Showing posts with label Chicken. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chicken. Show all posts
I have long been a huge fan of the flavours of French Onion Soup . . . caramelised onion, sweet and succulent . . . cheese . . . toast . . . garlic . . . thyme.
When done well, it is a beautiful thing to behold and to eat.
Everything has to be in perfect balance however. There cannot be too much of any one thing. I strongly dislike it when there is too much cheese.
I have been served French Onion Soup in restaurants where there has been so much cheese in the dish that you are almost choking while you are eating it, which is not a very nice thing at all to experience.
I saw a recipe this recipe for French Onion Chicken done in the slow cooker the other day. It looked really tasty and of course quite simple to make.
Normally I am not such a big fan of chicken cooked in the slow cooker. Its a texture thing . . . I also think if you really overcook chicken, especially boneless and skinless chicken, you remove all of the flavour.
This did look appealing however and it wasn't cooked for hours and hours, which also appealed. It said between 2 and 3 hours, which seemed just about right.
Of course I could not leave well enough alone. I reduced the quantities so that I could serve only two people with it. No waste.
I added some garlic because I thought it belonged in the dish. I was right. It did. Not too much, just a smidgen.
I also chose to use dried thyme because well . . . I don't think fresh thyme would make much of a difference in a dish cooked in the slow cooker. But that's just me.
I also chose to add some sherry, because sherry is a beautiful addition to French Onion Soup.
It works very well. I also thought it would enhance the flavour of the chicken. Again, I was right.
So what you are getting today is a dish that is simple to make, won't heat up your kitchen.
Sized just perfectly for us, it is just a tiny bit sophisticated without being over the top, and which is totally delicious. All winning qualities as far as I am concerned!
*French Onion Chicken*
Serves 2
1 small clove garlic, peeled and minced
1 TBS butter
pinch sugar
salt and black pepper to taste
1 TBS finely grated Parmesan Cheese
6 thick slices of a french baguetteI hope you will give this a go! I think this makes a great midweek meal! Bon Appetit!
We eat a lot of chicken in our house as opposed to other meats. That is because it is quite economical in comparison and much healthier. Kind of the opposite to when I was growing up. Back then Chicken was a rare treat. Now it is quite common, and I confess, most of the time, I choose the breasts because they are so easy to do something with. They are like a blank canvas that takes to many flavour additions!
You can slather them with just about anything and they will come out tasting good. A very popular chicken dish over here is called Hunter's Chicken. Basically Hunter's Chicken is chicken breasts cooked with bacon and topped with BBQ sauce and cheddar cheese.
You can buy it all ready to cook in most of the shops over here. But you pay a lot of money for something which is so simple that a child could put it together. It's really easy peasy.
Why pay a fortune for something so simple, when you can knock up the same thing at half the price and for more people on top of it all! Those ready made things are only ever for two people, so family would have to buy two packs or more of them.
And while you are at it, why stop at just slathering it with BBQ sauce, bacon and cheese, when . . . with just a tiny bit of extra effort . . . you can have something quite outstanding!!!
I marinate my chicken breasts first in some teriyaki sauce. Poke them all over with a fork first so that the teriyaki flavour gets right in there.
Then, while the marinated chicken is baking I cook some bacon, and then in the drippings I cook some slices onion, peppers and mushrooms. I slather the mostly baked chicken with a bit of BBQ sauce, sop with the sauteed vegetables, then the bacon and finally some cheese and I bake it some more until the chicken is tender done and the cheese is bubbly and melted all over that bacon, mushroom, chicken combo . . .
*Hunter's Chicken*
Serves 4
Why settle for less!!! Why indeed??? Bon appetit!!!
I am a big fan of smaller scaled meals, especially where there are only two of us in our home most of the time. I am also a fan of one pan suppers, coz, well, who wants to spend hours washing a ton of dishes if you can get the job done with only one!
That's why dishes like this Skillet Chicken Parmesan For Two are really popular in my house!
This tasty skillet chicken parmesan has all the flavors of the original, full sized recipe, with with far less mess and work. Its also ready in half the time. Did I mention that its DELICIOUS!
I have always loved Chicken Parm, but its been several years since I have been able to eat it.
I got really sick with food poisoning a few years back and one of the things I had eaten prior to that was some Chicken Parm, and . . . well . . . 'nuff said!
Funny how that goes, or maybe not so funny! I had also eaten pizza, but I was okay with eating that all along.
I recently started to feel like I could just about stomach chicken parmesan again. That made me happy as it had always been something which I loved.
This version differs from the regular Chicken Parmesan in that there is no fuss and muss of breading chicken and frying it. Yes, it is a skillet chicken parmesan without breading.
You crisp up some bread crumbs in butter until golden brown and then reserve them until the very end.
You then saute two well seasoned, boneless, skinless chicken breasts until they are nicely colored.
They, too, get set aside.
After that you create a nicely flavored honeyed tomato marinara sauce.
You make it just a bit thinner than normal because you are going to add some dry pasta to it . . . I love pasta that cooks right in the sauce. It really absorbs all of the lovely flavors of the dish.
You nestle the partially cooked chicken breasts into that, cover it and then cook for about 18 to 20 minutes, just until the pasta is tender and the chicken is cooked through.
At the end you scatter some cheese over top and cover it again to melt the cheese, and then the crisp crumbs get scattered over top along with a bit of chopped Basil.
Just like magic, you have a delicious dinner for two, with only one pan to wash up.
All you need on the side is perhaps some garlic bread and a salad. Dinner is served!
1 TBS butter
For the chicken:
1 TBS butter
2 boneless, skiless chicken breasts
For the sauce:
1 small onion, peeled and minced
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp each dried oregano, dried thyme
1 tsp honey
salt and black pepper to taste
1 (400g) tin of chopped tomatoes in juice (1 14 oz tin)
Melt the butter for the crumb topping in a large skillet over medium
heat. Add the crumbs. Cook, stirring, until golden brown. Tip out
into a bowl and set aside.
Wipe the pan clean. Rub the chicken breasts
all over with the Italian seasoning, pepper flakes and salt.
Melt the
butter in the skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook for
about 3 1/2 minutes on one side, until golden brown, then flip them over
and cook for another 3 1/2 minutes. Remove to a plate and set aside.
Add the onion for the sauce to the pan drippings. Cook over medium heat
until softened. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant. Ad the
tomatoes, undrained, water, herbs, honey and salt and pepper. Bring to
the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes.
Stir in the pasta, stirring to coat
well. The mixture should be fairly loose at this stage, if it isn't add
a few TBS of water.
Nestle the partially cooked chicken into the
sauce. Cover tightly and cook over low heat for 18 to 20 minutes until
the pasta is tender and the chicken is cooked through. The juices
should run clear.
Remove from the heat. Sprinkle the cheeses over the
chicken. Cover and let stand for several minutes to melt the cheese.
Sprinkle with the bread crumbs and basil. Serve.
In a dish like this, the tomatoes are the star. Make sure you use a really quality tin of chopped tomatoes in tomato juice. I favor Cirio brand Italian tomatoes.
They use only the finest ripe Italian Plum tomatoes, carved into large pieces to preserve the quality, consistency and intense flavors of Italy. They're rich and delicious!
I think you could easily double this recipe by using a larger skillet and doubling the ingredients in order to feed four people. This fed the two of us amply. My husband is not all that fussy about pasta, but he enjoyed this. Bon Appetit!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at mariealicejoan at aol dot com.
Thank you so much for visiting! Do come again!
There are normally only two of us eating in this house and so I normally
try to cut recipes in half for us, or create dishes which are simple
and make just enough for two. It's not that hard to do really. And
you can normally multiply up with no problems at all.
I found myself with an abundance of cherry tomatoes on Saturday last and
so I decided that I would incorporate them somehow into our supper. I
also had chicken breasts. Chicken and tomatoes go really well
together. One only need to look at delicious recipes such as Chicken
Cacciatore or Chicken Parmesan to see that this is true.
This recipe goes together very quickly so I would suggest you have all
of the ingredients ready and hand before you start. The chicken breasts
are cut into two escallopes horizontally which makes for quick cooking .
. .
The cherry tomatoes are cut in half as well, for quick cooking. I saw a
really interesting and helpful little video on how to that really
quickly the other day. You can see it here. It's a slap on the forehead, why didn't I think of that kind of a thing! (It really does work!)
The tomatoes are quickly frizzed in some olive oil along with some
garlic. You dust the chicken pieces with some flour and salt and pepper
and then brown them in the same pan, along with some sage. It
doesn't take very long at all as they are only half as thick as they
normally are.
A splash of white wine, a few capers . . . . bubble bubble bubble, a
handful of chopped parsley and presto chango, you have tender moist
chicken with a delicious sauce of cherry tomatoes and capers, that will
please any meat loving man. The Toddster loves this. I always serve it
with some boiled new potatoes. It goes down a real treat, and goes
together lickety split. If you are looking for a quick, easy and
delicious supper and are feeling a tad bit lazy, this is your perfect
meal! Looks like you slaved all day, but took literally minutes.
*Chicken with Cherry Tomatoes and Capers*
Serves 2
Serves 2
through the middle into two escallopes (4 pieces in total)
salt and black pepper
I guarantee you will love this. You may even want to double it anyways! Bon Appetit!
Apparently this is a very popular dish amongst the Amish. They supposedly serve it on all sorts of occasions and even for Christmas dinner! I am not surprised really. It is delicious. It is simple. It is very easy and quick to throw together!
The original recipe was very plain. It had no onion, or herbs. I like onion and I like herbs. I also love stuffing, so my adaptions included ways to make it taste more like stuffing.
Whatever . . . stale bread, butter softened celery and onion, a variety of herbs, seasoning and tender poached chicken mixed with a tiny bit of stock and baked to give you one very delicious and simple entree.
I like to make some gravy to spoon over top and serve it with some simple boiled baby potatoes and mixed vegetables for a complete and most delicious simple supper. The family will love this. I guarantee.
*Old Time Chicken Roast*
Serves 4 to 6
1 medium loaf of sturdy stale white bread
225g of butter (1/2 cup)
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 tsp salt
The last time I went to Canada (which was about five years ago now) I picked up a special edition magazine at the grocery store, the Taste of Home Italian Cookbook. I thought it was filled with lots of taste temptingly delicious looking recipes.
In our process towards downsizing and clutter clearing I spied this magazine in the spare room cupboard. I spent some time going through it, as you would if you were trying to decided to keep something or not.
I just happened to have pretty much everything I needed to make this delicious looking recipe, and the things I didn't have I thought I could substitute with what I did have, and so today I decided to make it for us.
It was quick and easy to do and in all truth I didn't want to spend a ton of time in the kitchen as I have tons of other things I need to be getting on with!
The resident pasta hater even had two helpings. I think because I used a really good artisanal orecchiette pasta, it wasn't really that pasta-ee for him, if you know what I mean.
Orecchiette is Italian for little ears . . . it was a good egg pasta and more like a dumpling than a noodle. The shape cupped just the right way to hold that delicious sauce . . .
With lots of meaty chunks of chicken, nice crispy tender vegetables and oodles of colour and texture, not to mention those tasty meatballs, it went down a real for both of us.
It did make rather a lot, but I have an idea that the leftovers will be just as delicious if not more so. I'll probably heat them up in a casserole in the oven, covered with lashings of cheese.
Mmmm . . . sounds rather good if I don't say so myself.
(can use an equal amount of any small pasta shells)
1/2 pound boneless skinless chicken breast meat, cut into 3/4 inch cubes
2 TBS olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 medium carrot, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 stalk of celery, washed, trimmed and chopped
1 tin of cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1 tin of milk
1 chicken stock pot
1/2 tsp dried thyme (or 2 tsp chopped fresh)
about 6 cubes of frozen whole leaf spinach, thawed, squeezed dry and chopped
salt and black pepper to taste
135g of grated Parmesan cheese (3/4 cup)
Heat
half of the olive oil in a large skillet with a lid. Add the chicken
cubes and brown them all over. Scoop out and keep warm. Add the
remaining oil to the pan along with the chopped vegetables.
*Italian Wedding Soup Supper Dish*
Serves 6
Serves 6
It's got all the flavours of the traditional Italian Wedding Soup, but it's not soup . . . it's a hearty skillet supper, and it's delicious!
8 ounces orecchiette pasta (2 cups)
1 small clove of garlic, peeled and minced
a package of frozen cooked Italian meatballs, thawed (12 ounces)
Bring a pot of lightly salted water to the boil
Cook,
stirring until tender. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant.
Return the chicken to the pan along with the meatballs, the soup, milk,
stock pot, thyme and some seasoning. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a
simmer and cover tightly. Cook for about 6 to 8 minutes.
While the sauce is cooking add the pasta to the water and cook according to the package directions. Drain well, reserving some of the water. Remove the cover from the sauce and taste. Adjust seasoning as necessary with salt and pepper.
While the sauce is cooking add the pasta to the water and cook according to the package directions. Drain well, reserving some of the water. Remove the cover from the sauce and taste. Adjust seasoning as necessary with salt and pepper.
Stir in the drained pasta and just
enough of the pasta water to give you a nice consistency. You don't
want it too thick but you don't want it thin either. Sprinkle with
cheese and serve.
I think this is a recipe most people would enjoy. I hope you will try it out! Bon Appetit!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com
Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
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