Ask the A2K cooks!

You're right, I was looking for simple recipes online and I found one where you just cook chicken breast with a can of cream of mushroom soup, probably make some rice with it and a vegi. I can do that.

http://www.ask.com/food/Chicken/3-Ingredient-Chicken-Recipes.html

here's one example

http://www.cookadvice.com/recipes/family_chicken_dish__3_ingredient_-37171-recipe.htm

If I was new to this, I'd probably make it this way once - then go into variants - like use a teriyaki sauce as the wet rub instead of MW - then used slivered almonds instead of corn flakes. Same theory - but with flavours I know I like.

http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-0,three_ingredient,FF.html

http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1639,153170-248192,00.html

Some more easy chicken recipes -

This one is easier if you have the butcher cut the breastbone -
Giuliano Bugialli's lemon chicken
recipe here -
http://able2know.org/topic/41268-1


Marcella Hazan's Roast Chicken with Lemon (I thought I had typed this out on a2k before, but I guess not - so soon you will see more typos than usual)
The recipe is simple, but one to follow the directions on.

quoting her book, More Classic Italian Cooking (an old paperback of mine) -

If this were a still-life by Picasso instead of a recipe, it could be entitled "Chicken with Two Lemons." Because that is all there is in it. There is no fat, no fancy bed of vegetables, no basting. After yu put the chicken in the oven you turn it just once. The chicken, the lemons, and the oven do all the rest. When if is done you'll have one of the juiciest, tenderest, most exquisitely flavored birds you've ever tasted. Were I to choose a dish to show how the simplest cooking can also be the most sublime, I would take this one.

A young chicken, about 2 and 1/2 pounds
salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 whole lemons

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.

2. Wash the chicken thoroughly in cold water, both inside and out. Remove all the bits of fat hanging loose. Let the chicken sit for about 10 minutes on a slightly tilted dish, until all the water has drained out of its cavity. Dry it well everywhere with paper towels.

3. Sprinkle a liberal amuont of salt and freshly ground pepper on the chicken, rubbing it into all its surfaces and into its interior, using your fingertips.

4. Rinse the lemons in cold water, and dry them off with a paper towel. Soften them up gently, pressing them between your two palms, and rolling them vack and fort a few times. Perforate each lemon in at least 20 places with a trussing needle, a round toothpick, or any tool of similar size.

5. Place both lemons in the chicken's cavity. Close up the opening with toothpicks or trussing needle and string. Run a string from one leg to the other, tying it at both knuckle ends. Do not pull the legs tightly together; leave them in their natural position. The chicken swells when it cooks, and the string is only to keep the thighs from spreading and stretching and splitting the skin at the inner folds.

6. Put the chicken into a roasting pan, breast facing down. Do not add cooking fat of any kind. This bird is self-basting, so you need not fear it will stick to the pan. Place it in the upper third of the preheated oven.

7. After 15 minutes, turn the chicken, with breast facing up. Be careful not to break the skin. If it is kept intact, the chicken will swell like a balloon, which leads to a beguiling presentation later at the table. Should it deflate, however, it does not affect the flavor in the least. And since that is all that really matters, do not worry too much about it either way.

8. Cook for another 20 minutes, then turn up the eat to 400F and fook for an additional 15 minutes. There is no need to turn the chicken again.

9. Whether the chicken is all puffed up or not, it is a nice touch to bring it whole to the table and leave the lemons inside until it is carved and opened. Serve it with all the juices that run out, because they are perfectly delicious. The lemons will be shriveled up, but be careful about picking them up and squeezing them. They may squirt.

She has suggestions for what to go with that, but never mind.



A recent chicken recipe I've liked - the recipe also includes a zucchini side:
link - http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/06/26/FDIL1JUHCB.DTL

Roasted Cherry-Mustard Chicken Legs With Parmesan Zucchini
Serves 4

Bonne Maman makes a nice cherry preserve that I used in this recipe, but use any brand you like. If you have any fresh cherries and some time to pit them, they'd make a great garnish on top. Serve this with potatoes or microwavable, ready-to-eat rice - I like the frozen brown or jasmine varieties from Trader Joe's.

4 whole chicken legs (chicken leg-thigh quarters)
2 tablespoons olive oil
-- Kosher salt and ground black pepper
1/4 cup cherry preserves
2 teaspoons stoneground or Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon melted butter, slightly cooled
3 small zucchini, cut into 1/4-inch coins
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions: Preheat the oven to 450°. Place one rack in the top third of the oven, and one rack in the bottom third.

Rub the chicken legs all over with one tablespoon of the olive oil, and season generously with salt and pepper. Place on a lightly oiled sheet pan, and place in the oven on the top rack. It will cook for a total of about 40-45 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the glaze by whisking together the preserves, mustard, soy sauce and butter, and set aside. If it starts to seize up from the butter before you're ready to use it, microwave it for 10 seconds, then stir.

About 25 minutes into the chicken cooking time, toss the zucchini with the remaining tablespoon oil and spread onto a sheet pan. Season generously with salt and pepper, and place on the bottom rack of the oven.

In the last 10 minutes of chicken cooking time, brush the glaze a few times over the chicken legs. Brush again five minutes later, and again just before removing from oven.

Three minutes before the chicken and zucchini are done, shake the zucchini pan and sprinkle with the Parmesan. Switch the two sheet pans so that the zucchini is on top and the cheese can melt.

Remove both pans from the oven, and serve together with any remaining glaze on the side for dipping.

Per serving: 525 calories, 37 g protein, 16 g carbohydrate, 34 g fat (11 g saturated), 156 mg cholesterol, 698 mg sodium, 1 g fiber.

Wine pairing: The cherry preserves blend well with a Pinot Noir such as the 2009 La Crema Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir ($24; 13.5% alcohol).

My chicken came out pretty good, I cooked it slow and it was tender. I diced a little bit of onion and garlic and put it in the soup. Served it over rice with steamed zucchini. They both ate it and liked it.

Good!

That's good news!

I'm going to make a cheater version of Thai Pork Noodles. I don't have all of the base spices/herbs I need, so I'm going to crack open a package of prepared pad thai seasoning.

It was very tasty, he can make that again anytime.

I've been cooking chicken more frequently for BBB since she has a hard time with chewing most other meats that aren't ground up. Out of desperation for some variety, I did some experimenting and came up with this version. The first time she tasted it, BBB said it was the best chicken dish I've ever made.

Mango Chicken and Rice

Add to bottom of pressure cooker:

2 or 3 large carrots, roughly chopped
1 small onion roughly chopped

Continue to layer:

4 frozen chicken breasts
1 16 oz. bag of frozen mango chunks

Sprinkle 1/4 tsp. garlic powder, then salt and pepper to taste.
Dollop chicken with 2 tablespoons of orange marmalade
Add 1/2 cup chicken stock

Cover and set the pressure cooker on high for 25 minutes.

Let pressure release from pressure cooker, then remove chicken breasts.

For a side dish, add a cup of rice to the liquid and pressure cook it on high for another 8 minutes.

The chicken, carrots and rice get infused with a lovely orange, onion and mango flavor that has a good balance of sweet, acid and savory.

Out of curiosity, I bought a Cassava (Yuca) root today. Now what?

(I do know there's recipes out there to be Googled. But have any of you guys already tried one you can recommend?)

Oh, sure. I spend my hard-earned money buying you parsley plants so you'll always have a supply and you eat them both on your way home. Now you're exploring yucca? Don't have a recipe. Buon appetit.

I haven't eaten or cooked cassava myself, Thomas, but I was curious so did a bit of Googling to see what I could find out.

Apparently it can be cooked as you would cook potatoes and most of the recipes I came across involved either boiling or frying. (I like the low-fat oven-fried suggestion in the recipe below, especially if you're not keen on deep frying.)
Then eaten with a tasty sauce like the very garlicky one (yum!) below.

So a "fries & dip" suggestion for you. The recipes look pretty easy to adapt to smaller quantities.
I hope this is some help to you. Let us know what you end up cooking & what it tastes like, OK?



http://www.whats4eats.com/vegetables/yuca-frita-recipe




http://www.whats4eats.com/sauces/mojo-recipe

Thanks!

I just tried the recipe and liked it. The Cassava turned out just a little dry, so the next time I'll try longer cooking and shorter baking than in the recipe. Also, I took rather expansive liberties with the Mojo sauce. Raw garlic makes me burp, so I chopped three cloves into tiny cubes, then fried them until yellow and transparent, and finally added the juice of one lemon, some salt, and some pepper. I poured it over the Cassava and ate it like I would eat baked potatoes. (Minus the sour cream, of course.)

Not bad at all! Especially the garlic-lemon combination in the sauce, which was new to me. I recommend the experience.

try roasting the garlic instead of frying it

really sweet garlic flavour results - and you can spread it on bread if you have any left over

Vocabulary question: What's the difference between roasting and frying?

roasting is done in an oven

frying is done in a pan on the stove top

they're quite different processes

roasting usually doesn't involve oil (or if there is oil, there is very little of it)

Ah. I had thought "roasting" equals the German "rösten", which is usually done in a pan. (Think Rösti.)

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/roasted_garlic/


once they're done, mash a few cloves with lemon juice, a little bit of salt and stir the mixture with some good thick Greek yogurt

amazing dip!

a little dill and/or parsley finely chopped in doesn't hurt either

but just a little dill or parsley - they can both overpower the delicate flavour of roasted garlic

That sounds very good, ehBeth!
Might try it myself the next time I need a good dip.


Any suggestions, anyone?
Last night I had a friend over & cooked this for dinner. (She wanted a vegetarian meal)

It was a little .... bland? at first ... & we tinkered with it a bit to make it more interesting. Not bad, but the sauce tastes even better today.

We both agreed that that it needed an "earthy" ingredient, perhaps to replace the grated carrot next time.
Any thoughts?
I was thinking maybe some mushrooms instead of the carrot?
And perhaps more garlic? (always! )

Lentil spaghetti "Bolognaise":

Preparation Time
15 minutes

Cooking Time
30 minutes

Ingredients (serves 6)
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 brown onion, finely chopped
• 2 celery sticks, ends trimmed, finely chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled, coarsely grated
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 115g dried split red lentils
• 1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
• 500ml (2 cups) vegetable stock
• 2 tbs tomato paste
• 500g dried spaghetti pasta

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, carrot and garlic, and cook, stirring, for 4 minutes or until the vegetables soften.
2. Stir in the lentils, tomato, stock and tomato paste. Season with salt and pepper. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium. Simmer, partially covered, for 20 minutes or until the mixture thickens.
3. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large saucepan of salted boiling water following packet directions or until al dente. Drain and return to the pan.
4. Add sauce to pasta. Combine. Serve.

~