Chicken Marsala with Sage

This one is a jewel; an outstanding recipe that has been quite popular on a couple of gardening sites that I frequent.

It is originally from "Bon Appétit" magazine ~ 2002, but since my friend Jain (click!) is the one who convinced me to try it when she raved that the sauce is so good it is drinkable, ~ I'll always call it Jain's Chicken Marsala with Sage.

Thank you Jain!

I agree, this is hands down my favorite version of Chicken Marsala. I believe I've made it four times since the recommendation about a year ago.

CHICKEN MARSALA WITH SAGE

adapted from "Bon Appétit"

4 servings

4 skinless boneless chicken breast halves, each cut in half horizontally (to make 8 thinner chicken cutlets)

All purpose flour

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter

1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage

1 cup imported dry Marsala

1 cup canned low-salt chicken broth

Fresh sage leaves for garnish

Method:

Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Dust with flour; shake off excess.

Melt 3 tablespoons butter in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chopped sage; sauté 1 minute. Add half of the chicken. Sauté until brown and cooked through, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to platter.

Repeat with remaining butter and chicken. Tent the cooked chicken with foil and keep warm.

Add Marsala and broth to skillet; bring to boil, scraping up any browned bits. Boil until sauce is reduced to 1/2 cup, about 10 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper; spoon over chicken. Garnish with sage leaves, and be ready for a treat.

This time I served it with pan roasted chipollini onions and roasted, cubed sweet potatoes ~ a good combination.

Carnitas in Very Small Corn Tortillas and Parchment Cones

Carnitas de Cerdo en Pequeñas Tortillas de Maíz

Little Pieces of Browned Pork in Small Corn Tortillas

Well made carnitas (little pieces of browned pork) are one of my favorite Mexican foods. This way of preparation, from the central area of Mexico, is very flavorful, moist and crispy-tender if prepared properly. Just take care that the meat does not dry out, adding a little water as needed.

The meat is delicious simply wrapped in a fresh, warm tortilla with some fresh salsa, a couple of condiments such as radish slices, sour cream, cilantro sprigs, and some good guacamole if you have it.

This is my take on a smaller version, perfect for party food.

You may be able to find the very small fresh corn tortillas where you live, but they are not available where I am, so I make my own. They are very easy to prepare, and are infinitely better than the grocery store variety.

To serve these smaller sized portions, I like to make a cone of parchment paper, turn the warm tortilla into a cone then fill and garnish, and slip it into the parchment paper. Serving them this way make them much neater to eat as party food.

I use a classic recipe for cooking the meat, as I learned from Diana Kennedy. You will need a cut of pork with a good amount of fat to lean, this just will not work with a lean cut of meat.

CARNITAS (Little Pieces of Browned Pork)

A Dutch or French oven, or flameproof dish

3 pounds pork shoulder, skin and bone removed

(look for a piece with a fair amount of fat, it's necessary for this dish)

Cold water to barely cover

2 teaspoons salt, or to taste

Cut the meat, with the fat into strips about 2-inches by 3/4-inches or so.

Place the meat in the pot and barely cover with water, add salt and bring to a boil, uncovered.

Lower the heat and allow meat to continue cooking briskly until all of the liquid has evaporated, it should be cooked through but not falling apart.

Again, reduce the heat a bit and continue cooking the meat until all of the fat has rendered out of it.

Turn the meat until it is lightly browned all over and crisped on the edges.

If you are using the full 3 pounds of meat this may take about 45 minutes to an hour or so.

Diana's Notes: There is no need for an expensive cut of meat, shoulder, butt, or country style pork ribs are all suitable.

If you have a choice, the meat will cook more evenly if the pot or dish you cook it in is rather large and shallow. Resist adding too much water at the beginning of cooking time or the meat will fall apart during the frying stage.

Should you find the meat is still rather hard when the water has evaporated, add a little more water and continue cooking.

My Notes: Sometimes I cook the meat a day or two ahead of time, when reheating (in the oven, or on stove top) I add a little water to assure tender, moist meat.

These are delicious served in full size flour or corn tortillas a well.

Stuffed Zucchini Stacks

Something I devised when I had only one zucchini on hand and needed a side dish for two!

Served as a starter or side dish this recipe requires just a few ingredients, usually found in the pantry/fridge.

They can be made a day ahead and baked off when you are ready to serve them.

Vegetarian friendly as well!

I use the same technique as described in the Stuffed, Steamed Cucumber recipe I posted earlier.

You can make as many or as few of these as you like~ adjusting amounts according to the size of the zucchini and how many you want to serve.

Ingredients:

Zucchini

Olive or canola oil

the reserved, scooped interior of the zucchini (finely chopped)

finely chopped onion

minced garlic

almost equal amounts of fine, dry seasoned bread crumbs and grated fresh Parmesan (I like to add more cheese than bread crumbs)

herbs of your choice (fresh or dried), crumbled if dried and minced if fresh

minced parsley

squeeze of lemon, if you like.

salt/pepper to taste

Method:

Cut the zucchini crosswise into 3/4-inch to 1-inch size slices, using a melon-ball tool, scoop a portion of the interior out of each (not scooping all the way through), in order to form a cup shaped receptacle in each slice. Reserve the scooped-out portion and finely chop.

Place the zucchini, scooped-out side up in an oiled, micro-wave and oven-safe shallow baking dish, with 1 to 2 teaspoons water, cover loosely. Lightly salt & pepper the zucchini, and microwave (or steam) for about 1 minute until just barely tender. Allow to cool a few minutes before filling.

For the filling:

Heat oil in frying pan, saute reserved, chopped zucchini interior, minced onion and garlic until soft and translucent. Off heat stir in dry bread crumbs, grated parmesan, and herbs. Squeeze of lemon if using.

Taste for seasonings and adjust if needed.

Fill each zucchini piece with the stuffing, mounding filling slightly, drizzle with a little more oil if filling looks dry. Sprinkle with additional grated Parmesan cheese before baking.

May be prepared to this point up to one day ahead. (Cover and refrigerate until ready to bake.)

When ready to bake, heat oven to 350-degrees (F)

Bake until heated through and tops are lightly browned. Garnish with a tiny sprig of fresh thyme or parsley if desired.

Easy and flavorful!

Oak Leaf Wafer Cookies ~ It's That Time of the Year

It won't be long before the deciduous trees are bare, but before the leaves go they usually give a good show of color. Some years the colors are more vibrant than others.

Happily this is a good year for color ~ predominantly yellows, ambers, and oranges with a few reds mixed in. Then there are the unusually pretty mottled ones.

When it's a colorful year, leaf-wise, I collect some of the prettier ones, wash them in the utility room and use them as decorations on the table for a few days to enjoy them up close.

To celebrate the season I like to make Oak Leaf Wafer cookies.

I remember when I first saw these stencils in a Williams-Sonoma catalog several years ago ... of course I had to run right down to buy them.

Rather than dough, these cookies made from a thick batter, which produces a very thin cookie.

The stencils are placed directly on the cookie sheet, then the thick nut-batter is spread thinly and evenly in the stencil cut-out, the stencil is lifted straight up, leaving a very thin cookie shape behind. The cookies are then baked off for just minutes, until golden.

They can simply be dusted with confectioner's (powdered) sugar, but I like to 'paint' one side of them with melted chocolate, I etch veins into the leaves with a wooden skewer while the chocolate is firming up. For the golden colored leaves, I use melted butterscotch chips.

You may stir in a teaspoon or so of solid shortening to the melted chocolate or chips before decorating the cookies; this will allow the coating to set up extra firmly.

Of course you don't need the special stencils to make these cookies, you could obtain similar results by using your favorite cut-out sugar cookie recipe, cut into the shapes of leaves and decorate them as shown.

I think it's a fitting farewell to the leaves, which provided us with oxygen and welcome relief from the blazing summer sun, we won't see them again until early spring.

Totally RAD-ish Soup ~ Or Radish Greens Soup

If you grow your own, or find some radishes with their green tops in pristine condition, don't throw them away!

Radish greens are loaded with iron, and when cooked they are every bit as good as the more expensive watercress.

I've made Radish Greens soup a few times before, but this recipe is a bit different from the usual in that it utilizes the radishes as well as the greens.

This one is adapted from one of my favorite cookbook authors and teachers; Madeleine Kamman.

Radish Greens Soup

6 Servings

1 tablespoon unsalted butter or cooking oil of your choice

3 cups chopped radish greens from 3 bunches of radishes

4 cups water, vegetable stock, chicken stock, or canned chicken broth

2 large Idaho potatoes, peeled and diced

1/2 yellow onion, diced or several scallions, cut into 1/2" slices (or a mixture of both yellow onion and scallions)

12 red radishes, sliced l/8 inch thick

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

Salt

Freshly ground peppr

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1/3 cup sour cream

Grated Gruyere-type cheese or crumbled ripe goat cheese (optional)

Heat the butter or oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Toss the radish greens and onions for 1 minute in the hot butter. Cover with the water (or other liquid) and bring to a boil. Add the potatoes and simmer until tender, 20 to 30 minutes. Strain through a food mill, or blend with an immersion blender, or place in blender and process until completely smooth.

While soup is cooking, place the radish slices and vinegar in a small pot, add water to cover, and bring to a boil. Season with salt and pepper, simmer 3 to 4 minutes, then drain.

You may add the slices of radishes to the strained soup, but I prefer to serve them on the side so each diner can add their own.

Mix the mustard with the sour cream in a small bowl. Add two or three big spoonfuls of the soup to this mixture, blend well, then add the mix back into the soup pot and mix until blended.

Taste for seasonings, adding salt or pepper if needed. Serve piping hot, with the cheese (and radishes, if you didn't add them to the soup) passed at the table.

A pretty, and healthful soup for just pennies.

I love utilizing every part of the colorful radish plant.

Cranberry - Orange and Grand Marnier Scones

I've been fortunate to have had the opportunity to make many wonderful acquaintances during the short time I've been blogging.

One blog I've followed for quite some time before I started my own is a favorite; The Repressed Pastry Chef.

I've been so pleased to have had some delightful exchanges with Em, the creator of The Repressed Pastry Chef, if you're not familiar with her blog I hope you'll visit as I think you'll be as entertained as I am with Em's fabulous talent in the kitchen, as well as her keen sense of humor.

This recipe is a direct take on her recent post and recipe for Drunken (or not) Cherry Scones.

I am drawn to recipes in which you can swap out ingredients according to your own tastes (or what's in the pantry.) And this is one such recipe, adapted from Alton Brown.

I appreciate the convenience of making scones this way, as they are mixed in the food processor and require no rolling (a boon when you're in a hurry and don't want to mess with rolling or patting them out).

You can simply scoop them with an ice cream/food portion scoop. You will get lots of tender, crispy crumb edge (my favorite part.)

As Em explains, if you don't want to use a liqueur in your recipe, simply omit it.

I'm not sure I'll go back to the traditional way of making scones after trying this method.

I followed Em's recipe almost exactly; here's how I made mine:

Almost Any Fruit Scones with Liqueur

(Liqueur is optional)

Ingredients

2 cups flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup sugar

4 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons shortening

3/4 cup cream

1 egg

Handful dried fruit (I used dried cranberries)

For this version; finely grated zest of 1 orange

A few splashes of a liqueur that will compliment the fruit you are using; (Grand Marnier this time)

If you're omitting the liqueur you may want to add a little pure vanilla, almond or fruit extract

Method

In a small bowl drizzle your fruit (this time dried cranberries) with liqueur (Grand Marnier) and allow to soak for about 10 minutes. After the fruit has softened a bit, smash the fruit so it will absorb even more flavoring. If you have the time allow to macerate for another 30 minutes or so.

Heat oven to 375°F

Line cookie sheet either with silicone baking mat or parchment paper

Directions

Place flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in the bowl of food processor and pulse to combine. Add butter and shortening and pulse until about the size of oatmeal.

In a large measuring cup or small bowl, blend cream with the egg (a fork works well to mix), add the fruit and stir to blend. Add to the flour/butter mixture in the food processor and pulse until just mixed and dry flour has disappeared. (Best not to over process or your scones won't be tender.)

Spoon or scoop the dough into balls and place on cookie sheet. Press with your fingers to flatten slightly (wetting your fingers with water will help prevent sticking.)

At this point I brush tops of scones with additional cream and sprinkle with coarse sanding sugar (but this step is not necessary, the scones will still be delicious.)

Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Thank you for introducing me to this recipe Em ~

It's a keeper!