Monthly Archives: December 2011

Spice-Rubbed Chicken

As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t eat any beef or pork so I eat a LOT of chicken.  Therefore, I’m always interested in any new way to prepare chicken that’s not boring or ho-hum.  I have a fully stocked spice cabinet so this recipe for Spice-Rubbed Chicken was a no-brainer for me.  Brown sugar is mixed with paprika, coriander, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper and rubbed on chicken breasts and baked until fully cooked.  This spice mixture is sweet and spicy and utterly tasty.  The recipe calls for 16 chicken breasts (really?!?) but I only baked up 3 and still made the full amount of spice mixture that it called for.  I plan on keeping the rest in an air-tight container for future use because I will make this again.  Whip some of this up and tuck it away for those nights when you just don’t know what to do with those chicken breasts that have been sitting in your fridge for a couple of days and either need to be made or frozen.  Serve this with a salad or side of veggies and you’ve got a quick meal for last minute guests as well.  They’ll be impressed!

The ingredients:

Mix the brown sugar and all of the spices in a small bowl.

Lay chicken breasts flat and light rub each side with a little bit of vegetable oil (or spray with non-stick spray).   Sprinkle the spice mixture on the chicken and rub until the whole side is coated.  Repeat on the other side. 

Refrigerate chicken for 15 minutes and place chicken on a baking sheet.  Bake for 15-18 minutes (or until a meat thermometer reads 165ºF – 170ºF) in a 400ºF oven  (mine took only about 15 minutes).

Additions:  None

Omissions:  None

Substitutions:  None

Overall Rating:  Love It

Source:  Better Homes and Gardens Magazine

Orange Pepper Soup with Cilantro Purée

The last time I was at the produce market, I picked up a big bag of orange peppers for no reason other than to have something colorful and different in my refrigerator.  I cut some up for stir-fry, threw in some with chicken in curry sauce, and chopped some up for salad.  But since produce markets give you more than you need, I was still left with several that I didn’t know what to do with.  That’s when I came across this recipe for Orange Pepper Soup with Cilantro Purée.  The recipe calls for yellow peppers but the orange peppers are just as sweet and worked just as perfectly in this chilled soup.  Although this is loaded with other flavors like garlic, onion, potato, apple, ginger, and fennel, the orange peppers are the star and are beautifully complemented by the other ingredients.  The other highlight to this soup is the addition of curry powder which lays low in the background and provides a subtle warmth.  The cilantro purée adds another layer of fresh flavor that works deliciously with the peppers.  To easily make this soup vegetarian, use vegetable broth in place of the chicken broth.  This soup would be perfect for a warm summer evening but it was still just as a good on a cold December day.

The soup ingredients:

Chop all of the produce (all of it will go into the blender so a coarse chop is fine).

Heat a skillet with butter and sauté the onion and fennel until soft.

Add in the curry powder, ginger, and garlic and sauté 1 minute.

Stir in the white wine and cook until evaporated before adding in the chopped peppers, apple, potato, chicken broth, and salt.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat.  Simmer 20 minutes.

When mixture has slightly cooled, add to a blender and process until smooth.  Chill for 2 hours and stir in lemon juice.

The purée ingredients:

Add all ingredients into a blender and process. 

Add a small amount to the soup with crème fraîche or sour cream before serving.

Additions:  None

Omissions:  None

Substitutions: 

  • Orange peppers for yellow peppers

Overall Rating:  Like It

Source:  Cooking Light Magazine

Potato-Apple Latkes

I’ve spent several of the last Christmases in Evanston, Illinois with my aunt, uncle, and cousins. When it comes to Christmas dinner, we don’t really have anything traditional, usually lasagna or sandwiches, whatever we feel like. But, when it comes to Christmas breakfast, my uncle is always in the kitchen scrambling up eggs, baking biscuits, and whipping up a warm batch of latkes. This Christmas I stayed home and didn’t care about what I did or ate on Christmas day except for what I ate for breakfast. So, I decided to make the latkes myself and ended up making Potato-Apple Latkes. I don’t know what my uncle puts in his latkes but these are nothing more than potato, apple, flour, salt, and pepper. I used Granny Smith apples because I already had some on hand and they added the slightest hint of sweetness without taking away from the traditional latke taste. Latkes are a great alternative to regular breakfast potatoes or hashbrowns and although I think my uncle’s latkes are better, these were still pretty darn good.

The ingredients:

Peel the potatoes and shred them with a kitchen grater. Repeat the same procedure with the apples and place in a strainer or colander over a bowl to drain for 20 minutes. Use a wooden spoon to press down the potatoes and apples to get as much liquid out as possible. With clean hands, squeeze excess water by hand if necessary.

Place dried potato-apple mixture in a bowl and add flour, salt, and pepper and mix.

Add oil to a pan over medium-high heat. Using a 1/3 measuring cup, place mixture into the pan, flattening with your hands or the back of the measuring cup. Cook on both sides until brown.

Serve with sour cream, crème fraîche, or applesauce.

Additions: None

Omissions: None

Substitutions: None

Overall Rating: Like It

Source: Cooking Light Magazine

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