Harissa-Marinated Roasted Chicken

You know that thing when you discover something, whether it’s a song or a TV show or even just a color, you see it everywhere, where once you probably wouldn’t have given it a second thought? I’m going through that right now with harissa – the Tunisian hot sauce/red pepper paste.

ByMichelleJanuary 31, 20132Comments

Entertaining Main Course Recipes

Dead Sexy Balsamic & Hoisin Barbecue Chicken

You’ve got a pile of fried chicken in front of you on a platter. You get first dibs on whatever piece you want. What do you pick? The pragmatist in me says, go for the breast. More meat, less skin. But the eight year old in me wins out, I’m going right for the drumstick.

ByMichelleDecember 12, 20120Comments

Recipes

Comfort Food, Dead Ahead: Chicken Tetrazzini

This week, fall has slammed into us full force. The rain came in over the weekend, and then last night, it was stormy enough that we lost power for a few hours in the middle of the night. It's a good thing, the yard is in desperate need of a soaking, and with that soaking,…

ByMichelleOctober 17, 20124Comments

Main Course Recipes Salads

Chicken Tikka Pasta Salad

September is about new beginnings, well, at least as far as the school year goes, so maybe that’s why OJ kicked off his new diet and exercise regimen now. Whatever it is, this new deal is already changing the way we eat (and I thought we were in a pretty good place to start with). The main challenge? Everything is weighed separately – 100 g protein, 80 grams carbs, however many grams fat. But when I start to look at how I cook, how do you calculate vegetable soup or pot pie or a casserole of any kind? Everything is mixed in. This first week there’s been a lot of grilling going on. Last night flank steak, over the weekend we grilled chicken. And it was that chicken that formed the basis for this chicken tikka pasta salad.

ByMichelleSeptember 6, 20121Comment

Main Course Photo One-offs

Photo One-Off: Char Siu Chicken Legs

There are a million reasons to want to live in Hawaii -- sunny days, sandy beaches, great surfing. I'm adding these char siu chicken legs to the list. Thanks to the melting pot of cultures in Hawaii, Foodland, a local grocery store chain, offers pre-marinated char siu drumsticks in the meat department. These…

ByMichelleMarch 6, 20123Comments

Main Course Recipes

Holy Mole — Oaxacan Black Mole with Chicken

I think it was seeing Rick Bayless win Top Chef Masters season 1 with his Oaxacan Black Mole that pushed me over the edge. If we go to a Mexican restaurant and they have mole, I'm definitely ordering it. It's great sometimes, and others it's a flame out. But at home, unless you're going to make it from scratch, Dona Maria mole in a jar is usually your only option. But now that I've made Bayless' mole, there's no going back.

ByMichelleNovember 30, 20116Comments

Main Course Recipes

Chicken & Noodles a la La Palma Chicken Pie Shop

The La Palma Chicken Pie Shop in Anaheim, California is an institution (an institution without a Web site, so you know they're old school and proud of it). I haven't been in years, probably double-digit years, but it doesn't look like it's changed much, still a classic 50s-era coffee shop/diner with naugahyde booths and counter seating.

ByMichelleOctober 19, 20117Comments

Recipes Salads

Chinese Chicken Salad Like Grandma Used to Make

If you think of Chinese Chicken Salad as something that went mainstream in the 80s because of Wolfgang Puck and his Chinois Chicken Salad, you might be missing a chapter. Madame Wu's Garden, an LA restaurant, may have really originated it another 20 years earlier. Now closed, the lore is that that Madame Wu's salad…

ByMichelleAugust 5, 20111Comment

Main Course Recipes Salads

Summer Grilling: Grilled Balsamic Chicken & Chopped Vegetable Salad

Today's post comes courtesy of my handy recipe binder. I've been clipping and keeping recipes for 10+ years, and sure, it'd be easier to just bookmark them and go back to them online when I need them. But there's something reassuring about just going to binder and knowing they'll be there. I mean, what if you bookmarked some recipe that was on someone's Angelfire Web site in 1997? It's probably toast, long ago abandoned by someone who probably moved on to Blogger or hosting their own site. (Holy cow, I just googled it, Angelfire still exists and is part of Lycos. Lycos still exists? Really?) Anyway, I clipped the recipes for the balsamic BBQ sauce and the chopped vegetable salad. They're great for summer grilling, but luckily both are still available online.

ByMichelleAugust 1, 20111Comment

Recipes

Quick Chicken Stir Fry w/ Peppers, Green Beans & Zucchini

In college, chicken stir fry was a mainstay for me and my roommates. It was something you could make a lot of, relatively cheaply, when we had friends over for Must See TV on Thursday nights. Friends, The Single Guy, Seinfeld, Caroline in the City and ER. I liked Jonathan Silverman in the Single Guy, but that 8:30 pm slot was always no man's land despite being bookended by Friends and Seinfeld. Anyway, the stir fry. Back then, we used San-J Szechuan sauce, a Sun Bird packet for seasoning and a big bag of frozen stir fry vegetables.

ByMichelleJuly 21, 20110Comments