began warming our garden just south of Paris and our prolific cherry tree came into bloom in 1992. And I could go on.

But as a person who was raised to love food and adventures with ingredients and preparing deliciousness, let’s just talk some more about France. Never have I lived anywhere more obsessed with the sourcing and the cooking and eating of food. Unless you count my own grandmothers’ kitchens where we would talk about what to cook for the next meal even while eating the current meal.

I learned my way around buying the delicacies of France by asking questions and blundering through with my high school French. If only I had had this book!


A few weeks ago I received a very welcome email about a new book that was just being published called The Farm to Table French Phrasebook: Master the Culture, Language and Savoir Faire of French Cuisine.  It was written by a French woman named Victoria Mas and centered on FOOD: the etiquette of eating, great ingredients and their French translations, how to ask for what you want in France, how to buy it in markets and order it in restaurants or bakeries or butchers and, finally, with a few recipes at the end, how to cook some essential classic French dishes and desserts.

I could have saved myself a scolding from the market stallholders years ago with Victoria’s instructions not to touch the fruit but to allow the proprietor to choose the tomatoes or pears or lettuces for me, if only I had had this book. I could have avoided the distain of haughty French waiters by ordering in French from the get-go. Okay, that’s probably a pipe dream, but it would be worth a try, right?

Gift idea!
If you have aspirations as a Francophile, or know folks who already are, I highly recommend you get yourself or them a copy of this useful book. It’s hardback but a great little size for traveling, which you will want to do directly when it arrives; straight to France to try out all the vocabulary and hints and tips.

Thanks to the publisher, Ulysses Press, I have one copy to give away! Please scroll down to the bottom of this post to leave me a comment to enter. I’d love to hear about whether France is on your must-visit someday list or if some other food-centric country is at the top. It’s all about the food for me. :) If it’s some place else, maybe we can talk the publisher into making this a series with different native authors!

This is not a cookbook but, as I mentioned, it does have some recipes at the end so, even if your trip isn’t imminent, you can still enjoy French cuisine at home. I got permission to share the very simple but delicious recipe for chicken with tarragon with you. I was first introduced to the herb tarragon in France – Is it used anywhere as much as there? – and it is special. It elevates a simple chicken dish from ho-hum to remarkable. What follows is the original recipe as it is in the book with my adaptations in parentheses.

Le Poulet à l’Estragon - Roasted Tarragon Chicken

French tarragon, cultivated for its aromatic, somewhat anise-like flavor, with works beautifully with chicken or fish and is essential in a classic béarnaise sauce.

Ingredients
1 whole chicken, 1.5 kg/about 3 lbs, cut into 6 pieces (I used 1kg or 2.2 lbs chicken thighs.)
30ml or 2 tablespoons olive oil
4 sprigs fresh tarragon
 (I couldn’t find fresh so I used a couple of teaspoons of dried.)
Salt and pepper

Method
Preheat the oven to 190°C or 375°F.

(First I drizzled a little olive oil in my oven-proof dish.) Place the chicken pieces in an oven-safe dish. Drizzle with the olive oil, garnish with the tarragon, and season with salt and pepper.

Bake for about 40 minutes.

Turn the chicken pieces every 10 to 15 minutes so that all sides are evenly browned. (I set my timer for 15 minutes and sprinkled more salt, pepper and tarragon on the under side after the first turning.)



(I also browned it under the broiler or grill for about 10 minutes to crispy the skin at the end of the cooking time.)

Serve warm.

Food Lust People Love: Le Poulet à l’Estragon - Roasted Tarragon Chicken is a classic French dish of chicken roasted with tarragon. It is simple but delicious - so much more than the sum of its few parts. It is traditionally served alongside potatoes or rice.
See those sticky bits? Those are THE BEST.


Enjoy!

Disclaimer:
This recipe is republished by permission from the publisher. I was sent a copy of The Farm to Table French Phrasebook: Master the Culture, Language and Savoir Faire of French Cuisine to review but no other compensation was offered or accepted. Links to the book are Amazon affiliate links.


Pin it! 

Food Lust People Love: Le Poulet à l’Estragon - Roasted Tarragon Chicken is a classic French dish of chicken roasted with tarragon. It is simple but delicious - so much more than the sum of its few parts. It is traditionally served alongside potatoes or rice.
 .

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Spicy Southern Fried Chicken

A picnic in the southern United States just wouldn’t be complete without some fried chicken. My grandmother always fried hers in peanut oil because of its health benefits with the added bonus of a very high smoke point, ensuring the chicken will get crunchy on the outside, keeping it tender on the inside.

Did you know that today is International Picnic Day? Yep, that’s right. Why it falls on a Wednesday is anybody’s guess but at the very least, even if you have to work today, let me encourage you to take your lunch outside and find a picnic bench and enjoy it in the sunshine. 

If you’ve read my About Me page, you know that my grandmother’s fried chicken is one of those things I keep trying to duplicate. Mine’s good, because all crispy fried chicken is good, but it just isn’t the same as when she made it for me. I am also open to trying other people’s fried chicken recipes. Because, once again and repeat after me, there is no bad fried chicken. 

A number of years ago my daughters gave me Maya Angelou’s memoir/cookbook, Hallelujah! The Welcome Table.  *Affiliate link* Her fried chicken recipe calls for marinating the chicken for an hour in a generous quantity of fresh lemon juice. I was a little skeptical at first, but I can tell you, it brightens the flavors beautifully without being overwhelmingly lemony. I like to add a bunch of cayenne too to make it spicy but otherwise, this is essentially Maya Angelou’s fried chicken. Just one more reason to admire our late poet laureate and mourn her recent passing.

Ingredients
1 chicken (Mine was a huge fryer, about 6 lbs and a pack of just wings)
2 cups or 480ml fresh lemon juice
3 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
3 teaspoons cayenne

For dredging the chicken:
2-3 cups or 250-375g flour

For frying:
3-4 cups or 710-950ml peanut oil

Method
Wash and dry the chicken with some paper towels and cut it into pieces.  Put all the pieces into a big Ziploc bag or a large bowl and add the fresh lemon juice.



Put it in the refrigerator for one hour, turning the chicken halfway through to make sure the top pieces get their share of lemon juice time.

Rinse, dry and season the chicken generously with salt, black pepper and cayenne.  I say three teaspoons of cayenne in the ingredients list but truth be told, I just keep sprinkling it on until the chicken is covered in red. We like our chicken spicy.



Put your flour in a paper grocery bag. This was something my grandmother insisted on. Plastic would not do.

Dredge the seasoned chicken in the flour.



Heat your oil in large pot. I use a heavy roaster, just like my grandmother did. Ideally, the oil should be at 375°F or 190°C when the chicken is added. Add a few pieces of the chicken and cover.



Fry on high until brown on both sides.



Reduce heat to low, cover the pot leaving just a small gap, and cook for 30 more minutes.





Remove from heat, drain on paper towels (an extra paper grocery bag also works well) and serve hot.  I pop mine into a warm oven if I am not serving immediately and to keep the first batch warm while I fry the rest.



Repeat the process until all the chicken is cooked.


Enjoy!




This leg is for you! 



Friday, March 14, 2014

Curried Cauliflower Chicken Pilaf

Curry powder, cardamom and cinnamon, with a kick of cayenne, make this fragrant curried cauliflower chicken pilaf a delicious and easy one-bowl meal for the many busy days when you are short on time.



This recipe is adapted from Patricia Well’s Vegetable Harvest. Amazon affiliate link>




My husband travels a lot on business so friends often ask me if I cook when he’s gone. Absolutely! Since I love to be in the kitchen creating, and I deserved to eat well, even alone, I do cook. I tend to make simple meals, like pan-fried salmon with salad or pasta and broccoli with crispy prawn chilli paste stirred through, which I adore. I buy the paste in Kuala Lumpur when I am there and have it stockpiled; enough to last me till the next visit. This is my favorite brand, but I am sure there must be others, perhaps even where you live.


The dish I'm sharing today fulfills so many of my needs. It’s full of flavor but easy. Served in just one bowl and nothing to cut so I can eat it with a spoon and read my book at the same time. And when it’s just me eating, it is great, dare I say even better, the next day as leftovers.

Ingredients
3 boneless chicken breasts (Approximate weight 4-6 oz or 115-170g each.)
Sea salt
Black pepper
Olive oil
8 ounces or about 225g cauliflower
12 whole cardamom seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 stick cinnamon
1 1/2 cups or 300g long grain rice
2 cups or 480ml chicken stock
Fresh cilantro or coriander leaves or parsley for garnish

Method
Slice your chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces and sprinkle lightly with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.


Cut your cauliflower up into florets.



Measure out your spices and have them ready in a small bowl. Seriously. Just do it.



Drizzle a little olive oil in a skillet and pan fry the chicken until it is browned and caramelized. Remove it from the pan and set aside.




In a large pot with a tight fitting lid, mix the rice with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Cook over a medium heat for just a few minutes and stir so that the rice is well coated with the oil.



Add in the chicken stock and bring to a boil. If your stock is homemade and unsalted, add in a teaspoon of salt. I had made mine from stock cubes, which are notoriously high in sodium already, so I didn’t add any extra salt.



Add in your measured spices and the cinnamon stick and give it a quick stir.



Add the cauliflower to the pot, along with the chicken. Cover the pot and reduce the heat to simmer.




Simmer, covered, for 20 minutes and then turn the fire off. Leave the pot covered for at least 10 more minutes or until you are ready to serve.

Discard the cinnamon and fluff the rice with a fork, mixing in the cauliflower and chicken.

Warn your family or guests to avoid chewing on a cardamom seed. (Or you can pick these out too, but I didn’t bother.)

Garnish with cilantro or parsley, if desired.



Enjoy!


***This post contains an affiliate link.***

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Pan-fried Chicken with Bacon and Asparagus

A great, quick one-pan meal: pan-fried chicken with bacon, asparagus, cherry tomatoes, black olives and basil. Deliciousness on your plate in under 20 minutes! When you pan-fry chicken with bacon, the resulting salty stickiness creates its own delectable sauce, especially when you add a little butter and white wine at the end.



Back in 2002, I met a new love. He was witty and adorable in a crooked-tooth sort of way with a cocky grin and an easy manner that drew me in. We met almost daily, me with pen and paper in hand, ready to take down the words of deliciousness and technique that tumbled from his rosy lips as easily as his broad sunshiny smile.

It was the start of a beautiful relationship that added joy and laughter and good food to my life that has continued to this day. And he is not just a pretty face that could cook! Oh, no! He is also a philanthropist, educating young, at-risk men and women so they can earn their way and learn to be part of a team, bringing misfits into the fold of the tight culinary world.

He also aspires to get the world cooking healthy meals for their families and to bringing real food into the lunchrooms of schools, to better nourish and educate our growing children.

So I guess you all know I am talking about Jamie Oliver, right? Anybody else in love with him too?

Our Sunday Supper theme this week is one-pot meals and two of my favorites come from a single episode of Jamie’s show Oliver Twist, which first aired in 2003. Unfortunately the original has been taken off the internet. I make today’s dish almost exactly as written, only increasing amounts depending how many are coming for dinner.

Substitutions and variations
I’ve also been know to substitute fine green beans for the asparagus when they are out of season or hard to come by. The ingredient amounts are flexible, depending on your appetite so, by all means, if your pan is big enough, add more tomatoes or asparagus (or green beans) if you are extra hungry. I also use my huge non-stick pan to make this for four or six, doubling or tripling the amounts you see here.

Pan-fried Chicken with Bacon and Asparagus

Ingredients to serve two
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil
2 slices smoked bacon, preferably thick cut
2 good handfuls asparagus spears, woody ends trimmed off (or substitute green beans)
16 cherry tomatoes
10 Kalamata olives, stones left in
Handful basil leaves
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/4 cup or 60ml dry white wine

Method
Cut the thick end of the chicken breast into three relatively even pieces. I loved this trick when I first saw it and use it in other recipes now. It helps the breast cook faster and more evenly since the thick part is cooked when the thin part is. Season the breasts on both sides with a generous sprinkle of sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper.



Heat a large (at least 12in or 30cm wide) non-stick frying pan and add a drizzle of olive oil. Put the chicken breasts in, round side down and pan-fry for two to three minutes or until the breasts are a lovely golden brown.



Turn the breasts over and lay one folded bacon strip on top of each. Add the asparagus, tomatoes and olives into the pan.



When the other side of the chicken is golden, which takes just a couple of minutes, carefully flip the chicken breast back to the other side, along with the bacon. You want the bacon to crisp up. It took mine only four minutes, so keep an eye on it. Your heat should still be up high so that the asparagus and tomatoes get a little charred on the bottom. Toss them around gently with tongs.



Turn the chicken back over so the bacon is on top again and add your basil and the butter. Add in the white wine and remove from the heat.



Give the whole pan a gentle shake so the wine and melted butter mix and the basil wilts. Jamie suggests smashing a few tomatoes to make a sauce, but I find that the sauce is lovely just as is from the butter and white wine and the sticky bits from the pan-frying bacon and chicken.



Enjoy!

This is not only a great one-pot meal, but it lives up to the name of Jamie’s episode title, which was Flash in the Pan. I timed this and from the moment I cut the first chicken breast until the photo when I am dripping on the sauce on the plate, was 18 minutes!

If you’d love to see all the other great one-pot wonders the Sunday Supper group have for you this week, join me and our host, the talented Amy Kim from kimchi MOM,  and click on the links below.
Take the chill off” Chilis, Soups, and Starters
“Put meat on your bones” Stews
“Make room for seconds” Main Dishes
“Can’t say no” Desserts