Week 35 - Chicken Ramen

The Recipe
(Serves 1)
1 chicken piece (I used "chicken steak" which was skin-on, boneless chicken - that worked really well)
Salt and pepper, to season
1tbsp olive oil
~1 tsp ginger
1 garlic clove, minced
1.75 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp white wine
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
2 oz mushrooms, sliced
More salt, to taste
1 large egg
2 spring oniones, sliced
1 pack ramen noodles
2 cups chicken stock.
Fresh jalapeno slices, for serving (optional)

Season the chicken with salt and pepper on both sides. In a medium pan, heat olive oil until hot. Add the chicken, skin side down; loosely cover with foil. Place a medium, heavy pot on the foil to press the chicken down; fill the pot with water. Cook, occasionally pressing the pot down, 10 to 12 minutes, or until the chicken skin is crispy and browned. Remove the pot. Flip the chicken and cook 3 to 5 minutes, or until cooked through. Transfer to a serving dish, leaving any browned bits (or fond) in the pan. Add the garlic, spring onion and half the ginger. Cook until fragrant. Add mushrooms, season with salt and pepper. Cook 2-3 minutes or until the mushrooms are soft. Remove from heat and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat the chicken stock to boiling. Reduce heat to low and whisk in the soy sauce, white wine, sugar, sesame oil and half the ginger. Remove from heat and set aside.

Make the soft-boiled eggs - reserving the water afterwards. When the eggs finish cooking, add the ramen noodles to the boiling water. Cool for 2-3 minutes then drain and move the noodles to a large bowl. Slice chicken and put on top. Add ramen broth and top with the cooked onion/mushrooms. Serve with jalapeno and the soft boiled egg.


The Verdict
This was a LOT of work, but worth it. At one point I had 3 pots and a pan going all at once!! Could probably have optimized a bit, but ah well. I was a huge fan of this way of cooking the chicken. The skin got SO crisp and yummy! Definitely something I could see myself making again, if I want to pamper myself.

However, it does NOT do well as leftovers. I made twice the amount listed above, to have the rest for lunch the next day, and even though I waited to assemble the ramen bowls until just before serving, few of the things reheated well. So make only what you expect to eat.

Week 33 - Garlicky Parmesan Chicken

The Recipe
(Serves 3)
800g chicken (dark meat is best, but white will do too)
Salt, pepper
800g small potatoes, washed and halved if necessary (the should all be approx. the same size)
2 tbsp butter
5 cloves garlic, chopped
Fresh thyme
2-3 tbsp grated Parmesan, plus more for serving
Olive oil

Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a pan and sear the chicken ~3 minutes per side.

Meanwhile, in a crockpot, toss potatoes with more olive oil, butter, garlic, thyme, parmesan and more salt and pepper. Add the chicken and cook on low for 6-8 hours until the chicken is fully cooked.

Serve with a nice salad (I made a carrot/apple salad) and more parmesan.

The Verdict
Really good! I cooked mine for 7 hours, and the dark meat at least turned out very well. I didn't try the light, but think I might wait and add that a bit later, if I were to make this again - and I probably will, I REALLY liked it!

There were too few potatoes though. Will have to try with this amount next time (the original recipe only called for 500g). Otherwise I don't have any suggestions for improvements.

Week 27 - Creamy Tuscan Chicken

The Recipe
1lb chicken breast filets
Oregano, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper
~20 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 small onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
2.5dl cream (1 cup)
Bit of white wine (or chicken stock)
~150g mushrooms, sliced
handful of rucola/rocket or spinach (about half a bag)
Handful of sundried tomatoes, chopped (use scissors! it's easier)
Chili flakes (optional)
Parmesan cheese
Lemon juice

Butterfly the chicken and season with salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, oregano.
Heat a deep pan with a bit of the sundried tomato oil and some olive oil, and sear both sides of the chicken. Cook until almost done, then remove from the pan.

Add onion, garlic and mushrooms and cook for a few minutes. Add the white wine (or chicken stock) to deglaze the pan. Add tomatoes and sun-dried tomatoes, some more oregano and a bit of chili flakes if you like the heat. Let it cook for a few more minutes and get up all the bits and pieces stuck to the bottom of the pan, then add the cream and a splash of water and leave it to simmer until the sauce has thickened up a bit. Toss in the greens, add parmesan cheese and put the chicken back into the sauce.

Let it simmer for another 5-10 minutes, and pour a bit of lemon juice on top immediately before serving.

Serve with pasta.

The Verdict
Good, but I think I should have cut up the chicken before returning it to the pan, and then just adding the pasta directly, rather than serving them separately. I think that would have worked better. It tasted fantastic, but is INCREDIBLY similar to a recipe that's already part of my regular rotation, so I'll probably just adapt that one, rather than keeping these as two different recipes.

Week 1: Crock Pot Beef Stew

The Recipe
300-400g beef suitable for long cooking times
150g bacon
salt, pepper, paprika, other spices
Flour
1 onion
2-3 garlic cloves
2-3 carrots
~300g potatoes
3 celery stalks
1/2 l beef broth
1dl red wine OR additional beef broth + 2tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp Wostershire sauce
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp mustard
2 bay leaves
A stalk of fresh rosemary
A couple of stalks of fresh thyme
1 tbsp corn flour
2 tbsp cold water
1 tbsp cold butter

Chop onion and garlic. Cut carrots, potatoes and celery into bite sized pieces.

Add carrots, potatoes and celery to the crockpot.

Cut the meat into bite sized pieces and toss them with salt, pepper, paprika and any other spices that catch your fancy. Toss it again with enough flour to give it a thorough coating. Cut the bacon into pieces and cook in a pan over high heat until getting crips. Add to the crockpot. Heat some butter in the pan (if necessary) and quickly sear the beef on all sides (about a minut per side). Transfer the beef to the crockpot and reduce the heat to medium.

Cook the onion and garlic until soft and fragrant. Add the wine and stir up all the bits and pieces that might have gotten stuck to the pan. Transfer to the crockpot, and add the broth, wostershire sauce, tomato paste, mustard, bay leaves, rosemary and thyme.

Cook on LOW for ~7 hours, MED for 5-6 hours or on HIGH for 3-4 hours.

Mix together corn flour and water and add to the sauce. Finally add the cold butter and stir until it has melted.

Serve with garlic bread.

The Verdict
Seriously, this smelled AMAZING while cooking! DH came home and his first comment was, "Uhm! What's for dinner?" which is always nice :-D The taste almost lived up to the smell, but it was lacking... something. And neither DH nor I could quite figure out why. Might have been because I used dried herbs instead of fresh. Might also benefit from a bit of thyme and/or oregano... and perhaps a dollop of mustard. I also kinda want to try it with pork jowl (=svinekæbe) instead. Anyway, DH was very keen on me playing around with it some more - as he said, "It was good, but has the potential to be AMAZING", which is definitely enthusiasm enough for me to want to try to make this again. I'll keep this page updated with my attempts.

Edit: Tried this again a few weeks later with many of the changes I mentioned above. I.e. used fresh herbs insteady of dried, added some mustard, used bacon instead of cocktail sausages and added some paprika. Still not perfect, but a LOT better! Very yummy!

Week 45: Chicken with Apple BBQ Sauce

The Recipe
(Serves 4)
4 chicken breasts
1 package of bacon (~8 slices)
1 cup BBQ sauce
2 apples, peeled and cut into pieces
2 onions, sliced
4tbsp lemon juice
Honey
Fresh herbs - e.g. thyme or oregano
Parmesan cheese

Wrap each chicken breast in 2 pieces of bacon and place them in a slow-cooker. Cover with BBQ sace, apples, onions and lemon juice. Stir to mix it all up.
Add honey, paermesan cheese and fresh herbs.

Cook on LOW for 4-6 hours.

Remove the fresh herbs and serve with baked potatoes.

The Verdict
I cooked mine for 5 hours and it was perfect. Wonderfully moist and not dry at all! Excellent!

I liked it, but didn't love it... felt like it was missing something, without being able to say exactly what. DH suggested some herbs like basil or oregano, so I might try that again next time. And perhaps some chili flakes.

Even so, it was still good - I just had the sense that it could've been better.
Edit: I made this again and tried the modifications marked with italics. It improved it a lot! So I'll definitely use that going forward.

Week 43: Chicken w. Mushrooms and White Wine

The Recipe
(Serves 4-6)
1.4kg chicken pieces w. bone and skin
1tbsp butter
1tbsp olive oil
2tbsp flour
500g mushrooms, sliced
2 onions, diced finely
4 garlic cloves, chopped finely
3dl white wine
2.5dl chicken or vegetable stock
Thyme
2-3 Bay leaves
2.5dl cream
Corn starch
Salt and pepper

Rub the chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Melt butter and oil in a pot over medium-high heat and brown the chicken on all sides. Remove from pot, sift flour over skin and set aside for later. Cook the mushrooms until brown. Turn down the heat a bit, add onions and garlic and cook until translucent and fragrant.

Return chicken to pot and add white wine, stock, thyme and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, turn down the heat and leave to simmer for about an hour.

Mix cream with a bit of corn starch and add to the pot. Let it thicken a bit.

Serve with mashed potatoes.

The Verdict
The original recipe said to serve this with rice, so that's what I did the first day, and just... no. It was definitely missing something, yet I couldn't figure out what. And it just felt weird to serve a dish like this with rice. So when I made up the left-overs, I served them over mashed potatoes instead. SO much better! Still not a firm favourite (especially as DH isn't too fond of chicken cooked on the bone), but definite comfort food for me.

Week 42: Almond Chicken

The Recipe
3 tbsp flour
Salt, pepper & basil to taste
350-450g chicken breast - halved
Butter
1 tbsp lemon juice
2tbsp almonds, chopped or sliced
1 minced garlic
1/2 small onion, chopped
2tbsp white wine

In a freezer bag, mix together flour, salt, pepper and basil. Add chicken and shake to coat thoroughly.

Heat a bit of butter in a skillet/pot with a lid. Add chicken and brown on both sides for a couple of minutes. Add lemon juice, reduce heat, cover and leave to cook until done - about 10-15 minutes. Remove chicken from skillet and keep warm.

Add a bit more butter to the skillet and cook the almonds for a few minutes - stirring frequently, so they don't burn. Add garlic and onion and cook until fragrant. Add wine and return chicken to the pan. Heath through and serve immediately.

Serve with potatoes and a salad.

The Verdict
REALLY good!!! The flour coating kept the chicken nice and moist, and the various flavours mixed together really well. I loved the crunch of the almonds and the tartness of the lemon juice / white wine. Definitely a keeper!