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Posts Tagged ‘chicken’

Cook and Tell: Stuffed Peppers

09 Dec

What do you do when you have a little bit of raw chicken breast left? Well, if you’re like me, you look through your existing Food Network and Food & Wine magazine copies for recipes that include chicken, and then you move on to foodnetwork.com .

So after a morning of searching for something that can include chicken, would impress the hubby, and doesn’t take a zillion ingredients and hours. I came upon a stuffed peppers recipe from Emeril Lagasse himself. Of course I couldn’t just accept the recipe as is. Especially since from the start the recipe called for pork sausage and I specifically wanted to use chicken. I also chose to ignore the celery that was supposed go into the mix (can you tell? not a big fan of celery).

Other than the above-mentioned deviations I stuck to the recipe. Check out how beautiful the pepper turned out (yes, tooting my own horn). And yes, to answer your question, the hubby was impressed.

Chicken Stuffed Pepper

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Olivie

20 Apr

Ask anyone from the former Soviet republics what their favorite meal was as a child, and you might be surprised to find out that it wasn’t dessert, but a salad. Yes, you saw correctly, a salad. This salad is called Olivie and it was a staple dish at any table during a festive gathering. It is still a favorite of my and for my husband it’s not a holiday dinner, if Olivie is not on the table.

Intrigued? Well, you’ll be happy to know that it’s actually not that hard to make. There are many different variations of this salad out there, and everyone’s got their version. There is even a version of it in Spain (Ensalada Rusa), which includes tuna. But I stick to the version my Mom has always made, and I love it (and so far only heard positive feedback).

Here are the ingredients you’ll need:

6 large potatoes (russet)
10 eggs
1 carrot
1/2 white or red onion
1 fresh cucumber
1 small pack of bologna
3 to 4 scallions
3 to 4 medium sized pickles
1 can of sweet peas
mayonnaise (1 and 1/2 large tablespoons)
salt and pepper to taste
A sprinkle of dried dill weed (or chopped fresh dill)

Boil the eggs, potatoes and carrot. Eggs should be hard boiled and potatoes and the carrot should be fully cooked through and soft (but not overcooked). As far as utensils, you’ll need a sharp knife, a cutting board, a large mixing bowl, and a peeler (if that’s how you prefer to peel your vegetables).

Once the eggs, potatoes and carrot are cooked. Peel the eggs, the potatoes and the carrot, chop all the aforementioned and place in the prepared bowl. Continue to peel and chop the onions, scallions, and cucumber and placing them in the same bowl. Chop the pickles and the bologna and add to the bowl. Finally, drain the can of peas and empty it out into the bowl.

Mix all the ingredients in the bowl, add salt and pepper to taste and mix. Add dried dill weed (if desired) and mix the ingredients again. Finally, add the mayonnaise, and mix all the ingredients until the mayonnaise is evenly distributed and all the ingredients are well combined.

So what does all this mixing get you? Take a look for yourself.

Russian Potato Salad, Olivie, Ensalada Russa

I haven’t heard of anyone walking away disappointed. A word of warning, the proportions I used will result in a very big salad, but feel free to pare it down. Just decrease the number of ingredients proportionally.

P.S. I received some commentary on this blog post with additional variations to this salad, so I wanted to add these variations here. Instead of mayonnaise some people use sour cream and for the meat component, instead of bologna some use chicken. Sometimes the carrot and onions are omitted.

Feel free to experiment with all these ingredients and see what tickles your taste buds.

Russian Salad Olivier (Russian Winter Salad)

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A New Family Tradition

01 Dec

Traditions come in different shapes and forms. Since this is a food blog, the new family tradition I am referring to is the Chicken Broccoli Braid I’ve been making for the last couple of years. This dish has slowly transformed into somewhat of a staple at the big family dinners and gatherings.

I found this recipe on AllRecipes.com a few years ago, and our family and friends have enjoyed it so much that I started getting requests to make it for different functions. First it was for my father-in-law’s birthday and then it was a huge success again at the Thanksgiving dinner.

So without further a due, here is our new family tradition!
Broccoli-Chicken-Braid

The recipe for this delicious dish is simple. The most important point is that you can make about two to three braids in about an hour and a half. Here is what you will need:

Ingredients:
Cooked Chicken breast (1 per braid)
Broccoli (half a bunch per braid)
Red Bell Pepper (half of a pepper per braid)
Crushed garlic (1 cloves per braid)
Shredded cheese (Cheddar is suggested, but I use mozzarella)
Mayonnaise (I use about a one and a half table spoons per braid)
Dried dill weed (2 teaspoons)
Slivered almonds (2 table spoons)
Diced onion (less than half an onion per braid)
Refrigerated package of crescent roll (1 per braid)
Egg white, beaten (for brushing)

Dice chicken, broccoli, red bell pepper, and onion. In a large bowl mix the diced chicken, broccoli, bell pepper, onion, cheese, garlic, mayonnaise, dill weed and almonds. Line a cookie sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray. Roll out the crescent roll dough on the lined cookie sheet. Pinch the perforated lines of the dough together to create a single sheet of dough. With scissors cut strips all along the long sides of the dough toward the center. Spread the mixture along the center of the dough. Fold the strips over the mixture, alternating (as if creating a braid). Pinch the strips together and brush with beaten egg white to seal.

Bake at 375F degrees for about 25-28 minutes, or until golden brown.

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Sweet and Sour Chicken

17 Sep

Ask my husband what his favorite dish is at a Chinese restaurant and he’ll tell you it’s sweet and sour pork. Well, at home I make a variation. The variation being…the other white meat.
Sweet-and-Sour-Chicken
I bet you’d like to know how to get this delicious tender meat on your plate. Well here is how:
Ingredients:
Skinless chicken breasts
Flour
Vegetable oil (for frying)
Kikkoman Sweet & Sour Sauce
How to get there:
Cut chicken breasts into cubes and toss with flour. Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan. Add the flour-tossed chicken to the frying pan. Cook until chicken is fully cooked through. Toss with the sweet and sour sauce and serve.
Sweet-and-Sour-Chicken
It’s that easy!