Fresh Tomato Vinaigrette

This recipe is from the newsletter of Ciao Italia's Mary Ann Esposito.  I've watched her PBS cooking show since I was a very young girl . . . and she is still on the air . . . America's longest running cooking show!  Check your local PBS listings or visit her website to find out when she's on in your area.

I remember the days when we grew so many tomato plants that friends and family would leave the house with bags of tomatoes.  It was such a joy to have so many fresh tomatoes at my fingertips.  This fresh tomato vinaigrette is the type of food I would often make.

To make a creamy tomato salad dressing, add some mayonnaise.  Experiment and add mayonnaise slowly until you reach the desired taste and consistency.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 large Backyard Farms vine ripened tomato
• 1 1/2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
• 1 large garlic clove
• 1/4 cup basil cut into ribbons
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup Filippo Berio extra virgin olive oil

DIRECTIONS

Cut the large tomato in half and grate with a box grater over a dish or wide bowl, discarding the skins, but collecting the juice and pulp.

Mince the garlic clove with a little salt. Add to the tomato. Add a pinch more salt, crushed red pepper to taste, vinegar and basil. Whisk in enough of the olive oil to make an emulsion.

This should yield at least one half cup of vinaigrette. 

Roasted Garlic Clove Chicken

Easy, economical and delicious!

This recipe comes from the show Ten Dollar Dinners on the Food Network where Melissa always comes up with awesome meals that are economical. Check it out sometime!  At this time, it is airing every weekday afternoon EST.

You can imagine the delicious flavor of this chicken with all that garlic!  That is, if you love garlic like I do.

Ingredients

• 8 chicken thighs
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 head garlic, separated into whole cloves, papery skin removed (about 20 cloves)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 teaspoons herbes de Provence
• 1 teaspoon flour
• 1/4 cup chicken stock
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• Bread, for serving

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Rinse and pat dry the chicken. Salt and pepper liberally and allow to temper on a cutting board while you prepare the garlic. 

In a large ovenproof saute pan over medium heat, cook the whole garlic cloves in olive oil and butter, stirring occasionally, until lightly golden, about 10 minutes. Remove the garlic from the pan and set aside. 

Increase the heat to medium high and brown the chicken skin-side down until the skin is golden and crispy, about 5 minutes. Turn the chicken over, sprinkle on herbes de Provence. 

Add the garlic back to the pan and place hot pan in oven. Bake the chicken until cooked through, about 25 minutes. 

Once the chicken is done, remove chicken thighs and garlic to a platter. Place the pan over medium-high heat and sprinkle the drippings with flour and stir to incorporate. Deglaze the pan with the stock and lemon juice. *

Pour the sauce over the chicken on the platter and serve with bread for sauce-mopping and garlic-spreading.

*Many comments on the recipe page claimed their gravy did not come out right.  Some tips for the gravy . . .

Make sure the drippings are heated thoroughly before adding flour, followed by the stock and lemon juice.

Depending on how much drippings your chicken produced, you may want to add butter to the drippings and heat thoroughly before adding the flour.

Grandma Yearwood's Coconut Cake with Coconut Lemon Glaze

Recipe adapted from Home Cooking with Trisha Yearwood (c) Clarkson Potter 2010

The Food Network
SHOW: Trisha's Southern Kitchen
EPISODE: Grandma Knows Best

This recipe takes me back to childhood days and the delicious cakes my southern belle neighbor from North Carolina would make.  Along with my nana and godmother, she was a great cooking inspiration in my life and taught me so much about baking as a young girl.

You can never go wrong with a cake made with coconut!

Ingredients

Cake:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature, plus more for greasing
• Flour, for dusting pan
• 2 cups sugar
• 6 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• One 12-ounce box vanilla wafers, finely crushed
• One 6-ounce package frozen or fresh grated coconut, thawed
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Coconut Lemon Glaze:

• 2 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• Pinch of salt
• Grated zest of 2 large lemons
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 large lemons)
• One 6-ounce package frozen or fresh grated coconut, thawed

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

For the cake: Grease and flour a 9-inch tube cake pan. Cream the butter and sugar until light and smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla extract, beating well. Mix in the vanilla wafer crumbs, coconut and pecans. Pour into the pan and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a rack.

For the glaze: Mix the sugar, cornstarch, salt, lemon zest and juice, 1 1/2 cups of water and coconut in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring until thickened, for about 15 minutes. Let cool slightly, then using a toothpick, poke several holes in the top of the cake and drizzle the glaze over the cake.

Crouton Crushed Chicken Tenders with Orange Barbeque Sauce

Love the concept of baked chicken that tastes like fried chicken, making it a healthier choice.

One of the things I love about this recipe is the use of croutons as a major breading ingredient.  Sandra Lee suggests store bought croutons (you know, the semi-homemade thing), but I would opt to make my own.  Some comments on the recipe page complained about the breading being bland.  You can make it as bland or as flavorful and spicy as you want depending on the croutons you use.  Could be they used plain croutons!  Make sure to keep this in mind when planning this recipe.

A tip I gained from watching this episode is the method she uses to bread the chicken using tongs instead of her hands.  I use the one hand for dipping in the wet ingredient and the other for breading . . . I hate when I get uncoordinated and get my hands all mucky with breading and eggs.  Love the idea of using tongs . . . let the tongs get all mucky!

Recipe courtesy Sandra Lee

The Food Network
SHOW:  Semi-Homemade Cooking
EPISODE: Moms Tailgate Party


Ingredients

• 1 (6-ounce) bag garlic and butter croutons
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/3 cup plain bread crumbs
• 1 1/2 pounds chicken tenders

Orange Barbeque Sauce:

• 1/3 cup barbeque sauce
• 2 tablespoons orange marmalade
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Cut the corner off of the bag croutons just enough to let the air escape. Place the bag onto a cutting board, cover with a kitchen towel and smash it with a rolling pin. Crush the croutons until coarse in texture.

Set up a breading station with 3 pie plates or baking dishes. In 1 dish add the flour, and season it with poultry seasoning, and a generous pinch of salt and pepper. In the second dish mix together the egg and buttermilk. In the third dish add the crushed croutons, and the bread crumbs.

Dip chicken tenders into the flour and shake of any excess. Then dip them into the buttermilk, and then into the bread crumb mixture making sure to thoroughly coat the tenders. Put the tenders on a baking sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

Transfer to a platter and serve with the orange barbeque sauce.


Orange Barbeque Dipping Sauce: Add all of the ingredients to a small bowl, and whisk together until well combined.