Chicken with Shallot Dijon Sauce

Chicken with Shallot Dijon Sauce

Oooh, sounds fancy-pants, huh? Well, it is, actually. I’d serve this right up to guests in my house any day of the week. In reality, it was just me and the hubs chowing on it, but THAT SAUCE! The sauce with the shallots, dijon, tarragon, and the luscious cherry tomatoes that are cooked until just bursting is way up there on the yum-meter. I served this over pappardelle noodles, but it would go equally well with roasted or smashed potatoes, rice, etc.

I riffed this from a recipe I found on New York Times Cooking. They’ve been giving me quite a few ideas lately about what to cook, with their handy “What to Cook This Week” email subscription. (Which is free.) I get a lot of spammy email, but that is one email I always click on to see what inspires my tastebuds. I usually read the “most helpful” rated comments and adapt the recipe based on people’s changes who actually made the recipe, as the NYTC recipes are not always golden. OK enough of that endorsement (which I was not paid for, lol).

Chicken with Shallot Dijon Sauce

1 pound chicken, fileted to equal-ish sizes
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups shallots, (6 ounces) sliced thick length-wise
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup homemade or good-quality chicken broth
1 tablespoon stone-ground Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon (2 sprigs fresh if you have it)
1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

Browning the Chicken

Season the chicken with salt and pepper, then dredge the chicken through the flour, patting down to lightly coat. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat until it starts foaming, then cook the chicken pieces on both sides for several minutes until browned. Remove and set aside.

Sliced Shallots ~ I added this shot because I think shallots are lovely

In same pan, reduce heat a little and add the shallots and cook until they start to soften and caramelize, about 10 minutes. Pour in the wine and chicken broth and deglaze the pan with a large spoon. Stir in the Dijon mustard and tarragon, add back in the chicken, then cover the skillet and simmer for about 15-20 minutes, reducing heat more if necessary.

Remove the lid, then nestle in the cherry tomatoes around the chicken. Simmer until tomatoes start to wilt and burst and the sauce thickens, about 10-15 minutes more. Stir lightly to combine, then serve.

Chicken with Shallot Dijon Sauce

p.s. Go Pats! 😉

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Southwest Taco Salad with Creamy Guacamole Dressing

Southwest Taco Salad with Creamy Guacamole Dressing

Ahhh, where oh where did the summer go? School starts this week in my neck of the woods and temperatures have gone from sizzling hot to almost frosty. But that shouldn’t stop anyone from enjoying this zesty and crunchy salad filled with summer bounty topped with a smooth avocado dressing.

We’ve just returned this weekend from nine glorious days camping and fishing at the beautiful Oregon coast. What a wonderful way to end the summer!

Southwest Taco Salad with Creamy Guacamole Dressing
Adapted from Southwest Salad with Creamy Avocado Salsa Dressing at Carlsbad Cravings

Creamy Guacamole Dressing

1 small avocado, peeled and roughly diced
1 small jalapeño, seeded, deveined, and roughly chopped
1/4 cup cilantro
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/4 salsa, homemade or store-bought (I used my Hatch chile salsa)
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons olive oil
Juice from 1 lime
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 teaspoon cumin

Southwest Taco Salad

Grilled chicken breast, sliced (or deli rotisserie)
Corn kernels from 1 ear of sweet white corn
Chopped/shredded lettuce of choice
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 large red onion, chopped
1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/3 cup roasted pepitas
1/2 cup grated pepper jack cheese
Creamy Guacamole Dressing
Tortilla chips, for serving

Creamy Guacamole Dressing

Add all of the Creamy Guacamole Dressing ingredients to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth and creamy. You will have to scrape down the sides a few times. Add additional milk, if needed, to thin to desired consistency. Chill in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Next, grill the chicken breast, if it isn’t already cooked.

Grilled Chicken

Remove the kernels from the ear of corn, using a Bundt-pan to catch the kernels, if you have one. (That’s a pretty cool tip I picked up from Pinterest.)

Cutting the Corn off the Cob

Add all the salad ingredients except dressing and chips to a large bowl. Toss to combine.

Southwest Taco Salad Ingredients

Add tossed salad to individual bowls, then top with guacamole dressing and serve with tortilla chips.

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Baked Ling Cod in a Tomato, Tarragon, and Basil Herb Sauce

Basket of Ripe Tomatoes

Well I had high hopes of photographing this most lovely meal I made the other night, but since my tripod holder thingy broke on my camera a few weeks ago, I’ve been rubberbanding it to the tripod. And while taking photos of the beautiful simmering tomato sauce and herbs, I tried to adjust my tripod stand and the camera fell off and went crashing to the floor, losing a plastic piece off the lens, and then decided to beep furiously at me for breaking it.

Baked Ling Cod with Tomatoes Tarragon Basil Herb Sauce

I could not get it to turn back on fully after multiple attempts, even after taking out the battery and reinserting it and powering it up again. It would beep and beep at me, then would finally shut itself down, like a child whose tantrum finally ran out of steam. I gave up on that process, as this meal comes together quite quickly. As an afterthought just as I was about to plate the fish and sides, I asked my daughter to snap a photo of the fish with her iPod Touch. She doesn’t care for fish so she ate some other leftovers for dinner. So her iPod photo is all I have to offer today for my photo. And it’s so bad I’m just posting a wee pic of it and using my tomato photo as the main one. I am unsure of the future of a new camera at this point.

But, at least I can share my recipe with you of this healthy fish meal. We used a filet of the Ling Cod we caught with our friend on the Oregon Coast a few weeks ago, but any nice, solid whitefish will do. We also used some of the tomatoes from our garden that I had frozen instead of canned, and cut some last snips off the tarragon and basil from my fresh herb garden. I elected not to harvest them this year like I did last, only because of time constraints with my workload and trying to get all our tomatoes canned and frozen.

Ling Cod in a Tomato, Tarragon, Basil Herb Sauce

1 large filet of Ling Cod or other whitefish, enough for two people
Milk to soak the fish
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1/2 cup onion, diced small
1 teaspoon garlic
1 cup homemade or low sodium chicken broth, divided (or half white wine)
1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes (thawed if frozen)
1 tablespoon fresh tarragon, chopped fine
1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped fine
Lemon juice to squeeze over fish
Black pepper to taste

Soak the fish in a 1/2 milk and 1/2 water mixture, enough to cover the filet, in a glass bowl at least one hour or more in the refrigerator. When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 425. Meanwhile, heat one tablespoon of oil over medium heat and saute the onions until starting to soften, then add the garlic. Cook for a few minutes more, then add 1/2 the chicken broth, or 1/2 cup white wine if you prefer. We didn’t have any on hand. Bring that up to a simmer until it reduces about half.

Add the cherry tomatoes, and cook and smash them around until they split and start releasing their juices.  Stir in the herbs, and the rest of the chicken broth. Grind a bunch of black pepper over it, to taste. Once again, simmer and reduce the liquid to about half.

Line a baking pan with foil and spray with oil. Remove the fish from the soak, add the fish filet to the pan, and squeeze a generous amount of lemon juice over it. Spoon the tomato herb sauce over the top of the fish, then cover the pan tightly with foil. Place the pan in the oven, and cook for about 20 minutes, until the fish flakes easily with a fork. Do not overcook! I checked mine at 20 minutes and it was perfect. We served this with seasoned pasta and Haricot Verts, but any sides will do with this. Some thick crusty bread would be great to mop of the lovely juices in the pan, but alas we did not have any of that either. But it was a delicious and light, healthy meal!

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How to Can Fresh Tomatoes

Canned Fresh Tomatoes

Basically you need about every large bowl, pot, and pan in your house, and lots of water. Oh and lemon juice and canning jars. And time. That’s about it, really!

Canning your own tomatoes is not a secret, there is no hidden method, and the directions are readily available on about 700,000 websites, according to Google. But, since my husband and I spent several hours at this yesterday (in between me being on conference calls for work) I thought I would share what we did.

How to Can Fresh Tomatoes

10 pounds fresh-picked tomatoes, give or take
6 or 7 pint canning jars and lids
1 tablespoon lemon juice per jar
Salt or sugar (optional)

First get a really large pot of water on to boil and add the jars (without lids) to it. I have a 15-quart canning pot that we used. Also put on another largish pot of water to boil to blanch the tomatoes. Next, get a full tea kettle of water on to boil, or another pot of water if you don’t have one.

Meanwhile, prep the tomatoes by washing and coring them, cutting off bad spots, and making an X-slit in the bottom to assist with peeling the skins.  Once the blanching water is boiling, dunk the tomatoes in the pot for 30 to 60 seconds until the skins just start to peel on their own. Oh yeah, have a large bowl of ice water ready. Remove the tomatoes and immediately submerge into the ice water.

Fresh-Picked Tomatoes

Once the pot with the jars in it has boiled for at least 10 minutes, remove the jars and add 1 tablespoon of bottled lemon juice to each one. Do not use fresh lemon juice as the acidity level of it cannot be relied on. You may add about a teaspoon of salt and/or sugar at this point for extra taste, but we did not do that and left them plain. Next get another bowl and add the lids and the seals and cover with the boiling water from the tea kettle to sterilize them. Then fill the tea kettle back up again, as you’ll need more boiling water later.

Now begin peeling the skins from the tomatoes and adding them to the jars, filling them up leaving a half-inch head space. You can cut or quarter any of the larger tomatoes. Once you have a full jar, pour the boiling water from the tea kettle up to the half-inch head space. At this point it is recommended to run a spatula around the edge of the jars to remove air bubbles, but I forgot that step. Some of the jars we didn’t pack as tight as the others, and that became evident after the canning process.

Oh, and you should bring the canning pot of water back up to a boil at this point. After all the jars are filled (we ended up with 7 jars), carefully wipe the rims with a wet paper towel to remove any tomato specks and juice. Add the lid seals and lids, and tighten hand-tight. Do not over tighten.  Using canning tongs or some other method, carefully add the jars to the boiling water bath. Make sure there is at least one inch of water over the tops of the jars. Once the water comes back up to a full roiling boil, keep the water boiling for at least 45 minutes for 0 to 3,000 feet altitude, 50 minutes for 3,001 to 6000 feet, and 55 minutes over 6,000 feet.

Canned Fresh Tomatoes

Remove the jars from the water and set on a thick towel to cool. You will hear the lids “pop” once the complete seal has taken place. If any of the jars do not seal completely, you must re-do the process or use them within the week. And there you have it! Canned fresh tomatoes ready for your soups, stews, and pasta sauces over the winter.

p.s. We didn’t have enough jars to can all the cherry tomatoes, and we froze the rest of those. (Thank you Laura for the tip!) Well that was certainly easier than the canning, but the satisfaction of a day in the kitchen canning your own produce can’t be beat!

Spicy Skillet Corn with Tomatoes

Spicy Skillet Corn with Tomatoes

This corn dish is a bright and tasty accompaniment to any barbecue, and was served Labor Day with huge slabs of baby back ribs my mom grilled and cooked. I had my parents and uncle from out of town over for the holiday, and the entire meal was cooked by all. I did the corn and cole slaw, my mom did the ribs, and my husband whipped up a huge batch of his potato salad. Even my daughter pitched in and made chocolate-covered banana slices for dessert. My father and uncle pitched in by helping us to eat this huge quantity of food.

The original recipe didn’t have tomatoes, but with my cherry tomato plants exploding with ripe red balls of sweetness, it was a no-brainer for me to chop some up and add them in. I used some delicious fresh white sweet corn on the cob, and the spiciness of the chiles combined with the tartness of the lime and the sweetness of the corn and tomato made this side dish shine! I hope you think so too.

Spicy Skillet Corn with Tomatoes

Adapted from Southwest Corn Skillet with Chili and Lime from Barefeet in the Kitchen

1 tablespoon butter
4 ears of fresh sweet corn, kernels removed from the cob
Lots of ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon Hungarian sweet paprika
1/4 teaspoon New Mexico red chile powder
3 strips of bacon, torn into bite-sized pieces
1 cup of cherry tomatoes, quartered
Juice of 1/2 lime

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and melt the butter. Add the rest of the ingredients except the tomatoes and lime juice and stir to heat through, about five minutes. Add the tomatoes and lime juice and toss to combine. Remove from skillet and serve immediately with your meal. Easy and delicious!

Note: You can omit the bacon if you want. But hey, we had bacon left from the potato salad my husband made, so….what the heck.

Spicy Skillet Corn with Tomatoes

Grilled Steak and Artichoke Salad

Is it toasty hot where you live? It sure is here! Here is a nice main dish salad for you that I made last summer. We’ll be making this again soon!

anotherfoodieblogger

Here is a main dish steak salad that will appease even the heartiest of appetites. Temperatures are still toasty here and I wanted to concoct a cool summer salad that would be filling enough for dinner. I used a thin-sliced top round, which is not as tender as flank steak, but marinating the meat helped tenderize it. I was going to make a homemade vinaigrette, but by the time I finished grilling, chopping, and dicing I decided store-bought dressing would suffice.

Steak Marinade

1/2 pound thin-sliced steak
2 tablespoons olive oil
Juice of 1 lime
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon minced garlic
Black pepper to taste

Place the steak in a quart Ziploc baggie. Whisk the rest of the ingredients together and pour over the steak. Seal bag and let marinate for several hours or overnight. Take out and let come to room temperature…

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Planter Pot Fresh Herb Garden

Basil, Tarragon, Leaf Lettuce

Most of my recipes lately have included some pickings from my herb garden I planted earlier this year. Since we are renting I had to make do with using planters, but the bounty has been fabulous! Pictured are sweet basil, tarragon, mixed leaf lettuce, and cherry tomatoes. In addition to what’s pictured, I also have cilantro but it’s pretty much picked and spent now.

Cherry Tomatoes

I also have a rosemary bush my mother gave me that I’ve been using a lot too. I planted all this from seed, except the cherry tomato plant which was about 12-inches tall when I got it. I put them on the railings of our back deck, which gives me a good visual reminder to water them every day, especially in this hot weather we’ve been having.

Mixed Leaf Lettuce, Tarragon, Basil

So no recipe today but just some pictures for you to enjoy to help you think about planting your own herb garden next spring.

Update: I forgot I planted chives too! They are in the container with the cilantro, and since I didn’t take a picture of them, they were out of sight, out of mind! Silly me.

Leaf Lettuce, Red Leaf Lettuce, Tarragon, Basil