Roasted Chicken Breast with Pinot Noir Sauce

This was another dish I made for company last week--hadn't made it in a while and this presented the opportunity to enjoy the side dish that was suggested for it in the magazine (Cooking Light), as it involves green beans and I am the only member of my household that enjoys them.  I'll post that recipe tomorrow, but for today, let's start with the lovely main dish!

Here is the original recipe:

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/roasted-breast-of-chicken-with-pinot-noir-sauce

The only adaptation I made was that I used only 3 large chicken breasts--and having done so, I can assure you that you will need to make more of the rub that goes on for the roasting part if you have more than 3 or 4.

Ingredients:

2 tsp. chopped fresh thyme

1/2 tsp. salt, divided

1/2 tsp. coarse ground black pepper, divided

1/2 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary

3 large boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

1/4 c. all-purpose flour

1 T. olive oil

cooking spray

3 T. finely chopped shallots (I used food processor)

2 c. pinot noir wine

1 1/2 c. chicken broth

3/4 tsp. sugar

3 T. chilled butter, cut in small pieces

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.

2. Combine thyme, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. pepper, and rosemary in a small bowl.  Rub mixture over all chicken breasts.

3. Place flour in shallow dish, dredge chicken in flour, shake off excess.

4. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat.  Cook chicken 2 minutes on each side.

5. Coat roasting pan with cooking spray.  Place chicken breasts on prepared pan and bake for 12 minutes or until thermometer registers 160°F when inserted in thickest part of chicken (it took closer to 16 minutes for mine).

6. Remove from oven, cover with foil.

7. Heat a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.  Spray with non-stick cooking spray and add shallots to pan.  Cook for 30 seconds, stirring frequently.

8. Stir in wine, then increase heat to high and bring to boil.  Cook 10 minutes or until wine is reduced to 1 cup.

9. Add broth and cook for 16 minutes or until reduced to 1/3 cup (mine was closer to 20 minutes).

10. Remove from heat.  Stir in remaining 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. pepper, and sugar.

11. Gradually add in butter, stirring well after each addition.

12. Serve sauce over chicken and enjoy!

Beef & Mixed Mushroom Skewers

Tastes like grilled, but done in the oven?  Yes, it is possible!  These skewers are done under the broiler and pretty easy.  Just takes time to assemble them, that's all.  I modified the recipe slightly and did one step differently, but doubt it made much difference.  Will make these again for sure!
Link to original recipe:
http://www.familycircle.com/recipe/beef-mixed-mushroom-skewers/

Ingredients:

11 oz. fingerling potatoes, cut in 1 inch pieces
2 T. balsamic vinegar
5 T. olive oil
2 T. chopped fresh oregano
2 tsp. chopped fresh thyme
2 tsp. McCormick Montreal steak seasoning, plus a little more for sprinkling
1 lb. mixture of cremini and button mushrooms, stems removed
12 oz. boneless ribeye steak, cut into small cubes

Instructions:

1. Place potatoes in a medium saucepan and cover with lightly salted water.  Bring to boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until fork-tender.  Drain and set aside.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together vinegar, olive oil, oregano, thyme, and steak seasoning.  Set aside.

3. Heat broiler to HI.  Spray a large broiler pan with non-stick spray.

4. Thread potatoes, mushrooms, and meat cubes on 8 metal skewers (or bamboo skewers that have been soaked for 20 minutes).  Place on prepared broiler pan.

5. Brush generously with half of the vinegar mixture on one side, then sprinkle with a little additional steak seasoning all over.

6. Turn skewers over (easiest to do end-to-end, I discovered) and brush remaining mixture on other side.  Sprinkle with a little additional steak seasoning all over and place in oven (rack in middle).

7.  Broil on one side for 5 minutes, then turn skewers over and broil on other side for 5 minutes.

8. Plate it up and enjoy!  (I served them with corn-on-the-cob, but they would be great on their own, too (and plenty filling)).

Chocolate Layer Cake with Nutella

After a few days off, I'm back and have plenty more to blog!
Let's start with this very yummy cake made from scratch.  It's a great cake if you are looking for something that is just sweet enough to meet a chocolate craving without going overboard.  The texture is fluffy, goes very well with vanilla ice cream.
I followed the original recipe exactly except I did not add the hazelnuts (was making for company and didn't know if they would care for them).  When I make again, I will likely leave them out again, as the cake was great without :)
Link to original recipe:
http://www.familycircle.com/recipe/chocolate-hazelnut-layer-cake/

Ingredients:

2 c. cake flour (not self-rising)
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 c. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 eggs
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, broken into pieces or chopped
2 tsp. canola oil
1 1/2 c. buttermilk
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, broken into pieces or chopped
1 c. heavy cream
1/2 c. Nutella

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 325°F.  Coat two 9" round cake pans with non-stick cooking spray.  Line bottoms of the pans with wax paper (I traced around bottom and cut out with scissors), then spray top of wax paper as well.

2. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together cake flour, baking soda, and salt.

3. In mixing bowl, beat butter until creamy.  Add sugar and beat until fluffy, about 2 minutes.

4. Add vanilla and beat in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

5. Place unsweetened chocolate and oil in a small microwave-safe dish and microwave for 20 seconds, then stir. Repeat process two more times (for a total of 1 minute microwaving).  Stir until all chocolate has melted.

6. Beat chocolate into butter mixture.

7. On low speed, mix flour mixture into batter in 3 additions, alternating with buttermilk in 3 additions.  After additions are complete, beat on medium speed for 1 minute.

8. Divide batter between the 2 prepared pans.

9. Bake for 35-38 minutes (or until fork inserted at center to test comes out clean).  Cool on wire racks for 15 minutes.

10. Turn cakes out onto wire racks and remove wax paper.  Cool cakes completely.

11. Place bittersweet chocolate in a medium-sized heat-tolerant bowl.  Bring cream to a boil (be careful with heating it and stir to make sure does not scorch), then remove from heat and pour over the chocolate.  Stir until smooth/all chocolate is melted.

12. Cool chocolate to room temperature, then cover and place in fridge for 30 minutes.  (I forgot to do first part of this step and it still turned out alright).

13. Place first layer of cake on serving plate.  Spread Nutella over top of this layer, then place second layer on top of Nutella.

14. Spread chilled chocolate mixture over top and sides of cake.  Let stand at room temperature until set.

15. Slice a piece and enjoy!

Pain Perdu

"Pain perdu" translates literally (from French) as "lost bread", which is what we typically call "French toast" here in the USA.  This recipe, surprisingly enough, comes from Cooking Light.  I followed it almost exactly, except I think I used a little more butter than it called for.  I also changed the strawberries part slightly and topped it with some maple syrup, too, so that might just have driven it off the map for "light".  Still, it is a great recipe and the only thing I will change next time I make it is to lower the heat slightly (just under medium would probably do better) and wipe the pan clean for second batch (my second batch came out much darker due to the leftover butter that had darkened in the first).

Here is the original recipe:

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/pain-perdu-0

Ingredients:

3/4 c. 2% milk
1 T. sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. whole nutmeg, grated
1/8 tsp. salt
3 large eggs
8-10 slices, 1" thick, day old French baguette (mine was a day and half, had 10 slices because some were small)
1 T. butter (possibly more)

sliced strawberries
grated orange zest
turbinado or regular sugar

maple syrup (optional)
powdered sugar

Instructions:

1. In a large bowl, combine first 7 ingredients (milk through eggs) with a whisk.

2. Place bread slices in a 13" x 9" baking dish and pour mixture over the bread.  Turn bread over to coat in mixture.

3. Let stand at room temperature for 20 minutes, turning bread over every 5 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, stir together desired amount of strawberries with a small amount of orange zest and some sugar (I sprinkle over top of strawberries just enough to coat).  Let set for 20 minutes to form glaze.

5. Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet over just less than medium heat.  Add half of bread slices to pan and cook on each side for around 3 minutes.  Wipe pan clean and repeat process for other half of bread.

6. Serve topped with powdered sugar, maple syrup, and glazed strawberries---mmmm!

Three Cheese Lasagna with Italian Sausage

Mmmmm lasagna!  I looked around for a while to find this recipe--wanted one that did not require béchamel sauce and had a good amount of layers and cheese.  I made the recipe with the original amounts for the ricotta mixture and shredded cheese and found it was a little excessive, so the amounts below are what I would cut it down to (approximately what I used, based on what was leftover).  If you like a lot of sauce, you will want to make 1 1/2 or 2 times what is listed here and increase the baking time slightly (I think I will do that next time).  I also modified a couple of other parts just slightly.

Original recipe:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/three-cheese-lasagna-with-italian-sausage-3152

Ingredients:

1 T. olive oil

1 c. onion

3/4 c. carrots

2 T. minced bottled garlic

6 oz. lean ground beef

8 oz. (2 links) Italian sausages, casings removed

1 can (28 oz.) crushed tomatoes

1/4 c. tomato paste

1/4 c. chopped fresh basil

1 T. golden brown sugar

1 T. dried oregano

1 bay leaf

1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper

9 lasagna noodles

22 oz. part-skim ricotta cheese

3/4 c. grated parmesan cheese

1 egg

1 package (8 oz.) shredded Italian 4 cheese blend

1 package (8 oz.) shredded Mozzarella

Instructions:

1. Process onion and carrots in food processor to finely chop them.

2. Heat oil over medium heat in heavy large skillet or saucepan.  Add onion, carrots, and garlic.  Sauté until softened, 10-12 minutes.

3. Add beef and sausage to pan.  Sauté until cooked through, around 5 minutes, chopping into small pieces as cooks.

4. Add ingredients from crushed tomatoes through crushed red pepper.  Cover and simmer for around 15 minutes.  Discard bay leaf after simmering.

5. Meanwhile, cook lasagna noodles according to package directions minus one minute of cook time.  Drain and spray/rinse with cold water.

6. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Combine ricotta and 1/2 c. of Parmesan cheese in bowl.  Season with salt and pepper, and stir in egg.

7. Spread 1/2 c. of the pasta sauce on bottom of 13" x 9" glass baking dish.  

8. Place 3 noodles over top of sauce.

9. Spread half of ricotta cheese mixture over noodles.

10. Sprinkle a little over half of 4 cheese blend over ricotta mixture.

11. Spread 1 1/2 c. sauce over cheese blend.

12. Repeat layering process, using a little bit of the mozzarella with the remaining 4 cheese blend.

13. Place last 3 noodles on top.  Spread remaining sauce over top of last noodles and top with remaining mozzarella.

14. Cover baking dish with aluminum foil.  Bake for 40 minutes.

15. Remove foil.  Bake for additional 20 minutes.

16. Let lasagna stand for 15 minutes before serving.  Enjoy!

Coffee Cake Muffins

This is another recipe from the "Easy Everyday Cooking" cards I have.  This was my first time making these, and it's yet another happy yummy discovery!  The original recipe has softened butter or margarine listed as an ingredient; I'd forgotten to set out some butter to be ready and didn't have time to wait, so I went with butter flavored Crisco as a substitute--worked great :)  The photo below is of the only 3 leftover from the batch--forgot to snap a pic of the finished product (made these for houseguests, so I was a bit more concerned with feeding them.)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 egg
3/4 c. milk (I used 2%)
1/3 c. butter flavored Crisco (or butter or margarine, softened)

3 T. melted butter
cinnamon-sugar blend, for dipping

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a 12-cup muffin pan.

2. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg in a medium bowl.

3. Beat egg and milk together in a small bowl.

4. Beat (by hand) butter flavored Crisco in a large bowl.

5. Add flour mixture and egg mixture alternately, mixing with wooden spoon after each addition.  Do not overmix.

6. Spoon batter into prepared muffin pan, filling each cup 2/3 full.  Bake for 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean.

7. Just after muffins come out of oven, remove them from the pan and put on cooling rack for 1-2 minutes.

8. Dip muffin tops in melted butter, then in cinnamon-sugar blend and serve immediately.  Enjoy!