Chicken with Bacon and White Wine Sauce

(or back in the kitchen again)

It has been an incredibly long time since I have last posted about food.  

Imagine that: a food blog without food!

Chicken with Bacon and White Wine Sauce

But I recently found a dish on Pinterest that I knew I had to try.  This dish is from the blog Pinch of Yum.  I made a few minor changes to the recipe, but this is a fairly faithful rendition of the recipe.

Oh, and did I happen to mention that somehow I can miraculously eat chicken again?!  After seven long years of having to avoid chicken for fear of having an asthma attack, my allergy to chicken disappeared as suddenly as it appeared.  But hey, I'm not complaining!

After gathering ingredients and clearing the clutter off my kitchen table, I photographed my mise en place.  Our new organic grocery store recently had bone-in chicken thighs on sale for $0.88 a pound, so I picked up a package.  I had the rest of the ingredients on hand, so this ended up being an inexpensive, but elegant meal. 

Skillet Chicken with Bacon and White Wine Sauce
(adapted from Pinch of Yum)

3 slices bacon
1/2 cup flour
salt
pepper
2 teaspoons Herbes de Provence
1 1/2 - 2 lbs. chicken thighs with skin
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons white onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup vegetable stock
fresh parsley, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat a large ovenproof Dutch oven or cast iron skillet over medium high heat.  Cut the bacon into small pieces and fry for 5 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside, leaving the bacon grease in the pan.  Turn down the heat before adding the chicken.

Salt and pepper the chicken and add the Herbes de Provence to the flour.  Dredge each piece of chicken in the flour mixture and transfer to the hot pan.  Pan-fry the chicken for a few minutes on each side, until golden brown (but not cooked through).  Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside on a plate.

Add the onions to the pan with the olive oil.  Saute for 5 to 10 minutes, until softened and fragrant and golden brown.  Add the wine slowly, stirring to get all the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.  Add the vegetable stock and let every thing cook until it reduces by about half.

Add the chicken and bacon back to the pan and bake for 40 minutes, basting every 10 or so minutes with the pan sauce.  Remove from the oven when the chicken skin is crispy and the chicken is fully cooked (165 degrees internal temperature).

Rather than mixing the salt and pepper into the flour mixture, I prefer to directly salt and pepper the meat.  I find that the meat is better seasoned using this method.  The Herbes de Provence were mixed into the flour and the seasoned meat was lightly coated in the herbed flour.

The first step in the cooking was to brown the bacon pieces in the cast iron skillet.  I added a fourth slice of bacon that would later be added to a side dish of green beans.

After the bacon was browned, the bits were removed from the pan and set aside on a paper towel to drain.  The chicken was placed in the skillet, skin side down, and sauteed until brown on both sides.

The chicken was set aside and the onion was sauteed until soft and translucent.  Then the wine was added to the skillet and the fond was gently scraped from the bottom of the pan.  Next, the vegetable stock was added and allowed to reduce for several minutes.

The chicken and bacon were added back to the skillet and the pan was placed in a 350 degree oven for 40 minutes. 

Meanwhile, I prepared freshly picked (or not so freshly picked, as the case may be) green beans from my garden in the microwave.  After cleaning and cutting the end of the green beans, I salted the beans and microwaved them on high for one minute.  Then I added the bacon, a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, a splash of extra virgin olive oil, a grind of black pepper, and half a teaspoon of white sugar.  The beans cooked on high in the microwave for another three minutes.

The chicken is ready to be served.

This was a delightful meal.  I can't tell you how wonderful it is to be able to eat chicken again!

The Garden in Distress

This year had started out so promising:

lots of rain and just the right amount of sun.

And then the rains stopped.

Just like that.

Never in all of my years of gardening have I ever experienced a spring drought.

This is not good.  Especially since many of our plants are still trying to recover from the severe drought we had two years ago.

 Even the native echinacea are wilted.*

*Disclaimer: I only water plants in pots in normal years and trees in drought years.

A plant has to be tough to survive in my garden.  I don't pamper any of my plants.  They survive or they're out of here.  Given the fact that my main garden lies on a severe southern facing slope that consists of very shallow soil (read a thin dusting of soil over limestone), any rain that does fall, either runs off immediately or doesn't stay around long.  

The best I can do is to build up the soil, but that takes time.

There is no magic bullet in gardening, folks.

Since I do have such adverse growing conditions in my garden, I have made a conscious effort to grow more native plants that are naturally suited to this climate and its quirks.

That certainly doesn't exempt them from feeling the pain in extreme weather, though.

 The dreaded Japanese beetles have hit with a vengeance.

They have practically denuded some of my roses.

 The goose neck loosestrife is severely wilted.

 It's looking sad.

 No, this isn't snow, this is grass.  It's dead grass.

Just a couple of days into summer.

 Pitiful.

At least we won't need to mow.

Hey, do you know how bad a drought is?

When even the weeds stop growing!

Yep, we're there.

 The butterfly bush out front is very unhappy.

 All right, I admit it.  We've been watering the hydrangea.

But with blooms this pretty, do you blame me?

As I said, we have been watering the pots.

The bush beans have been doing well and we got our first harvest this week.

Haricot verts.  Or young green beans.

Very tasty.

I planted four tomato plants in two large pots this year and we are being overrun with tomatoes.
We have already harvested our first tomatoes of the season.

Oh, and that greenhouse window to the right of the tomato plants?
I bought that off a neighbor at a garage sale for $5.  I plan to use it for a greenhouse for my potted herb plants to extend the growing season.

 But even in these darkest of times, there is life in the garden.

 A tiger swallowtail has been busy feeding on the butterfly bushes.

 As has a bumblebee.

 This guy proved a bit more elusive to photograph.

The Eastern black swallowtail.

Please remember when you water your gardens to also leave out sources of water for the insects and the birds, especially in times of drought. 

Cod Gratin

I found a package of cod that was discounted 

as it was close to the expiration date.

As a result of smart shopping

I saved $3.70 on this package

of perfectly good cod.

Don't be afraid to purchase food

that is marked down for quick sale.

Just be sure to either use it right away

or put it in the freezer when you get home.

You will have saved money 

and saved food from being thrown away.

 I started with a recipe from Ina Garten for Bay Scallop Gratin and jumped ship from there.

Cod Gratin

4 cod fillets

3 tablespoons butter, room temperature

3 cloves garlic, grated

1 scallion

1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

1 teaspoon kosher salt*

1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup panko

3 tablespoons dry white wine

*This amount will be cut back to 1/2 teaspoon in the future

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Finely mince the white part of the scallion and chop the green part of the scallion.  Set the green part aside for use as garnish at the end.

Place the butter, garlic, minced white scallion, lemon zest, kosher salt, and black pepper in a medium bowl.  Mix on low speed with a hand mixer until creamy.  Slowly pour in the olive oil until well blended.

With a spoon or spatula, stir in the panko.

Pour the white wine into the bottom of a baking dish and place the cod in the dish.  Spoon the gratin mixture over the top of the cod pieces.

Bake in the oven for about 20 to 25 minutes or until no longer translucent.  The time will vary, depending upon the thickness of the fish.  If desired, the dish can be placed under the broiler for the last couple of minutes.

Top the finished dish with the chopped green scallions.

 

 The butter/olive oil is mixed together.

 And the panko is mixed in.

 The gratin is placed on the fish before the cod goes into the oven.

 Out of the oven and ready to be served.

 Roasted green beans with bacon accompany our fish.

Dinner is served.

And how was this?
My husband still thought that there was too much lemon in the dish.  The Foodie Daughter and I thought there was too much salt in the topping.  So much salt that we couldn't taste anything but salt, and certainly not lemon.  The men didn't mind the salt.

I will make this again, but I will cut back on the salt, probably to 1/2 teaspoon. 

Christmas Dinner

After our son and his family were here for their morning visit

and the presents were exchanged,

it was time to make the Christmas dinner.

And I had a lovely dinner planned.

I had just forgotten one minor detail.

My kitchen.

And my stove.

I guess that makes two minor details.

My bad.

You see, while I have a nice, open kitchen,

it is rather poorly designed,

with no counter space being larger than two feet long.

Add in the mix the fact that the stove is directly opposite

the refrigerator and the dishwasher is

in the middle of the work triangle and you have a

culinary work disaster.

Then there is the stove.

At first glance it is a nice stove, being a Jenn Air

with a stove top grill in place of two burners.

But you lose those two burners.

And then, because of the downdraft exhaust system

(which no longer works because the switch is broken),

the oven is smaller than the norm.

I had failed to consider these things when planning

my grand meal.

But let's get on with the meal and see how I overcame

these self-created obstacles.

Earlier in the month my husband had brought

home from work a fully cooked smoked turkey

as well as a bone-in ham.

Since my Christmas is laying on the ground

(the chimney, remember?),

there was to be no new refrigerator for me this year

so I could not fit both in the old fridge.

Fortunately, this December had been colder than usual,

so the ham could safely stay in the garage

while the turkey resided in the freezer

until it was time for the turkey to move to the

refrigerator.

Then the ham moved to the freezer just as

the temperatures outside warmed up.

Convenient, no?

So anyway,

our Christmas menu was

the smoked turkey that only needed to be reheated,

a carrot soufflé and roasted green beans.

I think you can begin to see the problem here:

they all require oven space.

Fortunately I have a nice toaster oven,

but that only took care of one item.

I still thought I'd be okay, but I forgot that the

tiny oven would be overwhelmed with a whole turkey.

Le sigh.

First up on the menu, the carrot soufflé.


The ingredients for this dish, which comes from

Thomas Caterers of Distinction, are:



1 pound carrots

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 stick butter

3 tablespoons butter

salt (to taste)

3 eggs

1 teaspoon baking powder









After peeling carrots, cook in salted water until

well done. Drain well.



Meanwhile, melt butter.



In a blender or food processor put eggs, melted butter, sugar, flour,

baking powder and vanilla.



Blend well.








Add carrots and blend until mixture

resembles a milkshake.



I ended up adding no additional salt other than

the salt that had been added to the boiling water

for the carrots.



As with potatoes and pasta, if you salt the cooking

water enough, you often don't need to add salt later on.




Cook in an 8" x 8" greased glass pan in a 275 degree oven

for 45 minutes or until just firm.




The soufflé is ready.


And the rest of dinner?



Well, I roasted the green beans with bacon in the

toaster oven.




The directions given for the turkey barely warmed

the meat and given that it had to wait for the
soufflé to bake, that meant it was even cooler than we liked.

So I ended up carving up the meat, stuck it on a plate

and nuked it in the microwave until it came up to temp.



Life; what are you gonna do?



I do recall threatening to eat out

at a Chinese restaurant next year -

that or get a new stove.





At long last, and after much angst in the kitchen,

we sat down to our Christmas dinner.



I can tell you that there wasn't any carrot soufflé

left over.



However, if you do make this and happen to have some left,

it makes a kickin' soup

with the addition of milk or better yet, cream.

Christmas Dinner

What better way to celebrate Christmas with the family than with a festive holiday dinner?

Yeah, that's what I thought.

I even found a new recipe to foist on, er present to my dear family.

I happen to like stuffing.

And after much internal debate, I finally decided that I do call dressing stuffing even though I never stuff a bird with the stuff.

*

Now where was I again?

Dang, these tangents are tough on an old girl.

Oh yes, Sausage Stuffing (please note that I made a half recipe this time around knowing that my husband and the Foodie Daughter are really not into stuffing).

Here we have my mise en place:

5 cups dry bread cubes

1/2 pound breakfast sausage

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1 cup chopped onion

3/4 cup chopped celery, including the leaves

1/2 tablespoon poultry seasoning

1/2 teaspoon dried sage, crumbled (or 1/2 tablespoon fresh sage, chopped)

1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

dash freshly ground black pepper

1 cup turkey stock*

*Go ahead and use chicken stock if you are "normal" and not allergic to chicken.

The herbs and seasonings were tossed with the bread cubes.

The oven was preheated to 350 degrees.

After the breakfast sausage had been sauteed and removed to drain on a paper towel,

the pan was wiped out and the butter, celery and onion were added.

These cooked over medium-low heat for 5 to 7 minutes or until the veggies were soft.

The veggies in the butter were added to the bread cube mixture.




And then the sausage was added.

The turkey stock was stirred in until all was coated.

This then went into a greased 9"x9" pan.

The recipe directions stated that the pan was to be tightly covered with foil and placed in the oven for 25 minutes.

Then the foil was to be removed and the stuffing was to be broiled for 5 minutes.

As I was using a glass pan and had another dish in the oven, I opted to simply raise the temperature of the oven.

Let's move on to the main course, shall we?

My husband brought home a fully cooked smoked turkey from work.

This turkey, from Burge's, is meant to be served cold or room temperature, so that meant that all I had to do was carve the thing.

Done!

Bonus:

I was able to set aside an entire breast for a dish for New Year's Eve

and I have an entire turkey carcass for stock making.

And dinner is served:

the turkey, sausage stuffing and roasted green beans with bacon.

A wine slushie was a fine accompaniment to this festive dinner.

The sausage was good,

but I think this would have been better if the foil had been left off for perhaps 15 minutes,

rather than just 5.

*

The ratings?

Considering that the husband and the Foodie Daughter really don't like stuffing that much, they gave this dish 3 and 3-1/2 stars respectively.

The Foodie Boyfriend and I each gave this 4-1/2 stars.

I think the bread to sausage ratio could be raised to make it an even better dish - along with crisping the top a bit more.

But it was still good and it was Christmas and we are a family.

What more could we want?

Again, that's what I thought.