Chicken Parmigiana - Italian-American Comfort Food Classic

Was needing to find a downtown restaurant for some dinner plans and the search led me to the Dallas area of the West End.  Back in the heyday, it was THE spot to go and be seen.  Though the days are long past, a Yelp posting for Spaghetti Warehouse got me happily reminiscing about meals past.  Back then, one of my favorites from their Italian-American specialties was chicken parmigiana.  Honestly, it's an abomination of calories (KFC should take lessons about using that chicken as part of a sandwich), but was oh-so-tasty!

Granted, these days, I'm more likely to seek out a kale salad than a deep fried chicken bomb, but every so often, nostalgia calls.  Luckily for me, this month's Cook's Illustrated was at the ready to accommodate my chicken parm craving with a boastful recipe claiming to be the best chicken parm.  Hmmm...

What can I say, it was the right recipe on the right day!  I won't reprint their recipe (that whole permission thing), but what I will say is here are some of the techniques they taught me that helped make it easily a top 5 chicken parm WITHOUT being deep fried!  Yum!

You know you want some!

The zen of chicken parm:

- Season the chicken with salt and leave out 20-30 minutes  before breading.  Added great flavor and no need to salt the flour, bread crumb mix, etc!

- Mix egg and a little flour to coat the chicken.  Then, dip in breadcrumbs mixed (1:1 ratio of cheese and Panko bread crumbs was my preference) with Parmesan cheese and some seasonings (garlic powder, oregano, pepper, etc.).  (No extra salt was even needed!)

- The BEST hint? Pan-fry breaded chicken in oil (shallow fry), then drain on paper towels. Put the chicken on a cookie sheet and sprinkle HEAVILY with mozzarella (fresh shredded) and/or a mix of mozz and a more melty cheese like Fontina.  Broil until bubbly, THEN put on tomato sauce over the cheese.  Keeps the breading crispy that way.

I served with cooked spaghetti and some whole wheat garlic bread for some tasty eats.  Happy eating!

Chicken Soup for the Weeknight Dinner

I confess - I really don't like "traditional" chicken soup.  Truthfully, it wasn't something I grew up eating much of and it just didn't appeal to my childhood palate.  And you know how something you dislike as a child generally follows you to adulthood!  Yet I like brussels sprouts!  Go figure....  Anyhoo, I'd clipped a recipe from Southern Living well over a year ago that actually appealed.  It was chicken and rice soup.  Not only that, it was chicken soup with long grain and wild rice, always a favorite food.  Putting aside my chicken soup trepidation, I finally gathered the courage to make it when my sweetie developed a nasty head cold.  "Southern-style penicillin," if you will.

One thing that kept me from making the soup was how labor-intensive this recipe is.  When you're cooking on a Sunday, slow simmered soups make sense.  Heck, even slow cookers help with this.  BUT, I knew that there were a few shortcuts I could take if I wanted this to be a weeknight friendly recipe.  I do advocate homemade, freshly prepared food, but I also am willing to make a few sacrifices for convenience.

First, to save time, I pre-cooked and shredded the chicken.  You can easily buy a rotisserie chicken and use that, or just throw a couple of chicken breasts in the oven over the weekend, let cool, and shred.  Second, I am a big fan of the "Ready Rice" and "Fast Cook" rice.  Ready Rice microwaves in 90 seconds and is great for serving a side dish quick.  Fast cook rice will boil up in about 5 minutes, rather than the usual 20.  Another trick is to prep and cook the veggies ahead.  I chose to sauté the veggies this evening, and it only added about 10 minutes to my cooking time.  I also cut the butter down, swapped out some with olive oil, and used fat free half and half rather than the full fat stuff (you could even leave that out).

The result of my tweaks? A soup my husband wanted seconds of and my new go-to option if I need some chicken soupy goodness.  Best part?  You can scale it up or down for the size of your family or gathering.  Mine makes enough for about 4 people as a main course.  Complete the meal with crusty bread and a salad lightly dressed with vinaigrette for a great well-rounded meal.  Happy eating!

Hearty, yet light with great depth of flavor

Chicken, Mushroom, and Wild Rice Soup

1 package fast-cook long grain and wild rice mix, prepared to package directions OR 1 package Ready Rice, microwaved to package directions
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup of fresh mushrooms sliced (can sub 1 can of sliced mushrooms, drained)
1/2 cup finely chopped onion (about 3 green onions or 1 small yellow onion)
1/2 cup finely chopped celery (about 1 stalk halved, then cut into quarters, and diced)
2 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp all purpose flour (I sub Wondra flour for its smooth texture)
3 cups chicken broth
1 - 2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded (about 1 cup)
2 Tbsp dry white wine or sherry (optional)
1/4 cup half and half (fat free is fine)

Prepare rice to package directions and set aside.  While rice is cooking, add 1 Tbsp olive oil to kettle and heat over medium-high until warm.  Add mushrooms, onion, and celery and sauté until translucent and soft, stirring often, about 8 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.  Remove from kettle.  Using same kettle, reduce heat to medium and add 2 Tbsp butter.  Once melted, whisk in flour and cook, stirring constantly, about 1 minute or until thick and bubbly.  Gradually whisk in chicken broth, then chicken, and cook, stirring often, 5 - 8 minutes or until slightly thickened.  Reduce heat to medium-low and add in wine (if using) and half-and-half.  Add in rice and heat through, about 5 minutes.

Secrets of Slow Cooking - Tapioca?!

Now that fall is here and I'm craving comfort cuisine, the slow cooker is getting a workout!  One of my frustrations with the slow cooker is having a thin, watery broth-like sauce when the food is done cooking.  It takes extra work to add corn starch or other thickener and then boil it down.  I recently purchased a slow cooker cookbook at Half Price Books that really had some great recipes.  The book, from the editors of Prevention Magazine, was focused on healthy cooking.  While some of the hints don't work for me (IMHO, better to use butter as it's a natural product with good flavor than chemically produced margarine), there is a great variety of recipes and inspiration within.

Today, I was inspired to try a variation on a chicken and mushroom dish that seemed intriguing.  Using very little liquid, the chicken and mushrooms would roast more than braise and the sauce would self-thicken using... tapioca starch!!  As a bonus, if you're allergic to wheat, tapioca is gluten free!  Adding just 2 Tbsp of instant pearl tapioca (NOT the large pearls used for bubble tea) when I began my cooking yielded a thickened sauce 7 scant low-and-slow cooking hours later!  Another hint used in this recipe was reduced fat cream cheese to help thicken and enrich the sauce.

Tapioca is actually the recommended starch if you're going to freeze something, so if you make mass quantities of a dish and plan to freeze it, use tapioca starch in place of corn starch.  I got curious about tapioca since I had never cooked with this product.  I checked out www.foodsubs.com and found the following:

instant tapioca = quick-cooking tapioca = quick tapioca = granulated tapioca = tapioca granules = instant pearl tapioca    Notes:   These small, starchy granules are used to make tapioca pudding and to thicken pie fillings.  The grains don't dissolve completely when cooked, so puddings and pies thickened with them end up studded with tiny gelatinous balls.  If you don't mind the balls, you can also use instant tapioca to thicken soups, gravies, and stews.  If the balls are a problem, just pulverize the instant tapioca in a coffee grinder or blender, or buy tapioca starch, which is already finely ground.  Instant tapioca tolerates prolonged cooking and freezing, and gives the fillings an attractive glossy sheen.   To use it in a pie filling, mix it with the other ingredients, then let it sit for at least five minutes so that the tapioca can absorb some of the liquid.  Don't confuse instant tapioca with regular tapioca, which has larger beads, or with the even larger tapioca pearls sold in Asian markets.  Minute® tapioca is a well-known brand.  Substitutes:    regular tapioca (Use twice as much.  Puddings made with this will have larger gelatinous balls in it.) OR tapioca starch (This is also used to thicken pie fillings.) OR tapioca pearls (Pulverize these first with a blender, coffee grinder, or food processor) OR cornstarch (Use half as much.  Cornstarch breaks down if it's mixed with acidic ingredients, cooked for a long time, or frozen and thawed.) OR arrowroot (more expensive) OR flour (Use a little more.)

The result?  Good overall.  The chicken breasts came out a little dry.  Can solve that with 1) skin-on chicken breasts, 2) larger pieces of chicken, or 3) chicken thighs, which stay moister longer.  The sauce was a revelation - thick, tasty, and WAY easier than having to add a corn starch slurry (corn starch & cold water mixed together) at the end and boiling to thicken.  I used 2 Tbsp tapioca pearls to 3/4 cup liquid.  Why it works so well is that it can thicken at low temperatures, perfect for the low setting on a slow cooker.  This is a great weekday or Sunday supper served with a loaf of crusty bread and some steamed or sautéed broccoli.  Happy eating!

Slow Cooker Chicken with Mushrooms and New Potatoes

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts or chicken thighs
1 lb mushrooms, sliced (can use a mixture of cremini, baby bella, shitake, etc.)
2 lbs new potatoes, halved if large
3/4 cup white wine or chicken broth
2 Tbsp instant tapioca (small pearls)
Salt and pepper
3 - 4 oz reduced fat cream cheese

Trim chicken and cut in half, if large.  Slice mushrooms and potatoes.  In 5-qt or larger slow cooker, add wine or broth and tapioca.  Stir to mix.  Add chicken breasts, mushrooms, and potatoes.  Salt and pepper, then cover and cook on low for 6 hours.  Stir and cook 1 more hour.  Add cream cheese to sauce and stir to blend (I recommend moving the chicken and vegetables to the side and stirring into sauce, then combining together).  Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.

1,001 uses for leftover pasta

After visiting Italy, I am fundamentally convinced pasta is or should be its own food group. You can add just about anything to a pasta and mix it with a million different sauce options - go Asian, Italian, Mexican, or heck - German. Add a protein and vegetable for a complete, possibly one-dish meal.



Courtesy of wikipedia.com

After making all of those lovely lasagna noodles, I was left with a million possibilities to use the plentiful leftovers.  What to do, what to do.... One option was rollatinis - roll up fillings in the noodles and bake in a sauce.  

Courtesy of foodnetwork.com

Another option was to tear the noodles up into "rags" and make a pasta dish. 

Courtesy of EatingWell.com

A third I considered was a spaghetti fritatta - slicing the pasta into thin ribbons and cooking in an omelet base. 

Any and all of them are worthy candidates, and in due time, I will probably try them all.  But today, when I thought of rollatini, it made me think it was too similar to lasagna.  And when I considered fritatta, I didn't want another baked dish, so pasta rags it was!  How simple is that, to quote Ina Garten? 

Tear (or slice) pasta up into random bites and add to whatever protein and sauce.

I had chicken breasts, frozen peas, frozen broccoli, heavy cream, and parmesan handy, so chicken alfredo-esque pasta it was!  No specific recipe, just techniques of food preparation.

I browned the chicken in a little olive oil after seasoning with salt and pepper.  Setting the chicken aside to rest, and using the same skillet, I added about 1/4 cup of chicken broth and broccoli and cooked on medium heat until done.   The broccoli was added to the chicken in the dish and it was sauce time in the skillet! 

By now, I had these wonderful brown bits in the skillet, so I added in about 1/4 cup of white wine and scraped the skillet down.  After boiling off the wine a bit, I added in 1/4 cup of chicken broth and seasoned to taste.  I made a slurry of 1 Tbsp. to 3 Tbsp. of cool chicken broth and added to thicken the sauce.  A splash (about 1/4 cup) of heavy cream, brought to a boil, salt, pepper, and a dash of cayenne, and the sauce was done. 

In about 20 minutes, I had a hearty pasta dish

from leftovers and pantry ingredients! 

Happy eating!