Bacon Wrapped Chicken and Mushroom Risotto Dinner

Jamie Oliver Inspired dinner for two!

For Christmas, one of my students gave me the book Cook With Jamie: My guide to making you a better cook. It's a great book because, beyond recipes, it really elaborates on overall concepts that you can apply to cooking on your own. I really look forward to using the book more as I have more time to cook in the coming months...

I had some leftover bacon in the refrigerator and went to the market to get fresh leeks, an assortment of mushrooms, a white onion, some celery and spinach...

I preheated the oven to about 200 degrees Celsius and washed/chopped up the leeks, adding some salt, pepper and olive oil. I added a lug of red wine for good measure, though Jamie recommended white (Not a bit white wine drinker, I don't usually have white wine at home!). I let the chicken breasts get covered in some of this marinade, and put everything in a small tray. I wrapped the chicken breasts in the slices of bacon, and set them on top of the leeks.

Jamie recommends 3 slices of bacon for each breast; I used just 1 so they weren't completely covered in the bacon. It was enough for a lot of flavor (and grease!) so I was happy with my choice. Popped this in the hot oven for about 25min but the very centers weren't done yet, so I popped them back in for another 10 or so min.

Meanwhile...

I got working on the risotto! My husband was helping out so the onion, celery and mushrooms were already chopped up when I began ;)

The celery and onion need to be really fine. I sauteed them in some butter/olive oil, adding a bit of minced garlic too. When they were really soft, I added the mushrooms and raw rice to saute for a bit too, along with some salt and pepper. Finally, I added a glug of red wine (again, Jamie said white). When it had all been absorbed, I started adding some chicken stock I had simmering in a separate pot, about 1 cup at a time.

While I made the risotto, Jiahui was helpful and stirfried the spinach in a bit of olive oil/garlic, so everything was ready!

A few things about risotto...
I love making it with either leftover rice (much quicker!) OR using brown rice. I thought brown rice was my secret until I read a NYTimes piece about making risotto with brown rice and found out it is not so secret anymore... but the reasons they give (healthier, etc.) are not the only reasons I use it! I have found that using brown rice is a bit easier because it is harder to overcook and get mush. Also, if you are having guests over, brown rice is much more forgiving of having to be reheated due to mistiming/latecomers and I even took risotto to a potluck once, because the brown rice allows it!

Another trick I've learned is using the ricecooker! It makes it really fool-proof since it stays at the perfect temperature for cooking rice, and you never burn the bottom. You are also not risking such a low cooking temp. that the rice turns out all mushy. The trick for me is to turn the rice cooker on and be patient in waiting for it to warm up a bit before starting, since it takes a bit longer than a pot would on the burner.

Notes on the Dish:

I have rarely experienced such flavorful chicken breast! It was tender and really picked up the flavor of the leeks and bacon. I would have added more salt to the chicken; I was cautious because of how salty bacon is, but we definitely needed to add some salt to our dishes at the table.

The risotto was pretty delicious, and I happily ate the leftovers for lunch the next day.

The chicken and leeks actually became more flavorful after a day or so in the fridge! For brunch on Sunday, I made delicious sandwiches with the chicken and leeks, some cheese, and sun dried tomatoes in a pita pocket! YUM!

Jamie Oliver's Lamb Racks (minus the racks...)

So I was excited to try a new tasty tray bake ala Jamie Oliver and I got together all the ingredients, except the main one -- the lamb racks! Turns out only one person in my local market sells lamb meat, and she was all out of ribs... So I just had to settle for some part of the upper leg that looked like it woud to well roasted...

It turned out pretty delicious, with the roasted veggies and fresh mint sauce drizzled on top! Better still, it made the house smell delicious as promised, while Jiahui and I watched a movie together :D

I doubled Jamie's recipe because I realized his portions are pretty small, and I intended to have leftovers to take to work...

Ingredients:
2 racks of lamb (just a big piece of meat in my case...)
1lb. baby white potatoes (these were one of the highlights of the dish!)
3 red bell peppers
2 zucchini
7oz. cherry tomatoes
8 cloves garlic
1/2 cup kalamata olives
1 medium sprig rosemary
1 small bunch mint
white sugar (Jamie said "superfine" but I just used regular and it was fine...)
red wine vinegar
white wine vinegar
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
pepper to taste

The Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 190 Celsius, boil the kettle
2. Wash and scrub the baby potatoes. Cut any large ones in half and place in a saucepan. Add a pinch of salt and cover with boiling water from the kettle.
3. Place the pan on high heat and bring back to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and boil for 5min. Meanwhile...
4. Halve, deseed and roughly chop the bell peppers. Crush unpeeled garlic cloves with the heel of your hand. Crush the olives and discard pits.
5. When the potatoes have had 5min, drain them and transfer to a roasting pan. Add the chopped pepper, crushed garlic and olives.
6. Drizzle everything with olive oil, add a pinch of salt and pepper, and toss to coat. Cook in the hot oven for 30min, or until the veggies are soft and tender and beginning to turn golden. Meanwhile...
7. Score the fat on the lamb in a criss-cross fashion. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper and add a small drizzle of olive oil. Rub the seasoning into the meat.
8. Top and tail the zucchini and cut into 1cm thick slices. Pick the rosemary leaves, discard the stalks.
9. When the vegetables have had 30min, remove the tray from the oven, add te zucchini, rosemary leaves and tomatoes. Add a splash more oil if needed, gently toss and return to the oven.
10. Place the pan back in the oven then put the lamb directly on the oven shelf above the pan -- the delicious juices from the roasting lamb fall onto the veggies, giving them a delicious flavor!
11. Jaime says to cook for 15-20min but my piece of lamb took almost 30min... Meanwhile...
12. Pick and finely chop the mint leaves, discard the stalks. Put the sugar in a bowl and add a tablespoon of hot water. Stir until the sugar is dissolved.
13. Add the mint leaves to the bowl along with the white wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. Stir everything together and pop in the refrigerator until needed.
14. When the lamb is done, transfer it to a plate, cover with aluminum foil and leave to rest for 5min. 
15. Sprinkle the red wine vinegar over the roasted vegetables and return to the oven for a final 5min.
16. When the lamb is rested, divide into portions and serve with a good helping of roasted vegetables and a spoonful or two of the mint sauce.

The Verdict!

This dish was delicious, and the smell of it cooking was pure torture! It smelled so good, and the whole house smelled awesome. The lamb was pinkish on the inside and done well, but the cut I bought wasn't the best I don't think, and it was a little tough. The mint sauce was a great complement though, and it was definitely edible! The highlight though, was the veggies. They were so flavorful, and perfectly done. The little potatoes were amazing, soft and juicy. I think boiling them before putting them in the oven really helps them retain some moisture, and that's a trick I will be using in the future!

The leftovers were delicious reheated or cold, and I took them to the office in the form of a sandwich as  well -- delicious with some added cheese, and plenty of the veggie gravy/sauce added to it for moisture. Yum!

Will definitely try this again, preferably with the actual lamb racks next time!

Super Seafood Tray Bake!

Last night I had friends over for dinner in my new place for the first time and broke my own rule about not making something I've never made before when I have guests over... I broke the rule because:

• I have been dying to try this recipe from Jamie Oliver's app.
• It looked pretty fool-proof.
• I wanted to do something in the oven so we could chat and hang out while the food was getting ready (best way to eat with guests!)

Photo courtesy of Jamie's app since I totally forgot to take pics until we had devoured almost EVERYTHING!

I did not regret the decision! This dish was flavorful but light, ideal for a late evening meal. it was citrusy and minty, and the smell of the fresh parsley stalks as I cut them reminded me of my childhood for some strange reason I could not quite place...

It was the first time I bought fresh seafood at the wet market! It's weird but all the live fish have intimidated me for a LONG time and it was fun to finally overcome my squeamishness. But more than that I haven't really cooked with seafood very often before either, except for the odd grilled salmon dish or shrimp stir-fry, so it was nice to have this recipe to guide me!

The main ingredients were seafood (Jamie says any kind will do, and his recipe called for jumbo shrimp, shells off but tails still on, and scallops. I added squid to mine on top of that!) and tomatoes. Jamie says a variety of tomatoes, adding up to 1lb (around 450 grams) for 4 people, but it is hard to get much variety in tomatoes here in Shanghai. I ended up using some red cherry tomatoes, some orange cherry tomatoes and a large tomato on the vine. The carb that gave some sustenance to the dish was couscous, and it was light and flavorful!

Ingredients: (for 4 people)

• 8 sea scallops (getting these was hilarious; in the end I had to ask the guy at the market to please kill them for me!)
• 12 extra-large shrimp, shell off, tails on (it was a struggle with the lady at the market over this too! She insisted the heads were delicious, along with the "yellow stuff" inside them, and really wanted me to keep them!)
• 1 1/2 cups couscous
• 1lb mixed ripe tomatoes
• 1 cup jarred roasted peppers
• 3+1 cloves garlic
• 3 cups arugula
• 4 spring onions (Jamie calls them scallions. Also, the ones in China are tiny compared to the ones in Jamie's photos, so I used more than 4.)
• 3 lemons
• 1 bunch fresh Italian parsley (I have no idea what is meant by "Italian" parsley... I just used parsley!)
• 2 tbsp fennel seeds
• 6 sprigs fresh cilantro
• 6 sprigs fresh mint
• olive oil
• sea salt
• black pepper

How To:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit/200 degrees Celsius.
• Quarter the large tomato and halve the cherry tomatoes, leaving the very small ones whole. Put them in a big mixing bowl. Then add the roasted red peppers (from a jar), roughly chopped.
• Slice up the spring onions finely, and add to the bowl of tomatoes with the juice of one lemon. Add some salt and pepper to taste.
• Pick the leaves off the parsley and separata them out for later; chop the parsley stems up finely (this is the smell that reminded me of my childhood!)
• Peel and finely slice the garlic cloves; pound the fennel seeds with a pestle and mortar. 

ASIDE:

I am such a disorganized cook! I pounded the stupid fennel seeds and then totally forgot to add them to my dish later on! Haha! I wonder how different it would have been...

• Bring some water to a boil in a saucepan or kettle, and meanwhile heat some olive oil in a frying pan and add the garlic, parsley and fennel seeds (I FORGOT THE FENNEL SEEDS!). Stir and fry until the garlic is golden, then add the dry couscous and stir so it gets coated evenly in the oil. 
• Add 1 and 1/3 cups of boiling water to the couscous and stir until all the water has been absorbed.
• Tip the couscous into the roasting pan and spread it out to make an even layer.
• Add the shrimp, scallops, and any other seafood (in my case, squid!) to the bowl of tomatoes, add some olive oil and toss to coat everything evenly. Then spread this somewhat evenly over the couscous.
• Drizzle everything with olive oil, add some salt and pepper, cover with aluminum foil and stick it in the hot oven!
• Cook for 30-40min (I left mine in a little longer, around 45, and it was fine!)
• While it's doing its thing, pick the leaves from the mint and cilantro, add to the parsley leaves and mince it all up really finely with the zest of one lemon and a clove of garlic.
• Wash and dry the arugula.
• Squeeze the juice of the zested lemon into a glass jar, add twice as much olive oil and some salt and pepper, cover the jar and shake. Use this to dress the arugula once dinner is ready to serve!
• Serve scattered with the chopped herbs, a squeeze of lemon juice and a side of lemony arugula. This dish was a huge success!

To be honest, the only problem is that we all might have eaten a little more if there was any left!

Note: Avocado Lady has the couscous, lemons, mint, parsley, arugula, and other foreign ingredients necessary for this dish! I bought the jar of roasted bell peppers at City Shop on Nanjing Rd.

Roasted Bell Peppers (the stuffed of legend!)

My dinner tonight was divine if I should say so myself...

I have made stuffed bell peppers myself before, mostly intuitively, putting in them rice, veggies, and anything else I found lying around. But tonight was different. Against my better judgment, I followed a recipe by Jamie Oliver after downloading his app, Jamie's Recipes for the iPhone. Now, I say against my better judgment not because I do not like Jamie Oliver but because I do not like recipes, nor do I ever really follow them. But I decided to download Jamie's app because it has good reviews, I have seen and enjoyed hi TV shows, and his app has a whole recipe package for tray bakes, my favorite way of cooking!

The finished product looked colorful and was absolutely delicious!

I love tray bakes because, in Jamie's words, "it's basically just an assembly job." Yes, I enjoy throwing things together and then just allowing the oven to do its thing while I do my thing. That's what cooking reluctantly is all about!

So anyways, the point is, Jamie's recipe was pretty mind-blowing. It was absolutely DELICIOUS and I  kind of felt sad that no one was around to share it with me, but happy it worked out and I can maybe impress some friends with this sometime. I don't usually cook for others when I am trying to make something for the first time... takes the pressure off ;)

These were the ingredients:

• 1 Red Bell Pepper
• 1 Yellow Bell Pepper
• 1 Ripe Tomato
• 1 Eggplant (Jamie's recipe said 1/2 but Chinese eggplants are so small... plus, what the hell am I going to do with half an eggplant in my fridge?!)
• 1 Red Onion
• 1/2 Head of Garlic
• Fresh Parsley, Mint and Thyme
• Lemon
• 1/2 Tablespoon Coriander seeds
• Kalamata Olives (I just used regular black olives in mine)
• Sun-dried tomatos
• 100g. (about 4 oz.) Feta Cheese
• Pine Nuts
• 1/3 cup of couscous
• 1/2 cup of chicken broth (Jamie says vegetable, but I was out!)
• Salt & Pepper to Taste
• Olive Oil 

Beautiful, fresh ingredients just for me :)

1. I chopped up the zucchini and eggplant into bite-sized pieces. I quartered the tomato and peeled half of the onion, cutting it into wedges. I put all these ingredients straight onto the roasting pan.
2. I picked the thyme leaves off the stems and discarded the stems. Then I ground up the coriander seeds using the mortar and pestle, separated the garlic cloves from each other, leaving the skins on, and setting 2 of the garlic cloves aside for later. I added the thyme, coriander and garlic cloves to the veggies on the roasting pan, added some salt, pepper, and a few glugs of olive oil and mixed everything up so the veggies were all evenly coated. I set this aside.
3. I preheated the oven to around 200 degrees Celsius (400 Fahrenheit). Meanwhile, I put the pine nuts in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat and moved them around until they were a nice golden brown (just a couple minutes).
4. I heated up the chicken broth in a saucepan and added it to the couscous in a large mixing bowl, which I then covered with a lid. While the couscous was doing its thing...
5. I minced the remaining half of the onion really fine and sautéed it in olive oil over very low heat, allowing it to get really soft but not brown. While it was heating up I minced the remaining 2 garlic cloves and added those in too. 
6. When the onion and garlic were done, I chopped up the olives and sun-dried tomatoes, picked the leaves off of the parsley and mint stems and chopped them up finely. Then I added the onion, garlic, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, pine nuts, parsley, mint, and the crumbled feta cheese, to the couscous. I mixed everything up with a fork and seasoned with juice of half the lemon, some lemon zest, salt and pepper.
7. I cut the bell peppers in half lengthwise and removed the seeds and the white foamy bits on the inside with a spoon (mostly my fingers to be honest.) Then I stuffed them with the couscous mixture and lay them over the veggies on the roasting pan. I wrapped everything in aluminum foil and put it in the oven!
8. It was in the oven for about 45min and then I removed the foil and allowed it to cook for another 20min. uncovered.
9. My house was filled with the most divine, citrusy-peppery-feta-cheesy smell EVER as I took the time to wash up the dishes and watch some TV...

This experience has taught me a few things:

• Pine nuts are amazing little things. I have not often cooked with them, except in the odd pesto sauce when I am feeling inspired (which is not often), but these little guys were an AMAZING complement to this dish. Their nuttiness was a great addition to the flavor but, more importantly, their texture did wonders for this dish, which can be a little mushy otherwise! If I ever make stuffed bell peppers again, even if I am not following this recipe, I will try to add some kind of nut to the dish, for the crunch :)
• I have totally undervalued thyme in my cooking. This zesty, lemony little herb deserves more of my attention! I will try to get some for my herb garden, so I use it more often.
• If there was one thing that could be improved, it was the fact that a lot of water was left in the veggies... I like my roasted veggies a bit dryer, so I would uncover them a little earlier next time, to dry the dish out a bit more.
• More roasted garlic in my life, please! The soft, white garlic, slipping out of its silky skin with the slightest pressure from a knife or fork, YUM! I hadn't added this to my roasted veggies in way too long and it's time to bring it back!
• I remember the value of recipes! Even if I don't follow this to the letter ever again, I learned a lot about combining some of these mediterranean flavors and ingredients, and feel more confident I can make something awesome on my own next time ;)

Hmmm... my plate was full and now it's empty :D