Saturday, July 21, 2012

Simple Chicken Salad

Chicken breasts are the main substitute for pork in the Czech Republic.  However, cooking chicken breasts can become quickly boring if you do not keep some variety.  

One of my favorite simple recipes is to make a chicken salad.  Its fresh, lasts a few days, and healthy.  Plus it goes great if you have a fresh baguette or some vegetables you want to polish off.

So here goes, what you need is four medium sized chicken breasts, one celery stalk, one bunch of parsley, a lemon, some thyme, salt, pepper, and some light mayonnaise (about two tablespoons).

Chicken Preparation:
Clean the chicken breasts and rub salt and thyme on both sides.  Fry in olive oil on medium-low heat for about 10-15 minutes or until there is no pink on the inside.  Once cooked, shred the chicken with a sharp knife by cutting softly and pulling with a fork.

Chop the celery into < 1 cm sized peices and mince the parsley (not flat leaf, or italian, but the bunchy kind).

Throw this all into a large mixing bowl, squeeze in the lemon juice, add some spice to taste, and mix using a large wooden spoon until its all coated equally.

Layer on some open face baguette and enjoy!

Friday, October 28, 2011

Halloween Bonanza

Happy Halloween! I love this time of year.  I am a Halloween Junkie.  I love to go to the pumpkin patch, carve them up, and use the seeds and insides for cooking.  I have been asked by many a few to divulge the secret of good toasted pumpkin seeds.  For them, I have two words: Egg Whites.

You can pretty much spice up your seeds with anything you like, garlic, cumin, cayenne pepper, even bacon flavoring :-)


For my Pumpkin Seeds, I add Lime (or Lemon), Egg Whites, Paprika, Salt, and Pepper.

I yank the seeds out, dry them over night, mix up the ingredients above and fold the seeds into the mixture.

Cook in the oven on hot (450 F) for about 20 - 30 mins or until brown and eat'em!

Here is a great blog that i shamelessly borrowed the image from http://nourishedkitchen.com/toasted-pumpkin-seeds-chili-and-lime/

Happy Carving / Seed Making.

P.S. if you are in a last minute rush to find a Halloween costume, I highly recommend thrift stores.


Sunday, October 23, 2011

Cucurbita (Squash Family)

Picked up a bunch of squash varieties at the patch.  This week, going to try a bunch of Cucurbita soups, pastas, roasted seeds, and decorative projects.

First up, Spaghetti Squash tonight with Pomodoro.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Spaghetti-Squash-with-Pomodoro-Sauce-230297


Sunday, July 24, 2011

Roast Chicken in Chipotle

Tonight I make for the second time a delicious roasted chicken in chipotle.  It was a big hit when I made it for my family in the US and I thought I'd give it another go.  You can find the recipe below.

Link to Recipe

Update:  After concern raised by my significant other about another spicey dinner, I decided to pull the plug on Chipotle peppers and instead embrace the Tour de France and the Meditteranean with this recipe:

http://www.livestrong.com/recipes/mediterranean-roast-chicken/

w/ a side of freshly made hummus.

PS, first attempt at the food processor.

Recipes and Food

Welcome to my third blog!

Here I plan to capture all things related to gastronomy.

- Recipes
- Ingredients
- Restaurant Reviews
- All things related

Thank you for coming!

Joel