Chicken Piccata

Pin It Still unpacking, but eating better.

This is one of those recipes that you can have on a week night or dress up if you are having another couple for an inpromtum dinner. We just happened to have it tonight because it's easy and I had all the ingredients on hand. If you are serving it with company, do go the extra mile and slice the lemon at the end of the recipe. It looks pretty and more, shall we say, professional?

You can buy the chicken breasts already thinly sliced.

Serves 4


Ingredients

2 skinless and boneless chicken breasts, butterflied and then cut in half
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Dash of paprika
All-purpose flour, for dredging
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup brined capers, rinsed
1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped
lemon, thinly sliced (optional)


Directions

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge chicken in flour and paprika and shake off excess.

In a large skillet over medium high heat, melt 2 tablespoons of butter with 3 tablespoons olive oil. When butter and oil start to sizzle, add 2 pieces of chicken and cook for 3 minutes. When chicken is browned, flip and cook other side for 3 minutes. Remove and transfer to plate.

Melt 2 more tablespoons butter and add another 2 tablespoons olive oil. When butter and oil start to sizzle, add the other 2 pieces of chicken and brown both sides in same manner. Remove pan from heat and add chicken to the plate.

Into the pan add the lemon juice, stock and capers. Return to stove and bring to boil, scraping up brown bits from the pan for extra flavor. Check for seasoning.

Return all the chicken to the pan and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove chicken to platter. Add remaining 2 tablespoons butter to sauce and whisk vigorously. Layer the thinly sliced lemon on top of the chicken, pour sauce over it and garnish with parsley.

Adapted from Giada de Laurentis

New Sister Blog! My Kitchen By the Lake

Pin It I am starting a new sister blog for my new life at the lake. This will be a smaller blog, more community oriented, more casual, more country, more fun! There will be recipes there as well, but they will be more appropriate for that kind of life. Let's say there will be no tagines or souffles!

Please come visit http://mykitchenbythelake.blogspot.com and tell me what you think. Nothing is permanent there, just going with the flow. You might be interested in the pictures of the area after the flood.

Don't worry, Lindaraxa's Garden lives on!

Tomato Zucchini Gratin AKA Casserole

Pin It Its funny, in my days this was called a casserole... my, my how times have changed! I don't know how I could have forgotten to post this. To me this is the quintessential summer casserole and when I make it, it reminds me of summer and of my days living in North Carolina. In that part of the country, everyone had a signature casserole!

I have many variations of this dish, which hopefully, I will be posting in summers to come. This is a great way to cook the last of this summer's fresh tomatoes and zucchini. I love to serve it with fish, accompanied by yellow rice. It is also very nice with grilled lamb chops.

Serves 4-6.

Ingredients
2 pounds fresh zucchini
4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons water
1 pound fresh, peeled, seeded, and chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1 garlic clove, pressed
Salt and pepper to taste
4 TB grated Gruyère cheese (or more to taste)
3 TB   grated Parmesan cheese (or more to taste)
1/4 cup bread crumbs, buttered


Directions
Wash and thinly slice zucchini. Melt butter in large skillet. Toss zucchini to coat with melted butter and cook over high heat, stirring continuously. Sprinkle with water and continue to cook until tender, yet firm. Remove from pan, and set aside. Pour tomatoes into skillet. Add basil, garlic, and salt and pepper. Cook until slightly thickened. Pour over zucchini and mix. Spoon into a buttered casserole or individual gratin dishes. Sprinkle with mixture of Gruyère and Parmesan cheeses, and top with buttered bread crumbs. Cover with foil and bake at 425 degrees F for 30 minutes. Remove foil and brown crumbs briefly under broiler.

Variation

Wash and thinly slice tomatoes, zuccini and onions.  Butter a casserole dish.  Lay one layer of zucchini, one of tomatoes and pne of onions.  Salt and Pepper and chopped basil leaves.  Sprinkle generous layer of coarsely grated Cheddar Cheese.  Repeat so you have 2 layers ending with cheese.  Lightly sprinkle bread crumbs.  Cook covered 375 30 minutes and uncovered at 400 15 minutes until browned.

This is one of my most requested recipes!

Peche Melba... A Homage to a Diva!

Pin It I had forgotten to publish this before I left for the lake so in a pinch for a post, here it is.

The move has been slower than I expected, seeing the house is larger than I anticipated (a good thing) and there are three levels ( a bad thing). It has been raining since I got here a week ago so I have to stop everything to clean up 8 little paws every time the dogs go out. Needless to say my lower back, which has always been a problem, is giving me a hard time. My daughter has promised to connect the wireless tonight as I have been working off this miniature laptop which is a pain in the neck. I will try to post at least twice a week for the next two weeks but forgive me if im not too chatty...its the exhaustion. I'm moving muscles I didnt know existed. Today I counted the steps up to the second floor ...sixteen!! and down to the lower level another sixteen..and most of the boxes are stacked up in the garage! So I would be lying to you if I told you I was cooking wonderful things every night. I will be back full force in a week or two.

The Peach Melba was made in honor of Australian opera singer Dame Nellie Melba by French chef Auguste Escoffier at London's Savoy hotel in 1894.

This recipe for Peches Melba (Melba Peaches) uses an often neglected and little known cooking technique called white poaching to keep the peaches firm. When white poaching, the ingredients are brought to barely a simmer and then the whole pan is removed from the heat. The hot mixture stays in the pan for a time, gently cooking in its own heat as it cools. The result is perfectly cooked, and never mushy.

This is the final dessert for the summer season so enjoy the peaches while they last!

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes

Makes 12 servings.

Ingredients:

6 ripe peaches, peeled and pitted
1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
2 cups water
¾ teaspoon vanilla extract

Sauce:

1 12-oz. package frozen unsweetened red raspberries, thawed in bowl
1/3 cup granulated sugar
¼ cup water
1 ½ teaspoons lemon juice
¼ teaspoon lemon zest

Vanilla ice cream

Mint

Preparation:

Using a deep, wide skillet, heat 1 ¼ cups sugar and 2 cups water to boiling. After sugar dissolves, add peaches in a single layer. Reduce heat to just under simmering and poach, covered, for 5 minutes. Using tongs or a slotted spoon, gently turn all the peaches over, cover, and continue poaching for 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and allow peaches to sit in hot syrup for an additional 4 minutes. Stir in vanilla extract. Chill peaches in syrup for at least one hour.

Sauce:

Push raspberries and juice left from thawing through a fine-mesh sieve, and then discard seeds and solids; set aside. Bring 1/3 cup sugar and ¼ cup water to a boil for 2 minutes and remove from heat, stir in lemon juice and zest. Stir simple syrup (sugar mixture) into seedless raspberry puree and chill for 30 minutes.

Layer peaches and raspberries over ice cream in frosted dishes, decorate with mint leaves and serve.

Photo: Chris Bayley

London Broil...Dinner at the New House

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It has been pouring ever since I got to the new house which is good for unpacking but certainly not for the grill. Usually when we move, we eat off the grill the first couple of nights, but not this time. Yesterday, we went to the store and picked up a beautiful top round on sale which was destined for last night's dinner, but with all the rain, there was no way we could cook outside. The broiler pan was nowhere to be found but the iron skillet luckily was on hand. I first thought of broiling it but thought perhaps a few minutes on top of the stove to sear it and lock the juices would be a better idea. So this is what I did. I took the meat out of the refrigerator two hours before cooking, marinaded it in Worcestershire Sauce and Crazy Salt, rubbed butter all over it, seared it for a couple of minutes on each side and baked it at 425 degrees for 5 minutes. (leave oven door ajar) I took it out of the oven and let it sit for about 10 minutes on the iron skillet to let the juices do their thing. The result, the best London Broil I have ever cooked...soft, juicy, tender, the works. Make sure you slice it very thin and against the grain and whatever you do, do not overcook. This is what makes it tough.

London Broil, despite what you might find at the local meat market, is not a cut of beef but rather a method of cooking. It was one of the first recipes to become popular in early restaurants and so the name London Broil became synonymous with a cut of meat. Originally that cut of meat was flank steak, but over the years the name has been applied to almost any cut of beef that is very lean and less tender. Hence you might find London Broil being a steak or a roast that comes from the sirloin or round sections of cattle. This of course makes the whole thing very confusing.

What you will find today as London Broil in most grocery stores is Top Round, usually between an inch and 1 1/2 inches thick. A wonderful marinade is olive oil, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, honey and balsamic vinegar. Tonight, none of that could be found. However, the alternative was terrific and a second recipe to file away for this cut of meat, which is wonderful in winter when grilling is out of the question for most of us.

Servings 4 - 6

Ingredients

1 Top Round Streak 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick
Crazy Salt
Worcestershire Sauce
Pepper
Butter

Preheat Oven to 425 degrees

Take the meat out of the refrigerator two hours before cooking. Marinade in Worcestershire Sauce, Crazy Salt and pepper. Before cooking, rub the meat on both sides with soft butter. Heat the iron skillet to medium high and brown the meat on both sides (approximately 2 minutes each side). Place the iron pan with the meat in a preheated 425 degree oven for about 5 minutes. Leave oven door ajar. Remove skillet from the oven and let meat rest in the skillet for another 5-10 minutes. The meat will continue cooking during this time. Remove to the cutting board and cut very thin, against the grain.

Time for a Break

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We will be on a short break starting September 14. I have a surprise in storage when we return. Stay tuned!

Sausage, Peppers & Onions...Definitely a Man's Sandwich

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I love this sandwich but I never order it when I'm out, way too messy to really enjoy and an almost sure candidate for a dry cleaning bill.

This is definitely one of those things I save for eating at home, preferably by the pool in the summer, or in jeans on a cold winter day. Make sure you have it with a cold beer and a big napkin around your neck!

#5 in my list of favorite sandwiches!

Servings: 4 - 6 people

Ingredients

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound sweet Italian turkey sausage
2 red bell peppers, sliced
2 yellow onions, sliced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup Marsala wine
1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional
4 to 6 fresh Italian sandwich rolls, optional

Directions

Heat the oil in a heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add the sausages and cook until brown on both sides, about 7 to 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and drain.

Keeping the pan over medium heat, add the peppers, onions, salt, and pepper and cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add the oregano, basil, and garlic and cook 2 more minutes.

Add the tomato paste and stir. Add the Marsala wine, tomatoes, and chili flakes, if using. Stir to combine, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to release all the browned bits. Bring to a simmer.

Cut the sausages into 4 to 6 pieces each, about 1-inch cubes. Add the sausage back to the pan and stir to combine. Cook until the sauce has thickened, about 20 minutes.

Split the rolls in half lengthwise. Hollow out the bread from the bottom side of each roll, being careful not to puncture the crust. Fill the bottom half of the roll with sausage mixture. Top and serve sandwiches immediately.

Recipe: Giada de Laurentis