Chicken Provencal

Chicken Provencal is pretty much a standard italian dish. It's named for the use Herbes de Provence which are herbs located in Provence. Duh. For sides we used roasted new potatoes and fresh green beans.

Ingredients (Serves 2):
2 Thinly Sliced Chicken Breasts
1 Garlic Clove, Minced
1/2 Tspn Dried Herbes de Provence
1/2 Cup Low Sodium Chicken Broth
1 Tspn Fresh Lemon Juice
1 Tspn Unsalted Butter
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
Thyme Sprigs (Optional)

6-8 New Potatos, Quartered
3-4 Thyme Sprigs, Leaves Only
2 Tblespns Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

2 Handfuls Green Beans, Trimmed

Heat oven to 450 degrees.

In bowl, mix together potatos, thyme leaves, olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread out on a lined baking sheet. Cook for for 30 minutes.

In a small pot, place grean beans and cover with water. Bring this to a boil and let cook for 10 or so minutes.

Heat olive oil to medium-high heat in a large skillet. Season both sides of chicken with salt and pepper. Cook 4-5 minutes on each side, or until cooked through. Remove from heat and set aside; keep warm. Add garlic to pan and cook for 1 minute. Stir in chicken broth and Herbes de Provence. Bring to a boil and loosen any browned bits with a spatula. You want to capture as much chicken flavor as possible. Let this continue to boil until it's reduced to 1/4 cup - about 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir lemon juice and butter, until butter melts.

Spoon sauce over plated chicken and serve with the roasted potatos and grean beans.

A Simple Omelette

It was a lazy sunday morning, well, for Erin at least. Her goal was to sleep in but I'm terrible at that. So I arose at 7:30 am as normal for a Sunday. I browsed the internet a bit, watched some SportsCenter, feed the cat, etc. I was getting hungry but I didn't really want to eat cereal or oatmeal again so I raided the fridge. What do we have. Eggs. Ok. Eggs. What else? Herbs? Not bad. Canadian bacon. Getting better. Is that a shallot? I see something coming together. An omelette! But do we have cheese? Found shredded cheddar! Omelette City here I come!

They say eggs are the measurement of a true chef. If that's the case I have a long way to go. I ended up making two omelette's. The first was a charred mess and the second was a decent attempt (Photo). It still tasted pretty good even though it didn't look so hot.

The beauty about omelette's is that you can pretty much put anything in them. A few fresh herbs, cubbed ham, caramelized onions, shredded cheese, sauted veggies, etc. Anything your heart desires.

Ingredients:
3 Eggs
1 Shallot, diced and caramelized
3 Slices of Canadian Bacon
1 Tspn Finley Chopped Fresh Herbs (Basil, Thyme, chives, flat-leaf parsely, etc)
Shredded Cheddar Cheese
1 Tblspn Clarified Butter (See directions below)
Salt and Pepper

For clarified butter, melt 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter in a small saucepan over low heat until foamy and milk solids haven fallen to the bottom - about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and cool. Carefully skim foam from top and discard. Slowly pour metlted butter through a cheesecloth-lined sieve into a bowl, leaving solids behind. It should yield 2/3 cups clarified butter.

Meanwhile, heat a medium skillet over medium-high heat with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Once ready saute shallots until clear - 3-4 minutes. Reduce heat to low and let shallots caramelize, stirring occasionally - 25 minutes. To save time, I cooked the canadian bacon in this pan as well. The canadian bacon should only take 3-4 minutes depending on it's thickness so cook them towards the end. While the onions were cooking down, I chopped the herbs, cracked the eggs, and got the cheese ready.

Once these ingredients are ready, remove and let rest on a plate. Place 1 tablespoon of the clarified butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat and heat to just before it begins to smoke. While the butter is heating, whisk the eggs. Make sure to whisk them vigorously, capturing as much air in them as possible. This is what makes an omelette fluffy. Lift skillet from heat in one hand and pour the eggs in with the other. Begin shaking the skillet back and forth. Continual movement is key. Do this for about 1 minute. Return to heat. Using a plastic spatula, stir eggs around letting the runny parts cook. Be sure not to break the omelette at this point as I did on the first one. You can lift the cooked edges to let the uncooked eggs run underneath. Just when the eggs are about to set and there are no more runy parts, sprinkle the ingredients of your choice down the middle. The eggs continue to cook through at this point. You'll need to do this quickly otherwise the eggs might begin to burn. Reduce heat if they begin to burn or pull from heat. With the spatula, work under the cooked eggs to loosen from the skillet.

In the pan, fold over 1/3 of the omelette on the opposite side of your serving splate. Slowly work omelette down and flip over on plate to encase your ingredients. Sprinkle with a bit of herbs and shredded cheese and voila!

A simple omelette!

Chile Chili Chili

Tonight was Erin's night and she wanted to cook chili. Not sure what provoked that but why the hell not. I left it up to Erin to shop, prep and cook while I read ('United States of Arugula', for those that are interested.). It was nice! Here's Erin's shopping list:

1 lb lean ground beef
1 medium onion, diced,
1 28oz can diced tomatos
1 15 oz can kidney beans
1 15oz can pinto beans
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 pack chili seasoning mix
2 ears of corn, cut in half
Shredded cheddar

1. Bring medium pot to a boil and cook the ears of corn. Once cooked through (10-12 min or so), remove from pot and cut off the corn kernels.

2. Bring a medium skillet to medium-high heat. Cook ground beef. Once cooked, place on paper towel to pat dry of grease.

3.In a large stock pot, combine all canned ingredients, seasoning, onion, beef and corn. Bring to a medium heat for several minutes then reduce and simmer for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.

That's it! We served this with a simple cornbread. There's plenty for 6-8 guests or left overs for a week.

Photo Insight:
A you can see I'm still learning this whole food photography thing. This chili photo is technically bad. Here's why:

1. It's back lit. This causes the subject to be way too dark with no appealing detail in the food. Side lighting the subject typically works best. Natural light is also more appealing to the eye. I'm going to start using a flash and maybe light bouncers.

2. The heat melted the cheese which now has a glossy look. It other words: unappetizing

3. The props are distracting. Checkered blue, black and red flower pattern, white and blacks stripes, etc. You get the idea.

4. The leading lines of the place mat take you out of the picture and not to the subject.

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

There is nothing like a fresh homemade cinnamon roll - especially a Paula Deen cinnamon roll. The name Paula Deen just oozes butter and makes people melt.

This dish was part of our Sunday Funday of cooking. Erin wanted to make something and that was Puala's cinnamon rolls. She'd seen the "easy" way on TV and was sold. However, the easy way was nowhere to be found online. Convinced you could buy the dough that's what she hunted down. With no luck, she decided to make it completely from scratch. Everything from scratch. Everything! Yeast and flour. Eggs and scalded milk. "Oh, it'll take 30 minutes". Um, no. That's the prep time. 1 HOUR TO RISE!! This is when hell broke loose. I've never seen someone so pissed about cinnamon rolls. This was supposed to be ready for brunch. At this rate we're talking a an appetizer for dinner. At this point she was committed. At this point Erin rolled up her sleeves and dove in.

Click Here for Paula's recipe. The photos below provide the visual odyssey of creating heaven on earth.


Step 1: Make and knead dough. You'll place this in a greased bowl and let rise until doubled, 1 - 1 1/2 hour. (I think Erin punched the fridge when she read this part.)


Step 2: Once the dough has risen, punch down and roll out to 15x9 inch rectangle. No, those are not Erin's hands. Those are Dustin's. This is not an episode of Seinfeld! (Although it could be.)




Step 4 (Above): Lather on a gallon of butter. Not really but that's what it felt like.

Step 5 (Below): Sprinkle a mixture of cinnamon and sugar on the butter glaze. Follow this with a combination of walnuts, pecans, or raisans. Or more sugar and butter. Who cares - it's cinnamon rolls. They're supposed to be bad for you!


This is making me hungry!!


Step 6: Carefully roll up whatever cinnamon roll concoction you've made. Slice off the ugly ends. Cut the roll into 12-15 slices and place evenly in a buttered and sugared pan (Really Paula!?). Once in, let these rise covered for about 45 minutes (Erin screams in the background.)

Finally, bake these at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes and drench in the homemade glaze.

...and on the 8th day God created the cinnamon roll!

Tarts: Tomato and Feta & Pear and Gorgonzola

Tarts are a quick and easy appetizer to make when you don't have too much time. Here are two samples I pulled from W&S's Cooking for Friends (which I highly recommend).


The first tart is a tomato and feta tart. I love tomatos so this was a favorite for me.

1 sheet pff pastry, thawed
1 cup cherry tomatos, halved
6-8 heirloom tomatos, thinly sliced (the brighter the better)
6 oz crumbled feta
1 tblespoon fresh oregano
4-6 springs fresh thyme
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, roll pastry sheet into a 9x13 rectangle about 1/8 inch thick. Cut in half into 2 rectangles. Transfer these to a rimmed baking sheet. With a fork prick each rectangle evenly over the entire length to assure even cooking. Fold in 1/2 inch of each pastry along edge to create a border.

Arrange cherry tomato halves, heirloom slices and feta on top. Sprinkle with oregano, season with S&P and top with thyme sprigs. Bake until puffed and golden brown, approx. 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cut each into 4 pieces.


The next was a pear, gorganzola and walnut tart which was pretty effin good I might say.

1 sheet pff pastry
2 pears, halved, cored and thinly sliced
6 oz crumbled gorgonzola
2 tbspn chopped walnuts
1 tbspn chopped fresh rosemary
2 tbspn honey

Repeat instructions above.

On the second go 'round we metled some butter and brushed it on the edges which we cooked it a tad too long so you'll notice a slight burn on the middle edges. Don't use the butter!

Anyways, these were quick, easy and wonderful. You can mix and match your favorite ingredeints for a quick tart. The possibilities are endless!

Phyllo Triangles

We pulled this recipe from Better Homes and Gardens. It easily an appetizer favorite for all parties and get togethers. It's quite an involved process but makes delish little apps.

Right now I'm too lazy to write the full details but I will get to it!

Disappearing Marshmallow Bars