Chicken Lasagna

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I have been thinking about my grandma a lot lately. She turned 87 last month. She doesn't cook anymore these days, but when she was younger, she was a wonderful cook and I would always look forward to eating her pastas and desserts. I always enjoyed spending time with my grandparents, but I regret not spending as much time with them in the kitchen. I could never imagine, back then, that cooking would be such an important part of my life. Because of that, I never got to see how my grandma prepared her legendary chicken lasagna... Now it's too late to ask, so this is my attempt to recreate it. The most important thing on a lasagna for me is the sauce. It has to be a white sauce, not ricotta cheese. For the filling, a nicely seasoned cooked chicken and tomato sauce will do just fine. Choose your favorite lasagna noodles. I use the "no-boil" ones, it's easier.

Chicken Lasagna Recipe:

makes 1 lasagna (9x13 inches)

You will need:

For the chicken filling:

2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

1 bay leaf

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 can of chopped tomatoes

1 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of pepper

For the white sauce:

5 tablespoons of butter

4 tablespoons of all-purpose flour

4 cups of warm milk

2 teaspoons of salt

1 teaspoon of pepper

1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg

For assembling the lasagna:

1 package of lasagna noodles (I use the "no-cook" type)

1 lb of shredded mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup of grated parmesan

Make the chicken filling:

Cook the chicken breasts in water along with the bay leaf until cooked through. Drain and shred the meat. In a large pan, heat the oil and cook the onion until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Mix in the tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and let it simmer for another 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, mix in the chicken and set aside.

Make the white sauce:

Melt the butter in a medium pot or pan. Add the flour and cook it until it's no longer raw, about 3 minutes, stirring. Add the warm milk slowly to the pot, whisking it constantly until all the milk is added and the sauce is smooth. Add the salt, pepper and nutmeg and continue cooking until the sauce thickens it up enough to cover the back of a wooden spoon. Remove from the stove and set aside.

To assemble the lasagna:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Spoon some of the white sauce on the bottom of a large (9x13 inches) baking dish. Make one layer of lasagna noodles (4 sheets per layer), cover it with some of the chicken filling and top it with some mozzarella, then white sauce. Make sure the white sauce is spread evenly, specially on the sides of the dish, so you won't end up with dry edges. Keep making layers of noodles, chicken mozzarella and white sauce, finishing with the white sauce remaining. Top everything with the grated parmesan. Cover the lasagna dish with foil, being careful not to let the foil touch the sauce. Bake it for 40 minutes, remove foil and let it get golden and bubbly, 10 minutes longer. Remove from the oven and wait 10 minutes before cutting the lasagna.

* If using the type of lasagna sheets that don't require pre-boiling, like I did, make sure there is enough sauce to cover the entire lasagna, or it will be dry. If you think there is not enough white sauce, thin it out a little bit by adding more milk into it, a tablespoon at the time and whisking well after each addition. Re-season if necessary.

Chicken and Broccoli Stir-Fry with Peanuts

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Stir-fries are easy to make, cook fast and are a great way to get lots of vegetables into your meals. I like to make my stir-fry as simple as possible when it comes to sauces. I normally just use soy sauce along with rice wine vinegar and sometimes I add a little broth like chicken or vegetable. I try to stay away from the bottled sauces as they tend to have too much sugar and artificial ingredients in it.  This is another one-pot meal, so use the largest skillet you have available if cooking for lots of people. I love to use peanuts here, they add crunchiness and go well with the Asian theme. I make this dish often when broccoli is on sale and it becomes a fairly inexpensive meal that is also healthy.

 

 

 

Chicken and Broccoli Stir-Fry Recipe:

serves 2

 

You will need:

 

1 skinless, boneless chicken breast

1 tablespoon of canola oil

2 scallions, sliced and white and green parts separated

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 bunch of broccoli, cut into florets

1 large carrot, peeled and cut into matchsticks

1 teaspoon of rice wine vinegar

1 tablespoon of soy sauce

a handful of roasted peanuts

salt and pepper

 

Using a paper towel, dry the chicken breast and cut into bite size pieces, about 1 inch squares. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add scallion (white parts) and garlic and cook quickly for about 30 seconds, be careful not to bur the garlic, adjust heat if necessary. Add chicken pieces to the skillet and cook, turning often until all sides have browned, about 5 minutes. Add broccoli and carrots to skillet and stir. Add vinegar and soy sauce and scrape down the bottom of the pan to remove any brown bits. If you wish you can add a little amount of water or broth to create more sauce.Continue cooking the dish until vegetables are cook but still firm and chicken is cooked trough, about 5 minutes more. Top with peanuts and the green parts of the scallion.

Serve hot accompanied by your favourite kind of rice.

Chicken Fajitas

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I am constantly trying to recreate the dishes we order at restaurants, so we can eat in more and not feel that we are deprived of flavour or variety. Of course, dinning out has its advantages (no dishes!!!) and it's a great thing to do every once in a while, but eating out too often can become expensive and probably not very good for our bodies either. At home we spend less money and have control of how much fat, salt and sugar we are using (and consuming).

This is my version of fajitas, homemade style. The taste, according to Andrew is of a Mexican restaurant dinner. Just what I was going for.  The trick is on the marinade made with Mexican flavours. This recipe can also be made with steak, use flank steak and slice it thinly across the grains.

My cast iron skillet is "vegetarian", so I used a regular large skillet for cooking the chicken, but if you have cast iron available, go for it. If you are cooking for a lot of people, this recipe is easily multiplied.

 

Chicken Fajitas Recipe:

makes 4 fajitas (using 8 inch round tortillas)

1 large boneless, skinless chicken breast

1/2 green pepper

1/2 red pepper

1 small onion

For the marinade:

1/4 cup of canola oil

1 teaspoon of chilli powder

1/2 teaspoon of cumin powder

1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt

a few grinds of fresh pepper

4 medium-size flour tortillas

Toppings options:

Salsa, guacamole, sour cream, shredded cheddar, lime wedges.

In a plastic bag or baking dish, mix all ingredients from the marinade.

Dry chicken and cut into strips.

Seed peppers and remove the white internal parts. Cut into strips.

Thinly slice onion.

Mix all the ingredients with the marinade, coating well. Let it marinate for at least 30 minutes, up to 4 hours.

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat, just enough to coat the bottom of the skillet. Once oil is hot, pour contents from the marinade bag/dish into the skillet. Brown chicken on both sides, turn heat down to medium and cook until the onions are soft and brown and the meat is fully cooked, about 6 minutes more, stirring every once in a while.

Heat the tortillas on a grill or oven.

Serve the chicken hot along with the toppings and warm tortillas.

Enjoy it!

Chicken Gyros

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Ok, so if you are Greek and know better, maybe you wouldn't call this a gyro. But I thought it would be so much nicer to tell Andrew that he has Chicken Gyros for dinner, rather than chicken sandwich on a pita with yogurt-cucumber sauce (which is basically what it is). Don't you agree?  This chicken gyros (?) are easy to  prepare and pretty healthy too. The yogurt sauce and feta cheese bring a good amount of calcium, the chicken is lean protein and there are lots of veggies in the sandwich too. A great meal.

I used only  a quarter of a chicken breast for each sandwich. I think it is enough, I like to balance the amount of meat with lots of fresh produce.

Chicken Gyros Recipe:

makes 4 gyros

 

You will need:

1 chicken breast

2 tomatoes, sliced

4 lettuce leaves

slices of red onion

crumbled feta cheese

4  pita, Greek type (not the pocket type)

 

For the cucumber-yogurt sauce:

plain yogurt

cucumber

chopped garlic

olive oil

salt and pepper

 

Make the chicken:

Pat dry and season the chicken breast with salt and pepper.  Brush it with some olive oil (or use your hands to spread the oil). Grill chicken on a hot barbeque or indoor grill until cooked, about  12-15  minutes total.  Set aside.

 

Make the cucumber-yogurt sauce:

I really don't know the exact proportions for making this sauce, I guess it is up to your personal taste.

You can shred or dice the cucumber. Mix it with the plain yogurt and the garlic, season with salt and pepper and drizzle a little olive oil. Mix until combined. This sauce can be made in advance and kept in the fridge, it will actually improve the flavours in it.

 

Assemble the sandwich:

Quickly warm the pita breads so they are easier to roll.  You can do this in the oven, microwave or grill. Whatever way you choose, it should take less than a minute.

Drop a spoonful of the sauce on the bottom of each pita. Slice the chicken into strips and divide it into 4 portions. Place one portion on each pita over the sauce. Top it with the tomatoes, the lettuce leaves and the slices of onion. Sprinkle them all with crumbled feta and wrap the pita bread.

Chicken and Coconut Thai Curry Soup

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Here at home we just love Thai food. It is often our food of choice when dining out.  We like it so much that I had to learn to make it so we could have it at home anytime we want. This soup is one of our favourites specially during the cold months. It is actually pretty easy as long as you don't decide to make your own red curry paste. You can find red curry paste in pretty much any large grocery store these days,or at least any Asian market. It took a while for us to find a brand that we really liked, some were too spicy, some too strong. You have to experiment and find one that works for you. Once you do, making red curry dishes are a breeze.

I make a vegetarian version for myself by omitting the fish sauce and swapping the meat for tofu and mushrooms. 

I also make sure there is always a pot of fresh cooked rice to go with it.

This recipe makes enough for 4 soup bowls.

 

 

 Chicken and Coconut Thai Curry Soup Recipe:

You will need

2 teaspoons of vegetable oil

1 tablespoon of Thai red curry paste

4 cups of chicken stock

1 14 oz can of coconut milk

1 piece of ginger, peeled, about 2 inches

2 pieces of boneless, skinless chicken meat of your choice: breasts or thighs

2 teaspoon of brown sugar

2 tablespoons of fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon of fish sauce

Chopped vegetables such as carrots, broccoli and celery (see notes)

2 tablespoons of chopped fresh cilantro

1 small bunch of Thai basil leaves (see notes)

 

Cut the chicken meat into cubes of about 1 inch in size.

Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the curry paste and cook quickly for about 30 seconds without burning it. Add the stock, coconut milk and ginger and bring it to a boil. Add the chicken, cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook until chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes. Add the sugar, lime juice,  fish sauce and vegetables. Turn heat up and cook until vegetables are just cooked but still crunchy, about 5 minutes.  Stir in basil leaves and pour into bowls. Top each soup bowl with cilantro and serve with rice.

 

Notes:

  If I am making this soup just for Andrew, meaning that there will be left overs, I add just enough vegetables for one serving and then add more when it's time to reheat the soup. This way the veggies stay crunchy and retain their colour too. The same goes for the basil leaves.

Chicken and Sage Patties

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Pink Bites is a blog where I share the foods that I cook and eat at home. Real food that is. The kind that works for me, my husband and that fits our life style. For me, that means keeping budget in mind. I believe it is possible to eat healthy and well without breaking the bank.

So with that in mind, I present you, reader, with yet another chicken recipe. This one is great because it can be used in so many different ways. I made these patties for Andrew and kept them in the fridge for a few days. I fried them as I needed, and he ate it in different ways:

1- In a sub sandwich with lettuce, tomatoes and onions.

2- Alongside brown rice and vegetables for a complete meal.

3 - As a breakfast meal inside an English muffin with cheese and eggs.

It's a good thing Andrew doesn't mind leftovers, or eating the same food for days, because this recipe makes a lot of patties!
I found this recipe at the Martha Stewart website

Chicken and Sage Patties Recipe:

2 lbs ground chicken

1/2 an onion, finely chopped (I used red onion)

1 garlic clove, minced

2 tbsp spoon of finely chopped sage

1/4 cup of finely shredded carrots (I used my box grater)

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 1/2 teas salt

1/4 teas pepper

olive oil, for frying

Combine chicken, onion, garlic, sage, carrot, mustard, salt and pepper. Shape the patties (about 2 inches each) and place them in a baking sheet.

You can fry them right away in hot olive oil for about 2 minutes per side, or you can refrigerate them, covered and fry later. It makes about 17-20 patties.

Deviled Chicken Drumsticks

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These drumsticks are from Gourmet Magazine (August/08). They are very easy to make, with few ingredients that you are likely to have in your pantry anytime. Since I don't eat meat, I have to rely on Andrew's taste for the feedback on meat dishes. But don't worry, he is pretty picky. Here is his feedback: crispy outside, juice inside, and slightly spicy. Perfect! 

If you don't eat those drumsticks out of the oven, try to enjoy them at room temperature, or even cold. Just don't reheat them, or you'll loose the crispness from the crust.



Deviled Chicken Drumsticks Recipe
adapted from Gourmet Magazine (August/08)

makes 4 drumsticks

You will need:

4 chicken drumsticks 

4 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1/4 cup panko (Japanese bread crumbs)

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese 

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

 

Preheat oven to 450 F.

Brush chicken pieces with mustard. Set aside.

Stir together panko, cheese, paprika, and season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Drizzle with melted butter and toss.

Coat each drumstick in the crumb mixture and place them in a cooling rack set over a baking tray.

Roast in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Chicken and Sausage Bake

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This is the type of dish you prepare the night before by marinating it overnight and finish it in the oven the following day. It makes it very easy to do during a busy work week.

This is a Nigella recipe that I found on a magazine.  The house smells really good while the dish is in the oven.
This is also one of those recipes where you can be really loose when it comes to the ingredient list. Use dry mustard if you don't have Dijon, whatever herbs you prefer or have in hand will do, add more onions if you like them, remove garlic if you don't like it, etc. I normally make it with oregano but sage, rosemary or parsley works well too.

Chicken and Sausage Bake Recipe
 adapted from here

 

You will need:

1 small lemon, halved
2 small onions, peeled and quartered through the roots ends
1/2 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon of died oregano

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste
1 pound of chicken thighs and drumsticks 
3 garlic cloves
4 Italian sausages
2 tablespoons  fresh oregano 

Squeeze the lemon halves into a large resalable plastic bag and add lemons to it.
Add onions, olive oil, mustard, dry oreano and Worcestershire sauce. Mix well, add chicken pieces and season with salt and pepper. Marinate it overnight.

Remove from fridge about 30 minutes before you want to bake it.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Pour contents of bag in a baking dish, add sausages. Turn chicken skins side up and season again. Sprinkle with the 2 tablespoons of fresh oregano.

Bake in  preheated oven until cooked trough and golden brown, about 1 hour, turning sausages halfway through.

 

Tortilla Chips-Crusted Chicken

Pin It We had a party a while ago and ended up with a lot of tortilla chips left over. I don't mind them if I am in a Mexican restaurant, as an appetizer or at a party. But it's not the kind of food we eat on a daily basis. I find it very salty, and I don't like jarred salsas either, so I have to make my own (really good one) every time we want to eat the chips, plus we avoid highly processed foods like this one as much as possible.
So I decided to try and use it to coat chicken breasts and roast them. It turned out really good, a nice way to use a left over bag of Doritos. The chicken was roasted, not fried, and I used mustard to coat it first instead of eggs. If you leave some chunks of tortilla chips the chicken turn out crispier and have a nice texture to it.

Tortilla Chips-Crusted Chicken Recipe

Note: this more an idea than a recipe itself. The quantities and oven time will depend on how many chicken breats you wish to roast or/and how much tortilla chips you have. I would say that for each chicken breast I used approximately 1/4 cup of crushed chips.

You will need:

corn tortilla chips (like Doritos), preferrably left over

boneless, skinless chicken breats

salt and pepper

Dijon mustard

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Season chicken breasts on both sides with salt and pepper and set aside.

Crush tortilla chips (I did it in a food processor) and transfer to a plate. Coat chicken breasts with some Dijon mustard and cover them with the crumbs, pressing down with your fingers.

Place coated chicken breasts in a cooling rack set over a baking sheet and roast it until in the preheated oven until cooked through, about 30 minutes.