Game Day Eats: Kickin' Chicken Philly

We're getting close to kick-off for the Super Bowl, so it's time for another game day idea. Of course, chicken wings are popular dish. So are sandwiches. So try out this recipe that combines the best of both worlds.

The very first recipe I posted on this blog was a copycat of one of my favorite sandwiches at a restaurant here called Two Guys Grille. Well, since then I've found a new favorite at Two Guys called the Kickin' Chicken Philly, so I decided to try my own version.

Now as you may know, as a native of the Philadelphia area, I'm something of a cheesesteak purist. The cheesesteaks/chicken cheesesteaks at Two Guys typically include green peppers, but green peppers are not a traditional ingredient in a cheesesteak (You can usually find a pepper steak on the menu at real cheesesteak places, but it's usually at the bottom of the menu. Bottom line is that green peppers are NOT a staple ingredient.), so I leave them out. The Two Guys sandwich also calls for jalapenos, and I've just never been the biggest fan, so I left them out. You, of course, are welcome to add back in the peppers as you wish.

Ingredients (per sandwich)
1 chicken breast, thinly sliced
Olive oil
Chopped onion
Sliced mushrooms
Hot sauce/Buffalo wing sauce to taste
2 slices white American cheese
1 hoagie roll

Directions
Slice a chicken breast as thinly as you can. The thinner the better. Marinate the chicken in the hot/wing sauce.

On a hot griddle or frying pan, heat up a little olive oil. When it's hot, add the onions and cook a little. Push them out to the edge and add the chicken. Turn over the sliced chicken and add the mushrooms. Mix the chicken, mushrooms and onions together until the chicken and mushrooms are cooked. Top with cheese slices and continue to heat until the cheese starts to melt. Pile everything into a hoagie roll.

You can top your sandwich with what you'd like. In this case, I added some ketchup and tomato slices. If I'd had some lettuce, I would've added that, as well.

Crock Pot Chicken Cacciatore

My father is Italian. My mother is Irish. When they were dating, the first meal she made for him was chicken cacciatore. That was bold. But she forgot the spaghetti. That was a little embarrassing, and a cute story she's told many times, which makes a dish a sentimental favorite for me.

Now silly family stories aside, chicken cacciatore is a truly classic Italian dish. Translated, it means hunter chicken, and alla cacciatora means a dish prepared hunter-style. Now real chicken cacciatore involves braising the chicken slowly in wine, etc. But we don't have time for that in our busy lives, right? Of course not. But we do have a Crock Pot that will let us make a simplified yet delicious facsimile of the classic recipe.

Ingredients1 lb chicken
1 onion cut into eight pieces
1 green pepper cut into strips
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 small can tomato paste
1 lb pasta of your choice

DirectionsFirst a word about the chicken. Traditionally, you should use a cut up chicken still with the bones in. I find that a little more difficult to eat, especially when you're feeding it to children, so I prefer to use boneless chicken. When I made this the other day, I used breasts, but you can use whatever pieces of the chicken you'd like, including boneless thighs, which are readily available in your grocery store's meat department.

OK. Now that we have our chicken, put it in a Crock Pot. I like to put it in when the meat is still at least partly frozen so that it hold together a little better during a full-day's stewing. Next add in the onion and green pepper. Dump in the spaghetti sauce and the tomato paste. (I added this ingredient to the recipe even though I didn't use it myself the other day, because I found the sauce to be a little thin in the end, and I think the paste will help thicken it. I will update the recipe the next time I try it.)

Turn the Crock Pot on low, put on the lid and go to work. Dinner will be pretty much ready when you get home. All you'll have to do it make the pasta (I used rigatoni) when you get home.

Sorry for the bad photo. I'll update this, as well, the next time I make this.

The chicken will be fork tender. Serve it over pasta with some garlic bread and a side salad. It doesn't get much easier than this, and is perfect for a chilly day.

Crock Pot Classic: Beef Stew

Fall has arrived, and the weather is starting to turn cool. That means it's time to break out the Crock Pot, which may be the single greatest kitchen gadget around.

If you have a Crock Pot (or slow cooker), and rarely use, I will teach you its versatility. If you don't have one, go get one. Seriously. I'll wait. You can get one for $15 or $20 at most stores, and it's worth every penny without a doubt. So go ahead.

OK. Now that we all have a Crock Pot, we'll start with a little education on what it is. Your slow cooker should have two main parts (though I have heard tell of a bizarre one-piece version that's a pain to clean, so stay away from that). First there's the base, which features a plug, a heating element and a knob. Some slow cookers have timers and various settings. Mine has a single knob that switches between Off, Low and High. Second there's the crock itself, which is a ceramic pot that sits inside the base. Of course, there is also the lid, which is very important, as I'll explain.

By the way, don't worry about what your Crock Pot looks like. Nowadays you can get them in all sorts of colors, but as you can see, mine looks like your Grandma's. It cooks just the same.

So the key to Crock Pot cooking is low and slow. The heating element in the base heats the crock evenly at a low temperature, which then allows the food to cook evenly, usually with the help of some liquid inside.

Now, you can make just about anything with a Crock Pot. I use it mainly for mains, but I've also made a great cheese dip for parties, I've seen it used to keep apple cider warm and there are even recipes for breakfasts and desserts.

As we start with Crock Pot cooking, I'll begin with a family favorite. If you asked me about a comfort food my Mom made when I was a kid, I would immediately think of her beef stew. It would have to be my favorite thing she made regularly, in part because when she did it in the Crock Pot, it would cook all day and fill the house with a delicious smell by the time you got home from school.

Beef stew is very simple, as you only need a few ingredients. First, of course, is the beef. I like to wait until the super market has stew beef on sale and buy a couple of packets at 1-1.5 pounds each. By the way, this recipe works for pot roast, too, with some slight derivations I'll explain later. You're just using a hunk of meat instead of the bite-sized pieces of stew meat.

Now, my Mom always browned the beef in a skillet, so that's what I do. While that cooks, I turn on the Crock Pot and add the vegetables to the Crock Pot. Now there are three must-have veggies for a good beef stew: potatoes, carrots and onions. A little celery is also good to add a little flavor. Now, at some grocery stores, though not the ones I shop at here in NC, you can sometimes find a frozen Stew Mix, which has all these essentials. If you can't, just buy each frozen or fresh. My Mom often uses or adds canned potatoes. I've used the frozen mix and then added a couple more fresh, peeled potatoes, which helps thicken the stew. When I made it most recently, I used fresh potatoes (halved), baby carrots and an onion cut into eight pieces, then added some frozen mixed vegetables (carrots, green beans, corn, peas) just to get some more veggies.

OK, so your veggies are in, and your beef is browned. Drain the fat from the meat and put the meat in the Crock Pot on top of the veggies. Now it's time to add a little flavor. Take an envelope of onion soup mix and add it to a cup of water. Pour it over the meat and veggies. Now put the lid on the Crock Pot. Remember, I said the lid is key. You have to make sure the lid is on well and not letting any steam out, as this will cause the Crock Pot to lose heat, which will hurt the cooking process.

You'll notice I didn't say what setting to put the Crock Pot on. Well, that's because it all depends how long you plan to cook. If you only have four hours or so, put it on high. If you have longer, put it on low. I typically, just as my Mom did, put this all together before I leave for work. I put it on low, and let it cook all day, so it's ready to eat when we get home, and the house smells so deliciously wonderful!

Believe me, this is a wonderfully simple and tasty dish that will not disappoint.

Now I mentioned that there are a few differences if you're making pot roast. I made some the other night with a kit I bought at the store. The directions on that did NOT call for browning the meat first, but it did call for putting the raw meat in the Crock Pot first, then topping it with the veggies and water. That's all. Talk about simple. When it's done, don't bother setting the table with knives, unless you need them to put butter on some bread, because everything else is fork tender!

In the coming days, I will share some more Crock Pot recipes, to prove what a wonderful tool it is, especially for busy families.

Chicken & Vegetables in White Wine Sauce

Here's another easy and tasty recipe that's sure to please. As is often the case with my recipes, feel free to change the ingredients to suit your taste.

Before you get started, there's an important tip about cooking with wine. In the grocery store you can find what's called cooking wine. DO NOT BUY IT! Any chef will tell you this simple rule: If you wouldn't drink it, don't cook with it. That does not mean you have to be a wine connoisseur. Just use what you like. If you're not a wine drinker, just ask a friend or someone at the store. I used Barefoot Chardonnay with this. And of course, if you use a wine you like to drink, it makes it very easy to find the right wine to pair with the meal!

Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
1 pound chicken cut into bite-sized pieces
1 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup chopped onions
2 gloves garlic chopped
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 cup white wine
2 cups cooked rice (I used Jasmine rice, which adds a nice aromatic flavor, but use whatever you have/like)

Directions
Cook rice according to directions.

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Brown chicken until almost done. Add carrots, onions and garlic and cook until veggies start to soften. Add mushrooms and cook another minute or two. Slowly add wine and scrape bits off bottom of pan. Stir in onion soup mix. Bring to boil, reduce heat to low and simmer 5-10 minutes. Serve over rice.

As you can see, I served it with a side of broccoli to add a little more color to the dish. The kids should love it, too!

Gold Medal Meals: Beef Stroganoff

OK. I admit it. I dropped the ball. An out-of-town weekend trip and the busyness of life with two kids kept me from continuing my plan of a meal from a different nation each night of the Olympics. So on this night where London extinguished its cauldron, I decided to make one more Gold Medal Meal.

One of the traditions of the Closing Ceremonies at the Olympics is the hand-off to the next host city. In this case, London passes off to Rio De Jeneiro, Brazil, for the next summer games, but the next host is Sochi, Russia, home of the XXII Olympic Winter Games. So in honor of Russia, I decided to make Beef Stronganoff (or Stronganov).

As I often do, I searched for an easy recipe for the dish, and then added a few touches of my own. In addition to getting me back to the Olympic theme, this unlike many of the other Gold Medal Meals, fits with the theme of simplicity in cooking this blog targets.

Ingredients
12-16 oz package egg noodles
1 lb lean ground beef
1 cup chopped onion
3 cloves garlic chopped
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup (low or reduced fat preferably)
1/2 cup sour cream
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
In large pot of boiling water, cook noodles according to directions.

In large skillet over medium-high heat, brown ground beef. Just before it's all done, drain the grease. Stir in the onion, and cook two more minutes. Stir in garlic and mushrooms. Cook two more minutes, or until mushrooms are tender. Stir in soup, salt and pepper, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 8-10 minutes. Stir in sour cream, simmer two more minutes. Serve over noodles.

It's not the most photogenic dish, but it's pretty tasty, even if our little guy wasn't willing to give it a chance. My wife and I talked about how it would be an easy dish to hide some veggies, like diced carrots, by adding them in with the meat and other veggies.

Shrimp and Pineapple with Yellow Curry Sauce

In honor of the Final Four, I'll give you an opening night double-header. This is another restaurant favorite we've adapted at home. It comes from Indochine, an awesome Thai/Vietnamese place in Wilmington.

I've made this with several different bases. The bottom line is that you need a curry sauce/soup with coconut milk. I've made it by just getting a can of coconut milk and mixing in curry powder, but I've found the simplest way is to get a pre-made sauce you can find in the ethnic food aisle of many grocery stores. There are a couple of brands I've tried, including Patak's and Sharwood's. When I made this the other night, I used Sharwood's Pinapple & Coconut Cooking Sauce, and it turned out really well.

OK, here's what you need:
1 green bell pepper sliced into strips
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped or crushed
1-2 eighths of an onion, layers separated
.5-1 lb shrimp
2 cups pineapple chunks
1-2 Roma tomatoes quartered
Curry sauce
Milk
Curry powder
Ground ginger
Ground turmeric
Olive oil
3-4 cups Jasmine rice (prepared)

I use a rice cooker to do the rice so I don't have to worry about it while I cook everything else.

Heat up a wok and pour some olive oil around the sides. Throw in the green bell pepper strips and onion slices, then after a minute or so, add in the garlic. Let the veggies soften a bit. Add shrimp and stir until shrimp begins to pink up. Add sauce, pineapple and tomatoes, bring to a boil. I like to put a little milk into the empty jar, put the lid back on and shake to get the excess off the sides, then add that in with a little curry powder to taste. You can also add some turmeric and ginger to taste if you want.

Once the sauce comes to a boil, turn the heat down to medium and simmer long enough to let everything meld together, soften up the tomatoes and let the pineapple soak in the sauce. Don't let the peppers get too soft, though. Serve over Jasmine rice.

At the restaurant it's actually saucy enough that it can be eaten like a soup/stew with a spoon. Just depends on how you like it.

Now if I can just replicate Indochine's cabbage salad...