Dijon Chicken and Artichokes

I can probably sit here and think of 100 excuses for why I haven't posted anything lately... but I'll just give you one: I've been busy! Seems that more and more often I'm using that excuse... Besides being busy I've been very sick lately, and spent the entire last weekend laying around being utterly useless... so cut a girl some slack.

Anyways, I've put together a lovely little weeknight dinner for ya. Here it is: Dijon Chicken and Artichokes.

Typically I make this dijon sauce with pork chops, but since I only had chicken breasts on hand, I used the same method with chicken that I normally do with pork! Horrah!
You should feel free to try this recipe but substitute thinly cut boneless porkchops instead of the chicken.

Dijon Chicken and Artichokes
(For two servings)
You'll need:
2 artichokes with the ends and sharp parts of the leaves cut off
8–10 oz of boneless skinless chicken breast
2 tsp olive oil
1 tbs butter
3 tbs dijon mustard
3/4 c chicken broth
1/2 c white wine
1/2 onion, sliced thin
1/2 C fat free hand & half (you can use heavy cream or regular half & half, I just wanted to keep the fat down)
salt and pepper
lemon
mayo

First off, bring a large pot of water to boil and put the trimmed artichokes in. Let the artichokes boil for 25-30 minutes, or until you can easily spear the top middle part with a fork. For those of you who have never had an artichoke, you're missing out! They are yummy and low in calories, a very good way to fit a fun vegetable into your diet. You should saw off the top sharp parts and end stem with a serrated knife, and the sharp bits of the leaves with kitchen scissors. You eat them by plucking off the leaves and eating the inner ends. I like to dip them in mayo or a simple lemon-mayo (I'll give you to scoop on that in a minute). You can also use a spoon to dig out the heart (the best part)!

While those are boiling away, salt and pepper one side of the chicken breasts. Put a nonstick pan on medium high heat and add in the butter and oil. Why both? The butter adds flavor and the oil has a higher burning temperature so it helps the cooking process. This combination will yield a yummylicious golden crust on the chicken. Put the chicken into the pan, the seasoned side down. While it is cooking, go ahead and apply salt and pepper to the unseasoned side. Turn the chicken over to get the golden crust on both sides and let it cook until it is no longer raw on the inside.


Take the chicken out of the pan and cover it with foil to keep it warm. Leave the heat on the pan, you'll need it.
Add the onions and cook them until they are soft and golden. Deglaze the pan with the white wine (basically, pour the wine in and scrape the yummy brown bits off the bottom with a rubber/plastic utensil). Then, add a bit of the broth. Let the liquids simmer down, and when it's reduced a bit, add the remaining broth, mustard, and half & half. Turn the heat down a bit and stir constantly until it's cooked down to a thicker consistency (you still want it to be liquid-y, but not too watery. Just think of what the perfect sauce would look like). Beware, the sauce will burn on the sides of your pan if the heat is too high, if in doubt: turn it down. It'll just take a bit longer to cook, but it'll be fine.

When that's done, make the lemon-mayo. (It's absurdly easy) Ready:
1) put 1–2tbs mayo in a little bowl
2) cut the lemon into 4 pieces
3) squeeze lemon quarter into bowl with mayo
4) salt and pepper
5) stir

Horrah.




Plate the artichoke with the dipping sauce, drizzle the chicken with your sauce, and enjoy!

Foodie Foodie!

Simple things

Sometimes, I just like the simple things. Especially when my schedule has been so hectic lately!  Juggling a lot of different responsibilities in school, work, and home sometimes doesn't leave a lot of time to cook up amazing new foods. So, sometimes, all I want is a day of simplicity, like yesterday.

Brian and I were in desperate need of sunshine, so we hopped on our bikes and went on a nice ride in Chico's beautful Bidwell Park.

(Anthony Dunn Photography)

I'd never been bike riding in the park, despite the fact that I have now lived in Chico for four years... and riding bikes in Bidwell Park is a fairly common weekend activity. Well- since I'd never been.... and I have a certifiably awful sense of direction... we got lost.... and our short, 15-minute bike ride turned into a six mile trek. Hah! No biggie, I needed the exercise. And something lovely awaited us at the end!

Earlier that day, we'd stopped by the grocery store and spotted those little mini seedless watermelons on sale. So, before we got on our bikes, I used a small knife to cut into the top of the watermelon, similar to how you'd remove the top of a pumpkin. We packed a spoon and ta-da! Perfect mini-watermelon-snack for two. People at the park gave our little watermelon so many why-haven't-I-thought-of-eating-it-like-that-looks that I felt quite proud of myself....
I know. I'm a dork. But sometimes it is all about the simple things!
What's left of our mini watermelon is chilling in our fridge.... and once we finish it up, I'll most likely make a watermelon-o-lantern with it. :)

foodie foodie!

Pretty Ratatouille

Last night, I went to the CSU, Chico AIGA unofficial potluck (wow, that's a mouthful). Up until yesterday morning I had no clue what I was going to bring. If you are one of my long-standing readers, then you'll remember the Rosemary Couscous I made for the last potluck. That went well, but I wanted something different.. and something healthy. The more I scoured the web for healthy potluck recipes, the more I realized- there aren't many. Most potluck recipes have some kind of starchy carb like rice or noodles, or are a meat dish... which I really wasn't up to making. SO, as I was searching the internet I decided to watch a movie. I looked over at my shelf of DVDs and what stared back at me? Pixar's Ratatoullie. Horray! I'd found my inspiration.

For those of you who aren't familiar with this film (or the dish), Ratatoullie (the food) is a French stewed vegetable dish. I've seen many recipes for it, all normally including some form of tomato, zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, and sometimes bell peppers. For the majority of the recipes, the veggies are chopped in rustic chunks... which is delicious, but in my opinion, not always very pretty.  I wanted to make something visually striking, so I decided to make Ratatoullie dish like I'd seen in the film.

Pretty Ratatoullie
You'll need
1/2 c tomato sauce
1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
dried rosemary
1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
1 small eggplant
2 tomatoes (or 1 red bell pepper)
1 tsp olive oil
2 1/2 tsp fresh thyme 
garlic salt
pepper

Preheat the oven to 375º.
Add the chopped onion and garlic to the tomato sauce. Stir it up and pour into the bottom on an oval baking dish (mine was about 91/2" long). [Garlic] salt and pepper liberally, and add a bit of the fresh thyme.

Now, cut the zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, and bell pepper (or tomato) into very very thin pieces.

Then, arrange the vegetables in the baking dish all stacked up against each other, starting on the outside and working around.... until it looks like this:

Drizzle the olive oil on top of your masterpiece, and then [garlic]salt and pepper liberally. Toss on the remaining thyme and cover with a piece of parchment paper that is approximately the size of the baking sheet. Put it in the oven for 40-45 minutes until the tomato sauce is bubbling up and the vegetables are tender and lovely. It should end up looking like this little beauty:

It was eaten up by my lovely designer friends at our potluck. I thought it was quite yummy, and will definitely make it again soon!

foodie foodie!

bad day BBQ

What's the perfect end to a horrid day?
Well... good food can't hurt, can it?
So, to cheer me up, Brian surprised me by firing up our charcoal grill,
here's what we made:

For me, nothing beats grilled veggies, pinapple, grilled Teriyaki chicken and Brian's burgers. 
It ended up being some killer grub despite the lack of planning.

Brian made his recent favorite: a bagel burger. Two hamburger patties between a Parmesan bagel (that we toasted on the grill) with grilled pinapple slices and ketchup, mustard, and relish. I always oggle at how he can put away a double burger made with a bagel... whenever I eat a bagel, I feel as though I've eaten a brick-not to mention with two beef patties between it- but Brian loves it! hah! He sure can gobble up some carbs (lucky duck)

I made a Teriyaki sandwich with some sliced chicken, grilled pinapple slices, red onion, cilantro, and a bit of lime juice. Along with the grilled red bell pepper and zucchini it was pure bliss and a perfect remedy for a crappy day. Yum!



Foodie foodie!