Shoyu Chicken

In the fleeting moments I get to myself while the twins are delving into MegaBloks, stickers, or spinning around and falling down, I sometimes spy a recipe on TV that inspires me. I was flipping around the food and decor channels, and saw a sticky Asian chicken dish on Ask Aida. (I don't really get the concept of this show...why do people email or call her, only to wait for weeks or months to have their food-related question answered. Can't they just Google it and get their response instantaneously? Is this their 15 seconds of fame?)

Anyways, I missed what all the ingredients were, so I just looked up her recipe online. I didn't have any mirin, but I didn't sweat it. I just added a few dashes of w'shire sauce as well as some dry sherry and that was that. My one misstep was not slowly whisking in the cornstarch slurry. I ended up with a very sticky and yummy, yet clumpy sauce.

One other trick I learned...you can freeze ginger! Always nice to have some on hand!

Oh hello...

We're still here. Cooking again - but in a new location. Got some new tricks and recipes. Hoping to start posting here with some regularity again...

Grilled/smoked chicken leg quarters with couscous and an avocado/cuke/tomato/corn/red onion/lime salsa.

Hope you're all well and cooking!

Pan Roasted Herb Chicken

Chicken is our thing. We love cooking fish, and pork, and beef roasts, and steaks. But chicken is our go-to dish, the meat we do the most, and the one at which we are probably the best. And roasted chicken is our proverbial bread and butter.

We keep fine-tuning our methods - we tried this Julia Childs-sourced version, which came out fantastic. We've done Beer Can Chicken a few different times - comes out nice and juicy. We've done Grilled Whole Chicken - can't go wrong. All of these are great, but when we saw the method Cook's Illustrated used for their chicken (we were suckered into a subscription) - it made perfect sense.

The key to this one - remove the backbone so the chicken lays flat, stuff herb-butter-garlic mixture under the breast skin, and sear it first before moving it to the oven. Brilliant.

So that's what we did. Cut out the backbone on either side of a small broiler chicken (4lbs or less if you can get it) and lay it down, pressing it as flat as possible. For down the road: get some butter (1/2 stick) softening, preheat your oven to 450, and put a big skillet on the stovetop.



While that gets acquainted with room temperature for a few minutes - make the herb-butter-garlic by slicing and dicing up 2 garlic cloves, then dicing some fresh herbs - we used tarragon, oregano, and flat leaf parsley... a nice handful of all those. Then dice up some scallions (green parts) real thin and pile that all up on the cutting board. Sprinkle some kosher salt over that pile and a few grinds of pepper - and dice, dice, dice it all together. You'll know you have something good when you smell the results of your knifework.



Get that wonderful mixture into a bowl and add about 4 tablespoons of softened butter - and combine all of that into a paste with a fork. After combined, remove HALF of that mixture and throw that in a small bowl and leave it in the fridge until later.

Now, back to that chicken. Loosen the skin covering the breast from the "bottom" of the chicken with your fingers, and run your finger under the skin to separate from the meat. Then, take a nice sized dab (1tbls) of that herb butter and shove it under the skin on one side, pressing it down so it is spread evenly. Repeat on the other side.



After that, give the outside of the bird a salt-and-peppering, and then breast side down into your best, biggest, pre-heated-with-olive-oil skillet for a 6-minute sear.

After that, into your preheated oven as-is for 15 minutes, then take it out and turn that chicken over. Get that reserved herb butter out of the fridge, and rub it all into the seared up-side, including into those thigh and leg slices. Get it good and coated and then back into the oven breast side up for probably 20 minutes, but check your temp (looking for breast 165, thigh/leg 175).



And that's it... crispy, seared skin, really flavorful meat - buttery and herby! We made a pan gravy (we are big into perfecting gravy right now) and had it with some mashed potatoes.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Ever wonder what to do with leftover chicken? Need a meal that gives you some warmth in these cooler autumn evenings? Chicken Tortilla Soup to the rescue! In the past, we’ve made good use of leftover chicken by making burritos or pot pies or chicken salad sandwiches. We’ve also made some soups before - but never this south of the border spicy soup!

Again, most of our recipes are to taste, so taste as you go and add spices when necessary. If you don't have all the spices, so be it... substitute something else or just leave it out.

Sweat 1 medium chopped onion in some olive oil over med low heat for about 10 minutes until translucent – no browning! Add 4 cloves of minced garlic and cook a couple minutes more. Add 8 cups of chicken broth along with at least 2 cups shredded cooked chicken and a 28oz can diced tomatoes. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.

Add the following spices: 1 tbsp dried cilantro (not coriander – and if you have fresh cilantro add a handful at the end of cooking), 1 tbsp cumin, 2 tsp chili powder, 1/8 tsp cayenne, 1 tsp Mexican oregano, 1/4 tsp ground chipotle, the juice of 2-3 limes and some salt and pepper of course! Let that simmer for 20 minutes to get the chicken infused with all the flavors.... then add about 16oz of corn and 32 oz of rinsed canned black beans. Let that come back up to a simmer and cook for another 10 minutes.



To serve, place some tortilla chips in the bottom of your bowl and ladle the soup on top. Garnish with some fresh cilantro, sour cream, cheese or avocado. The chips will get soggy and starch (and salt) up the soup nicely... Reserve some chips for crisp dipping too! If you have the time, instead of chips, you can slice up some soft corn tortillas and fry up some strips in canola oil for a fresh and crunchy garnish. Cheers to a new life for leftover chicken!

Chicken Pad Thai

Ever been intimidated by all the ingredients that go into making Pad Thai? Yeah, so was I. Finally I gave it a shot this week; and even though I couldn't find one key ingredient at the store (tamarind paste), I did not give up on the dish. I found that tamarind paste provides the dish with a sour tang that can be mimicked with some lime juice, white vinegar and a bit more brown sugar than was planned. Crisis averted!

My recipe is not precise as far as the sauce goes, but taste as you go and remember that the sauce needs to be a bit strong since it will coat a ton of rice noodles. I added roughly 1/2 cup lite soy sauce, 1/2 cup H2O, juice of about 3 limes, a splash of white vinegar, 1 tsp or 2 of Sriracha chili sauce, 1/2 tsp garlic powder (too lazy to chop fresh stuff), 1/2 tsp of low sodium chicken bouillion, and about 1/2 cup light brown sugar.

Whisk those ingredients together and set aside while, in another bowl, covering the rice noodles with very hot tap water and let sit for 15 minutes - according to my noodle package's directions. They will still be al dente and ready to finish cooking later...

Coat a hot wok (or large pan) with oil and then add some raw thinly sliced chicken breast that you marinated in about 2 tsp cornstarch and some soy sauce. Brown for about 6-8 minutes until done. Remove from wok and add some more oil. To this add about 8oz shredded carrots and 1 bunch of sliced scallions. Throw in 2 scarmbled eggs as well. After 2 minutes, add your SAUCE! Let this cook down for about 3 more minutes and then add your al dente rice noodles. Allow this entire mixture to absorb some of the sauce for 3 minutes, add the chicken back, and then throw in some bean sprouts. Traditionally, uncooked sprouts are put on top of the dish during plating, but apparently this poses a slight risk for pregnant women so we heated ours through.



Serve up the Pad Thai with another lime wedge, some cilantro and some peanuts, and more hot Sriracha if you are like Michael! Honestly, I was amazed at how much this tasted like Pad Thai from a resto and I didn't need to buy that $5 jar of pre-made sauce from the market!

Sausage Stuffed Chicken with Braised Endive

We were watching Food Trip with Todd English on WGBH here in Boston - which is now in HD! - one lazy Saturday morning. This morning was the first time we'd seen this show, Todd English goes on road trips around the U.S. checking out local cuisine with chefs in different areas of the country. On this episode he was in the Southwest learning about eating cactus and which greens grow in the desert - plus, he visited a local chef who made sausage-stuffed quail. We though that was a great idea, we've always stuffed chicken "roll-ups" with ham and other items - but never sausage.

So we gave it a shot - we butterflied and pounded flat some 1/2 chicken breasts and seasoned inside and out with salt, pepper, and an Italian seasoning mix (basil, oregano, fennel). Then, we simply added a couple of tablespoons of sweet Italian sausage (rolled sort of lengthwise) and a sage leaf to the middle of the flattened chicken. No need for toothpicks, you can just fold the chicken over the sausage and form it back into a half breast.

To cook - our new favorite method of pan sauteeing to brown over pretty high heat, then into a 350-degree oven for 15 minutes. These came out pretty good, the less sausage the better - so it can keep up with the cooking time of the chicken. We'll certainly be trying this one again. With this we had braised Belgian endive...

Belgian endive reminds me of my time living in France when I was a young college girl. My French mother introduced me to a plethora of new foods and new ways to eat foods that I already loved. Madame Chesneau was my Julia Child -- she gave me the ideas and tools that will forever be a part of my kitchen experience. For the endive, she would serve a raw leaf with cheese and dried fruits. Or perhaps it would be sliced in a salad or braised. When braised, it is an interesting light veggie that is slight sweet and bitter.

At the store pick endives that have their leaves intact, not bruised and that are creamy white with yellowish-green tips. Slice it lengthwise without removing the root end. In a heavy bottom pan, melt 1-2 tbsp of unsalted butter and when bubbly, add the endives cut side down. Let that sautee/carmelize for about 5 minutes on that side, and then turn for a few minutes more. Return the endive to the first position and add some chicken stock (want the liquid to be at least 1/2 inch deep) salt and pepper, some lemon juice and a little bit of sugar. Cover, turn to medium low and let braise for 20 minutes. The liquid will actually turn a bit milky in its appearance, and that's ok.

The endive came out tangy and sweet and really tasty! Still a little firm at the "ends", was a great side with rice and the chicken...

Catching Up

Catching up with a few things while wondering what could be better than the crispy wing tips off a just-roasted chicken...

The beautifully roasted chicken seen here came out perfectly - VERY juicy white meat, buttery dark meat, and yummy crispy skin. We are on the constant hunt for recipes that turn out the perfect roast chicken - as you can see from all our previous attempts. The latest recipe we tried - with much success - was this one from... Molecular Solutions? The recipe is from 1967 Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child and it involved cooking the chicken on it's sides - which I still can't figure out. However, as they say on their site, if you follow the recipe "the chicken will, indeed, be perfect."

WE WON! WE WON! We won the Cool Beans contest over at Just Braise! We beat the 1-in-8 odds (a 12.5% chance!) and received our prize of a shipment of Cool Beans Dips at our doorstep this week! As you might expect, these were opened immediately and enjoyed with some chips and crackers. These blended, flavored Northern Beans-and-olive oil dips are delicious, they taste just like something we'd blend up in the food processor ourselves. The Hot and Spicy was just that - with a nice spicy kick. The Roasted Garlic had a great mellow roasted garlic and a little salt and lemon flavor - we had this spread on a ham sandwich with yummy results. The Carmelized Onion is the only one we've yet to crack - I don't think we'll hold out long. THANKS to Stacey at Just Braise and the Cool Beans Guys. We see that you can get them at our old grocery store - Foodie's Urban Market - in the South End of Boston on Washington, in addition to many other locations...

We received an email from old friend Jaye at Butta Buns letting us know that there is a Dessert Tasting Fundraiser being held on Saturday, March 29th at the Vietnamese American Community Center in Fields Corner, Dorchester. How can you go wrong when you're raising funds AND having dessert??? Check out her Attention Boston Area Bakers and Dessert Lovers post for more details - we may have to take the T over for some of those Bacon Peanut Butter Muffins she's making!

Finally, we were away for a while in Sunny Rochester, NY visiting with the Brother and Sister-in-Law of Boston Chef. While there, Brother Chef made a yummy Texas-style (no beans!) chili that had great smokey ancho flavor - which we ate over some cornbread. He ALSO made a very nice shrimp-and-chicken pad thai...

But the REAL reason we went was to hang out with our little nephews! Jack made a visit to Boston back in May of 2006, but - as you can see below - he's grown up a little since then. Here he is enjoying his 3rd Birthday Cake!


Plus, he's got a new little brother who ALSO enjoys cake - perhaps even moreso!!!


Happy Birthday, Jack!

Buttermilk Bacon Skillet Cornbread

Our first attempt at cornbread came out tasting unfamiliar to us - it was dry, it wasn't sweet, it was crumbly... we were like eh? what happened to this?

Little did we know - there is a difference between Northern (where we're from) and Southern (where we're not) cornbread. Unfortunately, we only discovered this AFTER we got our cornbread recipe out of the otherwise-fantastic Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook. This invaluable recipe resource was a wedding gift to us from my cousin Emily and her family - and it's been used quite a bit.

However, this Southern cornbread recipe - one tablespoon sugar? Shortening, not butter? We gave it a shot and later - through online research - learned that Southern cornbread is more of an everyday bread so it's less sweet and more like actual bread. The cornbread WE were looking for was the denser, sweeter cornbread we were used to - being, youknow, from the North and all...

So we gave it a second shot and scored a homerun with this Northern Bacon Skillet Cornbread... It was sweet and smokey and delicious.

• 4 bacon slices, cooked and bacon fat preserved
  
• 1 cups corn meal
  
• 1 cups all purpose flour
  
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
  
• 1 teaspoon salt
  
• 1/4 cup sugar
  
• 2 large eggs
  
• 1 cups buttermilk
  
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, softened

Preheat your oven to 425 and cook up your bacon. Drain the bacon pieces on paper towels and pour out the bacon drippings into a small bowl. When cooled, break up the bacon into ~1/4 inch chunks.

Take your cast-iron skillet and pour in the ~2 tablespoons bacon drippings (or just use a 13x9x2-inch metal or glass baking pan). Tilt skillet to coat bottom and sides of pan with bacon drippings. (Or, if cooked earlier and the bacon drippings have congealed, you can use a paper towel and just "grease" the skillet as you would with shortening.) Place skillet in oven until bacon drippings are hot, about 6 minutes.

While that's heating, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into large bowl - and add the cornmeal. Stir in sugar. Whisk eggs and softened butter in another bowl to blend, then add to dry ingredients along with the buttermilk. Stir - "creaming" the butter in with a fork - just until blended. Before your very last stir, throw in the bacon chunks and perform the final stir...

Transfer batter to that prepared hot baking pan - batter should sizzle when it hits the pan. Bake corn bread until tester inserted into center comes out clean and top is golden brown, about 25 minutes. Cool as long as you can stand, but best warm! Cut corn bread into wedges - or squares - and enjoy.



Dense, smokey, sweet, crispy edges, cakey inside... We enjoyed ours with a great field greens salad with beets and oranges, and a nice piece of one of two chickens - hot off the grill outside! Grilled chickens, cornbread, and salad - our own version of Southern Cooking!

Chicken with Prunes & Olives

M of course was skeptical as to the prune section of this recipe. Prunes do get a bad rap, but it was my duty to prove to M that they are not only edible, but delicious.

We started off by browning thighs and legs in some olive oil, only seasoned with some S&P. After they were browned on both sides, we transferred them to our Dutch oven along with: 12oz dried pitted prunes chopped in half, 1/3 cup capers with juice, 12oz green olives, a few tbsp of brown sugar, some fresh thyme, oregano and a bay leaf.



We then added a few cups of chicken stock, put the cover on the pot, and put it into a 350 degree oven for about an hour. We gave it a stir about halfway through the cooking process to make sure that everyone had equal time under liquid.

I probably could've added a tad more brown sugar, but I wouldn't have changed anything else! We served it with some whole wheat couscous and a field green salad that we dressed with some of the sauce. The dish was sweet and salty and briny and made M, maybe not a prune lover, but definitely a liker!

Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Simple cooking techniques can make you look like a pro at your next dinner party, and it helps if you have not only the know-how, but the right tools as well. Bostonchef #1 received a 13" All-Clad French skillet for Christmas from Bostonchef#2, however, #2 knew that he would try to claim it for himself. Very sneaky Xmas buying if you ask me!

Our cookware was either nonstick or enameled cast iron, so we desperately wanted a pan that we could sear meat on and get some nice browning to occur. This one fit the bill, and it has nice sloped sides which make it easy to flip stuff.

We've made variations of this dish several times, and it hasn't failed us yet. Butterfly your chicken breasts by placing the fat side of the breast facing your knife and then slice through the breast without going through all the way so that it opens like a book. Hope that makes sense! Put a thinly sliced piece of prosciutto (or ham!) inside with a couple slices of edam cheese (or fontina or cheddar!). Fold the chicken back up and secure with a couple of toothpicks. We seasoned the outside with some Penzey's Lemon Pepper and their salt-free Tuscan Sunset. Preheat your oven to 400F.



Heat your skillet up and add a couple of tbsp olive oil to the pan. Brown the chicken on both sides, probably about 5 minutes per side. Finish the chicken off in the oven about 10-20 minutes until the chicken is cooked through but not dry!

Remove chicken from the pan, and put the pan back on the cooktop with a couple of splashes of white wine, 1 tbsp dijon and 1/2 cup chicken stock. Reduce on high heat and scrape up all that browned goodness from the chicken. Serve the pan sauce over the stuffed chicken breasts...add some rice and veggies and your meal is complete!



And here's #2 with his new apron...he's a messy cook, folks...several shirts have been ruined due to his chaotic cooking technique!

Beer Can Chicken

We wish we could share the sweet, smokey smell...

This beer can chicken is, in my opinion, the best chicken we've ever made. It is our crispy, buttery, smokey, succulent, sizzling chicken masterpiece and it literally stands on it's own. The perfect chicken.

We had tried Beer Can Chicken once before but we rushed it and hadn't done enough research. It came out kinda dry and none-too-flavorful. It was ok, certainly not great.

This time, we did it right and followed all the necessary steps, starting with brining the chicken (1 roaster chicken - ours was 6.5 lbs.) in a brine of ~2 quarts water, 1/2 cup kosher salt, a few big tbls of sugar, a bunch of ground black pepper and crushed bay leaves, a long pour of soy sauce, and many shakes of Texas Pete's hot sauce. Certainly that could have brined overnight, but we only had the day to do it - so it got a few precious hours in the bath.

An hour before we were ready to put the chicken on it's perch, we prepped some hickory chips to add that wonderful smokey flavor to the gas grill... a few big handfulls (maybe 2-3 cups) of the wood chips got a soak in a bowl-full of 1/2 beer and 1/2 water.

Additionally, we made a "rub" of sorts that would be multi-purpose... The rub consisted of pretty much equal parts: ground black pepper, kosher salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and a mix of dried oregano/basil plus a little bit of cumin. To that, we added much MORE than an equal part of smoked spanish paprika.

After an hour we drained that beer/water, added the chips to two separate small aluminum trays and placed those trays under the grill grates - on top of the burner-protectors. Then we fired up the grill, started melting a stick of butter in a saucepan on low, and took out the chicken.

After draining the brine, we thoroughly rinsed the chicken with cold water. Then, after using paper towels to dry inside the cavity, we squeezed in the juice of 1/2 a lemon and tried to swirl the juice around as best as possible. Then we scooped in a couple spoons of that pre-made rub... and dried off the exterior with paper towels, prepping it for a massage.

On a big plate, we began brushing on some of the melted butter (be sure to save at least 1/3 of it!) all over the chicken - top, bottom, back, front. Then we sprinked and rubbed in that spice mix - spreading it all over the buttered chicken as best as possible. We ended up shaking on a little extra salt/pepper/paprika on some spots that needed extra attention. Then we got out a beer can...

A 16oz Miller High Life can, to be exact! After washing the outside of the can, about 2/3 of it went into a frosty glass for the chef, leaving 1/3 of the beer in the can. I used some scissors to cut away most of the top of the can, leaving a large opening. The last of the rub (a couple big spoons), the rest of the butter, and the juice of the other 1/2 lemon were then added to the beer in the can and swirled together. This left the can about 2/3 full of liquid - you wouldn't want to go any higher than that with the liquid.

Finally, put the can on the plate, and slide that chicken right down onto it. Et voila!



By now the grill is HOT and the wood is smoking, so we reduced the heat on the two outer burners and turned the middle burner OFF - and placed that chicken right down onto the grill, supported like a tripod by the beer can and the two legs. Monitor the temperature to try to bring it down and hold at 350. Eventually, after lots of playing with it, we had it steady at 350 but you'll have to watch it at first as everything adjusts. Yer looking at about 18-20 minuts/pound of chicken - but really the important thing is ~170 for the breast and ~180 for the drums.

We left that cover on and took maybe one little peek halfway through - we wanted that smoke to be stuck in there (as much as possible on a gas grill) and we knew we'd be rewarded... from about an hour in, the smell of the smoke and the chicken cooking right on the grill and the beer/butter/lemon was wafting through the air and tempting our appetites.

Ours was ready in just under 2 hours and we carefully removed it to a platter, still standing up, with two sets of tongs for it to rest for ~15 minutes. After that, with one set of tongs holding the chicken and the other gripping the bottom of the beer can, we slid that sucker off and onto a cutting board to be carved.



It was delicious... like we said, smokey and sweet, a little lemony, crispy skin. The extra paprika had burned in the places where it was a little too thick (as you can see by the before and after pics), but no big deal. TENDER breast meat, hints of lemon and sweet smoke - possibly the best we've had. Dark meat that had that dark-red smoked appearance and the texture of butter. Crispy skin and meat falling off the bones... Wonderful! Can't wait for leftovers tonight!

Asian Chicken Stew

Two nights ago, I cracked open some newly purchased Penzey’s spices and sautéed some chicken breasts and some veggies in a flurry of Asian flavors. That night we served everything over rice and it was quite good, but last night I had something more inventive in mind...



I had saved 2 chicken breasts, leftover veggies (onions, peppers, celery, shredded carrots, shredded iceberg lettuce b/c I had no cabbage!) and some of the sauce which consisted of stock, soy sauce, ginger powder, dried mustard, MSG, and garlic. I chopped up the chicken and put that and the veggies/sauce into 4 cups of stock and 4 cups of H2O. I added 2 tsp more of ginger, some more dried mustard, garlic, dried sweet California basil, 1/8 tsp MSG, dash of cayenne, and the juice of 2 limes. I slowly brought that to a boil while I prepared the DUMPLINGS!



I did not intend these to be Asian-style meat-stuffed dumplings, but more like the dumplings my Mom taught me how to make for her chicken and dumpling stew. One cup of flour, 1 tsp baking powder, some garlic powder, 1 tsp Penzey’s Lemon Pepper, and some more dried sweet California basil, mixed thoroughly. Slowly add in 1/2 cup cold water. Don’t add it all at once, add about half, then stir. Repeat until it’s a sticky, but not too wet consistency. Drop them into the now boiling soup, in about 3/4 inch balls... they fluff up! I then shredded some more lettuce, threw that in, and let it continue on slow boil for 25 minutes at which time I threw in some chopped fresh flat leaf parsley. Take a dumpling out, cut in half to make sure it’s cooked through and then you’re good to go!



The soup turned into something more akin to a stew b/c it thickened up from the bits of flour that came off the dumplings. The dumplings themselves had such a nice lemony-garlic flavor and reminded me of wonton soup! But the highlight for me was that it tasted something like a hot and sour soup which is the dish that I judge the quality of an Asian restaurant by! My nose was running, I had a tangy tongue and I was in heaven!

Crazy Chicken Curry

Cool September winds remind us of hearty meals that warm us from the inside out. I’m not sure where I got the inspiration to make this, but the recipe is solely my own and you’ll have to bear with me on my ingredients list since I really was just slinging things in the pot! The star of the show is the spice – Penzey’s Hot Curry Powder along with some Cinnamon and Tandoori Seasoning. Their spices are nothing to sneeze at (har har) – we had started running out of garlic powder and hadn’t ordered anymore, so I had to grab some from our local supermarket. We did a smell test and we both turned our noses up to chemical smell of the market bottle... quality and freshness really does make a difference!



I cut up 2lbs chicken breast into 3 inch chunks, seasoned with salt and the above spices. I browned them briefly in some olive oil, and then removed from the dutch oven. In went 1 medium onion, and 5 carrots (both sliced thin). After 10 minutes, I deglazed with 1/4 cup chicken stock. At that point, I threw in 2/3 of medium sized eggplant that I had peeled and cubed. I had to add more olive oil at this point because eggplant just soaks it right up!



In another pot, I brought up some chicken stock to a boil and blanched 1/2lb green beans for 3 minutes. After that, I parboiled (8 minutes) 4 white potatoes which I had cubed. After removing the potatoes, I reserved some of the starchy broth to add to my curry as needed.



After the eggplant sautéed for 5 minutes, I added 1cup of the reserved broth and a 32oz can of diced tomatoes with their juices. More of the star spices went in with some salt and the green beans. After bringing up to a boil, I added the chicken back to the pot and simmered covered for 15 minutes. At that point, I added the potatoes, and chcecked the liquid level which should come to the top of the meat and veggies, but not quite covering it. Add the reserved stock if you need more! When the chicken was cooked through (make sure not to overcook!! No one like tough chicken!), I stirred in 1 cup of low fat sour cream and it was finished! You could add plain yogurt or coconut milk, but sour cream was what we had on hand!



The aroma in our house was completely divine, and this was really enough for 3 nights.

Yellow Tomato Salsa over Grilled Chicken

Along with the tons of cucumbers my parents gave us from their northern Maine garden, they also gave us 10 smallish green tomatoes. We asked them what kind they were, but they couldn't remember the exact name other than they've planted them before -- or had they!?!?! When they started to turn yellowish, we started drooling --every day we would watch them, but they weren't turning red! What was going on?? One started getting soft too, so I gave Mom a call to find out what was up! Did they not like being in Boston? Nope, Mom said, I think your father bought yellow tomato plants by mistake! Well, that gave us the go ahead, and boy were they delish. In this dish they remind me of mango or yellow pepper b/c for us, it is rare to have a yellow tomato! This was a very simple Friday night meal, but it was full of flavor!




For the salsa, I chunked up 2 yellow tomatoes, 1 avocado and a quarter of a red onion. Some salt and pepper and the juice of 2 limes, et voila that's it! M brined some chicken breast earlier in the day, and topped them with some Penzey's Cajun Seasoning. Grilled to perfection with a side of couscous and topped off with the yellow tomato salsa, a great summer night meal!

Tomato!

If you plant it... suprisingly it will grow, albeit at an extremely slow pace. We planted a brandywine tomato plant in a 5 gallon bucket and set her on our back deck – plenty of sun. The plant itself grew extremely fast - and to huge proportion - with plenty of flowers and big, sticky leaves. But then the flowers died off soon after and nothing happened. So we waited... And waited. We wondered if we would ever see a tomato – what could we be doing wrong? Perhaps it was the fairly mild summer we were having in Boston – although one day it could be 65 degrees, and the next 90, so perhaps it was the temperature swings that we stunting our pretty little tomato plant.

Then suddenly, there was one tiny little green tomato making its way into the world. It took maybe 2 weeks for it to get up to size and then another 1.5 weeks for it to ripen on the vine. We took it off and let it ripen a bit more on the kitchen counter. And then last night, we could wait no longer. Whatever we were having with dinner, we were going to have a tomato to go along with it!



Obviously, the star of the show is Brandywine herself with a touch of kosher salt. Her backup singers were Miss Parmesan Couscous and Mr. Oregano-tarragon Chicken Thighs who happened to be lounging in a red wine mushroom sauce. The dinner was magnificent! We can only wait for the other little green tomatoes to come up – they seem to all be growing faster than our first!