Partly Cloudy, about to rain!

For the quiet Fourth of July I had planned on grilled chicken breasts with lime and tequila salsa with a side of Tortilla chips and avocado salad on torn greens. And homemade Strawberry Ice Cream! However the weather turned ugly, which shouldn't have made any difference since the grill is located on the stove in the apartment kitchen! But somehow on the way home from a quick Target run the mood changed and I grabbed some mushrooms and white wine and decided a sauteé of sorts would be good. Once home I decided to use up some bits of egg noodles and spinach pasta. So what would go good with them? Well, Sauteed chunks of boneless chicken breasts, shallots, and mushrooms in saffron cream sauce!

It was a fairly straight forward process--sauteed the brined chicken breast cubes in half olive oil and half butter, pulled cubes to rest, added chopped shallots and sliced mushrooms meanwhile soaking threads of saffron in 1 cup of chicken broth. Added chicken cubes back to pan and deglazed with 1/3 cup of white wine and reduced to thicken. Then added saffron infused broth and reduced in half, adding one cup of cream and brought to boil. Continued cooking for 3 minutes and served over cooked pasta combo! Sprinkled with chopped parsley, grated Parmesan and freshly ground white pepper! Very good meal with our favorite skinny, crunchy bread sticks.

Dessert was while watching the Boston Pops and fireworks! Strawberry Ice Cream the Philadelphia style, simple pure cream and berries!

Hope everyone else had a great Fourth! Ours was quiet and tasty!

Shredded Chicken Barbecue!

Here's an awesome method for making your own easy Chicken Barbecue Sandwich!

5 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Thighs--trimmed of excess fat pockets
1/2 bottle of your favorite Barbecue Sauce
1/2 bottle of your favorite Beer
1 Medium onion cut in half and sliced
1 Green Pepper cut into 1/2 chop
1 Garlic clove chopped (optional)
1/2 tsp dried hot pepper flakes (unless you are using a hot suace)

Add all ingredients to crock pot cook on low for 6-8 hours. If sauce is still soupy transfer to pot on stove and bring to gently boil and simmer till thickened. Shred the chicken pieces with two forks.

Serve on nice and thick pita's with a dollop of coleslaw on top! Yummmmmmeeee!

Tomorrow roasted asparagus with Pancetta!
Later in the week roasted tomatoes w/onions and pancetta over Penne!
Stay tuned for results!

Boneless Leg of Lamb revisited!

Dinner was sauteed mushrooms, red onion pieces, garlic, oregano, leftover cubes of lamb with lemon juice, reduced chicken stock and a splash of Balsamic vinegar served on a pita with Tzitzaki with cucumber, red onion and dill. We had Couscous salad with olives, green pepper, celery, roasted red pepper, and chopped Campari tomatoes, dressed with a lemon parsley vinaigrette and sprinkled with sun-dried tomato flakes!

Simple, quick and fresh tasting! Excellent was the compliment!