Poulet en Papillote and Roasted Carrots & Radishes

This is such an incredibly easy, healthy and absurdly delicious way to cook chicken.  En Papillote "In Parchment" is a french technique where food is cooked in a parcel.  It is so wonderful because it keeps in the moisture and you can really taste the difference in the chicken.  I found this recipe on the Sophistimom blog and I knew I had to try it!  Start with parchment paper and then you can put just about anything in there; I know a lot of people are using this technique to cook their Thanksgiving turkeys since it is generally such a dry meat.  Anyways I encourage everyone to try it!  I served the chicken with roasted carrots and radishes.  I have really been into radishes lately; it is such an overlooked vegetable but they really offer such a peppery and unique flavor.

Poulet en Papillote
Serves 4

Ingredients

1lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 shallot, thinly sliced (a sweet onion would be fine to)
a couple sprigs of thyme
fresh tarragon if you have it, I didn't and used a pinch of dried
olive oil
salt & pepper
parchment paper

Method

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Place cleaned chicken a large sheet of parchment paper on a roasting pan.  Drizzle with olive oil and use a brush to make sure it's totally covered.  Cover with shallot, thyme, tarragon and salt & pepper.  Roll parchment paper into a pouch and try to make sure it's air tight (you want to make sure to keep in all the moisture).  Cook for 25-35 minutes depending on the size of your chicken.  Remove and serve hot.


Roasted Carrots & Radishes
Serves 4

Ingredients

6-8 carrots, sliced into large medallions (my carrots were too thin for medallions so I just cut into pieces)
1 bunch of radishes, halved or quartered depending on size
olive oil
sea salt

Method

Since I already have the oven at 350 for the chicken I just left it at that but if you're just roasting vegetables I'd turn it up to 400 degrees.  Toss sliced carrots and radishes in a bowl with olive oil until completely covered; sprinkle generously with salt.  Lay flat on a baking pan.   Bake for 15 minutes and flip or give pan a good shake.  Roast for another 10-15 minutes or until browned but now burned.  

Healthy Chicken Enchiladas

I wouldn't normally classify enchiladas as a particularly healthy meal but there are definitely ways to enjoy enchiladas without all the fat.  The first is by limiting the amount of cheese you use.  My cheese grater is meant for lighter cheeses like parmesan which you would want to sprinkle on top of pasta, I use it for everything.  I can cover a pan of enchiladas using half the amount of cheese called for in a recipe, thus cutting down significantly on the fat content.  I also use whole wheat tortillas and substitute cream cheese for low fat greek yogurt.  The best part is I don't feel like I've sacrificed the taste at all but I also don't walk away feeling guilty for stuffing my face with enchiladas!  Enchiladas are also great because you can get a couple days worth of meals from one pan; which saves time and money.  This is a super easy recipe that I've adapted through many attempts, you can add or replace the ingredients depending on your preferences.

Ingredients
Makes 1 pan

whole wheat tortillas
1 14oz can of enchiladas sauce
2 skinless chicken breasts
1 onion, diced
1 bell pepper, chopped
Monterey Jack cheese
low fat greek yogurt
1 tbsp olive oil
hot sauce, to taste
1 avocado
salt and pepper to taste

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat olive oil in skillet, when hot add onions.  Cook for 5 minutes; add bell pepper and salt & pepper to taste.  Remove from heat once sufficiently browned, about 5 more minutes and remove from heat. I prefer to poach my chicken but you could also bake, broil or saute depending on your time.  For poaching, slice chicken into strips and place into boiling water of a sauce pan.  Depending on size of your strips should take about 8 minutes.  Once completely cooked, remove from pan and let cool.  Once cool, using two forks shred chicken.  Add chicken to the onions and peppers - if you have extra sauce you can add a little to the mixture.  You can also add cheese, if you're trying to be extra healthy then skip this step!  Meanwhile pour about 2 Tbsp or enough to cover the bottom of a casserole dish with Enchilada sauce.  Pour extra enchilada sauce on plate and cover both sides of each tortilla, I used a brush to make sure they were completely covered.  Start placing each tortilla in the pan and stuff with filling, roll up when full, repeat until pan is full.  Shred cheese over the pan and bake for about 10 minutes or until cheese and sauce are bubbling.  Sprinkle with hot sauce, avocado slices and greek yogurt. Serve hot. 

Fresh Linguine with Spicy Sausage

No matter how good the food is or how plentiful the wine is there is no substitute for great company.  With all my best friends in town and after an eventful weekend of food, drink and exploring the city we decided to hit up two iconic food markets and make dinner at home for their last night.  We started at Murray's Cheese Shop on Bleecker Street where we picked up some fresh linguine.  We easily could have done all our shopping there but we also wanted to go check out Eataly, which I have previously avoided due to the crowds, but figured on a Monday afternoon we should be all right.  Eataly is notoriously expensive and there is plenty of truth to that, but we were able to walk out there without spending too much.  However, if were to do a complete grocery shop there or sit in for a meal you could certainly make a dent in the wallet.  We picked up some incredible olives with a citrus seasoning as well as a loaf of rustic olive bread, which was expensive, but incredibly delicious.  From the butcher shop, we picked up some spicy sausage.  The sausage was incredibly flavorful with just the right amount of kick and no more expensive than what you'd find in Whole Foods.  For those of you who don't live in New York City, grocery shopping at Whole Foods is one of the more reasonable places to shop, unbelievable I know, but that's my justification for using Whole Foods prices as a comparison.  

Ingredients:

4-6 Spicy Italian sausage links
1lb Fresh pasta
1 48oz can of crushed tomatoes
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
Olive oil

Method:

Start by sauteing the sausages in a pan with a splash of olive oil.  Once brown on all sides, slice into medallions.  Meanwhile, saute chopped onions in olive oil until they start to brown, add the red bell pepper, about 15 minutes.  Add tomato sauce and sausage,  simmer on low until ready to serve.  In a large pot boil water for fresh pasta.  Fresh pasta takes 1/2 the time for normal pasta to cook. Taste and drain when you reach desired texture.

Serve with fresh bread and an arugula salad with a lemon dressing and grated Parmesan.

Banana Bread with Blueberries

I have wanted to make banana bread for a while now, unfortunately I never seem to have overly ripe bananas.  Finally I looked in the fruit basket and there lay 3 bananas, just screaming to be made into a delicious banana bread.  So that's just what I did.  I found this recipe on Simply Recipes and then modified it to my liking.  I love adding blueberries because they are so juicy and tasty.  I used fresh but frozen are perfectly fine.

Ingredients:
Makes 1 pan

4 ripe bananas, smashed
1 pint of blueberries (fresh or frozen - if frozen defrost before use)
1/3 cup melted butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
Pinch of ground cloves
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cup of flour

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Mix butter into the smashed bananas in a large mixing bowl - I used a mashed potato utensil to smash the bananas. Combine in the sugar, egg, vanilla, then the spices. Sprinkle in the baking soda and salt and mix. Add the flour last, and slowly fold into mixture. Pour batter into a baking pan - I used a round cake pan but I think a loaf pan may be more ideal.  Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until your fork comes out clean when inserted.  Let cool on rack and serve when ready.