Food

Braised Chicken, Artichokes and Chickpeas

Picture to come?

Inspired by this recipe. Next time I’ll try more chickpeas. Could be good with couscous. I think this could be good without the meat.  Turns out a good way to make canned chickpeas taste good is to cook them again.

Braised Chicken, Artichokes and Chickpeas

Serves 4
Total time: 1.5 hours

Ingredients:

Olive oil
Chicken pieces (I used 2 legs and 2 thighs)
Juice of 1 lemon
6 baby artichokes
4 cloves garlic, sliced
1 Tbsp dijon mustard
1/2 c dry sherry
1 c chicken broth or water, plus more as needed
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1-2 Tbsp capers
1/2 preserved lemon
Salt and pepper

Heat a bit of olive oil in a large pan over medium. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Cook until lightly browned on both sides.

Meanwhile, fill a bowl with water and add juice of 1/2 a lemon. Trim the artichokes. Remove tough outer leaves, leaving only light green ones. Peel and trim stem. Cut off the top 1/3 of the artichoke. Quarter and add to lemon water.

When chicken is browned, remove to a plate. Add garlic and cook for a minute. Add mustard, sherry and water. Return chicken to pan, simmer for 20 minutes. Add more water/broth as needed. Drain the artichokes and add to the pan along with chickpeas, capers and preserved lemon. Simmer until chicken and artichokes are done. Add juice of other 1/2 lemon, taste for seasoning, adding more lemon or salt as needed.

Easy Chocolate Cake

More and more I gravitate toward the easy and delicious recipes, no time for too much complexity. Simplicity was especially important for the cake made for Mark’s recent birthday, because it happened while we were traveling. In someone else’s kitchen I was using supplies and ingredients from my mom’s pantry.

I made this amazing chocolate cake from Smitten Kitchen, and though I’ve also made her loaf version (years ago!), I liked the cake version better. I think the frosting made the difference.

Moist, rich, chocolaty (chocolatey?), pretty perfect. I did add sprinkles but next time I won’t (and there WILL be a next time, I almost made this two weeks later for my own b-day). The sprinkles were hard and I felt like they disturbed the perfect creamy texture of the frosting.

Good Buns

So as I’ve mentioned before, we’re on a budget these days and one of the things I’m trying not to buy is bread. (Sorry to mention the budget so much but I think talking about it helps us stay on budget.)

hamburger and hotdog buns

keep reading…

Simple Burrito Bowls!!!

This post has been in my drafts for some time (two months!). I don’t have any pictures and can’t really remember what I was thinking of or why the title deserves three exclamations. Pretty sure this was a bowl of white or brown rice topped with whole beans (either black or pinto), leftover meat (probably chicken, but maybe I just cooked some pork with the beans), and the usual burrito toppings: cheese, sour cream, avocado, salsa, etc. I guess it was good!

Now that I’m thinking about it I think I’ll make burrito bowls again later this week. I wanted to do something with black beans, rice and chorizo…

Veggies for Dinner

Again, no pictures. But if the title entices you, read on about the veggies we’ve been eating lately…

Mushroom rice casserole. Craving mushrooms lately. Subbed dried sage for fresh tarragon, and added in the casserole instead of on top. Added a splash of dry sherry with the creamy ingredients. Topped with shredded “Italian mix” cheese along with parmesan. Casserole came out a little dry. I think next time I will add some milk and maybe mix some cheese in the casserole instead of just sprinkling on top.

Roasted potatoes with green sauce. I used frozen parsley instead of fresh cilantro. Great sauce. Kids weren’t that into it but the adults loved it.

Garlic butter roasted mushrooms. What did I say about mushroom cravings? Again, kids didn’t like it but what do they know.

Bean casserole. I did not use the red pepper flakes so it wouldn’t be too spicy for the kids. Didn’t make cilantro pesto, due to no cilantro in the house. Topped with pepper jack, no bread crumbs. This was another strike for the kids. I’ve had the leftovers mixed with the mushroom rice and plan to stuff both the beans and rice in pupusas tomorrow.