Category: Main Dish

Pressure Cooker Chicken Adobo

I can’t tell you how many times my InstantPot has saved me for dinner. All too often, I’ll look up from my computer at 7pm and realize I haven’t even thought about what we are going to eat! This recipe for Pressure Cooker Chicken Adobo is one of those time-saver meals – it takes about 45 minutes to make. (For comparison, my Pork Belly Adobo recipe takes about 2 hours to make, not including time to let the meat marinate!)

This recipe comes together quickly but tastes like it’s been cooking all day. Ah, the magic of the InstantPot!

Ingredients:

  • 4 drumsticks
  • 4 chicken thighs
  • ground pepper, to taste
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 6 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 2/3 cup low sodium soy sauce (or coconut aminos to make gluten free)
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup white vinegar
  • 2 bay leaves
  • cooked rice, for serving

Kitchen Tools Used:

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Classic Shrimp Scampi

A few years ago, I realized that the concept of what I know as Classic Shrimp Scampi is kind of an American one. To Americans, Shrimp Scampi is shrimp cooked in butter and typically served over pasta. But scampi is actually its own type of crustacean. So it appears that when Italian immigrants came to the US, they adapted the recipe to substitute in shrimp and then kept both names.

Now that you’ve had a history lesson on Shrimp Scampi, let me get to the actual making of the dish. This version is relatively classic, where you cook the shrimp in a butter white wine sauce with a little bit of crushed red pepper and then finish it off with fresh parsley and some lemon juice. To soak up the yummy sauce, serve with pasta or crusty bread.

Ingredients:

  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 6 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
  • 1 cup dry white wine
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 2 lbs large or extra large shrimp, cleaned
  • 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
  • the juice of 1 lemon
  • cooked pasta or bread, to serve

Kitchen Tools Used:

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One Pot Jamaican Curry Chicken and Potatoes

Note: I was sent an 11-Inch NanoBond Skillet from Hestan Culinary in order to write this post. Opinions are mine alone.

Before I get to this awesome recipe for One Pot Jamaican Curry Chicken and Potatoes, I wanted to share with you a new addition to my kitchen that I’m madly in love with. One of the most important tools in any cook’s kitchen is a skillet. I use my skillets more than any other pot/pan in my house (although my Dutch oven gets a pretty good workout too). So having a good, sturdy, evenly cooking skillet is super important. I’m not exactly kind to my pots and pans… they get frequent use, and my husband isn’t the best at remembering not to use metal utensils on my non-stick cookware (sigh)… so having a skillet that can put up with some abuse is really important to me.

Which is why I’m so excited to share the 11-Inch NanoBond Skillet from Hestan Culinary, handcrafted in Italy. Not only is it beautiful, the NanoBond technology makes this skillet darn near indestructible.

Here are some of the features:

  • Molecular titanium bonds thousands of nanolayers for a lifetime of beauty
  • 400% stronger than stainless steel
  • 35% better heat conduction than aluminum-clad cookware

Additionally, the skillet is high-heat tolerant to 1050°F! So it’s perfect for searing meats or even cooking right on the grill.

To test out my new skillet, I wanted to make something I’ve been craving for a while now: Jamaican Curry Chicken and Potatoes.

This one pot (or skillet) wonder simmers chicken and potatoes in a seasoned curry sauce until the chicken is fall-off-the-bone tender.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 tablespoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
  • 2 pounds bone-in, skinless chicken thighs and drumsticks
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
  • 1 large onion, sliced
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons Jamaican mild curry powder (I used Jamaican Choice)
  • 1 habanero pepper
  • 2 medium Yukon Gold Potatoes, washed and cut into bite sized pieces
  • 2 cups chicken broth
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 fresh thyme sprigs, plus more for garnish
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch
  • cooked rice, for serving

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Pressure Cooker Pulled Pork

I have used Butcher Box (note: affiliate link) for a while now, and love the quality of the meat and seafood they offer. I tend to switch up what comes in my boxes so I can work with different cuts. My latest box had a boneless pork butt, so I figured it was about time I created and shared a pressure cooker pulled pork recipe.

I do have a few other pulled pork recipes on my blog, and they are all fantastic, but they are slow cooker based. So here’s a recipe that helps get that yummy pulled pork on your table a bit faster using an Instant Pot or other multi cooker without losing that cooked-all-day flavor!

Ingredients:

Spice Rub:

  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons garlic powder
  • 2 teaspoons onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon each of:
    • smoked paprika
    • hot paprika
    • ground cumin
    • salt
    • ground pepper

Barbecue Sauce:

  • 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups ketchup
  • 1 cup white wine vinegar
  • 1 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon dry mustard
  • 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce

Other ingredients:

  • 3 lbs boneless pork butt, cut into cubes
  • 2 tablespoons canola oil
  • 1/4 cup chicken broth

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Easy Fettuccine Alfredo

Fettuccine Alfredo is essentially glorified mac and cheese (or more accurately, mac and cheese is a less glamorous fettuccine alfredo). I had a craving for some fettuccine alfredo on one of the multiple snow days we just saw in Philadelphia, and luckily I had everything on hand to make this ultimate comfort food, so it’s about time I shared a recipe for easy fettuccine alfredo!

This recipe for easy fettuccine alfredo uses just 9 ingredients, including salt and pepper. It doesn’t exactly reheat well though, so it’s not the best make ahead meal, but I have a good feeling it will be polished off in no time!

Ingredients (serves 4):

  • 1 (16 oz) box fettuccine
  • salt, to taste
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
  • 8 oz Parmigiano Reggiano, freshly grated
  • ground pepper, to taste
  • fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish

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Crunchy Noodle Salad

Note: I was sent coupons from Nasoya in order to write this post. Opinions are mine alone.

Despite working from home for nearly a year now, I feel like I have less time to cook! I have a feeling I’m not alone, so I wanted to share a healthy, quick, and comforting recipe for a yummy Crunchy Noodle Salad that you can get on the dinner table in ~40 minutes.

This Crunchy Noodle Salad is made with glass noodles, sugar snap peas, shredded carrots, bell peppers, and crispy tofu tossed in a yummy peanut dressing, and can be served at room temperature or cold, so it makes for a great dinner-plus-leftovers option.

Don’t let the whole vegetarian/vegan/gluten-free part of this recipe throw you, it will fill you up! I this recipe uses Nasoya’s Organic Super Firm Tofu that delivers 15g of protein per serving to keep you full. Nasoya’s Organic Super Firm Tofu is also pre-pressed and drained so it’s perfect for quick dinners. Plus Nasoya’s Organic Super Firm Tofu is non-GMO project verified, USDA organic, cholesterol free, gluten free, and made with no preservatives. Nasoya is widely available in most grocery stores; I stopped into my local Shop Rite (it’s also available locally in Philly at Walmart Supercenters, Giant and Giant Heirloom Markets, The Fresh Grocer, and Wegmans), plus you can use their store locator to find which local grocers near you carry it.

Ingredients (serves 4):

  • 6 oz glass noodles
  • 8 oz sugar snap peas
  • 1 package Nasoya Organic Super Firm Tofu, cubed
  • 3 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1/2 cup carrots, shredded
  • 1 red bell peppers, thinly sliced
  • 2 scallions, sliced
  • 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, divided
  • 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
  • 1/4 cup tamari (or low sodium soy sauce if you don’t need this recipe to be gluten-free)
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
  • 1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
  • 1 tablespoon roasted white sesame seeds, plus more for garnish

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Soup Joumou (Haitian Beef and Squash Soup)

Happy New Year! There are a bunch of traditional dishes around the world to help usher in a new year. In past years, I’ve shared a Black Eyed Peas Hash, Black Eyed Peas with Collard Greens, and a bunch of recipe for what to do with the leftover champagne (assuming you have any), like this Champagne Risotto Primavera and these Honey Citrus Champagne Cupcakes.

Some traditional dishes eaten on New Year’s Day have less to do with the new year and more to do with a country’s history. So this year, I’m sharing my adaptation of an Independence Stew from Haiti. Celebrated every January 1, Haiti proclaimed independence from French colonials on New Year’s Day 1804 following a 13 year revolution. Soup Joumou, a comforting stew traditionally made with beef, pumpkin, pasta, and a bunch of veggies and spices, has become a New Year’s Day dish to commemorate Haiti’s independence.

I adapted this recipe from Epicurious, scaling it down quite a bit and swapping butternut squash for the pumpkin because I couldn’t find any pumpkin that wasn’t already pureed.

 

Ingredients:

Marinade:

  • 1/2 small onion, coarsely chopped
  • 1 bell pepper (any color), coarsely chopped
  • 1 scallion, coarsely chopped
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1/4 cup parsley leaves
  • 1 basil leaf
  • the juice of 1 lime
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/8 teaspoon sweet paprika
  • 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper

Remaining Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup plus 1/2 tablespoon distilled white vinegar, divided
  • 1 pound stew beef cubes
  • 7 cups chicken or beef broth, divided
  • 2 beef bones
  • 1 pound butternut squash, cut into cubes
  • 2 medium russet potatoes (about 1 pound), finely chopped
  • 1 large carrot, sliced
  • 1/4 small green cabbage (about 1/2 pound), very thinly sliced
  • 1/2 small onion, sliced
  • 1 celery stalk, coarsely chopped
  • 1 leek, white and pale-green parts only, finely chopped
  • 1 small turnip, finely chopped
  • 1 teaspoon habanero chile hot sauce, or to taste
  • 1 cup uncooked rigatoni
  • 3 whole cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 parsley sprig (optional)
  • 1 thyme sprig (optional)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter (omit to make dairy free)

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Coconut Curry Lentil Chickpea Bowls with Kale

I really love receiving cookbooks for review, especially when they are filled with recipes that are both intriguing and simple to make. Since I received a copy of The “I Love My Instant Pot” Anti-Inflammatory Diet Recipe Book for review, I have become obsessed with this recipe for Coconut Curry Lentil Chickpea Bowls with Kale.

It’s insanely easy to make, is filling, and is absolutely delicious!

I’ll admit, it isn’t the prettiest meal I’ve ever made, but the combination of ingredients makes for a crave worthy dish you’re sure to put in your rotation!

 

Ingredients:

  • 3/4 cup red lentils
  • 1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes
  • 1 (13.5 oz) can unsweetened lite coconut milk
  • 1 cup vegetable broth
  • 1 tablespoon curry powder
  • 1 teaspoon peeled and grated fresh ginger
  • 1 teaspoon turmeric
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 4 cups chopped and deveined kale
  • 1 tablespoon lime juice

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Freezable Breakfast Burritos

Ironically, I’ve been having a hard time getting into a cooking groove during this pandemic. Even though I’m now home basically ALL the time, my job seems to have gotten even busier, and I’m in the process of getting my MBA so I seem to have even less time in the day to cook. Which means I need to get back into doing some food prep on my weekends more than ever, like making these Freezable Breakfast Burritos.

Breakfast is probably one of the hardest meals for me to actually make. For one, I’m not terribly good at making eggs. Plus, I’d much rather roll out of bed and start working immediately. So any make ahead recipes that I can quickly heat up are super helpful.

These Breakfast Burritos are perfect for hectic mornings.  They are freezable, so you can take them out of the freezer the night before and just microwave them quickly in the morning. Plus, they are completely customizable to whatever you like in your breakfast burrito! This makes 10 breakfast burritos, so feel free to adjust as needed (my husband and I can polish these off within 2 weeks).

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 (19 oz) bag of tater tots
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 lb breakfast sausage, casing removed (you may be able to find just ground breakfast sausage without the casing as well)
  • 10 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup whole milk
  • hot sauce, to taste (optional)
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • 1 (15.5 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 2 cups shredded Mexican cheese
  • 1 pint cherry tomatoes, quartered
  • 10 (8-inch) flour tortillas

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Pressure Cooker Puttanesca Pork Ragu

I think fall cooking might be my favorite kind of cooking. I love comfort food meals that make the whole house smell good! And anything I can put over pasta is guaranteed to be a winning recipe in my house. So this Pressure Cooker Puttanesca Pork Ragu is right up my alley.

I came across a recipe for a puttanesca-style ragu and knew I had to try out my own version! Puttanesca sauces typically have a bunch of brine-y ingredients in them — capers, olives, anchovies — in a tomato sauce that may have a little heat to it as well. I honestly don’t make many puttanesca-inspired dishes because, well, I don’t love olives. But my husband does, so I figured it was worth a try!

This recipe uses a pressure cooker to get that cooking all day flavor in much less time. You’re still looking at a just under 2-hour recipe though, so plan ahead!

Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 10 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
  • 1 tablespoon anchovy paste
  • 3 (4.5 oz) tomato paste tubes
  • 1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives
  • 1/4 cup drained capers
  • 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar, divided
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
  • 2 teaspoons dried oregano
  • 1 cup dry wine, red or white
  • 1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
  • 2 1/2 lbs boneless pork shoulder
  • salt and ground pepper
  • cooked pasta, for serving
  • grated parmesan cheese, optional
  • chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

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Homemade Pierogis

During these stay-at-home orders, there have been a few foods that I’ve been craving that I would order frequently from local restaurants. One of my biggest recent cravings was for Messina Social Club‘s pierogis. So, when I accidentally ordered 10 pounds of potatoes (?!), I figured it was the perfect time to try to make my own Homemade Pierogis.

This recipe is a very basic version, but once you try it out, you can add different stuffings to create different flavor profiles.

They also freeze really well, so feel free to double the recipe and stock your freezer for future meals!

Ingredients:

Dough:

  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 4 tablespoons butter, at room temperature

Filling:

  • 1 cup mashed potatoes (I halved the recipe and substituted in sour cream for the Greek yogurt)
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Optional toppings:

  • sauteed shallots
  • butter
  • sour cream

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Pan Fried Salmon with Brown Lentils, Cherry Tomatoes, and Basil

Note: I was sent a PDF copy of Beach House Dinners: Simple, Summer-Inspired Meals for Entertaining Year-Round by chef Lei Shishak in order to write this post. Opinions are mine alone.

I think we could all use a bit of escape right about now. So what better way to get in a beach-state-of-mind than through easy home cooking? I recently had the opportunity to page through Lei Shishak’s new cookbook: Beach House Dinners: Simple, Summer-Inspired Meals for Entertaining Year-Round, which is filled with over 80 recipes perfect for summer cooking.

Lei Shishak is the founder of Sugar Blossom Bake Shop in San Clemente, CA and the author of Beach House Baking, heralded by USA Today as one of the top 10 cookbooks of summer 2014, Beach House Brunch and Farm-to-Table Desserts. She is an established pastry chef who trained at the CIA in New York and has worked in restaurants in Sun Valley, Los Angeles and Orange County.

I’m not going to lie, quite a few recipes caught my eye — Coconut Shrimp, Creamy Thai Curry Quinoa, Pot Roast Tagine, Israeli Pearl Couscous — this cookbook is filled with awesome sounding recipes! I decided to highlight a beautifully simple but oh so flavorful salmon recipe to show off this cookbook.
I adjusted Lei’s original recipe of Pan Fried Salmon with Green Lentils for what I had on hand, so be sure to pop over to her blog or to pick up this cookbook to try the original version. Green Lentils have a slight peppery flavor to them, so I bet they would make this dish even more amazing!
Ingredients: (serves 4)
Lentils:
  • 3 cups chicken broth
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 cup brown lentils
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 4 tablespoons butter, unsalted (or margarine, to make dairy free)

Salmon:

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 4 (1/4 lb) salmon fillets
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • 1 (10 oz) container cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 6 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 cup packed fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped

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Slow Cooker Lamb in Zesty Lemon Sauce

 Note: I was sent a copy of The Greek Slow Cooker for review. Opinions are mine alone.

It’s been quite a while since I posted. Since sheltering-in-place became our new normal in Philadelphia, I’ve been cooking a lot of my old recipes, but haven’t had the creativity (or honestly, the energy) to make many new recipes. In the hopes of having some inspiration, I started paging through some of the many cookbooks I have, and came across this recipe for Arnaki Lemonato – Slow Cooker Lamb in a Zesty Lemon Sauce.

This recipe is from The Greek Slow Cooker: Easy, Delicious Recipes from the Heart of the Mediterranean.

Written by Eleni Vonissakou, the cookbook is a great source of Greek dishes adapted for slow cookers and includes 75 different Greek recipes. I adapted the recipe below a bit for what I was able to get through my local grocery delivery options.

Ingredients:

  • 2 lbs baby potatoes (cut the larger ones up so that the sizes of all the potatoes are similar)
  • 2 large carrots, sliced (about 1 cup)
  • the juice and zest of 2 lemons, divided
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
  • 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
  • 3 garlic cloves, pressed in a garlic press, or very finely minced
  • 2 teaspoons dried rosemary
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried sumac (can omit if you cannot find this spice)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 3 lbs lamb shoulder (I used lamb shoulder chops)
  • 2 medium onions, quartered

Kitchen Tools Used:

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Lemon Orzo with Crab and Herbs

NOTE: I received a copy of The Everything Mediterranean Instant Pot® Cookbook: 300 Recipes for Healthy Mediterranean Meals―Made in Minutes by Kelly Jaggers in order to write this post. Opinions are mine alone.

I am very much on the pressure cooker bandwagon. It’s awesome for tough cuts of meat, cooking beans, and other processes that can take forever, but my favorite use is speeding up recipes just enough to make them weeknight friendly!

I was recently sent The Everything Mediterranean Instant Pot® Cookbook: 300 Recipes for Healthy Mediterranean Meals―Made in Minutes by Kelly Jaggers, and after paging through it for a few minutes, I knew this would be a big hit in my kitchen. My husband and I are huge fans of Mediterranean-style food (if you haven’t noticed from my posts…) and the adaptation of these recipes for an Instant Pot means it hasn’t left my kitchen counter since I received it!

We don’t actively follow the Mediterranean Diet, but following it can help reduce reduce inflammation, avoid disease, and lose weight, making it popular for anyone looking to live a healthier lifestyle. The Everything Mediterranean Instant Pot Cookbook shows you how to recreate classic Mediterranean meals in under an hour using the much-loved multi-cooker, the Instant Pot. With more than 300 recipes for delicious meals, snacks, and even desserts, you’ll have everything you need to create healthy, fresh, and fast meals every day of the week!

As I mentioned, I’ve already made a few recipes in here, but I wanted to share these recipe for Lemon Orzo with Crab and Herbs, which I’ve slightly adapted from the original in the cookbook.

Ingredients (serves 2):

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 medium shallot, minced
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/4 fresh parsley, chopped, plus more for garnish
  • 2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped, plus more for garnish
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
  • 2 cups water (or chicken broth for more flavor)
  • 8 oz orzo
  • 8 oz jumbo lump crab meat
  • the juice and zest of 1 lemon
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for garnish

Kitchen Tools Used:

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Creamy Chicken Paprikash Over Buttered Egg Noodles

Comfort food can take on many forms, but generally, comfort food seems to always have a bit of nostalgia attached to it. Foods from my childhood have become some of my favorite adult comfort foods, like Creamy Chicken Paprikash Over Buttered Egg Noodles. Chicken Paprikash is a Hungarian dish of chicken, cooked in a creamy paprika-flavored sauce. My mom used to make this Creamy Chicken Paprikash for us on cold winter nights, and always spooned it over egg noodles to make the most of the yummy sauce.

Now that it’s February, I think it’s the perfect time to share this childhood favorite recipe! Cold winter months are the perfect time to enjoy old comfort food favorites or to try new ones, like my take on Creamy Chicken Paprikash.

Ingredients:

  • 3 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
  • 1 large yellow onion, chopped
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 3 tablespoons paprika, sweet or hot (I’d suggest using a combo, maybe 1/2 of each for a subtle spice)
  • 3 tablespoons flour
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1 (15 oz) can crushed tomatoes
  • 2 cups chicken broth
  • 1 (12 oz) bag Egg Noodles
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish

Continue reading Creamy Chicken Paprikash Over Buttered Egg Noodles

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