September 10, 2014

CHICKEN FRANCES

CHICKEN FRANCES:

Serves 4 – 6 (*See Note)

4 Boneless and Skinless Chicken Breasts
1 14.5 oz. Can Low Sodium Chicken Broth
3 Large Eggs
1 Cup Flour (or more if needed for breading)
1/4 Olive Oil
3 Lemons
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
3 Tbsp. Butter
1/4 Chopped Fresh Parsley
Trim chicken breasts of any fat.  Take each breast and flatten it out with a mallet.  If the breasts are very thick, you will want to filet them before pounding them out thin.  I had four thick breasts, which I had to filet and then pound out thin.

Set the chicken to the side and then prepare your work station for dipping and flouring.  Crack the eggs into a shallow bowl and beat together well.  You can add a teaspoon of cool water to the eggs to help thin them out a bit.  In a separate shallow bowl add your flour and season with your salt and pepper.  Stir to combine.

Dip each chicken breast first in the flour, then the egg, and then the flour again, pressing to make sure you get a nice even coat.  Set each breast on a plate until you finish dipping and breading each one.

Set the oven to 350 degrees.

In a non-stick skillet, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and set the heat to medium.  Once hot, add two chicken breasts at a time and cook until just done on each side.  You want them to be a very light golden brown.  We are not looking for a deep brown color to these.  Cook each breast until just about done.  Remove to a casserole dish and continue browning each chicken breast, continuing to add oil 2 tablespoons at a time as needed.  Once you are done, place the casserole dish with the chicken in the oven uncovered and allow to cook for 10 – 12 minutes.

Meanwhile wipe out the skillet with some paper towels.  You don’t want to clean the pan completely, but you do want to remove all that flour that has browned in the bottom.  You won’t remove the flavor by doing this, but you will allow yourself to have a nice lemon colored sauce.

Set burner to medium heat and pour in your chicken broth.  Add some salt and pepper if you feel it needs it.  Squeeze in the juice of two lemons.  Bring to a boil and then quickly whisk in about 1 teaspoon of flour.  Add in the 3 tablespoons of butter and whisk again.  Turn the heat down to simmer and allow to reduce to almost half.

Once the sauce is done, add the chopped fresh parsley and stir.  Set the chicken breasts out on a rimmed platter or baking dish, and pour the sauce all over the top of each breast.

Take your last lemon and slice it thin, with the skin on.  Place pieces of sliced lemon across the whole dish and serve.

Excellent with some angel hair pasta or rice.

Note:  If you are using 4 thin chicken breasts, even before pounding them thin, you will serve about 4 with this dish.  If you are using 4 thick cut breasts like I used, you should filet them into 8 breasts and then pound each thin.


Many thanks to Boredcook.com who originally posted this delicious recipe!

April 13, 2014

Cheesey Potatoes on the Grill

Ingredients: 
4 slices Bacon 
3 large Baking Potatoes 
1 large Onion, sliced 
1 cup processed Cheese, cubed 
1/2 tsp. Salt 
1/4 tsp. Black Pepper 
1/2 tsp. dried Parsley 
2 Tbs. Butter or Margarine 
1 Tbs. Bacon Drippings 

Fry the bacon in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat until crisp. Drain the bacon on paper toweling and crumble when cool enough to handle; set aside. 

Meanwhile, peel and slice the potatoes placing them on a 9-inch by 13-inch double-layer of aluminum foil as you go. 

Separate the onion slices into rings and layer them over the potato slices. Add the crumbled bacon bits, cheese, salt, pepper and parsley. Dot the potatoes with butter or margarine and drizzle the bacon fat over the top of the mixture. 

Wrap the foil loosely around the potatoes, making sure the ends are well sealed. Cook about 4-inches from the hot coals on the grill for about 1-hour, or until tender. Turn the package often to keep the spuds from burning. Serve warm from the grill. 

March 11, 2014

Miami Chicken

Here's one of those summer favorite recipes. This time of year its a nice reminder of summer, so its something different to make to stave off cabin fever. A tangy change from that sweet BBQ taste in a bottle, Miami Chicken is good baked, broiled or grilled. You'll get a slightly different flavor depending on how you cook it and what kind of chicken you use.

On the grill I like bone in chicken but boneless works as well. You'll use the sauce as a mariinade and then baste frequently to build a lovely glaze and seal in the flavorable juices. Under the broiler, I find boneless chicken will cook much more evenly than bone in chicken, but I've done both. Here, the sauce is a marinade, and then you'll baste two or three times getting a bbq type sauce, but not as much of a glaze as the grill will give you. Just baking in the oven, I use skinless and sometimes boneless chicken because you're going to get a sauce that will not be as sticky, and the skin creates far too much fat drippings for my liking.

Whatever chicken you use, this makes about 2 cups of the sauce/marinade. I think its supposed to work well for 2 pounds of chicken, but I tend to go heavy on my sauces so I use about a pound and a half of chicken per batch of marinade. 

Make sure you wash and dry off your chicken before starting. Salt and Pepper the chicken lightly. Once you have asssembled the ingredients and created the sauce, you'll want to marinade the seasoned chicken it  in for a while. Usually I go between 20 minutes and 4 hours, in the fridge. Of course the longer you soak the chicken, the more flavor it will have. Once you go to cook the chicken this sauce will become a sauce or glaze. Only use sauce that is cooked, throw away the portion that is uncooked.

If Grilling, turn the chicken often (5-7 minutes) and baste with the sauce each time. Grill for 30 minutes or until the chicken is done and the juices run clear.

If Broiling the chicken, you'll want to watch it doesn't burn. The cooking works similar to grilling, turning and basting every 10 minutes until the chicken is done. If you cut back the brown sugar by a tablespoon it will be less likely to burn using this cooking method.

If Baking, Double line the pan (it should have a lip around the edges) with foil. Cover the chicken with sauce, using about half of it. Cook about 15 minutes at 350 degrees before turning the chicken over and covering it with the remainder of the sauce. Bake another 15 minutes or until done. once you have put the chicken on a platter for serving, use the foil to lift the resulting sauce out and pour over chicken for serving. I serve this with a spoon in case folks want a little extra sauce with their meal.

This also is good made with chicken wings for a party.

Miami Chicken Sauce

About 1/2 cup tomato ketchup
1/4 cup cider vinegar
2 Tbsp. oil
3 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. Dijon-style mustard
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 &1/2  tsp. dried basil leaves
2 cloves garlic, minced

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January 8, 2014

World War 1 Cake

Ingredients
1 cup corn syrup
1and 1/2 cups water
2 Tbsp. fat
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. soda
1 cup molasses
1 package raisins
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cloves
3 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder

Instructions
Boil together 5 minutes syrup, molasses, water, raisins, fat, salt, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Cool, add sifted dry ingredients and bake i two loaves 45 minutes in moderate oven.

Notes: Even better after a few days. One cup of oatmeal may be used in place of 7/8 cup of flour.