Smothered Chicken Thighs in a Tarragon and Mushroom Cream Sauce

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...My herb garden this year was a half whiskey barrel that sits on our deck. It began the summer with neatly planted starts of rosemary, marjoram, spearmint and tarragon. Unfortunately, while the spearmint clearly triumphed, the tarragon managed to defend its territory and has recently demanded to be used before the first frost takes it down. That, coupled with an abundance of mushrooms that were the result of an overzealous shopping expedition, led to tonight's feature. You'll find the chicken to be rich and delicious and quite easy to do. If you find the light cream to be too caloric, use whole milk instead. Bone-in chicken thighs are inexpensive in this area of the country, so this company worthy dish can be made for less than a king's ransom. I do hope you'll give this recipe a try. It is hard to beat fast, easy and delicious. Here is how the chicken is made.

Frugal Foodie Friday - Chicken with Cranberry or Port Wine Glaze

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...If you are looking for a festive, inexpensive entree for a special family meal, I do hope you'll give this recipe a try. The chicken can be made with cranberry juice or port wine and you'll find it is delicious whichever option you choose. The dish takes less than an hour to prepare and I think you'll really enjoy the sweet and salty notes in the sauce that's used to glaze the chicken. The sauce also works well with sliced pork tenderloin or chicken cutlets. If you are watching pennies, the cranberry option will be best for you, but I hope that at some point you'll have the opportunity to make the dish with wine and dried cherries. I guarantee that cherries simmered in this sauce will make the angels sing, and barring that, at least bring a smile or two to the faces at your table. The recipe, which comes from Eating Well magazine, is straight forward and easy to follow, and the chicken is good enough to serve for an informal company meal. Rice or couscous are the usual accompaniments for this dish, but I like to break ranks and serve the chicken with rösti or potato pancakes. Do give this one a try. If you like gutsy flavors, this Frugal Friday feature is bound to please. Here is how the chicken is made.

Sticky Chicken

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...It has been a day. At the moment my kitchen looks like the scene of a bloodbath. Today was the day I set aside to put-by strawberries and rhubarb, and the various shades of red adorning my counters attest to that. By the time dinner rolled around, I didn't feel much like cooking a big meal, so, I fell back on an old family favorite, Sticky Chicken. The dish, which was named by one of my daughters, is a pantry meal that literally takes minutes to prepare. It can be grilled or broiled and when it is paired with appropriate sides, it is a dish your friends and family will really enjoy. The recipe is very straightforward and my only caution is to watch it carefully once it has been glazed. It chars easily. I do hope you give this simple dish a try. Here's the recipe.

Sticky Chicken...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite


Ingredients:
1/3 cup orange or lemon marmalade
2 teaspoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 teaspoons spicy brown mustard
1-1/2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1/4 teaspoon five-spice powder
8 to 10 skinless, boneless chicken thighs (about 2 lb.), trimmed
1 tablespoon snipped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon sesame seed, toasted
2 teaspoons finely shredded orange or lemon peel

Directions:
1) Place marmalade in a small bowl and microwave on HIGH power for about 45 seconds, or until it can easily be stirred. Add vinegar, honey, lime juice, mustard, ginger and five-spice and stir to combine.
2) To grill: Grill chicken on rack of an uncovered grill directly over medium coals for 12 to 15 minutes or until chicken is done (180 degree F), turning once and brushing with marmalade mixture during the last 4 to 5 minutes of grilling. (For gas grill, preheat grill. Reduce heat to medium; cover and grill as above.)
3) To broil: Place chicken on rack of an unheated broiler pan. Broil 4 to 5 inches from heat for 12 to 15 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink (165 degrees F.) turning once and brushing with marmalade mixture during last 4 to 5 minutes of broiling.
3) Combine parsley, sesame seed, and orange or lemon peel in small bowl.To serve, place chicken on a serving platter. Sprinkle with the parsley mixture. Makes 4 to 6 servings.










One Year Ago Today: Sloppy Joes
















Two Years Ago Today: Hawaiian Banana Bread

















Three years Ago Today: Morning Glory Petal Bread

Peruvian Chicken with Green Sauce

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Despite his surgery, the Silver Fox is back in fine fettle and it will not be necessary for us to scrap plans to travel through South America in the fall. Most of our time will be spent in Peru and I am embarrassed to admit that I know next to nothing about the food of the region. I've started to research the cuisine and I am in rudimentary stages of testing recipes that I think are typical of the area. I did a soup several weeks ago that we really enjoyed and I've been collecting recipes ever since. While it is usually spit roasted, the Peruvian chicken featured in this post is a classic entree. I first saw it on Foodspotting. It is a popular dish and always on the menu of Pio Pio, a chain of Peruvian restaurants in the New York area. Unfortunately, I was unable to get a copy of the recipe they use to prepare the chicken. I did, however, find one on Sara Moulton's website and I must tell you I'm thrilled with the results. This dish is about as easy as they come and you'll have no problems with it, if you make sure the chicken is dry when you put it into the oven to roast and you make no attempt to baste it.  The end result is a wonderfully flavored chicken that has glorious color and skin so crisp it crunches when you bite into it. The green sauce, aji verde, is a must. It has some heat, but I can't imagine this dish without it. I would suggest you substitute 1 large sliced jalapeno for the serrano chile called for in the original recipe. It will tame the dragon's fire the serranos might cause. The ease with which the chicken and sauce come together, guarantees this healthy entree a spot in my recipe rotation. Please try this one. I promise you won't be sorry. Here, thanks to Sara Moulton, is the recipe. Enjoy!

Peruvian Chicken with Green Sauce...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Sara Moulton

Ingredients:
3/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves
1/2 cup soy sauce (low sodium, if you prefer)
3 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1-1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1-1/2 teaspoons hot paprika
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
6 cloves garlic
8 small bone-in chicken thighs with skin (about 3 pounds)
Green Sauce (recipe follows below)

Directions:
1. Combine the cilantro, soy sauce, vinegar, vegetable oil, cumin, paprika, oregano, and the desired amount of cayenne in a blender; press in the garlic (about 2 tablespoons) and puree for the marinade. Combine the marinade and the chicken in a resealable plastic bag and set aside at room temperature for 30 minutes, turning the bag once.
2. Place an oven rack on the top shelf of the oven and preheat the oven to 450°F. Drain the chicken, discarding the marinade, and pat the chicken dry. Arrange the chicken on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. Roast for 20 to 30 minutes, or until crispy and cooked through. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving. Top each portion with green sauce. Yield: 4 to 5 servings.

Green Sauce: Combine 3 large scallions, trimmed and halved, 1/4 cup sliced Serrano chile with seeds and ribs (I suggest substituting 1 large jalapeno for the Serrano chiles), 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, 2 oz crumbled goat cheese (1/2 cup), 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, and 1/2 cup half-and-half in a blender and puree until smooth.

One Year Ago Today: Blueberry and Sour Cream Tart

Two Years Ago Today: Rice and Red Lentil Pilaf - Kichiri

Poulet au Vinaigre de Romarin

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...What's in a name? Sometimes quite a lot. There's not much appealing about a dish called Vinegar Chicken, but here's the thing. When properly cooked it can be delicious, and since this chicken is as interesting as it is delicious, I Frenchified the name to keep you on the page. I hope my ruse works and you'll give this recipe a try. The Silver Fox, at whose suggestion I'm sharing the recipe, is a tad unhappy right now. It's still quite early here, and in order to capture the vagaries of light in the Pacific Northwest, I decided to make and photograph the chicken early on. There has been some grousing. It seems my guy doesn't "love the smell of napalm vinegar in the morning". He's having his coffee on the deck despite steaming hoar frost and the morning chill. I'll just have to carry on. I like this recipe on many levels. It is, first and foremost, easy and inexpensive to make. It can be on the table in well under an hour, and if served with the proper side dishes, it makes a great entrée for company. You'll find the taste of vinegar here is muted, and while you know it's there, it won't overwhelm your palate. I flour the chicken before cooking to insulate the chicken from the high heat of the pan. It also gives the chicken great color. Years ago, I know restaurant chefs dredged chops and poultry in an instant blending flour to assure a gorgeous color and I've followed suit, although I use the less expensive all-purpose flour to coat my chicken. This dish can be on the table in 45 minutes or so. I love to serve it with the creamy polenta that you can find here.I do hope you'll give this a try. Here's the recipe.

Poulet au Vinaigre de Romarin...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 pound sweet Italian sausage, cut in 1/2-inch rounds
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed
1-1/2 teaspoons dried rosemary
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup canned low-sodium chicken broth
1 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 2 teaspoon water
2 tablespoons Italian parsley, chopped fresh

Directions:
1) Heat oil in a large heavy skillet pan set over medium heat. When oil shimmers, add sausage and cook, stirring often, until sausage is lightly browned, about 5 minutes.
2) While sausage browns, season chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge in flour and shake off excess.
3) Remove sausage from pan and set aside. Add garlic and saute until light golden brown. Remove garlic from pan and set aside. Add chicken and cook over medium-high heat, turning once, until chicken is brown, about 6 to 8 minutes. Pour off fat. Return sausage and garlic to pan and scatter rosemary over all.
4) Pour in vinegar and bring to a boil. Boil until the vinegar is almost entirely evaporated, about 2 minutes. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover pan, and simmer for 15 minutes longer. Add cornstarch mixture and cook until thickened, turning chicken pieces to glaze. Transfer to a serving platter, sprinkle with parsley and serve immediately. Yield: 4 to 5 servings.

One Year Ago Today: Stracciatella - Roman Egg Drop Soup
















Two Years Ago Today: Bittersweet Chocolate Snowballs

50 Women Game Changers in Food - #17 Dorothy Hamilton - Maple Syrup + Thai Chicken Thighs with Garlic and Lime

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Dorothy Hamilton is an educator and entrepreneur who many consider to be a gastronomic visionary. She attended Newcastle University in England in the late 60's, and following graduation joined the Peace Corp. She spent the next three years in Thailand where she was first introduced to French and Thai cuisine. She returned to New York City during the recession of 1974 and her English major and volunteer experience made it difficult for her to find employment. By default, she went to work for her father who ran a trade school in the city, and learned she loved working with students. She also loved cooking, and following visits to European culinary schools, convinced her father to open a culinary trade school. In 1984 she started a small cooking school called The French Culinary Institute. It, along with The School of Italian Studies, came to be housed under the umbrella of The International Culinary Centers which she also founded. As CEO of this prestigious institution, she became one of the most influential forces in the American culinary scene. The awards she has won while in that position are simply too numerous to mention here. She has been recognized by Gourmet Live and holds position #17 on their list of the 50 Most Influential Women in Food.

She has, however, presented a problem for those of us who participate in the weekly challenge that recognizes these women. While she writes with authority about food, she does not write cookbooks. After considerable searching, I found only one recipe that came from her hand. It is for maple syrup that she made with her daughter, Olivia. I found the recipe buried in an article she had written for her own blog, "Love What You Do!" which you can be found here. I'm including a snippet that actually has instruction for cooking down the sap. Here it is.

Maple Syrup

"Cooking down the sap is the easy part until the end. It takes approximately 10 gallons of sap to make one pint of syrup. I start my syrup outside because of all the steam. The only other technique you need to employ other than boiling is filtering. As I said, insects love the sap too, so before your initial boil run the sap through 4 layers of cheesecloth. I pour the sap through a large colander into a huge lobster pot and let it boil most of the day over a propane flame outside. Once it boils down to a size that will fit in a stock pot in the house I filter it again through 4 layers of cheesecloth and bring it inside to the stove. Syrup boils at 7 degrees above the boiling point of water (212 degrees). I use a candy thermometer to watch how it goes. The syrup starts off either clear or cloudy white. As it boils down it gets a rusty hue. In the pot on the stove the color deepens and deepens. Then all at once it bubbles like crazy into a caramel color and you smell the syrup almost on the point of burning. Fast,fast, fast get it off the heat. Filter again while it is at least 160 degrees and put in sterilized glass, tin or heavy plastic containers. Seal and then turn upside down to lock the seal."

Now, I am uncomfortable leaving you with a non-recipe recipe, so I did some more digging. I was able to find a series of recipes that were developed for Dorothy Hamilton by Chef Bobo, the public persona of Robert Surless, who I believe is an instructor at the ICC. She apparently cooks for her family several times a week and wanted recipes that were fast and easy to prepare. Because she was dieting, the recipes also had to be low in calories. I found his recipe and accompanying photo on the Food and Wine site, which you can find here. The dish has the sweet, salty, sour and spicy flavors we've come to associate with good Thai Cooking.

Thai Chicken Thighs with Garlic and Lime

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs. skinless, boneless chicken thighs
freshly ground black pepper
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 1/2 tablespoons minced cilantro
1 1/2 tablespoons Asian fish sauce
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped basil
1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped mint
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
lime wedges, for serving

Directions:
1) Season chicken with pepper. In a bowl, mix garlic with 2 tablespoons of cilantro, fish sauce, brown sugar and chili powder. Rub over chicken and let stand for up to 1 hour.
2) In a small bowl, toss remaining cilantro with basil and mint.
3) In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil until simmering. Add chicken and cook over high heat, turning once until cooked through, 6 to 7 minutes. Cut each thigh into 3 or 4 pieces. Transfer the chicken to a platter and scatter the herbs all over. Serve with the lime wedges and brown rice. Makes 4 servings.

The following bloggers are also featuring the work of Dorothy Hamilton today. I hope you'll visit all of them. They are all great cooks who have wonderful blogs.

Val - More Than Burnt Toast
Joanne - Eats Well With Others
Taryn - Have Kitchen Will Feed
Susan - The Spice Garden
Claudia - A Seasonal Cook in Turkey
Heather - girlichef
Miranda - Mangoes and Chutney
Jeanette - Healthy Living
April - Abby Sweets
Katie - Making Michael Pollan Proud
Mary - One Perfect Bite
Kathleen -Bake Away with Me
Viola - The Life is Good Kitchen
Sue - The View from Great Island
Barbara - Movable Feasts
Kathleen - Gonna Want Seconds
Amy - Beloved Green
Jeanette - Healthy Living
Linda - Ciao Chow Linda
Linda A - There and Back Again
Martha - Lines from Linderhof
Nancy - Picadillo


Next week we will highlight the career and recipes of Clotilde Dusoulier. It will be really interesting to see what everyone comes up with. If you'd like to join us please email me for additional information no later than Saturday, October 1st.