Category: Main Dish

Sesame Linguini with Marinated Chicken Breast

After having a baby recently, I was lucky enough to have some friends and family send me over dinner for the first two weeks. Needless to say, I felt really pampered to have hot and delicious food delivered to my door each day! Making dinner for a kimpeturin is such a wonderful mitzvah, one which I enjoy doing myself, and I encourage others to do as well. My friend Dina sent over a variation of this dish and it was a huge hit. Here is my adaptation:

Sesame Linguini with Marinated Chicken Breast:

For the pasta:

1 box linguini
1 onion, cut into half circles
1 zucchini, cut into half circles
1 container mushrooms, sliced
1 head baby bok choy
1/2 cup dark soy sauce
1/2 cup toasted sesame oil
1/2 cup sugar
3 scallions, for garnish
sesame seeds, toasted, for garnish

Method:

Prepare linguini according to package directions. Saute onion until translucent and add zucchini, bok choy, and mushrooms. Continue to saute until zucchini is tender-crisp. Add vegetables to pasta. Combine the soy sauce, sesame oil and sugar and pour over pasta.

For the chicken:

1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
4-5 boneless chicken breast

Method:

Mix soy sauce, teriyaki sauce and sugar. Pour into a ziploc bag to which chicken has been added. Marinate for 2-3 hours (or minimum 1 hour). Remove from marinade (you can discard it) and pan-fry the chicken over medium heat, using sesame oil to coat the pan. Cool and slice over pasta.

Note: Feel free to grill the chicken breasts. I, of course, was too lazy to shlep down my George Foreman, but if you have yours handy, I would recommend grilling over pan-frying (for health and taste!)

Garnish with sesame seeds and scallions.

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Lemon & Garlic Whole Roasted Chickens

I like chicken. Chicken is ok. Me, and chicken, are good. Am I head over heels for chicken? not really. In fact, whenever I am pregnant, I have an aversion to it and cannot eat it. But I make it all the time because it’s a good source of protein, and my husband and kids enjoy it. This roasted chicken recipe took my taste for chicken to a whole ‘nother level. Roasting the chicken whole, stuffed with lemons, garlic and thyme, gives the chicken an incredible flavor that is not too overpowering, it’s just right. The chicken comes out so incredibly moist, you will want to eat the whole thing in one sitting!

The recipe calls for 1 5-6 lb. bird, but since my butcher only had 3-3.5 pounders, I made 2, and filled each with half a lemon and half a head of garlic. If you can get a 6 lb. chicken, go ahead and fill each cavity with a whole head of garlic (cut in half), and one whole lemon (cut in half) and of course, a bunch of thyme.

This chicken is beautiful served at the Friday night meal, with some rice and veggies on the side.

Lemon & Garlic Roasted Whole Chickens
adapted from Barefoot Contessa

2 3-3.5 lb. roasting chickens
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 large bunch fresh thyme
1 lemon, cut in half
1 head garlic, cut in half
2 tablespoon olive oil

Method:

Preheat oven to 425. Remove excess fat and feathers from the chickens. Clean well, rinsing inside and out. Pat dry. Season the cavity of the chicken with salt and pepper and stuff it with the thyme (you can reserve a little for garnish), lemon and garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string. Roast for 1 hour.

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Leftover Chicken Soup Pot Pie

I’ve got to hand this one over to my favorite Facebook page, “Whats for Supper” (introduced to me by my sister-in-law CR), which was started by two sisters, Chava and Naomie (from what I gather anyway). As the name suggests, each day, they post what they are making for supper, and invite all their followers to do the same. Naomie sometimes suggests interested cooking tips, and the health benefits of various foods. They’ve created a family atmosphere, a place to shmooze about more than just food!

Now back to the food. In one post, a little while back, they offered suggestions of what to do with leftover chicken soup. I always have leftover soup, and it kills me to throw it away! Only one of the recipes appealed to me, and that was chicken pot pie. The delicious, creamy comfort food that we all love (and you thought it couldn’t get any comfier than chicken soup) is surprisingly easy to make. Making chicken pot pie using leftover chicken soup seemed a bit “off” at first, but once I tried it, I couldn’t help but make it again the next week. And it just keeps getting better. If you don’t like the sound of it, you can go ahead and boil up some chicken and carrots from scratch.

If you have other vegetables in your soup, like celery, parsnips etc. feel free to add them. (Almost) anything goes!

Leftover Chicken Soup Pot Pie

1/4 cup olive oil
1 onion, diced small
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup flour
2 cups chicken stock (leftover from soup)
1/2 tsp dried thyme or rosemary
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
leftover chicken from chicken soup, cut into 1 inch dice
(or 2-3 pieces of cooked chicken)
leftover carrots from chicken soup
(or 1 large cooked carrots, diced)
1 potato, boiled and cut into a small dice
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 sheet puff pastry or puff pastry squares for individual pies , thawed
1 egg, beaten

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Heat olive oil in a skillet and add onion, saute until translucent, add the garlic and saute until fragrant. Sprinkle the flour over the mixture and continue to saute until the flour starts to take on some color. Add chicken stock and bring to a simmer, whisking as it cooks to incorporate the flour. Season with herbs, salt and pepper. Add chicken, carrots,  potato and peas and stir to incorporate. Pour into an pie dish (or individual dishes) and cover with puff pastry (stretch lightly if necessary). Seal well and place on a baking sheet. Brush the puff pastry with egg. Make a few slits in the pastry to allow steam to escape when baking. Bake until puffed and golden, about 30 minutes.

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“Everything” London Broil

London Broil is regularly served in my house, mostly on the side of cholent on Shabbos day. Since it is relatively inexpensive, I have started serving it more often during the week. Now lets get things straight. The name London Broil is NOT a cut of meat, but rather a method of preparation. The method? broiling or grilling marinated flank steak, then cutting it across the grain into thin strips. Because the muscle fibers run the entire length of this cut of meat, it can be tough. However, if prepared correctly, the outcome is delicious. To tenderize the meat, I massage it with olive oil and a mix of seasonings. Then, I let it marinate for a few hours. Finally, I broil it until medium (anything more will cause the meat to be tough). It is very important not to score, cut, or penetrate, the meat before (or during) broiling because all the juices will run out of it. It is best served with mashed potatoes, but being as I had an entire container of leftover rattatouille, I wanted to make use of it. I mixed it in with some Mezze Penne for a delicious pasta on the side.

London Broil
(measurements are approximately, I sort of just sprinkle):

(Approx. 2-2.5 lbs.) London Broil
Good Quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 tbsp Minced Onion Flakes
1 tbsp Minced Garlic Flakes
1 tsp Kosher Salt
1 tsp Freshly Ground Pepper

Method:

Generously drizzle the london broil with olive oil on both sides. Sprinkle onion flakes, garlic flakes, salt and pepper. Massage the oil and spices into the London Broil, until well absorbed. Let the meat marinate for a few hours (as long as you have, I’ve broiled it within the hour and it’s still delicious). Set your broiler on high and your oven rack to be 3-4 inches from heat source. Broil for 8 minutes on each side (total 16 minutes) until medium. You can increase to 9 minutes (per side) if you want it medium-well. Do not broil more than 10 minutes (20 minutes total) or the meat will be tough. Let the meat rest for 5-10 minutes. Slice thinly, against the grain.

Red Wine Reduction (optional):

Now I wouldn’t want to lose all those yummy drippings from the bottom of the pan. To make a delicious and easy pan gravy, remove the london broil from the pan and pour some good quality red wine into it (about 1 cup). Scrape the bits that are stuck to the bottom of the pan and pour into a small pot (or put your pan directly over the fire). Simmer, uncovered, until reduced by half. You can strain out the little onion and garlic bits (some may be burnt from broiling) but personally, I like them!

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Chicken Breast with Port Wine Cherry Sauce

So I figure I’ve pushed this off long enough! For as long as I can remember, my husband, family, and friends have been encouraging me to start my own blog. Of course, I procrastinated. Then, I looked for excuses. I’m not a gourmand. Nor a professional photographer. I can’t, I don’t, I’m tired!!! And so weeks turned to months and months into years, and so many beautiful dinners have gone lost in the wind (but not on the scale!) Finally, I’ve decided to do as Nike says, and just “do it!”. So here I am. Typing my first blog post…

Without further ado, I give you, tonights supper….

I’ve long been eyeing the “Turkey Breast with Port Wine Cherry Sauce” recipe from the NEW Jamie Geller cookbook, “Quick & Kosher, Meals in Minutes”. (we’ll leave the cookbook review for another day). I decided to try it out with chicken breast, and although the recipe pairs it with roasted potatoes, I made some simple barley pilaf instead. The results where a simple, tasty meal that came together quickly.


Chicken Breast with Port Wine Cherry Sauce
adapted from Quick & Kosher, Meals in Minutes

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast cutlets, about 2 lbs.
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 tbsp canola oil
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1/2 c Kedem Port Wine
1/2 c chicken broth
1/2 c canned dark sweet cherries
1 sprig fresh rosemary

Method:

Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a saute pan and add cutlets. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side, until thoroughly cooked. Transfer to platter and cover to keep warm. To prepare the sauce, add the shallots to the pan and cook for about 1 minute. Add wine, broth, cherries and rosemary. Cook until sauce is reduced by half, about 6 minutes. Pour sauce over the cutlets.

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