Chicken » Simple Recipes

BBQ CHICKEN DRUMSTISCK WITH ORZO PASTA

Aug 022010

This is a very easy and simple recipe for weekday dinner. I like to bake the drumstick before placing on the grill, it is faster and cooks evenly. Not to mention that I don’t have to keep “babysitting” the chicken on the grill afraid that it will turn into a charcoal…while the chicken is in the oven I can prepare the side dish. The reason that I use drumstick is because the skin of the chicken gets roasted and taste so good crispy…I know, I know it is not healthy, but once in a while…

Ingredients:

Chicken
3~4 garlic cloves finely minced
1 teaspoon oregano
¼ cup fresh basil finely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon cooking wine
8 chicken drumsticks

Orzo
1 cup orzo pasta
2~3 garlic cloves chopped finely
1 ½ tablespoon butter
2 cups string green beans boiled and cut
Salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese
Pine nuts to garnish

Method:

Chicken
Mix all the ingredients together with the chicken and let it sit for approximately ½ hour. Place the chicken drumstick in the oven for approximately 20 minutes at 350F. In the meantime prepare the orzo pasta.

Orzo Pasta
Cook the orzo pasta as indicated by the instruction of the package, drain and set aside. In a small pan heat the butter, add the garlic and the string beans, sautee for a few minutes until the beans are soft. Add the orzo pasta, salt and pepper to taste, mix gently and remove from the heat.

Once the chicken has been in the oven for approximately 20 minutes, remove carefully and set them on the BBQ grill enough to give the drumstick a roasted color…golden color. Remove and serve with the orzo pasta topped with grated parmesan cheese and pine nuts.

Did you know that orzo pasta was originally made from barley? Today orzo is made with wheat semolina, same as hard wheat used in many Italian pasta.

EASY BLENDER CHICKEN PIE

Chicken, One Dish Meals, Picnic Online 88 Responses »

Jun 272010

This is a chicken pie recipe that is very simple and yet savory, very popular is Brazil due to its simplicity and adaptability. By the way, I am bringing this pie to Louise’s picnic at Months of Edible Celebrations. July is picnic month!

A- Almond Joy Pie (Marjie) @ Modern Day Ozzie & Harriet

B- Baked Beans (Kasha) @ Grub and Stuff

C-Chocolate Picnic Cake Janet @ Dying for Chocolate

D-Dutch Funnel Cake (Julie) @ Sporadic Cook

And my letter is “E”…and I am bringing EASY BLENDER CHICKEN PIE!

The chicken filling can be substitute for only vegetables ( in case you are vegetarian), ground meat and so on. As a matter of fact a different version of this post was one of my very first post.
I like this dish because again it fits in a “One Dish Meal” category.
It is good when the pie is just out of the oven, or for the next day lunch by warming up slightly at the microwave or cold.

Ingredients:

Chicken Filling
2chicken breast, cooked and shredded
1 can of stewed tomatoes
¼ cup chopped black olives
2 cups frozen bell peppers (tri color)
1 medium onion, sliced
½ bunch of cilantro, finely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Batter
2½ cup milk
¾ cup canola oil
3 large eggs
4 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1½ cup all purpose flour
1 cup corn starch

Method:

Chicken Filling
Sautee the onion in the olive oil, add the shredded chicken, black olive, stewed tomato, and the bell peppers, let it cook until the bell peppers are cooked. Add salt and pepper to taste and add the cilantro to the chicken. and remove from the heat. Set the chicken filling aside, by letting it cool. In the meantime prepare the dish by coating with oil and flour, use a oven safe dish (I used a pyrex).

Batter
Mix all the ingredients in the blender. Preheat the oven to 350F.

Assembly
Pour half of the batter into the pyrex, then gently spread the chicken filling into the batter, make sure that is evenly spread. Cover the chicken with the remaining batter. Bake for approximately 50 minutes at 350F, until a toothpick come out clean. Serve warm.

CHICKEN WITH ASPARAGUS

Chicken 70 Responses »

Jun 212010

This is a very easy and simple dish which the only two main ingredients are combined: chicken breast and asparagus.

Ingredients:
1 chicken breast cut in small cubes
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
½ tablespoon soy sauce
2 ½ tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
½ tablespoon corn starch
1 bunch asparagus cut in approximately 1 ~ 1½ in

Method:
Marinate the chicken breast with the garlic, soy sauce, ½ tablespoon olive oil, salt, pepper and corn starch. Let it sit for 5~10 minutes.
Heat the remaining olive oil and stir fry the chicken breast for approximately 4~5 minutes. Once the chicken cubes are done, remove from heat and set aside. In the same pan add the asparagus and stir fry for another 2 minutes, add the chicken and stir gently. Serve hot with white rice.

Did you know that asparagus contain high levels of antioxidants and is very low in calories? In culinary, asparagus is used around the world in several ways, stir-fried, steamed, boiled, grilled and even raw.

GRILLED CHICKEN WITH PINEAPPLE JUICE

BBQ, Chicken 63 Responses »

Feb 152010

As I mention last week, for this grilled chicken I used some of the juice from the pineapple cheesecake to marinate these chicken breasts. The grilled chicken breast are very tender due to the pineapple juice which contain enzymes that break the protein in chicken, therefore tenderize the chicken and gives them a nice flavor as well.

Ingredients:
3 chicken breasts split in half
3~4 cloves garlic mince
½ cup pineapple juice
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
Parsley finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
Add all the above ingredients to the chicken breast and refrigerate fro at least 2 hours. Grill the chicken breast and serve hot.

SOUP USING THANKSGIVING LEFTOVER

Chicken, Leftover, Soup 54 Responses »

Nov 302009

I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving, we had to go to two Thanksgiving feast…first to my husband’s family and then to my family’s dinner. No need to mention that was too much food.

At my mother in law we took all the food there and it was a kind of traditional Thanksgiving meal: turkey, mashed potato, potato salad, gravy, yams, cranberry sauce, dinner rolls, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cupcakes and so on. At my side of family is was a little more elaborate, we had the traditional food and prime rib, fried noodles, stuffed mushrooms, egg rolls, California rolls, baked salmon, devil’s egg, vegetarian dishes, and lots and lots of different desserts. Anyway, I brought back from my mother in law some left over of the mashed potato and the broth from the turkey. So the next day, after two big meals we decided to go light, I made a soup using the turkey broth and the mashed potato.

soup-with-thanksgiving-leftover

Ingredients:

2 cups of turkey broth, remove the fat that sit on the upper layer
¼ cup barley
2 chicken breasts
3 carrots cut is small pieces
3 stalk of celery cut in small pieces
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup mashed potato
1 bay leave
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Cover the chicken breast with water and add the bay leave, cook until the chicken is tender, remove from the water and let it cool down. Use the water to cook the barley until soft. In the meantime shred the chicken and set aside. Add the turkey broth to the barley and the carrots. Let it cook for a few minutes and add the celery, corn and the shredded chicken. Let is cook for 2-3 minutes and add the mashed potato, make sure that you mix well so the mashed potato dissolve in the soup. Add salt and pepper to taste.
You can use leftover turkey instead of chicken…
It is so yummie with the mashed potato, it gives the soup a cloudy color and light texture.