The Perfect Easter Dinner for two

If you are planning a small Easter dinner and you are wondering what to prepare, I have an amazing and easy menu suggestion for you. You can start with mouth-watering Baked Mushrooms, followed by Beer Roasted Chicken, Au Gratin Potatoes and Spring Mix Salad with Dijon Mustard dressing. To end this dinner in great style, you can enjoy luscious Lemon Bars.

Enjoy it!

French Sytle Beer Roasted Chicken

This dish has delicious flavors that will please the entire family and it will fill your kitchen with the appetizing aromas of Spring.

Ingredients:

1 3lb whole chicken

4 cloves of garlic

2 cups of beer

1 cup of chicken stock

3 thin lemon slices

6 springs of fresh thyme

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 dried bay leave

Salt and pepper, to taste


In a large bowl, place the chicken, garlic, beer, chicken stock, thyme and bay leave. Refrigerate overnight.
Heat the oven to 350F. Meanwhile, mince 2 or 3 of the garlic cloves. Remove thyme leaves from the stems. Gently ease the skin of the chicken away from the breasts. Place minced garlic and thyme leaves between the meat and the skin.

Transfer chicken to roasting pan and stuff the cavity with remaining garlic, bay leave and lemon slices. Season it with salt and lemon. Drizzle olive oil on top of the chicken. Pour marinate into roasting pan. Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until juices run clear.

Pour baking juice on top of the chicken before serving. Serve it hot.


Serves 2 to 3 people.

Enjoy it with your favorite white wine.


Note: If you are baking a larger chicken, adjust the cooking time according to the weight: 20 minutes per pound, plus an extra 20 minutes. You may add another 2 cloves of garlic if your chicken is 5lb or heavier.

Primavera Easter Dinner

In my opinion, Easter dinner doesn’t have to be very time consuming or labor intensive. Thus, I put together a simple menu filled with spring flavors that I am excited to share with you.

Let’s start with two appetizers that you can prepare ahead of time:

Marinated olives:

Ingredients:

1 cup of black olives, pitted and drained

1 cup of green olives, pitted and drained

1 garlic clove, minced

¼ teaspoon of paprika

1 large spring of fresh thyme

3 springs of fresh oregano

1 ½ tablespoons of olive oil

Lemon zest, to taste

Ground black pepper, to taste

1 dried bay leave

Remove oregano and thyme leaves from stem and roughly chop the leaves. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix all the ingredients and refrigerate overnight. Serve it cold or at room temperature. Discard bay leave before serving.

Mozzarella & Tomato skewer:

Ingredients:

8 ounces of fresh mozzarella, cut into 48 (1/2 inch) cubes

24 cherry tomatoes, halved

12 large basil leaves, cut into 48 (1/2 inch) pieces

Olive oil, to taste

Sea salt, to taste

24 (6-inch) skewers

In a medium bowl, gently toss mozzarella cubes and tomatoes with olive oil and salt. Refrigerate for at least one hour.

To make the skewers, place a tomato halve, then basil, then mozzarella, followed by basil, another tomato halve and a mozzarella cube.

Serve it cold or at room temperature.

After enjoying these delightful appetizers, let’s move to the main course. The star of this course is an original vegetarian dish that will certainly please your guests, especially if there are vegetarians among them. I am talking about a Spinach and Ricotta Gnocchi (Italian dumplings), a restaurant quality dish that you can make at home. The second dish is porcini mushroom chicken, just one of the many meat alternatives that pairs well with this gnocchi.

 Spinach and Ricotta Gnocchi:

Ingredients:

2 ½ lb of fresh spinach, stalks removed

1 ½ tablespoon of olive oil

15oz of ricotta cheese

1 ¼ cup of parmesan cheese, grated

3 eggs

½ teaspoon of garlic powder

½ teaspoon of dried basil

¼ teaspoon of dried marjoram

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 1/8 cup of all purpose OR whole wheat flour, plus more for dusting

1 cup of salted butter

1 tablespoon of fresh oregano, chopped

1 tablespoon of fresh thyme, chopped

In a large heavy sauce pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Place washed spinach in the pan and cook over low heat for about 7 minutes (or until just wilted).

Drain spinach in a colander. Set aside. Meanwhile lightly beat eggs with garlic powder, basil, marjoram, salt and pepper. Press out remaining liquid from spinach and chop it.

In a large bowl, mix chopped spinach, ricotta, eggs and half of the parmesan cheese. Beat until fully combined. Season with additional salt and pepper, if necessary.

Shift the four and add to the mixture. Add more if necessary to obtain a workable mixture. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

With floured hands, roll mixture into 1 inch balls. Meanwhile, bring a large pan of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the dumplings and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until they rise to the surface. Remove from pan, drain well, transfer to serving plate and set aside.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the oregano and thyme and lower the heat. Cook for about 1 minute stirring constantly. Pour over gnocchi, sprinkle with remaining parmesan cheese and serve immediately.

Serves 6.

Porcini mushroom Pan Chicken

2 ½ lb of chicken breast, boneless and skinless

¾ cup of chicken stock

6oz of porcini mushroom, sliced

¼ teaspoon of paprika

3 large cloves of garlic, minced

1 tablespoon of fresh sage, chopped

1 tablespoon of butter (optional)

1 ½ tablespoon of olive oil

Salt and pepper, to taste

In a large sauté pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Season chicken with paprika, salt and pepper and place it in the pan. Cook for 5 minutes on each side. Transfer chicken to a plate and set aside.

Place garlic in the pan and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the mushroom to pan and cook for 5 to 7 minutes. Move mushroom to the side of the pan and place chicken breast back in the pan. Add chicken stock and sage and cook for 10 to 15 minutes covered. Lower the heat, uncover the pan and simmer for another 7 to 10 minutes. Add the butter and stir until fully melted. Check seasoning and add more salt and pepper, if desired. Serve it immediately.

Serves 6.

To finish this delicious meal, you can serve a creamy and luscious Mocha Chocolate Terrine.   I think that this dessert deserves special attention, so I will have an entire post dedicated to it tomorrow.

Simple Chicken Mole

When I was pregnant with my first child a dear friend cooked chicken mole for us and it was delicious! He introduced me to the wonderful mole, this famous thick, rich, chocolate-tinged sauce. Traditional mole recipes call for more than 20 ingredients, including different types of pepper, nuts and a small amount of chocolate. This concoction is boiled for hours until it reduces to a thick, fragrant and unique sauce.

To make mole form scratch is time consuming, so I developed an easy chicken mole recipe inspired by our friend’s dish. It is a simple, economical and tasty recipe that you can serve even to guests. My husband and I love this dish and I hope you will enjoy it as well.

Simple Chicken Mole:

Ingredients:
1 ½ lb of chicken breast tenderloins, boneless and skinless
¼ cup of store-bought mole sauce
1/8 cup of fresh lime juice
2 ¼ cups of chicken stock or chicken stock
¼ teaspoon of garlic powder
¼ teaspoon of paprika
¼ teaspoon of onion powder
½ teaspoon of ground cumin
¼ cup of fresh cilantro, chopped
1 ½ tablespoon of vegetable oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
Cooked white rice, for serving

Preheat the oven to 375F. Spray a casserole dish with cooking oil. Set aside.

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Meanwhile, season chicken with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika and lime juice. When oil is heated, add the seasoned chicken and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes, turning it only once after 5 minutes.Add 2 tablespoon of chicken stock after 5 to 7 minutes to keep the meat from getting dry.

Transfer the chicken to prepared casserole dish. Set aside. Add mole to skillet and slowly add the remaining chicken stock (1 cup at the time). Cook it over medium-low heat. Stir constantly until the mole sauce is fully dissolved. Add cumin and let it simmer for about five minutes. Pour sauce over chicken in prepared casserole dish.

Bake it uncovered for 7 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven and top it with chopped cilantro. Serve it hot with cooked rice. Garnish with jalapenos peppers, if desired.

Serves 4.


If you like your chicken mole with beans, here is another simple recipe:

Latin Style Pinto Beans:

Ingredients:
15oz (1 can) of pinto beans
1 dry bay leave
½ slice of uncooked bacon
½ cup of water
1 small garlic clove, minced
Salt, to taste

In a sauce pan, cook the bacon over medium heat. Remove bacon from the pan. Add bay leave, garlic and pinto beans with the juice. Stir in water. Season with salt. Simmer over medium low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Crumble bacon and return to the pan, if desired. Serve hot.


Note: You can find mole sauce in the Latin or Hispanic aisle of your grocery store.

Tonight is Chicken Night!

I like to develop my own recipes and try new ones too, but there are times when my kids just want a simple familiar dish. As a friend of my mine said once, “My kids don’t eat the food they show in gourmet the magazines”.  Because of that, I often cook roasted and grilled meats that can be eaten with kid’s favorite side dishes (i.e.: pasta, potatoes). To be honest, I like when my family asks for our “old time favorites” because they easy and fast to prepare. If you are in the same shoes, I have a recipe that your family will enjoy:

Skillet Chicken:

Ingredients:

1/8 cup (1oz) of lemon juice

¼ teaspoon of ground cayenne pepper

¼ teaspoon of ground paprika

½ teaspoon of garlic powder

½ teaspoon of onion powder

½ teaspoon of chicken flavor bouillon

3 tablespoons of olive oil

Salt to taste

1 pound of chicken breast tenderloin, skinless

½ teaspoon of vegetable oil

Place the first eight ingredients in a small bowl. Whisk to blend. Pour over chicken breast. Gently fold with a wooden spoon to ensure all the chicken is evenly coated. Put the wooden spoon aside.

Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook over medium-low heat, turning it only once. Let it cook for about 5 to 7 minutes on each side or until juices run clear. Check and adjust the seasoning. Serve it warm.

Side dish suggestion:

Baked Tomatoes

Variation: If you cut the raw chicken breast into smaller pieces, it will make a great appetizer that can be served with yogurt dipping sauce

The belly rules the mind.  ~Spanish Proverb

Chicken potpie the Latin way!

Cold winter days call for tasty comfort food, but they need to be easy to prepare. On top of my list is “chicken potpie” because they please the entire family and they are simple to prepare. I like to give a Latin American twist to my flaky and buttery individual potpies. I have a recipe that is nothing like your grandmother’s chicken potpie:

Puffy Chicken Potpies

Ingredients:

1 sheet frozen puff pastry

1 teaspoon of chicken flavor bouillon

1 pound of chicken breast, boneless and skinless

1 ½ tablespoons of olive oil

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

½ cup of red onion, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 cup of chicken stock

½ cup of fresh carrots, chopped

_1/3 of green peas, thawed and drained

1 small can (8oz) of pure tomato sauce

½ can of hearts of palm, drained

1 ¼ cup of kennel corn, thawed and drained

¾ cup fresh parsley, chopped

Salt and pepper, to taste

Thaw puff pastry according to package instructions.

Preheat the oven to 425⁰F. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil and add the chicken. Cook chicken in medium heat for about 5 minutes, add the garlic and red onion and stir. Season chicken with salt, pepper and chicken bouillon. Stir and let it cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the lemon juice and scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Add the chicken stock, tomato sauce, corn, green peas and carrots. Lower the heat and simmer for 7 to 10 minutes. Meanwhile, slice the hearts of palm (about 1 inch thick). Add parsley and hearts of palm and gently toss to combine. Remove from heat and keep it warm.

In a lightly floured surface, unfold and roll puff pastry sheet into a 12-inch square. Cut into 4 equal pieces. Divide the chicken filling among four 8-ounce individual casseroles. Place a square of puff pastry on top of each casserole.

Bake uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes or until crust and puffed and golden.