Oven-Fried Chicken and Baked Spaghetti

Ever-searching for that perfect chicken recipe... juicy inside, crispy outside, yet not dripping in fat/oil. We may have found it in this Oven-Fried Chicken.

Two split breasts (bone-in) were finally ready to be cooked so we threw them in a brine consisting of cold water, salt, sugar, hot sauce, worcestershire, a dash of liquid smoke and some bay leaves and let them await their fate in the fridge for an hour and a half.

The recipe is easy enough after that - preheat oven to 425. Throw a tablespoon pat of butter in a baking dish (enameled cast iron, glass, or whatever you got) and put that in the oven for the butter to melt. Meanwhile, mix the following in a big freezer bag: flour (about 1/3 cup whole wheat mixed with about 1/3 cup all-purpose), paprika (a tbls or two), salt (a good amount), ground black pepper, and garlic powder. Take the chicken out of the brine and pat dry with a paper towel and - one at a time - place the chicken in the bag and shake to coat. Pull out and shake off any excess and place, skin-side down, into the buttered dish. Repeat with all the chicken. In the oven for 20 minutes, then turn skin-side up and go for another 20-30 minutes depending on the size of your breasts...


Make sure the juices run clear and pull out and let rest. These came out PERFECT - juicy, tender white meat and a delicious, crispy crust that tasted and felt like legitimate fried chicken. A HUGE find, this recipe - we highly recommend it!

We got creative with what to have with the chicken - we had a list of ingredients and we improvised: whole wheat spaghetti, 28 oz. can of tomatoes, package of frozen spinach, shredded cheddar and jack cheese, garlic, olive oil... Our friend described her baked macaroni and cheese earlier in the day, so we thought "let's combine all this stuff in a dish and bake it!".. and hope for the best.

Cook the pasta al dente. Meanwhile, thaw and thoroughly drain the spinach - squeezing out all excess liquid. Combine the spinach with the can of tomatoes, reserving the liquid from the tomatoes. Mix in a small handful of the shredded cheese, some salt, red pepper flake, oregano, basil and stir that up. Put cooked pasta into glass baking dish with a little olive oil drizzled on the bottom. Add this spinach/tomato/cheese mixture and stir to combine. Top with another handful of cheese and add to the oven. When our chicken came out, we lowered the temp to 350 to finish this dish (ideally, this is in at 350 for 30 minutes).

Cooking this uncovered allowed that top layer of cheese and pasta to get a nice burnt crust that produces a great, nutty flavor in the whole wheat pasta. Next time we'll add some sauteed garlic for more flavor, but this came out great.

All-in-all, a fantastic dinner made mostly with stuff we had lying around the kitchen!

Pork Chops with Purple Mustard Pan Sauce

We seasoned some thin, bone-in pork chops with salt, pepper, thyme, and a little dried mustard and wrapped them individually and very tightly in plastic wrap and let them sit around the refrigerator for a couple of hours before they were to meet the site of their impending doom - my sauté pan.

Heat pan, throw in a little olive oil, and in they go... these were thin and cooked pretty quickly, about 4 minutes on each side. Once removed, it's Purple Mustard Pan Sauce time! Deglaze with red wine (the purple part) and scrape up the seasoned bits that easily come off the enamel in the pan. Then add a couple tbls of dijon mustard and a little butter and stir to combine. Let it cook down a little bit and you're ready to pour it on yer chops. Easy and delicious!

What to have with the pork chops? Edamame! Why not? One of us is a HUGE fan (her) and the other is not quite as fond of the little soy bean pods (him), but she puts up with him alot, so he owes her... And it IS fun popping the little beans out of their pod... We had a frozen pack (that had been previously parboiled) so we just boiled them in very salty water for 6 minutes and then seasoned them with salt and pepper and some other stuff. They were pretty good!

As usual, we made roasted sweet potatoes to go with our pork, which we've described a few times now (cut them up, season and oil them, 400-degree oven for ~30 minutes, eat). Having this easy recipe in your repertoire comes in very handy and is a good alternative starch to potatoes/rice/pasta - again, check out some nutritional info on good carbs here...

Yum!

Paella

A few years ago, we were shopping for a set of pots-n-pans to help with our burgeoning cooking habit, and we ended up going with a non-stick calphalon set from Williams and Sonoma. It was on sale that week and we had some gift certs, so we'd be getting a nice set for not much money. Over the past 3 or 4 years since that purchase, the set has served us well - we've used the sauce pan and big saute pan maybe hundreds of times, those two pieces are up for replacement.

When the box containing the set was brought up to the register and our gift cards were strewn all over the counter, we noticed an auxillary box was with our set. "We didn't want to buy that thing," we noted. "Oh, that comes with this set for this week only," came the reply. So we looked at the long, wide, flat box and read what it contained: 16" Paella Pan. And we thought.... "hmmmm... paella!??!?!"

The pan ended up being a great introduction to paella for us - we now make it pretty regularily. We also use the pan for sautéing big orders, like browning 8 or more chicken pieces and large-quantity stuff like that. This is a BIG non-stick pan with a BIG lid...


Paella is one of those dishes that is (relatively) easy to make - yet looks, smells, and tastes like a culinary masterpiece. It is a one-pan show, yet includes chicken, veggies, rice, shrimp, and a wonderful browned/burnt crust called Soccorat (spelling?). Originally, paella was the name of the pan that the dish was made in, now they've renamed the pan and left the name paella for the dish!

We procured a variety pack of cut up chicken - 3 wings, 3 drumsticks, 3 thighs - that we salt and peppered and sprinked with a little paprika. When your big pan (paella pan or just the biggest one you got!) is hot, add some olive oil and then add the seasoned chicken and brown on both sides, then remove.

Next, in goes 1/2 a big green pepper and 1/2 a big red pepper chopped up. Get those going for a couple minutes then add a large onion chopped.

Go, veggies, go!


While those are getting cooked - 4 or 5 minutes - slice up some chorizo sausage which is going to add most of the flavor. We use two big links... nicely chopped/shredded. Throw in the chopped chorizo and brown and stir together with the veggies.

Since we use brown rice that takes longer than recommended rice, we started that in chicken stock a side pot and let that have about 20 minutes start on it's own. When the veggies and chorizo are browned, add the rice with the stock into the big pan, nestle the chicken back down in there, cover and cook for about 1/2 hour.

After that 1/2 hour, add about a cup of frozen peas and stir them in, then add in your shrimp in and make sure they are pressed down into the liquid... See how much liquid you have left, if you've got none, add a little. If you have too much, try and use a baster or a ladel to remove some.


Now, turn up the heat a little and remove the cover to finish. The shrimp will cook in the liquid and the heat will give the rice at the bottom that crusty "soccorat" finish which comes out so carmelized and delicious.

Try to use a big spatula to serve "slices" of the whole mixture, it will come off kind of intact if you have a nice toasted bottom...

Delicious! The tastes of the chorizo and dark-meat chicken and shrimp (next time we're adding clams, too!) mixed with the rice and veggies - so good! Easy but still fantastic!

Weekend Cat Blogging

We have two cats that probably should be named Yin and Yang - because they are polar opposites of each other. Cat number one is pure evil-genius, he dislikes everyone except his mom (he tolerates his dad, even though dad always teases him), he is very vocal and very bold. Cat number two is pure goodness, all-loving, barely makes a peep (in fact, he does "peep" instead of meow) and can be very shy. Yin and Yang! Can you tell who is who?

Bacchus lounging - he thinks he's pretty:


Osiris always finds the sun:


Careful or you'll step on him, he's camouflaged:




Bacchus up close:


Yin and Yang: