Tag: Italian cooking

I-Can’t-Believe-There’s-No-Butter Chicken Piccata

Lemon-buttery Chicken Piccata is a popular Italian dish that is often breaded, dipped in a milky egg wash, fried in a vegetable soy oil blend, and prepared with a lemon garlic butter sauce. It used to be one of our favorite entrees. Now, the recipe is adjusted and Chicken Piccata is back on the menu! With no breading, milk, or egg, you can bring a smile to a neighbor, friend, or someone special. Our child even loved this and asked for more. It is a beautiful bright dish with the perfect balance of flavors – and includes everyone! Enjoy!

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I-Can’t-Believe-There’s-No-Butter Chicken Piccata

1 16 oz. package of chicken parts (feel free to make chicken cutlets by CLICKING HERE for the gluten-free fried chicken recipe)

2 cups of your favorite safe poultry broth

1/2 large onion, medium diced

1 lemon, halved and then sliced

5 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon bacon butter*

1 oz. capers

In a deep skillet or shallow stock pot, warm about 1/4 cup canola oil over medium high heat until a drop of water sizzles. Lower heat if needed to make sure the oil doesn’t reach burn point. Add the chicken parts and cook on all sides until the skin is deep golden brown.

Add the broth, onion, salt, and pepper and cook until the broth is condensed to about 2 inches at the bottom of the pan (about 30 minutes), turning chicken periodically to make sure it is cooked through. Add the lemon, and cook another 10 minutes or until thermometer inserted into the chicken registers 165 degrees F.

Then add minced garlic and capers. Cook for one more minute and turn off heat.

Melt in the 1 teaspoon of bacon “butter” (*essentially, 1 teaspoon of bacon fat – we get what we need directly from the freezer where we have saved bacon fat from frying bacon on occasion).

If needed, add salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste.

Serve this wonderful chicken over gluten-free pasta, rice, or quinoa – spooning some extra buttery sauce on each dish.

Roasted Ratatouille

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Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In an 8 inch by 8 inch square baking dish add:

1 large eggplant, diced large

1/2 red onion, diced small

5 cloves garlic, sliced

2 medium sized tomatoes, chopped with seeds and juice

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup water

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Roast in the oven, uncovered, for 45-60 minutes, (check on it about halfway through baking to make sure there is sufficient liquid at the bottom – it should not be dry and stick to pan. If so, add 1/4 cup water). Roast until eggplant is fork tender and onions are translucent. Then add:

1/4 cup minced dried tomato

2 Tablespoons chopped fresh basil

(If you don’t have fresh tomatoes or basil available, you could add a 14 oz. can of diced tomatoes with basil. It is just as delicious).

fresh cracked pepper to taste

taste and adjust salt if needed

Serve warm as a side dish to your favorite baked fish or baked chicken, as a topping for a baked potato, as a stuffing for grilled zucchini. Delicious served with fried eggs for breakfast. This would also go very well cold as an item on an antipasti tray with olives, partially-steamed cold broccoli, proscuitto or beef-wrapped asparagus, green beans, fresh mozzarella (if dairy is safe for you) and/or grilled zucchini.

Fresh Basil-Mint-Rosemary Bruschetta

Fresh Basil-Mint BruschettaThis collection of ripe sweet tomatoes and fresh herbs were lovingly shared with us by one of the dearest couples we know. I wanted to honor their friendship by creating a recipe that incorporates everything that they are always giving us from their garden, as well as their constant love and care.

Bruschetta is a dish I love to make with gifts from the garden as it always reminds me of bonding with those close to me. A very close Italian friend taught me that bruschetta is not just a nosh, but an experience. A few years ago, my son and I visited her in her hometown in Pennsylvania and she showed me how to make it the way she does and to have it anytime you want it (not just when presented with it at a restaurant).

She taught me bang it up a little, to use the wooden spoon to press the tomatoes while adding salt and herbs to draw out their juices.  When the bruschetta was finished, she told me that it’s best when it’s in a big bowl to share, accompanied by a large loaf to of bread. She clearly loved it and ate it at least once a week or more. She had such a big smile and couldn’t wait to share it with me. We sat down on the couch and we broke bread together, hovering our faces over our napkins on the coffee table. We laughed, scooped up luscious tomatoes, and dunking our uneven portions of bread into the big bowl of salty, herby tomato juice. We ate and bonded like sisters. That’s how I remember bruschetta and that’s how I also feel about our friends that just gave us these beautiful tomatoes and herbs from their garden.

Last night, to take the bonding of bruschetta even further, my son and I worked on it together. He had so  much fun stirring and cracking sea salt and adding olive oil. He would smell the fresh herbs and we would relish in their aroma. We really had a great time together. After I tucked him in bed, my fiance and I shared the rest of it while watching our favorite show. So fun!

Every time I make this simple dish, it ends up being an experience in friendship, love and bonding. And the list of moments over bruschetta keep growing.

So, a heartfelt thanks to “K2”. Here is a recipe dedicated to you, my dears! 🙂

Fresh Basil-Mint-Rosemary Bruschetta

To be made free-form, with no exact measurements, adjust exactly to your liking.

In a bowl full of tomatoes of any sort, (which have been cut up into bite-sized pieces) add:

1. A generous amount of fresh basil, cut into small ribbons

2. Some fresh mint (about half of the amount of basil you added), cut into small ribbons

3. And just a little bit of fresh rosemary, minced (taste and add more if you like. Careful, rosemary is strong)

4. Then add olive oil, salt, pepper and fresh lemon juice (about 1-2 Tablespoons)

5. Stir and crush. Add little water if you want more juices for dunking.

Serve with your favorite gluten-free bread. Toasted or not toasted. Enjoy!

Salmon Fagioli w/ Sauteed Balsamic Tomatoes

One word: Delicious.

Additional words: Made entirely from ingredients purchased at ALDI, plus tomatoes from neighbor’s garden.

To make the Sauteed Balsamic Tomatoes:

In a large skillet, heat just a little olive oil or spray with a thin coat of olive oil. Cut up tomatoes in large chunks or halve cherry tomatoes, enough to fill the large skillet (about 15 large cherry tomatoes, or 4 regular sized tomatoes, or 2 pecks of grape tomatoes).

Saute tomatoes with a little salt, balsamic vinegar (not a lot) and a very tiny bit of sugar. Do this until tomatoes are wilted and the juice from the tomatoes becomes thick.

To make the Salmon Fagioli, add the following to a soup pot:

1 can salmon, undrained

1/2 of a 32-oz container of chicken broth

1 cup of water

1 white onion, chopped

1/2 green bell pepper, chopped

2 potatoes, diced into 1-inch bite sized pieces

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 10-oz can of mushrooms (or fresh if you have them)

1 14-oz can of white beans

1 Tbsp Italian seasoning

1 tsp ground sage

1/2 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp ground mustard

salt and pepper to taste

Boil and bring to hard simmer. Add 1 cup of gluten free pasta and cook until the pasta is done.

Take off of the heat and serve with the sauteed tomatoes. My fiance preferred this without the tomatoes but think the tomatoes would be great in a bruschetta application. So, I guess it depends on your taste (which is why I kept the tomatoes separate). My son doesn’t like tomatoes, but loved the addition of nutritional yeast to give this soup more of a Fish Chowder flavor.

Homemade Italian Meat Sauce

Brown 2 pounds of ground beef. Add one diced white or yellow onion and one diced green bell pepper. Saute until onion starts getting a little softer. Then add 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes and an 8 oz can of tomato paste. Add 3 cloves of minced garlic. 1 bay leaf. A good dusting of onion powder and garlic powder. 1 heaping Tbsp of Italian seasoning. About a 1/2 tsp (I think) of freshly cracked coarse black pepper. Salt – taste and make sure salt level is right. Cover and let simmer to develop the flavors while you cook the pasta.

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