What's cooking at Jerk Castle . . .

Thai Ginger Chicken

As you may realize by the recipes posted here, i am a huge asian food fan and am always looking for simple Thai dishes to make at home. . . this recipe posted on real simple's web site called out to me with its use of cilantro, jalapeno and coconut milk. . .and was a good way to use eggplant, a vegetable that i usually neglect. 

Tips:

1) we used low fat coconut milk which was a little bland and had a watery consistency so if you can handle the fat, go for the real thing.

2) when we heated up the leftovers i mixed in the rice with the chicken mixture and it was better that way. . . next time i will mix the rice right in instead of serving it over the rice. 

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/thai-ginger-chicken-10000001167922/index.html

It was very tasty. . .not as slop-like as the picture would make it seem. . . i promise.

  

Pineapple Glazed Chicken with Jalapeno Salsa

 

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2010/03/pineapple_glazed_chicken_with_jalapeno_salsa

After having a Friday night dinner binge at Freemans in the LES, (a fabulous dinner which included appetizers of artichoke dip and spicy and delicious buffalo wings), we decided we needed to slow down the rest of the weekend and eat at home. I chose this recipe for dinner Saturday night because pineapple and jalapeno together sounded perfect to me and we also needed a somewhat low fat option. The chicken breasts were very juicy and the glaze stood out . . . the salsa also had a good kick from the jalapeno. . . our only problem was that our pineapple was not fully ripe so the salsa was not as sweet as it should be. . .. still, we enjoyed it and would make it again. . . hopefully with a much riper pineapple. 

Tips: 1) we thought the salsa needed some liquid so we added a small amount of pineapple juice and a drizzle of olive oil and 2) 15 minutes in the oven was not long enough in our oven for it to be ready for the 5 minute broiling step- the skin was burning from the broiling but it was not cooked thru so we needed to put it back in the oven and bake for an additional  7 or 8 more minutes.  

Tonight, we will have the leftover chicken breasts for dinner. . .  I am  thinking of grilling our extra pineapple on our grill pan to bring out its sweetness and then adding it into the salsa . . . .here is a grilled pineapple relish recipe that i think would also be wonderful with these glazed chicken breasts:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/throwdown-with-bobby-flay/rum-glazed-pork-tenderloin-with-grilled-pineapple-relish-recipe/index.html

Enjoy the weather and your Sunday! 

Chicken under a brick

 

Chicken under a brick is a favorite of mine. .. . basically the chicken is butterflyed and cooked with a brick on top in a skillet resulting in perfect crisped skin and moist and tender on the inside (who doesn't like that?)

This recipe, adapted from Cooks Illustrated, was fairly easy . . .and uses a dutch oven placed on top of the chicken as the weight instead of a brick, which worked out great for us since we didn't have a brick laying around. . . 

Ingredients needed:

2 teaspoons minced fresh sage leaves

1 medium clove garlic, minced

Table salt and ground black pepper

1 whole chicken (3 pounds), butterflied  (ask the butcher to butterfly it for you)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1. Mix the sage, garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a small bowl.
2. Loosen the skin on each leg and thigh. (Get in there) Rub the herb mixture under the skin. Then loosen the skin covering the breast and rub the remaining herb mixture under the skin. Lightly season chicken with salt and pepper. Let stand at room temperature 15 minutes.
3. Heat the oil in a large sauté pan (we used a cast iron skillet which worked out really well). Cover bottom of a Dutch oven or stock pot, with foil and fill with 5 quarts water. 
4. Once the oil is shimmering, lay the chicken skin side down in sauté pan. Set the Dutch oven on top to hold the chicken flat.
    
5. Cook over a medium-high heat until skin is nicely browned, about 10 to 15 minutes.
6. Remove Dutch oven; turn chicken skin side up. Replace Dutch oven and continue cooking until instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of the breast reads 165, app. 15-20 more minutes. 
7. Transfer the chicken to a plate to rest and tent with foil.

Serve with whatever greens and starch you want. . .you really can't go wrong. Enjoy!

 

Jerk Chicken

It is a little embarrassing that with this blog title this is the first jerk recipe on the blog and my first attempt at jerk chicken ever. . .  i found this recipe in some magazine that the knot.com started sending me after i got married, called  "the nest" but hey, i will try recipes from almost any source.

The marinade wasn't too complicated compared to the thousands of ingredients typically in jerk marinade. . . and very flavorful, although not spicy enough for me- (i guess Dave Leiberman does not like a lot of spice-next time i will try using a habanero instead of jalapeno).

tip: we used a cast iron skillet to cook the chicken which worked out great- crispy skin and juicy inside (if you do not have one you are missing out- get one and keep it forever- it is a kitchen item you are supposed to pass on to your grandkids).

here you go:

http://www.thenest.com/Recipes/33140/detailview.aspx?id=33140&type=7&recipe_ingredients=Chicken&pageIndex=1&PgReferrer=search&MsdVisit=1

Grilled Chicken Breasts with Honeydew salsa

I don't really have that much to say about this recipe except that I'm a fan-  sweet, tangy and light and I am always looking for ways to jazz up chicken breasts. . . this will definitely be a summer staple.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Grilled-Chicken-Breasts-with-Honeydew-Salsa-354333

tips: i used a jalapeno pepper (seeds removed) instead of a serrano chile and it seemed to work just fine with the other flavors.  .  . i also threw the left over salsa and chicken in a spinach salad the next day for lunch and it was fantastic.

Red Curry Chicken

For those of you a little hesitant to try out a curry at home or those of you like me who don't generally order it at thai restaurants bc coconut milk is so fattening, this dish is super easy and really tasty using light coconut milk. My friend Todd introduced me to this recipe a while back and i made it for steven when we were first dating in an effort to impress him (i guess it worked). . . i had forgotten about it until last week when we had a curry craving. . . we will now keep it as a standby. 

The recipe  is right from the jar of the thai kitchen curry paste so you won't have to look far for it (the one on the jar that i just bought is actually for shrimp, so i had to just adjust the cooking time for chicken).

Adapted from my jar of curry paste and tweeked for chicken:

*In a large saucepan simmer one 14 fl. oz of coconut milk (if you are worried about fat- or should be-use light coconut milk) with 1/2 to 1tbsp red curry paste (i use 1.5 bc we like a kick) over medium heat for 5 minutes.

*Add 1 to 2 tbsp. (i used around 1.5) fish sauce (if you are going to do asian food, you better have this around), 2 tbsps. brown sugar, 1/2 cup frozen peas or other vegetables (we used a ton more veggies- not frozen- and added water chestnuts and bamboo shoots) and 1/3 cup water. 

*Simmer around 5 minutes stirring occassionally until the veggies seem a bit cooked but still a little crunchy. 

* Stir in cut up/cubed chicken cutlets (we had a little less than 1 pd of chicken cutlets that i cut into small stir-fry size pieces) and simmer for approximately 8-10 minutes checking on the chicken to make sure it is done.

Garnish with basil and/or cilantro and serve with rice.

Of course, here is a peek at ours:

My next attempt is chicken with chili and basil (my all time favorite thai food dish). . .i'll let you know how it turns out.

Please send over any tips. . .

Tortilla Chicken Drumsticks

We are back on- it was a long stretch without the kitchen, but totally worth it now that i can just pull pots out of a drawer instead of having to sit on the floor and take out all of them to get to one in the back.

Here is a pic of our wonderful shiny new kitchen. . .

 

We inaugurated the new kitchen by making tortilla chicken drumsticks with rice and black beans (notice all the dishes in the sink?)- found this recipe in gourmet magazine and we loved it- crunchy chicken with a kick- the tortilla flavor was killer.  The chicken is coated with tortilla chips mixed with some spices and pulsed in a blender.  Don't overdue it, because it is the coarsly chopped chips that makes the chicken coating so crunchy.

http://www.gourmet.com/recipes/2000s/2009/05/tortilla-chicken-drumsticks

Steven insisted that we use blue corn chips for the hell of it-  the chicken was really tasty even though it looked a little weird and dark in the pics- ugly but tasty-trust me on this one. . .

Chicken Sofrito

we had a wonderful dinner at The Good Fork in Red Hook** friday night (after another IKEA trip) and then decided we needed to get back to cooking for saturday and sunday and save some cash. . .saturday was fabulously warm and we had some quality time in the sun at the NY Botanical Garden (after making a trip to the Bronx to purchase tile for the kitchen that luckily left us just a few minutes from the gardens) and then we made a very necessary stop at Cafe Habana for some corn cuban style. 

 

we made it home in time to rest a bit before embarking on chicken sofrito. this recipe is a favorite of ours- crispy chicken and flavorful rice.  it is, however, NOT a quick recipe. . .at least not for us- definitely a weekend recipe. (if you have someone to cook with, it goes much quicker if one of you browns the chicken while the other one puts the ingredients together.)

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/chicken-sofrito

 

tips- we found the rice to be a bit mushier than i would like this time around- next time i will use a bit less chicken broth. also, you might be tempted, but do not skip the broiling step- the broiling crisps the chicken skin to perfection.

After dinner, I got the urge to make rice krispies treats- haven't made them since i was ten years old and it was really fun- they are seriously my favorite and i am not sure why it took me 25 years to bust out the marshmallows.

 how much do you want to eat this whole tray? seriously. . .

If you have the urge to revert to your childhood, here is the recipe:

http://www.ricekrispies.com/Display.aspx?recipe_id=1605&kic=true

**The Good Fork is a favorite of ours- GREAT food - and the dumplings are superb- if you do not eat pork, make a good fork dumpling exception- they are that good. check them out at  http://www.goodfork.com/

Matzo crusted chicken breasts

http://busycooks.about.com/od/chickenbreastrecipes/r/matzochicken.htm

I'm a little too bitter about passover to have given these chicken cutlets a fair shake but steven, who embraces the holiday, gave them a thumbs up and ate them for dinner and then for lunch the next day. . . i would therefore recommend the recipe if you are jewish and observant. . . (if not, skip this whole post and go for regular breaded chicken)

**bonus to using cutlets: unlike when you purchase other kosher for passover chicken parts, at least the cutlets do not still have the feathers attached!

As of last night, the holiday was over. . . to celebrate i ate a family size portion of sticky rice . . tonight we will be indulging with pasta family style . . we have some serious eating out planned for the weekend and not that much cooking, but i do intend on making banana bread on sunday. . .post to follow.

Have a great weekend!

Spring Vegetable and Mini Matzo Ball Soup

I am trying to embrace passover. .  it isn't easy for me but, in the spirit of marital harmony, i am trying. . . cooking projects have helped including yesterday's project of making matzo ball soup from scratch. . . i thought the soup came out wonderful- fluffy matzo balls and a rich broth full of vegetables and herbs.

The recipe is from this month's issue of bon appetit magazine-

http://www.bonappetit.com/magazine/2009/04/spring_vegetable_and_mini_matzo_ball_chicken_soup

http://www.bonappetit.com/magazine/2009/04/mini_matzo_balls

tip: the matzo ball recipe states to chill the mixture overnight- i made it in the morning and chilled it for around 7 hours and they came out fine.

Check it out- i am so proud i was boasting about it at the office today. . (don't judge me- it is the small pleasures in life)

hello little guys

how jealous are you?