Panache Pantry Chicken, Pasta + Giveaway

Have you ever heard of gourmet bread crumbs?  I had not, until the nice people of Panache Pantry sent me some samples.  Panache, a company founded by two at-home moms, have taken bread crumbs to a whole new level, whether it be their classic Sicilian line or their more modern products like Banana Nut Curry or Pumpkin Cajun (which I plan on sprinkling over ice cream as soon as I go buy ice cream).  It's such a brilliant, simple idea, and saves you the time of adding fresh herbs and spices to your boring old bread crumbs.  So far, I've sprinkled the Zucchini Rosemary crumbs over pasta...     

...and the Vintage Sicilian with chicken.  Take boneless, skinless chicken breasts, coat with mayo on both sides, sprinkle with bread crumbs on both sides, season with salt and pepper and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.  Trust me, if you don't like mayo, you will still love this.  It just makes for SUPER moist chicken.  And the Sicilian bread crumbs add such a depth of flavor.  Easiest dinner ever!

SO, Panache Pantry wants to give one of YOU some samples (any 2 crumbs from their 5 lines, your choice)!  Please "like" Panache Pantry on Facebook, comment below to win, and let me know how you would use these crumbs.  I will pick a winner Monday morning (10/28).  Good luck!    

Parmesan and Garlic Lavash

Carson's mom, the woman behind this fried chicken, makes a lot of delicious things.  Most recently, this super easy appetizer that you will hover around like a creep until it's gone in your belly and your belly alone.  Seriously, if you're in charge of an appetizer at a party, assemble this and pop it in the oven when you get there and watch the madness ensue.  5 ingredients: lavash, olive oil, garlic, Parmesan and basil.  Soak the chopped garlic in some olive oil...    

...spread it on some lavash (which can be found at most grocery stores)...

...sprinkle the top with Parmesan and fresh basil...

...and bake it at 350 for 10 minutes or so (keeping an eye on it) until it gets all golden and crispy.  Break it apart into pieces, or just eat the whole sheet on your own.

Sriracha Salt

Besides the fact that I don't really know how to say "Sriracha" - I'm obsessed with it.  Now, just yesterday, a friend gifted me a bottle of homemade Sriracha Salt.  WHAT!?!?!?  That was my reaction. Just the smell of it made me do a happy dance in my kitchen (no really, there's evidence of said dance on my iPhone).  She used this recipe, which looks simple enough!  If you're a fan of the spicy condiment, you should probably make a big batch of this salt and put it on everything.  I sprinkled it on my salad last night, DELISH.  Can you imagine a margarita with this stuff rimming the glass?!?  I feel another happy dance coming on... I've gotta go.  

Thank you for the feedback on my new site design!  I'm sort of sick of the "label" section (do you use it?) and I'm trying to brainstorm some new organizational elements.  Ideas are welcome : )    

Meatball Muffins

Yeah, that sounds kind of gross, doesn't it?  But let me explain.  The other day I was all set to make fancy pants meatballs.  You know, with grated carrots, sautéd onions, fresh garlic and herbs, homemade bread crumbs soaked in milk and blah blah blah.  And then I remembered... OH, I have two kids now and OH, my baby only likes to be held during the evening hours and OH, grating carrots SUCKS.  At that point I happened to glance over at the Highlights magazine my son was "reading" and I saw a recipe for 'Meatball Muffins'.  They consisted of ground beef or turkey, a package of onion soup mix, ketchup, bread crumbs and one egg.  I also added some Parmesan.  Roll into 12 balls, place in a greased muffin pan, and bake for 35-40 minutes at 350.  Took me all of 5 minutes to make and can I tell you something??  They were so good.  

Crispy brown on the outside and perfectly cooked inside.  I threw them in some sauce, served them over pasta, dinner done.  If you're too good for the kiddie magazine recipe, or you just love grating carrots WHY, WHY DO YOU? then make your fancy pants recipe but at least try baking the meatballs in a muffin pan.  So easy.  The End.

My Rules for a Great Chopped Salad

I'm a big fan of chopped salads, or garbage salads as I like to call them - basically an unattractive name for a salad with everything in it.  It's the easiest way to empty the produce from your fridge and it makes a great lunch, dinner side or even a main dish if a protein is added.  But I have some rules.  Oh yes, I always have rules.  Ask me sometime about the handbook I wanted to write as a child about The Etiquette of Christmas Lights.  Yup I named it that.  Ok onto my salad rules...

1. SIZE: Nothing bothers me more than a salad with giant pieces of lettuce (wedge excluded), or long, chunky pieces of vegetables that need to be cut with a knife.  Salads are meant to eat with a fork (like this).  So it matters to me that everything is proportional and roughly the same size...

2. HERBS: You know when you're at a restaurant and you're eating a great salad and there's that ingredient that's making you say, "what IS that??"  It's probably fresh herbs.  Basil, cilantro, mint, etc. - they can turn a good salad into a great salad by making everything taste fresh and vibrant.  My go-to is always freshly chopped basil.

3. CRUNCH: Texture is very important to me in a salad.  Some lettuces and vegetables offer a nice crunch but I need more than that.  I need nuts or croutons or crushed tortilla chips.  My go-to is toasted pine nuts.  I love their nutty flavor and of course, crunch.  

4. CITRUS: Carson's mom always squirts fresh lemon juice over her salads in addition to dressing, and now it's something I always do too.  Much like herbs, citrus adds a vibrancy and freshness to the salad and brings out all the flavors of the vegetables.  

5. DRESSING: I usually make my own dressing.  It's much less intimidating than it seems, and I'm sure you have the ingredients at home.  Olive oils, balsamic vinegars, mustards, herbs, garlic, etc.  You can mix and match just about any of those and come up with an excellent dressing.  Click here for what I've done in the past.

Baked Stuffed Tomatoes

I have to tell you a secret.  I gardened.  

The only time I've ever had a green thumb in my life is when I accidentally (or not) shoved all of my fingers into a tub of St. Patrick's Day frosting.  

But, we were gifted some beautiful tomato plants, and I knew they weren't going to make their way into the ground all by themselves (that doesn't happen, right?).

So I gardened.  Like this: very pregnant, in a skirt, squatting, using a child's toy shovel.  

I will keep you posted because, no, these tomatoes are not from my garden.  

But they were delicious nonetheless.  I took two and cored them with a knife and a spoon, scooping out most of the seeds....  

In a bowl, I mixed some panko, cilantro, Parmesan, freshly chopped garlic, Italian herbs and salt and pepper, and stuffed the tomatoes...

I sprinkled with some olive oil and baked them in a 375 degree oven for 15 minutes.  

Perfect summer side dish!

Easy Baked Polenta with Sausage and Vegetables

Sometimes at night, to save time, you have to begin the dinner process with pre-cooked, pre-packaged ingredients.  It's a must, to maintain sanity.  At least in my house.  But that doesn't mean you can't still get creative and have fun with what you cook, NO SIR!  (Sirs read this blog right?)  At the market yesterday, I brought home a tube of already-cooked polenta and a package of fully cooked chicken sausage and I whipped up the following dish.  It was very flavorful - even tasted somewhat sinful for something so healthy - and you could serve the sausage and vegetable sauce over pasta if you can't find polenta (it's usually low on the shelf in the pasta aisle).  

p.s. I was super excited to serve chopped up polenta to Jack with a little marinara and Parmesan.  I called it "Special Pasta!"  Like that, with an exclamation.  He took one bite and said, "no, I don't like all that orange stuff" (the sauce).  PICKY WICKY.  (I'm sorry I just said that.)

Easy Baked Polenta with Sausage and Vegetables

(Serves 4)

Printable Recipe

2 T extra-virgin olive oil

1 shallot, thinly sliced

1 clove garlic, finely minced

1/2 tsp fresh basil, finely chopped

1/2 tsp fresh sage, finely chopped

1/2 tsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped

1 zucchini, diced

1 yellow squash, diced

1 red pepper, finely diced

1 can diced tomatoes with garlic

1 pkg pre-cooked chicken sausage (or any variety you like)

1 pkg pre-cooked polenta

Salt and pepper

Parmesan

Preheat the oven to 375.  Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium heat.  Add shallots and sauté for 5-7 minutes, until they soften and begin to brown.  Add chopped herbs and garlic, sauté for another 5 minutes.  

Add zucchini, squash and red pepper.  Saute for 5 minutes and season with salt and pepper.  Add canned tomatoes and continue to simmer over medium-low heat for 10 minutes (or more).  Season with more salt and pepper to taste.  

Place vegetable sauce in a square baking dish.  Top with sliced sausage...

...and sliced Polenta.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  

Bake for 10 minutes.  (I placed mine under the broiler for a few minutes after that.)

Baked Eggs

I had never baked an egg until this morning.  I don't know why, I don't know why you guys.  It was so easy and the egg turned out so uniformly perfect.  I overcooked mine a little because I wasn't in the mood for runny, but you can keep yours in the oven for as long as your heart desires.  Follow these simple, simple steps and you will be happy.

1. Butter a ramekin.  (Or a Mini Le Creuset dish, oh how cute.)

2. Carefully crack one egg into dish.  

3. Sprinkle with a little heavy cream or milk.

4. Season with salt and pepper.

5. Bake at 325 for 10 minutes (runny) or 15 minutes (hard).  

*The toppings are endless.  Herbs, bread crumbs, tomatoes, spinach, cheese, etc.

Egg Salad Sandwich

This is a lunch I make quite often for myself and have since I was a kid.  That egg slicer thingy was one of the first tools I was trusted with in the kitchen, and, as the circle of life goes, now my son is old enough to use it.  Is that what it's called?  No matter!  Just like Simba taught his lion cub to call hyenas "Whoopi Goldberg" I will teach my son that this is called an egg slicer thingy. 

Anyhowzers, I don't get very fancy with my egg salad.  Some people like to add celery or pickles or tarragon or herbs, but I like mine nice and plain.  I boil eggs, peel and chop them, add mayonnaise, a few squirts of dijon mustard, pepper, sea salt and a dash of seasoned salt as well. 

I eat it with crackers, or roll it up in a wrap, spread it on toast, or make an old fashioned sandwich, like the one below.  I tried to add broiled pancetta to this, but instead burnt the crap out of it.  There may have been a small meltdown that followed ("my bacon waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah") but the sandwich made it all better.  

Southern Fried Chicken

I saw The Help over the weekend and I literally lost my mind in the movie theater. I don't know where the term, "basket case" comes from, but that's what I was. A case of wet, sobbing baskets... gulping for breaths in between snotty spasms of tears. (I hope you're picturing that.) Anyway, the movie left me with a sense of sadness, hope and a STRONG craving for fried chicken. Luckily, here I am on vacation with Carson's mom, a true Southerner from Lilesville, North Carolina.

For some reason, I have known her for 5 years and have never tasted her fried chicken. In the next five years, I plan on having it 1,825 times. 1,826 if we're expecting a leap year soon. I just did that math, I really did.

There she is. And there I am. Her taste tester.


Carson supplied the chef jacket, and wear it well she did. Because we weren't just treated to fried chicken, no, we were fed a proper Southern meal, all prepared by Miss Pattie. Let's start with the chicken, and the basics...

Whole milk. She lets her thighs, legs and breasts rest in milk for awhile...


A heaping pile of flour, sprinkled generously with salt and pepper. She even took a bite of the flour, just like her grandmother once did, to make sure it was well seasoned.


Eggs. None of that egg white baloney.


Finally, the most important part. CRISCO. Just go see The Help, and you will want to lick it off your fingers.


Pattie takes her chicken that's been sitting in milk and follows this order: egg, flour, egg, flour. EXTRA CRISPY.


Aaaaaaand into the hot Crisco it goes...


Starting to crisp...


Getting even crispier...


Ohmygod yum. I ate 3 pieces. I wasn't supposed to tell you that.


As I mentioned, it was a PROPER Southern meal. Which means Country Gravy...


...and Mashed Potatoes...


...Lima Beans in Butter and Herbs...


...and a Southern Salad...


I lost my mind after this meal. Like a pig rolling around in dirt. A happy pig, nonetheless, not the wet, basket case kind. Thanks PDC!!!