Pineapple and Onion Chicken

This chicken with pineapple and onion dish is something I used to eat as  a kid that was created by my babysitter. The sweetness from the onions balances well with the acidity of the pineapple. To mix it up and make it more "chef-y" I decided to top it with a quick pineapple salsa. I used some of the canned pineapple for the salsa. It tasted good but lacked the bright color of a fresh pineapple so it's up to you which pineapple you'd like to use. 

Chicken Marinade:

1 can pineapple chunks and liquid
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tbs. soy sauce
1 tsp dry thyme
1 tsp red pepper flake
zest of one lemon
1 tsp. honey

Pineapple Salsa:

2 pinapple rings, caremelized in a saute pan
1 small piece onion, carmelized in a saute pan
1 tbs. chopped chives or cilatnro
1 tsp. honey
1 tsp. lime
salt and pepper

Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients for marinade in a plastic bag. Stir  well and then add chicken. Remove as much air as possible from bag so marinade has maximum contact with the chicken. Allow to marinate in the fridge for at least 4 hours and up to 8.

2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove chicken from marinade and place on a foil lined baking sheet. Bake chicken until it reaches an internal temp of 150-155, about 20-30 minutes.

3. While chicken cooks prepare salsa and any side dishes you like. For salsa: Chop all ingredients into a fine dice and combine together. Stir and allow to sit for a few minutes so the flavors meld.

4. Remove chicken from oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes. Serve everything together. For a fresher/brighter taste I like to squeeze a little lemon or lime on top of the chicken right before serving. 

Birthday Braised Short Ribs

My birthday was a few days ago so last night I decided to make some braised short ribs to celebrate. I love the taste of braised beef. It's something that is really cheap to buy but takes forever to cook so I usually only make it for special occasions.

I used my old short rib recipe but with a few twists. Here's the link to the other recipe:

http://kleinanddine.blogspot.com/2010/05/beef-short-ribs-and-mashed-potatoes.html


Updates:

1. Allow the dry rub on the short ribs to marinate for as long as possible. You could even do this the night before and store the ribs in plastic wrap.

2. When cooking the veggies: cook over medium heat  and allow veggies to sweat down and get soft.

3. When adding wine to the pan, allow wine to reduce by half before adding beef stock or water. This really helps concentrate the flavor.

4. Once ribs are finished, instead of blending all of the braising liquids together I decided to strain the liquid. This made a much more luxurious sauce then the blender. If the sauce isn't thick after straining out veggies, cook it over high heat and allow it reduce to the thickness you like, stirring every few minutes so it doesn't burn.

Fish Tacos

I wanted to eat something healthy and while looking through my fridge I realized I had the leftovers to make fish tacos. I had some leftover cooked salmon, refried beans, tortillas, and lettuce. To make the taco extra delicious I made a creamy chive and cayenne sauce along with some crispy fried onions for extra texture. This was super easy to throw together since it was mostly leftovers.

Crispy Fried Onions:

1. Slice a sweet onion into thin rings. The thinner the better.

2. Add flour to a bowl and season with salt, pepper, and paprika. Add onions to flour and toss gently. Make sure to break up all the layers and coat everything lightly in flour.

3. Heat a few cups of oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Fry the onions in batches until golden brown, 2-3 minutes. Place on a paper towel to drain and season with a pinch of salt. Set aside.


Assembly:

Here's how I assembled my tacos. Basically it's heating everything up and throwing it into the warmed tortillas.

1. Warm leftover fish in a saute pan with a squeeze of lemon or lime juice. Cook over low heat for a few minute until warmed through.

2. Rewarm beans in microwave, stirring every 15 seconds until heated through.

3. Warm tortillas over a gas burner Just flip it a few times directly over the open flaming using your fingers or tongs.

4. Place tortilla on a plate. Add a smear of beans. Add salmon that is flaked into medium sized pieces. Sprinkle lettuce on taco. Top everything with the crispy onions and enjoy!!

Lasagna Updated

I'm having friends over to watch the first Ducks game of the season (hooray the lockout is over!) So since I didn't want to be cooking while the game was on I needed a dish that could be made ahead but everyone would love. I decided to make this lasagna extra special by mixing both white and red layers. It gave the finished dish a nice color contrast and a ton of flavor!

I ended up having a ton of leftover lasagna so I cut off a large chunk, wrapped it tightly in plastic wrap, and then wrapped it with aluminum. I labeled and dated it and tossed it in the freezer for a quick meal in the future. I'll just place it on a sheet tray, cover it with foil, and cook in a 350 oven until warm and melty.

Ingredients
1 jar tomato sauce
1 jar alfredo sauce
1 package of lasagna noodles (make sure they are the pre-cooked or no boil kind)
1 lb ground spicy italian sausage
2 cup container marscapone cheese
10 basil leaves, chopped (reserve some for garnish)
3 tbs. chopped chives
juice and zest of 1 lemon
2 cups of packaged shredded mozzarella
1 cup parmesan cheese

Directions:

Do Ahead:
1. Place some olive oil in a large saute pan. Add ground sausage. Cook over medium high heat until sausage is browned. Carefully drain fat from pan using paper towels. Add 1/4 jar of marinara sauce to sausage and mix together. Set aside.

2. Place the marscapone in a bowl. Add 3/4 of chopped basil, chives, squeeze of lemon, 1/2 mozzarella cheese, 1/2 parmesan cheese and some salt and pepper. Mix. Make sure to taste and check seasoning/balance. Set Aside.

3. Prepare a 9 x 13 casserole dish by rubbing butter around the outside. Now add a thin layer of alfredo sauce on the bottom of the pan. Layer noodles (takes about 4) over sauce in 1 even layer. Make sure layers slightly overlap like roof shingles.

4. Spoon 1/3 of the remaining marinara sauce on top of noodles. Noodles need to be covered in liquid or they won't cook right. Add 1/2 of sausage mix on top of noodles in a thin, even layer.

5. Do another layer of noodles. Cover noodles with alfredo sauce. Spread 1/2 of the cheese mixture on top of noodles. Do this gently so you keep all the layers separate.

6. Do another layer of noodles. Top with 1/2 of marinara sauce left and rest of sausage mixture.

7. Do another layer of noodles. Top with most of remaining alfredo sauce and rest of cheese mixture.

8. Top everything with one last layer of noodles (this is your 5th layer of noodles). Cover noodles in marinara sauce. Sprinkle remaining mozzarella and parmesan on top of the lasgana. At this point your lasagna is built. If you're making this dish ahead, cover the lasagna tightly with a layer of plastic wrap and aluminum foil and store in the fridge for up to 2 days or the freezer for up to 3 weeks.

9. Cooking instructions: Remove plastic wrap and cover with foil (make sure it doesn't touch cheese or it will take off the layer. You can spray the foil with some non-stick spray) and cook for 20 minutes in a preheated 350 oven. Uncover and cook another 20-25 minutes or until top is melted and slightly browned. Let set after cooking for 10-15 minutes. (this is a good time to cook garlic bread) Then just slice it up and serve!

note- if freezing, cook an extra 15-20 minutes while it's covered. 

Grilled Chicken with Roasted Kale

I found this recipe on food network and saved it a while ago. I wanted to eat something healthy today so I decided to cook up this dish.  I've never had crispy kale before. It turned out to be really good and added a lot of texture to the dish.

The chicken is sliced to make it thinner so it cooks up really quickly. If you're in a hurry, you can start the potatoes in the microwave for a few minutes. (prick potatoes with a fork, microwave on high for 3 minutes, cool and dice, then use as directed with slightly shorter roasting time).

Ingredients

1/2 pound small red-skinned potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing

1 large bunch kale, stems removed, leaves torn (about 10 cups)

3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

2 large skinless, boneless chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 pounds)

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Toss the potatoes with 1/2 tablespoon olive oil on a rimmed baking sheet; spread in a single layer and roast 15 minutes.

2. Toss the kale in a large bowl with the garlic, 1/2 tablespoon olive oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste. Add to the baking sheet with the potatoes and toss. Roast until the kale is crisp and the potatoes are tender, stirring once, 10 to 15 minutes. Watch the kale to make sure it doesn't burn.

3. Meanwhile, preheat a grill or grill pan to medium and brush with olive oil. Slice the chicken breasts in half horizontally to make 4 cutlets. Coat evenly with 1/2 tablespoon olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill the chicken until well marked and cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate.

4. Toss the kale, potatoes, the remaining 1/2 tablespoon olive oil, parmesan, lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste in a large bowl. Divide the chicken among plates and top with any collected juices. Serve with the kale salad.

Per serving: Calories 434; Fat 14 g (Saturated 4 g); Cholesterol 112 mg; Sodium 586 mg; Carbohydrate 28 g; Fiber 6 g; Protein 50 g

Tandoori Chicken with Yogurt Sauce

For Christmas I got a bunch of cool spice mixes that I've been dying to try. The first one I decided to try was the tandoori spice blend. I bought mine from Cost Plus World Market. I'm sure you could make your own but for 2 bucks I'm more than happy to buy the spice blend. To make the marinade and sauce as flavorful as possible I toasted the spice blend in a dry pan over low heat for about 2 minutes or until it was fragrant. Toasting spices always makes them better but make sure not to burn them!!

Marinade:
1 cup greek yogurt
1 Tbsp. tandoori spice blend (includes: paprika, coriander, cumin, ginger, black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, clove, and cayenne pepper.)
1 Chicken Breast, cut into tenders (think like chicken tender size)

Sauce:
1/3 cup reserved marinade
1-2 tsp. honey
1 tsp. lime zest
1 tsp. lime juice

1. To make the marinade, combine the yogurt and spice mix together.Reserve 1/3 cup of the marinade and set aside; you're going to make a sauce out of this reserved marinade.

2. Prick the chicken breast tenders with a fork. Add the thighs to the rest of the marinade, and toss to coat. Marinate at least 1 hour in the fridge, and at most overnight.

3. When you're ready to cook, line a baking sheet with foil, and turn your broiler on. Place each chicken breast filet on the baking sheet, making sure each one is coated with the marinade, but isn't swimming in it. Cook the chicken under the broiler until starting to blacken, about 5 minutes. Then turn the oven to 350, and cook until a meat thermometer registers 150 degrees F, Remove from the oven.

4. While the chicken is cooking, pour the reserved marinade into a small bowl, along with lime zest, lime juice, salt, pepper and the honey. Taste and correct seasoning.

5. Serve the chicken with a squeeze of fresh lime juice, the sauce, and some brown rice and green beans for a delicious and healthy meal.