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Chicken with Plum Chutney – plus a give away!

Chicken with Plum Chutney

Chicken with Plum Chutney

Do you like chicken? I like chicken. It seems to always be a good backup dinner. For example… not feeling spendy/fancy enough to buy fish? But don’t want something as carb-y as pasta? Answer: Chicken. You can do so many things with it! Cut it up and use it in a stir fry, smash it and coat it in Panko. Roast it in the oven with root vegetables. Make soup. The list goes on and on.

One of my personal favorite chicken recipes is this recipe for chicken with plum chutney from Martha Stewart. When I was in high school, we used to get Martha’s monthly everyday food magazines, and I would always go through them one by one and dog-ear all the recipes I wanted to make. This one has been by far the best recipe I have ever made from those things, and has stuck around the longest. It became a family favorite when I made it at my family reunion, and I it was included in the cookbook of family recipes that I gave my mom for her birthday last fall. It also is one of the few meals I’ve made for Jonah’s parents (this one even got the honor of being served on his dad’s birthday), so you know it’s good. It’s perfectly summery: fruity and tangy, but also sweet and a beautiful purple color.

Chicken with Plum Chutney

Ingredients

4 (6 to 8 ounces each) boneless skinless chicken breast halves
Salt and ground pepper
2 Tbl olive oil
1/2 medium red onion, chopped
1/2 jalapeno chile, (ribs and seeds removed for less heat, if you want), chopped
4 red plums, (about 1 pound), halved, pitted, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/3 cup packed light-brown sugar
2 Tbl cider vinegar
3/4 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp ground ginger

Instructions

Start by seasoning the chicken with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium heat. Put the chicken into the hot pan and cook until it’s opaque throughout, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer the cooked chicken to a plate and set aside for later use.

Now let’s make the chutney. Put the rest of the olive oil into the same skillet (No need to even rinse! Look at that, a one pot meal!), as well as the onion and jalapeno. Cook for about 3 minutes, or until softened. Increase the heat to medium-high and add the plums, sugar, vinegar, curry powder, ginger, and 1/4 cup of water. Now, I like to do a little less water so it isn’t quite as runny, but do it how you like. If you add too much water, you can always let it cook down a bit more (though everything in the chutney will get more cooked); On the other hand, if you add less to begin with, you can always add more later. Do whichever suits you. Bring the chutney to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cook until the plums are softened and the liquid is slightly thick – the recipe says 8 minutes, but I always find that this takes a bit longer.

When the chutney is ready, add the chicken and any juices from the plate back into the pan and simmer until the chicken is heated through. Season to taste with S&P and serve the chicken with loads of chutney spooned on top. In college, I liked to make large batches of this chutney and then freeze it, and then all I really needed to do was cook up some chicken and voila, dinner. Or you can put it over some plain pasta. Really, any vehicle you need to get this chutney into your mouth is fine. But chicken is best.

Ticket Give Away!

Now, speaking of chicken, I’ve got my very first give away on the blog! Kind of cool, right? It’s really only for Portlanders, though… sorry out-of-towners. Last week, while on vacation, I was contacted to see if I wanted to offer FREE tickets to the Foster Farms Fresh Chicken Cooking Contest. Exciting, no? At this point in the game, this is the regional finals at the Art Institute of Portland. The contest takes place on August 10th (in a week and a half!) at 9:30 am. You would be able to attend the event, watch the contest live, and sample the contestants’ dishes. You also will have a chance to see the professional kitchen at the Art Institute, which will be pretty cool, I bet.

Now, I can’t attend because, you know, I work two jobs, but I want anyone who reads this blog and wants to go to please leave a comment below with your full name! We’ve got 10 tickets to give away here folks, so get going! On Monday (or Tuesday), I’ll pick 10 people from the comment section to give tickets to. Want more information? Go here.

Using those roasted tomatoes…

Tomatoes
tomatoes

tomatoes

Remember those roasted tomatoes I made a while back? 2 things about them.

One is that I’m reading Molly Wizenburg’s book, called “A Homemade Life,” and it’s lovely. She’s a fabulous writer, and there are recipes! I can’t wait to try them. I already loved her, but then I got to the part where she talks about her own roasted tomatoes, and how great and easy they are, and now I feel like we may be soul mates. Oh my goodness. Read her blog Orangette and also the book mentioned above. She’s working on another book, and I can’t wait to read it. Her writing is really lovely, full of nostalgia and a clear love for detail. She notices the little things.

The second thing about those tomatoes: pasta sauce. They’d been sitting in the fridge for a little while, and I thought to myself, “I won’t let these go bad! I must use them!” So I decided to do something easy with them besides just eating them cold. I threw them in the food processor, heated them up, and put them over some sauteed mushrooms and onions to make a sauce. Scoop the sauce over some noodles of your choice, and sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan and voila! Dinner. You can find the original recipe for the tomatoes here.

Fried Fish and Corn Salad | Serious Crust by Annie Fassler

Fried Fish and Summer Corn Salad

Corn salad

Fish and corn
fish and corn

Jonah here.  I haven’t posted recently, but I was proud of this dinner I made a few weeks back, so I had to get on this blog and tell you all about it!

Recently, it was a nice warm summer day and I wanted to make something summery.  So I modified two recipes from Food52.com, a great site Annie introduced me to: Fried spiced fish and summer corn salad. You can find the recipes that this meal is based on here and here.

Fried Fish and Summer Corn Salad

Ingredients

Panko Fried Fish

4 fillets of fish (I used cod)
2 Tbl Chilli powder
1 Tbl Turmeric
1 tsp Black pepper
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp Lime juice
Salt to taste
Panko bread crumbs to coat
Oil for shallow frying

Summer Corn Salad

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 shallot, chopped
1/2 jalepeño pepper, diced
1 red pepper, diced
2 handfuls fresh green beans, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 ears fresh corn on the cob, kernals removed
1 handful fresh basil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon or lime juice
1 teaspoon maple syrup
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
3 tablespoons olive oil
sea salt, to taste

Instructions

Panko Fried Fish

Clean, cut and wash the fish. Prepare a thick paste with all remaining ingredients (besides the panko and oil) and apply it to the fish. Allow it to marinate while you prepare the corn salad, instructions below. When you’re ready to cook the fish, coat it with Panko, shallow fry in oil and remove to a paper towel-lined plate.

Summer Corn Salad

Heat olive oil in saute pan to hot, but not smoking. Add in shallots and peppers and a pinch of sea salt. Saute 2-3 mins over medium heat, until shallots start to get translucent. Add green beans and saute another 5-8 minutes, until everything is tender, but still has a crunch. Add corn kernels and saute 2-3 minutes. Take pan off of heat, tear basil into large pieces and stir to combine. Heat will wilt basil, but not over cook.

In a separate bowl, combine lemon juice, maple syrup, mustard and 3 tablespoons olive oil and a pinch of sea salt, mixing. Pour over corn and pepper mixture. Toss to coat all the veggies.

Put everything together in on a plate, and enjoy! Happy summer!

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Thai-Style Steak Salad

Salad

Salad

Life has been crazy busy. I know I keep saying that, but then it keeps getting busier. Maybe I’m jinxing it. Anyway, cooking has definitely been put on the back burner, which is a bummer. Mostly because I love good food and I love cooking it. But it’s hard when you come home and you’re tired and you have to look for recipes and then go to the store, etc. Lately, Jonah and I have been all for quick, light meals. I found a bunch of delicious looking main dish salads on Martha Stewart’s website. This is the Thai-Style Steak Salad. We halved it but I’ll give you the original recipe, which serves 4.

Thai-Style Steak Salad

Ingredients

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 boneless rib-eye steaks (each 8 ounces and 3/4 inch thick)
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1/2 pound carrots (3 to 4 medium)
1 medium head romaine lettuce, cut crosswise into 1-inch ribbons
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves
1/3 cup salted peanuts, chopped (optional)
Peanut sauce (optional)

Instructions

First, make the marinade by whisking the lime juice, soy sauce, sugar, red pepper flakes, and oil in a bowl. Season the steaks with a bit of salt and pepper, place them in a dish, and pour 1/4 of the marinade over the steaks (save the rest of the marinade in a bowl). Turn the steaks to coat and let them marinate for 30 minutes.

In a large skillet, cook the steaks on medium-high heat. Cook it 2-3 minutes per side for it to be medium-rare. Cook it more if you want. Transfer the meat to a cutting board, tent it with aluminum foil, and let it rest for 5-10 minutes. Slice the steaks nice and thin, preferably 1/4 inch-thick. If they’re too long, you can halve the slices crosswise. Transfer the meat back to the bowl with the marinade and toss it to coat.

While the meat is resting (or marinating, for that matter), peel the carrots into ribbons with a peeler. Chop the peanuts too, while you’re at it. Add the carrots to the bowl with the steak, as well as the lettuce and the mint, and toss to combine. Divide evenly into shallow bowls, sprinkle with the peanuts (and peanut sauce if you want), and serve!

Thai Beef and Basil Stir Fry

Stir fry

Stir fry

Wow you guys. Life has been crazy and a half. After being laid off at the end of February, I just started a new job and I’m totally in love with it. I’m just an assistant really, but the woman I’m assisting is the CEO of this start-up company and she’s super smart, creative, fun, and kind. I’ve been working with her now for two weeks and I’m having such a blast and learning lots. Also, it’s at the same place where Jonah works, so we get to drive to work together (and then not really see each other all day because he’s in the studio and I’m at the CEO’s desk) and then go home! I’ll admit, I was a little worried about it, but it’s really fun, actually. So that’s a little update on my life and perhaps a bit of an excuse as to why it’s been almost a week since I’ve posted. I was so not used to working a full time job that at the end of each day, I was so tired that I didn’t want to cook. But I’m now getting used to the new schedule and getting back in the kitchen.

This stir fry is the most delicious stir fry that I’ve maybe ever had. I found it while surfing food52, one of my new favorite food blog things. It’s really different than a lot of stir fry or Asian-influenced dishes and super flavorful. And pretty dang easy. This recipe serves 2, so if you’re feeding more than that, multiply. I’ve adapted a little bit.

Thai Beef and Basil Stir Fry

Ingredients

Fish Chili Sauce

1/2-1 serrano pepper, chopped
1 Tbl fish sauce
1/4 cup water
1 clove garlic, chopped

Stir Fry

1 Tbl vegetable oil
2/3 lb. ground beef
1 red onion, sliced thinly
1 serrano pepper, chopped (more if you want it spicier)
3-5 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
1 Tbl soy sauce, plus some for finishing
1 Tbl fish sauce, plus some for finishing
1/2 tsp brown sugar
1 cup thai basil leaves, packed (I just used regular basil… It was fine)
1 fried egg per person

Rice for serving

Instructions

First, make the chili sauce by combining the four ingredients in a bowl, stir, and set it aside.

Start cooking your rice! It’s always good to do a 2:1 water to rice ratio, bring it to a boil, and then turn down the heat to a simmer, and let it cook, covered. Check it occasionally and when it’s done, turn off the heat. Heat the wok or a fry pan with oil. When the oil starts to smoke, add the garlic, chili, sugar and onion. Cook until the onions have softened and become a golden brown.

Add the meat and cook for about 5 minutes, then add the soy sauce and fish sauce. Fry until the meat is thoroughly cooked, another 2-3 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and add the basil leaves, mixing them in until they’re wilted. Put the stir fry in bowls over rice and fry an egg per person. Put the egg on the stir fry and you’re done! Accompany with fish sauce and say sauce to taste!

Scallops with Mashed Potatoes and Haricots Verts

scallops

Scallops
scallops

Ok, so I know I’ve talked about how I’m not really crazy about ingredient-heavy recipes. And really, usually I’m not. But when I’m trying to cook a nice, fancy, romantic dinner for someone, I’ll usually put that aside and just go for it. Especially if the recipe is still really not very difficult and I’ve been eyeing it for a while. I found this recipe while surfing around on Food52, which is a great resource for recipes. Seriously, great. I’ve found so many things I want to make. And it’s a cool food community, I’m not sure what the requirements are for posting, but it seems there are a lot of food bloggers who also post there… Anyway, it’s really neat. You should check it out.

So I found this recipe for scallops and accoutrements and it had been sitting on my Pinterest, giving me longing looks whenever I visited, asking “why haven’t you made me yet?” The opportunity arose where I actually had time to go to the store and take my time, buy some wine, and make Jonah a nice dinner. And while he did end up helping (quite a bit) I think he appreciated the gesture. I’ll also say that I usually find it pretty pretentious when people call green beans “haricots verts.” It’s like, we don’t all speak French, why confuse people? They’re just green beans. But I dunno… sometimes it’s fun to throw in some French.

Scallops with Mashed Potatoes and Haricots Verts

Ingredients

4-6 sea scallops (dry pack is way way better than previously frozen, as always)
4 Tbl butter, room temperature
1 tsp shallot, minced
1 tsp garlic, minced
1 1/2 Tbl Italian parsley, minced
enough green beans for 2 (in our case), rinsed and trimmed
3 russet potatoes (medium-large), peeled and cut into chunks
1/2-1 cup heavy cream
2 Tbl butter
2 Tbl chives, minced
salt and pepper
2 Tbl canola oil

Instructions

First things first, some scallops have a little 1/2 inch strip of muscle that attaches it to the shell. It isn’t a nice texture in your mouth, so you’ll want to remove it. (I’ve never had a scallop with this little band, but it’s just good to check and make sure). Now either put them on paper towel on a plate or on a cooling rack over a tray to catch any juices and put them in the fridge.

Now the butter: combine the butter, shallot, garlic, and parsley until combined. Was that so hard? No. Moving right along.

Put the potatoes in a large pot of cold water, and season heavily with salt. Put the pot over high heat until it starts to boil. Then reduce the heat (just so it doesn’t boil over, but keep it at a rolling boil) and cook until the potatoes are tender. Drain them in a colander and let them dry for a few minutes. Now you can mash them with a fork, a ricer, BUT I’ve just discovered that an electric mixer makes for a great masher. Throw the potatoes in the bowl, add the butter, and blend (I used the paddle attachment). Once the butter is melted and incorporated, you can add the cream 1/4 cup at a a time until the potatoes are creamy to your liking. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Mix in the chives. If you aren’t ready to serve yet, wait to add the chives until you are.

Take about a teaspoon of the butter you made, throw it in a pan, and add the green beans. Cook over medium heat until done – some like crunchy, some like a little softer, so just keep an eye on them and cook until they’re done to your liking. While those are cooking, bring out the scallops and season them with salt and pepper. Put a large fry pan over high heat and, once hot, add the oil. You want it to shimmer, but not to smoke. Carefully add the scallops (careful as the oil will probably spit a bit and can hurt) and saute until the first side is caramelized. Turn them and caramelize the other side, and remove them from the heat.

Now put a nice serving on a plate, put the scallops on top, and place a little dollop of the butter on top of each scallop. Add the haricots verts (ahem, green beans), and you’re done! That really wasn’t that hard for a fancy dinner with more than a few ingredients, was it? Enjoy with a nice cold glass of white wine (if you’re of age, that is).

Steak, Crispy Potatoes, and Watercress

steak

steak
steak

I found this recipe for steak with potatoes and watercress on Martha Stewart’s website and thought it would make a nice weeknight meal. It did! Unfortunately, my local grocery store didn’t have skirt steak, which was why I was drawn to the recipe in the first place. Some thinly sliced chuck steak did the job though.

I had never had watercress all by itself either – and had never even purchased it from the store before.  It was pretty bitter, but yummy with the dressing.

Steak, Crispy Potatoes, and Watercress

Ingredients

2 garlic cloves
salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 pounds golf-ball-sized potatoes, sliced 1 inch thick
1 1/2 pounds skirt steak, cut into 4 equal pieces
2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 bunches watercress, bottom of stems chopped off

Instructions

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Mince garlic, and sprinkle with salt. Transfer to a small bowl; stir in thyme and 1 tablespoon oil. On a baking sheet, toss potatoes with garlic mixture; bake until browned on underside, 20 to 25 minutes. I dribbled some more oil on the potatoes once they were laid out on the baking sheet.

Meanwhile, heat a large frying pan on high. Sprinkle steaks with salt and pepper, and cook (in two batches if necessary) until medium-rare, 3 to 6 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate to rest.

While steaks rest, make salad: In a large bowl, whisk together vinegar, Dijon, and remaining oil; season with salt and pepper. Add watercress, and toss to combine. Serve steaks with potatoes and salad.

Spring Vegetable Pizza

Spring Veggie Pizza

Spring Veggie Pizza

A couple of weeks ago, Jonah made us the loveliest picnic. We have a beautiful park a few blocks from our house, and on one of the first nice days, he decided to make us a picnic and we’d take it down to the park that looks over the river and the west hills of Portland to watch the sun set. I scored a good one, huh? So, really, he made this spring veggie pizza, but I’m going to post it because he’s already way behind on his posts. Jonah is a big fan of Martha, so of course he found this pizza on her website. We bought the pizza dough at our local grocery store, and he adapted a bit in terms of cheese (the recipe called for gruyere, but he used fontina…we think).

Spring Vegetable Pizza

Ingredients

1 jar (12 ounces) marinated artichoke hearts, drained (reserve the marinade!), hearts quartered if whole
1 bunch asparagus (1 pound), trimmed, cut into 2-inch pieces, and halved lengthwise if thick
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1 pound pizza dough, thawed if frozen and divided in half
salt and pepper
7 ounces Fontina cheese, grated (3 cups)
7-10 slices of prosciutto (optional, but suggested)

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees, and put the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. In a bowl, combine the artichoke hearts, asparagus, and tomatoes. Put one of the halves of the dough on a piece of parchment paper and brush it with the artichoke heart marinade. Now roll it out to about a 14-inch long oval, and transfer it (with the parchment underneath) to a rimmed baking sheet). Put half of the veggies on the rolled-out dough, leaving a border of about an inch. Brush the border again with the marinade and sprinkle the pizza with salt and pepper. Repeat to make another pizza. Bake them for 10 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through. After baking for 10 minutes, sprinkle the cheese over the pizzas and bake until the crust is golden at the edges and the cheese is nice and melty, about 3-5 minutes. Cut into pieces and voila! Pizza!

If you want prosciutto (this makes a great vegetarian meal without it), tear it into smaller pieces and drape it over the pizza. It makes for a nice salty addition.

Mom’s Mac and Cheese

Mom's Mac and Cheese
Mom's Mac and Cheese

Mom's Mac and Cheese

Jonah here. Mom, I hope you’re reading this.  Everyone else – let me give you a little background.  This was one of my favorite foods as a kid, not the Kraft Mac and Cheese, but the kind my mom would make from this simple recipe. When I was growing up, we usually had it with broccoli, or a salad.

I asked my mom for this recipe when I went off to college, so she wrote it on an index card and I made it many times throughout my 4 years of school. That index card was magneted to my fridge and now lives in Annie’s recipe box in our kitchen. It’s really easy to make, but really delicious. Thanks Mom, for a childhood of yummy dinners!

Susan’s Mac and Cheese

Ingredients

1 lb. pasta – I use penne
2 Tb. butter
Half of a white or yellow onion, diced
2 Tb. all-purpose flour
1/2 t garlic powder, or more to taste
1/2 t salt
1 cup milk
1 cup grated cheddar cheese, packed in

Instructions

Fill a large pot with water, salt it, and bring it to a boil. Add penne and cook till it’s done; drain.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a pan. Add the chopped onions and cook until browned and soft.

Add the flour, mix until smooth, then sprinkle in garlic powder and salt (if you don’t have garlic powder, feel free to mince up some garlic and add it with the onion at the beginning). Add milk and let it heat up, then add the cheese and mix in until fully melted.

Return the drained pasta to the pot. Pour in cheese sauce and mix in thoroughly. Serve!

Momofuku Noodle Bowl

Momofuku Noodle Bowl
Momofuku Noodle Bowl

Momofuku Noodle Bowl

For those of you who saw the title of this post and went “What the hell is a Momofuku?” let me explain. Momofuku is a group of restaurants in New York owned by Chef David Chang. The group includes Momofuku Noodle Bar, Momofuku Ssam Bar, Milk Bar, and a few more. Anyway, I became mildly obsessed when I bought my dad the Momofuku cookbook for his birthday last year (he was obsessed after having eaten at one of the restaurants on a trip to NYC). Momofuku translates in Japanese as Lucky Peach, which is the name of a magazine that David Chang has recently published, all about cooking and eating. It includes articles by some other chef favorites like Anthony Bourdain, Wiley Dufresne, and Mario Batali.

Anyway! I found this recipe for a Momofuku noodle bowl on a blog called A Cozy Kitchen, which I’ve used before and I really enjoy. While the recipe is a little ingredient heavy, it’s really delicious, so although it may be a little extra work to get all this stuff (luckily Jonah and I already had the Asian ingredients), it’s worth it. We use stuff like soy sauce and rice wine vinegar all the time. They’re handy things to have around for a quick and easy meal (feeling lazy? marinate some chicken in soy sauce, mirin, garlic, and olive oil). We did fudge some things though, so I’m putting in the actual recipe and in parentheses what we did.

Momofuku Noodle Bowl

Ingredients

1 medium sized cucumber
¼+ tsp salt
½+ tsp sugar
2 ½ cups (or one bunch) thinly sliced scallions
½ cup (or just one large piece) minced ginger
¼ cup grapeseed oil (we used olive oil because we didn’t have grapeseed)
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
1 Tbl olive oil
½ large head of cauliflower, cut into florets
1 lb noodles – ramen, soba, or lo mein (we used udon)

Instructions

Thinly slice the cucumber. In a bowl toss the cucumber with salt and sugar and let it sit for a few minutes and then taste one of the slices. Adjust the salt and sugar as necessary. I ended up probably using twice or even 3 times as much sugar and salt. Just because I wanted it. Thought it tasted better.

In a different bowl combine the scallions, ginger, 1/4 cup of olive oil, soy sauce and rice wine vinegar. Allow to sit and marinate for 30 minutes.

While those items are marinating, heat the Tbl of olive oil in a pan and add the cauliflower. Cook them on high till they start to brown and get a bit crispy. While the cauliflower is cooking, you can boil water and cook your noodles according to the package. Once the noodles are cooked, toss them with the scallion/ginger sauce. Now, serve the noodles in a bowl, and top with the cauliflower and cucumbers.

Now, this is a vegetarian dish, but Jonah and I were hankering for some more protein, so we bought a chicken breast. Jonah cut it up into bite size pieces and cooked it with a bit of fish sauce, hoisin sauce, and soy sauce, and it was good. A delicious addition to the dish. Yum!

Chicken Tacos with Cayenne and Avocado Salsa

Chicken Tacos

Again, it’s been a little while. But you guys, I have so much food to share with you! There has been much eating lately. And good eating too. YUM. This first recipe is a super easy recipe from Martha that was adapted into chicken tacos. Originally it was just the cayenne-rubbed chicken with avocado salsa, but everything is better in a tortilla (and sprinkled with cholula), am I right? So chicken tacos it is. This meal was so simple because we had everything except the chicken and the avocado. I love quick and easy trips to the grocery store that don’t require you to buy too much stuff for a meal.

Chicken Tacos with Cayenne and Avocado Salsa

Ingredients

salt and ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (you can use breast too, but we like dark meat a little better, plus it’s cheaper)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium red onion, finely diced
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 Hass avocado, pitted and cut into chunks
tortillas of your choosing (the little taco ones are good for this)
other condiments (think sour cream, cholula, salsa if you want, cheese…)

Instructions

In a small bowl, combine 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and cayenne, mix to combine. Rub this spice mixture all over the chicken. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook until cooked through and browned on the outside. Shouldn’t take too long (think 10-15 minutes). My trick with chicken is to cook it with a lid on the pan to get it cooked through, and then once it’s cooked through, take of the lid and turn up the heat a little bit to get the nice browned outside.

While the chicken is cooking, put the onion and lime juice in a bowl, and cut up the avocado. You can also heat up your tortillas now, which I did by throwing ours in a lightly greased pan, flipping them, and then storing them between two plates so they stayed warm. Just before serving, fold the avocado pieces into the onion mixture and season with salt and pepper. Serve and enjoy!

Bubbe’s Chicken Soup

Chicken Soup

Chicken Soup

Once again, it has been a while. But this time I have a real excuse: Passover. I was busy cooking and cleaning last week for the family I nanny for and THEN on Thursday Jonah and I left (very early in the morning, mind you) for Tucson, AZ to be with my Dad’s side of the family for seder. Passover is one of my favorite holidays. I love the storytelling that’s involved, plus the singing, plus the amazing food. I love that the food you eat (or at least the food on the seder plate) isn’t arbitrary, that it represents all these parts of this story that took place so long ago. I love the celebratory feeling of the seder, that we (Jews) are remembering where we came from and celebrating the miracles that happened and the hardships our ancestors went through and then were freed from. It’s just so dang cool. Plus the food is ridiculous.

My aunt held the seder at her house. She is known for putting on beautiful seders full of fun props (Slingshots and marshmallows for hail? Bouncing toy frogs? Locust masks?) and parodies of famous songs. My bubbe (grandmother in Yiddish) made her famous matzoh ball soup. While I have her matzoh ball recipe hidden away somewhere, I thought I’d at least give you the recipe for the chicken soup part. Because who doesn’t love chicken soup?

Chicken Soup

Ingredients

2 chickens (can be cut up or whole)
1 parsnip, peeled and cut into bite size pieces
1 turnip, peeled and cut into bite size pieces
2 large onions, cut into bite size pieces
as many carrots and celery stalks as you like, cut into bite size pieces
fresh dill (probably about 1 Tbl)
fresh parsley (probably about 2 Tbl)
peppercorns
1 Tbl salt

Instructions

Cover the chickens with water in a large pot. Bring it to a boil, and skim. Add all the other ingredients, and simmer the soup for 2-3 hours. Strain it, to get all the big pieces out, and you have just broth. Let the chicken cool and take the meat off the carcass (it shreds pretty easily). Add the vegetables (and chicken) back to the soup as desired. Season with salt and pepper to taste! The chicken also makes really good chicken sandwiches or chicken salad. Enjoy!