Got my new Simple & Delicious in the mail. One thing they have started doing that I do not like is letting advertisers in the magazine give you recipes. This issue has contributions from Ortega, because they want you to buy Ortega products, and Emeril, because they want you to buy Emeril stuff. Well, joke's on them because I already have the Emeril ingredient, so ha. Steve likes it on goulash and meat for the grill. Also, Sam loves sloppy joes, which is essentially what these are, and I have a great sloppy joe recipe already, but since I had all the ingredients for this except the tomato sauce ($0.38), I decided to throw it into the meal plan for this week.
Beef Barbecue
1 lb ground beef
1 small green pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tbsp white or cider vinegar
1 tbsp Emeril's Original Essence
6 soft hamburger buns
In a large skillet over medium heat, cook beef, green pepper, and onion until beef is well browned. Stir in tomato sauce, sugar, vinegar, and essence, heat to boiling. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes or until mixture is desired thickness. Spoon onto buns.
This wasn't quite as soupy as my other sloppy joe recipe, and it was a tiny bit spicy. Steve loved it, and the kids all ate it, too. Nathan didn't have his on a bun, because "I don't want sandwiches." We had this with frozen french fries, which always remind me of school lunches, but in a good way (it's true), and mandarin oranges, which almost all the kids love. I hadn't planned on keeping this recipe, because I thought it was just a space-holder, but Steve liked it so well that I'm going to keep it. If you already have Emeril seasoning for whatever reason, you should make this. I don't know that I would specifically purchase it for this recipe. Okay, I know that I wouldn't. But you can make your own decision there.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Poulet Fasi
Translation: Stuffed Chicken. I have made many a chicken in my day, but I never stuff them. I like Stove Top stuffing, or the yummy Thanksgiving stuffing, but I never put it in the bird. Yesterday I did. Everybody here likes chicken, and I think that almost no matter what you do to chicken (except coat it in mayo) I will like it. This is from A Taste of Haiti, which I have been working through.
Poulet Fasi
Chicken:
1 roasting chicken
1 lime, cut in half
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 small onion, minced
1 shallot, minced
1 scallion sprig, minced
1/4 green bell pepper, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3 tbsp pikliz vinegar
1 tbsp mustard
Stuffing:
1/2 lb ground beef
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 onion, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 tbsp pikliz vinegar
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
Rinse the chicken with cold water. Clean chicken all over with lime halves, inside and out, removing any blood clots out of the cavity of the chicken (I must say I did not do the inside...maybe this is more necessary when you kill and pluck your own chicken). Rinse with water again. In a blender, or with a mortar and pestle (or with your small Tupperware choppy thing), crush the garlic, onion, shallot, scallions, green pepper, salt, pepper, and pikliz vinegar. Rub mixture into chicken, inside and out. Glaze chicken with mustard all over. Let sit in the refrigerator for a few hours.
For the stuffing, combine ground beef, garlic, onion, salt, pepper, and pikliz vinegar (now that I'm typing this I see that it doesn't say to cook the ground beef first, but mine was cooked). Boil the potatoes. Let cool. Mix potatoes with ground beef mixture. Stuff the chicken right before baking. Bake, covered, at 400 for 2 hours, basting every 15 minutes after the first half hour.
Five minutes after putting this in the oven, the kitchen smelled fabulous. It smelled great the whole time it was baking. Steve thought so too. Melissa came in close to when it was done, and she also thought it smelled great. She was relieved because when I told her that morning that we were having Haitian Stuffed Chicken, she was skeptical, but like a good, trusting guinea pig, she came anyway, and was going to eat whatever it was. She was pleasantly surprised that it was this. There weren't too many pan drippings (in retrospect maybe because the beef in the stuffing was precooked?) but I probably wouldn't have made gravy anyway because I don't think that's how they do it there. What few drippings there were I did spoon over mine & Steve's chicken. This tasted really good, really Haitian, I think. Very happy with what I have made from this book so far.
Poulet Fasi
Chicken:
1 roasting chicken
1 lime, cut in half
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 small onion, minced
1 shallot, minced
1 scallion sprig, minced
1/4 green bell pepper, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3 tbsp pikliz vinegar
1 tbsp mustard
Stuffing:
1/2 lb ground beef
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 onion, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 tbsp pikliz vinegar
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
Rinse the chicken with cold water. Clean chicken all over with lime halves, inside and out, removing any blood clots out of the cavity of the chicken (I must say I did not do the inside...maybe this is more necessary when you kill and pluck your own chicken). Rinse with water again. In a blender, or with a mortar and pestle (or with your small Tupperware choppy thing), crush the garlic, onion, shallot, scallions, green pepper, salt, pepper, and pikliz vinegar. Rub mixture into chicken, inside and out. Glaze chicken with mustard all over. Let sit in the refrigerator for a few hours.
For the stuffing, combine ground beef, garlic, onion, salt, pepper, and pikliz vinegar (now that I'm typing this I see that it doesn't say to cook the ground beef first, but mine was cooked). Boil the potatoes. Let cool. Mix potatoes with ground beef mixture. Stuff the chicken right before baking. Bake, covered, at 400 for 2 hours, basting every 15 minutes after the first half hour.
Five minutes after putting this in the oven, the kitchen smelled fabulous. It smelled great the whole time it was baking. Steve thought so too. Melissa came in close to when it was done, and she also thought it smelled great. She was relieved because when I told her that morning that we were having Haitian Stuffed Chicken, she was skeptical, but like a good, trusting guinea pig, she came anyway, and was going to eat whatever it was. She was pleasantly surprised that it was this. There weren't too many pan drippings (in retrospect maybe because the beef in the stuffing was precooked?) but I probably wouldn't have made gravy anyway because I don't think that's how they do it there. What few drippings there were I did spoon over mine & Steve's chicken. This tasted really good, really Haitian, I think. Very happy with what I have made from this book so far.
Boulet Pomdete ak Bef
Okay a literal translation of that is "pellets of potatoes with beef" which does not sound at all appetizing. What they are actually is kind of like beef-stuffed mashed potato balls. Our Kreyol teacher Gessie says this is something Haitians will have for a special occasion, like Christmas. The average (poor) Haitian has meat only once or twice a year, the rest of the time they rock the beans and rice. The author of this cookbook (A Taste of Haiti) married into a Haitian family and has collected these recipes from her in-laws. There is a little bit of everything here, including things I would never ever eat. But some of the recipes are definitely doable. This one sounded like it would take a while to make, and it did, but it was fun, and it had pretty standard ingredients, except for the pikliz, which I posted separately. Emma made it with me and we had fun wondering how Haitian women would make it differently, since their ovens and utensils are all different than ours.
Boulet Pomdete ak Bef
Beef filling:
1 pound ground beef
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2-3 tbsp pikliz vinegar (see previous post)
1 tbsp pikliz vegetables
1 tsp minced parsley
1 shallot, minced
1/2 onion, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
Potato mix:
6 large potatoes
1/4 cup milk
1 cup flour
1 egg, beaten (I used 2)
1 cup bread crumbs
2 cups vegetable oil
Mix all beef filling ingredients in a pot with 1/4 cup water and cook over low heat until water fully evaporates while using a fork to break up the beef (I used a skillet and cooked over med-high). Let cool.
Peel, cut, and boil the potatoes in salted water. Drain water; mix with the milk, mash and let cool. (Here comes the fun part) Take a handful of the potatoes and place in the palm of your hand. Flatten with the fingers of your other hand and add 1 tbsp of the beef filling in the middle of the potatoes. Cover the meat with the potatoes, forming a ball. Form small or large balls as desired (I could only seem to make mine baseball-sized). Dip into flour, egg, and then in the breadcrumbs. Heat oil in frying pan. Place balls in the hot oil and fry on each side until golden brown. Serve with additional pikliz if desired (we didn't).
We had this with one of those bag salads for a side dish. This recipe is actually in the "appetizers" section of the cookbook, but I can't imagine doing this much work just for an appetizer and then still having to make a main meal. But if it's only for special occasions, then maybe. Nathan only ate the beef filling out of his, but the rest of us ate them all. Very hearty and filling. Since mine were so big, I only got 9 "pellets" out of this recipe. But we had 3 leftover after we all had all we wanted. I thought they tasted very good, but I have never eaten anything like that in Haiti so I don't know if it tasted authentically Haitian or not. But I felt pretty Haitian while I was making it...
Boulet Pomdete ak Bef
Beef filling:
1 pound ground beef
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2-3 tbsp pikliz vinegar (see previous post)
1 tbsp pikliz vegetables
1 tsp minced parsley
1 shallot, minced
1/2 onion, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
Potato mix:
6 large potatoes
1/4 cup milk
1 cup flour
1 egg, beaten (I used 2)
1 cup bread crumbs
2 cups vegetable oil
Mix all beef filling ingredients in a pot with 1/4 cup water and cook over low heat until water fully evaporates while using a fork to break up the beef (I used a skillet and cooked over med-high). Let cool.
Peel, cut, and boil the potatoes in salted water. Drain water; mix with the milk, mash and let cool. (Here comes the fun part) Take a handful of the potatoes and place in the palm of your hand. Flatten with the fingers of your other hand and add 1 tbsp of the beef filling in the middle of the potatoes. Cover the meat with the potatoes, forming a ball. Form small or large balls as desired (I could only seem to make mine baseball-sized). Dip into flour, egg, and then in the breadcrumbs. Heat oil in frying pan. Place balls in the hot oil and fry on each side until golden brown. Serve with additional pikliz if desired (we didn't).
We had this with one of those bag salads for a side dish. This recipe is actually in the "appetizers" section of the cookbook, but I can't imagine doing this much work just for an appetizer and then still having to make a main meal. But if it's only for special occasions, then maybe. Nathan only ate the beef filling out of his, but the rest of us ate them all. Very hearty and filling. Since mine were so big, I only got 9 "pellets" out of this recipe. But we had 3 leftover after we all had all we wanted. I thought they tasted very good, but I have never eaten anything like that in Haiti so I don't know if it tasted authentically Haitian or not. But I felt pretty Haitian while I was making it...
Pikliz
I got a new cookbook from Amazon.com called A Taste of Haiti. I have been wanting a Haitian cookbook for a while, but if you try to get one in the airport at Port au Prince, it costs like $50, and you have already given all your money away by then. Plus that is way too much for a cookbook. I have looked at a couple in bookstores here, too, but they seem to use ingredients that are not readily available in Maine. One did include the helpful hint that if you can't find an ingredient here, try the Haitian markets in New York City or Toronto. Yes, let me run right over. This cookbook is one that Amazon recommended to me; you know how they do that if they think you will like something? And I am glad I got it. I am going to try several recipes out of it (I will NOT be trying Pig's Feet or Goat Bits) and a lot of the recipes have Pikliz in them, so I had to make this first before I could make any of the actual recipes. This is basically pickled vegetables, which sounds gross when I type it. But read it and you'll see. I realize probably nobody is going to make these Haitian recipes, but I include them because you might like to read about them, and feel more international.
Pikliz
6 scotch bonnet peppers (according to google, these are crazy hot...I used jalapenos instead. Also, I wore gloves)
2 cups thinly sliced or shredded cabbage
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/4 cup thinly sliced onion
1/4 cup frozen green peas
4 whole cloves (crazy expensive so I used whole Jamaican allspice, because that's caribbean too)
1 tsp salt
8-10 peppercorns
3 cups vinegar
Snip off the stems of the peppers, cut each into 4 pieces, and keep the seeds. Place them and all dry ingredients into quart-sized jar, then add the vinegar. Close jar tightly and let sit 24-48 hours before using. Once you commence using (their phrasing), store in the refrigerator. Lasts for months.
See, nothing too weird there for ingredients, so I made it. It looked very pretty in the jar. Some recipes will call for just the vinegar from the jar, and others will call for some of the vegetables, but never the peppers. I can't really say if I liked this recipe or not, because it's not like I had a big spoonful of this to sample it. But I am going to add it to my subsequent Haitian dishes.
Pikliz
6 scotch bonnet peppers (according to google, these are crazy hot...I used jalapenos instead. Also, I wore gloves)
2 cups thinly sliced or shredded cabbage
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/4 cup thinly sliced onion
1/4 cup frozen green peas
4 whole cloves (crazy expensive so I used whole Jamaican allspice, because that's caribbean too)
1 tsp salt
8-10 peppercorns
3 cups vinegar
Snip off the stems of the peppers, cut each into 4 pieces, and keep the seeds. Place them and all dry ingredients into quart-sized jar, then add the vinegar. Close jar tightly and let sit 24-48 hours before using. Once you commence using (their phrasing), store in the refrigerator. Lasts for months.
See, nothing too weird there for ingredients, so I made it. It looked very pretty in the jar. Some recipes will call for just the vinegar from the jar, and others will call for some of the vegetables, but never the peppers. I can't really say if I liked this recipe or not, because it's not like I had a big spoonful of this to sample it. But I am going to add it to my subsequent Haitian dishes.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Light and Easy Caribbean Chicken
Have you ever had this happen to you? You read (or hear) a warning so many times that you get desensitized to it. Things like "no running with scissors" or "no swimming right after you eat." You hear the warning so many times you just tune it out and forget what the whole reason was behind the warning in the first place. My mom always told me to tie my shoes if they came untied. In one ear and out the other. Once in college (I remember this vividly) I noticed that my shoe was untied. For whatever reason (laziness or lateness being the top two most likely) I did not stop to retie. A minute later I was on the ground. I thought to myself, "mom was right." How many times have I read the warning about wearing gloves when you chop hot peppers? Probably 50. Today, did I put on gloves prior to chopping a hot pepper? No, I did not. In my defense: A) I worked last night and wasn't thinking clearly B) I hadn't planned to make this recipe when in a zombie state, but I had to rearrange my meal plan because Sam's birthday meal was on Monday, when this recipe was originally slated. Do you SEE why my meal plan is (or should be) unflinchingly rigid? Bad things happen when the order is disturbed. C) This is the first time I have ever bought or used jalapenos, and I was being naive and didn't really know what I was getting into. D) On Man v. Food, and through my own google research, I learned that jalapenos aren't even that hot, as far as hot peppers go. There is a whole scale of hotness and jalapenos are at the low end, and something scary called a "ghost chili" is at the high end. I (again, naively) thought it was no big deal. E) I was talking to my sister on the phone while I was making this, and somehow I am going to make this her fault. So. It's not even like I didn't have gloves. I always keep some in a drawer because I really can't stand touching raw meat. So I can't use that as an excuse.
I promise that I will get to the recipe. But first, my incident report. I placed chunks of pineapple and red pepper into my Tupperware food chopper thing that is good for making salsa. I then cut and seeded one little jalapeno and put strips of it into the chopper. Then, I chopped it all up with the easy turning motion my Tupperware product provides. I want to stress at this point that I do not hold Tupperware at fault for what happened. It was my sister's fault because I was talking to her on the phone from step #1 of this process. Maybe if I hadn't been on the phone with her I would have remembered and heeded the glove warning. Maybe she should have said to me "Hey! Put some gloves on before you chop that up." But neither of those things happened, and I just willy nilly chopped the jalapeno with my bare hands and put the strips into the bowl. I ate a chunk of the pineapple after all three things had been chopped into the consistency you would want for salsa. It was H O T (I am such a wimp about spice). It burned my tongue, and then my lips. Sting-y needle-y type burning. I proceeded with the recipe. Washed my hands several times through the next hour, knowing in the back of my mind I had just cut a hot pepper. Then. Before I started cooking the chicken, I decided to put my contacts in, which had been out since this morning when I got home from work and then went to bed. The detective types among you can probably figure out what happened next. One contact in. Crazy horrible burning in my eye. Me saying "ah ah ah ah ah" and thinking, in rapid succession, takeitoutican'ttakeitoutihaveitonmyfingerstootakeitouticanttakeitouttakeitouttakeitout. I wrenched it out of my eye just as Steve came to see what the heck was wrong with me. I don't know what you guys have in your houses, but here we do not have an emergency eye wash station. So Steve was holding my eye open while he poured in multi purpose contact solution, and saying helpfully, "open your eye." The children looked on, fascinated. After what seemed like a really long time, he stopped. I put my glasses back on and he threw away the tainted contact lens. I decided not to go anywhere tonight after all. And I went back to cooking. This recipe is from the Sam's Club cookbook. I am undecided at this point if some of my anger should be directed toward them, as well.
Light and Easy Caribbean Chicken
Grilled chicken:
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup honey
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
Island salsa:
1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
1/2 of 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, drained (I put the other half in the freezer to throw in the next time I make spaghetti sauce...that was my sister's idea. So you can see she helps me when it's convenient for her)
1 cup medium red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 cup fresh pineapple, finely chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped
4 tbsp dried basil (that seemed like way too much and I only used 2 tbsp)
2 tbsp lime juice
Combine ketchup, worcestershire sauce, vinegar, honey, soy sauce, and garlic in a large ziploc bag (I did this last night before I went to work). Add chicken to bag and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight (I put the chicken in this morning when I got home from work). Combine salsa ingredients in a medium bowl and cover. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes to allow flavors to blend (I did this at 4 pm. For any of you wondering, yes I drank a cup of coffee when I woke up). Grill chicken about 5 minutes on each side (or use a Foreman grill), until no longer pink in the center. Serve each chicken breast with salsa.
So for all my trouble, this did turn out very good. Everyone liked the chicken. The little ones had no salsa on theirs. This made a huge amount of salsa. We only used about 1/4 of what I made, so we will be eating this with tortilla chips for several days. I will be making this again, more wisely, and substituting cilantro for the basil, because it tasted like it wanted cilantro to be in it.
In closing I would like to remind you to wear gloves if you chop jalapenos. As an alternative, you could not use jalapenos at all. If you decide to use them, do not talk to my sister on the phone while you cook with them. This has been a safety briefing brought to you by New Recipe Night.
I promise that I will get to the recipe. But first, my incident report. I placed chunks of pineapple and red pepper into my Tupperware food chopper thing that is good for making salsa. I then cut and seeded one little jalapeno and put strips of it into the chopper. Then, I chopped it all up with the easy turning motion my Tupperware product provides. I want to stress at this point that I do not hold Tupperware at fault for what happened. It was my sister's fault because I was talking to her on the phone from step #1 of this process. Maybe if I hadn't been on the phone with her I would have remembered and heeded the glove warning. Maybe she should have said to me "Hey! Put some gloves on before you chop that up." But neither of those things happened, and I just willy nilly chopped the jalapeno with my bare hands and put the strips into the bowl. I ate a chunk of the pineapple after all three things had been chopped into the consistency you would want for salsa. It was H O T (I am such a wimp about spice). It burned my tongue, and then my lips. Sting-y needle-y type burning. I proceeded with the recipe. Washed my hands several times through the next hour, knowing in the back of my mind I had just cut a hot pepper. Then. Before I started cooking the chicken, I decided to put my contacts in, which had been out since this morning when I got home from work and then went to bed. The detective types among you can probably figure out what happened next. One contact in. Crazy horrible burning in my eye. Me saying "ah ah ah ah ah" and thinking, in rapid succession, takeitoutican'ttakeitoutihaveitonmyfingerstootakeitouticanttakeitouttakeitouttakeitout. I wrenched it out of my eye just as Steve came to see what the heck was wrong with me. I don't know what you guys have in your houses, but here we do not have an emergency eye wash station. So Steve was holding my eye open while he poured in multi purpose contact solution, and saying helpfully, "open your eye." The children looked on, fascinated. After what seemed like a really long time, he stopped. I put my glasses back on and he threw away the tainted contact lens. I decided not to go anywhere tonight after all. And I went back to cooking. This recipe is from the Sam's Club cookbook. I am undecided at this point if some of my anger should be directed toward them, as well.
Light and Easy Caribbean Chicken
Grilled chicken:
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup honey
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
Island salsa:
1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
1/2 of 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, drained (I put the other half in the freezer to throw in the next time I make spaghetti sauce...that was my sister's idea. So you can see she helps me when it's convenient for her)
1 cup medium red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 cup fresh pineapple, finely chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped
4 tbsp dried basil (that seemed like way too much and I only used 2 tbsp)
2 tbsp lime juice
Combine ketchup, worcestershire sauce, vinegar, honey, soy sauce, and garlic in a large ziploc bag (I did this last night before I went to work). Add chicken to bag and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight (I put the chicken in this morning when I got home from work). Combine salsa ingredients in a medium bowl and cover. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes to allow flavors to blend (I did this at 4 pm. For any of you wondering, yes I drank a cup of coffee when I woke up). Grill chicken about 5 minutes on each side (or use a Foreman grill), until no longer pink in the center. Serve each chicken breast with salsa.
So for all my trouble, this did turn out very good. Everyone liked the chicken. The little ones had no salsa on theirs. This made a huge amount of salsa. We only used about 1/4 of what I made, so we will be eating this with tortilla chips for several days. I will be making this again, more wisely, and substituting cilantro for the basil, because it tasted like it wanted cilantro to be in it.
In closing I would like to remind you to wear gloves if you chop jalapenos. As an alternative, you could not use jalapenos at all. If you decide to use them, do not talk to my sister on the phone while you cook with them. This has been a safety briefing brought to you by New Recipe Night.
Apricot Chicken
My friend posted this on her facebook a very long time ago, and I remember thinking then that I wanted to try it. But (does this happen to you?) I got distracted by something shiny and then forgot all about it. Fast forward to a few weeks ago, when another friend Nina (avid blog reader) told my first friend that she was making it that night, reminding me that I wanted to try it. Fast forward to yesterday, and I made it. The friend who posted the recipe also recommended that Beefy Rice be made with it at the same time, so I did and posted that recipe separately. To further mix this up, if you're even still following me, these two recipes are my friend's mother's.
Apricot Chicken
12 oz apricot jelly/jam
4 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 envelope dried onion soup mix
chicken
Mix the first 3 ingredients. Put the chicken in a 9x13 pan (I asked my friend to clarify: chicken pieces, and not skinned. We had two breasts, two thighs, and two drumsticks. Nobody ever eats the wings at this house, so I saved them to make chicken broth). Pour the mixture over the chicken. Bake at 375 for 45-60 minutes (mine took the full 60).
Between this and the rice, the kitchen smelled great by the time Steve got home. He was playing that great game Name That Smell and he guessed "barbecue?" But he was wrong. He couldn't guess. The chicken came out moist and great, and didn't taste very apricot-y. More like sweet and sour. The skin was crisp, and the sugar from the jam made some of it brown up very yummily (I did not eat all the skin from my piece, just those yummy crispy parts). There was a lot of sauce left over, so I put it in with the leftover rice, hoping that the leftover rice will absorb some of that liquid and be less chewy (see the rice recipe to see what I mean). So this recipe was very easy to make, and everyone liked their chicken.
Apricot Chicken
12 oz apricot jelly/jam
4 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 envelope dried onion soup mix
chicken
Mix the first 3 ingredients. Put the chicken in a 9x13 pan (I asked my friend to clarify: chicken pieces, and not skinned. We had two breasts, two thighs, and two drumsticks. Nobody ever eats the wings at this house, so I saved them to make chicken broth). Pour the mixture over the chicken. Bake at 375 for 45-60 minutes (mine took the full 60).
Between this and the rice, the kitchen smelled great by the time Steve got home. He was playing that great game Name That Smell and he guessed "barbecue?" But he was wrong. He couldn't guess. The chicken came out moist and great, and didn't taste very apricot-y. More like sweet and sour. The skin was crisp, and the sugar from the jam made some of it brown up very yummily (I did not eat all the skin from my piece, just those yummy crispy parts). There was a lot of sauce left over, so I put it in with the leftover rice, hoping that the leftover rice will absorb some of that liquid and be less chewy (see the rice recipe to see what I mean). So this recipe was very easy to make, and everyone liked their chicken.
Beefy Rice
This is the rice that my friend recommended be served with the apricot chicken.
Beefy Rice
1 cup rice (she recommended white rice but I only had brown so I used that)
1 can beef consomme (Campbell's, near all their other soups)
1 chicken bouillon
1 small can sliced mushrooms (save the juice)(I didn't use these at all)
fill the mushroom can (with its juice in it) to the top with water and add it
1/4 tsp marjoram
3/4 cube butter (now this was interesting. I never heard of a cube of butter. But I googled it, and apparently it is a common unit of measurement in other countries. My friend said she thinks it is 8 tbsp. I used 6 tbsp)
Combine all ingredients in a casserole dish and bake at 350 for 30 minutes covered, then 30 more minutes uncovered (I read a comment on the fb post that said it usually takes longer, so I did 45 minutes each, especially since I used brown rice to begin with).
The chicken says 375, and the rice says 350. So the rice got 350 until I put the chicken in, and then it got 375 for the rest of the time. I definitely should have used white rice. Even after 1 1/2 hours of cooking time it was a bit chewy. We could still eat it, but I wished I had added more liquid at the beginning. We had this with the sauce from the chicken over the top of it, as recommended. The two littlest children didn't care for that, but Sam liked his. If I was making this again, it would definitely be with white rice. That makes it less healthy, but when you make a comfort-meal food like this, it's not like you're going for health. So once in a while...except you can't just buy 1 cup of white rice, you have to buy a whole package. And then you have to use the rest of the rice in other recipes. And then your kids get used to white rice and then when you try to serve brown again...oh dear.
Also, this is not a vegetable, but I didn't think it fit well into any of the categories. And since vegetables and rice are usually served as side dishes, I stuck it with vegetables. It's my blog and I can do what I want.
Beefy Rice
1 cup rice (she recommended white rice but I only had brown so I used that)
1 can beef consomme (Campbell's, near all their other soups)
1 chicken bouillon
1 small can sliced mushrooms (save the juice)(I didn't use these at all)
fill the mushroom can (with its juice in it) to the top with water and add it
1/4 tsp marjoram
3/4 cube butter (now this was interesting. I never heard of a cube of butter. But I googled it, and apparently it is a common unit of measurement in other countries. My friend said she thinks it is 8 tbsp. I used 6 tbsp)
Combine all ingredients in a casserole dish and bake at 350 for 30 minutes covered, then 30 more minutes uncovered (I read a comment on the fb post that said it usually takes longer, so I did 45 minutes each, especially since I used brown rice to begin with).
The chicken says 375, and the rice says 350. So the rice got 350 until I put the chicken in, and then it got 375 for the rest of the time. I definitely should have used white rice. Even after 1 1/2 hours of cooking time it was a bit chewy. We could still eat it, but I wished I had added more liquid at the beginning. We had this with the sauce from the chicken over the top of it, as recommended. The two littlest children didn't care for that, but Sam liked his. If I was making this again, it would definitely be with white rice. That makes it less healthy, but when you make a comfort-meal food like this, it's not like you're going for health. So once in a while...except you can't just buy 1 cup of white rice, you have to buy a whole package. And then you have to use the rest of the rice in other recipes. And then your kids get used to white rice and then when you try to serve brown again...oh dear.
Also, this is not a vegetable, but I didn't think it fit well into any of the categories. And since vegetables and rice are usually served as side dishes, I stuck it with vegetables. It's my blog and I can do what I want.
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