Lemon Butter Chicken

When I was younger I was totally the only person in my family who couldn't cook. I would sometime help my mom, but I sort of made a mess of things a lot.  Mostly I just wasn't paying attention to what I was doing. It didn't really matter though my mom was an awesome cook and I ate really well every day. But when I got to college that all changed. I eventually got sick of eating chicken finger sandwiches and philly cheesesteak wraps every day and decided I wanted to learn how to cook.  At this point I wasn't really concerned about health (except when I was psychotically dieting, eating under 1000 calories a day and making myself miserable) I just wanted things to taste good.

Eventually I got pretty good, but according to my mother, mike, and pretty much anyone else who cooked with me or ate my food I overly relied on butter to make things tasty. I totally did do that. And at that point in my life I thought that was bad for me.  Now I still sometimes rely on butter to make things good, but I know its not bad for me. Yay!

This lemon butter chicken is something I would have made in those old days of butter dependence. It tastes totally decadent, but its a snap to put together. 

Ingredients

4 chicken thighs
2 lemons, zested and juiced
4 cloves of garlic finely diced
3 tablespoons butter, use the best you can afford, its the dominate flavor in the dish so quality counts
salt and pepper to taste
optional garnish: scallions, parsley - basically anything green

1) Cut chicken thighs into 2 bite size pieces, about 4 pieces per thigh
2) Mix the juice and zest of 1 lemon with the garlic, salt and pepper to taste and then use to marinate the chicken for at least 4 hours, up to 24.
3) Heat 1 tablespoon of butter in a skillet over medium high heat, remove chicken from marinade and dry off.
4) Place chicken in skillet, don't touch for about 3-4 minutes until it is browned on one side.
5) Flip chicken to brown on other side, cook about 2-3 more minutes
6) Add remaining left over marinade, lemon juice, zest, and butter to pan. After butter melts, toss chicken and cook for another 2-3 minutes until the sauce thickens a bit and coats the chicken.
7) Serve right away with a vegetable of your choose (I chose blistered tomatoes.) Eat with no guilt over the obscene amount of butter or shame that you relied on its powers to make something amazing.

Blistered Tomatoes

The summer after 4th grade my parents took my sister and I on our first international trip.  We went to England, and of course being the type of person who thinks of each day based on what I ate, I remember the food we had pretty clearly. In particular the breakfasts, it was pretty similar at every B&B we stayed in, eggs, buttery toast, sausage, beans and warm tomatoes and mushrooms. I was always a pretty adventurous eater, but for some reason warm tomatoes seemed weird to me at the time and I didn't want to eat them. I didn't really connect them with tomato sauce - what do you want from me I was 10. 

But eventually I did try them, and they were amazing. Comforting and refreshing at the same time. Since then I've had a softness in my heart for slightly warmed tomatoes and when ever I eat them I am reminded of that trip to England -  not the boring walking tours, bus tours, museums, and history lessons (all of which I thoroughly enjoyed when I returned to the UK as an adult) but of the same satisfying breakfast we at every morning in B&B's around the country.

This week I decided to make warmed blistered grape tomatoes, not for breakfast but as a side for dinner.  They take about 3 minutes to make and are deliciously fresh tasting when made with the awesome tomatoes available right now.

Warm tomatoes . . . mmm.  Behind them you can see some lemon butter chicken peaking out.  I wasn't planning on sharing the chicken recipe with you when I made it, but it was so tasty and decadent that I feel I have to. Come back tomorrow and I'll have it posted.

Ingredients
1 pint grape tomatoes
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (or other fat of your choice)
2-4 cloves of garlic, peeled and left whole
salt and pepper to taste

1) Heat olive oil over medium high heat until it starts to shimmer, about 1 minute
2) Add garlic cloves to oil and cook for about 30 seconds
3) Throw tomatoes into pan, step back - it might sputter. Now don't touch at all for about 1 minute - you want the skins to get nice and blistered.
4) Toss tomatoes around in pan and then let cook for another minute - this should allow your tomatoes to warm threw a bit without popping and becoming a saucy mess
5) Season with salt and pepper and serve imminently*

*i was writing "immediately", but spell check changed it to "imminently" which sounded foreboding and stupid in a way that I really liked, so I kept it :)  

Thai Coconut Mussels

We spent our 4th of July weekend relaxing with friends in New Hampshire. It was really amazing, we hiked, swam, and slept in. We were also able to grill the whole weekend which meant eating right was pretty easy. Yes, I had to watch people sit around eating delicious looking ice cream one day, but mostly they were eating crap that I just am not interested in.

Anyways, we got back last night and although the trip was relaxing I was beat when we got home - a 5.5 hour drive in a car without air conditioning will do that to a girl. In the past that mood would have resulted in ordering Thai takeout. The typical order was Pad Thai with wide noodles and the best freaking Tom Kha (coconut milk soup) that has ever been made in the history of the world. While its possible that the soup has no yucky ingredients in it I wouldn't bet my life on it. Basically takeout was not an option, and since Mike has only mastered egg cookery, I was headed to the kitchen.

I wanted to make something reminiscent of the usual Thai takeout and that wouldn't take me much longer than calling in my order would. I decided on mussels in a coconut curry broth. As I sat down after only 10 minutes in the kitchen I dug into my bowl of mussels and was totally satisfied. The broth was light and slightly creamy with a kick from the ginger, but nothing was overpowering and the mussels were definitely the star of the show.

Thai Coconut Mussels.

Ingredients
1/2 tablespoon coconut oil
1/2 white onion, chopped into 1/4 inch pieces
1 red pepper, sliced
1 thumb sized piece of ginger, cut into thin strips (I used a piece the size of a giants thumb because I love ginger)
6 cloves crushed garlic
3 dashes fish sauce
1 tablespoon green curry paste (this stuff is pretty mild, you could substitute a thai chili pepper if you wanted some kick)
1 lime, zested and juiced
1 can full fat coconut milk
2 lbs mussels, cleaned and debearded (most places around me sell mussels ready for cooking, ask your fishmonger to be sure)
garnish: lime, scallions

1) Heat coconut oil on medium heat in pot with a tight fitting lid deep enough to hold all your mussels.
2) Add onions and pepper to pot and cook for about 3 minutes, until onions are translucent
3) Add ginger, garlic, curry paste, fish sauce, and lime zest and juice - cook for another 1-2 minutes
4) Add coconut milk to pot and stir. Heat through, about 3 minutes
5) While your coconut milk is heating go through your mussels and discard any that have already opened.
6) Throw mussels in the pot, give a good stir, and then cover. Cook, covered, for 5-7 minutes until mussels have opened.
7) Pour into to bowls and top with a squeeze on lime and some chopped scallions. Enjoy while patting yourself on the back for not giving into the takeout demon!

Coffee-Chili Rubbed Steak

Last night I knew I needed to make a super quick dinner. I got home a little late and we were going to see some standup at Littlefield (awesome show almost every Monday). It was sold out last night because Wyatt Cenac was going to be there, so I definitely wanted to make sure I got out of the house on time. The show ended up being amazing – and Aziz Ansari showed up randomly to do a set. I basically laughed my ass off for two hours. And to top it off, for the first time there ever I managed to resist the allure of combining booze and comedy.

Anyway – tangent about my awesome night full of laughter and self-control aside – dinner needed to be quick. I planned on making steak with my trusty Montreal Steak Seasoning, but lo and behold there is sunflower oil in it. This is seriously upsetting. So instead I decided to make an espresso-chili rub which turned out amazing.

Now every other time I have made a rub (or really any food) with coffee I have also included brown sugar to cut some of the bitterness. A quick googling of espresso rubbed steaks told me that this was the norm. Totally sold on the idea of the espresso-chilli rub, I improvised with some paleo approved spices to up the sweetness factor without sugar. A little cocoa powder, anise seed, and ginger balanced the bitterness of the coffee. I also added some coriander to round out the flavors a bit. Finally, I seared the steak in coconut oil to add another touch of mellow sweetness.

This all worked perfectly and was as good as any other espresso rub I’ve ever had.

Coffee-Chili rubbed steak with buttered broccoli

Ingredients

1/3 cup ground coffee beans

1/4 cup chili powder

2 tablespoons unsweetened coco powder

1 tablespoon ground ginger

1 tablespoon anise seed

1/2 tablespoon coriander

1 steak

coconut oil for cooking

1) Mix all ingredients besides steak and coconut oil together. This should give you enough for steak now, and some to save for later
2) Coat one side of your steak liberally with coffee rub, press in with your fingers and let sit for 10 minutes.
3) Cook steak in skillet or cast iron pan starting with rubbed side down until desired doneness - medium rare to rare for me! Eat! Go do something fun because dinner took you like 10 minutes to cook!