Chicken Party Recipes Part 2

So this is the second set of recipes for the Chicken Party. The first four recipes are already up.

Ravioli with Hazelnut-Sage Chicken

1 9 oz. package fresh mini ravioli
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 + 3 tbsp. butter
12 fresh sage leaves
zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup chopped hazelnuts
salt and pepper to taste

Cook ravioli according to package directions. Drain when done, set aside.

While ravioli is cooking:

In a saute pan, heat olive oil and 1 tbsp. butter over medium heat. Saute chicken, seasoning with salt and pepper. When browned, remove from pan. Add 3 tbsp. butter, sage, and lemon zest. Cook until sage is tender. Return chicken to pan, add ravioli. Toss, cook until everything is hot. Garnish with hazelnuts.

Maple-Pomegranate Glazed Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Skewers

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken, cut into 1 inch cubes
1/2 lb. bacon, cut into 4 inch pieces
6 green onions cut into 4 inch pieces
1/4 cup pomegranate molasses
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 tsp. ginger

Soak bamboo or wooden skewers in water. Wrap chicken pieces in bacon, place on skewers with scallion pieces. Mix pomegranate molasses, maple syrup, and ginger. Grill skewers, brushing with glaze. Cook, turning frequently, until both chicken and bacon are done.

Sweet Pepper-Zucchini Slaw

3 medium zucchini, shredded
4 small sweet peppers, cut into thin strips
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 + 1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. pomegranate molasses
1/3 cup pomegranate flavored dried cranberries

Place shredded zucchini in a colander with 1 tsp. kosher salt. Let sit 10 minutes, then squeeze out as much moisture as possible. Mix  with peppers. In a small bowl, whisk together vinegar, oil, salt, and pomegranate molasses. Toss with peppers and zucchini. Chill. When served, garnish with dried cranberries.

Green Chili Chicken Stew

4 boneless skinless chicken thighs
14 oz. chicken stock
1/4 cup corn meal
2 medium carrots, minced
2 ribs celery, minced
1 tbsp. ground cumin
salt and pepper to taste
6 4 inch diameter corn tortillas
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
canola oil to fry

Cut tortillas into thin strips. Place 1/2 inch oil in a frying pan. Heat to 370 degrees. Fry until crispy. Drain on paper towels, and set aside.

Place chicken, stock, and corn meal in a crock pot. Cook on high until chicken is done. Remove chicken, shred, and return to pot. Add cumin and carrots. Cook about an hour and a half. Add celery, cook until tender. Garnish with cheddar cheese and tortilla chips.

Chicken Party

The spouse is mildly addicted to the House Party website. It's kind of a weird site, where commercial companies offer stuff if you host a party to promote their products. There are a limited number of each party, so you apply, and you might get chosen, or you might not. The spouse has won a few, including one from Werther's, where they sent us bags and bags of candy, and now one from Foster Farms.

Luckily, they didn't mail us chicken. Instead, they gave us two $25 coupons, fourteen reusable shopping bags, a cookbook, and a chef's jacket. Amazingly, the jacket fit me almost perfectly. So, I added a picture of me in it to the blog. To pay for all the swag, however, you have to hold, and document, an actual get together.

So, the plan by the spouse was to have people over, and do lots of little dishes. We ended up settling on eight courses. Now, we both have been enamored of the concept of a tasting party for some time. The little dishes are really cute, and the spouse found some on sale cheap. Seemed like a good thing to try. We did a few old favorites, a few from the recipe book they sent, and few made up on the fly by me.

My goddaughter did yeoman duty as sou chef all day. She was a joy to work with, and I couldn't have pulled it off without her help. The spouse chipped in, as well as doing the bulk of scullery work keeping the pans clean throughout the day.



 For the first course, we went with a favorite cold dish; chicken, dried cranberry, and hazelnut salad. It has a great blend of tastes and textures, with chicken, dried cranberries, celery, nuts, yogurt, mayonnaise, honey, and herbs. I've done variations on this many times, and it works well with walnuts or almonds. You can also add a little diced granny smith apple, instead of the celery, for a little more tang.

I garnished it with a little micro basil from our CSA.

For the second course, we made a cold Asian chicken noodle salad. The chicken is marinated in the dressing, which has fresh ground peanut butter, fish sauce, soy sauce, chilies, garlic, and lime juice.  The chicken is then stir fried, and chilled. It's added to cold rice noodles along with fresh pea pods, and carrots. The noodles are dressed with the same sauce as the chicken was marinated in. It was garnished it with scallions, basil, and chopped peanuts.

For the third course, we made eggplant parmigiana with chicken Alfredo sauce. I had some beautiful white eggplant from my CSA. It was very firm, and quite mild. I breaded it with a mix of fine bread crumbs, shredded Parmesan, and Italian herbs. It was fried in very hot oil until brown and crisped, then placed in a 200 degree oven to keep warm. The goddaughter made the Alfredo sauce. It was a mix of butter, heavy cream, cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, and garlic with shredded grilled chicken. It was garnished with micro basil.

For the fourth course, we made pulled chicken in hoisin barbeque sauce with pickled cucumbers.and red onion. The chicken was cooked in a crockpot, then shredded. The BBQ sauce has hoisin sauce, garlic, apple cider vinegar, and soy sauce, The cucumber and onion are pickled in lemon juice and cider vinegar, flavored with clove, allspice, black pepper, and chili powder. It's served on a toasted Hawaiian sweet roll.

For the fifth course, we served hazelnut-sage chicken with ravioli.We used a mini ravioli. The chicken was sauteed with sage and lemon zest, and then tossed with the ravioli. It was garnished with chopped hazelnuts. The consensus among the cooks was that we should have used more zest, as the lemon just didn't come through.

For the sixth course, we made bacon wrapped chicken skewers with maple-pomegranate glaze with a pepper-zucchini slaw. Hard to go wrong with bacon, and the pomegranate molasses and maple syrup, with a hint of ginger, had a great sweet/sour thing going. The slaw, is a red wine vinaigrette, was garnished with pomegranate flavored dried cranberries. The acid in the slaw helped cut the fat of the bacon and the sweet of the glaze. I'm most proud of this one. I feel it was my most original of the day.

The seventh course was a miniature version of the lime marinated grilled chicken soft tacos I made earlier. We used mini corn tortillas here, and diced things smaller in proportion.

The final course was an old favorite, green chili chicken stew. A friend developed this recipe, and it is classic. Chicken, celery, carrots, and green chilies, with cumin just works beautifully. usually served over corn chips, I instead garnished it with fried tortilla strips. It was additionally garnished with shredded cheddar cheese.




Since this post is getting soooooo looong, I will end here, and post the recipes in a separate post.

Happy Eating!


Grilled Bourbon Marinated Skirt Steak with Garam Masala Potatoes

This September is shaping up to be one of the hottest on record in San Diego County, so we are still grilling pretty much every meal possible. Tonight I made bourbon marinated skirt steak with garam masala grilled potatoes and chili oil brushed grilled zucchini.

 

I marinated the skirt steak for about one half an hour.  The bourbon added a nice flavor to the steak. You want to grill it to just medium rare to medium, which with thin skirt steak doesn't take but a few minutes. Let it rest about five minutes, then slice thinly, across the grain.

 

The potatoes were sliced about one quarter inch thick, and tossed with olive oil, garam masala, and kosher salt. I grilled them first, getting them golden brown, then moved them to the upper rack of the grill to bake while I did everything else.

 

The zucchini were sliced about one half inch thick, and sprinkled with salt. I let them sit about ten minutes to release a little excess moisture, then brushed with chili oil. I grilled them to just tender.

 

Recipes

Bourbon Marinated Skirt Steak

1 1/4 lbs. skirt steak

1/2 cup bourbon

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 Tbsp. kosher salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ginger

1/2 tsp. cayenne powder

 

Place all ingredients in a sealable plastic bag, removing as much air as possible. Refrigerate for at least one half hour. Grill to medium rare to medium. Rest for five minutes, slice thinly across the grain.

 

Garam Masala Potato Slices

4 medium russet potatoes

1/3 cup olive oil

1 Tbsp. garam masala

2 tsp. kosher salt

 

Cut a thin slice of skin from either side of each potato, then cut potatoes into one quarter inch thick slices. In a large bowl, mix oil, garam masala, and salt. Toss potatoes slices in oil spice mixture until liberally coated. Grill on both sides until golden brown, then place on upper grill rack to back until tender.

 

Happy Eating!

 

 

Beer-steeped grilled sausages, zuchini, and cold noodle salad

Still using the grill for most of the cooking.  Tonight, we had beer-steeped grilled sausages, horseradish jelly-pomegranate molasses glazed grilled zuchini, and an ancho chili-tangerine cold noodle salad.

I used Hillshire Farm Gourmet Creations Beef & Bacon and Chicken Apple with Gouda sausages.  I grilled them, then simmered them in a pot with a pint of Shock Top Belgian White Beer and an equal amount of water. I love the chicken sausages, which I also used on July 4th.  Sinmmering in beer ensures the sausages get fully cooked, while remaining plump and juicy.
For the zuchini, I mixed about 3 tablespoons of horseradish jelly with 2 teaspoons of pomegranate molasses and 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt.  I split the zuchini lengthwise, and grilled them cut side down, until they acquired good grill marks.  I turned them and brushed them with the glaze, then cooked them until tender. The pomegranate molasses added tangyness.

Ancho Chili-Tangerine Cold Noodle Salad

1 inch diameter bunch whole grain thin speghetti
3 dried ancho chilies
1 1/2 cups white wine
1/4 cup slivered almonds
8 ounces fresh snap peas
juice of 3 tangerines
zest of 2 tangerines
2 Tblsp. rice vinegar
2 tsp. sesame oil
1/2 tsp. kosher salt

Remove stems and seeds from chilies. Place in bowl, cover with wine, let stand until rehydrated.

Boil speghetti in salted water until al dente, then shock in an ice water bath to stop cooking. Drain.

Toast almonds in a dry pan over medium heat.

Wash pea pods, and cut into 1 inch pieces.  Drain and dice chilies..

Whisk together juice, zest, oil, and salt.

Toss speghetti with pea pods, chilies, and almonds, and dress with juice mixture.  Chill until ready to serve.

I used dry mead for the wine, as I had an open bottle that needed to be used up. I was really happy with this salad.  The fresh pea pods and almonds added crunch, and the chilies I had were very mild and fruity.