Cumin chicken breasts with guacamole sauce, baked cilantro lime rice and frijoles charros

 

The dishes in this meal worked fabulously together, when they finally came together. The chicken and sauce are a pretty fast fix. The rice isn't too cumbersome. The beans, however, I should have started at least a couple of hours earlier, as they took far longer than the recipe indicated to sauce up, so we wound up eating on the installment plan.

But with that caveat in mind, I would definitely make this combo pack again. I'd just start the beans at 2 instead of 4 p.m.

And next time I hope to have on hand the Angry Calabrian mix from ie, which would pair perfectly.

 

 

Cumin-dusted chicken breasts with guacamole sauce

Adapted from Cooking Light, January 2007

Ingredients
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1¼ teaspoon ground cumin, divided
¾ teaspoon salt, divided
¼ teaspoon black pepper
½ tablespoon olive oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
¼ cup chopped green onion
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro (or you could use parsley)
¼ cup sour cream
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 ripe peeled avocado, seeded and mashed

Method
Preheat oven to 400. Combine sugar, 1 teaspoon cumin, ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon black pepper in a small bowl. Sprinkle evenly over chicken.

Heat a large, oven-proof skillet over medium high heat. Drizzle in olive oil. Brown chicken on both sides. Place pan in oven and bake for 10 minutes until done.

While chicken bakes, combine green onion, cilantro, sour cream, lime juice, ¼ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon cumin, cayenne pepper and mashed avocado in a bowl.

Serve chicken topped with sauce.

Rating: That sauce is super awesome, a crack-like substance that I'm sure could have other uses. The method of cooking the chicken is super easy, fast and yields nice results. If you have a Greenpan, cleanup is a breeze despite what that pan looks like.

 

Baked cilantro lime rice

Adapted from Love and Lemons

Ingredients
1 cup long grain rice
2 cups water
¼ cup butter
1 teaspoon table salt
2 green onions, chopped
Zest of 1 medium lime
½ teaspoon sea salt
1½ tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons olive oil
½ cup finely chopped cilantro
⅛ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Method
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place rice and salt in a 2 quart baking dish, preferably one with a tight-fitting lid, although you can wrap it in tin foil if need be. Bring 2 cups water and ¼ cup butter to a boil. Pour over rice, cover and bake for 30 to 35 minutes until rice is tender and water has been absorbed.

Uncover rice and fluff with a fork. Stir in garlic, green onions and lime zest. Add sea salt, lime juice, olive oil, cilantro and crushed red pepper and stir to combine. 

Rating: Nice. A good complement to the rest of the meal that holds its own. Baking it in the oven frees up some of the cook's attention for tending to the chicken and beans.

 

Frijoles charros

Adapted from Serious Eats

Ingredients
1 pounds dried pinto beans
12 ounces bacon, cut up into small pieces
1 large white onion, diced
1 jalapeño pepper or 2 serrano chilies
3 large garlic cloves, minced
2 (14-ounce) cans fire-roasted tomatoes
6 cups broth
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 springs epazote (optional; I didn’t have it so I didn’t use it)
Cilantro for garnish

Method
Soak beans in a large bowl overnight covered by at least two inches of water. Drain and rinse.

Heat bacon in a really large Dutch oven over medium heat until fat is rendered and bacon is starting to brown. Add onion and pepper and cook, stirring often until onion is softened. Add garlic and cook briefly until fragrant.

Add tomatoes to pot, scraping up frond on the bottom of the pan. Add beans, broth, bay leaves, epazote if using, and salt. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a level that lets you maintain a simmer. Cover and cook until beans are just tender, about 45 minutes to an hour. Uncover and continue cooking, stirring as needed, until beans are creamy and liquid has thickened. This will take approximately forever, at least 1 hour, but it could be 2 or more depending on how much heat you want to apply and how quickly. Discard bay leaves and stir in cilantro.

Rating: Other than the longer-than-expected cooking time, these really weren't much trouble, and they combination of heat and smoky bacon flavor is quite tasty. You can always make them ahead and reheat them, which I did on a weeknight with some fast chicken tinga tacos. 

(I noticed in the comments on Serious Eats that some people never got the pinto beans to tenderize. I let them soak a good 12 hours and they actually softened in that first hour of cooking, so I was pleasantly surprised by that part; achieving sauce consistency took much longer; otherwise I was faced with what would probably have been a pretty tasty soup, now that I think about it.)

 

 

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.