Chicken and Rice

My Go-To Recipe

I have a couple of especially good entree recipes from my mother. For festive dinners, like Passover or Rosh Hashonah, I make a brisket with carrots and potatoes. It has lots of paprika and a ketchup sauce.

For a go-to meal -- the one I bring over for folks who need comfort -- I make chicken & rice. It's really a semi-homemade recipe; it includes a can of cream of mushroom soup, and converted rice, and dry onion soup mix. If I ever get around to it, maybe I could deconstruct it. Here's the recipe--

CHICKEN WITH RICE

• Water
• 1 cup uncooked converted rice
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup (undiluted)
• 1 package onion soup mix
• 4 chicken breast quarters
• Paprika
• Lasagna (14") pan
• Foil

Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Put dry rice into pan. Pour undiluted soup over rice and spread. Fill soup can with water and pour over rice. Put onion soup mix into soup can, fill with 3/4 cup water, and mix. Pour over rice. Mix rice mixture well. Place chicken, skin side down, on rice. Sprinkle lightly with paprika. Cover pan tightly with foil. Place in oven for 1 hour. Remove from oven. Remove foil. Place chicken on plate. Mix up rice and spread evenly. Replace chicken on rice. Place in oven uncovered for 1 hour. Enjoy!

Hilah Cooking

If you are looking for a website with good, basic information on how to cook, try Hilah Cooking. Hilah Johnson teaches recipes from her kitchen in a very informal way, so turn down the volume in NSFW situations. I have learned some great recipes from Hilah and expect her show to explode in popularity now that it's carried on blip.tv.

Here is Hilah's recent interview on SteveGarfield.TV--

Pasta With Sardines

We brought some spaghettini back from Italy. I cooked it in salted water, the drained it, saving some pasta water for the sauce.

I put the same pot over the heat and added a little olive oil. I threw in chopped anchovies, browned them a little, then threw in some minced garlic. The garlic cooked 30 seconds, then I poured in pasta water to deglaze, followed by sardine chunks, some pepper flakes, and the cooked pasta.

I tossed it to mix and reheat and put it in a pasta dish. I topped it with toasted bread crumbs. Mmm!

The Adventures of Tintin (1st Teaser)

Bologna & Cheese Fritatta

Salmon and Asparagus

Early in the day, I poached and chilled some organic farmed salmon fillets from Ireland (by way of Wegman's). The yogurt/cucumber/dill topping is a South Beach Diet recipe. The roasted asparagus had some balsamic vinegar sprinkled on top. Pretty good dinner.