Cajun Stew

I was really at a loss for what to call this dish, I know what it is not (a jambalaya) but stew comes the closest to what it really is. I came up with this one all because of some sausage I tasted at a demo table at a grocery store several months ago. I needed to just pick up a couple of things and the parking lot at the store I normally go to was a zoo so I went to the store down the street that I don't go to very often. As I was walking through there was a very nice lady offering up samples of a smoked sausage from a company that I was not familiar with. I tried all the varieties and decided to take a package of the cajun spiced one home with me. Now I needed to figure out how to serve. I thought about it a couple of days and decided I wanted to play around with it a bit.

Since I live a ways from the nearest grocery store I always have stuff on hand in the freezer and pantry. When you live out here you don't run to the store at the last minute to pick up something for dinner. There is also no delivery any where near here. I started to think about what I had on hand. I knew there was some chicken breasts in the freezer (these are always in my freezer) and I had picked up some frozen shrimp a few days before. Hummmm.....

I mulled the choices over for a few days and decided to combine the sausages with both of the above meats. I knew I wanted to go cajun style so that meant onion, celery and green pepper. I had all of these on hand so now dinner was coming together. I wanted the chicken and shrimp to stand up to the sausage so I decided to coat these two items with some of my homemade cajun seasoning blend (I'll add that recipe at the end of this post). I knew it wouldn't take much of the seasoning, a little goes along way but it is so good on almost all meats. I had just picked up a bunch of cans of diced tomatoes and I like a tomato base to this kind of dish so that went on my mental list of ingredients. My fresh thyme was doing well at that time too and since there's dry thyme in my seasoning blend I thought that would be a good addition too (I like to add some fresh herbs in wherever I can)

The rest of the ingredients came about as I tasted the dish as I made it the first time.

Now all that being said the day I recorded this I couldn't get the cajun sausage and used some smoked sausage that was labeled Spicy Italian. It worked just as well. If you want to cut back on the spiciness of the dish use a smoked Polish type sausage. Really any variety of pre-cooked (smoked) sausage will work just fine.

We really love this one and it is really easy to make in a larger batch to feed a crowd. Since the different elements are cooked separately and come together at the end just increase it to fill up your crew. The recipe as written is plenty to fill up my son and myself and have plenty of leftovers for lunch.

On the subject of servings and more importantly how many servings my recipes make. That is a really tough question since I am trying to fill up a growing teenage boy. I swear at this age (14) they can eat enough for an army and still pop up for a snack 5 minutes later. He is currently 6' tall and still growing. So how many normal people will this feed?? You will have to be the judge of that one.

Cajun Stew

½ lb large shrimp (peeled, deveined and thawed if frozen)

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into bite size pieces

1 Tablespoon Cajun Seasoning blend

½ lb spicy sausage Cajun style or spicy Italian smoked sausage

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1 large onion, sliced

1 green pepper sliced

3 ribs celery sliced

1 teaspoon fresh thyme

1 (16 oz) can diced tomatoes

a splash of white wine (optional)

3 Tablespoons of a grainy mustard

1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar

Cajun Seasoning Blend

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons garlic powder

1 Tablespoon paprika

1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano

1 ½ teaspoons dried thyme

1 teaspoon instant minced onion

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

½ teaspoon read pepper flakes

combine and store in a jar in a dark place. 

 

Ranch Turkey Pizza

Okay, another quick and easy dinner made up from some of the leftover turkey from the big feast.

This one takes a shortcut and uses one of those pre-baked pizza crusts that we can buy at the grocery store. I picked up a package of whole wheat crusts this time and got the bonus of two crusts for the price of one. Since the crust is already baked this dinner can be on the table in about 30 minutes which is fantastic with all the extra activities that seem to hit from now until Christmas.

Ranch Turkey Pizza

1 pre-baked pizza crust (12” size)

3 Tablespoons of your favorite Ranch Salad dressing

1 ½ cups diced cooked turkey

1 cup fresh spinach leaves

1 cup chopped fresh tomato

2 chopped green onions

½ teaspoon Italian herb seasoning

1 ½ cups shredded Mozzarella cheese

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit

On a greased pizza pan (or flat cookie sheet) place the pizza crust.

Spread the Ranch dressing evenly over the top of the crust. Top with remaining ingredients.

Cook in pre-heated oven for 10 to 15 minutes or until hot and cheese is melted. 

 

Apple Juice Brined Turkey

Well, Turkey Day is almost here do you have your menu all figured out yet? Do you go with a very traditional menu or do you modernize those traditional flavors a bit?

At our house we start “auditioning” recipes for the big day sometime in mid October. I actually start looking for recipes and collecting ideas in about January but things start to come together about a month or so before the holiday. This auditioning of the recipes is a long standing tradition and we take it very seriously. If you happen to be at our house for dinner on one of the nights we are doing this you will be expected to join in the conversation. We discuss at length the merits and downfalls of each dish over dinner. We compare it to other recipes in the same category that we may have tried recently and with those recipes we have served other years. We discuss if the recipe will “play well” with the rest of the meal. It really is a fun tradition, you should try it at your house.

This year I had run into this different brine recipe for the turkey, I always brine my turkey (actually any poultry I am going to roast/ grill whole) and I have shared my traditional recipe on this blog in the past (check it out here  just double the ingredients for a turkey) This year I wanted to try something a bit different, a bit more special. I was looking through my cookbook collection and found this recipe well, I found the starting point for this recipe since I can never leave any recipe alone. I did make some changes from the original. Last week we gave it a try with a turkey breast and it was amazing! The only really problem I found was that the skin got very dark very quickly. I think because of the higher sugar content of the brine from the one I use normally. It still tasted fantastic not burnt at all it was just dark in color. The flavor the brine gave the meat was so fantastic definitely worthy of a place on the holiday menu this year.

I also now have my gravy for Thanksgiving Day in the freezer waiting for me. This is important since we almost always cook our turkey on Thanksgiving on the grill. We love the flavor that the charcoal grill gives the meat but it doesn't work very well for gravy because the drippings always get ashes in them. For this reason I always make my gravy up a week or two before the holiday and freeze it. I then defrost it the day before and put it in my small (1 quart) slow cooker to re-heat for dinner. So easy and one less thing to have to think about when company arrives.

You will need a large container to hold your turkey and the brine, I use my cooler. I add plenty of ice and let it sit in my kitchen which tends to be a pretty cold room. If you have a garage that would also be a good place to let your turkey do its time in the brine.

Remember to allow plenty of time for the turkey to defrost if you are buying a frozen one. I find that since I keep my fridge a bit colder than most people do I need to allow an extra day or two from what most of the websites say. Also you will need to have your turkey thawed out the day before you are going to cook it since it will need to sit in the brine for a good 18 hours.

For the apple juice in this recipe you don't need anything fancy just make sure it is actually apple juice and not a “juice cocktail” with a lot of added sugar. You do need a 100% juice for this. I am going to probably use the correct amount of frozen concentrate with water for mine depending on what is the better value. I am assuming you are oven roasting your turkey so I am including the recipe for the fantastic gravy.

Apple Juice Brined Turkey

Brine and turkey

1 gallon of apple juice (no sugar added)

2 cups brown sugar

1 cup kosher salt

½ cup chopped fresh (or 2 Tablespoons dry) sage

½ cup fresh thyme leaves (or 2 tablespoons dry)

2 Tablespoons whole peppercorns

1 Turkey, thawed if purchased frozen (rinsed, neck and giblet package removed)

water and ice as necessary to cover turkey

1 onion (cut in quarters)

1 lemon (cut in quarters)

a few springs of fresh thyme

a few sprigs of sage

melted butter or oil to coat turkey

Gravy and basting sauce

½ cup butter

1 Tablespoon fresh sage

5 cloves garlic (minced or grated)

¼ cup all purpose flour

2 cups chicken or turkey broth

salt and pepper to taste

Reserve 1 cup of the apple juice to use in the basting mixture (be sure to refrigerate)

In a large container combine the rest of the apple juice, the brown sugar, kosher salt, ½ cup fresh sage (or 2 Tablespoon dry) ½ cup fresh thyme (or 2 Tablespoon dry) and the whole peppercorns. Stir until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Add the turkey to the brine mixture and add enough water to completely cover the turkey. If you are brining in a cooler add ice with the water.

Allow to brine for about 18 hours.

Remove turkey from brine 1 hour before time to begin cooking. Rinse turkey to remove excess brine and allow the skin to dry. Place quartered onion, lemon and sprigs of fresh herbs in cavity of turkey.

Tuck wing tips under back of turkey and tie legs together. Coat skin well with melted butter or oil.

Roast at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for time needed for the size of your turkey. (there are many charts online and in cookbooks to find the correct time)

Combine the reserved apple juice with the remaining ½ cup butter and garlic in a small saucepan. About an hour before the turkey is expected to be done begin basting the skin with this mixture about every 15 minutes, using all the mixture.

Check the temperature of the turkey in the thigh to be sure it is cooked. Don't rely on the pop up timer, I have rarely had them give me an accurate indication of doneness.

When your turkey is done remove from oven allow to rest for at least 15 minutes.

Meanwhile pour the drippings into a measuring cup. Skim off and reserve the fat.

In a medium saucepan combine ¼ cup of the fat from the drippings with the flour to form a roux. Add the liquid from the drippings along with the 2 cups of broth stirring to make a gravy. After the gravy comes to a boil taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.

Cajun Chicken

It always seems like once the month of September rolls around I get way busier. After all school has started which translates to lots more driving and planning. And then all the late summer produce it getting ready and begging me to do something with it. With all that going on some days I just don't feel like making a big dinner. Unfortunately, my son still thinks he needs to eat (didn't I just feed him yesterday?? just kidding) Days like this need quick and easy dinners from the slow cooker.

And this brings us to today's recipe. Yes it is yet another chicken in the slow cooker recipe. I love these because I can put them on to cook and then get other stuff done. Also like a lot of my favorites this goes over some rice at the end of the day. That means all I have to do is get my rice cooker to cook the rice portion of the dish and I am done. If I choose to make a salad or cut up some raw veggies great if not, what the heck this has some veggies in it and we tend to snack on fruits and veggies a lot anyway. Some days you just need to have a one dish meal that you don't have to fuss over.

This is called Cajun Chicken for a couple of reasons, first off you start off the dish with the Cajun tradition of the holy trinity (bell pepper, onion and celery) and secondly the dish utilizes one of the commercial brands of Cajun Seasoning available in the grocery store. Use whatever brand your store carries (there are probably a ton of recipes online for a dyi version too)

This dish does require a few minutes of prep time to cut up the veggies, cook the bacon, sweat the veggies and brown the chicken, it took me about 15 minutes to get all that done. Once the dish cooks all day in the slow cooker (at least 8 hours) it really needs nothing else done to it so other than getting the rice cooked you are set to sit down and eat.

Cajun Chicken

3 slices bacon, chopped

½ cup chopped green bell pepper

¼ cup chopped onion

¼ cup chopped celery

8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning blend

1 (14 ½ oz) can diced tomatoes (with the liquid)

Cook bacon in skillet until crispy. Add the bell pepper, onion and celery and cook just to soften.

Place bacon and veggies in the bottom of a 3 ½ to 4 quart slow cooker.

Sprinkle chicken on both sides with about ½ the Cajun seasoning. Brown the chicken in the remaining bacon fat in skillet.

When chicken is nicely browned (not cooked just browned on the outside) add it and any drippings in pan to slow cooker.

Stir the remaining teaspoon of Cajun seasoning into the canned tomatoes and pour over chicken in slow cooker

Cover and cook on low for 8 to 9 hours.

Serve over a bed of rice

Serves 4

Curry Chicken

This is definitely one of the recipes that falls under the heading “torture by slow cooker” because it just smells wonderful as it cooks. The house will be filled with the wonderful warm aromas of curry by day's end.

This is a fairly quick cook as slow cooker recipes go, about 6 or 7 hours so it is more for one of those days when you are busy running some errands or such rather than a day off at work. If left much beyond the 7 hours the chicken will dry out. You might give it a try with chicken thighs in place of the chicken breast if you want to let it sit longer.

Be sure to pair this with a nice bed of rice, you don't want to loose any of the wonderful sauce this cooks in.

And speaking of that wonderful sauce, the base of it is a jar of mango chutney. I usually find it in jars that hold about a cup and that is perfect for this recipe.

Curry Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 2 pounds total)

1 (15 oz) can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained

1 medium onion sliced

1 red bell pepper chopped

1 cup fresh sugar snap peas

1 jar mango chutney (about 1 cup)

¾ cup water

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

1 ½ teaspoons curry powder

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

Layer the chicken, beans, onions, bell pepper, and sugar snap peas in the bottom of your 3 ½ to 4 quart slow cooker. I usually do 2 layers of each

Combine remaining ingredients stirring to combine and pour over chicken mixture in slow cooker.

Cook on low for 6 to 7 hours or until chicken is cooked through.

Serve over a bed of rice.

Lemon Chicken

Things have been pretty rough around my house for the last few months due to a family member being very ill. Thankfully I tend to keep my freezer fully stocked with meals that are easy to fix so we had easy to prepare meals even when I really didn't feel like cooking. Now I do need to restock however. So with an eye toward that I am going through my freezer recipes and I found my recipe for Lemon Chicken which happens to be one of my all time favorite chicken recipes. I was lucky to find an excellent price on chicken parts the other day so I made and froze several bags of this as well as served it to my son for dinner that same day.

The coolest thing about this recipe (other than the the fantastic flavor) is that it is even better after it has frozen and thawed again. The flavor of the lemon gets carried all the way through the meat by the action of freezing and thawing and it is incredible.

This recipe is really easy to scale to the number of servings you need simply by the number of pieces of chicken you put in each bag. I will explain the amounts as we go. The following amounts are what you will need per bag for about 2 to 3 servings. If you want to make bags with more servings (4-6) double the amounts, if you are bagging up single servings use half the given amount per bag.

Lemon Chicken

Chicken parts of your choice (to serve 2 -3 people)

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

Grated or crushed garlic about a large clove (to taste)

1/3 cup lemon juice

Figure out how many bags of chicken you will be making and line the freezer bags up on the counter. Add the chicken parts to the individual bags. Now add the rest of the ingredients given to each bag. I work mine like an assembly line, adding the chicken to all the bags then the thyme goes in all the bags, then the salt on down the list.

When all the ingredients are added seal each bag getting out as much of the air as you possibly can. Then kind of massage the bags to thoroughly mix the ingredients and make sure the chicken is coated well. Label and freeze the bags.

When you want to serve the chicken thaw in the fridge overnight. Place the contents of the bag into a glass baking dish (2-3 serving fit nicely in an 8x8) arranging the chicken pieces skin side down. Bake at 450 degrees (Fahrenheit) for 20 minutes, turn chicken over and cook an additional 15 to 20 minutes until done.

This goes really well with a nice serving of brown rice (which will cook in your rice cooker in just about the same amount of time as the chicken cooks)

Roasted Chicken

I always try to watch the local grocery store ads for those rare occasions when they have a really good price on whole chickens. If I watch closely I can usually score some at between 69 and 79 cents a pound. My local store seems to always put a limit of 3 on them at this price so I make as many trips to the store as possible that week getting 3 each trip and looking for the biggest of the birds. Last time I was able to bring home 9 and put them all in the freezer. I pulled one out of the freezer yesterday to roast for dinner tonight. Granted, a roast chicken does take some planning especially if it is in the freezer but it is so worth it in the end. This morning I took the thawed bird out of his (or her, I didn't ask) and gave it the spa treatment this consists of a long soak in a wonderfully fragrant bath of brine.

Brine for Chicken
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon of herbs and spices (this time I used crushed red pepper flakes, dry basil, dry rosemary,and fennel seeds)
I then add a  couple of cups of water to this and zap it in the microwave to dissolve the salt and sugar. After stirring to make sure they are dissolved I  add ice to make about   8 cups and stir to melt the ice and cool the mixture.

I have an old Tupperware pitcher that we never really liked to use for its intended function. I discovered a few  years back that a whole chicken fits perfectly in it. So I put the chicken in this pitcher breast first and pour the brine mixture over. The only real trick to make sure the brine covers the bird. Put this in the refrigerator for about 6 or 8 hours. At the end of this time pull out the chicken, dump the brine and pat the chicken dry with paper towels.


To Roast the Chicken

Rub some oil (vegetable or olive which ever you prefer) all over the outside of the chicken. Fill the cavity with some aromatic veggies and herbs (usually a carrot, celery, some fresh herbs, onion and some garlic) and a cut up lemon if you have one. Use some kitchen string to tie the bird into a compact package and place on a rack in a roasting pan to cook at 375 degrees for between 1 1/2 to 2 hours depending on how big your bird is. Use a quick read thermometer to check the temperature in the thickest part of the thigh, it should read between 175 and 180 degrees when you remove it from the  oven.  Cover the chicken with a foil tent and allow to rest for about 15 minutes before you cut into it.

The brine not only helps to flavor the chicken  all the way through but adds a lot of moisture to the meat. Even the breast will be moist and juicy.