Asian Marinaded Chicken Thighs with Asparagus bundles

Tags

asparagus, bacon, chicken, dinner, Gluten free, healthy, low carb, paleo, sides

 

 

 

One of my go to, easy put together dinners is this asian marinated chicken. This chicken dish is super quick to put together, not to mention delicious. 

 

Ingredients (serves 4, or two really greedy hungry people)

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1/2 cup coconut aminos, or soy sauce

2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar

1 tsp sesame oil

1/4 cup raw honey (regular honey is ok too)

1 tsp fresh grated ginger (1/2 tsp if using powdered ginger)

2 cloves of garlic, minced (or 1 tsp powdered garlic)

1 bunch of scallions, sliced (optional)

 

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together coconut aminos, rice wine vinegar, garlic, ginger, honey and sesame oil. Pour mixture over boneless chicken breasts, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

While the chicken marinates, I prep my side dishes. Since Brent and I follow a low carb diet on a more regular basis these days, I made some bacon asparagus bundles. We found a great hardwood smoked organic bacon, sliced to order with our local grocer that doesn’t run cheap but we find we cant stay away from it! Its so good. 

 

Bacon Asparagus Bundles

1 bunch of asparagus

6 slices of bacon

a sprinkle of natural sea salt

Preheat an oven to 450*. Arrange a baking sheet with parchment paper or non stick foil.

Trim asparagus of woody ends.

Wrap several stalks of asparagus with bacon. Some prefer to tie the bacon in a knot but i prefer the spiral method for more bacon coverage.

Sprinkle the asparagus lightly with sea salt. Roast in the oven for 10 -12 minutes, depending on how you like your asparagus. I like mine with a little char/crunch. 

 

Back to the chicken.

Heat a large grill pan or non stick skillet over a medium high heat. Allow the pan to fully heat to get the desired effect with the chicken. If the pan sizzles wildly after a sprinkle of water hits the pan, place the chicken on the pan and allow to cook undisturbed for 6 minutes. Turn over and cook for an additional 6 minutes or until the center is no longer pink.

Allow the chicken to rest and while resting, garnish with chopped scallions.

 

This is, hands down, our favorite chicken dish. I added a bit of sauteed fennel to the dish.

The leftovers are great for lunch!! (if there are even any leftovers)

Mediterranean Farro Salad

Tags

farro, feta cheese, healthy, raisins, salad, sides

About a year ago, I hosted a potluck in my Queens apartment. We had a great lineup of dishes and we ate like piggies. My friend, Evan, brought over a dish that he claimed to half-ass and apologized profusely over; but it was delicious. So much so that after a year I was still thinking about the dish. It was simple and had great texture that kept me reaching into the bowl for more. I briefly recall it was a Mediterranean Farro salad.

When some Farro fell into my lap, I started looking for recipes that reminded me of Evan’s Farro salad. While I was searching I found some awesome facts about Farro. For starters, farro is a grain. It reminds me of a wheat berry, only less chewy. It has double the amount of fiber and protein that the more modern whole grains. Also, its an ancient grain.

Freakin awesome.

Anywho, back to the salad. This awesome recipe served as a guide of sorts to recreate the salad Evan brought on that awesome night.

Ingredients:

3 cups of cooked farro (1 cup of farro to 2 cups of water, cooked the way you cooked rice)

1/2 cup golden raisins

1/2 cup reduced fat feta, crumbled

squirt of half a lemon

cracked black pepper

When the farro is cooked, allow it to sit and cool for a bit and combine the feta, raisins, pepper and lemon. Toss lightly. Serve room temperature.

I served this salad with a piece of salmon and steamed broccoli. The salad was just as good as I remembered. And even better now that I know how to make it! The raisins with the feta give it a nice sweet and salty thing going on that’s not over powering. The farro are plump and slighlty chewy- which I love.

Its filling. Yet, I still went back for seconds of this salad.

MOAR FARRO SALAD PLEEEZ!

Spring Onion Kimchi

Tags

healthy, korean, salad, scallions, sides

By the powers that be, I discovered a new blog and this blog, Food in Jars, has ignited a slight obsession with canning. Canning is a process I am somewhat familiar with having friends that grow their own produce. It’s the process of preserving fresh fruits and vegetables that seems to have made a comeback from waaaay back in the day.
For me, the obsession is not about having a stock supply of preserves (although that is a bonus) but it was a use for the dozen or so mason jars that I have in my possession. There is something very beautiful about mason jars. Their simplicity, their design, and their multiple functions! I have been toying with the idea of using my mason jars as vases but when this wonderful site came into my Google Reader, I became obsessed with canning.
Most canning is pickling. Pickled vegetables and fruits are probably the easiest procedures for a novice canner. The advanced stuff (for me anyways) involves pressurizing things and can be scary if not done right. The results of a fucked up canning process is botchulism. Not wanting any of that, I am sticking to pickling.
So, this Spring Onion Kimchi recipe looked perfect! Actually, it a ramp greens recipe but Food in Jars swapped ramps for scallions.

 
I only had two jars to fill so I halved the recipe.
Ingredients:
1 bunch scallion greens, sliced into ½ inch slices
½ T sea salt
¼ t cayenne pepper
¼ t paprika
½ T minced ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
½ T soy sauce
½ t sesame oil
 

Directions:
1.     Place the scallions in a large bowl and add all of the ingredients. Toss to coat.

2.     Distribute evenly into the two jars.

3.     Let sit at room temperature overnight

4.     Place in the fridge the following day and for the next five days shake the jar.

5.     It will decrease significantly, so feel free to transfer to one jar. You can now enjoy it with white rice, eggs, by itself or however you like kimchi. Its very flavorful! And can last in the fridge for months!

 

I have made 3 different jars of kimchi after the success of this recipe! But I use English cucumbers now and enjoy cucumber kimchi with an eggy breakfast or as a side salad. I will definitely be making kimchi more often. And its healthy too!

Bulgur Salad

Tags

bulgur, healthy, salad, sides

I discovered a very interesting aisle in my grocery store last weekend. An aisle very close to the produce section. Dried spices, like star anise, jars of jerk seasoning, bottles of the cheapest coconut oil I have ever seen, and bags upon bags of grains and flours. But not just regular old grains and flour, soy flour, rice flour, etc, etc. All for amazing prices. I have no idea what the deal is with those prices… but I was in heaven.

I picked up this bag of bulgur. Its pretty hefty. Especially for $3.99. It’s a lot like quinoa or cous cous and the nutritional content is pretty great. For that price, what harm could it do if I didn’t love it?

I did some research and found that bulgar makes a great warm side or a light salad of sorts. When I came home to my beautiful basil plant that is thriving right now, I was reminded of a salad I had at a party. It was light yet robust in flavor. And the basil was definitely looking to be my muse.

I decided to incorporate the basil into the bulgur with some feta cheese that had no purpose in my fridge. (please note the pool outside my window! Oh Brooklyn, I love you) I snipped a few basil leaves off of my plant and got to work.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup dry bulgur

1 cup chicken broth

6 basil leaves, sliced

1/2 cup fat free/red. fat/ regular feta cheese

2 T olive oil

juice of 1/2 a lemon

fresh black pepper, to taste

Prepare bulgur by bringing chicken broth to a boil. Once it boils, add bulgur, remove from flame and cover. Let sit covered for 5 minutes.

I love chopping basil. So I did that while the bulgur was cooking.

When the bulgur was done, I fluffed it with a fork.

It’s a lot like cous cous.

Then I combined all of the ingredients and tossed.

I really loved this. It was nice and light. Had a lot of flavor and was a great healthy side dish. I paired it with a mango lemon chicken (post coming soon).

This salad tastes great warm but I did eat it cold the following day because I don’t have a micro.

With regards to bulgur, I like it. It will become part of my regular rotation.

Penne with Asparagus and Ricotta

Tags

asparagus, cheese, pasta, ricotta, sides

For my first shopping trip back in the old neighborhood, I neglected to make a plan. This was surely a mistake as I walked into the HUGE supermarket complete with a butcher, fish monger, and large variety of everything. I have been so accustomed to either shopping on Fresh Direct (which I can’t get delivered here) or running to the small supermarket for essentials.

Well, when I arrived I was so taken by the fish market that I bought a WHOLE Lotta salmon. It was affordable and $90 later all I really had was salmon.

As you can imagine, I got pretty tired of salmon. I roasted a piece of salmon every single day. And the only thing I changed up were the side dishes. Normally, sides wouldn’t be an issue but my new kitchen doesn’t have a microwave and I am still deciding on whether or not I can fit one.

Along with my shit load of salmon, I got some gorgeous asparagus. I figured the best bet would be a salad of sorts.

I took a peek at a recipe on Simply Recipes. The smart thing would have been to write the recipe down or to refer to it later. I made a mental note and made something kind of like it.

Mickey has a new view of momma cooking in the kitchen.

Penne with asparagus and ricotta  (makes 2 big servings)

2 cups dry penne

1/2 lb asparagus

1/4 cup part skim ricotta

2 Tbsp parmesan cheese

salt

1/4 cup pasta water

Method: Boil penne according to package directions for about 8-10 minutes. During the last 3 minutes, add the asparagus to the pasta and the water. Reserve 1/4 cup of the pasta water and set aside. Drain pasta and asparagus and place in a medium size bowl. Add ricotta, parmesan, salt if needed and to loosen it up, some pasta water 1 T at a time.

I overshot my ricotta. But then again, I have an odd obsession with ricotta cheese so I went overboard. This recipe is really flexible. I decided this had too much cheese (blasphemy) so I added a little bit of garlic.

I paired the roasted salmon with the pasta salad. Probably not the best pairing… but finding my groove to cook in this new tiny kitchen has been tough.

Julia’s Chick Pea Salad!

Tags

chick peas, potluc, recipes, salald, sides

A few of you emailed regarding the Chick Pea Salad that Julia brought to my potluck a few weeks ago. I asked Julia for the recipe and she kindly obliged.
I do apologize for the lack of photos but really, this dish is bursting with flavor and freshness and can be whipped up in MINUTES! If you need a quick dish for a get together, do not hesitate and make Julia’s Chick Pea Salad!

Hello Love! I don’t use a specific recipe but below is more or less how I make it
Serving is more or less for 1 to 2 people.

Ingredients:
1 can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 small red onion, finely chopped
1 small red bell pepper, diced
1 tomato,diced OR cherry tomatoes, halved
2 or 3 cloves of garlic, minced
Bunch of parsley – roughly chopped OR cilantro
2 tbsp of olive oil ( More or less… to coat the veggies)
Juice of 1 lemon
Season with salt & pepper

I just mix them all in a bowl! Voila! You can do the olive oil and
lemon as a separate dressing to put on top but I just mix it all in
straight up.

You can add other veg to it like celery, tomato, cucumber, etc.

THERE YOU HAVE IT! Go make it! Its awesome. Makes a great side dish… and you know what? its pretty healthy!