Chicken Carnitas

After spending some time eating vegetarian, I am trying to cut back on the meat I eat, and to eat more sustainably. This means relying more on chicken and fish as my staple proteins, rather than beef or pork.

This means I need to get a bit more creative to keep myself satisfied, so when a friend of mine asked for a chicken carnitas recipe to help him out, I jumped at the challenge.

Ingredients:

4 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
4 cloves of garlic
1 medium yellow onion
2 jalapenos
¼ c olive oil
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
¼ tsp ground black pepper
2 tbsp oil

Directions:

Put the chicken thighs in a slow cooker. Peel and crush your garlic, peel and quarter your onion, roughly chop your jalapenos. Place everything, except the last 2 tbsp of oil, in your slow cooker and toss to make sure it is all well combined.

Cook on low for 6 hours.

Once cooked through and tender, remove the chicken and drain the liquid through a mesh strainer and reserve.

Chill both for a few hours or over night.

You can skim the fat off the liquid once it is cool, or stick in the freezer for an hour to make it easy to scoop off.

Once the chicken is fully cooled shred-it using either your hands or a fork or chop it into small pieces.

To reheat, pour 2 tbsp of oil over medium heat in a large pan, once the oil is shimmering, add your shredded chicken in one layer and sear without moving for 2 minutes to build up the characteristic crust. Poor in reserved one cup of cooking liquid and stir until heated through.

Serve on warm tortillas with chopped red onion, chopped cilantro, and crema or sour cream. It also works great on nachos and it keeps well in the freezer.

Easy Chicken Tikka Masala

I really love Indian food, I've been on a bit of a curry kick recently and this one has always been my favorite. One of the problems I have with making Indian food is that, depending on how stocked your spice cabinet and fridge are, it can cost more per plate than take-out. Especially because many curry recipes call for higher quality cuts of meat which usually dry up in a long simmer, tend to be more mild in flavor and so get lost in the heavy spices, and really are not in the spirit of a good curry which would use every part of an animal possible for the dish.

I wanted to solve some of these problems by making a recipe that mostly relies on dried herbs and powders. While fresh is preferable, it can be harder to find, depending on your local grocer and the season, and having the dried version on hand can make this a much easier recipe to make without having to plan a separate shopping trip. Also, I don't tend to cook Indian flavors every day, so when I buy fresh, some ingredients can go to waste.

Ingredients:

1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground ginger
4 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp ground cumin
1 C whole milk yogurt*
4 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs
3 tbsp ghee or butter
1 medium onion, diced

1½ tsp salt

½ C tomato paste
2 tsp cardamom powder
½ tsp red pepper flakes
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
2 C heavy cream
¾ C fresh cilantro, chopped (plus some sprigs for garnish)

Directions:

Mix together the garlic, ginger, turmeric, coriander, garam masala, and cumin together in a bowl. Stir half that mixture, 2 tbsps, into the yogurt. Pour the marinade into a zip top bag, add the chicken thighs, and smosh around to make sure you have even coverage on the chicken. Place in the fridge and let marinate for 4-6 hrs.

In a large, heavy bottom stock pot or dutch oven, melt the ghee over medium heat and add the onion, salt, tomato paste, cadmium, and red pepper. Sauté, stirring frequently, until the onion is translucent and the tomato starts to brown. Stir in the remaining half of your spice mixture and fry them, stirring frequently for about 3 minutes, or until they are browned, but not burnt. Your kitchen should smell amazing by now.

Add the can of tomatoes, with the juice. Bring to a simmer and and stir, making sure you are scraping and browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Those bits are the most flavorful bits and you don't want to leave them behind. Once you have a simmer going, pour in the cream, and add the chopped cilantro. Bring it back up to a simmer and stir occasionally, until the sauce is thickened, about 20-30 minutes, depending on how you like it. I like the sauce to be completely smooth, so I use an immersion blender here to get a velvety consistency. 

While the sauce reduces, preheat your broiler on high. Place the marinated chicken thighs on a cooling rack placed on a foil lined baking sheet. Broil the chicken on high for 10 minutes, or until the some areas on the chicken start to blacken.

Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces, it won't be cooked all the way through yet. Add to the sauce and simmer for 8-10 minutes or until cooked through.

Serve with rice and fresh cilantro sprigs.

*Whole milk yogurt will work best in this, but use whatever plain yogurt you can find.

Wedding Pasta

In all honesty, I'm a little embarrassed I haven't made this before. It's a recreation of the pasta dish my wife and I had at our wedding. This is what I made for Valentine's Day this year. I would not have thought of it if Laura hadn't ordered a pasta dish from a restaurant near us that was strikingly similar.

One of the things I love about this recipe is that you can really do almost all the parts simultaneously. The chicken takes a while to cook, so you can start that, boil the pasta, then make the sauce, and the chicken should be done and rested by the time you're done. Obviously, how long it takes you is going to depend on your skill level and how much you have prepped ahead of time, but I think this is a good dish to use if you want to practice how to finish a meal all at the same time.

I can't believe that it has taken me over 4 years to recreate our wedding night entree. Well, here it is now, and it's pretty damn good.

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts
1 tbsp of oil
¾ tsp of salt, divided
1 lb of bowtie pasta
2 tbsp of butter
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp of flour
4 C heavy cream
1 C shredded parmesan
½ C sundried tomatoes
¼ tsp black pepper

Directions:

Heat a cast iron grill pan on medium to medium-high heat for 5 minutes to make sure the heat is even. If you don't have one, a griddle or skillet will work just fine. Coat the chicken breasts with oil and sprinkle with ¼ tsp of salt. Cook for about 12 minutes per side, or until an inserted thermometer reads 160° F. Let the chicken rest while you prepare the rest of the dish.

In a large stock pot, boil and salt 1 gallon of water and cook the bowtie pasta until al dente, about 9 minutes. Set aside while you prepare the sauce.

In a large saute pan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and saute until lightly toasted. Add the flour and stir constantly until the butter is all soaked up and the mixture has taken on a golden brown hue.

Reduce the heat to medium-low and slowly pour on the heavy cream, whisking constantly until the flour mixture is all worked in. Sprinkle on the remaining ½ tsp of salt and add the shredded parmesan. Stir in the cooked bowtie pasta, cut the chicken breast into bite size pieces, and add it along with the sun dried tomatoes. Season with black pepper and serve with a semi-dry riesling.

Mushroom and Sausage Stir Fry

The other day, one of my coworkers was complaining about how much she doesn't like mushrooms so I was inspired to make a mushroom centered stir fry. I promise it was nothing personal. I wanted to make this dish healthy so I decided to cook with chicken sausage for the protein.

One of the things I love about cooking with chicken sausage is that it tends to come in a wide variety of creative flavors. It makes it fun and easy to create some very flavorful combinations. While this recipe calls for a specific flavor of sausage, any savory chicken sausage should do the trick.

Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min

Ingredients:

3 tbsp olive oil
¼ cup sliced maitake mushrooms
5 oz sliced shiitake mushrooms
8 oz sliced baby bella mushrooms
1 lb. garlic and herb chicken sausage
½ c chicken stock
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
½ tsp rubbed sage
½ tsp dried thyme leaves
½ tsp salt
½ cup chopped scallion greens

Directions:

In a nonstick or cast iron skillet, heat the oil over medium high heat until it shimmers. Once the oil is hot, add the maitake mushrooms. Saute, stirring frequently, until the mushrooms start to brown around the edges. Add the rest of the mushrooms and cook, stirring constantly until they're browned as well before adding the sausage.

Saute the sausage until cooked through then deglaze the pan with the stock. Make sure you scrape any stuck on bits off the bottom, you don't want to give up on those flavors. Bring to a simmer and add the worcestershire sauce, sage, thyme, and salt and reduce to till the sauce thickens.

Remove from the heat and stir in the scallions before serving with rice, pasta, or quinoa. Enjoy!

Help! I forgot it's Valentine's Day!

Well, actually I didn't. I put up a post about it last week. But you might have, and you might be scrambling for a great dinner idea that you can put together easily and quickly so no one will suspect your oversight. Never fear, dear reader, for I have just the thing for you!

Last year I put up a recipe for Pistachio Crusted Lemon Chicken and it is just the thing to get you through Valentine's Day. This recipe takes very little time to prep and little time to cook. It's healthy and won't have you feeling bloated so you will have plenty of energy for the rest of the night.

If you can't get your hands on lemon olive oil, don't worry, it will still taste great with regular olive oil. Can't get no-salt pistachios? No worries! Just use regular or lightly salted ones and cut out the added salt from the recipe!

So calm down, take a deep breath, tonight is going to go great! (With a little help from me, of course.)

Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Massala

I'm putting this up as a suggestion for Valentine's Day, but this one is great year-round.

On Valentine's Day, you might not have time after work to make a nice, romantic meal, and a slow cooker recipe that will be almost ready as soon as you get home seems like a pretty smart idea. With a long parts list and exotic flavors, it still feels plenty special while requiring minimal work and prep time.


Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 6-8 hrs

Ingredients:

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs*
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 medium onion, minced
1 tbsp ginger, grated or minced
1 cup greek yogurt**
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp garam masala
2 tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp curry powder
1 cup of coconut milk
Cilantro for garnish (optional)

Directions:

Trim any excess fat off the chicken thighs and cut into bite size chunks. Place in your slow cooker with everything except the coconut milk. Mix thoroughly and set on low for 6-8 hours. Pour in the coconut milk and stir till thoroughly combined. If you want to thicken the sauce, take the lid off and put your slow cooker on high for 15 minutes or until the desired consistency is reached.

Serve, garnished with cilantro, over basmati rice and/or with some warm naan bread. If you are worried about the heat, serve with a dollop of greek yogurt or with a cooling side salad of cucumber and mint.


* This recipe calls for chicken thighs instead of breasts because chicken thighs, with their higher fat content and connective tissue, stand up to long, slow cooking better than lean breast meat.

**When selecting a greek yogurt for this dish, I would recommend a higher milk fat yogurt. While a slow cooker on low might not get hot enough to "break" or curdle a lowfat or fat-free yogurt, unfortunately mine does, a full-fat yogurt will give you some insurance and protect you from an unatractive and grainy sauce.

Chipotle Chicken Salad

A few weeks ago, I had some chipotle chicken salad from a local grocery store, and it wasn't very good. It was too sweet and had pickle in it (I don't mind pickle, it just didn't really make sense to me here). But, I was intrigued by the possibility and decided to try and make my own.

This chicken salad is a lot more involved than a classic chicken salad, since it has more cooked ingredients, but it is simply a modified version of my Black Bean and Corn Salsa added to shredded chicken, mixed with a chipotle mayo. I think the extra work is worth it since my wife says it is the best chicken salad she has ever had, and she doesn't even like chicken salad!

Ingredients:

1 rotisserie chicken, shredded, about 3 cups

2 T olive oil

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 jalapeno, seeded and minced

1 15.5oz can of black beans, drained

1 15.25oz can of whole kernel corn, drained

½ t of salt

1 C of mayonnaise

4 chipotle peppers

1 t of adobo sauce

Directions:

Pour the olive oil into a skillet over medium heat and heat until the oil shimmers before adding the garlic and jalapeno and sauteing until lightly browned. Add the cans of black beans, corn, and salt and cook until the beans are soft and are easily squished and start to split. Remove from the heat and add to the shredded chicken, folding in thoroughly.

Take 4 peppers from a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce and place them in a blender with 1 cup of mayo. Add 1 teaspoon of the adobo sauce and blend until smooth. Add to the chicken mixture and stir until completely mixed.

I don't like my chicken salad too saucy, so I only added about 3/4 of the mixture and then used the rest as a spread on other sandwiches, so please add as little or as much as you would like, depending on your taste.

Serve on a nice roll to a grateful world!

Homemade Chicken Nuggets with Honey Mustard

My friend Cody and I were hanging out at his apartment one afternoon when we realized we needed lunch. Cody didn't have much in his fridge for lunch making but he had some chicken breasts and some bread crumbs, we also found some honey mustard dressing and a good collection of spices and decided to try our hand at making our own nuggets. I refined the recipe and wanted to share it with all of you. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts

½ C of honey mustard dressing
1.25 C of unseasoned panko breadcrumbs
2 t of mustard powder
½ t of cayenne powder

¼ t of ground black pepper

Canola oil or other vegetable oil for frying

Directions:

Trim the chicken breasts and cut into nugget sized portions, about thumb size. Place in a plastic bag and pour in the dressing, smush the dressing around and make sure that each piece is getting some coverage. Let that marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Now to get everything ready for the frying. In a bowl mix together the dredge of breadcrumbs, mustard powder, cayenne powder, and black pepper. Make sure to mix thoroughly for even chicken dredging. Then, in a heavy bottom skillet, pour ¼ inch to ½ inch of canola oil and bring to a temp of 350-375 degrees. Also, now would be a great time to set up a draining station, some paper towels on a baking sheet will do.

While the oil heats up, start dredging your marinated chicken pieces in the panko dredge. Make sure you get good, even coverage on each piece for even cooking and crunch. Let the dredge set for a minute on each piece before frying.

Fry in small batches, making sure to not crowd the pan. Fry on each side for about 1 minute or until golden brown and cooked through. Remove to the draining rig to remove excess oil and to let the breading set so it doesn't just come off in you hands as you eat.

Serve with some of the dressing (obviously not the stuff the chicken was marinating in) as a dipping sauce and enjoy! I like to serve mine with some baby carrots and cherry tomatoes to make a whole finger friendly meal.

Pistachio Crusted Lemon Chicken

Some of my favorite recipes come from me just having to figure out what I can make with what I have left in the house. One day, I was struggling to come up with an idea to put dinner on the table, so I took a look around at what I had just around and came up with this. It turned out really well so I decided to share it.

Ingredients:

2 Chicken breasts

¼ C of lemon extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

½ C of unsalted pistachio kernels

1 t of salt

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350. Use paper towels to pat the chicken breasts dry and then coat with the lemon EVOO. Grind or crush the pistachios with the salt until coarsely ground and then dredge the oiled chicken in the pistachio crumbs.

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes then let the chicken rest, covered, for 5 minutes and serve. I served mine with a side salad tossed with equal portions of the same lemon EVOO and balsamic vinegar.

Steve's Cheesy Buffalo Chicken Dip

We are getting to the start of the football season, let's make some good party food! My senior year of college, when I was living in an apartment on campus, one of my roommates used to make this all the time. We loved it. Steve was gracious enough to part with the recipe so I could share it with you. This is one of the only times you will get a recipe from me that has cream cheese in it.

Ingredients:

2 12.5 oz cans of chicken
5 oz of your favorite hot sauce
1 C of ranch dressing (this can be substituted with blue cheese if you would rather)
2 8 oz bricks of cream cheese, softened
2 C of shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

Drain the cans of chicken and shred them with a fork (this is the real benefit to the canned chicken, it shreds easily). Put the chicken and hot sauce in a medium pan over medium h
eat and stir until the hot sauce has been adsorbed, about 1-2 minutes. Add the ranch and stir thoroughly to combine. Once the ranch has been worked in, add the first block of cream cheese and mix in well, then add the second brick, make sure there are no lumps left.

Reduce the heat and fold in the cheese. When the cheese is full incorporated, make any flavor adjustments you like, more hot sauce for heat or dressing or creaminess. Serve with chips, bread, or, like we did one time and loved it, cheddar cheese combos.

Curry Chicken Salad

Chicken salad is a great way to get cheap and flavorful protein into your diet. The easy conversion into a sandwich makes it portable and easy to pack as a lunch. Chicken salad recipes can be really basic or way over-complicated. At its core, chicken salad is usually cut up chicken breast, mayo, and spices or flavorings. This recipe kicks things up a bit flavor-wise, without getting too complicated.

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts cooked and cut into cubes or shredded

¼ C of mayo

Salt to taste

Black pepper to taste

¼ t of dried thyme leaves

¼ t of curry powder

½ C seedless grapes cut in half

Directions:

Mix the chicken with the mayo and then stir in the salt and pepper. Honestly, at this point you have a pretty good chicken salad that I like to take to work for lunch all the time. But, for something a little more special, I add the thyme leaves and curry powder. After the chicken is thoroughly and evenly coated, gently stir in the grapes. Be careful not to be too vigorous, we aren't making jelly. Enjoy out of the bowl or make into a great sandwich.

My wife suggests that, if you are going to shred the chicken, you should slice the grapes thinner so that it spreads easier on a sandwich. It might also be easier to mix the spices into the may before mixing in with the chicken so that they easily mix evenly.