Chicken and Potatoes from The Next Food Network Star

Sadly I am back from vacation and I am seriously resenting not being waited on hand and foot. What I would give right now for a friendly fellow to walk by and offer me a drink in a coconut shell...ah well...I guess my cup of green tea will have to suffice.

I spent the morning at the supermarket restocking and I spent last night catching up on my Tivo. I was excited to see that the contestant I was rooting for on The Next Food Network Star, Melissa, took home the title. Aside from being impressed with the fact that she has 4 children under 4 and she still has the energy to want to be the Next Food Network Star I just really like her-she has a very friendly personality.

For her pilot show on the finale she created a "four step chicken" with some rather tasty looking potatoes that I just had to try. The chicken is really just your basic sauteed chicken with a pan sauce so that wasn't what attracted me to her dishes it was the potatoes. She made some delicious looking mini gratins in a muffin tin that I just had to taste.

I only made two slight changes to the chicken recipe: shallots instead of red onion and rosemary instead of thyme. For the potatoes I followed exactly except I did not peel the potatoes...I'm a skin girl. Melissa served the chicken on a bed of spinach-which I love, but I happened to have some beautiful summer squash from the farmer's market so I made that instead.

I could not believe how simple and how delicious the potatoes were.(The chicken was good too, but I sure did love those potatoes). I know that I will be making these potatoes a lot...there are just so many ways that you could change them up: cheddar and a little Southwest seasoning for a Tex-Mex version, perhaps some blue cheese and walnuts to pair with a nice steak.

Delicious!

Rustic Lemon Onion Chicken

by Melissa D'Arabian

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, sliced in half crossways (butterflied, cut all the way through)
1 teaspoon dried thyme, plus 1 small bunch fresh thyme, leaves chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup white wine, optional
1 cup chicken broth
3 lemons, juiced
1 to 2 tablespoons butter
Spinach "bed", recipe follows
Directions
Season chicken with dried thyme and salt and pepper. Heat a large saute pan over medium heat and add the oil. Dredge the chicken in flour, add to the hot oil and saute until cooked through. Set chicken aside to rest on plate tented with foil.
In same saute pan, over low heat, add onions and fresh thyme and cook until aromatic.
In a measuring cup, measure out wine, if using, and broth, and add the lemon juice. Turn the heat up to high, and deglaze the pan with the broth mixture until starting to reduce.
Remove the pan from the heat and finish the sauce by whisking in butter. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Arrange the chicken on serving plates; Spoon the sauce over the chicken and serve.

5-Minute Individual Potato Gratins

by Melissa D'Arabian

Vegetable spray
2 large russet potatoes, roughly peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 cup grated Swiss cheese
2 green onions, finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup heavy cream
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Spray 8 muffin tins with vegetable spray. Layer potato slices, cheese, and onions into each muffin cup. Season with salt and pepper and top each gratin with 1 or 2 tablespoons of heavy cream. Cover with foil and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, removing the foil halfway through cooking time. Invert gratins onto plate and serve.

Quick and Easy Sauteed Summer Squash

by me!

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons butter

1 teaspoon minced shallot

1 small yellow summer squash, cut into 1/4 inch thick slices

1 small zucchini, cut into 1/4 inch thick slices

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil and the butter in a 12 inch non-stick skillet over medium high heat until sizzling; add the shallot and cook until tender.

Stir in the squash, zucchini and rosemary and cook for 2 minutes, using a spatula turn squash over and cook for an additional minute or two, making sure to not let the squash get soft.

Season squash with the salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Mediterranean Pearls

Pasta is a dinner staple in most homes and ours is no exception-but don't you get tired of the same old penne and spaghetti? My favorite find this week is in fact a pasta but not your typical Italian variety...this one originated in of all places Israel.

Favorite Food Find Friday's find is...Mediterranean (a.k.a. Israeli) couscous!

These little pearl shaped grains are similar looking to barley, but they are actually made from a wheat based dough which is shaped into little balls and toasted-as opposed to dried as pastas usually are.

The large grains make an impressive presentation as the base for chicken or seafood or tossed with caramelized onions and blue cheese for a tasty beef side dish. Today I've made a Mediterranean style salad that couldn't be easier...you need "1" of everything in it. You'll notice there's no added oil-I found it just doesn't need it, but if you're planning on chilling it before you serve it you may want to add a tablespoon or two of extra virgin olive just so the couscous doesn't clump together. Also I used a fresh mozzarella because one of my favorite supermarkets makes it fresh in the store and it's just fabulous, but you can substitute a feta or goat cheese if you prefer.

"One" Mediterranean Couscous Salad

1 (32 ounce) container chicken stock

1 cup Mediterranean (a.k.a. Israeli) Couscous

1 cup diced roasted red pepper

1 cup coarsely chopped arugula

1 cup diced fresh mozzarella cheese

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon pine nuts

1 lemon, thinly sliced then halved

Bring the chicken stock to a boil in a medium sized saucepan. Stir in the couscous, reduce heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes. Drain couscous and transfer to a large bowl.

Stir the red pepper, arugula, mozzarella cheese, salt, pepper, garlic, pine nuts and lemon slices into the bowl with the couscous. Serve warm or chilled.

Yield: 4 servings

Barefoot Bloggers: Chicken Picatta

Busy week nights have left very little time for cooking anything of interest lately which is why I am ever so glad that it is once again Barefoot Thursday(and just to illustrate my disorganization of late this is posted a day late). Barefoot Thursday, for those of you who don’t know, occurs two Thursdays a month and is a day when various food bloggers prepare a recipe from one of the Barefoot Contessa’s (a.k.a. Ina Garten) cookbooks.

This week’s recipe is the perfect quick weeknight supper: Chicken Piccata selected by Lindsay of Noodle Nights and Muffin Mornings.

I actually make this recipe all the time with just one slight change...to cut a bit of the tang of the lemon I add a tablespoon of heavy cream. I served it with steamed brown rice and a salad-just perfect. The recipe I had been using in the past did not call for finishing in the oven so I tried that variation and I must say, I thought that the chicken came out a bit more juicy this way. My cutlets were thin (I bought the thin sliced ones so I didn't have to pound) so I cut the oven time to 5 minutes.

Barefoot Contessa’s Chicken Piccata · 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
· kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper
· 1 cup flour
· 2 extra large eggs
· 1 1/2 cups seasoned dry bread crumbs
· olive oil
· 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
· 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice, reserve the lemon halves
· 1/2 cup dry white wine
· fresh parsley, chopped
Preheat oven to 275 and line sheet pan with parchment paper.
Place each chicken breast between 2 sheets of parchment paper and pound to 1/4 inch thick. Sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper.
Mix the flour, 1 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoons pepper in shallow plate. In a second plate, beat the eggs with 1 Tbls. water. Place the breadcrumbs on a third plate.
Dip each breast first in the flour, shake off the excess and then dip in egg and then bread crumb mixture.

Heat 2 Tbls. olive oil in large saute pan over medium heat. Add 2 chicken breasts and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side until browned. Place them on lined pan and place in oven while you cook the rest of the chicken. Heat more olive oil in saute pan and cook the second 2 chicken breasts. Place them on the same lined pan and place in oven for 5-10 minutes while you make the sauce.
For the sauce, wipe out the saute pan with a dry paper towel. On medium heat, melt 1 Tbls. of the butter and then add the lemon juice, white wine, the reserved lemon halves, 1/2 teaspoons salt and 1/4 teaspoons pepper.

Boil sauce over high heat until reduced by half which will be about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and add remaining 2 Tbls. butter and swirl to combine. Discard the lemon halves. Serve one chicken breast on each plate and spoon on the sauce with a sprinkling of fresh parsley.

Lemonade Poppyseed Icebox Bars

The passing of the great actor Paul Newman makes me sad. I loved his movies, I loved his voice and I loved his steely blue eyes.

Newman food products have long been a favorite in our house. When my kids were little they would get so excited to grab the Newman's Own salad dressing bottles to toss in the supermarket cart because they thought the picture on it was Daddy. No, my husband was not 73 at the time-and he's not even close to 73 now, but with his hair 10 years ago getting that salt and pepper look there may have been a slight resemblance. (Although truth be told my kids at the time also thought the Sun Maid Raisin lady was mommy-maybe they just needed glasses).

Well what's not to love about great tasting food products where the profits go to charity? That has always been an incentive for me when it came to selecting my salad dressing, tomato sauces or lemonades. Today I made a little tribute treat to Paul Newman...lemon poppyseed bars using Newman's Own Lemonade. You can substitute real lemons and add a little lemon zest if you prefer, but I thought the lemonade worked just great...and it's for charity.

Lemonade Poppyseed Icebox Bars

1 1/4 cups flour

2/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup Newman's Own Lemonade

1/3 cup butter, room temperature

2 eggs

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

Creamy Lemonade Frosting:

8 ounces whipped cream cheese

1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar

2 tablespoons Newman's Own Lemonade

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a 13x9 inch baking pan with cooking spray.

In a large mix bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking, salt lemonade, butter and eggs; beat until well combined, about 2 minutes. Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake in the center of the oven for 25-30 minutes or until edges are golden brown and the center springs back slightly when pressed. Allow to completely cool on a rack before frosting.

To prepare the frosting, using an electric mixer beat together the cream cheese, sugar and lemonade until light and fluffy. Frost the cooled cake; chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour before cutting into bars.

Yield: 24 bars

Barefoot Thursday

OK so I had to tweak it a bit. There is no question that the Barefoot Contessa's recipes are almost always something I enjoy, but this time around I decided to tweak it a bit. Blame it on my kids because they don't like dark meat chicken (unless it's well hidden in a casserole-and I can be oh so clever). So in the interest of making something everyone will eat and in the interest of not being wasteful with food, I tweaked.

For those just rolling their carts into my aisle, what I'm talking about is my recipe for Barefoot Thursday-a day that rolls around twice a month when some 100 Barefoot Bloggers prepare a delicious recipe created by none other than the Barefoot Contessa (Ina Garten) herself. Today's recipe was selected by Stefany of Proceed with Caution. She selected The Barefoot Contessa's recipe for Butterflied Chicken-her recipe as published by Food Network can be found here.

I used your ubiquitous boneless chicken breasts (sorry, boring, I know) instead of the whole deboned chicken called for in the recipe. I tossed the chicken, garlic, lemons etc. in a large zipper top plastic bag and let it marinate for a few hours before tossing it on the grill. To zip it up a bit, I made a Creamy Cracked Pepper Lemon Buccatini on the side. Yummy.

Rosemary-Lemon Grilled Chicken (adapted from Butterflied Chicken by Ina Garten)

6 boneless chicken breast halves, pounded to 1/2 inch thickness

1 lemon, very thinly sliced

1/4 cup chopped fresh rosemary leaves

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Place all ingredients in a zipper top plastic bag and shake to completely coat the chicken; marinate for at least an hour.

Preheat a gas grill to medium high heat. Remove the chicken (leaving any lemon slices on the chicken) from the marinade. Discard marinade. Grill the chicken 8 minutes total, turning occasionally. Serve with the Buccatini-recipe follows.

Creamy Cracked Pepper Lemon Buccatini

1 pound Buccatini shaped pasta (you may use fettucini or linguini)

2 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons all purpose flour

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

2 cups skim milk

1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano Regina cheese

1 lemon, very thinly sliced

1 tablespoon capers, drained

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling water until al dente.

While the pasta is cooking, melt the butter in a medium sized sauce pan over medium high heat. Whisk in the flour, pepper and salt; cook for 1 minute or until lightly browned and bubbly. Stir in the milk and cook, stirring, until boiling and slightly thickened-about 5 minutes. Stir in the Parmigiano cheese.

Drain the pasta and transfer to a large bowl; stir in the lemons, the Parmigiano sauce and the capers. Serve immediately.

Please remember to vote for my recipe in the Evening Category at Dole!!! See the above right hand sidebar for information! Thanks!