Slow-Cooked Chicken with White Wine and Cream Sauce

This recipe is rich and creamy, and the aroma of it cooking all day really tempted me to sneak a taste or two.  I felt drawn to the slow cooker and gazed into the clear lid, but I knew that lifting the lid was a "mortal sin" for slow-cooked food.  The chicken falls off the bone as you lift it out of the cooker and leaves some of the meat in the sauce, which just adds to the richness of the sauce.  When you ladle it onto the chicken, it almost looks like stew or soup.  Regardless, messy or not,  this recipe will not disappoint you. 

Most of the recipes I have tried lately that include wine as an ingredient have required red wine.  And since I mostly drink red wine these days, I had to buy a small container or white for this recipe.  I chose a crispy, dry white wine that worked great.

(While this dish isn't  real conducive to those on a diet, it is worth the extra calories for an

 occasional "slip" from your diet.)  

Enjoy!

• 6  (12 oz.) pieces of bone-in split chicken breasts or thighs (I used thighs)
• 1/2 cup EVOO - separated
• 1 pkg. brown mushrooms - sliced or quartered
• 1 tbsp. dried minced onion
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
• 4 garlic cloves - minced
• 1/4 cup all-purpose white flour
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 can low-sodium chicken broth or stock
• 1 lb. carrots - peeled, halved lengthwise - sliced 1/4-inch thick
• 2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• sea salt and pepper - for seasoning and at the end for taste

Dry the chicken with paper towel and season with sea salt and pepper.  Heat 1/4  cup EVOO in large skillet over medium-high heat.  Place chicken skin side down and brown lightly.  Once browned, place chicken on a plate and set aside.  (You can remove the skin once it has cooled if desired - I left it on).

Add the other 1/4 cup EVOO to the same skillet along with the mushrooms, minced onion, thyme, and 1/4 tsp. sea salt.  Cook over medium heat - about 5 to 10 minutes.  Stir in garlic.  Whisk in flour and white wine until mixture is well-blended.  Transfer mixture to slow cooker.

Gently stir in broth, carrots, and Worcestershire sauce into slow cooker.  Place chicken in slow cooker with the meatiest part facing up.  Cover and cook on low-setting 5 to 6 hours.  When cooking time is done, remove the chicken from slow cooker and place meat in a wide, shallow bowl or a casserole dish.  The meat will slide off the bone easily.  Once chicken is removed, stir the cream into the sauce and blend evenly.  Season with sea salt and pepper to taste.  Spoon sauce over chicken and serve.  Makes 4 hearty or 6 smaller-sized portions.

NOTE: The sauce from this recipe would be great on masked potatoes, rice, or even steamed vegetables,  You could even dip bread sticks or warm homemade bread in it!! 

EVOO = Extra-Light Virgin Olive Oil

Italian Vegetable Stew

When I make a dish, I usually give part of it away or, as of late, freeze portions as I always make more than I can eat by myself. Especially if my kids aren't interested in trying the food, which is usually the case.  BUT....I actually kept all of this recipe for myself. I ate it for two days - as a meal - and then eventually put the rest in the freezer for later  This stew is delicious and great with the homemade bread I made. (The recipe for this will be in my cookbook "Another Year in My kitchen - 2012."  The stew is filling and easy to embellish with your favorite vegetables.  A true "comfort food."

P.S. You may notice a "slow cooker" trend here.....My mom gave me her's - which is bigger than my old one!  Thanks, Mom!!

• 1/4 cup EVOO (Extra-Light Virgin Olive Oil)
• 1 eggplant - about 1 pound - cut into 1" chunks
• 1 can diced, salt-free tomatoes - drained (keep the juice for later)
• 1 small onion - diced
• 1 red bell pepper - chopped (minus the white rind and seeds, of course)
• 4 cloves garlic - minced
• 1 small can tomato paste
• 1 tsp. oregano - dried
• 3 cans vegetable broth - salt-free if you can find it
• 1 lb. golden potatoes - peeled and diced
• 2 med. or small zucchini - peeled and diced
• 2 tsp. dried basil
• 2 tsp. garlic salt
• black pepper
• Parmesan cheese - grated

Heat 2 tbsp. EVOO in a large skillet over medium-high heat until heated through.  Coast the chopped eggplant pieces in the oil and lightly brown on all sides - about 6 to 7 minutes.  Once done, place in slow cooker.  

Heat remaining EVOO in the same skillet and add tomatoes, red bell pepper, minced garlic, tomato paste, oregano, garlic salt, and the onion and cook until mixture becomes thick - about 10 minutes. Stir in one can of the vegetable broth and gently stir to blend ingredients.  Place the thickened mixture in the slow cooker and combine with the eggplant.  Stir in the juice saved from the canned tomatoes and the other two cans of vegetable broth.    Cover and cook for about 6 hours on the low-setting of the slow cooker.  

After the 6 hours, stir in the zucchini and basil, cover, and cook on the high-setting for another 45 minutes to one hour.  When ready to serve, sprinkle individual servings with grated Parmesan cheese and additional EVOO (if desired).  Makes 6 hearty servings.

Slow-Cooked Pulled Pork Recipe and the History of the Dutch Oven

(A.K.A. Slow Cooker)

This past winter, I was standing at the check-out with my groceries, and, as usual, I had a few minutes to leaf through the magazines that were strategically placed there, seemingly just for me.  And, as usual, I don't do a very good job of talking myself out of buying ANOTHER cooking magazine.  I spotted a magazine with recipes exclusively for slow cookers.  What was unusual about this particular magazine, was that there were LOTS of delicious-sounding/looking recipes (rather than the usual few) that convinced me that I absolutely HAD to buy it.  So I did.  This magazine and its recipes inspired the topic and recipe for this posting.  

Below you will find a recipe for Slow-Cooked Balsamic Vinegar and Honey Pulled Pork.  It is a "tweeked" version of a recipe I found in the slow cooker magazine I bought last winter.  Since it made far more than I could ever eat by myself, I gave some to my friend and co-worker, David, and he LOVED it!  Sooooo, I gave him more the next day and the reaction was the same.  This told me that this dish will keep for a couple of days after making it and that you could probably freeze portions of it, too.  

Being the "Geek" that I am, I wondered where the term "Dutch Oven" came from and did a little research.  Hence, the article History of the Dutch Oven was born.  It follows the recipe, so be sure to read it. 

As always, thanks for checking out my latest post and let me know what you think.

Bon Appetite!!

Slow-Cooked Balsamic Vinegar and Honey Pulled Pork

2 1/2 to 3-lb. boneless pork roast          1 small onion - chopped (optional)          3/4 cup ketchup

3/4 cup red bell pepper - chopped        1/3 cup brown sugar - packed                 1/4 cup honey  

3/4 cup orange bell pepper - chopped  1 clove garlic - minced                             1/4 tsp. sea salt

1 tsp. dried thyme                                    1 tbsp. Dijon mustard                                

1/2 tsp. dried rosemary                           1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup chicken broth - low-sodium       1 cup Balsamic vinegar

1/2 tsp. black pepper

Remove any excess fat from the pork roast and cut it in pieces if you need to so that it will fit in your slow cooker.  Mine is a medium-sized cooker, so I didn't need to cut it up very much.   Put the pork in the slow cooker and add the peppers and optional onion.  Sprinkle with the dried herbs.  Pour the chicken broth over the top.  Cover and cook on low-heat for 9 to 10 hours - or on the high-heat setting for 4 1/2 to 5 hours.  I used the low-heat setting because I put it in one day before work so it could cook all day.

For the sauce, in a medium saucepan, combine the Balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, honey, ketchup, Dijon mustard, black pepper, and sea salt.  (Yes, sea salt.  For the reason, refer to my posting Worth Its Salt)  Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat.  Simmer for 20 to 25 minutes or until sauce thickens.  Stir the mixture so that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot.

When the pork is done, you can either take it out of the slow cooker to pull the pork apart - or you can leave it in the slow cooker.  Use two forks to gently shred the pork.  Drain the liquid out of the cooker.  If you use a liner for your cooker, you can CAREFULLY pick up the edges of the liner and drain the liquid out.  The idea is to get the excess liquid out so that you don't dilute the sauce.  Cover and cook for an hour on the low-heat setting.  The low-setting will allow the sauce to blend nicely with the pork and veggies.

You can serve the pulled pork on any kind of bread or buns,  You could also serve it on mashed potatoes. YUM! This recipe makes enough pork for about 15 to 18 good--sized slider-sized sandwiches.

NOTE:  I always use the plastic liners they make for slow cookers and sell in the baggie section of the grocery store.  They make clean-up soooooooo much easier.

And now.......

What Did People Do Before Slow Cookers?

Long, long, long time ago, before the invention of the slow cooker lots of people now own, including me, food that was supposed to cook slowly for a long time was prepared in cast-iron pots called Dutch ovens.  The Dutch oven is a very distinctive piece of cookware, which is made from a single piece of cast iron.  This oven was used throughout the early history of the U.S.  So where did the "Dutch" part come from? Well, of course it comes from Holland.  You know, where Dutch people live?

Seriously, the Dutch ovens we know were made and patented by an English guy named Abraham Darby in 1708, who went to Holland to study how the Dutch made their ovens.  In the 1600s, the Dutch had a much greater system for molding iron than England.  They produced their molds through sand, which gave them a smoother surface area than English molds.  In the beginning, Abe sold his pots to British households.  As interest grew, he shipped them to the American colonies.  The oven was modified to suit the American market.  The shape changed a bit and was made more shallow than the original ovens.  Legs were also eventually added so that it could stand right over an open fire.  These modified ovens were a better fit for American households where it could be positioned over an open fire or over a fire in a fireplace.

The Dutch oven became very popular rather quickly as it was durable and great for traveling.  Lewis and Clarke even took one on the expedition to explore the Louisiana Purchase.  It was an all-in-one-pot - you could use it for boiling, frying, stewing, roasting, and even baking.  It was easy to pack and unpack for the pioneers as they made their way West.  The pot eventually became associated with cowboys and wagon trains traveling over the prairie.

The Dutch oven became so important and valued that it was often bequeathed to a loved one in a will.  The Dutch oven inspired the development of cast-iron frying pans, bake ware, molds, and many other modern-day kitchen essentials.  The beauty of cooking with cast-iron products is that they evenly distribute heat as the slowly heat up.  It'll even keep your food warm after cooking. 

Many modern-day cast-iron products come pre-seasoned, layered with enamel, are mainly used indoors, and come with life-time warranties.  They are also a staple for many campers.  However, the traditional Dutch oven remains a symbol of the American West.  In fact, the Dutch oven has been named the "state cooking vessel" (I didn't know that states had such a thing) for Texas, Utah, and Arkansas.  There are Dutch oven associations and clubs across the U.S. that represent the heritage and traditions of the Dutch oven, including:  International Dutch Oven Society (IDOS), Northwest Dutch Oven Society, Columbia Basin Dutch Oven Society, Nevada Dutch Oven Society, Kast Iron Kookers, Heart;land of the Prairie Dutch Oven Society, and Flint River Dutch Oven Society.       

Shrimp: 

History, Information, and Two Recipes

"Squilla" is Latin for shrimp.  "Shrimpe" comes from Middle English and meant "pygmy."

Both ancient Greeks and Romans had access to really large specimens and ate shrimp prepared in lots of different ways.  Apicius, an ancient Roman author, collected recipes for shrimp in his cookbook.  History shows that as far back as the 7th century travelers like Marco Polo mentioned shrimp as a staple in Chinese diets.  In Louisiana, harvesting shrimp dates back to the 17th century where nets up to 600 feet in diameter were used to scoop them up from the Gulf of Mexico.

And.... there actually IS a Bubba Gump Shrimp Company Restaurant and Market that was inspired by the movie Forrest Gump.  As of late 2010, there were 32 restaurants in operation around the world.

There are TONS of restaurants that either have the word "shrimp" in its name or advertises preparing shrimp as its specialty.  For example,  The Shrimp Boat (FL),  Sea Island Shrimp House (TX),  Killer Shrimp (CA),  Frank's Chicago Shrimp House (IL), The Shrimp Basket (AL, FL),  JACK Shrimp Restaurant (CA),   Shrimp 'N Stuff (TX),  Shrimp & Co. (FL),  The Boiling Shrimp (CA),  Shrimp King (NJ),  Goose Island Shrimp House (FL), Mr. Shrimp (NJ),  The Shrimp Station (HI) - the list goes on and on.  It's not surprising that the many of them are based in states close to the ocean that have access to shrimp on a daily basis.  If you were to decide to open your own restaurant that specializes in shrimp-based entrees, you might be hard-pressed to come up with a name that hasn't been used before. 

Today, the U.S. harvests over a half million pounds of shrimps and imports another 200 million pounds each year, more than any other country.  There are more than 2,000 species of shrimp in the world and the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic waters there are five species that are commercially harvested.  Four of those species are recognized by their shell color - white, brown, pink, and red.  The fifth species is "Rock Shrimp," which if found in deep water and have a tough, rock-hard shell - hence the name.   Sometimes shrimp are called prawns, but prawns are a completely different species in the lobster family.

Shrimp can be caught in the wild or farm-raised.  Shrimp that is caught in its natural habitat are found in bays, estuaries, and oceans. The species that are popular commercially in the U.S. are cold water, warm water, and freshwater shrimp.  The restaurant locations mentioned above would verify that fact.

I love shrimp and can always eat it prepared in boiling water with Old Bay seasoning.  I decided to test out some new shrimp recipes that turned out to be delicious, too.  I've included two in this post and  will continue to post any that I feel are noteworthy.  Let me know what you think!

Baked Shrimp in Lemony Garlic Sauce

This simple baked shrimp recipe takes less than 20 minutes and includes ingredients that you probably have on hand or aren't hard to find.  You can serve this dish with a nice artisan bread to soak up any extra sauce you might have.