Category: Chicken

Chicken, Main Course

Turmeric Chicken with Basmati Rice

by Wendi2 Comments on Turmeric Chicken with Basmati Rice

Turmeric Chicken with Basmati Rice

Adapted from a website that my dial up connection took me to back in the early days of the internet.  My apologies for not being able to credit an actual source.

BAH Note:  IF I recall correctly, this recipe was part of some Cooking For One feature…maybe in the Baltimore Sun or Washington Post.  I found it back in my days of when I was cooking for one.  But it is beyond easy to scale it up to serve however many mouths you’ve got to feed.  The ratios I use below makes enough for The Mistah and I and have leftovers.

  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 medium onion, chopped (approximately 1 cup)
  • 2 teaspoons ground turmeric
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup currants
  • 1/4 cup mango chutney
  • 6 pieces bone in chicken thighs, skin removed
  • 1/2 cup basmati rice
  • 1 cup chicken broth, heated

Heat the oven to 325 degrees.

Melt the butter in a dutch oven over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook until it begins to soften, approximately 5 minutes.  Add the turmeric, lemon juice, currants, and chutney and stir to thoroughly combine.  Place the chicken pieces in the dutch oven and use tongs or your hands to completely coat them in the onion mixture.  Add the rice and hot chicken broth to the pot, cover, and place in the oven.

Bake for 60 – 90 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the rice has softened.

Chicken, Main Course

Honey Dijon Chicken

by Wendi10 Comments on Honey Dijon Chicken

Despite having a shelf full of cookbooks and an internet overflowing with recipes, I get into food ruts.  Does that ever happen to you?  Do you ever feel uninspired or overwhelmed when deciding what’s for dinner?  Day in and day out, the responsibility to keep mealtime fresh and interesting…it’s enough to make me want to hang up my apron and have cereal for dinner.

It almost makes me envious of the folks who have a certain number of recipes in their arsenal that they constantly cycle through.  How much easier would my meal planning be if every Wednesday was meatloaf?  Or if spaghetti was on our plate once a week without fail?

I guess the grass is always greener elsewhere.  Have only a few options to choose from and risk getting burnt out on them. Have seemingly limitless options vis a vis The Google and burn yourself out searching before you even get in the kitchen.

Where’s the middle ground?  I don’t know.  I’m still searching for it.  If you happen to run across it, would you point me in the general direction?  All I can offer you in exchange is Honey Dijon Chicken.  But believe me, that’s a fair trade.

Honey Dijon Chicken

Adapted from Our Life In The Kitchen

BAH Note: If you want your sauce a little thicker, use my buerre maine trick.  Combine 1 tablespoon flour and 1 tablespoon softened butter in a small bowl until you have a smooth paste.  Use a whisk to stir the buerre maine into the hot sauce and cook until the sauce thickens a bit.  I mix the honey and mustard together in a measuring cup so that any that I don’t add to the sauce can be put in jar and refrigerated for later use.

  • 6 to 8 bone in chicken thighs, depending on the size of your pan
  • 2 shallots
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 1 can chicken broth
  • 1/2 cup dijon mustard
  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup half and half (optional)

Melt the butter in a large frying pan or dutch oven over medium high heat.  When the foaming subsides, place the chicken skin side up in the pan.  Cook until the chicken gets well browned.

While the chicken is browning, slice the shallots and combine the honey and mustard in a measuring cup.

Once the underside of the chicken is browned, carefully turn the chicken over so it is skin side down in the pan.  Add the shallots and cook until the skin begins to brown.  Add the chicken broth and simmer approximately 25 to 30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

Transfer the chicken to a plate and cover with foil.  Skim the fat from the juices in the pan and cook over medium heat until the sauce is reduced by about half.  Reduce the heat and whisk half of the the honey mustard mixture into the sauce.  Taste the sauce, if you want a stronger flavor, add more of the honey mustard.  Season to taste with kosher salt and stir in either half and half or a buerre maine mixture, if using.

Return the chicken to the pan and coat the chicken with sauce before serving.

{printable recipe}

Chicken, Main Course

Spicy Orange Chicken

by Wendi15 Comments on Spicy Orange Chicken
by the time i grabbed my camera, this is all that was left of spicy orange chicken.

With all of the crazy in my world right now, I feel a pronounced need to look for some balance.  And strength.  And focus.  And flexibility.  So I’ve decided to give yoga a try.

The idea of me stepping into the yoga studio is laughable.  I am not the least bit athletic and I’m clumsy as all hell.  I also have a constant stream of consciousness chatter going on in my head.  So the notion of working week after week to get to a place of inner quiet while simultaneously moving through poses without falling flat on my arse is a lofty goal.  I expect the namaste to kick my butt for a while.  And that’s ok.  Because with practice I will learn to focus and breathe and move.

What I didn’t expect was to find myself quietly weepy at the end of each session.  After moving my body through Mountain, Warrior, Tree, Bridge, and all the other poses whose names escape me, my emotional defenses are down.  And as I lay on my mat, focusing on my breathing, the tears just appear.  I don’t fight them.  They roll down the side of my face and into my hair, or fall onto my mat.  In that moment, I relinquish control to The Universe.

And as yoga helps me to find balance, strength, focus, and flexibility in the physical world, I’ve got a hunch that it will also help me to find those same things emotionally.  It may take me thousands of sun salutations and downward dogs to get there, but each one will take me one step closer.

Wish me luck.  I’m definitely going to need it.

Spicy Orange Chicken

Adapted from GE Advantium Cookbook

BAH Note:  To make this in a regular oven, bake at 375 degrees.  Check for doneness after about 20 minutes.

  • 4 to 5 (5 ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I use Perdue Perfect Portions)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon allspice
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • zest and juice (approximately 1/4 cup) from 1 large orange
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar

Combine salt, paprika, allspice, and ginger and coat the chicken breasts completely.  Place the spice coated chicken in an oblong baking dish and set aside.

In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine the orange juice, zest, and brown sugar.  Pour the liquid over the chicken.  Place the baking dish on the metal tray.

Press SpeedCook, and scroll to My Recipes, New Recipe.  Set the time for 20 minutes at the following settings: U=7, L=7, M=3.  Check the chicken after 15 minutes and add a bit more orange juice or some chicken broth if the liquid has reduced too much.  Check for doneness after 20 minutes and continue to cook for 5 minute increments, at the same settings, if needed.

Baste the chicken with the liquid before serving.

{printable recipe}

Chicken, Main Course, South Beach Diet

Flashback Fridy – Holy Mole

by WendiLeave a Comment on Flashback Fridy – Holy Mole

Flashback Friday

The following originally appeared on 4/15/09 at Exit 51.

Holy Mole

Forgive me, for I have sinned.  I have been unfaithful…to my Chicken Mole.  I’m sure that as indiscretions go, this one is pretty minor.  But I can’t help myself.  Even though I already have a perfectly fine South Beach recipe for Chicken Mole, when I spotted Oxana Chicken Mole listed in the Bon Appetit cookbook, temptation led me astray.

Holy Mole

I felt bad as I gathered the ingredients.  I knew that what I was doing was wrong.  But it was exciting.  As I cut and measured and prepped, I wondered if Oxana and I were always meant to be together.  I wondered what the future held for us.  I heated the pan over a medium flame and wondered if South Beach would try to get me back.  The chicken went into the pan and I wondered if it was too late to turn back.  The air filled with the scent of cinnamon, cumin, and chili and I knew I could not stop, even if I wanted to.  Tomatoes and chocolate joined the party and as the sauce deepened to a dark, ruddy red, my anticipation grew.

Simmer, bubble, stir.  At last, it was time.  Nervously, I filled my bowl and inhaled Oxana’s deep, spicy aroma.  That first taste lingered on my tongue, robust; then an explosion of heat, as my spoon went back for more.   By the time it was done, I knew I could not let Oxana slip away, never to be tasted again.

I’m not sure how long it will be till we’re  together, but until we are I will ask for forgiveness.  And then I’ll go and do it all again.

Oxana Chicken Mole

Bon Appetit Fast, Easy, Fresh

The recipe below is as it appears in the book.  Instead of cooking the chicken breasts whole, I cut them into cubes and cooked them until they were done before removing them from the pan.  I don’t know about you, but in my kitchen, chicken takes more than about 2 minutes per side to cook.  Adjust the spices as you like.  I found that with the exception of the chili powder, I used more than stated.  That includes the chocolate.  Please note that unsweetened chocolate is not the same as cocoa powder.  Look for a bar of unsweetened (baking) chocolate.  This recipe doubles very easily.

  • 2 skinless boneless chicken breast halves
  • 3 1/2 teaspoons chili powder, divided
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 14 oz to 16 oz can stewed tomatoes
  • 1/4 ounce unsweetened chocolate

Sprinkle chicken with 1 teaspoon chili powder, salt, and pepper.  Heat oil in heavy medium skillet, over medium high heat.  Add chicken and saute until brown, about 2 minutes per side.  Transfer chicken to plate.  Add remaining 2 1/2 teaspoons chili powder, cumin, and cinnamon to skillet; stir 15 seconds.  Mix in tomatoes with juice and chocolate; simmer until sauce thickens, about 5 minutes.  Return chicken to skillet; simmer until just cooked through and sauce thickens slightly, about 4 minutes.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Chicken, Main Course

Ruth’s Spiced Chicken

by WendiLeave a Comment on Ruth’s Spiced Chicken

During my Advantium Adventures, I noticed that chicken skin does not brown and crisp quite the same as it does in my gas oven.  And that’s a shame because crispy chicken skin is one of my favorite things.  So I wonder what would happen if I add a simple step to the equation and do a quick browning of the chicken before popping it into the Advantium?

I think I need to test this theory out.  And I have the perfect recipe to use as my test subject…Ruth’s Spiced Chicken.  The method already has you browning the chicken on the stove and then finishing it off in a hot oven.  I’ve made it this way and can attest that the spiced chicken is delightful.  I bet that getting crispy roast chicken skin out of my Advantium would be an even bigger delight.

Ms. Reichl, I hope you don’t mind that I’m planning to use your recipe as my test case.  I’d gladly have you over for a plate of your Spiced Chicken a la Advantium to get your reaction.

Spiced Chicken

Adapted from Ruth Reichl

  • 2 teaspoons chili powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground corriander
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 4 chicken bone in chicken breasts, skin on
  • 1/2 cup water

Heat oven to 450 degrees.  Mix the spices together in a small bowl.  Add 1 tablespoon of the oil to the spices and make a thin paste.  Heat the remaining oil in a large, oven proof skillet or dutch oven over medium high heat.

While the oil it heating up, rub the spice paste all over the chicken.  When the pan is hot, place the chicken in the pan and cook until browned, approximately 6 to 8 minutes, turning once.  Once the chicken is browned on both sides, turn it skin side up, and transfer the pan to the oven.  Cook for another 25 minutes, or until the chicken is completely cooked.

Transfer the chicken to a platter and then add the water to the hot pan, bring to a boil over high heat, and scrape up any browned bits from the pan.  Carefully skim the fat off the sauce and spoon over the chicken.

{printable recipe}

Chicken, Main Course

Thai Chicken Stew

by Wendi16 Comments on Thai Chicken Stew

Please excuse the above word play.  If I waited until I actually had a picture of what came out of my crock pot, it could be a while before I shared this recipe with you.  And that would be a shame.  So yes TIE + CHICKEN + (STOOP – P) = THAI CHICKEN STEW.

For those of you wondering what the hell a stoop is, here in Baltimore many of the rowhouses don’t have a front porch.  They have a set of steps, or a stoop as we like to call it.  My apologies if that colloquialism left anyone at a disadvantage in deciphering my  pictogram.  But hey, you learned something new about Baltimore AND you’re getting a recipe.  That’s a total win.

I need to come clean right now and say that this recipe came from an America’s Test Kitchen cookbook.  I’m still not subscribing to Cook’s Illustrated, and never will again, but during a recent trip to the bookstore, I saw that ATK had a brand new crock pot cookbook out.  I know that my crock pot is good for more than overnight oatmeal and butter braised onions, I just didn’t have a wealth of crock pot recipes I was interested in making to get more out of it.  So I swallowed my indignation and handed over $26.95 plus tax to buy the damn book.

So far, the results have been pretty good.  Thai Chicken Stew was a hit.  Beef Pot Pie (minus the crust) was superb.  Mole Chicken Chili was too spicy, but full of promise.  The biggest beef I have with the recipes, specifically the chicken ones, is that ATK developed them to cook for approximately four to six hours on low.  That’s great if I want to free up time on a weekend for things besides cooking.  But it really doesn’t help me one bit during the week.  I’m gone for at least ten hours on a work day; I can’t work a four to six hour cook time into that schedule.  So until I mange to confound the laws of space and time, ATK and their crock pot recipes will only be put into the weekend line up.

But that’s not to say that the leftovers won’t find their way into the rotation on a Monday or Wednesday.

Thai Chicken Stew

Adapted from Slow Cooker Revolution

BAH Tip:  I have started to keep my Thai chiles in the freezer.  Instead of trying to stem, seed, and dice the buggers, I use my microplane to grate them directly into my bowl.

BAH Note:  The recipe can be prepared through the end of cooking the chicken, transferred to a dutch oven, and then refrigerated.  When you’re ready to finish, simply transfer the dutch oven to the stove top, reheat, and continue with the recipe.  I used this method and found that the chicken fell off the bone with the mere stir of a wooden spoon.  IF the leftovers had survived for longer than a day, I would have added some more chicken broth and dropped some cooked egg noodles in for the most luxurious chicken soup.

  • 1 pound carrots, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 2 Thai or jalapeno chiles, stemmed, seeded, and minced (See Tip above)
  • 2 tablespoons fresh ginger, grated
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 2 cups chicken broth
  • 1 stalk lemon grass, bruised
  • 1/4 cup Minute tapioca
  • 3 pounds chicken thighs, bone in or boneless, skins removed
  • 1 cup frozen butternut squash cubes
  • 1 can coconut milk
  • juice of 2 limes
  • 1 tablespoon fish sauce
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar

Combine the carrots, onions, chiles, ginger, and vegetable oil in a medium bowl and microwave for approximately 10 minutes until the vegetables soften.  Transfer the vegetable mixture to your slow cooker.

While the vegetables microwave, season your chicken thighs with salt and pepper and set aside.

After the vegetables have been transferred to the crock pot, stir in the broth and tapioca and add the lemongrass.  Place the chicken in the crock pot, cover, and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours until the chicken is done.  About 30 minutes before the chicken is done, add the frozen cubed squash to the slow cooker.

Transfer the chicken to a cutting board and once it has cooled slightly, shred it into pieces.

Allow the liquid in the crock pot to settle then skim any fat from the surface and remove the lemongrass.

Pour the coconut milk into a microwave safe bowl and heat on high for 2 to 3 minutes or until it is hot.  Stir the lime juice, fish sauce, and brown sugar into the hot coconut milk and then add it to the crock pot.  Return the chicken to the slow cooker and stir to combine.

{printable recipe}

Chicken

Flashback Friday – Notes On A Recipe, Ina’s Mustard Chicken Salad

by Wendi2 Comments on Flashback Friday – Notes On A Recipe, Ina’s Mustard Chicken Salad

Flashback Friday

The following originally appeared on 2/18/09 at Exit 51.

Notes On A Recipe – Ina’s Mustard Chicken Salad

I love a good chicken salad. Its one of those dishes that, when done right,  can shine in its simplicity.  In many ways, it is the ultimate test of a cook.  Almost anyone can learn fancy techniques that dazzle and delight.  But how many of us, when faced with the challenge of taking a bare minimum of the simplest of ingredients, can create a dish that is memorable because it hits all the right notes, because it becomes more than you imagined possible?

Ina's Mustard Chicken Salad

I don’t have a recipe for my go-to chicken salad.  It comes from the prepared food case at The Fresh Market and is everything I want in my chicken salad.  As far as I can tell, there are three ingredients – chicken, celery, and mayo.  That’s all it needs.  And it is the standard by which I measure all other chicken salads.

During my weekend with Ina, she made Mustard Chicken Salad, which uses both mayonnaise and mustard.  I’ve long known the beauty of mixing mayo and mustard together.  Have you ever dipped pretzels in a mix of mustard and mayo?  If not, I’ll wait here while you go experiment.  Start with a couple of tablespoons of mayo and gradually add mustard till it’s creamy and tangy at the same time.

See what I mean?  That’s good stuff.  So I imagined that a chicken salad that used one of my favorite flavor combinations would be a home run.  But I think it ran out of steam somewhere around second base.  I prefer to have a drier chicken salad, not too wet and definitely not thick or gloppy.  And while not gloppy thanks to the white wine, Ina’s  Mustard Chicken Salad is just too wet for my taste.  I can’t imagine a slice of bread being structurally sound enough to support a sandwich made of this.

But all is not lost. Because when added to a mix of lettuce and spinach, you’ve got yourself a lovely salad.  The wetness of the chicken salad provides just enough of a dressing to moisten the greens.  This would make a light lunch by itself, or pair it with some soup and you’ve got a fuss free dinner.   So if you’ve got the few simple ingredients on hand that go into Ina’s Mustard Chicken Salad, I think it’s worth a try.

Mustard Chicken Salad

Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa Back To Basics

  • 2 whole (4 split) chicken breasts, bone-in, skin-on
  • Good olive oil
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 cups broccoli florets
  • 1 1/2 cups good mayonnaise
  • 2 tablespoons dry white wine
  • 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
  • 3 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
  • 2 tablespoons minced fresh tarragon leaves
  • 1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the chicken breasts on a sheet pan and rub the skin with olive oil. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until the chicken is just cooked. Set aside until cool enough to handle. Remove the meat from the bones, discard the skin, and dice the chicken in large bite-size pieces.

Meanwhile, add the broccoli florets to a large pot of salted boiling water. Cook for 1 minute, until crisp tender, drain, and place into a bowl of ice water until cool. This will stop the cooking and set the bright green color.

For the dressing, whisk together the mayonnaise, wine, mustards, 1 tablespoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Add enough sauce to the warm chicken to moisten well. Add the tarragon, broccoli, and tomatoes and mix gently to combine. Refrigerate for a few hours to allow the flavors to blend. Serve at room temperature.

Chicken, Main Course

Chicken and Lentils

by Wendi17 Comments on Chicken and Lentils

Here is how I derail my South Beach experience.  I take a perfectly fine, SB friendly recipe, and I monkey with it.  The chicken and lentils recipe that you’ll find on page 284 of Supercharged has no mention of chicken thighs.  And it certainly does not include 2/3 of a cup of Israeli couscous.  That was all my doing.

I take full responsibility…for every delicious bite of it.

Chicken and Lentils

Adapted from South Beach Supercharged

BAH Note: Regardless of whether you make the SB friendly version of this or my super special version, do yourself a favor and double the recipe from the get go.  This is one of those dishes that you enjoy more as leftovers.  So make enough to stash some in the freezer for later.

BAH Tip: If you’ve made some of those butter braised onions, substitute them for the chopped onion in the recipe.  Omit the olive oil and just begin by heating the onions and herbs in the pot.

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1/4 teaspoon each dried basil and dried oregano
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1 pound chicken thighs, boneless and skinless
  • 1 (15 ounce) can lentils, rinsed and drained
  • 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
  • 1 (14.4 ounce) can chicken broth
  • 2/3 cup Israeli couscous

Heat the oil in a dutch oven over medium heat.  Add the onion, basil, oregano, and a pinch of kosher salt and cook until the onion softens, stirring occasionally.  Add the tomato paste and cook for another 3 minutes.  Stir in the chicken broth and scrape up any bits from the bottom of the pan.

Add the chicken, lentils, and diced tomatoes.  Bring to a boil, cover, reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.  Stir in the couscous and cook uncovered for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Chicken, Main Course

Quick Coq au Vin

by Wendi22 Comments on Quick Coq au Vin

I don’t know what you think of this picture.  But I’ve tasted that meal.  And despite how unphotogenic it may be, it scores a perfect 10 on taste.  Braised chicken, BACON, rich wine sauce, and pearl onions.  How could it be anything but good?

Despite the fact that this recipe is the brainchild of Cook’s Illustrated, this is not a sign that I have called a truce with his Bowtiedness.  I remain resolute in my stance that I will never again contribute to CK’s golden parachute through yearly subscription fees to the magazine.

I haven’t yet named a replacement for CI.  But I’m holding follow up interviews with Fine Cooking, Bon Appetit, and Saveur.  It would really sway my opinion if one of those titles had something magically delicious like this in an upcoming issue.

Quick Coq au Vin

Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated

BAH Note:  CI calls for boneless, skinless thighs to be cut in half.  I used a combination of boneless and bone in thighs.  If you use bone in thighs, you wont’ be able to cut them in half but you will still want to remove the skin and as much fat as possible.  If using boneless thighs, your cooking time will be less than mine.

  • 1 bottle red wine
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 can chicken broth
  • 6 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 6 – 8 ounces thick cut bacon, cut into lardons
  • 2 – 3 pounds chicken thighs, skin removed and trimmed of fat
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 1 cup frozen pearl onions, thawed
  • 8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 2 tablespoons flour

Combine wine, chicken broth, bay leaf, and thyme in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil over medium high heat and reduce by half.  Once reduced, remove from heat and discard the thyme and bay leaf.

While the liquid is reducing, cook the bacon in a dutch oven over medium heat until well browned and the fat has rendered.  Transfer the bacon to a paper towel lined plate and drain off the bacon fat.

Return 1 tablespoon of the bacon fat to dutch oven and heat over medium high flame.  When just smoking, add half of the chicken and cook for 2 minutes on each side until lightly browned.  Transfer the chicken to a plate and brown the remaining chicken in another 1 tablespoon of the bacon fat.  Transfer the rest of the chicken to a plate.

Melt the butter in the empty pot over medium high heat.  Add the pearl onions and mushrooms and cook for approximately 10 to 15 minutes until the mushrooms release their liquid and the onions and mushrooms begin to brown.  Add the tomato paste to the pot and cook for 30 seconds before adding the flour.  Cook for another minute and then add the reduced wine mixture and deglaze the pot.

Return the chicken and any accumulated juices to the pot along with half of the bacon.  Bring to a boil, cover the pot, reduce the heat and simmer for 45 minutes until the chicken is cooked through, stirring occasionally.

Serve the chicken and sauce garnished with the rest of the bacon.

{printable recipe}

Chicken, Main Course

One Pot Chicken Bake

by Wendi10 Comments on One Pot Chicken Bake
not my actual kitchen. image from http://www.morguefile.com

I have carried this recipe with me for the last 11 years.  That would be two apartments and one house for those of you wondering.  Making this still makes me think of that very first apartment.  It was the second floor of a house that had been converted into an apartment. Not that that is at all unusual; people convert single family homes into multi-unit dwellings all the time.  The unusual detail is that from my bedroom window I could look out and see my grandmother’s front porch.  From my living room, I could see her laundry hanging in the back yard.

My apartment was in the house right next door to the house I had grown up in.  So there was always this sense of being at home.  My apartment living room was where my grandmother’s bedroom was.  The kitchen was where my brother, then I, then my sister had our bedroom.  My bedroom was where my grandfather’s room was.  Everything about the space was familiar, from the polished wood floors that creaked in the nights to the black and white tile in the bathroom to the curving line of the ceiling in the back rooms.

I spent seven years there, eating my meals off of my grandmother’s old kitchen table.  Those meals were cooked on a tiny, half sized stove.  The oven was barely wide enough to hold a cookie sheet and the stovetop was so narrow that I couldn’t have two big pots on it at the same time.  Despite all that, and my general lack of cooking skills at the time, I occasionally managed to produce a meal that stood out.  They truly were few and far between but I promise you they were real.  As real as knowing that my next door neighbor would always check to make sure I got home safely at night, that she would call if she saw my car parked at home on a work day, and that it took less than 60 seconds to get from my living room to hers.

I remember that apartment fondly; it was where I needed to be at the time.  It makes me sad to see strangers coming out of there now when I go over to my grandmother’s.  I still feel a sense of ownership over that space on the second floor.  When I look up at the bedroom window, I half expect to see my younger self looking back down at me.  Who knows, maybe now the ghost of that younger me is what makes the wooden floors creak in the night.

One Pot Chicken Bake

Adapted from Baltimore Sun

BAH Note:  The original recipe has you bake this in a 10×15 dish.  I personally don’t own a 10×15 baking dish and even if I did, it works perfectly well to bake it in a dutch oven or other large pot.

  • 3 tablespoons flour
  • 2 teaspoons paprika
  • 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 2 to 3 pounds bone in chicken thighs, skins removed
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 pound mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 can (14.5 ounces) chicken broth
  • 28 ounces diced tomatoes in juice
  • 1 teaspoon dried marjoram

Heat the oven to 350 degrees and combine the flour, paprika, and cayenne in a shallow dish.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a dutch oven over medium heat.  Dredge the chicken in the flour mixture and, working in batches, brown the chicken on both sides.  Transfer the chicken to a plate.

Add the remaining oil to the dutch oven and cook the onions for about 5 minutes, or until they begin to soften.  Add the mushrooms and cook until they release their liquid.  Stir in the chicken broth, diced tomatoes, and marjoram and bring to a boil.  Add the chicken and any accumulated juices to the pot and bake 45 minutes to 1 hour until the chicken is done.

{printable recipe}