Angela’s Recipes

April 9, 2015

Balsamic Citrus Chicken

I had a lemon, a lime, fresh thyme and some chicken thighs so I googled that and found an interesting recipe. Of course I didn’t follow it, but what I made came out fantastic! One hour to marinate and about 45 minutes to cook. I forgot to photograph, sorry! I’ll post them next time I make this.

Balsamic Citrus Chicken

4 chicken thighs, on the bone with skin (trim off excess fat), seasoned with S/P
Marinade
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar (white if you have it)
1/4 cup Rice Wine Vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil

Sauce
1 large or 2 small shallots, thinly sliced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 of the reserved marinade
1/4 cup dry vermouth (Or white wine, but DO try this with vermouth! It’s cheap and really adds a lovely dimension.)
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves (or you can sub dried – or use Herbes de Provence)
zest of one lemon

Glaze
1/4 cup dry vermouth
1/4 cup chicken stock (I needed a bit more liquid in the glaze and the rice – you can sub water.)
remaining half of marinade
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves (or whatever you’re using)
1 Tbl agave or honey
1 Tbl butter
juice of half a lemon

1 lime cut into thin disks (4-6 depending on size)
juice of remaining half of lemon
1 pack of spicy saffron rice (Mahatma is what I had, but you can use anything that would be good with citrus, like Israeli couscous.)

Preparation
Mix the balsamic vinegar, rice wine vinegar and olive oil in a zip bag and place seasoned (S/P) thighs in flesh side down. Put in the fridge and marinate for about an hour. (FYI, never marinate chicken more than a few hours, it gets mealy.)

Pull out the chicken about 15 minutes before you want to cook to let it warm up a little. While that is resting, get out a skillet to sauté the chicken and an oven safe dish to bake it in (9×9 or 9×12). In the baking dish, put in the rice mix with enough water to cover the rice. Don’t worry about what it says on the package. Prep the shallots, garlic and thyme.

Preheat your oven to 350-375F. Pat dry the chicken and sauté skin side down in a very hot pan with a few turns of olive oil. You may have some sticking from the balsamic vinegar, just do your best to keep the skin intact when you turn the thighs. Just sear the chicken, it will finish in the oven. Remove the chicken to a plate, reduce heat to medium (if you have a lot of rendered fat, you can pour that out and add some fresh olive oil but leave the bits in the bottom of the pan). Add the shallots and garlic and cook until they are soft. Don’t let them burn! Add zest and thyme, vermouth and half the marinade. Bring to a simmer. Add back in the chicken, flesh side down and simmer for about 5 minutes. Turn off heat and remove the chicken to your baking dish with rice. Put the thighs right on top of the rice, then top it with the shallots and garlic from the sauce. It’s ok if there is still sauce left in the pan. Top each thigh with a lime slice (toss the extras on the rice) and squeeze half a lemon over the whole thing. Cover tightly in foil and bake for about 45 minutes, checking at about 20 minutes to see if you need liquid in the rice.

While the chicken and rice is baking, return to your skillet with the leftover sauce. Turn it on high heat and add all the glaze ingredients except butter and lemon juice. Let this simmer until it has reduced by half. When it has reduced, add the butter and lemon juice. When it’s glossy and fairly thick, check seasoning and let it stand in the pan (off heat) until the chicken is done.

When the chicken and rice is cooked (I generally go by the rice, once it’s done the chicken is surely done!), remove and discard the lime rings (or not, whatever you like) and serve with 1/4 of the glaze drizzled over each serving. A good side veg would be broccoli or carrots.

October 23, 2014October 23, 2014

Curry Coconut Beef

This is a slow cooker recipe. But I start off by browning the beef, which gives much more flavour! This dish has the perfect amount of curry spice. Really delicious!

Slow Cooker Curry Coconut Beef

1.5-2# chuck roast cut into 6-8 chunks
1 large yellow bell pepper or 4-5 minis, large dice
1 large onion, large dice
1 med carrot, sliced very thin on the bias
1 small box cremini mushrooms, quartered
Sauce
1 Tbl garlic paste (or 4-5 cloves, pasted)
1 Tbl ginger paste (or 2 large chunks, minced – but I highly recommend buying paste from the Indian store)
2 Tbl red “all purpose” curry paste (or whatever type you like)
1 Tbl fish sauce
1 Tbl brown sugar
.5 tsp salt
.5 tsp pepper
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp dry cilantro
1 tsp dry mustard
.5 tsp coriander
.5 tsp red pepper flakes
1 14 oz can coconut milk (not light)
juice and zest of one lime
Condiments
2-3 scallions sliced on the bias
1 lime cut into wedges
2-4 Tbl fresh cilantro, chopped

Brown beef in oil in a hot skillet. While that is browning, cut up the veg. Turn the beef to brown on all sides and season with salt and pepper. Turn on slow cooker to HI and spray with nonstick spray. Put about a tsp of olive oil in the bottom. Put half the veg in the bottom of the cooker. Mix together all sauce ingredients until curry paste is dissolved. Pour about 1/3 of the sauce over the veg in the cooker. When beef is browned, dump all of it in the cooker with pan drippings. Add in the rest of the veg then pour over the remaining sauce.

Let cook on HI for 3-4 hours, until beef is fork tender. Serve over basmati rice with scallions, cilantro and limes for garnish.

October 19, 2014January 24, 2021

Angela’s EASY Almond Madeleines

The plain (lemon) recipe is here.

Angela's Easy Almond Madeleines

Yes! Madeleines are actually very easy. Julia Child's recipe seems daunting, but after making these several times and streamlining the recipe, I've found that Madeleines are actually pretty simple to make. I love them! Below is my Almond recipe, there is also a lemon (plain) recipe.

THIS recipe is also EXCELLENT as a chocolate madeleine! SEE NOTES!

Course Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine French

Keyword almond madeleines, easy madeleines, madeleines

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 10

Servings 36 MINI Madeleines

Author misangela

Equipment

MINI Madeleine pans, two (if you have regular sized pans, this recipe will make about half as many AND the time will change, SEE NOTES.)
Gallon ziplock or pastry bag if you've got one.
Cooling rack.
Wire strainer to sift confectioners sugar.

Ingredients

2 lg eggs, beaten
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup A/P flour
2/3 cup Almond flour OR grind up one 2.25oz bag blanched slivered almonds
4 oz butter (one stick, cut up) I use salted, if you don't, add 1/4 tsp Kosher Salt to this recipe.
1/2 tsp vanilla extract use the real thing please
1/2 tsp almond extract
confectioners sugar to coat after baking

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375°F.
Whisk together sugar, A/P flour and Almond flour.
Put butter in microwave dish and melt - do not boil, use half power. When mostly melted, whisk briskly to ensure it's all melted and it will cool properly. It takes about 1-2 minutes.
Beat eggs.
Using a strong spoonula, stir together flour and eggs. Stir for a couple of minutes. Add extracts and stir again.
Make sure butter is just WARM (if not, whisk it a bit and it'll cool down) and stir into batter. Stir thoroughly until batter is fully smooth and integrated.
Put batter in freezer for about 10 minutes to cool. Remove, stir again, put back in freezer for about 5 more minutes.
Thoroughly spray Madeleine pans with food release OR brush with butter.
Put batter into a gallon ziplock (or pastry bag with plain large tip) for easy dispensing into the madeleine pan. Fill madeleine cups about 3/4 - about 2 tsp for a MINI pan or about a Tablespoon for regular sized pan.
Make sure oven racks are in the center two. Put one pan on each rack. Set timer for 10 minutes for MINIs and 15 minutes for regular sized. Rotate pans at halfway point for even cooking.
When madeleines are browned to your liking, put on a cooling rack and cover with confectioners sugar. (Use a wire strainer to shake sugar through.)

Notes

If you have regular sized Madeleine pans, this recipe will make about half as many (~18 or so). The cook time will be at least 15 minutes, perhaps more if you like them medium brown like I do.

There is another recipe on this site for plain (lemon) Madeleines.

If you like chocolate, just add 3 Tbl of baking cocoa powder to the dry ingredients. SO tasty! They are just a little firmer than the almond, but still cook up perfectly!

September 18, 2014January 9, 2015

Roasted Cauliflower with Spicy Yogurt

Someone posted a roasted cauliflower recipe to FB, but the recipe was flawed. It took much longer to cook than stated (unless you like raw cauliflower), 400 will burn (use 375) and the end product was dry (I added butter). Here is the photo linked to the original recipe:

Here is my version that cooks in half the time, has all the flavour and is not dry! Not as photogenic, but tastier!

Roasted Cauliflower with Spicy Yogurt

.75 cup greek yogurt (I use full fat; nonfat may brown faster!)
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ancho powder
.5 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp cumin
.5 tsp curry powder
1 tsp salt
.5 tsp pepper
1 tsp sugar (to help browning)
zest and juice of one lime
1 tsp garlic paste (or paste one clove fresh)
1 tsp olive oil
1 head cauliflower, sliced into thick 1.5″ steaks (or chunks if it refuses to slice!)

Preheat oven to 375°F. Whisk together first 12 ingredients. Prepare a sheet pan with foil or parchment paper. Slather yogurt sauce on cauliflower steaks and place on sheet pan in single layer. Bake for about 15 mins then pull from oven (if sauce is not dark enough for you, leave in a bit longer), add 2 tbl water to the sheet pan and tent foil over it tightly. Pop back into oven for another 5-10 mins. I like my cauliflower fairly soft; if you like it a bit al dente, stick with 5 mins or skip water step all together.

Serve with steaks!

August 20, 2014August 4, 2018

Low Carb “Potato” Salad

When cooking out, I like to have summery sides like coleslaw, potato salad, etc. I got the bright idea to make potato salad with cauliflower instead. It worked!! [I’ve made this recipe several times and it’s always good. The only thing I’ve added are the cherry peppers – so much colour and flavour!! -A Aug 2018]

Low Carb “Potato” Salad

1 head cauliflower (any colour)
4 scallions, sliced diagonally
4 dill spears, diced small (or any pickle)
2-3 cherry peppers, diced (if you’ve got ’em. Pimentos look good, too.)
5-6 stems of parsley, stemmed and minced (or sub cilantro)
1/2 cup mayo (use vegan if you want)
1 Tbl garlic paste (or paste up 2-3 cloves fresh)
2 Tbl seasoned rice wine vinegar
1 Tbl dijon mustard (whole grain would be excellent)
S/P to taste

Put a large pot 2/3 full of water on to boil. Cut up the cauliflower into small bite sized pieces and toss into the water. Add 1tbl salt to the boiling water and boil cauliflower for about 8 mins until tender.

While that is cooking, make the dressing in the bottom of a large bowl or a sealable plastic. Add next 6 ingredients and stir together.

When cauliflower is done, drain it in a colander and rinse with cold water to bring down the temp. Toss in with the dressing (put the lid on and shake if you use a plastic container). Add S/P to taste. Chill before serving or eat at room temp. Whatever you like.