simple weekend recap: edition 24

Friday night dinner T & I celebrated our 6 year 

anniversary at the new amazing restaurant, Asta...

 

 

 

 

...but as we headed out to our car for a nice drive home we realized our 

back window was smashed, so the rest of our celebration evening was 

spent in various police stations. Happy 6-year!

 

Saturday morning marked a new day, filled with

 hashbrowns and bacon (which make everything better...really)...

 

...and the return of my baby girl!

 

Before T took off on his weekend work trip to Berlin, I made a simple 

healthy halibut dinner (recipe this week)...

 

...and a less-healthy chocolate souffle.

 

Sunday was filled with flowers that remind me of 

fields of wildflowers in the summer...

 

 

...and Craigie on Main since it was so good last time. I started with the grilled Spanish octopus with griled cipollini onion, green olive and lemon salad, bulgur wheat, and chorizon puree. I always get grilled octopus when it's on a menu because it's one of my favorite things.

 

For my entree I went with the slow-roasted chicken breast stuffed with chicken sausage, apricots, forest mushrooms, turnip puree, and wheat berries.

 

Although we were quite full, I had to have the orange blossom beignets with a date-orange caramel and cardamom anglaise. I had no idea these would be the largest beignets in the world, but I also had no idea they would be some of the tastiest.

 

 

After a heavy food weekend, I whipped up an easy pea puree to line a lean chicken wrap to recover from a delicious, but rich, weekend of food!

 

 

 

 

 

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bourbon chicken

In the mall-days of middle school I used to love trolling by the chinese food section of the food court to accept free samples of the chicken on a stick. Gross, I know, you don't need to tell me, I'm well-aware. Doesn't change the fact that I still crave that taste...but with better quality meat of course. That's where my recipe for bourbon chicken comes in!

Ingredients (4 servings with sides served):
1 lb organic boneless chicken breast, cut into cubes
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup bourbon 
1 tbs vinegar
2 tbs brown sugar
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp garlic powder 
splash of Worcestershire sauce

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 375F. Dredge chicken cubes in flour and evenly spread on a baking sheet or a shallow pan. Pop in preheated oven for 10 minutes.

  

 
2. Meanwhile heat remainder of ingredients (soy sauce, bourbon, vinegar, brown sugar, ground ginger, garlic powder and a splash of Worcestershire sauce) over medium-high heat until fully-mixed and it begins to bubble.

 

 

3. Remove chicken from the oven and pour the sauce mixture all over the chicken. Return to preheated oven for another 6 minutes to fully coat.
 

 

4. Remove the chicken from the oven and serve with extra spoonfuls of sauce over rice with a side of green veggies!
 

 

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caramelized chicken wrap

I like to put honey, rock salt, and garlic all over my whole roasted chickens to make a supa crispy blackened outside. Not having a whole chicken on hand (shucks), but craving this combo, I decided I would settle for a whipped up caramelized chicken wrap. Turns out I didn't settle and this was aaaamazing.

Ingredients (for 5 tortillas-worth inspired by this recipe):
1 lb organic chicken breast, sliced
1/4 cup honey
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tbs olive oil  
rock salt & pepper
1 cup water, divided
1 handful of cherry tomatoes
1.5 cups rice pilaf
5 tortillas
Creme fraiche for topping

Directions:1. Cut chicken into slices and place in a bowl or a ziploc bag directly. Add honey, garlic, red pepper flakes, olive oil, and rock salt & pepper. Mix and stir to coat. Transfer to a ziploc bag or cover with clingwrap and place in fridge for 20 minutes.
 

2. Heat a pan (or this nifty pan that lets liquid pool in the cracks) over medium-high heat.
 

3. Add chicken and marinade to the pan, squeezing every bit of marinade out onto the pan. Let cook over medium-high heat while marinade bubbles underneath and browns the chicken until dark (shown in last picture of this instruction).

 

 

 

 

4. Add 4 tbs water to the pan to sizzle and stick the sauce to the chicken.  Cook until water is gone. Transfer chicken to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm, but let breathe to not overcook while sitting.
 

 

5. Add tomatoes to the pan over medium-high/high heat. Add remainder of water to the pan and shake to coat. Cook until tomatoes begin to squish and split, about 10 minutes.
 

 

6. Add squished tomatoes to the chicken plate, arrange wraps in the order of tortilla, rice pilaf, chicken, tomatoes & a dollop of creme fraiche.
 

 

 

 

*Of note for leftovers: chicken and rice saves well in the fridge, 

tomatoes & creme fraiche do not*

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chicken lasagna roll-ups

This weekend I was craving both a cheesy heavy lasagna and a lighter chicken cacciatore. Conflicted and bored (as football was on....ew) I decided to tinker around in the kitchen. The result turned out to be amazing (as shown by the fact that T almost demolished all of these by himself). A perfect combination of the two cravings, the end result mimics cannelloni or enchiladas as it wraps around the tasty filling of tender shredded chicken in a tomato sauce.

Ingredients (for 12 roll-ups):
3 tbs olive oil
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbs dried parsley
1 tbs dried oregano
1 tbs dried basil
28 oz crushed tomatoes
6 oz tomato paste
1 cup chicken stock
1 lb lasagna
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Directions:
1. In a large pot, coat the bottom in a layer of olive oil and heat over med-high. Add chicken (I added frozen as I was too lazy and hungry to wait for it to thaw...so if your chicken is raw and not frozen, adjust cooking time appropriately). Sprinkle with salt and pepper, cover and let cook on med-high for 5 minutes.
 

 

2. Flip chicken, salt & pepper again, cover & cook again for another 5 minutes.

3. Uncover chicken, add the diced onion along with 1 tbs olive oil, lower heat to medium, cover and let cook for 3 minutes.

 

4. Stir, add minced garlic, cover and cook again for 3 minutes.
 

5. Add dried herbs and stir to coat.
 

6. Pour in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, one cup of water, and chicken stock.

7. Submerge all chicken bits, stir to mix, and bring to a low boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium-high medium, and cook for 10 minutes.

8. Stir, cover, lower heat to medium-low low and cook for an additional 10 minutes.

9. Stir, cover, lower heat further to low and cook for 40 more minutes, stirring once halfway through.

10. Uncover and cook for an additional 7 minutes on medium to thicken. Preheat oven to 375F and cook lasagna.

11. Transfer mixture to a food processor and process to create almost the same consistency of a sauce.
 

12. Lightly butter a baking pan. Lay a piece of lasagna out, dust with shredded cheddar, spoon some of the chicken mixture on top, flatten with spoon, and carefully roll-up one by one. 

 

13. Top with a bit of chicken mixture.
 

 

14. Top with sprinkling of cheddar cheese.
 

 

15. Cover with tin foil and pop in preheated oven for 20 minutes.
 

16. Remove foil and cook for an additional 15 minutes.

 

 

 

 

Let cool for 3 minutes before attempting to transfer to your plate (to solidify the wrap and to avoid burning your entire mouth with the lava-sauce)!

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