Showing posts with label chicken recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chicken recipes. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Baked Chicken and Feta Meatballs

Tasty and delicious, these baked chicken and feta meatballs are made with fresh cilantro and chili peppers and are finished with a squeeze of lemon juice, more feta and cilantro.

Food Lust People Lust: Tasty and delicious, these baked chicken and feta meatballs are made with fresh cilantro and chili peppers and are finished with a squeeze of lemon juice, more feta and cilantro.

If you are looking for a great meatball recipe bursting with flavor that works equally as well as an appetizer or stirred into a fresh tomato sauce, this is it! 

Our star ingredient, the feta, adds salt, sure, but also creaminess and a little tang, along with the yogurt. For a while there, these meatballs were on regular rotation at our house. It’s been a while though so I’ll be making them again soon. We love them!

Baked Chicken and Feta Meatballs

This recipe makes about 45 bite-size meatballs. I use a small 2 tablespoon scoop which makes them so easy to portion and roll. This recipe is adapted from one on New York Times Cooking

Ingredients
7 oz or 200g feta
Small bunch fresh cilantro (mine weighed about 3 1/2 oz or 100g)
¼ cup or 50g old-fashioned rolled oats
1 tablespoon plain Greek yogurt
2 small hot chili peppers
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 pound ground chicken (or sub ground turkey or pork)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 lemon

Method
Wash the cilantro thoroughly and spin dry. Pinch off the hard stems and discard. Set aside 1/2 for sprinkling on when serving.

Chop your chili peppers and garlic and put them in a food processor with the other half of the cilantro. Process until finely chopped. 


Crumble your feta and set aside about 1/4 to sprinkle on for serving. Put the rest in a large mixing bowl and stir in the chopped cilantro mixture.


Mix in the oats along with the yogurt and salt.


Add the ground chicken, gently combining until you have a homogenous mixture.


Preheat your oven to 425°F or 218°C and prepare a baking pan by greasing it with the olive oil. For easy clean up, I like to line my pan first with heavy duty foil.

Use a scoop or a tablespoon to separate the chicken mixture in bite-sized pieces and place them on the prepared baking pan. Use damp (or oiled) hands to roll them into little balls. 


Bake the meatballs in your preheated oven until the bottoms are browned and the centers are no longer pink, 15 to 18 minutes.


Squeeze one half of the lemon over the pan, then use a wooden spoon to move the meatballs around, turning the browned side up, and scraping up any browned bits on the pan. 


Transfer to a serving plate and top with the reserved feta and cilantro. Cut the remaining lemon half into wedges and serve at the table for squeezing on top.

Food Lust People Lust: Tasty and delicious, these baked chicken and feta meatballs are made with fresh cilantro and chili peppers and are finished with a squeeze of lemon juice, more feta and cilantro.

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the sixth installment of our Alphabet Challenge for 2024. Today’s recipes are brought to you by the letter F. Many thanks to our challenge creator, Wendy of A Day in the Life on a Farm

Check out all the recipes brought to you by the letter F:


Here are my posts for the alphabet challenge, thus far: 
F: Baked Chicken and Feta Meatballs - Today's post!



Pin these Baked Chicken and Feta Meatballs!

Food Lust People Lust: Tasty and delicious, these baked chicken and feta meatballs are made with fresh cilantro and chili peppers and are finished with a squeeze of lemon juice, more feta and cilantro.

 .

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Cajun Chicken Eggplant Dressing

Spicy and delicious, this Cajun chicken eggplant dressing can be a side dish or dinner! Either way, if you like eggplant, you are going to love it. 

Food Lust People Love: Spicy and delicious, this Cajun chicken eggplant dressing can be a side dish or dinner! Either way, if you like eggplant, you are going to love it.

This was one of my mom’s favorite dishes and one I absolutely detested growing up. For too many years she’d make me put some on my plate, just to try it, until she suddenly said, “Hey, the more for me!” and quit forcing me. Hallelujah! 

When I finally learned to love eggplant through the Italian gateway dish/drug of eggplant parmigiana,  I started cooking Mom’s old eggplant-based favorites and, sur-PRISE, sur-PRISE, sur-PRISE, as Gomer Pyle used say, I loved them all!

Side note to my overseas/younger readers: Gomer Pyle was a character in a terribly hokey 1960s tv show I watched as reruns when I was a kid in the '70s. One of his standard lines "Sur-PRISE, sur-PRISE, sur-PRISE" - emphasis on the last syllable - was always uttered with a big wide eyes, possibly followed by another of his favorite interjections: SHAZAM! He was innocent, easily amazed and we loved him. In case you want to look it up, he was on The Andy Griffith Show.

If you love eggplant like I love eggplant, you might like to try my Cheesy Eggplant Pork Roast Rolls, my Caprese Stuffed Roasted Eggplant or Mom’s other huge favorite, Cajun Shrimp Eggplant Casserole. All delicious but the Caprese Stuffed Roasted Eggplant is especially lovely if you need a pretty main dish for the vegetarians in your life. 

Isn't it amazing how our taste buds and aversions to texture can change as we grow up? 

Cajun Chicken Eggplant Dressing

You can make this dressing with your preferred chicken parts but know that chicken with skin on and bones helps make the dish more flavorful. If you choose bigger pieces, like thighs, just make sure you cook them till they are tender. On the cooked rice, I like long-grained basmati rice but my Cajun grandmother would have used short grained, grown locally in southern Louisiana. You do you. 

Ingredients
2 1/2 lbs or 1134g chicken wing parts (use the tips to make stock!) 
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
ground cayenne
1/4 cup or 60ml canola oil
1 medium onion, peeled and finely minced
1 medium bell pepper, de-seeded, stem removed, finely minced
2 stalks celery, finely minced
2 medium eggplants (about 2 lbs or 900g in weight)
3 cups or 400g cooked rice
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more to taste
1 teaspoon cayenne (use less if you don’t like things spicy), plus more to taste 
Freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste

Optional: chopped parsley for garnish

Method
Season the chicken with salt, black pepper and a good sprinkle of cayenne then pan-fry in the canola oil, uncovered, in your Dutch oven until golden brown on all sides. Remove to a plate and set aside. 


Add the onion, bell pepper and celery to the pot and sauté over a low heat until the vegetables are soft and the onion is translucent. I find putting the lid on helps this go faster but don’t forget to stir frequently. 


Peel the eggplant in strips, leaving some peeling on for color, then cut them into cubes. You can leave all the peels on but the color of the dish will be markedly darker. My mom used to say that when her grandmother made it, the eggplant turned even the chicken kind of black. I cannot verify this as I always peel mine thusly. 


Once the onion mixture has softened, return the golden chicken pieces to the pot. (For the eagle-eyed, I just removed the pot from the stove for photos. My stovetop doesn't have great lighting.)


Pile the eggplant cubes on top and season with the salt, cayenne and a few generous grinds of black pepper. 


Add a half cup or 120ml water to the pot and put the lid to your Dutch oven on snugly. Cook over a high heat for a few minutes, until you start to see a little steam trying to escape, then turn the heat down to simmer. 

Cook for about an hour, checking periodically to see if you need to add a little water, if it looks dry. With a proper tight-fitting lid, the eggplant releases enough liquid that this shouldn’t be necessary but best to check. 

This is after about half an hour. 


This is after a full hour. You will notice that I did not stir so the chicken remains submerged. 


Take the lid off the pot and add in the cooked rice. Now you should mix well. 


Cook, covered, for about five minutes or until the rice is heated through. Stir occasionally to make sure it doesn’t start to stick to the pot. 

Taste the dressing and add more salt, cayenne and black pepper if needed. Mine is usually good for salt but we like more pepper. Again, you do you. 


Pile the dressing in a serving bowl and garnish with a little chopped parsley for color. My grandmother would never have missed this step! Every savory dish she cooked was finished with a little parsley. 

Food Lust People Love: Spicy and delicious, this Cajun chicken eggplant dressing can be a side dish or dinner! Either way, if you like eggplant, you are going to love it.

Enjoy!

Welcome to the fourth installment of our Alphabet Challenge for 2024. Today’s recipes are brought to you by the letter D. Many thanks to our challenge creator Wendy of A Day in the Life on a Farm


Pin this Cajun Chicken Eggplant Dressing!

Food Lust People Love: Spicy and delicious, this Cajun chicken eggplant dressing can be a side dish or dinner! Either way, if you like eggplant, you are going to love it.

 .

Sunday, June 18, 2023

Cape Malay-ish Pineapple Chicken with Pineapple Salsa

Slightly sweet, savory and spicy, this pineapple chicken with pineapple salsa is easy to make and so flavorful! Serve it with coconut or plain rice.

Food Lust People Love: Slightly sweet, savory and spicy, this pineapple chicken with pineapple salsa is easy to make and so flavorful! Serve it with coconut or plain rice.

Back at the beginning of the first pandemic lockdown, I was already addicted to finding reading material through the Libby app and my own library cards. I borrowed lots of books, of course, but I also searched for magazine with recipes.

One day I came across one called Koe’sister from South Africa. It was brand new, created from a desire to share and preserve family recipes during the pandemic. Published in a mix of English and Afrikaans, it opened a window on a world I had only touched tangentially, through South African friends. 

Funnily enough, as I read one issue, I discovered that one of my expat friends was a contributor! How tiny is this world of ours? 

I also discovered that South African cuisine is as diverse as ours in the United States and includes a subset of culture and recipes from Malays who settled in the Cape area, bringing their love of spices and curries. I was introduced to cookbook authors like Fadella Williams who wrote The Cape Malay Illustrated Cookbook, Cariema Isaacs who has authored four cookbooks - all focused on her Cape Malay heritage and recipes - as well as blogger and author Salwaa Smith and her self-published Cape Malay Cooking & Other Delights.

Both The Cape Malay Illustrated Cookbook and Smith’s blog have many wonderful flavorful recipes but two in particular caught my eye because New York Times Cooking had shared something similar just before I found them. Williams calls hers “pineapple peri-peri chicken” and Smith titles her simply “pineapple chicken.” Both use canned pineapple but Smith’s was closer in flavor profile to the NYT Cooking version.

Of course, these three recipes for chicken with pineapple sent me down an internet rabbit hole, looking for more Cape Malay recipes. Hey, we were on lockdown. I had all the time in the world. 

Cape Malay-ish Pineapple Chicken with Pineapple Salsa

As you can tell from my title, I did finally get around to making some pineapple chicken and I’m here to tell you, it is SO GOOD. I took some liberties by using fresh pineapple and adding the pineapple salsa recommended by NYT Cooking, hence the -ish. 

Ingredients
1 ½ pounds or 680g boneless, skinless chicken breasts

For the marinade:
3 packed tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for cooking
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt 
3 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
½ teaspoon ground cayenne
½ teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons finely grated fresh pineapple, including accumulated juices

For the pineapple salsa: 
¼ medium red onion, finely diced
1 cup or 170g fresh pineapple
Small handful fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1 red chili pepper, thinly sliced

For serving:
Cooked white or brown rice (also nice with coconut rice)

Method
Cut the chicken breasts into bite-sized chunks. 


In a large Ziploc bag, stir together the brown sugar, rice vinegar, soy sauce, fish sauce, 2 tablespoons olive oil, salt, minced garlic, ground cayenne and black pepper.


Transfer 1 generous tablespoon of the mixture to a medium bowl and add the chopped onion. Stir well. 


Cut the pineapple for the salsa into 1/2 in or 1 cm chunks. Add them to the onion bowl along with the cilantro and chili pepper. Toss until well-mixed and set aside.


Finely grate two tablespoons of the remaining pineapple. Add the pineapple and any juice to the marinade in the plastic bag.


Add the chicken chunks and toss to coat. Squeeze all the air you can out of the bag and seal. Set it aside to marinate at room temperature for 15 minutes (and no longer, otherwise the chicken turns mushy.)


Once the chicken is done marinating, pour the chicken into a sieve or strainer over a bowl to collect the leftover marinade. 


Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high and add enough olive oil to lightly coat the bottom of the pan. Cook the chicken pieces in batches so they don’t touch and are in a single layer. 


Cook until the bottoms are browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Turn them and continue cooking, until browned on all sides, a few minutes more. 


Remove to a plate and repeat with the next batches of chicken pieces (adding a little more olive oil to the pan if necessary) until all are browned and almost cooked through. 


Once the chicken is all on the plate, pour the leftover marinade into the pan and whisk while it cooks. Make sure to heat it to bubbling for several minutes to make sure it’s cooked through.


Tip the chicken pieces and any juice that has accumulated on the plate back into the pan.


Stir well to coat the chicken in the cooked marinade and heat until the chicken is piping hot and ready to serve. Serve with rice and the spicy pineapple salsa.

Food Lust People Love: Slightly sweet, savory and spicy, this pineapple chicken with pineapple salsa is easy to make and so flavorful! Serve it with coconut or plain rice.

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing recipes from African cuisines and cultures. Many thanks to our host, Sue of Palatable Pastimes. Check out the links below:


 
We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.


Pin this Pineapple Chicken with Pineapple Salsa!

Food Lust People Love: Slightly sweet, savory and spicy, this pineapple chicken with pineapple salsa is easy to make and so flavorful! Serve it with coconut or plain rice.

 .

Friday, August 19, 2022

Creamy Hatch Chili Pepper Spinach Chicken

Truly, the title "creamy Hatch chili pepper spinach chicken" says it all: Tender breasts in a spicy, succulent sauce! Serve over rice or pasta to complete the meal. 

Food Lust People Love: Truly, the title "creamy Hatch chili pepper spinach chicken" says it all: Tender breasts in a spicy, succulent sauce! Serve over rice or pasta to complete the meal.

Years ago, when we lived in Brazil (circa 1993-1999) one of my closest friend’s husband was from New Mexico. They made it a point to travel home during Hatch chili pepper season (or would enlist relatives to make their purchases) and they would return to our small town of Macáe with bags and bags of frozen roasted peppers to use all year. I had never heard of Hatch peppers but being a lover of all things chili pepper, I was quickly hooked.

The name Hatch chili actually refers to the area in which they are grown - the Hatch Valley - but generally they are a long green pepper with a mild heat but lots of flavor.  

We moved to Houston in 1999 and I hoped for New Mexican peppers, but Hatch peppers hadn’t made it there yet. It took another few years but eventually, Hatch season became a thing, even that far east due to Central Market, the upscale purveyor of gourmet food owned by the parent company of Texas grocery store H-E-B. 

Central Market brought in the peppers by the truckload and the immense roasters (think huge turning cages like you'd put raffle tickets in!) and roasted them fresh outside of their stores. Since then, other area supermarkets have gotten in on the action and the Houston air on the weekends right now is filled with aroma of charred peppers.

Make note: If you are lucky enough to be able to travel to New Mexico, the Hatch Chile Festival takes place every year on Labor Day weekend in Hatch, NM. This year they celebrate their 50th anniversary so it should be a lot of fun. 

Creamy Hatch Chili Pepper Spinach Chicken

Yep, it’s Hatch chili pepper season again and, as promised, here’s my first recipe using that wonderful pepper. It’s quite easy to make but the flavor is out of this world wonderful! Because I lack freezer space, I like to roast my own in the oven but you can use the already roasted ones, if you can get your hands on them. 

Ingredients - to serve six
For the creamy hatch chili pepper sauce:
4 fresh hatch chili peppers
juice from half a lime
2 cloves garlic
1 cup or 240ml heavy cream
Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

For the chicken:
3 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 8oz or 225g each)
1 tablespoon white vinegar
Fine sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil

For optional garnish: chopped cilantro or parsley

Method
Broil the peppers on a baking sheet until they’re charred and black all over on both sides. 


Put them in a plastic bag for about five minutes to loosen the peels. Open the bag and let the peppers cool until you can handle them with bare hands. Rub or pull the peels off. Cut the stem end off and discard. If you like things spicy, leave the seeds. If not, remove the seeds and discard. 


Chop the garlic cloves roughly. 

Place the peppers in a food processor with the garlic, lime juice and sour cream. 


Blend until combined and smooth. Add a good pinch or two of salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. 


Refrigerate until you are ready to cook the chicken. The earlier ahead you make this, the better it is! 

Cut the chicken breasts in half lengthwise. 


Sprinkle them with the vinegar on both sides then sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. 


Drizzle your pan with olive oil and then pan fry the chicken breasts over a high heat until golden both sides. You may need to do this in two batches, depending on the size of your pan.


In that case, remove the browned breasts to a plate then pan-fry the second batch. The chicken does not need to be cooked completely through at this point. It will finish cooking, simmering in the creamy hatch sauce.


When all the chicken is browned and on the plate, add the baby spinach leaves to the pan and cover for a few minutes, until the spinach starts to wilt. 


Remove the lid and cook for a few more minutes until the spinach liquid evaporates.


Add the creamy hatch sauce back to the pan. Stir to combine and heat gently to warm. 


Tuck the browned chicken pieces into the sauce. 


Spoon it over to cover. Simmer till chicken is cooked through.


Sprinkle with a little chopped cilantro or parsley to garnish, if desired. 

Food Lust People Love: Truly, the title "creamy Hatch chili pepper spinach chicken" says it all: Tender breasts in a spicy, succulent sauce! Serve over rice or pasta to complete the meal.

Serve over rice or pasta. 

Food Lust People Love: Truly, the title "creamy Hatch chili pepper spinach chicken" says it all: Tender breasts in a spicy, succulent sauce! Serve over rice or pasta to complete the meal.

Enjoy! 

Do you get Hatch chili peppers where you live? For more information about these great peppers and possible substitutes, Chili Pepper Madness is a great source. 



Pin this Creamy Hatch Chili Pepper
Spinach Chicken!

Food Lust People Love: Truly, the title "creamy Hatch chili pepper spinach chicken" says it all: Tender breasts in a spicy, succulent sauce! Serve over rice or pasta to complete the meal.

 .



Monday, November 15, 2021

Chicken Chili Verde – Instant Pot

Cooked completely in an Instant Pot, this Chicken Chili Verde is flavorful, delicious and easy! Serve yourself a warming bowl of this chili tonight.

Food Lust People Love: Cooked completely in an Instant Pot, this Chicken Chili Verde is flavorful, delicious and easy! Serve yourself a warming bowl of this chili tonight.

My family knows that my favorite kind of book will contain both recipes and stories. I call them cookbook memoirs and have just discovered via a quick Google search that cookbook memoir is a legit genre. Amazon calls them food memoirs, culinary biographies or culinary memoirs. 

A few years ago my elder daughter gave me Julia Turshen’s book Small Victories for Christmas and within just a few hours, I had bookmarked 23 recipes I wanted to try! I haven’t actually made them all yet but every one I have cooked has been delicious.

Julia Turshen's book, Small Victories: Recipes, Advice + Hundreds of Ideas for Home Cooking Triumphs
Twenty-three bookmarks!

Her quick chicken chili verde instructions weren’t even strictly a recipe. They were just a small paragraph on a page headed Seven Things to do with Leftover Chicken but when I searched my Eat Your Books  bookshelf for tomatillos, it popped up. As you can see from my adaptation, I didn’t start with leftover chicken but using an Instant Pot made it pretty quick to cook anyway.

Chicken Chili Verde – Instant Pot

Adapted from Julia Turshen's Small Victories: Recipes, Advice + Hundreds of Ideas for Home Cooking Triumphs <Amazon affiliate link. My two boneless, skinless chicken breasts weighed about 1 1/2 lbs or 680g. If your chicken weighs a bit more or less, it’s all good. I used some special little tomatillos from Melissa's Produce called tomatillos milperos, which are smaller with a more concentrated flavor and less acidity than the normal variety. I highly recommend them but use whichever fresh, firm tomatillos you can find if you can't put your hands on some.

Ingredients
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 lb or 680g)
Fine sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 medium onion
1 bell pepper
1 fresh jalapeño
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil 
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 lb or 450g tomatillos
1 1/2 cup or ml chicken stock, plus more as needed
1 can (15.5 oz or 439g) white beans

To serve:
sour cream
grated cheese
green onions

Optional: sliced fresh jalapeños

Bell pepper, onion, garlic and tomatillos milperos
The little tomatillos

Method
Season the chicken breasts with fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Set aside.

Remove any peels and stems then, finely mince or use a food processor to chop the onion, bell pepper, jalapeño and garlic finely. I used my little food processor. 

On the sauté low setting, cook the onion, bell pepper, jalapeño and garlic in the olive oil in the Instant Pot until they are softened, about 10 minutes, stirring frequently.


Remove the husks from the tomatillos and cut them in pieces. Since I was using the small ones, I just cut most of them in half.

Chopping the tomatillos

Add the spices, tomatillos and chicken stock to the sauteed vegetables. 

Adding the spices, tomatillos and chicken stock to the sauteed vegetables.

Turn sauté to high and bring the mixture to a quick boil then turn the Instant Pot off. 

Nestle the chicken breasts in the pot and pressure cook for 10 minutes. 

Putting the chicken into the Instant Pot.

Natural release the steam for 10 minutes then manually release completely. 

Chicken cooked in the pot

Remove the chicken from the pot and, as soon as it’s cool enough to handle, shred it. 

Shredding the chicken.

Drain and rinse the cannellini beans. 

Add the shredded chicken back to the pot along with the rinsed beans. 

Adding the chicken and beans to the pot

Sauté on low for about 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently and adding a little more stock (or water) if it gets too dry. 

Taste for salt and add a bit more if necessary, keeping in mind that the grated cheese will also add salt when you serve.  

Food Lust People Love: Cooked completely in an Instant Pot, this Chicken Chili Verde is flavorful, delicious and easy! Serve yourself a warming bowl of this chili tonight.

Serve with sour cream, grated cheese and green onions. I also like to include some fresh jalapeño slices.

Serve with sour cream, grated cheese and green onions. I also like to include some sliced fresh jalapeños.

Enjoy! 

It’s MultiCooker Monday so my blogger friends and I are sharing recipes made with our small appliances. Check out the links below. Many thanks to our host and organizer, Sue of Palatable Pastime


Multicooker Monday is a blogger group created by Sue of Palatable Pastime for all of us who need encouragement to make better use of our small appliances like slow cookers, Instant Pots, Air Fryers, rice cookers and sous vide machines. We get together every third Monday of the month to share our recipes. If you are a food blogger who would like to post with us, please request to join our Facebook group. 


Pin this Chicken Chili Verde – Instant Pot!

Food Lust People Love: Cooked completely in an Instant Pot, this Chicken Chili Verde is flavorful, delicious and easy! Serve yourself a warming bowl of this chili tonight.

 .