Chicken with Mustard Cream Sauce

This is the other PW recipe I mentioned in my last post. While I was looking for potato recipes, I stumbled upon this yummy, easy chicken dish. At first glance, I was nervous about the amount of mustard that it took to make the sauce. I like mustard, but if it was overly-mustardy, I knew I would hear some grumbling from the husband and kiddos. Luckily, the grainy mustard I bought had a touch of sweetness to it, so the sauce was perfectly balanced and not too mustard-ish at all. Everyone loved the sauce (and chicken, as well) and there were no complaints. Best of all, this dish really was not complicated or time-consuming. I was expecting it to be a lot more involved than it was, but instead, it came together very quickly. I served our chicken and sauce with roasted cauliflower and a green salad. I had guilt that the sauce was kinda decadent, so I doubled up on the veggie side dishes to even out the nutritional value some.

Chicken with Mustard Cream Sauce
From: The Pioneer Woman Cooks! website

Ingredients:
4 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Butter
3 whole Garlic Cloves, Minced
1 cup Brandy (or White Wine If Preferred)
1 Tablespoon (heaping) Dijon Mustard
1 Tablespoon (heaping) Grainy Mustard
1/4 cup (to 1/2) Heavy Cream
1/4 cup (to 1/2) Chicken Broth
Salt And Pepper, to taste

Directions:

*Amount of cream and broth has slightly decreased; add more as needed.

Cut the chicken breasts in half lengthwise so that you have eight smaller, thinner chicken cutlets. Salt and pepper both sides.

Heat oil and butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook cutlets on both sides until nice and golden brown and cooked through. Remove chicken from the skillet and keep on a plate.

Reduce the heat to medium. Add the garlic to the pan and saute it for a minute, stirring to make sure it won't burn. Next pour in the brandy (or wine if using) being careful if cooking over an open flame. Then just let the booze bubble up and cook until it's reduced by half.

Throw in the mustards and stir to combine, then pour in the cream. Stir in chicken broth, adding more if the sauce seems too thick. Taste sauce and adjust whatever you think it needs. Add chicken breasts back to the pan, nestling them into the sauce. Allow sauce to cook for another few minutes, shaking the pan if needed to move things around.

Serve chicken with a green salad, spooning the sauce over the top.

Dijon Chicken Stew with Kale and Potatoes

Out of all the recipes to choose for my cookbook project, I am really not sure why this one caught my attention. When I was outlining which dishes I wanted to try out of the Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2007 book, I kept flipping back to this one. I was really trying to find new things that I hadn't experienced before, so I kept gravitating towards this dish. I just couldn't imagine how the flavors would come together in a stew. I knew I had to try it and see.

Dijon Chicken Stew with Kale and Potatoes
From: Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2007 cookbook (Jeanne Kelley, Cooking Light, JANUARY 2006)

Ingredients:
4 teaspoons olive oil, divided
2 cups sliced leek
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup all-purpose flour (about 1 1/2 ounces)
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
1 cup dry white wine
3 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth, divided
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 cups(1/2-inch) cubed peeled white potato (about 1 pound)
8 cups loosely packed torn kale (about 5 ounces)
Crushed red pepper

Directions:
Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add leek; sauté 6 minutes or until tender and golden brown. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute. Spoon leek mixture into a large bowl.

Place 1/3 cup flour in a shallow bowl or pie plate. Dredge chicken in flour, shaking off excess. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add half of chicken mixture; sprinkle with 1/8 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper. Cook 6 minutes, browning on all sides. Add browned chicken to leek mixture. Repeat procedure with remaining chicken mixture, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper.

Add wine to pan, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Combine 1 cup broth and 1 tablespoon flour, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Add broth mixture, remaining 2 cups broth, water, and mustard to pan; bring to a boil. Stir in chicken mixture, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes.

Stir in potato. Cover and simmer 30 minutes or until potato is tender. Stir in kale; cover and simmer 10 minutes. Garnish with crushed red pepper flakes.



The Result:
Our stew was savory and delicious, with very grown-up flavors. My husband and I really loved this recipe, but it was soooo labor-intensive. It took me over two hours from start to finish; and that is just too darn long for a weeknight meal. We ended up feeding the kids and putting them to bed before we sat down to eat.

The stew itself was rustic, hearty, and comforting as you would come to expect; but it also tasted very polished at the same time. There was a fairly complex layering of flavor going on...I guess that is why it took so long to cook. It truly was unique, which is what I was going for in the first place.

Overall, I am certainly glad I decided to go for it. This was a really great one pot recipe that would be something I make again, as long as it is on a day when I have the time to dedicate toward it (i.e. not a busy weeknight).

PW's Ranch Chicken

My mom is in town for a couple days, so I thought I would make one of our favorite meals for her. This chicken recipe is so freakin' delicious. Hopefully, she will be dazzled.
I think we will serve this chicken with some baked potatoes, glazed carrots, and a salad. Yeah....that is all I have to say about that. I am not feeling very verbose today, so I think I will keep my commentary short and sweet. UMMMMM....I can't wait for dinner!


PW's Ranch Chicken


Seriously, try this chicken. I am telling you....you will thank me (and Pioneer Woman, of course).

PW's Ranch Chicken

The husband and I were supposed to go to a swanky restaurant tonight for our official V-day date. Unfortunately, I did not sleep at ALL last night. I tossed. I turned. I pretended to sleep. Nothing worked. I literally stared at the back of my eyelids all night long. It was so frustrating! When the husband got up for work this morning at 5:15am, I was still awake. Normally at this hour I am comatose, so my husband was quite surprised to find out that I had not slept. Ugh. I asked him to cancel our reservation, since I knew that I would not be able to enjoy our dinner out on zero sleep. Today was just not the day. Hopefully, we will be able to reschedule soon. Needless to say, I have been a zombie all day.

Since we were planning on having dinner out, I did not have anything on the menu for tonight's meal. I finally got around to a decision at about 3 pm this afternoon, which did not leave me a lot of time for preparation. I remembered this recipe from the Pioneer Woman website, and I have been wanting to try it. I have all the ingredients, so there is no time like the present! Best of all, I have just enough time to marinate the chicken for an hour as the recipe recommends. Perfect! It looks like it comes together quickly, especially considering a major substitution. I don't have chicken breasts, but I do have about 12 ounces of chicken breast tenders. Since they are small and pretty thin, I think I will skip the whole pounding step. Thankfully, I have two bunches of asparagus and decent sized potatoes for side items. The chicken is a bit skimpy, but with yummy roasted asparagus and baked potatoes it should all work out okay. Since I am looking forward to trying this chicken dish, I don't mind so much that we are not going out for dinner!

PW's Ranch Chicken

Ingredients:
1/2 cup of Dijon or grainy mustard
1/2 cup of honey
juice of 1/2 of a lemon (about 1 Tablespoon)
1/2 teaspoon of paprika
1/2 teaspoon of salt
pinch of cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes (optional)
boneless, skinless chicken breasts
thick cut bacon
bacon grease
canola oil

Directions:
To begin, mix together 1/2 cup Dijon or country/grainy mustard with 1/2 cup honey. Add juice of 1/2 lemon, 1/2 teaspoon paprika, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. And have some fun here! Sprinkle in some crushed red pepper flakes or cayenne if you like things a little spicy. Whisk it until smooth.

Pound the chicken breast between two sheets of waxed paper, until about 1/2 inch thick. Next, just add all the chicken to the bowl with the marinade. You’ll want to cover this with plastic wrap and let it marinate in the fridge for at least an hour—usually I let it go about 2 to 3 hours, but that’s only because I’m always running behind. While the chicken is marinating, go ahead and fry up some bacon. Next, and this is important, reserve 1/4 cup of the bacon grease, and go ahead and clean out the skillet. Otherwise, it’ll get too smoky.

When you’re ready to prepare the chicken, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Remove the chicken from the fridge and pour off excess marinade into the sink. Heat half of the reserved bacon grease with an equal quantity of Canola Oil in the clean skillet over medium-high to high heat. (We want to sear the chicken, not cook it completely.)
When the grease is sufficiently heated, add a batch of chicken to the skillet. Don’t overcrowd the skillet—just 3 pieces is usually enough. Watch the chicken, and when it starts to get brown/black on one side, flip it to the other side. Cook just until brown/blackish areas appear. Each side should cook for a maximum of 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Repeat with all the chicken breasts, then set them on a large baking sheet. If you look a little closer, you’ll notice the chicken is definitely not fully cooked.

Go ahead and throw the pan of chicken into the hot oven for about ten minutes to continue cooking. Then remove the pan from the oven and lay a couple of bacon slices over each chicken breast. Next, grab some grated sharp cheddar and sprinkle it over the top as generously as you’d like. Just return the pan to the oven for an additional five minutes, or until cheese is melted and bacon is sizzling. Then serve immediately.



The Result:
This chicken was sinful. So delicious...it felt wrong. I think it was all the bacon and cheese that made it so good. Oh man! The marinade was awesome, and the chicken itself was so juicy and flavorful!!! Every bite created some sort of 'mmmmm' noise from around my table. Seriously, fan-freakin'-tastic. Since this is not the healthiest of meals, I will have to reserve it for a "once in awhile" dish...the husband suggested twice a week could be considered "once in awhile". Definitely try this chicken...you will not be sorry. You may need a shower afterward...

Mustard Herb-Crusted Pork Tenderloin

I found some pork tenderloin on sale for a great price at our local mega-super grocery mart. They were buy one get one free (or half price, if you want to get technical). I am just discovering all the yummy possibilities associated with cooking pork tenderloin. I like the idea of a two for one sale, since I can use the extra one for experimentation purposes. There are so many good-sounding recipes out there, and I will have plenty of options for selecting something new to try in the near-future. I figure I will make this recipe today, and save the second hunk o' meat for another application.
In reviewing my past blog notes, it seemed that we really liked this recipe a lot. It is originally from Cooking Light, and in my experience, you can never go wrong with Cooking Light. Ever. Never. Ever. At any rate, I am excited to have this particular dish again. I think I am going to pair this dish with some cous cous and asparagus. Yum!

Mustard Herb-Crusted Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients:
1 (1/2-ounce) slice white bread
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
3 tablespoons grated fresh Romano cheese OR Parmesan
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
1 (1-pound) pork tenderloin, trimmed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
1 garlic clove, minced
Cooking spray

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450°.

Place slice of bread in a food processor, and pulse 10 times or until coarse crumbs measure 1/4 cup.

Combine the breadcrumbs, 1/4 cup chopped parsley, cheese, and 2 teaspoons thyme in a shallow dish. Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper. Combine Dijon mustard, fennel seeds, and garlic in a small bowl. Rub pork with mustard mixture, and dredge in breadcrumb mixture.

Place the pork on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 450° for 25 minutes or until a thermometer registers 160° (slightly pink). Let stand for 10 minutes. Cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 3 ounces pork)

CALORIES 184 (30% from fat); FAT 6.2g (sat 2.3g,mono 2.7g,poly 0.4g); IRON 1.6mg; CHOLESTEROL 72mg; CALCIUM 72mg; CARBOHYDRATE 4.6g; SODIUM 351mg; PROTEIN 25.8g; FIBER 0.4g

Cooking Light, JANUARY 2007

Jen's Notes:
There are a couple of adjustments that I will make to this dish to suit my needs. I have dried herbs, instead of fresh...so I will probably reduce the quantity of the strongly flavored herbs, like fennel (only 1/2 to 1/4 teaspoon of fennel, at most). I will use Parmesan Reggiano in place of the Romano cheese, because I have Parm in the fridge. This time I do have homemade breadcrumbs, so I am excited to see the difference in flavor from the store bought ones I used the last time. Finally, I think I will bake my tenderloin in a roasting pan with a rack in the bottom. My notes from last time indicated that the bottom would have been a soggy mess if I did not use a roasting rack.



The Result:
I am mad. I am mad because this took TWICE as long to cook, this time. When I pulled it out after 25 minutes, it was literally so raw the temperature did not read on our meat thermometer. I got mad at the thermometer (it was crappy and unreliable) and made the husband throw it away. Then, I put it back in for another 15 minutes and it still was not done. At this point, I was able to cut an end piece of for my son and microwave it until it was cooked all the way through. I did not want to deal with a cranky, hungry toddler so we just fed him separately and waited for ours to finish cooking. I put the tenderloin back in the oven again, for another 10 minutes. Still rare to medium rare. Not good for pork. We decided to just bite the bullet and eat it anyway. We carved it and heated our pieces in the microwave so it was at least edible and not raw. Finally, while the husband and I were eating, we put the other half of the roast back in the oven to finish (another 15 minutes)so he could at least have some food for lunch tomorrow. Sheesh!
On a positive note, the flavor was good. I think the issue with the cook time may be that I used a different roasting pan this time. It has higher sides, and I think the meat was not exposed in the oven to the full cook temperature. That is the only thing I can think of...everything else I did was the same. The last time I made it the cook time was perfect. Ugh. The asparagus and cous cous was really yummy. Unfortunately, the whole meal was overshadowed by wrestling with uncooked pork. A total buzz-kill, to say the least!

Mustard Herb-Crusted Pork Tenderloin

Well, the leftovers did not stretch as far as I thought. Between dinner last night and lunch today, we have pretty much cleaned out the fridge. That means that I can cook something new. Hooray! My husband pretty much told me that he wants nothing to do with marinara sauce, pasta, or Italian food for a while. I totally agree. I am a little burnt out, too. I did freeze some of the marinara sauce from the meatballs, so at least it will be handy when we are back in the marinara mood.
All in all, I need to start thinking about planning lighter meals...the meatballfest we just had this weekend does not fit into that category. My eating habits have not been stellar lately. I have been indulging way too much. I figured the first of the month is a good time to wipe the slate clean, and start over with some healthier choices. I have made my way back to the gym twice a week, and I don't want my meager efforts to be undone by fat and calories.

So, in the spirit of healthier cooking, I found this recipe in my Cooking Light 2008 Annual Cookbook . Cooking Light magazine compiles a huge cookbook with all the recipes that the magazine published throughout the year. Just to clarify, the 2008 version is published in the beginning of 2008, and showcases all the recipes from 2007. It is very handy, since you can recycle all your saved copies of the magazine from the past 12 months and just buy the cookbook covering the whole year. I heart Cooking Light. Seldom have I found a recipe that I did not like from them. In fact, I can't even remember if I have ever found a recipe that I did not like from them.
When I get my annual cookbook, I flag pages of recipes that I want to try. I did not know what I wanted for dinner tonight (except to know that I did not want Italian anything), so I pulled out the latest edition and turned to my first sticky tab. The flagged recipe was perfect, because I just happen to have all the ingredients on hand. Hooray! Hooray! This sounds like exactly what we need...light and flavorful with no marinara sauce involved. I think I will serve this dish with regular baked potatoes (a la microwave) and some steamed veggies from the freezer (I have to dig in the freezer and see what I have). This is my first time making this recipe, and I have high hopes. I will let you know how it all turns out.

Mustard Herb-Crusted Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients:
1 (1/2-ounce) slice white bread
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
3 tablespoons grated fresh Romano cheese OR Parmesan
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
1 (1-pound) pork tenderloin, trimmed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
1 garlic clove, minced
Cooking spray

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450°.

Place slice of bread in a food processor, and pulse 10 times or until coarse crumbs measure 1/4 cup.

Combine the breadcrumbs, 1/4 cup chopped parsley, cheese, and 2 teaspoons thyme in a shallow dish. Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper. Combine Dijon mustard, fennel seeds, and garlic in a small bowl. Rub pork with mustard mixture, and dredge in breadcrumb mixture.

Place the pork on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 450° for 25 minutes or until a thermometer registers 160° (slightly pink). Let stand for 10 minutes. Cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 3 ounces pork)

CALORIES 184 (30% from fat); FAT 6.2g (sat 2.3g,mono 2.7g,poly 0.4g); IRON 1.6mg; CHOLESTEROL 72mg; CALCIUM 72mg; CARBOHYDRATE 4.6g; SODIUM 351mg; PROTEIN 25.8g; FIBER 0.4g

Cooking Light, JANUARY 2007

Jen's Notes:
There are a couple of adjustments that I will make to this dish to suit my needs. I have dried herbs, instead of fresh...so I will probably reduce the quantity of the strongly flavored herbs, like fennel. I will use Parmesan Reggiano in place of the Romano cheese, because I have Parm in the fridge. Also, I will use store bought bread crumbs and skip the first part of the recipe. I have plenty of good bread crumbs on hand, so why bother making them from scratch then have to clean the food processor. Lastly, I think I will bake in a roasting pan with a rack in the bottom. The recipe indicates to just use a jelly roll pan with no rack, but I think the breadcrumbs will get really soggy on the bottom of the tenderloin. I prefer using a rack to have the tenderloin cook more evenly. I will let you know if my idea works!

Honey Baked Chicken II

I have gotten my dinner plan together early today. While the boy was wrapped up in a thrilling episode of Go Diego Go! , I decided to check out allrecipes.com for dinner ideas. I had a hankerin' for Indian curry...but I did not want to make a full-fledged curry dish. Also, I want something with chicken, rice, and some sort of sauce. I am having a very specific type of taste craving...so I just searched for those recipes that fit that criteria. I found this recipe while I was poking around and thought I would give it a whirl. This dish has some curry in it, but not a whole lot. The predominant flavors are honey-mustard. It seems to fit what I am looking for, in theory. There seem to be a lot of flavors in this dish...so it will either be really, really good...or really, really bad. There are some notes from other cooks advising on how to adjust the spices & cooking method for a better result. I think I may try some of their suggestions. If you haven't noticed, I hardly ever make a recipe as written. I am a firm believer that recipes are just guidelines, and are never written perfectly. There is always room to adjust and make a recipe to suit your tastes. I will indicate what changes I actually made in The Results, later on. I am encouraged by all the positive user reviews and I hope this dish does not disappoint. I will serve this recipe with rice and a side of green beans. I will let you know how it turns out.


Honey Baked Chicken II

Yields: 4 servings

"INGREDIENTS:
1 (3 pound) whole chicken, cut
into pieces
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup prepared mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon curry powder


DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. Place chicken pieces in a shallow baking pan, skin side up. Combine the melted butter or margarine, honey, mustard, salt and curry powder and pour the mixture over the chicken. Bake in the preheated oven for 1 1/4 hours (75 minutes), basting every 15 minutes with pan drippings, until the chicken is nicely browned and tender and the juices run clear.


ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2008 Allrecipes.com

Jen's Notes:
I am using boneless, skinless chicken breast and thighs instead of the whole chicken. Since I am using different cuts, I will probably reduce the cooking time. I don't want the chicken to dry out, so I will cover with foil for the first half of the allotted time.