Chicken Tikka Masala

I really like the spices of Indian cuisine, but don't make it all that much. One dish that I always seem the gravitate to is Chicken Tikka Masala.

Ingredients:
2 pounds boneless chicken thighs
2 cups plain Greek yogurt
2 tablespoon garam masala

The spices of Tikka Masala

4 teaspoons chili powder
4 teaspoons turmeric
4 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 large yellow onion
2 tablespoons tomato paste
28 ounce can crushed tomato's
1 teaspoon Sriracha sauce
1 cup half and half
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Preparation:

In a small bowl combine all the spices. Set a side for later use.

 

Take the chicken and rinse in cold water and dry on paper towels. Cut the chicken into large bite size pieces and place in a large mixing bowl. Add the Greek yogurt and half of the spice mixture, mix well and let set to marinade for minimum 1 hour, preferably overnight.

 

To make the sauce, use a small food processor and puree the onion so it's like the consistency of apple sauce. Take a 12" sauté pan and heat to medium, add a table spoon of olive oil and the onion puree. Cook for about 5 minutes and the moisture in the onion will start to evaporate. Add tomato paste and the other half of the spice mix. Cook a couple of minutes and add the crushed tomato's and Sriracha sauce. Cook a couple of minutes and add the half and half. Shut off the heat while you prepare the chicken.

 

Perfect Broiled Tikka Masala Chicken 

To make the chicken we're going to use the oven broiler. Please the oven rack at the second from the highest position and turn the broiler on. Take a broiler pan and spray the surface with some canola oil. Take the chicken out of the marinade and place onto the broiler pan and make sure the chicken pieces have some space between them. Place the chicken under the broiler and cook for a couple of minutes. The chicken will cook quickly and when you start to get some burnt edges, turn the chicken pieces over and cook the other side. Monitor the cooking process making sure it doesn't burn too much. After 7 - 8 minutes the chicken is done. Remove from the oven and add to the Tikka Masala sauce.

 

Cook the chicken and sauce for another 10 minutes on low, just below a boil and lastly add the cilantro.

 

To serve, place a potion of basmati rice on the serving plate. Add some Chicken Tikka Masala on top of the rice and garnish with some Greek yogurt and chopped cilantro. 

Grilled Citrus Chicken and Linguine

Here's a wonderful grilled chicken dish with savory sauce and the squeeze of grilled lemon just takes it over the top.


Ingredients:
1/2 pound Barilla linguine
1 chicken breasts
1/4 cup honey
1/4 lemon Juice
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 teaspoon Sriracha sauce
1/4 cup white wine
1 lemon cut in half
Italian parsley

Preparation:

Take the chicken breast and rinse in cold water and dry. Cut the chicken breast in half lengthwise so it's 1/2 as thick. Place some plastic wrap over you cutting board and then place one of the chicken breast pieces. Cover the chicken breast with plastic wrap and use your meat pounder to flatten the thickest part of the chicken breast so the entire chicken breast is the same thickness. Repeat with the rest of the chicken pieces. Place in a plastic Ziploc until your ready to grill.

 

Fill a large stock pot with water and add 1 tablespoon salt and bring to a boil. Add the pasta and stir occasionally so the pasta cooks evenly. Cook the pasta according to directions which is 7 - 10 to perfect al dente. When done, drain and set a side until you're ready to plate.

 

Heat the grill to medium high. Cut the lemon in half and place on the grill while your grilling the chicken. Take the chicken and brush on some olive oil and then add some salt and pepper. Grill the chicken breast 3 - 4 minutes per side. This should go pretty quick because the chicken breast is fairly thin. When done, remove from the grill and cover with foil and set a side until you're ready to plate.

 

Take a 10" sauté pan and add the honey, lemon juice, orange juice, wine and Sriracha. Bring up to a boil and then turn down to medium heat. When the sauce educes by half, you're done.  

 

To serve, place a portion of linguine on a serving plate. Place a grilled chicken breast on the linguine and spoon on some sauce. Garnish with the grilled lemon and chopped Italian parsley.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

This is a sneaky little meal that's so much better than you think it could possibly be. The dish tastes completely authentic, but it's actual brown rice and quinoa spaghetti and turkey meatballs. So for you non gluten, non beef eaters, this is a great option.

 

The key to this dish is a couple tips in preparation; first, don't just toss the meatballs in the sauce, get them on a baking sheet and roast them in the oven. Roasting the meatballs brings out so much more flavor. Second, brown rice and quinoa pasta is kind of time sensitive on the cooking. If it's under cooked, it can be very chewy, but if it's over cooked it can become mushy. So, cook according to directions and then taste some and see if the texture is where you like it.

Ingredients:

1 package Trader Joe's turkey meatballs

1 Jar Marinara sauce

1 package brown rice & quinoa spaghetti
Red pepper flake
Parmesan cheese
Chopped Italian parsley
 

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the frozen meatballs on a baking sheet and give a quick spray

with some canola oil. Roast the meatballs for about 15 minutes while you prepare the pasta.

Fill a large stock pot with water and add 1 tablespoon salt and bring to a boil. Add the pasta and stir occasionally so the pasta is cooking evenly. Cook the pasta according to directions which is 7 - 10 minute, but I find 10 minutes is where I usually end up.
 

Take a 12" sauté pan and add the Marinara sauce and bring up to medium heat. If you heat any higher it with just start bubbling and splashing make for additional clean up.
then add the sauce. Mix in until the sauce is well incorporated and you're done.

To serve, place a portion of spaghetti with Marinara sauce on a serving plate. Remove the meatballs from the oven and place 3 or 4 on the spaghetti. Drizzle a few drops of olive oil on the meatballs and garnish with red pepper flakes, parmesan cheese and chopped Italian parsley.



Cedar Plank Salmon

This is a fun way to prepare salmon and so so good. I usually find that Costco will bring in these cedar planks for a short period of time in the spring and there not all that expensive. They come 4 planks per package and that's about all I need for a whole summer. 

Ingredients:

8oz salmon fillets

1 tablespoon butter

2 cloves garlic

Salt and pepper
1 cedar plank 

Preparation:

I like to cut the cedar planks into pieces and serve
the plank right on the plate, but you can also just put all the salmon pieces on the large plank as well. Soak the cedar plank(s) for a least one hour before cooking.

Take some wax or parchment paper and cut a piece that's the same size as the fish and put on the cedar plank. Place the fish on the wax or parchment paper on the plank(s).

Crush the garlic and add to butter and microwave for 30 – 40 seconds until bubbling. Brush the top of the salmon with the garlic butter.

Your going to want to cook the cedar plank salmon with direct and indirect heat. So what I do is turn the back to burners on medium high, and leave the front burner off.

Place the cedar plank salmon on the grill over the direct heat. You want the plank to char and throw off some smoke, but if the plank starts to burn then move the planks the front of the grill where there is no direct flame and finish the cooking process there. The total cooking time for 8oz fillets placed on individual planks is 10 - 11 minutes.

To serve, place the cedar plank salmon on a serving plate, add some garlic mashed potato's and kale coleslaw. Garnish with chopped Italian parsley.

Chopped Broccoli with Garlic Aioli

Love steamed chopped broccoli, but add some garlic aioli and you've got a really tasty vegetable dish. Garlic aioli is just a fancy name for crushed raw garlic mixed in with mayonnaise. I know this sounds a little weird, garlic mayonnaise and broccoli, but give it a try and it will be a new favorite vegetable dish.

 

I love this garlic press, so easy to clean!

Ingredients:
1 large head broccoli
1/8 cup lite mayonnaise
2 garlic cloves
couple of drops fresh lemon juice of lemon
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
Prepare a large steamer to cook the broccoli. Break the head of broccoli up into individual florets and place in the steamer and cook for 3 - 4 minute. You don't want to over cook the broccoli. The key to this dish is to cook the broccoli al dente, firm to the bite.

While the broccoli is cooking, take your garlic press and crush the garlic cloves. Scrape the garlic into  a bowl with the mayonnaise and mix well. Transfer the content to a small serving bowl.
 

When the broccoli is done, place the contents onto a cutting board and rough chop the broccoli into bite size pieces. Transfer the chopped broccoli to a serving plate and place the garlic aioli in the middle of the broccoli.

Fish Tacos 2.0

Wow, this is an awesome fish taco! Better than Rubio's? Yes, I think so! The crunch of the fish and cabbage, the tasty white sauce, avocado, salsa and lime... yumm! The uncooked corn tortilla's from Tortilla Land really makes the difference.
 

Ingredients:
Tortilla land uncooked flour tortilla's
Frozen battered fish fillets
Shredded Cabbage
Shredded Mexican blend cheese
Sliced avocado
Lime wedges

Salsa:
1 diced Roma tomato
2 tablespoons diced red onion
1 diced garlic clove
1 tablespoon rough chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon diced jalapeño pepper (optional)
Squeeze of lime

White Sauce:
1/4 cup light sour cream
1/4 cup plain non fat Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon Tapatio hot sauce

Preparation:
Heat the over to 450 degrees and place the frozen fish on a baking sheet and cook for 15 minutes turning once. While the fish is cooking, prepare the rest of the ingredients. 

 

Prepare the salsa first because the longer it sits around the better it will taste. To make the fresh salsa, combine the tomato, onion, garlic and cilantro in a bowl and mix well. Add a squeeze of lime and a dash of salt. If you like some heat, add some jalapeño pepper to the salsa. Take a small jalapeno pepper and sliced in half, removed the seeds and rinsed in cold water to reduce some of the heat. Dice the jalapeño pepper and add 1 teaspoon to the salsa. 

 

To make the white sauce, combine the light sour cream, Greek yogurt and hot sauce. If you have a plastic squeeze bottle, put the white sauce in that because it will be easier to put on the taco.

 

To make your fish tacos, heat a 12" sauté pan or flat top griddle to medium high. Place 2 tortilla's on the heat for about 30 seconds per side. Place the tortilla's into a taco holder and add some shredded cabbage. Take one of the fish fillets and cut in half lengthwise and place on top of the cabbage in the taco. Sprinkle on some cheese and fresh salsa. Place an avocado slice on one side of the fish and squeeze some white sauce on the other side of the fish. Sprinkle on a little more cheese and a squeeze of lime. Repeat the process for the second taco and you're done.