chicken thighs in riesling

I'm often in amazement of the simple meals I manage to put together. Really, did I just make something taste freakin' amazing out of the humble crap I found in my fridge? When I found myself with some defrosted chicken thighs, a half bottle of riesling and a bit of heavy cream, I saw a recipe that looked like it would be an ideal fit. Chicken braised in wine, accompanied by root vegetables and kissed with cream. Perfect comfort food for a chilly evening.

Now the photos don't do this meal any justice. Fall and winter evenings with dim lighting do not make for appetizing or tantalizing shots. Instead you get those weirdly orange photos that look more at home in a thrifted cookbook from the 1970s. But that's okay because you'll just have to take my word that this meal was incredible. In fact, I think it's the best single meal I've ever ever ever cooked in my life. High praise indeed. This meal was so good it should have been shared with friends or at least with a little candlelight and cloth napkins.

It's humble in it's main ingredients: chicken thighs, carrots, shallots, potatoes. But it's the riesling and cream that make you want to shout out to the world. So go on, pat yourself on the back and dig in.

chicken thighs in riesling
(adapted from Gourmet)
1 serrano pepper, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 t oregano
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/2 t ground cumin
4 skinless chicken thighs
salt & pepper
1 T olive oil

1 T butter
4 large shallots, roughly chopped
4 medium carrots, cut into 2 inch long rounds
1/2 - 3/4 c riesling
4 potatoes, cut into quarters
1/4 c heavy cream
1/2 lemon, juiced

1. Rinse and pat dry chicken thighs and add them to a bowl with the garlic, serrano peppers, oregano, cumin and lemon juice. Stir and let sit for 30 minutes. Heat olive oil over med-high heat, and add in chicken and marinating liquid. Brown chicken on all sides. Remove from pot and set aside.

2. Heat butter and saute shallots and carrots for a few minutes and add chicken back into the pot. Pour riesling over top and cover over med-low heat until chicken is cooked through, about 30 minutes or so.

3. Meanwhile, cook potatoes separately in boiling water until just tender. Drain and add to the chicken pot. Add in heavy cream and lemon juice, stirring gently so everything gets coated. Serves 2 very hungry people or 4 people with small appetites.

totally not cincinnati chili

Why is this post called "totally not Cincinnati chili"? Well, for one, I've never been to Cincinnati nor have I had the real deal. The people of Cincinnati are very passionate about their chili and I certainly wouldn't want to get into fisticuffs over this post. Cincinnati has more chili parlours than any other city in the States and they serve their chili over top of spaghetti or eaten with oyster crackers, raw diced onions, kidney beans and mounds of grated cheese. But the spices here are what makes this chili unique. Chocolate, cinnamon, cloves, allspice all combine to make a winning mediterranian-inspired combination.

To be truely authentic, I would have to finely grind my own meat and then boil, rather than brown it. Also, there would be no kidney beans in the chili, rather, they'd be served over top along with the other toppings. Whatever, this chili rocked. After having his first bowl, Cornelius said that all chili should be served over top of spaghetti and I think I have to agree with him. The chili alone was good, but over top of thin spaghetti, it took it to a whole new level. And the addition of diced raw onion over top? It was delicious! This will definitely make an appearance again and I can easily see a veggie ground round substituted for the ground beef. Not traditional, but who cares!

My standard chili recipe is here. I used to make it with ground chicken, but now I usually use a veggie ground round instead. It's delicious and it also has cocoa powder added for depth.

totally not cincinnati chili
1 lb ground lean sirloin
1 T olive oil
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 T chili powder
1/2 c water or beef broth
1.5 t cinnamon
1/4 t ground cloves
1/4 t ground allspice
1.5 T worchestershire sauce
1/2 t salt
1/2 t red chili flakes
1/4 t ground chipotle powder
2 T cocoa powder
2 T apple cider vinegar
1 can of kidney beans, drained & rinsed

toppings:
grated cheddar cheese
finely diced red onion
sour cream

Brown ground beef in the olive oil, along with the onions, garlic and chili powder. When meat is mostly browned, add in remaining ingredients except the kidney beans and bring to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer uncovered for about an 1 hour. Add in kidney beans and simmer on low for another half hour. Serve over spaghetti and top with grated cheese and diced onion.

have stale bread? make bread soup!

I love simple meals and this is one of the simplest. A few days before the holidays struck, I realized that I had a half loaf of some very delicious olive & rosemary sourdough in the fridge. Unfortunately, I had let it get stale and hard. Completely my bad. I hate letting things go to waste, but instead of making bread crumbs or croutons with it, I decided to try my hand at making bread soup. It turned out wonderfully and a friend who had unexpectedly stopped by happily ate 2 bowls of it. It's hearty and it definitely warms the bones and with all of this crazy snow and cold weather that we Vancouverites have had to put up with this winter, it definitely hits the spot.

An aside, I will be in Victoria, BC for a couple of days this week, so please send me your list of favorite restaurants and fun things to do in that city. Gimme your best tips!

bread soup
1 T olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 stalk celery, diced
1 t dried hot chili flakes
1 t dried oregano
4 c vegetable stock
1/2 small loaf of stale bread, cubed
1 small can of diced tomatoes
1 bunch spinach
2 T Parmesan cheese
salt & pepper to taste

Saute the onion, garlic and celery in the oil over medium-high heat. When softened, add in the chili flakes, oregano and some salt and pepper. Add in vegetable stock and tomatoes and simmer over medium heat for a couple of minutes. Add in bread and spinach, stir and cover pot. When bread is soft and spongy and the spinach is wilted, throw in some cheese. Taste adding more salt or pepper if necessary. Serve with more cheese, if that's the way you wanna go.

don't adjust your monitor: purple shepherd's pie

Forget about the fudge, the cake, the cookies. We are well into January now and it seems like a wholesome tasty dinner recipe is needed. If it's comforting, colourful and nutritious, well, then it kind of is like icing on the cake, isn't it? This meal fits the bill. I even give it bonus points because when I started boiling up the potatoes and chopping the red cabbage, I still had no idea—not even an inkling, of what I was going to make for dinner. I'm a bit spontaneous like that!


So elbow deep in shreds of purple, I decided I'd make a Shepherd's Pie of sorts. I haven't had much practice in the vegetable pie department, but I did make a very successful pate chinois a while back and figured I had the chops to handle dinner on the fly. So along with the red cabbage, I chopped up some celery, a red onion and got out some frozen corn from the freezer. I wasn't sure how this mess o' vegetables would come together, but it turned out way better than I could have ever imagined. Not only was dinner uber-delicious, it was also frighteningly colourful enough to beat the dickens out of grey January skies. Purple food? Why not!

And if purple vegetables aren't your thing, why not check out my new post over at Food Network Canada to read about my foray into adventurous dining at Vancouver's The Brave Bull's House of Steaks.


purple shepherd's pie
4 potatoes, quartered
2 T butter or Earth Balance margarine
3 T milk (rice or soy works well)

1 T olive oil
1/2 purple cabbage, chopped into strands
1 red onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 c frozen corn
1 t each dried thyme + basil
2 T hot sauce
salt & pepper
1 1/2 cups vegetable stock

1 T olive oil
2 T flour, heaping
1/2 c vegetable stock

grated cheese (optional for top - I used smoked applewood cheddar)

1. Add quartered potatoes to salted boiling water. Cook until tender. Mash with butter and milk. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

2. In a large pot, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add in onions, garlic and celery and stir around until it starts to sweat. Add in cabbage and saute until everything gets slightly wilty, about 3-5 minutes. Add in herbs, hot sauce and corn and 1 and a half cups of vegetable stock. Salt and pepper if necessary. Bring to the boil.

3. Meanwhile, In a small saucepan, heat up 1 tablespoon of oil, add in 2 tablespoons of flour and whisk around quickly, taking care not to burn the flour. Slowly add in the remaining 1/2 cup of stock and whisk until thickened. Add this to the cabbage mixture, stirring until the sauce thickens up nicely.

4. Add cabbage mixture into an oven proof dish and top with mashed potatoes, spreading the top smooth. Add grated cheese to the top, if necessary, and bake in a 350 degree oven uncovered for 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown.