@BunsenBurner What is ‘Readers blend’? I can’t find it online.
The winery is J Bookwalter. They have a line of wines called the Readers. Here is the Readers merlot-dominant one (it is blended with a little bit of other grapes):
I don’t cook a lot but made this for dinner a few weeks ago. Super easy, super fast and it was delicious! (note: I included the optional butter sauce). Chicken was very juicy.
Juicy Oven Baked Chicken Breast
Ingredients
• 1 heaping tablespoon light brown sugar FOR KETO: use brown sugar substitute
• 1 1/2 teaspoons mild paprika
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano, or dried Thyme
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon each garlic powder and onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, (or chili powder) for an extra kick. OPTIONAL
• 4 large chicken breasts (7oz | 200g each)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
OPTIONAL:
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 large clove garlic, minced or finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon fresh chopped parsley
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F | 220°C (standard ovens) or 390°F | 200°C (fan forced or convection ovens).
- Using a meat mallet or rolling pin, pound each chicken breast to 0.8-inch | 2cm at the thickest part. Make sure your fillets are all the same thickness to ensure even cooking.
- Combine sugar, paprika, oregano, salt, powders and pepper(s).
- Line a baking pan with parchment (or baking) paper. Transfer chicken to the pan and toss chicken in the seasoning. Drizzle with the oil and rub seasoning all over to evenly coat.
- Bake chicken in preheated oven for 16-18 minutes, or until internal temperature is 165°F (75°C) using a meat thermometer. It should be golden with crisp edges.*
- For crispier chicken, change your oven setting to broil (or grill in Aus/UK) on high during the last 2-3 minutes of cooking until golden.
- Remove pan from oven, transfer chicken to serving plates and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.
- OPTIONAL STEP: While chicken is in the oven, melt butter in a small skillet. Sauté garlic until fragrant (30 seconds), and remove pan from heat. Stir in parsley, then pour butter mixture into pan juices, stirring well to combine all of the flavours together.
- To serve, drizzle pan juices over the chicken and garnish with freshly chopped parsley.
We can always use another good chicken recipe - I like the spices above @FallGirl - may I ask if you got the recipe from a website? (so I can pin it and have it within easy reach)
Answering questions on trying to make fritule (#176)–I bought a new thermometer that clipped onto the pot. Didn’t put the fritters in the oil until they reached 370 degree F, which is the temperature recommended in the recipe. I used grapeseed oil, because it has a 410 degree F smoking point. America’s Test Kitchen recommended using the 7.5 quart Le Creuset dutch oven, if one didn’t have a deep fryer. Apparently heat is distributed very evenly thoroughout. We didn’t overcrowd the pot–we started by dropping 3 T of batter into the oil when it reached the required temperature. The fritters sizzled as they cooked, so I’m assuming the oil was hot. Maybe not hot enough? The fritters never got brown–they did get puffy. They stayed in about 5 minutes (which is too long) before we gave up. We then tried again–same result. The fritters never got brown. Here’s the recipe we used:
https://www.thespruceeats.com/klaras-traditional-croatian-fritters-recipe-1135857
I wonder if it was the grape seed oil? When my mom deep fried her fritole, she always used corn oil. The olive and grape seed oils she kept only for sauteeing or salad dressings.
It’s cold weather season so it’s time for chili with chicken. I cut and dice chicken thighs and prefer to use small red kidney beans over traditional chili beans. Also, I want to try a pork trotters terrine recipe that I stumbled upon at You Tube last night.
I tried this green bean recipe as a new version for Christmas dinner and it was a big hit. It has a very fresh and bright flavor because of the gremolata. Most of it can be made ahead of time, requiring only a few minutes to bring it together before serving. It will definitely be added to the “keeper” list.
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/green-beans-gremolata-1-2109993
Made a super delicious bolognese yesterday. Took about 5 hours start to finish but most of that was just sitting on the stovetop with occasional stirring. Definitely a keeper!
Today both Ds and their bfs are coming for dinner (early). Everyone wanted prime rib since we were not all together on Christmas and that is our tradition. I’m trying a gruyere cheese scalloped potato recipe, roasting brussel sprouts and making a fresh green salad with pink grapefruit we love. D2 is making an apple pie. I already made chocolate chip cookies this morning.
Mojo marinated pork roast. Also making black beans (pressure cooker), spicy salsa and mango salsa and guacamole to go on homemade corn tortillas with the pork. Tomorrow, we’ll slice whatever pork is left and make Cubanos with my son’s homemade pickles. Yum.
I’m going to need to do a serious cleanse.
Dh has been on some kind of kick since Christmas Eve. We both like to cook/bake, but he seems to have gone overboard. His mom was visiting so that may have been part of it, but after so many heavy meals, I can’t wait for tomorrow. Today is the last hurrah.
We traditionally have homemade ravioli for Christmas Eve that Dh makes with the kids. In the days leading up to Christmas, he also makes at least 50 loaves of pumpkin chocolate chip bread using a very old family recipe. He was a bit behind this year so when it came time for the ravioli, he only made enough pasta for dinner that night. He usually makes extra ravioli using up all the remaining (labor intensive) filling that we put in the freezer for later in the winter. He didn’t have time so he froze the meat filling that was leftover. Now he doesn’t feel like going to trouble of making more dough/ravioli so I suggested making a lasagna with it, since I also have homemade marinara sauce left from when we had the ravioli. I usually make a meat sauce for lasagne, but decided we will just make layers using the leftover marinara, meat filling, and cheese filling and lasagne.
I told my kids this is it-after today, light/healthy meals and a sugar cleanse.
@milee30 your meal sounds delicious!