Chocolate-It's What's for Dinner

This is a pretty forgiving recipe. I used chicken wings, but you can use thighs, legs, bone-in breasts, or a whole chicken. If you are doing a whole chicken, you will probably need to double the marinade. Grilled Lemon Honey Thyme Chicken 1lb chicken wings (thighs, bone-in breasts or whole chicken) 1 head garlic 2 lemons (juice and zest) 2 T honey thyme sprigs 1/4 c olive oil salt pepper Mash garlic cloves and salt together with the side of a chef's knife to form a paste. Whisk together marinade ingredients in a bowl. Place chicken in marinade. Place in refrigerator for at least 1 hour or up to 8 hours. Remove chicken from marinade and discard marinade. Place on hot grill and cook until done (about 15-20 minutes). We have an old-fashioned (well not really old fashioned - it's really new fashioned) charcoal grill. We don't do that gas grill thing. So we pile the charcoal on one side and start the wings off the direct heat. We then move them over for about ...

This sounded very intriguing when I first came across this recipe. Chicken in Milk (Adapted from Jamie Oliver via Food 52 ) 1 whole chicken salt/pepper 3 T olive oil 2 cinnamon stick zest of 2 lemons 10 garlic cloves, skin on 2 c milk Preheat oven to 375. Salt and pepper the chicken. In a pot that the chicken will fit tightly in, heat the oil. Fry the chicken until it gets nicely brown on all sides. Remove chicken and discard remaining olive oil (I just wiped it out with paper towels). Put the chicken back in the pot with the remaining ingredients. Cook in oven for 1 1/2 hours basting every 20 minutes. The milk becomes curdy and makes a really delicious sauce for the chicken as well as mashed potatoes. The chicken comes out super tender. The lactic acid in the milk tenderizes the chicken. I was wondering if you could make this with buttermilk. I'm thinking that would add some additional flavor. Jamie Oliver uses fresh sage in the recipe. It was raining really ...

There is nothing more tasty than a roasted chicken. Besides the whole house warms up and smells great. One way to roast a chicken is in a cast iron frying pan. Honey Soy Roasted Chicken 1/4 c honey 1/4 c butter (1/2 stick) 2 T soy sauce 1 small onion 1 stalk celery 3lb whole chicken Salt Melt butter, add honey, and soy sauce. Dry chicken and place in cast iron frying pan. Salt chicken cavity.  Place onion and celery inside cavity. Brush sauce on chicken. Put in 350 oven and baste chicken every 20 minutes. Cook for approximately 60 minutes or until chicken is done. You could also put some lemons inside the cavity and I think that would go nicely with the soy and honey flavors. I made a little extra of the sauce and basted a sliced acorn squash. I cooked it for about 30-40 minutes in the oven with the chicken. It was quite tasty as well but wasn't much to look at (so no pics).

Since I had the maple syrup out for the Brussels Sprouts, I thought well why not try it with the chicken too. Maple Mustard Chicken (Adapted from Cooking Light ) 2 t olive oil 1 lb chicken breast salt/pepper 2 clove garlic (chopped) 1/4 c chicken broth 1/4 c maple syrup 1 T vinegar (I used Kressi) 1 T dijon mustard 4-6 Fresh thyme sprigs Place the chicken breasts between a piece of plastic and sprinkle a little water so they do not stick. Pound the chicken thin. Season with salt and pepper. Place oil in hot oven-proof skillet. Add chicken to the pan and cook until browned and turn. DO NOT crowd the pan. Remove chicken from pan. Add garlic to the skillet and good until fragrant. Add broth and syrup and cook for 2 minutes, scraping the pan to loosen the brown bits (fond) from the pan.  Add the vinegar and mustard; stir until mustard is incorporated into the liquid. Cook for 1 minute. Add thyme and chicken to pan; turning chicken over to coat with sauce. Place pan...

Pad Thai is such a flavorful dish.  When I first got Simply Thai Cooking (I have the second edition), I wasn't sure if I would make many of the recipes. They really have a lot of ingredients but actually they are pretty simple to make.  I adapted this recipe by omitting the chicken breast and shrimp. I only used tofu. I've also made it with just chicken. The tamarind paste may be a little difficult to source but it stays for quite a long time in the refrigerator once you find it. Pad Thai (Adapted from Simply Thai Cooking ) 8 oz Thai rice noodles 16 oz tofu, extra firm  3 T tamarind paste (concentrate) 1/4 c warm water 6 T roasted unsalted peanuts 3 green onions, chopped 3 T fish sauce 2 T lime juice 2 T sugar 1/2 c canola oil 1 t garlic, chopped 2 eggs 1 c bean sprouts 1/2 t chili flakes Fresh cilantro Lime wedges Soak rice noodles in cold water for at least 1 hour.  Place tofu on folded paper towels, place two folded paper towels on top....

Our Big Green Egg To me this is a sign that the nice weather is finally here - chicken cooked on the grill (although we've been known to grill in cold weather too).  I've been making chicken this way for as long as I can remember. This recipe is pretty flexible with the seasoning - I've used fresh herbs, dried herbs, and many different combinations of herbs. But here is the basic recipe: Grilled Chicken le papier d'aluminium (sounds much nicer than chicken in foil) 1 whole chicken (cut up into 2 breasts, 2 legs, 2 thighs, 2 wings with tips removed) 1 stick butter 2 t thyme 2-3 t smokey paprika salt/pepper Tear off 7 pieces of aluminum foil (no not 8 pieces because the wings are going to cook together). Evenly distribute 1/2 of the butter across the aluminum foil. Distribute 1 t of thyme, 1 t of the smokey paprika, and salt & pepper to taste across the aluminum foil. You may want to be a little more generous with the seasonings and butter for the br...

I've been making this pasta salad so long I don't even know where I got it from originally. It's a little different than your regular old pasta salad as it has a citrus dressing. It was a nice addition to the Brunch table. Chicken & Bow Tie Pasta Salad 1lb cooked farfalle pasta 2 c cooked chicken, shredded 1 1/2 c red seedless grapes, halved 1 c celery, cut on the diagonal 1 c grape tomatoes, halved (optional) 1/3 c red onion, minced Dressing: zest of 1 orange 1/3 c fresh orange juice zest of 1 lemon 1/2 c fresh lemon juice 1 T rice wine vinegar 3 T olive oil pinch of sugar may be necessary parsley chives salt/pepper In a large bowl combine all of the salad ingredients.  In a small bowl whisk together all the dressing ingredients.  Taste and add additional sugar if necessary. Pour over salad. I made this the day before.  I found it needed additional dressing the next day - the pasta had absorbed all the dressing so it was a little dry. But ...