Mediterranean olive and oregano chicken

• 3/4 cup chopped  green olives
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 2 tsp honey
• 1 tbsp fresh oregano (chopped) or 1 tsp dried
• Salt and pepper

Whisk these together and season with salt and pepper. Be sparing with the salt.

• 4-5 lb chicken pieces, bone in, skin on

Season the chicken with a little salt and pepper then coat the pieces in the olive mixture, cover and chill for 2 hours to overnight. 

bake covered at 375 for 75 minutes then uncover and finish until chicken is at least 165 degrees internally (about 30 minutes). 

When its done, put the chicken on a plate and pour the juices into a pot. 

• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1 tbsp cornstarch 

whisk in the remaining ingredients. Simmer the sauce till thickened and pour over the chicken to serve. 

Chicken Salad

• about 1 lb of diced chicken or turkey meat- cooked
• 3 stalks celery- chopped
• 1 green apple-chopped
• 1 cup chopped grapes
• 1 bunch green onions-diced
• 1/2 bunch cilantro-chopped

Sauce: these are approximate measurements, add in small amounts and taste until its how you like it. 

• 2 cups mayo
• 2 tbs lemon juice
• 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• dash of onion powder 
• dash of garlic powder
• 1 tsp paprika
• dash of cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper 
• optional: curry powder

Mix everything together and serve on croissants as a sandwich or eat on the side. You can mix in your favorite type of lettuce to make it a more classic salad. 

chicken caesar salad

• Cooked sliced chicken (8-12 oz)
• 1 clove garlic- sliced in half
• 2 eggs
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 6 Tbsp. olive oil
• 3 oil packed anchovies- dices into small pieces
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1-2 heads romaine lettuce
• 1 cup croutons
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese-shredded

Lower the eggs into a small saucepan of boiling water and cook for 60 to 90 seconds, remove the eggs and as soon as you can handle them, crack them open and scrape out the insides. This is called a coddled egg. Beat the eggs with a fork and slowly drizzle in the lemon juice and oil, still beating. Stir in anchovies and Worcestershire sauce, mashing up anchovies. Toss lettuce, dressing and parmesan cheese together, top with croutons and chicken. 

Moroccan chicken pastry AKA B'Stilla

• 2 cans chicken broth
• 1 bag (about 2 lbs) boneless skinless chicken meat
• 1 onion diced

Summer these ingredients together on medium-low for about 1 hour. Then remove the chicken and shred it and put it back in the pan with the broth. 

• 1 bunch cilantro
• 4-6 oz slivered almond

Use a food processor to blend these to a fine dice almost to a paste. Add in to the chicken mixture. 

• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tbsp turmeric
• 2 tsp ginger

Add in these seasonings and simmer until the liquid is almost gone

• 4 eggs-beaten lightly

Mix in the egg and cook for about 3 minutes to make sure the egg cooks through. Stir constantly for these few minutes. Then place the mixture in the fridge to cool slightly. 

• 1/2 package phyllo dough
• 4 tbsp. melted butter

Take individual sheets of the phyllo dough and place around a springform pan with butter in between layers and the tops hanging over the edge of the pan. Once you have a layer about 5-8 thick at the most in all places, fill it with your chicken mixture and then slowly fold a few layers over the top at a time, still buttering in between layers. Bake at 425 for about 15 minutes or until the top is browned. 

• 1/3 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamin

Mix these together and sprinkle over the top. I know it sound weird, a spiced chicken dish topped with sugar, but it works. Don't skip this step.

Fried Chicken

There are two types of fried chicken we make in our family. Growing up we would make a breaded fried chicken and we have added a more traditional style buttermilk fried chicken in recent years.

Breaded Fried Chicken:

• 6 eggs
• 3 cups flour
• 2 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• season with salt and pepper
• 1- 2.5 lb bag of chicken thigh strips

Start by mixing all these ingredients (except chicken) together in a large bowl.

Get a large pan on the stove with at lease 2.5-2 inched of oil heating over medium. 

Dredge the chicken in the mixture and drop into the hot oil. Cook till medium brown on each side and then place on a paper towel to dry. Make sure that the chicken is cooked all the way through. If it isn't yet, turn down the heat a little bit. 

If you have any batter left over you can cook the batter plain and make what we refer to as crunchies. They are a nice fluffy bread like snack that is great with a bit of salt. 

Optional: for a more exotic version, add some curry powder to the batter.

Buttermilk fried chicken. 

Start by soaking the chicken in buttermilk for a few hours in the fridge before cooking. 

Season some flour with season salt and onion powder and put it on a plate or shallow bowl. 

Beat about 4 eggs  in a large bowl. 

Take the chicken pieces from the buttermilk and put it in the flour then move it into the egg and back to the flour. Coat evenly and fry like the above recipe. Repeat with the rest of the chicken pieces. 

If you use larger pieces or bone in pieces of chicken it will take longer to cook so you will have to be more careful about oil temperatures. Using chicken breast meat also tend to result in drier meat. I suggest the chicken thigh strips to avoid these problems.

Chicken Florentine

Ingredients

• 2 large chicken breasts
• salt and pepper
• Oil
• Hollandaise sauce
• Roasted Asparagus. 

 Stuffing:

• 1 bunch of spinach- remove the stems and chop the spinach inter somewhat smaller pieces. 
• 1 cup of mozzarella cheese
• 1 tablespoon of garlic

Start by quickly blanching the spinach in boiling water. Have a large pot of salted water boiling and using a metal colander, immerse the spinach in the water for about 10 seconds and immediately immerse it in ice water and set to drain. When it has drained, mix the three ingredients together and set aside. 

 Next, take the chicken breast and cup off the end that starts to taper in and get thinner so you only have a roughly rectangular piece of the same thickness. Do this for both breast pieces. Then start to slice the breast in half but don't cut quite all the way through and lay it flat as a larger rectangle. Put it in between two pieces of cellophane and use the flat side of a meat hammer to pound it thin. Season the inside with a little salt and pepper.

 Then place about half the filling on one half of the thin chicken...

 And fold the other half over the top and season both sides of the outside.

 Place it in a pan on medium heat with a little oil in at and cover. Cook for about 7 minutes on each side making sure it cooks all the way through to the center of the meat. Try to avoid opening the chicken or the filling will start to ooze out. A little will anyway and that's okay.

 Finally, slice the chicken and serve topped with hollandaise sauce and a side of roasted asparagus.

Polenta

Chicken and Polenta:

• Chicken thighs
• ½ head of cauliflower- cut into florets
• ¼ lbs. of mushrooms
• ½ a large onion-sliced
• 1/3 can of chicken broth

Grease a square baking dish and put in the cauliflower, mushrooms, and onions in it and season with salt and pepper. Pout the chicken broth over the top. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes. Stir the veggies. Season the chicken thighs and place them on top. Bake at 375 for 75 minutes. Every 20 minutes or so, stir the veggies and baste a little of the broth over the skin of the chicken.

You can also make a simple gravy with the remaining chicken broth to pour over the top of everything.

1/2 cup corn meal-medium-fine ground

1 2/3 cans chicken broth

½ cup grated cheese (cheddar or parmesan)

3 Tbs. buttermilk

2 Tbs. butter

Start by putting the corn meal and 1 cup of broth in a pot on low-medium heat. Stir often with a whisk. As the liquid evaporates and cooks in, add ¼ cup of broth at a time until you are out of broth. Keep stirring. There should still be some texture to the polenta but not gritty. At the end, add in the buttermilk for a bit of tang and the cheese and butter. Stir well.

Serve a ½ to ¾ of a cup of polenta with a piece of chicken and some veggies over top.

If you have leftover polenta, form it into a log shape in some plastic wrap and stick it in the freezer. Next time you want polenta you can thaw it out, cut slices off and fry them in a shallow pan of oil. 

Sausage, peppers, and onions with polenta and a red wine gravy. 

• polenta
• 6-8 sausages
• 2 peppers-sliced
• 1 onion sliced
• 1 can stock
• 1 cup red wine
• 2 Tbsp. corn starch

While the polenta is cooking, cook up the sausages in a pan and set them aside. Saute the onions and peppers in the same pan with some oil until the onions start to get transparent and everything starts to brown. Set aside. De-glaze the pan with the red wine. Then add in the stock and simmer for 3 minutes. Mix the corn starch in a little water until it dissolved mostly and then slowly stir in the corn starch to the boiling liquid. Simmer until it thickens a bit. Serve the sausage and veggies over the polenta with some gravy.