Archives for posts with tag: honey

Chicken with Gorgonzola
Roquefort Chicken

For Patrick’s birthday I wanted to make him something a little special since it was a work night and we were just celebrating at home. He LOVES blue cheese so when I saw Bobby Flay’s recipe for chicken breasts with roquefort on the New York TimesCooking app I had to make it. I couldn’t get roquefort so I used gorgonzola and it was still delicious.

It couldn’t get skin-on, boneless chicken breasts so I ended up de-boning the breasts myself – this is a HUGE pain. You can’t use regular chicken cutlets because you need the skin to hold in the blue cheese butter so my recommendation, if you aren’t up for de-boning the breasts yourself, is to go with bone-in breasts and roast them for a bit longer – probably 20 minutes or so. Make a small slice into the thickest part of the breast and if it is white and the juices run clear it is finished.

¼ cup clover honey
½ cup aged sherry vinegar
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
8 TB. (1 stick) unsalted butter (room temperature)
¼ cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese at room temperature
4 skin-on boneless chicken breasts, 8 ounces each
2 TB. canola oil
4 sprigs fresh rosemary, plus more for garnish

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix together the butter and blue cheese in a small bowl until well blended, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Using your fingers, gently loosen the skin from the chicken breasts and stuff about 1 heaping tablespoon of the blue cheese butter under the skin of each breast, smoothing the skin to evenly distribute the butter over the surface of the breast meat. Season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper.

Heat oil in large ovenproof sauté pan over medium heat until it begins to shimmer. Put chicken in the pan, skin-side down, and cook until fat renders and skin is golden brown and crispy, about 5 minutes. Turn chicken and add four rosemary sprigs to pan. Place in oven and roast until breasts are just cooked through, about 5 minutes longer.

While cooking the chicken, put honey in a small saucepan and cook over medium-low heat until lightly golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add vinegar and cook until reduced and thickened, about 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Keep warm.

Remove pan from oven and heat broiler. Spread the remaining butter over the tops of each breast and place under the broiler until golden brown and blistered.

Remove each breast to a plate, spoon some of the pan drippings over each breast and immediately drizzle with some of the honey/vinegar. Garnish with rosemary.

Roasted Potatoes with Green Beans

A simple side dish, that depending on how you look at it, either lightens up a typical potato dish or makes a side of green beans a bit heartier.

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6 medium red or yukon gold potatoes, sliced thinly
1 lb. green beans, ends trimmed
2 TB. olive oil
salt and pepper

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Toss potatoes and green beans in olive oil and salt and pepper to taste and spread on a baking sheet (you may need two so the vegetables aren’t on top of each other). Roast for 20-25 minutes, checking them after 15 minutes to make sure the potatoes don’t burn.

 

I’m not a big dessert person. I don’t turn it down per se, but I would rather eat something salty and fatty than sweet. HOWEVER, pregnancy brings out my inner sweet tooth. I feel like I deserve dessert when I’m pregnant because I can’t have certain foods anymore, I can’t drink and I am physically uncomfortable. I also sort of crave sweets a bit more than usual, especially after lunch or dinner. Ice cream has been an almost daily treat for the last few months. Until Monday…. The latest sonogram showed that I have a bit more fluid than normal and one reason may be too much sugar. Everything is fine otherwise, and most likely everything is normal, but to make sure I have to avoid refined sugar and white flour for at least the next two weeks – fun…

Fortunately, summer is almost upon us which means nature’s dessert – fruit – is staring to make it’s way to my local farmers market. Strawberries have already arrived and cherries, peaches, etc. are on their way. They might not totally make up for ice cream, but they will help.
Strawberries at Boro Hall

This week’s meal plan introduces two brand new seasonal recipes and two repeats from last year. Enjoy!

Meal #1: Asparagus alla Fontina + Green Salad
Meal #2: Chicken with Gorgonzola + Roasted Green Beans and Potatoes
Meal #3: Panko-Crusted Salmon + Fennel and Parmesan Salad
Meal #4: Pork Chops with Rhubarb-Cherry Sauce + Roasted Asparagus

Your Grocery List, excluding the usual pantry items:

red or yukon gold potatoes – 6 medium
green beans -1 lb.
dried cherries – 1/2 cup
white/yellow onion – 1
rhubarb – 10 ounces
asparagus – 3 large bunches
lemon – 1
fennel – 2
fresh parsley – 1 bunch
rosemary – 1 bunch
panko (Japanese dried bread flakes) – 2/3 cup
eggs – 3
gruyère or fontina – 4 ounces
gorgonzola cheese – 4 ounces
parmesan cheese (if you don’t already have it)
Dijon mustard (if you don’t already have it)
honey (if you don’t already have it)
sherry vinegar (if you don’t already have it)
prosciutto – 4 ounces
skin-on, boneless chicken breasts – 4 (8 ounces each)
pork loin chops – 4 (each 1/2 inch thick and 6 to 8 ounces)
salmon fillets, skin on – 4 (6- to 8-ounce each)

Soy-Glazed Chicken Thighs with Asparagus and Scallions
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This was delicious, although I wish I hadn’t made it on the first day we needed the air conditioner. Roasting chicken at 450 degrees definitely makes the kitchen hot!

The recipe calls for anise seed (aka fennel seed), but if you don’t have it I am sure the marinade would still be delicious. I made the marinade the night before to save time, but the chicken doesn’t need to marinate overnight. And, finally, I didn’t have much sauce at the end to pour over the chicken, but it was still amazing.

No, not that kind of stock.

Since I started this blog in January I have posted almost 20 meal plans and over 70 meals! It is crazy to think that I have made that many different meals so far this year, and the best season for cooking is just beginning! This is obviously a roundabout way of saying that I’m sorry I haven’t posted a new meal plan in a few weeks, but I hope you’ve been able to use the archive to pull together some tasty dinners for your family.

Fortunately, we are entering into the best time of the year to cook. I am obviously inspired by what I find when I am grocery shopping, but no shopping experience inspires me more than a trip to a farmers market. When I first caught a glimpse of those sugar snap peas you see below my heart leapt a bit. This week features a bunch of recipes that make the most of Spring’s finest; I especially love the soy-glazed chicken with asparagus and scallions. And, I promise there are more meals to come.

Sugar Snap Peas web

Meal #1: Penne with Broccoli Rabe and Sausage
Meal #2: Pork Medallions with Mustard-Caper Sauce and Braised Swiss Chard
Meal #3: Soy-Glazed Chicken with Asparagus and Scallions
Meal #4: Whole Baked Trout with Cherry Tomatoes and Potatoes

Your grocery list, excluding the usual pantry items:

broccoli rabe – 1 large bunch
Swiss chard – 2 large bunches
shallots – 4
onion – 1
asparagus – 1 large bunch
scallions – 2 bunches
Yukon gold potatoes – 2
cherry tomatoes – 12 ounces
oregano – 1 bunch
cilantro – 1 bunch
lemon – 1
limes – 3-4
penne – 1 box
aniseed (fennel seed) – 2 tsp. (optional) 
chicken broth – 2 cups
whipping cream (or half and half)
capers (if you don’t already have them)
grain dijion mustard (if you don’t already have it)
soy sauce (if you don’t already have it)
honey (if you don’t already have it)
chicken thighs, bone-in, skin-on – 8
pork tenderloin – 2, 8-10 ounce each
sausage – 1 lb.
trout – 2 whole fish (9 ounces each)

Sweet and Sour Chicken Thighs
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This is so delicious. From the name you would think that it is a recipe for a popular Chinese takeout dish, but it actually is more North African in flavor. Using ingredients that you probably already have –  cinnamon, paprika, lemon and honey – elevates this dish from your typical weeknight, chicken dinner.

Couscous

Perfect for sopping up the delicious sauce. Follow directions on the box.

I’m really happy that I finally started this meal-planning blog, but as the weeks have gotten busier it has been more difficult to find time to research recipes, prepare meals and put together each post. I’m not complaining, just saying that you never really know what you’ve gotten into until you’re in it! That said, one unexpected benefit of this site has been that I have an excuse, or really the impetus, to finally try a bunch of recipes that I have clipped or dog-eared or saved on Pinterest. Like anyone, I make roughly the same 20 meals per season rotated over the course of 3-4 weeks. Many of those meals have already been featured on this blog. However, when I started this blog I knew that if I provided readers with just 20 recipes my endeavor would be short lived. So, I started digging through my recipe collection, which lives in a large accordion folder, a collection of food magazines, many cookbooks, a “recipe box” on epicurious.com and of course my trusty Pinterest recipe board.

My trusty recipe board on Pinterest

My trusty recipe board on Pinterest

This week I bring you three recipes that I tried for the first time this week, but that I have wanted to make for awhile. Along with those three I added a re-post of my pasta marinara (a mainstay). Enjoy!

Meal #1: Sweet and Sour Chicken Thighs with Couscous
Meal #2: Pasta with Marinara + Green Salad
Meal #3: Spring Minestrone with Chicken Meatballs and Garlic Bread
Meal #4: Shrimp with Orange and Ginger

Your grocery list, excluding the usual pantry items:

onion – 1
carrots – 2 lb.
lemons – 2
lettuce – 1 bunch or bag
leek – 1
baby spinach – 1 cup
red bell pepper – 1
oranges – 2
scallions – 1 bunch
basil – 1 small bunch
chives – 1 small bunch
ginger – 1 small piece
parsley – 1 bunch (optional)
cilantro – 1 bunch (optional)
low-salt chicken broth – 5 cups
egg – 1
pasta – 1 box
rice
small pasta (such as orzo or ditalini) – 1 box 
crushed tomatoes – 28 ounce can
baguette or whatever bread you like
breadcrumbs – 1/2 cup (if you don’t already have it)
sesame oil – (if you don’t already have it)
honey – (if you don’t already have it)
paprika – (if you don’t already have it)
cinnamon – (if you don’t already have it)
crushed red pepper – (if you don’t already have it)
bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs – 2 1/2 to 2 3/4 lb total
ground chicken – 6 ounces
shrimp – 1 lb.