Chicken w/ Mushroom Gravy

So, a staple in any kitchen should be chicken. I always buy what's on sale, leg quarters, thighs, drumsticks...whatever, it's a protein you can cook so many ways and very affordable. I especially love the bone-in breast. It's less expensive from it's boneless counterpart and has far less chances of coming out dry and is more flavorful because the bone helps it stay moist and has tons of flavor. The problem with chicken is that it's known to be the boring meat. My family and I love fried chicken dipped in gravy, especially from a well-known fried chicken chain now offering grilled options for the health conscious. My variation cooks the chicken in the oven and adds mushrooms to the gravy because frankly, I love mushrooms and it gives it a little gourmet twist. Here's a great recipe I made for dinner last night and it was a hit...even with the kids.

Chicken w/ Mushroom Gravy

1 Whole chicken - precut to eight pieces or 4 bone-in chicken breasts

1/2 of a LG green bell pepper - diced

1 medium spanish (or white) onion - diced

1 80z container of whole white button mushrooms - slice

2 TBL spoons of flour

2.5 cups of chicken stock (if no chicken stock, use water with 1/2 of a chicken buillion cube)

2 TBL of kosher salt

Pepper

1 tsp of dried oregano

2 dried bay leaves

Secret Ingredient : 1 TBL of Kikkoman soysauce...YES soysauce!

_______________________________________________________________

Heat a 14" sauce pan with vegetable oil on high heat. I used my fave pot that I use for everything from frying to making stews. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Use as little or as much pepper to your taste. Brown the chicken SKIN SIDE DOWN. The point is to simply brown the pieces until it's golden and crispy, not to cook it all the way. Once all the chicken pieces are golden brown, place the chicken pieces on a cookie sheet and roast it in the oven for 20-30 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches at least 140 degrees. (BUY A MEAT THERMOMETER! I promise you'll use it time and time again!)

Turn down the heat on the sauce pan immediately to medium to low-medium heat. Add the diced green peppers and onions with 1 tsp of salt 1/2 tsp of pepper and 1 tsp of dried oregano & bay leaves. Saute for about 2 minutes. Add the flour and stir for another minute and until all the veggies are coated with the flour. Add chicken stock and turn heat up to medium-high heat until the liquid is boiling. This is a very important step, because the flour will not thicken the gravy unless brought to this boiling point first.

Once the sauce hits it's boiling stage, turn the heat back down to medium and add sliced mushrooms and soysauce. The soysauce is an unexpected & unusual ingredient but like worchershire, it gives the gravy an great depth and makes you just go..."Hmmm, what is that?" I'll tell you, my husband was surprised when I told him I put soysauce on his gravy! Keep the gravy at low heat until all the vegetables have become tender and has incorporated with your gravy. When the chicken is cooked all the way through, plate and pour as much or as little gravy over the top as you desire.

Maternity Leave

I can't believe my last post was in October 2009! Life has been VERY hectic since then and I feel bad that I haven't had the time to update my blog. But, here I am now doing what I can. :)

Next Friday, Feb 5Th, 2010 my OB will be inducing me, meaning that she'll be basically forcing this baby out of me coz I cannot take it anymore! My official due date is on Feb 11Th. This baby already weighs 1 lb heavier than my other 2 babies when they were born, and me being petite, let's just say I'm very uncomfortable carrying around all this extra weight. With me now on maternity leave for about 2 weeks already, I have found myself extremely unproductive, which is NOT what I envisioned myself during this time off from work. I have been in bed lots of the time and finding myself not having any energy to pick up after the kids...or myself! It's taken a toll on me because I am usually always on the go. My mind wants me to get up off my butt and do something, but physically I cannot. The only time I find myself excited to get off my behind is when I'm cooking...surprise, surprise...

Last night for dinner, I made an easy shrimp in garlic & olive oil accompanied by an even easier brown rice salad. It was quick to make and the whole family loved it...except for Sofie who kept saying that the shrimp were scary. LOL. These days, as a mom, career woman and self proclaimed foodie, I have to try and fit my food style(s) into my busy lifestyle. I have many (chef) friends in the food industry who are awesome cooks. However, when I see them cook outside of the professional kitchen, I die at the amount of time it takes for them to make a meal! I'm no professional chef, actually I'd kill to go to Kendall College and study professional techniques. Anyway, my meals usually take anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour and I promise you, you'll be blown away (most of the time). I say "most of the time" because I have tried out a few recipes on my family that didn't turn out so great. But I have an awesome repertoire of unwritten recipes using basic ingredients that most home cooks (should) have in their pantry at any given day. And I hope to start sharing them more often...

GARLIC SHRIMP - cook time 10 minutes

1 LB of peeled & deveined shrimp (frozen or fresh)
4-6 GLOVES of finely diced garlic
1 WHOLE shallot or 1/4 of a red onion (if you do not have shallots) finely diced
4-5 TBL spoons of extra virgin olive oil
2 TBL spoons of unsweetened butter
2-3 TBL spoons of your fave white wine (optional)
1/2 lemon for lemon juice
1 TBL spoon of Italian (flat) parsley or 1/2 TBL spoon of dried parsley (if you do not have fresh available)
Salt & Pepper to taste
Crushed red pepper flakes to taste
_______________________________________________________________

Heat a non-stick pan (medium high heat) with olive oil and butter. As soon as the butter melts, saute the shallots (or red onion) with the garlic until the shallots turn semi-translucent. Turn down the heat to medium to avoid burning the garlic. (If you are using DRIED parsley, put in the pan at this point).

Place all the shrimp in the pan and saute, carefully tossing or using tongs to mix with all the garlic, shallots and olive oil & butter, then put in the crushed red pepper flakes and white wine. Add a pinch of salt and pepper to taste taste. Saute until the shrimp are light pink on all sides.

Once the shrimp have turned pink on both sides, squeeze half a lemon and sprinkle parsley on top. Carefully toss all ingredients together and serve.


BROWN RICE SALAD - cooking time w/ already steamed rice 10 minutes

1 cup steamed brown rice (use orzo pasta or couscous if you prefer or do not have brown rice available)
2 cups of fresh flat leaf spinach
1/2 of green bell pepper - small diced
2 Roma tomatoes - small diced
(Use variations of your fave vegetables like zucchini, red bell peppers, heirloom tomatoes, kalamata olives, asparagus...whatever you want! Also try grilling or roasting the veggies if you have the time)
1/4 cup of Parmesan or feta cheese
4 TBL spoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 TBL of balsamic vinegar
Salt & Pepper to taste.
(Some people LOVE to use their fave store bought Italian dressing in lieu of creating a dressing) Do not use additional salt & pepper if using store bought dressing. It has enough sodium already in it.
_______________________________________________________________

Simply toss all diced vegetables with the brown rice while the rice is still warm. I find that while the rice is still warm, it soaks up more of the flavors of the dressing and wilts the spinach a little. Then, toss the olive oil, balsamic vinegar and Parmesan cheese until well distributed and chill for 5 minutes and serve.

If planning a get-together or a potluck, this salad is best made the day before or a couple hours ahead of the event to let all the flavors truly meld together.

Dinner Date...Bistro Campagne

Wow, motherhood and a career has got me so tied up lately that I haven't had the time to add any new posts to my blog. So, here I am again finding the time to quickly enter in my thoughts while the kids are busy watching Spongebob Squarepants. I have recently changed companies and back with Panera Bread as a manager. Panera is a great company to work for. Great, freshly made breads and pastries that I can be proud of, close to home, great work/life balance, everything that I can ask for in a restaurant company at this point in my life (in my family's lives). Now, I actually have the time to visit restaurants that I've wanted to visit with my husband!

Our last dinner date was in Lincoln Square, a neighborhood where we used to live in Chicago and love so much for it's charm, family friendliness and far enough proximity from the hussle and bussle of downtown, yet close enough for a 20-30 minute (and scenic) Brown Line ride on the L.
We visited a small and quaint French bistro called Bistro Campagne. The wine list is small, all French, of course. The menu concentrates on organic and local ingredients. Chef Michael Altenberg focuses on simple and classic French faire and is a bit of a celebrity in the neighborhood. Almost every other table were asking if he was in the restaurant as they were being sat. My husband and I wanted to meet him, but forgot to as were indulging in each other's company, wine and food!

Our first course, we ordered the mussels in white wine, very classic. It was good. I've had my share of mussels and what I love about this preparation is the abundance of garlic, white wine and shallots. The sauce was great and the bread it came with was awesome to dipping and soaking all the juices. I thought of also ordering the roasted bone marrow as I L.O.V.E the richness and melt in your mouth goodness of a great bone marrow, but decided not to. Maybe next time. For our main course, my husband ordered the sauteed white fish. The portion was perfect, not too big, not to small, and the presentation was simple and elegant. Marvin absolutely loved what he ordered and was extremely satisfied. I ordered the roasted braised rabbit. This was the very first time I have ever tried rabbit and I was soooo happy that I had a great experience! This rabbit was adorned with a FABULOUS mustard sauce, roasted potatoes and brussell sprouts. It was tender, not gamy at all and delish. I would definitely recommend that entree to anyone. Of course, for dessert, we ordered a creme brulee. It was perfect, it better be, being that this was a French bistro. I love creme brulee, simple and awesome.

All in all it was a great evening. Marvin and I needed time alone to just chit chat and be ourselves, not Mama or Papa, just Marvin and Johanna on a dinner date.

www.bistrocampagne.com
4518 N Lincoln AveChicago, IL 60625-2103(773) 271-6100
Reservations @ www.opentable.com

Pork Loin Leftovers

So, it's my day off and I have so many things to do. I have to tackle the pile of never-ending laundry, go grocery shopping with kids in tow, clean up the house as best as I can and make dinner. Thank God when I woke up this morning, I wasn't nearly as nauseaus as I normally am being 3 months pregnant =).

Yesterday, I roasted a pre-marinated lemon-garlic pork loin with potatoes and green beans. There's almost half of it leftover and I KNOW that the kids and hubby are not going to eat it again, especially because my husband ate it for lunch also. As I was out and about all day doing my list of chores, I thought....PORK LETTUCE WRAPS!! Genius. And this is something anyone can do with leftover chicken, beef, or shrimp.

LEFTOVER PORK LOIN

TURNED INTO....

Pork Lettuce Wraps

*Boston Lettuce

*2 small carrots

*1 white onion

*1 can of bamboo shoots

*Garlic gloves ( as little or as many as you'd like)

*1 TBL of fresh ginger

*1 bunch of scallions

*2 TBL of vegetable oil

*1 tsp of smooth peanut butter

*1 TBL of rice wine vinegar

*2 tsp of soy sauce

Carefully tear the lettuce and wash each leaf, patting it dry with a paper towel. Dice the carrots, onion and scallions. Mince the garlic and ginger. Cut the pork loin in to 1-2 inch strips and drain the bamboo shoots.

In a hot pan heat the veg oil. Saute the carrots, onion, ginger and garlic, until the onions are translucent. Add the sliced pork loin and heat through. Add the rice wine vinegar and soy sauce. Create an open area in the middle of the pan and add the peanut butter, mixing it with the liquids in the pan, and then incorporating the pork and vegetable mixture. Cook for 3 minutes. Add the bamboo shoots and scallions. Cook for 5 minutes.

Scoop about 1 TBL of the pork and vegetable mixture in a lettuce cup and ENJOY!

Why Blog?

In the sea of bloggers, wanna-be writers and critics, etc, why did I decide to create this blog well...about myself?

I am yet at another turning point in my life. I am expecting my third child and a working mother with an "average" American family trying to make it in this world. As my husband and I anticipate our new baby's coming next year, I am reflecting about what changes have happened in my life since I graduated high school. I remember being such a foodie even before the term was even invented. Growing up in an Indian-Filipino home and living in San Francisco, I knew and learned a lot about food at an early age. My girlfriends and I used to save up our allowances to go out and eat in the coolest places. When we all started to get jobs, we went to the hottest restaurants in town to check out the scene. We lived for it, I live for it. Getting older, I ended up in the restaurant industry, it was so exciting to be a part of what I loved every single day. Then motherhood came.

As a mom with 2 kids, I don't exactly have all the time (and money) in the world to spend checking out the newest and hottest restaurants in town anymore. My cooking style has evolved from elaborate meals to 20-minute meals (take that Rachel Ray!!!). But my love of food, the feeling it brings to people, the importance of how it is an vital part of living is still in me. I wanted a place where I can share my cooking ideas, recipes, restaurant tricks, and experiences to people, and I have found that maybe, blogging might be a great way to do that...maybe even therapeautic. We'll see what happens.