Chicken with Black-eyed Peas and Cherry Tomatoes

As we approach the end of summer, my garden-based meals start to reflect heartiness often found in fall and winter dishes. I credit the harvest of my black-eyed peas. This recipe is one that can be enjoyed all year round. 

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Chicken with Black-eyed Peas and Cherry Tomatoes

Source: Christian Science Monitor which adapted a Bon Appétit recipe for sausage
Serves 6-8

4 pieces bacon, cut in quarter inch slices

8 bone-in chicken pieces (if using breasts, cut them in half)
salt and pepper
1 rounded teas dried thyme, divided (or 1 T fresh thyme)
1 medium onion, halved and sliced about 1/4-inch thick
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 1/2 c chicken broth
1/2 c dry white wine
1 11-oz or 12-oz frozen shelled black eyed peas, thawed (about 2 cups)
8 oz fresh green beans, trimmed
8-10 oz cherry tomatoes, halved if large

Place the bacon into a nonstick skillet or saute pan and cook until the fat is rendered and it is as crisp as you like. Using a slotted spoon remove the bacon and hold until later.

Sprinkle the chicken pieces with salt and pepper and half of the dried thyme. (If you're using fresh thyme don't add it at this point.) Place the chicken in the pan and cook over medium-high heat and brown the chicken on both sides. Move chicken to a plate or half sheet pan. Remove some of the bacon fat leaving a couple of tablespoons in the pan. 

Cook the onion slices until translucent. Add the garlic and the rest of the dried thyme and cook about 1 minute, until fragrant. Pour in the wine and bring to a boil and add the broth. Stir in the black-eyed peas until combined.

Return the chicken pieces to the pan as well as the juices that accumulated while set aside. Reduce the heat and cover the pan and cook until the black-eyed peas are beginning to become tender, around 15-20 minutes. Stir in the green beans and cook for about 5 minutes more. Add the cherry tomatoes and cook until heated about 5 more minutes. The tomatoes should begin to split and the broth should be thickening, If you are using fresh thyme, now is the time to add it. Taste the broth and add salt and pepper if necessary.

While the black-eyed peas and vegetables are cooking, it's a good idea to check the temperature of the chicken pieces. With a probe thermometer make sure the breast pieces are at 165F and the thighs and legs are at 175F. If the chicken reaches the target temperatures, remove and set on a plate while everything else cooks. Replace in the pan and warm the chicken before serving with the chicken placed on top of the vegetables. Sprinkle the reserved bacon over all. 

Serve the chicken on top of the vegetables and black-eyed peas.

Notes: 

You can shell your own black-eyed peas in season if you wish. Aim for about 2 cups of fresh shell peas.

If you prefer to skip the wine, increase the broth to 3 cups and just before serving the dish stir in a couple of tablespoons of white wine vinegar or sherry vinegar.

If you are cooking this when available green beans are substandard, I think you could experiment with subbing other vegetables, such as halved brussels sprouts (although you might need a larger pan since they don't have the slim lines of a green bean). 

Peruvian Chicken Soup

Although I'm unsure if this recipe is authentic, it is beautiful, tasty, and, for me, unique. Better yet, it is quick. The soup can be finished in about 30 minutes.

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Peruvian Chicken Soup

Source: The Washington Post

Serves: 2 but can be multiplied

1 small onion, cut into quarters

1 rib celery, coarsely chopped

1 clove garlic, peeled and smashed

1 small jalapeno pepper, optional (or it can be increased), seeds removed and coarsely chopped

8 large stems of parsley or cilantro, including tender stems, coarsely chopped

1 T oil

2 c chicken broth

1/4 c quinoa (or another option, see note below)

1 large boneless, skinless chicken breast half (about 12 oz)

1/2 c frozen peas, optional

salt

pepper

1 lime for serving

Place the onion, celery, garlic, jalapeno, and parsley or cilantro into a blender or a food processor along with the oil. Pulse until you've got a pesto-like paste. If it resists your machine's efforts add a tablespoon or two of the chicken broth and try again. It's nice to have it quite smooth but if you can't get there, don't fret. It will still taste good.

Scrape the vegetable paste into a saucepan and place on a burner over medium heat; let it heat for a minute or two. Add the broth. If your quinoa needs to be rinsed (check the package) do so and then put it into the pot. Once the mixture starts to boil, put a lid on it, lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes or so.

In the meantime, cut the chicken breast across the grain into 1-inch slices and place into the sauce pan. With the lid off, cook for 10 minutes until the meat is opaque. The quinoa should be starting to pop. Remove the chicken from the pan and cut it into bite size pieces. Return the chicken to the soup and stir in the peas. Cook until the peas have warmed up and are tender. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Note:

You may not love quinoa and although it hangs out at the bottom of the pan making it hard to serve evenly, I could find nothing objectionable in the flavor--it added texture to the soup. You could leave it out or use some potatoes, rice, or orzo (you'd have to fiddle with cooking time, though). One other negative about pasta and rice is the tendency of both to become waterlogged in any leftovers. I haven't noticed that problem with quinoa.

Peruvian Roasted Chicken with Spicy Cilantro Sauce

This creamy sauce is quite beautiful and ensures a tasty chicken meal. The marinade and sauce take a bit of time to pull together and you have to allow time for marinating, but cooking the chicken is straight forward and easy.

The original recipe offers substitutes items fairly often found in home kitchens and I followed those suggestions. I didn't want to wait until I could find new ingredients online and wait for delivery. The results were excellent.

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Peruvian Roasted Chicken with Spicy Cilantro Sauce

Adapted from NYTimes Cooking

Serves 4

This can be cooked as either two halves of a chicken or as chicken pieces. I chose to cook pieces and found that when I removed the breast pieces from the oven earlier than the thighs and legs, as advised, the sauce burned on the pan. To avoid the burned mess and smoke, I advise cooking the chicken on two quarter sheet pans (or two cake pans would work) placing the brown meat on one and the breasts and the wings (if you use them) on another. This way, you can place the breasts in the oven 10 minutes after the brown pieces so that everything finishes up at approximately the same time. Additionally, the juice that is released by the chicken as it cooks is very tasty and it is a shame to let it burn away when it would be better to drizzle it on the pieces of chicken just before serving.

For the marinade:

6 cloves of garlic, minced

3 T soy sauce

1 T aji amarillo or another chile paste such as sriracha

1 T lime juice

1 teas aji panca paste or 1 teas pasilla chile powder (I used ground dried mild Hatch chile)

1 teas Dijon mustard

1 teas ground cumin

1 teas freshly ground pepper

1/2 teas table salt

In a large bowl or storage container mix the ingredients above.

For the chicken:

1 (3 1/2-4 1/2 pound chicken) halved or one chicken cut into pieces (I recommend the larger size or you'll have left over sauce)

Place chicken halves or pieces in the bowl or container. Turn until all pieces have been coated with the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for 2-12 hours. 

For the sauce:

If you are at all spicy-hot averse, mix the sauce with small amounts of chile and chile paste and taste it after blending. You can always add more jalapeno if you want.

1 cup cilantro, leaves and tender stems

jalapenos, seeded and diced (up to 3-4 but I used just half of one)

1/4 c crumbled feta cheese

1 garlic clove, coarsely chopped or sliced

1 1/2 teas lime juice, more to taste

2 teas chopped fresh oregano or basil (or 1 teas of dried oregano)

1/2 teas salt

1/2 teas Dijon mustard

1/2 T aji amarillo or other chile paste (see above)

1/2 teas honey or sugar or agave syrup

1/2 teas cumin

1/2 c olive oil

Place all ingredients except for olive oil in a blender container and run the blender until everything is fairly finely chopped. Scrape the sides. Drizzle the oil through the blender opening while the machine is running until everything is emulsified. Scrape the sides again and run the blender a while to get everything as smooth as possible. Stop the blender and taste the sauce; add more chile, salt, and/or lime juice, if desired. Store in fridge until serving time.

Cooking the chicken:

the marinated chicken
olive oil for drizzling as needed

Heat the oven to 450 F. Take the chicken out of the marinade and blot with paper towels to dry the pieces somewhat. Arrange the chicken skin-side up on an oiled rimmed baking sheet (or two quarter sheets as suggested above). Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and place in the oven. Chicken halves can be roasted for 35-45 minutes (check with an instant read thermometer if you want to be sure it's done; 160F for white pieces and 165F for brown meat). For chicken pieces the brown meat should be done after 35-45 minutes and the white meat after 25-35. I found that both white and brown were much past the target temperatures in the time recommended but they remained tender. Consider my above suggestion and place the white meat in the oven 10 minutes later than the brown since they can overcook and become badly dry. Remove from the oven and allow to sit under loose foil for 5-10 minutes.

Serve the chicken with sauce to pass.

Skillet Chicken with Spring Vegetables

Here is another fast recipe from Cook's Country that will help you take advantage of asparagus season.

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Skillet Chicken with Spring Vegetables

Source: Cook's Country

3 lbs bone-in chicken pieces, of your choice, trimmed
1 T vegetable oil
1/2 c chicken broth
1/2 c dry white wine (I used vermouth)
1 T minced fresh tarragon, divided (or 1 teas dried tarragon)
1 lb asparagus, trimmed and cut on bias into 2-inch lengths
1 c frozen peas
2 T unsalted butter
2 T minced fresh chives

Heat oven to 475F. Heat oil in 12-inch oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Season the chicken with salt and pepper while the oil is heating, then cook the chicken skin side down until well browned, 6-10 minutes. Flip and cook on other side until lightly browned, approximately 2 minutes.

Add broth, wine, and half of the tarragon. Then move the pan to the oven and cook for 12-15 minutes, until the breasts reach 160F and drumsticks/thighs reach 175F. Transfer chicken to a platter (or a casserole baking dish) and tent with foil.

While the chicken is in the oven, microwave the asparagus in a covered bowl until just tender, about 3 minutes. After the chicken is on the platter, place the skillet back on medium-high heat (be sure to use a hot pad to handle the skillet!) and bring the sauce to a boil. Cook until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. Add peas and asparagus and cook until warmed through, about 1 minute. Off heat whisk in butter, chives, and remaining tarragon. Season with salt and pepper. Pour vegetables and sauce over chicken, then serve.

Shish Taouk (Chicken Kebabs)

A common preparation for chicken I ate often in Bahrain. It is usually cooked on skewers. I'm too lazy to mess with them and cook the chicken pieces on a screen on my grill.

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Shish Taouk (Arabic Chicken Kebabs)

Adapted from:  Arabian Gulf Cookbook  by Suzi Wells 

Serves 4

2 pds boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1 1/2-in pieces

2 cloves garlic, crushed

3 T lemon juice

1/8-1/2 teas cayenne pepper

1/4 teas black pepper

1/4 teas ground cumin

1/2 teas salt

2 T vegetable or olive oil

Mix the lemon juice, oil, garlic, spices, and seasonings together in a wide container. Add the chicken cubes and stir until they are all completely coated in the mixture. Cover and marinate for at least 1 hour in the refrigerator, turning the chicken a few times to ensure even marination. Thread the chicken pieces onto skewers and grill over a barbecue for 10-15 minutes, turning so each piece browns evenly. Another method is to cook over a screen or on oiled foil (with holes poked through with a fork). The chicken can also be sauteed on the stove top but you won't get any smoky flavor.

Traditional accompaniments are hummus and pita, tabouli salad, and a rice pilaf. 

Crockpot Cashew Chicken

In my ongoing quest to find easy, delicious crockpot recipes I came across this one, which is good for days at home (at least afternoons) combined with busy evenings. Everyone in the family loves it, so much so that I've made it several times hoping for leftovers to use for pictures but every last piece has been eaten! This time I set aside the piece to photograph before we sat down to eat.

The original recipe says to serve over rice, but it's delicious over quinoa, too. Quinoa is an edible seed that originates in the mountains of South America. It's easy to cook and has a delicious, nutty flavor.

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Slow Cooker Cashew Chicken

Source: I don't remember where I found this originally, but I found a number of variations online several of which link back to 365 Days of Slow Cooking.
Serves 4-6

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs or chicken breast tenders
1/4 c flour
1/2 t black pepper
1 T vegetable oil
1/4 c soy sauce
2 T rice wine vinegar
2 T ketchup
1 T brown sugar
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 t grated fresh ginger
1/4 t red pepper flakes (optional)
1/2 c cashews

Combine flour and pepper in large Ziploc bag. Add chicken. Shake to coat with flour mixture.

Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Brown chicken about 2 minutes on each side. Place chicken in slow cooker.

Combine soy sauce, vinegar, ketchup, sugar, garlic, ginger, and pepper flakes in small bowl; pour over the chicken.

Cook on low for 3-4 hours. Add cashews and stir. Serve over rice or quinoa.