Pecan Cream Chicken and Mushrooms

We had more mushrooms and cream and this time we upped the flavor on chicken. Giving the pecans a whirl in the food processor to chop them fine made it so every bite tasted nutty.

Pecan Cream:
3/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans, toasted
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup heavy cream

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 teaspoon olive oil, more as needed
Salt & pepper to taste

Sauce:
1 tablespoon sherry or another deglazing liquid (water, broth, wine)
1 teaspoon olive oil, as needed
1 small onion, finely chopped
½ pound mushrooms, sliced
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves, finely chopped

Prepare pecan cream by grinding pecans in a food processor, scraping down the sides of bowl as needed. Add water and cream and salt to taste; process until combined, scraping sides of bowl as needed. Set aside.

Pound chicken to ¼ inch thickness to promote even cooking. Sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper to taste. Heat olive oil a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add half the chicken; sauté about 5 minutes per each side or until cooked through. Cook the chicken in 2 batches, adding more oil if needed for second batch. Set aside cooked chicken on a clean plate, keep warm.

Add sherry or other deglazing liquid to pan and stir up any browned bits. Add oil if necessary and sauté the onions for 5 minutes to soften. Add mushrooms and cook over medium heat for 4 to 6 minutes or until mushrooms are tender and starting to brown. Add fresh rosemary to the pan. Stir in pecan cream; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and add chicken back to pan. Simmer for about 5 minutes until reduced slightly.

Place rice among serving plates. Add the chicken and then place a spoonful of the mushroom pecan sauce on top. Garnish with a pinch of chopped pecans if desired.

I served this with rice although pasta would work well, too.

Herbes de Provence Pork Chops with Mushrooms

Tired of the same old pork chops? Switch things up a bit by using Herbes de Provence. I used store bought but it is easy to make up your own blend – see here or here. The chops were browned in a skillet and then braised in a hot oven with a sauce of chicken stock and wine. That sauce was added to the skillet with mushrooms and cream and those lovely herbes and reduced down to deliciousness.

Mushrooms in cream sauce are delectable anyway but once you’ve had them Herbes de Provence, you’ll wonder why anyone would have them any other way.

2 tablespoons olive oil
4 thick cut pork chops
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup white wine
1/2 pound mushrooms
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup cream
1 tablespoon Herbes de Provence

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Heat oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper. Add pork to the skillet and brown, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer the pork to a baking dish. Add the chicken stock and white wine to the skillet. Boil until reduced by half, scraping up browned bits, about 10 minutes. Pour over the pork. Bake pork chops until they reach an internal temperature of 145 degrees F, about 25 minutes.

Clean and slice the mushrooms. Heat butter in the pork skillet. Add mushrooms to the skillet and sauté until softened. Remove skillet from heat until pork is done.

Transfer pork chops to serving plates. Pour sauce from baking dish into skillet with mushrooms and heat over medium high heat. Whisk the cream and Herbes de Provence into the sauce and bring to a boil. Simmer until thickened. Spoon mushrooms and sauce over the pork chops.

I served the pork chops with applesauce and a baked sweet potato.

 

 

Pepper Jack Mac

I was clearing out the fridge and I had a cup of cream and a bag of shredded pepper jack cheese so I put my thinking cap on and decided the best use of my ingredients was to make baked mac and cheese.

As an aside, the cheese sauce is pretty darn tasty on tortilla chips, if you wanted nachos instead of dinner.

If you do make it into mac and cheese, this recipe serves three (or me and a friend and lunch tomorrow). Of course, had I served a salad with this I probably could have served four but those who know me, know that isn’t happening.

1 1/2 cups elbow noodles

1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup bread crumbs

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup cream or milk
1 1/2 – 2 cups pepper jack cheese, grated
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 adobo seasoning or cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 1 quart casserole.

Boil the elbow macaroni in salted water for a little less than al dente (I did them for 9 minutes).

Toast the bread crumbs in a small skillet in which you’ve melted the butter. Set aside.

Melt butter in saucepan. Whisk in flour and cook for 2 minutes to cook off flour taste but not so much as to darken the roux. Slowly whisk in the milk or cream. Don’t pour it in all at once or you will have lumps. Cook the milk mixture until it coats the back of the spoon, about 10 minutes. Turn the heat down to low. A handful at a time, add the pepper jack cheese. Stir well after each addition until the cheese has melted. Once cheese has melted, add the salt and for a touch of heat add adobo or cayenne pepper. Stir well.

Drain macaroni and return to pan. Pour cheese mixture over and stir to combine. Pour into buttered casserole and top with toasted bread crumbs. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Blueberry Muffins

I tried a new blueberry muffin recipe and they were pretty good. I usually make this Double Blueberry Muffins recipe, where you mash part of the blueberries. With less smashed fruit, the muffins in this recipe aren’t a strange grey from the blueberry juices, which was a plus as I brought them for the Forum for Equality Candidate Interviews for the upcoming election. Only problem was they didn’t want to come out of the muffin tins, so I ended up with a lot of muffin tops (which is frankly the best part). Next time, I’ll put these in cupcake papers, though.

2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
2 large eggs
3/4 cups milk
1 1/2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen

cinnamon sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease 2 – 12 cup muffin tins

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Cream the butter in a mixing bowl. Add the sugar and the extracts and mix to combine. Scrape down the bowl and then add the eggs one at a time.

Add in one third of the dry ingredients. Pour in half the milk. Add in half of the remaining dry ingredients and then the rest of the milk. Add the final bit of dry ingredients. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and fold in the blueberries.

Fill the muffin tins with batter. Sprinkle the tops with cinnamon sugar and bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Rotate and switch the pans midway through baking.

Let the muffins cool for 5 minutes in the pan before removing to a rack to cool completely.

Breakfast Corn Muffins

I wanted something different for breakfast and I had been thinking about corn muffins recently. I decided to make a mash up that would have a hit of protein but still have corn flavor. These ended up tasting a little like cornbread stuffing (not a bad thing at all). They also freeze really well and can be rewarmed in a microwave.

1 lb bulk breakfast sausage
1 small onion (1 cup)
2 ribs celery (1 cup)
½ green bell pepper (1/2 cup)
1 teaspoon sage
1 cup yellow corn meal
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1/4 cup corn kernels, fresh, frozen or canned (optional)

 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Brown sausage over medium heat. Add celery, onion and bell pepper and sauté until softened. Remove skillet from heat. Stir in sage.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together corn meal, all purpose flour, baking powder and salt.

In a separate bowl, whisk together milk, chicken broth, sour cream, eggs and corn kernels. Add to the corn meal mix and stir to combine. Fold in meat mixture.

Using a ¼ cup measure, fill buttered muffin tins with the mix. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.