Chicken Salad

The other day, Sandi and I were eating at our favorite neighborhood diner, Les Brothers, when a waiter walked past with a plate of chicken salad.

It was served old-school style inside a cut-up tomato. I don’t think I’ve seen chicken salad presented like that since the Reagan administration. I instantly knew I had to try it.

Serving compound salads — chicken, tuna, ham, egg, etc. – in hollowed out tomatoes used to be pretty common. But I suppose it had been done to death so people stopped doing it.

Well, I’m bringing it back! It not only is visually appealing, but it fits with my efforts to reduce the amount of white flour and white sugar I eat. Plus, now it’s nostalgiac. Bonus!

I served it with an Israeli cous cous salad. I wanted to make a macaroni salad, but Sandi wrinkled her nose at that, so I made this instead. But the joke’s on her because cous cous is simply a small, granular shaped pasta, so it’s exactly the same thing!

So much for my avoiding white flour, however.

Finally, I added one of my homemade dill pickles and garnished the plate with a few black, seedless grapes. I think it looks pretty elegant and wouldn’t be out of place on a posh lunch menu.

Chicken Salad

1 lb Chicken, cooked (I used half a baked chicken from dinner the night before), diced

1/2 cup Reduced-Fat Mayonnaise

1/2 cup Fat-Free Sour Cream

Juice of 1/2 Lemon

1 Garlic Clove, crushed

2 stalks celery, small dice

1/2 Red Onion, small dice

1/3  cup Dried Cranberries

1/4 cup Walnuts, chopped

1/4 tsp Lawry’s Seasoned Salt

1 Large Tomato

1. Combine chicken, celery, onion, cranberries and walnuts in a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon juice and garlic. Mix a little of the dressing at a time to the chicken mixture until you get the proper chicken salad consistency, holds together but not too soggy. Season with seasoned salt. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes to let the flavors meld together.

2. Use a paring knife to make alternate zig-zag cuts around the perimeter of a tomato. Pull it apart then use the knife to remove some of the core from each half. Lay flat on the plate and use an ice cream scoop to place a large dollop of chicken salad in the center of the tomato half.

To plate the cous cous salad, I simply spooned the salad into a ramekin and patted it down. Then I placed the serving plate on top of the ramekin, turned the whole thing upside down and removed the ramekin. The salad will then hold the shape of the ramekin.

What kind of old school foods would you like to see come back into fashion? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. And thanks for looking at my blog!

 

Oven Fried Chicken

Fried chicken is one of those things I only get to eat once or twice per year, usually at  family parties.

But I look forward to it because, in my opinion, chicken was meant to be fried. The crispy golden breading that comes from immersing the chicken into a pool of smoking hot oil goes perfectly with the moist, rich texture of the meat.

Sadly, because it’s too high in fat, in my house we don’t eat legitimately fried chicken. I remember one time I burned the dinner so I went out and bought some Popeye’s chicken. My wife simply refused to eat it.

But this recipe is lower in fat, doesn’t require a deep fryer or a dangerous pan full of hot shortening, and still results in a crispy delicious chicken.

Although I love to eat fried chicken for dinner, what I love even more is wrapping the leftover chicken in wax paper the next day and bringing it on a picnic. This recipe is suitable for both.

I served this oven fried chicken with some smashed potatoes and with a red cabbage cole slaw (recipe to follow) to round out a perfect summertime dinner.

Oven Fried Chicken

1 Chicken, cut into 8 peices

1/4 cup Unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tsp Paprika

1 tsp Granulated garlic

Pinch of Cayenne pepper

1 tsp Sea salt

1/4 tsp Fresh cracked black pepper

1/3 cup Margarine (or butter for the truly indulgent)

1. Preheat oven to 425F. Rinse chicken peices and pat dry with paper towels. In a bowl, combine flour, paprika, gran garlic, cayenne, salt and pepper. Dredge chicken peices so that they are completely covered with seasoned flour mixture. If you prefer, you can use the “Shake and Bake” method by putting all the dry ingredients into a large plastic bag, then putting the individual chicken peices in the bag, sealing it and shaking it around so that each peice is completely covered with the coating. You will get the same result.

2. Place margarine in a 9″x13″x2″ casserole pan and place in oven. When melted, remove from oven and arrange chicken peices in the bottom of the pan, skin side down. Return to oven and bake for 35 minutes. Remove from oven, turn peices over and bake another 15 minutes.

Red Cabbage Cole Slaw

4 cups  Red Cabbage (about 1/2 head)

1 Carrot, peeled

1/2 White onion

1/2 Green bell pepper, ribs and seedes removed, fine dice

1/2 cup Reduced fat Mayonnaise

1 TBS Apple cider vinegar

2 tsp Granulated sugar

1 tsp Whole celery seed

1/4 tsp Sea salt

Fresh cracked black pepper to taste

1. Use a box grater to grate the cabbage, carrot and onion into a mixing bowl then add the green pepper. In a separate mixing bowl, make the dressing by whisking together the mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, celery seed and salt.

2. Combine the dressing and the cabbage mixture and toss together with a spatula until it has a consistent texture. Season with pepper to taste. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes before serving so that flavors can meld together.

Ironically, up until a few months ago, there was a fried chicken restaurant at the end of our street (It recently closed and was replaced with a cash for car titles business!). Whenever I would walk the dogs past there, I would linger a few moments so I could absorb the smells of the frying chicken.

A fella can dream, can’t he?

 

Chinese Chicken Salad

This salad could go either way. It could be called a Chinese chicken salad or it could simply be called a chopped salad.

The only real difference between the two is the dressing and the crunch.

In the past, I’ve used dry, fried chow mein noodles to achieve the crunch. In restaurants, I think the guest expects this. But because I’m trying to cut down on white flour (and fried foods), I substituted a little fresh cabbage.

There was definitely less crunch, but it wasn’t really missed in the texture. And the cabbage added better flavor than chow mein noodles, which to me always taste kind of sawdust-y anyway.

The other difference is the dressing. On a chopped salad, I would use a simple vinaigrette or a low-fat creamy dressing. But because I was going for an Asian feel here, I used a fat-free sesame soy ginger vinaigrette I picked up at Trader Joe’s.

My sesame soy ginger vinaigrette is delicious, but it is not fat free. I wanted to try TJ’s version, and although it was sweeter than mine, I found it to be delightful.

On both a chopped salad and this Chinese chicken salad, all the ingredients are cut into small peices. This gives it a texture that is a little different and is easier to eat.

Any salad can be made into a chopped salad, including a Caesar salad, a Salade Nicoise, a Cobb salad or a chef’s salad. It’s all about the size that you cut the ingredients and it makes for a nice change of pace once in awhile.

This salad also is sometimes called a garbage salad, although I’ve always stayed away from that name on my menus. It just has kind of an off-putting connotation to me: “And here’s your plate of garbage, madame!”

Chinese Chicken Salad

1 Boneless, skinless chicken breast, cooked and small dice

1/2 head Green leaf lettuce, chopped fine

1 cup Shredded green cabbage

1 large Tomato, ribs and seeds removed, small dice

1/2 Red onion, small dice

2 Green onions, sliced thin

1/2 Green bell pepper, ribs and seeds removed, sliced thin

1/4 cup Crumbled Blue cheese

1/4 cup Crumbed Feta cheese

For Sesame Soy Ginger Vinaigrette

1 TBS Sesame oil

1/2 cup Extra virgin olive oil

2 TBS Rice wine vinegar

2 tsp Low-sodium soy sauce

1 tsp honey

1 TBS Fresh ginger, chopped fine

1 clove Garlic, crushed

Sea Salt

Fresh Cracked black pepper

1. Combine the oils in a bowl and mix. In a separate bowl, combine the vinegar, soy sauce, honey, ginger and garlic. Slowly add the oils to the vinegar mixture, starting with a drop at a time and slowly building, until dressing is emulsified. Then season to taste with salt and pepper.

2. Combine all salad ingredients in large bowl. Dress with vinaigrette and mix throroughly. To plate, use a tongs to pile the dressing high in the middle of a large salad or pasta bowl, trying to attain as much height as possible. Make sure large peices of the chicken are visible.

A word about lettuce: In this salad, I used a green leaf lettuce, which is my lettuce of choice, along with red leaf. You also could use Romaine, a spring mix blend or a mixture of escarole and any other kind of lettuce to get a great texture and a healthy salad.

One lettuce I would never recommend is iceburg lettuce, which ironically is the most popular because it also is the cheapest. Iceburg lettuce is composed almost entirely of water and that’s exactly what it tastes like. Also, it has almost no nutritional value.

It pains me to say this because this is supposed to be a budget cooking column, but where’s the savings if the flavor is poor and there aren’t any usable vitamins or minerals? Do yourself and your family a favor and spend the few extra pennies for greens that not only taste better but are much better for you!

 

Avocado Chicken Salad

For some reason, I keep encountering South America lately.

For example, I recently saw this recipe on “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” where it was being made at La Caraquena, a Venezuelan restaurant in Falls Church, Virginia. They called it Sifrina and it looked so delicious I just knew I had to make it right away.

Then, I saw these amazing plans for a solar-powered waterfall that will serve as the symbol of the 2016 Olympic games in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. How awesome is that thing?

Next, my older brother just returned from a vacation in – you guessed it — Columbia, which is in South America. This can’t be a coincidence!

Whatever the reason, I’m glad South America keeps coming into the picture because it’s a continent that many Americans know little about, but which has incredible culinary treasures for us to explore.

Among them is this recipe for avocado chicken salad. Avocados, especially when made into guacamole, is one of my wife’s and my favorite foods. This little fruit — which is sometimes called alligator pear in the South — is the perfect combination of creamy richness and healthy vitamins.

Even though avocados grow on trees, they are high in monosaturated fat, which accounts for about 75 percent of the fruit’s soft and lush meat. As a result, they blend well with chicken and suspend the flavors of the other ingredients perfectly in this salad.

Plus, avocados are good for you. They have more potassium than bananas, and are rich in Vitamin B, Vitamin E and Vitamin K. They can lower your cholesterol, reduce hypertension, help prevent diabetes, and may even prevent you from getting cancer!

When buying avocados, you can determine their ripeness by gently pressing on them. If they give just a little, they are perfectly ripe. If they don’t give at all, they are underripe and can be ripened quickly by putting them in a sealed paper bag for a day or two. If they are squishy, they are overripe and unusable.

Avocado Chicken Salad (Sifrina)

3 ripe avocados, peeled and seed removed

Juice of 1/2 lime

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cooked (about 8 to 12 ounces)

1/4 cup red onion, small dice

1 jalapeno, seeds and ribs removed, small dice

1 medium tomato, seeds and ribs removed, diced

1 TBS mayonaisse

1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Sea salt

Fresh ground black pepper

Dash hot sauce

1. Place avocado and lime juice in mixing bowl and mash with potato masher until smooth. Add chicken, mayonnaise, onion, jalapeno, tomato, cheese, and hot sauce and fold together with spatula.

2. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste, then refrigerate for at least 30 minutes so that the flavors can meld together. When you are ready to serve, use an ice cream scooper to scoop a generous portion of the sifrina onto whole wheat burger buns.

Although avocados usually turn brown due to oxidation fairly quickly, the lime juice prolongs this process and this stayed fresh in my refrigerator overnight with little to no reduction in quality. I served mine with oven-roasted sweet potato fries.

An aside: I just returned from a relaxing week’s vacation in Los Angeles, where my younger brother and his wonderful new wife live and where I ate like a sultan! I swear, we ate our way across that city and I probably gained 10 pounds, but it was so worth it! I will write a blog soon about the incredible food I enjoyed on the West Coast, but it’s also great to be back home.

Almond Crusted Chicken

This is a low-fat heart-healthy variation on the classic nut-crusted chicken. Except instead of breading the chicken breasts, they are simply dredged in a mixture of chopped almonds and Panko bread crumbs.

The result was a light yet crispy coating that perfectly complemented the tender meat of the chicken breast.

This is a variation on a recipe I found on one of my favorite blogs, We’re Going to Need a Bigger Boat. I served it with steamed long grain rice and broccoli. You practically lose weight looking at this, it’s so good for you.

Panko bread crumbs are just Japanese bread crumbs that are little larger than regular bread crumbs. They are now available in most supermarkets.

Almonds, incidentally, are one of those miracle foods that many nutritionists claim have health benefits, including improving complexion and reducing risk of cancer and heart disease. I have used them while dieting as an appetite supressant. A handful of almonds is usually good enough to keep hunger pangs at bay for at least a couple of hours.

If you have lived in or traveled through Southern California, you know that almonds trees are everywhere. In fact, California produces 80 percent of the world’s almonds and 100 percent of all the almonds consumed in the US are grown there.

Harvesting almonds is fun to watch because the trees are hooked up to these big machines which violently shake the trunks so that all the nuts fall off the tree. They kind of look like those weight belts people used to use.

Best of all, almonds are delicious. I used roasted almonds for this recipe, but raw, smoked or even candied would have been great, too. Almonds just have a very pleasant, distinct slightly sweet flavor.

Almond Crusted Chicken

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, about 8 oz each

1 cup roasted almonds, whole

1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs

Pan spray

1 TBS EVOO

Sea salt

Fresh cracked black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Put almonds in food processor and pulse until chopped fine. Don’t let it run by itself or the nuts will form a paste with the consistency of peanut butter. If you don’t have a food processor, just chop them by hand until fine. Combine in a mixing bowl with the bread crumbs and toss together.

2. Season each chicken breast with salt and pepper then spray with pan spray and dredge in almond/bread crumb mixture until completely covered. Reserve the remaining mixture for later.

2. Put cast iron pan on the fire. When hot, add oil. When smoking, add chicken breasts to the pan skin side down, being careful not to splash yourself with hot oil. Sprinkle with some of the remaining almond/bread crumb mixture. Carefully cook chicken breasts until golden brown and turn over. Sprinkle the chicken with more of remaining almond/bread crumb mixture. The almonds will burn easily, so watch them closely.

3. When both sides of chicken are nicely browned. Transfer them to a sheet pan fitted with a baking rack. This will allow the breast to cook more evenly. Sprinkle the remaining almond/bread crumb mixture over chicken and bake at 350F for about 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the thickness of the breasts.

There’s nothing complicated about this recipe. It is quick, simple and delicious!

I served these with long grain rice I made in my rice steamer, and fresh broccoli I made in my vegetable steamer. There was a whole lot of steaming going on in my kitchen, I assure you!

What low-fat heart-healthy recipes do you like to make? Share your ideas in the comments section below. And thanks for looking at my blog!

Coq Au Vin

Coq au vin is a very old dish. I mean really old.

Purportedly, it was a favorite dish of Julius Caesar after his gladiators came across it while invading Gaul.

While I can’t confirm that, I can confirm that coq au vin (French for “poultry in wine”) is one of those dishes you would find on the menu of a French fine dining restaurant in the 1950s and ’60s. While it was celebrated by famous chefs of that era as the epitome of classically French cuisine, it actually is super easy to make, tastes great and is relatively inexpensive as well.

Traditionally, coq au vin is made with a rooster or capon, which is an older chicken with tougher meat. The long braising process breaks down the connective tissues between the bird’s muscles to make the tough meat tender. But for this version, I just use chicken.

Coq au vin also is traditionally made with wine from the Burgundy region of France, which are made from pinot noir grapes. Any pinot noir will do, or any red wine for that matter.

(An aside on cooking with wine: The rule of thumb is never to cook with a wine you wouldn’t drink. That makes sense to me because the only wine I have hanging around is wine I drink! Why would I keep wine I wouldn’t drink?)

Finally, the traditional coq au vin is made with pearl onions. I couldn’t find any pearl onions this time of year other than those little pickled cocktail onions you sometimes see in martinis. I opted to use diced white onion and it turned out just fine, although I’m sure the French would be outraged!

Coq Au Vin

2 TBS EVOO

2 slices of bacon cut into 1-inch peices

12 oz package of white button mushrooms

1 medium white onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1/2 tsp dry oregano

1/2 tsp dry thyme

1 whole chicken, about 3 lb

1 cup chicken stock

1 cup dry red wine

2 TBS tomato paste

1/2 tsp sea salt

Fresh cracked black pepper

2 TBS all-purpose flour

1. Use poultry shears to cut backbone out of chicken. Lay flat on cutting board skin side up and press down so the breastbone breaks and the chicken lies flat. Season both sides with sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper. Put cast iron pan on the fire. When hot, add oil. When smoking, carefull place chicken in pan skin side down, being careful not to splash yourself with hot oil. Cook until brown and crisp, about three minutes, then flip over and brown the other side.

2. Preheat oven to 350F. Put Dutch oven on the fire. When hot, add bacon and cook until bacon is crisp and all oils have been released, about 4 minutes, then add onions, carrots and celery and cook until onions translucent, about five minutes.  Add mushrooms and cook until browned, about three more minutes. Add garlic, oregano and thyme and cook about another minute, then put chicken on top, skin facing up.

3. Combine stock, wine and tomato pase in a small mixing bowl and whisk together, then pour mixture over the chicken. Bring to boil, then reduce to simmer. Cover and place the entire Dutch oven in oven and bake for one hour.

4. Remove from oven. Carefully remove the chicken and let rest on sheet pan. Use a ladle to remove about one cup of the liquid from the pot and whisk in flour. Return flour/liquid mixture to pot and put on flame until boiling. The sauce will thicken as it boils, so stir frequently. Remove from heat.

To plate, carefully separate breast/wing and leg/thigh peices from the chicken. They should be falling off the bone. Place onto bed of rice or potatoes and spoon the sauce/vegetable mixture over the top. Voila!

What classic French recipes do you like to make? Share your ideas in the comments section below. And thanks for looking at my blog!

Lemon Chicken with Kalamata Olives

Now that the holidays are over, and all the excess that goes with them, this time of year, around my house we are always looking for meals that are faster and lighter. Because every January we’re busier and heavier.

This recipe for lemon chicken with Kalamata olives really fits the bill. The chicken is napped in a simple, light lemon sauce, then quickly broiled. I served it with Kalamata olives, which are my favorite. Steamed green beans and brown rice balanced out the plate.

Brown rice is one of those foods I know I should eat more often, but have a hard time doing it. Maybe it’s because brown rice and I have never gotten along. I can’t ever seem to cook it right! The rice either is undercooked and crunchy or overcooked and mushy.

I’ve tried everything: Cooking it on the stovetop, baking it in the oven like a pilaf, using my rice steamer, even microwaving it. Nothing works right.

For this meal, I thought I would try the crock pot. A few days earlier I cooked bulgur and lentils in the crock pot and they turned out great. Lentils and bulgur are sort of like rice, right?

Wrong! After two hours on low, the rice was still hard as pebbles. Apparently, the temperature was not hot enough for the stubborn little rice to absorb the liquid. So I transferred the whole thing to a pot, put it on the fire and simmered it for 50 minutes. The rice turned out better than it usually does, but was still not perfect. Man, I hate brown rice!

Lemon Chicken with Olives

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 tsp EVOO

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 tsp lemon pepper

1/4 cup Kalamata olives, pitted and rough chop (or just sliced black olives)

4 thin slices of lemon

1. Turn oven to broil. Starting at the thickest edge of each chicken breast, cut horizontally almost to the opposite side, then open the cut chicken breast so it is an even thickness. This is a technique called “butterflying” and can be used to cook any meat — chicken, beef steaks, pork chops — faster, especially when broiling.

2. In a small bowl, mix oil and lemon juice. Dredge butterflied chicken breast in mixture then lay out on a sheet sprayed wit pan spray. Drizzle remaining mixture over chicken breasts. Sprinkle with 1/2 the lemon pepper and place on top rack of the oven so the chicken is about 4 inches from the broiler flame.

3. Broil for 5 minutes, flip chicken breast over, season the other side with the remaining lemon pepper, and return to the broiler for another 5 minutes. Remove chicken from broiler, arrange lemon slices and olives on top of chicken and return to broiler for another 2 minutes.

Is there a particular food that you have never been able to master? Share your story in the comments section below. And thanks for looking at my blog!

Chicken Breast Stuffed with Mushroom Duxelle

People often ask me what is my favorite dish to prepare as a chef. The answer is the onle that peope will love the most and that will make the restaurant the most money.

When I was a banquet chef, this dish was among the most popular for weddings, awards banquets and other catered affairs. It is very easy to make in bulk, especially if you have a big work table and can set up an assembly line.

The mushroom duxelle can be made ahead of time, as can the pesto. I would prepare huge batches of these, and then knock out hundreds of stuffed chicken breasts in an afternoon. Commercially, I used a shredded gruyere cheese, but for home use I substituted a simple cheddar and jack combination. You can really use any type of cheese you like.

When I made this at home, I served it on a potato latke and sauced it with some sour cream I put into a squeeze bottle, then garnished it with scallions. But in the banquet kitchen, I would serve these napped with a chicken veloute sauce, with rosemary roasted red potatoes and a combination of steamed carrots, broccoli, zucchini and yellow squash.

Honestly, once you master this dish, you can make a fortune catering banquets. People love it. Plus, for the home cook, it is easy to make many of these at the same time if you entertaining or hosting a dinner party.

Chicken Breast Stuffed with Mushroom Duxelle

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts

1/2 cup basil pesto

2 TBS EVOO

4 oz container fresh button mushrooms, chopped fine

1/2 medium white onion, small dice

3-4 cloves garlic, crushed

1 TBS Italian seasoning

Sea salt

Fresh cracked black pepper

1-1/2 cups shredded cheddar and Monterey jack cheeses

1. To make mushroom duxelle, put cast iron pan on the fire. When hot, add the EVOO. When smoking, add onions and cook about 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook until all the liquid in them is evaporated and they start to brown, about 7 minutes. For the final minute of cooking, stir in the garlic and Italian seasoning. Remove from heat and let cool a little. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

2. Place chicken breasts on cutting board. If they are large, cut them in half horizontally,as if you were cutting a deck of cards. Each serving should have about 6 oz of chicken. Place a plastic freezer bag over the breast, then pound it with a meat tenderizer or a rolling pin so chicken breast if flattened out to about the size of your hand.

3. Preheat oven to 350F. Rub both sides of the breast with pesto. Place about 2 TBS of the duxelle mixture and about a TBS of shredded cheese in the center of each breast then roll up into a log shape, tucking the ends underneath to form a seal. Spray a sheet pan with pan spray, then lay each chicken breast seam side down on the pan. Arrange stuffed breasts so that they are not touching — you want the heat to surround them on all sides so they cook evenly. Just before they go into the oven, rub them with a little more pesto. Bake for 35 minutes, then remove from oven. Let rest about 3 minutes before cutting.

4. To serve, cut each breast at bias into about 4-5 medallions, then shingle on the plate over potatoes, rice or whatever starch you are using. Nap with sauce or serve unsauced.

To make the potato latke, shred a leftover pre-cooked baked potato then mix with 1/2 onion, diced small, and salt and pepper. Heat a small cast iron pan. When smoking, add some vegetable oil and let it get smoking hot. Melt a teaspoon of butter in the oil, then place the shredded potatoes in the pan and pat down slightly with a spoon or spatula. Fry about 4 minutes, then invert onto a plate. Get the cast iron pan back up to temperature, add fresh oil, a tab of butter, and slide the potato uncooked side down back into the pan. Finish frying and invert onto a sheet pan.

You can make multiple latkes ahead of time and line them up on a sheet pan. When ready to serve, reheat for about 10 minutes at 375F. These can serve as a delicious base for many different entrees, or serve them by themselves with a little sour cream or apple sauce, and garnish with sliced scallions or chives.

Wow, I’m really giving away all my chef secrets today! Thanks for looking at my blog!

Matzo Ball Soup

With cold and flu season just around the corner, now is a good time to break out the only sure-fire cure for what ails you.

No, not Nyquil. I’m talking, of course, about Matzo Ball Soup.

Matzo Ball Soup

I first discovered this miracle cure back in the late 1980s, when a single bowl of this magical stew at Mort’s Deli under the L tracks on Wabash Avenue in the Loop almost immediately cleared up lingering cold symptoms I had been battling for a couple of days.

From that moment on, I was a believer.

Sadly, Mort’s has not survived. The spot is currently occupied by a Popeye’s Chicken. Some people call it progress!

(A quick side story: One Sunday morning back in the late ’80s, I was walking into the building where I worked as a news reporter when I heard gunshots coming from the parking garage that also housed Mort’s. Intrepid cub reporter that I was, I ran to the scene and called my city desk from a pay phone. Then I saw that the actor Robert DeNiro was firing a gun at a bunch of policemen. Holy smokes, I told my editor, this is a huge story! It was only then that I noticed the movie cameras and lights. They happened to be filming “Midnight Run” that morning. So much for my scoop!)

Some people claim the curative powers reside in the matzo ball itself, with its pinch of schmaltz, or chicken fat, and the seltzer water that gives this dumpling its lightness. Others argue that the rich vitamin and nutrient content of the chicken stock is responsible. I think it’s a perfect combination of both.

Chicken Stock

Which is not to say you have to be sick to enjoy Matzo Ball Soup. It’s light, delicate flavor is delicious anytime.

Making Matzo Ball Soup doesn’t need to be complicated. In fact, whenever I make chicken stock I will freeze it for whatever cooking needs I have. It’s way cheaper than buying canned chicken broth. Making the matzo balls is simple and they also can be frozen.

Combine the two and it’s like chanting a magic spell. You will be healed. Also, sated with a delicious and inexpensive soup.

So this cold and flu season, don’t get caught off guard. Prep your chicken stock while you still feel well, and keep a lookout for a cannister of matzo meal at your local grocer. A lot of places will stock it only this time of year.

And if you see Robert DeNiro in a shootout with police, don’t call it in to your city desk. Unless you want to be made fun of. A lot. Forever.

Matzo Balls

Matzo Ball Soup

For the Chicken Broth

3-4 chicken backs, or 3 lb necks backs and wings

3 celery stalks, rough chop

3 carrots, rough chop

2 parsnips, rough chop

2 white or yellow onions, quartered

1 head garlic, cut in half horizontally

1-2 bay leafs

TBS whole black pepper corns

TBS sea salt

About 1-1/2 gallon water

Place chicken in stock pot and cover with about 4″ water. Bring to boil. Add remaining ingredients, being careful not to splash yourself with boiling water. Return to boil, then reduce to simmer. Cook 3-4 hours, uncovered, occasionally skimming the scum off the top.

Remove chicken and vegetables by pouring through a colander and cheesecloth (or a clean dish towel) into another large pot. Cool completely and skim fat before refrigerating or freezing.

For the Matzo Balls

1/2 cup matzo meal

2 beaten eggs

2 TBS schmaltz (rendered chicken fat, or you can use vegetable oil)

TBS sea salt

1/4 tsp cracked black pepper

2 TBS seltzer water (or chicken stock)

Mix ingredients together in bowl until moist. Cover bowl in plastic wrap and refigerate 30 minutes to make dough more workable.

Fill large pot with water and bring to boil, then reduce to simmer.

Wet your hands under the faucet to make it easier to handle the dough. Form 1″ balls in the palm of your hand and roll into ball shape. Drop them one at a time into the simmering water. Cover the pot tightly and cook for about 35 minutes. The balls will expand to more than double their size as they cook. Remove and cool.

Assembling the Soup

Heat a little chicken stock in a sauce pan. Drop in 2-3 matzoh balls and cook about 5 minutes until heated through. Transfer to a bowl and garnish with a little chopped parsley or dill, if you have some lying around.

Feel better.

What other comfort foods do you crave when you are feeling under the weather? Share your ideas in the comments section below. And thanks for reading my blog!

Budget Cooking – Chicken Parmesan

Italian food is one of the most economical cuisines you can make at home. Fortunately, it’s also one of the most delicious.

At the market this week, I found a 3 lb. package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts for $4.14. It contained two enormous chicken breasts, one of which I threw in the freezer for another time and the other I cut in half lengthwise. Then, I opened up each one by making two slits and flattening them out.

This gave me two large flat pieces of chicken breast perfect for chicken parm all for about $1.03 apiece.

I used them to make this Italian classic that is guaranteed to please your family

Note: This recipe is for two portions. But it’s set up the way I would do it in a restaurant – the chicken, the sauce and the pasta are all prepared and staged separately, then assembled when you are ready for service.

If you wanted to make, say, 12 portions of this for a dinner party (or 200 for a banquet, for that matter), it would be exactly the same procedure, just increase the amounts of each and assemble 12 instead of 2. You can even make the components a day or two ahead of time then heat up when you are ready to assemble.

Chicken Parmesan

Chicken Parmesan

For the Breaded Chicken Cutlet

2 boneless/skinless chicken breast

½ cup bread crumbs

2 TBS Crisco

 For the Pasta

1 lb dried whole wheat linguini (or whatever pasta you want)

½ green pepper, diced

3 medium mushrooms, sliced

½ medium onion, diced

1 jalapeno, ribs and seeds removed, diced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

3-4 TBS EVOO

Salt and Pepper to taste

For the Sauce

8 oz can tomato sauce

1 TBS Italian Seasoning

1 tsp sugar

 For Assembly

4 oz Fresh Mozzarella, cut into 4 discs

2 oz Grated Parmesan

1. Heat large cast iron pan over medium heat. When pan reaches temp, add Crisco and melt. Meanwhile, season both sides of the chicken breasts with salt and pepper, spray with pan spray, then dredge in bread crumbs. One at a time, carefully place chicken breast in pan and brown on both sides, about two minutes per side. Remove and let rest on sheet pan.

2. In a small saucepan, combine tomato sauce, Italian seasoning and sugar. Cook over a medium low heat, stirring once or twice, until tin can taste is cooked out, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

3. Cook pasta in 4 quarts boiling water until done, about 10 minutes. Drain in colander. Drizzle with a little EVOO to keep from sticking together. Do not rinse!

4. Saute onion and green pepper until onion translucent, about five minutes. Add mushrooms and sauté for another minute or two. Add garlic and sauté another minute. Turn off heat.

5. Use a Tablespoon to spread pool of tomato sauce on top of each chicken breast. Shingle two discs of fresh mozzarella on each breast and sprinkle with a generous amount of grated parmesan. Cook in 350F oven until chicken cooked through and mozzarella melted and bubbly, about 15 minutes.

6. Return heat to pasta pot. Add sautéed vegetables. Add pasta. Add remaining EVOO and grated parmesan. Stir and heat through. Season to taste with S&P.

7. To plate, use tongs to pile pasta and vegetables mixture high into middle of pasta bowl. Use a spatula to place chicken on top. Garnish with drizzled EVOO and maybe some chopped parsley or if you have some. Or stick a sprig of parsley in a corner of the chicken for added height.

You can use this same recipe to make Eggplant Parmesan, Zucchini Parmesan, or even Veal Parmesan. Just replace the chicken with any of these substitutes and follow the same recipe. For Veal Parmesan, Cut a veal loin into 2 oz discs, then use a kitchen mallet to pound out each into a flat patty between two pieces of heavy plastic, such as freezer bags.

By the way, this versatile red sauce is the same one I use for my pizza. For that complete recipe, click here.

Buon appetito!