Wednesday, December 30, 2015

C H I C K E N
P I C C A T A
W/ S U N  D R I E D
T O M A T O E S


Hey hey hey! Merry belated Christmas to all you folks out there! 

Todd & I are so thankful/ blessed to have had such a good time with all our friends + families this month. It's been nonstop drinking & eating this entire month; our bellies are bigger than ever!

Of the many gifts we got this year I have to say our favorites had to be the edible ones. A culinary enthusiast/ cousin of Todd's has been studying in the islands of Malta & brought smuggled back some savory treats for us that I am wildly obsessed with! 

What'd we get? Well we scored basil infused cold pressed olive oil (heavy breathing), sea salted capers (heavier breathing), & TONS of sun dried tomatoes (heaviest breathing).. mmmhmmm ^_____^

Capers instantly make me think piccata- so I figured let's make a ginormous thing for the week! I've made this dish before but added a secret ingredient that I think really helped smooth out the tart, saltiness that you get from the lemons & capers. 

See if you can guess what it is!

Ingredients:
1lb Chicken breasts
Flour for dredging
Olive oil
4 tbsp Butter
Salt & Pepper
Adobo
2-3 tbsp Capers
2-3 tbsp Sun Dried Tomatoes
2 cups Chicken broth
2 Lemons
1/2 cup Almond milk
1 package Capellini or Angel Hair Pasta






Directions:

1. Prep the chicken! With a long enough piece of plastic wrap put one piece of chicken in the middle & tenderize! Don't have a meat tenderizer? Use a bottle of wine or Jameson- because that's something I always have around ;)



2. Once all chicken has been flattened out to your desired thickness cut in half. Salt & pepper (& adobo)! 
3. Put a scoop of flour into a bowl & dredge chicken in flour. This helps them fry up & brown real nicely.



4. Get your skillet to medium heat & add 2 tbsp of butter & around 2-4tbsp of olive oil. Mix around & add your chicken pieces! Cook for 3-4 minutes on each side (check thicker pieces). 


5. Remove chicken once all cooked & keep covered on a plate. 
6. Rinse the salt off your capers! This really makes a difference in assuring your dish is not TOO salty*




7. Add to the skillet chicken broth (I made this with 2 cups water & 2tbsp Knorr's), rinsed capers, sliced sun dried tomatoes, lemon juice + slices, remaining butter & almond milk! You can of course use cream to make this creamier but I didn't have any & think this is healthier (; Simmer for a few minutes!


8. Get a pot of water boiling now! Since the cappelini (or angel hair) pasta is so thin this cooks in just 3 minutes. 
9. Turn off the heat for your skillet sauce & add cooked/ drained pasta. Toss around to coat. The pasta will soak up the sauce- so this is where you should taste! Need more broth? Add some! Need more lemony flavor? Squeeze it in! Salt & pepper if you want.


10. Once you have your pasta all coated top with your chicken, add more lemon slices & garnish with parsley! 


Serve & enjoy! 




Hope you all have a safe & faaaaaabulous New Year! 

Oh & my resolution? Host more breakfast/ brunch/ lunch/ dinner parties! 


Tuesday, December 1, 2015

S P I C Y  K I M C H I
+ K I N G  C R A B  L E G S
w/ U D O N  N O O D L E S



Happy Belated Thanksgiving! I'm heavier & as always incredibly thankful for the family + friends I have around me. 

Todd & I hosted our 3rd Annual Friendsgiving this past Saturday & wow! So so damn heart warming to see everyone come together! We really have the best squad to call friends. Oh & charades was histerical- TEAM #2 RULES!!


recently very obsessed with eucalyptus! 

Side note: My Truffle Mac & Cheese was WIPED OUT!! That deserves a post in itself.. Let's just say a tiny $20 bottle of Black Truffle Oil does magic.

Back to this udon dish, though! 

When I was thinking of making this random concoction I had hopes of a dreamy, fiery, chewy masterpiece.. I have to say it was all of that & more! Udon noodles are so comforting that whatever you throw on it will still taste pretty damn heavenly.

The king crab legs were definitely the star of the show though. Since I had leftover masago or fish roe which is "seafood" I thought to stick with something from the ocean. 

While grocery shopping the other day I noticed that I literally could not take my eyes of the ginormous crab legs at the market. So I grabbed those suckers & voila! I made the richest udon dish ever. 

If crab isn't your thing I can't imagine this being horrible with shrimp or LOBSTER. Oh god. I think I will make this with lobster next..

Ingredients:
2 bricks of frozen Udon Noodles
1lb King Crab Legs
1 Cup kimchi
3-4 tbsp Masago
2 tbsp Japanese Mayo
2 tbsp Chili Garlic Sriracha
Half a stick of butter
Scallions





Directions:

1. Prep your king crab legs! I thawed mine under cold water since they were frozen & saved a pretty piece for the garnish. Scoop out the rest of that meat!


2. Cut up your kimchi into small bite-sized pieces. This is just nice so there aren't colossal kimchi bites [;
3. Heat up a wok full of water & get a little boiling action going. Add your udon noodles & cook just for 2 minutes or until soft then drain.


4. Add butter & kimchi to that same wok (yay less dishes!) Sautée til warm!


5. Add the udon noodles back in along with japanese mayo, chili garlic sriracha, & masago. Stir around & get everything all sexy!


6. DUH. Let's add the king crab leg meat & scallions ^______^



7. Turn off the heat & when you think everything is all married up start to dish it out. Garnish with extra masago, scallions + the reserved king crab leg.

Mmm.. my mouth is phantom chewing this right now. Enjoy!