It’s no secret that we love fried chicken (and who doesn’t??), but it’s certainly not the most healthy thing to eat (which is probably why it’s so delicious!) In addition to being decadently unhealthy, our favorite fried chicken recipe involves quite a bit more time and effort than the average weeknight meal, further distinguishing it as a special-occasion-only dish in our repertoire. So when we came across this recipe by Chef Art Smith that promised “a healthy spin on a classic dish,” and discovered that it also seemed pretty easy to make, we couldn’t wait to try it. We adapted the recipe by using chicken tenders instead of chicken breasts, and next time might cut down the spice amounts a little, but otherwise we really enjoyed it and loved how much more healthy it is than the traditional version of fried chicken. (Bonus — while doing research for this post, I found another Chef Smith recipe for unfried chicken that appears to be even more healthy — it replaces the buttermilk with Greek yogurt and uses multi-grain cereal instead of panko.) Traditional fried chicken will always be our favorite, but until someone declares the third Tuesday of each month to be a holiday or otherwise noteworthy occasion, unfried chicken will be our regular go-to when we’re craving that crispy outside, moist and flavorful inside, poultry goodness.
Category: Main Courses
Skillet Baked Ziti w/ Turkey Sausage
Until now, we didn’t have a signature or go-to recipe for baked ziti, and didn’t really eat it all that often. But we like that it has similar components as one of the all-time most comforting of comfort foods — lasagne — with red sauce, cheese and pasta; but without the time and effort commitment of its layered comfort cousin. We recently picked up a copy of one of Cook’s Illustrated’s special-issue magazines “Skillet Dinners,” and were pleased to find a recipe for baked ziti among its pages of one-pot wonders. We also appreciate that the dish is easy enough to make on a week night, with simple ingredients: a 28 ounce can of whole, peeled tomatoes; a pound of Italian sausage; 5-6 cloves of minced garlic; 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes; 3 cups water; 3 3/4 cups ziti or penne pasta; 1/2 cup heavy cream; 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese; 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil (or 2 tablespoons dried basil) and 1 cup shredded whole-milk mozzarella cheese. We used Italian turkey sausage instead of the pork variety and loved that the resulting dish still had all of the comfort, but less of the calories and fat.
Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic
Actually, we should probably call this dish “chicken with 20 cloves of garlic,” since we used chicken thighs instead of a whole chicken and cut the recipe in half. Either way, it’s a lot of garlic. But don’t worry — you won’t need to make a dessert out of gum, breath mints and mouthwash after eating it — the garlic becomes sweet and much less pungent when you cook it for a long time. Although it takes time to make (browning time for the chicken and the garlic, then about 30 minutes simmer time for both, plus several minutes to finish the creamy sauce), this dish is well worth the effort. The sweet garlic adds flavor to both the chicken and the rich sauce, which elevates this dish to the level of dinner party fare. And it provides a built-in party trick when your guests are shocked by how much garlic they’re eating, without any overwhelming garlicky flavor (or post-dinner garlic breath.)
Fish in Crazy Water
Cooking (and eating) seafood in a broth sounds a little, um, crazy. But if you like delicate, perfectly cooked fish in a rich, slightly spicy yet sweet tomato sauce, then it’s actually very, very sane. Add a couple slices of grilled or toasted crusty bread to soak up the excess broth, and it couldn’t make more sense. We came across the recipe in a recent issue of Food & Wine magazine and were intrigued to try it, especially when we discovered that “fish in crazy water” is a translation of the Italian “pesce all’acqua pazza.” If you know us, you’re familiar with our motto that “Everything is better in (or from) Italy.” So we couldn’t NOT try this dish. And we weren’t disappointed. Not only was it delicious, but the recipe is also easy to make (provided you have the time required to simmer the broth — about 45 minutes) for a light and healthy Mediterranean-style dinner. Continue reading “Fish in Crazy Water”
Slow-Cooker Beef Burgundy
This is one of the more elaborate slow-cooker meals we’ve tried from the book “Slow Cooker Revolution” — the recipe involves a lot more prep work than the typical set-it-and-forget-it crock pot meal — but it’s well worth the time and effort. Beef burgundy (also called “beef bourguignon”) is a stew that originated in the Burgundy region of France (hence the name.) Its claim to fame is beef chuck roast (or similar cut of beef that lends itself well to braising) cooked slowly for hours in a red wine broth, then finished with a decadent sauce made with more red wine, mushrooms and pearl onions. Cooking a little bacon to provide the fat for sautéing the carrots and onions and toasting the aromatics (garlic, tomato paste and thyme) makes for a hearty and flavorful base of the stew, even before adding all the wine and beef. Although beef burgundy tastes similar to “company pot roast,” we found it to be more sophisticated (and even more worthy of company) with the rich sauce, earthy mushrooms and delicate, braised pearl onions. Both dishes are comfort food at its best, but we like to think of pot roast along the lines of a comfy jeans or sweatpants casual family dinner, while beef burgundy is more like the dressed up, serve with china and crystal for the fancy guests kind of a meal.
Taco Mac (w/ leftover taco meat)
We have a crispy beef taco recipe that we absolutely adore, so much so that we purposely make the full recipe — even though it yields way more than enough for a two-person Taco Night — just so that we will have leftovers. The question is what to do with the extra taco meat. More tacos are good, easy and convenient. Nachos are a delicious and fun dinnertime alternative. And of course, there is the casserole — a layered, catch-all medium for transforming leftover protein into a one-dish wonder complete with pasta (or some other starch) and melted cheesy goodness. Channeling the (literal) king of all casseroles, king ranch chicken, and taking a nod from its East Coast casserole cousin, Johnny Marzetti — we adapted this recipe that uses tortilla chips for crunch and refried beans for a creamy layer and added enchilada sauce for extra Tex-Mex flavor and pasta to help bind it all together. We love the end-result casserole as much as (if not more than!) the original beef tacos and can pretty much guarantee that a “Taco Mac Night” will follow most of our Taco Nights from here on out.
Turkey Burgers
We’ve always been interested in finding more healthy versions of favorite foods, but when it comes to burgers, we seldom encounter any better-for-you substitute that packs the same satisfying flavor and texture punch as the real thing. Shrimp burgers were interesting and tasty, but lacked any beefy flavor. Our one and only homemade veggie burger experiment was an epic fail that ended as garbage with a side order of pizza delivery. Enter the turkey burger. We adapted this recipe by adding a little ricotta cheese (to help keep the turkey from drying out) and omitting the egg and breadcrumbs (to keep the burgers from tasting like meatloaf patties.) The combination of Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard, onion powder, garlic powder and cayenne pepper gave the burgers a nice, meaty flavor that makes you forget you’re eating healthy turkey. While there can be no true replacement for the genuinely beefy, red-meat variety of burger, this turkey version has a lot less calories and fat (and therefore, less guilt), and we’re happy to make and eat them instead of beef burgers now and then.
Slow-Cooker Chicken Provencal
On a recent cold day, we consulted what has become our crock-pot “bible” — America’s Test Kitchen’s “Slow Cooker Revolution” — for yet another delicious, set-it-and-forget-it, slow-cooked dish. We’re slowly (pun intended) working our way through the book, and pretty much everything we’ve tried has been good, if not great. The pork and ramen soup is a definite keeper, as is the recipe for smothered pork chops. And we can’t forget (or stop craving) the chicken and dirty rice. Now we can add the chicken provençal recipe to our list of favorites from this book. It doesn’t get much more flavorful than bone-in chicken thighs, cooked all day over low heat in a braise made with tomatoes, onions, garlic, oregano, white wine and bay leaves, then finished with freshly chopped olives, parsley and a drizzle of really good olive oil. Tastes like something you would enjoy after a long day of touring the French countryside.
Mushroom Stroganoff
One of the benefits (curses?) about having a food blog is that we tend to obsess about focus on our diet — specifically, what’s for dinner each week — a lot more than we would otherwise. Prior to starting this little blog, we still planned our weekly menus, but gravitated mostly toward easy favorites with convertible leftovers (we often had red meat twice per week, since beef is easily parlayed into two different meals.) These days, we tend to focus more on filling our weeks with variety, including at least one seafood and/or vegetarian dinner per week if possible. We still eat red meat (and likely always will) and appreciate getting two different and delicious dinners out of a single cut of beef, but we feel more healthy when we balance out the meaty side with fish and veggies. While we have many seafood favorites to choose from each week (parchment fish, shrimp & orzo, fish tacos and Cajun shrimp, to name a few), it can be difficult to find vegetarian dishes that are both delicious and filling, and don’t make us feel like we’ve just finished our salad course and are longing waiting for the (meat) entree. This hearty pasta dish is all the main course we could want, with earthy and “meaty” flavor from the mushrooms and a tangy, creamy sauce made with sour cream and goat cheese. Although, full disclosure — the recipe includes beef stock and therefore, it’s not strictly vegetarian — the dish has less calories and fat than the more traditional beef stroganoff, without sacrificing any of the flavor.
Beef Barley Soup with Mushrooms
We make (and eat) soup year-round, but appreciate it most during colder months, especially when it’s a soup that involves homemade broth and takes time to simmer away on the stove. This is not a quick and easy weeknight meal, but it’s perfect for a lazy Saturday or Sunday when your most pressing concerns are making this delicious soup, tending a fire in the fireplace, and maybe finding a good TV show or movie to watch while the soup cooks. The key to this soup is the homemade beef stock, recommended in the original recipe found in Cook’s Illustrated’s book, “The Best Recipe: Soups and Stews.” You could probably make beef barley soup with store-bought beef stock, but simmering the meat and bones with onion, red wine and water for several hours creates a rich and meaty broth far superior to the stuff available at the store. So if you have the time and inclination, homemade beef stock is worth the effort for this hearty, beefy soup.