Guest Post Today & Easy Chicken Paillard with Layered Roasted Potatoes

My really good friend and amazing cook, Morgan, is going to guest post a recipe today! She has been cooking for a long time and it shows. She shared her recipe for chicken and potatoes...doesn't get much better than that! Enjoy :)

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Snow Day!

Thank you, Jaime for allowing me to guest post on your blog. This should be fun!

I was originally going to post my recipe for turkey and vegetable chili, but due to an opportunity to cook during a recent snow day in Milwaukee, I decided to tweak my plans. Being spontaneous in my cooking is more my style anyway. I will inform you that although I love recipes and I am a collector of cookbooks, I rarely follow a recipe. I usually will scan over them to get an idea and then create my own version. This is usually in an attempt to make it healthier or use what ingredients I have in the house. Due to today’s recent events (no work due to massive amounts of snow), I decided to create a menu based off staple ingredients I keep in the house.

The first item on the menu is a healthy version of scalloped potatoes. I am layering a combination of unpeeled sweet and russet potatoes for increased nutritional value and instead of cream, I am using chicken stock. I also added a few extra ingredients for a pop of flavor.

The main dish is my version of chicken paillard. In this version I am lightly coating thin boneless, skinless chicken breasts in panko bread crumbs. I will brown the chicken in olive oil before finishing it in an oven. This is a fast dish to prepare any night of the week. Yum. Let’s get started.

Layered Roasted Potatoes
Ingredients:
5 Russet Potatoes (scrubbed and thinly sliced, keep the skins on)
3 Sweet Potatoes (scrubbed and thinly sliced, keep the skins on)
1 Onion-small (thinly sliced)
4 Garlic Cloves (chopped finely)
1TBS Olive Oil
½ tsp Dried Thyme
½ cup Chicken Stock
Salt and Pepper to season

Preheat oven to 375. Combine all of above ingredients, except chicken stock into a large bowl. Toss to cover each potato with all ingredients. Layer potatoes, overlapping one over the other (a pattern is not necessary, be sporadic and have fun), in a shallow baking pan. Typically, 2 layers of potatoes, one on top of the other is achievable. Make sure all of the onions and garlic are covering the potatoes, and well distributed between the layers. Pour chicken stock alongside the pan to give the potatoes cooking liquid. Cover pan tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour at 375. After 1 hour, remove foil and bake for an additional 25-30 minutes. Just long enough to crisp up the top layer of potatoes. Remove from the oven. You may top with freshly grated parmesan cheese to give a bit of decadence, but this is optional. When you are in my kitchen however, cheese is never an option, it is a requirement. Enjoy!

Easy Chicken Paillard

Ingredients:
4 Boneless-Skinless Chicken Breasts (pound thin, creating an even thickness throughout)
3 Eggs (beaten)
3 TBS Water
2 cups Panko Bread Crumbs
½ tsp Dried Thyme
2-3 TBS Olive Oil
Salt and pepper to season

Preheat oven to 425. Pound chicken breast with meat tenderizer/rolling pin to desired thickness. Keep in mind the thinner the chicken the faster the cooking time. Pat chicken breasts very dry with paper towel. Season both sides of chicken breast with salt and pepper. Mix water and beaten eggs to create an egg wash in a shallow pan. Coat chicken in egg wash. Next, dredge chicken in panko bread crumbs to form a light layer. Set chicken aside for a few minutes while you prepare the pan. Make sure your hands and work services are disinfected to prevent cross contamination from the raw poultry. 

Heat olive oil to medium-high heat in a large shallow pan. I use a griddle pan and it works great. Be careful not to heat the oil too high to prevent smoking and burning. Place chicken in pan and quickly sear each side. The key is to only flip the chicken one time. Once the chicken is in the pan, leave it alone! Allow the crust to form. The chicken needs to brown for roughly 2-3 minutes. Flip once and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes on the other side. Once chicken is browned, place onto baking sheet and bake at 425 to finish cooking and keep chicken crisp. Roughly 6-8 minutes is all that should be needed. Again, this will depend on the thickness of your chicken. This often takes some practice, but once you get a feel for the cooking time, this process gets intuitive and much easier. The point is to cook the chicken just until done. No one likes a dried out piece of chicken. If you use a thermometer when you cook, I often do, I look for an internal cooking temperature of 160 degrees. Remember the chicken will continue to cook in the carry over process once removed from the oven. When done, you may serve with a simple arugula salad and a slice of lemon. Fast and easy!

I hope you enjoyed my impromptu cooking adventure. Maybe Jaime will invite me back in the future? Until then, happy cooking!

Peace,
Morgan

Potatoes tossed & layered - ready for the oven

Potatoes out of the oven

Browning the chicken

Layered Roasted Potatoes & Easy Chicken Paillard

My All Time Favorite Sugar Cookie Recipe

A good sugar cookie recipe is a must in my life and it took me quite awhile to find the perfect one. But I found it and that's all that matters now.  My search for the perfect sugar cookie is now over...yeah! 

I made these cookies for Christmas and again for Valentine's Day. I told myself that I was making these cookies for my husband's V-day gift, but who am I kidding....I really wanted them! I did share though :) Obviously these can be made anytime of the year and not just for holidays.

Not only are these cookies the best, they are easy and have a short ingredient list.

*You need to chill the dough for at least 4 hours before baking*
 

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks) - room temperature

2/3 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt (I like to use Kosher salt - you can taste it more and it gives me that sweet and salty satisfaction that I really enjoy)

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

What you need to do....

1. In a medium-sized bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Mix in the egg.
3. Mix in the vanilla, salt, and flour until well-combined.
4. Cover and chill the dough for about four hours (I have froze the dough before too)
5. Preheat oven to 350 F. 
6. Roll out the cold dough on a lightly floured counter to about 1/4" thick (no need to break out your ruler) and cut with cookie cutters.
7. Transfer cookies to cookie sheets lined with parchment paper
8. Bake 8-10 minutes or until the edges just start to brown.

I believe that sugar cookies should be topped with a vanilla glaze. Not necessary, but for me it is. You can find the glaze recipe here ...http://bakedbree.com/sugar-cookie-glaze. I use vanilla extract instead of almond and I like my glaze a little thicker so I only added about 1/2 tablespoon of water.

 SO good, Enjoy! Now I just need to find the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe....

My Valentine's Day Dinner at Home

This year I kept it really simple. I wanted to make something that required very minimum effort and that had only a few ingredients. This is what we ate and how you can make it at home....

Salmon -

Two 6 oz. pieces

1/2 Tablespoon Olive Oil

2 Tablespoons Whole Grain Mustard

Salt & Pepper

Sunny Paris seasoning (optional)

Place the salmon on a baking dish with foil.

Season with salt & pepper.

Top with the mustard.

I also added "Sunny Paris" seasoning from Penzey Spice - I love this stuff! I highly recommend it. 

Roast for 6 minutes.

Broil for 5-6 minutes until the top forms a nice crust.

I love this salmon recipe, so simple, but so delicious!

Hasselback Potatoes - 

I got the recipe here.... http://www.seasaltwithfood.com/2009/05/hasselback-potatoes.html .

Unfortunately these potatoes were good, but not as good as I hoped. Not really worth the effort, but I am glad I tried making it. They looked fancy!

Dark Chocolate Mousse - yes please :)

3/4 cup unsweetened bittersweet chocolate chunks

1/4 cup water

3 egg whites

1/4 cup sugar

Melt the  chocolate with 1/4 cup water in heavy small saucepan over low heat, whisking until smooth. Cool for  about 10 minutes.

Using electric mixer, beat egg whites in medium bowl to form soft peaks.

Gradually beat in 1/4 cup sugar. 

Pour cooled melted chocolate over egg whites and gently fold together. 

Divide mousse among 2-4 (depending on how much you want to divide it up) ramekins or small dishes.  

Chill at least 6 hours or overnight.

I added whipped cream to the top! With an electric mixer, beat 1 cup heavy cream, 1 tablespoon sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extra until it looks like whipped cream. It will take a few minutes.

Enjoy!

ONE pot meal of chicken & veggies - Perfect for a cold winter night!

My newest criteria for finding recipes nowadays includes one pot meals and incorporating vegetables so I don't have to make them on the side. I also want to start using my cookbooks more. I nicely organized them in my kitchen by color and realized that I really don't use them that much anymore. I am always looking on the internet, but I want to put an end to that since I have all of these great cookbooks already. They have recipes that I enjoy otherwise I never would have bought them, right?!

Anyways, I found the perfect recipe that is a one pot meal and filled with three different veggies...yeah! It was also in one of my "healthy" cookbooks called The Food You Crave by Ellie Krieger. Love her and her recipes! They might be healthy, but not unbearable and boring. I felt so good prepping this recipe since I had a pile of vegetables on my cutting board ready to be eaten!

The recipe is called Tuscan Roasted Chicken and Vegetables. Yum!

Ingredients:

6 Roma tomatoes - cut in quarters and seeded

3 medium zucchinis - cut in half and then into slices lengthwise

1 bulb of fennel cut into slices (watch video below if needed on how to cut fennel)

3 tablespoons of olive oil

3/4 teaspoon of salt

4 bone in chicken breasts with the skin removed (I removed the skin myself with scissors)

4 cloves of garlic minced (about 4 teaspoons)

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (half a lemon - I put the other half in my ice water)

Pepper

1 teaspoon dried rosemary.

Preheat the oven to 375.

Put the tomatoes, zucchini, and fennel in a large baking dish. Toss with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

Place the chicken in the baking dish with the vegetables.

In a small bowl, combine 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, the garlic, lemon zest, and lemon juice.

Rub the mixture on top of the chicken and season with pepper.

Roast in the oven for 30 minutes. 

Give the vegetables a stir and all the rosemary after the 30 min.

Put back in the oven for another 20-30 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.

That's it! A perfect meal for a cold winter night. Enjoy!

Here is the video I watched on how to cook fennel....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW0OCAnBYq8.

Vegetables before they were cooked - beautiful!

Tuscan Roasted Chicken & Vegetables