Chicken from Fez

Another weekend is here. It's Saturday and I've had my favorite breakfast: a Dunkin' Donuts hazelnut coffee and what seems to be one of my very last yogurt, granola and berries of the season. The berries of October are not tasting the same as the tart, juicy summer berries..go figure, the fruit vendor at the corner lied to me! After my breakfast, I headed to the gym and now I gotta make this post quick, I need to watch the Barefoot Contessa.

Thursday night, I made a very easy Moroccan chicken recipe that Geneve e-mailed me a few years back, well before we decided that our blogs would be our creative outlets. Until I get a kitchen fan or a backyard with a bbq, I have to stop making this recipe, so suburbanites, please enjoy it for me! The Le Creuset grill pan is really making my apartment smell like a bbq pit for 48 hours after.

The result is a succulent and spicy chicken that would be great with fattoush, hummus, babaghanoush and tabbouleh.

Play your Middle Eastern music, make some mint tea and enjoy this great Middle Eastern meal!

Geneve's Moroccan Chicken Skewers for 2
Marinade 2 chicken breasts for 30 minutes in this mixture and then grill:
1/4 cup olive oil
1/8 cup red wine vinegar
1.5 Tbsp cumin
3/4 Tbsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 cup fresh parsley (I skip this if I don't have it)

It's quick, healthy and tasty, perfect for a week night.

One Nutty Chicken

I found this phenomenal recipe while getting a pedicure a few years ago. I have always found that good chicken recipes are hard to come by, so I clipped this out of a Shape magazine while getting a pedi. There seems to be an abundance of grilled chicken recipes that have caught my eye over the past few years, but good baked chicken recipes have been few and far between. If you will be celebrating and entertaining for Rosh Hashanah, I especially recommend this recipe cause of the beautiful apple chutney. This recipe is rich in omega 3 fatty acids from walnuts and fiber from apples and contains almost no saturated fat. The walnuts and panko make a crunchy thin crust around the juicy chicken.

Walnut Crusted Chicken with Apple Chutney
serves 4

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (4 oz each)
s & p
2 Tbsp all purpose flour
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
1/2 cup whole wheat bread crumbs (also known as panko)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts, cut into fine pieces
2 McIntosh apples, cored, peeled & diced
1/4 cup water
2 Tbsp minced red onion
2 Tbsp raisins
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 425. Coat a large baking sheet with Pam. Flatten chicken breasts with a skillet, meat mallet or a rolling pin- make sure chicken is covered with plastic wrap. Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken. Place flour in a shallow dish, add chicken, coat on both sides. Shake off excess flour. Place beaten egg whites in a shallow dish, add chicken pieces and turn to coat. In a shallow dish, combine walnuts and panko. Press chicken into nutty mix on both sides. Bake chicken for about 17 minutes on your prepared baking sheet.

While the chicken is baking, make your apple chutney by bringing apples, water, red onion, raisins, red wine vinegar and cinnamon to a boil in a sauce pan over medium high heat. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 10 minutes , until liquid is absorbed. Don't cook too long or prepare the chutney in advance and reheat, it will get mushy.

You can bread the chicken breasts in advance and keep them in the fridge.
This entree tastes great with roasted veggie orzo and fatoush.

Jose and I

Yesterday evening, I walked by a liquor store in the village that triggered my memory for a main dish that I love! I wanted to enter Men In Aprons blog carnival of the grill and this is the perfect way to do it. I walked in & bought a flask of Jose Cuervo and here we are....This Barefoot Contessa recipe was shared with me by Geneve Stewart from Geneve's Kitchen in May 2005. I just realized tonight that Geneve was the genius who turned me on to this domestic goddess and it's been love ever since. This tequila lime chicken is fabulous, Ina makes it a lot on Food Network. This chicken is succulent, juicy and looks so pretty with the grill marks. It's a good secret for the nights you just can't move (you just need to know the night before that you have a busy day coming up) & for the nights when you're entertaining.

Tequila Lime Chicken- Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, serves 6
1/2 cup gold tequila
1 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (5-6 limes)
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (2 oranges)
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon minced fresh jalapeno peppers (1 pepper seeded)
1 tablespoon minced garlic (2-3 cloves)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
3 whole or 6 split chicken breasts
If you like cilantro, add it !

My favorite part is that you whip up the marinade in 8 minutes and then you submerge the chicken overnight in the fridge. This recipe was made for the working woman!

When I came home from work today, I removed the chicken from the marinade & discarded the marinade. I put a tiny bit of olive oil on each side and grilled for 5-6 minutes on each side, which depends on the thickness of chicken.

Lee loves the recipe, it's simple and tastes beautiful.

Here's a recommended Southwestern/summer entertaining menu:

Start with guacamole, salsa and nachos
Serve tequila lime chicken with corn on the cob or a roasted corn salad
Finish with key lime pie or a berry crumble (coming soon !!)
Don't forget the margaritas (make use of Jose!)

MMMexican

When I was teaching myself to cook on my semester abroad in Sydney in 2000, I started adding salsa to all my stirfries. Somehow my chicken stirfry became more like chicken fajitas. Over the past few years, I have stepped it up, added some killer guac and we have a very nice bi-monthly healthy Mexican night. My favorite part is the guacamole, the cumin and tabasco really kick it up! I even started to make it with a molcajete, a mortar and pestle that Mexicans use to make their guac.

The guacamole recipe can be found here at www.epicurious.com.
I add tomatoes, a tiny pinch of Tabasco and season with kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper. Sometimes, I skip the jalapeno and the cilantro. IT will still taste fabulous, don't worry! You can also substitute the onion with red onion.

Sherri's Chicken Fajitas (serves 2 people)

1 boneless chicken breast (enough for 2 people, 12 oz)
1 red onion
1 red pepper
1 tomato
1 garlic clove
a pinch of Goya Adobo (This is sold in all NY grocery stores, may be tougher to find in areas with less multicultural populations, so omit ! This is a shout out to my old roommate and close friend, Penny, who put Adobo on everything, even Chinese food and Lean Cuisines.)
1/2 cup of salsa

Heat a 10 inch skillet on medium heat with 1/2 Tbsp olive oil. Add chicken until it loses the pink color. Add in cut vegetables & garlic. Season with salt, pepper and Adobo. At the end, add in the salsa. Don't overcook, keep the chicken juicy!

Serve with warm tortillas, sour cream, shredded cheese and guacamole.

This meal is a household favorite, let me know how you enjoy it in yours!