Grilled Tuscan Lemon Chicken with Garlic and Rosemary • Grilled Chicken at its Best!

Hi Readers. I'm sorry I just basically disappeared for two weeks, but you know, it was August. And August is hot. And when it's hot, I lay on the couch and eat popsicles all day, and then after that I go somewhere air-conditioned like the mall, because it's so hot. I do not sit around in my hot hot house and blog for you, because I am selfish like that. Sorry.

But now it's September! The month of pumpkin spice lattes, crisp autumn leaves, snuggly sweaters and scarves, and fresh notebooks full of crisp white paper ready for a school years worth of notes! I love September. (And true to form, we had a chilly overcast marine layer all summer and them today was THE hottest day of the entire year. Thanks California! Love how you never go with the seasons like everywhere else does! Stay classy!) And with September comes more recipes. That's right - I'm blogging even though it's the hottest day of the year. That's how committed I am to September people!

And here is a recipe for you. This recipe is seriously the best grilled chicken I have ever had. Pardon me if I tread on your toes, but generally I really don't like grilled chicken. It's just always so dry and so bland, and the only thing that gives it any interest at all is barbecue sauce, and that generally only makes it edible - hardly delicious. And yet for whatever reason, this recipe is so moist and tender, and busting with flavor. It's so delicious! And the lemon garlic sauce is seriously to die for. We served this with roasted potatoes and grilled veggies and it was an absolutely delicious meal.

Tuscan Lemon Chicken with Garlic Rosemary Sauce
adapted from Barefoot Contessa at Home, By Garten

Ok, don't freak out because this recipe calls for a whole stick of butter. When you divide that up amongst all the people eating (not to mention that part that is most regrettably left in the pan) it really comes out to very little. and it's SO delicious. And honestly, in the grand scheme of things? A little butter in not so bad. It much, much less bad than a fast food hamburger, or a candy bar, or a soda, and I bet you have that every now and then, don't you?

Ingredients
1 3.5ish pound chicken (fyi, I am sure you could make this with any other cut of chicken from the grocer - I just happen to love that it works with whole chicken so well, because it's the cheapest by far! I also love to save the bones from whole chickens for stock!)

1/3 cup good olive oil
zest of two lemons
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
3-4 large cloves fresh garlic, minced or passed through a garlic press
2 tbs finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1 stick unsalted butterfreshly ground pepper
kosher salt
1 lemon, halved

1. (This is the grossest step, fyi, but it really makes it easy to grill!) Rinse chicken and pat dry. With a pair of cooking shears (or a VERY clean pair of scissors - wash them with dish-soap or run them through the dishwasher - Or of all else fails, a large cooking knife), cut out the backbone of the chicken (I always throw it in a ziplock bag in the freezer for stock). I just cut right up each side of the chicken. Trim any large chucks of excess fat. Spread the chicken open, cavity side down, and press down firmly with the hell of your palm, until the chicken is flat. Sprinkle both sides generously with salt and pepper

2. In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, rosemary, and 1 tsp pepper. Place chicken in a large 1 gallon ziplock bag, and pour marinade over chicken. Seal bag, removing as much air as possible, and turn to coat. Refridgerate chicken a minimum of 4 hours, but up to overnight, turning once or twice.

3. When ready to grill, heat grill to medium high. Remove chicken from bag, saving whatever juices are left over in the bag, and place chicken on the grill skin side up. Cook 15 - 25 minutes, until golden brown (adjust heat if necessary if chicken browns too quickly or begins to burn. Grills can be so different from one another!). Turn the chicken skin side down, and cook for another 15 - 20 minutes, until skin is brown and crisp, and meat is cooked through. Grill the lemon halves, cut side down, for the last 10 minutes of cooking.

4. Remove chicken from heat, and let rest on a cutting board (tented with foil or something like that, so it doesn't get cold) 5 minutes. Remember that left over marinade? I hope you saved it! In a small saucepan, combine leftover marinade, butter, and any juices from chicken resting place. Heat, and bring to a boil, whisking to combine. Chop the chicken into 4 pieces, and top with garlic rosemary sauce. Enjoy!

Best Ever Turkey Burger with Spicy Chipotle Mayo

Gentle reader,

(can I call you that? Are we good enough friends that I can call you that? Because I really want to. Pretty please?)

I have a terrible confession to make. I have been sitting on a big stack of my most favorite recipes, and most of them are not on this blog. I KNOW, RIGHT?? What kind of food blogger doesn't post their best material? Lame ones, that's who. (Bad, bad blogger. Minus one gold star for me).

In my defense, I really, really care about these recipes, because I LOVE them. I want you to love them as much as I do. So if I feel like it's not perfect (and is it ever perfect? like, ever?), I don't want to post it. If the pictures are mediocre, I won't post it. If it didn't come out exactly right this time, NO POST. Are you sensing a theme here?

It's just that I love these recipes so much, and I want you to love them too. I want to make you fall in love with chipotle turkey burgers, black bean chili, and pumpkin roulade cake the way my family has. I want you to be able to make them for your family and friends over and over again. I want them to be your favorite family recipes too.

However.

That's not really going to happen if I never post the recipes, is it? So here you go: This is my family's favorite turkey burger recipe! It's not perfect. The pictures could be better. There could be a lot more of them. I could have written a better and more convincing arguments for just how good it is. But honestly? I'd rather just get it out there, imperfections and all.

So this is for you, gentle reader. I hope you try it, and I hope you like it as much as we do.

Best Ever Turkey Burger with Spicy Chipotle Mayo
adapted from Martha Stewart Living 2009
serves 4

If you are going to make this recipe, you have to make it with the mayo at least once. Even if you don't really like mayo, please try it! It really takes what is a good burger to a whole new level. You can find chipotle chilis in the hispanic section if your grocery store, or at ethnic or specialty markets.

Ingredients
1.5 lbs ground turkey
1 small red onion, minced
1/4 cup minced cilantro
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
kosher salt
black pepper
----------------------------
8 thin slices Swiss cheese
4 sesame seed buns
4 lettuce leaves
8 slices bacon
4 dill pickles slices
---------------------------
1/2 cup good quality mayo, like hellman's or best (NOT miracle whip)
1/4 cup sour cream
1 canned chipotle chili
1 teaspoon adobo sauce

1. In a medium bowl, mix together ground turkey, minced onion, minced cilantro, Dijon mustard, salt, and pepper, and shape into 4 patties. Grill over medium heat until cooked through, or bake in the oven 15 - 20 minutes until cooked through. Add slices of Swiss cheese at the end of the cooking time, and let melt over the burgers (YUM).

2. Meanwhile, puree mayo, sour cream, chipotle chili and adobo sauce until smooth. If you like, you can adjust how much chili to put in based on your tastes, but I think this amount is just right.

3. Toast buns. Build your burger: I recommend trying it with all the ingredients before you mess with it - all the flavors really do work together beautifully. Spread mayo on one of the buns. Layer together lettuce, patty, dill pickles, and bacon. Enjoy!

Ina Garten's Italian Wedding Soup • Gluten free! Or not.

This blog is seriously turning into a Barefoot Contessa fan page, isn't it? And two soup recipes in a row? But I can't help it! Ina's recipes are SO GOOD. They are exactly my favorite kinds of food: classics that have been updated to be lighter and brighter, and which pack a powerful punch of flavor. And of course, this soup is no exception.







Being a Californian (and not an Italian or from Ohio/Pennsylvania, where this soup is apparently very popular), I had never had Italian Wedding Soup before making this recipe. The most I had to compare it to was plain Jane chicken noodles soup, and may I say that this soup absolutely blows chicken noodle soup right out of the water? It's like everything that chicken soup ever wanted to be, it's so deliciously perfect. Not to mention that it's ridiculously easy. I love that the meatballs are baked in the oven; it's so much less work than frying them, and they are much less greasy and heavy than traditional fried meatballs. This isn't Nate's favorite chicken soup (go figure. Probably the dill), but it sure is mine. Next time I come down with a cold (or I just get a hankering for something warm and comforting) this is going to be the first thing I ask for.






Ina Garten's Italian Wedding Soup • Gluten free! Or not.

I had a dickens of a time finding chicken breakfast sausage, and I had to go to four (yes FOUR) grocery stores before I could find it. I finally found some at Trader Joe's, which is the only place I know of that carries it. If you can't find it anywhere, I think turkey breakfast sausage (as well as ground turkey) is much more widely available. Alternatively, you might use chicken/turkey italian sausage and even pork sausage if you really can't find anything.

The second difficulty for me was that the recipe calls for 1 cup of very small pasta, like stars. I haven never seen any gluten-free pasta that small, so I wasn't sure what to do. Finally (brilliantly, if I do say so myself), I gave some uncooked rice spaghetti a whirl in the blender, and it came out perfect! If you don't eat gluten-free then don't worry about it, but if you do end up using this method, keep in mind that rice spaghetti is much starchier than wheat spaghetti, and all that starch may thicken up your soup. To avoid this, you can use less pasta, or cook the spaghetti separately, strain and rinse it, and then add it to the soup. Or you can do nothing, if you don't mind a thicker soup (I don't).

For the Meatballs
3/4 lb ground chicken (or turkey)
1/2 lb chicken sausage, casings removed
2/3 cup bread crumbs (I like to pulse up leftover gluten-free bread in the blender, and then store it in he freezer until I need it)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese (the kind that comes in a green can works great. Save the expensive fresh stuff for grating over the hot soup)
1 extra large egg, slightly beaten
3 tablespoons milk
kosher salt and freshly ground black Pepper

For the Soup
olive oil
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
1 cup finely diced carrots (2-3 carrots)
3/4 cup finely diced celery (2 stalks)
2.5 quarts chicken stock (10 cups, preferably home made)
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup small pasta, such as stars or broken up spaghetti (precooked or not)
1/4 cup minced fresh dill
12 oz baby spinach
freshly grated Parmesan cheese


1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. In a large bowl, mix together ground chicken, chicken sausage, bread crumbs, garlic, parsley, Parmesan, egg, milk, and salt and pepper to taste (all the meatball ingredients). Using a teaspoon, scoop meatball mixture in even measures, placing each scoop on the prepared pan. Don't worry about making the meatballs round, just scoop and plop. Bake meatballs in preheated oven until firm and browned, about 30 minutes.

2. In a large heavy bottomed pot, heat olive oil, and saute onion and garlic until softened and translucent. Add carrots and celery, and saute another 5 minutes or so, until vegetables begin to brighten in color.

3. Add stock and wine, and bring soup to a boil. Add (precooked or not) pasta, and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer 10-15 minutes, until pasta is al dente and vegetables are soft.

4. Add meatballs, and dill. Simmer 2-3 minutes. Remove heat from pot, stir in baby spinach. Serve, top with freshly grated parmesan, enjoy!

Rustic Basque Chicken Stew with Tomatoes, Potatoes, and other Yummy Things

Blog, I've missed you. And I am so tired of explanations and excuses, so I'm not going to go into it. Honestly though, I needed a break. The last six months of my life have just been so crazy, so full of crisis, sleeplessness, and borderline hysteria, that now that things have finally begun to settle down I just needed to chill OUT and get my life back together.

BUT.

Now I'm back! And I have so many yummy autumnal recipes to share with you! And so many cute pictures of this little one! I love him so, even if he has turned my world upside down shook it within an inch of its life.




This recipe is very special to me. It was one of the very first things I learned to cook when I was about 16, and the first taste of it floored me. I had never tasted something so good, and truth be told, I didn't even know food could taste so rich and wonderful. I'm not going to lie to you - my mom is not exactly the most inspired of cooks, and it was normal for us to eat the same thing every night for dinner for YEARS. My sister and I still joke about the "stuff on rice" years, where we ate sauteed chicken and vegetables on rice every single night for about 6 years. That's 2190 consecutive dinners of the same thing. By the 2189th dinner, we were really tired of it. This stew was SO good, and it still is. It's not as mind-blowing to me as it was back then, seeing as how I eat different things for dinner all the time now, but it's still mighty good. BECKS RECOMMENDS. You may cook now.






Basque Chicken Stew With Tomatoes, Potatoes, and Other Yummy Things
adapted from Paul Williams

The secret ingredient in this stew is BACON. Bippity Boppity Bacon! Don't leave it out. It's important. And so tasty.

Ingredients
2 large chicken breasts
1/4 lb bacon
2 medium yellow onions
2 red bell peppers (or 1 red and 1 green)
1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes
2 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
2 cups small new potatoes, peeled and chopped into large chunks
1 cup white wine
1 bunch fresh Italian parsley
1 pinch cayenne pepper (about 1/4 teaspoon)
kosher salt
freshly ground pepper
olive oil




Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Brush olive oil over 2 chicken breasts, and sprinkle liberally with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Roast in over 15 - 20 minutes until cooked through. Remove from the oven, and let cool.




Dice Chicken.




Cut 2 red bell peppers in half lengthwise, and remove the stem and seeds. Roast in the oven until tough skins are blackened, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.




remove skins for peppers, and slice into long strips.




Cut 1/4 lb bacon into small strips. Saute in a heavy bottomed skillet until crispy. Remove from pan, reserving the bacon grease.




Chop two medium onions into long strips. Saute in the reserved bacon fat until softened and translucent.





Place bacon and chicken in a large pot.





Add sliced pepper, sauteed onions, and 2 cups chicken stock.





Add 1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes...





...1 cup white wine...





...1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley...





... and 2 cups peeled, roughly chopped new potatoes.





Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, and let simmer 1-2 hours, until potatoes are soft. Tastes even better the second day. Enjoy!

Stacked Chicken and Cheese Enchiladas with Salsa Verde

I love me some enchiladas, but some times they can be a big ol' pain in the rear to put together. There is just so much labor involved! And I don't know about you, but I don't have forever and a day to put dinner together. Sometimes, I just need to be able to put something delicious and nutritious together fast, because we are hungry now. I really like this recipe, because unlike more "traditional" rolled enchiladas, these go together in about 2 minutes. The biggest task is frying the tortillas, and if you are feeling lazy, you can even skip that.

And OMG.

The taste is amazing.



It's a little bit like a Mexican lasagna. I love the layers of tortillas, cheese, salsa, and chicken. I like the tangy zesty salsa verde contrasted with the mild creamy cheese. It's pretty delicious! This one is definitely going in my regular rotation. And it only gets better for lunch the next day!




Stacked Chicken and Cheese Enchiladas with Salsa Verde
Adapted from Bon Appétit
Serves 6 - 8
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Total time: 1 hour

I made these enchiladas using The Best Salsa Verde Ever, but if you can't get ahold of any tomatillos you can always use the jarred stuff from the supermarket. I just can't promise it's going to taste as good. Because The Best Salsa Verde Ever is, well, the best salsa verde EVER.

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
12 corn tortillas
4 cups salsa verde
3/4 cup sour cream
8 oz grated muenster cheese (about 2 cups packed)
fresh cilantro
salt and pepper to taste
vegetable or olive oil

1. Roast chicken breasts in the center of the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, until chicken is firm and registers 180 degrees at the center on a instant read thermometer.

2. While chicken is roasting, heat 1-2 tablespoons of oil in a heavy bottomed skillet. Lightly fry each tortilla for about 15 - 30 seconds on both sides, until the small air pockets form, and tortilla begins to bubble.

3. Remove chicken from oven, and shred with 2 forks. Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees.

4. Spread 1/2 a cup of salsa verde over the bottom of an 8x8x2 glass baking dish. Layer 4 tortillas on the bottom of the dish, covering the bottom of the dish, overlapping if necessary. Scatter 1/2 of the chicken over the tortillas. Carefully spread 1 + 1/2 cups of salsa verde over chicken (really - those tortillas will sop up a lot of moisture). Carefully spread 1/4 cup sour cream over salsa. Sprinkle with 1/2 of the cheese. Cover with 4 more tortillas, and layer with remaining chicken, 1 cups of salsa, and 1/4 cup sour cream. Cover with remaining 4 tortillas, 1 cup salsa, and and remaining sour cream, and top with 2nd cup of cheese.

wow. That was complicated. Ok! Let's make it easier:

Layer these in this order:

1/2 cup salsa
4 tortillas
1 cup chicken
1 + 1/2 cup salsa
1/4 cup sour cream
1 cup cheese

4 tortillas
1 cup chicken
1 cup salsa
1/4 cup sour cream

4 tortillas
1 cup salsa
1/4 cup sour cream
1 cup cheese

5. Bake in preheated oven until cheese and salsa are bubbling and lightly browned, about 35 minutes. Sprinkle with some chopped cilantro. Enjoy!

The Best Grilled Chicken with Big Bob Gibson's White BBQ Sauce and Apple Brine

This is, like, BY FAR, the best grilled chicken I have ever had. Like, EVER. Usually chicken at a BBQ is so ho-hum. It's dry, it's bland, it's the ugly stepsister to those popularity queens, ribs and steaks. It's the obligatory white meat for picky kids and people who don't eat "real" meat. But this? Oh no. This sauce is transformational. It's the best damn BBQ chicken I have ever had.

I've never had a "white" BBQ sauce before, but apparently that's because I was born in the wrong state. Had I been born in Alabama (apparently), they would have pulled me from the womb and immediately spooned some white BBQ sauce into my mouth. Because that's JUST HOW SERIOUS some people are about their BBQ sauce.


And you know what? This sauce TOTALLY deserves it. It's won only approximately 1 million first place awards in BBQ competitions. I WISH it had been spooned into my mouth at birth, because them I wouldn't have spent 25 years without ever even knowing this BBQ sauce existed. When my mom tasted this she said "you could bottle this and sell it!" Thing is, someone already has. Big Bob Gibson, that's who. You can buy a bunch of sauces at www.bibbobgibson.com, but what I'm more excited about is Big Bob's new BBQ Book. You can buy it at amazon, but if you go to Big Bob's official website, you can buy an autographed copy. I think I know what I'm buying myself Nate for father's day.


So try it at your next BBQ already!





The Best Grilled Chicken with Big Bob Gibson's White Bar-B-Q Sauce and Apple Brine
from Bitten.
serves 8

You might think this makes a lot of sauce, and it does. Do not be tempted to halve the recipe. It keeps marvelously in the fridge, and you will want to eat it again. And don't just stop with chicken! Tastes great on veggies too.

Folks, can you believe how inexpensive chicken is these days? I bought 5 chicken breast halves (with rib meat and bones, I deboned them myself) for $5. That's really cheap protein people. And it tastes so good. Just eat it already, would you?

For the Apple Brine



1 cup apple juice
1 cup water
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
juice of 1/2 a lemon
Chicken for 8 (Mark Bittman recommends boneless chicken breasts, but I think and pieces would be great, and would benefit from this preparation).

For Big Bob Gibson's White BBQ Sauce



2 cups mayonnaise
1 cup distilled white vinegar
1/2 cup apple juice
2 teaspoons "prepared horseradish" (it DOES exist. Check your condiments aisle)
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (don't skip! It's not spicy, really, but adds great flavor)


Method


1. in a large bowl or tupperware, combine all of the brine ingredients and mix well (that honey is a bit sticky, it might require some elbow grease to get it mixed in). Add chicken, and let sit for at least 1 hour, or up to 5 hours (I don't know, maybe overnight? I brined mine for 5 hours).

2. Combine all of Big Bob Gibson's White BBQ Sauce ingredients, and mix well.

3. Preheat your grill. Remove chicken from brine, and pound with a meat hammer (or something else flat - I used a metal dinner plate, seeing as we were camping and neccecisty is the mother of invention and all that) so that chicken is of a uniform thickness and will cook evenly.



4. Place chicken on grill. Brush with BBQ sauce. Cook 6-7 minutes on first side, until chicken is cooked about 1/2 of the way through. Flip, and repeat. Chicken is done when it's firm to the touch, and (if you are really worried about doneness) registers 160 degress on an instant read meat thermometer.


5. Let chicken rest 5-10 minutes to allow juices to redistribute. Dip in white BBQ sauce. Enjoy!

Practically Perfect Oven Roasted Chicken with Herb Butter

I know what you are probably thinking: plain ol' chicken? Hmm. Yeah. Thanks, but no thanks. I like my meat with some flavor thankyouverymuch.

People of the internet, if you thought that, you would be seriously and sadly mistaken, and obviously, you also have never tasted a well roasted chicken before. If you had, you would never have uttered such blasphemy against chicken. Really. Because roasted chicken, in all its simplicity, is glorious. And this particular recipe is killer.





I think one of the most difficult adjustments to life at home with baby is the lack of structure inherent in my days. Work provides natural structure to life: working then playing, waking then sleeping, the rhythm of life is clearly defined by the demands of your job and the position of the sun. But when you have a newborn baby, all the boundaries disappear: working, not-working, sleeping, and waking begin to blend together into a mushy purple haze. Like suddenly, it's 5am and you stumble out of bed for the umpteenth time to feed the baby, snuggle down on the couch with him, and then suddenly you jolt awake (did I fall asleep during a feeding again?) and it's 6:30am, and the half drunk bottle of milk is mushed up against the sleeping baby's nose, and your boobs are aching and leaking like fountains because you missed your 5:30am pumping session. Where exactly was the sleeping/waking, working/not-working line there? I don't know, the line went AWOL a long time ago. It now seems perfectly normal to sleep in the middle of the day and run a load of laundry while watching Battlestar Galactica and feeding the baby at 4am.

Under such circumstances, you sort of have to cling to whatever structure you can make for yourself. You need something to distinguish night from day, and weekdays from weekend (because as as we have already established, motherhood is a job with no breaks, weekends, or vacations). For me, that means it's really important to do something different, anything different at all really, to make Saturday and Sunday special and different from the rest of the week.





One way to do this is make up a weekly chore routine: you know, Monday grocery shoping, Tuesday library, Friday laundry and farmer's market, etc. It's important to not allow myself to do "work" (ie: do the laundry and the housework) on Saturday or Sunday. It's important to go to church and the beach on the weekend. And finally, I think it's important to have Sunday night dinner. I like the idea of having a "big" family meal on Sunday night, a meal that is a little special, a little more fancy than usual. I just decided to institute this ritual this week because I am sick of the monotony and sameness of baby care, but I think it's a great tradition to have, regardless of whether you are currently enslaved to a newborn's needs or not.

I honestly can't think of a better dish to start this weekly tradition off with than this roasted chicken recipe. I have been making different versions of roasted chicken for years, but this one is hands down my favorite. It's so good that Nate (he is so gosh darn picky too!) who professes not to like chicken because it's "boring," spent most of last night gushing about how good this was. It's simple and elegant, bursting with flavor, and meltingly tender.

Practically Perfect Oven Roasted Chicken with Herb Butter
Adapted from Bon Appetit January 2001

Hi internet, I'm German. I have little square hands, a ridiculous amount of hair, and I cook with butter. As you make have noticed by now, this is not a low fat food blog. Yes, all my recipes have like, a million pounds of butter in them. But please chew on this little nugget: when I was pregnant my doctor made me meet with a nutritionist, and my nutritionist said butter is ok. Yes, you heard me right. BUTTER IS OK! Sure, butter is made of fat, but a) hydrogenated, trans-fat, high-fructose corn syrup, preservative laden junk food is much worse for you and you probably indulge in that occasionally and b) a little butter goes a long way to making you feel fuller faster, and it helps keep your blood sugar levels lower. So like, when I asked him if it was ok to have toast for breakfast, he literally told me "only if you have butter on it." YES.

So please enjoy this recipe in all it's herb butter glory, and if you start to feel a twinge of guilt about the butter, just remember: Beck's nutritionist said it's ok!

What do I need for this fabulous recipe?
1 roasting chicken 4-6 lbs, rinsed and patted dry
1/2 cup butter (1 stick, or 120g) softened but not melted
1 tablespoon fresh thyme + 3 large sprigs
1 tablespoon fresh Italian parsley + 3 large sprigs
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary + 3 small sprigs
kosher salt
cracked pepper

roasting pan and rack
cotton kitchen twine
meat thermometer

Amazing but optional gravy
1 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons thickening flour (all purpose flour, or gluten-free sweet rice flour or arrowroot starch)





Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and position rack in the lower third of the oven.




Here is a picture meant to represent all the things you should have for this recipe: See that bottle of wine? pretend it's a really a box of chicken stock. And pretend that little jar of coriander isn't there. I have this terrible habit of taking pictures of the wrong ingredients. Soooooory.




Get your herbs. Take 1 tablespoon thyme, 1 tablespoon rosemary, and 1 tablespoon parsley and chop finely.




Mix chopped herbs into butter, along with 1 pinch salt.




With your fingers, loose chicken skin. Slide your fingers under the skin starting from the neck side, and working your way to the legs.




With your fingers, spread 3 tablespoons of the herb butter mixture under the skin. Make sure it gets spread around over the breast meat and legs. Sprinkle outside of the skin with a pinck of kosher salt and some cracked pepper. Spread an additional 2 tablespoons of the herb butter on the outside of the skin, over the breasts and legs.




Stuff the cavity with the 3 sprigs thyme, 3 springs parsley, and 3 sprigs rosemary.




Tie the chicken's legs together with cotton kitchen twine, and tuck the wings under.




Place chicken on roasting pan.




Roast chicken in 400 degree oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, and brush skin with herb butter. Roast chicken for 30 more minutes. Remove from oven, and brush skin with herb butter a second time. Replace chicken in oven, and roast until thigh meat registers 180 degrees on an instant read thermometer (about 30 minutes). Remove from oven, and brush with herb butter. Let rest for at least 10 minutes to allow the juices to redistribute.


Amazing but Optional Gravy



Tip chicken up to allow any juices from the cavity to drain into the roasting pan. Remove chicken and rack to a cutting board for carving. Set roasting pan over a burner on high heat, and add 1 cup chicken stock. Bring to a simmer, and scrape up any bits off the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Strain into a sauce pan.


Add any left-over herb butter mixture to the sauce pan. Add 2 tablespoons flour (sweet rice four, arrowroot starch, or corn starch if you are cooking gluten-free, all-purpose flour if you are not). Bring to a boil, and whisk vigorously until sauce comes together and thickens. Add more flour to thicken, or more stock to thin.

enjoy!

Chicken Tortilla Soup with Lime and Sundried Tomatoes

Let's say you want to feed a family with one chicken breast. And let's say that you also want to to feed them something nutritious, with lots of whole foods and fresh ingredients. And lets ALSO say that whatever you make, it has to taste AMAZING. Well do I have a recipe for YOU!

When Nate and I got married (has it been 3 years already?) my parents gave us a week at a timeshare in Cancun, Mexico. If you are like me, you like to pack your vacations as full of activities and sightseeing as possible. Mayan pyramids! Freshwater lagoons! Underground rivers! Swimming with Dolphins! Jet skis! Snorkeling! Dancing! Dining!



But not this time. If you have ever been through the insanity of a wedding, you know that once the rings are on and the gown is off, all you want to do is lay on a white sandy beach for a week and chilaaaax. Which is exactly what we did. Every day we got up at noon, wandered down to the palapa for a quick bite, and then spent the rest of the day zoned out on a beach chair, piña coladas in hand. Oh, I suppose occasionally we also, I don't know, read a novel or two as well. It was kind of heavenly.

One of the great things about Mexico is, well, Hot Damn! Do they have great Mexican food! We had some pretty amazing meals while we were there. But honestly, I think one of my favorite meals from that trip was the tortilla soup we had at the palapa every day. It's simple, requires few ingredients, is healthy and low in calories (if you care about those things!), and packs a lot of punch in the flavor department. Limes. Sundried tomatoes. Queso Fresco. It's kind of amazing. Don't trust me? Try it. You'll like it!

Chicken Tortilla Soup with Lime and Sundried Tomatoes

In this recipe I had to use "mexican cheese blend" because, well, when you have a newborn baby you can't exactly just run out to the store everytime you forget something. So I had to make do. If you CAN find it near you, I recommend buying "queso fresco" a mild and crumbly fresh Mexican cheese. If you can't find it that's ok: a mild cheddar should do you just fine.

SOUP INGREDIENTS
1 quart low sodium chicken stock
1 chicken breast
4 corn tortillas, slightly dried out (just leave them out while you do other stuff)
1 can fire roasted tomatoes
1 jalapeño (optional) seeded and minced
1 medium onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
2 large juicy limes
2 splashes olive oil
kosher salt
freshly cracked pepper
1 pint cherry tomatoes
queso fresco

OTHER OPTIONAL TOPPINGS
avocado cubes
chopped cilantro


RECIPE
preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pat the chicken breast dry, then add a splash of olive oil to chicken. Salt an pepper liberally on both sides, and roast in over for 25 - 30 minutes until golden and cooked through.


Meanwhile, heat a splash of olive oil in a large heavy bottomed cast iron pot (a regular soup pot us ok too). Saute onions, garlic, and jalapeño in the oil until just golden.

Add the stock to the pot.

And add the fire roasted tomatoes.

Add the juice of two limes. Mmm. Limes. Yummy. Bring to a simmer.

Remember that chicken? Bring it out of the oven, and let it cool down for 10 - 15 minutes, until it's cool enough to handle. Then, shred that sucker. Use two forks. It's easy!

When it's done, it should look like this. Add that to the pot with the stock. Ok.

THE END. Goodbye.

Just kidding.

Oh yeah. Toppings. DUH. Remember those tomatoes? We are going to roast them! Cut them all in half, and toss them with a splash of olive oil, some kosher salt, and some pepper. Roast them in the over at 200 degrees. When they are chewy (40 minutes or so?) they are done.

Slice the tortillas into matchstick thin slices.

Until they look like this.

Saute them in a little oilve oil on high heat, until they are crunchy.

Ok. NOW you are done.

Unless you want some other stuff. Like avocados. Or cheese. Oh, and those tomatoes? I was totally going to take a picture of them. But I ate them all before I could. They were really good. No. Really, REALLY good.

To assemble, ladle soup into bowls. Top with tortilla strips (don't add the tortilla strips until JUST before serving. Otherwise they will get soggy. Ad nobody like soggy tortillas. Yuck.) Top with tomatoes, cheese, avocado, whatever.



Enjoy!