Crispy Chicken Breasts with Mushroom Marsala Sauce and Domino Potatoes

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This was a meal that was born out of my perusing my Pinterest to-cook list and choosing two seemingly unrelated dishes, but once I cooked them on the same night, realized they form a perfect symbiosis, and that these two dishes must always be made at the same time, from hereon out.  Here’s why:

I started by dredging the chicken breasts in a simple mixture of flour, salt, and herbs on a big plate.  (I went with bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts instead of thighs because we’ve been doing a lot of the drums-and-thighs lately and Jesse’s not so into picking meat off of bones), and browning them in coconut oil in the skillet.  Once both sides had been nicely browned, I transferred the breasts to a separate skillet, leaving the drippings in the original skillet, off the heat.

In the meantime, I prepped the domino potatoes, which — beautifully complicated as they look — really only require about two steps.  First, I made some clarified butter by melting a stick of butter in a small saucepan, and cooking it down until it had turned a nice rich brown and the milk solids had separated, at which point I strained it into a little dish for brushing on the potatoes later.  Then, our mandoline finally got to make its debut appearance!

Crusty Chicken Breasts and Domino Potatoes

I have always been wary of the mandoline; it inevitably feels like so much more effort to set up, take apart, and clean than it is ever worth, and when faced with this task, I always find myself willing to settle for uneven matchstick carrots.  But, for the record, this mandoline is super easy to both set up and clean, and really made this dish what it was.  In no other universe could I have done this by hand in only five minutes:

Crusty Chicken Breasts and Domino Potatoes

All you have to do is slice off the round ends of 4 Russet potatoes so that they’re rectangular, then slice them into these perfectly thin little “dominoes” which you then fan out on a baking sheet, preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and then baste with the clarified butter and sprinkle with salt — in this case, Magic Unicorn salt — before popping them in to bake for 40 minutes.

Crusty Chicken Breasts and Domino Potatoes

Here’s what Tucker thinks about Magic Unicorn salt:

Crusty Chicken Breasts and Domino Potatoes

Okay, so those guys are baking in the oven, and if you’re more efficient than I was on this evening you’ll pop that waiting skillet of browned chicken in there at the same time so it will finish cooking (if you used thighs you may not need to do this?  It definitely took the large chicken breasts at least another 30 minutes to cook all the way through, which I hadn’t considered until the potatoes were just about done).

While the oven is taking care of both of those, I reheated the skillet that had the leftover chicken fat from earlier, and sauteed half an onion, a few cloves of minced garlic, and a few giant handfuls of chopped mushrooms with some salt.  On a whim, I also threw in the leftover flour/salt/spice mixture that I had used for the chicken, coating the veggies so that once I added the liquid, this gravy would be nice and thick.

Once everything started to sizzle I poured in some white wine to deglaze the pan, let that simmer for a bit, and then added a few splashes of this, which had played a starring role in some scalloped potatoes I made last week.

Crusty Chicken Breasts and Domino Potatoes

According to my slapdash label — milk, dijon, spice, and salt — this seemed like a perfectly complementary savory liquid to add to the mushroom gravy while the chicken continued to cook.  And trust me, it was.  (This is why our fridge is half-full with random jars and tubs of marinades and sauces; if it’s already been used to infuse one fantastic meal, chances are it can only be better the second time around.  I can only guess that the starch from the scalloped potatoes had something to do with the wonderful finished texture of this sauce…)

Be patient, use a meat thermometer, and if you’re lucky, you’ll have just enough time left to throw together a quick salad, so that everything comes out of the oven and off of the stove looking like this.

Crusty Chicken Breasts and Domino Potatoes


Crab Louie and “Crash” Potatoes

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Well hello there!  I know it’s been awhile.  I like to think that I can juggle 3 different businesses, a social life, family drama, gigantic yarn-related events, cooking delicious and healthy meals for myself and loved ones, and taking pictures along the way, but…apparently one of those has to fall off the radar every once in awhile.  Sorry ’bout that.  The good news though is that I just had a record breaking weekend at Yarnia, thanks to the Rose City Yarn Crawl (and I was on TV!!), and then Jesse and I got to go soak in some hot springs for 36 hours — one of our favorite annual traditions and getaways, a much needed treat for both of us since I was drop-dead exhausted, and Jesse hurt his shoulder over the weekend and was in need of some anti-gravity heat therapy!  Our timing couldn’t have been better. Back on the home front, Jesse and I have been poring over cookbooks for weeks while we eat take-out pho and super simple meals that can be thrown together by a guy with only one functioning arm, and a lady working 14-hour days…fantasizing about a time when we’ll actually be able to spend an evening trying out a new delicious recipe or crafting a new meal.  I think that week is upon us!  On my way home from work last night I picked up the ingredients for some pretty incredible looking cabbage rolls that we spotted on a mysterious new channel that just popped up on our Roku recently, featuring a stout Polish woman cooking a Christmas meal for 50 that, for some reason, enticed us to action. But we’re making those tonight after work, so you’ll hear about those later.  In the meantime, I got to whip up a quick and easy meal for myself last night while Jesse was out trying his left hand at bowling (apparently he’s more ambidextrous than he thought!).  I was at a business class until 7:00 and still had a conference call and a newsletter to finish, waiting for me at home, so a super simple meal was just what I needed. IMG_0242 First, a refreshing, protein-alicious Crab Louie salad with iceberg lettuce, cucumber, radish, a little red pepper, and some fake crab that the Woodstock Safeway always has a great deal on in their seafood section. IMG_0243 Not even feigning homemade here, I bought some lite blue cheese dressing, the one that had the fanciest jar. I was craving something starchy and fried, like grocery store JoJos or something, but then this recipe for “hot crash potatoes” popped into my head after reading it earlier last week, and I grabbed a bag of waxy yellow potatoes at the last minute.

IMG_0241 I got these boiling while I chopped the salad ingredients, and once they were soft enough to mash, sliced them in half, set them on a baking sheet, and “crashed” them with a fork. IMG_0244 I probably could have cooked them for a few minutes longer, so they would really be the consistency of ready-to-mash potatoes, and I would have ended up with less craggy, crumbly piles.  But hey — we’re talking about potatoes, oil, and salt cooked at high temperatures…you really can’t go wrong. IMG_0245 Atop these potato piles, I basted some olive oil, salt, paprika, and pepper — that’s all it takes to make a good potato — and stuck them in the oven at 400 degrees until they were brown and crispy.  The skins totally submit and fall off without provocation, crisping up to perfection. IMG_0247


The First Week

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Things are finally getting back on track here.  In one short week, my brand new kitchen has gone from this…

to this:

This is how we were doing Tuesday night, before about eight of my girlfriends came over for an impromptu ladies’ wine night while the boys played poker, doubling as a rough, rough draft of a housewarming party.  It was, however, the best way I could have ever hoped to ring in the first night in the house alone (after Jesse had, as promised, spent the full first week there together with me — immensely helpful and fun).

Oh yes, and I did in fact get the fridge of my dreams.


French door fridge access, bottom drawer freezer, automatic (crushed!) ice and water dispenser — stainless steel, and 78,000 cubic inches of pure refrigerated goodness.  Plus, I got it at a killer price, at the Standard TV and Appliance Outlet Store (who knew?!) for $1,000 less than its original list price!

Yup, I got me a fridge.  And a kitchen sink.

The first non-take-out meal in the new house??  Baked potatoes.  I’m not sure why I got an insane craving for baked potatoes earlier this week, when I probably haven’t eaten one in 4+ years, but I did, and then when I walked the FOUR BLOCKS around the corner to my newly-discovered Grocery Outlet (don’t worry, you’ll hear more about this.  It warrants an entirely separate blog post), I found they had 10-lb. bags of russets on sale, so that sealed the deal.

Plus, I’ve only found about 10% of my dishes and utensils so far, so a DIY potato bar seemed to be the way to go, adorned with some seitan that I scored for $0.99, and then fried up in the skillet with some jerk seasoning, and topped with various chopped veggies, shredded cheese, and the last little bowlful of Greek yogurt that actually did make the cut and came with me in the cooler from the old house.

With Portland’s version of a heat wave upon us, and a kitchen that’s finally not in a basement, I’m loving the easy-dinner lifestyle of making do with whatever’s in the fridge, and turning it into some sort of creative cold salad.  Last night, I swung by the GO on the way home and, though their produce section is not the most impressive part of the store, I did find a good looking eggplant and a bag of cole slaw for super cheap, and turned it into dinner.

First I roasted the eggplant in little spears, coated with olive oil, salt, pepper, and nutritional yeast.

I made a spicier version of my go-to pizza dough, adding some tandoori seasoning that gave it a nice saffron flavor.  But instead of baking it, I rolled it into a little patty disc and lightly fried it in the skillet, giving it a wonderful naan flatbread quality.

I found some leftover ranch dressing in the fridge that I used to dress the cole slaw, and layered this on the flatbread with the eggplant spears for an awesome main dish.  I had a handful of beets in my fridge that I had already roasted a few days earlier, when my friend Hollis (now a Portlander!!!) brought over a bunch from her garden to the Tuesday soiree.  I sliced these up and tossed them with some red onion, olive oil, balsamic, candied walnuts, and Bacos.  Fantastic.


All right.  I think I’m back on the wagon.


This Week’s Groceries

Fred Meyer 7/27

  • Cucumbers: $1.18
  • Green pepper: $0.59
  • Orange pepper: $1.50
  • Roma tomato: $0.64
  • Roasted chicken: $5.99

TOTAL: $9.90

REMAINING FOR THE MONTH: $146.75 (carried over $6.65 unused from last month)

 

Grocery Outlet 7/31

  • Cottage cheese: $2.39
  • Chocolate milk: $1.69
  • Pico de gallo: $2.99
  • Pepper jack cheese: $3.17
  • Cubed seitan: $0.99 
  • Green onion: $0.50
  • Red bell pepper: $0.59
  • Bag of russet potatoes: $2.99
  • Avocado: $0.99
  • Green grapes: $2.99

TOTAL: $19.29

REMAINING FOR THE MONTH: $127.46

 


Pork Chops in Garlic Red Wine Reduction, Roasted Broccoli, and Tzatziki Potato Salad

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All right, back in the swing of things.  After a fantastically fun housewarming party on one of the first super hot, sunny days of the summer, and then a relaxing evening of Papa Murphy’s and Redbox movies on Jesse’s couch, I finally had an old school, productive Monday/Tuesday “weekend,” where I knocked out a slew of errands like getting my car cleaned, oil changed (and Jesse even changed my brake pads for me over the weekend!  Little Ford Focus is getting in shape!), taking my work computer up to Jantzen Beach to have the hard drive replaced, going to the gym, getting ahead on my transcription for the week, picking up my new car title from the post office, making a yarn deal out in Lake Oswego, and compiling a comprehensive list of everything in my house I need to pack — either now or later — before the big move.

And then I cooked all my food for the week!

I’ve started a Pinterest account — not because I actually like Pinterest as an addition to the social media landscape, but because my old method of cataloguing recipes I want to try with Delicious was just too dang obsolete.  I’m totally ambivalent about whether people follow me on here or not, because the sole utility it poses to me is that while I’m perusing my food blogs (this is what I do whenever I’m eating alone), when I see something I want to make, I just click a little widget to pin it, and then trust that it’s being saved somewhere.

Then, on an afternoon like Monday, when I want to cook something but don’t know what, I can visit my board and see what I’ve been hanging on to, make whatever I choose, and then delete it when I’m done.  It’s kind of like a big visual to-do list, divorced from my actual to-do list that makes my world go round.

This week, I knew I had a little extra money to spend on some good meat, so I decided to try out The Pioneer Woman’s pork chops.  I’ve never made pork chops before, so this felt sort of exotic.  I also knew that, despite living in a basement, it was summer outside, so I also took a stab at Smitten Kitchen’s Taztziki Potato Salad.  And then some roasted broccoli, because I needed something green in there.  And I love broccoli.

I took Deb’s warning and got the potatoes boiling first, so that they’d have time to cool before going in the salad.


This is about 3.5 pounds of baby reds.

A little proud of myself for having purchased my first ever pair of pork chops, I seared them in some butter and olive oil (after salting and peppering both sides), while those potatoes boiled and cooled.

I was only making two chops instead of Rhee’s recommended six, so after browning both sides and removing the meat from the pan, I threw in six whole peeled cloves of garlic, as well as half a yellow onion, slivered, which was my own personal touch.  Once these had cooked for a few minutes I added about a cup of red wine and a bay leaf, letting this mixture reduce down.  Then, I added a little spoonful of Better Than Bullion’s beef paste and some water to turn it into broth, and added the chops back in.

Meanwhile, I was throwing together a quick base for the potato salad.  It all revolves around this.

I love Smitten’s idea of using yogurt as the base rather than mayonnaise, because even though I can totally get behind mayo on a sandwich or even in an aioli, I still have a hard time using it as a legit ingredient in dressing.  But yogurt?  Yogurt continues to amaze.  Like eggs, yogurt seems to be able to impress in a myriad of forms, meals, and context.  Salty, sweet, savory…whatever you’ve got going on.

In this case, it forms the creamy foundation for this summery salad dressing, starting with 2 full cups of thick Greek yogurt.  I don’t usually buy Greek yogurt, which seems to be a new craze as of the last year or two, but I can see why it’s perfect for this recipe: even after adding 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of cider vinegar, the dressing is still thick and rich, not runny.  After that, I stirred in half a bunch of chopped dill, 2 teaspoons kosher salt, the rest of my jar of capers, some garlic powder, and black pepper.

Then I took those potatoes from awhile back, cut them into nice little wedges, and let them cool some more while I tossed some big broccoli pieces in a bowl with olive oil, salt, pepper, and curry powder, and then spread them on a baking sheet and roasted them at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.

Back to the pork chops.  Once they were fully cooked, I removed them from the pan and continued to reduce the sauce, adding 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and my remaining little square of butter, until it was a thick, rich sauce to spoon over the top of everything.

First foray into pork chops?  Success!


This Week’s Groceries

New Seasons 6/18

  • Plain organic yogurt: $2.99
  • Greek yogurt: $3.99
  • Cottage cheese: $2.19
  • Corn tortillas: $1.49
  • Pico de gallo: $3.69 — this is how I solve the tomatoes-are-prohibitively-expensive conundrum.
  • Dozen eggs: $2.89
  • Red potatoes: $4.87
  • Collard greens: $2.49
  • Fresh dill: $2.99
  • Yellow onions: $1.28
  • Bananas: $1.30
  • Roma tomatoes: $1.05
  • Pork chops: $5.03
  • Chorizo sausage: $5.09

TOTAL: $41.34

REMAINING FOR THE MONTH: -$12.26 — bummer 🙁  Went over for this month.  The good news is, I have tons of leftovers still in the fridge, so with another, say, $5 worth of veggies, I can definitely sustain for the rest of the month.


Chana Masala & Indian Cauliflower-Sunchoke Roast

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This has got to be a sign.  When I sat down Tuesday morning to eat my breakfast of a fried egg on a toasted English muffin with TJ’s eggplant spread and a kale-carrot salad, this was one of the many abandoned browser tabs I’d left open the week before, for perusing while I feasted (since one of my favorite things to do is read about food while I’m eating food).  


I had just realized about twenty minutes earlier that grocery shopping was one thing I could check off my list for this weekend, after tallying it up and realizing that I only have about $14 left for the rest of the month’s groceries.


New Seasons 2/1/12
corn tortillas: $1.19
half and half: $1.69
buttermilk: $1.99 — because I made this! Yum!
yellow onions: $1.95
Japanese eggplant: $1.52
green onions: $0.99
fresh spinach: $2.31
minneola tangelos: $1.00
crimini mushrooms: $3.11
brussels sprouts: $2.13
garlic: $1.02
fresh herbs: $0.19
chicken thighs: $3.84
TOTAL: $22.93
REMAINING FOR THE MONTH: $48.44


New Seasons 2/7/12
half gallon milk: $2.99
crimini mushrooms: $1.45
brussels sprouts: $2.27
grapefruit: $3.28
eggplant: $1.87
papaya: $3.47
leeks: $1.61
cucumber: $1.49
avocado: $1.50
red leaf lettuce: $1.99
sunchokes: $4.03
ground espresso: $8.39
TOTAL: $34.34
REMAINING FOR THE MONTH: $14.10


No worries, though.  If you’ll recall, I’ve got some food on hand that I can delve into, keeping the grocery runs to produce-only.  Plus, last week I’d stocked up on some hearty, keep-well veggies that will easily last a week or two — things like a head of cauliflower, a bag of “Southern greens,” some fingerling potatoes, carrots, sunchokes, and a head of lettuce that are all still left in the fridge.  


And with a loaf of whole wheat rosemary herb bread rising as we speak, I know this means my lunches this week will be more sandwich-oriented (roasted eggplant and cheese!  Egg and fresh lettuce!  Tuna and nori!), and my dinner simpler.  Probably would have been the case anyway, given that this week not only do I have V-Day dinner with the girls, but am either hosting Knit Night or teaching a class all three weekday evenings.  


So when I started reading this recipe, and remembered that chickpeas are one of my favorite foods in the world, I jumped up and got some soaking right away.


And then, I kept reading, only to discover that she recommends accompanying your chana masala with this cumin-bathed cauliflower and potato roast (which in my world, will be supplemented by sunchokes, a.k.a. potatoes with a little bit of an attitude).  It’s like she was playing Iron Chef in my fridge or something.


And then, I remembered that, for no particular reason, the night before I’d used the remaining tub of Greek yogurt in my fridge, that I had been worried would go bad, to make a big batch of cucumber raita.  For real??  The universe is trying to tell me something, clearly.


I’m going to spare you my recipe and just send you right over to Smitten Kitchen’s instead, because not only did I forget my camera at work this week and my iPhone shots of this culinary experiment are so woefully grainy and overexposed I can’t even bear to post them online, and because while trying to drag and drop a different photo in here (note to Bloggers: don’t do that), I lost the entire post I’d just written, and anyone who’s spent 45 minutes writing something and then lost it knows that round two always feels just a little bit bitter and despondent.


Basically, both of these dishes are amazing, miraculously use up exactly the vegetables that I have lying around in my kitchen at the moment, and have already done a fine job of carrying me through my work week, and probably well into the weekend, without spending a dime on groceries this week.


Thanks, chickpeas.


My other fellow Project: Food Budget-ers: