Garlic Chicken and Wine

This recipe comes from a very funny book by the very funny and strange Amy Sedaris. The book is full of real recipes and funny craft ideas and anecdotes. It is called I Like You by Amy Sedaris Hospitality Under the Influence. It's kind of like Martha Stewart on crack. My favorite section is called "Panty Hose Crafts and Good Ideas". My son gave this to me for Christmas and I finally got down to making a recipe from the book and it turned out well. The flavor was really good and the chicken was very moist. I peeled my garlic, but that was the only change and I added the optional mushrooms. I did not use butter, because there was nothing in the instructions about it and I seasoned my chicken with salt and pepper before browning. You can go to http://www.amysedarisrocks.com/ for recipes, pics and audio.

Garlic Chicken and Wine

You will need:
One chicken , cut up
Bottle of dry white wine
Head of garlic
Salt and pepper
Oil and butter
Tiny amount of flour
1/3 cup of milk

Put some oil in a deep pot. Brown chicken pieces in batches until tanned. Remove chicken pieces to a plate. Keeping the pot over the heat, an the unpeeled garlic cloves and stir around. Return chicken to the pot and sprinkle a little flour on top. Pout in 1/2 bottle of white wine. Reduce heat and simmer on low for 45 minutes or until chicken is tender. Season with salt and pepper. During the simmering time, you can add 1/3 cup of milk. You may also add mushrooms at the end of cooking time, if desired.
Oil and butter

Poppers

These are one of those impulse items that I typically do not buy. They were on the end of the frozen food section on special and I thought "why not?". Actually, they were pretty tasty for a cheap frozen food item. They are made by Heinz and are simply called Poppers. This box was the Cream Cheese Jalapeno flavor, there may have been different types. You just place them in a 450 degree oven for 6 minutes, turn them over and wait another 5 minutes and they are ready. They come out very crispy with a creamy center. They are very mild, almost too mild, but you can dip them in a spicy salsa to make up for that. 3 pieces have 220 calories, so they are not great for a diet. But what the heck, diets are meant for breaking anyway, right?!?

Egg in a Nest

In my vast collection of recipes, I saw this picture of an egg nestled in hash browns, but could not locate it when I wanted to prepare the dish. So I came up with this one. They turned out pretty tasty and you could use any type of cheese.

Egg in a Nest

1 cup refrigerated shredded hash brown potatoes
1/3 cup Asiago Pressato cheese, shredded
2 eggs
seasoning salt and black pepper

Spray 2 ramekins (4 1/2 x 2) with cooking spray. In a mixing bowl combine potatoes and cheese; season with salt and pepper. Divide in half and place in ramekins; pressing into bottom and up the sides. Place in a preheated 375 degree oven for 10 minutes. Remove ramekins and crack an egg into each. Season with salt and pepper and return to oven for ten minutes. After the 2nd 10 minutes put under broiler for 3 to 4 minutes, being careful not to burn.

Oven Roasted Broccoli

My sister Gina wanted to know how to roast broccoli. I pretty much do all my vegetables this way any more. just adjust oven temps, roasting times and seasonings. The basics are: clean and dry the vegetables;arrange in one layer on the baking sheet;drizzle with olive oil; salt, pepper, or other spices and place in the oven.

Oven Roasted Broccoli

2 broccoli stalks, florets removed, trimmed, rinsed and dried
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Place broccoli florets on baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with seasonings and toss. Arrange in one layer and place in 375 oven and roast for 10 to 12 minutes.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

I roasted some broccoli the other night, (it seems that is how I cook all my veggies anymore) and decided to use the stalks for soup. I worked for a caterer once who did that and I thought what the heck. I had a couple of bunches, so I saved a few florets, peeled the stalks and prepared it the next night. I used the Joy of Cooking version for the most part, with some different spices and less broccoli. The recipe calls fro 1 1/2 pounds, I had 1. The soup turned out great, though. I Served it with meatloaf sandwiches. Vegetable broth could be used in place of the chicken broth.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

4 Tbsp. butter
1 tsp. granulated toasted onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 lb. broccoli, trimmed and coarsely chopped
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
salt,pepper and smoked paprika to taste

Melt butter in soup pot over medium heat. Add granulated onion, garlic and broccoli. Cook for 5 minutes; stirring occasionally. Add flour, turn heat to high and slowly stir in broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 25 minutes, until broccoli is tender. Process with an immersion blender until smooth. Stir in cream, heat through but do not boil. Add seasonings to taste.

Prosciutto Panini

The other day I stayed home from work, we had a snow storm and I decided not to travel the 40 miles to my job. I decided to make a sandwich with the Rosemary Focaccia that I had baked the night before. I just sliced the bread and added prosciutto, sliced chicken, cheese and some Dijon mustard. I put it into my panini grill and loved it so much I made another for work the next day. The next evening we did the same thing, but used leftover meatloaf.

Meat Loaf

This recipe is adapted from the 75th Anniversary edition of Joy of Cooking. This is a great book that I turn to often. I was in the mood for meatloaf the other day , so I picked up 2 pounds of ground beef, thinking I would have all the other ingredients at home. I did not have an onion, but I had some granulated toasted onion from Penzey's so that would take care of the onion part. I changed the recipe a little, but based it on the cookbook. While eating this very tasty loaf of meat, I thought, "Hmm, sure tastes garlicky, but I did not use garlic". I promptly got up and went to the spice cabinet and found the problem. Instead of using the onion, I used dried garlic! This was not a bad thing, it actually tasted good, just a little bit of a surprise. My loaf pan has an insert for the actual loaf with holes that drain the fat into the lower section so you don't have to drain the grease off yourself.

Meat Loaf

1 lb. ground beef
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
2/3 cup BBQ sauce
2/3 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp. dried Italian herbs
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper

Mix the ingredients with your hands until well blended. Fill the loaf pan with the mixture, mounding the top. Bake the loaf at 350, until firm to the touch and the loaf has pulled from the sides of the pan. A thermometer inserted in the center should read 160. This takes 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.