Garlic-Almond Chicken with Potatoes

So have you tried braising? It’s my new favorite way to cook because it’s relatively easy: brown protein, soften veggies, add liquid, cook for 45-60 minutes…ALL IN ONE POT! The flavors are always really nice having all those elements simmer together and condense over the cooking time.

The Garlic-Almond Sauce used below reminded me of how I make Aji de Gallina (starting with a bread base), although the flavors are different. The potatoes were great with this, but in the future I would cut the amount in half and add in a second vegetable–perhaps parsnips or carrots–just to spice it up a bit.

Braised Chicken in Garlic-Almond Sauce
Bon Appetit

• 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 2 cups 1/2-inch cubes crustless white bread
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 2/3 cup white wine
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper plus more for seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon saffron threads
• Kosher salt
• 4 parts chicken (split breasts, or legs with thigh/drumstick), with skin and bones attached
• 1 onion, minced

1. Heat 3 Tbsp. olive oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Add almonds and stir until golden brown, about 3 minutes; transfer to paper towels. Place 1/3 cup almonds in a blender or food processor. Set aside remaining almonds for garnish.
2. Add bread cubes and garlic to same pot. Cook, stirring frequently, until bread is golden brown and crisp, 4–5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to blender. Add broth, Sherry, 1/2 tsp. pepper, saffron, if using, and a large pinch of salt; process until almost smooth. Set aside.
3. Heat remaining 1 Tbsp. olive oil in same pot over medium-high heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Add to pot and cook, turning down heat if needed to prevent burning, until chicken is golden brown on all sides, about 12 minutes Total (this step is just to brown the skin). Transfer chicken to a plate.
4. Add onion to pot; cook, stirring often, until onion is caramelized around edges, about 6 minutes. Add sauce and chicken to pot, pushing down chicken to submerge. Bring sauce to a simmer, cover, and reduce heat to low. Simmer until chicken is just cooked through, about 20 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
5. Divide chicken and sauce among bowls. Garnish each serving with reserved almonds.

The name is Spanish, and based on two main ingredients in the dish: Aji Amarillo peppers (yellow peppers that can normally be found in the states in a paste form) and Chicken. The best way to describe it would be a South American curry with shredded chicken–aji brings a smooth heat across the whole dish that will add depth, but not that much spice. My mom suspects the lack of heat comes from using the aji paste over fresh peppers, but I’ve never been able to find them fresh so I can’t base anything on that. You can use cayenne as a substitute for aji, but you will miss the main flavor that makes this dish such a great comfort food.

Here are some notes before you begin:

• It’s a great dish to make on a weekend when you have the time to poach a chicken and convert its stock to the sauce–but no one will think differently if you swap in a store-bought rotisserie or cut the recipe down by a quarter and use a bone-in chicken breast instead.
• The recipe below serves between 6-8, and works great as leftovers—I would almost go as far to say that the sauce improves overnight as all the flavors have more time to meld together.
• For extra credit: After the chicken is done poaching (1 hour), reserve the 3-4 cups of stock you need for the recipe, and throw the chicken bones back in the pot with the remaining liquid (adding additional water as needed). Simmer for an additional 2-3 hours–and you will have a nice batch of homemade chicken stock to freeze and use for later!

Aji de Gallina

Poaching Ingredients:

• 1 small roasting chicken, innards and excess fat removed
• 1 large onion, quartered
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed
• 1 cup carrots, loosely chopped
• 1 cup celery, loosely chopped
• 1 tablespoon whole pepper corns
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1-2 bay leaves

Sauce Ingredients:

• 6 slices white bread, crust removed, cubed
• 1 12 oz. can evaporated milk
• 2 T. olive oil or butter
• 1 large onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 t. ground cumin
• 1/4 c. aji amarillo paste
• 3 cups chicken stock from above
• 1/2 c. pecans, chopped
• 1 c. grated Parmesan cheese
• Shredded chicken from above
• 1/4 c. flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 2-3 hard boiled eggs
• Rice for serving
• Olives for a garnish

1. Poaching: Place the chicken in a large pot with the rest of the poaching ingredients and bring to a boil, then cover and simmer on low for 1 hour, or until chicken is done. Reserve 3 cups of the broth. Let the chicken cool and then remove meat.
2. Heat olive oil or butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and saute for 5 minutes, or until translucent.
3. While onions are sautéing  soak the bread in 1 cup of the chicken stock.
4. Add garlic, cumin, and the aji paste to the skillet. Cook for 1 minute.
5. If using an immersion blender, add bread mixture and chicken stock to skillet and blend until bread and onions are pureed. As an alternative, place skillet contents in a blender with the stock and blend until smooth, then transfer back to the skillet.
6. Let the mixture simmer on low and reduce by 1/3 until sauce thickens, around 5-10 minutes. With the heat on low, add in milk slowly, stirring constantly until combined. Simmer for another 5-10 minutes. Stir in nuts, parmesan, and parsley. Add in chicken 1 cup at a time until consistency is about equal parts sauce and chicken.
7. Serve with rice, hard-boiled egg slices, and olives.

I think a mild sausage would work best, but feel free to sub in whatever cooked protein you enjoy most–shredded chicken or turkey–or omit to serve a vegetarian meal. I also was unable to achieve the ‘crispy’ leeks in the original recipe, so I ended up just mixing it all into the soup at the end. The entire recipe took about an hour, half prep and half on the stove.

Creamy Sweet Potato Soup
(adapted from The Washington Post)

• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 cups peeled, cored and chopped tart apples (Granny Smith or Pippin)
• 3 medium cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
• 2-3 large sweet potatoes
• 2 cups whole milk
• 2 cups homemade or no-salt-added chicken or turkey broth
• 1 cup thinly sliced leeks, white part only (from 2 or 3 medium leeks), rinsed well
• 4 links sausage, mild italian or chicken (select pre-cooked to save time), cut into bite-sized slices

1. Place the sweet potatoes on a plate and cook in the microwave until tender and skin is coming away from the inside (5-10 minutes–use the potato setting). Let cool.
2. Melt 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. When the foam subsides, add the apples, garlic, thyme, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper, and stir to combine. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until the apples are golden brown and softened.
3. As the apples cook, remove the skin from the potatoes and mash. Add to the pot with the apples, along with the chicken broth. Using an immersion blender, puree until smooth. As you are blending, slowly add in the milk until the entire mixture is smooth. [Note: You can also use a blender to puree the apples/sweet potatoes--then transfer back to the pot and add in the liquids.]
4. Whisk until the soup is throughly blended and lump-free. Bring it to a boil, then immediately reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 20-30 minutes, stirring frequently and adjusting the heat so it is just barely bubbling.
5. In a medium skillet on medium-high heat, add in the sausage links and reheat, 5-10 minutes. Add to soup.
6. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter in skillet. Add the leeks and cook until they are golden brown and slightly crisped, 6 to 8 minutes, stirring often. Add to the soup, OR move to a plate to cool. [Note: I added them directly to the soup, but you can also serve as garnish if you prefer].

While I’ve already gone on about how much I love its digest size, I also love the ease and simplicity of the recipes within. First of all, nearly all of them fit onto one page—ingredients AND instructions—which makes my archiving so much simpler. It also has a fairly easy-to-find list of ingredients, and many times they will show you faster short cuts in order to save time (although some times I opt to make my own instead of using their canned ingredients, but that’s just me).

This Thai-recipe was amazing, and SO SIMPLE. The hardest part was remembering to marinate the steak the morning of, but even then, it look less than five minutes. The suggest serving the steak with a carrot salad, but I wanted something hartier, so I whipped up some of their Smashed potatoes.

Thai Skirt Steak
Everyday Food

• 3 tablespoons red curry paste
• 1 tablespoon lime zest plus 1 tablespoon juice and wedges for serving
• 1 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 pound skirt steak, cut into 4 pieces
• Salt and pepper

1. In a large zip-top bag, combine curry paste, lime zest, and 1 teaspoon oil. Add steak and shake to coat. Refrigerate 1 hour (or up to overnight).
2. Heat broiler, with rack set 8 inches from heat. Transfer steak to a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet, season with salt and pepper, and broil until medium-rare, 4 to 5 minutes per side. Let rest, covered, 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, combine lime juice, carrots, cilantro, and remaining teaspoon oil. Season salad with salt and pepper. Slice steak against the grain and serve with salad and lime wedges.

Smashed Potatoes
Everyday Food

• 1 1/2 pounds small potatoes
• Coarse salt
• 3 tablespoons olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a large pot, bring potatoes to a boil in salted water; reduce heat and simmer until just tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and transfer to a baking sheet. Let cool 5 minutes, then lightly crush each potato with the heel of your hand. Drizzle generously with olive oil and season with salt. Roast until golden brown and crisp, about 35 minutes, turning once.

Apparently it’s going to continue as a supplement within Martha Stewart Living, published a few times a year…I can only hope it stays in its digest form. The size and convenience of sticking it in my purse and knowing each recipe would be just a few ingredients and take under 30 minutes are just two reasons this magazine will really be missed…but on to the recipes.

I ended up making four out of the five meals, and really enjoyed three of them, which I’ll post in the coming days. First up was the Mustard-glazed salmon with lentils. I made the mistake of buying yellow split peas instead, but the dish was still great. The split peas ended up a little dry in the final dish, so I would be sure to add them while there is still a lot of liquid left to prevent this in the future.

Mustard-Glazed Salmon with Lentils
Everyday Food

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced small
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons grainy mustard
• 4 skinless salmon fillets (4 to 6 ounces each)
• Salt and pepper
• 2 cans (14 ounces each) lentils, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

1. Heat broiler, with rack set 8 inches from heat. In a large broiler-proof skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Add onion and cumin and cook, stirring, until onion is golden, 8 minutes. Meanwhile, rub mustard on salmon and season with salt and pepper.
2. Add lentils to skillet, stir, and season with salt and pepper. Nestle salmon in lentils and broil until opaque throughout, 5 to 8 minutes. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

ATK’s Greek Shrimp Skillet

This was a great shrimp recipe to make during the week. I spent the most time deveining shrimp, but that was only because I had run out of my freezer shrimp. I highly recommend buying the individually quick-frozen bag of shrimp–it’s what you are buying in the supermarket anyway, and all it requires is a little forethought to thaw the shrimp the morning of your meal. I served the following with some orzo, but I don’t think the starch is necessary, for those watching your carbs.

Greek-Style Shrimp
America’s Test Kitchen

• 1 1/2 pounds shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 4 T. extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 T. ouzo (sub in Pernod or  Vodka with 1/4 t. Anise Seeds)
• 5 medium garlic cloves, minced
• 1 t. grated zest from 1 lemon
• Table salt and ground black pepper
• 1 medium onion, diced medium
• 1/2 medium red bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 medium green bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 t. red pepper flakes
• 1 14.5 oz can diced tomato, drained, 1/3 cup juices reserved
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 2 T. coarsely chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 6 oz. feta cheese, crumbled (about 1½ cups) (see note)
• 2 T. chopped fresh dill leaves

1. Toss shrimp, 1 tablespoon oil, 1 tablespoon ouzo, 1 teaspoon garlic, lemon zest, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper in small bowl until well combined. Set aside while preparing sauce.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in 12-inch skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion, red and green bell pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon salt and stir to combine. Cover skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables release their moisture, 3 to 5 minutes. Uncover and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until moisture cooks off and vegetables have softened, about 5 minutes longer.
3. Add remaining 4 teaspoons garlic and red pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add tomatoes and reserved juice, wine, and remaining 2 tablespoons ouzo; increase heat to medium-high and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to medium and simmer, stirring occasionally, until flavors have melded and sauce is slightly thickened (sauce should not be completely dry), 5 to 8 minutes. Stir in parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. Reduce heat to medium-low and add shrimp along with any accumulated liquid to pan; stir to coat and distribute evenly. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until shrimp are opaque throughout, 6 to 9 minutes for extra-large or 7 to 11 minutes for jumbo, adjusting heat as needed to maintain bare simmer. Remove pan from heat and sprinkle evenly with feta. Drizzle remaining tablespoon oil evenly over top and sprinkle with dill. Serve immediately.

Hoisin-Glazed Meatloaf, Bon Appetit

Everyone can make a good meatloaf, and you don’t necessarily need a recipe to do it right. Take meat, ketchup, an egg or two, and some bread crumbs in a bowl, add spices, mix with your hands, and cook until done. It will be delicious. But on the other hand, anything you put FIVE TABLESPOONS OF GINGER in is bound to be just as tasty, if not a little more exciting.

However, the recipe above from Bon Appetit is definitely worth the time it takes the next time you want to spice up that classic American dish with some asian flavors. It’s not post-work friendly, unless you are like me and can eat around 9 pm, and took about 45 minutes to prep and an hour plus to cook and cool. But if you have the time, I highly recommend it– ginger and garlic flavors are truly in every bite you take, and the hoisin glaze was so good, I doubled the amount the recipe called for!

Notes: Consider making mashed potatoes with this dish–prep the potatoes once the meatloaf is in the oven, and start boiling water when the meatloaf is half-way cooked. Also, check out Bon Appetit’s website–they took this dish even further and made banh-mi sandwiches with the meat the next day.

Asian Meatloaf
Bon Appetit

Hoisin Glaze

• 3/4 cup hoisin sauce
• 1/2 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
• 1 1-inch piece ginger, peeled, minced
• 1 garlic clove, minced

Meatloaf

• Nonstick vegetable oil spray
• 2 cups 1/2-inch cubes day-old crustless white bread (from 2 slices)
• 1/2 cup low-salt chicken broth
• 4 slices bacon, minced
• 1 1/3 cups thinly sliced scallions (dark green parts separated)
• 3 celery stalks, minced (about 1 cup)
• 1 4-inch piece ginger, peeled, minced
• 7 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 pound ground pork
• 2 large eggs, beaten to blend
• 3 whole star anise, finely ground in a spice mill (about 2 teaspoons ground), or 1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. Hoisin Glaze: Bring all ingredients to a boil in a medium saucepan; reduce heat to low and cook, stirring often, until sauce thickens to a glaze, 8–10 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 375°. Coat the bottom and sides of loaf pan with nonstick spray and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, soak bread cubes in chicken broth, stirring frequently, until liquid is absorbed and bread is beginning to fall apart, 4–5 minutes.
4. Cook bacon in a large heavy skillet over medium heat until fat is rendered and bacon is starting to crisp. Add scallions (white and pale-green parts only), celery, ginger, and garlic; cook, stirring often, until vegetables begin to soften, 3–4 minutes. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes.
5. Combine scallion and bread mixtures in a large bowl. Add 3 Tbsp. hoisin glaze, remaining scallions (dark-green parts), beef, pork, and remaining 4 ingredients. Using your hands, work all ingredients together until very well incorporated and mixture is beginning to get sticky. Pack mixture into prepared pan, pressing to eliminate any air pockets and mounding in center. Cover with foil. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil; place loaf pan on top.
6. Bake meatloaf for 30 minutes. Uncover and spread 3-4 T. hoisin glaze over top (enough to moderately cover the entire surface). Bake until an instant-read thermometer registers 165° when inserted into center of meatloaf, checking the temp at 30, 45, and 60 minutes.
7. Let meatloaf rest for 20 minutes. Using flexible spatulas, transfer meatloaf to a platter or cutting board, and serve.

I’ll be tweeting over the next few hours as we go through the steps, and then post a summary later on, but first we need your help to PICK A NAME! Everyone knows the trick to a good beer is in its name, so take a look at the options we’ve come up with below and vote on your favorite–or feel free to write in your own suggestion. We have a few weeks until it’s ready!

Sirloin Steak with Red Wine Sauce

Sometimes you just want a fancy meal. Luckily, you don’t always have to go to Ray’s The Steaks to get it. Because cooking a steak is pretty easy, and requires almost no prep, or even a recipe. To recreate the delicious meal above, do as follows:

• Step 1: Buy a good steak. I grabbed two sirloin from the butcher counter. To make cooking easier, try to find steaks with the same thickness. I bought .8 lbs of meat for around $8. Love the specials. For your sides (mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts), grab small new potatoes that don’t need peeling)
• Step 2: At home, rest the steaks on the counter at room temperature, seasoned with salt/pepper. Heat an oven-proof pan with oil. In the meantime, bring water to boil for the mashed potatoes and prep the brussels sprouts.
• Step 3: Add the steaks to the pan, and sear under one side is getting a nice char (3-4 minutes).  Put the Sprouts in the oven, on a low broil. Flip the steaks and cook another 3-4 minutes. Take the internal temp of the steak, you are aiming for around 120-125 degrees. If your kitchen is filling with smoke, you can do what I did in a pinch. After 4 minutes each side, the meat was only around 95 degrees, so I placed it in the oven to finish cooking another 5 minutes.
• Step 4: Remove the steaks from the pan and let rest. Meanwhile, make a quick sauce with the pan juices. I didn’t follow a specific recipe for my red wine sauce, but kind of winged it. I added 1 tablespoon of butter to the pan with 1 shallot, minced. Once the shallot softened (around 1 minute), I added in 1 cup red wine, 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard, 1-2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, and let reduce. If I had it, I would had squeezed half a lemon in there as well, it needed a little brightness in the end.
• Step 5: OMG DONT FORGET THE POTATOES! Drain, mash, add a little butter, a little olive oil, a little salt, a little milk. Oh, and remove the Brussels Sprouts when softened–you can finish them the last-minute on a high broil if you like them a little crispy.
• Step 6: Plate it up fancy-like. The sauce on its own was too concentrated, but mixed together with the steak and potatoes, it melded nicely. Enjoy!

Everyday Food

A week into my health kick, I was looking for a delicious topping for fish tacos that would make me forget that I wasn’t eating cheese or sour cream. What I ended up doing was taking the above salsa recipe, adding in some red cabbage, and creating a deliciously sweet spicy slaw that went perfectly with the broiled tilapia. What was even better is that I used the leftover salsa this morning on my scrambled eggs. It’s a great topping, that’s filling and low-calorie: I figured out the slaw on its own is around 650 calories total for 3 cups, or 100 calories for a half-a-cup serving.

Fish Tacos with Mango-Habanero Slaw

• 1/2 bulb red cabbage, sliced into thin strips
• 1 mango, diced small
• 1 avocado, diced
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• Juice from 1 lime
• 1/4 c. cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 to 1 whole Habanero pepper, stems and seeds removed, diced
• 1 T. olive oil
• 1/2 t. salt
• 2 8 oz. tilapia filets
• Corn tortillas

1. Mix together all the veggies in a bowl.
2. Broil tilapia filets on high for 5 minutes, until flaky white and 140 degrees.
3. Serve on tortillas with slaw on the side, or in the taco.