Roasted Chicken Breasts with Herbs de Provence

Posted on March 10, 2014 by The Food Lover

A favorite roasted chicken dinner at my house stars a bone-in skin-on chicken breast. I like to experiment with different herb rubs. A popular herb rub for chicken in my kitchen includes Herbs de Provence. You’ll love my Roasted Chicken Breasts with Herbs de Provence. It’s a Spring-forward entree that may bring an early Spring to your table.

Truffled Mashed Potatoes, Honeyed Carrots, and Roasted Bone-In Chicken Breasts with Herbes de Provence rub (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

Herbes de Provence is an herb medley that originated in the Provence region of southern France. The medley can contain quite a number of herbs including lavender, basil, marjoram, sage, savory, fennel, oregano and others. It’s a very bold mixture that I just love. We use herbs de provence in a number of dishes, and I’ve even mixed my own spice rubs.

Whole Foods Market’s 365 brand Herbes de Provence (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

Roasted vegetables pair well with these roasted chicken breasts. Additionally, some Truffled Mashed Potatoes and honeyed carrots on the side offer earthy sweetness.

Roasted Chicken Breasts with Herbs de Provence and Roasted Vegetables (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

Start out with two bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts. Put them in a baking dish on a wire rack.

Two bone-in skin-on chicken breasts (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

With your fingers, carefully separate the chicken skin from the chicken meat and slide in a few pats of butter per chicken breast. The butter pats will help keep the chicken moist while it is roasting.

Slide the butter pats underneath the chicken skin (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

Pull the chicken skin over the butter pats to cover them.

Make sure the chicken skin is pulled over the butter pats (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

Drizzle a bit of canola oil over the chicken skin, and sprinkle the herbs de provence over the chicken. Season with coarse sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

Sprinkle the Herbes de Provence, coarse sea salt, and freshly cracked pepper over the chicken breasts. (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

I like to use an unsalted chicken stock/broth in this dish. Try Kitchen Basics or another brand. Whatever you like.

Kitchen Basics’ Unsalted Chicken Stock (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

Add some chicken stock and some white wine to the pan.

Add chicken broth and white wine to the pan (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

Cover the pan with foil and put it into a preheated 325 degree Fahrenheit oven. Roast the chicken breasts for 30 minutes. Then remove the foil to let the chicken breasts roast to a nice golden brown.

Remove the foil so the chicken breasts can brown during the remainder of roasting (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

When the roasted chicken breasts are done, take them out of the oven and let them rest a few minutes.

Herbes de Provence Roasted Chicken Breasts are done (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

Place a chicken breast on each serving plate. Add your favorite side dishes, and serve!

Herbes de Provence Roasted Chicken Breasts with Honeyed Carrots and Truffled Mashed Potatoes (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

The best part of this dish? The crispy herby skin from the chicken. Many people are trying to cut back on their fat intake, however, this crispy skin is a once-in-a-while treat. You can use boneless skinless chicken breasts, but I find that the bone-in chicken breasts are far more succulent for this dish. Either way, I hope you enjoy this dish.

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From the kitchen of A Food Lover’s Delight….

Roasted Chicken Breasts with Herbs de Provence

Ingredients:

2 bone-in skin-on chicken breasts
2 T butter
2 T herbs de provence
1 T coarse sea salt
1 T canola oil
1 c chicken broth/stock
1 c white wine

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Spray a baking dish with cooking spray.
3. Place two bone-in skin-on chicken breasts into the baking dish on top of a wire rack so the chicken doesn’t stick to the bottom of the dish.
4. Carefully separate small areas of the skin from the chicken breasts to make a pocket in each between the skin and the chicken meat. Slide in some pats of butter underneath the skin, and pull the skin back into place.
5. Brush the chicken skin with some canola oil.
6. Sprinkle the herbs de provence onto the chicken skin. Season with coarse sea salt and cracked black pepper.
7. Add the chicken stock/broth and white wine to the bottom of the baking dish.
8. Cover the baking dish with foil and roast for 30 minutes.
9. After 30 minutes, remove the foil and let the chicken skin brown a bit. Roast the chicken breasts a total of 45 – 60 minutes. Use a meat thermometer to check that the internal temperature for the chicken is 170 degrees.
10. Remove the baking dish from the oven and let the chicken breasts sit for a few minutes.
11. Place a roasted chicken breast on each serving plate.
12. Serve with your favorite side dishes.

Serves 2 as a main course. Serve with a vegetable and a starch side dish such as my Truffled Mashed Potatoes or Easy Mashed Potatoes.

Variations: You can omit the white wine if you don’t like to cook with alcohol. Just add more chicken broth/stock. Use a turkey breast instead of the two bone-in chicken breasts and adjust the cooking time. You can add more or less of the herbs de provence.

Roasted Bone-In Chicken Breasts with Herbes de Provence served along with Honeyed Carrots and Truffled Mashed Potatoes (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

Bone-in Chicken Breasts roasting in the oven (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

Order some Herbes de Provence for yourself:

www.afoodloversdelight.com (Copyright Adroit Ideals 2014)

Friday Night Pepperoni and Provolone Pizza

Posted on March 7, 2014 by The Food Lover

It’s almost Friday Night! Usually Friday Night means Pizza Night for many families. If you want to order pizza from your local pizza delivery restaurant, that works. I prefer to make my favorite Friday Night Pepperoni and Provolone Pizza. It’s super tasty and will pop out of my oven piping hot! Save the lukewarm delivery pizzas for another time.

Friday Night Pepperoni and Provolone Pizza slices with drizzle of olive oil (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

Whole Foods Market carries the best pepperoni around. It’s at the deli counter and not pre-sliced. The ladies behind the deli counter will slice the pepperoni very thinly for me. My husband and I don’t eat a lot of pepperoni or other cured meats, so this pepperoni is a treat for us.

As I’ve mentioned in other pizza posts, I like to make my own pizza dough and pizza sauce. You can substitute store bought pizza dough and sauce, or use your own recipe. Pizza is all about what you like.

Start with a nice pizza dough. I make dough with my Vitamix and use their recipe with a bit more salt and sugar added.

Pizza dough’s rising for the Friday Night Pepperoni and Provolone Pizza (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

Roll out your pizza dough to the size of your pizza pan using some additional flour so the dough doesn’t stick. I alternate from round pizza pans to rectangular pizza pans for larger pizzas. Smaller individual pizzas are a great choice for a family with varied pizza topping tastes. That way, everyone can create their own unique pizza. Place the dough on your greased pizza pan.

Roll out the pizza dough to fit the pan, and brush on some olive oil (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

Brush the dough with a light coating of olive oil. For this pizza, place a few provolone cheese slices around the pizza dough.

Place a few slices of provolone on the pizza dough (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

Cover the dough with a light coating of pizza sauce. You can use your favorite pizza sauce, or try my roasted tomato sauce with your favorite Italian herbs. I used my roasted tomato sauce for this pizza. Use just enough sauce so your pizza will cook nicely but won’t be soupy. I like a thicker pizza sauce and sometimes just use chunks of roasted tomato instead of sauce.

Cover the provolone slices with the pizza sauce (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

Sprinkle some shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheeses over the pizza sauce. Try to keep the toppings light or your pizza will be soggy in the middle.

Top the sauce with some shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheeses. (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

Add some thinly sliced pepperoni to the pizza.

Add thinly sliced pepperoni to the pizza (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

Finish with another covering of shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheeses.

Cover the pepperoni with more mozzarella (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

Bake for 10 – 15 minutes in a 450 degree Fahrenheit oven. Your oven temperature may vary from mine, so periodically use a spatula to pry up and look at the bottom of the pizza dough so it doesn’t burn.

Hot from the oven: Friday Night Pepperoni and Provolone Pizza (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

Cut into slices, sprinkle with a bit of shredded parmesan cheese, and maybe some hot pepper flakes, and serve!

Friday Night Pepperoni and Provolone Pizza Slices (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

Friday Night Pepperoni and Provolone Pizza! Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

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From the kitchen of A Food Lover’s Delight….

Friday Night Pepperoni and Provolone Pizza

Ingredients:

1 fresh pizza dough
some flour for rolling out dough so it doesn’t stick to board
1/4 c olive oil
10 – 12 slices provolone cheese
1 c pizza sauce
1/2 c shredded parmesan cheese, divided
2 c shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
12 – 15 large but thin slices pepperoni
Additional shredded parmesan cheese for serving

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Prepare your pizza dough. When ready, roll out your pizza dough on a pastry or cutting board to the size of your pizza pan. Use a bit of flour to aid in rolling out the pizza dough so it doesn’t stick to your pastry board.
3. Grease the pizza pan with some cooking spray and move the dough to the pan. Press the dough with your fingers in order to add a raised edge to hold the pizza toppings in place.
4. Brush the pizza dough with a light coating of olive oil.
5. Arrange the provolone cheese slices on the dough.
6. Spread the pizza sauce over the provolone cheese slices.
7. Sprinkle half of the mozzarella and half of the parmesan over the pizza sauce.
8. Arrange the pepperoni slices over the cheeses.
9. Sprinkle the rest of the mozzarella and parmesan cheeses over the pepperoni.
10. Bake the pizza for 10 – 15 minutes until bubbly, checking for doneness often. Your crust should be a nice deep golden brown color. An underdone crust will be doughy so be sure to bake the pizza long enough. If the crust is done but the topping isn’t quite cooked, you can broil the pizza for a few minutes.
11. Remove pizza from the oven and let sit for a minute or two before slicing into pieces.
12. Sprinkle each pizza slice with some additional shredded parmesan and serve!

Serves 4 – 6 hungry pizza eaters. Offer with a mixed green salad to round out the meal.

Variations: Lots of variations — you can add other toppings to this pizza if you like. Add some sliced mushrooms, black olives, bell pepper, onion, sausage or whatever suits your fancy. I like it just with the provolone and pepperoni. You can use smaller pepperoni pieces, it’s up to you. Sometimes I chop the pepperoni and add it to the pizza sauce for a different flavor and texture.

Get your own Vitamix at Amazon!

www.afoodloversdelight.com (Copyright Adroit Ideals 2014)

Nutella Napoleons

Posted on March 4, 2014 by The Food Lover

Super simple Nutella Napoleon dessert! Baked puff pastry and Nutella topped with toasted sliced Almonds, powdered sugar, and garnished with mini-Chocolate Chips! (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

Who doesn’t love Nutella? Nutella is a chocolatey hazelnut spread that’s popular all over the world. As long as you love Nutella and want to find yet another option for using it in your cooking, I think you’ll love my Nutella Napoleons.

Nutella! (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

Earlier in the day, I’d thawed some puff pastry to use in a dinner entree. Having three baked slices of puff pastry leftover from dinner, I was thinking about what I could make with it for dessert. The usual strawberries and whipped cream napoleon was a great thought, except that I didn’t have any fresh berries.

A jar of Nutella was sitting on the counter. What about Nutella as a “filling” in between the puff pastry layers? And what about some toasted sliced almonds? And a dusting of powdered sugar. And a few little mini-chocolate chips for garnish? And that’s exactly what happened!

Easy Nutella Napoleon – Puff Pastry, Nutella, Toasted Sliced Almonds. Sprinkling of Powdered Sugar and mini-Chocolate Chips. (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

Hope you enjoy this simple dessert. There are a lot of short “steps” but they’re pretty easy.

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From the kitchen of A Food Lover’s Delight….

Nutella Napoleons

Ingredients:

1 Puff Pastry Sheet, thawed (read directions on package, so you only thaw enough to handle the puff pastry — it can get too soft and then will stick together.
1 jar Nutella hazelnut chocolate spread
1/2 c toasted slivered almonds
Powdered sugar and mini-chocolate chips to garnish

Method:

1. Thaw the puff pastry sheet according to the manufacturer’s directions. Ensure that the pastry is not sticky or overly thawed or it will be hard to work with.
2. On a lightly floured surface, unfold the pastry or roll it out to a 10″ x 18 sheet. Use a small amount of additional flour so your fingers or a rolling pin won’t stick to the pastry dough.
3. Cut the puff pastry sheet into twelve 3 x 5 rectangular slices.
4. Bake the puff pastry until golden brown according to the manufacturer’s directions. Set aside to cool. When the pastry has cooled, get ready to assemble the napoleons.
5. For each napoleon, place a slice of baked puff pastry on a serving plate.
6. With a butter knife, smear some Nutella on the golden brown top of the slice of puff pastry.
7. Top with another piece of baked puff pastry. Smear Nutella on the golden brown top of the second piece of puff pastry.
8. Add a top piece of baked puff pastry.
11. Top the napoleon with some toasted sliced almonds.
12. Using a fine mesh strainer, finely dust some powdered sugar on top of the napoleon.
13. Sprinkle a few mini-chocolate chips around and on top of the napoleon.
14. Repeat for the rest of the napoleons.
15. Serve!!

Serves 4 as a dessert course.

Variations: Use regular-sized chocolate chips for garnish. Add some sliced strawberries or whole raspberries on top of the Nutella filling inside the napoleon and garnish with whole berries.

www.afoodloversdelight.com (Copyright Adroit Ideals 2014)

Prosciutto Brie Scrambled Eggs

Posted on February 28, 2014 by The Food Lover

What’s your favorite breakfast? Breakfast is one of my favorite meals, so I have a slew of favorite dishes. Weekdays are rushed so a quick breakfast is in order. On the weekends, I usually make something special. My Prosciutto Brie Scrambled Eggs are an elegant and simple dish for an early breakfast or a later brunch.

Crispy Prosciutto and Melty Brie enhance your Scrambled Egg breakfast! (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

One of my favorite brie cheeses is from Trader Joe’s. It’s a goat brie and sooo tasty. You can try this brie, or another one.

Trader Joe’s Goat Brie Cheese (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

Chop and fry some prosciutto until crispy and set aside. Whisk together some eggs in a bowl until light and frothy. Melt some butter in a non-stick pan. Pour the egg mixture into the non-stick pan. Stir the eggs gently until soft curds form. Add some brie cubes and stir until the brie melts. Add the crispy prosciutto to the eggs and brie, and warm through. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with toast, biscuits, or muffins.

Proscuitto Brie Scrambled Eggs with a side of Wheat Toast (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

This dish could be part of your brunch buffet bar for a special Sunday celebration.

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From the kitchen of A Food Lover’s Delight….

Prosciutto Brie Scrambled Eggs

Ingredients:

6 slices prosciutto, chopped
12 eggs
2 T butter
3/4 c brie cubes (rind removed)
salt and pepper

Method:

1. In a non-stick skillet, fry the prosciutto until it is crispy. Drain, remove to a bowl, and set aside.
2. Whisk together the eggs until frothy.
3. In the same non-stick skillet, melt the butter.
4. When the butter has melted, cook the eggs. Use a spatula to gently move the eggs around inside the pan.
5. When the eggs are mostly set into curds, add the brie cubes.
6. Lightly stir the eggs and brie cubes until the brie has melted.
7. Add the crispy prosciutto to the eggs, stir, and warm through.
8. Plate and serve!

Serves 4 as a breakfast or brunch entree. Offer with biscuits, toast, or muffins, butter, and your favorite jams and jellies. Add a few slices of sweet orange or melon on the side, or a small dish of fresh berries.

Variations: Serve the eggs over a bed of fresh arugula for a hearty brunch dish. Try other cheeses such as Monterey Jack, Havarti, cheddar, or goat cheese. Substitute bacon or regular ham for the prosciutto.

Italian Burgers

Posted on February 26, 2014 by The Food Lover

Sometimes you come upon a new favorite dish by having leftover ingredients from another one. This time, I had some leftover hamburger from a meatball recipe. The hamburger mixture contained some sweet onion, Italian seasoning, and shredded parmesan cheese. I had some leftover roasted tomato sauce from a previous meal. My Italian Burgers were born.

Juicy Italian Burger served with a mixed greens salad (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

My husband and I love to grill burgers outside in the summer. Our favorites include turkey burgers and buffalo burgers. This Italian burger can be made with virtually any ground meat. If you can’t grill outside, use a grill pan inside on your stove.

Start by making some of my Roasted Tomato Sauce. Keep it warm until the burgers are ready. If you don’t have time to make the sauce, you can use tomato ketchup instead.

Roasted Tomato Sauce to top the Italian Burger (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

For the burgers themselves, finely dice some sweet onion. Saute the onion in some olive oil until caramelized. Set aside in a large non-metallic bowl to cool.

Finely dice the onion (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

When the onions have cooled to room temperature, add some shredded parmesan and some Italian seasoning. I like the Simply Organic brand of Italian seasoning.

Simply Organic Italian Seasoning is a favorite to spice up my recipes (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

Using your clean hands, lightly mix together the caramelized onion with the Italian seasoning, parmesan cheese, and the ground meat. Form into patties. Season with a little salt and pepper.

Italian Burgers are formed and ready for the grill (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

Grill the burgers until done to your liking.

Grill the Italian Burgers (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

Toast some sandwich buns to a nice golden brown. I like to use whole wheat buns for this recipe.

Whole Wheat Buns are a healthier alternative to regular white flour buns (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

Mix together some mayonnaise and minced garlic for a nice garlic aioli. Spread a little aioli on the toasted buns.

Garlic Aioli for the Italian Burgers (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

When the burgers are done, place each one on a toasted bun.

Italian Burgers ready for plating (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

Top each burger with a slice of provolone cheese.

Provolone slices can be regular or smoky for the Italian Burgers (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

Add some roasted tomato sauce.

Italian Burger is ready for roasted tomato sauce (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

Place the bun top on the burger, and serve!

Italian Burger with Provolone and Roasted Tomato Sauce ready to serve! (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

This burger goes great with a mixed greens salad. You could also serve with
baked mozzarella sticks to dip into any leftover roasted tomato sauce.

Gooey cheesy Italian Burger (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

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From the kitchen of A Food Lover’s Delight….

Italian Burgers

Ingredients:

1 T olive oil
1/2 medium sweet onion, finely chopped
2/3 lb ground meat (use beef, buffalo, turkey, pork, or chicken or a mixture of more than one meat)
1 T Italian seasoning
1/8 c shredded Parmesan
salt and pepper
2 hamburger buns, toasted
1/4 c garlic aioli (mix mayo with 1/4 t minced garlic)
1/2 c Roasted Tomato Sauce
2 slices provolone cheese

Method:

1. Heat the olive oil in a non-stick skillet and heat a gas or charcoal grill.
2. Saute the onion until it has softened and slightly caramelized.
3. Remove the onion from the pan and let cool in a non-metallic bowl.
4. When the onion has cooled to room temperature, mix in the ground meat, Italian seasoning, shredded Parmesan, salt and pepper.
5. Form meat mixture into two burger patties.
6. Grill burgers over medium high flame or hot coals for about 4 – 5 minutes on each side.
7. Spread the garlic aioli on the insides of the toasted burger buns.
8. Place a burger on each bottom bun and top burgers with a slice of provolone.
9. Divide the roasted tomato sauce amongst the two burgers and top with the bun tops.
10. Serve!

Makes 2 Italian Burgers. Serve with mixed greens on the side, or some fries or onion rings.

Variations: Use whatever ground meat that you prefer. Use ketchup instead of roasted tomato sauce. Use a different melty cheese such as Havarti on top of the burgers. Add some fresh spinach or arugula leaves to the burger. To lighten this recipe, omit the cheese and garlic aioli, use ground turkey or chicken, and serve the burger without the bun on a bed of greens.

A Food Lover's Delight

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Roasted Chicken Breasts with Herbs de Provence

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Friday Night Pepperoni and Provolone Pizza

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Nutella Napoleons

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Prosciutto Brie Scrambled Eggs

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Italian Burgers

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