The trouble with dinner on Halloween is you need to compete with gobs and gobs of candy.
Which means dinner needs to be flavorful enough to appeal to little goblins with Milky Ways on their minds, healthy enough to offset all that sugar,
and fast enough so your troop of treaters doesn’t revolt while waiting to get out the door.
And that was the inspiration for this simple chicken saute. Serve it with a quick saute of baby spinach with garlic and lemon zest.
Orange Mediterranean Chicken Saute With Brown Rice
Time: 45 minutes, including prep
Servings: 4
1 cup long-grain brown rice
2 cups water
Zest and juice of 2 oranges
1 cup julienned roasted red peppers
1/4 cup Kalamata olives, quartered
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Salt and ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound crimini mushrooms, halved
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons butter
In a medium saucepan over high, combine the rice and water. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to a simmer. Cook for 25 minutes, then remove from the heat and let stand 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine the orange zest and juice, red peppers and olives. Add the chicken breasts, then set aside to marinate for 20 minutes. The chicken also can be covered and refrigerated to marinate for several hours.
In a wide, shallow bowl, mix the flour and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Set aside.
When the chicken is ready, in a Dutch oven over medium-high, heat the oil. One at a time, remove each piece of chicken from the marinade (reserving the marinade) and dredge through the flour.
Arrange the chicken in the Dutch oven, reduce heat to medium, cover and cook for 10 minutes. Flip the chicken, add the mushrooms, then cover and cook for another 5 minutes.
When the chicken is browned on the bottom and cooked through, remove from the pan and cover with foil.
Return the Dutch oven to the heat and add the wine to deglaze. Stir in the reserved marinade and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low to maintain a simmer, then swirl in the butter.
Serve the chicken over the rice and drizzled with the pan sauce.
Bobby's Whiskey Chicken Cordon Grill is an interesting twist on the classic cordon bleu chicken that uses a double shot of whiskey to boost flavors. (Photo by Pam Brandon)
The divas love a grill master who plays with his food — and this cheesy version of classic chicken cordon bleu is the creation of our pal Bobby who’s king of the ’cue in his back yard. His secret ingredient: a tease of whiskey to notch up the flavors.
Serve on crusty bread with a slice of fresh tomato, lettuce and a dollop of mayo or a good ol’ Southern side of macaroni salad and a slice of dill pickle. Don’t forget the sweet tea. Or a cold brewski.
Bobby’s Whiskey Chicken Cordon Grill
4 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Double shot of whiskey
4 slices provolone cheese
4 slice Swiss cheese
4 thin slices smoked ham
Rinse chicken breasts and pat dry; filet each breast to create two thin pieces (or gently pound to 1/2-inch thickness). Place chicken, mustard, Worcestershire sauce and whiskey in a resealable plastic bag and marinate in the refrigerator for 45 to 60 minutes.
Preheat grill or stovetop grill pan to high heat. Remove chicken from marinade and grill 3 to 5 minutes each side or until cooked through. As chicken finishes cooking, add slice of provolone, slice of ham, then slice of Swiss. Cover and cook until cheese melts.
Double Down Chicken Sandwich. Image courtesy of foodgeekery.com
Sometimes a sandwich is so big, so tasty and so thick that those carb-loaded bookends we call buns just aren’t necessary.
That’s the premise behind Kentucky Fried Chicken’s latest calorie-laden creation: the Double Down Chicken Sandwich, two chicken fillets hugging cheeses, bacon and sauce, sans the bun.
KFC hasn’t released actual caloric counts, but has told media outlets such as the Huffington Post that it estimates the sandwich to weigh in at roughly 600 calories. The Vancouver Sun, however, estimates the Double Down at nearly double that number, with 1,228 calories.
This Labor Day more than 78,000 visitors from all over the country will flock to Coca-Cola Field in Buffalo, N.Y., for the 8th Annual National Buffalo Wing Festival.
The festival features a variety of activities including the U.S. Chicken Wing Eating Championships and National Wing Sauce-Off Competition. In addition, attendees will learn the savory secrets of lip smacking sauces and the legendary lore surrounding the history of Buffalo wings.
An encore performance this year includes the Celebrity Chef Challenge, sponsored by Frank’s® RedHot® Cayenne Pepper Sauce, the original sauce used to create the first-ever Buffalo Wings in 1964.
Celebrity chef Kevin Roberts, executive chef, cookbook author and radio personality, returns to Buffalo to challenge the official “Wing King,” Drew Cerza, once again. Roberts will also have several solo performances center stage where he’ll cook up his award-winning recipes from recent appearances during the Super Bowl and March Madness.
In addition to its place in wing history as the original wing sauce, Frank’s RedHot is the hot sauce of choice in recipes created by restaurant chefs around country. To find out more about the National Buffalo Wing Festival visit www.buffalowing.com.
Day 5′s contest is over, and Vera Brazo won! Here’s her recipe: Chicken Ceasar Wrap
4 Spinach tortillas or any other flavor
1 Cup of cubed leftover roast chicken
1 Cup of favorite shredded cheese ( pepper jack, Parmesan)
4 Cups of torn leaf Romain lettuce or spinach (or combination)
Cesar Salad dressing
1.Lay tortillas on large baking sheet. Sprinkle chicken evenly over tortillas, topping with portions of cheese. Bake at 375 degrees for about 6 minutes, or until cheese is melted.
2. Remove from oven, top each tortilla with a portion of lettuce, and add salad dressing as desired. Wrap burrito-style and serve.
What’s your best tip for using up leftover chicken? When I make a roast chicken (or buy a rotisserie bird), I try to make use of every scrap. What do you do?
Every weekday for a month, someone reading these posts will win a generous bag of groceries. Why not you?
To enter today, share your best simple recipe or idea (each weekday’s contest will be different) for using leftover chicken.
Please use a real email address when you register, so we can reach you when you win. We’ll pick the best idea or recipe and award that person yummy foods to try!
When you win, we’ll contact you about how to collect your bag ‘o yummies in a reusable, eco-friendly shopping bag (Thanks, Whole Foods, for the bags!).
Watch this space for new questions and prizes every weekday for a month!
A few prizes are coupons for free items which will be sent to you, at no cost. Each bag also has extra packets of grocery coupons.
Every bag is different, but some of the items included are: Hungry-Man meals, Lance whole-grain snack crackers, Crisco olive oils, Skinny Cow ice cream treats, Wickles pickles, Penzey’s cinnamon, Orbit gums, Pepperidge Farm 100-calorie packs and granola cookies, Tyson products, Truvia sweetener, Eagle Mills Ultragrain flour, Zen Crunch, Dunkin Donuts, and lots of grocery coupons, too.
Tyson has a whole new line of bite size (OK, two- or three-bite size) chicken pieces called Any’tizers that are perfect for a quick meal, party food or snack.
Tyson Any’tizers are easy to prepare, restaurant-style frozen chicken; a tasty, meaty snack, like for when you’re pinched for time before the kids’ soccer match, or late at night when you want something with some protein, not just a dessert.
Read the full story
The Night in Tunisia chicken with carrots, olives and whole, sliced lemons is a yummy stew that should be served over couscous or rice immediately after cooking.
Tastes like chicken. In a world that redefines the bird more than any other food source, what could that possibly mean?
A tandoori-rubbed beer-can grilled chicken, where moisture is infused during grilling by a half can of beer. The can also provides the support to keep the chicken upright for even cooking. AP
The summer barbecue season wouldn’t be complete without the smoky goodness of grilled chicken.
And the best — and cheapest — way to do that is using whole chickens. Whole birds often run for under $1 per pound, which is considerably cheaper than prepared cuts, such as boneless, skinless breasts or thighs.
Whole chickens also often fare better on the dry, intense heat of a grill than do individual parts. The breasts, for example, quickly dry out. And even when properly cooked, those smaller cuts spend too little time on the grill to develop much flavor from it.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Customers at a New York City KFC hoping to redeem coupons for a free meal were disgruntled when the fast-food restaurant ran out of its new grilled chicken, but Internet rumors of a riot were unfounded, a c., introduced its new Kentucky Grilled Chicken about three weeks ago. The new menu item is being touted as lower in fat, calories and sodium than the traditional deep-fried chicken for which KFC is known the world over. It even has its own secret recipe, kept under lock and key near the original 11 herbs and spices recipe for fried chicken created by KFC founder Colonel Harland Sanders.
Schalow said the grilled chicken has been a huge success, and the combination of a bad economy and Oprah’s popularity created a “perfect storm.”
“We prepared for it,” Schalow said, noting that a KFC restaurant can only serve so many people during the lunch and dinner hours. “We didn’t prepare for this extreme.”
But Schalow said customers have until May 19th to redeem their coupons, Mother’s Day excluded, and she encouraged the public to return later.
A spokewoman for Oprah’s Harpo Productions in Chicago said they are not aware of any problems with the coupons.
Schalow said KFC restaurants across the United States were bustling on Wednesday because of the coupon offer.
“A lot of restaurants experienced very, very heavy traffic with people trying to redeem the coupons.” she said, though KFC headquarters did not hear of any other problems with customers other than the those at the New York City franchise. “All stores are very busy today, very long lines, that’s what we’re hearing.”
Schalow said some KFC stores may have run out of some products, such as mashed potatoes and gravy or cole slaw, “but they are substituting as best they can.”
JANET CAPPIELLO BLAKE,
Associated Press Writer
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Associated Press Writer Caryn Rousseau in Chicago contributed to this report.
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