Lemon Chicken Fingers

Last weekend our friend Nicole Chubb Ralston came over to do a portrait session for us and we're pretty excited to get the shots back. Charisse and Nicole when to high school together and we've been hanging out more since we moved back from the city. Nicole started her photography business right around the time we started our blog, so we've both been enjoying going through the same experiences at the same time. Turning something you love and are very passionate about into something that puts food on the table (okay in our case, provides the money to buy the food) is a huge challenge that takes the kind of dedication and patience usually reserved for putting a rocket on the moon or getting that first real world job or making the perfect martini. Its really really hard. Okay so maybe every martini tastes perfect after the third one but still, you get the point. When you listen to someone talk about a business they started or a company they grew you never hear about all the nitty gritty details, nothing about how many forms you have to fill out to get a business license, how much time you have to spend on Google researching "business plan", how nothing goes "according to the plan" or how often that first big break they had was just dumb luck. Of everyone that we've talked to about this the two things that keep popping up are perseverance and knowing what it is that makes your thing different. If you have something you love, you can eventually find a way to make money doing it. Right now, we love these Lemon Chicken Tenders that Eric made. These are baked instead of friend, so we count them as "healthy" and they taste amazing. Perfect for the "big game" (we can't legally call it the Super Bowl) or when the kids are having a sleepover. They carry a ton of flavor that you wouldn't expect from chicken fingers but don't worry, the kids will like them too!

Southern Spiced Fried Chicken

So Charisse came back from Arkansas last week and saved us all from Eric's Kraft Mac and Cheese from a box recipe (we should all praise the food gods for that). In fact, foodies@home almost came to an end when she walked in the door and announced "I am so full, I am never ever ever eating anything ever again". Thankfully that was a short lived sentiment and it was right back to business this weekend. One slight change in her was a strong desire to show off her newfound southern roots. Those roots are newfound because she is a 3rd or 4th generation Californian. Go figure. We talked a little bit about what southern inspired dishes we should try first and decided on (cue the banjos) Fried Chicken. According to Charisse the Arkansas family all agreed that cooking doesn't get any more Arkansas than sticking some battered chicken in a deep fryer, and we were happy to try our hand at it! 
We fried up some good old fashioned chicken breasts that we happened to have in the freezer, the boneless and skinless kind but this definitely could have been done with a dark cut, or a bone in skin on breast. We also did a single pass through on the egg wash and dredge, but a second time through would have added a lot of crunchiness to each bite. Even without the second pass the chicken was perfectly tender and very flavorful. One of the big benefits to deep frying is how moist the chicken comes out, as the hot oil basically cauterizes the outside and traps all the moisture in the meat. Its a dish that makes even your most well behaved friends go "MMmmmmmom nom nom nom. Is there more?!" Not that we have any well behaved friends mind you, so we really wouldn't know what those say. 

Chicken with Herbed Dumplings

Well, we didn't make it past the Fancy Dinner party in the Foodbuzz competition so we took a little break (nothing like take out Chinese Food to soothe the soul of defeat). THANK YOU all so much for your support though this contest and hopefully you'll all keep reading! 
Now that we're ready to get back on track, Charisse has taken off on a family vacation to Arkansas (pronounced Ark-en-saw - apparently it is offensive to call it Ark-Kansas or Ark an sauce =P) leaving Eric home alone for a week, so the next few posts will be me going solo. Since cooking for one is never fun, I've pulled out the old college cook book and will be showing everyone how the typical American Male survives when left alone for an extended period of time. You've been warned. 

Charisse's imminent departure meant we worked hard to spend as much time together and prepared a very home style dinner to celebrate our return to non-contest normalcy. It doesn't get much more home style than chicken and dumplings, especially when a cold snap rolls in. Warm gooey dumplings and chicken were a great use of our newest cast iron pan, and the iron adds just that little extra to everything we cook in it. We actually heard a report that eating food cooked in cast iron is really good for women, because it adds iron to the food. Yet another reason we love our iron. The soup coming out of this is really thick and flavorful, so be prepared to have some bread on the table and a lack of judging when someone gets caught licking the bowl.

Beer Braised Chicken Tacos

This whole "end of summer" thing is really starting to get to us. Last weekend we had Dan and Jen over for a creative tacos and a movie night that had us eating long after dark. As the movie ended we went through that whole kinda lazy it-was-great-to-have-you-over routine and checked the time to see just how late it was. We all had things we wanted to do the next morning so we looked, wondering would it be 11:30? 12:30? 1? We hadn't been keeping track, but with such a late dinner it had to have been at least 2am. Strange that all of our watches agreed that it was only 8:30. 8:30?! We couldn't believe it, the sun had been down for so long already, it seemed like it should be significantly later than it was. Seems like the Earths tilt is at it again, making for a very surreal night. In an attempt to make the best of it, Eric and Dan promptly declared video game time and launched into a focused battled of virtual hockey. Charisse and Jen declared them "silly boys" and went to the back room to talk and watch TV. Many hockey games and one long conversation later it was actually 12:30 and we all said our good-byes for real and retired to let dinner finish digesting, and what a dinner it had been. See, we're huge taco fans in general and Eric's been working on putting together his own taco seasoning for when we occasionally get caught without our trusty Costco mix. We were looking around for ideas on what to make and came across a nice braised chicken and thought this might be a winner. Now if Julia Child had been from Latin America, her famous beef bourguignon might have ended up looking like this instead. 

Honey Lime Drumsticks

For some reason both of us grew up avoiding dark meat like the plague. We were both "that person" at the BBQ, insisting on getting the BBQ'd chicken breast, using phrases like "I only eat white meat, its healthier for you" or "dark meat doesn't taste as good". If you'd ask were we learned to avoid dark meat, it was just one of those things that everyone knew. In retrospect, everyone was probably looking at use like we were crazy, but I don't think we're alone here. Its really more of a bigger issue than white or dark, this whole country has a really awkward relationship with food. Its like being 13 again, with the braces and the acne and the awkwardness and instead of asking out that certain girl or talking to the cute boy, you sit and doodle on your Trapper Keeper. Then the one time you go over there, your mouth starts moving and god only knows whats coming out, but its not what you had in mind. America's relationship with food is kinda like that, everything is low fat no carb sugar free bland blech blah, and we're still unhealthy. Chicken is one of those great foods thats gotten the raw deal on this exchange. Somewhere along the line dark meat got branded as unhealthy, something about more fat than white meat. In reality, dark meat is AWESOME and is just as healthy for you as white meat, if not more so. Actually, dark meat is unhealthy if you binge on a giant box of 20 deep fried drum sticks from KFC, but if you chowed down on 20 deep fried white meat chicken strips, your probably in the same boat. Dark meat has more good for you stuff than its white counterpart like more zinc, iron, vitamins A K B6 B 12 and stuff we can't even pronounce (pantothenic acid, whatever that is). Oh and did we mention, dark meat is super affordable? 5 good sized drumsticks (enough for the two of us) for $1.67. Thats a meal of steal right there. So why have we been on a big boycott of dark meat all these years? Who knows, probably because everyone else was doing it, but now, that boycott is over! Expect to see more and more delicious drumsticks and grilled wings from us!

Wine-Braised Chicken with Shallots and Panchetta

Now we're both sick, but the Wine-Braised Chicken is not! With Eric on the mend while Charisse is just getting started, this cold is interfering with our ability to get posts out in time. Somethings going around the Bay Area, even Patrick Marleau seems to be out with this bug (Sharks still won game 1). Next week should be better though. Don't worry, Blogger has an extensive antivirus system, so you can't catch this from the pictures or the recipe. We served this with mashed potatoes and carrots as Patrick and Monica Farnsworth's anniversary gift dinner, and what a great meal it makes. Actually, a well cooked meal, some wine and martinis and a great night with family always makes the best gift one can give. That and diamonds.

The actual dish is really a very basic, easy to make, one pan meal. We haven't talked about this much, but when your doing multiple courses, part of the planing involves making sure you have enough pans to cover all the courses. For example, if we wanted to do an upside down cake and say a skillet roasted chicken, you'd run into trouble, as both dishes need the same pan. So any time you can do a course in a single pan, it helps free up your other pans for other dishes or courses. When your as crazy as we are and have around 6 different frying pans its usually not an issue, but for most people there's usually only one or two of the same pans in the house, so planing out your courses and doing as much with each pan becomes really important, and a key factor in planing out your meal.

Speaking of cast iron skillets Charisse's birthday was yesterday, and Eric got her a new cast iron skillet from amazon.com and this one is 15 inches. That is HUGE. its seriously the biggest pan we own. Can't wait to fill it with BACON!

Pictures and Recipe after the break

Skillet Roasted Chicken

There is something about a whole chicken roasting in the oven that just makes you feel like your home. It is the quintessential supper, a dish that grandma used to make on a chilly winter evening, maybe while talking about life in the "old country", whatever country that may be. It's a comfort food that will never go out of style no matter what age you are or where your from. Nearly every culture has some form of small roasted fowl, and every one we've tried reminds us of home. We love roasting a whole chicken, even though we don't do it as often as we'd like since it takes quite awhile.

The aroma of a roasting bird makes the entire house smell amazing and the sizzle coming from the oven makes you drool with anticipation! There are many ways to roast your chicken, pan roast with or without a roasting rack, stuffed, cooked on a bed of root vegetables and a variety of herbs and spices and rubs, in a slow cooker or dutch oven or any dozens of other ways. We are somewhat purist when it comes to roasting chickens. A little butter, rosemary, lemon, garlic, salt and pepper. Then a little more butter. Then its fire and forget, just drop it in the preheated oven and carve it up when its done. That's it folks! Simple and perfect every time. As for cooking technique, we like like it nestled on a bed of potatoes and onions in a big cast iron skillet. This is actually a great excuse to buy one (or in our case, a bigger one!). Since Charisse is not a huge gravy fan this suits us just right. All the fantastic juices are soaked up by the veggies and potatoes and re-soaked up by the chicken so its juicy and tender. If you are a gravy lover than we suggest that you roast your bird in a roasting pan so you can cook up your sauce post cooking.  This is an amazingly easy meal that is always sure to impress! And in answer to our dear friend, yes the whole chicken comes pre-assembled!

Pictures and Recipe after the break