Chicken and mushrooms with rosemary, thyme and parsley

 

This recipe came together reasonably quickly to make a really grand weeknight meal with mashed potatoes and a green salad. But it could certainly work as a company dish when you're time-pressed.

Three-herb chicken and mushrooms

From Better Homes and Gardens March 2015

Ingredients
8 chicken thighs, bone-in, skin-on
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary, divided
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, divided
1 tablespoon olive  oil
8 ounces cremini or shiitake mushrooms
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup chicken broth
½ cup white wine
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoons fresh parsley leaves

Method
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Press 1 tablespoon each of rosemary and thyme onto the skin.

Heat olive oil in a large oven-safe skillet over medium heat. Brown chicken skin-side down until it picks up a deep golden color. Flip over chicken and put pan in the oven. Cook for another 15 to 20 minutes until done.

Remove chicken from pan and cover to keep warm. Add mushrooms to skillet and cook over medium-high heat until softened. Stir in flour to coat mushrooms and cook for one minute. Add broth, wine and mustard and stir until thickened and bubbly. (This step took a little longer than I might have expected, since it needed a bit of time to reduce a bit to saucy consistency.) Stir in remaining rosemary and thyme.

Serve chicken topped with mushroom sauce and sprinkled with parsley.

 

Rating: Really quite pleasant and tasty. Very nice treatment on the chicken and a tangy sauce. Totally merits repeating.

Chicken paprikash

 

My new warm Danish socks, while a delight, can't quite cut the chill on their own, so some internal warmth is called for. This is definitely a perfect sturdy, comforting winter dish.

Chicken paprikash

From the New York Times

Ingredients
3 to 4 pounds dark chicken meat pieces (thighs, legs, drumsticks or a mix there of)
1 tablespoon canola oil
3 tablespoons butter, divided
1 large onion, peeled and diced
3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
3 tablespoons paprika
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup crushed tomatoes
1 cup chicken broth
1 pound of egg noodles
¾ cup sour cream

Method
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat oil and 1 tablespoon of butter over medium high heat in a large oven-safe pan until frothy. Season chicken with salt and pepper and add to hot oil in pan, working in batches to avoid crowding. Sear skin-side down until skin is crisp and golden before flipping to sear the other side. Remove from pan and set aside.

Once all chicken is browned, reduce heat to medium low and cook onions until soft and translucent. Add garlic and cook until softened. Stir in paprika and flour and cook 4 to 5 minutes until flour is no longer raw.

Stir in crushed tomatoes and broth. Put chicken back in the pan on top of the sauce, trying not to overlap too much for even cooking. Put pan in the oven and cook about 30 minutes until chicken is done.

Meanwhile, cook egg noodles in a large pot of salted water until al dente. Drain and toss with remaining butter.

To serve, put chicken atop buttered noodles. Stir sour cream into tomato mixture and spoon over the top.

Rating: Very pleasant and not too time-consuming. Since we were making this on a weeknight, I opted to serve it over the Black Forest Inn spaetzle, since it's a fast fix from freezer to plate.Your heat and flavor will vary based on the kind of paprika you opt to use, but with either variety, you'll taste warmth.

Apple cinnamon oatmeal

 

All too often there's a long gap between when I espy a recipe I want to try and when I get around to actually making it. Plenty of time to forget the details.

I remembered there was an apple oatmeal recipe I wanted to try for breakfast, and remembered thinking it wasn't something I'd be likely to pull off before work. So when I woke up early one morning when Dave went out to shovel sometime after 5, I figured I'd finally make that recipe that called for steel cut oats. 

Only it didn't, as it turns out. My memory had translated "would take too long before work" into Irish oatmeal, which I rarely get around to on weekdays. (Yes, I know I could speed the process by soaking them overnight, but they're still going to take longer than standard oatmeal, and I scramble around enough as it is.) I could, of course, have gone ahead and made the recipe with old fashioned oatmeal as called for. But by that time I was hungry for steel cut oats, so I went ahead and sort of split the difference. I did some further refinement when I tried this on the weekend, and think this works quite well. 

I did finally get around to making the original recipe. But now I'm spoiled because I've had the version with steel cut oats, which I kind of dote on even though I don't get around to them as often as I'd like. 

 Spiced Apple Oatmeal

Adapted from Martha Stewart Living, October 2020

Ingredients
1½ cups water, plus 3 tablespoons, divided
½ cup apple cider or juice (or more water)
¾ teaspoon cinnamon, divided
1 cup steel cut oats
1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons maple syrup
¼ teaspoon salt
Toasted pecans or walnuts, optional

Method
In a medium saucepan, bring 1½ cups water, apple cider and ½ teaspoon cinnamon to a boil. Stir in steel cut oats and simmer until tender and liquid is absorbed.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine apple, remaining 3 tablespoons water, butter, syrup, salt and remaining ½ teaspoon cinnamon and bring to a simmer. Cook, covered, until tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. When apples are tender, spoon some of the cooking liquid into the oatmeal as it cooks, leaving some liquid in the pan with the apples. Simmer apple mixture uncovered until liquid reduces somewhat and becomes more syrupy. Remove from heat and set aside.

Serve oatmeal topped with apple mixture and toasted nuts, if desired.

Rating: The steel cut oat version is really quite nice, and on weekends totally manageable. The old fashioned oat version is just fine, but not something that makes you remember, oh, yeah, that was really good. I should make that again.

 

 

Pear-potato gratin with rosemary and Boursin

 

This is one of those recipes where you look at all of those ingredients and figure it can't be anything but stellar, because I adore all of those ingredients separately. I made this on New Year's along with lamb chops with a balsamic vinegar-orange honey glaze.

Pear and potato gratin with rosemary
From Better Homes & Gardens, November 2020

Ingredients
12 ounces yellow potatoes (about 3 medium)
2 Bosc pears
1 5.2-ounce package herbed Boursin cheese
¾ cup half-and-half
4 tablespoons grated Parmesan, divided
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary, plus more for garnish
½ teaspoon lemon zest

Method
Preheat oven to 375. Slice potatoes about ⅛-inch thick. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add potatoes and simmer for 3 minutes. Drain and let cool slightly.

Peel pears and slice in half. Remove cores. Slice lengthwise ⅛-inch thick.

Place potatoes and pears in a 1½–quart gratin dish, alternating them.

In a small saucepan, combine Boursin, half-and-half, 2 tablespoons Parmesan and salt. Whisk over medium low heat until just melted. Stir in rosemary and lemon zest. Pour over potatoes and pears in pan. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese and more chopped rosemary if desired.

Bake, uncovered, for 40 minutes until tender and golden brown. Let stand a few minutes before serving.

Serves 4, but not generously.

Rating: As I said, I expected to love this dish. I did not mind this dish at all; it was fairly pretty, more than reasonably tasty, and yet disappointing because I had set this up in my mind as the holy gratin grail in advance. Examined rationally, I would say it got a tad dry, so next time I might up the liquid component, since it probably needed to cook that long both to get tender and brown. Also, while I love pears, they are inherently a bit grainy, and that texture component wasn't entirely pleasing in this context. So this recipe goes into the pile of promising, but in need of refinement. It's good enough to be worth pursuing, at any rate.

Chicken with honey-pomegranate molasses marinade

 

So long as you've got pomegranate molasses in the house, you've got the makings of something delicious. This recipe comes together pretty quickly overall, although you do need to plan for a couple of hours marinating time.

Honey pomegranate roasted chicken thighs
Adapted from Cooking Light, Dec. 2007

Ingredients
¾ cup honey
⅓ cup finely chopped shallots
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
Zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Sriracha sauce
6 garlic cloves, minced
8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon water

Method
Combine honey, shallots, lemon juice and zest, Worcestershire sauce, Sriracha sauce and garlic in a large container. Add chicken and toss to coat. Marinate, covered, in the refrigerator for 2 hours, stirring at least once.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place a sheet of parchment on a rimmed baking sheet. Remove chicken from marinade and place on parchment. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Put marinade in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Mix cornstarch and water and stir into marinade. Cook, stirring often, for a few minutes or until thickened.

Spread some marinade on chicken thighs and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, basting twice more at 10-minute intervals.

Rating: Really quite tasty, with a nice balance of sweetness and tang. Pretty minimal effort for the reward.

 

 

 

Sandwich cookies and beer

 

Happy Solstice. We figured it was a day for warm soups and cold beer, and what better night to open the bottle of Surly's Darkness?

For your beer-cookie pairing, may we suggest the Cinnamon Cookie Butter Sandwich Cookies, one of the finalists in this year's Star Tribune cookie contest? You can find that and oodles of other options at the cookie finder here. 

A friend made all five of this year's winning recipes, which is possibly a case of overachievement, or else just what's called for in a year that involves a pandemic.(For those keeping score at home, she liked the fig cookies the best.) So far I've only tried the sandwich cookie recipe, but there's still plenty of butter on hand. They don't quite stack up to the Pistachio Orange Cookies, a previous winner, or even the almond stackers I made a few years ago, but they're no slouch.

Happy baking, and may all the coming days be sweeter and brighter. 

Curried sweet potato soup

 Never do I adore past self more than when I heat up soup for two for a quick lunch on a cold workday at home. And never is advance prep more rewarded than when it comes to soups.

Like so many soups, this one definitely benefits from being made ahead so the flavors have time to fully develop. When I tasted this one for seasoning purposes right after I first made it, I put it in that burgeoning category of recipes that qualify as perfectly fine, but ones that don't necessarily need to be made again.

Then I reheated it for lunch today. The keeper pile just got deeper.

Note: This recipe contains peanut butter, which makes a very nice flavor component, but I think tahini would be a quite workable substitute if allergies are an issue.

Curried sweet potato soup

Adapted from Meredith Deeds, published in the Star Tribune Taste section

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 pounds sweet potatoes
2 large garlic cloves, chopped
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger or ginger paste
1 tablespoon curry powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
3 cups broth
1 (15-ounce) can unsweetened coconut milk
⅓ cup creamy peanut butter
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon brown sugar
Optional garnishes: cilantro, plain yogurt, chopped peanuts, lime zest

Directions

Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium low heat. Add onions and cook until softened, stirring as needed.

Meanwhile, peel sweet potatoes and chop into pieces no more than 1-inch big.

When onions are softened, add garlic, ginger and curry powder and cook 1 minute. Stir in salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Add sweet potatoes and broth and bring to a simmer. Cook covered until sweet potatoes are tender, about 20 to 25 minutes.  Stir in coconut milk and peanut butter and let cool slightly.

Blend soup in a blender or food processor once it’s cool enough to safely process. Return to pot and add lime juice and brown sugar and heat through. Adjust seasoning as needed. Serve with optional garnishes as desired. (We opted for just cilantro, which worked well.)

Rating: Soothing, creamy warmth. Perfectly balanced, with different notes that hit you with each mouthful, from the ginger to the curry and the very subtle red pepper flakes. 

It made part of a perfectly delightful lunch with chutney chicken salad sandwiches made with the chicken leftover from making broth overnight. For that next make-ahead soup. Again, thank you past self, and Ms. Deeds for a nice recipe.