Savoy Cabbage Salad with Sauteed Chicken Thighs

Peter was craving some Savoy Cabbage salad his Aunt in Austria once made him. It's supposed to be a very basic creamy cabbage salad. Since I couldn't find anything simple and basic enough on the internet, I borrowed some ideas I found on the web, and added caraway seeds, mustard and some lemon juice to the the dressing. The honey is my own idea (and I might need to use more next time, because I feel the dressing needs something sweet to offset the tanginess of the sour cream and lemon juice)

Ingredients:

1 Savoy Cabbage

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground carraway

freshly gorund black pepper to taste

3/4 - 1 cup sour cream

1.5 tablespoon mustard of your choice (you can use Dijon, I just don't like Dijon mustard)

juice of 1/2 lemon

1/2 teaspoon honey (use more, if you like the sweetness of coleslaw)

Preparation:

Finely chop the cabbage, season with salt and leave to rest for half an hour. Prepare the salad dressing: mix the sour cream, mustard, honey and lemon juice well together, season with freshly ground black pepper and the caraway. Rub the salt into the cabbage with your hands, pour the salad dressing over and toss well. Leave to cool in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours, preferably overnight. Serve with baked/grilled/roast chicken or pork. We served it with sauteed boneless chicken thighs seasoned with caraway, and mashed potatoes.

How to make the sauteed caraway chicken: season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper and cook them in a little olive oil on both sides for about 2 minutes, add a teaspoon of caraway seeds and 0.5 cups dry white wine, then cook, covered, for about 20 minutes, or until the juices have reduced by half, then remove the lid and cook the thighs uncovered a few minutes more, until they're nicely browned.

Domaine Amido, Lirac 2009

Another great French wine for the price (in the $10-15 range). We discovered it on Central Market's French Festival. Unfurtunately,  last week when we tried to restock our supplies CM was out... and I'm afraid they might be out for foog. What a shame that would be!

Baked Chicken Patties

I tweaked an Italian "polpette" recipe a bit for these baked chicken patties/meatballs. The original recipe called for beef instead of chicken and was a very basic meatball recipe: using only milk soaked bread, egg and meat, then topped with tomatoes, mozzarella and anchovies. I added onions and garlic and modified the seasoning az well: instead of fresh oregano I used dried Herbes the Provence (Italian seasoning works just as well).

In this process, I think I've found the secret to the best (juicy and flavorful) meatballs... It's onion, lots of it (and garlic, of course).

Ingredients:

1 lb ground chicken

4 cloves of garlic

2 medium yellow onions or 4 shallots

1 slice of white bread, crust removed

4 tbs milk

1 large egg
2 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper

2 tbs breadcrumbs for the meat

1/2 cup breadcrumbs for dusting the meatballs

Olive oil for frying

2 large ripe and juicy tomatoes

fresh mozzarella

1 can anchovies

About 1 tbs Herbes de Provence or Italian seasoning

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Gently heat the milk with the bread, until all milk is absorbed by the bread. Let cool slightly. Chop the garlic, bread and onions in a food processor then mix them together with the meat, 1 egg, 2 tbs olive oil, 2 tbs breadcrumbs, 1 tsp salt and freshly ground black pepper. Shape the mixture into medium sized patties. Spread the remaining breadcrumbs on to a plate, and roll the patties in them to coat thoroughly.  Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a frying pan and fry the patties for about 2 minutes on each side. Transfer the patties into a greased baking dish, and top each of them with one slice of tomato. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and Herbes de Provence, then place the mozzarella slices on top, then finish with one-two strips of anchovy. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and is starting to brown. Serve hot with mashed potatoes and a mixed salad.

Serves 6.

Chicken Stuffed Poblano Peppers with Bean Chili

My (composite) recipe for Mexican stuffed peppers with bean chili. Most likely it's not very authentic (apparently beans and chili don't exactly mix), but it's a great dish nonetheless.

My husband asked me to serve some kind of a chili with the peppers, when I first made Mexican stuffed peppers, so I combined a few recipes I found on the internet, and this is what I came up with (roughly  - recipe can be freely altered, ingredients added or left out, quantities changed to fit your personal taste).

The dish will serve four hungry people.

Ingredients for the stuffed peppers:

4 poblano peppers

1 lb chicken breast or chicken thigh meat, cubed in small, 1/4 inch pieces

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2-3 peeled and chopped tomatoes and 4 oz tomato sauce, or one 14 oz can chopped tomatoes

0.5 lb mushroom (optional), finely chopped

0.5 teaspoon ground cumin

0.5 bunch cilantro

1 cup grated Cheddar

1 tbs lime juice

2 tbs olive oil or vegetable oil

salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Ingredients for the chili:

1 medium onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1  (14 oz) can black beans, drained and washed

1 (14 oz) can kidney beans, drained and washed

1 cup frozen corn (thawed) or 1 (14 oz) can corn

1 (14 oz) can tomato sauce

prepared chili con carne seasoning, or: 

1 teaspoon chili powder or crushed pepper flakes

1 teaspoon ground cumin

a pinch of cayenne pepper

half a bunch of cilantro

1 tablespoon olive oil or vegetable oil

Preparation:

Position oven rack 4 inches from boiler, and heat broiler on high. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Slit the poblano peppers from stem to tip, remove the seeds, place them on the baking sheet and broil them turning once, until skin is blackened and charred all over (approx. 10 minutes). Place the peppers in a zipper bag or in a small glass bowl with a lid, and let them cool for at least 10 minutes. Remove the blackened skins and place the peppers in an oiled baking dish.

Prepare the meat: In a large skillet heat 1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil on medium high heat, and saute the onion and garlic until softened and translucent (about 5 minutes). Add the meat and cook on medium until meat is no longer pink. Season with salt, pepper and cumin, then stir in the tomatoes and the tomato sauce, bring to a boil and add mushrooms. Cook for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the mushrooms and the meat are fully cooked. Stir in the cilantro and the lime juice.

Divide the filling among the peppers, stuff them and sprinkle with the grated cheese.

Bake at 400 degrees until cheese is melted and begins to brown (about 30 minutes). You can speed up the process by using the baking sheet you broiled the peppers on and just broiling the stuffed peppers for about 10 minutes (in this case, you might want to prepare the chili before broiling the peppers):

Preparing the chili: saute the onions and garlic in 1 tbs olive or vegetable oil for 5 minutes, add the chili powder, cayenne pepper, cumin and cook for 1 minute, making sure not to burn the spices. Stir in the tomatoes and tomato sauce, cook for 5 minutes, then stir in the beans and the corn and cook for another 10 minutes. When ready, stir in the cilantro and serve the chili with the peppers and steamed rice of your choice.

A great find

We purchased this Bordeaux at Central Market's French Wine Sale a couple of weeks ago... We served it with a really nice Camembert, they were perfect together... It's a very smooth, wonderfully balanced, medium bodied wine, a great find all in all. Deserves a mention in our food and wine blog.

Stuffed Wine Leaves

"Dolmas" with minced meat... In Romania it's made with mixed pork and beef meat, or just plain minced pork, though originally, I think the meat of choice  was lamb. As usual, I adapted it for chicken. It's great served with cornmeal and sour cream. It's fairly easy to make, although a little time consuming. Great for guests, as it can be made ahead, you only need to reheat it in the oven when the guests arrive.

Ingredients for 4 servings:

1 lb minced chicken breasts

1/2 cup white rice (any kind is good)

1 large yellow onion, or 2-3 shallots, very finely chopped

1/2 can (8-10 oz) tomato sauce (next time I'll add 2-3 tablespoons tomato paste as well)

1 jar wine leaves (last time I used Mezzeta, and I used all 27 leaves up for stuffing. But it's better to have a few spare leaves for covering the stuffed  rolls)

1 bunch fresh dill, finely chopped

4-5 fresh bay leaves

1/2 cup white wine

2 tbs olive oil or  sunflower oil

water, salt  and pepper to taste.

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Thoroughly wash the wine leaves, cut the stems,  and put them aside while making the meat mixture: mix the minced meat with the finely chopped onion, rice, dill, half of the tomato sauce and 1-2 tbs tomato paste, then season with salt and pepper. Work everything well together with your hands. Stuff the wine leaves with the meat mixture. In an oiled ovenproof casserole layer some wine leaves if you have leftovers (I didn't, so I skipped this step) then place the little rolls in one layer. Put some bay leaves between the rolls, then cover with spare leaves (again, I skipped this step), and cover the the rolls with water mixed with the remaining tomato sauce and paste. Bake covered at 425 degrees for about an hour, checking occasionally and adding more water if necessary. Then pour over the wine and cook uncovered for another 30-45 minutes, reducing the heat to 350 degrees. Serve hot with cornmeal and sour cream and a glass of nice dry white wine.