Balsamic Chicken

Balsamic Chicken

 

Ingredients:

1 Yellow Onion
1 Shallot
4 Cloves of Garlic
Chicken Thighs (anywhere from 10 to 15) or 4-6 Chicken Breasts
1 tsp Salt
Pepper (to taste)
1/2 TB Dried Oregano (optional)
1/2 TB Dried Basil (optional)
1 handful of Kale
1 handful of Spinach
1/3 cup of Butter (I used goat butter)
1/3 cup Balsamic Vinegar

Directions:

1.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Put a large casserole dish on top of your stove and turn the burner to medium heat.  You will want to use one that has a lid for when it goes into the oven later.  Chop onion, shallot, and garlic in oil until the onion becomes slightly transparent.

3.  Place the chicken into the casserole to brown on each side.  I cut mine into bite-sized pieces as they were boneless thighs.  This recipe could be done with bone-in as well, or chicken breasts if you prefer.

4.  While the chicken is browning melt the butter in a small pot on medium heat.  Let the butter bubble and once it begins to turn a golden brown add the vinegar.  Whisk the vinegar and butter together.  Let the balsamic reduce (see picture below).  It will bubble quite a bit but that just means that it is thickening up.  Stir occasionally. 

5.   As you are waiting for the vinegar/butter mixture to reduce season your chicken with the salt and pepper.  We are trying to watch our salt intake in my house so I tend to go for less and let people add to taste afterward.  You may want to add more salt/pepper depending on your preferences.  At this point also add the dried herbs if you have them, this is completely optional, I mostly just like the way they look!

6.  As the chicken is cooking you will notice some liquid at the bottom of the pan as the juice from the chicken mixes with the oil you put in at the beginning.  At this point add the kale and spinach (this just happened to be what we had in our fridge, if you have just spinach, or just kale, that works too!).  It may look like too much at first but they will steam and practically disappear in with the chicken.

7.  Once your vinegar/butter mixture is complete pour it on top of your chicken and mix everything together in the casserole.  Place the lid on top and place it in the oven.  Cook for approximately 30 minutes.  The liquid will further reduce and the flavour will be absorbed into the chicken.  We garnished our's with some goat feta, kalamata olives and cilantro.  Yum!

This may seem like a lot of steps but once you get the hang of this reduction you may find it quite handy.  I've tried it on noodles, fish, chicken, etc. and it is always a big hit!  We had our Balsamic Chicken on quinoa because it really absorbed the reduction well.  I would also recommend rice or cous cous.

Coconut Scones

Coconut Scones

 

 

I have been going crazy for scones lately!  I think in the past two weeks I've made three different kinds.  I will definitely be posting recipes for the other two.  I always find myself becoming more inspired to bake as it begins to feel more like Fall!  I adapted this recipe because I wanted to experiment with coconut flour.  I have never baked with it before and I was pleasantly surprised because this scone had a very light, fluffy texture.

When working with coconut flour, because it is so absorbent, you have to add extra liquid in order to compensate.  I had read that you are supposed to add 6 eggs for each cup of coconut flour, and I was like... that's not going to happen!  I added apple sauce and oil instead of the other 5 eggs because these can both act as egg replacements.  It worked quite well.  Let me know if you give these a try!  I will be trying this recipe again in the future with just coconut flour in order to test it out as a gluten-free recipe.

Ingredients:

1 cup White Flour
2/3 cup Coconut Flour
2 TB Shredded Coconut
3.5 TB Brown Sugar (unpacked)
.5 tsp Salt
1 tsp Nutmeg
6 TB Margarine
3/4 cup Apple Sauce
3 TB Orange Juice
1 Large Egg
2 TB Oil (I used Canola)
1 tsp Coconut Extract (optional, you could also use orange extract if        if you want to bring out the flavour of the orange juice)
4 TB Toasted Coconut (optional)

Directions:

1.  Turn your oven to 425 degrees.

2.  Combine flours, shredded coconut, brown sugar, salt and nutmeg in a large mixing bowl.  Add the margarine to the flour mixture and combine using a fork or pastry blender if available.  Mix until the margarine is pea sized. 

3.  In a separate bowl combine the egg, oil, apple sauce, coconut extract and orange juice.

4.  Add the liquid mixture to the dry mixture and fold using a wooden spoon until just combined.  If mixed too much the scones will not be as light and fluffy.

5.   Move dough/batter onto a floured cutting board and form into a rectangle approximately 1 inch in height.  Cut the rectangle in quarters, and then cut each quarter diagonally.  You should have 8 scones when finished.  Move scones onto a baking sheet, I like to use greased parchment paper as it guarantees they will not stick or become too brown on the bottom.  Add toasted coconut to the tops of the scones if desired.

6.  Bake for 14 to 16 minutes.

7.  Enjoy!

Toasted Coconut:

1.  If you have shredded coconut you can cook this on medium heat in a skillet until brown.  Be careful, once this gets cooking it can toast very quickly!