Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic

"It may seem like a lot of garlic, but I promise it is not overpowering. " Samantha was right - her recipe rocks! Try this chicken recipe for a deliciously comforting meal.

Below is her recipe, word for word:

6-8 chicken thighs, bone in with skin
2-3 heads of garlic, peeled
1/4 cup diced onion
1 1/3 cup chicken stock
3/4 cup of dry vermouth
2 tbsp of butter
hot egg noodles or rice.

Season chicken generously with salt and pepper. Sear all sides in olive oil in a dutch oven type pot. Don't cook all the way, just brown it well on high heat. Remove chicken and set aside. When chicken cools, remove and toss out the skin. Add 1/3 cup chicken stock to pot and heat it, scraping up the browned bits. Add garlic and onion and saute until onion is clear and garlic is a little browned. (I've put in carrots, celery and mushrooms at this point sometimes if I want some heartier.) Then add rest of chicken broth and vermouth. Return chicken to pot.

You're supposed to add rosemary and thyme but I never have any so I use basil, oregano, tarragon and a bay leaf. Bring to a boil then lower heat and allow to cook on low for at least 35 minutes. I usually cook it for about an hour and 15 minutes. If you haven't added the hodgepodge of other veggies, remove the chicken, the puree what's left along with the butter. Pull the chicken off the bones, shred it and add the sauce back to it. Serve over rice or noodles.

Here's a photo of my chicken in the pot - I used chicken breast instead of thighs, and I would definitely follow the recipe more closely next time.

I served this with golden smashed potatoes and green beans with breadcrumbs - two super simple side dishes.

Golden Smashed Potatoes

2 yukon gold potatoes, washed and fork-pricked
2 tsp. butter
coarse salt
black pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Microwave potatoes until softened - 5 to 7 minutes. Remove potatoes from microwave and place on a cookie sheet. Allow to cool slightly. Using a chef's knife, slightly score tops of potatoes with an "X". Using the flat of the knife, press the potatoes flat - "smashing" them. Place a pat of butter in the center of the "X", salt & pepper potatoes. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown and slightly crispy.

Green Beans with Buttery Breadcrumbs

1 lb. fresh green beans, cut and washed
2-3 tbsp. butter
1/4 c. Italian breadcrumbs
Steam green beans until cooked but still crisp. Add butter to hot beans, stir to melt. Pour breadcrumbs into bowl and stir to combine. This is Andrew's mother Linda's recipe, and it's a winner. Granted, it's not the healthiest way to eat your beans, so I only make it on special occasions. And Tuesdays. :)

Purple Macaroni & Cheese

We went out to dinner with Andrew's dad and stepmom to ML in Chagrin Falls. We absolutely adore the restaurant, and this meal was no exception. Ann and I decided to eat a bunch of appetizers for dinner, which turned out to be a great idea. One of our leftovers was an amazing habanero goat cheese topped with blueberry preserves. Ann insisted I take it home, so I decided I had to figure out a great way to use it.

Here is the goat cheese:

My purple macaroni and cheese was easy to make, and beautiful too! Of course, you could use any cheese you have on hand. Because of the habanero, this mac & cheese was a bit spicy, and yet a bit sweet from the blueberry preserves. It definitely made an interesting combination.

1/2 lb. rotini or pasta of your choice

6 oz. habanero goat cheese

1/2 c. heavy cream

2 tbsp. butter

1 tbsp. flour

1 big handful fresh spinach

nutmeg

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add pasta. Cook according to directions on box - until slightly al dente.

In the meantime, melt butter in saucepan and add flour. Whisk to combine flour & butter, creating a roux. Add heavy cream and bring to a simmer. Add salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Slowly whisk in goat cheese a little at a time, melting and whisking to combine. When all goat cheese has been incorporated, allow to come back to a simmer - do not boil.

Add spinach to pasta water, allow to wilt. Drain pasta and spinach and add to sauce. Toss all ingredients to combine. Garnish with parmesan cheese and fresh parsley, if available.

Happy Halloween!

An adorable little monkey...my friend Heather's sweet son Connor.

Halloween Fun

Click the title of this post for a great website with recipes for all sorts of Halloween party foods. There are lots of creepy treats to try! The eyeballs are my favorite.

Cheater's Chicken Pot Pie

Well, we ate the chicken pot pie too quickly to take pictures of it! It's my mom's recipe, and even though I usually try to cook with fresh produce, this is such a quick and easy meal that I have to pass it on.

2 c. cooked chicken, chopped
1 bag frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
1 can white potatoes, drained, rinsed, and chopped
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 premade refrigerated piecrust

It's this easy:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the first four ingredients and pour into a pie plate. Top with the premade piecrust. Cut off hanging edges of crust, and press edges onto the pie plate with a fork. Cut air holes into the crust. I use the cutoffs of the crust to make little shapes or designs on the crust. Bake the pie for 20-45 minutes. If your ingredients are room temperature, you will need to bake for less time than if the pie has been in the refrigerator.

If the crust starts to brown before the ingredients inside are heated, make a tinfoil ring to put around the edges of the crust.

*Optional: Scramble one egg and brush it over the crust prior to baking for a golden shine!

This chicken pot pie recipe is so simple - I think it took me 15 minutes to complete the recipe from start to finish. It can be made a day in advance and refrigerated until you're ready to bake it. It also freezes well.

Bristol Bay Info

You may have heard about Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay, Alaska. It's a proposed project that would tap into a supposed $300 billion reserve of ore that is buried near the delta that feeds Bristol Bay. I've posted links in the past, but wanted to give some more information as we get closer to the presidential election.

Sarah Palin on Bristol Bay

Pebble Pedalers - An amazing group of people about to embark on a truly incredible journey

Red Gold - A film that can make a difference

Take the time to do the research on Pebble Mine and what it would mean to our ecosystem, the Alaskan way of life, and the salmon population.

It's Been a While...

...Since I blogged last. Things have been crazy at work, but now that it's all settling down, I have so much to share. Even though I haven't been posting, I've definitely been cooking! So check back soon for more updates.

Sausage and Spinach Soup

With fall around the corner, I'm definitely in the mood for soups! I just made the clam chowder last week, so I was hoping for something totally different. My mom actually gave me the idea to put together a sausage and potato soup. She likes to add whatever veggies she has on hand, so that's what I did.

2 small yellow onions, chopped

3 spicy Italian sausages, casings removed

7 small red potatoes, chopped

chicken broth

1 bag fresh pre-washed spinach

I used the scraps left over from a rotisserie chicken to make my own chicken broth. Place everything that's left of your rotisserie chicken into a soup pot, cover with water, and simmer. Mine simmered for maybe five hours over the course of two days, but I'm sure you could do less.

In a soup pot, saute the onions in a small amount of olive oil. Salt them right away so that they release their juices and soften, rather than browning. Move the onions off to the sides of the pot and add the sausage to the pot. Cook it through.

I found that my sausage was a little more fatty than I planned on. I dealt with it by continuing on making the soup the way I planned - when it was simmering later, I simply skimmed the fat off the top. Next time, I might have cooked the sausage first, drained it, and added it back to the pan at this step.

Add the potatoes to the pot. Stir to coat the potatoes in the oil, onions, etc. Pour the chicken broth into the pot and bring contents to a boil.

Simmer on your stove until the potatoes are fork tender. I garnished mine with green onions and fresh basil. Simple and delicious!

Spinach and Goat Cheese Risotto

I love risotto, but Andrew is not a fan. An evening when he is out fishing is the perfect time for me to eat whatever I want, and tonight, I was in the mood for risotto! People think it takes a lot of work, effort, or skill, but this couldn't be any further from the truth. Of course, you can tweak my recipe to include whatever vegetables, herbs, cheeses, or other flavors you can think of.

You'll need:

1 cup arborio rice
2 cups chicken broth
1 small yellow onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 box frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
2-4 oz. goat cheese, crumbled



In a medium sized saucepan, saute garlic in about 1 tbsp olive oil until it begins to soften. Add the onion. Salt the contents of the pot lightly and cook until onions are translucent. You do not want to brown the onions or the garlic. In a separate, small saucepan, heat the chicken broth. You just want to warm it - you do not need it to boil or even simmer.

Add the rice to the pot and stir to combine. Toast the rice for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add a 1/4 of the broth to the rice mixture. Allow the rice to absorb all the liquid, stirring occasionally, before adding more liquid. Continue to add liquid, allowing the rice to absorb it each time.



When you have added all the liquid to the rice, stir in the spinach. I did not use the entire box, more like 3/4.

Finally, add the goat cheese and stir to melt it into the risotto. The goat cheese I had on hand was purchased at the West Side Market down in Cleveland. It was a spectacular chevre goat's milk cheese...and I'm not gonna lie, I definitely ate some off my fingers!


This recipe takes 15-20 minutes from start to finish. If you wanted to stir in cooked chicken, that would be good too! I preferred it this way, but chicken, sausage, bacon, etc. would all be nice add-ins.

Risotto is so simple and delicious. Once you start making it, you will be amazed at the combinations that pop into your head - butternut squash and pancetta, poached pears and carmelized onions, and any other delicious flavor melds you can come up with.

Chicken Summer Rolls

I found a recipe for an easy lunch for kids on Food Network's website. The Chicken Summer Rolls are touted as a Vietnamese-style meal that's light but filling. I decided not to use the rice paper, mostly because I couldn't find it in either of the two stores I looked. Instead, I laid the lettuce leaves on plastic wrap and packed them into a plastic tub to keep in the fridge.



It seemed easiest to chop everything first and set up an assembly line, so I prepped all the parts and then put the rolls together.



There were extra carrots, cucumbers, scallions, and leaves of Boston lettuce, so I added some romaine lettuce, croutons, and goat cheese for a big salad later in the week.

If you click the title of this post, you will be directed to Food Network's website to view the full recipe. In the meantime, here is what the insides look like:



I thought this recipe came out nicely, but I don't know that I would make it again, for several reasons. First, my goal was to have this be an easy to grab lunch during the week. Too bad for me, Andrew did NOT like these rolls, so the easy lunch option was out for him. Second, this recipe is extremely labor intensive. Last, it turns out I don't really like rice vinegar, so there was an underlying flavor that I didn't love.

Sometimes, it has to be about what works best for you and your family, and these rolls, while pretty and relatively tasty, don't work well for mine.