Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen

The best laid plans . . . Well, it looks like the anticipated pool party will not happen this year.  We are returning to Lake Lure in two weeks and scheduling problems and other obligations have occured.  But these easy to eat sticky skinless chicken legs would have been a good addition to the buffet menu.  If you are interested in hosting a similar party here is my game plan.

                                                Cheese Platter
                                                Vegetable and Fruit Platter
                                                Boiled Shrimp Platter with Cocktail Sauce
                                                BLT Wraps (recipe posted)
                                                BBQ Beef Brisket with Sliders (recipe posted)
                                                Asian Glazed Chicken Legs (recipe here)
                                                Sweet Potato Salsa (recipe posted)
                                                Cole Slaw
                                                Deviled Eggs
                                                Apple Pound Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze
                                                Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

Everything on the menu can be done ahead of time.  The beef and chicken can be rewarmed at the last minute.  The only thing that should be assembled right before your guests arrive would be the BLT wraps, but the bacon can be pre-fried and the other components prepped ahead.  If you are short on time, you can purchase the shrimp platter and the cheese and vegie trays from the deli department.

The recipe for the chicken was in the latest issue of Cooking Light, but they used skinless chicken thighs.  I loved the mahogany sheen that the combination of rice vinegar, soy sauce, honey, sesame oil and chile paste gave to the chicken and will definitely be making this again.  Next time I will serve it with sticky rice, but the roasted potatoes and sugar snap peas made a pretty plate.

ASIAN-GLAZED CHICKEN LEGS

1/3 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup lower-sodium soy sauce
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
1 1/2 tablespoons chile paste
10 garlic cloves, minced
12 bone-in chicken thighs or legs, skinned
Cooking spray
Salt to taste

Combine vinegar, soy sauce, honey, sesame lil, chile paste, and garlic, stirring until honey dissolves.  Pour vinegar mixture into a zip-top plastic bag.  Add chicken to bag; seal.  Marinate in refrigerator 1 hour, turning occasionally.  Remove chicken from bag, reserving marinade.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Place reserved marinade in a small saucepan over medium-high heat; bring to a boil.  Cook for 2 minutes or until syrupy, stirring occasionally.  Place chicken on a rack coated with cooking spray, and place rack in a roasting pan.  Baste chicken with reserved marinade; sprinkle evenly with salt.  Bake at 425 dgrees for 10 minutes; baste.  Bake an additional 10 minutes; baste.  Discard remaining marinade.  Bake an additional 10 minutes or until done.  Let stand 5 minutes before serving.  Mine took a little longer and I did not use a rack.  I placed the chicken directly on foil (non-stick) wrapped tray.

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I have a small container herb garden that I keep on the lanai here in Florida.  I find it much more practical than planting herbs in the ground.  We just got our second or third hard freeze of the season and many of my herbs would not have survivied without the ability to bring them inside.  The sage would probably be fine on it’s own, but not the basil or parsley.  The one herb plant that is doing beautifully outside is my rosemary.  It is now a bush.  I will try to take a picture of it when the sun comes up.

But last night I used sage leaves in my chicken saltimbocca.  I have made this dish before but had forgotten how pretty it looks.  The paper-thin pieces of prosciutto wrap snuggly around the chicken and the sage leaves shine through.  The prosciutto clings on it’s own without the use of toothpicks and keeps the chicken moist while lending it a salty tang.  The sage leaves have an earthy flavor when you bite into them.  This is a great way to wake up a ho-hum chicken breast.

I served the chicken with braised kale and a baked sweet potato with cinnamon.  It might be better to serve it on a bed of pasta to absorb the juices from the lemon sauce.

LEMONY CHICKEN SALTIMBOCCA ( adapted from Cooking Light)

4 (4ounce) chicken cutlets
1/8 teaspoon salt
12 fresh sage leaves
2 ounces very thinly slices prosciutto, 8 pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/3 cup lower-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon cornstarch

Sprinkle the chicken evenly with salt.  Place 3 sage leaves on each cutlet; wrap 2 prosciutto slices around each cutlet, securing sage leaves in place.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat.  Add 1 tablespoon oil to pan and swirl to coat.  Add chicken to pan; cook for 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until done.  Remove chicken from pan; keep warm.

Combine broth, lemon juice and cornstarch in a small bowl; stir with a whisk until smooth.  Add cornstarch mixture to the pan; bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Cook for 1 minute or until slightly thickened.  Spoon sauce over chicken.

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While staying with my Brother and SIL in Michigan, Barb made this delicious chicken casserole.  It was one of those times when the family needed to be elsewhere for other obligations and Barb had the foresight to put together the main components of it so that we could pull it together when we needed to.  The chicken and the ham were assembled ahead of time and the cheese was added to it.  All we had to do later was to make the sauce and topping and put it in the oven. 

I have blogged about Chicken Cordon Bleu before.  Here is my favorite recipe for the real thing.  The only bad thing about the real thing is that it is not crowd friendly.  Sometimes you just don’t have time to roll and assemble individual chicken packages for lots of people.  We had lots of people on the evening in question and this was the perfect solution.  It has all of the good flavor of chicken cordon bleu but is easy to dish up for a crowd.  Everyone loved it from the kids to my picky Brother. (Sorry Bill, but you are kind of set in your ways about food.) 

So thanks Barb for the recipe.  The original recipe called for cheddar cheese and both Barb and I agreed that Swiss made more sense.  We had it with Cheddar the first time, but this time I used Swiss and the results were great.  There are some interesting ingredients in the recipe;  dill weed, dry mustard, nutmeg and walnuts, but they all work together to make a great casserole.  And if you have followed this blog for awhile you know that I have a problem with most chicken casseroles.  This one is a winner.

David and I will be traveling for the next few weeks.  He is leaving on Saturday on his two week motorcycle trip out West with stops at a few Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives when he can.  You can follow him on his blog on my sidebar.  I am spending a long weekend in Atlanta with one of the Biker Babes.  We hope to shop, eat good food, and take in the ambiance of Atlanta.  Let me know if you have any suggestions about where to go and things to do.  Then I will be going to Cary, NC to spend time with family.  But I will be blogging.  I have a new camera, so I am looking forward to improving my skills.  We will see.  Stay tuned.

CHICKEN CORDON BLEU CASSEROLE

6 cups cubed, fully cooked chicken
3 cups cubed, fully cooked ham
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese ( Or cheddar if you prefer )

1 cup chopped onions
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup flour
2 cups heavy cream
1 tsp to 1 Tbsp dill weed
1/8 tsp. dry mustard
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

Topping:
1 cup dry breadcrumbs
3 Tbls melted butter
1/4 to 1 tsp dill weed
1/4 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1/4 to 1/2 cup choppped walnuts

1.  In large bowl, combine chicken, ham and cheese.
2.  In saucepan, saute onions in butter until tender.  Add flour.  Stir to form a paste and cook for a few minutes.
3.  Over low heat, gradually add cream stirring constantly.  Bring to a boil and  add dill, mustard and nutmeg and mix well.  Remove from heat.
4.  Butter a 9 X 13 inch casserole and add chicken mixture.  Top with cream mixture and mix gently. 
5.  In the large mixing bowl, toss together bread crumbs, butter and dill.  Stir in cheese and walnuts.  Sprinkle on top of casserole.
6  Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until bubbly and brown.

Michigan in early Fall is a place of beauty.  It only gets better with the cool nights that nip at the trees and turn the leaves to wondrous shades of red, gold, and yellow.  Southwestern Michigan is replete with apple orchards.  At one time in my life I thought that living on an apple farm was my destiny.  I dated a wonderful guy whose family owned an orchard.  I became familiar with the seasons of apples, cherries and asparagus.  I skipped school with a group of my girlfriends right before graduation in order to help his family bring in the asparagus crop.  We got in trouble for our largesse, but our principal, Mr. Smull, understanding the importance of the harvest, forgave our sneaky quest and let us graduate anyway.  He was prepared to give us trouble if our Mothers’ wrote an excuse that was not the truth.  My Mother wrote, ” Please excuse Penny from school yesterday.  She was picking asparagus.  Thank you.”  I was safe and I have never looked at asparagus again without remembering those innocent days.

Our recent trip to Michigan brought back all of those memories.  The trees were laden with apples and the countryside was so familiar.  Driving the backroads of my childhood was comforting and meeting childhood friends was enlightening.  Who knew that the boy who lived in the corner house on my block and who was four years younger than me had always had a crush on me.  He and his lovely wife now live in Traverse City and had come to our get together because he wanted to tell me so.  They were both delightful and the kind of people that I would welcome in my house at any time.

Spending time with my brother Bill and SIL Barb was the real reason for our visit.  In spite of being my little brother, who showed  all of the guys my naked baby pictures, he is special.  He is the kind of guy who everyone can count on and has been selfless in his support of and sponsorship of  mentally challenged adults.  He lost one of those friends while we were there and the support from the community was heartening.  Barb cooked for the whole family and I will share one of her casseroles with you next time.

We brought back apples.  Not the lady apples in this recipe, but great tart Michigan apples.  Apple cider is also one of the products of a Michigan Fall.  In honor of Michigan, I cooked this chicken and apple recipe last night.  It was delicious.

BAKED CHICKEN AND BACON-WRAPPED LADY APPLES ( Gourmet Magazine)

8 thin slices bacon
12 lady apples (about 1 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter)  I used 4 small apples
6 chicken thighs with skin and bones
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 cup apple cider
1/2 cup cider vinegar
2 sprigs fresh marjoram plus 2 teaspoons chopped fresh marjoram
1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Cook bacon in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, turning over once, until edges are lightly browned but bacon  is still flexible (it will continue to cook in oven), 6 to 8 minutes total.  Transfer to paper towels to drain, reserving fat in skillet.

While bacon cooks, core apples, if desired, from bottom, with pointed end of  a vegetable peeler or a paring knife, leaving stems intact.  Wrap a slice of bacon around each of 8 apples, securing ends of bacon by piercing with stem or using half a wooden pick.

Brush a 3 quart (13-by 9-inch) shallow, baking dish with some bacon fat, then add apples to dish and bake, uncovered, 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, pat chicken dry and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Heat bacon fat in skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then cook chicken, turning over once, until browned, about 8 minutes total.  Transfer chicken with tongs to baking dish, rearranging some apples so that chicken fits in bottom of dish, and bake, uncovered, 5 minutes.  Pour sauce through a fine-mesh sieve into a measuring cup, pressing on and the discarding solids.  Add butter and chopped marjoram to sauce, stirring until butter is melted.  Pour sauce over chicken and apples and continue to bake uncovered, until chicken is cooked through and apples are tender, about 20 minutes more.  I cooked it longer.

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