March FLEW by and now look...April is nearly gone too! Where does the time go? I certainly haven't met my goal of blogging two recipes a week, have I? Sorry about that. I don't even have a good excuse other than things have been busy. Although, I admit I did work on a few Halloween dishes last week, so there is hope for me. One of the Halloween ideas turned out great, but the other one...well, it needs a little more work.
Anyway, back to this delicious Chicken with Braised Carrots. This is an easy, one pan dinner that comes together very quickly and is perfect for those busy weeknights. I've lightened this up for Spring by using chicken breasts and serving it over rice, but this is dish is the ultimate comfort food when served with Garlic Mashed Potatoes...or as my boys call them, Smashed Potatoes. :) I've made this with boneless skinless chicken thighs over mashed potatoes which is a rich and comforting dish that's perfect for a cool fall evening, or a cool spring evening! Whichever way you make it, you can't go wrong with savory carrots in a rich herbed sauce and Chicken. Enjoy!
Chicken with Braised Carrots
Serves 4
4 Chicken Breasts, boneless, skinless
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp.salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 Tbsp. olive oil or butter
4 carrots (I used multi-colored), diced
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 Tbsp. tomato paste
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup white wine
1/2 tsp. rosemary, dried
2 tsp. thyme, fresh
1 bay leaf
parsley, fresh chopped
salt and pepper (to taste)
In a shallow dish, add salt and pepper to flour. Dredge Chicken breasts in seasoned flour mixture, shaking off extra and set aside. Heat butter or olive oil in a large skillet. Pan fry chicken breasts until browned but not entirely cooked through, about 3 minutes on each side. Remove chicken from the skillet and set aside.
Add onions and carrots to same skillet and cook on medium high heat until the onions are translucent, about 6 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant (~1 minute more). Add tomato paste and stir until vegetables are coated. Add wine, chicken stock, rosemary, thyme, and bay leaf and heat on medium heat until vegetables are soft and liquid in reduced by half. Add Chicken breasts back
into the skillet with the carrots and cook over medium high heat until chicken is
cooked through, about 5 minutes more. You will need to add more time if your chicken breasts are very large. Cook until internal temp is 165 F.
Taste carrots and adjust with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with parsley and serve Chicken with Carrots over Rice or Mashed Potatoes. Enjoy!
More chicken recipes to try:
Two weekends ago we finally had a small bout of actual fall weather, which surprisingly enough, came with a full day of rain. Yay! For us here in Southern California, it was a nice departure from our endless hot days that it got me in the kitchen to make two comforting fall dishes. The first one being my mom's recipe for this delicious Mustard Braised Chicken. I love Dijon mustard and this sauce is absolutely to die for. The flavors of the sauce are so complex with the layers of thyme, rosemary and marjoram bending with the Dijon, onions and wine...one word, Amazing!
Stay tuned for the second recipe. I made an adapted version of my mom's Sweet Onion Casserole that's completely addicting. I ate it for breakfast for three days in a row. It's the perfect side dish for Thanksgiving...or even breakfast! :)
Enjoy!
Mustard Braised Chicken
Serves 4
3 T olive oil, divided
2 T minced fresh thyme, divided
3 t. minced fresh marjoram, divided
1 1/2 t. dry mustard
1 t. minced fresh rosemary,divided
3.5 lbs chicken, cut into 8 pieces (I used thighs and legs)
salt and pepper
1 1/2 cups finely chopped onion
2 T minced garlic
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup low sodium chicken broth
6 T Dijon mustard
Stir 1 T olive oil, 1 T thyme, 1 1/2 t each of marjoram, dry mustard and 1/2 t of rosemary in a small bowl until a paste forms. Rub paste all over chicken. Place in a bowl and chill 2 hours or overnight.
Heat 2 T olive oil in heavy large pot over medium high heat. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Add chicken to pot and cook until brown on all sides, about 12 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
Add onions to the pot, saute over medium high heat until tender, about 8 minutes. Add garlic; saute 2 minutes. Add wine, broth, Dijon mustard and 1 T Thyme, 1 1/2 t marjoram and 1/2 t rosemary to pot. Bring to boil. return chicken to pot, reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer until chicken is cooked, about 25 minutes.
Transfer chicken to a plate and cover to keep warm. Reduce liquid in pot until thickened to sauce consistency, whisking often, about 15 minutes. Pour over chicken.
Other recipes to try:
Pork Tenderloin with Mustard-Caper Sauce
Corned Beef Rolls with Mustard Cream Sauce
The best part of cool weather outside, is the great things you can slow cook inside, like Braised Short Ribs. Here's a recipe I found many years ago from my favorite cooking magazine, Cuisine at Home. I've blogged a few recipes from this awesome magazine before, like Greek Meatballs, Garden Fresh Gazpacho, Rice Vera Cruz and Tofu Bruschetta. Cuisine at Home is great because it gives simple, important tips and techniques and of course it uses easy to find ingredients. In this recipe, Cuisine at Home goes over Braising basics which I'll summarize for those who may have never braised before. When I first started to cook, I learned the most from my mistakes, but when it comes to expensive cuts of beef, (because beef is expensive on my budget, no matter what the cut it) it's nice to get a heads up and avoid some common errors. Braising is the technique of slow cooking meats in liquid. There are a few steps that are important so the meat is brown and not gray and that the gravy is complex and delicious and not burnt tasting. So here are some tips from Cuisine at Home that has helped me make this wonderful dish perfect every time.
The first step is Browning the meat. This step adds color to the meat and renders some of the fat from the meat. The oven temperature alone won't brown the meat to a dark brown, so don't skip this step. Once you finish browning all the meat and set aside, it is best to pour off all the rendered fat and any burnt flour from the pan. The burnt bits will make the sauce taste scorched. You will have some bits of meat stuck to the bottom of your dutch oven, this is perfectly okay and necessary to add wonderful flavor when you braise.
Step two is Deglazing the pan. After browning the meat and setting aside, you will saute your vegetables with various ingredients in the same dutch oven and then you'll add flour to the cooked vegetables. The flour will coat the vegetables. Next, you will add your flavored liquids and deglaze the pan. The brown bits on the bottom of the pan will be dissolved and incorporated into the sauce and the added flour will act to thicken the sauce.
Step three is Braising. Add the browned meat, in a single layer, bone-side up in the braising liquid. Cover pot with a tight fitting lid and cook in the oven for 2-3 hours. The tight fitting lid helps keep the moisture and heat in the pot which breaks down the fat and connective tissues in the short ribs and makes it fall off the bone, delicious!
There you have it! Easy as can be and incredibly delicious! Happy Braising.
Braised Short Ribs
(recipe from Cuisine at Home, Oct 2005)
Prepare:
1/2 cup onion, diced
1/2 cup carrot, diced
1/2 cup celery, diced
1 T. garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
Combine; Dredge and brown in 1T of olive oil;Remove
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 t. kosher salt
1 t. black pepper
1/4 t. cayenne pepper
2 lb bone-in short ribs
Saute:
1 T. olive oil
Prepared vegetables
1 T. tomato paste
2 T. reserved dredging flour
Deglaze with; Stir in and Braise:
1-14 oz can beef broth
3/4 cup dry red wine
1/2 cup Marsala
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, halved (not packed in oil)
1 T. Worcestershire Sauce
Browned Short Ribs
Add:
2 cups crimini Mushrooms, quartered
salt and pepper, to taste
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Prepare onion, carrot, celery and garlic; set aside.
Combine flour, salt, pepper and cayenne in a resealable plastic bag. Add short ribs, one at a time and shake to coat evenly (reserve unused flour). Heat 1 T olive oil in a large dutch oven over medium heat. Add dredged short ribs, bone side up, and brown slowly, about 8 minutes. Turn ribs and brown other side for 8 minutes. Remove from the pan; pour off all the fat.
Saute vegetables, garlic and bay leaf with the tomato paste in oil until soft, about 5 minutes, stirring often. Add flour; stir until vegetables are coated.
Deglaze with broth, wine and Marsala; stir in tomatoes and Worcestershire, and bring to a simmer. Arrange ribs in sauce, bone side up, cover and braise in the oven for 2-3 hours.
Add mushrooms and return pot to the oven; braise another 15 minutes.
Serve with Garlic Mashed Potatoes and a roasted vegetable if your choice. I made some Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Broccoli with Garlic. I love garlic. Enjoy!
4 Chicken Breasts, boneless, skinless
