St. Paddy’s Day #1 Cabbage Duo

I have taken a few weeks off, but no worries I have a lot of fun to come.  Stay tunes tomorrow for a fun St. Paddy’s Day recipe.  It is that time of year again where I see cabbage at the local grocery store and decide to buy one with no plans of what to do with it.  

Ahhhh the small but mighty head of cabbage.  Once cut, it grows into a forrest of greens that is useful for large batches of multiple recipes.  In this case I decided to go with a chicken cabbage soup and a traditional creamy cole slaw.  The cole slaw was actually adapted from the recipe on the back featuring pretty basic ingredients.  I added a kick of Sriracha (about a tbsp) and used half greek yogurt and half mayo in the dressing, both which I highly recommend.

 

Creamy Cole slaw

Cabbage and chicken soup

The “dump” soup was a result of an impulse buy of cabbage in honor of St. Patrick’s Day so I used ingredients I had at home.  First searing carrots and celery in a pot, then adding the a few cloves of garlic.  Then I added a can of crushed tomatoes and chicken stock I made a few weeks prior from the bones of a roast chicken.  At that time I added the cabbage and let simmer about 15 minutes before adding the chicken which I poached in the liquid until cooked through before pulling into smaller pieces.  As I recall the only other addition was salt and pepper.

Hot and Spicy Chicken Cream Cheese Dip

I decided to make a variation on the shrimp dip with the leftover cream cheese and green onions.  I was also inspired by one of my favorite dips (I call “crack dip”) which combines 1 lb sausage with a can of Rotel (diced tomatoes) and a block of cream cheese (8oz).  I decided to make a variation with chicken.  Since all I had on hand was a can of plain diced tomatoes, I added a hefty 2-3T of Franks Red Hot sauce, a dash of cumin, and ground red pepper.  I added the leftover green onions from the shrimp dip as well because it is one of those annoying items you must buy in a bunch and only need one or two.  Turned out great and all the ingredients came from my freezer and pantry!

Ingredients

• 2 pieces of chicken breast (1/2 lb)
• 2-3T chopped green onions
• 1/2 can diced tomatoes
• 1t cumin
• 3-4T Franks hot sauce
• 2oz cream cheese

Directions

Sear chicken 2 minutes on each side before adding all ingredients except the cream cheese.

After swirling in cream cheese

Pull chicken into bits with two forks once cooked throughout about 5 more minutes.

Remove pan from heat and stir in cream cheese.

Serve hot with tortilla chips.

Quinoa Dump Stew

Once again I needed a meal to heat and eat through tech week before the show opened Saturday night.  I decided on another easy dish which I consider a stew because I chose to use less liquid than a soup and more than a quinoa salad.  This is a dish that tastes even better over time and I even added extra green beans I had later in the week.

Ingredients

• 1 small sweet potato
• 1.25 lb chicken breast
• 3-4 carrots, chopped
• 1c quinoa
• 2 cans of diced tomatoes 14oz
• 1 bag frozen cauliflower and broccoli
• 2 stalks of celery, chopped

Directions

Cook quinoa according to instructions and set aside.

Add carrots and sweet potato to large pot and soften 5 minutes.  Add canned tomatoes (mine were basil and garlic enhanced), frozen veggies, celery, and chicken to pot along with 2C water.  Be sure to add salt and pepper to taste!  Simmer 15 minutes before adding quinoa and removing chicken breasts to pull apart using two forks.

complete pot thickening up

Chicken Lentil Salsa Soup

Exciting News! I will be taking part in The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap this year!  I signed up today to send a dozen cookies to three other bloggers.  I must send cookies I have never made before…hmmm time to get thinking.

Since I have been a bit preoccupied rehearsing, I have been doing very little innovative cooking.  I was able to whip up some soup for lunches using as few ingredients as possible since I do not have access to my spice rack.  Last week I made a pulled chicken and lentil salsa soup and this week a quinoa chicken and veggie stew.  They both turned out great so here are the results.

Pulled Chicken and Lentil and Salsa Soup

chicken ready to be pulled

• 1 bag of frozen veggies ( I chose broccoli)
• 1-1.5 lb raw chicken breast tenders
• 1 C green lentils (uncooked)
• 3 celery stalks
• 3 carrots
• 1 28oz can diced tomatoes
• 1/2 jar of salsa (my favorite is Pace Hot)

Directions

sauté the carrots, celery, and lentils for 5 minutes

add remaining ingredients along with a few (3-4) cups of water

cover and let simmer 30 minutes

remove chicken and pull between two forks

 

the complete soup

Simplest Curry Your Way

I use the term “curry” loosely as I am no expert in Thai cuisine, but after my experimentation of authentic Korean, Thai, and Vietnamese food in Pittsburgh I thought I would experiment in the 6by6 kitchen.

After a lot of research I decided to make curry with a few guidelines. Since I do not keep coconut milk on hand, I decided to use almond milk.  I also did not want to buy a bunch of different asian spices and sauces I would never use again so I used a combination of green curry paste and gyoza dipping sauce (which contains mostly soy sauce).

There are a few key ingredients that can be interchangeable in making this dish.

Protein

I chose chicken because it is inexpensive and easy to cook.  I am sure you can go with most meats, faux meats and tofu but this was pretty good.

Veggies

I cheated and used frozen for a few reasons.  It is what I had in stock, I wanted to stick with either all fresh or all frozen to aid in cooking, and it is the cheapest option.  Other options include peas, carrots, eggplant, bamboo, and those baby corn that always appear in asian cuisines.

Aromatics

Once again I decided to go with the simplest option of garlic, gyoza, salt/pepper, and green curry paste.  Many recipes included shallots, onion, basil, lime juice and zest, fish sauce, lemongrass and soy sauce.  I have also made the mistake of adding too many different flavors and wanted to avoid that.

Garnish

Since I used almond milk in the base I decided to go with roasted and salted almond slivers. Other options include cashews, coconut, cilantro, lime or basil.

My recipe is made in four simple steps. and complete in less than 20 minutes.

1. Poach-Use your combination of milk, broth or water to poach the meat. Bring al ingredients to a simmer 10 minutes.
2. Saute- Let aromatics sear a bit in the saute pan before adding veggies.  Cook veggies until warm throughout.
3. Simmer- combine all ingredients (except rice and almonds) in saute pan and let simmer a few minutes.
4. Garnish- place veggie/meat mixture over rice and top with fresh garnish.

My Chicken Curry

• 1.5 C- original almond milk
• 1.5 Lb chicken cut into 1 in cubes
• 3C brown rice
• 3-4T Green Curry Paste
• 1-2T Gyoza sauce
• 2 Cloves minced garlic
• 1/4C Toasted slivered almonds
• 1/2 lb broccoli
• 1lb green beans
• 1C diced tricolored peppers

Definitely one I will be repeating!  Next time I want to add eggplant.  Also a new restaurant review of Chinese/dim sum in NYC to come!