BBQ Chicken Harissa Caramel Pizza

This pizza was a true concoction of simply what was in the fridge. It was just after our Labor Day barbecue and I had leftover chicken. And there was that delicious harissa caramel sauce. Mmm.

Once I learned Dorothy's trick for caramelized onions, they became a kitchen staple. Same with the roasted tomatoes (this bruschetta is a base for many meals in this house these days). So, of course, they were in the fridge and given an invitation to the pizza party. Because caramel and caramelized veggies just meld so damn well.

This experiment was good just by itself, with a little oregano sprinkled on top. And then I squeezed some lemon on it and WOW. I had invented my new favorite pizza.

It was a little sweet, sour, tangy, and all around perfect. With oozy cheese. Mmmm, oozy cheese!

I was making petite pies, enough for just one, but use more dough and a bit more of all the ingredients, and you can have a big ol' pizza pie.

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BBQ Chicken Harissa Caramel Pizza

by Paulette Fontanez September-15-2011

A delightful blend of yumminess.

Ingredients

• 1 package personal size pizza dough or 2 ounces of a dough ball
• 1/2 cup shredded barbecued chicken
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
• 1/4 cup caramel harissa sauce 
• 1/4 cup caramelized onions
• 1/4 cup roasted grape tomatoes, marinated in balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• Juice of half a lemon
• Olive oil for brushing on dough
• Cornmeal or flour for sprinkling

Instructions

1. Follow the directions for resting the pizza dough and preheating the oven.2. Spread the dough out to the desired thickness. Sprinkle flour or cornmeal on a baking sheet and place the dough on top.3. Brush the dough with olive oil to keep the dough from getting soggy from the ingredients, then sprinkle with about half the cheese.4. In a small bowl mix the harissa caramel with the shredded chicken and spread over the cheese. Add the tomatoes and onions. Cover with the remaining cheese.5. Put the pizza in the oven and bake until the cheese is bubbly and the dough is browned, about 10-15 minutes.6. Remove from oven, sprinkle with oregano and the lemon juice. Cut and eat.

Details

Prep time: 5-20 minutes (depending on dough's resting time)Cook time: 10-15 minutesTotal time: 15-35 minutesYield: 1 personal size pizza

Liz Taylor's Chicken

Last week, we lost Elizabeth Taylor. She of the acid wit displayed in cinematic classics Cleopatra, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Taming of the Shrew. She was force to be reckoned with, an enigmatic movie star of the highest caliber, and a foodie.

Immediately the food sites all posted and reposted a recipe called Elizabeth Taylor's Chicken Steamed In Wine. None could verify it was actually created by the silver screen queen. It is hard to imagine the glamorous Cleopatra in the kitchen whipping up chicken recipes, but it sounded good. I want to believe she cooked while wearing her signature white diamonds. "These have always brought me luck…"

You might expect a dish linked to a woman with Liz Taylor's reputation to follow suit: strong flavored, exotic, with a hint of spice. Maybe even a little unforgiving. You won't find that here. It's simple chicken-in-white-wine-sauce fare. And it's super easy.

The recipe calls for a whole chicken. If you're a busy girl like me, cooking for one, there's no need to suffer an hour of simmering an entire chicken. One breast or thigh—or better yet, cutlets—cut the time significantly. A nice dry white (a $10 Bordeaux from Trader Joe's made it into this dish and into a glass for the cook. I was thirsty...), some garlic, onions, bay leaves and other aromatics, salt and pepper, and you're done.

I even whipped up a little white wine reduction, and threw some rice in it. DELICIOUS.

A note about the wine: Sauternes wine is from a specific blend of French grapes (similar to Bordeaux wines, but in a different ratio). Sauterne (no S on the end) wine refers to any number of California whites. More about the difference between the two can be found here. Note the recipe calls for a dry white, not a dessert wine. The 2009 Mouton-Cadet Bordeaux I found at Trader Joe's was inexpensive, dry, and excellent on its own.  

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Liz Taylor's White Wine Chicken,
Based on the unverified Elizabeth Taylor's Chicken Steamed in Wine recipe.

Ingredients
1 chicken thigh, cut into pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small shallot, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon dried crushed mint
1 tablespoon dried crushed oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 dashes black pepper
1 cup dry sauterne wine (or other dry white)

Instructions

1. In a sauté pan, heat the olive oil over high heat until shimmering and quickly sear the chicken.

2. Combine all the other ingredients and pour over the chicken.

3. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until chicken is fully cooked through.

4. Remove chicken mixture to plate and discard the bay leaves. Return the pan to low heat, add about 1/4 cup of wine. Scrape up any chicken bits from the bottom of the pan and simmer until reduced by half. Pour reduction over chicken.

Yield: 2 servings

Greek Lemon Soup

I found this great recipe for Greek avgolemono soup via The Smithsonian's food blog, Food & Write. Avgolemono refers to sauces and soups made with lemon, egg, and broth, and popular in the Mediterranean.

Even though there were a bunch of steps (you have to make broth—so time-consuming!), there are easy ways to cheat. Which means I probably cheated myself out of some richness, but I was both hungry and curious, and hungry won out.

I simply simmered a chicken thigh (not a whole chicken) as suggested by the recipe, instead of putting it in the crockpot for hours. Day old rice is also good to have, which cuts out about half an hour of cooking right there! But the real intrigue lay in the egg foam.

The recipe calls for the eggs to be separated, beaten, then brought back together with some lemon juice. Which means the eggs remain raw. Though I'm guessing the lemon juice "cooks" the eggs much like it would in ceviche. Rest assured there were no ill effects from consuming said egg foam.

Plus, it was really pretty floating on top of the plate. Foamy!

The recipe I borrowed comes with a sweet story by writer Christie Zgourides. She first made this for her boyfriend's birthday (he later became her husband) and the rest is history.

My soup was lacking something, and it wasn't merely all the cheating I did. I'm used to a bit more bite in my food, and I was tempted to put spices in this. Maybe it just needed more salt...I'm not sure. I'm going to revisit it one day. Maybe add the harissa I finally procured. Mmm.

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Greek Lemon Soup

by Christie Zgourides 

Adapted from Food & Write

Ingredients
1 bone-in chicken thigh

Salt, pepper

1 tablespoons butter

1 celery ribs, chopped

1 cup rice (may be made a day ahead)

1 egg, separated

1 large lemon, juiced

Instructions

1. Place chicken in a Dutch oven with salt, pepper, butter, celery, and water to cover. Simmer for an hour or two. Remove chicken, strain broth, use same day. (Recipe author note: This short-cut method is good, but broth is not as rich and will have more fat.)

2. Cool. Remove chicken. Drain. Pour drained broth back into slow cooker. Let stand overnight in refrigerator. Skim off fat next day. Strain broth. This process should make about 2-3 cups of broth. [G+F note: cool the broth, then put in the freezer for about 30 minutes. The fat will freeze but the broth will still be liquid at this point, allowing for quick skimming.]

3. Cook rice. Bring broth to a low boil in a heavy Dutch oven. [G+F note: if using day-old rice, simply throw it in the broth to warm up.]

4. While broth is heating, beat egg whites stiff in a small bowl.

5. In a separate, larger bowl, beat the egg yolks till foamy.

6. Add lemon juice to egg yolks and beat until mixed. Add rice to broth (if you didn't use the G+F tip above...)

7. Combine stiff egg whites with yolks. Mix together slowly, using the low setting on mixer.

8. Add some hot broth to the egg mixture (to prevent curdling) and continue beating slowing

9. Add mixture to broth and rice mixture, and barely stir into soup. There should be foam on top of the soup.

10. Remove from heat and serve with crackers, de-boned chicken, and Greek salad.

Yield: 2-3 cups

I liked the foam just resting on top of the soup. Add the shredded chicken to the soup, and enjoy.

Sweet Smoked Paprika Chicken

Picture courtesy of Erika Kerekes,
LA Cooking Examiner

To continue on our theme of Red Food Week, I finally took a picture of Erika Kerekes' Broiled Boneless Chicken Thighs with Garlic Salt and Smoked Paprika before eating it.

I've made this dish only about a billion times. The reason is that there are all of 3 steps, so it's foolproof and perfect for a) lazy nights, b) late nights, or c) "I ain't got time for this" nights. And also days.

Seriously, 3 steps:
1. Coat chicken with paprika and garlic salt.
2. Broil for 7 minutes on each side.
3. Eat.

See? Easy.

Okay, so they come out more orange than red. But paprika is red, so there.

Erika recommends using smoked paprika, which is "available at Surfas and, now, at Costco, much to the delight of Los Angeles chefs everywhere." Surfas, which is a place I do love, can be pricey and I never have the patience for Costco, but I did have regular boring paprika and a sweet smoked paprika thanks to an overindulgent shopping trip at the lovely Silverlake outpost Spice Station (they also sell truffle salt for $10 per ounce, which is COMPLETELY worth it [and the indulgent part of the shopping trip]!).

Sweet smoked paprika is wonderful on the chicken. The thighs remain juicy even after 14 minutes in broil mode. And they come out sweet, and smokey, and plain ol' delicious.

Since most of my a) lazy nights, b) late nights, or c) "I ain't got time for this" nights (and days) usually also mean dinner for one, this recipe scales down nicely too. Take one chicken thigh, coat it with salt and paprika, broil, and done. Make 2 and you have lunch the next day.

Erika also recommends using more salt than you think you need. If you're on a reduced-salt diet, you can go easy on it, but she does make the point that you'll still be ingesting less sodium than a typical restaurant dish. Tonight I used a 3:1 paprika to salt ratio and it was fine.

The modified recipe:

Sweet Smoked Paprika Chicken
yields 1 serving

1 boneless skinless chicken thigh
2 tablespoons garlic salt
1 tablespoon each regular paprika and sweet smoked paprika

1. Preheat the broiler to high and place an oven rack 4 inches below the flame. (If you put the rack right under the flame, the chicken will burn before it cooks through.)

2. Line a baking sheet with foil and lay the chicken thighs out flat. Sprinkle each side generously with the garlic salt and paprika. (The measurements above are merely guidelines, use more as needed, and don't skimp on the salt!)

3. Broil the chicken about 7 minutes on each side, until the thighs are cooked through and have developed a nice crust (or as I like to put it, a yummy black char). Serve with some veggies or rice and eat immediately.

Thanks to Erika for providing us with a easy meal!

Five Spice Chicken

On occasion I lounge on the couch and make myself hungry by watching cooking shows. This is undoubtedly a form of masochism. I'm selective, though. I love Paula Deen, her cookware, and her adorable southern gentlemen sons, but I can't live on butter. I can, however, live on stir fried chicken.

Enter Chinese Food Made Easy, with Ching-He Huang. She's an adorable teeny thing with a British accent and just a hint of snark. I love Chinese food. So when the episode of her massaging chicken before making chow mein came on, and she made it look so easy, I had to try it.

The very first time I made it, I cheated. I didn't make the whole noodle part of the dish. I didn't have them in the house, but I did have all the fixins for the chicken. And I really wanted to massage the spices into it like Ching did.

It really is ridiculously easy to make this dish. I've since made it about three times (once with actual noodles—but it's the chicken that's the real star of the meal) Take some chicken strips, add the spices, heat up the oil, and you're eating in 5 minutes. Add some veggies because they're good for you, and you have a complete meal.

The original recipe lists the chile sauce as optional. Man up and throw some in, even if it's just a quarter-teaspoon. You'll appreciate the tiny kick of heat and additional depth of flavor.

Five Spice Chicken
adapted from Ching-He Huang's Chicken Chow Mein
yields 1 serving

1 skinless chicken breast, sliced into strips
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon five-spice powder
1 teaspoon chile sauce
1 tablepoon sesame oil
1 red bell pepper, seeded and finely sliced

1. In a small bowl, combine the chicken with the soy sauce, five spice powder, and chile sauce. Using your hands, ensure the chicken is completely coated. (Give the poor chicken a good massage. It's stressed.)

2. Heat the sesame oil in a wok or large skillet. Once it begins to smoke, add the chicken strips and stir fry for about 2-3 minutes, until cooked through.

3. Add the bell peppers and cook for another minute. Serve immediately.

Ching's recipe also called for bean sprouts. I like adding in some enoki mushrooms. They taste better than bean sprouts (where better = not like dirt). You do whatever you need to get more veggies in your diet.

Chicken with Saifun Noodles

The other day I came across a show called Just Cook This. It's hosted by Sam Zien, a no nonsense kind of guy who seemed to actually be cooking in his own kitchen. Or so he claimed.

Regardless, he was making beef chow mein and it looked delicious. Also, it was super simple: just peanut oil, tomatoes, beef strips, frozen chow mein noodles, and black bean garlic sauce. Nothing else. He didn't even season the meat, the sauce was sufficient flavor. So he claimed.

You see my theme? As straightforward as Sam appeared, I had to try this at home. Since the available chow mien noodles are usually made with things I have to avoid (eggs and wheat), I opted for saifun noodles. Saifun is thin threads made of mung beans, also called cellophane noodles, mung bean threads, Chinese vermicelli, or any variety of names. They come dried in a package of 3 bunches and are found in the ethnic or international aisle of the supermarket.

The first time I tried this recipe, I made it with beef strips. That was fine, but I wanted more veggies. So when I made it with chicken (which I DID season, lightly) I threw in some orange bell peppers and wilted red leaf lettuce. And because this was a test, I was only cooking for one. Which meant just one chicken breast, and a few other changes reflected in the recipe. You might want to use more noodles or vegetables if you're cooking for more than just yourself.

Chicken & Saifun Noodles

1 large chicken breast
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 ripe small-sized ripe tomatoes, cut into 8 wedges each
1 small orange bell pepper
2 large leaves of red leaf lettuce, chopped
1 bunch of saifun noodles
2 tablespoons black bean sauce (also found in the Asian aisle of most supermarkets)
Adobo seasoning to taste

1. Soak noodles in warm water for about 15 minutes before cooking. This will allow them to soften up.

2. Slice chicken into very thin slices. Season lightly with the Adobo seasoning.

3. Preheat a pan or wok on stovetop and heat really well over high heat, then add oil. When the oil is smoking,add chicken and stir fry for a couple minutes until it is cooked through. Remove and set aside.

4. With the pan back on the heat and smoking again, add a teaspoon of oil and the vegetables. Stir-fry about a minute.

5. Drain the noodles. Add them with the chicken and black bean sauce to the vegetables. Stir until the sauce is thoroughly covering everything and all is heated.

Yields 2 small portions

It was a solid dish. I had half of it for dinner and the other half for lunch the following day. It's even good cold.