Chicken Marsala

I was looking to make some sort of chicken dish yesterday and came up with Chicken Marsala. It was actually very easy to make and I think it might become one of our new staples. And it looked pretty impressive when I served it over mashed potatoes with a side of steamed broccoli.

This is how you make it:

Chicken Marsala
4 pieces of chicken cutlet
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 or 3 cups sliced mushrooms (can be any kind, really)
2 shallots, diced
3/4 cups Marsala wine
1 cup chicken broth

Pat chicken dry with paper towels. Combine the flour with the salt and pepper. Dredge the chicken in the flour mixture to fully coat the pieces.

In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the butter in a skillet over medium high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil to it. Place the chicken pieces in the oil and brown on both sides (about 3 minutes per side.) Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.

Put another tablespoon of butter and olive oil in the skillet. Add the mushrooms and shallots and cook until they are brown. Try not to mix them too much so that brown bits start to stick to the bottom of the pan (without burning, of course.)

Once the mushrooms are brown, add the Marsala wine. Use the spoon to scrape all of the brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Reduce the wine by about half. Then add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Cook for 5 minutes.

Add the browned chicken to the sauce. Cook until the chicken is cooked through (about 5 or 6 more minutes.) Serve immediately.

Buon appetito!

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

I was craving chicken noodle soup yesterday so I decided to make use of some of the delicious chicken stock I had in the freezer to make some. It's a little time consuming but fairly easy to do. I started with a recipe from Emeril Lagasse and made adjustments from there.

Then today, I pureed a bit of it to give to Baz. I'm Cuban. We puree a lot. I actually turned out really well and Baz seemed to enjoy it even though he much prefers foods he can pick up and feed himself these days.

Anyway, here is my recipe. For the chicken stock I used this recipe from a couple of weeks back.

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup (Inspired by Emeril Lagasse's recipe)
3 pound whole chicken
4 cups chicken stock
8 cups water
2 stalks of celery, chopped into large chunks
2 carrots, peeled and chopped into large chunks
2 onions, chopped into large chunks
4 sprigs of thyme
6 sprigs of parsley
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
10 button mushrooms, cut into six pieces
2 stalks of celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 onions, diced
1/4 cup white wine
salt and pepper
1/4 pound egg noodles

Put the chicken in a large pot and cover with chicken stock and water. Add the large chunks of vegetables and the thyme, parsley and bay leaf. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 1 hour.

Remove the chicken from the pot and set aside to cool enough so you can handle it. Pour the liquid through a very fine strainer or a strainer lined with cheesecloth. Set the broth aside.

Remove all of the skin and bones from the chicken. Shred the meat into small pieces.

In a large pot heat up the olive oil. Add the butter and melt. Add the mushrooms and saute until brown. Add the diced carrots, celery and onions and saute until soft and brown bits begin to stick to the bottom of the pot. Add the wine and use the liquid to scrape the brown bits off the bottom of the pot. Cook for a couple of minutes to let the alcohol evaporate. Add the shredded chicken. Add the reserved broth. Season with salt and pepper to taste which could require quite a bit.

Bring the soup to a boil. Add the egg noodles and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, until the noodles reach their to desired tenderness.

Voila! It's pretty good stuff and just what the doctor ordered if you are feeling a little under the weather. And it was good left over, too. And pureed like what I did for Baz.

Chicken and Shrimp Enchiladas

Tonight, I decided to go back to my friend, Kita's, enchilada recommendation.  Her sister sent her this recipe and I have adapted a few things to my taste and what I had available.

For tonight's version, I replaced the beef I originally used with both chicken and shrimp (since I realized a little late in the game that I was running low on shrimp, I just sauteed a chicken breast that I had seasoned with salt and pepper.)  I didn't use them together but instead made two different kinds of enchiladas.  I also used two kinds of red salsa instead of green salsa because the Publix I went to only had some lame El Paso Salsa Verde available.  I used the mango and peach salsa I bought a Costco a while ago as well as Publix brand of medium salsa which was actually quite nice.

The mango/peach salsa was pretty tasty with the shrimp enchiladas in particular.  The only thing I didn't like was that it didn't taste particularly Mexican.  But, whatever, it was a little gourmet and Damien seemed to like it, too.

I also mixed up the veggies a bit.  I did use the squash and corn like the recipe calls for, but I also threw in a poblano pepper and a half of a jalapeno to make things a little spicier.

All in all, it was pretty good.  My apologies to Kita and her sister, Mollie for screwing with an already terrific recipe.  You're original is still the best. 

Pollo Tropical!

As I mentioned, Damien is away...again...so I'm not feeling very inspired to cook. So, I'm just enjoying the leftover enchiladas from yesterday which were so good. Thank you, Kita.

But I did want to share my new fast food find. Pollo Tropical! I have seen them all over Miami but it just never won out over Taco Bell when I was traveling or in need of a quick on-the-go lunch. However, yesterday I was out running errands and Baz fell fast asleep in the car. Not having the heart to wake him, I looked for a way to stall for a few minutes before I went to the supermarket. I hadn't eaten so I searched around for someplace with a drive-thru since drive-thru's are my saving grace these days. And by the way, quick aside: All of you people who don't have young kids and are not handicapped, is it too much to ask that you not use the drive-thru ATMs? I mean really, how lazy can you be!

Anyway, where was I? Looking for a drive-thru so I don't have to wake my sleeping baby. And the idea of McDonald's or Burger King just sounded terrible after our week of junk food in Boston. That's when I saw Pollo Tropical. I'd heard they have rice and beans so I thought that sounded like a healthier alternative.

Well, it was fabulous! I ordered the chicken, white rice and beans Tropichop for $3.29 and a side of fried plantains for $1.89. It was all delicious and with the chicken being grilled, all-white breast meat, it felt somewhat healthy. If only I could have resisted the fried plantains. And there were tons of other things on the menu that probably would have made better deals. I just felt all flustered and pressured to order at the drive-thru. But, I did drive away wondering what had taken me so long to check this place out. I'll be back and will make sure I take a little more time to examine the menu beforehand. I love it!

Tomorrow I am going to make a ton of baby food for Baz. I talkin' peaches and pears and string beans and squash. It's going to be a baby food bonanza! And I am also going to continue my quest to get him to drink out of a sippy cup. Wish us luck...

Mollie McDonald's Enchiladas

These enchiladas are so good that I couldn't even get the picture taken before we started to devour them! Salsa Verde is so good. I need to figure out how to make that from scratch.

Anyway, Kita, who has already contributed the fantastic Tortilla Soup recipe, also sent me this recipe that her sister made when they were visiting together in Maryland.

I changed a few things based on what I had available. For one thing, I decided to make steak enchiladas instead of chicken because we've been eating a lot of chicken lately. I also switched up the veggies a little bit since I had poblano peppers and no corn. But, the essence of the recipe is the same and it was rich and delicious.

So, without further ado:

Mollie McDonald's Enchiladas
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 small onion
1 small zucchini(or any summer squash)
1/2 cup corn
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 jar salsa verde
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 shredded rotisserie chicken
1 can refried beans (*pinto or black beans)
1 cup shredded or crumbled queso fresco
6-8 corn tortillas

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Saute garlic, onion, zucchini and corn in olive oil. Add cumin, coriander and cayenne to vegetables.

Cover the bottom of an oven proof dish with a 1/3 of the salsa verde. Stir in the heavy cream.

Assemble the enchiladas by spreading 1 or 2 tablespoons of refried beans onto each tortilla, sprinkle the cheese over the beans and then adding chicken and sauteed vegetables to them. Roll individually and place each one onto the green salsa coated dished with the ends down.

Cover the enchiladas with the rest of the salsa verde. Top with the remaining cheese. Cover and bake until the cheese is melted and it is bubbling (about 30 minutes).


As I mentioned, I made this with steak instead of chicken and with poblano peppers instead of corn. And it was delicious! One suggestion I have is to microwave the corn tortillas for a few seconds before assembling the enchiladas, just to soften them a bit because mine started to crack (of course, I wasn't using the freshest tortillas.) It didn't really matter though. In the end, the weigh of the salsa verde and cheese put everything back together and it looked impressive and tasted great.

Damien is going away...again. So, it'll just be me and Baz for a couple of days. I'll try and treat myself fairly well dinner-wise, but the recipes might be a little "simple" for the next two days.

Kita's Tortilla Soup Recipe

I have some reader input! Kita Murdock, who was part of my inspiration for starting a blog because of her awesome chronicles of moving her young family out west (threegirlsmovewest.blogspot.com), has shared one of her favorite recipes and I think I'll give it a shot tonight. Sounds delish!

Tortilla Soup
Saute in 2 T. olive oil:
1 1/2 cups onion, diced
2 tablespoons fresh garlic
1 cup poblano chiles charred (I put them right over my burner for a minute or two) seeded, and chopped
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 teaspoon each of oregano, coriander and cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne

ADD:
4 cups chicken broth
1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes in juice
1 15 ounce can black beans drained
2 soft corn tortillas diced
1 cup to 1 1/2 cups diced cooked chicken ( I cook it chopped in olive oil on the stove)
or you can add some peeled shrimp at the end instead
MMMMMMM........

I am excited to try this recipe especially since it is not something I would likely have found or sought out on my own. It sounds terrific! We might add a bit more cayenne or something else to make it a little more spicy. And I think we'll give the shrimp a try since I have a bag of Publix frozen shrimp in my freezer.

Thank you, Kita. She just moved the whole family to Boulder, CO in a whirlwind trip. They were settled in Los Angeles one day, back east for a family gathering the next and moved into their new home and starting school in Boulder all in less than one month. Amazing!

So a special good luck to her girls who are starting at their new school this week. As someone who was the new kid a whopping 6 or 7 times, I feel for them. But I also know that I wouldn't be who I am today without the experiences. I think that our moving so often made me adventurous, flexible and well rounded having been exposed to some many new people and places. And I think the humbling experience of being new in town made me more compassionate, too.

Chicken Cordon Bleu - Diana Style

First of all, I need to take two boneless, skinless chicken breasts out of the freezer right now before I forget. They're defrosting in the refrigerator. Now I can relax.

Damien is coming home tonight which makes me happy. I had a busy couple of days so it wasn't too bad, but I miss him and wouldn't mind having a little back-up for the boy. Baz slept great the first night Damien was gone, but last night he woke up at about 1am. I tried to let him fall back to sleep on his own, but after about 10 minutes I went in there and discovered he had peed through his diaper and pajamas and was really in a state. So, I cleaned him and cuddled with him for a few minutes before putting him back to bed. He was alright after that. Well, until about 7:10am.

In honor of Damien's return, I thought I'd make one of his favorite old stand-bys. I like to call it Chicken Cordon Bleu, but since I use prosciutto and fresh mozzarella instead of regular ham and swiss cheese, I guess it's not really chicken cordon bleu.

Regardless (or irregardless, as they say in Massachusetts) it's simple to make and sort of impressive looking. Here's how I do it:

Chicken Cordon Bleu - Diana Style

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/4 cup of flour

1 egg

2 tablespoons of milk

1 cup Italian breadcrumbs

4 slices of thinly sliced prosciutto

2 - 1/4 inch slices of fresh mozzarella

1 tablespoon butter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the chicken breasts lengthwise so that you can fold them open to stuff. Beat the egg with milk until frothy. Coat the chicken breasts with a light layer of the flour. Then dip the floured chicken breasts in the egg mixture. Fully coat the egged chicken breasts in the Italian breadcrumbs both on the outside and inside the split.

Lay the chicken so that they are butterflied. Place two slices of prosciutto inside the fold of the chicken breasts. Then place one slice of cheese on each breast. Fold the chicken breasts so that they are now stuffed with the prosciutto and cheese.

Place the two chicken breasts in a baking dish small enough to keep them assembled. Cut a pat of butter for each breast and place it on the top center of the breasts.

Cover the chicken with aluminum foil, loose enough so that it does not touch the top of the breasts. Cook in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and cook for 5 more minutes. (The cooking time can vary a bit depending on the thickness and defrosting status of your chicken. You might need a few more minutes than this. I did tonight.)

While the chicken is cooking, I make the Chicken Seasoned Rice that I also made to go with the Chicken with Mango and Peach Salsa. And I also make a steamed vegetable - Tonight I think I'll make steamed string beans sauteed with a little bit of garlic.

It's really simple and delicious. Damien's gonna love it especially if I follow it up with some Haagen Dazs Dulce de Leche and Caramel Cone ice cream.

Leftover - Hearts of Palm

As I mentioned earlier, we had the fabulous Miso Glazed Chilean Sea Bass last night. I would have let it sit another day, but Damien is going on a reporting trip to St. Louis today, so I wanted to make sure he got to enjoy one of our favorite meals.

Since he's gone today, Baz and I are suffering from withdrawal and uninspired to cook. So I think I am going to make use of some of our leftovers. We have some chicken left and I think I'll remove the fried skin part, shred the chicken and make a chicken salad out of it by adding some mayonnaise, onion, mustard and maybe some cut up grapes or raisins. Then I'll cut up some lettuce and other salad fixings like avocado and top it with the chicken salad.

One salad ingredient that I love and is not as common up north as it is here in Florida is Hearts of Palm. Yummy. They come in a can packed in water. (Baz is holding a can in the picture above.) I prefer to buy them uncut and slice them before adding to my salads. They really make a salad special.

Chicken with Mango and Peach Salsa

So I am waiting with baited breath for my brother's wife to go into labor already. What's the hold up Apple Jack? I hear that she's not even a wee bit dilated or effaced.

Another Caribbean themed meal tonight. This time with chicken. It's a bit of an experiment since I haven't made it before, but it sounds like a good idea to me.

See, I bought this enormous jug of salsa at Costco over the weekend when we were having people over for appetizers and drinks. It was like $5 for 100 gallons of it. Well, maybe not quite. But since I have tons of it left, I thought I'd try to use it for something besides a corn chip dip.

So here is what I made:


Chicken with Mango and Peach Salsa
1 1/2 cups of mango and peach salsa (Costco sells it, but you can use whatever salsa you have)
2 cloves of garlic
3 tablespoons of olive oil
2 chicken breasts (I'm using boneless, skinless, but I bet it'd be better with bone-in, with skin)
salt and pepper


I took the salsa, garlic and some olive oil and blasted it in the food processor for a few seconds to get it nice and smoothed out and mixed together. Then I seasoned the chicken breasts with some salt and pepper and poured my salsa mixture all over it. It's marinating now. I'm giving it about an hour or so.

I'm going to take the chicken out of the salsa and sear it in a frying pan with just a tiny bit more olive oil. I just want it to get a bit browned on the outside. Then I'll put the chicken in a baking dish and pour the salsa mixture over it and bake it for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

I'm serving it with a side of chicken seasoned rice. This is how I make that:

Chicken Seasoned Rice
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 onion, diced
1 cube of chicken bouillon
2 cups water
1 cup of rice

Melt the butter in a small pot on medium to high heat. Add the onion and saute until they are translucent and just starting to brown. Add the chicken bouillon cube and break it up a bit with a wooden spoon. Then add the water and stir until the bouillon cube is dissolved. Bring the mixture to a boil. Add the rice and return it to a boil. Then lower heat to the lowest setting and cook for 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

Since this has tomatoes and peaches and mango, I don't think I am going to make another veggie side dish. But, I don't know. Maybe I should. We'll see how Damien reacts.

I hope it's good. I'll give you an update when it's done.