Tuscan Chicken Stew with Garlic Bread

Hi everyone, Sarah here -

It's starting to look and feel like fall here in Virginia and I'm not convinced it's ever going to stop raining.  Last weekend I made Tuscan Chicken Stew, which is delicious and comforting and relatively cheap to make.  It was the perfect meal for a rainy Sunday night.  It's a shame that my friend Mike is in Japan and therefore couldn't come over for dinner, because it's his favorite meal that I've ever made him.  So Mike, this one's for you.

Start with a package of chicken thighs.  The recipe calls for skinless, bone-in chicken thighs.  If you can find a package of skinless, bone-in thighs, good for you.  I couldn't find any, so I had to take the skin off of a bunch of regular chicken thighs.

Use a pair of chicken shears to cut away the skin from the thigh.  After making a few cuts, you should be able to peel away the skin from most of the thigh.

You can also use this opportunity to cut away some of the excess fat from the thighs. 

Heat some olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.

Season the chicken with salt and pepper and add it to the skillet, rounded side down.

Brown the chicken, in batches if necessary, about 4 minutes per side.  

While the chicken is browning, dice up one large onion.

And a few cloves of garlic. 

Once the chicken is browned, transfer it to a platter.

And add the onion and garlic into pot.

Add in a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes.

And a teaspoon of dried Italian seasoning.

Cook the onions, garlic and spices until slightly soft, about 5 minutes.

Add in a tablespoon or two of tomato paste.

Stir in the tomato paste and cook until brick red, about 1 minute.

Add in 1/2 cup of dry red wine.

Add the wine and use a wooden spoon to scrape up any brown bits that cling to the pan.

Bring to a boil and cook until syrupy, about 1 minute.

Meanwhile, open and drain a can of cannellini beans (or Great Northern beans, they work too), and add it to the pan.

Add in a 14-oz can of chopped tomatoes.

And then add in 3/4 cup of chicken broth.

Bring the mixture to a boil.

Nestle the chicken pieces in the stew, adding any collecting juices to the pan.  Simmer the stew, uncovered, until the chicken is cooked through, about 20 minutes.

While the stew is cooking, make some homemade garlic bread to eat with it.  Melt some butter in a pan.

Add in a few cloves of minced garlic.

Cut up a loaf of good Italian bread into thick slices.

Brush some garlic butter onto each slice.

Place each of the slices on a sheet pan.

And put in the broiler for a few minutes until it is golden brown.

After it has been simmering for 20 minutes, check the chicken thighs to see if they are cooked through.  Mine weren't fully cooked, so I had to leave them in for another 5 minutes.

Next add in about 4 cups of baby spinach leaves.  

Remember, do not be fooled by the quantity of raw spinach.  It will wilt down to nothing.

Finally, grate some pecorino or Parmesan cheese.

Stir the cheese into the stew and season with salt and black pepper to taste.  

Enjoy the stew!

Serve the stew in shallow bowls with the garlic bread.

Enjoy!  By the way, this recipe comes from "How To Boil Water", a Food Network cookbook that was one of the first ones I ever owned.  I highly recommend it for beginning cooks.

Tuscan Chicken Stew
1 onion
4 cloves garlic
1 15-oz can cannellini or Great Northern beans
8 bone-in skinless chicken thighs
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Pinch crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 cup dry red wine.
1 14-oz can chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup chicken broth
4 cups baby spinach leaves
1/2 cup freshly grated pecorino or Parmesan cheese

1. Chop the onions, smash and peel the garlic.  Rinse and drain the beans in a colander or strainer.

2. Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Pat chicken dry with paper towels and season all over with salt and black pepper.  Add oil to the Dutch oven.  When the oil is hot, add chicken, skinned (rounded) sides down, and brown, in batches if necessary, about 4 minutes per side.  Transfer to a platter.

3. Reduce the heat to medium, add the onion, garlic, red pepper flakes, and herbs; cook, stirring until onions are slightly soft, about 5 minutes.  Stir in the tomato paste and cook until brick red, about 1 minute.  Add the wine and use a wooden spoon to scrape up any brown bits that cling to the pan.  Bring to a boil and cook until syrupy, about 1 minute.  Add the beans, tomatoes, and chicken broth, and bring to a boil.  Nestle the chicken pieces in the stew, adding any collected juices to the pan.  Simmer the stew, uncovered, until the chicken is cooked through, about 20 minutes.

4. Add the spinach to the stew, cooking only until wilted, about 4 minutes.  Stir in the cheese and season with salt and black pepper to taste.    Serve in shallow bowls.

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Well presumably you've read Sarah's list of reasons why we haven't blogged recently. Allow me to take this opportunity to add one more...

5). Rebecca was sick 

So I decided to take advantage of the situation and blog about my favorite go to recipe when I'm sick; Chicken Noodle Soup. There's really nothing better when you have a cold or flu then chicken noodle soup so this recipe has been made a lot in our apartment in recent weeks. 

It's easy enough to open up a can of soup and heat it up in the microwave, but in less than an hour you can make a soup from that's far better than anything you can buy in can. And the best part is you probably have everything you need already in your pantry. 

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Dice up two boneless skinless chicken breasts. Season as desired with ground black pepper and salt. 

Heat approximately 2 tbsp. of olive oil in a deep pot. Dice up 2-3 cloves of garlic (let's be honest, in our apartment the more garlic the better). Add chicken and cook through.   

Meanwhile roughly chop up 2 medium onions, 3-4 stalks of celery and 3 medium carrots. This combination of vegetables are known in french cooking as a Mirepoix, and form the basis for many soups, stews and other dishes. 

Add the diced veggies to the pot and sauté till they're tender, about 5-10 mins. Season the chicken and veggies with a tsp. of ground thyme and a bit of dried rosemary. (Note: If you have fresh herbs, wait to add them till you add the liquid). 

Pour in a 32 oz. box of chicken broth and 6 cups of water. Add a bay leaf. 

Bring to a simmer for about 30 minutes. 

Fill a separate pot of water and bring to a boil. Add 8 oz of elbow macaroni (or your favorite type of any other pasta!).  

Once the noodles have cooked, strain them and add them to the pot with the soup. 

Serve and Enjoy! 

Chicken Noodle Soup: 

2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts

2-3 cloves of Garlic

2 Medium Onions, chopped 

3 stalks of Celery, chopped 

3 Carrots, chopped

1 tsp. ground thyme

2 tbsp. olive oil 

32 oz box of Chicken Broth 

8 oz of Elbow Macaroni

Dried Rosemary 

Heat olive oil in a deep pot. Add diced chicken breasts and diced garlic. Meanwhile dice up carrots, onions and celery. Once the chicken is cooked add in the vegetables and sauté for 5 to 10 minutes, until veggies are tender.   Season mixture with rosemary and thyme. Pour in a 32oz box of chicken stock. Stir in 6 cups of water. Add in a bay leaf. Bring to a boil, and simmer for approximately 30 minutes. 

In a separate pot bring water to a boil and cook 8oz of elbow macaroni. Drain pasta and add to soup. 

Serve and Enjoy!  

Sirloin Steak with Portobello Mushroom Pan Sauce

Oh blog, I have been neglecting you!  So here's my list of excuses for why neither Becca nor I have posted in almost a month:

1) I went to Switzerland for 6 days.  Wasn't doing much cooking there.  Wasn't really doing much eating there either because I was running around so much and bottles of water cost $7 in Zurich.  It's freakishly expensive, seriously.

2) I returned from Switzerland and became extremely busy at work because we had a board meeting and two conferences to prepare for in a two week time period.  Becca was also extremely busy at work because of an upcoming board meeting and some technology merger thing in her office which meant that she had to work from 8 am - 11 pm for an entire weekend in addition to her work during the week.

3) I then became extremely ill from the flu and could do nothing but sleep for most of a week.  I can't remember the last time I was that exhausted.

4) After recovering from the flu, I remembered that I was taking the GRE in less than 2 weeks.  My day-to-day life then became the following: 6:30 am - Get up, get ready for work.  7:30 am - Leave for work, study math and vocabulary on the metro.  8:30 am - Arrive at work, and do work for 9 or so hours.  6:00 pm - Leave work, study math and vocabulary on the metro.  7:00 pm - Throw something together for dinner.  8:00 pm - Study math and vocabulary.  Midnight - Sleep.

Yesterday, September 23rd was the big day.  I finally took the GRE.  It's all over.  Hallelujah.  I won't know for sure how I did until I get my scores in November, but I think it went well.  And now that it's over, I can finally reclaim some sort of normalcy in my life.  And normalcy in my life means, back to cooking.  Finally.  No more eating takeout food, scrambled eggs, pasta with jarred pasta sauce, and leftover pasta for dinner.  I'm so excited to cook real food again!

I actually have cooked a few legitimate meals over the past few weeks and taken photos of them for blog entries but I haven't had time to put them up.  I'll do that soon I promise.

Anyways, I came home from the GRE yesterday, made a celebratory steak dinner, and opened one of my "nice"  bottles of wine.  Given my salary, "nice" means that the bottle of wine cost more than $15.  Even anything more than about $10 is a bit of a splurge for me.  This bottle cost about $20ish.  It was delicious.

So...I'm gonna quit rambling now and start with the recipe.

Sirloin Steak with Portobello Mushroom Pan Sauce


Melt a tablespoon of butter in a pan.

Next, grab a couple of steaks.  I used sirloin tip steaks because they were on sale at Whole Foods.  You could probably use whatever you have on hand.  Note: get some better steaks than what I ended up with.  Mine were a little tough.  Probably why they were on sale.  One day I will make enough money to buy really nice, delicious steaks.  That day is not today.

Anyways, sear your steaks in the butter.  Mine were thin so they only took a few minutes.

While the steaks are cooking, chop up some portobello mushrooms.  You could also use Cremini mushrooms, or I suppose regular button mushrooms but I really prefer Cremini/Portobello mushrooms because they have more flavor and better texture, in my opinion.

Once the steaks are cooked to your desired level of done-ness, remove them to a plate.

Put the mushrooms into the pan with the steak drippings along with a couple more tablespoons of butter and saute them until they are soft.

Once the mushrooms are almost done cooking, add in 2-3 cloves of minced garlic and cook until it is golden brown.

Then add in 1/3 cup of red wine.  Yes, the bottle of wine pictured below is half gone already.  I basically started drinking from the moment I returned home from the GRE testing center.  Please don't mind the mess in my kitchen.  I haven't had time to clean either.  That's on my to-do list for today.

Then add about 1/4 cup of beef broth to the pan with the wine.

Scrape up all the drippings from the bottom of the pan and mix them into the sauce.

Next add in about 1 tablespoon of dijon mustard.  Whisk it together with the rest of the sauce.

Bring the sauce to a boil and then let it reduce a bit.  Then add in about a quarter cup of heavy cream.  (This is a celebration dinner, after all.)

Whisk it all together and then add the cooked steaks back into the pan to reheat a bit, along with all the juices on the plate.

Serve the steaks with a baked potato, and spoon the sauce over both.  And of course, also finish off the bottle of wine.

Enjoy everybody :-)  Chicken & Chorizo Paella and North Carolina-style Barbecue Pulled Pork will be up soon.

Sarah

Sirloin Steak with Portobello Mushroom Pan Sauce


2 sirloin tip steaks
3 tablespoons of butter
1 cup chopped portobello mushroom caps
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup dry red wine
1/4 cup beef broth
1 tbsp. dijon mustard
1/4 cup heavy cream

Melt one tablespoon of butter in a skillet and sear steaks until cooked to desired level.  Remove steaks to a plate.

Add the portobello mushrooms to the pan with the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and saute until they are soft.  When the mushrooms are almost cooked, add in the garlic and saute until golden brown.

Add in red wine and beef broth and use a wooden spoon to scrape up all the drippings in the bottom of the pan.  Then whisk in 1 tbsp dijon mustard.  Bring the sauce to a boil and allow it to reduce a bit.

Whisk in 1/4 cup heavy cream and simmer for another minute or so.  Add in the steaks to reheat a bit if needed, and serve.  Serving suggestion: Serve with baked potatoes, and spoon sauce over both.