Chicken and Sweet Potatoes: Delicious Recipe

I found this recipe on the back of a carton of Swanson Chicken Broth. It appealed to me primarily because I had most of the ingredients -- a couple of sweet potatoes that needed to be used, part of a carton of broth, and the spices. I never cook meat on the stovetop -- I either Foreman-Grill it or bake it -- but this sounded too good not to try. And it was soooo good!

I altered the amounts a little bit based on what I had and it was fine.

Chicken & Sweet Potatoes

• 1 TB oil
• 4-5 chicken pieces*
• 1 c broth (using more will give you a nice little broth to pour over the meat)
• 1 TB garlic, chopped
• 1/2 tsp. rosemary
• 1/4 tsp. thyme
• 1 or 2 sweet potatoes, cut in half-inch pieces
• 1 or 2 cups green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces (leave whole if you prefer)

1. Heat oil in 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook 10 mins or until it's well-browned on both sides. Remove chicken and set aside.

2. Increase heat to high. Stir broth, garlic, romsemary, thyme, potatoes, and green beans into skillet. Heat to a boil and cook 5 mins.

3. Return chicken to skillet and reduce heat to low. Cover and cook 12 mins or until chicken is cooked through and potatoes are tender.


* I used 5 bone-in thighs; the original called for 4 boneless breasts. I also used pieces with the skin on, and the skin stuck to the bottom of the pan and came away from the meat, so the top of my meat wasn't browned. But we had some awesome cracklins for an appetizer!!

'Cause Nothing Says Summer Like Collard Greens

Can anyone 'splain to me why we are getting collard greens in our CSA box? I thought they were a cold-weather vegetable. These leaves are GIGANTIC! Of course I thought to take a pic of them after I cut them up.

Anyway right now they are simmering in the slow cooker thanks to several internet recipes I cobbled together. Lots of slow-cooker collard recipes, but all called for salt pork or ham hocks -- and I'm not going out for that when I've got perfectly good bacon at home. It should be fine.

I just hope the heat and humidity back off a little by nightfall so I'm in the mood to eat them!

Recipes from Food Shows

Psst... I'm trying something new. We watch a lot of cooking shows and Husband wants to keep track of all the recipes we try, so here's our recipes blog:
Blue Bear's Blog

It's named after one of DuckyBoy's stuffed animals. Blue Bear asked The Internet Marketing Fortune Teller how to market his coaching practice and "Blogging" was the asnwer, so now he's got a blog.



I guess he's a food coach...

Asparagus Fries Recipe

There's probably something to the fact that I'm bookending my post about the biggest revelation I've had about myself in a long time with 2 recipes. Right along with the fact that I've realized I overeat because I'm not "being fed." That's right, my life is one long series of metaphors.

Anyway, here is the other recipe that's in my notebook that I want to make sure and write down for posterity. I didn't invent the idea but it's delicious.

Asparagus Fries

• 1 lb asparagus spears
• Kosher salt
• Olive oil
• Freshly ground pepper (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Rinse and snap asparagus. (The "bend and snap" method of removing the bottom of the stems has changed my life by enabling me to have a stress-free relationship with asparagus. No relation to the "Bend and Snap" move from Legally Blonde.)
   
3. Pat the spears dry. Doesn't have to be 100% dry.
4. Arrange on ungreased baking sheet in single layer. I make all the spears point the same way.
5. Drizzle with olive oil and gently roll the spears around with your hands to coat, making sure to get the points as well as the stalks.
6. Sprinkle liberally (but not my Husband's definition of liberally) with salt and pepper.
7. Bake about 15 minutes. The points will look crispy. Turn with spatula after about 10 minutes.
8. Serve immediately.

And, no. DuckyBoy hasn't tried these either.

Potatoes Dauphinoise Recipe

Ok, so this is apropos of nothing except the fact that my mother-in-law loves these potatoes so I need to put the recipe where I can access from anywhere so I can cook them for her! Ideally, I only want to make them at her house so I can slice the potatoes with her mandoline. I think it's funny that she can't pronounce it but she likes it. "Dough-fin-wah." I think it's the French term for "princely."

Oh, and I just pulled out the notebook where I wrote it up, to get my notes on Lily's workshop (link coming soon...), and didn't want this to get lost.

We got the idea from an episode of Hell's Kitchen where Carol, the week's cocky contestant, suggested these as part of the "Each team comes up with a menu" competition. So we Googled it, of course, and found a couple recipes that I combined into this:

Jan's Potatoes Dauphinoise

• 2 lb potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 1/2 cups cream
• 1 TB dried rosemary (or preferably, equivalent fresh if you have it, of course)
• 1 TB dried garlic (or 1 chopped clove garlic)
• 1 tsp. each salt and pepper (I love me my kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, but use what you've got)
• 1 green onion, chopped (optional--for garnish)
• 1 c. grated cheese, Gruyere or Romano (again, use whatever mild semi-hard cheese you've got. If you've got Parmesan, I bet it'd work fine too)

1. Preheat over to 375 degrees F.
2. Bring 2 cups of the cream , and the rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper, to a simmer.
3. Add the potatoes and keep on medium. Stir gently from time to time, being careful not to break apart the potatoes. Cook until potatoes are soft. If you've got tons of time to let this bake, you can err on the side of underdone. If you've got to serve it asap out of the oven, cook them longer at this stage. (We think this is where the Hell's Kitchen contestant went wrong, by not cooking them enough at this stage.)
   
4. Transfer to a casserole or baking dish that's been sprayed with cooking spray or otherwise given a thin coating of oil. One recipe I found said to rub a clove of garlic around the inside of the dish; I thought that was cook.
   
5. Top with cheese, chives, and the remaining 1/2 cup cream. (When I try this at home I'm going to try it without the additional cream. Base your decision on the desired heavy-creaminess factor.)
6. Bake 20-30 minutes and let rest 10 mins (if possible) before serving.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, No. DuckyBoy has NOT tried them.