Oven Roasted Chicken

I came up with this recipe and let me tell you this chicken is finger licking good!  Another easy one to put together overnight or before you go to work and just pop it in the oven when you get home.  I really like cooking in oven bags because the chicken just comes out so moist and tender and an easy clean up afterwards :)
The great part about chicken leftovers (if there are any left) is you can do so much with it afterwards-put it in soup, make a sandwich, quesadilla, etc.

Oven Roasted Chicken Ingredients (prep time-8 hrs to marinate, cook time-1 hour 30 min)

• 1 whole chicken (around 3 lbs is a good size)
• Olive oil
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder

1. Wash chicken and make sure you remove all goody stuff from the inside (ie-the guts).
2. Dry off chicken and drizzle with olive oil all over for a nice coat and give the chicken a good rub down.
3. In a small bowl mix all seasonings and sprinkle all over chicken (use up all of the mixture)
4. Next place chicken in oven bag and let it marinate over night (about 8 hrs) in the fridge.
5. When you are ready to cook, set oven to 350 and cook for 1 hour and 30 min.  

Havarti, Dill, and Egg Sandwich on a French Baguette

This morning I made a delicious breakfast sandwich.  There's nothing like a loaf of fresh baked bread really.  I can eat a whole loaf all by myself, that's how much I love bread.  I gobbled up my sandwich so fast I didn't take a picture...my apologies.  Instead I put up this generic photo of delicious french baguettes :)

Havarti, Dill and Egg Sandwich

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tbsp creme fraiche or sour cream
• dash of salt and pepper
• 3/4 tsp fresh or dried dill
• 1/2 tbsp butter
• 1 slice danish Havarti cheese
• 1 loaf of french baguette

1. In a small bowl whisk eggs, creme fraiche, salt, pepper, and dill until light and foamy.
2. Melt butter in small pan and add egg mixture.  Scramble until light and fluffy.
3. Cut off a portion of the french baguette and slice on the side to make a sandwich.  Lightly toast bread in the oven. Once toasted place egg and slice of Havarti in bread.
4. Enjoy!

Garlic Basil Fettuccine with Mushroom Cream Sauce

Some people might call me a carb whore but, that's ok.  I can never say no to bread or pasta it's my kryptonite.  Plus life is too short to cut out the good stuff in my opinion, as long as you have a healthy balance you don't have to worry.  I went to the Hillcrest farmer's market this weekend (like I do pretty much every weekend) and bought some fresh garlic basil fettuccine pasta.  If you've never had fresh pasta do yourself a favor and go get some right now. It is SO GOOD!  The sauce I picked out to go along with the noodles is just delightful.  Just a tip to ensure a nice creamy sauce add the cheese a little at a time and makes sure to grate it very fine.  I have Emeril Lagasse to thank for the mushroom cream sauce recipe. Bam! Dinner is served :)

Garlic Basil Fettuccine with Mushroom Cream Sauce

• 12 ounces fresh garlic basil fettuccine (or whatever fresh fettuccine you like)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 pound assorted wild mushrooms, stems trimmed, wiped clean, and thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup chopped shallots
• 1 tbsp chopped garlic
• 2 tsp minced fresh thyme leaves
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tbsp finely chopped chives

1. In a large saute pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring, until soft, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the shallots, garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper, and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 2 minutes. Add the cream, increase the heat to high, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the sauce thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 5 minutes. Add the Parmesan a little at a time and adjust the seasoning, to taste. Turn off heat and leave sauce in pan.
2. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the pasta until al dente.Drain and return to the pot. Cover to keep warm. Fresh pasta only takes 2 minutes to cook.
3. Add the pasta to the sauce pan, stir to coat with the sauce, and cook until the pasta is heated through, 1 minute. Remove from the heat and divide among 4 serving bowls or plates. Sprinkle each serving with chivesand serve immediately.

Pear Bourdaloue-Pear Tart with Almond Cream

One of the best desserts I've ever made.  Yes it is a challenge and a little long to put together but it is a great weekend project that tastes amazing!  I actually tried this recipe out last year and came across it this weekend going through my cookbooks and had to share it with all of you.  Just a suggestion I highly recommend buying a 11-inch tart pan with a removable bottom.  It makes it much easier to remove the tart from the pan without ruining your pretty new creation.  Also, blind baking the pie tart simply means once you make the tart shell and place it in the pan put a piece of foil over the dough and pour solid beans/rice/or pie weights so that the shell won't rise as it is baking. If you have any other questions feel free to email me or comment below.  As always....enjoy!

Pear Bourdaloue

Total time: About 1 1/2 hours, plus cooling time
Servings: 12 to 16
Note: Adapted from Nicole's Gourmet Foods in South Pasadena (LA Times)

Tart shell

1 2/3 cup (7.1 ounces) flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) chilled butter, cut into one-half-inch cubes

1 egg yolk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons ice water

1. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar and salt. Cut in the butter using a pastry cutter or your fingers.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolk and vanilla. Work the egg mixture into the flour mixture just until it resembles cornmeal. Stir in ice water, a tablespoon at a time, just until the dough holds together.

3. Form the dough into a disk and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour.
4. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Remove the dough to a lightly floured surface and roll it out until it is just over 13 inches in diameter. Fit the dough into an 11-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Trim the dough so it is flat with the top of the tart pan, then line and fill the shell with pie weights or beans.
5. Blind bake the tart shell until set, about 20 minutes. Remove the pie weights and set the shell on a rack to cool.

Poached pears

1 quart water

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 pears, preferably Bartlett, peeled and halved lengthwise

In a large saucepan, bring the water and sugar to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat to poaching temperature (not quite a simmer) and poach the pears just until tender (a knife should pierce easily). Remove the pears from the poaching liquid and cool completely. Core the cooled pear halves and slice each half lengthwise into 6 slices.

Filling and assembly

2 tablespoons chilled butter

2/3 cup almond meal or flour

2 1/3 cups milk

1 vanilla bean, split

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup (2.1 ounces) flour

Tart shell

Poached pears

1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, place the butter and almond meal. Set aside. (Do not worry about mixing them together.)
2. In a medium saucepan, combine the milk and vanilla bean. Bring the milk just to a simmer over high heat, then remove from heat and discard the bean pod.
3. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, whisk together the eggs, sugar and flour. Whisk in about a cup of the hot milk mixture to temper the eggs, then whisk in the remaining milk until combined. Whisk the mixture over medium heat just until it thickens. Immediately remove from heat, pour the mixture over the butter and almond meal and whisk.
4. Spread the filling in the tart shell and top with the sliced pears (you may not use all of the pears; we used about three-fourths of the slices). Bake the tart until the custard is lightly browned and set, about 30 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and cool on a rack for at least 1 hour before slicing.

Peanut Sesame Noodles with Tofu

I love a good peanut sauce and this one is really easy to put together! The great thing about this recipe is you can use any type of meat you like-tofu, chicken, shrimp, and beef they all go well with this sauce. I usually like to make this dish with lo mein or udon noodles but I didn't have any in the house so I ended up using linguine which worked just fine.

Peanut Sesame Noodles and Tofu

• 1 package firm tofu (or 12 oz of any meat your choice-chicken, shrimp, beef)
• 4 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 (12 oz) bag of stir fry vegetables
• 8 oz of noodles (you can pretty much use any type you want)
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1/3 cup smooth peanut butter
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 1/2 tbsp honey
• 1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 2 tbsp sake or rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

1. Cut tofu into small rectangle cubes and fry in vegetable oil in wok (or pan).  Remove from wok and set aside once tofu is nice and golden brown on both sides.
2. Toss in bag of stir fry vegetables in the same wok and cook until nice and tender. Leave veggies in wok and turn off heat.
3. In a medium pot boil some water and add noodles.  Cook until noodles are done.
4. In a separate bowl mix cornstarch, vegetable broth, peanut butter, soy sauce, honey, brown sugar, sesame oil, ginger, red pepper flakes, and rice vinegar until well blended.
5. Add sauce, noodles, and tofu back into wok with veggies.  Toss the ingredients and make sure to turn back on the wok to heat up all ingredients for about 2-3 min. 
6. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top and enjoy!

Biber Dolmasi-Turkish Stuffed Peppers

Tonight I thought I'd throw out one of my own fave recipes from the motherland...Biber Dolmasi!  Biber means pepper and Dolma means to be stuffed.  Almost every country in the world has their own version of stuffed peppers but I think Turkish food is the best, it is what I grew up on after all :) It's basically a ground beef, rice and seasoning mixture stuffed in your choice of peppers.  Stuffing grape leaves in Turkey is also very popular and tasty.  I'll save that for another day since I need to work on my grape leaf wrapping skills. I recommend buying a delicious loaf of crusty bread or naan to go along with this dish.  Enjoy my friends :)

Biber Dolmasi-Turkish Stuffed Peppers (prep time-30 min, cook time-55 min)

Filling

• 1/2 lb ground beef
• 1/4 cup uncooked rice (I love using basmati)
• 1/4 cup Italian parsley
• 1 large Roma tomato, chopped fine
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 4 small-medium peppers of your choice

Sauce

• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 cups water
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• couple dashes of salt
• 1 large tomato, pureed

Step #1-Making the filling

Step#4-Place peppers standing in sauce

1. In a large bowl mix together filling ingredients-beef, rice, parsley, tomato, olive oil, water, salt and pepper. (See picture #1 above)
2. Cut tops off of peppers and clean out inside of seeds
3. Stuff peppers with filling mixture.  Do not jam filling in with spoon instead tap peppers lightly on counter to push filling down to put more in. Set peppers aside.
4. Next in a medium pot melt butter and then add water, tomato paste, salt, and pureed tomato. Mix well.
5. Once sauce is mixed stand peppers in mixture and bring pot to a boil.  Once sauce boils bring to a medium heat and simmer for 55 minutes with lid closed. Peppers are ready when they are soft on the outside and the meat has browned. (See picture #2 above)
6. Enjoy!

Shahi Paneer and a side of Basmati Rice with Green Beans and Dill

Tonight fellow foodies I'm taking you to the exotic land of India!  Some of you might be wondering what the heck is paneer?  I was first introduced to paneer thanks to Trader Joe's.  There's a frozen meal called paneer tikka masala.  I thought it was chicken, lol, turns out it is a type of cheese very similar to tofu in texture but very tasty.  I was hooked!  We have a vegetarian guest staying with us this week so I thought this would be a good time to try out this recipe. It's a great dish made of simple fresh ingredients.

Shahi Paneer (prep time- 10 min, cook time-30 min)

• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder
• 4 tomatoes, pureed
• 14 oz package of paneer, cubed
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• salt to taste
• 1/4 cup cream
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the onion and garlic in the hot oil until the onions are soft and golden brown, about 5 minutes. 

2. Sprinkle the cumin, coriander, turmeric, and chili powder over the onion and garlic; continue cooking until the seasonings are fragrant, about 30 seconds.

3. Pour the pureed tomatoes into the skillet; cook until the excess liquid evaporates and the oil separates, 10 minutes. Add the paneer, water, sugar, and salt to the mixture; stir gently so the paneer does not break apart. 

4. Cook until the paneer begins to absorb some of the liquid, about 10 minutes. Stir the cream into the mixture and simmer another 5 minutes. Garnish with cilantro to serve.

Basmati Rice with Green Beans and Dill (cook time-15-20 min)

• 3 tbsp butter
• 1 cup basmati rice
• 1 (14.5 oz) can vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 (14.5 oz) can green beans, cut 
• 1 tbsp dill
• 1/2 tsp salt

1. Melt butter in a medium pot and add in rice.  Saute for a couple minutes until rice is covered in butter.

2. Pour in can of vegetable broth, water, dill and salt.  

3. Bring to a boil then put on medium heat and simmer.  After about 5 minutes add green beans and continue simmering until rice is tender.