Knock-Off "Not Your Average Chicken Oscar"

My favorite meal at one of my favorite restaurants combines most of my favorite ingredients into one dish. It's a creamy dish but I request it with clear/ olive oil/ garlic/ white wine (whatever the chef wants besides cream) sauce and it is fantastic. I believe it's "oscar" describes a cream sauce so I'm not sure what to title this dish... but I'm just calling it a knock-off for right now.



My Version of Knock-Off "Not Your Average Chicken Oscar"

1 cup jasmine rice
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 can chicken broth
1- 1 1/2 lbs thin sliced chicken breast cutlets
16-20 scallops (4- 5 per person), rinse and pat dry
16-20 extra-large shrimp (4- 5 per person), rinsed, shell removed & dried
1 bunch asparagus, trimmed
1 package crimini mushrooms
1 can quartered asparagus
5-10 sun-dried tomatoes
2 tsp capers
1/3 cup dry white whine
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (~ 2 lemons)
splash of white wine vinegar


In a saucepan, add carrots and 1 can of chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add jasmine rice, cover and simmer for 15 minutes (unless your rice specifies a different cook time). When done, fluff with a fork.

Heat pan over medium heat, add 1 tbsp olive oil and pan sear the chicken cutlets. Once chicken is cooked, remove from the pan. Add scallops, turning once. Remove from pan. Add mushrooms and cook for a few minutes, then add shrimp and cook for a few more minuets. Add in asparagus, tomatoes, capers, white wine, remaining 1/2 cup of chicken broth, lemon juice and the splash of white wine vinegar. Cook for a few minutes then toss the chicken back in and cook for another minute or two.

Meanwhile, bring water to a boil in a stockpot. Add asparagus and cook for a few minutes until green but still crispy. Remove from water and place aside.

To plate, spoon rice on the plate. Add asparagus then the chicken mixture. Top with scallops.

A Maine Lobster Suppah: Grilled Corn on the Cob

Memorial Day Weekend is the official kick-off to summer! Danimal and I packed up our zoo and drove to his parents house in Maine for the weekend. We spent one afternoon at their camp opening it up for the summer and letting the dogs run around and take their first summer swim. Later in the weekend, we had a family suppah of lobstah, steamahs and lots and lots of buttah.

I'm going to highlight a few different recipes this week from our dinner... previews below! Stay tuned for more posts this week to elaborate on our meal!


The center attraction of our suppah:



Some warm honey yeast rolls:

Delicious Blackberry Cobbler:



And our supper table, minus our lobster crackers (much needed as these were the hardest shelled lobsters we'd had in a long time).



Below is my instructions for grilling corn... I love it this way and haven't been able to eat steamed corn since. Grilling the corn in it's husks brings out it's natural sweetness and makes for a delicious side dish to a supper. I'm pretty sure that once you try this, you'll never go back either!

Grilled Corn on the Cob

Soak corn in the husks in water for about 20 minutes. I place a lid on a pot with a weight to keep the corn submerged under water.

Place corn (still in their husks) on a grill at medium temperature. Keep an eye on the husks and rotate when it gets toasted (estimating about every 5 minutes).

It takes about 20 minutes total for the corn to be thoroughly cooked. Let corn cool a little before husking. If you desire, you can pull the husks back, tie it in a knot and use it as a handle to eat the corn or discard husks (preferably outside as it makes a mess).

I eat the corn without butter or any toppings as the grill brings out the natural sweetness.

Grilled Pizza

Have you ever grilled pizza before? Will you ever go back to cooking it in the oven again? I doubt we will! Holy amazingness. Danimal was manning the grill outside and kept saying how amazing it smelled as well as that it smelled like a pizzeria.

Grilling pizza is a quick, great solution for dinner. The only thing that takes some time is prepping the toppings. Most of my ingredients for this pizza needed to be cooked ahead of time so it took a little bit of time. Otherwise, it moves fast and is just incredible.

In absolutely love the toppings I chose for this pizza too. They complimented each other and it was a great treat. We decided on pizza at the last minute, but next time, I'm going to make sure I have homemade dough on hand. The dough I used was pretty good though-- it's from Portland Pizza Co or something. It was easy to work with and had a great flavor.

Danimal wouldn't let me photograph his pizza but he had regular white pizza dough, chicken, artichokes, red peppers and garlic. He thoroughly enjoyed his too! I see this as a regular part of meal during the grilling season!


Grilled Pizza with Chicken, Red Peppers, Eggplant & Carmelized Onions

diced chicken, cooked
carmelized onions
thiny sliced red pepper
sliced, roasted eggplant
1 wheat pizza dough (I used dough from the deli section)
pizza sauce
mozzerella cheese


1) Place dough on the counter to rise and come to room temperature

2) Dice chicken and sautee until cooked

3) Slice onions and sautee on medium-low for 20-30 minutes. Add a splash of balsamic vinegar and sautee for another couple of minutes.

4) Slice eggplant in 1/2 inch rounds and roast at 400-425 for 20 minutes. I then sliced each eggplant round in half so they were half-circles.

5) Preheat grill around the medium setting and oil the grates.

6) Roll or stretch the dough out until thin- mine was the size of a cookie sheet

7) Make sure you have all toppings prepared and at the grill as the dough cookes fast. The grill has to be warm enough so that the dough cooks fast and doesn't stick to the grates.

8) Place the dough on the grill, making sure it's stretched out. Close the grill cover and let cook for 1-2 minutes. Flip the dough and add the toppings on to the cooked side.

9) Let the pizza cook for another minute or so in order for the cheese to melt.

10) Remove, slice and enjoy!

Incredible Salmon Salad

A few weeks ago, we had my childhood best friend and her husband over for dinner. My go-to meal for guests has been a roast chicken dinner but I wanted to try something different. I had a list of 5 different meals and headed to the market to make the final decision there. I find buying fish to be a stressful experience-- mostly because you never know the price. I pulled up the 5 different recipes on my ipod touch and headed over to the fish counter... it turns out my ipod needs internet connection to scroll between the pages so I lost all the recipes! I called my father and asked him to sent me one of the recipes via text. I'm hoping I get more confident with fish recipes the more I buy it.

This recipe is awesome-- it's absolutely delicious and has a perfect mix of ingredients. I read the recipe reviews and added a soy-honey glaze to the fish before cooking it. Other than that, it's a pretty easy recipe as well as delicious and filling.

Sizzling Salmon-and-Spinach Salad with Soy Vinaigrette
Cooking Light

Dressing:
3 tablespoons thinly sliced green onions
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon sesame seeds, toasted
1 teaspoon bottled minced garlic
1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon chile paste with garlic or 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

Salad:
2 teaspoons dark sesame oil, divided
4 cups thinly sliced shiitake or button mushroom caps (about 8 ounces)
1 cup (1-inch) sliced green onions
1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels, thawed
4 (6-ounce) salmon fillets (about 1 inch thick)
8 cups baby spinach
1 cup fresh bean sprouts
1 cup red bell pepper strips

Fish marinade
4 tbsp soy sauce & 2 tsp honey

Preparation

Preheat broiler.
To prepare dressing, combine first 8 ingredients in a small bowl, and stir well with a whisk.
To prepare salad, heat 1 teaspoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and 1 cup onions; sauté 8 minutes. Stir in corn; remove from heat.

Place the fish on a foil-lined baking sheet; brush evenly with 1 teaspoon oil. Brush salmon with a soy-honey mixture and broil 8 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. It didn't cook correctly in my oven so I cooked it in the oven for a few minutes since it was still very raw.

Place 2 cups spinach on each of 4 plates; top each serving with 1/4 cup bean sprouts, 1/4 cup red bell pepper, 1/2 cup mushroom mixture, and 1 fillet. Drizzle about 2 tablespoons dressing over each salad.

Friday Night Simplicity

After a long week at work, the last thing I want to do is spend Friday evening making dinner... Taco Salad is a quick and easy dinner to prepare in less than 20 minutes. This is a great dish for a light summer dinner and has the ability to be made year-round as the ingredients tend to be readily available. This has been a staple in my family's life for a long time!

Taco Salad
1 lb ground turkey (93/7)
1 pkg taco seasoning mix (low sodium)
1 head lettuce (or 1 bag of prewashed lettuce)
1 cucumber
1 box grape tomatoes (or regular tomato)
1 red or green bell pepper, chopped
1 can black beans (or kidney beans, or both!), drained & rinsed
1 can whole kernal corn
1 avocado
bag of doritos (we used baked doritos)
Fat-Free Thousand Island dressing

In a pan, brown the meat. Drain excess liquid and add seasoning mix and water as directed by the package of seasoning mix. Cook til completed.

Slice tomatoes in half, length-wise. Peel cucumber & slice into rounds. I slice the rounds in half again so they are half-moon shaped. Drain & rinse the black beans & corn. Slice avocado, chop the bell pepper. Combine these ingredients plus lettuce in a large bowl.

Add ground turkey meat and mix together. Serve with crumbled doritos and Thousand Island dressing. We notice that the lettuce wilts faster if the dressing is added to it and the doritos get soggy. If you are planning on having leftovers, keep the doritos & dressing separate and mix as you go.