Chicken Catalan

Shhhhhh...  I'm going to tell you a secret... I think that my Italian grandmother, Josephine Catalano Cieri, may have been part Spanish.  I mean, her family name, Catalano, literally means "from Catalan" which would make at least one of her forebears Spanish.  Some of Grammie's best dishes weren't like what the other Italian grandmothers I grew up with cooked, either.  For example, she put raisins in her meatballs and chicken braised in wine.  She put allspice and cinnamon in her ragu, too.  This marriage of sweet and savory is one of the hallmarks of Catalan cuisine.

Tonight I decided to cook some chicken breasts Catalan-style!

Chicken Catalan

1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chick breasts, cut into ten chunks
1 med onion, chopped (about 1 Cup)
1 - 2 large garlic cloves, smashed and minced
1 Tbs olive oil
1 15 oz can of fire roasted tomatoes in juice
1/2 C full bodied red wine
1 tsp chicken bouillion granules
2 tsp smoked sweet paprika
1 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 good pinches crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
1 Tbs raisins (optional)
1 Tbs minced almonds (optional)

In a 4 qt pan, saute the onions and garlic in the oil until translucent.  Add in the bouillion granules, paprika, thyme, black and red pepper and raisins and saute for a minute or two.  Splash in the wine and saute until the alcohol has burned off, about two minutes.  Add in the tomatoes and stir well to combine.  Nestle the raw chicken chunks into the tomato sauce, cover and simmer for 10 - 15 minutes until chicken is cooked and flavors have melded.  Garnish with almonds.

after about 7 or 8 minutes, I layered 1 lb of frozen broccoli florets on top of the chicken and sauce, put the cover back on, and finished simmering the chicken.  The frozen broccoli cooled the sauce, so the total simmering time for the chicken was about 15 minutes.  To serve, I fished out the chicken chunks and plated them,  then mixed the broccoli into the sauce to serve, garnishing everything with the almonds.

This makes a lot of sauce, so you will want to have a vegetable, like broccoli, a grain, like rice, or simply some noodles or crusty bread, to sop all that deliciousness up.

5 servings; 7 WW points+ with broccoli; 5 WW points+ without the raisins and almonds

Exploring Quinoa for Breakfast

I haven't eaten a lot of quinoa, but I've liked it very much the few times I've had it.  One memorable dinner was during Lent and featured lots of quinoa pilaf, shrimp and salad.  Very delish.  So, I bought some, put it in my freezer because I read somewhere that it gets rancid easily, and then promptly forgot about it. Last night, while rummaging through my freezer, I came up that year-old package of quinoa and promptly cooked the entire thing.  Now, I have quite a bit of quinoa in my fridge.

This is the breakfast that I packed for work this morning.  It is very yummy and only 8 WW points+.  This packs a huge nutritional wallop and make more than most people would eat first thing in the morning.  I'm a grazer, so this will all get eaten up by lunch time.





Quinoa Breakfast

1 cup cooked quinoa
1 apple, diced
1 cup fat-free plain yogurt
1 Tbs lemon juice
1 tsp cinnamon (to taste)
Stevia to taste

Simple Squash Chowder

I was lazy today, too lazy to do much cooking, but that didn't keep me from getting very hungry at lunchtime!  I had a few zucchini and yellow summer squash that really needed to be used, so I made a quick and simple chowder.


3 large zucchini
3 med yellow summer squash
6 cups water
2 - 3 tsp veggie bouillion granules
pinch or two of black pepper and cayenne
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp salt (I used Adobo seasoning)
1 tsp Herbes de Provence
1 cup milk, cream or nondairy milk (I used almond milk)

Cut the squash in quarters length-wise, then chop into think slices.  Put in soup pot.  Add water and all other ingredients except milk.  Bring to a boil, then simmer for half an hour, until the squash is very soft.  Remove from heat and taste for salt.  Using a large spoon, mash some of the squash against the side of the pot, then stir in milk.

Serve with a salad and crusty bread.  2 points+ when made with almond milk per 3 cups.

Chicken Marsala

I spent my childhood summers going back and forth between my grandmother's cottage and my parent's little country inn, both on Lake Sunapee, New Hampshire.  It was an idyllic life for a child.  I remember sleeping in my bathing suit, and my mother or grandmother calling me out of the water for all three meals.  I thought that fingers were supposed to be shriveled.   Clearwater Inn was named that because the depth of the water at the end of dock was 25 feet, and so pure that not only could you clearly see each grain of sand on the bottom, but it was also a class A reservoir.  Many summer cottages simply drank lake water while I was growing up.  

At that time, in the 1950s and 1960s, Sunapee and the surrounding countryside was very, very old-time New England Yankee in every way, including palate.  However, the "summer people" who owned cottages around the shoreline were a bit more cosmopolitan, mostly from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.  It was here that Clearwater Inn broke new culinary ground with what we called, "continental cuisine."  About ten years after my parents bought the Inn, a german restaurant called Schweitzer's opened not too far away, and they did a rousing business.  People were ready to make a change from their standard American meat and potatoes fare.

My grandmother, Josephine Catalano Cieri, cooked the dinner meal for our guests for the first ten years or so, until I was 8 years old, when she retired to her cottage across the lake.  She was an amazing woman in every possible way, including a talented, inventive and fearless cook.  My mother and I owe everything good about our culinary skills to her.  I don't remember the first time I tasted Grammie's chicken marsala, but I certainly remember our guests raving about it. We served dinner family style, that is, the food was on platters and each diner helped himself to however much they wanted.  Whenever chicken marsala was on the menu, the platters came back clean as a whistle, with a request for more!

I had about a cup of marsala left in the bottle, some chicken breasts and some mushrooms, so this was a no brainer, and transported me back to my childhood in the yellow kitchen at Clearwater Inn.  Such happy memories!  I'm trying to lose a few lbs, so I adapted the recipe a bit, and those changes are noted below.

Here you go!

1 1/2 lbs skinless, boneless chicken breasts

1/3 C flour*

3 Tbs butter, divided*

2 Tbs olive oil

2 shallots, minced or 1/4 small onion, minced

8 oz mushrooms, sliced

3 cloves garlic, smashed and minced finely

1 1/2 tsp marjoram, dried

1 tsp salt, to taste

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 Tbs minced fresh parsley, or 1 1/2 tsp dried

1 tsp dried basil

1 C Marsala wine

1/2 C full flavored chicken broth

Slice the chicken breasts in half length-wise, then pound them flat.  Or, you can skip this step, as I did, and simply cook them longer.  Lightly salt and pepper each breast, then dredge in the flour. *I didn't dredge the chicken this time and sauteed the "naked" chicken.  Reserve the leftover flour to thicken the sauce later.  Heat half the butter in a large skillet and brown the chicken well on both sides, then set aside and keep warm.  *I didn't use any butter and had no loss of flavor.  Instead, I used about 1 Tbs of olive oil in the pan to saute the chicken.   

In the same pan, add the shallots/onion, garlic, marjoram, parsley, basil and salt, adding the olive oil to keep it from sticking, and being sure to scrape up all the yummy bits from the chicken.  *I used about another Tbs of olive oil, making a total of 2 Tbs for the entire recipe. When the garlic is fragrant and onions are translucent, the mushrooms should be releasing their juice.  Add in the wine, continuing to scrape up the little bits, and then the broth.   Simmer for five minutes or so, till the sauce is reduced a little, then stir in the remaining flour and 1 Tbs of butter and simmer, stirring, for another two or three minutes, until the sauce is thickened to your liking.  *I did not add butter into the sauce, with no loss of flavor.  Because I didn't pound my breasts, I nestled them into the sauce immediately after adding the liquids, and simmered them in the sauce for the five minutes, turning the over halfway through.  I removed them from the sauce, kept them warm, then added in about 2 Tbs of flour to thicken the sauce.

Taste for salt and pepper and serve.

Makes six servings.   5 WW points plus with my changes.

Quick Tuscan Chicken Stew

In twenty minutes, you have a feast! Serve with crusty bread to sop up all the yummy juices!

This is a recipe that can be adapted to what you have on hand. I used chicken, but you could use turkey, or Italian sausage. I used frozen spinach, but any kind of fresh or frozen greens would be great, or even Italian string beans, the large, flat variety that I really love.

Tuscan Chicken Stew


1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp garlic powder, or 1 tsp minced fresh
1 tsp rosemary
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 Tbs olive oil
2 lg boneless, skinless chicken breasts ( 1 1/2 lbs), cut into cubes
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
15 oz can of cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
15 oz can of diced tomatoes in juice, not drained
1/4 Cup wine (white or red is ok)
15 oz can chicken broth
1/2 to 1 tsp salt
1 lb frozen spinach, chopped
1 Cup water

In a3 or 4 qt pot, saute onion in oil till translucent, about 4 or 5 minutes. Add in all the spices, and stir for a few minutes. Then, add the beans, tomatoes, wine, water, broth and stir. Next, the spinach, breaking it up so it distributes itself throughout the stew. Lastly, add the raw chicken. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.

Optional, but tasty if you are not using Italian sausage instead of chicken: add 1/2 tsp of fennel seed when you add the other herbs and spices.

Makes six servings, 6 WW+ points each

Christmas Kutia

Many Slovak Orthodox Christians prepare a traditional dinner on Christmas Eve called the Holy Supper which consists of 12 dishes for the 12 apostles. Included in the tradition is Kutia. Kutia is the Slavic version of Koliva, a sweetened boiled wheat and fruit dish which is served at services for the dead. Here is some information and a recipe for the Lebanese version from a prior post about that.

For the past six or seven years, my parish has come to together for the Holy Supper just prior to Christmas Eve Great Compline and Matins, and each year, our celebration seems to become a little more traditional. I usually am the one to make the wheat for the Holy Supper, since I'm the only one who makes this traditional food in my parish. This year was no different, but I decided to make it Russian style instead of Lebanese style. It was a big, big hit! Maybe even a bigger hit than my Lebanese style - and let me tell you, that is VERY popular! I did receive the highest of praise when my dear Russian friend told me that my kutia was just like her mother's, only better, because I put more fruit in it. High praise, indeed.

I do have a photo, but no way to get it off my camera right now. I'll post it as soon as I can.

Christmas Kutia
2 1/4 C soft wheat berries, soaked for 24 hours and strained
6 3/4 C water
1 C poppy seed
1 C sliced almonds or chopped walnuts, toasted till fragrant
1 lb honey
1 C white raisins
1 C chopped dried fruit, such as apricots, craisins, berries or cherries
1 tsp salt
2 Tbs cinnamon (heaping)

Drain the wheat berries well and put them in a dutch oven type pan with a lid. Stir in the water and loosely cover the pot. Crack the cover open so the steam can escape a little bit and it won't boil over. Simmer the wheat for 2 - 3 hours until very tender.

After the wheat has simmered for about an hour, you should prepare the poppy seeds by scalding them. Put them in a heat-proof dish, cover them with boiling water and let them soak for half an hour. Drain them well, then grind them in a blender or food processor. Continue your preparations by toasting the nuts and chopping the fruit.

Once the wheat is tender, drain the kernals, reserving about a cup of the water, and put them in a very large bowl together with the ground up poppy seeds. Add the honey and mix well. Stir in the rest of the ingredients, adding a little bit of the reserved water if it seems too thick and the honey won't mix well.

You can eat it just like this, which is what we did this year, but there is an additional step to this which makes it even more yummy. Once everything is mixed together, bake it in a 3 qt casserole, uncovered, at 325F for 20 minutes until hot and bubbly.

Kutia is best if you put everything together 2 or 3 days in advance and bake it right before serving. This is yummy hot or cold or room temperature. This recipe makes a lot, but that's ok because it freezes extremely well too!, and will last about two weeks in the fridge.

Dear Friends

Dear Friends,

Because of the numerous spam comments this blog has received in the last month, I have turned on comment moderation for everyone. I will approve *all* legitimate comments as soon as possible after commenting. However, all comments containing information about how to purchase Viagra cheaply, or how I should wire money to a third-world country, will never see the light of day.

Thank you for understanding.

Denise
aka "What I'm Cooking Now"