Repeats

I made a couple good repeat dishes this week and I thought I would remind you about them in case you are searching for something to make for dinner!

Forbidden Rice with Roasted Vegetables: This time around I used 2 medium sweet potatoes, 2 large parsnips and 1 carrot, which was about 5 cups of vegetables. There didn't seem to be quite enough dressing for that amount of vegetables, so it was a little drier than last time.

Farfalle with Kale and Lentils: This recipe never disappoints. I followed my own advice and added diced carrots to the lentils and simmered both in broth instead of water (I used the leftover beef broth from the Guinness Braised Beef, but vegetable or chicken broth would work just as well).

Cashew Chicken: I was convinced that I had written about this dish before, so I didn't take a picture, but alas, I haven't. It is a pity because it really is delicious. I found the recipe on the Bitten Word blog, but it is from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine. This dish comes together really quickly; the most time consuming part is marinating the chicken for 30 minutes. I served the chicken with brown rice and it doesn't mention this in the recipe, but after toasting the cashews, I roughly chopped them.

Enjoy!

Chicken Parmesan with Pepperoni

So after my "more meat-less meals" proclamation from yesterday, I give you, meat on meat! Did I mention it is baby steps with MM?

I found this delectable recipe in the January 2011 issue of Food and Wine. I will admit that I usually shy away from recipes calling for the dredging and coating of a protein because it is kind of an annoying process.  It is time consuming to set everything up and then to clean the myriad dishes afterwards; I always make a mess all over the counter; and I hate that so much flour, egg, and coating go to waste, spoiled and contaminated at the bottom of the dish. But I was up for a challenge this week, so decided to give this a try.

If there is anything to take away from this dish, it is that panko fried in oil is delicious. Sadly, once you cover the chicken in sauce, cheese and pepperoni and then cook it, the coating loses it crispiness and becomes like any other slightly mushy breaded coating. Mushy or not, it tasted delicious and the chicken stayed moist. I know I have said this before, but don't count out the parsley as just a garnish; the fresh flavor complements the cheesy saucy bready chicken perfectly.

Another helpful note: line your baking sheet with foil. I did not, and poor MM soaked and scrubbed my baking sheet the entire night.

Pasta with Sweet Apple Chicken Sausage and Tomatoes

A funny thing happened when I was trying to decide what to do with the remaining two links of apple chicken sausage (the first two went into this frittata): I googled "sweet apple chicken sausage pasta" and there in the middle of the second page of results was my little blog suggesting I take a look at Fusilli with Fennel and Sweet Apple Chicken Sausage! Well, thank you, me, what a great idea!

Unfortunately, I didn't have any fennel around, but I did have a package of cherry tomatoes I wanted to use. (I originally bought the cherry tomatoes to make Domenica Marchetti's BLT Bucatini, which is from her new cookbook, The Glorious Pasta of Italy, but then I read the whole recipe and realized that I need to slow roast the tomatoes for two hours and I just don't have that kind of time on a weeknight!)

I followed the recipe as written, adding the halved tomatoes to the pan when the onions were almost done. Additionally, instead of opening a bottle of white wine, I used up some rosé in the fridge and was pleased with the results. Lastly, as you can see in the picture, I felt like the dish needed some color, so I chopped up two handfuls of parsley and mixed it in at the very end (off the heat). I hate that parsley is usually just considered a garnish; it really adds a ton of fresh flavor to foods. So don't forget the parsley!

Kale and Sweet Apple Chicken Sausage Frittata

Hot mess

As you can see, I am trying to distract you from looking at the frittata by putting an equally crazy looking apron behind it!

Appearances and amateur cooking mistakes aside, this frittata was delicious! As my diligent and observant readers will know, I have been trying to diversify my kale recipes and after inspiring one of my co-workers to make a frittata (for the first time!) last week, I decided I needed to make one, too.

My love of sweet apple chicken sausage is well documented (see here, here, and here) and I buy it whenever it is on sale. I had some in the fridge and thought it would work well with the kale. I followed my basic "What's Left in the Fridge Frittata" recipe, but made one glaringly obvious amateur mistake. I threw the kale right in the pan after the chicken sausage had been browning and was shocked when it didn't wilt like spinach or arugula. Duh! So, learn from my mistakes! If you want to use kale in a frittata, make sure you blanch it first, and then cut into bite-size pieces before adding it to the pan. But, at least I remembered the broiler this time, so the kale and the Parmigiano-Reggiano got nice and crispy!

Summer Vegetable Saute with Apple Chicken Sausage and Rice

Unfortunately, the one downside to the CSA is that I find myself trying to come up with dishes that use the most amount of vegetables possible at one time so they don't languish in the crisper drawers. This means that one particular vegetable never shines and they all merge together. But on the other side, I guess it is just good that I am eating vegetables, period.

Anyway, this is one of those kitchen sink summer vegetable sautes that turned out really well. I just love apple chicken sausage and the hint of sweetness that it brings to dishes.

Summer Vegetable Saute with Apple Chicken Sausage and Rice
Serves 4

Ingredients

Extra virgin olive oil
12 oz fully cooked apple chicken sausage, cut into rounds
1 cup uncooked rice, variety of your choice (I used basmati)
1 onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 yellow summer squash, cut into half moons, or smaller
1 zucchini, cut into quarter moons (is that a technical term?)
2 small green peppers, diced
kernels cut from 2 ears corn
1/2 cup feta cheese (or some other cheese of your choice)
handful fresh parsley, chopped

1. Heat enough oil to coat the bottom of a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sausage and brown on both sides. Remove to a plate and set aside.

2. Meanwhile, cook the rice according to package directions or your preference.

3. Add more oil to the skillet and over medium heat, saute the onion and garlic for a couple minutes. Add the squash, zucchini and peppers. Cook until tender. Add the corn and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat, mix in the cheese, the rice and the sausage. Taste for seasoning and top with the parsley.

Marshal Mike's Party

Marshal Mike is home on his two week break from Army duty in Afghanistan, so we decided to get our friends together for a little party.

Herewith the food I made for the party:

Crostini with fresh ricotta, honey and lemon zest

If you try nothing else new this year, try making fresh ricotta. As I mentioned the first time I made ricotta, it is so simple, but the results are so amazing.

I wanted to try a new recipe this time, so I chose this one from Food 52.  I hate to say it, but I was underwhelmed. It just tasted like cream in curd form. Delicious and creamy, yes, but it was lacking the tang and the flavor of the recipe I made last time (Ina Garten's). So I went back to the store, bought more whole milk and heavy cream, and whipped up a batch of Ina's ricotta. Yum, yum, yum. I did find that if using Ina's recipe, let the mixture sit in the pan for about 10 minutes (instead of the recommended 1 minute) before transferring to a cheesecloth-lined sieve. The recipe will yield about 3 cups of ricotta this way instead of 2.

Now, the ricotta is fabulous on its own, but it really shines when you use it in this recipe for Bruschetta with Ricotta, Honey and Lemon Zest. The flavor combination of these items is perfection!

I thought about trying to make pigs in a blanket as I have never made them (from scratch, anyway), but then I stumbled upon this recipe for Chicks in Blankets on epicurious.

Chicks in a blanket

I love apple chicken sausage, so decided to give this recipe a try. As you can see in the picture, some of my blankets didn't stay closed (exhibitionist chicks?), but they still tasted great! I did include little bowls of mustard to dip them in because I found each piece to be a little pastry-heavy.

To round out the homemade appetizers, I made avocado hummus, which I have posted about here. It is a recipe from the Washington Post that I have made a couple times (and never photograph!) and it is a crowd pleaser every time. I made pita chips to go with it.

Salted Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

For dessert, I tried this recipe for salted double chocolate peanut butter cookies, which was created by a fellow Rhode Islander! These were also a crowd pleaser; if you like chocolate and peanut butter, give them a try!

Chicken Marsala with Mustard and Mascarpone

Oh, Giada, can you do no wrong?

I can't even remember the last time I had chicken Marsala, but this is certainly the best iteration of it that I have ever had. Although, when we were in high school, my brother went through a phase when he was obsessed with chicken Marsala and made it all the time. (At least I think it was high school; I could be remembering this incorrectly.) His version of it was terrific as well.

This recipe is from Giada's cookbook, Giada's Family Dinners, which I recently bought on Gilt for super-cheap. (If you are not a member of Gilt, let me know and I will send you an invitation. It is one of the most amazing things ever created. Really great products for unbelievably low prices. Especially if you are an obsessive shopper like I am!) Of course, you can also find this recipe on foodnetwork.com. The mustard and mascarpone work really well with the Marsala and the browned mushrooms. (A note on the mushrooms, which most of you probably know already: cremini mushrooms are also called "baby bella" or "baby portobello".)

A note on the serving size: I used just over a pound of chicken, and a half pound of pappardelle, but the full amount of all the other ingredients (I like a lot of sauce) and it made 4 servings.

Herbed Chicken with Roasted Root Vegetables

With this dish I discovered that I do not like turnip root. It is bitter! Even roasted, which usually makes veggies so sweet. Although, after a quick search on the good ole internet, I realize that I chose at least one turnip that was too large (you should pick smaller ones that feel heavy for their size) and I should have tried the turnips with their greens still attached, instead of the turnip root by itself. Ok, so maybe I will give them a second chance. (Although, I have given brussels sprouts somewhere close to 10 chances and I still don't like them!)

Regardless of my current hate relationship with turnips, this dish is a great fall/winter standby. Tasty, satisfying and easy. And you can throw in whatever vegetables you like (or hope to like). Additionally, you can pair the roasted vegetables with any protein you'd like. This particular technique (it isn't really a recipe) is one of my go-to ways to cook chicken.

Roasted Root Vegetables
Serves 3

A couple pounds of assorted vegetables (in this particular dish I used 2 medium sweet potatoes, 1 large fennel bulb, and 3 turnip roots), chopped. You can chop the vegetables in whatever size you'd like, just keep them all the same size. And remember, the smaller the dice, the faster it will cook.
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1-2 tablespoons Italian dried herb mixture (I used Giada's Tuscan Herb Mix)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Toss all the ingredients in a large bowl. Transfer to a large baking sheet and roast for 45 minutes - 1 hour (depending on the size of your vegetables and desired crispiness of the vegetables), stirring 2 or 3 times during cooking.

Herbed Chicken Breasts
Serves 3

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I used the thinly sliced breasts)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon Italian dried herb mixture
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

Mix the olive oil and herbs together in a small bowl. Using a brush (I really like the silicon ones because they are easier to clean), spread the mixture on both sides of the chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Cook chicken over medium heat (you can get away with medium high heat if you have thinly sliced breasts, or if you pound regular breasts so they are thin) in a saute pan for a couple minutes on each side, until the chicken is cooked through.

Chicken Normande with Mashed Apples and Potatoes

Photo from epicurious.com because the last thing I wanted to do at 9:30pm when this piece of work finished cooking was take a picture!

If any dish is the definition of a hot mess, this one is it! And like any hot mess, it seemed totally normal and manageable in the beginning. Then, slowly, it showed its true colors.

I got this recipe out of the Bon Appetit Best of 2001 cookbook, but you can also find it on epicurious.com. First, a little back story on the Best of cookbook. Either last Christmas or the one before, my mom and I were perusing the goods at Ocean State Job Lot. If you have ever been into an Ocean State Job Lot, you know how very special they are. If you haven't, well, I wouldn't suggest searching one out now. You just wouldn't get it. And the experience may scar you for life. So they have a whole shelf of cookbooks on super sale (I think it was buy one at $10, get one free, or something ridiculous like that). So I got the Bon Appetit Best of 2000, 2001, 2004 and 2005 cookbooks.

Back to Saturday night's dinner. I figured, it's Saturday, we don't have anything to do, I can make a meal that is more involved than one I would choose to make on a weeknight. Well this sucker took me over two hours! Just to start off you have to peel 2 parsnips, 4 potatoes and 2 apples. I hate peeling round things! And I think I need a different kind of peeler because I ended up peeling a comparable amount of skin off my finger.

Anyway, it is going along fine, I cook the parsnips, cook and mash the apples and potatoes, cook the chicken thighs (they got great color), and continue on. (Although reading through the recipe online, I realized I skipped over the "cut the chicken into 1-inch pieces" part. Woops!) I didn't have any brandy for the last part where you reduce the broth mixture, so I used more apple juice. Should be fine. Well, I guess I didn't reduce it long enough because when I poured it over everything in the baking dish, it came up awfully high. Then I started to scoop the mashed apples and potatoes on top and it started to overflow all over the stove top. Now, most sane people would have stopped at this point, maybe drained some of the liquid out. Maybe have gotten a larger baking dish. Oh, no, not me! (And I was a couple glasses of wine in at this point seeing as it had been taking so long!) So I put the pan on a baking sheet to contain the mess and continued to scoop the mashed mixture on top. Some of it sunk. Fine. I finally get it in the oven and leave the kitchen to watch It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia with MM. (If you have not seen this show, add it to your queue! It is hilarious. Inappropriate at many times, but hilarious!)

The oven timer goes off 35 minutes later and I discover that the oven had turned itself off at some point. It didn't powerfail, which is what it usually does, because the timer still worked (and it had already powerfailed once on Saturday when I was preheating the oven for the cookies). Great! The internal temp was down to 200, so I turn the oven back on and left the slop in the oven for more time.

Long (very long) story short, the mashed mixture on top never got crusty, although everything underneath it was warmed through. And after all that we didn't even like it. It was like soup with chicken thighs and some mashed potatoes. (Although, I must admit I can see how it would have been better if I had cut up the thighs.) Then MM says, "I don't like chicken thighs, they stay too moist and it makes me think they aren't cooked all the way through." So I said, "Are you saying you like dry chicken breasts because you know they are cooked?" "Yes." Ok, fine.

Moral of the story, I should probably stick to Italian food.

Tuscan Roasted Chicken with Vegetables

Apologies for not having a photo - they were all so bad, I couldn't bear to subject you to any of them.

So this recipe is from Ellie Krieger's cookbook, The Food You Crave: Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life. Well, I can tell you I will not be craving this recipe anytime soon!  The vegetables called for in the recipe are: plum tomatoes, zucchini and fennel. I cannot stand zucchini, so I substituted carrots. The recipe also calls for 4 chicken breast halves with the ribs. I only used 3 and could just barely get everything into my huge Le Creuset oval baking dish.

The recipe calls for baking at 375 degrees for 50-60 minutes (or until the chicken is cooked), and I took mine out at 50 minutes. This resulted in perfectly cooked, moist, interior of the chicken and overcooked edges of the chicken. And don't even get me started on the vegetables. They were completely undercooked! (Well, except for the tomatoes, which were disintegrating at this point.) It was kind of a disappointment. I want roasted vegetables with my roasted chicken! Golden, tender, slightly crispy, sweet and flavorful! Mine were practically raw! I don't have to wait 50 minutes for raw vegetables!

If I were to make this again (and I may because the lemon on the chicken was great and it was nice to get everything together, stick it in the oven and forget about it for awhile), I think I would crank up the heat and cook the vegetables longer than the chicken.

Chicken Spezzatino

Love that Le Creuset!

Maybe it's because it has (thankfully!) been getting cooler at night or maybe it's because I am so busy at work that cooking a complicated multi-step recipe when I get home is enough to make me stop cooking all together and eat peanut butter toast washed down with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc (hey, don't knock it till you try it!) that I have been craving hearty one pot meals that don't require much effort on my behalf. This spectacular recipe is one such dish!

It is from Giada's Everyday Italian cookbook and can be found here. (The biscuit part is not from Giada's original recipe and I think the stew is hearty enough without bread. Although, orzo or some other little pasta that could cook in the liquid might be a good variation.) The Food Network website has a different version of Giada's Spezzatino that also looks great, so I think I will have to try that one too!

Chicken Almondine Tenders

Crispy!

So this is one of the first Relish recipes I have made in awhile. It turned out well, although it was even better once we got the honey mustard out of the fridge to serve as a dipping sauce. My only problem with the recipe is that I ran out of the final dredging step (panko and almonds) so the recipe below has increased amounts. And of course I paired it with roasted broccoli and carrots, because we hadn't had roasted broccoli for a couple weeks and were starting to go through withdrawal.

Chicken Almondine Tenders
Adapted from Relish
Serves 2

1/3-1/2 cup flour (however much you need)
1 large egg
3/4 cup sliced or slivered almonds (chopped if pieces are big)
1/2 cup panko
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup canola oil

1. Spread flour in a shallow dish; season with salt and pepper. Lightly beat egg in a second shallow dish. Combine almonds, panko and cornstarch in a third shallow dish; season with salt and pepper.

2. Slice the chicken breasts into 1-inch strips and season with salt and pepper. One at a time, coat the chicken lightly with flour, dip in the egg and dredge in the almond mixture, pressing to adhere.

3. Heat enough oil to coat the bottom of your saute pan (you may not need all 1/4 cup, depending on the pan size) over medium heat. Cook the chicken until browned, 2-3 minutes per side. Don't crowd the pan with the chicken; you may need to cook in batches.

Dill Chicken and Orzo with Feta, Tomatoes and Dill

Dill deliciousness!

Gourmet Magazine, how I miss thee! Last night's dinner consisted of two old Gourmet recipes: Dill Chicken Paillards from September 2009 and Orzo with Feta, Tomatoes and Dill from July 2008. The chicken recipe called for a tomato-dill relish, but I decided to pair it with the orzo recipe, so we could still have tomatoes and it would qualify as a side dish, too. 

The chicken was delicious! One of the best chicken renditions I have tasted. I wish the chicken I had was a little bit thicker (I bought it thin-sliced), so it wouldn't have cooked as quickly. I didn't even have time to get grill marks on it! The orzo was good - it definitely shined when you ate all the components together. The sweet, juicy tomatoes were the star of the dish.

Spiced Chicken with Couscous Salad

My brother is in town and commented that last night's dinner had no starch, so tonight's has a little bit of everything.

This recipe is from Real Simple's June 2010 issue. The couscous salad is really delicious. I used edamame because the snap peas at the grocery looked awful. Unfortunately I over-salted the couscous, but it was still yummy. I couldn't really taste the spices on the chicken, so I would probably add more next time.

Chicken Schnitzel with Roasted Broccoli

You are probably starting to think that we eat a lot of the same thing over and over again here in the BlB household. And you are probably right, but that's ok, it is all delicious. And really, that's all that matters.

This chicken schnitzel recipe is from Thomas Keller in Food & Wine's July 2009 issue. It was great. Crunchy, with a bright acidity from the lemon juice and capers. Marshal Mike and I are going to Keller's Bouchon Bistro in Yountville, CA next week - so exciting!

Walnut-Crusted Chicken with Roasted Broccoli

Another day, another dark photo

This is a great recipe from Martha Stewart (I halved it). The chicken stays super-moist and actually tastes like walnuts. I find that a lot of times chicken coating/breading just tastes like breadcrumbs, no matter what else you add to it. And of course we made it with roasted broccoli, because I wanted fennel again and MM said, "no way, I can't handle anymore fennel!" (Although, there happens to be another fennel bulb in the fridge, so get ready!)

Parmesan-Crusted Chicken with Broccolini

This is the only Relish recipe I am making this week, although I did decide to pay for a 6 month subscription. There were a couple more that I printed, but they were trumped by other recipes from other sources in the planning meeting (aka MM and I sitting around drinking coffee on Sunday morning).

This was supposed to be made with turkey cutlets, but I couldn't find any at the store and the turkey breasts came in a practically 2 pound package. That is one thing that drives me nuts about pre-packaged meat. I know I should buy the larger package and freeze what we don't need this week, but I hate thinking ahead to thaw chicken. I don't decide what to make for dinner until I get home and am standing in the kitchen. And I don't think the chicken tastes as good after it has been frozen and then thawed. So I buy the super-expensive organic chicken because it comes in smaller packages. I also like to think the chicken had a better life than the Perdue chicken, but after reading The Omnivore's Dilemma, I am pretty sure they didn't.

The Dijon mustard component made this chicken a little more interesting than your typical run of the mill Parmesan/panko crusted chicken. Had I thought ahead, I think a honey mustard dipping sauce would have been delicious with the finished chicken.

The broccolini was good. The Relish recipe called it Baby Broccoli with Lemon Pepper, but I don't know what baby broccoli is, so I bought broccolini and I don't think Lemon Pepper is a good description of the resulting flavor of the dish. So I am going to call it Lemon Dill Broccolini. (After doing a quick Wiki-search, I have learned that the name "broccolini" is a registered trademark of the Mann Packing Company and the vegetable's generic name is, you guessed it, "baby broccoli".)

Parmesan-Crusted Chicken Breasts
Adapted from Relish
Serves 2

2 chicken breasts (or 1/2 pound turkey cutlets)
1/2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/3 cup panko
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 tablespoon Italian flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 large egg, beaten
olive oil cooking spray

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Set a wire rack on a baking sheet and coat the rack with cooking spray. Brush both sides of the chicken with mustard. (I found that this didn't work so well. After you brush one side and flip the chicken to brush the other side, the mustard stays on the cutting board and not on the chicken. I would suggest putting the mustard in a shallow dish and dredging the chicken in it. Might work better.)
3. In a shallow dish combine the panko, Parmesan, parsley, salt and pepper. In another shallow dish whisk the egg. Dip each breast into the egg, then the panko mixture. Place the chicken on the prepared baking rack.
4. Bake for 15-20 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and the topping is golden brown (As you can see in the picture, mine could have stood another 2 minutes or so.)

Lemon Dill Broccolini
Adapted from Relish
Serves 2

1 cup vegetable broth
1 tablespoon fresh dill, snipped
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 bunch broccolini, cut into 3 inch pieces
1 1/2 tablespoons butter

1. In a large skillet, combine the broth, dill, lemon zest, oil, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
2. Add broccolini and butter to the skillet. Cover and cook over medium heat for 6-8 minutes or until tender. Transfer broccolini with a slotted spoon to plates.

Chicken Tostadas

Look at all the colors!

This is another Relish recipe that we thoroughly enjoyed (and actually felt healthy while eating). It came together pretty quickly and was satisfying. 

Chicken Tostadas

Adapted from Relish

Serves 2

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast

1/2 tablespoon olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 cup prepared chunky salsa

2 8-inch whole wheat flour tortillas

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

2 romaine lettuce leaves chopped

1/2 avocado, diced

1 small tomato, diced

1 green onion, chopped

1 1/2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped

sour cream

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. Place the chicken breast on a small rimmed baking sheet (I used a metal 8-inch brownie pan) and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake uncovered until cooked through, 15-20 minutes. Let cool and cut into small cubes.

3. In a medium bowl, toss together chicken, black beans and salsa.

4. Arrange tortillas on a large rimmed baking sheet. Top with shredded cheese, then chicken mixture. 

5. Bake until heated through, the cheese is melted and the tortillas are crisp, about 10 minutes. 

6. Top with lettuce, avocado, tomato, onion, cilantro, and a dollop of sour cream. Serve immediately.

Thai Chicken Noodle Sauté

Another museum-worthy BlB photo!

If you are keeping count, this is the 4th Relish recipe I have made. This one was spectacular! MM said it tasted like takeout, which I assume is a good thing because he cleared his plate. (Well, except for the red peppers, which apparently he doesn't like. I suppose I deserve the bad housewife award seeing as I mentioned in this post that he doesn't like red bell peppers and have already managed to forget that. Whoops!)

Thai Chicken Noodle Sauté
Adapted from Relish
Serves 2-3

Sauce
1/2 cup chicken stock
3 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
1 teaspoon garlic, minced (has anyone else noticed that every single Relish recipe has garlic in it?)

Chicken
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
1/8 cup vegetable oil
5 ounces linguine (I used spaghetti because that is what I had on hand)
1 red bell pepper, cored and sliced
1/4 white onion, sliced
1/8 cup dry roasted peanuts, crushed (I forgot to buy these)
1 lime, cut into wedges

1. Combine chicken broth, peanut butter, honey, soy sauce, ginger, and garlic in a small saucepan over medium-low heat until sauce becomes smooth and well blended.
2. Bring a large pot of boiling water to a boil and cook the pasta until it is al dente. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, sauté the chicken in vegetable oil.
3. After the chicken is cooked, transfer to a plate and tent with foil to keep warm. Add the bell peppers and onions to the skillet (add more oil if needed) and sauté until softened, but still slightly crisp.
4. Add the chicken back to the skillet and reduce the heat. Add the cooked pasta to the skillet and toss to combine. Add the peanut sauce to the skillet and toss again. Garnish with peanuts and lime.

Crispy Chicken with Roasted Broccoli and Potatoes

So I think I have made this chicken recipe before, but it was BB (before blog), so who knows what I thought of it. The recipe is from Food 52, which is a wonderful site run by two women where readers submit recipes and they test some of them and ask other readers to try others. This chicken turned out crispy and moist, but I felt the coating was lacking in flavor somehow. You season every "dredge" step, so I don't know how it ended up so blah.

Three steps of dredging!

The broccoli turned out well, but it always does. You can find the recipe on this earlier post of mine. The potatoes, however, were a hot mess. I have tried a bunch of different roast potato recipes that always claim to be the best, or make the perfect potatoes (which this one did) and I am always disappointed. Unfortunately I can't find where on the great internet I got this "perfect" potato recipe, but that is fine, since I wouldn't recommend using it anyway! The quest for the perfect roast potato (crisp on the outside, creamy on the inside and plenty salty) continues!