The other day I was tempted at the checkout by the latest issue of “Everyday Food.” I used to have a subscription but then I forgot to renew and now I only get the magazine, well, when I’m tempted at the checkout.

This month, there’s a big tostada on the cover. Okay, you are coming home with me! But inside, there was an article on baking mix (recipe below) and all the wonderful things you can bake with it. One of these things is Oatmeal Blondies, which I made. They turned out really good. The whole pan was gone in a day and a half.

The only challenging part was that I got halfway through making the recipe and realized that I didn’t have enough oatmeal. I had about a 1/2 cup and I needed 3/4 cup (well, the recipe says 1 cup, with a 1/4 of that for the top. I was going to use walnuts, so really, I was only short about 1/4 cup).

After sighing, and looking around and not wanting to go out I…..I…..used a packet of Trader Joe’s Blueberry Instant Oatmeal for the missing 1/4 cup.

::ducks::

Yeah, that’s what I said! And it turned out fine. Now, I’m not recommending you do the same, but in an emergency, we do what we have to do. I’ll make these again the right way but I think I’ll add some dried blueberries because, uh, the blueberry flavor was really tasty!

Baking Mix
I halved this from the original
3 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tbsp salt

Mix it all together. Done. Store what you don’t use in an airtight container.

Oatmeal Blondies
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups baking mix
3/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick-cooking)
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped roughly

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a little non-stick spray in an 8-inch square baking pan (you can also butter the dish as in the original recipe (OR). Line bottom and sides with a strip of parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang. Now, you can butter the paper as the OR says or you can use non-stick spray or you can forget to do either like I did. For me, it was fine with just the paper, as I was all about not following the OR too much.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg, and beat until combined. With mixer on low, gradually add Baking Mix; mix just until combined. Mix in 3/4 cup oats. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Press batter down into pan. The OR said to spread. My mix was all crumbly — perhaps it was the blueberry flavoring? It didn’t spread — it pressed. Sprinkle with walnuts, pressing gently to adhere. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool in pan 30 minutes.

Using overhang, transfer blondies (still on paper) to a wire rack to cool completely. Place on a cutting board (peel off paper); using a serrated knife, cut into 9 (OR says 16 — ha!) squares. Store blondies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days, or freeze for up to 2 months. You will eat them all within 2 days, don’t worry.

Oh! Oh! I totally forgot the “secret” ingredient! Based on the Fine Cooking recipe, I added about a tablespoon of honey in the sauce with the lemon, chicken stock & wine. I’ve amended the recipe below!

This was sort of one of those meals where I looked around at what we had and then figured out what to do with it. Chicken breasts? Yes. Capers? Right there. Lemons? Uh-huh. Wine? Well, duh. Feta stuffed green olives that I love-love-love? Oh yeah. So, here we go.

This recipe is also a combination of many different recipes I found online. The fried capers bit is from Fine Cooking magazine and the rest is a little bit Everyday Italian (Little Big Head) and a little bit I love my smoked paprika and I love my Parmesan cheese.

Chicken Piccata with Olives and Fried Capers
2 skinless and boneless chicken breasts, pounded flat*
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup AP flour
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 tsp smoked paprika
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsp brined capers, rinsed
1 clove garlic, minced
Juice of 1 big lemon (should be about 3 - 4 tbsp, you may need another lemon if yours isn’t super juicy and/or big)
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup of white wine (I used a chardonnay)
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp butter
1/4 cup chopped green olives (rinsed) — stuffed with feta if you’ve got ‘em
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

Combine flour, cheese, and paprika and pour onto a rimmed plate. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge chicken pieces in the flour mixture and shake off excess.

In a large 10 or 12-inch skillet over medium high heat, add the olive oil. When hot add the capers and cook for about 60 seconds until they get a little color.

They will also expand a little, almost pop open a bit. Use a slotted spoon and remove the capers and let drain on a paper towel.

In the remaining oil, add the chicken and cook about 2-3 minutes.

When chicken is browned, flip and cook other side for 3 minutes. Check for doneness with a meat thermometer. You are looking for about 165. Remove and transfer to plate. Cover with foil to keep warm.

If you are making pasta to go with this, now is a good time to have your pot of boiling water and your pasta ready to go. We had spaghetti and some green beans. I added the pasta to the water when the sauce was about 8 minutes from being done and then the green beans to the pasta for the last 3-4 minutes of cooking time.

Okay, now back to the sauce. Reduce heat to medium and add the lemon juice, stock, honey, wine and garlic. Bring to boil, scraping up brown bits from the pan for extra flavor. Reduce for about 10 minutes. Check for seasoning and overall taste. Add more wine, stock or lemon as needed. I have to admit I fiddled a bit here. I added a bit more wine. Tasted. Then added a bit more stock. Then gave it a couple more minutes to reduce. When it is just where you like it, add the fried capers, the olives, parsley and butter. When butter is melted, it’s done.

To serve: plate up some drained pasta and green beans. I thought a large rimmed plate worked well but jwa thought a big bowl might have been better. Pfffftttt…whatever. Give each plate a chicken breast and top with the sauce, dividing it between plates.

This was really, really good. We will definitely be having this again. I was kind of sad I only used two chicken breasts and that there were no leftovers.

* To pound your chicken, Place some plastic wrap over a cutting board and put a chicken breast down. Fold the wrap over the chicken and pound with –
a: a pounding mallet
b: a rolling pin
c: some other instrument of choice

I actually have a metal tenderizing side/flat side mallet that I use. I like it because I can just throw it in the dishwasher. That’s one thing to remember, you might get a little raw chicken on whatever you’re pounding with so make sure that what you are using is washable. Then, pound each breast until it has pretty much doubled in size and is about 1/2 - 1/4 inch thick.

Hmmm…we used to (every so often) get these pre-made at Trader Joe’s. They don’t seem to have them anymore which is just fine — they are very easy to make yourself! Give it a try! Plus, nothing says “I love you” like red meat and a bottle of wine! Grrrr!!!

Besides, this was jwa’s request for Valentine’s dinner!

Flank Steak Pinwheels with Boursin, Spinach and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Based on a recipe from Eating Well magazine
2/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes (not packed in oil)
2 cups boiling water
1 pound flank steak, trimmed of fat
1 clove garlic, minced
3 oz herbed cheese spread, such as Boursin
1 cup baby spinach leaves
2 tbsp olive oil
kosher salt & freshly ground pepper
15 or so button mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup Cabernet Sauvignon wine (plus the rest of the bottle for drinkin’!)

Place sun-dried tomatoes in a bowl; pour boiling water over them and let steep until softened, about 10 minutes. Drain and chop. Meanwhile, place steak between 2 large pieces of plastic wrap. Pound each side of the steak thoroughly with the pointed side of a meat mallet until the steak is an even 1/4-inch thickness. Salt and pepper it good.

Align steak so the the grain is running horizontally. Rub garlic all over one side of the steak. Spread cheese lengthwise in a 3-inch-wide strip down the middle of the steak.

Top with the sun-dried tomatoes and spinach. Starting at one edge of a long side, roll the steak up tightly, tucking in the filling as you go.

Carefully rub a bit more salt and pepper all over the outside of the steak roll. Turn the roll so the overlapping edge is on top. Use 4 pieces of kitchen twine and secure steak roll in four places. Slice between the twine to make 4 pinwheels. Trim the edge pieces if necessary to keep it all nice looking. .

Oil your skillet and cook the the pinwheels 5-7 minutes per side for medium-rare. After you flip them, add the mushrooms to the pan and let them start to golden up.

Use a spatula when turning them to prevent too much filling from falling out. Let the pinwheels rest for 5 minutes before serving. Remove the twine from each piece.

While the beef is resting, continue to cook the mushrooms in the tasty, tasty beef drippings. Mmm….beef drippings. Saute for about 3-4 more minutes and at the end pour in the wine and let it reduce about a minute or two. Serve the steaks with the mushrooms. Now, if this doesn’t get you some love, I don’t know what will…

Oh, and besides being delicious, deglazing the mushrooms with some wine should get up any cheese that is stuck to your pan. Awesome!

This was a really good, quick weeknight dinner. It’s from Gourmet magazine and I really just tweaked it a little by adding some lemon zest. We had this with some herbed polenta and uh, I think some broccoli. It was a week or so ago. It’s kind of a blur.

I think the thing I liked best about it was the stuffing kind of vibe. But it was on the outside. It was topping! Crispy topping rocks.

Chicken Breasts with Horseradish-Scallion Crust
This will serve two
1 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp chopped scallion
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 cup fine fresh bread crumbs
Zest of 1/2 lemon
2 tbsp drained bottled horseradish
1/2 tsp chopped fresh tarragon or a pinch dried, crumbled
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a small bowl whisk together mustard and mayonnaise until combined well. Now, I found it easy to make my own bread crumbs in the food processor and when I did, I just tossed in the lemon zest, tarragon, green onion and horseradish and pulsed it all together.

Pat chicken dry and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a 10-inch non-stick skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking and brown chicken, about 2-3 minutes on each side.

Transfer chicken to a shallow baking dish and pour off all but about 2 teaspoons oil from skillet. Add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds. Remove skillet from heat and add the breadcrumb mixture.

Remove skillet from heat and stir in bread crumbs, horseradish, tarragon, and salt and pepper to taste. Spread mayonnaise mixture on skin side of each chicken breast and top evenly with bread crumb mixture. Now, this is funny — I made the mayo/mustard mixture and put it in the fridge while I made the breadcrumbs and browned the chicken. Then, I totally forgot about it.

::slaps self on forehead::

I just kind of pushed the horseradish moistened breadcrumbs into the chicken and it seemed to work fine. So, you could probably skip the mayonnaise and mustard — your call.

Bake chicken in middle of oven 8-10 minutes, or until cooked through, and then let stand 5 minutes. If you want extra browning, give the top of the chicken a quick spray with olive oil before putting it in the oven.

Delicious! Okay, seriously, next week there will be talk of shoes.

Recently, it has come to my attention that October 18th is National Meatloaf Appreciation Day. A big thank you to Serious Eats for bringing the enlightenment and for also hosting an event just for all the meat loaves and their special day.

I have been trying to recreate and perfect a meatloaf that I had about nine years ago, while living in California. jwa and I had gone shopping for something and ended up at the California Cafe by the Stanford Mall for an early dinner. They had a chicken, apple and dijon meatloaf for a special which I ordered and loved — it was the greatest meatloaf I had ever had.

Much to jwa’s dismay I have tried to recapture this awesomeness on a plate all these years since but now….I think I’ve finally gotten it (or something I like just as much).

My version has turkey instead of chicken but it’s close enough. And jwa liked it too — a lot! Which is amazing as, although he did like the Montana meatloaf, generally, he’s not a huge fan of big meaty loaves. In all honesty, I am not either — at least not the beef or beef/pork/veal varieties, hence my collection of previous turkey meat loaves.

So, anyway, there you go. A mostly-meatloaf-disliker likes this meatloaf a lot and a turkey-meatloaf-liker loves this meatloaf. How’s that for a recommendation?

Turkey Meatloaf with Apple, Dijon and Carrot or (This is not the greatest meatloaf in the world — no, it’s just a tribute)
1 medium white onion, diced
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1 green apple, grated (do not squeeze the juice out)
2 big cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
1.5 lb ground turkey
.25 lb sweet pork sausage (you can also use pork sausage in a casing, just remove the casing — that’s what I did)
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
2 eggs
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
3 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
salt and pepper

glaze + topping:
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp dijon mustard
pinch of dried thyme
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese
canola oil spray

Okay — here we go. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat the oil in a skillet and saute the onion until soft — about 3-4 minutes. Add the fennel seeds and the apple and carrot. Continue to saute until any apple liquid evaporates and everything gets just a little color, about 3-4 minutes more. Remove the pan from the heat and let the veggies cool off in a big bowl.

Add the turkey, pork, breadcrumbs, eggs, cheese, mustard and thyme to the big bowl with the veggies. Add about one teaspoon salt and a half of a teaspoon freshly ground pepper. Mix it all up with your hands. It’ll be cold. That’s okay, it builds character.

Put your meatloaf mixture into a loaf pan. I like to go around the edges with my fingers and push down a little so there’s an indentation so that any juices can run off to the side.

Once the meat is safely in the pan, make a little something-something for the top. Mix the mustard with the honey and the pinch of dried thyme. Spread over the top of the meatloaf and sprinkle with some Parmesan. Give it just a quick, little spray with canola oil to encourage browning.

Okay, fine, so I used a bit more cheese…

Bake in the oven about 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Then, turn the oven up to 375 for 15 more minutes of cooking. This extra blast of heat at the end should ensure you have a nice, toasty crust. After the one hour total baking time, take it out and check the temperature. If it’s at least 165 degrees (it’ll probably be a bit over that temperature), you’re good to go. Cover loosely with some foil and let it rest for 10-20 minutes.

Now, when you turn the heat up (about 15 minutes before it’s done) you can start a quick pan gravy.

Quick Pan Gravy
1 tbsp butter
1/2 white onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 tsp thyme leaves
Salt and pepper

Saute the onion in the butter over medium-low heat until softened and a bit golden — about 15 minutes. Add the garlic and and give it about 4-5 more minutes. Now add the flour and cook a minute or two. Add the stock, wine and mustard. Whisk and bring to a boil. Turn down and simmer until the meatloaf is done resting.

Oh, here’s what else you can do if you are in a daring sort of mood — grab the meatloaf pan with some oven mits. Bring it over to the pan of gravy and tip it slightly so that some of the meatloaf juices pour into your pan gravy. See, this is where the indentations around the meatloaf in the pan help out. And, I think this goes without saying, but don’t drop the whole meatloaf into the gravy pan! Next, your meatloaf safely back on the counter, add the thyme and salt and pepper the gravy to taste.

Slice the meatloaf (ours was so moist it was a little hard to get it out in perfect slices that were all in one piece) and serve with the gravy drizzled over it. Simple steamed broccoli and buttermilk mashed potatoes make great sides!

And, wow, this was soooo good. This was the first time I added pork to the combo and I think that was what took it over the edge. I knew I had experienced a major turkey meatloaf breakthrough when jwa was all, “oh, can I take the leftovers for lunch tomorrow?” Ha! Victory is mine!

Thanks again to Serious Eats for hosting this event and giving meatloaf some love.

First off, goodbye Summer theme…hello again Autumn theme! I’ve missed you!

Now, this recipe is from my friend Vanessa. We met at DePaul freshman year of college and then both transferred to other places. We managed to stay in touch for a few years after school, then kind of went on with our lives for a few years after that and just recently got back in touch. Hooray!

She even gave me this awesome recipe for tuna and white beans as a great week night, comforting, quick dinner. It really is…and it fits right in with my (and jwa’s reluctant) goal to eat more economical fish. Frozen tuna is about $6.99/pound at Trader Joe’s. That’s vs. about $20/pound fresh. So, while I will always love the fresh, seared, rare ahi more than anything, it’s good to have a few tricks with frozen tuna. Add this to the list because it’s great!

I didn’t change much from the original, but I did add orange and olives. That’s what so great about this recipe — you can really alter it to fit what you have on hand or flavors that you are in the mood to eat.

Baked Tuna & White Beans from Vanessa
1 medium to large onion, roughly chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
4-5 medium garlic cloves - crushed and roughly chopped
2 cans Cannelloni beans, drained and rinsed
1 lb tuna (defrosted frozen is really good for this — albacore or ahi)
salt and pepper
Olive oil
2 sprigs fresh thyme
Optional: 1 orange, zested and juiced
1/4 cup green olives

Saute onion along with the carrots in olive oil until the onions are translucent. Add garlic and cook (but don’t brown).

Next, throw in drained beans just to get them fusing with onion/garlic/olive oil. Add the orange zest and juice. Salt & pepper to taste.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a casserole dish, add half of the bean mixture to bottom. Sprinkle the beans with half the thyme leaves. Cut tuna into 4-6 chunks so it cooks faster and put on top of beans.

Dump other half of bean mixture over top of tuna. Drizzle with little more olive oil and the feta cheese.

Bake (uncovered) for about 20 minutes or until tuna is cooked/flaky. Before serving, use a spoon to stir everything up so that tuna flakes and is distributed (in small flakes) through beans. Serve with more fresh thyme and green olives.

You could also use fresh basil and Parmesan in place of the thyme and feta. Vanessa first described with with the parm and basil, which I would have done, except the garden thyme was much closer to the kitchen door and it was raining. So there. Also, if you use basil, just add that at the end, after it comes out of the oven.

Here the meal is with some tasty crostini slathered with arugula pesto. How did I make that? Well, a few very big (overflowing, really) handfuls of arugula leaves, about 1/4 cup toasted hazelnuts, 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, 2 garlic cloves salt and pepper. Add to a food processor and combine. Stream olive oil in until it’s smooth and looks like pesto. Get a big bowl of pasta, some crostini or a spoon. All done.

Okay, now off for a bike ride with jwa!

So, I was all set to do an Indian-inspired Mahi Mahi next when Guilty Carnivore sung the praises of Tilapia in a recent comment. I am very easily influenced by the things that I read so I decided to pick some tilapia up on the way home last week — $5.99/pound at the Whole Foods by work (if I remember correctly). The Mahi Mahi in the freezer will have to wait until next weekend. I’m sure the Mahi Mahi won’t mind — it’s hanging out by some vodka.

I wasn’t sure of what to do with the tilapia first. I saw a recipe where prosciutto is wrapped around it and the fish is grilled with sage. I even considered throwing some Parmesan into that equation, but after being mocked by jwa last week for cooking fish with bacon, I decided to try a different approach this time.

What I ended up with was actually pretty good — kind of like a fish lasagna. Both jwa and I agreed that we would definitely eat it again. And there was no bacon or pork products involved at all! Hooray! (or boo!) — I don’t know which one.

Baked Tilapia Layered with Ricotta and Vegetables
about 1 lb tilapia
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp dried basil
1 leek, washed well, trimmed and sliced (use a large leek or 2 small leeks)
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium zucchini, sliced into rounds
20 shitake mushrooms, stems removed and sliced
1 cup loosely packed baby spinach
3 tbsp (or so) white wine
1 cup low fat ricotta cheese
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
5 sprigs fresh thyme
salt & pepper

On the side
Cooked pasta (parpadelle works well) tossed with:
2 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup pitted green olives
olive oil
salt & pepper

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Heat a pan over medium heat and add the oil. Sauté the leek, garlic and mushrooms with the dried basil until the veggies are starting to get soft and they have a little bit of color — about 5-6 minutes.

Spread about 1/2 of the vegetable mixture in a casserole dish. It should just cover the bottom. My dish was about 8 inches by 6 inches. If you are using a bigger dish, you may want to sauté few more veggies. Salt and pepper the fish on both sides and lay that down on top of the veggies and sprinkle with the wine.

Next comes the spinach. Lay that down and spread the ricotta over it. Finish it off with the remaining vegetables and the Parmesan cheese. Drizzle with a little olive oil and lay the thyme sprigs on top.

Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes, until the spinach, veggies and wine have given off some liquid. My theory was that this would help the fish stay nice and moist while the top got a bit golden. I think it worked well.

So you see, I didn’t lie about the liquid in the pan after removing a piece. I chose to not cook the spinach first so it gave off some water. This didn’t bother me but if you want less liquid after baking, just sauté the spinach with the veggies and just add it that way. Anyway, after it comes out of the oven, let it all sit for a couple of minutes and serve with the pasta. In a surprising turn, I must say that the leftovers brought for lunch were even better a couple of days later!

Now, back to watching some more Burn Notice episodes! Maybe fish experiment number three will be prepared with only my cell phone, laptop and things I can get at the hardware store. Oh and there will be yogurt.

Wow! Two posts in two days! Amazing! Uh, anyway, lately, I have mentioned to jwa (threatened?) that we will be eating more fish — at least two times a week. The problem is, we have expensive, fancy-pants fish tastes. Mostly, we both like salmon, tuna and halibut and that’s pretty much our fish repertoire. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love salmon, tuna and halibut but, those fishes are kinda up there in price.

So, I am starting a new project to try different, more, shall we say, economical kinds of fish. First up? Some frozen “Wild Holland Sole Fillets” that I got at Trader Joe’s. Price: $6.99/pound. Not bad.

After some searching, I came across a recipe that was featured on Cooking Live with Sara Moulton a few years back, that incorporates butter, olives, capers and bacon. See — we are eating more fish because it is healthy. We are eating the butter and bacon to eat more fish. Excellent!

Lemony Sole with Green Olives, Bacon, and Capers
4 (6-ounce) sole fillets
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 cup chopped green olives
3 tbsp drained capers
3 cloves garlic, chopped or minced
3 strips cooked bacon, crumbled
1 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
Beurre Blanc (see below)

Beurre Blanc
1/4 cup white wine
1 shallot, finely chopped (I used extra — mm!! shallots)
4 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into cubes and chilled
1 tspn fresh lemon juice
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
Optional: 1 tbsp cream
Optional: 4 more tbsp butter

Combine the wine and shallot in a medium saucepan, bring to a boil, and cook until reduced by half. Now, if you are really crafty, before you even add the wine, you will use the pan you used to fry the bacon in. And you will sweat the onion for a few minutes first in residual, after-being-wiped-out, bacon grease. Next after reducing the wine-shallot mixture, add the cream (if using, I did not) and continue reducing until just thickened. Reduce the heat to low.

While whisking constantly, add the butter, little by little, waiting for each addition to be incorporated before adding more, to make a smooth sauce. Here, the original recipe called for 8 tablespoons butter — I reduced that by half. Whisk in the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Set aside in a warm area. (The sauce may break if it’s too hot or too cold.)

Dredge the fillets in the flour and season with salt and pepper. Preheat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the 2 tablespoons oil and 1 tablespoon butter and heat until hot.

Add the fillets and cook, turning once, until just cooked through, about 4 minutes. Remove to a plate and keep warm with foil.

Remove the skillet from the heat, add the olives, capers, and bacon, and stir, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom, until the mixture has warmed through. If you have a lot of brown bits to scrape up, I found that adding about a 1/4 cup of white wine worked well.

Add the beurre blanc and parsley and stir to combine. Spoon the sauce over the fillets and serve immediately with rice or orzo.

The verdict: Come on, it had butter and bacon. Of course it was really good! I tried to healthy it up just a little by using olive oil instead of vegetable oil, decreasing the pan-frying butter to just one tablespoon and reducing the sauce butter to 4 tablespoons. Eh, fine, it’s still not exactly a healthy meal but it was a wonderfully successful fish experiment. And the huge side of steamed broccoli counts towards the healthy. So there.

Next up in the new kinds of fish experiment? Mahi mahi — probably next week.

A fairly quick and healthy dinner. Minimal cheese. Spinach. Beans. Carrots. See? Pretty healthy. We had this meal two Sundays ago, after we got back from Port Townsend. I believe I used roasted garlic hummus but you could use any kind you like. You could also, of course, make your own hummus or hummus-like dip.

The Parmesan cheese on the outside of the breasts give it a really nice and tasty crust. The sprinkle of Parmesan on the inside is just for fun. Fun!

Hummus and Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breasts
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup hummus
8 or so spinach leaves
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
2 tbsp olive oil
salt
pepper
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup chicken broth
Optional: Your favorite spice blend — for instance, I used a little Sunny Paris (probably about 1 teaspoon total)

Spread a piece of plastic wrap out over a cutting board and lay a chicken breast down. Fold a layer of the plastic wrap over it and pound the breast out until it’s much thinner. Repeat with the other breast.

Sprinkle a little seasoning mix if using and lay down some spinach leaves on each flattened piece of chicken. Divide the hummus between the breasts. Sprinkle each with a little Parmesan.

Roll up. It might be a little messy but you should be able to get it into a rolled shape.

Sprinkle each chicken roll-up with some salt, pepper, a little more seasoning mix and some Parmesan cheese. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and add the oil. Then, add the chicken, seasoned and parmed side down. Go ahead and season the side facing up and let it brown for a couple of minutes.

Flip it over and brown the second side. Add the orange juice and broth to the pan and reduce the heat to medium. Cover partially and let cook until the chicken is done (165 degrees — make sure you are checking the hummus temperature too).

Remove the chicken and cover with foil to rest. While it’s resting, turn the heat up on the pan and reduce the sauce by about half — 5-7 minutes. Serve the chicken with a little orange sauce drizzled over it.

Now the carrots came about like this: while in Port Townsend, jwa and I were walking around the Uptown area after the Farmer’s Market had ended. One of the vendors was having trouble getting the door up on the back of her truck. jwa and I helped her get it attached and she gave us a bunch of carrots. Awesome.

That night, when we got home I whipped up this side dish to go with the chicken.

Good Samaritan Carrots
1 bunch carrots, preferably procured through a good deed
5 cloves garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper

Clean the carrots and cut off the tops. I like to scrape off a bit of the peel but you don’t have to. Cut up into about half the size of baby carrot snacks. Peel the garlic and slice thinly. Heat a pan on medium heat and add the oil. Add the carrots and pan roast slowly, for about 5 - 7 minutes, until they start to get a little color. Add the garlic and continue to cook about 10 more minutes, stirring frequently. Don’t let the garlic burn but it should have a nice golden color.

When the carrots are tender and done, remove from the pan and serve with the chicken.

When I first came across this event hosted at Champaign Taste I knew I wanted to participate for many reasons:

1. She (Lisa, not Julia Child) has a cat that looks like one of my cats
2. I fondly remember watching Julia Child with my mom on the weekends
3. does a person really need a reason to make a meal inspired by Julia Child?

So, I started my research. I knew I wanted to make chicken…but what kind of chicken? During my research I came across this article in the New York Times from 1987. It was written by Julia and is entitled, “The Most Interesting Recipe I’ve Clipped.” Well, hell, if a recipe is good enough for Julia Child to clip and expand upon, then it’s good enough for me. Plus, it’s really a one-pot dish — that’s always a bonus.

I added a couple of things to the original recipe — browning the chicken, mushrooms, garlic and fresh tarragon while taking away a few others — most of the cream and the egg yolks. I also only used two big, split chicken breasts (with skin and bone), as there were only two of us eating the meal. I served the waterzooi with slices of a French baguette…oh, okay, I also put some Boursin cheese out. Fine. But only because it was something that Julia probably would have done too. Yeah.

Waterzooi of Chicken
Julia Child
2 medium carrots
1 medium onion
2 tender ribs of celery
10 button mushrooms, sliced
1 medium-sized leek, white and tender green parts only
4 cloves of garlic, sliced into mini-matchsticks
1/2 tsp dried tarragon
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
2 bone-in, skin on chicken breasts
1/4 cup + 1 1/4 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 cups chicken broth (or more)
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tsp cornstarch
3 tbsp minced fresh tarragon
1 tbsp fresh parsley

Trim and wash the vegetables and cut them into julienne matchsticks. Toss them in a large mixing bowl with the tarragon and a sprinkling of salt and pepper.

Wash and dry the chicken, then salt and pepper it a little on each side. Heat the olive oil in a dutch oven (or big stove-top casserole) and brown the chicken on each side — about 4 minutes total.

Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside. Add the mushrooms to the pot and sauté over medium heat until just starting to color and soften. Deglaze the pan with 1/4 cup of wine and let the wine absorb into the mushrooms a bit. Remove the mushrooms from the pan and set aside with the chicken.

Now, start layering the pot in the following order: one half of the vegetables, the browned chicken breasts and mushrooms and then the remaining vegetables. Pour in the wine and enough chicken broth to barely cover the chicken.

Bring the pot to the simmer, covered, and cook slowly 25 to 30 minutes or until the chicken pieces are tender and, when pierced, the juices run clear.

Remove the chicken and keep warm with foil. Turn up the heat and reduce the sauce for about 5 minutes. Blend the cream and cornstarch in a small mixing bowl and add the mixture into the sauce. Continue to cook for about 2 more minutes. Taste and adjust any seasonings.

Add the chicken back into the sauce and garnish with the fresh tarragon and parsley. Spoon into bowls and marvel at the amazing flavor. Seriously, this was so good. But, should I have expected any less given the source?

On the side
We had some crusty French bread and Julia’s Haricots Verts au Maitre Hotel — or green beans tossed with butter, lemon juice and parsley. This is from the cookbook, The French Chef Cookbook.

Haricots Verts au Maitre Hotel
Julia Child
1 lb fresh green beans, washed right before using
1 tbsp kosher salt
boiling water
1 tbsp butter
lemon juice
1 tbsp minced parsley

Snap ends off of beans and boil in salted water, uncovered, for 8 minutes. When done, drain and run cold water over the beans. When ready to serve, toss the beans in a sauce pan over moderate heat to evaporate any remaining liquid. Add the butter, salt and pepper and toss until the butter is melted and the beans are reheated — about 2 minutes. Toss again with a squeeze of lemon juice and the parsley. Serve immediately.

Thanks again to Lisa at Champaign Taste for creating and hosting this event! And, happy birthday Julia!