My Chicken Marsala

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My husband doesn’t ask for much. We have a terrific give-and-take kind of relationship, and I love that when I’ve had a hectic day, or don’t feel in the mood to prep a meal, he happily steps up to the plate, either by grabbing some takeout on his way home, dragging me out to a restaurant, or sometimes taking a turn at the stove himself. And he’s a really good cook, too—one of many things that kept me around in our earliest days together. I couldn’t be with someone who doesn’t enjoy the simple pleasures of food.

So when Les asked me recently to put chicken Marsala back into the meal rotation, I took it to heart. The “rotation” is a running joke at our house—it takes a while for most dishes to cycle back around. I attribute this in part to my having worked 15 years as a deejay at a Top 40 radio station, where every single day was a rearrangement of the same songs I played the day before. We referred to our playlist as a “rotation,” and that’s exactly what it was—‘round and ‘round, over and over. If you think it gets old to hear the same songs every day, well, imagine having to play them! I crave variety, and most of the time, my cooking style is more like a big stack of one-hit wonders than a greatest hits album. Some dishes never get another play in my kitchen, and when they do, they often appear with changes or twists, almost like a “cover” of the original.

I couldn’t distinctly remember the last time I had made chicken Marsala for Les, so I was happy to revisit this dish. It deserves a spot in the Sunday Supper category, not because it requires extra time or a ton of effort (it doesn’t), but because there is a specialness about it that comes from the gentle mushroom gravy that envelops the tender, pan-fried chicken cutlets.

I’m happy to play my hubby’s request!

I went off-script a bit with this Italian classic, beginning with the flour coating. Rather than using plain all-purpose flour to dredge the cutlets, I mixed it half and half with semolina flour—the same kind I use when I shape my pizza dough. My reason for this is that all-purpose flour on its own tends to get soaked by the natural moisture in fresh meat, and that can give it a somewhat gummy texture after frying. Semolina remains drier and creates more of a natural barrier to the hot oil in the pan. I was pleased with the result of this substitution and will likely use all semolina next time this golden oldie comes up in “the rotation.”

Purchase thin cutlets or pound between sheets of parchment to 1/4 inch thickness.
I seasoned my 50/50 flour mixture with salt, pepper and onion powder.
The semolina felt drier than regular flour alone, and created a better barrier to the moisture.
Rest the dredged cutlets on a plate while you heat the oil.

Which kind of Marsala is correct for this dish? Depends on who you ask, as some cooks like the sweet version. Marsala is a fortified Italian wine with warm, gentle flavors of dried fruit and it is frequently paired with chicken and veal. Even the dry version has subtle sweetness, almost like a touch of honey. “Sweet” is not my favorite genre in an entrée course, unless it is balanced with hot, salty or sour—say, Asian food or barbecue sauce. So I found a lovely, dry Marsala in a wine shop rather than the grocery store (which only carries the cheapest bottles). This was an excellent choice and it’s a good quality Marsala that I plan to use again soon—maybe as a sipper with a plate of cured meats, dried figs and salted almonds. Am I teasing an upcoming record in my next quarter hour? 😉

I’m looking forward to enjoying this again!

My other twists on the classic preparation were shortcuts—If time had not been an issue, I would have slow-simmered some chicken parts to make my own rich stock, but I was a bit rushed, so I used a store-bought stock. I definitely recommend stock over broth, because the result is richer and more flavorful. My other shortcut helped me save time on slicing all those plump mushrooms. I needed a whole carton of mushrooms sliced into perfect, ¼-inch slices, so I dug out my trusty egg slicer. It’s the simplest way to make quick work of this part of my recipe.

I’m not partial to this brand, but stock is definitely the way to go.
My sturdy, metal egg slicer is also great for strawberries!
I had my entire carton sliced in under a minute!

Ready to get cooking?

Pan fry the floured cutlets in a little olive oil, just until golden on both sides, then transfer them to a plate. Brown the mushrooms in a touch more oil, then add garlic and splash in the Marsala—watch out for the steam! Whisk the pan to release the stuck-on bits, then add stock and let it come back up to a gentle boil.

Return the chicken cutlets to the skillet, turning to coat them lightly in the Marsala sauce. Cover the pan and turn it down to low heat to simmer. I used this 25-minute simmering time to prep my side veggies—a quick, pan-fried and then steamed broccolini with garlic and red pepper flakes. This vegetable can be hard to find (or easy to miss) in the supermarket, but it’s worth a look as a great alternative for people who don’t enjoy the bitterness of broccoli. Count my hubby among them!

When you’re ready to serve, plate the chicken cutlets and veggies and then, off the heat, quickly whisk in cold butter—one teaspoon pat at a time—into the mushroom sauce. This method creates a silky, emulsified sauce. Spoon the mushroom sauce over the cutlets, sprinkle with chopped parsley, and this dinner is a certified hit!

You can see the sauce getting richer with each teaspoon of butter. A sprinkle of parsley is a nice finishing touch.

My Chicken Marsala

  • Servings: 2
  • Difficulty: Average
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I have taken a few liberties with this Italian classic, which is both elegant and easy. If you are feeling extra fancy, swap the chicken for veal cutlets.


Ingredients

  • 2 large boneless chicken breasts, split into cutlets and pounded thin
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup semolina flour
  • Salt and pepper (to season the flour mixture)
  • 4 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil (most for chicken, remaining for mushrooms)
  • 1 shallot, chopped
  • 10 oz. cremini mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/2 cup dry Marsala (preferably not “cooking wine”)
  • 1/2 cup rich chicken stock
  • 1 Tbsp. cold salted butter, cut into three pats (keep cold until the end)
  • Chopped Italian parsley, to garnish

Directions

  1. Combine flours, salt and pepper in a shallow dish. Dredge cutlets in the dry mixture and set aside on a plate.
  2. Heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil in a skillet (if you have one that is not non-stick, that’s best) over medium heat. When the oil is shimmering, arrange the cutlets in the pan and cook just until golden on each side, about three minutes each side. Transfer cutlets to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm.
  3. Add remaining oil to the skillet and saute the shallots until softened. Add the mushrooms, half at first then the rest. Avoid overloading the skillet as this will cause the mushrooms to steam in their own moisture. When the mushrooms are sufficiently browned and excess moisture has cooked off the pan, stir in the garlic.
  4. Add the Marsala wine all at once. This will probably create a big cloud of steam! Use a whisk or utensil to loosen any browned bits in the skillet. Stir in the chicken stock and bring the mixture back up to a slight boil.
  5. Return cutlets to the skillet, reduce heat and cover. Allow the chicken to simmer for 25-40 minutes, depending on what else you have going on. The longer it simmers, the more moisture will reduce, so check on it periodically and add a splash of stock if needed. Turn the cutlets once during simmering as well.
  6. Transfer the tender cutlets to serving plates. Swirl in cold butter, one teaspoon pat at a time. This will blend with the pan juices to create a thickened, luxurious sauce. Immediately spoon over cutlets. Sprinkle with fresh parsley, if desired, and serve at once.

This dish is terrific on its own with a vegetable or salad, or you can place the cutlets on top of polenta, risotto, mashed potatoes, rice or buttered pasta.

Southwest Chicken Soup

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There’s never a wrong time for chicken soup, and winter seems especially appropriate, given that it is also cold and flu season. In the middle of January, my husband and I both found ourselves stuck at home with Covid. I had started experiencing symptoms on a Thursday night, and I was quick to blame the just-completed replacement of our entire HVAC system as the culprit for the sore throat and sneezing that had suddenly walloped me. Dust and bits of insulation had been falling out of all the vents in the house for two days, so of course I felt lousy. At least, with the new system, I’d be warm.

But two nights later, as I sat shivering on the sofa, despite wearing a bulky sweatshirt, fuzzy jammie pants, two pairs of socks, my Land’s End shearling-lined slippers and curling up under a big ass blanket, I knew I was in trouble. The lines on my at-home rapid Covid test were not only pink— they were bright magenta! Les tested positive the next day, and we settled in for a week of being bored out of our ever-loving minds. Thank God we have every TV streaming service known to man, and some of the kindest neighbors around who did front porch drop-offs of soup, orange juice and other sick-at-home necessities. We are grateful.

That first night of symptoms, I had made this southwest-themed chicken soup, and it was exactly what I needed, though I wish I had made a double batch. Next time, I will do exactly that and I’ll stash some in the freezer— just in case!

The soup is quick to make because it relies on a supermarket deli roast chicken and a few easy pantry ingredients. The chicken I selected was labeled “Peruvian,” which includes seasonings like paprika, cumin and oregano— all perfectly compatible for a southwest-themed soup. I used almost exactly half of the chicken, including the shredded meat from a thigh, breast and drumstick, plus the skin (I’ll explain in a moment). The remaining chicken meat went into a very tasty chicken salad that Les made, using some of his fabulous pimiento cheese. It was so good on sandwiches, and I’ll try to sweet talk him into making that again to share on the blog.

Once in a while, these deli roast chickens come in really handy!

I started the soup with a quick saute of chopped onions and diced jalapeno— just long enough to soften them up. A few shakes of chili powder added a layer of flavor, and then I poured in a whole carton (4 cups) of chicken stock, the shredded chicken and several pieces of skin from the chicken, and I heated it to the point of a low boil before dropping it to a simmer. The skin released extra flavor into the soup, and I pulled them out before serving the soup.

The flavors in this soup come in layers.

While the soup simmered, I prepped the fresh toppings which included diced avocado and torn cilantro leaves, plus wedges of fresh lime to squeeze over at serving. A small can of hot salsa added a big punch of flavor. Pre-cooked brown rice saved precious minutes and added a little whole grain to the soup.

With all the shortcuts I took making this soup, it’s ironic that I made the tortilla strips from scratch!

The only thing my soup still needed was a little bit of crunch on top. Any other day, I would have just served it with a few tortilla chips on the side. But on that day, when I was already feeling crummy and didn’t want to run to the store, I found instead a package of corn tortillas shoved into the back of our deli drawer. So I heated some peanut oil, cut up the corn tortillas into small strips and fried them crispy. It took only about 4 minutes, and it was the perfect finishing touch!

Serve up the soup and add your fresh toppings and crispy strips. Delicious!

Southwest Chicken Soup

  • Servings: About 6
  • Difficulty: Easy
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A deli roast chicken and a few easy pantry ingredients make this flavorful twist on a classic comfort food perfect for chasing away the mid-winter blahs!


Ingredients

  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1/2 jalapeño, seeded and minced
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
  • A few shakes of prepared chili powder
  • 4 cups chicken stock or broth
  • About 2 cups shredded or chopped roast chicken (and skin, optional)
  • 10 oz. can spicy salsa (I used Herdez brand)
  • About 1/2 cup cooked brown rice (I used pre-cooked Minute Rice)
  • 1 ripe avocado, peeled and cubed
  • 1/2 fresh lime, cut into wedges for serving
  • Small handful of fresh cilantro leaves
  • Crispy tortilla strips (store bought or homemade, for serving; my recipe is below)

Directions

  1. Heat olive oil in a medium sized soup pot, over medium heat. Add onions and jalapeños, season with salt and pepper and sauté until softened. Sprinkle with a few shakes (about 1/2 tsp) chili powder.
  2. Add chicken stock and shredded chicken. Drop any crispy roasted chicken skin into the soup pot to extract the extra flavor.
  3. Stir salsa into the soup and heat until it comes to a low boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes.
  4. Prepare crispy tortilla strips while soup simmers, or skip this step if you’re using pre-made chips.
  5. Add brown rice and heat through. Serve soup in shallow bowls, topped with chopped avocado and torn cilantro.
  6. Top each bowl with a few crispy tortilla strips and serve immediately.

If you have a few extra minutes, it’s worth the little bit of trouble to make the crispy tortilla strips from scratch. Be sure to season them immediately upon removal from the hot oil. I used Trader Joe’s “Everything But the Elote” seasoning, but chili powder, season salt or simple salt and pepper would also be delicious.

Ingredients

  • 4 to 6 corn tortillas, cut in half, then stacked and cut into strips about 1/2-inch wide
  • 1 cup neutral cooking oil, such as grapeseed, canola or peanut oil
  • Salty seasoning of your choice

Directions

  1. Heat oil in a shallow pot over medium-high heat; it should measure about 1-inch deep in the pot.
  2. Add a few test strips of tortilla to the oil to test the temperature. They should immediately bubble all over.
  3. Fry tortilla strips for about 4 minutes, until light and crispy. Use a slotted spoon to remove the strips. Drain them on layers of paper towel, and sprinkle right away with salt or seasonings.

Buttermilk Roasted Chicken

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Ahead of Thanksgiving, I like to make a few “Sunday Supper” meals—the kind of menu that takes a little extra time or effort—because it gives me something to focus on besides worrying about Thanksgiving, and it also gives me a chance to do a trial run on potential new side dishes before the big day. You know what they say about experimenting on Thanksgiving, right?

This spatchcocked and roasted chicken can hold its own next to even the most elegant of side dishes you might be auditioning, and the best thing about it is that its lovely presentation takes minimal effort. I wouldn’t have believed it several years ago when I first saw a magazine cover with an image of a roasted chicken laid-out flat on a platter, and I remember thinking, maybe one day I’ll be able to cook like that. Little did I know how easy it is, and after my first attempt at it for a Passover meal a few years ago, I’ve been hooked.

From a technical standpoint, the spatchcocking (or, butterflying, if you wish) of the bird serves an important purpose by putting the whole chicken on the same level for roasting. After 45 minutes in the oven, you won’t have the concern about the breast meat being overdone before the thighs are cooked through because the cavity of the bird is essentially eliminated. The breast of the bird is not sitting several inches higher than the rest of the body, and that means the heat is applied more evenly. Thus, the chicken cooks more evenly.

And the flavor comes easy for this chicken, too, because the buttermilk does all the work. Most often, when you hear the words chicken and buttermilk in the same sentence, it’s probably in context of a recipe that involves frying. At least, that’s how it usually works here in the South. But this oven-roasted recipe is lighter, easier to prep and cook, and so, so flavorful. Buttermilk, which is acidic to begin with, has special enzymes that help break down the proteins of meat. When that breakdown occurs, it opens the door for flavors to go into the meat.

During six hours of marinating, the chicken soaks up the flavors of the herbs and seasonings I add to the buttermilk, including kosher salt, white pepper, garlic and onion powders, paprika and dried thyme.

When I shared my plans last week for making homemade stock for Thanksgiving gravy, I mentioned a tip for adding some chicken parts to the simmering broth, most notably the backbone, which I removed from a whole chicken with a technique called “spatchcocking.” This step is not necessary for roasting the bird, but I like it for the evenness of roasting that results. And as I explained in the stock post, I needed some more poultry parts for my stock. Because we don’t eat it, the backbone doesn’t add much value when it’s left on the chicken, but there’s a world of flavor in those bones when you simmer them down in a stock, so this is a smart way to “waste nothing.”

Removing the backbone is easy. You need a good set of kitchen scissors, and a little bit of gumption to crack through the ribs that are attached to the bone along both sides. Start on the neck end of the chicken, where the backbone is easy to recognize. Cut all the way down one side, then the other, and then lift the bone away from the body and cut it off at the tailbone.

I didn’t want to risk cutting myself for a picture, but put kitchen scissors to work where my fingers are and you’ll have it.

If you don’t need the backbone, you can discard it; otherwise, follow my lead and add it to the pot for your next batch of stock. All that collagen in the bone will really amp up the flavor and richness of any soup or gravy you make with it. You can even freeze it for later, if you aren’t ready to make stock just yet. Pat the bird dry with paper towels and place it in a heavy-duty plastic freezer bag with a zipper top. Pour in the seasoned buttermilk mixture and seal up the bag, squeezing out as much air as possible to force the brine up around every part of the chicken. Stash it in the refrigerator for about six hours, and let the buttermilk work its magic.

Don’t rinse the marinade off the bird; just pat it dry and then rub on some oil before roasting.

After marinating, dry the chicken with paper towels and rub a small amount of olive oil all over the skin of the bird to protect it from drying out. Let it rest while the oven preheats to 400° F, and roast it for about 45 minutes, until the skin is golden brown all over and the internal temperature is 160° F. It looks beautiful and the buttermilk keeps it nice and juicy on the inside.

I’ve put this buttermilk roasted chicken in the Sunday Supper category, not for any difficulty but for the marinating time that’s required for tenderizing and flavoring. Let me know in the comments what side dishes you’d like to see with this yummy chicken.

Buttermilk Roasted Chicken

  • Servings: 6
  • Difficulty: Easy
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You don't need any special skills to spatchcock a chicken, as long as you have a good pair of kitchen scissors. And this buttermilk brine brings a world of flavor into the chicken with almost no effort.


Ingredients

  • 3.5-pound chicken, preferably free-range
  • 2 cups real, cultured buttermilk
  • 1 heaping tsp. kosher salt
  • 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp. onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp. white pepper
  • 1/2 tsp. sweet Spanish paprika
  • 1 tsp. dried thyme leaves
  • 1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

Directions

  1. Remove the giblet package and neck parts from the inside of the chicken. Use kitchen scissors to cut down both sides of the backbone and set it aside with the innards to be simmered into a stock.
  2. Open up the chicken, essentially “unfolding” it, and lay it breast side-up on a sheet pan. Use the heel of your hand to press firmly onto the breast of the bird until it cracks. This will help the chicken lay flatter when it is time to roast it.
  3. Add buttermilk to a 2-quart bowl. Combine the salt and other dry seasonings in a small bowl, and then stir the spice blend into the buttermilk until the salt is dissolved.
  4. Place the chicken in a gallon-size freezer bag with a zip top. Pour the buttermilk into the bag and seal it, gently squeezing the air out of the bag as you go. This will ensure the brine covers every surface of the chicken. Wash and dry the bowl and place the bagged chicken into it (just in case the bag leaks) and refrigerate it for about six hours.
  5. Remove the chicken from the buttermilk brine, allowing the excess to drip off. Do not rinse the bird, but pat it dry with paper towels and lay it, breast side-up, on a baking rack placed over a rimmed sheet pan. Rub the olive oil all over the skin of the chicken and sprinkle it with kosher salt and black pepper. Let the chicken rest at room temperature for an hour before roasting.
  6. Preheat oven to 400° F, with rack in the center position. Roast the chicken without convection for 45 minutes, until the skin is golden brown all over and a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh reaches 160° F. Rest chicken for 15 minutes before carving and serving.

Late Summer Succotash with Chicken & Waffles

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Something about the change of seasons makes me happy, and this is especially true when we can see Labor Day just up ahead. This time last year, my husband, Les, and I were gallivanting all over New Jersey, Connecticut and New York, visiting old friends, meeting new ones and satisfying our culinary curiosity with so many delicious foods. Our plans this year have kept us mostly at home, and so the transition to fall doesn’t feel nearly as dramatic, but we have at least fulfilled the delicious food requirement. The big food news of our week occurred when we celebrated my hubby’s birthday with a fantastic veal and eggplant Parmesan dish, which he will be proud to share on Comfort du Jour soon (it will be an excellent way to re-welcome the Sunday Supper category).

Yes, the countdown to autumn has begun, and I’ll be at the front of the line to greet it. For now, I’d like to share this colorful, late-summer dish that I whipped up last month, just before our garden tomatoes started coming in. It’s a “healthy-ish” play on chicken and waffles, and a great way to hang onto the lingering days of summer as we prepare to roll out the welcome mat for the glorious comfort foods of autumn.

It may seem that “chicken and waffles” could not qualify as healthy-ish, but I did lighten this up in a number of ways. First, I used skinless chicken tenders (rather than skin-on, bone-in pieces), which were drenched in flavor after a two-hour bath in buttermilk, seasoned with plenty of hot sauce and a bit of Bell’s poultry seasoning. Never miss an opportunity to add flavor—that’s one of my key approaches to cooking. Rather than deep frying the tenders, I dipped them in seasoned flour and crisped them up lightly in a cast-iron skillet. And with a high volume of vegetables in the succotash, each serving only included two of the fried tenders. Portion control is one of the simplest ways to reduce calorie intake. 🙂

  • Can you stand a little heat?
  • In my opinion, this is the best poultry seasoning ever.
  • The spiked buttermilk makes my tenders more tender. 🙂
  • A wee bit of garlic in the flour and cornmeal breading.
  • Bread the tenders lightly so they don’t take up too much oil.
  • Fry the tenders when the oil is hot, and don’t crowd the pan.
  • Give them a gentle turn when they are golden brown.
  • Season the tenders while they are still hot.

The waffles for this dish were on the healthy side of things, too, and based on a sourdough pancake recipe from my favorite baking site, King Arthur Baking Company.

I followed the King Arthur recipe as written, except that I halved it, swapped in white whole wheat flour with a little cornmeal, and bumped up the oil just enough to prevent them from sticking to the waffle iron. The scallions and leftover grilled corn folded into the batter made the waffles extra hearty, and sourdough can’t be beat for this application because of the amazing crispy texture it puts on the waffle exterior. If you aren’t riding the sourdough train, there’s no reason in the world you couldn’t substitute another waffle recipe you like and add the corn and scallions to it.

Whole wheat and cornmeal makes my waffles a little better for us.
Corn and scallions make my batter better.
I made these waffles in my Belgian maker, but regular square waffles would be just fine.
Perfect crispy outside!

The succotash (technically this isn’t one because it doesn’t have beans) has everything that I love—zucchini (still plenty of it at the farmers’ market), grilled corn, leeks, ripe baby tomatoes, pickled onions and half of a tiny jar of pimentos we had in the fridge. I used one of my favorite prep-ahead techniques for this meal, which is layering the cut-up ingredients in reverse order in a single prep bowl that I can tuck into the fridge until I’m ready to start cooking.

  • I used some of the leftover corn in the succotash and the rest in the waffles.
  • Leeks are a nice change of pace from typical onions.
  • I had just enough pimentos to add a pop of rosy color to the succotash.
  • A vendor at the farmers’ market turned me onto pickled onions, and I’m hooked!
  • Everything I need for the succotash is layered, in reverse order from how I plan to cook it.

This recipe gave me a first chance to use the new non-stick skillets we bought this summer; Les and I had looked high and low for replacements that didn’t feel chintzy and weren’t made in some factory overseas. Les learned via online research that the only pair of American-made non-stick skillets were a specific set of Calphalon pans that were sold by Williams-Sonoma (most of Calphalon’s products are made in China, but this set is made in Ohio). They are available online if you don’t have a store near you.

The non-stick coating is great, and I love the sturdiness of our new pans, but for me the real test of a new skillet is “how easily can I flip my ingredients?” Sometimes when I have a lot going on at once, I don’t want to take time to pick up a utensil so I’ll employ the flipping technique I learned during my catering days. It worked fine, though the pan was a bit heavy, so I’m counting it as upper-body exercise (and I only lost a few pieces of onion to the floor).

How about that?! Three cheers for Ohio!
The zukes and leeks get a head start in the saute pan.
Not a bad flip for a first try!

Having one prep bowl filled with vegetables makes cooking a snap, as I simply empty them into the skillet as I need them, and there’s no jumbling around in the fridge to find what I need or washing extra prep dishes. When the zucchini started to become tender, I moved deeper into the bowl for the other ingredients until I had everything in the pan.

When the zukes are tender, in goes the rest!
This can simmer on the stove while I get the chicken and waffles ready.
At the end, bright ripe baby tomatoes add a pop of freshness. Season to taste.

All three components of this dish—the waffles, the chicken and the succotash—happen simultaneously, but you could certainly make the succotash ahead and simply rewarm it when you’re ready to serve. Keep the waffles warm on your oven’s low setting if needed, and aim to make the chicken the last thing you prepare. Remember to season it with a light touch of salt from the skillet!

Pile it onto a plate, with the succotash underneath and over top of the crispy waffles, and the chicken tenders leaned against it. Finish the dish with a scattering of fresh chopped basil leaves, and dinner is served!

How about a little fresh basil to brighten this plate?
The whole grain and add-ins make these waffles substantial and nutritious.
Tender to the end. 🙂

Not only does this presentation look beautiful, it serves the purpose of keeping everything warm until you make it to the last delicious bite!

Late Summer Succotash with Chicken & Waffles

  • Servings: About 3
  • Difficulty: Intermediate
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This meal takes some time to prepare, but the combination of sauteed summer ingredients and lightened-up chicken & waffles is well worth the effort! Prepare the three components of this dish at your own pace; if time is limited, the succotash can be made ahead and warmed at serving time. If you plan to make everything concurrently, consider setting the oven to warm and tuck away the waffles or chicken tenders on a rack placed over a baking sheet.

Ingredients

  • 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken tenders, patted dry
  • 1/2 cup cultured buttermilk
  • Up to 1 Tbsp. bottled hot sauce
  • 1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 cup neutral oil (for skillet frying]
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 Tbsp. medium-grind corn meal
  • 1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Directions

  1. In a medium bowl, combine buttermilk, hot sauce, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper. Add chicken tenders to the bowl, tossing to coat. Allow this to rest at room temperature at least 30 minutes, or refrigerate up to a few hours if working ahead. Take them from the fridge 30 minutes before pan-frying them.
  2. In a small bowl, combine flour, corn meal and garlic powder, plus a few shakes each salt and pepper. Set this aside for breading the chicken tenders.
  3. Heat a cast iron skillet over medium heat, with 1/2-inch oil.
  4. When oil is hot, remove tenders from buttermilk mixture, allowing all liquid to run off. Dip the tenders into the breading mixture; coat evenly without dredging too heavily. Carefully place each tender into the hot oil, taking care to not crowd the pan too quickly, as this will drop the temperature of the oil and result in greasy chicken. Turn tenders when the first side is golden brown; transfer them to a paper towel-lined plate when done. Season immediately with a light sprinkle of salt.

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup fed sourdough starter
  • 1/2 cup cultured buttermilk
  • 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
  • 3 Tbsp. medium-grind cornmeal
  • 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 cup leftover grilled corn kernels
  • 3 chopped green onions (scallions), white and green parts

Directions

  1. In a medium batter bowl, combine sourdough starter and buttermilk. Add flour and cornmeal. Stir until smooth; cover and leave at room temperature at least 30 minutes, up to about 2 hours.
  2. In a small bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
  3. Set waffle iron to medium heat. While it preheats, add egg, oil, soda and salt to the sourdough batter. Stir until smooth. Fold in corn and scallions.
  4. Brush waffle iron with oil. Add a scoop of batter and bake until crispy, following manufacturer’s instructions. As a visual cue, watch for steam to dissipate from the iron. Generally, if the waffles are sticking, they aren’t finished baking. If working ahead, place finished waffles on a rack over a cookie sheet and keep them in a warm (250° F) oven.

Ingredients

  • 1 medium zucchini, chopped into chunks
  • 1 small leek or onion, chopped
  • 1 cup leftover grilled corn kernels
  • 1/4 cup pickled onions, chopped (I like the “pickled” flavor here; substitute anything pickled, such as okra, green beans, cucumber)
  • 2 Tbsp. jarred pimento, drained
  • 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 cup ripe baby tomatoes, halved
  • Salt and pepper
  • Fresh basil or parsley, to garnish

Directions

  1. Heat a large, non-stick skillet over medium flame. Add olive oil and saute zucchini with leeks or onions until slightly tender.
  2. Add remaining vegetables, except tomatoes, and toss until evenly combined. Reduce heat to low and cover skillet with a lid so that the pan ingredients can heat through without much more cooking.
  3. Add tomatoes at the end, tossing just to combine.

To assemble the dish, spoon out some of the succotash, and then place a waffle section, topped with additional succotash. Arrange the chicken tenders by leaning them up against the waffles. Sprinkle with chopped, fresh basil or parsley.

Buffalo Chicken Salad

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One of things I love about food blogging is participating in the “National Days” that are related to popular comfort foods. I’m not sure who is responsible for deciding what day is right for celebrating chocolate chip cookies or fried chicken or pepperoni pizza, but I know it’s fun! Here on Comfort du Jour, I have paid particular attention to National S’mores Day, and this year will be no exception (watch for that on August 10th).

This Friday is National Chicken Wing Day, proclaimed as such in 1977 by then-mayor of Buffalo, N.Y., Stan Makowski—and for this gal, who was born and raised just south of Buffalo, that’s a big deal! But I’m torn, because I have really been trying to dial it back on the heavy foods to get my health back on the right track. As much I love Buffalo wings (oh, how I do), I can’t justify deep frying tiny, skin-on chicken pieces, drenching them in sauce and then dragging them through bleu cheese dressing, just because it’s a “National Day.” Talk about a calorie explosion! I wanted to see if I could find a lighter way to enjoy the flavors associated with this “taste of home.” Here it is—Buffalo chicken salad.

This has all the flavors of Buffalo wings, without the deep-fried calories!

All the flavors are represented: tender chicken (obviously), spicy Buffalo wing sauce, bleu cheese, even celery—but at a fraction of the fat and calories of the usual preparation. The chicken here is lean, skinless breast meat, and you can make that part super easy by picking up a deli-roasted chicken (you can use the rest for another meal), or you can poach them at home with a few aromatics and some chicken or veggie broth, as I did:

My recipe card describes how I poached the chicken breasts, or make this even easier by picking up a deli-roasted chicken.

The dressing that wraps around the chicken shreds carries all the other flavors, beginning with mayonnaise and sour cream—just enough to hold it all together—and ending with however much Franks RedHot sauce tickles your fancy. To give it a really good kick, add a few pinches of cayenne pepper or keep it colorful with less heat by adding a spoonful of sweet paprika. This recipe is totally flexible to match your heat tolerance.

A squeeze of lemon wakes up all the other flavors.
Adjust to taste; more heat, please.
Add the tender shreds to the dressing.
Here come the onions and celery for texture.
I can always stand it just a little bit hotter!
Bleu cheese for funk and a handful of scallions for bite.

This recipe made four generous servings of chicken salad. I served it on leaves of soft butter lettuce as dinner, alongside an impromptu slab of garlic toast; the latter was my husband’s genius creation made from leftover hot dog buns and a few sprinkles of our favorite parm-romano blend cheese. It was a great meal, both for the flavor and the satisfaction of throwing a low-calorie twist on a classic comfort food.

Buffalo Chicken Salad

  • Servings: about 4
  • Difficulty: average
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This is an easy way to enjoy the flavors of Buffalo wings, but without the high fat and calories. Adjust the amount of Frank’s RedHot sauce to match your desire for heat.

Ingredients

  • 2 cooked chicken breasts, shredded
  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 2 Tbsp. sour cream
  • 3 Tbsp. Frank’s RedHot sauce (give or take, depending on your heat preference)
  • Juice of 1/2 lemon
  • 3/4 tsp. ground black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1/3 cup bleu cheese crumbles
  • 2 ribs celery, finely chopped
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
  • 1 scallion, thinly sliced (white and green parts)
  • 1/2 tsp. sweet Spanish paprika, optional for color
  • A sprinkle of fresh, chopped parsley for garnish, if you’re feeling fancy

Directions

  1. In a medium bowl, combine mayonnaise, sour cream, RedHot sauce, lemon juice, pepper and garlic powder. Whisk until evenly combined. Adjust hot sauce to taste.
  2. Add shredded chicken, onions and celery to the dressing bowl. Fold gently to combine ingredients. Taste the mixture and adjust seasonings to taste.
  3. Fold in bleu cheese crumbles and sliced scallions, plus paprika if desired for extra color.
  4. Cover and refrigerate Buffalo chicken salad until ready to serve.

If you prefer, you can poach the chicken breasts yourself. Simply place them in a shallow pot with aromatics, such as celery, onion, fresh herbs and black peppercorns. Pour in enough chicken or vegetable broth to cover the chicken about halfway. Bring to a slight boil, then cover and simmer about 20-30 minutes until chicken is cooked through and tender.

When I got to the bottom of the bowl of Buffalo chicken salad, I lost my way a little bit on the whole “light and healthy” thing. I couldn’t resist putting an over-the-top spin on it. I know, but it sure was delicious, and still not as heavy as chicken wings! 🙂

With muenster cheese and homemade, whole-grain sourdough, this was a wicked good grilled cheese!

Thai Basil Chicken

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To say that I’ve been under stress lately would be a gross understatement. I know that many of you feel the same angst related to the stories that plague our newsfeeds, and that alone is enough to make anyone shaky. On top of the stressors of life, things at home have been a little, um, hectic.

Besides the uncharacteristically high pressure of late in my day job (which is usually quiet in June), and beyond the fact that we are now past the 90-day mark since the start of our master bath remodel (with issues still happening every day), I had an unwelcome bit of news this week at my first primary care visit in nearly a decade. It’s nothing serious—at least, not yet—but I am considering the results of my blood workup to be an important wake-up call.

At the risk of TMI, I’ll summarize to say that several key markers are out of whack, and I need to get my act together quickly as it relates to my diet and my overall health. As luck would have it, going through menopause, starting a food blog, and signing up for not one, but two major home renovations during a world pandemic did not have positive effect on my body. I should have seen it coming.

For the first time in my life, a doctor told me that I must make changes, and that was a little scary. There’s plenty of time to turn things around, and I am truly thankful for that, but it means healthier options will be my first choice and decadence is on the bench for a while. I need to embrace regular exercise, too, but that’s another post entirely. Today, I’m focusing on healthier eating. It does not mean that we can’t have pizza or ice cream or some of the other fun things my husband and I love; rather, it only means that I must be more mindful of what goes into those dishes in the first place. Luckily, I do love experimenting!

For me, what makes a meal truly satisfying is variety of texture, big flavor and interesting spices. I’m not suddenly turning vegan or entirely giving up any food groups—I have never been one for a total elimination diet. I can move toward better health with a few lightened-up favorites, more meatless dishes and plenty of vegetables, and that’s what I intend to do. Truth be told, part of the reason I’m telling y’all this is that it builds in an extra level of accountability. Now that you know, I’ve painted myself into a bit of a corner. So here comes the first of several fresh and healthy meals served up at our house recently.

It smells even more delicious than it looks!

Thai basil chicken meets all the criteria I mentioned for a satisfying meal. The texture is amazing and packed with crunchy vegetables, including carrots, broccoli and red bell pepper. The flavor is phenomenal, with a complex blend of spicy ingredients in the Thai-inspired sauce that gently coats the vegetables and lean ground chicken. The signature flavor that gives this dish a little extra “zhuzh” is Thai basil, a fresh herb in the mint family that is similar to the Genovese basil you’d recognize in Italian food, but with a spicy undernote and a hint of anise or licorice. I’ve had an abundance of this ingredient lately, since my husband and I reinstated the Aerogarden that he gave me for Christmas a couple of years ago. This gorgeous herb has taken over the whole dining room, even visible from outside the window because it’s growing through the blinds (which, I suspect, is causing the neighbors to whisper). I prune the plants every couple of days, which only makes them grow faster, and so I needed a dish that uses a lot of Thai basil at once. This recipe is perfect for it!

I wish I had snatched the Thai basil out of the Aerogarden in time to plant it outdoors. I can’t keep up with the harvest!

The prep for Thai basil chicken is easy; it’s just a bit of chopping and slicing of fresh vegetables that have plenty of texture, color and nutrition. The other essential prep is making the sauce. My recipe includes chili-garlic paste for heat, soy sauce and coconut aminos for an umami burst, oyster and fish sauces for a little funky depth, rice vinegar for a slight acidity and a touch of coconut sugar to round it all out. There’s also a bit of corn starch in the mix to keep it silky. If you like Asian flavors even a little bit, you won’t regret having these ingredients in the door of your fridge, and in no time at all, you’ll be mixing and matching them to come up with your own amazing recipes. One final note on the point of these Asian sauces, and this is not a joke. There is an imminent shortage of both sriracha sauce and chili-garlic paste, so you may want to grab a jar of each now to avoid the drought that’s coming on these ingredients. Now, let’s get cooking on this dish!

It’s important to mix up the sauce before you begin cooking, because this recipe moves quickly.
Look at that pile of fresh veggies!

I used carrots, red bell pepper, onions and broccoli in my recipe, but there are other veggies that would feel right at home here, including scallions, cauliflower, celery, crunchy green beans or snow peas. Sliced fennel would also be terrific, and if you can only find Genovese basil, having fresh fennel in the mix would help fill the gap of the licorice flavor that Thai basil offers. Basically, aim for lots of color and texture and you’ll have a winning dish. The only vegetable I wouldn’t recommend is tomato, which is too soft, and hardly ever used in Asian cuisine.

Cooking the dish is simple, beginning with a little bit of oil in a large, fairly deep skillet or wok. Because this recipe is cooked over medium-high heat, you need an oil with a high smoke point, such as peanut, coconut or canola oil, but you won’t need more than a few tablespoons. Extra-virgin olive oil is not best for this kind of cooking because it overheats easily and turns bitter.

I always say “season every layer,” but you want to go easy on salt for this recipe. The sauce ingredients have that covered.

You’ll cook the veggies first, only a few minutes until they begin to soften, then move them to the outside edges of the pan and cook the ground chicken, half at a time. You could use cut-up pieces of chicken breast, also, but I find that ground chicken cooks more quickly and evenly. I normally use a wok when I make this dish, but that is one of the few tools that didn’t earn prime kitchen real estate after our remodel, and the overflow of stuff in the garage is a bit of a nightmare right now. If you have a wok, of course it would be the best vessel for cooking, but any large, sturdy skillet or pan with deep sides will work fine.

After the chicken has lost its pink color, whisk the sauce to mix it up again, and pour it all at once over the pan ingredients. Toss a few times to coat, and you should see the sauce thicken quickly, thanks to the cornstarch in the mix. Add the Thai basil at the very end, and when it wilts down and turns darker green (which takes no more than 30 seconds), this meal is ready to serve!

I’ll be looking for other fun ways to use my Thai basil, and I’m already planning to do something with the shrimp we have in the freezer—maybe a drunken noodle kind of thing? Oh, aaand, I don’t think I have mentioned that I planted a vegetable garden this year, and we have found a new weapon against deer invasion. More on that next time. 🙂

June 8th
June 16th

Fingers crossed, we will have fresh zucchini, tomatoes, peppers and eggplant soon. Stay tuned!

Thai Basil Chicken

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: average
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This recipe moves quickly, so it’s best to have your fresh ingredients and sauce ready before you begin. If you have a favorite store-bought, spicy Thai sauce, you could substitute that, using about 2/3 cup. If you cannot find fresh Thai basil, a regular Italian basil can be substituted but the flavor will not be quite as authentic. As long as we are talking substitutions, the chicken could also be swapped out for shrimp or even extra firm tofu cubes. Go on, make it yours!

Ingredients

  • 1 pound ground chicken
  • 1 small onion, halved and cut into slivers
  • 1 large broccoli crown, trimmed and cut into florets
  • 1/2 large red bell pepper, cut into strips
  • 3 small carrots, peeled and cut on bias into thin slices
  • a fat handful fresh Thai basil leaves
  • 3-4 Tbsp. high-heat oil, such as coconut, peanut or canola (you will divide this to cook the vegetables and the chicken)
  • Spicy Thai basil sauce (ingredients listed below)
  • Cooked jasmine rice, for serving

Whisk the sauce ingredients together in a glass measuring cup or other bowl that is suitable for pouring. Have it ready before you begin cooking.

Ingredients

  • 2 Tbsp. garlic chili paste
  • 1 Tbsp. oyster sauce
  • 1 Tbsp. low-sodium soy sauce
  • 1 Tbsp. coconut aminos
  • 2 Tbsp. rice vinegar (not seasoned)
  • 1 Tbsp. coconut sugar
  • 1 tsp. fish sauce
  • 1 Tbsp. corn starch
  • 2 Tbsp. COLD water

Directions

  1. Place a large, high-side pan over medium-high heat. Add half of the oil, and when it shimmers, add all vegetables to the pan. Sprinkle with a slight pinch of salt (not too much, because the sauce has plenty), and toss in the pan until they begin to soften, or about 7 minutes.
  2. Push the vegetables toward the outside edge of the pan. Add half of the remaining oil in the center of the pan, and add half the ground chicken, tossing to cook just until it’s no longer pink. Repeat with the remaining chicken.
  3. Whisk the sauce to reincorporate ingredients that have settled. Pour the sauce all over the pan mixture and stir or toss to coat. The sauce should begin to thicken very quickly.
  4. Add the Thai basil to the skillet all at once and toss to wilt it into the recipe. This will happen very quickly.
  5. Spoon the Thai basil chicken over portions of hot cooked rice, and enjoy it while it’s hot!

Pollo Chipotle

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There’s a time and place for the numbered dishes on a Mexican restaurant menu—you know what I mean, the #11 combo platter of one crunchy taco, one burrito and one enchilada, with a side of rice and flavorless refried beans. For me, the time was in my younger years, before I learned to appreciate the Mexican specialty dishes as I do today, and the place was (obviously) an actual restaurant, which I don’t frequent as much as I did in those days because, frankly, we prefer the food we make at home. It has only been recently that I started considering how to make some of our favorite Mexican meals, and those favorites seldom include items from the numbered combo section, and never any crunchy, from-a-box taco shells that I used to associate with Mexican “cuisine.” It’s funny how much has changed.

At one of our favorite local places, called Señor Bravo, the pollo chipotle is the special menu item that always wins over my husband, Les. The chicken (or pollo, if you wish) is tender and bite sized, and it’s drenched in a spicy sauce that has enough smoky chipotle to warrant being part of the dish’s name, but also enough rich cream to soften the edges and give the dish a special flair. I have tried several times to make this dish at home, and on previous attempts found it difficult to replicate the flavor and texture. It seemed something was missing so I fiddled with the cooking process, added ingredients and spices, tried different types of cream—from half and half to heavy cream—and every addition made it less and less like the restaurant dish. Finally, I dialed it all back and kept it simple. Turns out, simplicity was exactly and only what it needed.

Besides being simple and delicious, this dish is also relatively healthy, as I used cream cheese rather than heavy cream to thicken the spicy sauce. This eliminated the need for flour as a thickening agent. And for our at-home pollo chipotle, I jazzed up a simple pot of brown rice with a shake of cumin and a small handful of chopped cilantro and served it alongside a simple salad with fresh tomato and slices of ripe avocado.

Ingredients

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 Tbsp. expeller-pressed canola oil

1/2 large yellow onion, chopped

2 cloves fresh garlic, smashed and sliced

3/4 tsp. kosher salt

1/4 tsp. sweet Spanish paprika

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

Several twists of freshly ground black pepper

1 or 2 Tbsp. pureed chipotle with adobo sauce* (see recipe notes)

1 cup low-sodium vegetable broth*

A couple of pinches of dried Mexican oregano*

4 Tbsp. cream cheese, room temperature

*Recipe Notes

The chipotle puree is best prepared in advance, and you may want to start with one tablespoon and adjust up to taste. To make the puree, empty the entire contents of a small can of chipotles in adobo sauce into a food processor or blender. If your processor has a small bowl insert, that will be the perfect size. Pulse a few times, then run the machine continuously until the sauce is completely smooth.

You’ve seen cans of chipotles in the Mexican aisle, no doubt. Use a food processor to transform it to puree.
At the end of the post, I’ll share a few other recipes to help you use the rest of it.

I prefer the more complex flavor of vegetable broth in most recipes, but for this dish, you could certainly use chicken broth. I would still recommend a low-sodium version, as this helps with controlling the overall amount of sodium in the dish.

Low-sodium vegetable broth is one of the most versatile ingredients in my pantry. If you prefer, use chicken broth.

Mexican oregano is very different from the easier-to-find Mediterranean oregano you are probably accustomed to using. It’s part of the verbena family, with a citrusy, slightly floral flavor. Search it out in an ethnic supermarket, at Whole Foods or the international spice section of World Market. If you can’t get Mexican oregano, dried marjoram would be a better substitute than regular oregano.

To make the cilantro rice, simply cook a batch of your favorite brown rice according to package instructions. Use vegetable broth rather than water for more flavor. Stir in salt, pepper, a few shakes of ground cumin and a small handful of fresh, chopped cilantro leaves before serving.

Why serve ordinary rice, if you can make it more flavorful with so little effort?

Instructions

  • The seasonings for pollo chipotle are surprisingly simple. As with any recipe, it’s best to get all the prep work done before you start cooking.
  • This recipe uses a quarter of a standard package of cream cheese. Measure it by eye by marking half the brick, then half of that. Cut the cubes in half for 4 tablespoons.
  • Sprinkle the dry seasonings onto the onions and stir to combine them evenly.
  • Freezing the chicken breasts for a few minutes makes them firmer and easier to slice. They should be evenly sliced, about 1/4″ thick.
  • Add the chicken a little at a time, to avoid abruptly dropping the temperature of the skillet.
  • Toss the chicken slices to cook them evenly. Aim to remove the pink color, but don’t brown the chicken.
  • Add a spoonful of the chipotle puree to start, and adjust to taste later if you like it hotter.
  • Add the broth to the skillet and stir gently to evenly distribute the chipotle puree. Let it come to a slight boil, then reduce the heat to simmer.
  • Allow the mixture to simmer for a while before adding the Mexican oregano.
  • When chicken is very tender and the liquid is reduced to half its original volume, add the cream cheese pieces.
  • Swirl in one tablespoon of cream cheese at a time, and watch it emulsify into the sauce.
  • It’s creamy and thickened, but without the use of flour or heavy cream. The slight tang of the cream cheese is a nice touch, too.
  • This is every bit as delicious as the pollo chipotle in our favorite local Mexican restaurant, and easy to make at home for Cinco de Mayo.
Pollo ChipotlePrint it!

Looking for ways to use the rest of the chipotle puree?

Authentic Arroz con Pollo

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If you do an internet search for “authentic arroz con pollo recipe,” you will get at least a dozen pages of results, with very few duplicates. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Some of the ingredients are consistent across the recipes, but there are many variations and even the pictures can look dramatically different. The reason there are so many “real” arroz con pollo recipes is that there are many, many Hispanic grandmothers passing down their own recipes. And this dish—which is not definitively native to a single country or people—has become a blend of whatever ingredients are available in all the regions where those grandmothers have lived and cooked.

My previous experience of arroz con pollo—or “ACP,” as it is usually listed on many of our local Mexican restaurant menus—has not been completely positive, and that’s because here in the South, the recipe has morphed into an “Americanized” dish that is oozing with cheese and basically bland (it’s a rare instance of a dish being too much about the cheese, in my opinion). And that is a shame because at its roots, arroz con pollo has a lot going on!  

Recently, I had a front-row seat to watch and learn the authentic, real-deal Puerto Rican version of this flavorful dish. During our vacation up north, my husband and I spent a few days on Long Island, where we visited his cousin, Evan. To my good fortune, Evan’s husband, Will, became my own personal “ACP” instructor! His mother hails from P.R. and his father is of Spanish heritage, so Will has good reason to be passionate about this dish that is representative of his family. We had a joyful afternoon in the kitchen!

Will took the day off work to teach me how to make ACP. Love you, Sweetheart! ❤

Throughout this private cooking lesson, Will shared with me all the culinary wisdom handed down to him from his mother, who learned it from her mother, and so on. Because this was an authentic Puerto Rican variation of arroz con pollo, it was packed with layers of flavor, beginning with Sazón and finishing with saffron, and all in one giant pot, called a “caldero.” The pictures of Will’s family recipe tell the story far better than I can, so please join us at the stove as we celebrate this last day of Hispanic Heritage Month!

Ingredients

First, let’s take a look at the special ingredients that make this dish uniquely Puerto Rican.

  • Sazon is a must-have seasoning for Puerto Rican cooking. Ingredients include coriander, garlic, cumin and annatto (for color).
  • Sofrito is the base of many Latin American dishes. It is tomatoes cooked with peppers, onions, garlic and culantro, a common Caribbean herb.
  • Heck if I can pronounce it, but this stuff was delicious! Culantro is not the same as cilantro, but both are in the recaito.
  • Adobo is a variation of seasoned salt; a savory garlic flavor in every shake.
  • Saffron is an extra special flavor ingredient. Will emphasized to only use “a pinch!”

Hold up, what exactly is “culantro?”

It can seem a little confusing, so let’s address the difference between cilantro, which most of us are familiar with, and culantro, which is an ingredient in both of these cooking bases. Unlike cilantro, which is wispy and delicate and mostly used to finish or garnish a dish after cooking, culantro is sturdier and stronger, both in texture and flavor. It has a similar flavor to cilantro, but its long, slender leaves are mainly included as a cooked ingredient, and during the cooking process, the hearty flavor calms down a bit. This herb is extremely common throughout the Caribbean, so of course it is a staple in the cuisine of Puerto Rico.

The remaining ingredients for the arroz con pollo included bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, corn oil, onions, peppers, garlic, tomato sauce and rice. I did my best to take notes and catch all the details, but this is the kind of recipe you make from instinct, and that’s exactly how Will prepared it. He was cracking me up as he went along, and reminded me so much of myself—occasionally cursing his stove and fretting about ways that his dish might not turn out perfectly. We are always our own harshest critics in the kitchen, can I get an amen? Trust me, this arroz con pollo was delicious!

Made with love, heart and soul!

At the end of the post, I’ve included a PDF that you can download for your recipe files. You will need to tweak seasonings to suit your taste and adjust cooking times for your own stove, of course, but my outline should provide a good starting point. Here we go!

Instructions

  • Will prepped the chicken by scoring the skin to season the meat throughout and to help render the fat.
  • The add-ins: chopped bell pepper, white onion, garlic and oregano with a pinch of basil. I must get some of these cute little prep bowls!
  • We sprinkled the chicken with Adobo and oregano, then rested it in the fridge while we went out for brunch.
  • The guys took us to a great local place for brunch. Note to self: everything bagel seasoning makes a fabulous rim on a bloody mary! 🙂
  • An envelope of the Sazon seasoned the corn oil, then Will began adding all the layers of flavor.
  • I had a perfect view from the other side of the kitchen island to check out the action!
  • When you have cooked a recipe your whole life, your instinct tells you how much of each ingredient to add. Will used about 1/2 cup each of the sofrito and recaito.
  • The thighs went into the hot seasoned oil, skin-side down.
  • After a few minutes, turn the thighs to cook the surface of the flesh side.
  • When both sides of the chicken were browned, Will added about two cups of long grain rice.
  • Then, enough water to cover the chicken and roughly one cup of tomato sauce.
  • Season to taste with a touch more sofrito and recaito.
  • Finally, a pinch…a PINCH of the saffron! 😉
  • Will’s mother gifted him with the pot he uses for this dish. It is called a caldero, and every Puerto Rican home has one.
  • When the mixture came to a boil, he reduced the heat and covered it to simmer. By this time, the kitchen smelled amazing!
  • After 15 minutes, the rice had already begun to swell and absorb the flavorful liquid. A quick stir, then more simmering.
  • The arroz con pollo is done when all the liquid is absorbed and the chicken is fall-off-the-bone tender!
  • Will garnished the plate with crispy fried plantains, another beloved food of Puerto Rico!
  • The rice that clings to the bottom of the pot is delicious, and I kept sneaking extra forkfuls. It reminded me of paella.
  • A great day with the cousins. On three, everyone say “sofrito!”
  • Only Will and I did. See? He and I are a lot alike. 🙂
Authentic Arroz con PolloPrint it!
Arroz con Pollo!

Easy Chicken Souvlaki

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My first taste of Greek food came when I was in my early 20s, shortly after I arrived in Winston-Salem, N.C. Unlike the places I’d lived before—upstate N.Y. and a few places in Colorado—this southern city is home to a large community of Greek-Americans. One of my first jobs here was waiting tables at a Greek-owned casual seafood restaurant, where our most popular (though not inherently “Greek”) menu items included breaded and deep-fried flounder and crunchy little seafood nuggets known as “popcorn shrimp.”

It didn’t take long though before I discovered some of the other Greek-owned eateries in town that offered an authentic, mouthwatering specialty called souvlaki, a lemon and herb-seasoned marinated meat, grilled on skewers and served with any number of authentic sides. Depending on the time of day, you might be served souvlaki with seasoned rice or lemon-herb potatoes, or with Greek feta salad and pita. But always on the side with souvlaki is tzatziki, a Greek yogurt-based condiment with shredded cucumber, garlic and dill.

Some of the new words associated with these delectable foods were hard for me to say at first, but it didn’t take long for me to fall in love with the incredible flavors of Greek food. This fall, perhaps when our new kitchen is completed, I look forward to making a classic pastitsio or moussaka, both of which are baked comfort to the nth degree, rich with warm spices and creamy béchamel.

But today, I’m focused on the food to work best with summer grilling, and that is souvlaki. Traditionally, souvlaki would be made with chunks of lean pork, but there are just as many restaurants around here that put the same flavors and treatment on pieces of chicken breast, and it is positively delicious. Feel free to cut boneless chicken breasts into chunks for your souvlaki—that would be the more traditional way, after all—or you can take the easy way, as I have, and marinate whole chicken tenders, skip the skewers and toss the tenders right onto the grill.

Souvlaki is delicious with warm, soft pita breads and zesty tzatziki sauce, which is easy to make while you wait for the marinade magic to happen. You might also serve your souvlaki up with a batch of the cool tzatziki potato salad I shared a few days ago. Before long, you’ll join me in shouting the traditional Greek celebration exclamation—OPA!

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds chicken tenders

1 whole organic lemon, juiced (plus the zest)

1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar

About 4 cloves garlic, finely minced

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

1 tsp. Kosher salt

1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

About 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

  • I usually blend the marinade in a large, deep bowl that will hold the whole amount of chicken.
  • Toss the chicken pieces or tenders so that every piece is coated with the lemon-herb marinade.
  • Try to press the pieces under the surface of the marinade, and then cover the bowl and send it to the fridge for at least six hours.
  • On the day I planned to make these, we had thunderstorms so I had to grill them indoors. I love a flexible recipe!
  • Medium heat is best, and do not turn them until the first side is golden and opaque. Total grilling time won’t be more than about 8 minutes.
  • The lengthy marinade time seals in the juices and flavor. Just add tzatziki and a pita wrap, or put the souvlaki tenders right on top of a salad!
  1. Pat the chicken tenders dry, but do not rinse them. Lightly sprinkle with kosher salt and toss to coat.
  2. In a large glass (or other non-reactive) bowl, combine lemon juice, zest, vinegar, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper. Take note of the volume this mixture has in the bowl. Whisk the marinade mixture while streaming in enough olive oil to roughly double the volume of the marinade.
  3. Add the chicken tenders to the marinade and use tongs to thoroughly toss and coat them. As much as possible, press the tenders to be fully submerged in the marinade. Cover the bowl and refrigerate at least six hours.
  4. When you are ready to cook the tenders, simply remove them from the marinade and place them directly onto the pre-heated grill. There is no need to rinse them or even to scrape the marinade from the tenders.

Tzatziki

1 Persian cucumber (or 1/2 medium slicing cucumber), peeled, seeded and finely chopped or grated

A couple pinches of kosher salt

1 cup plain Greek yogurt (or substitute sour cream if you must)

2 cloves garlic, crushed and finely chopped

1 Tbsp. fresh dill leaves, finely chopped (or 1/2 tsp. dried dill)

Line a small custard cup with a paper towel. Add the chopped or grated cucumber and stir with salt. Wrap the paper towel over the cucumbers and allow this to sit in the fridge 30 minutes to release and absorb excess moisture.

Combine cucumbers with yogurt, garlic and dill. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Easy Chicken SouvlakiPrint it!

Coq au Vermouth

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Excuse me, where is the umbrella?

I spent two years in French class during high school, and that is pretty much all I remember how to ask—“excusez-moi, où est le parapluie?” I suppose it is a question that would have been essential had I become a world traveler (I didn’t), and in fact it was a common question asked among my fellow French club members when we took our senior trip to Quebec City, Canada—they don’t speak much English there, in case you didn’t know. It rained the entire three-day weekend, but it was still a glorious visit to a city rich with history and speckled with exquisite, copper-roofed buildings.

Spanish would undoubtedly have been a more useful class for me, given the increase of Spanish-speaking people in the U.S. since I graduated all those years ago. But there was something sooo sexy about the French spoken word, and well, my best friend signed up for French so I did, too. Our teacher was cool and we got to choose our own names for the class, which was good because there wasn’t a name on the list that was a literal translation for Terrie. My friend Debbie became Christine, pronounced CREE-steen, my friend Christine became Danielle and yours truly selected the name Jacqueline, which was fun to say—zhah-KLEEN, like the French fashion designer who steals Nigel’s dream job in The Devil Wears Prada.

French class was always lively, and we were encouraged to play up the accent and the nasal sound as much as possible. We went through round after round of language exercises, covering the French words for common places, including the bookstore (la librairie) and the library (la bibliothèque) and reciting all the various tenses of the verb words, and for every kind of individual and group instance. For example: for the verb “go,” we would cycle through the French words that meant, “I go, you go, he goes, she goes, we go and they go.” Round and round we went, and after all that repetitious recitation, all I remember how to say is “where is the umbrella?”

Anyway, for me, there is still a lot of mystery and intrigue associated with the French language, and I learned during my short time working in the Pinch of Thyme catering kitchen that if you want people to swoon over food, call it something French! As luck would have it, I do at least remember some of the French words for certain foods, including poulet (chicken), champignons (mushrooms) and carottes (carrots, obviously). I was excited to find this recipe in my most recent digital edition of Imbibe magazine because I have used splashes of vermouth in a few dishes and found it more complex and vibrant than wine, which would traditionally be used for braising chicken in the classic coq au vin. But this recipe was more than a splash, it was a generous amount in a very French-technique kind of recipe.

I could not resist turning this into a Sunday Supper meal, with a side of buttered red bliss potatoes and sauteed spinach, and it was—how shall I say—très délicieux!

This dish was rich and succulent, exactly as it should be. The chicken thighs remained tender and moist.

A word or few about vermouth…

I have known about vermouth for decades, but it has only been the past couple of years that I have become more closely acquainted with it, and today I almost always have a bottle open in the fridge for an end-of-day gin martini. Vermouth is a fortified wine, which means other alcohol has been added to grapes during fermentation, and that results in higher alcohol by volume than typical wine. Any variety of botanical ingredients are thrown into the process as well, including herbs, bitter ingredients, bark, roots and spices. Vermouth may be red or white, dry or sweet or really sweet, depending on its origin and method, and it is commonly used as an ingredient for classic cocktails, including martinis and Manhattans. Vermouth, on its own, is also a popular apéritif (pre-dinner drink) in Spain, Italy, France and my house.

In a literal French-to-English translation, coq au vermouth would demand use of a rooster, but it is not every day that you’d find such a creature in your local market. Large hen thighs is what I used for the recipe, and it was tender, flavorful and oh so fancy. Don’t be intimidated, though, because despite all of the foreign language I’ve been throwing around, this was a very simple dish to make. All you need is a cast iron skillet, chicken thighs, bacon, mushrooms and mirepoix—oops, another French word that is simply a mix of carrots, onions and celery. All that, plus a decent amount of dry white vermouth. Don’t worry, vermouth is easy to find, wherever you might buy wine. To keep the recipe true to its origin, choose a brand from France. I used Dolin Vermouth de Chambéry, dry, in the green bottle. 😊

This is one of my go-to vermouth brands for Gibson cocktails:
2 oz. dry gin, 1/2 oz. dry vermouth, shaken or stirred with ice, strained into a cocktail glass and served with a pickled pearl onion.

Inspired by Coq au Vermouth – Imbibe Magazine

Ingredients

3 slices bacon, cut into thin pieces

4 large, free-range chicken thighs (bone-in and skin-on)

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 medium onion, sliced or diced

2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into thick diagonal slices

2 stalks celery, cleaned, ribs removed and diced

3 cloves garlic, smashed and sliced

About 1 cup cremini mushrooms, cleaned and cut into quarters

1/2 cup dry vermouth (extra dry would be fine, also)

1/4 cup low-sodium vegetable broth

2 fresh sprigs of thyme

2 Tbsp. cold butter

Juice of 1/2 fresh lemon

Instructions

Let’s run through it in pictures first, and if you keep scrolling, you’ll find the instructions spelled out (in English), and I’ll also include a downloadable PDF for your recipe files.

  • For this recipe, I used bacon with a slightly smoky flavor. Cook in the skillet until the fat renders somewhat and the edges of the bacon are crispy.
  • There is no need to rinse chicken parts. Simply pat them dry and season liberally with salt and pepper before frying.
  • Keep your spatter screen handy, because the thighs will pop and spew as you crisp up the skin!
  • This three-ingredient combo is called “mirepoix” and it sounds almost like you are saying “mirror pwah.” These aromatics are essential in the base of many French dishes.
  • I’m very fond of these drippy pan leavings. Actually, “fond” is what a French chef would call it. Keep it, because there is incredible flavor lurking in the skillet.
  • Saute the mirepoix in the fond until the onions and celery are slightly softened.
  • Add the quartered mushrooms and garlic to this medley mixture, which the French would call a “mélange.”
  • The broth-vermouth mixture will de-glaze the skillet, picking up all that lingering flavor for you to enjoy.
  • Arrange the crispy thighs right on top of the mélange, Note that they will not stay crispy, but searing them rendered the chicken fat into the skillet, and fat = flavor.
  • Scatter the crispy bacon all over the skillet ingredients.
  • Lay the thyme leaves across the whole thing, and cover the skillet. Reduce the heat to simmer for about half an hour. Just enough time to enjoy a dry martini. 🙂
  • At the end of simmer time, the chicken skin has softened again, delivering all the flavor back into the skillet. Discard the thyme sprigs and transfer the chicken to a separate dish.
  • It’s easy to see how rich the mélange is already, but we will push the envelope by blending in the butter. Add a squeeze of lemon at this point, too.
  • I gave the chicken thighs one final, skin-down dip into the mixture before plating.
  • Plate the chicken thighs, and spoon a generous amount of the vegetable mélange over the top of each piece.
  • Every bite of this meal was utterly delicious! The ingredients are simple, and it all happens in one skillet.
  1. Place a cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Season the chicken thighs liberally with salt and pepper. Cook the bacon until the fat is rendered and the edges begin to crisp. Transfer the pieces to a paper-towel lined dish, keeping all the bacon grease in the skillet. Arrange the chicken thighs, skin side down, into the skillet. Cook them until the skin is crispy and golden, then turn the pieces and cook the other side about two minutes.
  2. Transfer the thighs to a plate and cover loosely with foil to keep them warm. Add the mirepoix (carrots, onions and celery) to the fond (pan drippings) in the skillet. Cook over medium heat until the vegetables begin to soften. Add the garlic and mushrooms, tossing with the other vegetables until slightly browned. Pour in the vermouth and vegetable broth, and simmer for about two minutes.
  3. Return the chicken thighs to the skillet, skin side up. Sprinkle the bacon pieces over the top and lay the whole thyme sprigs in a criss-cross fashion over the combination. Reduce the heat to low, cover the skillet tightly and simmer about 30 minutes.
  4. Remove and discard the thyme sprigs. Transfer the chicken thighs to a plate. Add the cold butter and lemon juice to the simmered vegetable mixture and stir until it is a rich, luscious sauce. Just before plating, place the thighs, skin side down, into the skillet to drench them in the sauce. Plate the chicken, then spoon the simmered vegetable mixture (a.k.a. mélange) over the thighs.
I love when an elegant dish is this simple!
Coq au Vermouthbon appétit!