Hobbit Diet Day 1: Braised Chicken with Baby Artichoke

I'm currently working on a food challenge of eating like a Hobbit for 30 days. That's seven meals a day! If there's any outstanding recipes I made during this crazy journey, I will share with you here. 

When I scheduled a test kitchen day at work, I didn't think about it being the first day of the Hobbit Diet. Not that it would change anything but it was interesting for me to try to log what I just made into MyFitnessPal app.

What was I going to test? Braised Chicken with Baby Artichokes, originally from Williams-Sonoma blog. 

Fortunately, someone else made a similar recipe--actually, one of the recipes I considered testing--and added the calorie counts to the database. Surprisingly, this recipe is quite a healthy one at 280 calories per serving (if serving 6).

My lab rats...I meant, coworkers...were VERY happy with the results. The sauce. Oh my god the sauce! It's just awesome.

Easy one pot supper, I tell you!

I made it again for on Day 17 at home so Brandon could try Baby Artichokes. I served it with leftover rotini pasta, and that was a great idea. Brandon like the preparation but did not care for the artichokes...or the tomatoes (of course). That is fine because now I have all the leftover to myself.

For the next few days, I ate the leftover tossed in with the pasta. I think I like that even better than the chicken by itself.

I'm with Frieda

I now work for Frieda's Specialty Produce and loving it. It's not permanent yet, but I'm telling you guys anyway for full disclosure.

This job is a foodie's dream comes true. I get to hear about exciting fruits and vegetables every day, and once in a while I get to take something home to play with.  Employee sales also yield a bounty of great loot and there is always something new to discover.

For example, I was sent home with some Kale Sprouts, a hybrid of Red Russian Kale and Brussels Sprouts. Essentially, combining Brandon's favorite new vegetable and my all time favorite vegetable into one!  I grabbed a recipe suggestion for Brussels Sprouts from Girl + Fire Paulette and cooked up these little purple-tinted beauties. A rough "add this and that for that much" recipe is below.

I mentioned the employee sale a minute ago.  The staff in the warehouse loves me now because I'm an easy target. With a little nudge, I'd buy the farm!

My very first order for the sale, I didn't order correctly so there was no produce set out for me to pick up. The guy in charge just had me take a peek at all that was still available.  I intended to only buy Baby Potatoes and Lady Apples. I walked out with Lady Apples, Meyer Lemons, Zululand Baby Pineapples, and Heirloom Tomatoes!  The following week, I didn't have exact change, so the same guy showed me some Rambutans, and instead of trying make some change, I ended up ordering more stuff.

My safety jacket for the warehouse might as well just say, "SUCKER" on the back! LOL

Needless to say, I went ahead and canceled my Tanaka Farms CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) subscription. I really did love that program and it was a tough one to let go of. As I told you guys, we eventually reduced our subscription about a box a month and we still can't keep up.  There are only two people in this household, y'all, and one of them can be a picky eater at times. The produce just kept piling up.

Going forward, Brandon and I can still have a culinary adventure whenever we feel like it, and we'll supplement the rest with the Farmer's Market on Sundays in Long Beach. That's good too because I really miss going to the market.

Anyways. My new cooking adventures will be a very interesting one indeed. I hope you'll come along!

Now, the "recipe" for a very addictive Kale Sprouts dish.

Pan-roasted Kale Sprouts with Bacon and Brown Sugar

This recipe is not measured in anyway. Be brave and trust your judgement! :)

Ingredients:

• About 3-4 oz. of Kale Sprouts. You can get them in bulk at some places and prepackaged in the other. You can just use Brussels Sprouts for this.
• 4 strips of bacon
• A splash of water or chicken broth
• 1 clove of garlic, minced. (Just press it through a garlic press.)
• A pat of butter
• A generous pinch of brown sugar - about a tablespoon
• Salt and pepper to taste

First, cook up your bacon in a skillet until crispy. Save about a tablespoon of bacon dripping. (Some would cook whole slices then crumble them later. I like to chop mine up first and fry up the bits.)

While the bacon is cooking, prep the Kale Sprouts. Give it a wash then trim of the bottom like you'd do with Brussels Sprouts. Halve the larger ones. Leave the little ones whole.

Add Kale Sprouts to the hot bacon dripping, season lightly with salt (bacon is already salty!).  Saute for a few minutes until the Sprouts wilt a little.

[Now, if you're doing this with Brussels Sprouts, you cook until they're nice and brown.]

Add a splash of water/broth to de-glaze the pan. Add garlic.  Once it comes to bubbling/sizzling, let reduce a bit, [if using Brussels Sprouts, until they're fork tender]. Add the pat of butter, brown sugar, and the bacon. Toss to coat.  Season to taste.

Voila! (Sorry. We were so hungry I didn't stop to plate it for a photo!)

2009 New Recipe Goal #1: Turkey Sloppy Joe's

One of my goals (NOT resolutions) this year is to cook at least one new recipe a month.

I've studied Jamie Oliver's "Jamie At Home" that Nhien got for me for my birthday. I've gone back to thumb through the Food Network Favorites my sister-in-law got for me a couple of years ago. Next up is to start sifting through my folder full of ripped-out recipes to pick some more potential.

However, last night, I craved Sloppy Joe's and found myself without any sauce on hand.

So I saught help from the Queen of Burgers and the Sloppy Joe's. Rachael doesn't disappoint me with the Turkey Sloppy Joe's recipe. I served that on ciabatta sandwich rolls.

The recipe is a little hard to get through because it is written for kids to cook. But it boils down to this: brown the meat, add the veggies, the sauce, simmer, serve. All in no time at all!

My notes on this is minimal, really. I only have yellow onion on hand and no bell pepper. I also threw in 2 cloves of garlic. As the case of may of Rachael's turkey recipe, I added more Worchestershire sauce and more grill seasoning to get the flavor right where I want it. I also added a little tobasco and apple cider vinegar for the zip and tang.

Oh, and I didn't get all the way through with the chees fries. Just the Joe's.

One down. At least 12 more to go!

Foolproof Breakfast Frittata

AKA Oakley's Famous Breakfast Skillet.

A Sunday favorite born out of pure laziness to clean too many pans for making breakfast. I scoured the web back in the days to look for a one-skillet option. Many variations later, I now have this frittata down solid.

Everything is adjustable to your liking to pretty much use this as your guide and go forth on your own, Egg Master! :)

Oakley's Egg and Potato Breakfast Frittata

This recipe can feed from 2-4 people. I usually do 4 eggs for 2 of us, but 6 eggs will feed 4 people easy.

You will need: 4 strips of bacon (or any breakfast meat you like), half a bag of frozen Potato O'Brien (cubed potatoes with peppers and onions), 4-6 eggs, shredded cheddar cheese, mik/cream/broth and seasonings.

In a cast iron skillet or oven-proof regular one over medium heat, fry up 4 strips of bacon however you'd like i.e. chop them up first and fry, or fry in strips and chop 'em later. I do the latter to save on washing the cutting board and knife. If you don't do bacon, cook up whatever breakfast meat you'd like here. Crumble that and set aside.

Meanwhile, mix together 4-6 eggs (see above), a splash of milk/cream/broth, a pinch each of salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder. If you like some heat like us, throw in a pinch of cayenne too. Whisk and set aside.

Take the bacon out of the skillet when done cooking and save the fat to cook the rest. (Or if you want to go a little healthy, you can drain the fat and use olive oil.) If it doesn't look like it has enough fat to fry the Potato O'Brien, add a few drizzles of olive oil.



Turn on your broiler.

Break up a bag of Potato O'Brien and put about half a bag into the hot pan. Spread the potato out in a single layer. Sprinkle with Seasoning Salt, a bit of ground pepper, a pinch of garlic powder, and cayenne pepper if you'd like. Stir. Let the potato cooks for a while before you stir and spread again so the little cubes will brown and the onions caramelized nicely. Stir it up a few more times.

Once the potato is, say, 50% browned, pour the egg mixture into the pan and turn the heat to low. Mix the potato and the eggs, scraping off the bottom of the pan, and let it sit until the egg is starting to set. It's important that it's still a little runny.

Sprinkle 2 handfuls of shredded cheddar cheese on top, and then the crumbled bacon. Put the skillet in the broiler.

Check in a few minutes until the cheese is browned. Take out the skillet. Rest for a few minutes. Slice and serve.

Steak and Egg Dinner

I watched Giada makes the Grilled Tuscan Steak with Fried Egg and Goat Cheese last weekend and I had been thinking about it all week.

Since Brandon is out of town all week, I felt a little guilty to buy any steaks from the grocery stores at they come pre-packaged in two. I could've gone to ones with a butcher shop and get just one steak, I supposed, but none of those stores are nearby.

Fortunately for me, Fresh & Easy carries single rib-eye steaks and surprisingly not-very-goaty goat cheese.

First of all, it's REALLY simple to make. I mean, you can grill outdoor or indoor, or if you're like me, you would just cook it up in your cast iron skillet.

If you're like me, you'd season your steak on that little container/butcher paper it comes in. And if you're like me and not wanting to dirty up your knife and cutting board, you can just rip the parsley onto your plate. Then, the only thing you really need to clean afterward is the pan you fry your egg with.

Lazy does it simpler! Haha.

While the steak rests, I used the same pan to fry the egg--just had to swirl the leftover fat around the pan and then bring the heat way down from cooking the steak earlier. See? One pan!

I served this with a side of spring mix salad tossed with just Italian dressing.

Pim's Braised Chicken

Chez Pim's food blog is what this one wants to be when it grows up.

After drooling over her braised pork belly recipe for a while, Pim posted the Five Spice Braised Chicken recipe. With a husband on a diet (that I keep unintentionally wreck by bringing home treats from Lemonade), pork belly wasn't going to be an option. Besides, I don't know if Brandon would like the texture of a braised pork belly. The chicken recipe would be perfect.

I followed her recipe except for using leg-thigh pieces and that I didn't mix my own 5-spice out of pure laziness. (Pim makes her own.) I also added a pinch of brown sugar to round out the flavors and a few squeezes of lemon to brighten things up at the end. I also served mine with rice and blanched bok choy.

The chicken is obviously tender and flavorful. The sauce is just fantastic.

With the flavors like that, I start to ponder the pork belly version. Hmm....

Best One-Pot Chicken Yet

I came back from Hawaii to a DVR full of stuff. In there waiting for me was Giada's Turkey Osso Buco with Parsley and Rosemary Gremolata.

It looks incredibly delicious and simple I just HAD to make it. I mean, I have been away from cooking for a while. I started to get the shakes! This recipe seemed to be perfect for my triumphant return to the kitchen.

My problem? Not finding the "1/2 breast of turkey (cut into 3 pieces, preferably by the butcher) " Just a big hunk of turkey breast. So, I just went with a whole cut up chicken instead.

And of course, I added more thyme into the pot replace rosemary, and chopped up the leaves for the gremolata. For the gremolata, I used a dash of gray salt instead of regular salt. I also braised the chicken for 45 minutes, then I flipped them around and stuck them back in there for another 30 minutes.

Oh my god. The frickin' gremolata!! I mean, the dish by itself is one thing. But once you put the topping on it, it's transformed into something else heavenly.

This one pot meal quickly becomes the new favorite "Italian chicken in a pot thing" for the household.

Easiest Meal for a Crowd

Giada's Bollito Misto. Feeding a dozen people have never been quite this easy.

Brown the meat. Add broth and aromatics. Simmer for an hour. Add potatoes and carrots. Simmer for another hour. Fish out the veggies. Slice the meat. Reduce juice to gravy.

While cooking, throw parsley, garlic, shallots, vinegar and olive oil together into the food processor for salsa verde. (You can just chop everything up and mix with the liquids for chunkier salsa but I was just lazy.) Rinse that out and then toss Gorgonzola, mayo and mustard in for a whirl and voila, Gorgonzola Sauce.

Sure it took a few hours to cook. But it's really easy to manage.

And no. I can't seem to go to sleep tonight. Heh.

Roman Saturday

I made two things in Giada's Day Ahead Dishes yesterday, the Roman-style Chicken and potatoes and onions.

Oh the sauce. THE SAUCE! It's so fricking fantastic, guys. I actually saved the sauce so I can dip some bread in it as a meal later or something. It was just fabulous.

The only thing I changed in the chicken recipe is that instead of 4 chicken breasts and 2 thighs, I used a family pack of chicken thighs which had 12. So much cheaper than getting a pack each of breasts and thighs and quite tasty. I had to brown the chicken in 2 batches, yielding a lot of oil at the end so I poured that out and saved about 2 TBS. to continue with the recipe. Otherwise, everything was all according to the recipe.

As for the potatoes, of course, I substituted thyme for rosemary. And I cut up one onion into chunks instead of using the bitty pearl onions. Because I'm lazy like that. LOL.

Irish Feast...sort of

For the past 5 years, I have been cooking up this recipe of 1996 Bon Appetit Beef Stew with Stout Guinness.



(ETA: Picture above is from 2009 St. Patty's feast.)

I kept to the recipe more or less every year, adding a bay leaf or two and doubling the portion to serve 4. A few more spoons of cornstarch to thicken, and pinches of brown sugar and a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce has been added to round out the taste.

The recipe called for the stew to be served with a side of Colcanon, mashed potatoes with kale. I used to just do mashed potatoes, but the public demanded potatoes IN the stew. And I obliged.

The challenge wasn't the stew but the proportion. Let me just say that I have NEVER cooked with 4 lbs. of meat before.

Yep. 4 lbs. of stew beef, 6 carrots, 2 bags of baby Russet potatoes, 3 onions, a pack of whole white mushrooms (because I have it laying around), 2 bottles of Guinness, 1.5 cartons of beef stock, 2 bay leaves, a few sprigs of thyme, about a table spoon or two of brown sugar, a few shakes of Worcestershire, and, as always, a few spoonfuls of cornstarch + broth to thicken things up.

And a VERY big pot.

I fed all 8 with leftover of maybe 4 servings more.

For dessert, I searched the web and found a recipe for a Bailey's Irish Cream Fruit Dip which I modified slightly. Now it doubles fantastically as frosting for Giada's almond cupcakes. (I just did the cake and instead of the raspberry cream, I use the Bailey's dip.)

Mix together:
One 8-oz. tub CoolWhip, thawed
One 5-oz. packet vanilla instant pudding
1/2 c. Bailey's
1/2 c. milk (Original recipe called for one cup. I think that may just be too soupy.)

Served with fruits, white/angel food cake, a bar of chocolate. Whatever! Just don't let the kids near it. It has quite a kick for a harmless looking sweet treat. :)

Short Ribs and Pasta

This recipe takes 3 hours plus. Definitely not a weeknight weekend, folks. But it is definitely worth the time.

My Italian Goddess Giada's Short Ribs with Tagliatelle

My notes:

1. I didn't use the tagliatelle pasta, just the spaghetti I have on hand.

2. I didn't use the food processor for the veggies. Instead, I chopped everything up real fine and just plop the diced tomatoes and tomato paste right on top. It gives the sauce a very rustic feel. I also used baby carrots in this, sliced up.

3. If mixing sweet and savory doesn't appeal to you, instead of the bittersweet chocolate, go ahead and grate your parmesan right on top. Equally tasty!

One-Pot Chicken Stew

I'm always on a quest for a one-pot dinner. (On that note, the Dave & Mike Cioppino CAN be a one pot meal too.) Thankfully, Food Network has a whole section on it. I settle on the very simple Dave Lieberman's Hearty Chicken Stew.

It takes about 2 hours from start to finish, but it makes a HUGE pot and well worth the cooking time. The broth, pre-seasoned, was sweet (from the carrots) and super duper tasty. More salt and pepper later, it was just perfect.

Another thing Dave didn't mention but I would add is when you're taking out the chicken to get shredded, fish out the thyme branches. Scrape the leaves back into the pot and discard the chewy stems.

Dave & Mike Cioppino

The first time I've heard of Cioppino was on Road Tasted. Jamie and Bobby stopped in San Francisco for some super tasty soup and it looked fantastic.

I was supremely joyous when Michael Chiarello made it on his show over the holidays. It was so simple! But this is one dish I can never make at my house. Brandon is allergic to the iodine in seafood. So, no seafood stew for the Borens.

Recently, I had the chance to cook for a group of girl friends at one of their houses. Of course, I jumped to the chance to make this fantastic dish!

This is my own adaptation from a very simple and affordable Dave Lieberman's version and Michael Chiarello's technique.

DAVE & MIKE CIOPPINO
This makes quite a big pot - I'd say it'd serve 8 easy.

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, finely diced
1 small fennel, finely diced
8 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 cup white wine
2 cups water
1 cup clam juice
2 (28-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
(Optional - crushed red pepper flakes)
1 pound mild white flaky fish, cut into 2 to 3-inch pieces
1 pound mussels, cleaned and beards removed
8 ounces medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
18 to 24 littleneck clams
1 small bunch flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped, for garnish
1/2 stick of unsalted butter
Crusty Bread

* Note on the seafood: I didn't have littleneck clams so I upped the shrimp to 1 lbs. and we tossed in some thawed mini scallops in there for good measure. You can switch things around to your liking. I would've used the big ol' scallops if I was thinking things through correctly. Hehe. And for the fish, I used orange roughy because it was available. Michael Chiarello also used scallops and crab legs. More fun!

1. Heat oil in large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and fennel. Cook until beginning to soften, 3 to 5 minutes.

2. Add garlic, bay leaves, oregano. Stir that around a tad. Then add white wine, water, clam juice, and tomatoes. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and simmer for 5 minutes (or longer...I just kept mine on simmer until I'm done with the next steps). Season with salt and pepper (and red pepper flakes if you'd like some heat), to taste.

2.5 If you want to make it a one-pot meal, skip #3 and go straight to #4. #3 just bring out more flavor from the fish and scallops.

3. In a separate pan, heat up some olive oil. Lightly season the fish with salt and pepper and brown each side, about 2-3 minutes. It'll finish cooking in the soup so don't worry about doneness. Set aside. If you're using scallops, ditto. Reserving the juices.

3.5 If your party hasn't arrived yet, wait to proceed with Step 4. It'll only take 5 minutes to finish up.

4. Add the fish + scallops, mussels, shrimp and clams, in that order. Let cook, covered and undisturbed, until the clams and mussels have opened and the shrimp are cooked through, 5 to 7 minutes.

5. Stir in unsalted butter. Garnish with chopped parsley.

6. Spoon into bowls and serve immediately while hot with crusty bread.