Two Thumbs Down

Two new recipes tonight for your dining pleasure, one from Cooks.com and one from Everyday Gourmet.

Of course, Mr. C. likes everything I ever make, God bless him, but Andrew and I opted for cereal.

In our opinion, the chicken had way too much tang, and the rice was spicy, but I think that was because I was out of Cayenne pepper and substituted red pepper.  Andrew and I agreed that we would be willing to try the rice again using the correct spices, but we'll pass on the chicken.

Recipe #1
MEDITERRANEAN LEMON PEPPER CHICKEN
4 chicken breasts
2 lemons
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large sweet onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon lemon pepper
2 cups chicken broth or water
1 can chick-peas or garbanzos, drained
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced
1 tablespoon Wondra or flour (optional)

Cut lemons into 2 halves each. Rub chicken with one lemon half.

In a large Dutch oven, saute onion in olive oil until soft and golden colored.

Rub chicken with lemon pepper. Sear chicken on both sides in the onion and olive oil. Add garlic and saute for 1 more minute or until garlic is lightly colored. Add broth or water and drained chick-peas or garbanzos, the juice from the lemons and salt and pepper, to taste.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 40 minutes or just until chicken is tender (depends upon size of chicken breasts).

If a thicker sauce is desired, stir flour (or Wondra) into sauce during final 15 minutes of cooking. 10 minutes before serving, stir in parsley (save a pinch for garnishing). Taste and adjust seasoning adding salt and pepper to taste.

Serve chicken with chick-peas or garbanzos on the side; top with sauce and a sprinkle of parsley.
Leftovers can be refrigerated in the sauce and served the next day over pasta or rice or sprinkled with mozzarella and baked until cheese melts and chicken has reheated.
*My chicken looked like soup for quite a while, as you can see.

Recipe #2

 LOW COUNTRY PILAF
2 C long-grain white rice
2 C low-sodium beef stock
1½ C water
1 medium-sized
onion, minced
1 small red bell
pepper, minced
2 celery ribs, minced
3 cloves garlic,
minced
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp dried basil
¼ cayenne pepper
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp minced parsley

In a medium-sized pot, heat olive oil and butter until hot. Add
onion, bell pepper, celery and garlic. Season the vegetables with
salt and pepper and sauté until they begin to soften, approximately 3
to 4 minutes.

Add rice, dried oregano, dried basil and cayenne pepper to the pot.
Season the rice with salt and pepper. Using a wooden spoon, mix
the ingredients until everything is fully incorporated. Continuing to
stir, allow the mixture to cook for one minute.

Add beef stock and water to the pot and allow it to come to the boil.
Cover pot and reduce heat to its lowest setting. Allow rice to cook on
low for 20 minutes. Do not uncover the pot during this time.

When 20 minutes have elapsed, uncover the pot and fluff the rice
with a fork. Taste and re-season if necessary. Mix in the parsley
and allow the pot to sit off the heat (covered) for 5 minutes before
serving.

The Real Scoop
by Andrew
This meal had no color.  Brown rice and brown chicken is not fun to look at.

It was too many flavors competing with each other on the same plate.

In the end, my bowl of Life cereal was good.