Sweet Love and Ginger

Clean

How to Prepare Chicken Paillards & a Recipe

By

This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Don’t let the fancy-pants name scare you paillards are a simple
cut of chicken that is pounded flat, that’s all. You can make them in your own
kitchen using boneless, skinless chicken breast.

I have been doing this for years and never knew that I was
so fancy-shmancy. I like them because the chicken breasts that are typically
available in the stores are way larger than a single portion should be, so
cutting the paillards allows for smaller portions, while giving the impression
of large portions. I also really like the tenderness of the chicken once it is
pounded flat besides, plus it’s useful for making the meat more malleable when
you want to roll it. Another bonus is that when it’s thinner it will cook
faster without getting dry. See how useful?

How to prepare a Chicken Paillard:

1. 
Lay a boneless, skinless chicken breast skin
side up on a cutting board

2.  Place your hand on top, and very carefully slice
the chicken horizontally, almost reaching the other side.

3.  Flip the chicken open like a book.            

a.  You can leave the large piece of chicken like
this or continue the cut to that you have two separate pieces

4. 
Lay the chicken flat and place a piece of
plastic over the top.

5.  With the smooth side of a mallet begin pounding
the chicken from the center outward until it is roughly ½ to ¼ inches thick.

Note: if you don’t have a mallet like me, the bottom of a
coffee cup kinda-sorta works as well.


Clean Lemon Shallot Chicken
Paillards

2 tbs
whole wheat pastry flour

1 tsp
each of salt & pepper

2
prepared chicken paillards

2 tbs
olive oil

2 tbs
organic, unsalted butter

3
shallots, chopped finely

1
lemon, juiced

1 tsp
fresh lemon zest

1/2
cup chicken broth

Salt
and Pepper to taste

Sift
together salt, pepper, and flour and dust the paillards with this mixture. In a
large skillet heat 1 tbsp of oil, add chicken and cook for 2 -3 minutes per
side, or until browned lightly and cooked through. Remove from pan and set
aside. In the same skillet melt 1 tbs of butter and 1 tbs of oil, and saute
shallots until softened, 4-5 minutes. Add lemon juice, zest, broth and bring to
a boil. Continue to stir often, scraping the bottom of the pan for browned
bits. Once the liquid has reduced by half add the remaining butter. Return the
chicken to the pan to warm and serve warm.(Serves 2)

Vegetable Spotlight & Spring Vegetable Ravioli

By

This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

One of my many goals for this year was to bring vegetables to the forefront of our lives. I want to stray from the typical American focus on meat as the main dish at meals. The hope is that this helps us to be healthier. There is so much research out there that shows just how much better a vegetable based diet is. I know this, and what I don’t know is why it took me so long to make this step.

This does not mean that we will be going vegetarian by any means, or anything of the sort, instead meat will be used more as a flavor enhancer
than a main staple. I am nowhere near ready to give up steaks and bacon believe me.

A vegetable based diet to me is more about taking a step back in time back to a more traditional diet; a time when meat was expensive and the personal garden was in large part a main source of food. Yes I am aware that protein is important especially for those of us who are very physically active, but you can get protein from more than just the handful of meat sources that we focus on today, not to mention the quantity of protein that the average American consumes far exceeds what the body actually needs daily.

This is not the end of steak dinners, chicken parmesan, and burgers, but these will be less often and more of a side dish than the main course.

I am very excited about this change, about the chance to experiment with different flavors and textures. Meat only comes in a handful of flavors and textures that in order to change we typically add vegetables and herbs to it, so why don’t we just focus on the vegetables and herbs to begin with?

I hope that you can appreciate my efforts, and join in with me in this. If you have any ideas, or things that you would like me to try please don’t hesitate to email, or comment.

In honor of the topic at hand I thought I would post a fabulous recipe that I came up with upon experiment with the fresh spring vegetables that are showing up in stores.

 

Ravioli with Spring Vegetable Toss

1 tbs butter
1 tbs oil
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 large leek, sliced
1 lb asparagus, cut into 1-2” pieces
1 cup fresh shelled peas (or frozen)
½ cup dry white wine
½ cup low sodium vegetable broth (or Chicken)
1 tsp cracked red pepper
Salt & Pepper to taste
2 lbs whole wheat ravioli prepared according to package instructions.
Fresh grated parmesan cheese

Heat oil and butter in a large cast iron skillet, stir in mushrooms and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Add leek and continue to cook for 2-3
minutes. Add asparagus and peas. Deglaze with white wine, and allow it to reduce again to a glaze. Add in broth and spices. Simmer for an additional 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and add cooked ravioli tossing with sauce and vegetables to coat well. Serve warm topped with Parmesan.

D4One: Sherry Mushroom Chicken

By

This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

I know you have heard me say that I don’t like mushrooms,
but it’s like Momma Chuck says “you have to try something 17 times to know for
sure if you don’t like it”, so I’m still trying them; lately with success.
On our recent trip to NYC for my birthday we went to Butter Restaurant. Inside this
wonderfully chic and intoxicating establishment I ordered homemade ravioli that
came with mushrooms, parsley and pecorino cheese. And let me tell you it was
fabulous! I ate everything on the plate, and like an Italian would I used the
table bread to scoop up the last little bits of goodness. Now I’m on a mission
to try more mushrooms, starting with this recipe.
I was browsing through some chicken and mushroom recipes and
came across this one about a million times, so my guess is that everyone knows
about it, and it’s some sort of classic somewhere, but I had never heard of it,
probably due to my past mushroom aversion. Any-who I decided that since I like Sherry Butter Sauce so much on
its own, that this one was probably a good recipe to start with and surprise,
surprise it was.
Sherry Mushroom
Chicken & Egg Noodles
1 tbs Oil
1 chicken breast, pounded thin
1 tbs organic unsalted butter
1 small shallot, chopped
1 (8 oz) package mushrooms, sliced
¼ cup sherry vinegar
¼ chicken broth
1-2 cups egg noodles, cooked according to package directions
Salt & Pepper to taste
Chopped parsley for garnish

In a large skillet heat oil over medium high heat, cook add
chicken and cook for 3-5 minutes flipping once, until all sides are golden and
chicken is cooked through. Set aside. In the same pan add shallot butter and
mushrooms. Sauté until the shallot and mushrooms become soft, roughly 2-3
minutes. Deglaze with sherry, and broth and cook until thickened add parsley,
and noodles, tossing to coat. Add chicken to warm and adjust seasoning. Serve.

Steak Salad with Dijon Vinaigrette

By

This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Simple, clean delicious what more could you ask for? With spring
in the air I have been looking forward to some lighter dishes and this is one
of my favorites to make in the spring and summer months. The vinaigrette is
good for sandwiches and dips as well.

I did a simple marinade of soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce,
and pepper before cooking it on a cast iron pan for roughly 4-5 minutes a
side.  Then an even simpler salad of
whatever looked the freshest in the store, and of course some spinach.

Dijon Vinaigrette

1 tbsp Extra-virgin oil

1 tbsp Dijon mustard          

2 tbsp champagne or white wine vinegar

1tsp thyme

Salt & pepper to taste

In a small bowl whisk together all ingredients. Serve.

Note: this can be made ahead and will keep in the refrigerator
for about a week.

See that Open Faced French Onion Grilled Cheese? Doesn’t it
look great? Don’t worry that’s coming soon!

D4One: Sausage & Bean Stew

By

This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

This is my cleaned up take on a Spanish classic. Typically in Spain
chorizo would be used, but I chose to go with garlic and spinach chicken
sausage, you could also use Italian sausage if you wanted as well, giving you
lots of choices. It can also very easily be multiplied for a large family, and
because it is so easy my bet is that you will be making it a lot.  I even had it leftover cold and it was delicious, so this is a good one to have for the summer months as well. Please give it a shot.

Sausage & Bean Stew

1 tbs olive oil

½ lb turkey sausage links

1 small onion, sliced thin

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tsp thyme

1 can cannellini beans, rinsed

1 cup low sodium chicken broth

2 cups fresh baby spinach

Add half the oil to a large skillet over medium heat, and add sausage.
Cook sausage, turning occasionally until cooked through, roughly 10-15 minutes,
then set aside. Reduce heat to medium, and sauté onion, garlic and thyme until
softened, roughly 5 minutes. Add the beans and broth and cook for about 10
minutes. Add spinach and cook until it just begins to wilt. Slice sausage into
bite size pieces, and stir into stew. Remove stew from heat and serve in bowls,
warm.