Balsamic Chicken with Swiss chard

I know the weather is getting better, but here is another Crock Pot recipe, with a little bit of skillet prep.  I like the fact that I can put everything into the pot, set it on low, go to work and come home to a nice meal.  I also like the fact that it doesn't heat up the entire house, or I am not standing over a hot grill in the even hotter sun.


Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion minced
2 anchovies fillets minced.
1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes (drained)
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup Merlot (or another red wine)
3 bay leaves
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or to taste)
Salt and pepper
6 skinless, bone in chicken thighs
2 cup Swiss chard, stemmed and leaves roughly chopped.


In a large skillet heat oil, add minced onion and when they begin to lightly brown, add garlic, dry thyme, tomato paste, minced anchovy.  Cook for about 5 minutes.  Stir in flour 1 tablespoon at a time.  Once combined, whisk in balsamic vinegar.  Cook until balsamic vinegar is slightly reduced.  Transfer contents to slow cooker.  Add Diced tomatoes, chicken broth, red wine, bay leaves and red pepper flakes to slow cooker.  Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken and add to slow cooker.  Make sure the Chicken is covered with some of the sauce.  Cover and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours.

30 minutes before serving add Swiss chard and cook until Swiss chard is tender.  Serve with your choice of polenta, mashed potatoes or rice.

Crock Pot Pork Tenderloin with Cranberry/Orange sauce

This is another good fall/early spring main dish.  Tim said the house smelled like Thanksgiving when he came home.

1 pork tenderloin (about 5 lbs) 

1 can whole berry cranberry sauce

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup orange juice

The zest of one medium orange and the juice

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon olive oil 

salt and pepper

Dry pork with paper towels and season with salt and pepper.  Brown pork well on all sides.  

In large crock pot, stir in cranberry sauce, orange juice, zest and cinnamon.  Set pork in slow cooker, and cook for 6 to 8 hours on low or until pork reaches 140 to 145 degrees.  

Once the pork is done, place on cutting board and tent.  Transfer liquid to a saucepan and reduce to about 2 cups.  If necessary, season with additional salt and pepper. 

Kale and Butternut Squash Chowder

Tim and I visited a spice shop a few weeks ago and he wanted to buy whole nutmeg and a micro plane.    I have never used either, but now that I have I am sold on both.  The fresh ground nutmeg gives this chowder a nice depth of flavor.

Next time I think we are going to try sausage instead of bacon.  

Ingredients

at least 4 oz of bacon

1 onion finally chopped

1 tablespoon garlic minced

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 ground nutmeg

1/3 cup all purpose flour

4 cups chicken broth

3 cups vegetable broth 

3 pounds butternut squash peeled, seeded and chopped (about 1/2 inch pieces) 

2 bay leaves 

1 tsp olive oil

6 oz of kale 

1/2 cup heavy cream 

1/2 teaspoon dried sage 

1 teaspoon brown sugar

In a large skillet cook bacon until crisp.  Remove from pan and let drain on paper towels.  In the same skillet stir in onion, garlic, thyme and nutmeg.  Cook until onions begin to soften and begin to turn lightly brown.  Stir in flour and cook for about 1 minute.  Whisk in 2 cups chicken broth.  Chop up bacon and stir into mixture.  Note:  I did this step the night before I was making the soup and refrigerated it.  

Add above mixture into slow cooker.  Stir in an additional 2 cups chicken broth, vegetable broth and half of the the butternut squash, and the bay leaves.  Place the remaining squash in a foil packet and season with oil, and salt and pepper.  Place the Foil packet on top of the soup.  Cover and cook for 6 to 8 hours on low.  

Remove foil packet and stir in Kale, and cook for an additional 30 minutes.  Add Squash from foil packet back to the slow cooker and stir in cream, sage, and sugar.  Taste, add additional salt, pepper, nutmeg as needed.  

I served with garlic cheese croutons, or Texas Parmesan toast.  Tim added Parmesan cheese on his.  

Crock Pot Ribs

I have always liked ribs, but the last time we purchased the pre-rubbed ribs from Costco we did not like the flavor and they took an extremely long time to cook on the grill.  I do not have enough patience to watch them on the grill, so this recipe is perfect for me.

Ingredients
2 tbs smoked paprika
2 tbs dark brown sugar
1 tbs kosher salt
1 tbs ground black pepper
1 tbs cayenne pepper (optional)
3 lbs pork ribs separated
1 16 oz bottle of Barbecue sauce


Mix dried ingredients and rub all over ribs and let sit overnight in the fridge.

The next day place ribs into the crock pot and pour barbecue sauce over ribs.

Cook on low for 6 to 7 hours.

Place Ribs on cookie sheet  and tent with aluminum foil.
Pour sauce in a medium sized pan and bring to a boil.  Simmer for 20 minutes.

Preheat oven on broil setting.  Coat ribs with sauce and broil until ribs begin to caramelize. Turn ribs over and baste with sauce and broil again until they begin to caramelize.  Remove from oven and let set for 10 minutes.  

Spaghetti Squash with Parmesan Cheese

This recipe is thanks to one of my nieces, however she probably used way less butter and parmesan cheese.  The spaghetti squash seems very versatile, I will be using it again in other recipes.

Ingredients
1 medium sized spaghetti squash
1 1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
2 1/2 tbs butter
salt and black pepper to taste


Preheat oven to 375.
Cut squash into half and place on a baking tray skin side down.  Bake until easily pierced with a fork, about 1 to 1 and half hours.

Remove from oven and use fork to shred squash.  Mix in parmesan cheese, butter, salt and black pepper.   

Maple Syrup Acorn Squash

Tim and I went to the farmers market today and came home with a lot of different goodies.
Tonight we did boneless pork loins marinated in homemade Italian dressing, asparagus and acorn squash.


Ingredients
1 large acorn squash cut in half and seeded
2 tbs butter
1 oz maple syrup
salt
pepper


Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Put 1 tbs of butter in each half of the acorn squash.  Pour .5 oz maple syrup over each half and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Bake for 1 hour until acorn squash is easily pierced with fork.  

Chicken Vindaloo

Its cold again in Georgia and this is a good crock pot meal.  Vindaloo is an Indian Curry dish that is one of the most popular at Indian restaurants.  This dish is flavorful and some may consider it spicy even though there is not much chili pepper in this recipe.  The spice comes from the mix of cinnamon, fresh ground black pepper corns and garam masala.


Ingredients
7 medium onions Julienned
1 tbs olive oil
6 tsp distilled white vinegar
5 dried Serrano or Thai chili peppers (add more for additional heat or less to tone the heat down)
3 lb boneless chicken thighs (can substitute lamb loins)
1 tbs minced garlic
1 tbs minced ginger
6 small red potatoes, quartered (optional)
Cilantro (optional garnish)

Grind the following together in a spice grinder:
1/2 tbs ground cinnamon
1/2 tbs black pepper corns
1/2 tbs of kosher salt
1 tbs garam masala
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp whole coriander seeds
1/2 tsp black mustard seeds


In a large skillet, heat oil and caramelize onions.  While onions are carmalizing, soak dried chili's in vinegar.  Once the onions are almost done add rehydrated chili's and vinegar to skillet.  Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

In a food processor combine all ingredients except chicken and potatoes and pulse until it becomes a paste.  Place chicken and paste blend in crock pot on low for 6 hours.  Add potatoes and cook on high for an additional 2 to 3 hours or until potatoes are done.

Serve over rice or with Naan.