Showing posts with label asparagus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label asparagus. Show all posts

Friday, December 21, 2012

Asparagus Chicken and Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

This morning I was feeling like something warming and a bit on the healthy side. I was also really tired of rice. This lead me to make a sauteed chicken and asparagus dish with mashed potatoes. Feel free to substitute fresh peas or broccoli florets for the asparagus to change up the chicken dish. To do a twist on the expected, try a different kind of potato, like purple potatoes or sweet potatoes, and add fresh herbs like rosemary or thyme.

Asparagus Chicken
Serves 12

Ingredients:
6 lbs skinless boneless chicken thighs, cubed into bite sized pieces with fat removed
3 bunches asparagus, roughly chopped with wooden bits removed
1/2 cup white cooking wine
2 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs cornstarch dissolved in water
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation
1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium to high heat, whatever you're comfortable working with.
2. Add chicken and saute until the outside of all of the cubes are no longer pink.
3. Add asparagus and stir frequently.
4. When the asparagus has darkened in color and the scent of cooked asparagus is in the air, transfer solids to serving dish leaving liquids behind.
5. Add wine and stir constantly with a wooden spoon, making sure to scrape any good stuff off of the bottom of the pot. Salt and pepper to taste.
6. When all of the alcohol has evaporated (that means no head rush when you smell the steam) add the cornstarch and stir constantly.
7. Remove sauce from heat once it has thickened and toss the chicken and asparagus in the pot, return everything to serving dish for a delicious and healthy meal.


Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Serves 12

Ingredients:
1 head of garlic (I recommend making a few heads of roasted garlic at a time, I made 6 heads of roasted garlic, just store extra peeled and in an airtight container in the fridge)
olive oil
6 lbs russet potatoes, peeled and quartered
1/4 cup butter (I used a Earth Balance Butter Substitute to make these lactose free)
2-3 cups of milk (I used lactose free milk)
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Cut of the pointy bits of the head of garlic and brush with olive oil.
3. Bake garlic for 40-60 mins, until the garlic is soft.
4. While garlic is roasting, put potatoes into a pot and add water until just covered.
5. Bring potatoes to a boil and boil the potatoes until they break apart easily with a fork, about 15 minutes.
6. Drain potatoes and return to pot to keep them warm while you mash.
7. Mash potatoes with a potato masher or fork.
8. While mashing, add butter and mash until combined.
9. While mashing, add milk a bit at a time until desired consistency is achieved. Adding the milk while mashing makes potatoes fluffier.
10. Mash in roasted garlic, salt, and pepper to taste, this means that you should taste after you add a little of each item to see if you need to add more. Always remember that you can salt something more, but you can't un-salt something.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Tented Salmon, Parboiled Asparagus, Mini Sausages, and Rice

Healthy is the name of the game today. Salmon is a flavorful fish that I absolutely love. The steam baking by foil tenting leaves the fish moist by locking in the juices. Parboiled asparagus compliments the salmon quite well and the jasmine rice provides a nice base. For those that don't like fish, I provided mini apple chicken sausages, just fried them up in a pan. Here's how I did it.

Salmon
Serves 12

Ingredients:
6 lbs salmon (1/2 lbs per person)
3 lemons sliced into disks
olive oil
apple cider vinegar
salt and pepper
tinfoil

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Tear a large sheet of tinfoil and place the salmon in the center.
3. Cover the salmon in olive oil, then salt and pepper, then a splash of apple cider vinegar, then cover the salmon in lemon slices.
4. Seal the tinfoil to form a pouch, place the pouch on a baking tin to catch any leaks.
5. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the salmon has turned a lighter pink all the way through.


Parboiled Asparagus
Serves 12

Ingredients:
3 bunches of asparagus, cut into bite size chunks on a diagonal
olive oil
salt and pepper

Preparation:
1. Bring water to a rolling boil in a large pot.
2. Boil the asparagus for 2 minutes, then drain all the water.
3. Toss the asparagus with olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste.