Park City Cashew Chicken

This is another Rachael Ray 365 meal. It is a favorite around here. It is spicy and a little sweet, plus the cashews add a wonderful crunch. I have said before how much we love stir fries and this resembles a stir fry but with less Asian flavors. It may seem like the chipotles and maple syrup should not go together, but they do.

I have made this recipe many times because everyone here loves it. One change I have made is Rachael's recipe calls for more chipotles than I use. The first time I made it, I cut back a bit on the chipotles and it was too hot for us and we love spicy food. Once we cut it back, it was much better.

The recipes I have found online for this is different than the one in the 365 book. Most of the online recipes include water chestnuts and garden peas. I think those added ingredients makes it more Asian. I choose to leave them out and follow the recipe in the book.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2 cups jasmine rice
4 cups chicken stock or low-sodium chicken broth
2 pounds chicken meat (tenders; skinless, boneless breasts; skinless, boneless thighs), cut into 2-inch pieces
2 tablespoons grill seasoning blend, such as Montreal Steak Seasoning blend by McCormick
2 to 3 tablespoons dark soy sauce, such as tamari (eyeball it)
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
3 tablespoons canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, finely chopped (available in the international foods aisle), or 1 1/2 tablespoons ground chipotle powder **if you don't want super spicy food, cut this back to 1 tablespoon. You can always add more if you need more heat**
1 tablespoon ground cumin (a palmful)
2 to 3 tablespoons honey (2 healthy drizzles)
1/4 to 1/3 cup pure maple syrup (eyeball it)
2 to 3 tablespoons cilantro (a handful), chopped
1 cup raw cashews

1. Start the jasmine rice. Follow the directions on the bag.

2. While the rice cooks, make the chicken. Heat a large skillet over high heat. Season the chicken with the grill seasoning. Add the vegetable oil (2 turns of the pan) and then the chicken. Brown the chicken on both sides, season with the soy sauce, then move the chicken to 1 side of the pan. Add the sliced onion, garlic and bell pepper. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, then mix the vegetables and chicken together. Add the chipotle chiles and cumin. Toss to coat. Glaze the chicken mixture with the honey and maple syrup and turn off the heat. Add the chopped cilantro and the cashews.

3. Spoon the rice into bowls, top with the cashew chicken and serve.

Big Thick Hearty Thighs with Chorizo

No I don't mean mine, though they could be described as big and hearty. As long as I have a love of cooking and food, plus keeping this blog, my thighs will forever be big and hearty.

This is another recipe from the Rachael Ray 365 book. Oh how this book saves dinner for us over and over. They are quick, they are easy, and they are almost always delicious. (We tried a pumpkin/sausage thing and it was horrible.)

We eat a LOT of chicken and I am always looking for something different to do with it. This will be one of my go to chicken dinners because it is easy to keep the ingredients on hand. Plus my husband kept saying how good it was when he was eating it, that makes it an A+.



2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
Salt & pepper
1 lb chorizo, casing removed and sliced
1 small onion, thinly sliced
5 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
4 cups chicken stock or broth
5-6 medium to small red bliss potatoes, cut in half and then thinly sliced
1 cup frozen peas
1 6oz jar roasted red peppers
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped
Crusty bread

Preheat a large skillet or wide soup pot over medium-high heat and add the EVOO. Season the chicken thighs liberally with salt & pepper. Add the chicken in the skillet and brown on both sides for 3 minutes. Scoot the browned thighs to the edges of the pan, making some space in the center of the skillet. Add the chorizo, onions, garlic, thyme, salt & pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, for 2 minutes.

Add the wine and chicken stock, turn the heat up to high, and bring the mixture up to a simmer. Add the potatoes and stir everything together. Cover the pan with a lid or a piece of aluminium foil and simmer for 10 minutes.

Remove the lid and continue to cook for another 5 minutes. Add the roasted red peppers, peas, lemon juice, lemon zest, and parsley, and cook for 1 more minute to just head the peas through. Serve with crusty bread. Really. Don't forget the bread.

Chicken with Wild Mushroom and Balsamic Cream Sauce

I've said before one of my go to cookbooks is Rachael Ray 365: No Repeats. I do not like to watch Rachael on TV, but I do love her recipes. I love how she takes every day ingredients but switches them around to make new dishes, dishes that come together quickly.

This recipe is one I've made a few times. My husband rarely asks for certain dishes, he is just happy to have a wife who likes to cook, but this recipe he actually asks for by name. It's one of his favorites.



Ingredients

* Salt
* 1/2 pound orzo pasta
* 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan
* 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, 6 ounces
* Pepper
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 12 cremini or baby portobello mushrooms, sliced
* 12 shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and sliced
* 12 white mushrooms, sliced
* 2 large cloves garlic, chopped
* 1 tablespoon thyme leaves, a couple of sprigs, chopped
* 2 large shallots, thinly sliced
* 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
* 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, eyeball it
* 3 tablespoons heavy cream or half-and-half, a couple turns of the pan
* 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley, a generous handful

Directions

Heat a large pot of water to a boil. Salt the water and add orzo pasta. Cook to al dente.

Preheat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and add extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan. Season chicken liberally with salt and pepper and add to the hot skillet. Cook the chicken for 5 to 6 minutes on each side. Remove the chicken from the pan and cover with foil to keep warm.

Return the skillet to the heat, turn heat back a bit, and add the butter. Once the butter melts add the mushrooms and brown stirring occasionally for about 4 to 5 minutes. Once the mushrooms are brown season with salt and pepper then add the garlic, thyme and shallots. Cook stirring occasionally for about 2 minutes or until the shallots are wilted. Sprinkle the flour into the pan and cook 2 minutes more. Whisk in the stock, balsamic vinegar and the cream. Turn the heat up to high and simmer for about 2 minutes or until thickened. Slice the chicken on an angle. Add the parsley and the chicken back to the skillet to heat up, about 1 minute.

To serve, pile orzo on dinner plates and top with the sliced chicken and sauce.

Cider Vinegar Chicken and Garlic Smashed Potatoes

Don't let the picture fool you. It may look white and plain, but trust me it has a ton of flavor. This is a Rachael Ray recipe from my favorite 365 book I've mentioned here before.

4 6oz boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (I cut mine into bit size pieces)
coarse black pepper
2 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced
2 TB thyme leaves
3 TB honey
3 large garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
2 cups chicken stock

Preheat skillet over medium high heat. Add 2 TB EVOO. Season chicken with salt and pepper and add to hot skillet. Brown chicken. Remove and reserve the meat. Cover it with foil. Add another TB of EVOO to the pan then the onions, thyme, honey, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper and cook until the onions are brown and caramelized. Add the cider vinegar and stock. Turn up the heat to high and bring liquids to simmer. Add chicken to skillet, cook for about 10 minutes. Serve with your favorite garlic mashed potatoes. The sauce it delicious on the potatoes.

What's for dinner?

You may start to see a lot of these kinds of posts when I don't have a lot of time to blog but I'm still cooking something.

Tonight dinner was from Rachael Ray 365: No Repeats. I can't guarantee no repeats because I do repeat our favorites. This is one of them. This cookbook has become one of my favorites. I'm no where close to making all 365 recipes, but we've probably made 25 or 30. So far they've all been good except one.




This recipe is #169. Cumin and Lime Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Spicy Creamed Corn.

SERVES 4 -6

* 2 1/4 lbs pork tenderloins
* 2 limes, juice of
* 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
* 2 tablespoons ground cumin
* 1 tablespoon ground coriander
* salt
* fresh ground black pepper
* 6 garlic cloves (4 cloves cracked, 2 cloves chopped)
* 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
* 1 large yellow onion, chopped
* 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
* 1 small red bell pepper, finely chopped
* 2 (10 ounce) boxes frozen corn kernels (or kernels cut from 5 ears fresh corn)
* 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
* 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
* 1/2 cup heavy cream
* 1/4 cup fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
* 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves

1. Preheat oven to 500°.
2. Trim the sliver skin or connective tissue from the tenderloins using a very sharp, thin knife.
3. Place tenderloins on a rimmed nonstick cookie sheet; coat them with the lime juice, rubbing the juice into the meat.
4. Drizzle olive oil over the tenderloins, just enough to coat (about 2 tablespoons).
5. Season the meat with the cumin, coriander, salt, and pepper.
6. Cut small slits into the meat and disperse chunks of the cracked garlic cloves into the slits.
7. Roast for 20 minutes; remove from oven and let rest for a few minutes, tented loosely with foil.
8. While the pork is cooking, preheat a skillet over med-high heat with 2 tablespoons olive oil and the butter.
9. Add in the onions, jalapenos, bell pepper, chopped garlic, corn, salt, and pepper; cook 4-5 minutes, or until the onions are tender.
10. Sprinkle with the flour, and continue cooking 1 minute.
11. Whisk in the chicken stock and heavy cream; bring mixture to a simmer and then lower the heat to medium-low; cook until it is thick and creamy, about 5 minutes.
12. Add in the parsley and cilantro; taste and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper.
13. Slice the rested roasted pork; serve with spicy creamed corn.