Summer Chicken Cacciatore

Most chicken cacciatore recipes take 45 minutes to an hour or more and go better in cooler weather.  This lighter version is for summer nights and takes less than half an hour, 20 minutes if you aren’t chatting with a loved one too much.  Well, if the loved one is helping to chop the vegetables, maybe 20 minutes is right. 

Chopping and sautéing the vegetables take the first 10 minutes while the water for the pasta heats.  The second 10 minutes is devoted to creating a sauce with the skillet vegetables and steaming chicken breasts topped with cheese in that sauce while the pasta cooks.  The lighter sauce is made from fresh tomatoes and vegetable juice.  The result is flavor that remains "summer garden" pure.  If you can get most of the ingredients out of your garden or at the farmers market, you will really appreciate the difference this lighter touch brings to a classic, especially if you have fresh herbs and freshly picked tomatoes.

Summer Chicken Cacciatore
Serves 4

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 sweet onion (Vidalia), sliced
4 small sweet peppers (or one large red pepper), seeded and sliced
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
4 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 celery stalks, sliced
2 large tomatoes, diced including liquid
2 cups tomato-based vegetable juice (Knudson’s Very Veggie organic or V-8 juice)
1 teaspoon dried oregano (1tablespoon fresh)
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme (3-4 springs  fresh)
1/2 teaspoon dried basil (3-4 chopped leaves fresh)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Salt to taste (may need 1/2 teaspoon salt if using a low-sodium vegetable juice)
8 oz uncooked, dried pasta (whole wheat rotini or penne are nice and cook in about 8-9 minutes)
4 5-oz chicken cutlets (Try Perdue Perfect Portions for this quick dish or pound larger breasts flat so that they will cook in 10 minutes.)
4-6 thin slices mozzarella cheese
1 cup steamed fresh spinach
optional: 1/3 cup chicken broth, white wine

Method

1. In a large pot, begin to heat salted water to boiling for the pasta.  
2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet that has a cover (to be used later in recipe). 
3. Add onion, peppers, carrots and celery and sauté until they are crisp-tender.  
4. Add tomatoes and their juice plus vegetable and herbs.  Stir to coat and add broth or wine (or water) if desired.  There should be enough liquid to cover vegetables completely. Lower heat and cover for 2-3 minutes to combine flavors.  
5. Remove cover and allow to cook down a bit while you add pasta to the (now) boiling water. 
6. Add chicken breasts to skillet, laying them out over the vegetables.  Cover skillet to allow chicken to steam over sauce for about 5 minutes.  
7. Uncover and turn chicken over.  Place a slice or two of cheese on each breast and cover with lid.  Allow chicken to cook additional 4-5 minutes until cooked through ant at least 165˚F.  
8. When pasta is ready, drain and reserve about 1/2 cup pasta liquid.  
9. Remove chicken from skillet to a warm platter (or directly to plates) while you finish the pasta dish. 
10. Mix pasta and steamed spinach into the vegetable sauce.  Add a bit of pasta water if sauce has thickened too much: it should not stick the vegetables to each other.  
11. Serve pasta alongside chicken breasts.

Foraging for Chanterelle Mushrooms

Nothing suits the pure foods mantra like the foods we gather ourselves.  Last week my brother took me to a few of his secret spots in Vermont for chanterelles.  These are the gold-orange mushrooms that look like open parasols from below with gills reaching down the stem.  Not technically gills, but to us amateurs very similar. 

Speaking of amateurs, it’s smart to go mushroom hunting with an expert, preferably a regular forager for the particular mushroom you are searching out.  Matthew has taken me before but I still needed a refresher on identifying them and he checked my basket as we went along.  The more you see them, the easier they are to identify.   Most wooded areas can sustain chanterelles and in Vermont they can pop up seemingly overnight from late spring into September. We had luck at the base of pine and beech trees and along the length of fallen, decomposing trees. 

The forager’s attire and equipment list is short: long plants and shirt to discourage bugs, closed toe shoes to step through the forest’s uneven floor, an optional brimmed hat to protect eyes and face if you like to crash through underbrush, a basket for your finds and a pen knife to cut the stems cleanly. 

At home, Matthew used a dedicated paintbrush to clean our chanterelles.  Now the hard part—to enjoy that evening sautéed in butter over pasta or the next morning in omelettes?  The flavor of a chanterelle is delicate so it pairs well with noodles and eggs.  Don’t be tempted to add many more ingredients or the flavors will overpower your chaterelles.  Potatoes, poultry and seafood also provide a nice match for chanterelles.

Restaurants pay about $20 per pound, nice if you are hitting a gold rush of chanterelles but not a sustainable living.  (Mushrooms are light.)  Still, its nice to know the going rate so you can pat yourself on the back while enjoying a delicacy sought by chefs and diners at multi-star establishments.

Cleaned chanterelles store well in a paper bag in the refrigerator and can be frozen (uncooked) to use within 3 months.  To freeze, lay whole mushrooms on a small baking sheet and place in the freezer.  When mushrooms are frozen, in about 2 hours, place them in a re-sealable plastic bag marked with a use by date.

We decided on open-face chanterelle omelettes with a side of goat cheese.

Behold, the Simple Egg

A perfectly cooked hard boiled egg with a just set yolk and a white that is easily held in hand or chopped to create the perfect deviled egg or egg salad is easy to achieve but takes getting to know your equipment.  Every chef has the timing down but that doesn't mean it will work on your stove, in your favorite pot and in the temperature of your tap water.  Try my basic 6-6-6 technique and adjust to our kitchen's timing:

1. Place eggs straight from the refrigerator in a pot, covered with cold tap water, top on the pot.  
2. Place the pot over high heat and bring to a boil.  
3. Once water is boiling, lower heat and place the top askew so that a slow boil is maintained for 6 minutes.  
4. After 6 minutes, remove from burner and let eggs sit in hot water an additional 6 minutes.  
5. Drain and fill pot with cold water.  (If you are cooking more than 3 eggs,  rinse a few times to ensure water surrounding eggs is cool.)  
6. Let eggs sit in cold water 6 minutes.  Peel and store or enjoy immediately.

Hard boiled eggs don't need to be ice cold to enjoy.  If you are using right away on a chef's salad or a snack, try them while they are still warm.  Lovely.

Soft Boiled Egg Variations
Now that you can make a perfect hard boiled egg, here's how to make a soft boiled egg that is the perfect protein portion over a bed of steamed spinach or toast.  Fast for breakfast, satisfying for lunch, perfect for a light dinner.

Use the same technique as above but once the water begins to boil, remove the pot's lid, lower the heat and allow enough heat for a slow boil for 2 minutes.  Remove the egg with a slotted spoon and quickly run under cool water so you can handle the shell.  Over a bed of spinach or toast, use a knife to rap the egg's middle and open it up.  With a spoon scoop out the egg white allowing the yolk to ouze out like a thick sauce. A little salt and pepper completes the picture.

A raw egg (out of its shell) can also be placed in a ramekin or custard cup of hot steamed spinach, lightly covered and microwaved 35-45 seconds to create a poached egg effect. Slide it onto a broiled mushroom for an elegant first course.

Elegant Life Leftovers: Gazpacho

This traditional cold soup made from favorite summer salad ingredients can do extra duty if you make enough for leftovers.  First we enjoyed the soup for dinner with grilled shrimp and a heavy garnish of chopped avocado and feta cheese (ricotta salata or even a semi-hard blue from Denmark would also be nice).

The next day we mixed some of the leftover soup into parboiled fresh corn kernels to create a cold summer corn salad perfect for a neighborhood picnic contribution.  You can make a fast and simple pasta salad by substituting your favorite shaped noodle (cooked) for the corn.  Be sure to schedule time for the pasta or corn mixture to cool in the fridge before it heads to the table or picnic. 


Pure Foods Project Gazpacho
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 medium cucumber, seeded (peel if waxed)
1 large tomato
1-2 garlic clove, peeled
1 large red bell pepper (we used 4 smaller multi-colored sweet peppers)
20-32 oz quart tomato-vegetable juice (low sodium V-8 or Knudson's Very Veggie organic)2 tablespoons chopped, fresh parsley
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
Optional: squeeze of lemon or lime juice
Serving suggestions: 16 grilled shrimp (4 per person), 1/2 sliced avocado and 2 oz feta cheese chunks

Garnishes: chopped avocado, feta cheese cubes, grilled shrimp, day-old baguette slices

Method

1. Roughly chop the cucumber, tomato and garlic and place in a food processor or blender.
2. Use the pepper as is or roast it to a light char to impart a smokier flavor to your soup.  Either way, cut open and seed the pepper then roughly chop and add to other vegetables.
3. Add 1/2 the juice and pulse or blend until vegetables are finely chopped but not pureed.
4. Pour mixture in a large bowl or container and add remaining juice, parsley, olive oil and vinegar.
5. Taste and add salt and pepper, lime juice and even hot sauce if your taste calls for it.  
6. Cover and chill until serving time.
7. Serve with grilled shrimp, avocado and feta.

Now add about a cup of the leftovers to some cooked corn or pasta (about 3-4 cups cooked) and enjoy a second time around.