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Mediterranean Pan Roasted Chicken

March 29, 2012 in Chicken, Main Course, Recipes

Quick and healthy…

I continue with my quick and easy to make recipe series, atleast for now. This is really easy to make, takes almost no active time other than to flip the chicken breasts. The pan roasting and then oven roasting ensures that the outside is nice and crisp and the inside is still juicy and moist and not dried out.

The next few posts are going to be brief as I really have no time but I still need a break from work, research and everything else once in a while. And yeah this blog is my way of taking a break and doing what I love… This recipe serves one and takes about 30 mins to cook. The marination time is anywhere between 30 mins to 2 hrs.

Ingredients:

  1. 1 chicken breast
  2. 1/8 cup olive oil + 3 tsps
  3. 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
  4. 1/2 tsp black pepper
  5. 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg powder
  6. 1 tsp dried basil leaves
  7. 3 garlic cloves minced
  8. 1/2 tsp red chili powder
  9. salt to taste

Directions:

  • Marinate the chicken breast in the ingredients listed above.
  • I marinated the chicken for about 1.5 hours.
  • Preheat the oven to 475 F.
  • Heat the 3 tsps of olive oil in a pan.
  • Place the chicken breast in the pan and roast it till it is browned on both sides (about 12-15 mins).
  • Now transfer the pan to the oven and continue cooking the chicken breast.
  • Flip the chicken in about 5-7 mins and continue cooking till the outsides are crisp and the chicken breasts are cooked through.

I served this with some roasted broccoli, salad and wild rice. And it was delicious and very healthy and as a bonus took almost no time to cook. Hope you enjoy it and do let me know what you think of the recipe if you do try it.

Shilpa

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Potato Salad with lime-garlic-basil dressing

June 17, 2011 in Salad

Summer’s here and so is the June Daring Cook’s Challenge!!

I was driving to work the other day and the weather forecast was being read on the radio. And this is what they said – “Cooler temperatures today, with a high of 106F”. That’s when I knew summer in Phoenix has arrived. So when the daring cooks challenge for June was announced, it fit in perfectly with the rising summer temperatures. A healthy potato salad!!! I have never been a fan of the mayonnaise laden potato salads that are so common. So I decided to create my version of a potato salad, healthy and fresh!!!

Jami Sorrento was our June Daring Cooks hostess and she chose to challenge us to celebrate the humble spud by making a delicious and healthy potato salad. The Daring Cooks Potato Salad Challenge was sponsored by the nice people at the United States Potato Board, who awarded prizes to the top 3 most creative and healthy potato salads. A medium-size (5.3 ounce) potato has 110 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no sodium and includes nearly half your daily value of vitamin C and has more potassium than a banana!

I chose to make a potato and chicken sausage salad with a lime-garlic-basil dressing. The chicken sausage is optional, I added it in because I found these interesting jalapeno-mango chicken sausages, which I thought would go well with the potato salad. And they added an awesome twist to the potato salad. This recipe serves 2 and takes about 1/2 hour to make (most of the time is spent in roasting the potatoes).

Ingredients:

  1. 20-25 small red potatoes (halved with skin)
  2. 1 jalapeno-mango chicken sausage (sliced and cooked)
  3. 1/2 cup chopped green onions (only the green part)
  4. salt to taste
  5. 1/4-1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  6. 2 tbsp olive oil

For the dressing

  1. 1/8 cup olive oil
  2. 1/4 cup lime juice
  3. 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
  4. 1/4 tsp black pepper
  5. salt to taste
  6. 2 cloves chopped roasted garlic
  7. 1/4 – 1/2 tsp red chili flakes

Directions:

  • Mix the potatoes with the olive oil, salt and black pepper.
  • Roast it in the oven till the potatoes are cooked through.
  • Mix the cooked chicken sausages, potatoes and green onions.
  • Mix all the ingredients under ‘For the dressing’ in a grinder.
  • Mix the dressing with the salad and serve it warm.

I promise, you will love it. The dressing adds a fresh zing to the potato salad. And the sausage is completely optional. I loved it though as the sausage added an interesting twist to the potato salad.

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Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup with Fresh Basil

October 5, 2010 in Recipes, Soups

Soup Time!!!

Amit (my husband) was down with a cold the other day and he so wanted to have some soup. So instead of buying the sodium loaded soups at the grocery store, I decided to try making some homemade soup. After a lot of  ”you decide, no you”, we agreed on tomato soup. I then found this recipe online for tomato soup with roasted red pepper and fresh basil. The recipe just looked interesting and easy to make. And I can vouch for the fact that it was delicious too. I did make some modifications to the original recipe.

The quantities listed below will serve 3 persons if you are serving just the soup and a salad. We decided to go healthy that night and have a salad and soup for dinner.

Ingredients:

  1. Crushed tomato (15 ounces)
  2. 1 Red Pepper
  3. 2 teaspoons white cooking wine
  4. 1 teaspoon oregano
  5. 3 cloves garlic
  6. 1 small onion
  7. 3 teaspoons olive oil
  8. 2 cups chicken stock
  9. 1/2 cup fresh basil (chopped)

For the basil cream

  1. 1/2 cup sour cream
  2. 1/4 – 1/2 cup whipping cream
  3. 1/4 cup fresh basil
  4. 1/4 teaspoon salt
  5. 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

  • Slice the red pepper into 1 inch thin slices (slivers).
  • Mix the white cooking wine and oregano with the red pepper and set aside.
  • In the meanwhile chop the garlic cloves and onion.
  • Heat 1 teaspoon of olive oil in a saucepan and add the marinated red pepper.
  • Roast the red pepper till the edges turn brown.
  • Set the red pepper aside.
  • Add 2 teaspoons of olive oil to the same saucepan.
  • Once the oil is hot add the chopped onion and garlic to the saucepan.
  • Saute the onion and garlic till they turn light brown.
  • Mix in the red pepper, crushed tomatoes and chicken stock and bring to boil.
  • Reduce the heat and let the soup simmer for 10 minutes.
  • While the soup is cooking, mix together the sour cream, whipping cream, basil, salt and black pepper and set aside.
  • Transfer the soup to a blender and blend till smooth. (It takes me a just a couple of minutes to achieve the soup like consistency)
  • Pour the soup into bowls and add the basil cream on top. (I also added a few cut sprigs of basil to give it a very colorful and fresh feel)

This soup takes about 20 – 30 minutes to serve including prep time and cooking time. I love to serve this alongside some fresh salad with a ranch dressing.

The original recipe can be found at http://www.countryliving.com/recipefinder/red-pepper-soup-basil-cream-recipe?click=main_sr. I only made a change in the red pepper part of the recipe. Instead of buying a can of marinated red pepper I made my own fresh roasted pepper.

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