Recipes by Ingredient + Prep – Page 100 – Writing With My Mouth Full

Braised Chicken with Olives

I watched Jamie Oliver cook this chicken dish on The Naked Chef. It’s originally a Ligurian recipe but because my neighborhood supermarket only had Spanish olives with pits, I ended up making my own version.

Ingredients:
9 pieces of chicken
2 tbsps of flour
6 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 cup of Spanish olives with pits
1/2 cup of white wine
3 plum tomatoes, chopped
5 sprigs of fresh rosemary
salt, pepper, olive oil

1. In a large bowl, combine flour with some salt and pepper. Coat chicken.
2. Over medium high heat using a Dutch oven, fry chicken pieces in hot olive oil until golden brown.
3. Add garlic, rosemary and the wine and let it come to a boil. Add olives and tomatoes.
4. Reduce heat to medium low and partly cover the pot. Simmer until chicken is tender and the broth is reduced to a rich sauce, about 40 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie

I’m not a baker so I was very careful with this recipe I adapted from foodtv.com. It was very involved but I had fun rolling the dough like clay.

Ingredients:
2 cups of oatmeal
2 cups of flour
1 cup of raisins
2 sticks of unsalted butter, melted for a few seconds in the microwave
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp hot water
2 tsps vanilla extract
1 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 350Âº. In the meantime, brush a cookie sheet with some of the melted butter. Set aside.
2. Use the remaining butter and combine with the sugars in a mixing bowl and cream with an electric mixer. Add the eggs. Mix in oatmeal, flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt with a big spoon. Add water, raisins and vanilla extract. Mix well to finish your dough.
3. Transfer the dough to a floured kitchen counter or table. Form a snake with your dough using your hands. Cut in several small pieces and place on prepared cookie sheet.
4. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until light brown. Let them cool before serving.

Baby Spinach Endive Bacon Salad

I usually have several bags of baby spinach handy after a trip to either the farmers’ market or a big warehouse store like Costco or BJ’s. What’s better than a tossed vegetable salad? Why, a tossed vegetable salad with crispy bacon, of course!

Ingredients:
1 bag of baby spinach
4 slices of bacon
4 Belgian endives, roughly chopped
1 red onion, roughly chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
salt, pepper, olive oil

1. In a skillet with hot oil, cook the bacon until crispy. Remove to a chopping board lined with paper towel. When cool enough to handle, remove paper towel and roughly chop crispy bacon.
2. Combine and toss all ingredients in a large salad bowl.

Related post/s:
Baby Spinach Artichoke Endive Salad

Baby Spinach Artichoke Endive Salad

This is a very easy salad to make. Di Palo’s in New York City frequently cooks and preserves artichokes in olive oil and sells them in a plastic container. You can use canned artichokes as long as you drain them and use good olive oil as dressing. Endives are available in nicer supermarkets but you can substitute watercress or arugula.

Ingredients:
1 bag of baby spinach
4 pieces of cooked artichokes, chopped
4 Belgian endives, roughly chopped
1 red onion, roughly chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
salt, pepper, olive oil

1. Toss all ingredients in a large salad bowl.

Related post/s:
Where to buy cooked artichokes

Avocado Salad

This is another salad I make when there are avocados for sale in my neighborhood supermarket. To make sure I buy ripe avocados, I look at the nubbin where the stem came from. If the avocado is ripe, the nubbin pushes right out with my thumb. The best way is to buy the avocados when they’re still a bit green and firm and ripen them at home for about a week.

Ingredients:
1 bunch of spinach, washed thoroughly
2 ripe avocados, meat scooped out and sliced into small chunks
lemon juice
salt, pepper, olive oil

1. To make the dressing, whisk some olive oil in a salad bowl with lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Add spinach to the dressing and toss with avocado chunks.