Chicken Bites with Tangy Honey Mustard Sauce

16 Nov 2012 1 Comment

by sparksfromthekitchen in Appetizer, Lunch, Main Dish, Side Dish Tags: ,

What yummy little bites!! The coating on these bites are a combination of buttery Ritz Crackers, walnuts and panko so they’re tasty and crispy. The honey mustard sauce is tangy, sweet and has a touch of heat. All around they’re delicious. They’re really easy to make and came together in about 30 minutes-start to finish.

Chicken Bites with Tangy Honey Mustard Sauce

For the marinade:

  • a few tbps soy sauce (for marinade)
  • 6 garlic cloves, crushed (for marinade)
  • 1/2 nip bottle scotch (for marinade)

For the chicken:

  • 3 chicken breasts (just over 1lb.) cut into 2-bite size pieces
  • 1/2 sleeve Ritz Crackers, crushed into tiny pieces
  • 1/4 cup walnuts, put through food processor to a fine grain
  • 1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1/4 cup flour

For the honey mustard dipping sauce:

  • 6 tbsp light mayonnaise
  • 4 tbsp dijon mustard
  • 4 tbsp honey
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • cayenne pepper-to taste
  • chipotle powder-to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

In a ziplock bag large enough to hold all chicken and marinade add all marinade ingredients and let it sit while you prepare the breading and honey mustard sauce.

Place crushed Ritz Crackers (a potato masher or food processor works well), walnuts and panko into a bowl. Place eggs in a 2nd bowl. Place flour in a 3rd bowl. Line them up in assembly line fashion: flour, eggs, breadcrumbs.

For the sauce: combine all ingredients in a small bowl and stir to combine. Throw it in the fridge to cool until the chicken is finished baking. (Note: the measurements above are to taste-if you like more honey-add more, if you like less mustard-add less.)

Roll chicken pieces through flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs and arrange on a cookie sheet. Bake in the oven for about 15-18 minutes (depending on how thick the pieces are) until done, flipping once during baking.

Serve with the dipping sauce. They’d also be great with Thai Sweet Chili Sauce, BBQ sauce or some ranch dressing with hot sauce.

Slightly adapted from Mary Ellen’s recipe.

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Thanks for hosting the swap Sarah! http://tasteofhomecooking.blogspot.com/

Risotto alla fragola (Strawberry Risotto)

02 Oct 2012 2 Comments

by sparksfromthekitchen in Appetizer, Lunch, Main Dish Tags: ,

If you’re thinking ‘what the……?’ when you read the name of this dish you’re not alone. I thought the same thing when I first read it. Who puts strawberries in risotto? But you know what-it’s GOOD!! If today is the first time you’re hearing about this then today is your lucky day!!!

The original recipe for this came from one of my favorite cookbooks Twelve.  I kept seeing this recipe and I got curiouser and curiouser (yes-like Alice) about it. So I finally made it a few months ago and could’ve kicked myself for waiting so long.  So I made it again last night. How delicious. How unique. It’s a touch onion-y from the shallots cooked in butter, a bit nutty from the parmesan, a bit tart and sweet from the strawberries and the brandy adds an underlying flavor that compliments it all and it’s creamy and yummy.  I’ve adapted it a bit from the original recipe so here we go…..

 

Risotto alla fragola

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups chicken stock or water (try to use stock)
  • 1 1/2 oz butter
  • 1 medium shallot,  chopped very finely
  • 145 g (5oz) or about 6-8 ripe strawberries, washed, hulled and quartered plus 3 more small strawberries (or 2 medium ones) cut into smaller pieces (into 8ths) for garnish
  • 3 tbsp good quality brandy
  • 1/2 lb aborio (risotto) rice
  • 3/4 cup freshly grated parmesan plus extra for garnish

Instructions:

  1. Heat the stock in a large saucepan and keep it on a gentle simmer.
  2. Heat half of the butter in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan, saute the shallot on low heat until it has softened and then add half of the strawberries. Cook gently for a couple of minutes and then add the brandy.  When it has evaporated add the rice and stir with a wooden spoon to coat all the rice.   Season with salt and pepper and add a ladleful of stock, stirring almost continuously to prevent the rice from sticking.
  3. When the rice has absorbed almost all of the liquid add another ladleful and continue stirring.  Make sure you move all of the rice at the bottom of the pan.  Continue stirring and adding stock for about 20-25 minutes or until the rice is soft yet firm and the texture is creamy and slightly liquid. 
  4. Add the remaining strawberries, the butter and the parmesan cheese and stir. Ladle into a bowl, top with extra parmesan and a few of the strawberries you set aside for the garnish.
  5. Helpful hints: don’t make this when you will have to stop stirring to attend to something else. Give yourself a full 30 minutes to make this from start to finish. Don’t worry if you have one more or less strawberry, it will still turn out fantastic. It’s pretty simple really.  Just ladle and stir ladle and stir. Fear not the risotto!!!

This recipe was included in a great list of fresh strawberry recipies. See the list from What’s Cookin’ Chicago here.

Tomato, Onion, Bacon and Asiago Fritatta

24 Sep 2012 Leave a comment

by sparksfromthekitchen in Appetizer, Breakfast, Lunch, Main Dish, Side Dish Tags: , , ,

Saturday morning was breezy and cool and I felt like making something easy and delicious for breakfast. I hunted around in the fridge and had a few tomatoes, an onion and some Asiago to use up.  This fritatta came out great! A little cheesy, a little crunchy from the bacon, and super tasty.

 

Tomato, Onion, Bacon and Asiago Fritatta

Ingredients:

  • 10 eggs, beaten
  • 5 strips bacon, cooked to desired crunchyness
  • 1 large tomato, diced, seeds removed
  • 1/2 small yellow onion, diced
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 heaping cup freshly-grated Asiago cheese
  • salt & pepper to taste
  • green onions for garnish

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 400 f.
  2. Cook the bacon in a pan over medium heat to desired crunchyness. Remove bacon and place on paper towels to drain.  Leave fat in the pan and add the onion and garlic. Sautee until soft. Add the tomatoes and bacon and then pour the eggs over everything in the pan. Allow it to cook, occasionally running a spatula around the outer rim to prevent sticking. 
  3. When eggs are almost completely cooked through place the pan in the oven until eggs are cooked through.
  4. Sprinkle the cheese on top and put back into the oven for a minute or 2 until cheese is melted.
  5. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with green onions, cut and serve.

Sparksfromthekitchen.com original

Velvet Pumpkin Bread

12 Sep 2012 1 Comment

by sparksfromthekitchen in Appetizer, Bread, Breakfast, Dessert, Freezer, Prep-Ahead, Freeze then Cook, Thaw/Reheat & Serve Tags: ,

The weather has gotten so nice and cool this week-high 70s during the day, low 60s at night-a great change from the super-humid hot weather we had for the past few weeks. So the air conditioning is off, the windows are open and it feels great-in other words the fall bug has bitten me. I was looking through some of the cookbooks that I’ve picked up for my Kindle and came across the Gooseberry Pumpkin Cookbook that I’d purchased last year- link.

This recipe made 2 gorgeous delicious loaves of super-moist, amazingly tasty pumpkin bread and they were really easy to make. Wow did my house smell amazing while they were cooking too!! I left one loaf at home and brought one to work for my co-workers to enjoy today.

(Next fall when I make this I’d like to try using greek yogurt instead of the oil. I’m not sure of the conversion amounts though-I will have to find out and put an alternate ingredient on this recipe.)

Velvet Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1&1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 4 eggs, beaten
  • 2 cups canned pumpkin (one 16 oz can)

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 and spray 2 9″x5″ loaf pans with non-stick baking spray.
  2. Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon 3 times and set aside.  In a large bowl combine oil and sugar and mix well then blend in flour mixture. Add the eggs and pumpkin and mix well.  Pour batter into the 2 prepared pans and bake for 1 hour.

Makes 2 loaves.

Shrimp Salad BLT Bites

10 Sep 2012 2 Comments

by sparksfromthekitchen in Appetizer Tags: ,

Recently a friend of mine had a very tasty appetizer at a party.  She wanted to recreate it using the Shrimp Salad from these. So we got together and tried a few different types of bacon (regular, turkey and thin and crispy turkey). The regular bacon worked best-the flavor was just right. The turkey and T&C just didn’t taste right. So after some experimenting-mixing the lettuce into the salad, different amounts of salad, different sizes of the piece of bacon underneath etc…-we finally arrived at a perfect little bite of BLT with shrimp salad. They’re just the right size to pick up with 2 fingers and eat in one bite.

Shrimp Salad BLT Bites

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 tbsp mayonnaise
  • 1 tbsp whole-grain mustard
  • 1/4 cup cornichons, chopped small, plus 1 Tbsp brine
  • Black pepper
  • 1/2 lb cooked, peeled and deveined large shrimp cut into very small pieces
  • 1&1/2 tsp chopped fresh tarragon
  • 10 pieces bacon
  • a few leaves of green leaf lettuce (or any other lettuce that will lay flat)
  • 3 egg tomatoes (or any other that has the same circumference as the piece of bacon, each sliced very thin into 10 slices)

Instructions:

  1. Prepare bacon so that it’s crispy.  Set aside to cool.
  2.  In a large bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, mustard, brine and season with pepper.
  3. Add the shrimp, cornichons and tarragon and toss to combine.
  4. Break pieces of bacon into 3 equal sized pieces.  On each place a slice of tomato, a small piece of lettuce (similar size to bacon and tomato) and top with a little less than 1 tbsp of shrimp salad. It helps to compact the salad into a tbsp before placing on top of the bacon.

Shrimp Salad Lettuce Wraps

06 Sep 2012 Leave a comment

by sparksfromthekitchen in Appetizer Tags:

A few weeks ago I made these.  Since I had to bring a few appetizers to my Mom’s for Labor Day weekend and because they were so delicious I thought ‘why not turn them into an app?’. So I did. I adjusted the original recipe’s amount to my taste and made less than the orginal recipe as we had other apps as well (like these puff pastry bites and pita chips with peperonata) and wrapped them in Boston Lettuce leaves. Delicious, light and pretty easy to put together.

Shrimp Salad Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:

  • 1&1/2 tbsp mayonnaise
  • 1 tbsp whole-grain mustard
  • 1/4 cup cornichons, chopped small, plus 1 Tbsp brine
  • Black pepper
  • 1/2  lb cooked, peeled and deveined large shrimp cut into half inch pieces
  • 1&1/2 tsp chopped fresh tarragon
  • 1 head Boston Lettuce, leaves separated, washed and dried.
  • Toothpicks for securing

Instructions:

  1. In a large bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, mustard, brine and season with pepper.
  2. Add the shrimp, cornichons and tarragon and toss to combine.
  3. Using the smaller leaves (not the white inner ones), lay the leaf flat and scoop a small amount of shrim mixture into one end of the leaf. Carefully roll up the leaf, trimming any excess, and secure with a toothpick.

Keep chilled, serve cold.

Shrimp Salad adapted from Woman’s Day, via christina.

Puff Pastry Bites with Asiago, Parmesan, Shallots, Scallions and Pancetta

04 Sep 2012 3 Comments

by sparksfromthekitchen in Appetizer Tags: , ,

So a while ago Cooking Light Magazine had a section about appetizers using puff pastry sheets and they were great!! They have onion, potato, bell pepper etc…but I wanted something original and different this time. I came up with this basically by putting many of my favorite flavors onto a bite of puff pastry. The tangy, nutty cheeses, the carmelized shallots and scallions and the crispy pancetta create many flavor and texture levels. I brought these to my Mom’s Labor Day party and they were great!!

Puff Pastry Bites with Asiago, Parmesan, Shallots, Scallions and Pancetta

Ingredients:

  • 1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
  • 1/3 lb pancetta, cut the short way across into 1/3 inch strips
  • 2 shallots, sliced thin
  • 2 scallions, white and bright green parts only, sliced thin
  • 3 cloves garlic, finely diced
  • 1/2 cup finely grated parmesan (do not use pre-shredded)
  • 1/2 cup finely grated asiago
  • flour for dusting

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 400. Cover a large cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside. On a large board dusted with flour roll out puff pastry sheet to a square. Cut across the sheet 5 times from top to bottom and then 5 times from right to left to make 25 small squares. Place squares on the cookie sheet and put in the fridge while you prepare the other ingredients.
  2. In a large skillet cook the pancetta over medium heat until crispy. Reduce heat to low-med and remove the pancetta with a spider to keep the fat in the pan (or a slotted spoon but keep as much fat in the pan as possible) and set aside on paper towels. Add the shallot, garlic and scallion to the pan and cook, stirring frequently, until carmelized. Set aside. Add the 2 cheeses to a plate and mix to combine.
  3. Remove cookie sheet from fridge and prick each square with a fork so that the pastry doesn’t puff too much in the oven.  Cook in the oven for 10 minutes (the pastry should not be completely cooked at this point). On each square spred a small amount of the cheese mix, top with a bit of the scallion/shallot mix and then top with a bit of pancetta. There should be an even amount of all on each square.
  4. Return the squares to the oven and bake for another 5-7 minutes or until corners of pastry are golden.
  5. Remove and serve warm or at room temp.

Sparksfromthekitchen.com original.

Pita Chips with Peperonata

04 Sep 2012 1 Comment

by sparksfromthekitchen in Appetizer

Recently I made Peperonata.  As I wrote in that post it’s super versatile. So I made some more and also made some fresh pita chips. Sure you can buy a bag but these are so much better!!

Pita Chips

Ingredients:

  • 3 pita
  • 3 tbsp olive oil for drizzling
  • 1 tbsp dried oregano 
  • 1 tbsp dried basil

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 400.  Lay each pita flat and, using a knife that isn’t too sharp (a regular dinner knife works well), cut into the edge all around splitting the top from the bottom. I find it helpful to hold my palm on the top of the pita and rotate that way.  Then slide your hand in between the top and bottom carefully to separate.  Cut each half into 8 wedges. Repeat with all pitas.
  2. Lay all wedges flat on a large cookie sheet, drizzle evenly with the olive oil and herbs.
  3. Bake for 7 minutes, remove from the oven, turn the wedges over, and return it to the oven for another 5-7 minutes until golden brown.

Serve warm or room temperature. These can be stored in an airtight container. Serve with anything from the Peperonata above to hummus-they’re great with anything.

Peperonata

27 Aug 2012 2 Comments

by sparksfromthekitchen in Appetizer, Condiment/Topping, Salad, Side Dish, Snack Tags: , , , ,

What a delicious combination of onion, red pepper and tomato. I made this on Sunday morning and put it in the fridge to cool and then was invited to a friends house for some wine and apps.  I brought some with me and it was great chilled and put onto toasted pita wedges.  This can be served warm, cold or at room temperature and is so versatile! Put it on a sandwich or on a cracker or eat as a side salad…the list goes on an on. Such a fresh refreshing little salad.

Peperonata (Braised Sweet Peppers, Tomatoes and Onions)

Ingredients:

  • 1lb (500g) red bell peppers (capsicums), stems, ribs and seeds removed
  • 1/4 cup (2fl oz) extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 red onion, halved and thinly sliced crosswise
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 3 tomatoes, seeds removed and coarsely chopped
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Instructions:

  1. Cut the bell peppers into 2 inch squares. In a saucepan over low heat, combine the peppers, olive oil, onion and bay leaves and cook, stirring often, until the vegetables are softened and have released their juices-about 15 minutes.
  2. Add the tomatoes, season to taste with salt and pepper and simmer gently until the vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes. Remove and discard the bay leaves.

Serve warm or chilled.

Slightly adapted from Williams-Sonoma Florence cookbook.

Pancetta, Leek and Zucchini Fritatta

24 Aug 2012 Leave a comment

by sparksfromthekitchen in Appetizer, Lunch, Main Dish Tags: , , ,

Is there really anything better than crispy pancetta? In my opinion-no.

This fritatta is delicious!!! I love the taste of the leeks, the crispy texture of the pancetta and the chunks of zucchini.

Make it!! Now!!

Pancetta, Leek and Zucchini Fritatta

Ingredients:

  • 8 very fresh large eggs
  • 1/3lb pancetta, thinly sliced and then cut into small strips
  • 4 leeks, white and pale green parts only
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 zucchini, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
  • A few fresh basil leaves

Instructions:

  1. Preheat the broiler or the oven to 400f.
  2. In a bowl lightly beat the eggs until blended and season with pepper.
  3. Cut the leeks into rings crosswise, put them in a colander and rinse-separating rings-to remove any soil. They’re really dirty little buggers-clean them well. Drain well and pat dry.
  4. In a large frying pan over medium heat cook the pancetta to desired crispyness then remove with a slotted spoon and set aside on a paper towel to drain the excess oil.
  5. Add the olive oil and butter to the pancetta fat in the pan. Add the leeks and sautee until soft then add the zucchini and sautee until lightly golden. Add basil leaves when the zucchini is almost done
  6. Pour the eggs over the top and reduce the heat to low.
  7. Sprinkle the pancetta evenly over the top.
  8. Cook, occasionally running a spatula around the outside to keep it from sticking, until the sides and bottom are set but the center is still loose.
  9. Place pan under the broiler and cook until the top is firm and golden-about 5 minutes.

This can be served warm or cold. Depending on how large you slice it and which size pan you use you will have 4-8 servings. For me though-this made only 2 servigs as I was a pig and ate half.

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