Quick and Easy - Pesto Chicken

Here's a simple recipe to put together. It's what I made for dinner tonight when faced with only nothing planned and a package of chicken. I ended up using less than half a small jar of pesto, so it's good if you have some leftover in the fridge.

Ingredients:
Jar of pesto
Chicken pieces of choice

Directions:
1: Place chicken in shallow baking dish.
2: Spoon pesto over the chicken.
3: Bake at 350°F until done, this will depend on the cut and weight of the pieces, here's a chart or better yet use a probe thermometer to cook until the internal temperature is 165°F.
4: Share and enjoy.

Lovely Cooking Goodies

This new overstock store opened locally and imagine my delight when I see their pantry aisles full of wonderful stuff that is very hard to find in my rural area. Next trip I'm going to raid their selection of pastas which is great. I kept the food purchases minimal this trip because my main focus was getting kitchen equipment.

The haul includes: Dried shitake and porcini mushrooms, steel cut oatmeal (I love the texture), couscous, panko breadcrumbs, truffle oil, and capers. The capers are different than the other jar I have and I'm hoping will have a difference in flavor, as the ones I have now are a bit on the bitter side for me (which may be explained by the fact they were at walmart and very cheap). I'm really looking forward to using the truffle oil, if anyone has suggestions for recipes please pass them along.

Over the next couple weeks you'll probably see me trying out these ingredients a lot to see what I want to stock up on. This is an overstock store so the selection isn't constant but very affordable, usually well below typical retail. I got a stand mixer for $20 which is half what it retails for, pretty good and I'm hoping it lasts until I've saved up for a KitchenAid.

Here's tonight's dinner: Chicken and porcini mushrooms in marinara sauce over spaghetti and topped with some parmesan cheese. I put some fresh basil from my garden in it too, probably one of the last times this year, the basil has already taken a hit from a light frost.

If you haven't noticed from previous posts I don't do any fancy plating, I'm perfectly happy to just have my pasta in a bowl for simplicity. This is home cooking, you can make it look nice if you want (and I do for special occasions) but for day to day cooking I care a lot more about just making something that tastes great.

Chicken in Creamy Yogurt Sauce

This recipe was one of those where I had things on hand and decided to make them work together to come up with dinner. I'm lactose intolerant but love daisy so I always have yogurt on hand to substitute in dishes. You do need to be a little careful with yogurt because it can curdle if you heat it too fast or too long.

Ingredients:

• 3 boneless chicken breasts cut in half
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1/2 cup chicken broth (3/4 cup if you don't want to use the wine)
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 2 cloves garlic chopped
  
• onion powder
• paprika
• peppercorns and/or ground pepper
• cayenne pepper
• poultry seasoning (I prefer Bell's)
• kosher salt
  
• olive oil
• cornstarch & water
  

Directions
1: In a large skillet heat a coupel tablespoons of olive oil. Add in chopped garlic and a teaspoon of whole peppercorns (skip if using ground pepper)
2: Season chicken breasts with salt, poultry seasoning, paprika, onion powder, cayenne powder and (if using) ground pepper.
3: Add chicken to the skillet and brown all sides.
4: Add the lemon juice, wine, chicken broth and 2 teaspoons of cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup of cold water.
5: Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium and cover.  Simmer for 15-20 minutes.
6: Uncover and brign the heat up to reduce the liquid, should get it to about half the original volume.
7: Reduce the heat again and add the yogurt. Once the yogurt is mixed thoroughly in turn the heat off and allow it to sit for a couple minutes to thicken.

Serving Ideas:
I had mine with some buttered english muffins but toasted french bread would also be great or even garlic bread. The sauce makes a nice gravy for mashed potatoes. A crisp salad is a good contrast too.

Variations:
Curry seasoning would be really good if you want something spicier. For a sweeter take on it rosemary and honey would also work well.