chicken again?

tired of boring old chicken for dinner AGAIN? or do you want something different and are afraid your kids won't eat it, so why bother? here is a great solution that will make both the foodie in you happy and still be family, namely kid friendly.
the other night i needed to test some recipes for a client and still needed dinner for my family, so i combined the two. the surprise? everyone was happy!
i have a client who is bored with their everyday recipes and wants to try something new. chicken is a staple in their home, so i put something together that requires a little work, but nothing to over the top. the plus is, it can be made and placed in the refrigerator ahead of time and then the actual meal on the table is about 20 mins.
so hear it is.....

spinach and cheese stuffed chicken breasts

for the filling:

2 cups baby spinach
1 shallot, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, roughly chopped
1/4 teas fresh ground nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
hot sauce to taste
2 tbls of cream cheese, room temp
2 tbls of goat cheese, room temp
2 tbsp on olive oil

heat olive oil in saute pan on med-low heat and add shallots, cook for 2-3 mins stirring often being carefully not to over brown. add spinach and garlic and coat with olive oil and shallots. the spinach will immediately start to wilt so turn off heat and season with salt, pepper, nutmeg and hot sauce. place mixture in bowl to cool slightly, after it is cooled a bit, add cheeses and incorporate.

for the chicken:

4 thinly pounded chicken breasts**
2 thinly pounded chicken breast cut into tenders**
2 cups panko bread crumbs
2 cups italian bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated ramano cheese
1 cup flour
2 eggs beaten
salt and pepper to taste
3 generous tbls of vegetable oil

make a assembly line of three shallow bowls and a sheet pan covered with wax paper or foil. in first bowl add flour, second bowl add beaten eggs, third bowl bread crumb and cheese mixture.
at this point you may season flour and bread crumbs with salt and pepper to your liking, a little or a lot.
first the family friendly, just in case they won't eat my fabulous creation, chicken tenders.
set aside the four chicken breasts and move on to the tenders. dip each piece, first in flour, then egg and then bread crumb mixture, making sure to coat each side. place on baking sheet. repeat until all are breaded.
now moving on to the i'm not sick of chicken any more creation.
place all four pieces of chicken on a flat surface covered with wax paper. take about a large spoonful of the spinach mixture and spread on the chicken leaving a 1/4 inch border all the way around. you should have a little bit of the mixture left over, set it aside for now. from the skinny end of the chicken, begin to roll each piece, don't worry if they are not perfect, just do your best. after take each roll and repeat the breading process, flour, eggs, bread crumbs and place on cookie sheet.
at this point, cover and place in refrigerator for a least 15 mins, to 1 day ahead. remove from refrigerator about 2-3 mins before cooking.
time to cook:
heat oil in a pan big enough to place all four rolls in at the same time. place a cookie sheet with paper towels for draining, next to your cooking area.
when oil starts to sizzle, a good way to check is to place the handle of a wooden spoon in the oil and see if the oil bubbles, if it does you are good to go.
first, cook off the tenders, place each piece in pan and flip in about 2-3 mins, when they are golden brown, remove from pan and place on paper towels to drain.
now, take your rolled chicken and place in pan, rolls to each side, browning as you go, again maybe 2-3 mins. now if filling oozes out a bit, don't panic it will still taste great. when golden brown remove from pan and place on paper towels to drain. now here's a trick to keeping them warm and crispy while you finish up your sauce and meal. place on serving dishes and put in a 200 degree oven.
** you can purchase thinly sliced chicken or make your own by pounding it out, entirely up to you, your time frame and your cooking comfort level. as you can tell, mine are perfect either, but they still tasted fabulous.

for the sauce:

leftover spinach mixture
1/4 cup of chicken stock

and a simple salad of tomatoes, cucumber, black olives and arugula in a light in the same pan as you did the chicken, drain off excess oil and place back on stove top on med-low heat. add chicken stock to pan, scraping up bits and pieces off the bottom of pan, add the rest of spinach mixture and melt into chicken stock, remove from heat. to serve pour sauce over chicken. you can use this sauce for the chicken tenders too, or for your picky eater, ketchup, ranch dressing, mustard it all works. i served our chicken with some light sides of red quinoavinaigrette of olive oil, red wine vinegar and salt and pepper. again for the kiddos cucumbers and olives.
the result is everyone is happy, and you never know, your kids may like it too!! i know my daughter did and happily ate the whole meal, my son, stuck to the chicken tenders with ketchup. and myself, a new recipe, a happy tummy and a dinner with no fuss or complaints. you can have fun with this recipe, by changing up what you stuff the chicken with, or even venture out and use pork, the point is now you know the process, the rest is up to you.
enjoy!!

exceptional dining right around the corner

as a full time wife, mother of two and business owner opportunities to go out for a nice, leisurely meal with friends and no children are few and far between. last Saturday the opportunity arose for a night out with friends at a restaurant of my choice. i have been following a local restaurant on twitter called Blanca and drooling over their menus, so i jumped at the chance to try it! imagine my surprise to find such an exceptional dining experience right around the corner in the sleepy and beautiful city of solana beach.
the ambiance and decor were a treat to the senses as we walked in the door and the quiet was a blessing to our ears, both couples the proud owners of 5 children between us, quiet is not something that happens often. i could go on about this, but my girlfriend who treated us to the experience is a graphic designer with a background in architecture and she does a much better job, i have included her twitpic at the bottom of the blog, so you can see and hear her words yourself. on to the food!
first let me say chef gavin smith has an amazing flair and palate for working with the local farms and local, seasonal ingredients. the menu was full of fabulous flavors and twists, an indulgent experience for the foodie in me. as each course arrived, we all tried, shared and devoured the delectable items that arrived on our plates in the form of artworks themselves. i am quite certain the pictures to follow will not give the food justice, as we took them with our iphones in the dark of the restaurant. everything from the charcuterie platter, to the local farm raised pork, local, seasonal vegetables and herbs to the black cod, each bite was an explosion of flavor and melt in your mouth delicious. the dessert finale really sealed the deal for me, a caramelized brioche filled with strawberry jelly, was nothing more than pure bliss, crunchy from the sugar, light and airy brioche and decade filling and sauce. excuse me for a minute, i am drooling as i think of this. i look forward to the chance to taste and experience more of blanca, next time maybe a happy hour in their stylish lounge to try the many interesting items on the lounge menu.


willis farm pork
zucchini soup

black cod
caramelized sugar brioche

check out Blanca at http://www.dineblanca.com

http://twitpic.com/24fidx

ties that bind and define..

for as long as i can remember food played a key role in my family, it was something that brought us together in many ways. homework in the kitchen while mom cooked dinner. saturdays were for my dad and i, shopping at the italian market and watching football together over his famous sandwiches. family dinner on sundays which was never missed for any reason. holidays and birthdays spent at the table laughing, sharing and in the end learning that home and family were the place and people i could count on. coming from a big italian family on the east coast, when my parents decided to move us to california it was important to them to keep the sense of family ties and love. we spent our summers visiting relatives on the east coast for weeks at a time and while living and growing up in california my parents taught us to build an extended family through our friends. i can never remember a time when there was not a new face at our table and as the years passed our family of 6 grew to a family of now 14, plus various numbers that drop in from time to time. i believe that all of this brought me to where i am now and the passions, decisions and the life course i have chosen, wife, mother, friend, pastry girl and cook.
i now have my own husband and children. as the world seems to run at warp speed with tv, internet, school, sport and social activities i hold tightly to the values my parents taught me and do my best to instill the same on my children. we sit down as often as possible together for dinner, sunday dinners are still alive and well with different friends and family all the time. since cooking now is not only a passion, but my chosen profession, there are many hours with my children doing homework and chatting while i am cooking and baking.
as i spend the day packing for a trip to the east coast, now with my children, to spend countless hours with family, laughing and sharing around the table, i am reminded of my parents who are no longer with me. i plan to share with my kids the stories and recipes of their grandparents as well as do a little research for my cooking as well. so in closing my blog will be quiet for a few short weeks, and when i return i hope to have some new stories to share with my family and recipes to share with my friends and clients.

a lite summer snack!

while strolling through the farmer's market on a warm day, i close my eyes and take in the fresh scents of herbs, flowers, and fresh baked bread mingled with the ocean air. i love this place and go as often as possible, to check out the fresh fruits and vegetables of the season, as well as the specialty olive oils, cheeses and baked treats. the weather is warming up and i am a big fan of cooling down in the kitchen. this easy summer appetizer is fast, and involves very little cooking. in the end you will have a crunchy, salty snack and very little clean up!
smash a garlic clove and drop into about a 1/4 cup of good olive oil with a pinch of salt and heat just till warm in a sauce pan on the stove, turn off heat and allow to steep, for at least 10 mins. i keep a pan of this on my stove all the time and use for everything from frittatas to shrimp. it's great just to dip fresh, warm bread for a light snack.
preheat your broiler ( you can even do on the grill if you don't want to heat your kitchen). slice a baguette and place on a sheet pan.

drizzle bread with the garlic infused olive oil and sprinkle with grated romano cheese, you may also use parm, but i love the nutty salty taste of the romano. place under broiler (or on your grill) and toast till golden brown.


place on your serving tray and top each slice with a fresh leaf of basil and a piece of proscuitto. finish off by shaving a little romano cheese on top and drizzle with garlic infused oil and a sprinkling of pepper. that's it! fast, delicious and a perfect summer bite.

Childhood Memories

as i woke this morning to the sun filtering through my bedroom windows the quiet of the morning reminded me of waking to a house filled with the warm smells of cinnamon and nutmeg from my moms cinnamon crunch muffins. so while everyone was asleep i headed to the kitchen to hunt through my mom's old recipe box for the recipe. most recipes she kept locked in her head, but the few she wrote down, i was able to keep when she passed. on mornings like this when the pangs of missing her hit me heavily, i look at these recipes and find comfort in the familiarity of her handwriting and the memories of her in the kitchen, which is where she always was when she wasn't working nights as a nurse. as i started to sift through the ingredients and put the recipe together i thought of my children upstairs sleeping and my heart filled with the thoughts of them, grown up with families of their own. i can only hope that they too will be filled with the same thoughts and memories, triggered by the smells and tastes of their childhood. i have been asked several times for recipes, which i to like my mom keep so many in my head, and people laugh that they are all handwritten and not on the computer. i laugh too, and say, the computer is not in the kitchen with me my paper and pen are. the truth is, although i have started to transfer some onto the computer, the words on the computer can not begin to express the warmth and familiarity of the person sharing the recipe. so i will continue to write with pen and paper and also to transfer to the computer as time goes by. i also make a quiet resolve to write down more recipes to pass to my children, so they too may find comfort, familiarity, warmth and fond memories in my written words to one day share with those they love and cherish.

what's for dinner?

last night, on his way out the door to take my son to baseball practice, my husband asked me "what are we having for dinner?" i looked at him, smiled and said " i don't know, i haven't decided yet." he left and I stood there realizing, i don't think i've been near a grocery store in at least a week, maybe two. so i stared into my mostly empty refrigerator and found a few odd vegetables, some carrots, a handful of spinach left from a salad and some asparagus that i didn't use when i had planned. what to do? what to do?
this is where as luck would have it, i am usually good at keeping the pantry and freezer stocked with a few key items at all times. being raised italian, that of course means there is always some sort of macaroni (pasta for all of you) and chicken stock, along with a good spice rack and you are good to go. i rummage threw the freezer and find frozen prosciutto and pine nuts, again, normal for my heritage. i put everything on the counter, turn my water on for the macaroni and stare at my ingredients for a minute, the wheels slowly start to turn. what i came up with was a very simple, farm house meal as my mom would call it, i called it kitchen sink macaroni. here in lies the theory, good food does not have to be fancy, expensive or even planned.
ok, so i know most of you might not have these exact ingredients in your refrigerators, freezers or pantries, but most of you have those things that you call your key ingredients. for example rice, tomatoes, frozen veggies, ect.
the point is with a little imagination and the courage you may end up creating something really enjoyable, even a keeper for your recipe box. don't be afraid to put things together that you might not normally and let your imagination flow.
so while i am not including a recipe for my dish, as is there is none, just a lot of throw it in the pan and saute and then add the macaroni, and of course cheese, cheese makes everything good. what i want you to take from this is.. the next time someone asks you or you ask yourself "what's for dinner?" have fun, be creative, and cook! don't worry if it's horrible, there is always pizza delivery!

Take me out to the ball game...

or should i say ballet....
it was a weekend of toe shoes, tutus, and baseballs! as the season for the boys of summer kicks into full swing, so does the close of many ballet studios spring recitals!
as a full fledged lover of both, this weekend was hectic and fun. while running back and forth between my son's baseball games and my student's rehearsals and recital, i created these fun and yummy cupcakes for a few clients.