Grilled Chicken with Mushroom Rice Pilaf

Chicken, Rice and Peas

I've fried lots of chicken in my lifetime. But these days I prefer to grill it. It saves on fat and starch from the breading. And it's generally healthier that way. Marinating chicken before you grill it really helps enhance the flavor. It also moistens the chicken so it doesn't get so dried out. I often do a southwestern style marinade seasoned with chile powder, oregano and garlic and perhaps other herbs and spices. But I found a great recipe on the New York Times that will give a different flavor and decided to try it.

Chicken Marinade

I won't give the complete recipe here, but it includes lemon, honey, Dijon mustard, soy sauce and garlic. And I needed to grill some chicken for my dinner on Sunday, so I went shopping. The recipe is sized for 2 pounds of chicken, but my package of boneless chicken breasts weighed in at about 3.3 pounds, so I doubled the recipe. 

I let the chicken marinate for about an hour. Then I set the rack on the second level from the top, set the broiler on high, sprayed cooking spray on my grill pan, placed the breast pieces on top, and placed them in the oven. I grilled them for five minutes on a side before turning them. I checked the temperature at about 20 minutes. The safe temperature is 165 F and they were about 145, so I gave them another 5 minutes and they checked OK. I set them aside for the meat to rest and then cut a few slices for my dinner.

While they were cooking, I made rice pilaf.

Mushroom Rice Pilaf

Ingredients

2-3 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup diced onion

4 ounces coarsely chopped mushrooms

1 cup Basmati rice

2 cups water

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp dried oregano

Method

1. heat oil in a 1 quart pot over medium heat for a couple minutes. Add the onion and saute for about 4 minutes.

2. Add the rice and stir it with the onions for a few minutes until it starts to brown.

3. Sprinkle on the spices, add the water and heat to a boil. Then reduce the heat to low and let it cook for about 15-20 minutes.

4. Add the mushrooms and stir them into the rice. Cover the rice and let it finish cooking for a total of about 30 minutes.

Serving Suggestion

Serve with grilled chicken and peas as a side dish.

This makes plenty of rice to serve with the chicken or some other dish like poached fish.

 

Sweet Potato Stir Fry with Chickpeas and Prunes

Note: this is an old post that apparently I had neglected to publish. It seems OK, so I'll go ahead and make it available.

Much of the joy of cooking comes from experimenting with the ingredients and sharing the results with friends and family.

My friend and I started with a recipe for braised eggplants by Antony Worrall Thompson, but our eggplant had gone bad.

So, we used a sweet potato instead, added a couple different vegetables (carrots and asparagus), and turned it into a stir fry.

She and I both liked it, so we thought we’d share it with you.

Here is the result:

Sweet Potato Stir Fry with Chickpeas and Prunes

Ingredients:

1 cup dry chickpeas or 1 15-ounce can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 medium sweet potato, peeled and sliced

1 + 1 Tbsp vegetable oil

1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger

1 Tbsp finely chopped garlic

1 medium onion, peeled and coarsely chopped

1 large carrot, peeled or scraped and sliced diagonally

4 oz asparagus, cut into 2 inch pieces

1 stalk celery, chopped

1 Tbsp sesame oil

1 Tbsp light soy sauce

1/3 cup vegetable or chicken broth

3-4 oz pitted prunes, cut in half, then chopped into smaller pieces

2 tsp cornstarch, mixed to a paste with ¼ cup water

Directions:

1.       If using dry chickpeas, soak them overnight in 3-4 cups water. Then heat to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 3 hours or until they are tender, but not mushy.

2.       Toss the sweet potato slices in 1 Tbsp vegetable oil in a shallow baking pan or cookie sheet and spread in a single layer under a preheated broiler. Broil for about 10-15 minutes, turning and shaking occasionally, until they start brown and soften.

3.       Heat the other Tbsp vegetable oil in a large wok over medium-high heat and add the ginger, garlic, and chopped onions and cook for 2 minutes, stirring often. Add the carrot slices and stir-fry for another 3 minutes.

4.       Add the sweet potato slices, chickpeas, asparagus, and celery and stir-fry for another 3 minutes.

5.       Add the sesame oil, soy sauce, chicken broth, and prunes and bring to a boil.

6.       Reduce heat and simmer for 2-3 minutes.  Separate the vegetables in the middle of the wok, add the cornstarch and stir into the broth to thicken.

7.        Serve by itself or over cooked rice or quinoa.

 

Greetings to any of my previous readers who are still connected. And welcome to anyone who stumbles across my little blog. I hope you enjoy reading it and trying some of my suggestions.

It's been a long hiatus. Life has taken me through several jobs that didn't give me time to keep up with this sort of writing. But I am alive and well and entering a new stage of my life. I plan to resume sharing some of that with you. Last month I helped prepare a special meal at a local resource center. For my part, I made a large version of a recipe by Lauren Miyashiro for her Classic Green Bean Casserole

It seems we are both updating the recipe, since the version I saved a couple years ago called for 1 pound of green beans, 1 onion and 8 ounces of mushrooms. My impression from that was that it didn't have enough green beans. Her recent version has 2 pounds of green beans, 2 onions and a pound (16 ounces) of mushrooms. So adjust those if you like. I triple the beans to 3 pounds, left the onions and mushrooms the same, and doubled the sauce. And I think that came out about right. So that is what I specify in this recipe.

And I recommend adding 1-2 Tbsp of seasoned salt to the milk mixture before it cooks up and thickens to give it an extra flavor touch. I have been testing a special mixture from a cookbook by a friend that should go into print later this year. But until that is available, choose your favorite salt mixture.

Elevated Green Bean Casserole

Based on a recipe by LAUREN MIYASHIRO

UPDATED: Jan 10 2024

 

YIELDS:

Ingredients

• 3 lb.            green beans, trimmed
• 10 tbsp.      butter, divided
• 1                 onion, sliced into half moons
• 8 oz.           sliced mushrooms
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1-2 Tbsp seasoned salt
• 2                 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 c.          all-purpose flour
• 6 c.             whole milk
• 3 c.              French's fried onions

1.      Prepare the green beans. Wash them. Trim the ends. Slice into two or three pieces about 1-2 inches long.

 

2.     Slice and dice the onions. Slice the onions, then dice them into smaller pieces.

 

3.      Preheat oven to 350°. Prepare an ice bath: In a large pot of boiling water, add green beans and cook until bright green, about 6 minutes. With a slotted spoon or tongs, quickly transfer green beans to ice bath to cool, then drain and transfer to a large bowl.

 

4.     In a large ovenproof skillet over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until mushrooms are golden, about 5 minutes more. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, 1 minute, then transfer mixture to green bean bowl. Divide these into 2 disposable aluminum pans.

 

 

5.     In same skillet over medium heat, melt remaining 8 tablespoons butter. Whisk in flour and cook until golden, about 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in milk and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook until thickened, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat, then pour over the green bean-mushroom mixture and toss until evenly combined.

 

6.     Bake until warmed through and bubbling, about 30 minutes.

 

 

7.     Top with fried onions and bake 5 minutes more. 

Here is the nutrition information for the original recipe. My version will be similar:

Nutrition per serving: 323 calories, 7 g protein, 24 g carbohydrates, 3 g fiber, 10 g sugar, 14 g fat,  14 g saturated fat, 431 mg sodium

 

Here is one of the finished meals we served to everyone who came.

Special thanks to all the people who contributed food for this event and the many people at the 

Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico for all the services they provide to our community.

Happy New Year to them and all of my readers.

Joni