February 8, 2015

Roasted Garlic Shrimp

Roasted Garlic Shrimp

Ingredients:
1/3 cup olive oil
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp thyme (or rosemary)
dash or two of salt
2 tablespoons butter
1 pound fresh shrimp, no shells or tails
5 cloves garlic, minced

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a baking pan combine olive oil, lemon juice and thyme (or rosemary).This mixture should cover the bottom of the pan. If it doesn't add more. Bake in oven for 10 minutes, checking every few minutes, if it looks like it is getting too brown pull it out early.

Remove pan from oven, add butter and move it around a little to melt, add shrimp and garlic. At this point I added a little more lemon juice. Toss the shrimp around to coat on all sides. Bake for 6-8 minutes a side or until shrimp turn pink and just start to curl, check often.

I serve this with rice, but angel hair pasta would also be good.

February 1, 2015

Lemon Chicken Romano

Lemon Chicken Romano, a bright refreshing chicken recipe, great with rice.

Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed, and pounded to 1/2-inch thick
2 oz shredded Whole Milk Mozzarella cheese (1/2 cup)
2 oz shredded Montrey cheese (1/2 cup)
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup semolina flour
1/2 cup italian seasoned bread crumbs
1 1/2 oz finely shredded Romano cheese (1/2 cup)
1 Tbsp chopped fresh oregano
1/2 tsp garlic powder
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 1/2 Tbsp  olive oil
Lemon juice as desired


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pound the chicken thighs let stand at room temperature 20 minutes. Combine Mozzarella and Monterey Jack cheese in a bowl, set aside.
In a shallow dish,  place semolina flour. in the next shallow dish, fill with 1/2 milk.In a separate shallow dish, toss together seasoned bread crumbs, Romano cheese, oregano, and garlic powder

Working with 1 chicken  thigh at a time, dredge chicken in  semolina flour, then in milk coating both sides and allowing excess to run off, then immediately transfer to Romano mixture and coat both sides with cheese & crumbs, while pressing gently to allow crumbs to adhere. Transfer chicken to a plate and repeat process with remaining chicken pieces. Wait at least 5 minutes before continuing to the next step.

 Pour Olive oil into a 10-inch non-stick skillet and heat over medium-high heat. Once oil is hot, add 2 coated chicken thighs and fry without moving them until bottom is crispy and golden brown, about 2 minutes, then using metal tongs flip to opposite side and cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes longer. Transfer fried chicken to a large plate lined with paper towels to drain. Repeat process with remaining 2 pieces of chicken.

Place browned chicken on pan lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle tops with Mozzarella/Monterey Jack cheese mixture. Squirt a little lemon juice on each piece of chicken and transfer to preheated oven to bake until internal temperature registers 165 degrees. This is about 12-14 minutes. Remove from oven and garnish with lemon slices or wedges and serve warm. Squeeze fresh lemon juice from lemon slices over chicken just before enjoying.


An adaptation of recipe originally found on http://www.cookingclassy.com/2013/03/lemon-chicken-romano/