Thursday 24 January 2008

"Cusine for two" - Revisited!


Good Morning, or whatever is the right greeting for you, in your part of the world!

Had a really good night's sleep last night! There was a movie on our bedroom T.V; but I kept falling asleep throughout! The movie that we watched the previous evening, had us 'on the edge' (well, me anyway!)....very good, had 3 stars, and the visual effects were incredible! Plus, some of the actors were like 'jumping beans'; very very athletic! My mind has just gone a bit blank; as to the name of the show; but it had Bruce Willis in it; for those of you, who are Bruce Willis fans. (I like Bruce Willis). It was one of the 'Die Hard' series; the 4th one. However, the actual name will come to me in a tid; and I will mention it in one of my upcoming blogs.

Today, am going to share with you, a couple of tidbitizing recipes that I made for our dinner last night. I encourage you to get ahold of the magazine, "Cuisine for two"; because all the recipes look so delicious and EASY to prepare! I have to thank my good friend / hairdresser for her SAGE suggestion to buy the magazine. Bittidizing about SAGE, a)Barb is wise (sage) and a gourmet cook; and b)the spice, 'sage', is in the recipe!

MARINATED CHICKEN WITH FRESH HERB OLIVE OIL

Saute in 2T Olive oil; roast:

2 bone-in-chicken breasts, seasoned with salt & pepper (about 8 oz each)

6 grape or cherry tomatoes

Combine:

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 T minced garlic
1 T chopped fresh rosemary
1 T chopped fresh SAGE
Salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

SAUTE chicken skin side down in 2T oil in a large nonstick ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat until golden, 4 minutes. Turn chicken over, saute 2 more minutes. then transfer pan to the oven. Roast 15 minutes, add tomatoes to the pan; and cook until a thermometer inserted into the meat registers 165 degrees; about 5 more minutes.

COMBINE oil, garlic, herbs, salt & pepper on a small serving platter. Transfer chicken and tomoatoes to the platter and let rest 10 minutes before serving; flipping the chicken every few minutes to coat with oil and herbs.

Tidbit of info! - The above recipe was excellent! However, as per usual, I did not follow the recipe to a tid! I improvised and it turned out just fine! Also, I have no thermometer, save only an intuitive 'gut', here and there. Am sure you can relate! I think both Alan and I were quite hungry; so anything would have tasted good..however, this was GOOD. I used 4 chicken breasts (boneless; bought those in a 'family pack' at Costco!), used up some bittid 'old' cherry tomatoes (very helpful in flavour). For less aged cherry tomatoes, I would cook them at the tid end; and then you can properly enjoy them, as a whole. (just 'throw them' with a bit of seasoned oil into a frying pan; however, the 'aged' cherry tomatoes add to the 'juices' in the 'basting' process). I used FRESH garlic....mmmmmmm...bon! Used the Italian olive oil,(I like creating an 'international' flair / flavour) and I used 'bottled' rosemary and SAGE; and I threw in about 1 T of each (did not know at the time, if that would be too much to add, compared to 1T of fresh herbs).

Am looking so forward to our 'herb garden'; in the warmer months, when we can savour fresh 'home grown' produce a la our garden patio! (made a tidbitical mention in post of August 9/07; and in a few other earlier bittidical blogs re: our sprouting garden produce!) Our skillet (heavy oven proof frying pan)worked wonders! If you do not have a 'skillet'; not to worry; just improvise! And plan to treat yourself to a 'skillet'. LOL! I ended up cooking all of the above ahead of time; and would do so again and again! However, I may make it just prior to sitting down at the table, once in awhile. I am all for keeping things simple; and for about 20 to 30 mins, I had the chicken (covered with foil, to seal in the 'juices'); in a 250 degrees oven. I wanted to make sure that the chicken was cooked. It was very tender; Alan LOVED it!

Roasted gold potatoes - I did not try this recipe; however, I will give you this one, as it looks very mouth watering!

1 LB Yukon gold potatoes, cut into large chunks.
2 T olive oil
Salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Toss potatoes in a large bowl with oil, salt & pepper. Heat a large nonstick ovenproof skillet over medium-high, then add potatoes and residual oil. Saute until potatoes start to brown, 5 munutes, then transfer skillet to the lowest rack of the oven and roast 20 minutes. Stir, then roast until browned and crisp, about 10 minutes longer.

Bittid of info - Yummmm. I am hungry with this latest temptation! There is that 'skillet' again! 'Residual' reminds me of residual income! LOL! I will try this recipe too.

Instead, I cooked up small red 'new potatoes', (they are the best!) cut them in half, and roasted them at 350 degrees until 'soft' to the touch of a fork. The potatoes were in oil, salt & pepper, AND FRESH DILL! Mmmmmmmm....that was tasty! A friend of my daughter's gave me that tidbit recipe; so the credit goes to her.

The other recipe, I tried from the magazine,"Cuisine for two". is Dijon haricots verts.

4 oz of haricots verts or green beans
1 T unsalted butter
2 t Dijon mustard
Salt & Pepper to taste

Cook beans in a pot of boiling salted water 4 minutes; drain.

Saute beans in butter and Dijon in a nonstick skillet over medium heat 1 munute.
Season with salt & pepper.

This was also very scrumptious! The beans were crispy and the flavour was quite unique. Green beans are not my favourite of vegetables; but this was very tantalizing! I did not measure the amount of beans; just 'threw them in'- (sliced diagnonally) and if I tid a bit on myself, I used (by accident; maybe not though) 1 T of Dijon! But then a bit of tid, I may have used more beans! So, it all worked out. I will cook this recipe many times; and it is healthy! And we are getting our greens!

Tonight, I will be heating up the 'left over' remaining 2 chicken breasts for us; as well as cooking up some brown rice (I will spice it up a bittid); and make a tidbit Caesar salad! And our bottle of red wine (South Afrian!) is in its decantur; so we wil enjoy a glass with our dinner; and at our dining room table! (in yesterday's blog, I made mention of that!)

Tidbit - I would once again, suggest purchasing this splendid cooking magazine! It awakens in me, the joy of cooking! I used to cook a lot years ago; but have been out of the arena for a bit. Alan loves to cook; so purrrrrect! No complaints! However, now I am going to pursue one of my interests, which is cooking!

Bittid - I think the above tid recipes would be suitable for all! ie Nachelors, Bachelorettes, busy mothers, and dads that cook, 'on the go people', whomever; or for a special meal, whatever works! I like the simplicity! Of course, the recipes have to have appeal too. I think the recipes are designed to prepare just before you enjoy....however, I prepared the chicken ahead of time; the aroma that filled our house, was so mouth watering!

Tidbit / Bittid! "Live Free or Die Hard" - is the name of the entertaining movie! Its title, aptly says it in the nutshell of life. Even in the tidbit world of cuisine, eat well!

Today's post, is longer than I had envisioned it to be! Nonetheless, I really enjoyed writing up the recipes from the magazine! Thanks Kris, for your encouraging comment. I keep thinking of the show, "The Galloping Gourmet" - he was so funny! And, he was able to laugh at his impromptu improvisations etc! - which means, we can all dare to cook!

Here is wishing you all a happy day; hope some of you will enjoy the recipes!

Bye for now! And, God Bless.

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