5 Recipes: Lemon Chicken, Portobello Fries and Sides

From Denny: Chef Ed Brown rustled up a more interesting menu to start off the New Year. OK, so he hooked me with the easy and simple lemon chicken as we love anything lemon at our house. And those Portobello fries look awesome! What can I say? I'm a big fan of brain food - my fav mushroom! :)

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Lemon chicken

From: Chef Ed Brown

Serves: 4

INGREDIENTS

• 2 pounds boneless chicken breasts, cut into thin cutlets (approx. 1/2 inch thick)
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon fresh black pepper, ground
• 1/2 stick butter
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1/2 cup chicken broth, or vegetable broth or water
• 16 each paper-thin lemon slices with the skin
• 1/2 bunch flat-leaf parsley, picked, washed, dried, roughly chopped

DIRECTIONS

• Combine flour, salt and pepper and place in baking dish.

• In a large nonreactive skillet, melt 1/2 the butter over medium fire.

• Dust the chicken cutlets in the seasoned flour, shake off excess.

• Place chicken into the melted butter and reduce flame a little so it cooks slowly with NO color, turn after 2 minutes.

• Add lemon juice and wine, simmer 3 minutes.

• Remove chicken to serving platter, add stock to pan and increase heat to high, when boiling add remaining butter and simmer until reduced to half; cook 3-4 minutes.

• Place lemon slices and parsley over chicken.

• Pour sauce over the chicken.


Roasted carrots

From: Chef Ed Brown

Serves: 4

INGREDIENTS

• 2 bunches medium, fresh carrots with tops, washed, trimmed not peeled
• 1/2 cup good olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Place carrots on baking sheet, coat with oil and season. Place in oven and roast until tender, approximately 25 minutes.


Smashed potatoes with olive oil and parsley

From: Chef Ed Brown

Serves: 4

INGREDIENTS

• 8 each medium Yukon Gold or red bliss potatoes
• 3 quarts water
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1/4 cup best quality extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 bunch flat-leaf parsley, picked, washed, dried, roughly chopped
• Fleur de sel or kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

• Bring potatoes, water, salt, bay leaves and garlic to a boil in a large pot.

• When fork-tender, approximately 18 minutes, drain water, discard garlic and bay leaves, return potatoes to pot.

• Add oil, salt and pepper, then use either a potato masher or a large fork and roughly smash mixture. Add parsley, check seasoning.


Portobello fries with soy dipping sauce

From: Chef Ed Brown

Serves: 4

INGREDIENTS

Portobello fries

• 8 each portobello mushrooms
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups club soda
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 5 cups canola oil
• Sea salt

Soy dipping sauce

• 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoons ketjap manis sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon Thai fish sauce
• 3 tablespoons mirin
• 1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
• 1 slice fresh ginger, smashed

DIRECTIONS

Method for portobello fries

Remove the stems and the gills from the bottom of the portobello mushrooms. Cut the mushrooms like steak fries. Lightly dust the mushrooms with 2 tablespoons of flour. Mix the flour, club soda, eggs and kosher salt to form a batter. Dip the portobello fries in the tempura batter. Blanch the fries in the canola oil at 325 degrees F. Drain on a dry towel and let cool.

Heat the oil to 375 degrees. Cook the blanched fries in the hot oil until they are golden brown and crispy. Drain on a dry towel. Season with the sea salt.

Method for soy dipping sauce

Mix the soy sauce, ketjap manis, Thai fish sauce, mirin and rice wine vinegar. Add the ginger. Marinate overnight. Strain through a fine chinois or other small mesh strainer.


Endive, watercress and pomegranate

From: Chef Ed Brown

Serves: 4

INGREDIENTS

• 3 endive, split, cored, cut lengthwise in 1-inch segments
• 1 bunch fresh watercress, washed, dried, remove large stems
• 1 fresh pomegranate, remove seeds only, discard rest
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons sherry vinegar
• Kosher salt and fresh black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

In a salad bowl, combine all ingredients, season, toss, serve.

*** ALSO: Tummy Warming Desserts for The New Year

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Recipe: Portobello Mushroom Sandwiches with Arugula and Balsamic Aïoli

Cover via Amazon

From Denny: Featured recently in our local newspaper was this recipe from the Weber's Grill cookbook. The heat is in triple digits across America and we could use some "brain food" as our brains feel cooked! And I sure love Portobello mushrooms - the texture is almost like a steak with a lot less calories! :) Enjoy!

And make sure you are drinking lots of water in this summer heat - even when you don't feel thirsty - if you wait until then you may suffer serious heat stroke.

From: “Weber’s Way to Grill: The Step-by-Step Guide to Expert Grilling”

Serves: 6

Aïoli:

1/3 cup mayonnaise

2 tbls. balsamic vinegar

1 tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. minced garlic

Marinade:

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

2 tbls. finely minced shallot

1 tsp. minced garlic

1 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

6 large portobello mushrooms, cleaned, stems and black gills removed

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

6 Kaiser rolls, cut in half

2 ozs. arugula, trimmed, rinsed and dried

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, combine the aïoli ingredients. Refrigerate until ready to assemble the sandwiches.

2. In a small bowl, whisk the marinade ingredients. Place the mushroom caps, gill sides down, in a large baking pan. Brush the mushroom caps generously with the marinade and turn the caps over. Spoon the rest of the marinade over the gill side. Allow the mushrooms to marinate at room temperature for 15 to 20 minutes.

3. Prepare the grill for direct cooking over medium heat.

4. Remove the mushrooms from the pan and reserve the marinade. Lightly season the mushrooms with salt and pepper. Brush the cooking grates clean. Grill the mushrooms, gill sides down, over direct medium heat, with the lid closed as much as possible, until they begin to soften, 4 to 6 minutes.

Brush the cap sides of the mushrooms with some of the remaining marinade from the pan. Turn the mushrooms over and then grill them until they are tender when pierced with a knife, 4 to 6 minutes.

5. Grill the rolls, cut sides down, over direct medium heat until lightly toasted, about 30 seconds.

6. Spread aïoli on the toasted buns and top each one with some arugula and a mushroom. Serve warm.

Way to grill portobello mushrooms: Cut away the stems and any curled edges around the rims. With a spoon, gently scrape away the dark gills that might be holding dirt. Use a vinaigrette to marinate and baste the mushrooms. Finish grilling the mushrooms with the stem sides facing up so that the juices are held inside the caps.

Recipe: Portobello Mushroom Sandwiches with Arugula and Balsamic Aïoli

Cover via Amazon

From Denny: Featured recently in our local newspaper was this recipe from the Weber's Grill cookbook. The heat is in triple digits across America and we could use some "brain food" as our brains feel cooked! And I sure love Portobello mushrooms - the texture is almost like a steak with a lot less calories! :) Enjoy!

And make sure you are drinking lots of water in this summer heat - even when you don't feel thirsty - if you wait until then you may suffer serious heat stroke.

From: “Weber’s Way to Grill: The Step-by-Step Guide to Expert Grilling”

Serves: 6

Aïoli:

1/3 cup mayonnaise

2 tbls. balsamic vinegar

1 tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. minced garlic

Marinade:

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

2 tbls. finely minced shallot

1 tsp. minced garlic

1 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

6 large portobello mushrooms, cleaned, stems and black gills removed

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

6 Kaiser rolls, cut in half

2 ozs. arugula, trimmed, rinsed and dried

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, combine the aïoli ingredients. Refrigerate until ready to assemble the sandwiches.

2. In a small bowl, whisk the marinade ingredients. Place the mushroom caps, gill sides down, in a large baking pan. Brush the mushroom caps generously with the marinade and turn the caps over. Spoon the rest of the marinade over the gill side. Allow the mushrooms to marinate at room temperature for 15 to 20 minutes.

3. Prepare the grill for direct cooking over medium heat.

4. Remove the mushrooms from the pan and reserve the marinade. Lightly season the mushrooms with salt and pepper. Brush the cooking grates clean. Grill the mushrooms, gill sides down, over direct medium heat, with the lid closed as much as possible, until they begin to soften, 4 to 6 minutes.

Brush the cap sides of the mushrooms with some of the remaining marinade from the pan. Turn the mushrooms over and then grill them until they are tender when pierced with a knife, 4 to 6 minutes.

5. Grill the rolls, cut sides down, over direct medium heat until lightly toasted, about 30 seconds.

6. Spread aïoli on the toasted buns and top each one with some arugula and a mushroom. Serve warm.

Way to grill portobello mushrooms: Cut away the stems and any curled edges around the rims. With a spoon, gently scrape away the dark gills that might be holding dirt. Use a vinaigrette to marinate and baste the mushrooms. Finish grilling the mushrooms with the stem sides facing up so that the juices are held inside the caps.