Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Greek Chicken Roulades with Creamy Orzo

ok, so I made this for dinner last Sunday, tripled this recipe since it is only for two. It is delicious and easy with a gorgeous presentation. Try it!
12 pitted Kalamata olives, divided in half, half to use later in sauce!
3 TB bread crumbs
3 TB minced oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
1 TB minced lemon zest
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp dried oregano
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 tsp olive oil
1/4 cup diced onioin
1/4 cup white cooking wine
1&1/2 cup chicken broth
1 TB lemon juice
1 tsp. cornstarch
In food processor, dice together the top 6 ingredients. Set aside. With a meat mallet pound breasts between plastic wrap to about 1/4". Spread olive-tomatoe filling on top and roll up lengthwise. Secure with toothpicks, crossed. With a sharp knife, slice across the roll, like sweetrolls, to about 1&1/2 width. This much preparation can be done the day before, cover tightly and store in fridge on Saturday and dinner is made in a snap the next day. Saute the roulades in the olive oil, flat in the pan, on the swirl, on medium high heat to brown, two minutes each side. Remove to a plate. Add the onions and wine and cook about 2 minutes till alcohol cooks off. Add chicken broth. Bring to a low boil and add reserved olives and the chicken back. Cover and simmer 10 minutes. Remove chicken again and whisk together the lemon juice and cornstarch, stir into sauce, simmer a minute then serve the chicken with the sauce over it.
Creamy Orzo
1&1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup dry orzo (pasta)
2 TB minced sun-dried tomatoes
2 TB cumbled feta cheese
1/8 tsp salt and pepper
Bring broth to a boil. Add orzo, cook 9 minutes until liquid absorbed. Remove from heat and stir in the tomatoes and feta, season with s&p and serve with roulades! Delicious!

Saturday, May 8, 2010

don't roast the veggies any lower than 400 degrees.  I usually go with 425 degrees

Vegetable finishing for broccoli or asparagus or brussel sprouts or whatever vegetable you want!

Jordan wanted the recipe for vegetable seasoning. There are several options limited only by your imagination but here are some family favorites:
Roasting vegs - Rachel's latest favorite! Cut up your vegs, sprinkle with olive oil, mix to coat, then add salt and pepper and seasonings like oregano, basil, rosemary, thyme, just one or a combination of several spices then roast in the oven at 350 till crisp tender. Yummy. Lower fat here if you care!

Another is to melt 1/4 c butter in the microwave with the juice of a whole lemon and pour it over steamed vegs and then add salt and pepper and any seasoning you want.

This one was given to me by a friend long ago: Put 1&1/2 TB of dijohn mustard in a bowl, add almost the same amount of honey, stir together and pour over steamed vegs after pouring a few TB of butter over them first. Salt and Pepper to taste. Especially good with brussel sprouts because they tend to be bitter if you don't cook them the DAY you buy them!

Strawberry Soup or Raspberry

We got this recipe on a cruise where we were basically drinking as much of this as we possible could! We had to buy the recipe book just for this recipe - so since strawberries are cheap now - here's a great cool treat for a hot summer day!
2 pints strawberries or raspberries, gently washed
2 cups sour cream
1 cup milk
1 cup ginger ale
1/4 cup sugar
2 TB fresh lemon juice
* this is my secret addition to the recipe that makes all the difference - a couple TB of homemade strawberry jam to taste!
Puree in a food processor the berries until smooth. Strain the berries through a sieve, pushing as much as possible through into a bowl, removing all seeds. Whisk everything else and chill in fridge about 4 hours.

Chicken Marsala

This and the lemon sticky rice are family favs that everybody probably has already, but Jordan is making this for his wife for mothers day and needed the recipe so here we go for posterity! Yummy!

4 Skinless boneless chicken breast halves
1/4 c. flour
1/4 tsp. marjoram
1/8 tsp. salt
1 c. sliced fresh mushrooms
2 TB. sliced green onions
3 TB. butter
1/4 c. chicken broth
1/4 c. Marsala wine
snipped fresh parsley
Pound chicken between plasting wrap to 1/8 inch. Rinse chicken. Stir together flour, marjoram, salt, and pepper. Press into flour mixture. Set aside. In skillet, cook mushrooms and chopped green onions in 1 TB of the butter. In the same skillet cook chicken in remaining cutter over med heat. Two minutes per side, browning evenly. Remove chicken, return onions and mushrooms, add broth and marsala. Cook uncovered for 2-3 minutes till thickens slightly. Put chicken on a platter and spoon sauce over it and sprinkle with parsley.
*we usually make three times the sauce amount just because we love tons of sauce.

lemon sticky rice

1 Tb. olive oil
1/2 C. chopped onion
1 cup arborio rice or brown or any kind you want
3 cups canned beef broth
3 Tb. fresh lemon juice
2 tsp. small grated lemon peel (lemon zest)

1 TB butter
1/4 c.fresh grated parmesan cheese
1 TB chopped Italian parsley, optional or not italian, just any kind.

Heat oil. Saute onion. Add rice; stir for a minute. Add 3 cups broth, lemon juice and peel. Simmer until tender but still firm to bite. Add more broth if it gets dry must be creamy and moist. Remove from heat. Add butter, cheese, season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with chopped parsley if you want.