Colorado Chicken

Here I am, less than two weeks after my interview for the Physician Assistant program at LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport. I'm terrified, and in dire need of comfort - preferably in the form of an acceptance letter. Being an italian, what do I do best in stressful times? Cook delicious food... This time, I spent my 48 hours off resting and embarking on savory cooking missions only to fulfill my mealtime dining needs. (Rather than transforming my house into a bakery for 2 days straight).

I have been craving some mussels and linguine in a white wine sauce for several months. Of course, I can't find any decent mussels around here - so I decided to make a nice bowl of linguine sans mussels and serve it with a fillet of salmon, instead. To make the sauce - I melted a few tablespoons of earth balance and butter and sauteed a small handful of diced spanish onion. Shallot would be preferable, but I used what I had. When the onions have sweated down, add a couple of turns of the pan worth of crisp white wine. Now, keep in mind that Ruston isn't exactly wine country. I did the best that I could this time with Clos du bois Chardonnay, and it came out delicious! Let the butter and wine sauce reduce a bit, and take the pasta out of the water when it is still quite al dente (undercooked). You see, pasta does not have a lot of flavor on its own. Taking the pasta out of the cooking water early and finishing it in the pan with sauce is essential to having a pasta dish versus having pasta with a sauce on it. Top this with a good measure of fresh parsley and some sharp cheese. For the salmon, I take the filet and place it on aluminum foil and top it with pesto, salt, and pepper, and bake it in the oven for about 20 minutes on 350 degrees. ( I know dad, pesto is supposed to be a fresh sauce but it makes a great crust on this salmon!) Along side of the fish and pasta were some thick spears of roasted asparagus. This is as simple as any roasted vegetable - clean it, chop off the ends, drizzle it with olive oil, salt, and coarsely cracked black pepper and throw it in the oven for 30- 45 minutes at 350 until it is browned and yummy!

The next morning when I woke up, later than I intended to (thanks to my always interesting job that rarely allows a full night of sleep for an exhausting 72 hours straight) might I add, it occurred to me that there were few options for breakfast. Yes, our house is semi-paleo friendly these days - so the pantry isn't really stocked with go to breakfast items. Fear not! I am a procido, a baker, and when in need of comfort ... refer to the bread bible. Yes! The words crawled out of the page and spoke to me like the most soothing morning phrase as I sipped my dark roast with a splash of soy... "wild blueberry biscuits." Without realizing I had reacted to this not so subtle calling from my bread cookbook - Vincent asked me "what is going down?" haha. I looked at him, realizing that I had spoken and I replied that I was going to be making blueberry biscuits for breakfast. Yum! Nothing enlivens the spirit like gluttony first thing in the morning. Nothing about these was paleo friendly, but they were well worth it once I drizzled the wildflower honey that Katie gave me at Christmas over the tops of these golden and fluffy purple blueberry studded beauties. Ok, I liked them.

Wild Blueberry Biscuits

Having indulged for breakfast, I thought that a nice healthy meal would be ideal for dinner that night. Usually, I cook in bulk the night before I leave for work so that Vincent and I can split the leftovers to have as dinner while I'm gone. I found a recipe for something called Colorado Chicken in my Paleo Diet Cookbook. The idea was to brown chicken breasts in a cast iron skillet and then finish cooking them in the oven with mushrooms and onion in chicken broth. However, when I went to the store I found a great 3lb turkey breast on sale and I thought that it would be a good substitute for the chicken because it is lower in fat to protein ratio and it would supply us with plenty of food for the next few days. So, I defrosted the turkey breast and removed the skin. I then cut it into 4 equal pieces and browned them in a few tablespoons of olive oil with salt and pepper and followed the recipe, for the most part, from there:

Colorado Chicken (or Turkey)
3 lbs poultry of your choice
1 cup quartered baby portobello mushrooms
1 cup diced onion
1 sprig rosemary
3 cloves garlic
2 cups chicken stock (reduced sodium)
2 tblsp. flour

Using an enameled cast iron dutch oven or other pan that can go from the stove to the oven, heat enough olive oil to lightly coat the bottom of the pan. On medium high heat, place each piece of meat in the oil and brown on all sides until golden. Remove the meat from the pan, and allow it to rest on a plate while you prepare the sauce. Reduce the heat to medium and toss the mushrooms and onion into the dutch oven. Saute this mixture until the onions are translucent and the mushrooms have reduced in size. Add the garlic and the whole sprig of rosemary and continue to cook for a minute. To this, add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. I like to season lightly with salt and pepper each step of the way so that all of the layers have flavor and together they can be delightful. When this mixture is bubbling, place the meat down into the sauce, drop the lid on it and into the oven for about 30 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the poultry is more than 165. Mine got up to 190 because the sauce was so hot, but the turkey was falling apart it was so tender!

Now... the non paleo part of the recipe. I realize that the paleo diet doesn't go for grain and all of that nonsense, but I'm italian. Take the turkey out of the sauce. Place the sauce over medium heat on the stove and whisk together a few tablespoons of flour with a splash of water. Then, whisk this slurry into the mushroom sauce to thicken it - like a gravy. (this is an unusual occurrence in my kitchen, but it was delicious!) You can't just toss the flour into the already hot mushroom sauce because it will form little flour pods - sort of like dumplings. Be sure to whisk it with water, first.

While all of this was going on, I highly anticipated the arrival of my mail. I was fully expecting a letter of some sort - indicating the future 2 years of my life... but no news. Naturally, comfort was definitely a must. Screw the paleo diet, I made baked macaroni and cheese. Okay, it was with whole wheat shells and spinach, but it still had enough gouda in it to kill you!

Béchamel Sauce for Baked Macaroni
3 tblsp. butter and/or earth balance
3 tblsp. flour
2 cups warm milk
A Variety of grated cheese
Nutmeg
Salt and Pepper

Heat the butter in a large pan until melted. Using a wooden spoon, quickly stir in the flour until it is golden in color. You are NOT making a roux. Just cook it long enough to get the "flour" taste out. Then, slowly stir in the milk until all of this is incorporated. Using whatever melty cheeses you have on hand, add 1 1/2 - 2 cups until the sauce is slightly thickened, but still somewhat runny. You are going to bake this in the oven, where it will thicken, so don't add too much. I like to use a handful of italian blend cheese, havarti, gouda, provolone, mozzarella, among others. Whatever you do, under any circumstances, do not use swiss. I once bought Jarlsberg on sale and it ruined my entire day when this sauce seized up and became a block of yuck. Just stick with the yummy, pricy, melty cheeses and use a little hard italian cheese such as parmesan or pecorino, too. To this sauce, add two sprinkles of nutmeg, salt, and coarsely ground black pepper. I like to microwave 10 oz of frozen spinach until defrosted. Place the defrosted spinach into 3 or 4 paper towels, wrap it up, and squeeze all of the excess water out of the spinach. Using your hands, flake out the spinach over the cheese sauce and mix it in with the wooden spoon. Oh yeah!

For Baked Macaroni, cook the full box of pasta until al dente (about 2 minutes less than the directions on the box recommend). Strain in a colander and add to the Béchamel sauce. Stir until incorporated, pour it into a baking dish, sprinkle a couple of handfuls of panko bread crumbs on top and stud with butter if you want to feel extra naughty. Then, bake it in the oven at 350 until golden and bubbly, about 20 minutes (30 if you have patience).

There was very little talking at the dinner table last night. It was more like occasional grunting and yum. You can ask vincent - this is the ultimate comfort food, and really - it wasn't that unhealthy!

Until next time... wait patiently like pepper: