This recipe is a winner, any time of the year. Easy to make, and so full of flavor, we just can’t get enough of it. It is a good candidate for a weekday meal, as elements can be prepared ahead of time, then quickly assembled just prior to dinnertime.

• 2, 5-ounce skinless boneless chicken breasts
• 1 tsp olive oil or vegetable oil
• seasoned salt

Dressing

• 1/3 cup rice vinegar
• 1-1/2 Tbsp minced fresh ginger
• 1-1/2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 3 Tbsp sugar (or agave syrup)
• 3/4 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup peanut oil

Salad

• 1 head (or 2 bunches) of lettuce, or 1/2 head green cabbage and 1/2 head read cabbage (cleaned and chopped)
• 1 large carrot, peeled, cut into 1-inch-long matchsticks
• 2 Persian (baby) cucumbers or ½ hothouse (English) cucumber, thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 green onions, cut into ¼-inch-thick diagonal slices, including dark green stalks
• ¼ cup chopped roasted peanuts
• Garnish: 3 tbsp toasted sesame seeded

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place chicken in small roasting pan or pie pan. Drizzle with oil and season with salt. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until thoroughly cooked. Cool and cut into bite-size pieces.

Prepare dressing: In small bowl, combine vinegar, ginger, soy sauce, agave syrup or sugar, mustard, and salt. Stir to combine with fork or whisk. Stir or whisk in oil.

Prepare salad: In large bowl, toss cabbages, romaine, carrot, cucumbers, cilantro, green onions, peanuts, and cooked chicken. Stir dressing and pour over salad: toss. Divide between plates and top with sesame seeds.

Serves: 8

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This delicious recipe is a quick weekday — or weekend – meal for everyone. Mix up the toppings to your liking — and enjoy the layers of flavor, that are crunchy, creamy and luscious.

• 1 medium onion
• 1 lb tomatoes, quartered
• 2 large garlic cloves
• 1 or 2 serrano chiles, stemmed
• 1/2 cup, plus 2 Tbsp vegetable oil (divided)
• 3 cups shredded lettuce
• 3 – 6 large radishes
• 1/2 cup cilantro
• 4 cups, cooked and shredded chicken
• corn tortillas
• 1 can black or refried beans, heated
• 1-2 avocados, sliced
• optional toppings: sour cream, shredded or crumbled cheese of choice, salsa, lime wedges

Preheat the broiler. Cut half the onion into 3/4-inch wedges; chop remainder of onions. Toss onion wedges with tomatoes, garlic, and whole chilis with 2 Tbsp oil, and broil in oven on a sheet pan, until softened and charred, about 10-15 minutes.

While broiling, toss together lettuce, radish, chopped onion and half of the cilantro,

Puree the tomato mixture in a blender and add 1 tsp salt, until smooth. Transfer to a boil and stir in the chicken, remaining cilantro and add salt to taste.

To fry the tortillas, heat 1/2 cup oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Fry tortillas, one at a time, turning over and pressing down with tongs to immerse. Fry until golden brown, about 60 seconds. Drain briefly.

Spread tortillas with refried or black beans, top with chicken, then lettuce mixture followed by any other optional toppings.

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We’ve all felt it: The draw of a nostalgic meal which brings a flood of memories to the surface again. It is often a comfort food, or regional specialty, that you may not have thought of in years, but something sparks your memory and you’re instantly transported back in time.

This time around, all it took was quick trip back home, and Mom whipped up a meal that I hadn’t thought of in decades. It was City Chicken.

But, it’s not Chicken!

You may, or may not, have heard of City Chicken. It is a regional ‘specialty’ best known in parts of Ohio and Michigan, as well as some of the northeastern Appalachian regions. City Chicken consists of cubes of pork and veal on a stick, covered in an egg wash, then breaded and either fried or baked in a pan.

It was a meal Mom often prepared when I was younger, but one that I never questioned about the lack of chicken in this recipe. This time around, I did.

“Well, Mom this isn’t really chicken,” I stated. “Why is it called ‘City Chicken’? Mom didn’t really have the answer so I decided to do a bit of sleuthing.

As it turns out, City Chicken is a Depression Era recipe that came about because, at the time, chicken was expensive. If you had an egg laying chicken, you didn’t really want to eat it – you wanted to save it for the eggs. And, once it was beyond its egg-laying period, you didn’t really want to eat it because it was tough—therefore, it was often used in stews.

So, as an alternative to chicken, women turned to cheaper cuts of meat – pork, beef and veal. Surprisingly enough, pork, beef and veal were cheaper cuts of meat (than chicken), because farmers were butchering beef to thin their herds. Everyone may have wanted chicken on the table, but it was too expensive; therefore, the pork and veal were more readily available, at more reasonable prices. Home cooks used the cheaper cuts of meat and threaded them onto sticks to mimic chicken on a drumstick.

City Chicken

1/2 lb beef steak
1/2 lb veal steak
1/2 lb lean pork
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1-1/2 cups fine dry breadcrumbs
1 egg
1 Tbsp water
¼ cup butter or shortening

Cute beef, veal, and/or pork, into 1-inch cubes, then thread the cubes on 5-inch wooden skewers, alternating meat.

Combine the salt, pepper, and breadcrumbs, and beat the egg with water.

First roll skewered meat in the breadcrumbs, dip it in the egg/water mixture, and then roll in the breadcrumbs again.

Heat vegetable shortening in heavy skillet; brown meat on all sides in hot shortening. Add water; cover tightly and simmer for 45 minutes, or until meat is tender. Yield: 4 to 6 servings

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Add a tasty bit of Thai flavor to your chicken breasts, by covering them with a lemongrass-based paste then grilling. Pair with grilled vegetables and some rice, and you’ll be transported to Thailand for mealtime.

• 1/2 cup minced lemongrass, tender bottom part only
• 3 tbsp peeled and grated fresh ginger
• 3 tbsp Asian fish sauce
• 3 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/2 tsp hot red pepper flakes
• grated zest of 1 lime
• 2-3 tbsp water
• 4 chicken breasts, about 3/4 lb each, skin on and bone in

Combine the lemongrass, ginger, fish sauce, lime juice, garlic, red pepper flakes, and lime zest in a blender and puree, adding the water as needed to make a thick paste.

Spread the lemongrass mixture evenly over both sides of the chicken. Transfer to a non-aluminum dish, cover, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to 4 hours.

Build a charcoal fire in an outdoor grill with a cover and let burn until covered with white ash. Leave the coals heaped in the center of the grill: do not spread them out. For a gas grill, preheat on high heat. Turn one burner off and keep the other burner(s) on high heat.

Lightly oil the grill rack. For a charcoal grill, arrange the chicken, skin side down, around the perimeter of the grill rack, not directly over the coals, and cover the grill. For a gas grill, place the chicken over the unlit burner and cover. Cook, turning after 15 minutes, until the chicken shows no sign of pink when the thickest parts are cut into near the bone, about 35 minutes total. serve hot.

Serves: 4

Source: Williams-Sonoma Chicken. Simon & Schuster.

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Traditionally, made with veal, this Chicken Saltimbocca recipe lives up to his name –saltimbocca means jumps in the mouth in Italian — and the combination of ingredients makes it do just that. Surprisingly quick to make, you’ll impress your family with this one.

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, lightly pounded to even thickness
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tsp chopped fresh sage (or dried)
• 2 large slices prosciutto (not paper-thin)
• 1/4 lb. fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced and trimmed to fit chicken breast
• 3/4 cup dry white wine, such as Pino Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc

Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge each breast in flour, shaking off the excess, and set aside.

In a large frying pan, over medium heat, melt 1 Tbsp of butter with the oil until hot. Add the chicken and cook, uncovered, until golden brown (about 5 minutes). Turn and cook until they feel firm when pressed in the center, another 4-6 minutes.

Reduce the heat to low. Sprinkle the breasts with chopped, or dried, sage. Top each breast with a piece of prosciutto, and add the sliced cheese. Cover the pan and cook until the cheese is melted, about 2 minutes. Transfer breasts to serving platter and tent with aluminum foil. Be careful not to touch the cheese. 

Raise to high heat. Once pan is sizzling, add the wine and deglaze the pan, stirring to scrape up any browned bits stuck on the pan bottom. Boil until reduced to 1/4 cup, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in the remaining 1 Tbsp butter.

Spoon an equal amount of sauce over each breast, garnish with sage leaf and serve.

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This delicious recipe is made with the Naranja Agria, a small bitter orange used in Latin American cooking – perfect for marinating meats. We enjoyed Yeni’s version at our homestay in Soroa, Cuba. She prepared marinated chicken for us, along with plate after plate of delicious food.

• 10-12 garlic cloves
• 1 cup cilantro
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp cumin
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 olive oil
• 3/4 cup Naranja Agria (or substitute 2 parts lemon to 1 part orange juice)

Place garlic in food processor, and bring to a rough chop. Add cilantro, oregano and cumin, then blend on medium speed. Add salt and pepper to taste, then place mixture into a bowl filled with olive oil and Naranja Agria. Whisk until completely blended

Marinate meat, or simply spoon over meat while cooking.

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Tired of the same old chicken recipe? This recipe’s intriguing tomato sauce is redolent of honey and spices, and is a wonderful change of pace for serving over boneless chicken breasts.

Serves: 8

• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste
• 2 cups tomato sauce
• 2 Tbsp dark honey
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 8 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro leaves

In a food processor, process the onion and garlic until a coarse paste forms. In a saucepan, heat the butter over medium heat. Add the onion-garlic puree and saute for about 10 minutes, or until tender. Stir in the cinnamon, ginger, and cayenne and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add the tomato sauce and honey and simmer for 5 minutes. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Blot the chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. In a skillet, heat half of the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add half of the chicken pieces to the pan and saute on one side for about 2-3 minutes, until browned. Turn the chicken over and saute on the second side for another 2-3 minutes, until browned. Reduce the heat if necessary to avoid scorching the chicken. Transfer the chicken to a baking dish. Repeat the browning process with the remaining oil and chicken and transfer it to the baking dish.

Spoon the sauce over the chicken and bake it for 15 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through (the internal temperature should be at least 180 degrees F).

Sprinkle the chicken with the sesame seeds and cilantro and divide among serving plates. Serve hot.

Source: Cooking at the C.I.A., produced by Marjorie Poore Productions.

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This recipe has been in my ‘Must Try’ file for some time. It has been sitting there waiting until I felt it was the right time to introduce it to the family. I am confident that I would have received thumbs up from two of the kids some time ago, but it wasn’t until now that I felt I would have my other two (the picky eaters) give it a try. I’m happy to report that everyone enjoyed it, and I will be adding it to our menu rotation!

• 12 oz. wide, flat rice noodles, medium width
• 8 medium dried black mushrooms, soaked in hot water 15 minutes until soft, or 1 cup canned straw mushrooms, drained
• 4 cups canned chicken broth, plus 1 cup water
• 2 (13-1/2 ounce) cans unsweetened coconut milk
• 8 ounces skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into thin strips
• 5 Tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
• 4 Tbsp fish sauce
• 4 tsp chili-garlic sauce, or more to taste
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 20 snow peas, ends snapped off and strings removed and cut on the diagonal into thin shreds, or 8 ounce spinach leaves
• 6 Tbsp chopped cilantro
• 4 Tbsp thinly sliced scallions
• 4 sprigs Thai basil or sweet basil

Soak the noodles in hot tap water for about 20 minutes, or until soft and pliable. Drain, rinse in cold water, and drain again. Drain the black mushrooms and squeeze dry. Cut off the stems with scissors and discard. Shred the caps.

In a medium saucepan, combine the chicken broth mixture, and coconut milk and slowly bring to just boiling over medium-high heat. Cook and stir gently to prevent the coconut milk from curdling. Add the chicken and mushrooms and simmer gently until the chicken is cooked through, about 1 minute.

Stir in the lime juice, fish sauce, chili-garlic sauce, and sugar. Remove from the heat.

Plunge the noodles in a pot of boiling water and cook, stirring gently to keep the noodles from sticking together, for 1 minute. Drain and immediately portion the noodles into 4 large bowls. Scatter the snow peas, cilantro, scallions, and basil over each bowl. Bring the coconut soup back to a boil. (If using spinach instead of snow peas, add it to the hot soup and cook until wilted, about 30 seconds.) Ladle the hot soup over the noodles, dividing the solid ingredients evenly among the four bowls. Serve immediately.

Serves 4

Source: Easy Asian Noodles, by Helen Chen. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

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1 tsp sea salt to taste

1 tsp black pepper freshly cracked to taste

1 cup sliced peeled carrots (1/4-inch slices)

1 cup shelled fresh peas or thawed frozen

1 cup corn kernels (2 or 3 ears)

2 tbsps salted butter

4 chickens skinless, boneless thighs, about 1 1/4 lb total weight, cut into bite-sized pieces

2 tbsps chopped shallot

1/4 cups all purpose flour

1-1/2 cups chicken stock

1/2 cups Dry white wine

1/2 cups half-and-half

1 tbsp chopped fresh-leaf Italian parsley

1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tsp water

1 pie dough round , 9 inch handmade or purchased

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Bring a saucepan three-fourths full of lightly salted water to a boil. Using a pasta insert or large sieve, immerse the carrot pieces and peas in the water and boil until crisp-tender, 3-5 minutes. Lift out, drain, and transfer to a bowl. Repeat with the corn, boiling for 1 minute. Set aside.

In a large frying pan with a lid over medium-high heat, melt the butter. Add the chicken and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, until browned on all sides, about 8 minutes. Add the shallot and cook, stirring, until softened, about 2 minutes.

Sprinkle in the flour and stir well. Stir in the stock, wine, half-and-half, and parsley, and bring to simmer. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in the carrots, peas, and corn. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a 9-inch deep-dish pie dish.

Brush some of the egg yolk mixture in a 1-inch border around the edge of the pie dough round. Place the round, egg side down, over the filling, and press the dough to the rim of the dish. Trim off any overhanging dough and brush the surface lightly with the remaining egg yolk mixture. Cut a few slits in the center of the top with the tip of a knife.

Place the pie dish on a baking sheet. Bake until the crust is golden brown, about 30 minutes. Serve hot.

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Quick, easy and delicious crowd pleaser! That’s what you’ll get when you make enchiladas. We typically make them with chicken, but can certainly made using beef, pork, or only vegetables. We often use the a store bought enchilada sauce from Whole Foods, but we also enjoy a homemade sauce that it really easy to make.

• 2 Tbsp vegetable or canola oil
• 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 2 Tbsp chili powder (or more, to taste)
• 2 cups water
• 3 oz. tomato paste
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• salt to taste — up to 3/4 tsp.

Combine vegetable oil, flour and chili powder in a medium pot and whisk together. Continue whisking over medium heat until the mixture begins to bubble, then whisk for one minute.

Add water, tomato paste, garlic powder, cumin and cayenne, whisk until smooth. Cook until the sauce comes to a simmer and thickens slightly.

Add salt, 1/4 tsp at a time, to taste.

To Assemble Enchiladas

Spoon sauce on bottom of pan to coat.

Fill tortilla with sauteed vegetables of choice (onions, red peppers, mushrooms, etc.), shredded chicken, and cheese.

Fold enchilada and place in pan. Once all enchiladas are assembled, pour remaining sauce over the top. Add extra cheese on top and bake in 350 degree oven until cooked through and cheese melted, approximately 30 minutes.

Serve with rice and black beans.

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