Scalloped Potatoes

 I got this recipe from here.  to die for! 

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 small onion, minced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme (or use dried thyme)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 kg russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/8-inch-thick slices
• 1 cup shredded cheddar & parmesan cheese (about 4 ounces)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F (180 c). Meanwhile, melt butter in large Dutch oven (or large, heavy-bottomed saucepan) over medium-high heat until foaming subsides, about 1 minute. Add onion and saute until it turns soft and begins to brown, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add cream, milk, thyme, bay leaves, salt, pepper, and potatoes and bring to a simmer. Cover, adjusting heat as necessary to maintain a light simmer, and cook until potatoes are almost tender (paring knife can be slipped into and out of center of potato slice with some resistance), about 15 minutes.
2. Remove and discard thyme sprigs and bay leaves. Transfer potato mixture to a 3-quart gratin dish and sprinkle with cheese. Bake until the cream has thickened and is bubbling around sides and the top is golden brown, about 20 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Chicken with Tarragon, Gruyère & Mushroom Cream Sauce

I got this recipe from here, and let me tell you, it was fantastic!  I made several alternations, but it is essentially the same thing. The flavours work so well together.  I ate mine over mashed potatoes, Mark had his over pasta.  We both loved ours.  I served it with a side of baked asparagus.  This one will definitely be added to the rotation!

Ingredients

• 500g of white mushrooms 
• extra virgin olive oil
• 6 small skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon corn starch mixed with 1 tablespoon water
• ~ 1 tablespoon dried tarragon (season to taste)
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup grated Gruyère cheese

What you do:
1. Heat a large, deep sauté pan over medium high heat. Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper and add them to the pan. They should sizzle right away. Sauté for about 4 minutes each side. Remove them from pan to a plate.
2. Add butter and mushrooms and S&P to the pan and sauté mushrooms until they just start to release their liquid, about 4 minutes.
3. Add white wine and simmer until reduced, about 3 minutes.
4. Add the heavy cream, corn starch mixture, and the tarragon and simmer until the sauce has thickened, about 4 minutes. Add the lemon juice and blend well. Add the grated Gruyère and stir constantly until melted and blended in. Season again with salt and pepper.
6. Return chicken to the pan. (While the chicken was sitting, it sweat out a lot of juices. I added these back into the sauce). Stir to coat chicken and simmer until heated through, about 3 minutes.
Serve immediately over rice, pasta, or mashed potatoes. 

Sticky Chicken Legs II

After cooking this dish several times, I have modified it slightly and now it's perfect!  The secret to ultimate stickiness is to actually have more ketchup than honey.  I figured this out after many trials and errors!

Ingredients:

•  chicken legs
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 2 Tbs honey
• several shakes of Worcestershire sauce (gluten free of course!)
• salt and pepper to taste

What you do:

1. Preheat oven to about 350 F (180 C).
   
2. Mix all of the ingredients up in a bowl.
   
3. Line the legs up in a roasting pan or glass dish (8 legs should be enough for 2 ppl) and brush the sauce all over them. If you don't have a brush, then dunk the legs in the sauce. I find that the sauce sticks best to the legs when they are dry. So, after washing the legs in water, dry them off with a paper towel.
   
4. Bake in a hot oven until done! It usually takes about 30-40 minutes in my oven. You might want to cover it for the first 15 minutes with tin foil, and leave uncovered for the rest of the time. Leaving it uncovered increases it's stickiness, which is key to the yumminess.
5. Serve with baked corn on the cob and either roasted potatoes or brown rice.
6. Enjoy!

Recipes that are in the queue to try

I browse tastepotting.com all the time for new recipes.  Tastespotting is a collection of gourmet recipes that people submit from their food blogs.  Every recipe is pretty much guaranteed to be a winner.  Here are a few that I found recently that I will be trying very soon:
http://www.simplecomfortfood.com/2010/03/18/scalloped-potatoes/
http://www.howto-simplify.com/2009/07/stuffed-chicken-recipe.html
http://blog.streaminggourmet.com/?p=644

Baked Chicken Penne Pasta

This was such a good dish, very sim­ple & yet every bite packed a full punch.  The best part is the crispiness on top!


Ingredients:
2 Chicken Breasts
1 Table­spoon of Olive Oil
2 Zuc­chinis
1 Onion
3 Cloves of Gar­lic, crushed
4 Toma­toes
1 Tbs of dried basil
1/2 tsp of oregano
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp rose­mary
Penne Pasta
mozarella cheese

What you do:

1. Start brown­ing your chicken in the cast iron skil­let with olive oil.  As your chicken cooks, dice zuc­chini into small cubes and chop onions.
2. Once your chicken is cooked, shred it right in the skillet.
3. Now add in all your your veg­eta­bles except the toma­toes. Let all the other veg­eta­bles come together & soften for about 5 minutes.
4. THEN add your toma­toes includ­ing all the juice from the toma­toes. Mix every­thing together & then add in your all the sea­son­ing ingre­di­ents. Let every­thing sim­mer together for about 10 minutes.
5. While these items are com­ing together boil your pasta. Once your pasta is down boil­ing, drain it & pour it right into the skil­let.  Mix every­thing together.
6. Top with 1 cup of moz­zarella cheese or fresh moz­zarella slices & slide it under the broiler until the cheese browns. Brown the cheese as much as you like. It is much tastier the crispier it is!

recipe from here

Brazilian Style Chicken

Once again, no photo.  I promise I will take one and add it to this post the next time I make this dish.  Anyway, here is this recipe for this simple, tasty weeknight dinner:

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken drumsticks
• 4 chicken thighs
• olive oil
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 2 red capsicums, thinly sliced
• 3 roma tomatoes, thinly sliced
• 1 Tbs garlic, crushed
• 1 cup white wine
• brown rice
• broccoli

What you do:

1.  Start cooking the rice.
2. Score the skin on the meat with a sharp knife.  Sprinkly the chicken all over with salt and pepper.  Place large heavy frying pan on medium-high heat.  Drizzle oil into the hot pan and add the chicken, skin side down.  Cook for 5-10 minutes or until golden brown all over.
3. Transfer to a plate and add onions to hot pan.  Sauté for a bit and then add garlic, capsicum, and tomato.  Sauté for a few minutes until capsicums have softened slightly.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Return chicken to pan and add 1 cup of white wine.  Cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
5. Serve with brown rice and steamed broccoli.  Enjoy!

Grilled Balsamic Chicken Sandwiches

This chicken is AMAZING! I was a bit weary at first because I thought the chicken would taste like balsamic vinegar, but it doesn't at all. I guess the vinegar taste gets cooked off.  Recipe courtesy of my mom:

Ingredients

• chicken breasts, cut in half
• tomato, sliced
• red capsicum (bell pepper), cut into rings
• red onions, cut into rings
• mozzarella cheese, sliced thinly 
• hard rolls 

Marinade:

• Balsamic vinegar
• olive oil
• salt & pepper
• crushed garlic
• red onion, chopped
• oregano
• basil

What you do:

Mix up the marinade ingredients in a bowl.  Just eyeball it, there should be enough to cover the chicken.  Stab the chicken with a fork and marinate for at least 1 hour.

Throw everything on the BBQ and grill until done.  The tomato doesn't take as long, so put that on towards the end.  Towards the end, put sliced cheese on the chicken.

Load up the sandwiches on the buns: chicken with cheese, grilled onion rings, grilled capsicum rings, grilled tomato slices.      

Serve with a side of mixed salad dressed with balsamic vinegar and oil.  Enjoy! Yum!