Chicken and Mushroom Goulash with Gnocchi

One more favorite. I finally broke down and bought smoked paprika which was a great buy. I’ve used it in goulash recipes and also when I make spiced almonds (one of my favorite Spanish tapas).

Chicken and Mushroom Goulash with Gnocchi
Recipe courtesy Rachael Ray

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan
1 tablespoon butter
1 1/2 pounds ground chicken
1/2 pound white mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 teaspoons smoked paprika, 2/3 palm full
Salt and pepper
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup sour cream or reduced fat sour cream
Handful chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 package fresh gnocchi, in refrigerated section of market, 12 to14 ounces
2 tablespoons chives

Heat the extra-virgin olive oil and butter in a large, deep skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Add the ground chicken. Brown the meat 3 to 4 minutes, push it off to the sides of the pan then add mushrooms, garlic, onions and peppers to the center of the pan. Cook the vegetables 5 minutes then mix them together with chicken and season with smoked paprika, salt and pepper. Stir in stock and tomato sauce and bring to a bubble. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook 5 minutes then stir in sour cream and turn off heat. Add parsley. Adjust seasonings, to your taste.

While chicken goulash cooks, bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Salt boiling water and cook gnocchi until they puff up like pillows and float, 5 minutes or to package suggestions. Drain gnocchi and add to chicken just after you stir in the sour cream.

Ladle goulash with gnocchi into shallow bowls and garnish with chives.

Chicken with Balsamic BBQ Sauce

Here’s a YUMMY-LICIOUS barbeque recipe that we used last night. Mapgeek grilled over charcoal, but no smoking. It was decided that smoking the chicken might make the flavors too much. We used chicken thighs because they grill great and are the perfect size. It’s been decided that this is a definite keeper in our barbeque collection. Go figure that it came off an Everyday Italian episode!


Chicken or Steak with Balsamic BBQ Sauce
Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis

For the Balsamic BBQ sauce:
1 cup balsamic vinegar
3/4 cup ketchup
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For the chicken or steak: 4 pieces chicken (any combination of breast or leg-and-thigh pieces) or 4 pieces of New York strip or Club strip steak Salt and freshly ground pepper
For the BBQ sauce: Combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan and stir until all the ingredients are incorporated and the mixture is smooth. Simmer over medium heat until reduced by 1/3, about 15 to 20 minutes.

For the chicken or steak: Place a grill pan over medium heat or preheat a gas or charcoal grill. Season the meat with salt and pepper. Lightly coat with some of the BBQ sauce using a pastry brush. Place the meat on the grill. Place the remaining BBQ sauce, still in the small saucepan, over low heat or on the edge of a gas or charcoal grill and allow to gently simmer while the meat cooks.

Cook the chicken about 8 minutes per side. Cook the steaks starting at about 4 minutes per side until a meat thermometer reads the desired temperature, 120 degrees F for medium rare, 135 degrees F for medium (about 6 minutes per side), 155 degrees F for well done (about 9 minutes per side). Continually brush the meat with BBQ sauce every few minutes. Remove the meat from the grill and let rest for at least 5 minutes. Serve with the heated BBQ sauce alongside.

Alternately, the chicken can be baked in the oven. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Place the chicken skin side up in a baking dish and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the baking dish from the oven and spoon the BBQ sauce all over the top of the chicken. Return the baking dish to the oven and bake for another 15 minutes.

Italian Baked Chicken and Pastina

Found a winner tonight! Semi-healthy, though it has mozzarella in it and a small amount of margarine. It was easy to prep and super easy to cook. And it surprisingly, didn’t taste as “Italian” as I thought it might. Probably because it didn’t have any oregano in it. In fact, besides onions, garlic, salt, and pepper, the only flavorings was the fresh flat-leaf parsley. Anyways, we enjoyed how light it tasted and will definitely be making this again.

Verdict – a keeper!

Italian Baked Chicken and Pastina
Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis

1 cup pastina pasta (or any small pasta)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup cubed chicken breast (1-inch cubes)
1/2 cup diced onion (about 1/2 a small onion)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 tablespoon butter, plus more for buttering the baking dish

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until just tender, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Drain pasta into a large mixing bowl. Meanwhile, put the olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook for 3 minutes. Add the onions and garlic, stirring to combine, and cook until the onions are soft and the chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes more. Put the chicken mixture into the bowl with the cooked pasta. Add the canned tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, parsley, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine. Place the mixture in a buttered 8 by 8 by 2-inch baking dish. In a small bowl mix together the bread crumbs and the Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle over the top of the pasta mixture. Dot the top with small bits of butter. Bake until the top is golden brown, about 30 minutes.

Chicken Boudine

We made this tonight and it was pretty easy and yummy! Though, in typical Paula Deen fashion, not very healthy. I remember Paula saying that if you’re trying a recipe for the first time, you should make it like it says so you know what it’s supposed to taste like. After that, modify.

If you buy all the ingredients already sliced and diced (like cooked, diced chicken, shredded cheese, etc), it’s even easier. However, I couldn’t stomach spending the money for cooked chicken when boneless, skinless breasts were on sale. So I had to cook the chicken (30 minutes at 350), then boil the noodles. After that, everything else was quick.

Also, I forgot to buy almonds so left those out, which Mapgeek didn’t mind (not a nut fan). I also didn't use dry sherry, though the sherry was probably intended to complement the almonds, which weren’t there. Next time, I’ll probably use white wine or just broth. Probably also try light cheese for the healthier option. Of course, all of this means I broke Paula’s rule (see above), but it still was tasty!

One other consideration is that I did halve the recipe, since it’s just 2.5 of us eating it. I usually make a full casserole recipe, divide it into two Gladware casserole pans and freeze one for a screaming kid day.

Chicken Boudine
Recipe courtesy Paula Deen
Show: Paula's Home Cooking
Episode: Fridge Finds

2 cups cooked egg noodles
2 (10 3/4-ounce) cans cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup dry sherry
4 cups chopped cooked chicken
3 cups grated sharp cheese, your choice, divided
1 (2 1/4-ounce) package slivered almonds, toasted
1/4 cup drained, chopped pimentos
1 (4-ounce) can sliced mushrooms, drained
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, toss together the noodles, soup, broth, and sherry. Add the chicken, 2 cups of the cheese, the almonds, pimento, mushrooms, and salt and pepper, to taste, and toss gently to combine. Transfer the mixture to a greased 13 by 9 by 2-inch casserole and top with the remaining cup of cheese.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until bubbly.

Coq Au Vin Crock Pot Style

To start off this wonderful blog, I've got a great Coq au Vin recipe. It comes from www.crock-pot.com. I was trying to find some good crock pot recipes (I'm not a big fan of pot roast) and remember seeing a great Alton Brown show about Coq au vin. Anyways, this is now one of our favorites! Recommended for picky eaters.

Coq Au Vin (Chicken braised in wine)
Ingredients:
5 slices bacon, diced
2/3 cup green onions, sliced
3 1/2 lb broiler, cut up (or 6 chicken breast halves) - we used skinless chicken thighs
4 - 6 small boiling onions, peeled
1/4 lb whole mushrooms
6 - 8 small new potatoes
1 clove garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup Burgundy wine
Chopped parsley

Directions:
In large skillet, saute diced bacon and green onions until bacon is crisp. Remove and drain well. Add chicken pieces to skillet and brown well on all sides. Remove chicken and set aside. Put peeled onion, mushrooms, potatoes, and garlic in stoneware. Add browned chicken pieces, bacon and green onions, salt pepper, thyme and chicken broth. Cover and cook on Low 8 to 10 hours or on High 4 to 5 hours. Add Burgundy wine during last hour of cooking.