Easy Chicken Cacciatore

Both my husband and I work full-time. We have a toddler (15 months today... woot!). We have a house, three cats, and an hour commute, each way, to and from work. So sometimes, I don't have the energy to be a gourmand.

I came up with this recipe because I almost always have the ingredients on hand, and because it only takes about half an hour from start to finish. I also tailored it to feed two because my son doesn't always eat what we do for dinner. The flavors are bold and it's the perfect quick and satisfying meal for two after a long day.

Easy Chicken Cacciatore
Serves 2
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes

3/4 pound boneless chicken breast tenders, pounded thin
1/4 large onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon capers, with liquid
1 tablespoon shaved or shredded parmesan cheese
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoons salted butter
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
salt and pepper to taste

Chicken should be pounded into very thin filets. Season each side of chicken with salt and pepper.



Chop onions and pepper into approximately one-inch pieces (same size as they have about the same cooking time).



Heat oil in large pan/skillet. When hot, place chicken in pan. Turn after 2 minutes, toss in onions, peppers and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes.



Add tomatoes, capers, small amount of liquid from jar and butter, cover, allow to cook for 15 minutes. When finished, top with parmesan cheese and crushed red pepper and serve immediately.

Gamberi e mitili in brodo del vino (Shrimp and mussels in wine broth)

Growing up, I was willing to try pretty much anything, especially when it came to seafood.

My dad and I could have eaten some type of seafood everyday, and whatever he was having, I was having. I remember sitting down with him to share a lobster when I was about 8, just because I wanted to try it. I ate shrimp by the handful and steamers by the bucketload. If it was seafood, I was IN.

So as an adult at a restaurant, I'm instantly drawn to the seafood section of the menu. At a particular Italian eatery, my husband and I love a dish of mussels and broth. We end up eating it very quick and using our bread to soak up the buttery broth every single time.

But since we can't afford to go out to eat every night, I had to figure out a way to make the dish at home. And since mussels, while delicious, aren't all that filling as a dinner meal, I tossed in some shrimp. Next time I'd also like to add some scallops; I think they'd add even more flavor to the dish.

You can serve the broth separate like I did here, or pour it over the shellfish. I've done it both ways, but separated it here to show you what it should look like. I highly recommend serving this with some bread -- once you try the broth, you won't leave a single drop in the bowl.

Enjoy!



Gamberi e mitili in brodo del vino (Shrimp and mussels in wine broth)
Serves 4-6

2 pounds of live mussels (approximately 75 shells), scrubbed, debearded*
1 pound of peeled, deveined raw shrimp
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup minced onion or shallot
4 tablespoons salted butter
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup white wine
3 tablespoons garlic*
1 tablespoon garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

Tools
wire/bristle brush
large sautee pan with lid

With sautee pan on medium heat, melt butter, then add lemon juice, salt, pepper and wine (carefully). Toss in onion and cook until translucent. Add half of the garlic to the broth and watch to make sure it doesn't burn. Cook until fragrant, about 3-4 minutes.



Toss mussels into pan, distributing as evenly as possible around the pan. Spoon remaining garlic and olive oil over shells and cover. Cook for 15 minutes.



Remove lid and toss shrimp on top of mussels, cover. Cook for additional 5 minutes or until shrimp turn pink. Remove from heat.



Spoon shrimp and mussels onto large platter.



Before serving, ensure all shells have opened -- discard mussels that remain closed. Top with broth from pan or serve with broth on the side (you can add any other flavors you like -- parsley, red pepper flakes, basil, etc., at this time).



Notes
Mussels -- At our supermarket, you can buy a 2 lb. bundle of mussels in the seafood department. Though it won't look like it at first, this is about 75 mussels.



The tricky thing about mussels, and the reason many people don't cook with them, is that they do require a fair bit of preparation. When you unbundle them, you have to scrub them, as they accumulate a fair amount of dirt/sand on their shells. Then, and if you're squeamish, look away -- you have to "de-beard" them. What's a beard you ask? It's a group of fibers the mussel has used to hold on to rocks in the ocean.



You have to grip the beard and yank it out of the shell. The creepy thing (for some, I'm past it!), is that as the mussel is live, you may feel it... "tug" back a little. Certainly, once you begin to pull the beard and let go, you will see a portion disappear back into the shell. In any event, you want to remove this beard, or as much of it as you can, because what you don't clean off the shells and out of them is going to end up in your mouth.



The other tidbit about mussels... you have to quite literally trust your gut. The LAST thing you want to eat is bad shellfish, and so you have to apply the open-closed theory of discarding the "bad" ones -- if you see shells OPEN before you cook the mussels, throw them out. If any remain CLOSED after you cook them, throw them out. If any shells have chunks mussing or exposed mussel showing, throw them out. Trust me on this one -- better safe than sorry!

Garlic -- Just to restate what I've said in almost every recipe I've made using garlic, you can feel free to use jarred or fresh garlic. I prefer to use the jarred as it keeps longer, I don't have to cut it up, and it seems to be more flavorful. If you use the jarred garlic, use 3 tablespoons. If you use fresh garlic, use 4-5 cloves, depending on their size.

Pumpkin ice cream and affogatos

I have a confession to make: As much as I enjoy laying out in the sun and getting (my VERY LIGHT shade of) tan, as much as I enjoy my hair being blonde, as much as I enjoy the heat... I adore the fall.

Having grown up in New England, I was born and bred with an addiction to autumn. I love the sights, the sounds, and the tastes of fall. So naturally once the calendar page flipped to October, I ran right to the store and picked up one of the most classic fall flavors -- pumpkin.



I wanted to do something different with the pumpkin besides the standard pumpkin bread or pumpkin roll, so I decided to go in a different, chillier direction with ice cream. To take the fall flavor even deeper, I went with an affogato, made with cinnamon Starbucks coffee.

Before about two years ago, I'd never heard of an affogato. I tried one on our trip to the Berkshires, and was instantly in love. "Affogato" is Italian for "drowned," and this ice cream treat is literally drowned in espresso. In place of espresso, I used coffee, but trust me -- it may sound odd, but once you combine the raw coffee flavor with the sweet creaminess of the ice cream... yum. You won't regret it.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Ice Cream and Affogatos
Yields about 10 half-cup servings

Ice cream
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1 vanilla bean (pod and beans)
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 15-ounce can of pure pumpkin
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar

Affogato
Starbucks cinnamon coffee
cinnamon stick (garnish)

Tools
Cuisinart ice cream maker
medium saucepan
mixing bowl
glass bowl (for chilling)

In saucepan, combine milk and cream. Cut open vanilla bean, toss seeds into cream mixture. Once seeds are removed, add pod to mixture. Heat cream on medium-low for 30 minutes and remove from heat.



In separate mixing bowl, combine egg, pumpkin, sugars, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and sugars. Beat with whisk until smooth.



Using a ladle or spoon, add a small amount of the heated cream to the pumpkin mixture. Mix until combined, then add another spoonful. This will temper the mixture so the egg doesn't scramble when exposed to heat.



Pour all of the pumpkin mixture into the saucepan with the cream, and mix until smooth. Pour into glass bowl, and allow to cool completely in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, up to overnight. At the same time, place bowl of ice cream maker into the freezer -- the liquid in the bowl (what chills the ice cream) must freeze before ice cream can be made.



Once bowl is frozen, assemble machine and turn switch to on. Pour cream mixture into bowl and allow to mix for 25-30 minutes or until desired texture is reached.










You can freeze the mixture for longer if you want firmer ice cream.



To create affogatos, scoop some ice cream into a glass, and top with prepared coffee. Garnish with cinnamon stick. Enjoy!







Notes:
Vanilla bean -- This is the first time I've ever actually used a REAL vanilla bean for flavoring. I'm not going to lie, they aren't cheap -- for this ONE in a jar, it was $7.49 at the grocery store -- but they are so worth the flavor.



In case you've never seen a vanilla bean pod cut open, here's what the inside, complete with itty-bitty seeds intact looks like.

Heirloom tomatoes

For the longest time, I've tried to find good quality heirloom tomatoes. I've never seen them at either of our local supermarkets, and really never even at farmer's markets in our area.

But in the last month, I've had a revelation. I've discovered Whole Foods.

Upon my most recent (I say "most recent," because much to my husband's dismay, I now go at least twice a week) visit, I discovered Whole Foods' selection of heirloom tomatoes. There were yellow and red and orange and green... and I had to have them all.



Though there hasn't been a clear consensus on what defines an "heirloom" vegetable, it's generally accepted that they are open-pollinated, "heritage" or old varieties that have been around for a long time. "Open-pollinated" means they're naturally "created," or in other words, they aren't man-made. The characteristics of one tomato will be very similar to those of its parent -- baby tomato is going to look just like his mama.

Some agriculture experts consider only seed varieties that existed prior to 1951 to be of the "heirloom" variety, but other use different cut offs -- no real clear-cut definition exists. Some species can be traced back as far as 100 or 150 years.

The major difference I noticed between the heirloom tomatoes I bought and your standard plum or hothouse tomato (besides price -- the heirloom varieties at Whole Foods ran $4.99/pound) was taste. It's not so much a STRONG or different tomato flavor as it is a FRESH one. They taste earthy and tangy, and depending on the variety, can even have a citrus or slightly bitter flavor to them.

While I tasted each of the varieties uncooked and could definitely distinguish between the types, I knew that cooking each would bring out their own individual flavor even more. I didn't want to muddle the flavors with too much else, so I took a simple approach.

I had also picked up some capricho de cabra (an uber-creamy goat cheese) at Whole Foods, and had made some naan*, so I had a perfect base for an heirloom tomato naan pizza.





I sliced up some of the tomatoes, brushed the naan with olive oil and topped it with a few tablespoons of crushed tomatoes. I piled on the tomatoes, threw in a little garlic, and topped the pizza with small pieces of the goat cheese (I used about two ounces total), then set it on the pizza stone and baked it in the oven for about 15 minutes on 450. When I took it out, the cheese had begun to brown perfectly, and the tomatoes had just started to "wilt" a bit.

Though it would have been just as delicious as it was without having cooked at all, baking the pizza brought out all the flavors of the tomatoes.



A little pricier but a lot more flavorful, I'm thinking of attempting to grow a few of my own heirloom tomato varieties next year. Though some varieties have a few troubles during the growing seasons -- some are very attractive (more so than 'regular' tomato plants) to bugs and bacteria while others actually grow so fast their rapid increase in size causes the skins to split -- the yield, even if I only get a small crop, will be worth it.

*Notes

Naan: While I made my own naan, you can use the store bought version. In case you've never tried it, naan is a levened middle-eastern bread made with a flour base. It's usually grilled but can also be baked. The recipe I used was this one, and I can't say enough about it -- it's absolutely fantastic and as good, if not better, than any I've had at any Indian or middle-eastern restaurant. The recipe is easy to make and even with rising time figured in, only takes ABOUT two hours from start to finish. It's flavorful and is amazing with the tomatoes.

Do yourself a favor and try these!

As my close friends know, I've recently become absolutely and completely obsessed with shopping at Whole Foods.

Unfortunately, the closest one to me is near work but an hour away from my home. Fortunately, it is SO close to my work that I'm able to stop and get one of their prepared foods (okay, who am I kidding, I get sushi. Every. Damn. Time.) for lunch.

On my way home from work Monday night, I decided to stop at Whole Foods to pick something up for dinner for the three of us, and came upon something... (sigh) wonderful. Positively wonderful.

There, calling my name, beckoning me, if you will, were these beauties.



Yes, you're reading that correctly -- pickled green tomatoes.

I will admit that I do get some delight out of telling people about my sometimes less-than-conventional food choices (my mom still squirms when I tell her about sushi... weirdo). I do tend to buy things that are maybe a little off-center, because I'll give anything a try, and so when I saw these, I HAD to buy them. Trust me, my friends, I did not regret it.

These amazing tomatoes have a wonderful vinegar and dill bite, and yet have not lost their crunch. They don't taste exactly like pickles, they definitely have their own flavor. But if you enjoy the flavor and crunch of fresh (even homemade or locally-purchased) pickles, you'll enjoy these. They're packed in a deliciously garlic brine (some of which I'm planning to reserve for hot dirty martinis) with fresh dill and grape leaves, and the whole pieces of garlic inside are fantastic even on their own.



I'm not being paid anything to say this, and I have no incentive for telling you about these, but I'm so in love with them that I just had to share. My half-empty container speaks for itself!

The other thing I LOVE about these, besides the taste which, seriously... yum, is that they're local. Grillo's Pickles is in Boston, and their address is right on the container. When given the choice, I'll pay a little more to support my local businesses.

Find out more about Grillo's Pickles at http://www.grillospickles.com. According to their site, they're available in the produce section at Whole Foods in Massachusetts and Connecticut, as well as a few smaller chain stores (you can find the exact list here -- http://grillospickles.com/store.html). They also have a Twitter -- you can find them at @GrillosPickles.

You may not have a Whole Foods near you, but trust me -- these are worth the drive!

We have winners!

This morning, I used Random.org to pick the winners of my Pastene Giftbasket Giveaway, and here they are --

Congratulations to

Shirley (#17)
Amanda (#6)
Meeyeehere (#26)

I'll be emailing all of you for your shipping information later today.

Thank you to everyone who entered!

Celebrating with a giveaway! *Giveaway closed*

It's been a good year, and Madame is celebrating!



As you may or may not know, this past Monday, August 30th, was my 1st blog-iversary with Madame Menu. For the last year, I have loved sharing my recipes and my family’s recipes with you. I have loved getting your feedback and building relationships and making connections. I have some very exciting ideas about where this blog will be “going” over the next year, and I can’t wait to share them all with you.

I am so grateful you have stopped by and voted for me and let me know what you thought of my recipes and I decided to pass that appreciation onto my amazing readers by celebrating the milestone… (wait for it)… with a giveaway!



In several recipes I’ve posted over the last year, I’ve mentioned Pastene products. I love the brand because the freshness, taste and quality are authentic and unparalleled. It’s convenient that I also don’t have to head to a specialty foods market to buy their products – they’re right in the international section at the local grocery store.

As luck would have it, the folks at Pastene were equally excited about my anniversary and decided they wanted to celebrate with me.

That’s why the amazing and generous people at the company have sent me THREE of their Holiday Favorites gift baskets to give away to my readers.



Each basket (which I will ship directly to you) contains some of my absolute favorite products – marinated artichokes, spaghetti sauce, roasted peppers, pasta, San Marzano tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil and even a Pastene Great Cooking cookbook. Exactly what you need to make a delicious Italian meal!

Want to enter? Here’s how.


Mandatory entry: Leave me a comment on this post telling me which Pastene product (http://store.pastene.com/merchant2/) is your favorite or which you would like to try. Make sure you leave me a valid email address so I can contact you if you’re the lucky winner! Please note – you do not have to be a blogger to win!

Extra chances to win – each is worth another entry. Please leave a separate comment for each extra...

- Follow Madame Menu on Google Friend Connect

- Become a fan of Madame Menu on Facebook

- Blog about this giveaway and link back to this post

- Tweet the giveaway (up to twice a day – leave a link to your status)

You can enter starting right away, up through midnight PST on Tuesday, September 7, 2010. The winners will be chosen a week from today – on Wednesday, September 8, 2010 – via Random Integer Generator from all entries submitted, and notified through email. I apologize to my non-US friends, but this giveaway is only open to all legal residents of the United States.

Good luck, everyone! Thank you for staying with me for a year. Here's to 25 more! :-)