Recipe Redo - Chicken with Apples

I first posted this recipe waaaaay back in 2007 so I thought it was time for an update. For starters, the original photo is cringe worthy but I've also tweaked the prep a bit since then.



Quick reminder of this recipe's origin - my mom first made this recipe in the summer of 1973. This was the first summer (while she was in college) that she didn't go home. She was looking for a recipe to make, probably for a boyfriend, and came across this one. She doesn't remember where she saw it, but her copy calls for wine instead of apple juice. One time she was making it for a group of people and didn't have wine so she decided to substitute apple juice. We all prefer it that way, but you can decide. This is an authentic tried and true recipe for going on 44 years!

She also claims it makes a knock-out chicken salad the next day but I've never had enough leftover to try it.

Chicken with Apples

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts (or 2 large/4 small thighs and 2 breasts)
1 medium onion, cut into large dice
2 celery stalks, cut into large dice
1 large Red Delicious apple, cut into large dice
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup apple juice (or white wine)
1 cup sour cream
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Heat the oil in a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and brown on both sides.

Place the chicken in a large baking dish and cover with the onion, celery and apple. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of oil from the skillet and add the flour, stirring until it's incorporated. Add the apple juice and whisk until thickened. Remove the skillet from the heat and add the sour cream. Season with salt and pepper to taste and pour over the chicken.

Cover the baking dish with foil and bake for an hour. Uncover and bake another 30 minutes.

When the chicken is done, remove to a plate and cover the baking dish to keep the sauce warm. Once the chicken has cooled enough to handle it (I usually put the plate in the fridge for 30 minutes), remove the meat and pull into bite-size pieces with your fingers, discarding the skin and bones. Toss the chicken pieces with the sauce.

Serve over egg noodles.

Indian Spiced Chicken Stew with Potatoes

My friend Lidia recently recommended this recipe for Indian Spiced Chicken Stew with Potatoes. I couldn't wait to make it, but not while it was still 85+ degrees. I'm one of those people who can only eat cold-weather food when it's cold. Soups/stews, chili, hearty baked pastas...all too heavy for me in the warmer months. As soon as the weather cooled off, though, this went right on the menu.



Since this takes upwards of 3 hours to cook, I decided to make it on Saturday for Sunday lunch with my parents. I figured the stew would only get better sitting overnight and I was right. This was INCREDIBLE. The subtle Indian spices, the creamy, cool sour cream, the aromatic rice and the buttery naan were just fantastic together. I doubled the recipe and we barely had enough for lunches the next day. So, so good.



This is one dish I'll be making often now that winter is coming (sob!)

Indian Spiced Stew with Chicken and Potatoes
As seen on Seasons & Suppers

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 large skin-on/bone-in chicken breasts
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 small onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon finely grated ginger
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons garam masala
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground turmeric
1 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 - 3/4 teaspoon cayennne pepper (I left this out)
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth (plus a bit more thinning, if necessary)
3/4 cup tomato purée
1/2 cup heavy cream (I used half-and-half)
1/2 pound small Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into wedges
Chopped fresh cilantro/parsley/mint, for serving
Sour cream or plain yogurt, for serving
Basmati rice
Buttered naan

Heat vegetable oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper and place skin side down in to the pot. Cook until golden brown on both sides, flipping halfway through, about 10 minutes. Transfer chicken to a plate.

To the same pot, add the onion, garlic, and ginger. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is very soft and golden brown, about 8–10 minutes. Add tomato paste, garam masala, cumin, turmeric, coriander, salt, cayenne (if using) and cook, stirring often, until tomato paste begins to darken, about 4 minutes.

Add the chicken, broth, tomato purée, and cream to the pot. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, until chicken is almost falling off the bone and liquid is slightly thickened, about 1 1/2 hours. Remove chicken to a plate and let cool before removing the skin and bones. Cut or pull chicken into bite-sized pieces. Set aside.

Add the potatoes to the pot and cook, partially covered, until fork-tender, about 30-45 minutes. Stir the stew every so often to make sure the sauce hasn't thickened too much and potatoes aren't sticking to the bottom of the pot. If sauce is too thick, thin with a bit more chicken stock. When the potatoes are tender, add the chicken back to the pot and stir to combine.

Before serving, sprinkle with chopped cilantro, parsley or mint. To serve, spoon stew into a shallow bowl with basmati rice and/or naan on the side. Serve with a large dollop of sour cream or yogurt.

NOTE: This can (and should) be made ahead. Keep it refrigerated, for up to 3 days, in the Dutch oven you used to make it. Just re-heat over low heat when ready to serve, thinning with a bit of chicken broth, if necessary.

No Peek Beef Tips

It's no secret that I hate winter, mainly because I really dislike being cold. If I had unlimited resources, I'd keep my house at a balmy 73 degrees all season long. In fact, I have fond memories of the apartment we had before we bought our house. Our rent included heat and air conditioning and since the buildings were old they required us to keep the heat at 72 or higher in the winter so the pipes didn't freeze. We used to walk around the apartment in shorts and t-shirts. It was glorious.

But I digress.

This recipe for No Peek Beef Tips has been on my radar for a while now, but I kept putting off making it due to the ingredients. Yes, I'm a bit of an ingredient snob and the various powders and cream of soup didn't sound appealing. The weather finally took a nosedive this weekend and the cold and wind had me craving comfort food. I also needed something easy for Sunday dinner with my parents.



I didn't tell them what was in this until after they'd tried it. It was raves all around the table before I came clean about the powders and cream of soup. We all agreed that it didn't taste processed at all, nor did we feel like it was overly salty. In fact, if I hadn't said anything they would have believed it was all from scratch. Score!

The recipe couldn't be simpler. I chose to buy a chuck roast and cut it myself, partially because it was cheaper and partially because the butcher at the supermarket told me the roast would be more tender. I replaced the canned mushrooms in the original recipe with sliced white mushrooms and the rest is just mixing and baking. The house smelled glorious as this cooked and we couldn't wait to eat. I served the beef and gravy over buttered egg noodles with some garlicky broccoli rabe on the side.

Even if you have an aversion to these convenience items, I urge you to give this recipe a try. I was pleasantly surprised and I know you will be, too.

No Peek Beef Tips
As seen on Mommy's Kitchen

2 1/2-3 lb beef chuck roast or chuck eye, trimmed of fat and cubed
12 ounces white button mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1 10.5 oz can cream of mushroom soup
1 0.87 oz packet brown gravy mix
1 1.25 oz packet Lipton dry onion soup mix
1 cup water

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Place cubed meat and mushrooms in a 9 x 13 baking dish.

In a large bowl mix the soup, gravy mix, onion soup mix and water together. Pour over the meat and toss to combine. Cover the dish tightly with foil. Bake for 3 hours. Remember, no peeking!

Serve with buttered egg noodles, rice, or mashed potatoes.

Braised Pork Ribs with Rigatoni

Another meal prepared by SP for Sunday dinner with my parents. He loves cooking this time of year because he's really into long-simmering, hearty, comfort food. We're big fans of Lidia Bastianich, so he turned to one of her cookbooks when deciding what to make. He chose Braised Pork Ribs with Rigatoni because we had a rack of ribs in the freezer that needed to be used up, but when he read through the recipe he realized we'd need more ribs. D'oh. Oh well, we'll just have to make these again.



He made this while Baby Girl and I were away for the weekend, so we didn't get to smell the delicious aroma throughout the house as it cooked. But the end result...man, oh man. The meat was so tender you could just lightly pull on the bone and it would slide right out. Delicious. Comforting. Hearty. Everything you want in a Fall/Winter meal.

SP had to make two adjustments to the recipe - we can't easily find San Marzano tomatoes so he just used two cans of crushed tomatoes. He also couldn't find pickled cherry peppers, so he used banana pepper rings. Both worked just fine.

Braised Pork Ribs with Rigatoni
As seen in Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen

One whole rack (about 4 pounds) pork spare ribs
salt and freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 large yellow onions, sliced (about 3 cups)
8 garlic cloves, peeled
6 pickled cherry peppers, stemmed, seeded and quartered (can also use mild banana pepper rings)
Two 35-ounce cans plum tomatoes (San Marzano) with their liquid, seeded and crushed (or 2 28-ounce cans crushed tomatoes)
2 bay leaves
6 sprigs fresh thyme
2 to 3 cups hot water, or as needed
1 pound rigatoni
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
2/3 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for serving

Cut the rack of spare ribs between the bones into single ribs (or ask your butcher to do this for you.) Season the rib pieces with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy braising pan over medium heat. Add as many of the ribs as will fit without touching. Cook, turning occasionally, until browned on all sides, about 10 minutes. Remove the ribs, drain on a baking sheet lined with paper towel. Repeat with the remaining ribs. Adjust the temperature throughout the browning, so the fat in the pan is sizzling, but the pieces of pork that stick to the pan don’t burn.

Pour off all but about 4 tablespoons of fat from the casserole. Add the onions, garlic and cherry peppers and cook, stirring, until the onions are wilted and caramelized, about 4 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, bay leaves and thyme. Bring to a boil, scraping the pan to loosen the brown bits stuck to the bottom. Tuck the spare ribs into the tomato sauce, season lightly with salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Adjust the heat to simmering and cook, turning the spare ribs in the sauce occasionally, until the ribs are fork-tender, about 2 hours. Ladle some of the hot water into the casserole from time to time as necessary to keep the ribs covered with liquid.

To serve: When the ribs are almost tender, cook pasta according to package directions.

Drain the pasta, return it to the pot and spoon in enough of the spare rib sauce to generously coat the pasta. Toss in the parsley and bring the sauce and pasta to a boil, tossing to coat the pasta with sauce. Check the seasoning, adding salt and pepper if necessary. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in 2/3 cup grated cheese. Transfer the pasta to a warm platter or individual plates and top with the spare ribs. Spoon a little of the remaining sauce over the pasta and serve immediately, passing additional sauce and grated cheese separately.

Chicken Stew with White Beans and Spinach

I started this post more than a year ago. I feel terrible for not sharing the recipe sooner, especially for such a superficial reason. See, I didn't like the picture I took. Silly, right? I hope you can forgive me.

Winter is coming. And no, I don't mean that as a Game of Thrones reference. It may not be too bad now, but the cold and the dark are coming soon, along with snow and ice. This is my least favorite time of year. But this Chicken Stew with White Beans and Spinach is comfort in a bowl. I will probably make this once a month until April because it's just that good.

^^^ That's the picture I took a year ago and didn't like.

SP made this last night for Sunday dinner and doubled the recipe. We served it over rice with crusty buttered bread for dipping. The rice was the perfect accompaniment - I highly recommend serving it that way. The rice soaks up the sauce beautifully and, come on, rice and beans are a match made in heaven. Doubling the recipe worked well for 4 adults and 1 child. We all seriously loved it and, bonus, there were plenty of leftovers for lunch. I imagine this would freeze well if you wanted to portion out meals for later.

This is truly outstanding and I can't thank Elly enough.

Chicken Stew with White Beans and Spinach
As seen on Elly Says Opa!

3 slices bacon, chopped
4 chicken thighs (bone-in, if you can find it, but boneless/skinless are fine)
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup chicken broth
a couple dashes of crushed red pepper
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon oregano
1 can cannellini or other white beans, drained and rinsed
4 cups fresh spinach
salt and pepper
Cooked rice and crusty bread, for serving

Cook the bacon in a Dutch oven until crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Leave the fat in the pot.

Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Over medium-high heat, sear the chicken on both sides. Remove from the pot.

Add the onions to the pot and cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in the garlic and once the garlic becomes fragrant, stir in the tomato paste. Cook for 1 minute.

Add the wine to deglaze, scraping up any brown bits from the bottom and sides of the pot. Cook for about 2 minutes, then add the chicken broth, bay leaf, oregano, salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil. Add the chicken back to the pot. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, mash about 1/3 of the can of beans with a fork or the back of a wooden spoon. You don't want a paste, but breaking up some of the beans will improve the texture of the final dish. After the chicken has simmered for 15 minutes, add the whole beans and the mashed beans into the pot. Cover and simmer for an additional 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Add the bacon and the spinach to the pot. Cook just until spinach is wilted, about 2 minutes. Serve over rice with some crusty bread to sop up the sauce.

Stovetop Mac & Cheese

I wasn't sure what to make for dinner tonight so I improvised and came up with Stovetop Broccoli, Onion and Tomato Mac & Cheese:


... using leftover odds and ends from the fridge. I cut one head of broccoli into small pieces and sauteed that, along with roughly chopped onion and garlic, in a skillet with some oil. Once everything was cooked I blanched two tomatoes, peeled, seeded and roughly chopped them and add them to the broccoli and onion mixture.

For the sauce I melted 2 tablespoons of butter in a pot, whisked in 2 tablespoons of flour and cooked it for a minute before adding 3/4 cup of chicken stock, 1/4 cup white wine, 1 cup of milk and whatever amount was left in a carton of heavy cream (maybe 1/2 cup). Brought that to a boil then turned off the heat and added about 1 1/2 cups of shredded Swiss, yellow and white cheddar cheeses, salt, pepper and a dash of nutmeg.

Once the pound of rigatoni was cooked I mixed everything together and dinner was served. You can't go wrong with broccoli and cheddar cheese and I liked the addition of the tomatoes and the kick from the white wine. All in all a very tasty improvised meal.