Truffled Gnocchi with Peas and Chanterelles

"Truffled" is used loosely in this case. There are no truffles at all in this recipe, Chanterelles in fact, but I couldn't find them and went with a mixed gourmet mushroom package from Papa Joes grocery. It turned out fantastic, even without the better mushroom choice; though, I'm still looking forward to trying it with Chanterelles.

The best part is it only took 10 minutes to make this meal.


Truffled Gnocchi with Peas and Chanterelles
Serves 4

1 lb. Potato gnocchi
2 tbsp. Extra-virgin olive oil
10 oz. Chanterelle mushrooms, roughly chopped
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup peas, fresh or frozen
2 tsp. Finely chopped fresh thyme
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 tbsp. Finely chopped chives
Freshly grated Parmesan

Cook potato gnocchi according to package directions.

Bring a 12” skillet over medium-high heat to high; add cream, peas, mushrooms, and thyme and cook. Stirring occasionally, until cream reduces by half. Season mushroom sauce with salt and pepper and remove skillet from heat. Add drained, gnocchi pasta to sauce pan and turn to coat, turning down heat to low. Plate pasta and sauce. Sprinkle parmesan and chives on top to serve.

Stuffed Savory Chicken Duxelles

You learn something new every day. Apparently, my lesson for Tuesday April 14th wasn't oh shit I better print and sign my taxes, it was what "Duxelles" means. Duxelles is a thick paste of mushrooms, shallots and herbs. See how simple that lesson was.

The recipe was pretty simple and provided a nice alternative from my typical breadcrumb, cheese and spinach stuffing. The white wine in the stuffing reduction provides some nice, subtle flavor to the meat too.


Chicken Stuffed with Savory Duxelles
Serves 4

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, mashed
1 shallot, peeled and minced
1 lb. White button mushrooms, finely chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
2 whole boneless chicken breasts with skin, split

Heat oven to 400°. In a large skillet over medium heat, heat 1 tablespoon oil. Add garlic and shallot; sauté, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the mushrooms; cook, stirring, until mushrooms release their juices, about 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add white wine, and continue cooking until liquid has evaporated, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in the parsley.

Pull skin back from one chicken breast, keeping skin attached at one end. Season with salt and pepper. Mound 1/3 cup mushroom filling on breast; pull back over filling. Tuck ends under breast, forming a ball. Secure with toothpicks. Repeat with remaining chicken breasts. Return chicken to sauté pan and brown for about five minutes, turning to brown evenly.

Place stuffed breasts in a roasting pan, keeping them close together but not touching. Drizzle remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil over top. Transfter to oven; roast until skin is golden brown and chicken has cooked through, about 35 minutes. Remove from oven and serve.

Simple and Lighter Chicken with Biscuits (really)

I love it when I get an email in the middle of my work day saying, "Can you make this?" Stephanie occasionally will find a recipe she would like to try and knows I love a challenge. This recipe wasn't much of a challenge, though. In fact, it ended up being a pleasantly simple recipe that only took 20 minutes to make.

I used frozen biscuits from Trader Joe's to accompany the chicken dish; instead, of doing homemade biscuits. Note: you can find the full recipe with homemade biscuits here at Martha Stewart's website.

Lighter Chicken and Biscuits
Serves 4

2 teaspoons vegetable oil, such as safflower
1/2 cup low-fat (1 percent) milk
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
5 carrots, thinly sliced
5 celery stalks, thinly sliced
1 box (10 ounces) frozen pearl onions, thawed
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces

Prepare frozen biscuits according to package instructions or have fresh biscuits ready.

In a 5-quart Dutch oven or large heavy pot, heat 2 teaspoons oil over medium-high. Add carrots, celery, and onions; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until vegetables are tender, 7 to 10 minutes.

Sprinkle vegetables with remaining 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour; stir in remaining 3/4 cup milk, 1/2 cup water, and thyme. Simmer until liquid is thickened, stirring occasionally, 2 to 3 minutes. Add chicken; simmer until cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes. Serve chicken stew with biscuits.

Thai Green Curry Chicken

I bought some green curry paste for another recipe I made a couple weeks ago--it wasn't good, so I didn't post it on the blog--and so I was left with an ingredient I don't use that often. Thankfully, there is Allrecipes.com which is a great resource for finding a ton of recipes that can be searched by a single ingredient. I ended up finding an excellent, authentic tasting curry recipe. I made two tweaks to it. One I increased the curry paste by an extra tablespoon and I reduced the fish sauce from one tablespoon to one teaspoon, both changes are in the recipe below.


Thai Green Curry Chicken
Serves 4

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into 1 inch cubes
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cooking oil
3 tablespoons green curry paste
2 green onions with tops, chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
2 cups coconut milk
1 teaspoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons white sugar
1/2 cup cilantro leaves, for garnish


Toss chicken first in 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce, then in the flour, coating pieces evenly. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Place chicken in the skillet, cook and stir chicken until browned, about 5 minutes. Remove chicken.

Reduce heat to medium and stir in curry paste. Cook for 1 minute until fragrant, then stir in green onions, garlic, and ginger; cook an additional 2 minutes. Return chicken to the skillet, stirring to coat with the curry mixture. Stir the coconut milk, fish sauce, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, and sugar into the chicken-curry mixture. Allow to simmer over medium heat for 20 minutes until the chicken is tender. Serve garnished with cilantro leaves.

original recipe.

Stuffed Chicken in Chardonnay Cream Sauce

I have made this recipe since the early 1990s. I had caught it watching a Northwest cooking show when spending a summer with my dad in, of all places, Boring, Oregon. Fortunately, the local PBS station was anything but boring when it came to some delicious recipes. I don't recall the show's name but it was sponsored by Chateau Ste Michelle Winery.

The recipe that follows is not from the original television show. I have modified the original to make it less complex, but still retain the complexity of the flavors.

Enjoy! This is always a hit and, believe it or not, it only takes less than hour from preparation to on the table. I made tonight after work without much effort.


Stuffed Chicken in Chardonnay Cream Sauce
Serves 4

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup of spinach, coarsely chopped, uncooked
3/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 egg, whites only – discard yolk
2 oz. Goat cheese
1 shallot, diced
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup Chardonnay or dry white wine
1/2 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven at 375 degrees.

Cook spinach in lightly oiled pan for about 3 minutes too soften. Fillet chicken breasts by cutting through middle of thickest side, but keep attached, as you will use the filleted chicken center as a pocket for the filling. For the filling, mix the cooked spinach, goat cheese, breadcrumbs, egg white, 1 tablespoon of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Spoon filling in chicken breasts, about a tablespoon or more, filling them enough but not too much that you can’t wrap the chicken around the stuffing. Secure the chicken around the stuffing using toothpicks, about 3 per chicken. Make sure you leave some of the toothpick ends poking through enough so they are easy to remove after cooking.

Heat sauté pan on medium high heat and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and butter to pan. Add chicken when bubbling. Cook on each side to brown for about 2-3 minutes per side for about 10 minutes total. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil if necessary to keep pan well oiled. After browning chicken, move pan to oven and heat for 20 minutes.

Remove pan from oven and remove chicken breasts from pan. Set aside. Being careful with hot sauté pan, add 1 tablespoon of butter and melt adding diced shallots. Cook for about 1 minute and then add wine to deglaze the pan. Reduce wine to about half, about 3-4 minutes. Add heavy cream and whisk sauce adding salt and pepper to taste.

Plate chicken by cutting into one inch thick slices at diagonal. Drizzle sauce over cut, stuffed chicken.

Pork Loin with White Wine Reduction

There are so many ways to make a sauce, but most have one of the following main ingredients: heavy cream, butter or wine. And, yes, some great sauces use all three. The one I invented last Friday night used a white wine reduction.


Breaded Pork Loin with White Wine Reduction
Serves 4

4 pork loin cutlets, trimmed of fat
1 egg, white only - discard yoke
1 tablespoon orange juice
1 cup bread crumbs
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil

For Sauce:
1/2 cup of white wine, Chardonnay or table wine
4 tablespoons butter
1/4 medium red onion or 1 shallot, finely chopped
Juice from half a lemon
1/2 teaspoon capers
salt and pepper to taste


Heat butter and olive oil in medium high saute pan. Place pork loin cutlets between saran wrap and pound thin with meat tenderizer. Mix egg white and orange juice together in shallow bowl. Mix bread crumbs, fresh parsley, and salt and pepper in a separate shallow bowl. Dip pork cutlets into egg wash and then dip into bread crumb mixture, coating both sides. Cook cutlets for about 5 minutes on each side. Remove cutlets from pan.

In saute pan, add onions and 1 tablespoon of butter, if necessary. Cook onions until translucent, about 2 minutes. Add capers and cook for 1 minute with onions. Add white wine and reduce by half. Add lemon juice, remaining 3 tablespoons of butter, and salt and pepper whisking ingredients to wine reduction. Return cutlets to pan for about 1 or 2 minutes as sauce thickens.

Remove cutlets from pan and pour sauce over to serve. Sprinkle with any remaining parsley, optional.

Real Home Cooking: Shortcut Ravioli

One thing I wanted to do with this blog was to make it about home cooking, not just gourmet cooking. Home cooking isn't about doing everything by scratch, well at least the non-idyllic version isn't. Home cooking is often about finding shortcuts and having dishes that are easy to make after a long day at work.

The following dish is all about shortcuts. First, I started with fresh frozen ravioli from Alcamo's in Dearborn. The ravioli I like from Alcamo's is the chicken portobello mushroom. It has diced all-white meat chicken breast combined with diced mushrooms. They are excellent, but run $10 for a package that serves two. If you don't have Alcamo's in your neighborhood, than any store bought cheese ravioli works.

I was going to accompany the pasta with my homemade Alfredo sauce, until I realized my heavy cream expired last week. So, I went with a backup sauce packet. Knorr's garlic herb white sauce actually works very well for store bought ravioli. I did add some fresh asparagus and Parmesan Reggiano to bring some fresh elements to the dish.

There are a lot of dishes that come together without much effort. This was just one of them. I hope you find it useful if you ever are in a pinch.