Marry Me Chicken

It's kind of amazing, but when I went to shop for this dish on my weekly grocery run, I had every ingredient EXCEPT the chicken in my kitchen. Delicious, very dairy forward, relatively easy to throw together and a great leftover for lunch option. Highly recommend. Lifted from NY Times Cooking. I told my #3 child (#2 son) I'd add it to the blog so he can make it more often.

Marry Me Chicken

3 skinless boneless chicken breasts (cut in half horizontally to create "tenders")

flour

3 T olive oil

3 T butter

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 t. oregano

red pepper flakes to taste

1 T. tomato paste

1/2 c. heavy cream

1/2 c. sun dried tomatoes sliced into strips

1/2 c. shredded parmesan

basil to garnish

Generously salt and pepper the chicken and then dust them in flour.

Heat oil in a large skillet, once hot add the butter.

Pan fry the floured tenders 4 to 5 minutes per side (until thoroughly cooked) over medium heat

Remove chicken from the pan and set aside

Reduce heat to low/medium-low and add garlic to the pan for a minute or so

Add oregano and hot pepper flakes and tomato paste -- stir constantly until well combined

Add cream and stir to combine, watch that it doesn't curdle

Once heated through, add tomatoes and parmesan to the pan, stir until cheese is melted (at this point, I removed my pan from the heat as it was hot enough to melt the cheese)

Return chicken to the pan, garnish with basil and serve.

Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry

I know it's been a minute. I swear I HAVE been cooking, I have just kind of lost track of what I've been cooking. All the kids are gone now, and it's just me, my husband and two dogs. I'm working full time, commuting into an office every day. Lately, I've found myself actually trying to cook. I recently tried to clean out everything in the freezer - either by preparing the food or tossing it. Also, purging books and "stuff" in the house. It was in that purge that I found two cookbooks that are compilations of Cooks Illustrated from 2003 and 2004 (FINALLY! I found the Weeknight Bolognese recipe I mentioned in the "Things My Kids Will Eat" post (August 2007)

Anyway, this week, I'm making a few recipes from those books. This one was a true winner -- absolutely delicious. Am 100 percent making this again!

1 lb flank steak cut into strips
3 T. soy sauce

1 T. dry sherry (I used red wine)

2 T. low sodium chicken broth

5 T. oyster sauce

1 T. light brown sugar

1 t. sesame oil

1 t. cornstarch

6 medium garlic cloves minced

1 1" piece of ginger minced

Peanut or vegetable oil

1 1/4 lb. broccoli cut into bite size pieces

1 small red bell pepper diced

3 scallions sliced on the diagonal

1. Freeze room temperature meat for 20 minutes to help with the slicing

2. Slice up meat and put it in a bowl with soy sauce; cover and refrigerate (for at least 10 minutes, but up to an hour)

3. Combine sherry, chicken broth, oyster sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil and cornstarch in a measuring cup. (I may have put soy sauce in there too)

4. Combine garlic and ginger in a small bowl with 1 1/2 t. peanut oil)

5. Heat oil in a skillet or wok 

6. Remove meat from soy sauce and pan fry in batches (about 2 minutes); drain on paper towels

7. Add broccoli to hot wok and stir fry, add additional oil if needed (about 2 minutes) -- add to paper towel with meat (NOTE: Original recipe called for browning then steaming the broccoli if using a skillet)

8. Stir fry bell pepper until browning (about 3-4 minutes) 

9. Push stir fried peppers to the outer edge of the pan, put garlic/ginger combo in the center cook about 20 seconds that way, then combine everything together

10. Add the meat and broccoli back into the pan and combine

11. Whisk the sauce in the measuring cup then pour into the pan, stir to get everything combined and distributed.

12. Serve with sliced scallions over rice