Tandoori Chicken, for the calorie-conscious

Hell isn't merely paved with good intentions; it's walled and roofed with them. Yes, and furnished too. – Aldous Huxley

I had made myself (and you) a promise in the new year. I was going to post more often. I guess I am on my way to hell, unless I soon rectify it. 

I suppose, if I do have an excuse it would be that I have been on an extremely low-calorie diet. I’ve been experimenting a bit more than usual with trying to get maximum flavour into minimum food, sometimes with spectacular failure. 

The mixed marinade.

So there’s been recipes that were either uninspired or not fit to ever make again – let alone post. Hooray for memorably bad meals!! Not.

But every once in a while you dig up a gem. And if you're lucky you only have to swap out one ingredient. Like full fat for low fat yogurt. 

Chicken is the dieters friend once the skin and fat are removed, unlike beef and even pork. I’m learning, slowly, how to "low-cal interpret" the things I eat. I’m not starving, but I do watch my in-take, and evening snacks are definitely (definitely) O-U-T.

Seal and let the chicken marinate for
one day. There's enough marinade for
four breasts, if you would like.

Here's a little diet factoid for you. Two teaspoons of butter (70 cal) have fewer calories than grape seed oil (80 cal) and about the same number as olive oil (65 cal). 

So don't feel you have to ditch butter on a low calorie diet. Just everything in moderation. Oscar Wilde added "including moderation." I tend to concur.

For your edification, I have broken out the calories per ingredient in this dish. Knock on wood, but I have had success since starting my calorie death watch about a month ago. I have dropped slightly over 8 pounds. No time to quit now. 10-15 more to go!

The size of your chicken breast will determine the end calorie count. Eat a monster and you get monster calories... makes sense, right?

The accompaniment for this dish is a Raita, made with yogurt-marinated onion, tomato, cucumber, and cumin. Very fresh and delcious against the spiciness of the chicken. Keep in mind, you're not consuming all of the marinade, probably 1/4 of it per chicken breast.

And, just so you know, I have about 4 more recipes lined up. So heaven’s getting closer all the time.

Tandoori Chicken
Prep: overnight  |  Bake: 20 min  |  Serves 2
2 medium chicken breasts, skinless and boneless 6oz = 300 cal
1/2 cup low-fat greek style yogurt 125 cal
2 tbsp lemon juice 8 cal
1 tsp ground garlic 5 cal
1 tsp ground ginger 2 cal
1 tsp ground cumin 8 cal
1/2 tsp ground cardamom 3 cal
1/2 to 1 tsp cayenne pepper 3-6 cal
1/2 tsp cracked black pepper 8 cal
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon 1.5 cal
6-8 drops each, red and yellow food colouring (optional, but a good addition)

Mix all the ingredients of the marinade in an electric blender or a food processor and process until thoroughly puréed. Pour the marinade over chicken, toss and rub, to coat thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Place chicken in a single layer on foil. Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes, turning once and basting with marinade juices  until cooked.

For a low calorie accompaniment for 2, serve Raita: mix 1/2 a sliced field cucumber, 1 sliced medium onion, and 1 diced plum tomato with 1/2 cup yogurt and 1 tsp cumin seed. Let sit for 1 hour, or overnight in the refrigerator, before serving.

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Chicken, Fruit & Wild Rice Pilaf

Eating well gives a spectacular joy to life and contributes immensely to goodwill and happy companionship. It is of great importance to the morale. – Elsa Schiaparelli

I’m in need of a morale boost this month. I made a distinctly wrong decision by stepping on the scale last week. Not a good idea. I’m in need of dropping quite a few pounds. 

I KNEW those tight pants were telling me something... Against my hopes, it was not an evil conspiracy hatched by the clothes washer and dryer.

I have an ugly habit – I’m a boredom eater. While sitting in front of the TV in the evening, my oft-time companions are ice cream, cookies or potato chips. Kind of like the twins in The Shining with an extra sister... So I’m starting to pay much more attention to what I eat.

I know that January is the “guilty” month so weight loss is what we’re being pedalled by the media. But this morning on CBC Radio the hosts were talking about weight gain and age, and how people of my vintage start to see changes in body shape.

The browned chicken balls, onion and garlic.

Great. Just great. But I will not go down without a fight. I may even pull out the big gun in this battle: exercise (shudder). I’m a rather sedentary creature—even more so since Henry our dog passed away—which I know will come back to bite me in future if I don’t do something about it.

So I have a lot on my plate, metaphorically. But I will succeed. And the first step is what goes into my mouth, as opposed to that which falls out, like this post.

This is an “under 500 calorie” dinner. I succeeded and it was quite delicious and filling, to boot. You don't really have to suffer while watching what you eat.

I’ve broken out the calorie count for each ingredient (number is for whole ingredient) so you can see where the big calorie items are. Those with zero or one calorie are not listed. Six servings does not give heaping platefuls, but the rice and chicken are quite filling, and the sweet fruit rounds it all out nicely.

If course, if you’re not in need of low calorie meals, feel free to make this recipe four servings, two servings, or even just one! We all know how that ends... :-)

Warm Chicken, Fruit & Wild Rice Pilaf
Prep and cook: 1 hour  |  Serves: 6  | 437 calories per serving
1 cup wild rice (478 cal)

Chicken and fruit. Covering the pan not only finishes cooking
the meat, but also partially re-hydrates the fruit as steam collects.

1 cup chicken stock (86 cal)
3 cups water
1/4 tsp salt
chicken balls:
1 lb lean ground chicken, breast (496 cal)
1 cup bread crumbs (427 cal)
1 tbsp finely diced onion (6 cal)
1 tsp yellow mustard (3 cal)
1/2 tsp sage
1/2 tsp mint
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
remaining:
1 tbsp olive oil (120 cal)
1 cup chopped dried apple (290 cal)
1/2 cup dried cherries, whole (268 cal)
1/4 cup pecan pieces (340 cal)
1/4 cup diced onion (16 cal)
1 garlic clove, minced (5 cal)
1/2 cup orange juice (55 cal)
1 tbsp corn starch (30 cal)

The sauce is key. It adds a moistness to the dish that it
otherwise would not have. It makes it more of a "meal."

Combine the rice, stock, water and salt in a saucepan. (If stock is heavily salted, omit salt). Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium low and cook for 45 min, or until about half the rice has begin to split open.

While the rice is cooking, make the chicken balls. Mix together all the ingredients listed for the chicken balls. Using slightly moistened hands, roll into 3/4” to 1” balls. Heat the oil in a wide sauté pan with a lid. Cook the balls until browned, being careful not to break them apart as you turn them. 

Then add the onion and garlic and sauté until slightly softened. Reduce the heat to medium low. Add the pecans, apple and cherries and cover. Let cook for 5-6 minutes, until chicken balls are cooked through.

Mix together the orange juice and cornstarch. Add to the pan and cook until thickened.

Drain rice, carefully fold together and serve.

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Mahogany Chicken

Nostalgia is a file that removes the rough edges from the good old days. – Doug Larson

Posing for the camera, or so it seems...

A little nostalgia for you all this morning. I’ll give you a hint before you hit the link:

Do you know, where you're going to?

Do you like the things, that life is showing you?

Where are you going to? Do you know?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3uatcJqt54

Something beautiful for your day, from the 1975 movie Mahogany. It was nominated for the Oscar for best original song. Sung by a beautiful and undeniably talented lady.

After marinating in the refrigerator for 8 hours.

Cooler weather always makes a little nostalgia well up in me. I guess it’s the recognition that the autumn season is closing, and time is marching forward. Today was the first “real” day when it’s undeniable that winter is on the way. Snow in some areas of our province, and ice in Halifax.

So the time for garden greens and fresh tastes has most definitely passed, to be replaced by roasts, braises, soups and stews, and food that warms the bones. A warm oven makes the kitchen an inviting place to be on a cold afternoon.

The inspiration for this recipe was most certainly not the movie. The very un-profound answer was because I found chickens on sale, and I was taking a client run into the city. So anything to speed up dinner without sacrificing flavour was the way to go.

The skin on this quick-roast chicken does remind me of mahogany. When thinking up a name, that’s what I thought and then the movie, and it’s theme song, came to mind. So there you have it.

The song, and chicken, both suit a reflective mood. Next time you find chicken that’s affordable you should give this recipe a try.  I served it with spaghetti squash (done in the microwave) sprinkled with parmesan, salt and pepper, and dotted with butter.

I didn’t list dried herb quantities, because if using dried there's no piles of herbs to roast the chicken on, which imparts flavour. You can try a substitution if you wish. Rule of thumb is 1 tbsp chopped fresh herb equals 1 tsp dried.

There's a whole "half" because our chicken was small.
Don't judge me!!!

Mahogany Chicken

Prep: 1-8 hours  |  Roast: 40-45 min  |  Serves 4

2 to 2.5 kg chicken

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup honey

1 tbsp soy sauce

6 lg garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

12 sage leaves, whole

8 sprigs fresh thyme

8 sprigs fresh oregano

salt and pepper

drizzle of olive oil

Remove the chicken backbone with kitchen shears. Then cut down evenly through the breast bone to divide the chicken in two equal halves. This is easiest done from the bone side.

Mix together the balsamic, honey and soy in a bowl. Place chicken, herbs and garlic in a zip lock bag. Pour the marinade in. Rub to cover all surfaces of the meat, and marinade in refrigerator for 1 hour on the counter, or all day while at work (8 hrs).

Preheat the oven to 425°F.

Cover a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Drain the marinade from the chicken, reserving herbs and garlic. Arrange the herbs and garlic in 2 areas on the baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil.

Place each half of the chicken on one of the piles of herbs. Tuck the tips in under the wing so they’re not sticking up while roasting. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper.

Roast for 15 minutes at 425°, reduce the heat to 350° and roast for a further 20-35 minutes, or until temperature in thigh and breast reads 165°F. The skin will become a beautiful mahogany colour.

To serve 4, cut each chicken half between the breast and thigh. If using a small chicken, serve a half per person. Under 2 lbs, you will need to shorten your roasting time as well.

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Chicken Noodle Soup, Italian style

The lust for comfort, that stealthy thing that enters the house a guest, and then becomes a host, and then a master. – Khalil Gibran

Comfort. It’s something we all seek, be it “comfortable-ness” in our life situation or comfort in times of trial or grief.

It’s unusual how the first reaction upon hearing of a death is to go to the kitchen and start cooking for the bereaved family. Apparently our grief is held in our stomachs, and can be assuaged by a full pot of baked beans, or a loaf of banana bread.

I know I’m as guilty of this as everyone else, and even self-medicate. When I’m sad I go for food. 

This past year has been full of stressful change – one where the blue fell from the sky like a heavy blanket onto the grass, garden, and everything else in my life. One week from today is the anniversary of losing someone very dear to me, and it’s got me down.

I try to not show my lingering pain, but at times it becomes raw, and it only takes the smallest memory to set it off. Perhaps after the one year mark I will begin to mentally file my sadness into its proper "forever place" in my heart.

It’s much of the reason I have been posting sporadically over the last year. Most days I just can’t bring myself to do it. It seems so unimportant. I need to change that. I enjoy writing this blog and sharing with all of you. Like food, it’s another form of comfort and is far easier on the waistline.

All this sadness over the death of a dog. But Henry was not a dog. He was as much a family member as any living being could ever be. He lived to be with me, and I returned the feeling. He was my child for 8-1/2 years. His passing hit me hard, for a whole host of reasons. I will always wonder “what if”...

He used to chase the waves as
they broke on shore of our
local beach. He loved it.

So I’m in need of a little comfort this week, and this night I took it in the form of food. So into the kitchen I went...

Chicken soup is always a safe comfort bet. The decision was aided by the fact I had some thighs in the refrigerator. But I had another problem: two bags of tomatoes picked two weeks ago.

Two days ago I oven-roasted two dozen, plus an eggplant, and then froze them for quick sauces later. There’s another 32 or so on the stovetop, and more from the bags ripening every day. Whatever “chicken soup” I made had to use tomatoes. I may be sad, but waste is sadder.

So I came up with this recipe. It stews garlic, tomatoes and other veggies, which are then puréed into an almost creamy base for pasta and shredded chicken.

All in all, very satisfying. And more than a little comforting.

Chicken Noodle Soup, Italian style

Prep: 10 min  |  Cook: 60 min  |  Serves 6-8

1 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

1 lg carrot, diced

6 garlic cloves, chopped

6-8 plum tomatoes, chopped*

4 cups chicken stock

6-8 chicken thighs, skin on, bone in*

1 tbsp fresh oregano

1 tsp cracked black pepper

300g pasta (like penne, rotini, fusilli)

salt to taste

grated parmesan, optional

*depending on size

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or other heavy pot with a well-fitting lid. Add the onion, carrot and garlic and sauté on medium until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, stock, chicken thighs, oregano, black pepper and a little salt (1/2 tsp). Bring to a boil, reduce het to medium and cover. Let cook for 30 minutes.

After the half hour, remove the chicken thighs and set aside. Purée the vegetables and liquid in the pot until very smooth. Add the pasta to the purée, cover and cook until 2 minutes short of al dente. Stir a few times while it cooks.

While the pasta cooks, remove the skin and bones from the chicken and shred the meat. Two minutes before the pasta is fully cooked, add the chicken and bring back to a boil.

Taste for salt and adjust as desired. Serve immediately with grated parmesan, crusty bread and butter.

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Chicken Paillard with Peach Arugula Salad

Nothing is more memorable than a smell. One scent can be unexpected, momentary and fleeting, yet conjure up a childhood summer beside a lake in the mountains. – Diane Ackerman

This year, summer seems to have been fleeting. Where has it gone? 

You can feel a change happening. It’s dark much later in the morning, and sundown much sooner. There’s also that “something” in the air, that je ne sais quoi that is the harbinger for sweaters and jackets, and leaves turning red.

I don’t want it to come any sooner than it will, but it is unmistakably there. The sun is not quite as “hot” as it was just a few weeks ago.

We are now into the second half of August and, except for a few notable exceptions, I don't really remember this as much of a summer. It seems to have been just a blink of an eye ago we were celebrating Victoria Day in May. And now Labour Day is soon upon us. There has to be more summer ahead, right? The hot days will still be around for a while, fingers crossed.

In Nova Scotia's defence, we do have glorious, long autumns. Warm, languid days filled with sunshine. Or at least it better be. Our spring this year was cold, short and brutish.

This recipe is for those long, sun-washed days. Days when it’s still a little too hot in the house to have the stove on for long. These paillards only take about 2 minutes per side to cook. That’s pretty quick.

If you’re not familiar with the term “paillard” it’s an old French culinary term that’s falling out of use, being replaced by “escalope.” Basically, it’s pounding the bejezus out of a piece of meat until it’s very thin, so cooking time is very, very short. I like the older term. I like history.

Although these were cooked in a frying pan, you could as easily do them on the barbecue. But if doing so I would recommend using a sheet like one for veggies. The paillards are too thin to be efficiently handled any other way. And baste each side lightly with melted butter.

Regardless of cooking method, in the end these are fast, and a little impressive, for a warm day. So bring on summer, right?

Chicken Paillard with Peach Arugula Salad

Prep: 20 min  |  Cook: 4 min per breast  |  Serves 4

4 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless

salt & cracked black pepper

1 tbsp butter

1 lemon

salad:

arugula for 4 salads

2 large peaches, or nectarines

120 g blue cheese

1 cup walnut pieces

salad dressing:

6 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp raspberry vinegar, balsamic if possible

pinch salt

2 pinches of cracked black pepper

Place one chicken breast at one end of a long piece of plastic wrap. Fold the wrap over the top and (gently) pound the breast to about 1/4” thick. 

Season the chicken with salt and pepper on both sides and re-wrap in the plastic. Set aside until ready to cook. Repeat with the remaining three breasts. 

The paillards can be made the day, or even a couple days, before and kept on a plate in the refrigerator.

Just before cooking the paillards, assemble the salad. Cut the peaches into easy to manage chunks and add to enough arugula for 4 salads. Crumble the blue cheese on top and toss in the walnuts. 

Mix the salad dressing ingredients in s small jar and shake well. Pour over the salad and toss well.

Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium high heat. Fry the paillards one at a time, for about 2 minutes per side, until browned slightly. After the paillards are cooked, squeeze the juice of 1/4 lemon on top of each one.

Serve with the salad and enjoy!

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Green Curry Chicken

That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history. – Aldous Huxley

The kitchen is a classroom full of lessons – some hard, some not so hard. But every time you cook it’s a learning experience.

For example, here’s a few of my favourites:

A good instant-read thermometer is a “must” in the kitchen. It saves you from ruining a good cut of meat. No one likes raw chicken, no one likes dry steak and no one likes to waste money.

Never add all the salt you think you need while cooking soup, stew or sauce. Each reduces and run the real chance of being saltier than you want.

When you’re in the grocery store, think ahead. How many ways can you use an ingredient? This is important for two reasons. If you are a 2-person household you won’t use many ingredients up in one meal. It also gives you flexibility in what kind of meals you can make. Never underestimate the variety of recipes you can make with a single ingredient. (e.g. you can put avocado in chocolate pudding!!)

“Lite” coconut milk has less coconut fat (ergo more water) than its non-lite counterpart. You will be reducing your sauce forever to get the consistency you want. Think regular milk and cream. You need the additional fat to make a luxurious sauce. So suck it up. East sensibly another night. One meal will not pack 20 pounds on you. I guarantee it.

All these lessons (except for the first one) come into play in this recipe. There’s no worries that your chicken won’t be cooked after simmering for 30 minutes. But the coconut one is of particular importance.

I have found gold, literally, in the coconut milk I use. It’s Rooster Brand® Gold Label coconut milk. It even says it on the label: ideal for cooking. You can get it at the Superstore right alongside the red label Rooster Brand®. It costs no more than any other and is about half again as thick. This is exactly what you want when reducing a sauce. 

And remember the sauce and salt lesson. “Taste for salt and adjust” are some of the best directions that can be written in a recipe.

Thinking ahead – like when you purchase cilantro – is also important. Nobody uses a whole bunch of cilantro at once unless they're making a pesto. This holds true for other ingredients too, like vegetables. 

Roasting squash for 2 people? Do the whole thing and then reserve what you don't eat for squash ravioli, or even a squash pasta sauce. Think ahead. It saves you money and keeps variety on your plate.

Everything you encounter teaches you something. It’s how you apply the lessons you learn that dictate success or failure, in the kitchen or in life.

Green Curry Chicken

Prep: 10 min  |  Cook 45 min  |  Serves 4

4 large chicken legs and thighs*

1 tbsp vegetable oil

salt and pepper

2 medium onions, chopped large

2 garlic cloves, chopped

2 Thai bird’s eye chilli, diced

1” fresh ginger, diced

8 green cardamom pods*

1 tsp cumin seed

3” stick cinnamon

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 lime, quartered

1 medium tomato, diced

1 398 ml can thick coconut milk

1 cup chopped cilantro

salt and pepper, to taste

Heat the vegetable oil, on medium-high, in a large oven-proof pot with a cover. Cut the chicken into leg and thigh pieces and season with some salt and pepper. Starting bone side down, fry until browned on both sides, and then remove to a plate. The chicken will not be cooked through at this point. 

Fat will render out of the chicken as it fries, so you will have far more than the 1 tbsp you started with. Drain off all but 1 tbsp fat.

Add the chopped onion and sauté for 2 minutes. Then add garlic, ginger, chilli, cardamom, cumin, cinnamon and turmeric. Sauté for 2-3 minutes longer.

Next add the lime, tomato, coconut milk and cilantro. Bring the mixture to a simmer and then nestle the chicken down into the sauce. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Cook, with cover ajar, for 30 minutes on medium heat. Check and stir occasionally to prevent the sauce from sticking to the pot bottom and burning. 

Reduce the sauce slightly if desired before serving by turning the heat up. Taste for salt and pepper and adjust.

Serve with basmati rice.

* You could also substitute 8 chicken thighs (bone in, skin on). Instead of the whole cardamom pods (which can be a surprise when you bite them), substitute 1/2 tsp ground cardamom.

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Deliciously different pesto

It is thrifty to prepare today for the wants of tomorrow. – Aesop

I made 1/2 a recipe because there was only two of us.

I’ll be glad when I can start relying on the garden as opposed to the grocery store for dinners. It hasn’t been put in yet, but the weather is definitely turning, so soon the seeds will be in the ground.

It’s pretty easy to get sticker shock when you go to buy vegetables at the the grocery store. Big sticker shock.

But if you’re clever you can still find a deal or two. I “bought cheap” at the grocery store on Sunday, and now have to deal with my purchase. The purchase was a bunch of cilantro. I believe it was $1.29. Pretty cheap.

So what can you do with so much cilantro? I usually think of making Thai food, but that uses a few tablespoons at most. So there’s lots left to deal with, but how? Pesto. Cilantro is quite common as an ingredient in pesto, usually paired with walnuts instead of pine nuts. 

It’s essentially just a substitution of two ingredients in regular basil pesto. If you have a favourite recipe just substitute the cilantro for the basil, and walnuts for the pine nuts. But now I have to deal with a bunch of pesto. Alas, first world problems.

I found a reference online about stuffing chicken breasts with pesto so I thought the same could be done with thighs. Why not? The recipe was simplicity itself, just the chicken, pesto and some salt and pepper. 

I believe this would be stunning rubbed between the skin and meat of a turkey if anyone is thinking of roasting one for Easter. Hint, hint...

I served this dish with a variation on one of my all-time favourite Italian recipes: pasta with pesto, green beans and potatoes. If you’ve never tried that combination before you have no idea what you’re missing. It’s a well-worn page in my copy of Marcella Hazan’s “Classics of Italian Cooking” recipe book.

I had no green beans so substituted Romano beans and the cilantro pesto for the basil variety. You have to only cook the potatoes until “al dente.” Still a little crisp. Heat the beans in the same water with the potatoes for the last 3-4 minutes of cooking time. It's always good to not dirty a pot.

Cilantro Walnut Pesto

Time: 10 min  | Yield: about 1-1/2 cups

1/2 cup walnuts, toasted if you wish

3 cups chopped cilantro

6 garlic cloves

1/2 cup parmesan

1/2 tsp salt

about 1/2 cups olive oil

Combine all the ingredients except for the olive oil in a food processor and purée. With the motor running pour in enough olive oil to make a loose mass. By that I mean it moves fairly easily around the bowl.

Remove to a covered dish and refrigerate until ready to use.

Cilantro Walnut Pesto Chicken

Prep: 5 min  |  Cook: 40 min  |  Serves 4

8 chicken thighs, skin on and bone in

8 heaping tsp pesto

salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Loosen the skin on each chicken thigh. Place 1 tsp of pesto between the skin and meat and smooth it around so it covers the inner surface. Season each thigh with salt and pepper.

Place the thighs bone-side down in a hot dry sauté pan and let brown until the release easily. Chicken fat will render out while it fries. There is no need to add oil.

Turn and repeat on the pesto side, taking care not to break the skin free of the thigh. The chicken will release when it’s ready.

Place the thighs in an oven-proof baking dish and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes.

Serve with the potato bean side dish described above.

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Salsa Chicken

Manifest plainness, embrace simplicity, reduce selfishness, have few desires. – Lao Tzu

Yesterday I did something I haven’t done since last fall. I was outside doing some work without feeling the need to rush inside to keep warm. Yes, it seems that spring has finally “sprung” in Nova Scotia.

We actually have 2 crocuses in bloom in one of our beds by the road. We used to have several very early ones that bloomed tight against the warm foundation of the house. But digging to put in the well line last year seems to have killed them. They were there since I was a very small child. A bit sad...

Simpel, fast & ready for the oven.

But life must go on, and the march of time stops its progress for no one. Before you know it we’ll be dining al fresco, and thoughts of this last loooooong winter will be but dust in our memories.

So you need to be prepared, right? That’s what this recipe is: something that you can assemble with no fuss, stick in the oven and then head back outside onto your deck.

It doesn’t hurt that this uses a jar of salsa to impart all kinds of Latin (“summer”) flavours. That means you don’t have to assemble a lot of different spices to get the effect.

This recipe deals with one of the dreaded leftovers of the kitchen - fresh cilantro. Use a very ripe avocado, often marked down for quick sale. Don’t use a hard one. They don’t have the same buttery consistency.

This recipe bakes covered for an hour, and then 1/2 hour uncovered. In that time the acidity of the salsa makes the chicken fork tender. It literally can be cut with just your fork.

So as our thoughts start to dream of warm weekends and drinks with friends on the deck, it’s time to think of recipes full of summer flavours that don’t take a lot of work. Cooking smart means you can spend more time enjoying your friends rather than trapped in the kitchen.

The avocado sauce is a must, and a revelation. I bet you’ll find many other uses for it over the coming summer. I'm thinking pork for sure, and maybe even on burgers. Just wait until you taste it!

Salsa Chicken

Prep: 10 min  |  Bake 1.5 hrs  |  Serves 4

8 chicken thighs, bone in and skin on

500 ml can chunky salsa (your choice)

1/2 tsp ground cumin, optional

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cracked black pepper

2 limes

Avocado sauce

1 avocado, very ripe

1 cup cilantro, chopped

3 garlic

2 tbsp lime juice

salt, to taste

vegetable oil, see recipe

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Place the chicken in an oven-proof non-metallic baking dish. Sprinkle with coriander (if using), salt and pepper. Pour the salsa over the chicken. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour.

After the hour, increase the heat to 425°F, uncover the chicken and bake for another 30 minutes. If you wish, you can run the chicken under the broiler for a couple minutes to brown even further.

About 15 minutes before the chicken is finished, make the avocado sauce. Place the avocado, cilantro, garlic, lime and salt in a blender. Use one of the limes listed in the ingredients. Pulse until well broken up. 

Then, with the motor running and the pour top open, slowly add in just enough vegetable oil to make a sauce. Don’t use too much or the sauce will get oily. Just so it looks like a dipping sauce.

Serve the salsa chicken on rice, with a good dollop of the avocado sauce on top and a wedge of lime on the side.

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Chicken Tropicana for wintry weather

All we need, really, is a change from a near frigid to a tropical attitude of mind. – Marjory Stoneman Douglas

No winter weather inside this pot. Nope. None at all.

We’re 24 hours away from what Environment Canada is calling a “weather bomb.” Apparently in a day and a half I will be looking out on a front yard that has up to 50 cm of snow. So much for spring.

Not a whole lot of ingredients have
to be bought.

Firmly in the "got lemons, make lemonade camp," this recipe will at least make you think of tropical places and summer fun. Sometimes the best cure for bad weather is to make the best of what you can do inside. Spring will come. I guarantee it.

Cooking is always therapeutic when a snowstorm hits. A tried and true favourite for me is to make bread. There’s something about the smell of homemade bread that can drive away even the deepest weather blues.

So is the smell of fried chicken. Double down with mango and pineapple and you’ve got a recipe that will make you entirely forget what’s going on outside.

There are a couple caveats with this recipe, but they both have the same basis: sugar. 

There’s a lot of natural sugar in pineapple and mango, so you can easily burn the chicken when you fry it after it’s marinated. Usually you can fry chicken on medium high or even high. Not this. Use medium temperature.

The same holds true when you are reducing the sauce. It can start to stick if you don’t stir it occasionally. So watch the pot.

This recipe takes a little while, but what else will you have to do while the snow is piling up?

The chicken marinating. Note the use of a glazed clay pot.

Chicken Tropicana

Marinade: 2 hours  |  Cook: 40 min  |  Serves 3-4

6-8 chicken thighs

1 medium sweet onion, diced

2 cups cubed mango, can be frozen

2 limes

1 tsp chilli flakes

1 tsp cumin seed

1 L pineapple juice

salt and pepper, to taste

2 plum tomatoes, diced

1 tsp sugar, optional

1/4 cup cilantro

Place the diced onion in the bottom of a non-reactive pan (non-metal). Layer the chicken on top, then the mango, chilli and cumin. 

Pour enough pineapple juice in to just come to the top of the chicken. Squeeze the juice from one lime on top. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Marinate for 2 hours on the kitchen counter, or overnight in refrigerator.

After marinating, remove the chicken and fry skin side up over medium heat in a sauté pan that has a lid. As the chicken fries, fat will render out. Cook until browned on both sides, but not cooked through. Watch that the chicken doesn’t burn. Remove to a plate.

Discard all the collected fat except for about 1 tablespoon. Add the marinade and tomatoes to the pan. Cover and cook on medium, stirring occasionally, until the mangoes and tomatoes have softened. Add more pineapple juice as needed to keep it as a liquid.

Once the sauce has reduced to small into chunks, nestle the chicken into the sauce, cover and cook on medium-low for 15 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent burning.

Remove the cover, turn heat to medium and cook until sauce has thickened. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper. Now is also the time to add the additional sugar if desired. Stir in the cilantro about 1 minute before serving. 

Just before serving, squeeze the juice from the remaining lime on top of the chicken. Serve with rice.

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Chicken in Garlic Basil Cream

A career is wonderful, but you can't curl up with it on a cold night. – Marilyn Monroe

So winter isn’t really done with us yet. It’s not as cold out as it could be, but it’s still cold. This morning found us sitting at -13°F. Brrrrr......

This month is shaping up to be a hectic one for me. So I’ll have to keep Marilyn’s words constantly in the forefront of my mind. All work and no fun makes our loved ones feel neglected. Not a good thing.

When there is a little down time to cook, and the weather outside is still frightful, there’s really not much that can compare to a garlic cream sauce. Couple that with basil and tender chicken, and all you’re really missing is a bottle of wine.

Oh, and someone to enjoy with with.

See, I almost forgot already. Not really... :-)

Chicken in Garlic Basil Cream

Time: about 20 minutes

6-8 chicken thighs, bone in and skin on

salt and pepper, to taste

4-6 garlic cloves, chopped

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

1 cup 32% whipping cream

penne, for 3 or 4

If serving 3 people, cook 6 thighs; if serving 4, cook 8. Cook enough penne, cutting the suggested time down by 1 minute, for either 3 or 4 people. Keep it warm in water while you cook the chicken.

Place the chicken skin side up in a dry, hot pan with a lid. Season with salt and pepper. Let cook until the chicken releases from the surface. Fat will render out as it cooks.

Turn the chicken and repeat the process, skin side down. Once the chicken releases easily, remove to a plate.

Discard all the chicken fat in the pan except for about 1 tablespoon. Add the chopped garlic and sauté until fragrant. Then add the cream and return the chicken. Sprinkle with half of the chopped basil, cover and cook on medium for about 5 minutes.

Then add the penne, and let cook until the sauce reduces enough to start to coat the pasta and chicken.

Serve with more fresh basil, salt and pepper as desired, sprinkled on top.

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