The Reluctant Chef

September 12th, 2009

Oven-Fried Chicken Parmesan with Polenta

Chicken Parmesan

At times I wonder if my husband is tired of chicken for dinner, he might joke about how we have chicken a lot but is way too nice to tell me to make something else. If you looked back over a month of cooking you would probably find 60-70% of the recipes involve chicken in some way. What can I say, I really like chicken breast.

I think my obsession with chicken began when I was living on my own and had absolutely no desire to cook. Anyone can get out a frozen chicken breast and either put it in the oven to bake or on your George Foreman to grill. Depending on what my side dish was, or if I was even going to be having a side dish, would determine my method of cooking.

This was my dinner most nights of the week if I wasn’t ordering take out or going to my moms for a nice home cooked meal. There are some definite benefits to living near a mom who is a great cook and always happy to have you over.

You will still notice that I am heavy on chicken recipes but now that I am becoming more confident with my cooking skills I can branch out from plain baked chicken and try things that are a little more challenging.

Chicken parmesan always seemed like a really complex recipe, breading chicken shouldn’t be a difficult feat but for some reason for years I was scared to try it. Little did I know that this would become one of my favorite chicken dishes and surprisingly easy.

The thing about this recipe that caught my eye, besides the obvious presence of chicken, was that the chicken is breaded in panko. For any of you who are unfamiliar with panko it is a japanese breadcrumb that is not quite as fine as traditional breadcrumbs. Panko gives the chicken a nice texture and a bit of crunch, I have found that I pretty much use it whenever breadcrumbs are in a recipe.

Night 3 of Cooking Light Week was found in their Dinner Tonight section which has a great new look. Not only do you get a picture, recipe, possible side dishes and tips but also a ‘game plan’. The game plan is great for beginning chefs like me who still struggle with when to make what part of the dish so that everything is ready at the same time. It helps to maximize the time you have so dinner is ready much quicker, which is nice during the week.

The end result with this recipe was a wonderfully juicy chicken breast with crunch complimented with basic polenta and light lemon mustard dressing for a salad. This recipe was definitely a hit especially with my husband who loved the polenta. I will be adding this to my rotation of great recipes for the future.

Oven-Fried Chicken Parmesan

Courtesy of Cooking Light Recipe

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 large egg whites, lightly beaten

3/4 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)

4 (6 ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup jarred spaghetti sauce

1/2 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese

3/4 shredded part skim mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Combine first 3 ingredients in a shallow dish; place egg whites in a bowl. Place panko in a shallow dish. Dredge 1 breast half in flour mixture. Dip in egg whites; dredge in panko. Repeat procedure with remaining chicken, flour mixture, egg whites and panko.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken to pan; cook 2 minutes. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Turn chicken over, cook 2 minutes. Coat chicken with cooking spray; place pan in oven. Bake at 450 degrees for 5 minutes. Turn chicken over; top each breast half with 2 tablespoons sauce, 2 tablespoons parmigiano-reggiano, and 3 tablespoons mozzarella. Bake 6 minutes or until chicken is done.

Basic Polenta

Bring 2 cups fat-free, low-sodium chicken broth and 1 cup milk to a boil in a medium saucepan. Gradually whisk in 3/4 cup instant dry polenta. Cook 5 minutes or until thick, stirring constantly.

Lemon Mustard Salad

Whisk together 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 2 teaspoons honey, 1 teaspoon dijon mustard, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper. Drizzle over your greens of choice and toss well.

Tags: Chicken, Polenta, salad | Posted in Chicken, Theme Weeks |

Cooking Light Week – Recipe 2

September 12th, 2009

Cincinnati Turkey Chili

Turkey Chili

Fall is my absolute favorite season. It is the time of year when you get to start wearing sweaters again. Watching TV with a blanket while it is raining outside is really a little piece of heaven to me. When I think of fall I immediately think of warm soups, stews and chili’s.

Little did I realize when picking Cincinnati Turkey Chili for night 2 of Cooking Light Week that it was going to be a raining and stormy day. What a perfect day to come home from a late meeting at work to a warm chili in the crock pot.

The Cincinnati Turkey Chili didn’t originally call to be made in the crock pot but I figured you can pretty much put most things in the crock pot and just let them simmer all day, especially chili.

With only a small modification to the recipe to keep the chili from getting dry we ended up with a great turkey chili. Since the chili was going to be cooking all day I decided to omit the spaghetti noodles from the recipe. After it cooked all day it needed a little more liquid added to give it the texture traditionally found in chili so I added about half a cup of tomato sauce. With a little cheese on top we were left with a warm bowl of turkey chili, a pretty good first try at the recipe. I would love to see how this recipe turns out when made according to the actual recipe.

I was surprised to realize when putting this meal together that this is the first time I have ever made turkey chili. Thanks to this blog I am trying new things and really experiencing the world of food.

Cincinnati Turkey Chili

Adapted from Cooking Light’s Recipe

8 ounces lean ground turkey

1 1/2 cups onion

1 cup chopped green bell peppers

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon chili powder

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground all spice

1/2 cup fat-free, low-sodium chicken broth

1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained

2 1/2 tablespoons chopped semisweet chocolate

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup tomato sauce

3/4 cup shredded cheese

Put all ingredients through salt into your crock pot on low 8 hours. Prior to serving add 1/2 cup tomato sauce and let warm up. Garnish each both with a handful of cheese.

See how easy that is to have a warm bowl of chili waiting for you when you get home from work!

Tags: Chili, Crock Pot, Turkey | Posted in Theme Weeks, Turkey |

Cooking Light Week – Recipe 1

September 9th, 2009

Crispy Skin Salmon and Fiery Asian Slaw

Orange Salmon and Spicy Coleslaw

This recipe caught my eye to be featured in my Cooking Light Week, mostly for the fiery asian slaw. I am a huge fan of any variety of cole slaw whether it is creamy or light, spicy or rich it doesn’t matter to me I am a fan.

The fiery asian slaw did not disappoint and really was the star of the meal. The recipe called for Sriracha which is one of my favorite spicy ingrients so I was pretty confident it was going to turn out. Upon my first taste I could feel my mouth burning and I was a happy camper. After one serving I had to tone down the spice a little, as I am pretty sure I added more than it called for, but it was still a hit and will definitely be made again.

Properly cooking salmon is something that intimidates me and so as a challenge I tried a new method to see if I would be more sucessful, pan frying. Eventhough my salmon was a little undercooked (practice makes perfect) I have been converted to the method of pan frying instead of baking it. The favours of the salmon were basic with only some salt and pepper and orange juice, giving it the citrus needed when cooking with fish.

Recipe 1 is a hit and I am looking forward to mastering the art of properly cooking fish.

Crispy Skin Salmon

Adapted from Cooking Light September 09 Issue

2 (6 oz) salmon fillets

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 cup fresh orange juice

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle salmon fillets evently with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add salmon to pan, skin side down; cook 4 minutes. Turn salmon over; cook 3 minutes. Add orange juice to pan; cook 30 seconds or until liquid almost evaporates and fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.

Fiery Asian Slaw

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 teaspoons sriracha (hot chili sauce)

1 teaspoon fresh ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon honey

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 (16 oz) package coleslaw

While fish is cooking, combine rice vinegar and next 5 ingredients (through honey) in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, cilantro and coleslaw; toss well to coat.

Tags: Salmon, Slaw | Posted in Fish, Theme Weeks |

Cooking Light Week

September 9th, 2009

My Cooking Light subscription started last Christmas when my little sister gave it to me as a present. For years I have been looking through her magazine to get recipes, but there is just something about having these recipes at your finger tips.

The only problem with my subscription is that it is delivered to my mom’s house in Seattle and I live in Vancouver BC. This means that I have to wait to get my new issue until I visit my mom, which is usually once a month but not always right in line with when the magazine comes out. The worst is when you see the magazine at the newstands and you know yours is just waiting for you.

After returning from my holiday I was excited to see the new and improved issue of Cooking Light waiting for me. I am not sure about the rest of you but I am really liking the new format the magazine has. They really knocked it out of the park this month and so I have decided to do a Cooking Light Week.

There are so many wonderful recipes in this months issue so it was hard to only pick 5.

Here are this weeks Cooking Light Meals:

Tuesday – Crispy Skin Salmon with Fiery Asian Slaw pg. 20

Wednesday – Cincinnati Turkey Chili pg. 94

Thursday – Oven Fried Chicken Parmesan pg. 82

Friday – Cold Sesame Noodles with Chicken and Cucumbers pg. 88

Saturday – Grilled Pork Tenderloin Roulade pg. 180

Check back throughout this week to see how my Cooking Light Week goes…

Tags: Cooking Light | Posted in Theme Weeks |

Holiday

August 21st, 2009

Relaxing on the Beach My wonderful husband and I are headed off on a 2 week holiday which means there will be no Reluctant Chef Blogs until after Labour Day. Although the blog will be on hold I am planning on taking lots of pictures of the amazing food I am having while in Jamaica. Make sure to check back September 8th for the full post of pictures.

Have a wonderful two weeks and I look forward to blogging up a storm when I get back.

Happy Cooking,

The Reluctant Chef

Tags: Holiday | Posted in Uncategorized |

Italian Sausage and Kale Risotto

August 12th, 2009

Italian Sausage and Kale Risotto Even though my sister is a stay at home mom of a two year old and an 8 week old she somehow has time in her busy day to find recipes to pass on to me. The inspiration for this dish was a Cooking Light recipe she found and it just happens to be a risotto. She assured me that this recipe was easy to make, but the real question is whether she said that as someone who is a great cook or actually thinking about my cooking skills…

Risotto never seemed like a meal to be made during the week. I have this impression of risotto that it is complicated and challenging dish that is meant to be prepared by a proper chef and not someone like me just finding their way around the kitchen.

If I was going to tackle a risotto dish I was going to make it my own and not just follow the recipe by the book. Since I like my food spicy I substituted the sweet turkey sausage for some hot italian sausage and lots of it. I was also surprised to find out that I had no white wine in the house and so replaced the white wine in the recipe with red wine. I also omitted the scallions since I didn’t have any on hand and had already been to the store a few times today. The final substitution to the original recipe was the kale. A good friend of mine introduced me to kale and from the moment I have been trying to find recipes where I can use it. Tonight’s risotto was a great opportunity to try it out and it turned out beautifully.

Although through out this meal I was hesitant that it was going to turn out, much to the delight of my husband the dish turned out wonderfully and has affirmed for me that anyone can make risotto.

It is very encouraging for me when dishes turn out, so much so that I am instantly excited and ready to blog. My husband just laughs at me because apparently it doesn’t take much to make me happy in the kitchen and tonight what made me smile was a well made risotto.

Italian Sausage and Kale Risotto

Adapted from Cooking Light’s Recipe

4 cups fat free low sodium chicken broth

1/2 cup water

2 teaspoons olive oil

2 cups chopped onion (about 1 large)

2 teaspoons sugar

8 ounces Hot Italian Sausage

1 cup Arborio rice

1/3 cup red wine of any variety

2 cups kale

fresh grated Romano cheese

lemon zest

Bring chicken broth and 1/2 cup water to simmer in a sauce pan making sure not to boil. Keep warm over a low heat

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add chopped onions and sugar to the pan, saute until onions are golden. Place onions in a bowl and set aside.

Using the same pan, saute sausage until browned, stirring to crumble. Once browned add Arborio rice and saute for 30 seconds. Stir in red wine, allow to cook until the liquid had nearly absorbed, making sure to stir constantly. Once liquid is almost absorbed stir in 1 cup of broth cooking that until nearly absorbed. Continue by adding 1/2 a cup of broth at a time allowing it to nearly absorb before adding the next portion of broth. Making sure through out this process to stir constantly.

As a way to quickly blanch your kale so it doesn’t have that rough texture is by dropping it into the warm chicken broth on the stove for a minute until it turns bright green. Make sure to remove it at this point since you aren’t trying to cook the kale.

Once the rice has absorbed all of the liquid remove from the heat, stir in onions, blanched kale, cheese and lemon zest.

Posted in Sausage |

Guinness Mustard Glazed Pork

August 5th, 2009

Every week I sit down with my computer and scour the internet for ideas for my weeks meals. I try to incorporate dishes that I know and love but also new recipes to try and make my own. After filling my calendar with the many amazing things for the coming week I compile my grocery list and head for Costco.

Costco is always my first stop on grocery shopping day. I make the quick stop to get my fountain diet coke and then I am off to begin my trip through the store. Regardless of what is on my list I still go down every aisle, since you never know what is new and exciting at Costco. I typically leave the store with a cart full of goodies, many of which I never planned on getting.

Now that I have all the supplies for the week I can hit the ground running when I get home from work every night.

This weeks new recipe is Angry Asian Creations Roast Pork Loin rubbed with Guinness Mustard.

Guinness Mustard Glazed Pork

Little did I realize when I opened the recipe that the guinness mustard was suppose to sit for 2 days on the counter before being used in the recipe. I got a little excited when it meant that I was going to have to improvise for this dish to still make it work.

The first thought that popped into my head was to mix up the guinness mustard but instead of waiting for it to sit for 2 days I would just combine it in a sauce pan with a little flour and let it simmer down to a nice thick sauce. The guinness added a richness to the sauce while the vinegar and spices added a kick and the mustard seeds gave the sauce texture.

The end result of this dish was a Guinness Mustard Glazed Pork that was full of flavour and relatively easy to make, which is always good on a week night.

Guinness Mustard Glazed Pork

Adapted from Angry Asian Creations

2 boneless pork chops

salt and pepper to taste

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Season pork with salt and pepper. Combine oil, cumin, paprika and cayenne and then rub onto the pork. Place in an oven to cook for 15 minutes.

While the pork is cooking begin creating the Guinness Mustard Glaze.

Guinness Mustard Glaze

6 ounces Guinness beer

3/4 cup mustard seeds

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 tablespoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon cloves

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon allspice

1 teaspoon flour

Combine all ingredient and simmer on low until sauce thickens. To help keep the flour from clumping add the flour to a little bit of the liquid and whisk before adding it to the sauce pan.

Remove the Pork from the oven and let rest on a plate for 5 minutes. Once the pork has rested spoon some of the glaze over the pork and voila you have a new way to serve pork.

Tags: easy, guinness, mustard, Pork | Posted in Pork |

Summer Salad

July 28th, 2009

Summer Salad

Sometimes a basic salad is all you need.

With this heat wave that seems to have hit the Northwest I always find it a challenge to make meal that aren’t too hot but that are also filling.

The reason I love salads so much is you almost always have a good variety of things in your fridge to throw into a salad. I hit the jackpot for last nights salad since I had gone grocery shopping earlier.

While at the store yesterday I came across a salad mix that was spinach and arugula, arugula being something I have never tried before. I know, as a salad lover how have I never tried it before.

Since I had originally planned to make Thai Chicken Curry for dinner last night I had already taken some chicken out of the freezer. So after a quick bake in the oven I had some great protein for our salad.

By adding mushrooms, red and yellow bell peppers and cilantro I had a great refreshing salad for dinner. Now the real dilemma was deciding what sort of salad dressing to put on the salad. I didn’t want anything too heavy so I went with my standard dressing, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

As Sean and i sit down to eat dinner in front of the fan we really enjoy that basic salad that you can rarely go wrong with.

Tags: Chicken, light refreshing, salad | Posted in salad |

Citrus Pistachio Biscotti

July 14th, 2009

Citrus Pistachio Biscotti

One of my favorite shows here in Vancouver is “The Shopping Bags” where they try out a hand full of recipes from a cookbook and then have a professional chef come critique them and the recipes. The two hosts, Anna and Kristina, are funny and fun to watch but also give you the impression that they are just like the rest of us in the kitchen, not professional chefs.

After watching one of their shows a few months ago, I rushed out and bought The Everyday Italian by Giada De Laurentiis and proceeded to spend the next weekend making loads of italian food, some turned out and others need a bit of refining on my part.

My husband seemed to really want biscotti this weekend and so for all things italian I looked to Giada. I am not sure about everyone else, but biscotti’s have always been this elusive recipes that both terrifies and excites me. Little did I know it was something I could have made years ago, it was just that easy.

My husband could see on my face just how excited I was when I had a tray full of biscotti that looked and tasted great. That is the real joy for me when I have a recipe turn out so much better than I expected.

Citrus Pistachio Biscotti

Adapted from The Everyday Italian by Giada De Laurentiis

2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup fine yellow cornmeal

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1 tablespoon grated orange zest and lemon zest

1/2 cup coarsely chopped shelled pistachios

1/2 cup coconut

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Line a baking sheet in parchment paper or a silpat baking mat.

In a large bowl, whisk together the four, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. In another large bowl, beat the sugar and eggs in an electric mixer until pale yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in the orange and lemon zest, then the flour mixture, and beat just until blended; the dough will be soft and sticky. Stir in the pistachios and coconut. Let stand for 5 minutes.

Using a rubber spatula, transfer the dough to the prepared baking sheet, forming two equal mounds spaced evenly apart. Moisten your hands with water and shape the dough into two equal logs. Bake until the logs are lightly browned, about 35 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes. Using a serrated knife, cut the logs crosswise into 1/2 inch thick diagonal slices. Arrange the biscotti, cut side down, on the same baking sheet. Bake the cookies until they are pale golden about 25 minutes. Let cool before serving.

Tags: Baking, biscotti, citrus | Posted in Baking, Uncategorized |

Mint Chocolate Ice Cream Pie

July 11th, 2009

Mint Chocolate Ice Cream Pie

As promised, here is probably one of the best ice creams I have ever had, who would have thought fresh mint ice cream could be so good.

For Sean’s birthday I thought I would attempt to make mint chocolate ice cream, but instead of just plain ice cream I would put it into an oreo crust and make a pie.

In browsing around recipes it seems like most people steep the mint leaves in the warm half and half before finishing up the custard so I thought that sounded like a plan.

I had some pretty lofty goals though because I was making his birthday dinner on a week night. I knew that I needed to do as much as I could before I went to work since I wasn’t even going to get home until 5;30 or so. Also the ice cream has to chill for 6-8 hours before going in the ice cream maker.

Flash forward to me standing over the stove at 6:00am cursing the half and half for not heating up. I failed to realized that the mint should steep for a few hours to really get enough of the minty taste. As I am running out of time I resign to the fact that I am going to have to take an early lunch break to come home and finish the custard so that it can cool until I get home from work.

You can image my boss that morning when I email her to see if I can take my lunch break at 10 so I can finish making ice cream. She couldn’t stop laughing. Most people aren’t trying to make ice cream at 6:00 in the morning.

It was well worth all the trouble to make this ice cream, it is by far one of my favorite home made ice creams. It taste creamy but not too heavy and so fresh. I now have requests from my mother in law for this ice cream on her next birthday, she hasn’t even tasted it and she knows it is amazing.

Mint Chocolate Ice Cream Pie

About 2 cups fresh mint leaves

4 cups half and half

1 cup sugar

Pinch salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 egg yolks

4 ounces dark chocolate

Tear mint leaves off the stems and put into a large bowl. Using a pestle, pound the leaves until they are a little bruised.

Heat half in half, sugar and pinch of salt on the stove over medium heat until steaming and bubbling, making sure not to boil.

Once the half and half is heated remove from the heat and add the mint leaves and cover. Now let them steep for 2-3 hours, the longer the better to really get the minty taste.

After 3 hours strain the mint leaves and put the half and half back on the stove. As the half and half is heating up take your egg yolks and whisk them in a bowl. Add a cup or so of the heated half and half and whisk until combined. This will keep the egg from cooking in the half and half. Add the egg mixture to the half and half and combine.

Heat the mixture until steaming and bubbling around the edges making sure to stir constantly, custard is done when it coats the back of the spoon.

Remove from the heat, add vanilla and let cool in the fridge until ready to use in your ice cream maker. Add the chocolate chunks half way through the time in the ice cream maker.

Tags: chocolate, dessert, Ice Cream, mint | Posted in Ice Cream |