A Recipe From The AWOL Lemon

Half the week I was limping, the other half I had a tummy bug. Yes y’all, wussed out and didn’t blog at all which only made me feel worse. Feel free to yell at me next time I do that. To make it up to y’all, I offer this recipe that I came up with when I got to feeling good. It’s delicious, easy as anything and really healthy! That ain’t bad for a simple supper. The curry powder is optional, D doesn’t eat spicy so I leave it off his and use it in mine after it’s ready.

Chicken And Wild Rice

2 boneless chicken breasts
2 tbls. olive oil
3 stalks of celery, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 carrot, diced
1 c. wild rice mix
3 c. chicken stock
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. curry powder
1 tbls. corn starch
Sea salt
Pepper

Cook the rice according to the directions on your wild rice mix, about 50 minutes with the two c. of chicken stock.

Flatten the chicken breasts and cut into small pieces. Put 1 tbls. of olive oil into a large skillet, and throw in diced garlic and the chicken. Saute the chicken for a few minutes on each side, until it’s cooked all the way and browning slightly. Put the chicken on a plate, and throw the celery and onions and carrot into the skillet to soften a bit. Put the spices and the chicken back in the skillet and let them cook for a few, stirring a lot for 10 minutes. The rice goes on the plate in a round pat, and the chicken an veggies are put on top. While the pan is hot, pour in 1 c. of the chicken stock and the cornstarch (dissolved in a little water), and whisk constantly so it thickens up. Pour over the chicken and serve. For two or three people as a meal.

Yum!

Alabama Week #1 Fried Green Tomatoes

Yeah, it’s Wednesday and it’s the first time I’ve posted about this. I really did do it Monday, I just got caught up in things and didn’t get it up on the day I wanted to.

To start things off, Monday’s Alabama food is Fried Green Tomatoes. Fried Green Tomatoes At The Whistle Stop Cafe is such a good book, and a tribute to both the fictional place and the real deal, The Irondale Cafe in Irondale, Alabama seemed like just the thing! The chicken is a recipe from The Food You Crave.

   

Whistle Stop Cafe’s Fried Green Tomatoes

1 egg, beaten
1 c. buttermilk
1 c. self rising flour
1/2 c. cornmeal
1/2 tsp. salt
6 to 8 green tomatoes, cut into 1/4 inch thick slices
Bacon drippings, vegetable oil, or a mixture of both

Fry in hot oil on each side a few minutes, or until golden brown.

Chicken Soup And Chili

Slacked off a bit on the posting, was assaulted by a tummy bug. Getting better, but I didn’t end up getting any pictures of the stew I made. That’s a shame, it was a rather nice one! The leftover chicken was cubed up and thrown in a pot with a handful of green onions, a few sprigs of fresh dill, a few sprigs of fresh parsley, a pinch of fresh rosemary, almost two cloves of garlic, a can of Swanson’s chicken broth, three stalks of celery chopped, two carrots chopped, and enough water to make soup. Simmered it for several hours, then added a half cup of brown rice. It was really tasty! Made some chili to put up, very simple ground turkey, beans, tomatoes, garlic, cumin, and chili powder. D’s tummy can’t deal well with spicy things, so I keep dinner very mild. It’s not a chili that would win any cook offs, but it’s tasty and appreciated! Nothing goes better with chili than Jiffy cornbread. The kitchen is clean, and that’s making me feel good. The pirate ship cake hasn’t been made yet. It’s so cute!

Chicken Meet Lemons, Much Roasting And Pie Commences

Roast chicken on Sundays is something that I love, it’s the perfect time for it. Grocery shopping is done on Friday, so the chicken is nice and fresh. The lawn guy we had before cut my herb garden down, but this Friday I grabbed a bunch of plants at the store and we have fresh herbs again!

                 

The chicken is simple, a little diced garlic, rosemary, dill, and lemon juice sprinkled over the top, big slices of onions in the pan, and a little olive oil. Into the oven it goes, to do it’s thing at 350 F while I attempt something that I haven’t tried before. D said he loves lemon meringue pie, and not being one to turn the nose upwards at a lemony treat I decided to find a recipe and try it!

The chicken was happily baking, so the next step would be to grab some lemons and get the juice out of the charming fruits. Like the corkscrew, there was no lemon zester in the house either so a grater had to do. Poor little things, don;t they look like they’ve had a rough day? Oh, the lemonanity! Juice, sugar, and zest starting to boil on the stove, it was time to separate the eggs!

                            

Juice, sugar, and zest starting to boil on the stove, it was time to separate the eggs! There’s something very graceful about separating eggs, it’s one of those little things that makes me feel accomplished for a moment. A reassuring bit of encouragement when doing something new was what I needed.

Hot juice and sugar into the eggs, and they didn’t cook! That was a really big worry, the technique isn’t a familiar one to me (y’all stop laughing, I’m new at some of this!) and it was nice to find out it wasn’t as difficult as I’d expected it to be. Aren’t these pink bowls D’s mom gave me for Christmas nice?

Whip until stiff peaks form, do those look like stiff peaks to you? The crust was a Pilsbury roll out, and to be blunt I don’t intend to try one of them again. It turned out bland and shrunk in a very off putting way. The idea was to have one less thing to worry about when trying a new pie, but the effort saved wasn’t worth the icky result.

It looks like a lemon meringue pie! Better yet, it tastes wonderful. The chicken was tender and juicy, and the pie set up nicely. The filling was only a little looser that was desirable, that’s only because it was getting later and we wanted to try some before going to snooze. It’s nice and firm now. The taste was perfect for our preferences, very sweet and tart from the zest. The meringue came out like… meringue, which surprised me as I’d never made it before. Light, fluffy, and not scorched at all!

                     

D’s plate is the one with the dark meat, his preference. It works out perfectly, he isn’t fond of white and I’m not fond of dark. He’s being kind enough in these pictures to hold the plates while I’m taking pics. The nice pic of the pie was taken by D, isn’t he good at it?

                                

Lemon Meringue Pie

Found on www.allrecipes.com

 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 2 lemons, juiced and zested
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 4 egg yolks, beaten
• 1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked
• 4 egg whites
• 6 tablespoons white sugar

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. To Make Lemon Filling: In a medium saucepan, whisk together 1 cup sugar, flour, cornstarch, and salt. Stir in water, lemon juice and lemon zest. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until mixture comes to a boil. Stir in butter. Place egg yolks in a small bowl and gradually whisk in 1/2 cup of hot sugar mixture. Whisk egg yolk mixture back into remaining sugar mixture. Bring to a boil and continue to cook while stirring constantly until thick. Remove from heat. Pour filling into baked pastry shell.
3. To Make Meringue: In a large glass or metal bowl, whip egg whites until foamy. Add sugar gradually, and continue to whip until stiff peaks form. Spread meringue over pie, sealing the edges at the crust.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, or until meringue is golden brown.

                              

Food Is Good

There’s no denying it, food is good. That’s certainly a big reason why we all read these blogs and write in them, our love of food. A few minutes ago I was snacking on the leftover sauce from the chicken cordon bleu, and wondering what to do with some of my Christmas money. There are some socks I want, a few books, some kitchen gadgets… and I sent a flock of chickens to somebody who needs them. If you’re really enjoying your meal today, and you have a little cash on hand (which I know it’s hard to have), there are some other folk who could use some help too.

The Heifer Project helps people by sending them seeds, livestick, and training, so that they can raise animals and crops to feed their families, and pass on your gift to their neighbours, friends, and the rest of the world just like you gave them. It ain’t expensive either, 20 bucks of some Christmas money given to me sent other people a whole flock of chickens. Please give it a look y’all, it’s a great program!

Chicken Cordon Bleu

To start, let me make it clear that only two burners on the stove work right. This makes cooking many things a challenge in itself, but we do what we have to do. Tonight’s attempt is chicken cordon bleu, which I’ve never made before. D (pscyclone) is a big fan of it, so here I am in the kitchen with my scary stove and some on sale chicken breasts. Right out of the gate there’s a problem, we have no corkscrew in the house. Neither of us are drinkers, me not at all and him only the occasional stout, so it’s not surprising that in turning this kitchen from the former bachelor pad into my domain, a corkscrew has been overlooked. D is now on a mission to try to figure out how to get the cork out of the white wine.	Success! A multi tool was located in the garage, he’s a man of many blades, and we have wine.
Now the toothpicks have gone missing. From the proclaimed confusion of the whole household, a toothpick thief must have claimed them while we were out as not one single splinter is to be found anywhere. Right! Thread it is, and let me state here that neatly securing the edges of raw chicken with toothpicks is much different than trying to wrestle thread around ham, cheese, and annoyed chicken. Tied up and into the flour and paprika they go, and from there it’s a small flop into the simmering butter. The soundtrack is Johnny Cash, as it usually is around our house.
The chicken is browning nicely, no scorching of the butter and in goes the wine. Woosh! Always been very fond of that sound, when the liquid hits the fats and everything smells delicious as it rises in a beautiful plume from the pan. The cream, the decadent cream, mixed in with the wine and butter perfectly, and what I was at first worried was too dark turned a beautiful warm colour. Poured over the chicken breasts, it made me feel like a real cook. Some green beans (out of a can), and Cuban bread from the grocery store’s bakery were added, and this is the result. The taste is so good that I couldn’t be more pleased. The sauce was scoop it up with the bread, lick your fingers good (not that I’d ever *ahem* do such an uncouth, unladylike thing), and I’m pretty sure from the look of it that D licked his plate clean. He pronounced it a success!
The recipe, found on www.allrecipes.comas Chicken Cordon Bleu II.
Ingredients 6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves 6 slices Swiss cheese 6 slices ham 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon paprika 6 tablespoons butter 1/2 cup dry white wine 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules 1 tablespoon cornstarch 1 cup heavy whipping cream
Directions Pound chicken breasts if they are too thick. Place a cheese and ham slice on each breast within 1/2 inch of the edges. Fold the edges of the chicken over the filling, and secure with toothpicks. Mix the flour and paprika in a small bowl, and coat the chicken pieces. Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat, and cook the chicken until browned on all sides. Add the wine and bouillon. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes, until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear. Remove the toothpicks, and transfer the breasts to a warm platter. Blend the cornstarch with the cream in a small bowl, and whisk slowly into the skillet. Cook, stirring until thickened, and pour over the chicken. Serve warm.