Basil Orange Chicken

Back to real time blogging, this was dinner last night. Basil Orange Chicken. I found the recipe in the May 2010 edition of Good Housekeeping magazine.

Basil Orange Chicken

Serves 4

1 large navel orange

2 lemons

1/2 cup packed fresh basil leaves, chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

Salt and pepper

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (1 1/2 lbs)

1/2 tsp sugar

1 cup whole wheat couscous

8 oz stringless sugar snap peas

Grilled orange slices for garnish

1. From orange, grate 1 1/2 teaspoons peel and squeeze 4 tablespoons juice. From lemons, grate 1 1/2 teaspoons peel and squeeze 1/3 cup juice.

2. In medium bowl, combine 1 teaspoon of each peel and 1 tablespoon orange juice with half of basil, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper.

3. With flat side of meat mallet, pound chicken breasts (placed between 2 sheets of plastic wrap) to an even 1/2 inch thickness. Add chicken to citrus mixture, turning to coat,  set aside.

4. In a small pitcher or bowl, combine sugar, 1/8 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, and remaining citrus peels, citrus juices, basil and oil; set aside. (Can be made to this point up to 8 hours ahead. Cover chicken and citrus sauce and refrigerate.)

5. Preheat large ridged grill pan or prepare outdoor grill for direct grilling on medium-high.

6. Meanwhile, prepare couscous as label directs. In 4 qt saucepan filled with 1/2 inch water, place a vegetable steamer. Heat to boiling on high.

7. Add chicken to hot grill pan or place on hot grill grate, cook 4 minutes. Turn chicken over and cook 3 to 4 minutes longer until no longer pink in center. 

8. While chicken is cooking on second side, add snap peas to steamer; cook 2 to 3 minutes or until tender-crisp. Fluff couscous and spoon onto larger platter; top with chicken and snap peas. Drizzle sauce over all. Garnish with citrus slices.

Each serving: about 400 calories, 46g protein, 33g carbohydrates, 9g total fat (1g saturated), 6g fiber, 99mg cholesterol, 365mg sodium.

Chicken and orange slices on the grill pan - first side.

Chicken and orange slices on the second side.

Citrus sauce

Final product

Very delicious. We didn't marinate this for hours - just the time it took to put everything else together. I think the meat would have been a lot more orange-flavored had we let it sit for several hours.

Great meal though, and pretty quick to make. Looking forward to my leftovers today for lunch!

Thanksgiving 2010

Continuing the 2010 catch-up, today's post is a recap of Thanksgiving.

Only the second time I've ever hosted turkey day, but the first time for Jim's family. I was certainly a lot less stressed about it than I usually am for Christmas - mostly because I felt comfortable with cooking all of the the Thanksgiving "regulars" and wasn't planning on anything new or fancy like I usually plan on for Christmas.

We were having 11 for dinner, and another 7 for dessert, and I was determined to get everyone at one table.

We have a large and oddly laid out kitchen, so were able to bring in our large outdoor table inside, as well as a smaller table on the end to make one super long table. It worked out great! Even had a tablecloth long enough!

The Menu:

Roasted Turkey

Homemade stuffing (inside the bird)

Homemade stuffing with sausage and sage (outside the bird)

Three kinds of mashed potatoes: plain, sweet, and garlic smashed red

Cranberry relish

Green beans

Corn

Corn muffins

Desserts:

Apple Pie

Pumpkin Pie

Maple Cupcakes

Banana Caramel Cake

Cream Puffs

As usual I worked on the floral centerpieces myself also.

Didn't get a shot of the turkey but he was perfect. Crispy skin, and juicy inside.

The mashed potatoes were so easy! I made them all from scratch in the morning - 3 different batches - and then just kept them warm in my fancy crock pot trio.

Plain mashed, mashed sweet potatoes (just butter, salt and pepper), and then garlic smashed red potatoes.

Whipped up a quick batch of corn muffins in the morning - they were a hit!

I never liked corn muffins until I made these from Martha this year. Recipe found HERE.

Too busy eating to take photos of the rest of dinner...

Desserts were yummy as usual.

Apple Pie made by my mother-in-law the day before. Classic recipe from Martha's Baking Handbook.

Pumpkin Pie also from Martha's baking handbook. I tried to get fancy with a twisted rope crust, but it was entirely too big and fell into the shell a bit when I was blind baking it. This meant a little less room for pumpkin filling, but apparently it still tasted good.

My fancy and new dessert for the occasion was a banana caramel cake. I didn't try it because I really don't like bananas, but everyone else seemed to enjoy it.

I think I'll post about this recipe tomorrow...

Then I also made maple cupcakes. Mostly for my pregnant sister-in-law who had a few the last time I made them and fell in love. They really are delicious.

Our aunt brought cream puffs that were equally delicious. You can't have just one!

Our first Thanksgiving hosted as Mr. and Mrs. was a success! We even saw a little snow fall that afternoon...

Greek Couscous with Chicken & Feta

I'm back on track with planning ahead, making menus, and cooking what I plan for dinner. Our hectic lives forced us to spend less time on dinner each night and I just hate that.

So I went to my trusty pile of recipes I've ripped from the pages of the countless magazines I am given, and found some great new recipes to try. 

This one was quick, easy, and absolutely delicious! I'll definitely be making this one again!

Greek Couscous with Chicken & Feta.

(courtesy of Family Circle - Sept 2010)

Makes: 6 servings

Prep: 10 mins

Cook: 18 mins

1 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 onion, chopped

3/4 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups Israeli couscous

1 1/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth

6 oz green beans, trimmed and halved

2 cups cooked, shredded chicken breast (I just took all the meat from one cooked chicken)

3 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped

1 can artichoke hearts, drained and roughly chopped

1/2 cup crumbled reduced-fat feta

1/3 up kalamata olives, halved (I omitted these because I hate olives)

2 tbsp lemon juice

1. Heat oil in a medium nonstick saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook garlic 30 seconds, then stir in onion, oregano and 1/4 teaspoon salt; cook 4 minutes.

2. Stir in couscous and cook for 1 minute. Add chicken broth and 1 cup water to pot and bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium-low and cook, covered, for 12 minutes or until water is absorbed. Add green beans to pot for last 5 minutes of cooking.

3. Stir in remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, chicken, tomatoes, artichoke hearts, feta, olives, and lemon juice and serve immediately.

Per serving:

280 calories

6g fat (2g saturated)

16g protein

42g carbohydrate

6g fiber

968mg sodium

19mg cholesterol 

I sprinkled a little extra feta on each dish to garnish. 

DELICIOUS! Light, easy, healthy, and quick to make. Try it tonight!

Breakfast at Wimbledon - and celebrating the 4th

Most tennis fans know that the Wimbledon fortnight usually ends on Independence Day weekend. Not that the Brits care - in fact they probably planned it that way so that they could take their minds off of the fact that America is celebrating its independence from England :)

Anyway, I am English by birth, American by nature :) Also a big tennis fan. I've been lucky enough to attend Wimbledon twice as a kid, and I enjoy watching the tournament every year. After the last two mens championship matches, Jim and I thought it would fun to host "Breakfast at Wimbledon" in the hopes that we would have another amazing 5 set match to watch.

Turns out that wasn't the case. Well done to Nadal, but I was hoping that Berdych could have put up a better fight. Oh well. The food was good, the company was great, and overall we had a wonderful day.

The Menu:

Featherbed Eggs

Vegetable Strata

Baked French Toast

Quiche Lorraine with Pancetta

Make-your-own-waffle bar

Chocolate chip muffins

Grilled Pork Roll

Grilled Scrapple

Grilled Bacon

Mixed berries

Strawberries, shortcakes, and Devonshire cream

Mimosas, tea, coffee, juces

Anywhere on the Wimbledon grounds, you can get the best strawberries and cream you have ever tasted. I like them fresh with a little heavy cream drizzled over them, and a little sugar sprinkled on top. I was too busy devouring mine to take a cute photo.

I baked these shortcakes in the morning (so easy and delicious) and had some fresh whipped cream in the fridge to make some amazing strawberry shortcakes.

The chocolate chip muffins are to-die for. Jim asks that I make them more often, but if I did, we'd both be at least 20lbs heavier! So I make them on special occasions :) It is a simple muffin recipe from Everyday Food, and you can add whatever mix-ins you like. I haven't found a mix-in yet that we didn't like with this recipe. I'll post it one day :)

The breakfast buffet was great. Most of the food was prepared the night before and kept in the fridge, and then I just popped it in the oven in the mornig. Everything was ready from the oven pretty early, but stayed hot forever! Jim cooked up all the meat on the grill as the first guests arrived, and the rest was no-hassle entertaining!

The Featherbed Eggs are a recipe my aunt shared with me several years ago - I think she got it in the food section of the LA Times. Prepared the night before.

The Vegetable Strata was a recipe that I found in Gourmet Magazine - very easy, and again, prepared the night before. It's a lot like the Savory Bread Pudding I've made in the past, which means that it is great as leftovers for dinner!

The Baked French Toast was a recipe found in The Joy of Cooking. I used challah bread and soaked the bread in the egg mixture overnight. Delicious.

I made a traditional Quiche Lorraine with homemade pastry from The Joy of Cooking and added some cooked pancetta. Amazing.

As I mentioned, Jim put the scrapple on the grill. Everyone loved it. All the guys who ate it did at least. I cannot bring myself to eat it - I think you have to be a true Philadelphian :) He did the pork roll on the grill also, and for the bacon we put the griddle on the grill and cooked it that way. Nice and crispy.

I tried to get a little patriotic with the decor. Red, white and blue, and some festive flower arrangements. Nothing too fancy. I set up three separate small tables - like a bistro - so people could sit where they liked, and have multiple seatings for multiple rounds of food :)

After several rounds of eating and three sets of tennis (on tv), we spent some time outside playing baggo, followed by some relaxing time on the couches. We had a late lunch/early dinner, and then packed up some things to take with us on our next adventure...

...Our brother-in-law works in center city on the 40th floor of a building that overlooks the Ben Franklin Parkway. Steps away from the cathedral where we were married :)

(That's the cathedral in the bottom right corner) The Philadelphia Museum of Art is in the top left. 

Philadelphia was hosting a free concert and fireworks display on the Parkway, so Matt and Alison came up with the great idea to watch them from his conference room on the 40th floor. Amazing! We took some food and drinks, set up the TV so we could watch the concert, and enjoyed the show!

Hope everyone had a safe and happy Independence Day!

I'll post the recipes from this event later this week.

Patrick's 13th Birthday dinner

Jim's (and my) cousin Patrick is also his godson. He turned the big 1-3 this weekend, and we volunteered to host the family birthday dinner at our house on Sunday.

Didn't get any photos of the main course, but the spread was delicious:

Mozzarella and Prosciutto Chicken on the grill

Prosciutto wrapped beef on the grill

Steamed veggies

Baked potatoes

Cheesy garlic bread

Chicken tenders for the kids, or the kids at heart :)

Dessert was simple:

Chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream icing

Vanilla cupcake cones with chocolate icing and magic shell chocolate sauce

My sister-in-law got me a few great cookbooks for my birthday - one of which was this "200 Barbeque Recipes" book - so I thought I'd try some new recipes

Great stuff in there! There I found the recipe for the chicken, the beef, and the cheesy bread. All easy. All delicious. The book does not come with my husband though - griller extraordinaire!

For the chicken, it said thighs but I used breasts. Pound them until somewhat thin. Season with salt and pepper. With the smooth side of the breast down, place a basil leaf or two on the breast. Then add half (they said quarter) of a bocconcini ball. Roll up the chicken, and wrap in a slice of prosciutto. Skewer it to keep it together, and grill until cooked through.

For the beef, it called for two eye round roasts (about 1 1/2 lbs each). Then make a rub with olive oil, lemon zest, fresh chopped thyme, salt, and freshly ground pepper. Rub all over the two cuts of beef. Then wrap the beef in about 6 slices of prosciutto each, and secure with bakers twine. Roast on indirect heat for 25 minutes, then wrap in a double layer of foil and rest until cooked to perfection - about 20 more minutes.

Cheesy bread was great. One small french loaf. Cut into about 20 slices, but not all the way through the bottom crust. Mix olive oil, crushed garlic and chopped fresh thyme and set aside. Then slice about 4oz of mozzarella thinly, and insert a slice in between each slice of bread. Then brush the entire olive oil mixture all over the bread. Wrap loosely in foil and grill on indirect heat for 5-10 mins until the cheese has melted.

For dessert...I used the old standby. Martha's One Bowl Chocolate Cake recipe. This time I used her chocolate version of the Swiss Meringue Buttercream. Why had I never tried this before?? It was TO DIE FOR! I guess I fell in love with the chocolate cake and original buttercream so long ago, that I never even considered making the chocolate buttercream. But Patrick likes chocolate cake so I thought I'd make it. YUM!

Just some large sprinkles around the edge and a quick royal icing to pipe. A little too runny, but oh well.

Martha's recipe recommends two 8" rounds when making this for a layer cake, but I think I am more comfortable with the 9" rounds. Makes for more manageable slices, and there is certainly enough buttercream to cover the larger cake. Even 10" would be fine.

For the cupcakes, this was a collaboration between my sister-in-law (check out her blog) and I. She made the cupcakes - but baked them right inside the ice cream cones. Yummy already, right? She used a light and airy vanilla recipe from Magnolia Bakery. Then she brought them over to my house, where we topped each one with real chocolate ice cream. We immediately doused them in magic shell chocolate sauce and sprinkles. YUM! Then we popped them in the freezer until ready to serve.

LESSON LEARNED: Make room in the freezer ahead of time AND put the cones in some kind of container that will keep them upright in the freezer. You can probably guess that we did not do the above steps - hence the "lesson learned". And that's why you can see choclately fingerprints all over the cones in the photos. Oh well. They were DELICIOUS!

Happy 13th Birthday, Patrick!