Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken, Julienned Carrots and Potatoes

Okay, I mixed and matched a couple recipes this week, but the mushroom risotto wasn't looking great, so I'm subbing some potatoes instead. I'm excited about this one!

4 (6-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
3 ounces goat cheese
2 teaspoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 teaspoons minced chives
1 teaspoon minced parsley leaves
1/4 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
1/4 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon minced garlic
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon Essence. recipe follows
1 large egg
2 teaspoons water
1/4 cup clarified butter or vegetable oil
Mushroom Risotto, recipe follows, if desired
Julienned carrots, accompaniment, recipe follows
Chopped fresh parsley, garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

With a chicken breast flat on a cutting board, using a sharp knife, about 1/3 of the way down the thick side, cut a deep pocket horizontally into the center of the meat about 3/4 of the way down, being careful not to cut through to the other side. (The pocket will be about 2 1/2 inches long and 1 1/2 to 2 inches deep.) Repeat with the remaining breasts. Wash hands well.

In a small bowl, mash together the goat cheese, butter, chives, parsley, thyme, lemon juice and garlic. Season with a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Divide into 4 equal pieces and form plugs to fit inside the chicken breasts. Insert 1 into each breast and press the edges of chicken meat to seal. Lightly season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

In a large shallow bowl, combine the flour and the Essence. In another bowl, beat the egg with the water.

One at a time, lightly dust the chicken on both sides with the flour, then dip in the egg, shaking to remove any excess. Place again in the flour and turn to completely coat, shaking to remove any excess. Set aside.

In a large, oven-proof skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and sear until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes on each side. Place the pan in the oven and bake until the chicken is cooked through, 7 to 10 minutes.

Remove from the oven. Arrange the risotto in the center of 4 plates and place the chicken to the side. Arrange the carrots along the bottom of the plates, and garnish with parsley. Serve immediately.

Julienned Carrots:
1 pound large carrots, ends trimmed and peeled
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

To prepare an ice water bath, fill a large bowl with water and ice. Set aside.

On a cutting board, using a sharp, heavy knife, cut the carrots in half crosswise, then in half lengthwise. With the flat edge down, cut into thin slices. Place the slices in a stack and slice into even matchstick pieces. (If a fine dice is required, these pieces in turn are chopped into equal small cubes.)

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the carrots and blanch until just tender, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and shock in the prepared ice bath to stop cooking and preserve color.

When ready to serve the carrots, in a large skillet, melt the butter over medium-high heat. When foamy, add the carrots and cook, stirring, until warmed through and glossy, about 1 minute.

Remove from the heat, sprinkle with the parsley and serve immediately.

Yield: 4 servings

Sauteed Fingerling Potatoes:
1 1/2 pounds fingerling potatoes
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper

Special equipment: A mandoline

Using the mandoline or a knife, slice the potatoes into thin rounds of uniform thickness. Melt the butter in a large saute pan over medium-high heat and saute the potatoes until cooked through with a golden, crispy crust. Season with the salt and pepper.

Random Cooking

So it had been awhile since I've cooked anything, and I was getting the itch. I mean, I didn't have anything to cook but some random leftover types, but turned into a great meal. I had the leftover chicken that was marinaded in italian dressing (frozen from the bbq that i didn't use). So I ended up baking that, but a little more fresh italian dressing, salt and pepper on it and baked it. I cooked up some rice, and made some frozen broccoli & cheese. Ended up being really really tasted, and will give me a couple lunches this week :)

Birthday Cookout

My menu included: Chipotle Chicken Kabobs, Cuervo Shrimp Kabobs, Burgers and Hot Dogs. People always love my burgers how I make them, so I wasn't too concerned about that. But the Kabobs were a new thing. I just marinated the chicken overnight in Chipotle marinade, and people really did RAVE about the chicken. I did realize that I have to get more veggies. I included zuccinni, squash, mushrooms (people liked the mushrooms a lot) and red peppers. Overall, they just didn't go as far as I thought. Oh, also, i need to cut my chicken smaller than I thought. However, i was most proud of the shrimp, because that was a legit recipe. I added a little extra jalapeno, and I would actually encourage adding some more in the future to give this a little more kick. I bet mixing in some other peppers would probably be good as well. Although people seemed to really love how this turned out. Oh, and this sauce makes PLENTY for the recipe (i doubled it for double the shrimp and still had a lot of the bowl left). Overall was a great cookout.

8 metal skewers (wooden skewers that have been soaked over overnight may be substituted)24 medium-sized shrimp, cleaned, peeled, tail on
1 large red bell pepper, cored, deseeded, diced into 8 large square pieces
1 zucchini, sliced in 1/4-inch round pieces
8 button mushrooms, whole
Marinade:
2 cups orange juice
2 limes, juiced
1 jalapeno pepper, deseeded, stem removed, roughly chop
1 ounce Cuervo 1800 tequila
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon cumin
Salt and ground black pepper

Preheat outdoor grill (or hot air balloon, if handy).
To assemble, onto a skewer, first slide on a shrimp, followed by a red pepper, then another shrimp, then a slice of zucchini, followed by another piece of shrimp, and finish with the mushroom at the end. Repeat with the other seven skewers. Set aside until ready to cook.
To make the marinade, put all ingredients except salt and pepper in a blender. Puree mixture for 1 to 2 minutes, or until jalapeno pieces are broken down. Season with salt and black pepper and blend for another 10 seconds. Strain marinade through cheesecloth or fine sieve. Pour marinade into a clean spray bottle.
To cook, spray each kabob with marinade and place on grill. Be sure when spraying, to spray away from flame. You will need to spray each kabob twice more before the shrimp are completely cooked. Again be sure to spray away from flame.

Cookie Results

Making these cookies was actually a lot of fun. It was the first time I have ever made cookies from scratch, was a cool feeling. I learned it would probably be easier to use chocolate chips as they will melt faster. One other thing I learned is that they tasted more like brownies for the first couple days than cookies. Perhaps I could have cooked them longer on low heat (had a problem with cookies burning on the bottom), or just waiting a day or two, because after that, they tasted like cookies. Overall, people LOVED them! :)

Beef Stroganoff Results

So
I was actually shocked how AMAZING this tasted. I followed the recipe closely which was key. Other key was I found some of the best strip steak I have ever had in my life. You can just tell from the raw picture how good it was. Oh, and I also discovered SOME mushrooms are good, I actually really liked the ones in this recipe. I'm stupid for forgetting to save the picture of the final product, but I assure you it looked great. GOOD STUFF!

Chocolate-Toffee Cookies
Makes 27 cookies

Shop:
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder (NOT baking SODA)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 pound bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped (this is about a bag and a third of chocolate chips usually)
1/4 cup ( 1/2 stick) unsalted butter (helps to chop this into pieces for easy melting)
1 3/4 cups (packed) golden brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (splurge and buy the real stuff, NOT imitiation extract)
5 (1.4-ounce) chocolate-covered English toffee candy bars (such as Heath or Skor), coarsely chopped (1 bag of heath bar pieces, found next to the chocolate chips)
1 cup walnuts, toasted, chopped (you can leave these out)
parchment paper (near aluminum foil)

Cook:
1. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl; whisk to blend.

2. Make a double boiler. Get a pot and fill with about an inch of water. Find a bowl that fits on top of the pot. Turn the stove on low. Stir the chocolate and butter in the top of a double boiler set over simmering water until melted and smooth. Be sure to constantly stir the mixture since you don't want the chocolate to burn. Be careful because there will be steam escaping from beneath the bowl (I use a towel or tongs to hold the bowl in place while I stir).

Remove the mixture from the heat and cool to lukewarm. While it cools, using an electric mixer, beat the sugar and eggs in a separate, large bowl until thick, about 5 minutes. Beat in the chocolate mixture and the vanilla (add the chocolate mixture little by little). Stir in the flour (little by little otherwise you end up with a face full of flour) mixture, then the toffee and (optionally) nuts. Chill the batter until firm, at least 45 minutes and up to one day.

3. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two large, rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Drop the batter by ice-cream scoopfuls (this makes WAY too large of cookies. I use a small spoonful, maybe about 1/2 to 3/4 the size of a golf ball) onto the baking sheets, spacing them about 2 1/2 inches apart. Bake the cookies just until dry and cracked on top but still soft to the touch in the center, about 15 minutes (with the smaller size, it's usually about 12 minutes, but it really depends on your oven. Watch the cookies carefully. You can test if they are done by using a toothpick like for brownies. If it comes out clean, it's done). Cool on the baking sheets. (The cookies can be prepared two days ahead; store in an airtight container at room temperature.)

Beef Stroganoff

So I haven't made this recipe myself, but it looked relatively easy, used mainly ingredients that you are familiar with, and I could have sworn you liked the dish.

A couple of things I thought of regarding the dish - for beef, I'd use either tenderloin or top sirloin. You could also use ground beef or ground turkey if you want to make it a quicker dish. You could also leave out the mushrooms, since I know you're not a fan of mushrooms.

Shop:
6 Tbsp butter
1 pound of top sirloin or tenderloin, cut thin into 1-inch wide by 2 1/2-inch long strips (Note: you could use a cheaper cut of meat if you want...use some meat tenderizer or pound it...if you don't want to spend the money. You could also use ground beef or turkey.)
1/3 cup chopped shallots (can substitute onions) (Note: I KNOW you know how to cut shallots now!)
1/2 pound cremini mushrooms, sliced (Note: these taste quite different from regular mushrooms)
Salt to taste (Hopefully you are still using kosher or sea salt)
Pepper to taste (Do you have a grinder for fresh ground pepper?)
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg (good to have in your spice rack)
1/2 teaspoon of dry tarragon or 2 teaspoons of chopped fresh tarragon (I'd use fresh)
1 cup of sour cream at room temperature (I'll try and find another recipe that uses sour cream so you can get rid of your leftovers after this)
1 bag of egg noodles

Prep:
This is listed in the ingredients, but slice the beef, chop the shallots/onions, mushrooms and tarragon.

Cook:
1. Cook the egg pasta in salted, boiling water. Drain the pasta and set aside. If you want, you can do the prep work while the water is heating up/pasta is cooking.

2. Melt 3 Tbsp of butter in a large skillet on medium heat. Increase the heat to high/med-high and add the strips of beef. You want to cook the beef quickly, browning on each side, so the temp needs to be high enough to brown the beef, but not so high as to burn the butter. You may need to work in batches, since if you put all the beef in the pan, it will not cook evenly. While cooking the beef, sprinkle with some salt and pepper. When both sides are browned, remove the beef (use tongs or something, don't pour it since you want to save the oil and drippings in the pan) to a bowl and set aside.

2. In the same pan, reduce the heat to medium and add the shallots. Cook the shallots for a minute or two, allowing them to soak up any meat drippings. Remove the shallots to the same bowl as the meat and set aside.

3. In the same pan, melt another 3 Tbsp of butter. Increase heat to medium high and add the mushrooms. Cook, stirring occasionally for about 4 minutes. While cooking, sprinkle the nutmeg and the tarragon on the mushrooms.

4. Reduce the heat to low and add the sour cream to the mushrooms. You may want to add a tablespoon or two of water to thin the sauce (or not). Mix in the sour cream thoroughly. Do not let it come to a simmer or boil or the sour cream will curdle. Stir in the beef and shallots. Add salt and pepper to taste.

5. Serve immediately over egg noodles.

Steak Results

So I cooked the steak last night...few thoughts:

1) Trader Joe's SUCKED. They didn't have so much of what I wanted/needed. Biggest change was they had no Kale, so I had to improvise. As you can see I cooked up some garlicy red potatoes and green beans

2) They also didn't have the right kind of bread, but I bought some foccacia bread which turned out really well (although I think i cut it a little too thick, was a little hard to cut/eat)

3) This dish turned out to be the best looking thing that I have ever cooked. Looked impressive and tasted really really good. I think in the future I realized i need to make more of the garlic butter sauce. I was surprised how much the bread absorbed (but by the end where the bread was kinda mushy from the sauce, that with the steak and some onions was AMAZING).

4) I was really proud of myself for juggling 4 burners and the oven all at once (in fact I didn't have enough pots to cook w/, so had to cook the onions/peppers then pull them off to make the rest of the sauce).

Overall this meal went very well, and I would definitely recommend it in the future.

Garlic Buttered sliced steak w/ onions, kale gratin panchetta

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 3 turns of the pan
2 large yellow skinned onions, thinly sliced
2 roasted red peppers, drained well and thinly sliced
Salt and pepper
A generous handful flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
4 (1-inch) thick slices from a round loaf of good quality semolina bread, from the center of the loaf
4 tablespoons butter
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 (12 ounce) NY strip steaks

Preheat broiler.

Heat extra-virgin olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-low to medium heat, then add onions and roasted peppers, season with salt and pepper and cook gently until soft but not caramelized, 12 to 15 minutes. Stir in parsley.

Heat a large skillet or a cast iron griddle to high.

Toast the bread under broiler and reserve.

Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat, add garlic. Remove pan from the heat and set aside until the steaks are cooked.

Season 1 side of the steaks with salt and pepper and place seasoned side down in the hot skillet or griddle.. Cook 3 minutes until the meat can be moved easily. Season the reverse side of meat. Flip steaks, reduce heat to medium and cook 6 to 7 minutes for medium rare, 8 to 10 for just pink. Remove meat and let rest a few minutes. Slice steaks 1/4-inch thick against the grain. Pile onions over toast, top with sliced steak, and spoon garlic butter down over the top of each portion.

1 1/4 to 1 1/3 pounds kale, stems stripped and chopped, about 6 cups
Salt
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 pound pancetta, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
1 cup cream
2 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg, eyeball it
Black pepper
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Pecorino Romano

Preheat the broiler but place the oven rack on the second shelf down from the heat source.

Bring a few inches of water to a boil in a deep skillet or pot, add the kale and salt and cook 5 to 6 minutes; drain and dry the greens.

Return the skillet to the stove over medium-high heat and add 1 tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil and pancetta. Crisp the pancetta and add the cream and garlic. Season with nutmeg, salt, and pepper then reduce 7 to 8 minutes to about 1/2 to 2/3 cup. Add cooked greens to cream and stir to coat evenly. Transfer to shallow casserole.

Toss with breadcrumbs with the remaining 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil. Season the crumbs with salt and pepper and combine with cheese. Place the casserole on the second shelf under broiler and brown breadcrumbs and cheese for 5 minutes.