Dressing up Pre-seasoned Chicken

A tray of pre-seasoned chicken from the grocery store makes for a quick, no-fuss, weeknight meal. It's appeal is in it's simplicity rather than inspiring flavor. However, a few tweaks makes this meal both simpler and inspiring. All in one skillet.

1 cast-iron skillet
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 broccoli crown, cut into florets
2 pre-seasoned, bone-in chicken quarters (lemon pepper worked well for me)
lemon juice, to taste

Preheat oven to 475. Add olive oil to skillet, then toss florets in oil. Nestle chicken quarters among broccoli, skin side up. Add 2 liberal squirts of lemon juice over the whole pan, or more if you really want a lemony flavor. Roast 30-45 minutes in center of oven or until done and chicken is browned on top. Let sit 5 minutes before serving.

Serves 2. To double recipe, make another skillet and cook both skillets next to each other in oven.

Rachel's Mac & Cheese

My sister doesn't do recipes so much as mad scientist kitchen experiments. It wasn't easy to convince her to write down what she did step-by-step, so it would be morally wrong of me not to blog it for posterity.

This mac and cheese has four cheeses. You could vary amounts and types for different results, but as it stands this dish has a very smooth, Very Rich sauce that doesn't come across as overly cheesy. When I made it, I left out the ground beef (tastes fine the first time, but leftovers texture gets a little congealed because beef fat). Leaving out that fat made the mascarpone a little too prominent, so I haven't quite arrived at my ideal version yet (final version may use beef bouillon for flavor). However, the trottole pasta is a must. If you can't find it, substitute any large spiral shaped pasta. This is a lot of food that is very filling. Good recipe for potlucks, dinner parties, growing children, and anyone not counting calories.

Rachel's Mac & Cheese

1/4 cup flour
2-3 cups whole milk
1 14 oz package fontina
1 8 oz package mascarpone
1 10.5 oz package white cheddar
1/4 cup parmesan
1-2 lbs. ground beef
2 garlic cloves
1 package frozen peas
1 lb. cooked trottole pasta
Salt and pepper
1.5 cups bread crumbs
2-3 tbsp. butter

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Brown beef with garlic, salt, and pepper. Add peas to meat to warm through. Drain some fat, leave at least a tbsp for taste. Set aside. Cook flour and 1 tbsp. butter to make a roux. When flour is cooked (it's ok to let it brown a little, there's a lot of white in this recipe) add milk slowly, whisking until smooth on low heat. Bring mixture to a simmer. Add mascarpone to roux, stir until smooth. Remove from heat, add remaining cheeses slowly until all cheese is incorporated. The mixture should look like a thick alfredo sauce. Put pasta into oven safe casserole dish, top with meat and peas. Mix ingredients. Pour cheese over pasta. (You may want to do this in a separate bowl so you can mix everything then transfer to a casserole, but this recipe already uses a lot of dishes.) Brown butter and bread crumbs in a small pan. Top mac with bread crumbs and bake for 15-20 min or until bubbly. 

My Thai Chicken Curry

The original recipe can be found here. 

This may be my ultimate comfort food. My changes had to do partially with convenience (dried herbs instead of fresh, etc) but also taste (adding ginger and garlic). * I use green curry because I have never been able to find small jars of yellow curry paste.

2 tsp vegetable oil
Half a 4 oz jar of green curry paste (keep the rest in the fridge until next time)
1 medium onion, sliced
6-8 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp cayenne pepper
2 or 3 Tbsp of canned red pepper, chopped (see above note)
1 lb Yukon gold or red potatoes, chopped
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs, chopped
1 can unsweetened coconut milk
1 1/2 cups water
2 tsp each, dried basil and cilantro
2 tsp ground ginger (roasted ground ginger is recommended)
Cooked rice

Heat oil in wok or large pot. Add curry paste, cook 30 sec. Add onion, garlic, and cayenne, cook until onion is translucent. Add red pepper, cook another minute or two. Add potatoes, chicken, coconut milk, and water. Stir in dried herbs and ground ginger. Bring to boil, cook 20 min. During this time, cook rice. Serve curry over rice, but store leftovers separately.
For an extra ginger kick, add a tsp of ginger paste when you add the red peppers.

*Normally, I would substitute parsnips for carrots, but I find this recipe works better by just eliminating that ingredient altogether. Carrots are vile.

Pantry Pasta

If you have one dried item in your pantry, chances are it's pasta.  I was cleaning out my cabinets last week and realized that I needed to do something with my store of pasta that wasn't marinara/meat sauce.

Here's a fresh take on pasta that I made entirely with ingredients I already had. As such, it also showcases ingredients I think every home cook on the go should keep on hand.  This is eminently tweekable, but limit your herb selection to only 2-3.

Pantry Pasta

12-14 oz dried pasta*
2 tbsp olive oil
1/3 stick butter, plus one tbsp
1 med onion
salt and pepper
dried thyme, parsley, basil
1 pkg frozen peas (individual serving)
1 pkg frozen corn (individual serving)
lemon juice

Cook pasta in salted, boiling water until al dente.

Saute onion in olive oil, salt, and pepper until soft. Add 1/3 stick of butter and dried herbs.  Add small ladle full of pasta water. When sauce has reduced, add peas and corn.  Cook until al dente, being careful not to brown vegetables. Add al dente pasta, cooking another couple of minutes. Turn off heat and add a few dashes of lemon juice and remaining butter.  Stir well. Taste to see if additional salt or lemon juice is needed.

Serves 4.

*I recommend either long pastas, like fettuccine or spaghetti, or chunky pastas like farfalle or orcchiette.

Platonic Brussels

I believe every whole food has a Platonic ideal form in terms of preparation. This is my core belief in what I cook and what I eat. After growing up a picky eater, I was shocked to discover that foods I thought I didn't like had merely suffered from less than optimal preparation.

The best way to explain this idea is to share my favorite example: Brussels sprouts.

Imagine a bowl of steamed Brussels sprouts: somewhat chewy, somewhat mushy, sulphury, and bland. It is no wonder they were dreaded by generations of children.  There are few vegetables that are less appetizing than steamed Brussels sprouts.

Could this brassica ever be tasty? You would be amazed at the difference a good recipe can make. Below, I share my favorite recipe, which is simple enough to highlight why it makes such a difference to this vegetable.  There are other great recipes out there, but they all share similar core traits.

Overcooking Brussels sprouts brings out their bitter and sulphuric qualities.  Higher heat techniques avoid that problem. Browning sprouts via roasting, sautéing, or frying is vital to having appealing results.  A fat element (bacon, olive oil, butter, etc) and an acid element (white wine, lemon juice) create  balanced flavors that mask and transform the naturally bitter greens.  Creating a pan sauce with wine or stock tenderizes the sprouts without overcooking them.

I tell doubters to think of Brussels sprouts as leafier broccoli.  To date, every person trying the recipe below who previously disliked sprouts has had their opinion of sprouts radically changed. The only way to prove me wrong is to try them. I dare you.


This recipe is derived from the "Foundation Recipe for Quick-Braising" in Fast, Fresh, and Green.

Ingredients
12-16oz Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved (or quartered for extra large Brussels)
3 Tbsp olive oil (start with 2 and add more when the leaves soak up the oil in the pan)
1 and a half Tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 to 1 cup chicken stock or broth
2 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp fresh (or dried) parsley

On medium-high heat, saute Brussels in a single layer in olive oil and 1 tbsp of butter, browning one side, 3-5 min.  Use tongs to turn and brown another side, 2-4 min.

Reduce heat to medium-low, add broth, and cover pan.  Simmer until liquid reduces to 2 Tbsp, 3-4 min. Test doneness with a fork.

Remove cover, add 1/2 Tbsp of butter, lemon juice, and parsley. Toss until butter melts, then remove from heat. If desired, let sprouts rest a minute to allow sauce to set.