Chicken Tarts

I like easy recipes that look really complex.  And there is something about individual portions that always make a dish look that much more difficult.  Muffin tins are a favorite of mine for making dishes like the Crustless Ham & Egg Tarts and this new recipe for Chicken Tarts.

The secret to these tarts is the Pillsbury Crescent Seamless Recipe Creations Dough.  Someone over there got wise that their crescent rolls were being used for more than just their cut out triangles were originated for and made some that are a single sheet of dough (rather than perforated).  Genius!

For this recipe, you roll the dough out and then push it out a bit more with a rolling pin so you can cut out 12 squares that will line a muffin cup. (The best tool for this is a pizza cutter!)

Then you put the dough into each muffin cup and build it up the side.  It didn’t quite reach the top of most of my cups, but it still worked well.

Then… you fill it!  We went with mushrooms and already cooked chicken slices that we made into bite size pieces (Purdue Shortcuts… another favorite easy food staple of mine).

Then we topped each cup with some canned tomatoes (and shredded Weight Watchers cheese) and popped them in the oven.

The looked and smelled SO good!

And they came out perfectly browned… just a little bit crispy and then that buttery, fluffy goodness on the inside.

With 3 per serving, this was very filling and SO savory and satisfying for just 7.5 points!

Paired with some zero point (frozen) spinach and onions… hard to beat!   

The prep time on these was so little, and with so many pre-made pieces, it just comes together perfectly.  

Bake time was 15-20 minutes (until the edges start to brown) at 375 degrees F.  Even though they smell delicious, let them cool for a few minutes.

Portobello Pizzas

I’m typically not a huge pizza fan, however, sometimes I just crave it.  I read about a “diet” version that uses portobellos instead of pizza crust and I was sold!

I prepped the ingredients: portobello mushrooms, tomatoes, fresh basil, pine nuts, and Saucy Solutions Bolognese sauce.

First you bake the mushrooms for 5 minutes.

Then you fill them with all the goodies and bake for 20 minutes.  (You can stick them in the broiler for a minute or two at the end to get them crispier on top if you prefer them the way I do)

We even topped them with some sliced roasted garlic.

This recipe is a total WINNER. And for just 5 points, it’s hard to beat (just 3 points if you use a fat free tomato sauce!).

I really enjoyed the bolognese.  It was hearty and full of flavor.  It was even better over pasta.  Nom Nom Nom.

_________________
RECIPES
_________________

Portobello Pizzas (Serves 2)

Ingredients:

• 2 portobello mushrooms, cleaned with stems removed
• Cooking spray
• 1 tomato, sliced or 1 cup grape mushrooms, cut in half
• 1 Tbs. basil, sliced
• 1 Tbs. pine nuts
• 1/3 cup bolognese
• 3/4 cup Weight Watchers shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat to 350 degrees F
2. Spray baking dish/pan with cooking spray and place mushrooms in
3. Bake for 10 minutes
4. Fill each with half of the remaining ingredients (cheese on top)
5. Bake for an additional 5 minutes (broil at end if desired)
6. Serve warm

Ostrich: The perfect diet food

I have the incredible fortune of working right by the Union Square Greenmarket. Besides going out for awesome lunches, fresh veggies, wine tasting, and buying   beautiful flowers, they sometimes have some rareties.  It was here that we secured our bison meat as well as the ramps (and miscellaneous other goodies!).  As I was searching for lunch, there was a vender cooking up some ostrich meat and singing it’s praises. 

What is so good about ostrich? Glad you asked! It is high in protein and very low in fat (even less than turkey and less than half of chicken!) It’s low in calories and high in iron (the meat is almost as red as steak).  Oh… and it’s delicious!  The vendor was giving samples and good thing as it convinced me to buy them (even though they were quite expensive at $20 for this steak for 2).

We paired it with delicious roasted cauliflower.

It was a FANTASTIC portion and my whole plate came to just 8 points.

__________________________
RECIPE
__________________________

Ingredients:

• 4-4oz Ostrich Steaks (no thicker than 3/4”)
• 1/4 tsp. Garlic Powder
• 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp. Salt

Directions:

1. Marinate ostrich steaks in wocester sauce, garlic powder, and salt for about 30 minutes to an hour 
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
3. Roast for about 15 minutes per pound (internal temp should be about 155 degrees)
4. Remove from oven and slice

Fish Face

Sometimes I plan meals entirely around what is on sale that week at Fresh Direct.  On this specific week, it was Branzino and Baby (Jerusalem) Artichokes.  Branzino is my favorite fish. It’s a type of seabass and I find it just has the perfect flavor each and every time.  Big fan. I’m also a big fan of artichokes… so why not try a miniaturized version?  I wanted to do a healthier version of the ones we had at Bond 45a few weeks prior. (Looking back at that post I realized I ordered the Branzino that night… Funny!)

So I found this recipe a bit wasteful since you pluck off most of the outer leaves, but perhaps I’m used to regular, full size artichokes (which I prefer simply steamed and dipped in butter) and those have outer leaves that are more edible?  Not sure… Anyway… you pull off most of the outer leaves until you get to the soft inner, yellowy leaves and then cut each mini archie in half.

We then tossed them in olive oil and drizzled them with balsamic vinegar.  Then you roast them up!

As for the Branzino, I was far too intimidated to do a full fish, so we got our split and deboned.  I still cannot deal with bones in fish… shudder.

We also had filets, so Mike and I had a little competition where I made the whole fish stuffed with veggies and cheese and roasted in parchment paper and he made it pan fried with a butter shallot sauce.

Mine looked cool.  And roasting in paper was novel.

And it tasted damn good.

But how could I compete?

We are talking about butter and shallots here!

(Though this was 11 points vs 5 for mine!)

The whole meal was great, but Mike’s fish reigned supreme…

(If anyone ever questions why I love this man… refer to above picture.)

_________________________
RECIPES
_________________________

Roasted Jerusalem Artichokes
***Just 2 points since the artichokes and balsamic don’t count!***

Ingredients:

• Jerusalem Artichokes (with tips snipped off, cleaned of outside leaves, and split in half)
• Olive Oil
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Salt to taste

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit
• Toss artichoke halves in enough olive oil just to coat
• Sprinkle with salt
• Drizzle with balsamic vinegar
• Arrange on a silpat (or sprayed cookie sheet) so there is space between the halves
• Roast for about 30-35 minutes or until tender

_________________________

Roasted Stuffed Branzino in Parchment Paper
(original recipe from Weight Watchers “Striped Bass En Papillote”)
***5 Points for a serving of half a fish***

Ingredients:

• 1 whole branzino fish (deboned and split in half)
• Veggies for roasting (we went with onions, zucchini, canned fire roasted tomatoes)
• Cheese (we used Laughing Cow wedges)
• Cooking spray (or olive oil)
• Parchment paper (can replace with foil)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F
2. Spray parchment paper with spray (or coat with a bit of olive oil)
3. Lay fish on parchment paper and put veggies inside fish
4. Top with cheese
5. Fold parchment over fish to make a packet (ours wouldn’t stay closed so we used toothpicks soaked in water, so they wouldn’t catch of fire… Thanks for that tip Lori!)
6. Bake about 10 minutes or until puffed and slightly brown
7. Cut open and serve immediately

Ramping up for Spring

Ramps seemed to be all the rage on miscellaneous food blogs.  I heard that they are one of the first new spring veggies that come to the farmer’s markets so when I heard they were in stock in Union Square, I decided to try them.  A recipe that sounded delicious was a potato au gratin type dish that I actually could convert to a Weight Watchers recipe. (With my calculation and alterations, this made 4 portions and each portion was 5 points).

So we cut the ends off but used most of the rest (including the green leaves).

I also had beautiful multicolored potatoes from Fresh Direct.  It was all about the layering.

First a sliced potato layer.

Then a layer of the chopped ramps.

Til it fills the dish

I just loved the colors of all of this together

Then we topped it with milk (I went skim), grated cheese (I went fat free from Weight Watchers), and then sprinkled with parmesan cheese and some breadcrumbs.

And bake.  V’oila!

It needed a slotted spoon since the milk was a little watery, but the taste was SO. GOOD.

The ramps add a kind of scallion/garlicky flavor.

We also had it with miso tilapia (which was good, but not good enough to post the recipe)

_______________________
RECIPE
____________________

Ingredients:

• 4 med. potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 3 c. coarsely chopped ramps, including green tops
• 1 c. milk (we went skim)
• 1 (4 oz.) pkg. grated Cheddar cheese (we went for nonfat)
• 1/2 c. fresh bread crumbs
• Paprika (Optional… we went sans)

Directions:

1. Preheat to 425 degrees.
2. Place a layer of sliced potatoes in a greased 1 1/2 quart baking dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3. Place a layer of ramps on top of potatoes. Continue alternating layers, ending with potatoes on top layer.
4. Pour milk over top. Sprinkle with cheese, bread crumbs and paprika.
5. Bake covered at 425 degrees for 20 minutes.
6. Uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

Scallops Lime and Vine

I have been a fan of Food52.com for a few months now.  Basically they are crowd-sourcing recipes from their users and will make a published cookbook out of it after a year of subsmissions (52 weeks… ya know).  They have 2 specific categories each week that they request submissions for.  I haven’t really had a great recipe to submit, but when “Your Best Scallops Recipe” came up, I realized that not only was this one of my favorite foods, but I also had some in my fridge at that moment.  I spent the next few hours contemplating exactly what was submission worthy and I decided to go out on a limb.

I had a drink at a local restaurant a few days earlier that combined grapes and lime.  The combination was PERFECT and I thought it would be a great citris to cut through the butteriness of the scallop.  It was like a twist on sweet and sour.  So I set to making up something that was simple yet different.

First, I cooked down some grapes with sugar.

Then I mashed it all up and squeezed out the delicious juices and added lime and ginger.

I then let this cook down until it was reduced to a thick sauce.

As it was reducing, I browned up some scallops.

I also tried my hand at some food styling and photography… I’m not pleased with the results, but this blog includes my less than stellar accomplishments as well, so here ya go:

We made some delicious rainbow swiss chard to go with the main dish.

So did I win?  Not even close! I wasn’t even selected as a runner up.  Poo!  My submission is here: http://www.food52.com/recipes/4067_scallops_lime_and_vine

I think it deserved an honorable mention at least, but I guess I’m biased.  I recommend this recipe highly, however, and definitely at least make the sauce! You can put it over chicken, pork, duck or it would even be great over ice cream!

________________________
RECIPE
________________________

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Grapes- Seedless, Red or Black
• 2 tablespoons Sugar
• 1 Lime, Juiced
• 1/4 teaspoon Ground Ginger
• 1 pound Dry Sea Scallops
• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1 tablespoon Butter
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Put grapes and sugar in a sauce pan and heat over a medium flame
2. Allow to cook until grapes are softened and juice begins to seep out (About 10 minutes)
3. Use a potato masher to smush grapes in pot
4. Add the lime juice and ginger, stir to combine
5. Allow to continue cooking for about 10 more minutes until juices have reduced
6. While the sauce reduces, in the last 5 minutes, sear scallops by heating olive oil and butter in a pan until the butter stops bubbling. Place scallops in hot pan and sear for about 2 minutes on each side until golden brown (be sure to space scallops out so they sear and don’t steam). Remove from heat
7. Salt and pepper grape and lime sauce to taste
8. Drizzle sauce over scallops and serve immediately

Homemade Crunchie Bars

I somehow completely forgot to post this from months ago, so you’ll forgive this pig out fest from pre-Weight Watcher days…

I have been in LOVE with Crunchie Bars (chocolate covered honeycomb made mostly in the UK) ever since I accidentally stumbled upon them in a Bridgett’s Irish Store in my neighborhood Jersey Mall.  Then I saw this poston TheKitchn (where I also learned there is an Australian Version called Violet Crumbles!) and knew I had to try this the next time my mom came to visit (since she also has a special place in her tummy-heart for Crunchies). 

You start with a combination of honey, corn syrup, and sugar. 

Then it heats…

After reading the post on thekitchn.com, I was terrified that the mixture might overflow.  They spoke of a chemical reaction after adding the next ingredient (baking soda) that makes the candy expand exponentially.  I envisioned myself somehow cleaning stick honey candy out of my gas stove and nearly quit right there… but I took out my biggest post and turns out I had little to be scared of…

Well… except killing my candy thermometer…

As I whisked the baking soda into the mixture furiously, it certainly did expand. But it maybe went from about 1 inch on the bottom to about 3 inches.

Then I poured the gelatinous foam mass onto my prepared silpat and thought that there was no way this could possibly make that interesting honeycomby like, sponge looking texture, could it?

It took about 2 hours to harden (I guess it was more humid in my apartment).

And when I cracked it open I was giddy. It was beeauuuuuuutiful!

I quickly coated it in chocolate (if you leave it exposed to the air it turns to goo I hear).

And it turned out perfectly.

Did it taste EXACTLY like a Crunchie bar? No. But it was pretty damn close.  And pretty damn good seeing as though I MADE it! Woo!

The recipe is very good on the originating site, so I’ll let you click on over and show this blog some love if you’d like to make your very own Crunchie bars: http://seattlest.com/2007/02/13/seattlests_answer_to_violet_crumble_.php

I highly suggest it!

Zuni Chicken & Bread Salad

For all the cooking I’ve done recently, a full chicken was new to me… and quite intimidating.  Not to mention I have a childhood fear of raw food… especially chicken.  Remember that commercial where they made the contaminating bacteria glow green? Yeh… scarred for life! 

ANYWAY… Whole chickens were on sale at Fresh Direct so I went for it.  While looking for recipes, I happened upon the recipe for the Zuni chicken and bread salad.  We enjoyed this very much when we ate at Zuni in December, so I thought it would be fun to try.  I read a few versions (here is 1 and 2… and turns out the original “real” recipe is insanely long) and combined a few ideas to make a simpler version (see recipe at the end of this post).

We started with the intimidating raw bird and Mike was nice enough to do most of the handling.

The recipe called for finding “pockets” near the tail under the skin.  I didn’t even know these existed, but turns out they make perfect little pockets for spices.

We went with kosher salt and made a mix of rosemary, thyme, and sage (no parsley this time).

We actually “found” a few more pockets than probably were normal… but why not?

After making sure the chicken was fully herbed, we coated the entire thing in kosher salt. 

Then we put the chicken in the fridge for 2 days to season.  The salt brined the chicken and made it SUPER moist.  I’m still not positive on the science, but I can tell you that it certainly works! (And no… it doesn’t make the chicken taste super salty at all)

I took my awesome Lodge Logic Double Dutch Oven (where the lid doubles as a skillet!) and browned the chicken on both sides over high heat.

Then it went into the oven.

While the chicken cooked, I started on the bread salad.  I had bought some whole grain peasant bread from FreshDirect a few days prior and left it on the counter to get nice and stale.  You were supposed to carve most of the crust off, however, I think my bread was extra crusty and made this difficult… so I just left some of it on and tore it up.

I then tossed them with some olive oil and put them under the broiler to brown.  It then got tossed with some garlic, shallots, white raisins, pine nuts, scallions, and dressing.

Then tossed with some arugula.

After some flipping of the chicken, it came out beautifully.

With crispy skin and juicy meat, I was so impressed with how beautiful this looked!

And it tasted damn good too.

The bread salad was good… but no where near the Zuni salad.  I thought our chicken could have been in competition though!

I was impressed at how easy this chicken was to make for the impressive end result.  The bread salad? I’ll probably skip that myself from now on.

This was all done prior to Weight Watchers (I somehow forgot to post this months ago!)  Though we did the chicken again (sans bread salad) recently and, of course, the bulk of the points come from the skin.  I saved up my points, however, and 1/4 chicken comes to about 9 points. Not terrible!

________________________
RECIPE
________________________

Zuni Style Chicken (simplified)

Ingredients:

• One small whole chicken- rinsed and thoroughly dried (inside and outside), innards and fat removed from neck
• Springs of rosemary, sage, and thyme (~1 Tbl. of each)
• Optional: Garlic Powder
• Lots of kosher salt (~1 Tbl. for stuffing and then as much as you need for coating)
• Black pepper (we used very little since I’m not a big fan)

Directions:

1. About 2 days before you want to eat it, start with a very dry bird
2. Mix spices and 1 Tbl. kosher salt in a small dish (we also added garlic powder on one occassion… damn good)
3. Slide your finger into the pockets between the breast meat and the skin to open them for stuffing
4. Season the outside of the chicken liberally with kosher salt and black pepper
5. Sprinkle a little salt inside
6. Cover loosely and refrigerate for 2 days
7. When ready to start cooking, heat oven to 475 degrees
8. Heat an oven proof skillet over medium/high heat
9. Place chicken in skillet and brown on both sides for just a few minutes
10. When oven is heated, place chicken breast side up in pan and place in oven for 25 minutes  (this is a good time to start the bread salad below)
11. After 25 minutes of roasting, it should be starting to brown.  Flip the chicken oven (this is a moment where I wanted “food safe” oven mits!)
12. Roast for another 15 minutes, then flip again (if you are also making the bread salad, you should be to step 11 where you can put the mixture into the oven with the chicken at this point)
13. Roast another 10 minutes
14. Chicken should be 180 degrees when a thermometer is stuck into a meaty part of the chicken
15. Remove from oven, cover with foil, and allow to rest for at leat 30 minutes before serving

__________________________________________________

Bread Salad

Ingredients:

• Recipe called for “Generous 8 ounces slightly stale open-crumbed, chewy, peasant-style bread (not sourdough)” - I did my best and found whole grain parbaked bread from FreshDirect
• ~2 tablespoons olive oil + 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar
• Salt and freshly cracked black pepper
• 1 tablespoon dried currants plumped in 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar and 1 tablespoon warm water for ten minutes or so (we used golden raisins instead)
• 2 tablespoons pine nuts
• 2 to 3 garlic cloves, slivered
• 2 shallots, sliced thin
• 1/4 cup slivered scallions (about 4 scallions), including a little of the green part
• 2 tablespoons lightly salted chicken stock or lightly salted water
• A few handfuls of arugula, washed and dried
• Chicken drippings from roasted chicken

Directions:

1. Carve crust off bread, leaving as much bread as possible (they called for 4 cups… but I got maybe 2 cups… it was fine though)
2. Tear bread into pieces (a little bigger than bite sized works) and lightly coat with olive oil
3. Heat broiler and broil the bread chunks for just a few minutes until they start to brown and a few char a bit
4. Combine about 1/4 cup of olive oil with the vinegar and salt and pepper to taste
5. Toss about 1/4 cup of this tart vinaigrette with the torn bread in a bowl; the bread will be unevenly dressed. Taste one of the more saturated pieces. If it is bland, add a little salt and pepper and toss again.
6. Soften garlic, scallions, and olive oil in a pan and toss with bread chunks (don’t brown)
7. Drain currants (or raisins) and toss with bread mixture
8. Toss in pine nuts (can be browned quickly if desired, but careful… they brown fast!)
9. Dribble some of the chicken drippings from your roasted chicken and toss all together
10. Check for seasoning and taste and adjust accordingly (I wound up adding a lot more salt and some more vinegar)
11. Put bread combination into a pan and put it into the oven with the chicken for the last 10 minutes to warm
12. Just before serving, toss with arugula and serve alongside chicken (or underneath if you want to be more authentic to Zuni)

“Mashed Potatoes” made with Cauliflower

I have never been a huge mashed potato fan. I LOVE potatoes (despite a childhood fear that they looked like… well… we won’t go there).  I love them baked and fried and especially roasted.  But it takes a special mashed version to tickle my fancy.  I find most too bland.  So for me, the exchange from mashed potato to mashed cauliflower was a no brainer.  And I could add garlic and cheese?! Score!

First I roasted up some garlic (cut the top of a garlic bulb off, wrap in foil, put a bit of olive oil on the top, close the foil, toss in pre-heated 400 degree oven for 25-30 minutes… so many uses!).

Then I steamed up some cauliflower and put it into a bowl with 3/4 cup of fat free cheddar cheese, a half cup of skim milk, 1 Tablespoon butter (probably could have gone without) and the garlic cloves and used my (awesome) immersion blender to start pureeing (can also be done with a blender when it’s cooler and in batches… but why do that when you can get an immersion blender for $25??).

Within moments I had a perfect looking mashed potato-like veggie!  I saved some of the garlic cloves from the puree so I could mix them in whole.  Mmmmmm Nom Nom Nom.

Not too shabby for 5 points for half the recipe!

Honey Glazin

I had to use both a pork loin and shrimp by the same day and, unfortunately, I found myself on that day.  I’m always nervous about letting food go past expiration dates, but pork and seafood are on the top of my fearful list. I had a Weight Watchers recipe for a honey glazed pork loin so I figured I’d just double the sauce and use it for the shrimp.  It works great for both!  So much flavor for just 4 points.  We paired it with some garlicky spinach and quinoa. Nom Nom Nom.

Pork loin is so easy to cook and so tasty!

The shrimp in the same sauce was also sooooo tasty.

Full pot of raw spinach and garlic:

Reduces to tiny bit of cooked spinach and garlic in the same pot.

(I’m always so impressed with how the volume of raw spinach reduces to the volume of wilted spinach)

Full plate with quinoa.

The sauce was soooo good over the quinoa!

____________________
RECIPES
____________________

Honey Glazed Pork Tenderloin (Just use the same sauce for the shrimp!)
4 points!

Ingredients:

• 16 ounces Extra Lean Port Tenderloin
• 1/2 cup soy sauce, low sodium
• 2 cloves garlic — minced
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds


Instructions:

1. Trim excess fat from pork. Tie it to make it even shape. Place in a heavy plastic bag.
2. Mix the soy sauce, garlic, and ginger. Add to bag. Coat pork well. Marinade for 2 hours or over night in refrigerator.
3. Remove pork from marinade. Pat dry.
4. Combine honey and sugar. Brush over pork. Coat with sesame seeds.
5. Roast for 20-30 minutes at 375 degrees F.
6. Slice thinly and serve.