Italian Chicken en Papillote (a non-recipe post)

One of the great things about having my mornings in class is I'm forced to get up at the same time as I do when I teach. Now, I know some of you are putting your hands up to say, what the heck? There's method in my madness, I promise.

When I have time off, I stay up late. And then I sleep in. And my sleep cycle gets pushed further and further out of whack.

I don't like it when my sleep schedule gets pushed out of whack.

Believe it or not, I like productive mornings. It's so nice to get everything out of the way right at the beginning!

Plus, it means I don't have to feel guilty for my daily afternoon naps.

It's all about having guilt free naps.

Yesterday, after a drama class filled with some interpretive dance on war/peace to Zoe Keating, I walked to the library for my annual summer library reading binge. I wasn't carrying any bags on me, so I only picked up a few books, one of which was the French Women Don't Get Fat cookbook.

This recipe (if you can call it that) isn't from the book, but was inspired by her several recipes using the en papillote technique. For those of you not familiar with en papillote, it means you take meat or fish and place it, along with other flavourful ingredients, in parchment paper packages which are then baked in the oven. This steams the meat inside, but also infuses it with whatever ingredients you've thrown in along with it.

I opted for chicken with lemons, parsley (although, if you have fresh rosemary, all the better), olives, sundried tomatoes and capers.

The brilliance of this recipe, is that there really isn't one. Use what you've got on hand; just keep it to no more than 2 tbsp of toppings, plus something beneath the chicken to infuse from below. Sautéed shallots or spinach would make a great base. A few cloves of garlic in there with some lemon and lots of black pepper? Delish!

And the bonus? No added oils!

The packages are made by creating a circle out of parchment and layering all the ingredients on one half of the circle.

You then fold the other side of the paper over to create a half moon shape. Fold the sides up along the edge of the circle so it looks like this:

Bake in the oven on a baking tray at 400º for about 30 minutes.

If you're into theatrics, give everyone at the table a pair of scissors and allow them to cut a cross into the top of the package and then tear it open. The big reveal is half the fun.

Do be careful of the steam though. There's a lot of it trapped in there!

Quick Tabbouleh

Tomatoes - specifically raw ones - are one of those things I'm trying to incorporate into my diet more. They've never been something I've really liked to eat, though they're one of my favourite things to try and grow in the garden.

So, when Phil came home with some heirloom cherry tomatoes earlier this week, I knew I wanted to use them in a recipe that would showcase lots of bright, fresh flavours.

Earthy cracked wheat, fresh green onions, parsley, mint and tomatoes form the base of this recipe. Any leftovers the next day can be turned into a lunch time salad when mixed with tuna, chopped kalamata olives and capers.

Quick Tabbouleh

(slightly modified from Cooking Light)

Ingredients

2½ cups boiling water, or vegetable stock brought to a boil
1½ cups uncooked bulgur wheat
1 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 cup quartered heirloom cherry tomatoes
3/4 cup diagonally sliced green onions
¼ cup chopped fresh mint
1 tsp freshly grated lemon zest 
6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon ground cumin

Directions

1. Place bulgur in a large bowl. Pour boiling water or stock over top. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for an hour.


2. Once the hour has passed and liquid has been absorbed, fluff bulgur with a fork. To it add parsley through lemon zest.


3. In a small bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients. Pour over bulgur mixture. Toss gently and let sit for at least 30 minutes to allow flavours to combine. Mixture will keep for 3 days in the fridge.

Lemon-Almond Crunch Parfaits with Berries

This has been one of those weeks that feels like it just couldn't have ended soon enough! I haven't been online at all in the past few days - not even to respond to work emails. I'm swamped with after school clubs.

So, yes, I know I promised the appetizer recipe. But it's finally sunny out and I feel like celebrating with a dish that's bright and springy.

Whenever we have dessert with my parents and cousin, the dairy in the dessert recipes has to go, as my cousin has an allergy. Bring in, then, the edible oil product known as Cool Whip.

Let me be perfectly honest here: while under just about all circumstances, I would reject Cool Whip, this recipe was so good that, not only did I not mind about there being Cool Whip, I actually preferred it with it. It was lighter and brightly lemony.

Lemon-Almond Crunch Parfait with Berries

(adapted from Canadian Living)

Ingredients

3/4 3/4cup cupwhipping cream (or 1 tub light Cool Whip)
1 can (14 oz/398 mL) apricot halves in light syrup , drained and quartered1 pint raspberries, blackberries or a mixture of both, rinsed and thoroughly dried

Lemon Curd:
3 egg yolks 3 3egg yolkegg yolks
1 egg 1 1eggeggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar 1/2 1/2cup cup (125 mL) granulated sugar
1 tbsp granulated sugar 1 1tbsp tbspgranulated sugar
2 tsp finely grated lemon rind 2 2tsp  (10 mL) finely grated lemon rind
1/2 cup lemon juice 1/2 1/2cup cupfresh (125 mL) lemon juice
1 pinch salt 1 1pinch pinchsalt

Almond Crunch:
1/4 cup all-purpose flour 1/4 1/4cup cupall-purpose flour
2 tbsp large-flake rolled oats 2 2tbsp tbsp(25 mL) large-flake rolled oats
1 tbsp packed brown sugar 1 1tbsp (15 mL) packed brown sugar
2 tbsp unsalted butter , cubed2 2tbsp tbsp(25 mL) unsalted butter, cubed
2 tbsp slivered almonds 2 2tbsp t (25 mL)slivered almonds

Directions

1. Almond Crunch: Preheat oven to 350º and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, stir together flour, oats and brown sugar. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Stir in almonds. Dump mixture onto baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes or until mixture is golden and crisp. 

Do keep a close eye on it, because it will go from gorgeously brown to disastrously black in an instant.

2. Lemon Curd: In a heat proof bowl (you're going to be making a double boiler here, so choose your bowl appropriately), whisk together all lemon curd ingredients. Place over saucepan of simmering water and cook, whisking frequently, until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. If you have an instant read thermometer, it should read 160ºF. Remove from heat and strain mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a clean bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, being sure to press wrap directly onto the surface of the curd. This will prevent a thick skin from forming.

3. To Assemble: Stir half the curd to break up. Mix in half the tub of Cool Whip. Stir to thoroughly incorporate. Gently fold in remaining half of the tub (alternatively, whip the cream and divide in half and proceed according to above directions).

Divide berries between 8 serving glasses. Top with lemon mixtures. Sprinkle with almond mixture. Serve with long handled spoons!

The flavours of January

There's something about January that makes me crave citrus fruits. The clean, tart flavours brighten those post-Christmas blah days.

Back from the crazy holiday season, my first stop after school today was the grocery store, where I may have over indulged in citrus purchases. I couldn't help myself!

Of course, this means you'll have to suffer through a week of citrus inspired recipes! I'm really excited to try the kumquats out; I've never had those before!