Green Beans with Bacon-Balsamic Vinaigrette

I'm a big fan of green beans, but they tend to bore me. I'm constantly looking for something to spice them up. This is one of those recipes. Simple, and filling. I made it for a crowd at the Jendo and not a single, solitary bean left.

Green Beans with Bacon-Balsamic Vinaigrette
8 servings (serving size: 3/4 cup)

• 2 pounds green beans
• 2 bacon slices
• 1/4 cup minced shallots
• 3 tablespoons coarsely chopped almonds
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar

Cook green beans in boiling water for 2 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water. Drain well; set aside.

Cook bacon in a small skillet over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove bacon from skillet. Crumble; set aside. Add shallots to bacon fat in skillet; sauté 1 minute. Add almonds; sauté 1 minute. Remove and let cool. Add sugar and vinegar; stir until sugar dissolves. Add crumbled bacon.

Pour vinaigrette over beans, tossing gently to coat.

Incidentally, I served this with flank steaks marinated in the Better Than A1 Marinade and Herb Vegetable Orzo Salad

Thai Style Grilled Chicken Breasts

If you like the spice, this is the recipe for you. Flavorful and delicious without causing too much pain. And I suspect it's relatively healthy. In fact, according to my cooking software, this recipe (without the rice) comes in at 52 calories. Huh, that seems too little. Maybe that's why I'm still hungry.

Thai Style Grilled Chicken Breasts
Serves 4 - but I drilled it down to 2 - this is the 4 recipe

• 1/2 cup White vinegar
• 1/3 cup Sugar
• 1/4 tsp Red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
• 2 T Fish sauce (did you know if you didn't have fish sauce soy sauce can be used in it's place? You do now!)
• 1 T Fresh grated ginger (I used about 2 tsp of dry ground ginger)
• 3 cloves Garlic, minced
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 T Vegetable oil
• Salt and pepper

Heat vinegar, sugar and pepper flakes in small sauce pan over medium high heat until sugar dissolves, about 1 minute. Off heat, stir in cilantro, fish sauce, ginger and garlic.

Rub chicken with oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill over hot fire until cooked through, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer to platter and brush with 1/4 cup sauce. Tent with foil and let rest for 5 minutes. Serve, passing remaining sauce at table.

I let the chicken sit then thinly sliced it on a bias. Put that over rice, and drizzled the sauce over that. Nummers!

Indian Spiced Chicken

I have to first say I'm not a HUGE fan of Indian food. I have a few favorites that I get when/if I go to Indian food. But overall, I'm not a fan. It always smells better than it tastes to me.

Which is exactly what this recipe was. While it was tasty (I should have seasoned it more with salt though) it smelled WAY more delicious than it tasted. It was fragrant, and filled the Jendo with an aroma that made even a dead man hungry.

The recipe calls to add half and half after you add tomato paste. In all my life, I've never been able to add a dairy product to a tomato base without curdling. It looks disgusting. Still, in this case the curdles tasted just okay. I may make it again, but it won't be on my top 15 list. Enjoy though. Your taste buds may be different. And if nothing else, it was super uber simple.

Indian Spiced Chicken
Recipe from Dave Liberman (former food network show)
Serves 4

• 1 1/2 lbs Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 cup Whole milk plain yogurt
• 3 cloves Garlic, pressed
• 1 inch Ginger, grated
• 8 Cardamom pods; cracked with the back of a chef knife (I used cinnamon because I can't afford cardamom pods)
• 1 T Curry powder
• 1/2 tsp Red pepper flakes
• 2 tsp Ground coriander
• 1 T Sweet Paprika
• 2 T Honey
• 1 tsp Salt
• 20 grinds Pepper
• 3 T Vegetable oil
• 1 medium Onion; cut to medium dice
• 3 T Tomato paste
• 1/3 cup Half and half

Basmati rice for serving

Cut the chicken breasts roughly into 2 by 2-inch pieces. Mix together the yogurt, garlic, ginger, cardamom, curry powder, chili flakes, coriander, paprika, honey, salt, and pepper until thoroughly combined. Add chicken pieces to yogurt mixture, cover, and refrigerate at least 1 hour or as long as overnight. Bring to room temperature before cooking.

In a large skillet, heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent. Stir in tomato paste until evenly distributed and then add the half-and-half. Slide in the chicken and marinade, stir well, and bring mixture to a simmer. Reduce the heat so that the liquid remains at a low simmer. Cook about 15 minutes until chicken is no longer pink in the middle but still tender and moist. Serve immediately over basmati rice.

Beef & Zucchini in Red Curry Sauce (neua paht peht)

OH.
MY.
GOD.
This was one easy and delicious recipe. I really need to find a more descriptive word than delicious, but really that describes 99% of the recipes.

This is a Thai recipe with red curry. I'm a big fan of red curry. I heart it. I was a bit worried about the amount of red curry in this recipe, so I didn't put in the full amount at first. But using the Thai Kitchen Red Curry paste - the amount in this recipe was perfect. It held the flavor of red curry without the heat that often comes with red curry. Megarooni came over to help sample this and she too agreed it was a super simple and very tasty meal.

Beef and Zucchini in Red Curry Sauce
Serves 4

• 2 T Vegetable oil
• 1 T coarsely chopped garlic
• 2 T Red Curry paste
• 1/2 LB Flank steak; thinly sliced crosswise into 2 inch strips
• 2 medium zucchini; halved lengthwise and cut crosswise into 1 inch pieces
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 T Fish sauce
• 1 T Palm Sugar (I had no idea what palm sugar was so I used regular white sugar - I suspect brown sugar would do just as well too)

In a large, deep skillet or wok, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and when it is sizzling and fragrant, add the curry paste. Reduce heat to low and cook gently for about 2 minutes, mashing and stirring to melt the past into the oil.

Add the beef and toss to coat with curry paste. When the beef is almost cooked, add in the zucchini and then add the water, fish sauce, and sugar. Cook stirring now and then until the zucchini is tender and the sauce is smooth, 2-3 minutes.

Honey Nut Chicken Stir Fry

I actually followed a recipe. Can you believe it? Okay so I had to make one small adjustment, but that was because of my own stupid miscalculation. I cut the recipe in half except for the cornstarch part of it. And when cornstarch is more present than say - oh - liquids - you get kinda a goo. I had to adjust with chicken stock. But otherwise, I actually followed this recipe. And, it was good. I used fresh orange juice instead of store bought. It doesn't really say use either, so I figured fresh is always better. The hint of orange was really all you had. That coupled with a hint of honey - and it balanced so well together. Delish!

Honey Chicken Stir-Fry
Serves: 4

• 1 tablespoon Cornstarch
• 3/4 cup Orange juice
• 1/4 cup Honey
• 3 tablespoons Soy sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon Ground ginger
• 2 cups Celery, sliced
• 1 cup Carrot, sliced
• 4 teaspoons Canola oil , divided
• 1 pound Boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1" pieces
• 1/4 cup Peanut, chopped
• Serve with rice

In a small bowl, combine the first five ingredients until smooth; set aside. In a nonstick skillet or wok, stir-fry celery and carrots in 2 teaspoons oil until crisp-tender. Remove and keep warm. In the same skillet, stir-fry chicken in remaining oil until no longer pink.

Return vegetables to the pan. Stir orange juice mixture and add to the pan. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Sprinkle with nuts. Serve over rice if desired.

Also on the menu this week:

• Indian Spiced Chicken
• Grilled Halibut with Cilantro Garlic Butter (though this will be Grilled Cod because one can't afford halibut right now)
• Beef & Zucchini in Red Curry Sauce

French's Crunchy Onion Chicken

I don't know about you, but I am constantly trying to find something to do with chicken that's somewhat innovative, tastes good and easy. I love crunchy. Give me something deep fried and crunchy and I'll give you a glutton. This recipe fulfilled two of my needs with chicken - crunchy and easy. I am willing to bet that this would also be good with pork.

 

French's Crunchy Onion Chicken

Serves 4

• 2 cups French's Original or Cheddar French Fried Onions (I used the cheddar for my first go around with this recipe)
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 egg, beaten

Place French Fried Onions into plastic bag. Lightly crush with hands or with rolling pin. Transfer to pie plate or waxed paper.

Dip chicken into egg; then coat with onion crumbs, pressing firmly to adhere. Place chicken on baking sheet. Sprinkle with additional crumbs, if desired.

Bake at 400°F for 20 min. or until no longer pink in center.

4 course meal...for Jenn Trivia Winners

Back in January I celebrated my 40th birthday. Gasp. I still have to stop and say that again and try to make myself believe I'm 40. Anyhow, we played Jenn Trivia. The winner of Jenn Trivia won a 4 course meal at Chez Jenn's. Tonight we celebrated that win.

Mike Tangen - long time friend, and winner of Jenn Trivia, dined with his wife Nancy, Sherrie, and I tonight with the following menu (you might want to go get your expando pants).

Course 1
Appetizer
St. Louis Fried Ravioli
As if ravioli isn't already scrumptious, St.Louis had to go and fry it. My. God. This recipe was delicious.

Course 2
Salad
Mixed salad with Vanilla-Pear vinaigrette and toasted walnuts
I can't even find words to describe how great this salad was. It's a cooking light recipe, and was the only thing on tonight's menu that was - light that is.

Course 3
Main course
Chicken with Mustard Mascarpone Marsala Sauce
Old time favorite of mine. It's a Giada deLaurentis recipe and quite simply elegant and delicious.

Course 4
Dessert
Frozen Peanut Butter, Chocolate, Banana Loaf
I've had this recipe for some time, I think, and have never made it. It wasn't as rich as I expected it to be - in fact it was somewhat refreshing....in an orgasmic sort of way.

Below are all the recipes in case you just can't get through another day without making one of them. Now stop drooling.

St. Louis Fried Ravioli
Makes 4 servings

• 1 cup Fresh bread crumbs (I used panko and that was fine)
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 T Paprika
• 3 Eggs
• 3 T Milk
• 20 Frozen meat filled ravioli
• 3/4 cup All purpose flour
• 4 cups vegetable oil (for deep frying)
• Shredded parmesan and chopped parsley for garnish.

Preheat oven to 350F.
Combine crumbs, parmesan, and paprika in a plastic bag. Beat eggs and milk together in a bowl. Dredge ravioli first in flour, then dip in the egg mixture and coat in the crumbs. (So I missed the flour step altogether and I think they turned out fine.)

Arrange on a wire rack and refrigerate for 15 minutes; heat vegetable oil to 360F. Fry ravioli in batches for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown; drain on a paper towel lined rack and keep warm in the oven. Repeat through all the raviolis.

Garnish with parmesan and parsley. Serve with marinara sauce for dipping.

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Mixed Salad with Vanilla-Pear Vinaigrette and Toasted Walnuts

• 1 cup vertically sliced red onion
• 2 (10-ounce) packages Mediterranean-style salad
• 2/3 cup Vanilla-Pear Vinaigrette
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

To prepare salad, combine onion and lettuce mix in a large bowl. Add Vanilla-Pear Vinaigrette, and toss well. Sprinkle with walnuts.

Vanilla-Pear Vinaigrette

• 1 (15-ounce) can pear halves in juice, undrained
• 1/3 cup white wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Dash of ground red pepper

To prepare dressing, drain pears, reserving 1/3 cup pear juice. Combine pears, juice, vinegar, and remaining ingredients in a blender; process until smooth

Chicken with Mustard Mascarpone Marsala Sauce

• 1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, each breast cut crosswise into 3 pieces
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 5 tablespoons butter, divided
• 3/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 pound cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 cup dry Marsala wine
• 1 cup (8 ounces) mascarpone cheese
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves, plus whole sprigs, for garnish
• 12 ounces dried fettuccine

Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a heavy large skillet over high heat. Add the chicken and cook just until brown, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to a plate and cool slightly.

While the chicken cools, melt 2 tablespoons of butter to the same skillet over medium-high heat, then add the onion and sauté until tender, about 2 minutes. Add the mushrooms and garlic and sauté until the mushrooms are tender and the juices evaporate, about 12 minutes. Add the wine and simmer until it is reduced by half, about 4 minutes. Stir in the mascarpone and mustard. Cut the chicken breasts crosswise into 1/3-inch-thick slices. Return the chicken and any accumulated juices to the skillet. Simmer, uncovered, over medium-low heat until the chicken is just cooked through and the sauce thickens slightly, about 2 minutes. Stir in the chopped parsley. Season the sauce, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the fettuccine and cook until al dente, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Drain. Toss the fettuccine with 3 tablespoons of butter and season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Swirl the fettuccine onto serving plates. Spoon the chicken mixture over top. Garnish with parsley sprigs and serve.
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Frozen Peanut Butter, Chocolate, Banana Loaf
Serves 16

• 12 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces
• 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 2 ripe bananas
• 1 cup heavy cream, whipped to stiff peaks (about 2 cups)
• 1/2 cup roasted salted peanuts, chopped
• Nonstick cooking spray and waxed paper, for loaf pan

Coat an 8 1/2-by-4 1/2-inch loaf pan with cooking spray; line with waxed paper, leaving overhang on both long sides. Set aside.

Melt chocolate; cool to room temperature. Meanwhile, in a food processor, puree bananas until smooth.

Stir peanut butter into cooled chocolate until combined, then stir in banana puree. Gently fold in whipped cream until combined. Pour into prepared pan; top with peanuts. Fold waxed paper over top; wrap tightly in plastic. Freeze until firm, at least 3 hours.

To serve: Remove loaf from pan (run a hot towel across sides and bottom of pan, if necessary). Slice about 1/2 inch thick, as needed; rewrap remaining (unsliced) loaf, and freeze up to 1 month.

Lighter General's Tso's Chicken

This recipe, for a light recipe, had some tremendous flavor. I was pleasantly surprised at how good this was. I'm not a huge snow pea fan either, and I forced myself to include them as per the recipe. The unique pea flavor added something special to this dish.

Lighter General Tso's Chicken
Courtesy of Every Day Food
Serves: 4

• 1 1/4 cup Long grain brown rice (yah, I happen to be the only person on the planet who dislikes brown rice..so I used white rice)
• 1/4 cup Cornstarch
• 1 pound snow peas, trimmed and halved crosswise
• 4 garlic cloves, sliced
• 2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated and peeled
• 3 tablespoons light-brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
• 2 large egg whites
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, such as safflower

Cook rice according to package instructions. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, stir together 1 tablespoon cornstarch and 1/2 cup cold water until smooth. Add snow peas, garlic, ginger, sugar, soy sauce, and red-pepper flakes; toss to combine, and set aside.

In another bowl, whisk together egg whites, remaining 3 tablespoons cornstarch, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Add chicken, and toss to coat.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high. Lift half the chicken from egg-white mixture (shaking off excess), and add to skillet. Cook, turning occasionally, until golden, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate; repeat with remaining oil and chicken, and set aside (reserve skillet).

Add snow-pea mixture to skillet. Cover; cook until snow peas are tender and sauce has thickened, 3 to 5 minutes. Return chicken to skillet (with any juices); toss to coat. Serve with rice.