Chicken Apple Sausage and Artichoke Pizza with Roasted Tomato Sauce

As some of you might know, I'm obsessed with Specialty Produce. For those of you who don't...I'm obsessed with Specialty Produce. Like a CSA, without fees, and without a single farm produce limit, Specialty Produce provides you with fresh, organic, and locally grown fruits and vegetables each week. You can also add on meats, cheeses, eggs, butter, local/sustainable fresh caught fish, pasta, breads, chocolate, coffee, jams, local honey... you get the idea. All local, all vetted, all delivered to my door once a week. It's amazing. Plus, since I love to cook, I like being surprised by what was picked that week, and coming up with a meal to make out of it. (And, have I mentioned that we can feed our family of six for the week for less than $100?!?!) 

Along with the produce and fruit, this week I also ordered some fresh chicken/apple sausages, and fresh pizza dough. I had some tomatoes that were starting to soften and needed to be used, so pizza was the perfect vehicle.

This was by far my favorite homemade pizza I've done.  To quote the kids, "this pizza tastes expensive... I bet you could get $100 a slice!"

I used pre-made, but raw, pizza dough from Specialty. If you don't have access to the dough from Specialty, you could make your own dough...I have a recipe that I use.  But, to be honest, I find that Trader Joes and/or Whole Foods make an acceptable substitute, and cut down on the time it takes to make. If you want a recipe for your own, let me know and I'll get you mine.

Roasted Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

8 Roma Tomatoes, quartered

4 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed

12 tiny basil leaves (I used the tops of my basil plants I headed to stop them from seeding)

6 large basil leaves

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt and Pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 450. In a parchment lined jelly roll pan, toss tomatoes, tiny basil, and garlic in enough olive oil to coat. Salt and pepper.

Roast for 30-40 minutes, until tomatoes just start to brown. Empty tomatoes, basil, garlic, and juice into a bowl. Add fresh basil. Using an immersion blender, purée. Set sauce aside.

Steamed Artichokes

Ingredients

4 cups of chicken broth

3 limes, halved

4 cloves of garlic

Large handful (or a bunch) of fresh dill

4 artichokes

Directions

Bring chicken stock, dill, garlic, and 2 of the limes to boil in a large stock pot.

Meanwhile, remove stems of the artichokes and trim the top off.  Remove majority of outside hard leaves. Rub cut edges with the remaing lime. Place artichokes in the boiling liquid, bottoms up.

Turn heat to low, cover, and let simmer for 15 minutes. Test for doneness by sticking a knife in the bottom. It should be easily pierced. 

Remove artichokes from liquid and cut the heart from bottom. (If you were me, you would use this opportunity to scrape and eat all the artichoke yuminess from the leaves with your teeth, as you won't be using them on the pizza). Make sure to remove all the spikey choke from the hearts. Chop artichoke hearts and set aside.

Sausage

3 uncooked chicken and apple sausages, casing removed

1 T of olive oil

Heat the olive oil in a pan on medium high. Add loose sausage meat, and crumble while cooking. When browned, remove from heat and set to rest on a paper towel to drain the excess fat.

Pizza

Ingredients

Pizza Dough

Artichoke Hearts, diced

Chicken Apple Sausage, cooked and drained

2 cups of shredded mozzarella 

Directions

Preheat oven to 400.

Stretch pizza dough on a parchment-lined cookie sheet or directly on a pizza stone if you have one. Spoon tomato sauce onto the dough. Sprinkle artichokes over sauce. Cover pizza with cheese. Top with sausage.

Bake on bottom rack for 10 minutes. Bake on top rack for 5 minutes, or until cheese starts to get golden brown.

Chicken Soup for the Soul

It's been a rough couple of weeks. Multiple surgeries, illnesses passed back and forth, and lots of sick days.

So what's a mom to do? Make homemade chicken soup, of course.

I make a lot of soup. I roast a lot of chickens. What follows, is the most basic combo of them all... traditional chicken soup for the sick soul. 

In a tradition chicken soup, the kind grandma used to make, a whole chicken would be simmered for hours in water with vegetables and herbs.  After hours of slow cooking, although a delicious broth would develop, you might find the meat and vegetables to be lacking in taste-- after all, it was their flavor that leeched out into the water during the cooking process to create that great broth.

But my chicken soup? It's a little bit different. By using the same aromatic herbs and vegetables to roast my chicken beforehand, that I will use again as ingredients in my soup, I lock all the flavors inside the meat, and preserve the taste of each individual vegetable. The pan drippings are incorporated into the broth to further intensify the flavor. The result? A perfect cure for whatever ails you.

Roast Chicken for Soup

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken, 6lbs

1/2 cup butter, softened

3 cloves of garlic, smashed

10 sprigs of thyme

1/2 bunch Italian Parsley

1 large yellow onion, cut into eights

4 celery stalks, cut into 4 pieces each

4 carrots, cut into 4 pieces each

1/2 cup chicken stock

Directions:

Preheat Oven to 400. Rub butter all over chicken, thoroughly coating the inside of the cavity as well. Generously salt and pepper both the inside and outside of the bird.  Stuff the inside of the bird with 2 thyme sprigs, 1 garlic clove, 4 parsley sprigs, and an equal amount of carrots, celery, and onions. Scatter the rest of the vegetables in the bottom of a deep roasting pan. Toss with salt, pepper, and chicken stock. Place chicken on top of vegetables, breast side up.

Roast for 90 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest for 30 minutes.

Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

Meat from a whole chicken, removed from bones, and torn into bite sized pieces

Cooking liquid reserved and strained from chicken roasted as above

Extra Virgin olive oil

2 cloves of Garlic, minced

2 small leeks, halved and sliced, using only the white and light green parts

2 cups baby carrots, chopped

1/2 onion, diced

1 small celery heart, top and bottom trimmed, chopped

The leaves of 10 thyme sprigs

1/2 bunch of Italian parsley, leaves removed

4-6 cups of chicken stock

2 cups egg noodles

Salt and pepper

Directions:

Coat the bottom of a large Dutch oven with olive oil. Once ripples appear, sauté onions until just softened. Add leeks, garlic, carrots, celery, and fresh herbs, sauté. 

When all veggies are slightly tender, add reserved liquid from the roasted chicken. Turn heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Add 4 cups of chicken stock, and bring liquid to a boil. Add egg noodles, amd turn heat back to low. Simmer for 10 more minutes, and add chicken once noodles are tender. At this point, depending on the type of noodles used, and the yield of liquid from your roast chicken, it may be necessary to add in more chicken broth.  I prefer a heartier soup, as it's simply easier for the kids to eat.  My husband prefers lots of broth.  Let your preference be the key, and add as little or as much as you would like, remembering that it might be a different amount each time you make the soup, depending on how 'juicy' your chicken was.  Add salt and pepper to taste. After adding liquid, bring soup to a boil once again, return to simmer, and serve.  Since flavor was developed during roasting, you don't need to spend as much time on the stove developing it, and this soup will be ready much faster than it's counterparts.

Asian Sesame Chicken Salad

This is one of those recipes, where I (gasp) use not only a canned ingredient, but also a packed flavoring for salad dressing. So NOT like me, but I've yet to find a better substitute even in fresh ingredients... there's just something about this flavor combination that makes this salad WORK. So please, forgive me, and hold your critique until you taste it.

Ingredients:

Salad:
2 Panko crusted sesame chicken breasts, chopped into bite sized pieces
1 head of Napa Cabbage, core removed and shredded thin
2 TBS sesame seeds
1 package of Oriental Flavor Top Ramen Noodles
2 TBS slivered almonds
1 cup edamame (shelled)
1 English cucumber, peeled and julienned
1 large can of mandarin oranges
6 green onions, sliced

Directions:

Salad:
Pre-heat oven to 400. Cover a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Crumble the ramen noodles (do NOT cook) into bite sized pieces on the baking sheet.  Toss noodles with sesame seeds and slivered almonds. Bake until golden brown, just about 10 minutes, but watch them carefully! They will go from golden brown to burnt in a few seconds.  Let cool.

In a large bowl mix cabbage, chicken, edamame, cucumber, onions, and oranges. When cooled, add toasted ingredients. Toss with tongs.


Dressing:
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/3 cup vegetable or grape seed oil
Oriental flavoring package from the Top Ramen
2 TBS sugar

Combine ingredients in a bowl or container that has a lid. Close and shake to combine. This will make more dressing than you need, so toss a little bit at a time with the salad until cabbage is just glistening.

Panko Crusted Sesame Chicken

This is a really simple recipe with only 4 ingredients... but they all work together to create a new taste sensation. It's easy to do, not as heavy as traditional breaded chicken, and is a huge hit around here.

Ingredients:

2 cups of panko breadcrumbs

2 tsp salt

6-8 chicken breasts, pounded

Sesame Oil

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Heat enough sesame oil to fully cover (and then some) a large pan. On a large paper plate mix panko and salt. Coat each individual chicken breast with panko, using your hands to press the panko onto the chicken. 

Once oil is rippling, place chicken breasts into it. You may need to work in batches, so that you don't over crowd the pan, re-coating the pan with sesame oil each time. You should hear a sizzle, if you don't your oil is not hot enough. Heat chicken on one side until you can see the sides start to turn white, and it becomes easy to turn. Flip chicken over. Cook for a few more minutes until panko is a golden brown.

Remove chicken from pan and place on a parchment covered cookie sheet.  Continue cooking all chicken breasts this way until they have all been browned. Place cookie sheet in the oven and bake for 20 minutes-- until the chicken is cooked through. Serve.

Roasted Chicken Soup with Rice

If you, like me, have young kids, knowing how to make your own chicken soup is a must. I make a traditional chicken noodle from scratch (which I'll share at a later date), but I also make a roasted version, with rice, anytime I roast chickens this way.  This recipe starts, when you pull your chicken out of the oven, and have removed it from the roasting pan to sit.

Ingredients:

1 chicken, roasted and meat removed in small pieces.

Pan drippings from roasting

3 large sprigs of thyme

6 rosemary sprigs

5 ribs of celery diced in small pieces

1 large yellow onion, diced

4 carrots, peeled and sliced

1 cup of long grain white rice

7 cups of chicken stock.

Juice of one lemon.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Directions:

Strain the liquid from your roasting pan, into a large dutch oven. 

Add in herbs and turn heat to medium. You don't need to remove the leaves, as they will fall off the stems during cooking. When your soup is done, simply remove them before serving.

Add in chopped vegetables, salt and pepper, and stir. Cook until softened. 

Add 6 cups of chicken stock, and bring liquid to a boil. Once boiling, turn down to simmer, and add the cup of rinsed rice. Let simmer for 30 minutes. Add in chicken meat, torn into bite sized pieces. Add lemon juice, and continue to simmer for 20 more minutes. Remove herb stems and serve.

Basic Roast Chicken

We have roast chicken almost every week. It's easy, you can make it a variety of ways, and it's a family favorite. But what I love most about roasting chicken is how it lends itself greatly to many other great recipes. Broth, gravy, tetrazini, enchiladas, chicken noodle soup, and many other great foods all start with roast chicken... All that changes is how you season it. When I roast chicken, I know we'll be enjoying it in at least two different ways throughout the week.

The recipe that follows is the most simple of flavor profiles. I roast it this way when I want to serve it with gravy over mashed potatoes, make chicken soup for sickies, or keep on hand for sandwiches.

Ingredients:

2 large whole chickens for roasting
2 large white onions, halved and quartered
8 cloves of garlic, peeled
8 ribs of celery, cut into four pieces each
8 carrots, peeled and cut into four pieces each
Handful of Italian parsley
8 sprigs of rosemary
10 sprigs of thyme
Olive oil
Salt 
Pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400. Remove any giblets from the inside of your chickens. Generously coat the inside of each bird with olive oil, salt and pepper. Stuff each cavity with a few sprigs of parsley, rosemary, thyme, four pieces each of onion, carrots, celery, and 2 garlic cloves. Spread the remaining herbs and vegetables on the bottom of a large heavy bottomed roasting pan. Place chickens in the pan, breast side down. Coat chicken with olive oil, salt and pepper. Flip chickens over and repeat on breast side. Place a leave-in-thermometer behind the thigh, and roast to 170. (About 1 1/2 hours). Remove chicken from the pan and place on a cutting board to rest for 20-30 minutes. Carve and serve. Or, remove chicken from bone and use elsewhere.

Aloha Chicken Stir-Fry

1/2 1lb bag of spaghetti noodles

extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves of garlic minced

1 small onion, chopped

5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced

2 Packages fresh broccolini

1/2 of a fresh pineapple, cored and sliced

1 yellow bell pepper, sliced

1 red bell pepper, sliced

1 cup baby carrots, sliced in rounds

1 cup cherry heirloom tomatoes

Trader Joe's Ginger Beer, 12oz (split use)

1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth (split use)

1 Tbs low sodium soy sauce

1 Tbs brown sugar

Sea Salt, to taste

Cook pasta noodles in boiling water, drain and set aside.

Coat the bottom of a large frying pan with olive oil and heat on low. Add onions and garlic. Saute until onions become opaque, stirring frequently. Add chicken. Raise temperature to medium. After chicken has browned add 6oz of Ginger Beer and 1/4 cup chicken broth. Leave over low heat, while cooking the vegetables.

Heat a large stock pot over medium heat. Coat the bottom with olive oil. Add broccolini and carrots. Stir to coat with olive oil. Add peppers, tomatoes, and pineapple. Stir. Saute for a few minutes, stirring frequently. Add remaining Ginger Beer, chicken broth, soy sauce and sugar. Cook until vegetables are just tender. Add cooked chicken and noodles to stock pot. Salt to taste, and combine.

Lemon Garlic Roast Chicken

Lemon Thyme



INGREDIENTS

4-5 lb whole chicken

8 whole cloves of garlic, smashed

5 fresh thyme stems

2 lemons, quartered

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Salt/Pepper



Preheat oven to 400.

Rinse chicken and pat dry. Stuff cavity with garlic, thyme, and lemons. Rub outside with olive oil, sprinkle with generous amounts of salt and pepper. Set on rack, in roasting pan. Cook until internal temp reaches 165 (approximately 1 1/2 hours).

Alternatively:

Instead of rack, roast over red potatoes and 1 inch sliced zucchini rounds. Toss zucchini and potatoes with olive oil, the leaves of two additional sprigs of thyme and 1/2 cup of chicken stock in bottom of roasting dish. Place chicken on top - roast as above.