Hands down the best chicken of my life!

I just made the most mouth watering dish I think I have ever tasted. Very simple and easy to make too.

It was the Ham and Cheddar Chicken Rolls from Chef at Home. Simply amazing! This will definitely make the favorites list in my home.

Here's the recipe:

Yum Factor: 10/10

Difficulty Factor: 9/10 (I actually had trouble flattening the chicken enough!)

Ingredients

• 4 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
• Sprinkled sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 4 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 8 slices deli ham
• 8 thin slices cheddar cheese
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 onions, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350°.
2. Layer two pieces of plastic wrap on top of each other. Fold them in half, open and place a chicken breast near the fold. Fold over the plastic wrap covering the meat then gently pound and flatten the breasts using a rolling pin, meat pounder or the bottom of a heavy pot. Season the chicken, then spread a thin layer of Dijon over each piece. Lay two slices of ham and two slices of cheddar on each breast. Roll them up tightly.
3. Sauté the onions with the oil, dried thyme, salt and pepper. Continue cooking until they are lightly browned and golden. Place the chicken rolls on top of the onions in the pan or transfer to another baking pan, cover with a tight-fitting lid or foil and bake for 20-25 minutes, until the rolls are cooked through. You may serve them whole with a scoop of the onions or slice each one into several ‘rounds’ and present them on a bed of the onions.

Future Changes: I had some trouble flattening the chicken enough so my rolls sort of fell apart. Still tasted great though. Never tried the spinach sauce but will next time!

Savory Roast Chicken

I had quite possibly one of the most delicious roast chicken dinners ever on the weekend. So good in fact that I wanted to share this recipe. I almost wanted to quit when I opened up the whole chicken and found a head and feet inside! I guess asians find it a delicacy. With that lovely picture in your mind, the rest turned out much better though.

Yum Factor: 10/10

Difficulty Factor: 7/10 (a bit of prep but not too bad)

Here's the recipe:

1 (5 to 6 pound) roasting chicken

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 large bunch fresh thyme, plus 20 sprigs

1 lemon, halved

1 head garlic, cut in half crosswise

2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted

1 large yellow onion, thickly sliced

4 carrots cut into 2-inch chunks

1 bulb of fennel, tops removed, and cut into wedges

Olive oil METHOD 1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. 2. Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pin feathers and pat the outside dry. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, both halves of lemon, and all the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Place the onions, carrots, and fennel in a roasting pan. Toss with salt, pepper, 20 sprigs of thyme, and olive oil. Spread around the bottom of the roasting pan and place the chicken on top. 3. Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove the chicken and vegetables to a platter and cover with aluminium foil for about 20 minutes. Slice the chicken onto a platter and serve it with the vegetables. Note: I also made a delicious gravy from the leftovers here Changes: I couldn't find fennel so used celery as a substitute. I also used some lemon thyme but I did find it a bit too lemony.

The Most Delicious and Simple Snack Ever!

I was watching Chef at Home the other night and saw Michael Smith make this very simple snack. I thought he was crazy for sure. Watermelon with salt and pepper and olive oil? Trust me, you have to try it. The savory and sweet round this out nicely. I love it!

Here's the recipe:

Yummy Factor: 10/10

Difficulty Factor: 1/10

Salt & Pepper Watermelon

Half a watermelon, cut into large cubes
A generous splash or two of your best olive oil
A sprinkle or two of salt and pepper

Toss the watermelon with the olive oil and lots of salt and pepper.

The key to a good pasta sauce

I'll give you a hint, it's not taco sauce. I somehow managed to almost ruin a potentially delicious and simple sauce. I started this recipe and realized that I didn't have tomato paste/puree. I had already invested a lot of time and food into it so I looked in my fridge and thought taco sauce might work. It didn't. It wasn't sweet enough so I panicked and put in ketchup which helped a bit. Oh well, I guess that's how you learn as a cook. You try things and experiment and learn from your mistakes. I did run out and buy tomato puree the next day and added it and it was okay.

Here's the recipe from Michael Smith:

Yummy Factor: 8/10

Difficulty Factor: 5/10 (the sauce takes 30 min to cook and a bit of prep)

My Favourite Meat Sauce for Pasta

3 tablespoons of olive oil
3 onions, cut into large chunks
2 carrots, cut into large chunks
3 garlic cloves
2 cups of button mushrooms
3 stalks of celery, cut into large chunks
2 tablespoons of olive oil
6 ounces of pancetta or bacon, sliced thinly
8 ounces of ground beef
8 ounces of ground pork
8 ounces of ground veal
1 can of tomato paste
2 cups of red wine
2 bay leafs
1 large can of stewed tomatoes
salt and pepper

Pulse onions, carrots, garlic cloves, mushrooms, celery and olive oil in a food processor until finely chopped. This may need to be done in several batches.

Heat a large sauté pan with the olive oil and add pancetta. Fry until golden, aromatizing the oil with the rich flavour of the Italian bacon. Add the vegetable mixture and sauté until it begins to caramelize. Add ground meats and stir vigorously to break apart. Stir in the tomato paste, red wine, bay leaf and stewed tomatoes and continue to stir and break up any chunks of meat. Simmer for about 30 minutes, until the sauce has thickened and all the flavours have blended. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Changes: I added 2 chili peppers as well as I like it hot. Didn't use tomato paste initially (added some the next day though). This is a must! Don't add taco sauce...lol

Quinoa-A healthy and delicious option

I was inspired to cook Quinoa last night. I hadn't really heard of it before watching it on Chef at Home. It turned out to be a very fast and delicious recipe and well worth it. I'm going to definitely add it to my repertoire.

Here's the recipe:

Yum Factor: 9/10

Difficulty Factor: 1/10 (if you can chop vegetables, you can do this)

Quinoa Color Salad

1-cup quinoa
2-cups water
Pinch salt
1 carrot, peeled and grated
1 red pepper, seeded and diced
1 cucumber, washed and sliced
3 green onions, sliced thinly
1 bunch parsley, chopped
The zest and juice of 1 lemon
¼-cup olive oil
Salt and pepper

Rinse the quinoa well in cold running water. This will easily rinse away the natural bitter coating on the seeds. Drain and toss into a small pot. Add the water and season with salt. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Cover with a tight fitting lid, turn the heat to low and simmer until the water is absorbed and the quinoa is tender, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Meanwhile get all the colorful veggies ready. Toss them into a bowl and when the quinoa is done, add it as well. Add the lemon and olive oil, toss well, season with salt and pepper and serve.

No changes in this recipe. Would love to experiment with different veggies next time

Pan Friend Duck Breast and Gnocchi

I cooked duck breast last night for the first time and it blew me away. What amazing flavour! I had tried duck before while living in Beijing (Peking Duck) but found it pretty oily. As long as you score the skin to let the fat out, it isn't too fatty at all. In fact, it almost tasted closer to beef than poultry. I also used the left overs to stir fry some hand made gnocchi. My gnocchi was a little big but still tasted very good. I would definitely make this again!

Here's the recipe:

Yum Factor: 8.5/10

Difficulty Factor: 7/10 (the hand made Gnocchi was pretty difficult)

Duck rubbing mixture:
2 Muscovy duck breasts
2 tablespoons of dried thyme
4 tablespoons of grainy mustard
1 tablespoon of soya sauce

The gnocchi:
2 cups of frozen gnocchi
1/2 cup of frozen peas
10 sage leaves, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons of butter
salt and pepper

Duck rubbing mixture:
Place all ingredients into a re-sealable plastic bag, seal it and mix well, rubbing mixture all over the duck breasts. Put into refrigerator for 30 minutes.





The duck:

Remove duck breasts from plastic bag and with a sharp knife score the fat at 1-inch wide intervals. Turn the breasts on a 90-degree angle and score again to form a criss-cross pattern. This will help to prevent shrinkage during cooking.

Place a skillet over medium-high heat and when very hot begin to sear the duck breasts, skin side down. Cook for 10 minutes and then turn and cook for an additional 3 to 5 minutes. Duck breasts should be medium-rare. Allow to rest for 15 minutes so the juices may be reabsorbed.

The gnocchi:

Put a large pot of water on to boil.

Salt the boiling water and add the gnocchi. When it begins to float it is done, about 3 to 5 minutes. Drain in a colander.

Heat a large sauté pan and melt the butter. Add the cooked gnocchi and the peas and sauté for about 3 minutes. Stir in the sage and season with salt and pepper.

To serve, slice the duck breasts thinly. Place a large spoonful of gnocchi in a bowl and arrange slices of duck around it.

Changes for next time: Smaller gnocchi and make sure to use old potatoes next time. Also, remember to start cooking the duck SKIN SIDE down (I forgot at first).

Amazing French Toast

This was incredible and a great recipe. I didn't make it properly and it still came out well. I didn't soak the break overnight but this is a recipe similar to one a friend of mine made every Sunday as a tradition. The best part....MAPLE SYRUP!

My Rating:
Yum Factor: 9.5/10

Difficulty Factor: 6/10

The Recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 (1 pound) loaf French bread, cut diagonally in 1 inch slices
• 8 eggs
• 2 cups milk
• 1 1/2 cups half-and-half cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 1/3 cups brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons light corn syrup

Directions

1. Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish. Arrange the slices of bread in the bottom. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, milk, cream, vanilla and cinnamon. Pour over bread slices, cover, and refrigerate overnight.
2. The next morning, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a small saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar and corn syrup; heat until bubbling. Pour over bread and egg mixture.
3. Bake in preheated oven, uncovered, for 40 minutes.
4. Changes for next time: Soak the bread overnight!

Recipes I want to try:

Here are my choices of recipes that I want to try in the next couple of weeks:

Quinoa Colour Salad: I recently bought some quinoa and am inspired to try it!

Lobster Mac and Cheese: I really doubt I can afford to buy lobster here but this looked so delicious. Can't wait to get back to PEI to buy some fresh lobster and try this one! Actually, just the Mac and Cheese looked delicious by itself. I might try this with ham or bacon first.

Goat Cheese Vinagrette I saw another one where he used goat cheese as a dressing. Will have to check back through my PVR and rewatch this.

Baked Chicken with Spinach and Baby Tomatoes

Last Sunday, I baked a chicken after inspiration from from Michael Smith's Chef at Home. Michael was right, it was one of the most delicious chicken I have ever made. It doesn't come out with a dark skin like most chicken but that's because it is cooked in a dutch oven. Adding spinach and tomatoes to the broth made an amazing salad. I would probably add more spinach next time though. I bought my free range chicken from a local supermarket and didn't really look at it closely. Funnily enough, after it was done, I noticed that it had the feet inside! Figures...that's what I get from living in Asia.

My Ratings:

Yum Factor: 9/10

Difficulty Factor: 1/10

Ingredients

• 1 3 to 4 pound organic roasting chicken
• 2 onions, peeled and chopped
• 6 cloves garlic
• 2 stalks of celery, chopped
• 1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
• salt and pepper
• 1 rosemary sprig
• 2 bay leaves
• 24 cherry tomatoes
• 1 pound baby spinach
• 1. Preheat your oven to 300°F. Toss the onions, garlic, celery and carrot into a Dutch oven and lightly season with salt and pepper. Add rosemary and bay leaf. Stir the vegetables. Season the chicken and rest on top of the vegetables. Cover tightly with a close fitting lid and bake for 90 minutes or so, until an instant read thermometer shows 165°F. Cover the chicken with foil and rest on a plate for 15 minutes or so before slicing.
  2. Meanwhile place the Dutch oven over a medium burner and bring to a simmer. Add the tomatoes and spinach. Stir until the spinach has wilted and the tomatoes have heated through. Season to taste.
  3. Slice the chicken, removing all the meat, toss with the spinach and tomato broth. Serve immediately.
  Mental Note: Buy a meat thermometer next time so as to check that it completely cooked.

Bacon Barley Risotto

I recently made my first barley risotto and it was delicious BUT a lot of time. I guess all risotto is really about patience and paying attention to the food. In the end, it was worth it but if you are hungry, I wouldn't suggest it. It's a better choice for a Saturday or Sunday afternoon meal. One of the other things I liked about it was that it was very healthy. I found that I had to add a lot of water or broth then the recipe called for which could have been because I didn't have a lid on the pan or that I used pearl barley.

I got the recipe from Michael Smith's, Chef at Home show.

Yum Factor: 8.5/10

Difficulty Factor: 9/10

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

4 or 5 cups of chicken broth (I used probably more like 8 cups of broth since I didn't have a lid to my frying pan)
4 slices bacon, thinly chopped (I used back bacon which was still good)
2 onions, peeled and chopped
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup barley, pearl or pot
Salt and pepper

1 bunch chives or parsley, chopped (I used chives but will try parsley next time)

Directions

1. In one pot heat the broth to a gentle simmer.
2. In another pot fry the bacon over medium-high heat, until crisp and golden brown.
3. Add the onions and garlic and sauté until soft and golden.
4. Add the barley and stir for a few moments until well coated with bacon fat and heated through.
5. Add 1 cup or so of the hot chicken broth and stir until it is fully absorbed. Continue to add broth, 1 ladle-full at a time, letting it absorb fully before adding the next ladle.
6. Continue simmering until the barley is tender.
7. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in a handful of your favourite herbs.

Easy Fettucini Meal

I just cooked a super easy meal of Fettucini with Lemon Cream Sauce. I got the recipe from Nigella Bites on one of her Fast Food recipes (sorry couldn't find the exact link to her recipe). I have to say it was light and tasty just as she claimed. It was the perfect meal to cook after playing sports and was super hungry and didn't want to spend a lot of time cooking.

Here's the recipe:

Yum Factor: 9/10

Difficulty Factor: 10/10

Ingredients:

Fettucini (or Linguini)

50 Grams or so of Butter

1/2 Cup of Cream

2 Egg Yolks

Parmesan Cheese

Fresh Parsley

Zest from lemon and 1/2 lemon juice from a fresh lemon

1. Add a liberal amount of salt to boiling water (it should taste like a day at beach)

2. Add pasta

3. In the meantime, take 2 eggs and sort of play with it back and forth between your hands till all the whites are removed (don't break the yolk!)

4. Add cream and cheese and lemon + zest

4. Drain water from pasta and remove from heat

5. Add butter and stir until it dissolves

6. Add sauce (make sure that it is not on the heat or you will have scrambled eggs!)

7. Touch it off with some more parmesan and fresh parsley (don't add pepper or salt..there's enough salt from the cheese and pepper takes away from the soft flavour).