Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce

The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.--Carl Jung 

It felt really good to be back in the kitchen tonight. I have a project that's going live at work and I've also been trying to pull together a training class that we're doing next week so it's been long, long days and total exhaustion when I get home. I've missed cooking, though. I've been flipping through some of my old 'Cooking Light' mags and have been anxious to try a few new things. Like the Chicken Satay I made tonight. It was seriously delicious! And, the spicy peanut sauce?  So easy and so crazy good!

You're going to need  wooden skewers for this (the smaller ones) and if you're going to use a grill with an open flame, be sure to soak the skewers for about a half hour beforehand.  If you use a grill pan, like I did, there's no need.  Serve the satay with a side of roasted asparagus, drizzled with a little of the peanut sauce.  You're going to love it and, I promise, you'll never buy jarred peanut sauce again!

Satay

1 tbs brown sugar
2 1/2 tbs soy sauce
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp grated lime rind
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper (more if you like it hot)
2 garlic cloves, minced or grated
1 lb skinless, boneless chicken tenders

Sauce
1 tbs brown sugar
1 1/2 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs fresh lime juice
2 tbs smooth peanut butter
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper (more for extra heat)
1 garlic clove, minced or grated


Combine first 6 Sate ingredients in a small bowl and whisk together. Coat chicken and let stand for 10 minutes. To prepare sauce, combine all ingredients in a small bowl and stir until sugar dissolves. Preheat grill or grill pan over medium high. Thread chicken strips onto skewers and grill 5 minutes on each side, or until cooked through. Serve with peanut sauce.

Chicken with Tomato-Basil Cream Sauce

Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them - that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like. ~ Lao-Tzu

Something I've learned:

There is a story I was told a few years back that I just love.  It is the story of a man who, upon encountering a guru sitting at a fork in the road, asks:“Which way is success?” The stoic sage points down the path to his left. The man, thrilled at the prospect of easy success, rushes off in the appropriate direction. From the distance comes a loud SPLAT! The man reappears. He is bruised and tattered. Again he asks the guru, “Which way is success?” Once again the wise man says nothing. He simply points down the path to his left. The man quickly races down the path a second time. From the distance comes a much louder SPLAT! The man returns crawling on his hands and knees. He is bloody and beaten. He yells at the guru, “Twice I have asked you about the path to success. Both times I followed your directions and both times all I have gotten is splatted!” He screams at the top of his lungs, “No more pointing, talk to me!” The wise man calmly replies, “Success is that way. It is just a little past SPLAT.”

That lesson has probably been one of the hardest for me to learn.  I've always been a bit of a control freak, not in the sense that I want to control other people, but definitely in trying to control the situation.  I'm a planner, I pay attention to details...it's what makes me good at my job as a Project Manager.  So, to just let go, let things unfold as they will, move past "splat" is not something that comes naturally to me.  But, I work on it all the time.  And, time and time again, I am shown that success, happiness and peace are, in fact, just a little past splat.    

Something I've cooked:
Since beginning this little adventure, I have been looking through some of my old cookbooks and pulling out recipes that are not only on the pages but tucked between.  I came across this one last week and have been craving it ever since.  This was one of the first dishes I learned to make when I started cooking and, if you ask me, it's as good today as it was then.  This sauce is also great with pasta!

Chicken with Tomato-Basil Cream Sauce
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3 tbs butter, divided
2 plum tomatoes, chopped
2 shallots, chopped (use a small onion if you don't have shallots on hand)
salt & pepper, to taste
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup whipping or heavy cream
2 tbs loosely packed fresh basil leaves, cut into strips

Season chicken with salt and ground black pepper.  In a medium skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of butter over medium-high heat and cook chicken 8 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly cooked.  Remove chicken from pan and set aside. (I usually put it on a dinner plate and place another one upside down on top of it to keep chicken from drying out). 

In the  same skillet, melt remaining 1 tablespoon of butter and cook tomatoes and shallots, stirring occasionally, 3 minutes or until tomatoes are tender. Stir in wine and cook, stirring occasionally, 2 minutes or until wine evaporates. Stir in cream. Reduce heat to low and return chicken to skillet. Simmer uncovered 4 minutes or until sauce is thickened and chicken is heated through. Garnish with basil.

Red Wine Sangria

Heading to the beach for the weekend so, hopefully, the only thing I'll be cooking over the next three days is me!  I did mix up a big batch of Sangria tonight, though, so I thought I'd share...the recipe, not the Sangria.  :)

Enjoy!

Sangria
2 bottles red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Rioja reds, Zinfandel, Shiraz)
2 shots spiced rum (or brandy)
1/2 cup white sugar
2 oranges, cut into thick slices
1 lemon, cut into wedges
1/2 pint strawberries, sliced
4 cups ginger ale or club soda

Pour wine into the pitcher and squeeze the juice wedges from the lemon and orange into the wine. Toss in the fruit wedges (leaving out seeds if possible) and add sugar and rum. Chill overnight. Add ginger ale or club soda just before serving.   



 

Mushroom Balsamic Gravy

Something I've learned:
Refuse to allow yourself to have low expectations about what you're capable of creating.  As Michelangelo suggested, the greater danger is not that your hopes are too high and you fail to reach them; it's that they're too low and you do.  Have within you an imaginary candle flame that burns brightly regardless of what goes before you.  Let this inner flame represent for you this idea that you're capable of manifesting miracles in your life.  ~ from '10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace', Dr. Wayne Dyer

Something I've cooked: 
Walking in the door tonight, I realized I was too tired to cook a big meal.  It's been a bit of a trying week already.  But, I wasn't in the mood for leftovers so, what to do?  I checked the freezer and was happy to see that I had picked up chicken and mushroom ravioli.  So, I opened a bottle of Malbec and threw together a quick mushroom and balsamic sauce.  Minimal effort, fresh ingredients, perfect with the ravioli!

Mushroom Balsamic Sauce

1 /2 pint fresh sliced mushrooms

2 tbs butter, divided

1 tbs flour

3/4 cup beef broth

1/4 cup half & half

1tbs balsamic

small handful of parsley, chopped

In a medium skillet, at medium-high heat, saute mushrooms in 1 tablespoon of butter 4-5 minutes until tender.  Add remaining butter and flour to pan and whisk together to make a roux, which serves as a thickening agent for sauces.  Add chicken broth, cook 1 minute.  Add cream, cook another 1-2 minutes to thicken..  Add balsamic and reduce heat to simmer another 2-3 minutes.  Garnish with chopped parsley before serving.

This sauce is great over steak, chicken or fish as well!         

Chicken Riggies

A bad neighbor is a misfortune, as much as a good one is a blessing. ~ Hesiod

Chicken Riggies or Utica Riggies is an Italian-American pasta dish native to the Utica-Rome area of New York State. It's a dish usually consisting of chicken, rigatoni and hot or sweet peppers in a spicy cream and tomato sauce, although many variations exist.  And, talk about delicious!  My good friend and neighbor Carol introduced me to Chicken Riggies and let me tell you, the first time I had them I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.  I doubt that mine are as good as hers but, I had to try.  They're just too good NOT to make.

The recipe calls for certain types of peppers but feel free to use the peppers you like most.  For example. I couldn't find the hot cherry tomatoes tonight so I used the sweet.  The dish didn't have as much spice, but it was tasty just the same.  That's one of the things I love about cooking...there's all kinds of room to get creative.

Chicken Riggies

1 lb rigatoni (the riggies)
1 lb chicken tenders (1 package)
salt & pepper to taste
3 tbs olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, grated or finely chopped
2 large or 3 small cubanelle peppers, seeded and chopped
3 roasted red peppers, chopped
6 hot cherry peppers pickled in jar (use the sweet cherry peppers if you don't like heat)
1 can crushed tomatoes (28 ounces)
1/3-1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup grated Romano or Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
1/2 cup basil (about 10 leaves), thinly sliced

Bring a pot of water to a boil for the "riggies." Salt water and cook the rigatoni to al dente. Heads up: you will need to reserve about 1 1/2 cups of cooking water just before you drain the pasta.  If you forget, like I usually do, use chicken stock or white wine, but reduce to about a cup.  Chop chicken into bite-size pieces and season with salt and pepper. Heat three tablespoons of olive oil in a large, high-sided skillet over medium-high to high heat. Add chicken to hot pan and brown all over, about 7-8 minutes, then remove.

Add onions, 3-4 cloves of garlic and cubanelle peppers to the skillet. Season with salt and pepper and cook 6-7 minutes to soften, then add the roasted red peppers.Cut the tops off the hot peppers and scoop out the seeds with a teaspoon. Chop the hot peppers and add them to the skillet. Stir in tomatoes and add chicken back to the skillet. Bring the sauce to a bubble, then stir in some starchy cooking water from the pasta – about one cup. Add 1/3-1/2 cup cream. Reduce heat to lowest setting and simmer a couple of minutes.   Add pasta and 1/2 cup cheese and toss to combine.

This recipe will make a lot of riggies, so you should have plenty for lunch the next day.  Or, you can freeze some of what's leftover for another day.

Quiche: Real Men Eat it Too!

A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg. ~ Samuel Butler 

I've always liked quiche.  I'm not sure if you're noticing a pattern here but I'm a fan of anything that's quick and easy and that you can put "stuff" in or on.  Quiche definitely falls into that category.  It's a great way to use up leftover veggies or that bacon from the breakfast you cooked on Sunday morning.  Tonight I made one with frozen spinach and the rest of the sausage I had leftover from the quesadillas I made during the week.  It took me no time to make, even with a crust from scratch and quiche freezes well and reheats nicely so, if you like to do your cooking for the week on the weekend, this will be a nice addition to your repertoire.

Crust

1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup ice water (water from the fridge dispenser will work)

Preheat oven to 350.  Stir flour and salt together with a fork.  Whisk oil and water together to thicken before adding to flour mixture.  Mix everything together with a fork and then press into a 9" pie plate or quiche dish.  Add toppings and bake until done. About 35 mins.

Spinach & Sausage Filling
4 eggs
1 cup half & half (use milk if you don't have any)
3 oz NY Style Aged cheddar, grated (you can use just about any cheese you like)
3 oz Gruyere
5 oz frozen spinach, thawed and pressed to remove water
1/2 cup cooked crumbled sausage (or bacon)

1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cayenne (adjust to taste)

Mix grated cheese, spinach and sausage together and place in uncooked pie crust.  Beat eggs, half & half, nutmeg and cayenne together and pour over spinach mixture.  Place quiche in oven and cook at 350 until crust is golden brown and center is springy, about 30 minutes.

Pizza!

Pizza is a lot like making love.  When it's good, it's really good.  When it's bad, it's still pretty good. ~ Anonymous

Pizza!  Who doesn’t like pizza?  Pizza is made, ordered and eaten all over the globe.  It may just be the world’s most perfect food.  Yes, I’m a fan.  And, the thing I love the most about pizza is that the creative possibilities are only limited by your imagination.  A pizza crust is like a blank canvas waiting for you to throw color onto it.  You can go traditional with mozzarella and tomato sauce, light with olive oil, shredded chicken and feta.  How about artichoke hearts or eggplant, pineapple, prosciutto, thinly sliced steak and bleu cheese??  The combinations are endless.  Pizza requires very little prep time, unless you get really fancy, and about 15-20 minutes to cook.  It's a perfect choice when you’re running short on time or ideas.  Make individual pizzas for the kids, or better yet let them make their own, serve them with a salad and everyone’s happy.

If you’re pressed for time, pick up a Boboli crust or a ready to bake crust in the refrigerated section of the grocery store.  It comes in a tube, like cookie dough, so you just roll it out and bake.   But, if you have a little extra time, nothing beats homemade pizza crust, it’s simpler to make than you probably think.  And, the crust can be jazzed up too, if you’re feeling extra creative.  Add a little dried basil, oregano and onion powder to the dough for more pop or pull off golf ball sized pieces, roll between your palms, brush with oil and you've got breadsticks.  

I tried something new tonight and made a pizza with poached pears and Gruyere and it was awesome!  My crust turned out a bit thick, I used a smaller pan than I normally would, but I just cooked it a bit longer so the dough wasn't doughy.  This will definitely be on the menu the next time I have a get together!

Pizza Crust
1 pkg yeast (.25oz)
1 tsp white sugar
1 cup warm water
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tbs olive oil
1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 375. In a medium bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.  Stir in flour. Use a spoon or spatula and then your hands to mix until smooth.  Let rest for 5 minutes.  Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat or roll into a round. Transfer crust to a lightly greased pizza pan or baker's peel dusted with cornmeal and work into the shape of the pan. Note, thinner is better.  The dough will thicken up considerably when it cooks.

Brush lightly with olive oil, add toppings and cook for 15-20 minutes or until crust is golden brown.  Let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Poached Pears 
2 Bosc pears, peeled, cored and sliced
2 cups white wine (preferably something sweet like a Savignon Blanc)
1/4 cup white sugar

Bring wine and sugar to a boil, add pear slices, reduce heat to med-low and cook for 12-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Pears are done when they can be easily pierced with a pairing knife but are not mushy.  Remove from liquid with slotted spoon and allow to cool for a few minutes so they are easier to handle.  This is a good time to reach for your tongs!

 Layer the pears, 6 oz of shredded Gruyere and thin slices of red onion onto the pizza crust before baking.