Coconut Curry Chicken

I've never tried any version of coconut curry chicken before but have been trying to find new healthy meals for my family and I don't want to get in the habit of making the same dinner night after night.  So tonight I made this.  I'm not a big fan on Indian food but I really liked this.  I left the spice out of the kids but gave mine and my husband's some real heat that had me sweating by the time I was finished.  It was delicious and I definetly will be making this again.  It was a really quick and easy dinner to throw together too which is always nice.  I found this recipe at Fast Paleo though I did modify it a bit.  My family ate theirs over rice but I ate mine just as is.  Next time I'm going to try to make some cauliflower rice and see how that tastes. 

Coconut Curry Chicken 

1 lb. chicken breasts or chicken tenders, cubed
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons Curry Powder
1 tbsp. Turmeric
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 tbsp. coconut flour
1 cup baby spinach, rough chopped 
Salt to taste

In a saucepan over medium high heat add the olive oil and chicken and sear chicken until golden brown.  Add in the onions and garlic and turn the temperature down to a medium heat.  Allow to cook for a few minutes.  Add in the curry powder, turmeric, cayenne pepper and salt and stir to coat everything.  Now add in the coconut milk and chicken broth and allow to simmer covered for about 15 minutes.  Remove lid and allow to simmer another 5 minutes so the sauce can thicken.  Sprinkle in about 2 tbsp. of coconut flour to help thicken the sauce if needed.  Toss in chopped (or torn) spinach leaves and give a stir for about a minute to allow them to wilt.  Serve. 

Garlic Roasted Chicken Thighs

I love, love, love garlic.  I love so much garlic in a dish that it seeps out of my pores.  This dish is so ridiculously easy to throw together that I make it once a week and my family adores it.  I like to take the left over roasted garlic from the pan and smear it on top of my chicken like a spread.  Yum!

Garlic Roasted Chicken

4-5 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
8-10 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 tbsp. olive oil
Salt & Pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a skillet (I use cast-iron) get your pan on a medium heat.  Throw in the oil and the rough chopped garlic cloves (no need to mince since it'll be cooking in the oven for a long time).  Allow the garlic to cook a few minutes in the oil just to give the oil a nice garlic flavor.  Then with a slotted spoon remove the garlic and set aside but leave the oil.  Salt and pepper your chicken top and bottom generously.  Turn the pan to a medium-high heat and place chicken skin side down in the skillet rotating as necessary to get a nice golden brown on the skin.  Once the skin is nicely browned flipped all chicken over and sprinkle garlic around the pan.  I like to lift up the chicken and make sure the garlic is under, over and around all the chicken.  Place into the oven for about 40-45 minutes or until cooked through.  

Chicken & Kale Soup

I'm trying to get away from bread and grains so am struggling to come up with lunch ideas that are quick, easy and not just a meal replacement shake.  Sometimes I want food, not a shake.  So I've started making big batches of soup and keeping it in the fridge to reheat as needed.  This is one of my current favorites.  It's healthy and absolutely delicious!  I won't lie that I kinda wish I had a big bowl on the table with some sort of crunchy bread to eat with it but thus far I have resisted the urge to bake it.  I make homemade chicken stock with this recipe because I think it makes it that much better.  But you certainly can just skip over the entire chicken stock part and go to the soup making part and just use a store bought rotisserie chicken instead.  I'll tell you my little cheat to make my chicken stock extra super amazing and awesome.  Instead of all water with my chicken and vegetables I add in a good quality pre-made chicken stock.   

Chicken & Kale Soup

1 whole chicken, shredded
2 boxes of (good quality) chicken stock (or recipe below for homemade stock)
3 medium carrots, peeled and diced
1 large bunch of kale, chopped with middle stem removed

Add chicken stock to a large stock pot.  Shred the chicken, chop the vegetables and add it all into the stockpot.  Simmer on a medium-low for about 20-30 minutes or until carrots are nice and tender. 

Homemade Chicken Stock

1 whole chicken
2 bay leaves
6 sprigs thyme
small handful of black peppercorns
1 head garlic, split through the equator
2 tablespoons salt
3 rough chopped whole carrots
2 rough chopped stalks celery
1 rough chopped onion

4 c. (good quality or toss in a bullion cube) chicken stock

4 c. Water  (roughly)

Add everything into a stockpot and simmer on a medium heat for 2-3 hours until chicken falls off the bones and stock tastes awesome.  Make sure your liquid comes to the top of the chicken but doesn't have to cover it completely.  Strain the stock before using.  

Chicken & Vegetable Quinoa Casserole

I've been hearing so much about quinoa lately and am a bit embarrassed to say I've never tried it before until this week.  I've been using quinoa pasta lately and love it and decided to finally use my box of quinoa in my pantry this week.  I was not disappointed.  I found a casserole recipe on Nelly's Pantry and was rather pleased to find that it was dairy-free.  It isn't often you find a dairy-free casserole since most of them are loaded with cream of chicken soup, cream of broccoli soup and mayonnaise.  I love that this one makes a chicken gravy and uses that instead.  Plus, casseroles are so versatile.  You can throw and vegetable you like into it.  You can throw one or many.  I added in broccoli, corn and carrots into mine.  Of course if you don't have a dairy allergy this recipe would be awesome with cheese.  I know my husband was probably thinking that the entire time he was eating it but he's wonderful enough to forgo his cheese in front of me and the kids since we can't eat it.

Mix all ingredients together.

Chicken & Vegetable Quinoa Casserole

1 1/2 c. uncooked quinoa
6 c. chicken stock
1/3 c. all-purpose flour
3 tbsp. dairy-free butter or oil
2 bone in chicken breasts
1 c. broccoli
1/2 c. corn
1/2 c. sliced carrots
2 cloves minced garlic
1/3 c. panko breadcrumbs
Salt & Pepper to taste

Spread breadcrumbs evenly over top.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  On a baking sheet place your chicken breasts skin side up and season with a spray of cooking spray, salt and pepper and bake for 45 minutes.  Meanwhile cook your quinoa.  I think cooking it in chicken stock gives it better flavor but you can use water if you rather.  Add quinoa to a saucepan with 3 cups of chicken stock and bring to a boil.  Cover and simmer for about 10-15 minutes or until all liquid has evaporated.  Set aside to cool in a large mixing bowl.  Steam all your vegetables for about 5 minutes to cook them just a bit and pour over the top of the quinoa.  Once chicken has baked set aside until cool enough to handle and remove breast from bone and chop.  Add chicken to the quinoa and vegetable mixture.  Now to make your sauce.  Add 3 tbsp. butter or oil to a saucepan over medium heat.  Add garlic and cook for a minute or two until nice and fragrant.  All in your flour and whisk until combined to make your roux.  Slowly add in your chicken stock (3 cups) while whisking to prevent lumps and bring to a boil until thick.  It should coat the back of a spoon quite well at this point.  If you rather you could cook your vegetables in the gravy instead of steam them but that's up to you.  Now pour the gravy over the quinoa, chicken and vegetable mixture and stir (gently) until combined.  Pour in a greased baking dish.  Add the panko to the top of the casserole and lightly spray with cooking spray.  Bake at 400 for 30 minutes or until golden brown.  I turned my broiler on high for the last 3-5 minutes to make the top extra golden.  

Baked to golden delicious perfection!

I entered all of the ingredients into this recipe calorie calculator found here - Recipe Calorie Counter   and determined that this recipe is roughly 205 calories for a 1/2 c. serving.  This is only an estimate.  I calorie count my meals these days so you will see many more of these nutrition facts on my site in the future.  
 

Nutrition Facts User Entered Recipe
12 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories		204.5
Total Fat		7.1 g
	Saturated Fat	3.5 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	0.6 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	2.1 g
Cholesterol		38.3 mg
Sodium		516.9 mg
Potassium		381.7 mg
Total Carbohydrate		22.0 g
	Dietary Fiber	2.2 g
	Sugars	2.5 g
Protein		13.6 g

Baked Sweet & Sour Chicken

Trying to lighten up one of my husband's favorites I came across this baked sweet and sour chicken on Life as a Lofthouse recently.   Of course, it isn't the same as the amazingly delicious deep fried version but for a lighter version it was good.  I normally don't like the sweet and sour sauce made with ketchup but because this sauce cooks in the oven for an hour it was pretty good.  I would say definitely use tinfoil to make your clean-up easier otherwise the sauce will probably never come off your pan!   

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Salt & Pepper

1 cup cornstarch

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup canola oil

Sweet and Sour Sauce:

3/4 cup sugar

4 tbsp. ketchup

1/2 cup vinegar

1 tbsp. soy sauce

1 tsp. garlic salt

Start by preheating your oven to 325 degrees. Rinse your chicken breasts in water and then cut into cubes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Dip chicken into the cornstarch to coat then dip into the eggs.  Heat your 1/4 cup oil in a large skillet and cook your chicken until browned but not cooked through. Place the chicken in a 9x13 greased baking dish. Mix all of your sweet and sour sauce ingredients in a bowl with a whisk and then pour evenly over the chicken. Bake for one hour and during the baking process you will need to turn the chicken every 15 minutes.  

Chicken Ropa Vieja

I found this recipe at Skinny Taste.  I was looking for some new Mexican recipes that were relatively low in fat.  I made this recipe the day I found the recipe and oh boy was it a good one!  The shredded chicken can be eaten by itself, in a flour tortilla or in a regular store bought taco shell.  This is another one of those dishes I know I will be making again for my family and soon.  This might have to replace the ground beef we usually have on taco night.  You can actually get all the nutrition information from the Skinny Taste site linked above as well as Weight Watchers points if you are dieting.  I really liked having that information with a recipe when I'm trying to eat better.  Both my kids loved this recipe too, so a winner anytime I can get them to eat a new recipe.  



Chicken Ropa Vieja

3 (22.5 oz) chicken breast halves
1 small onion, quartered
1 tomato, quartered
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 small green bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
1 small red bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1 c. reserved broth
1 tsp cumin, or more to taste
2 garlic cloves
salt and pepper to taste

Place chicken, 1 onion, 1 tomato, 1 carrot, and 2 cloves of garlic into saucepan on stovetop.  Add water to cover, and cook on medium-low until the chicken is tender, about 45 minutes.  Place the chicken into a bowl and shred it into strips using a fork; set aside.  Make sure to reserve the liquid.

In a large deep skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add the remaining 2 garlic cloves, 1 onion, 1 red bell pepper, and 1 orange bell pepper.  Cook about 3 to 4 minutes.  Stir in chicken, tomato sauce, white wine, and about 3/4 cup of the reserved broth to create a nice sauce.  Season with cumin, salt, and pepper.  Cover and summer on low for about 10 minutes more adding more broth and seasoning if needed.  Makes about 4 cups.

Chicken Alfredo Pizza

We absolutely LOVE this pizza!  This is a Neely recipe that like everything else I do, I saw on Food Network.  This pizza is awesome.  Normally I add spinach to the pizza too but the store didn't have any decent looking spinach so this night it was without.  But I'm leaving the recipe to include the spinach because it really is amazing with it.  My kids prefer regular old pepperoni pizza but this is definitely one of my husband's favorites.

 

Chicken Alfredo Pizza

1 (3/4 pound) boneless skinless chicken breast
Salt & Pepper
2 tablespoons butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 pizza dough, store-bought (or recipe below)
2 cups baby spinach, well washed and dried
1 cup grated mozzarella
Olive oil for brushing crust

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Adjust racks to the middle of the oven. Put pizza stone in the oven to preheat while you begin the sauce.  Preheat a grill pan over medium heat.  Season the chicken with salt and pepper, to taste. Put the chicken on the grill pan and grill until cooked through. Remove to a cutting board and dice. Set aside.


Melt the butter in a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook until fragrant. Add the flour and cook until light blonde in color. Whisk in the cream, reduce the heat to low, and let simmer until thickened, about 2 minutes. Stir in Parmesan and season lightly with salt and pepper, to taste. 


Flour your work surface and roll the pizza dough into a large circle.  Place your dough on parchment paper so you can easily move it into and out of the oven. Ladle the sauce to cover the bottom of the pizza. Evenly top with the baby spinach, grilled chicken and the mozzarella. Brush the edge of the crust with olive oil and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Bake the pizza until crisp and golden, about 10-15 minutes. I use a pizza paddle to slide my pizza in and out of the oven easily. 

Basic Pizza Dough Recipe:

1 package active dry yeast (2 ¼ tsp.)

1 tsp. sugar

1 c. warm water

2 tsp. salt

2 tbsp. Extra-virgin olive oil

3 c. flour, plus more for dusting

Add yeast and sugar to warm water and let stand 5 minutes.  Add flour and salt to food processor. Add oil to yeast mixture, stir and then slowly pour into flour mixture in food processor.  Use plastic blade on food processor.  Once dough ball forms, knead a few times onto lightly floured surface.  Place in well oiled bowl and let rise 1 hour.   Divide in half and cover the half you aren't working with.  Place flour on your work surface and roll out the dough into a large circle.  I like to tuck my edges under to form the crust.  I then poke holes with a fork to prevent bubbles and I always bake on a preheated baking stone at 500 degrees.  (Makes 2 large pizzas)

Chicken & Dumplin's

 One of my favorite southern dishes is definitely Chicken and Dumplings.  I grew up in South Carolina going to Cracker Barrell always, always, always getting Chicken and Dumplings with a double side of fried okra and biscuits.  When I moved away from the South I had to learn to make this dish myself so I didn't long for it for the rest of my life!  This recipe is incredible!  I absolutely love it.  It is really a super easy dish to make.  I always put the extra effort in to make the chicken stock from scratch but if you opt to use pre-made chicken stock instead you can whip up this dish in no time.  One of my little tricks to make my chicken stock extra rich and delicious is I throw in a chicken bullion cube in there with the water.  I love the results.  I actually add diced carrots to mine, though that isn't classically how it is made, I like the taste.  You can't see any carrots in the picture though as my entire family was begging to eat so I didn't have more than a minute or two to actually take a picture before everyone started eating all of the chicken and dumplings.  I tell you, this is one of those you gotta try it recipes!  You won't be disappointed.  I could eat this probably everyday for the rest of my life and die a happy happy woman.  

Note - This recipe does call for buttermilk in the dumplings, which as I've mentioned in my "Almost Buttermilk Biscuits" recipe, I don't have access to in Japan.  So, I've used 3/4 c. milk and 1/3 c. plain whole milk yogurt combined to substitute for buttermilk. 

Chicken and Dumplings

Chicken Stock:
1 (3 to 31/2 pound) whole chicken
2 bay leaves
6 sprigs thyme
small handful of black peppercorns
1 head garlic, split through the equator
2 tablespoons salt
3 rough chopped whole carrots
2 rough chopped stalks celery

1 chicken bullion cube

8 c. Water  (roughly) 

Dumplings:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3/4 to 1 cup buttermilk

Sauce:
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons oil
2 carrots, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
6 cups chicken stock
1/3 cup heavy cream
Freshly ground black pepper, for garnish

For the stock:

Place the chicken and all stock ingredients in a large Dutch oven or large stock pot and cover with water. Set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 1 hour until the chicken is tender. Skim the surface of fat and scum as it cooks. When done remove the chicken to a cutting board. Strain the stock and shred the meat into big pieces - the stock will be used for the sauce and the chicken will be folded into it.

To prepare sauce: In a Dutch oven, over medium heat, add the butter and oil. Add the carrot, celery, garlic, and bay leaves and saute until the vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the flour to make a roux. Continue to stir and cook for 2 minutes to coat the flour and remove the starchy taste. Slowly pour in the chicken stock, 1 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition to prevent lumps.  Let sauce simmer until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 15 minutes. Stir in heavy cream.  (If your sauce isn't thick enough at this point you can always cheat a bit and add a bit of cream to some corn starch to thicken your sauce.)

For the dumplings:
Sift the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In a small bowl, using a whisk, lightly beat the eggs, and buttermilk together; pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently fold. Mix just until the dough comes together; the batter should be thick and cake-like.

Fold the reserved shredded chicken into the sauce and bring up to a simmer. Using 2 spoons, carefully drop heaping teaspoons of the dumpling batter into the hot mixture. The dumplings should cover the top of the sauce, but try not to completely crowd them. Let the dumplings poach for about 6 minutes then gently flip em' until they are firm and puffy. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Season with freshly cracked black pepper.

Chicken Verde Quesadillas

I love this really super simple dinner recipe.   My husband is now working 12 hour day shifts two days a week then 12 hour night shifts two days a week.  So with him not getting home until 9pm two nights a week I wanted to find dinners that are easy but tasty to make for me and the kids and then be able to reheat or quickly put together for him when he gets home at night.  A friend of mine told me about a verde chicken enchilada she makes and I've been hooked on verde salsa since I tried it.  You can make the chicken ahead of time or use a rotisserie chicken.  I make my own taco seasoning but packet works just as well, I just don't usually have it on hand so find it easier to just make my own when I need it. 

 Chicken Verde Quesadillas

3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 packet of Taco seasoning
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 jar of verde salsa
1/4 c. sour cream
quesco fresco cheese
1 c. mexican shredded cheese
6-8 tortillas

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Place the chicken breast on a baking sheet and liberally cover with taco seasoning and drizzle with olive oil.  Then turn the chicken over and repeat making sure to massage the taco seasoning into the chicken.  Bake the chicken for 25-30 minutes (depending on how thick your chicken is).  Then shred the chicken.  In a bowl mix the entire jar of verde salsa (minus a bit if you want to drizzle it on top or dip it) with about 1/4 c. sour cream and about 1/4 c. queso fresco cheese.  Add the chicken to the verde sour cream mixture.  Heat a large skillet on medium and spray with non-stick spray.  Place a tortilla down and then spread the chicken verde mixture onto the quesadilla (liberally) and sprinkle the shredded Mexican cheese on top and cover with another tortilla.  After 3-4 minutes flip and cook the other side until crispy.  Cut into wedges and serve.  

Chicken Piccata

So I'm on a new diet.  It is called the Paleo diet.  Pretty simple, I eat lots of fresh vegetables, meats and fruits and some nuts.  I stay away from grains, legumes, dairy and processed stuff, and of course sugar.  I've committed myself to 30 days of this, so we'll see how it goes.  I know by the end I'm going to be begging for chocolate!

So tonight I had to take a recipe I make often and made it fit into my diet.  I can't use flour, not white flour or wheat flour.  So my new flour is almond flour.  This recipe turned out awesome with the substitutions I used to make it fit my diet.  I actually think I liked the almond flour on this chicken better than regular flour.  Since I'm new to using almond flour though I was worried I'd burn it and make it taste bitter so I allowed the chicken to get brown on both sides and threw it in the oven to finish cooking.  Technically with chicken piccata you want very thin chicken breasts but I didn't have the time to do that.  Also, probably not suppose to have wine but figured I wasn't drinking it, just cooking with it.  If you aren't dieting, finishing the sauce of with about 2 tbsp. of butter right before serving.  I had to leave that part out because I can't have dairy for 30 days.

5 thin sliced boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 tbsp. coconut oil
1/4 c. dry white wine
2 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 c. chicken stock
3 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. capers, drained
3/4 c. almond flour
salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Place the almond flour on a plate and season with salt and pepper.  Dredge the chicken breasts into the almond flour.  Turn the pan onto a medium heat and add 1 tbsp. of the oil.  Cook chicken on both sides until golden brown. If they aren't very thin pieces place on a baking sheet and finish cooking in the oven for about another 6 minutes. Add the remaining oil and garlic to the pan.  Allow to cook just a minute or two.  Add the wine and allow to simmer for about 5 minutes.  Add in chicken stock, lemon juice and capers and simmer another few minutes.  Add the chicken back into the pan and cover with sauce and allow to finish cooking in sauce.  Garnish with lemon slices and/or parsley.

Pineapple Chicken Skewers

 
 One of our local stores had pineapple on sale for $.99 a pineapple.  Not $.99 a pound but for the entire thing, which is awesome.  So I needed to find a few things to do with all my pineapple.  We decided to make skewers for dinner.  As much as I love to cook, nothing beats the grill.  I'll take my husband grilling over anything I can make any day.  Our grill is like a 3rd child to us.  We have one of those huge charcoal grills with a smoker attachment.  We're southern so not only do we grill often we smoke meats often too.  This is just a nice healthy, easy weeknight meal that we dropped onto the grill.  

(Yes, there is a hotdog on the plate in the back.  My daughter thinks anytime you grill hotdogs have to be grilled too!  (Go for the nitrate free all beef hotdogs though if you're gonna eat em'.)

 

Teriyaki Sauce: 
¼ c. Soy Sauce

2 tbsp. brown sugar

2 tbsp. Sherry vinegar

2 tbsp. rice vinegar

2 garlic cloves, crushed or minced

1 tsp. peeled and finely grated ginger

¼ tsp. red pepper flakes (optional)

For the skewers:
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 c. pineapple, cubed
1 red bell pepper, cubed
1 yellow or red onion, cubed
Skewers


First, you've got to soak your skewers so they don't burn on the grill.  Of course, you could do your skewers in the oven if you prefer.  A few hours before you want to eat, cube your chicken breasts and make the teriyaki sauce.  You just combine all ingredients in the sauce and whisk to combine.  Pour half in a bag with the chicken and allow to marinate.  The other half is to brush onto the skewers as they grill.  To assemble the skewers just alternate between peppers, pineapple, onion and chicken. Serve over brown (or white) rice. 

Sweet and Sour Chicken

When my husband and I lived in South Carolina we ate out ALL the time.  Granted at the time we were much younger, both worked full-time, were non-military and had no children.  Now with two young children, my husband in the military and me being a stay-at-home mom I realized the importance of cooking.  Especially in the state of Washington.  I'm not sure if we are just use to the food we use to eat in the South but I tell you the food in our area is absolutely dreadful.  I'm not saying the food in Seattle is dreadful as with two small children we don't really have the time to go there and try it and we can't really take our monsters out to anything fancy in Seattle either.  I'm speaking about our area specifically.  We go out to eat probably once every few months and it leaves us disappointed.  So I've learned to make some of our favorites.  This is one of them.  We use to get Chinese take-out all the time and we haven't found any place around here that even compared to what we were use to.  I found that most sweet and sour sauces have ketchup added which to me made it taste like a bunch of stuff with ketchup in it.  I didn't like it.  This is my own version of what I think sweet and sour chicken and sauce should taste like.  

Sweet and Sour Sauce:

1/2 c. pineapple juice

1/4 c. rice vinegar

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 tbsp. tomato paste

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tbsp cornstarch

1 carrot (rough chopped)

1/4 green bell pepper (rough chopped)

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and whisk together until cornstarch is dissolved.  Allow to come to a boil and turn down to a simmer for about 10 minutes to allow flavors to combine.  Remove carrot and bell pepper before serving.  I like to add some of the pineapple into the sauce while it cooks and serve it with it as well. 

Batter:

6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons corn starch
1/2 c. ice cold water
1 tsp baking soda

Preheat dutch oven or deep fryer to 375 degrees.  Combine the cornstarch, flour, baking soda and water.  Add diced chicken pieces and then drop directly into hot oil.  Cook until golden brown, roughly 8 minutes.  

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Chicken & Andouille Sausage Gumbo

For some reason every time I go to make Gumbo my recipe is never complete.   Part of why I named my blog "Pinch of This, That & the Other" is because I forget to measure things and forget to write down what I did to begin with so each time I kinda have to make up my recipe again.  Anyone that has ever had a bowl of Gumbo knows that the roux is the key to the Gumbo.  Not to mention the longer it sits, the better the Gumbo is.  So Gumbo is a great recipe to make a day ahead of time and let hang out in the fridge and serve later.  

You can always buy roux from a store or order it online but this is a pretty simple way to get a good dark chocolate roux with minimal work.  Normally a person needs to sit in front of the stove whisking flour and oil on a high heat for about 45 minutes to get a dark chocolate color.  I don't know about you, but I don't have the time or stamina for that.  I saw on Food Network once someone doing it in the oven, which seemed like a brilliant idea and I had to try it.  What do you know, it works and it works well!  You do still have to tend to it every 15 minutes for about 2-3 hours until you get a great color but beats constant whisking for 45 straight minutes in my book.  

Roux:

1 c. flour

1 c. vegetable oil 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place your flour and oil in a dutch oven or heavy bottomed pan like cast iron.  This is a big deal, if you use a regular pan you probably will end up burning your flour.  Whisk flour and oil mixture and place in oven, uncovered.  Whisk every 15 minutes for 2-3 hours or until a nice dark chocolate color. (The color starts out as what is considered blonde, then goes to a peanut butter color before hitting different tones of chocolate).  

While you have the roux cooking it is time to make the chicken stock.  Of course you can use store bought chicken stock and an already cooked rotisserie chicken or pre-cooked chicken if you have one instead. 

Chicken Stock:

1 whole chicken (about 5 lbs.)

Salt (I just eyeball it but probably about 1 1/2 tbsp.)

Small handful of peppercorns

2 whole carrots, rough chopped
2 celery stalks, rough chopped

1 medium onion, rough chopped

1 garlic bulb (whole bulb, not just clove) chopped lengthwise

2 bay leaves

1 few springs of thyme

Place whole chicken and all ingredients in a stock pot and just cover with water until chicken is covered, should be probably about 8 c. of water or so.  Bring to a boil and turn down to a simmer for about 1 1/2 - 2 hours (or until chicken is cooked through).  Strain stock and keep just the stock and discard vegetables.  Put entire chicken aside and shred to add back into the gumbo later.  Don't shred the chicken to much though or it will basically disintegrate in the gumbo later.   

Gumbo:

½ medium onion, diced

1 large piece of celery, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

2 cloves garlic

2 bay leaves

2 tablespoons paprika

Pinch cayenne pepper

File powder (or fresh okra if you prefer)

1 pound andouille sausage links

Once roux is a nice dark chocolate color take out of the oven and place on stove top on a medium heat.  Add in the onion, celery, bell pepper and sausage and cook for about 10 minutes.  Add in the garlic, paprika, cayenne and file powder.  Add in all of the chicken stock and stir in bay leaves.  Simmer for about 30 minutes.  Add in shredded chicken and simmer another 15 minutes.  Serve over rice.  

I'd also like to mention in my picture you don't see any pieces of onions, celery or bell pepper like the recipe calls for.  My husband doesn't like the texture of any of those so when I cook I chop mine into really large pieces and pull them out before serving so mine is the gumbo liquid with just meat.  By cooking it in there I get the flavor but pull it out so my husband doesn't have to eat it with the vegetables.  Yes, more work on my part but the end result is totally worth it!