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Lulu’s Chicken Burgers

29 Friday May 2015

Posted by in Burgers, Chicken, Grilling, LuLu's Classics, Main Dish

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Chicken Burgers

I can’t quite remember when our family started the summer tradition of grilling chicken burgers. Maybe my mom came up with it because a certain daughter of hers (cough cough) was always really picky about regular hamburgers. Or maybe we all just realized that these were better than any other homemade grilled sandwich out there. I rarely order grilled chicken sandwiches at restaurants, because nothing ever compares to Lulu’s classic summer chicken burgers.

Chicken Burgers

In the past, I’ve tried to recreate these chicken burgers myself, but I never can seem to get the marinade quite right. The secret is store-bought margarita mix. Now, this isn’t always something I have laying around, so I have used lime juice instead with sub-par results. As you probably know, margarita mix has added sugar that lime juice does not, and though we have tried with other sweeteners, nothing has ever compared to this marinade and how perfect it tastes on a toasted bun with all the fixings. Continue reading →

Wild Mushroom and Farro Soup

13 Thursday Nov 2014

Posted by in Healthy, Main Dish, Soups

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Wild Mushroom and Farro Soup

This was the first recipe I made from Ina Garten’s new cookbook, which so far is just as amazing if not better than her previous ones. This is a perfect make-ahead meal, since the soup tastes better the next day.

Wild Mushroom and Farro Soup

I was tempted to add a whole cup of farro, but I’m glad I didn’t since the farro soaks up some of the liquid overnight. You can substitute sour cream for creme fraiche, as make mushrooms substitutions depending on what you can find at the store. Another substitution I made was I used 10-minute farro instead of pearled farro.

Farro Soup

This was a great winter soup, it’s perfect for lunches during the work week!

Recipe
Wild Mushroom and Farro Soup
adapted from Make It Ahead
serves 6

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 ounces dried wild mushrooms (I used porcini and cremini – morels are expensive!)
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 4 ounces pancetta, 1/2 inch diced
  • 2 cups chopped yellow onions (about 2 onions, depending on how large)
  • 2 cups (1/2 inch diced) carrots (3-4 carrots)
  • 2 cups (1/2 inch diced) celery (3 to 4 stalks)
  • 4 tsp minced garlic (about 4 cloves)
  • 3/4 cup farro (I used Trader Joe’s 10 minute farro, although Ina prefers special pearled farro)
  • 12 – 16 oz fresh mushrooms, cleaned, stems discarded, 1/4 inch sliced. Ina uses cremini, I used regular white button mushrooms
  • 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp dry marsala wine
  • 4 cups canned beef broth
  • 3 large sprigs fresh thyme, tied together with kitchen twine
  • salt and pepper (about 1 tsp, or to taste)
  • 2 tbsp flour
  • 2 tbsp butter, at room temperature
  • 4 ounces creme fraiche or sour cream
  • 1/4 cup minced fresh flat-leaf parsley

Directions

Place the dried mushrooms and 6 cups of water in a medium pot and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat, cover, and set aside for at least 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, heath the olive oil in a large pot or dutch oven. Add the pancetta, onions, carrots, celery, salt, and pepper and saute over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender. Add the garlic and farro and cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the fresh mushrooms and the 1/2 cup Marsala and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, until the mushrooms have released some of their liquid.

Meanwhile, strain the dried mushrooms through cheesecloth, reserving the liquid. Coarsley chop the mushrooms and add them to the pot, along with the strained soaking liquid, the beef broth, and thyme. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer partially covered for 45 minutes, until the farro is tender Discard the thyme bundle.

In a small bowl, mash together the flour and butter and stir into the hot soup. Simmer for 5 minutes, then stir in the cream and remaining 2 tbsp of Marsala, and taste for seasonings. Sprinkle with the parsley and serve hot.

Cajun Guinness Chicken Pot Pies

21 Tuesday Oct 2014

Posted by in Chicken, LuLu's Classics, Main Dish, Weeknight Meals

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Pot Pies

I knew I wanted to try to switch up my mom’s classic pot pie recipe (the original blog post is old and not the most beautiful) – and for some reason Cajun Chicken came to mind. I decided to add some fresh jalapenos from our garden and swap out some Guinness (or any other stout beer) for cream sherry.

Pot Pies

The Cajun-seasoned chicken and Guinness definitely gave the pot pie a darker, more robust flavor – Jordan loved it. I think I am partial to my mom’s way – the use of white wine or cream sherry definitely gives off more of a comfort food factor for me.

Cajun Chicken Pot Pies

This time around I used Trader Joe’s canned biscuits as my crust. I rolled out the biscuit dough on a lightly floured surface until they were about the right size to go over the ramekins. Notice from the above photos it was a tad hard for me to cut vent holes – these biscuits were a lot thicker than the canned ones I have used in the past. I probably will stick to frozen puff pastry in the future as I like the thin, flaky crust that bakes up on the pot pies.

biscuit dough

Recipes revamps are always worth a shot – I like the original, husband likes this one…guess I just started an ongoing pot pie debate?

Pot Pies

Recipe
Cajun Guinness Chicken Pot Pies
Makes 1 large pie, serves 8 in (4 inch) ramekins
a wingin’ it recipe (estimation on measurements)

Ingredients

  • Cajun Chicken
  • olive oil and butter for the pan
  • 1 1/2 cups onion (about 1/2 of a large yellow onion)
  • 2 cloves minced garlic (optional)
  • 1 1/2 cups diced carrot
  • 1 1/2 cups diced celery
  • 2 medium jalapenos, cored with seeds removed, and diced
  • 1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms (optional)
  • 1 cup frozen peas (optional)
  • cajun seasoning
  • poultry seasoning
  • thyme
  • salt and pepper
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • (12 oz) Guinness
  • Chicken broth ( a few splashes)
  • heavy cream or half and half (a splash)
  • Pre-made dough – Options are endless (frozen puff pastry, frozen pie dough, pizza dough, crescent roll dough, etc).

Directions

Preheat oven to 400F. Season chicken with some Cajun seasoning, plus a little salt and pepper (I used a cajun seasoning with no salt added). You can use any kind of chicken you want, for this particular recipe I had some frozen chicken tenders laying around so I thawed those out. Skin on, bone on chicken works great too. After seasoning the chicken, put on a sheet pan and cook in the oven until done. Remove from oven, shred chicken, and set aside.

Meanwhile, dice the onion,  garlic (if using), carrot, celery, jalapenos, and mushrooms. Add a tbsp of olive oil and about a tbsp of butter to a large skillet or dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and let cook for a few minutes, then add the garlic (if using), carrots, celery, and jalapenos. If you are using the mushrooms, I like to sauté them in a separate pan with some butter, chicken broth, and thyme. Add a little bit of salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, and thyme to the onion and vegetable mixture. If everything seems dry feel free to add a small splash of chicken broth. Stir.

Sprinkle about 1/4 cup of flour over the mixture and stir constantly until the flour is dissolved. The mixture will be thick. Add the beer, a little at a time, until you start getting to the thickness of pot pie that you like. Add a splash of cream and more chicken broth. You don’t want your mixture to be too thick because the crust will soak up some of the liquid.

Once your pot pie mixture is the way you like, add the mixture to ramekins or a large pie dish. You don’t want to fill your ramekins up to the very top, you need to leave room for the crust. I almost always make pot pies in ramekins, and depending on what type of pre-made crust I am using (crescent rolls, puff pastry, frozen pie dough, etc) I just roll out and shape pieces to fit the mold.

Place ramekins on a large baking sheet and bake pot pies at 400F for about 20 minutes, or until the tops are nice and browned.

Quinoa Tabbouleh

02 Wednesday Jul 2014

Posted by in Entertaining, Healthy, Meatless Monday, Salad, Side Dish, Weeknight Meals

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Quinoa TabboulehHave you ever found yourself with an abundance of an herb, and you don’t quite know what to do with all of it? Have you ever decided to plant something, thinking you would probably kill it, when all of a sudden you have too much of one thing?Quinoa TabboulehI feel like this has happened to a lot of home gardeners with mint. You imagine you are going to have some mojitos, maybe throw it in some tea, and that’ll be it. However…many times you are left with so much mint you just don’t know how you will EVER use it all.

This Tabbouleh salad is a great solution to your mint problem. Here we use 3 cups (!!!) mint to make a refreshing and healthy summer salad. Of course, if you don’t quite have that much mint in your garden you can easily use only 1-2 cups and you are still going to have a GREAT tabbouleh. The quinoa and cabbage really mix things up too.Quinoa Tabbouleh

Recipe
Quinoa Tabbouleh
Adapted from Bon Appétit
serves 8 

Ingredients

  • 1 cup quinoa
  • 1/4 – 1/2 medium head green cabbage, cut into 1”-thick wedges, then very thinly sliced crosswise (about 2 cups)
  • 1/4 – 1/2 medium head purple cabbage, cut into 1”-thick wedges, then very thinly sliced crosswise (about 2 cups)*
  • 1 small sweet onion (such as Vidalia), finely chopped
  • 4 cups assorted small tomatoes, halved, quartered if large (we used red and yellow cherry tomatoes)
  • 3 cups coarsely chopped fresh mint
  • ¾ cup olive oil
  • ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
  • ½ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
  • Kosher salt, to taste

*NOTE: you can use only green or only purple cabbage – just make sure you have about 4 cups chopped cabbage total.

Directions

  • Place rinsed, dried quinoa in a pot and add 2 cups water. Bring quinoa to a boil, then let simmer, covered, on the stove until quinoa has absorbed most of the water. Fluff quinoa with a fork and remove from heat.
  • Toss quinoa, cabbage, onion, tomatoes, mint, oil, lemon juice, and red pepper flakes in a large bowl to combine; season with salt.
  • DO AHEAD: Tabbouleh can be made 4 hours ahead. You can toss with oil and lemon juice just before serving, but I like adding it right away and letting the flavors develop. This salad is great the next day, straight out of the fridge!

Split Pea Soup

05 Wednesday Feb 2014

Posted by in Healthy, Main Dish, Pork, Soups

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Split Pea Soup

I have a lot of reservations and anxiety about the photos I post on this blog. Food photography is hard – especially when you are using bad lighting and your phone to take pictures. Many recipes never make it on here because I am not satisfied with the photos I took, or we were just too hungry to stop and take a picture. Looking at other food blogs, it is easy to feel like a failure – but then I remember why I am actually here…to post my favorite recipes in one spot and share tidbits of my life. That should be good enough for me.

Split Pea Soup

So now we are here – Split Pea Soup will never be renowned as a beautiful looking dish – but hot damn it’s good. This recipe for split pea soup was so f*&$ing delicious and life changing, I can’t even begin to tell you. Yes, it takes some time, but it’s just so humble and worth it. I Love it so, so much. I slightly adapted the recipe from Emeril, and it just makes me love him even more.

Recipe
Split Pea Soup
adapted from Emeril
8 Servings

Ingredients

  • 1 pound dried split peas
  • 1 ham hock
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 cup finely chopped yellow onions
  • 1 cup finely chopped celery
  • 1 cup finely chopped carrots
  • 2 teaspoons minced garlic
  • 1 pound ham, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 8 cups water (I used some of the leftover ham hock water)
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 teaspoons fresh or dried thyme

Directions

Place the peas in a large pot or bowl, cover with water by 2 inches and soak 8 hours or overnight. Drain the peas and set aside.

Score the ham hock. Place in a pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for 1 hour. You can drain and set aside, but I saved the water for my soup stock. I think it was a good decision.

In a large pot, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the celery and carrots and cook, stirring, until just soft, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds.

Add the ham hock and ham and cook, stirring, until beginning to brown. Add the drained peas, salt, pepper, and pepper flakes, and cook, stirring for 2 minutes. Add 8 cups of water, the bay leaf and thyme, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the peas are tender, about 1 hour. (Add more water as needed, if the soup becomes too thick or dry.)

Remove the bay leaf and ham hock and discard. Adjust the seasoning, to taste, and serve immediately.

Smoked Salmon BLT’s

03 Monday Feb 2014

Posted by in Easy, Main Dish, Sandwiches

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Smoked Salmon BLT's

Having in-laws that live in Alaska is awesome for many reasons, one of them being is they send you smoked salmon around the holidays! One can only eat so many smoked salmon bagel sandwiches for breakfast, and I wanted to get creative with our salmon, and these epic smoked salmon BLT’s were born.

Smoked Salmon BLT's

 

Smoked Salmon BLT's

A Wingin’ It Recipe
Smoked Salmon BLTs
Makes 2 Sandwiches

Ingredients

  • 8 slices thick cut bacon
  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/4 cup whipped cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
  • 1 – 2 tablespoons capers
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill leaves
  • 4 slices multigrain bread
  • 6 – 8 ounces smoked salmon
  • 1 cup arugula, divided
  • 2 medium tomatoes, sliced
  • about 1/2 – 1/4 of a red onion, either sliced thin or diced small
  • 1 ripe avocado

Directions
In a medium skillet over medium-high heat, cook the bacon until crispy, about 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Remove from the skillet and drain on paper towels.

In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, cream cheese lemon zest, lemon juice, fresh dill, and capers. Stir together to form a spread. A note of the amounts – you can use as much cream cheese and mayo as you like, doesn’t have to be 1/4 cup of each. Spread the mixture over 1 side of each slice of bread. Arrange the smoked salmon on 4 slices of the bread. Break the bacon in half and put on top of the smoked salmon. Top the bacon with tomatoes and arugula. Add sliced avocado and onion slices (if using). Cover with remaining slices of bread, spread side down.

Arrange the sandwiches on a platter and serve.

Pumpkin Soup with Bacon and Croutons

30 Wednesday Oct 2013

Posted by in Entertaining, Events, Holidays, Main Dish, Soups

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Nothing says Fall like a warm, hearty bowl of soup. Pumpkin Soup with Bacon and Croutons, however, takes Fall to a whole new level.Pumpkin SoupI was blown away with how this soup turned out. Normally I associate the canned pumpkin with sweet treats and desserts, but this soup has changed my mind. I also couldn’t help but think baby food as everything was cooking down (aren’t I super good at convincing you to try my recipes?)…but dammit, it’s a really freakin good adult version of baby food that I would be proud to feed my baby/kids someday (showing them this blog with all the swearing probably won’t be on my list though).Pumpkin SoupAnyways, Pumpkin Soup ended up being a huge success! The bacon and croutons are a must – so was the sprinkling of goat cheese on top. Another thing that blew my mind was the soup was even better the next day. I think this soup will become a yearly October tradition in our house. Next time I will likely double the recipe since the soup is great as leftovers. I also see new versions of this soup surfacing in the years to come, and I can’t wait!Pumpkin Soup

Recipe
Pumpkin Soup with Bacon & Croutons
Serves 4

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 cup chopped carrots
  • 1 (15 oz) can unsweetened pumpkin
  • 2 cups cooked, diced bacon
  • pinch nutmeg
  • 32 oz (2 lbs) low sodium chicken broth
  • dash thyme
  • dash red pepper flakes
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 4 – 6 slices day old bread, depending on what size of loaf you are using (I used a few slices of a crusty artisan loaf)

Additional Garnishes:

  • Goat cheese or sour cream
  • Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the chopped onion and carrots and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 – 10 minutes or until softened. Add a few dashes of salt and pepper while the veggies are cooking down.

2. While the vegetables are cooking, dice raw bacon into small pieces and add to a separate pan. Cook on medium until bacon pieces get slightly crisp. Set aside and drain on paper towels. Leave remaining grease in pan for the croutons. To make croutons, cut bread into small squares and cook on medium-low in the bacon pan until brown and crisp. Set aside to drain on paper towels.

3. Add the pumpkin, half of the cooked bacon (about 1 cup), and nutmeg to the carrot and onion mixture, stirring well. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 5 – 10 minutes.

4. Pour in the chicken broth, increase the heat to medium, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for at least 15 minutes. Add a few dashes of thyme and red pepper flakes, season to taste with more salt and pepper if needed.

5. Remove the pan from heat and let cool slightly. Use an immersion blender to blend up the soup until smooth. If you don’t have an immersion blender, I highly recommend you get one…but transferring the soup to a food processor or blender and blending in batches also works fine. If so, return it to the pan and reheat.

6. Serve soup with the reserved bacon bits and croutons. Soup is excellent with a few sprinkles of goat cheese on top, or sour cream. Toasted Pumpkin Seeds add a nice seasonal flair as well.

King Tut Chicken

23 Saturday Mar 2013

Posted by in Chicken, LuLu's Classics, Main Dish

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This recipe is near and dear to my heart. My grandmother used to make it, my mother always made it, and finally it was time for me to make it!

King Tut

King Tut Chicken may not be the prettiest dish, but it is one of the tastiest in my book. The green olives and make it super satisfying and GREAT for leftovers! Continue reading →

Chicken Pot Pies.

10 Monday Dec 2012

Posted by in Chicken, LuLu's Classics, Main Dish, Uncategorized, Weeknight Meals

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Chicken Pot Pies, Pre-Oven

Chicken Pot Pies, Pre-Oven

Recipes where you truly can just “wing it” are kind of hard to explain. I know my mom probably hates it when I make her dig up an old one she has memorized, or heaven forbid write every detail out in an email to me.
After making these Chicken Pot Pies, I get it. They are really easy, and you totally should wing it every time you make it, because regardless they will probably turn out good. My description, however, is quite long and upon first glance it probably does not seem easy because it takes me about 3 paragraphs to explain it. Note to Self: writing out a recipe from scratch like Ina is probably never gonna happen.
Pot Pies
BUT alas, once you make these, you are set on chicken pot pies for life. You can choose to get as fancy or frivolous as you want, I suppose I will make variations on this in the future (buffalo chicken pot pies perhaps?) but for now, this satisfies me and the future-hubs-to-be. Remember, all amounts in the recipe below are relative. you just have to go for it. You may also have round ramekins instead of rectangular ones like me, or you may want to just make it all in a giant pie dish (I however, prefer my own damn personal pie).
Pot Pies
Mom – thank you for writing everything down for me, and explaining it in a way you knew I would understand. Because, if you didn’t write it all down and expected me to do it from memory off that time we made these together, I definitely would have forgotten the chicken  broth, cream, and sherry…AKA the ingredients that hold the recipe together!
Pot Pies
Recipe
Lulu’s Chicken Pot Pies (A wingin’ it recipe)
Serves 4
Ingredients
  • 2 cups cooked Chicken
  • Olive Oil
  • Butter
  • 1.5 cups Carrots
  • 1.5 cups Celery
  • 1.5 cups Onion, diced
  • (a few) splashes Chicken Broth
  • 1/4 cup Flour
  • splash Half and Half or Heavy Cream
  • splash Cream Sherry
  • 1 tbsp (ish) Thyme
  • 1 tbsp (ish) Poultry Seasoning
  • Salt, Pepper to taste
  • Sauteed Mushrooms (optional)
  • Pillsbury Grands, Pie Dough, or Puff Pastry
  • egg wash
Directions
Preheat Oven to 400 degrees F.
Use any kind of chicken you like, such as a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken. I marinated boneless chicken tenders in some olive oil, white wine, thyme, salt and pepper. I cooked the chicken over medium heat in a large skillet on the stove. After cooking, I shredded the chicken into bite sized pieces, and set aside.
 Chop a small/medium onion and start cooking it on the stove in a bit of olive oil and butter.  Add some chopped celery and carrots. Don’t forget to add some salt and pepper and a bit of thyme and even some poultry seasoning.  Let the mixture cook down until veggies are soft.  If they seem to get too dry add a little chicken stock, but not too much.  *NOTE: At this point you can  cook some sliced mushrooms in another skillet with butter and add them a little later.
 After the veggies have cooked down a bit, add about 1/4 cup of flour and mix it around until it is absorbed.  It will seem very thick and dry at this point but make sure that the flour is fully mixed in before slowly adding some more chicken broth.  This should be on low heat so that you don’t burn the mixture.  You will slowly see the veggie/flour mixture thickening up and keep adding the chicken broth slowly to get the right consistency.  Don’t let it get too thin because you also want to add a SPLASH of sherry and some heavy cream or half and half to the mixture. You don’t want it to be too dry because the crust will absorb some of the mixture. At this point you can add your cooked mushrooms that are already seasoned and the cut up chicken.  Mix this all together and see how it tastes.  You may have to add some salt and pepper or even a little butter and mix it up.
 Place the chicken mixture into ramekins and then roll out a biscuit, puff pastry sheet, or pie crust and place it over the chicken mixture. You don’t want a huge amount of dough on top so it is best to roll it out.  Make some vent holes for the steam on top of the crust, and feel free to place a little egg wash over the dough so it browns up nice. Place ramekins on a baking sheet and into the oven at about 400 degrees.  Cook for about 10-15 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown.

Bobby Flay Pork Satay

28 Wednesday Nov 2012

Posted by in Appetizers, Entertaining, Grilling, Main Dish, Pork, Sauces, Uncategorized

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Pork Satay with Homemade Peanut Sauce

My first Bobby Flay recipe, and it did NOT disappoint! Everyone loved this dish, and it came together relatively easily, despite a few ingredients I never have handy (coconut milk & thai peppers).

This was great to have for a party, we served these with homemade crab rangoon.

Recipe

Bobby Flay Pork Satay

Serves 4-6, with lots of leftover sauce!

Ingredients

Marinade:

  • 1 1/2 cups coconut milk
  • 1/4 cup peanut butter
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 Thai chile pepper, seeded and finely chopped
  • 2 tablespoons cilantro
  • Salt
  • 1 1/2 pounds pork tenderloin, cut into 1-inch thick cubes
  • Wooden skewers

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl, add pork and let marinate 2 to 4 hours.

Sauce:

  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 Thai red chile pepper, finely chopped
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons lime juice
  • 1 1/2 cups coconut milk
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 1 cup chunky peanut butter
  • 1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro

Heat the oil in a skillet and add the onion, garlic and chili. Saute for about 4 minutes. Stir in the soy sauce, lime juice, coconut milk, coriander, and cumin. Thoroughly blend the peanut butter into the mixture. Bring the sauce to a simmer over low heat, stirring frequently. Stir in the cilantro and remove from the heat.

Preheat the grill.

Remove the pork from the marinade and thread on skewers. Grill for 7 to 8 minutes or until cooked through. Serve with the sauce.