Chicken with Mustard and Mushrooms

Invented this tonight, and we are two happy happy people having eaten it.  Tangy and uplifting, with a brightness from fresh herbs, but grounded to the earth from the mushrooms...this dish has it all.  It also has flexibility.  Don't have dill?  Use some thyme.  Don't like dark meat? We like chicken thighs, but you can make this with whatever chicken parts you like, although if using breasts, you will likely need to lower the simmer time, and make sure they don't dry out.  You could also cut up a whole chicken and multiply the sauce by 3, and make this for a crowd.  For speed's sake I usually serve dishes like this over a quick cooking pasta (mini farfalle cook in 7 minutes), but you can serve this easily over rice or cous cous or quinoa, or...you see my point.  By cooking a significant amount of mushrooms in the sauce, you also gain a vegetable serving without an extra pan or effort.

The important components to this dish, aside from buying quality chicken from a responsible source, are the choice of mustard, the choice of wine and using fresh herbs to finish the dish.  The mustard I use is one of my favorite go-tos: Raye's Winter Garden.  This is a stone ground brown mustard with dill, garlic and celery.  To echo the dill, I used fresh dill as my finishing herb.  If you use a dijon-style mustard, you might prefer thyme as your finishing herb.  You have lots of flexibility here for flavor profiles.  Also remember the rule about cooking with wine:  If you wouldn't drink it, don't cook with it.  Make sure you pick a dry wine, that you enjoy the taste of.

Serves 2 for a light dinner (easily multiplied, although back off on the water by half when multiplying)

Ingredients

• 2 large or 4 small chicken thighs, bone-in, skin on (or other chicken parts that you like)
• flour
• 1 1/2 TBS olive oil
• 8 ounces white button mushrooms, quartered
• 1 large shallot, small dice
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 1/2 TBS brown or dijon mustard
• 1/2 cup water
• salt and pepper
• 2 tsp chopped fresh dill (or thyme)

Process

• Dredge chicken thighs in flour, and season with salt and pepper.  Shake off excess flour.
• Heat 1 TBS olive oil in large skillet over medium high heat.
• Place chicken thighs in skillet, skin side down first, and brown deeply on both sides, and then set aside on a plate.
• Add mushrooms to pan and cook until browned and all moisture is thrown off.
• Add 1/2 TBS olive oil and shallot to pan, saute until shallot starts to soften.
• Add wine, mustard and water to pan and scrape up any browned bits.
• Return chicken to pan, skin side up, and bring sauce to a simmer.
• Simmer for 20 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and sauce is reduced and thickened.
• Serve over pasta, sprinkled with fresh dill.

Breakfast Tacos

A few months ago we went out to breakfast at the Penny Cluse in Burlington, VT and I had some delightful breakfast tacos with chorizo.  Matt also talked about how his favorite breakfast used to be a breakfast burrito, so I knew I had to step up and create something to appease us both.  Breakfast tacos are a common dish these days, traditionally made with chorizo and served to staff in many restaurants around the country.  But, chorizo made with good pork isn't cheap, and so not a frequent visitor to my pantry.  But I always have quality bacon!  There's only one slice of bacon per serving here, so this isn't an unhealthy dish.  In fact, two tacos are less than 500 calories, with less than a third of those coming from fat.  There's also lots of dietary fiber and protein.  The reason I know this, is that the dish was so delicious the first time I made it, I saw it becoming a frequent visitor to our table, and I was curious if that would be wise.  A little label reading, research, and math told me we could have this any time we wanted!

The trick to this dish is how to cook the eggs so they are creamy.  No rubbery or crumbly eggs in this house!  Whether you like your eggs on the dry side or the wet side, if you cook them over very very low heat, you will have creamy, fluffy, beautiful eggs.  Eggs are mostly protein and if you cook a protein hot and fast, it will dry out too much and get tough.  You want to cook eggs slowly, stirring regularly.

Although I've been making these for a few months, I hadn't considering blogging the recipe, until my sister asked me if the recipe was on the blog, because she wanted to make them.  However, I didn't make these today, so no picture, but soon!  Meanwhile, Allegra wanted the recipe and so you get it too!  The recipe is easy to double or triple depending on how many people you have.

For two servings- two tacos each

Ingredients

• 2 slices thick cut bacon, cut into bite size pieces
• 3 eggs, beaten together well with a pinch of salt and a few grinds of fresh black pepper
• 1/2 can drained and rinsed black beans (or other canned bean)
• 4 taco-sized tortillas (flour or corn)
• 0% greek yogurt
• salsa

Process

• In a small non-stick pan, cook bacon over medium heat until crispy.  Remove from pan and place on a paper towel, leaving rendered fat in pan.
• Lower the heat under the pan to the lowest level possible and add the eggs, stirring slowly and gently, but regularly to scramble the eggs and have them cook evenly.
• Just before the eggs are done, stir in the beans, to heat through.
• Heat the tacos in the microwave or regular oven until pliable.
• Divide egg and bean mixture into tortillas, and sprinkle each one with 1/4 of the crisped bacon.
• Serve with greek yogurt and salsa.

Spiced Lentils with Mushrooms and Chard

The first time I made this dish I was deep in the throws of a nasty head cold, and it was a blessing since it didn't require any fancy knife work, and packed a good punch of sinus-clearing flavor.  The recipe is from last month's Food and Wine, and the first time I made it, since my sense of taste wasn't picking up subtleties, I made the recipe as is.  It was good, and Matt inhaled it (always a good sign!) but today I tweaked the recipe a bit, made it less watery, more focused in flavor by stepping things up a bit, and used white button mushrooms instead of shiitakes, because, well...they taste good and are a heck of a lot cheaper, especially when bought loose.  This dish is insanely healthy, so if you want to eat a ton of it and turn the below recipe into 2 servings, knock yourself out.

Although it may seem like an optional condiment, the sriracha as a finishing touch really brings this dish together with a sweet, puckery spiciness.  The picture is of my serving, so just a few dots of sriracha on mine, but Matt's looked like lattice work, with long lines of sriracha stretching across the bowl.  The only wild card here in terms of how fast the meal is on the table, is how fast your lentils cook, which can vary depending on age.  The older the lentils, the longer they take to cook.  Also, if you have to entertain vegan people and non-vegan people simultaneously, this dish will make everyone happy.  If you aren't entertaining vegan people, toss a poached or fried egg on top to gild the lily.  If you aren't light eaters, definitely add the egg, and some nice bread on the side too.  Maybe a rye with some sharp cheddar along with it...but I digress....

Serves 4 modest meal-sized servings (and makes great leftovers!)

Ingredients

• 1 cup green lentils
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 TBS olive oil
• 1 pound mushrooms (white button, shiitake, crimini or mixture) stems removed, caps sliced 1/4 inch thick
• kosher salt
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 3/4 tsp coriander
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• a few (and then a few again) grinds fresh ground black pepper
• 1 medium bunch chard (green or red or rainbow), stems and ribs removed, cut into ribbons
• Sriracha

Process

• Put lentils and bay leaf in small pot, cover with a couple inches of water.  Bring to a boil, then lower heat very low and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender.  This will take 20 to 40 minutes, so start testing after 20 minutes so you don't overcook them.
• Meanwhile, prep the mushrooms and chard (this is what makes the dish quick, if your lentils cooperate and cook quickly).
• In your widest saute pan with sides, or big pot with a wide bottom, heat the olive oil over medium high heat.
• Add the mushrooms, sprinkle on a couple big pinches of kosher salt, and cook, stirring regularly, until all the liquid is thrown from the mushrooms, and most, but not all liquid has evaporated and the mushrooms are tender.
• Add garlic and spices and cook for a minute or so, stirring.
• Add chard ribbons, and stir into mushroom mixture, until wilted. (depending on how big your pan is, you may need to add the chard in handfuls, stir it down, then add another handful and so on).
• Drain lentils, discard bay leaf, and add lentils to chard and mushroom mixture.
• Serve with sriracha at the table.

Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup with Roasted Garlic

Are you craving a super silky incredibly flavorful soup?  Something that welcomes you back in from shoveling the driveway from another snowstorm?  Looking for a bright and cheery way to illuminate the long dark days of winter?  I give you:  Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup with Roasted Garlic.  I love pureed vegetable soups that are healthy, full of intense flavor, and velvety, silky, or creamy (but without any cream!).  Being winter, butternut squash soups are all over food blogs and magazines.  Matt is crazy about sweet potatoes and I had some rosemary and sage leftover from yesterday's veal stew with mushrooms (a Marcella Hazan recipe) and a half a butternut squash from last week's crispy chicken with golden raisin and butternut squash compote from Food and Wine Magazine.  I also still had one quart left of vegetable stock in the freezer, so this was a no-brainer today!

You will need:

• 6-8 garlic cloves, unpeeled
• 2 TBS olive oil or butter (I prefer butter, but olive oil will work, and it is healthier!)
• 2 medium onions, diced (1 1/2 cups)
• 1 pound butternut squash (half of one medium squash), peeled, seeded and cut into 1/2 inch dice
• 3 small/medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch dice
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary
• 1 sprig fresh sage, with two or three leaves
• 1 quart vegetable or chicken stock
• freshly ground black pepper
• kosher salt

What you will do:

• Heat a cast iron or stainless steel skillet over medium heat.
• Place garlic cloves in dry pan and pan roast, turning regularly, until cloves are soft and very fragrant, they will likely get a few black spots.
• Remove garlic cloves from pan and set aside.
• Meanwhile, in a heavy bottomed 4 qt pot, heat olive oil over medium heat.
• Add onion and a few pinches of salt, lower heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent.
• Add squash and sweet potato to pot, and sweat over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes
• Add stock, rosemary and sage sprigs.
• Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer soup for about 15 to 25 minutes, or until squash and sweet potato are very tender.
• Remove pot from heat and remove rosemary and sage sprigs, discard.
• Peel roasted garlic, removing any burned parts and tough stems.
• Place garlic and soup into a food processor (you may need to do this in batches if your processor is less than 12 cups capacity, alternatively, use an immersion blender in your pot).
• Process until silky smooth.
• Season with black pepper and salt to taste, a couple grinds and a pinch at a time.

The Tuna Salad Sandwich

I know, I know.  What's so exciting about tuna salad?  Well, usually, not a lot, but with this tuna salad, you'll be singing a new song!  Modified from the filling for Roasted Pepper Tuna Rolls from Lidia Bastianich, this has fast become a favorite to make, even if I'm not making the pepper rolls.

In the past I've made tuna melts with a tuna salad including water packed tuna, celery, shallots and lemon juice.  And I love the classic flavors in that, but THIS tuna salad needs no melty cheese to make you swoon.  What mustard you use in this salad is very important, so pick wisely and select something multidimensional.  I like to use Raye's Wintergarden Mustard, which has a touch of dill and garlic in a mellow, but flavorful medium brown mustard. While you are eating this tuna salad, it is soooo good, that you plan to make it again for lunch the next day, before you finish eating the sandwich in front of you.  If you make a double batch, this keeps excellently in the fridge for a week, easily.

For two large sandwiches~

With a fork, mix together in order, until a few small chunks of tuna remain, but the salad is mostly uniform

• 1- 5 ounce can of oil-packed tuna, well drained and flaked into pieces
• scant TBS capers, drained, rinsed, and finely chopped
• 1/2 TBS apple cider vinegar
• 2 TBS Mayonnaise
• generous 1/2 TBS mustard
• 2 TBS chopped parsley
• a few grinds of freshly ground black pepper

Serve up on a baguette or a ciabatta roll.  Along with all his other bread recipes, I'm especially crazy about Jim Lahey's stecca recipe for sandwich bread, which is the nicely browned half-stick of "baguette" in the picture, sprinkled with a little Maine Sea Salt.