"Honey-Crusted Chicken Breast"

My wife prefers meals quick and easy to prepare. This is a DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hyper-tension) recipe, and it was so easy, I put it together during half-time of the most recent Seahawk football game (they won).  Along about the end of the 3rd quarter, we pulled the breasts from the oven and had dinner:  Honey-Crusted Chicken Breast, Garden Salad, baked potatoe, and some home-made French bread toasted and layered with melted parmesan cheese. The chardonnay finished it off.

We have both been diagnosed with high blood pressure, but we have controlled it with pharmaceuticals (doesn't that just leave a metallic taste in your mouth??).  I recently found the DASH recipes online and this is the second we have tried.  The first was the minestrone soup found in the previous posting on this blog.

The meat was moist, a total must with chicken breast. The honey flavor wasn't overpowering, or missing. It was very good.

Ingredients:

• 3 Chicken breasts, boned and skinless
• 4 tsp honey
• 12 saltines, 2 inch square
• 1 tsp paprika

Procedure:

In a bowl, crush the saltines and add the paprika.  Mix.  In a larger bowl cover the chicken breasts with the honey. Once the breasts are covered, drag them through the saltine/paprika mix.  Cover all the entire piece.

Place the chicken into a baking dish and then in the oven at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the meat is 165 degrees.

Remove and serve.

"Diego's Killer Minestrone"

Winter is the time for soups, stews, and good breads, so when this recipe for minestrone soup appeared in our local newspaper this December, it jumped up and made me take notice. I thought it looked good on a number of levels; but the recipe needed modifications in a few places, so here it is, "Diego's Killer Minestrone."

Ingredients:

1 medium onion, chopped
1 large stalk celery, chopped
1 medium carrot, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 cups fat-free, broth *
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes *
1 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 cup or more chopped spinach or other greens
2 15 oz cans, one kidney and one pinto beans , drained and rinsed *
1 cup uncooked whole-grain small shell or other pasta
1 small zucchini, diced
2 tbl fresh basil, chopped or 2 tsp dried
2  tbl nutritional yeast, optional (didn't use this one)
1 tbl dried cilantro *
1 tbl dried oregano *
2 tsp dried dill *
salt, pepper, Tabasco to taste *

Procedure:
In a large saucepan, heat about two tablespoons of water over medium heat.  Add the onion, celery and carrots and cook until softened, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes.  Add more water, about a tablespoon at a time, if vegetables begin to stick to the pan.

Add garlic and continue cooking for another minute. Stir in broth, tomatoes, rosemary, spinach, and beans.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and add pasta. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add zucchini, or green beans, cilantro, oregano, and dill. Cover and cook for 5 minutes more.

Remove from heat and stir in the basil and yeast. Simmer until time to serve, or cool, then refrigerate for later re-heating.

* The original recipe called for unsalted broth which wasn't available; a large tomato, but tomatoes this time of year are dismally free of taste thus the can of diced tomatoes; one can of beans, either kidney or pinto, we love beans so we tossed in one of each; cilantro, oregano, dill, salt, pepper and Tabasco were added for additional flavorings.

 

"Almost No Knead Bread"

Click on the pic to watch the interview conducted by
Mark Bittman, New York Times food reporter, which started this craze.   

Few things beat a full-flavored slice of buttered bread, or one slathered with peanut butter and honey, or simply toasted and savored with a meal.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 tsp Instant Yeast
• 3 oz room temperature water
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 C All Purpose Flour
• 1 tbl white vinegar
• 7 oz room temperature beer

Preparation:

Add the yeast and water, stir just enough to mix.

Add the salt, the flour, the white vinegar and beer.

Stir with a wooden spatula until you get a nice ball of dough.  At first it will feel too wet, then it will feel too dry, then it will begin to feel just right. Stir until most of the dough on the sides of the bowl have disappeared into the ball.

Cover with plastic wrap and sit for 12 - 15 hours

Using a spatula remove the dough from the bowl onto a flour lined surface.  Knead about 6 to 10 times, form into a ball, then place into a skillet lined with parchment paper that has been lightly sprayed with cooking spray.

Let sit for about two hours, or until the dough has doubled in size. Pre-heat the oven and dutch oven inside to 500 degrees.

Once dough is ready, and the oven/dutch oven/ are hot, pick up the dough by the parchment paper and gently lay it inside hot dutch oven.  Cut one slice across the top, about 1/4 inch deep.  Sprinkle with flour.  Replace the dutch oven lid and put it back into the oven.

Lower the temp to 425 degrees and let bake for 30 mins.  Remove lid and bake another 10 - 15 mins to bring a nice dark color to the crust.  Internal temp should be about 200 - 220 degrees.

Remove, let cool completely prior to slicing.

Enjoy.

"Beef Jerky"

Beef jerky can be tricky.  I tried it once a few years ago, and gave up on the first try. The meat reduced down to less than 50% of its original purchase weight, it was dry and crunchy.  Not what I wanted.

A few nights ago, at a Christmas party, a friend brought some in he had smoked on his Traegar smoker, and it was delicious!  After picking his brain, I decided it had to be tried again.

Use meat low in marbling, it won't render down to less than what you purchased.  He also used a jerky packet purchased at one of the local stores where barbecue supplies are sold.

Ingredients:

• 5 lbs of carne asada (I bought mine at Costco for 4.98/lb . . . cheap in comparison to the jerky you buy at the grocery store).
• 1 pkt "Jerky Cure & Seasoning" (about $6.00 - contents good for 15 lbs of meat).  I was surprised at how many flavors are available. For this first attempt, I went with "Mandarin Teriyaki."

Preparations:

Follow the directions in the packet which include cutting the meat, mixing the ingredients, the curing the meat overnight in the fridge, then cooking it the next day. I smoked it at 200 degrees in my Traegar for about 2 hours.

I'll be sharing this with my son, son-in-law and daughter, and there will be plenty left over to enjoy during the Seattle Seahawks football game.

"Louisiana Style Chicken Wings" *

Found a recipe for Louisiana Style Wings and modified it a bit by smoking the wings with Northwest apple wood just enough to create what should become the great Northwest Classic Louisiana Style Wings.   We wanted the meal to focus on the wings, so we use the bean pods, carrots and celery in their freshest, and crunchiest state so they, along the wings could be dipped in the Ranch Dressing.  A salad to round out the meal and served with Southern Style Sweet Tea. These babies were succulent, sweet and hot enough to leave a memory in your mouth for quite a while after they were gone.

Ingredients:

2 lbs large chicken wings
Spicy Italian Salad Dressing
Favorite chicken rub (Montreal Chicken Seasoning), or other
1/2 stick butter
1/2 C Louisiana style hot sauce (Frank's Red Hot Louisiana Sauce)
1/4 C Honey
2 C Blue Cheese
1 Garlic Clove

Preparation:

1.  With a sharp knife, cut the wings into three pieces through the joints.  Discard the wing tips, or save for chicken stock.  Spread something the rub will adhere to over the wings. I use Spicy Italian Salad dressing.  Add your favorite rub.  We have been using a no-salt rub found at Costco and it's great.

2.  Make the spicy honey-garlic sauce:  Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat.  Add the garlic, and saute for 2 to 3 minutes until it softens (do not let it color).  Stir in the hot sauce and honey and cook for several minutes to blend the flavors  Keep warm.

3.  When ready to cook, start the Traeger grill on Smoke with the lid open until the fire is established (4 to 5 minutes).  Place the wings on the grill and smoke for 20 - 30 minutes.

4. Remove the wings, cover, and reset the temp to 375 degrees.

5. Replace the wings on the grill. Cook for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the internal temperature is 175 - 180 degrees.  The chicken is safe at 165/170, but the higher temps produce a more pleasant consistency to the meat, or until the chicken is no longer pink at the bone.  Place the wings in a large bowl, pour the sauce over them then blend until the wings are covered with the sauce.

5.  Serve with the blue cheese or ranch dressing.

* Recipe adapted from www.traegergrills.com/recipes.

"Jerk-Pineapple Chicken"

Veggies and Chicken breasts, medium heat, on the grille.

Not many things go as well with warm summer days than firing up the grille and tossing on something that will hit the taste buds smack on.

Such was this recipe we found in the Food Network's magazine.  

The recipe called for 4 small chicken breasts, but we used two larger sized pieces.

Mix up 4 sliced scallions, 

2 sliced bell peppers (we had only one, so one was what we used), and 1 sliced pineapple, with a tblsp of vegetable oil, and about a half a teaspoon of fresh Jamaican Jerk rub. 

Toss the chicken into the mixture to get it juiced up, then put the chicken breasts on the grille.

The recipe says to grille for 15 to 18 mins, but I left them on until they reached 165 degrees, turning a couple of times. 

Half way through the grilling, put the veggies on the grille.  

We added some roasted carrots, chunked and baked potatoes, and an ear of fresh corn to the our plates.  Then poured a glass, or two, of some Gevertztramiener wine to balance out the heat of the jerk rub.