Apple Chicken Quesadilla

I was charged with providing lunch for several kids (ages 4, 6, 7, and 9) a few days ago and prepared for them one of my favorite quickie lunches—chicken and apple quesadillas. The kids gobbled them up, and one of them, Teddy, exclaimed loudly after the first one, “Elise, you HAVE to put these on your website!” The others nodded in agreement, while busily chomping away.
Quesadillas are typically made with just tortillas and cheese (in Mexico typically one would use corn tortillas, closer to the border flour tortillas are often used). I first started adding thin slices of apples to my quesadillas years ago. Apples and cheese naturally go well together in general, and they are just as good together in a quesadilla. Add a few strips of cooked chicken and a little salsa, and you have a perfect easy meal.
So for all you quesadilla-loving kids out there, here you go!

Apple Chicken Quesadilla Recipe

Prep time: 5 minutesCook time: 5 minutesYield: Makes 12 quesadilla triangles

INGREDIENTS
4 Flour tortillas (approximately 8-inches wide)
1 cup cooked, shredded or chopped, chicken meat
1/4 lb cheddar or Monterey jack cheese, sliced or grated
1 apple, sliced
1/4 cup salsa

METHOD
1. Heat a large skillet on medium high heat. Place one tortilla in the skillet. Flip it a couple of times with a spatula, then let it sit in the pan heating up until air pockets form and parts of the tortilla begin to puff up. Flip it again.

2. Place cheese slices on half of the tortilla, at least 1/2-inch from the edge of the tortilla. Add chicken pieces on top of the cheese. Fold the tortilla over like an omelette, and press down on the folded tortilla with the spatula. Lower the heat to medium. At this point, if you have enough room in your skillet, you can add a second tortilla to the pan to begin to heat it up.

3. When the cheese inside the quesadilla has melted, remove the quesadilla to a cutting board. Open it wide and layer on apple slices and salsa. Fold the tortilla back again, and cut it into 3 triangles, as if you were cutting a pie. (You don't have to cut the quesadilla into triangles, it just makes it easier for kids to eat.)

4. Repeat with the remaining tortillas.

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Beef and Barley Stew with Mushrooms

Although the days are getting longer, the sun just beginning to ride a little higher in the sky, the nights are still bone-chilling. Honestly, I never look forward to winter. But when I’m smack in the middle of it, I do appreciate its comforts—warm clothes, thick blankets, an excuse to use the fireplace, and a big pot of stew.
And I mean a big pot.
Heck, if you are going to go through all that trouble, you may as well make enough for plenty of meals during the week. This is one such stew, a hearty cousin of beef barley soup, but bulked up with carrots, celery root, and lots of mushrooms.


It’s a riff off a stew that Hank likes to make with goose, inspired by Russian stews he’s encountered over the years. The stew is served topped with sour cream, which when mixed in, gives a wonderfully creamy consistency to the stew with just a touch of tang.

Beef and Barley Stew with Mushrooms Recipe

Prep time: 15 minutesCook time: 2 hours, 30 minutesYield: Serves 8-10

If you can't find celery root, you can substitute turnips, rutabagas or potatoes. Just be sure to adjust your cooking times—potatoes cook faster than celery root. Save time in the prep work by prepping the onions and mushrooms while the beef is browning.

Ingredients 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
2-3 pounds beef chuck, cut into chunks Salt
3 cups chopped onions
1 pound button or cremini mushrooms, quartered if small or 1/4-inch sliced
1 quart beef or chicken broth
3 cups water
2 teaspoons dried marjoram
1 cup pearl barley
1 cup roughly chopped carrot
3 cups celery root, peeled and chopped into 3/4-inch to 1-inch chunks Black pepper
About 1/2 cup sour cream (around 1 Tbsp sour cream per serving)
Dill for garnish


Method 1. In a Dutch oven or other large, lidded pot, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add enough pieces of the beef to sear in the pot without crowding. You will need to brown the meat in several batches. Salt the beef as it cooks, and set aside browned pieces in a bowl.

2. When all the beef has browned, add the onions. As the onions release some of their water, use a wooden spoon to scrape any browned bits off the bottom of the pot. Sprinkle a little salt over the onions as they cook. Lower the heat to medium and cook the onions until they begin to brown, 5-6 minutes.

3. When the onions have lightly browned, mix in the mushrooms and increase the heat to high. Cook the mushrooms until they release their water, about 2-3 minutes.

4. Add the beef back to the pot and sprinkle with marjoram. Add 1 cup of the stock and use the wooden spoon to scrape any browned bits off the bottom of the pot. Add the rest of the stock and water and bring to a simmer. Cover the pot, lower the heat to low and simmer very gently for 1 hour.

5. Add the barley, celery root and carrots, stir well and recover the pot. Simmer gently until the barley and celery root are tender, between 40 minutes and an hour. Ladle servings into bowls, then top with a dollop of sour cream and a few sprigs of dill. Grind a little black pepper over right before you serve. To eat, stir in the sour cream.

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Baked Chicken Parmesan

When we were kids, my mother used to make a broiled chicken dish which we called Chicken Parmesan. It was so good, we would fight over the drippings. Then my mother gave up wheat for 20 years and the recipe is lost somewhere in the deep storage of her mind, currently unaccessible. (By the way, this is the main reason I put recipes on the web, they don’t get lost or forgotten!)

We had a hankering for Parmesan chicken the other night so I hit the recipe books and Epicurious and came up with something really quite good. Not as drop-dead delicious as mom’s, and the reason why? Mom remembered as we were eating that she used to dip every piece of chicken in melted butter before rolling it in the breadcrumb/Parmesan mixture. Well no wonder we were fighting over the drippings! You can do the same, if you really want a treat. This recipe doesn’t do that, but if you want, just substitute the vinegar for melted butter and then add some more butter to the coating liquid.

Baked Chicken Parmesan Recipe
Yield: Serves 4

Parmesan chicken is traditionally made with boneless, skinless chicken breasts. We use breasts, but thighs too, if we are starting with a whole chicken.

INGREDIENTS
Sauce: 2 medium garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes (we use Muir-Glen)
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon sugar
Salt and ground black pepper

Chicken: 3 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp white-wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
4 (5-oz) skinless boneless chicken breast halves (or deboned thighs)
3/4 cup of breadcrumbs (we make our breadcrumbs from old French bread)
1 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

METHOD 1. Prepare the sauce. In a large saucepan, heat the garlic and oil together over medium high heat until the garlic starts to sizzle. Stir in the tomatoes, basil, oregano, sugar, a pinch of salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer. Continue to simmer until sauce thickens a bit and flavors meld, about 10-12 minutes. Taste sauce, adjust seasoning if necessary, cover and keep warm.
2. Preheat oven to 450°F. Cut each chicken breast half in half for smaller pieces. With a meat pounder, pound the chicken pieces to flatten them to an even thickness - between 1/4 - 1/2 inch. You might find it easier to put the chicken between layers of plastic wrap before pounding.
3. Whisk together mustard, vinegar, salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper in a large bowl, add the chicken pieces, tossing to coat well.
4. In another bowl, mix together the bread crumbs, grated cheese, and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. Mix well and add in the melted butter. Transfer to a shallow plate. Dredge the chicken pieces 1 piece at a time in the crumb mixture, coating completely. Press the crumbs in gently to adhere and transfer to a stick-free baking sheet. Bake in the middle of the oven until golden brown and cooked through, about 15 minutes.
Serve with a side of rice or pasta. Ladle sauce over the chicken.

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Beef Brisket Pot Roast

Beef brisket is a fabulous cut of meat. The brisket is located between the shoulders and the forelegs of the steer; these muscles get a work-out, and they are also well marbled with fat. So they are highly flavorful and perfect for slow braises. Long cooking time is needed to melt the connective tissue. Upon serving, the meat is cut against the grain, helping it become fall-apart tender.
This recipe is fairly classic, a slow braise with lots and lots of onions. You can do so many things with brisket. One of my favorite beef brisket recipes is just simply slathering it with a BBQ sauce mixture and cooking it forever in the oven. There are versions with ketchup, onion soup, or even cocktail sauce with horseradish. With our recipe, please feel free to mix it up a bit. You could easily use other root vegetables such as parsnips, turnips, or rutabagas. You could use wine or beer instead of the beef stock. Think of this recipe as a starting point for experimentation, or just a good, basic pot roast brisket.

Beef Brisket Pot Roast Recipe
Prep time: 35 minutesCook time: 4 hours, 15 minutesYield: Serves 8-12

Ingredients
4-5 pound beef brisket
Salt 1-2 Tbsp olive oil
3 large onions, sliced
5-6 garlic cloves, minced
1 sprig thyme
1 sprig rosemary
3-4 bay leaves
2 cups of beef stock
2-3 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
1 Tbsp mustard (optional)
Method
1 Prepare the brisket for cooking. On one side of the brisket there should be a layer of fat, which you want. If there are any large chunks of fat, cut them off and discard them. Large pieces of fat will not be able to render out completely. Using a sharp knife, score the fat in parallel lines, about 3/4-inch apart. Slice through the fat, not the beef. Repeat in the opposite direction to make a cross-hatch pattern. Salt the brisket well and let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.


2 You'll need an oven-proof, thick-bottomed pot with a cover, or Dutch oven, that is just wide enough to hold the brisket roast with a little room for the onions. Pat the brisket dry and place it, fatty side down, into the pot and place it on medium high heat. Cook for 5-8 minutes, lightly sizzling, until the fat side is nicely browned. (If the roast seems to be cooking too fast, turn the heat down to medium. You want a steady sizzle, not a raging sear.) Turn the brisket over and cook for a few minutes more to brown the other side.

3 When the brisket has browned, remove it from the pot and set aside. There should be a couple tablespoons of fat rendered in the pot, if not, add some olive oil. Add the chopped onions and increase the heat to high. Sprinkle a little salt on the onions. Sauté, stirring often, until the onions are lightly browned, 5-8 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook 1-2 more minutes.

4 Preheat the oven to 300°F. Use kitchen twine to tie together the bay leaves, rosemary and thyme. Move the onions and garlic to the sides of the pot and nestle the brisket inside. Add the beef stock and the tied-up herbs. Bring the stock to a boil. Cover the pot, place the pot in the 300°F oven and cook for 3 hours. Carefully flip the brisket every hour so it cooks evenly.

5 After 3 hours, add the carrots. Cover the pot and cook for 1 hour more, or until the carrots are cooked through and the brisket is falling-apart tender.

6 When the brisket is falling-apart tender, take the pot out of the oven and remove the brisket to a cutting board. Cover it with foil. Pull out and discard the herbs.

7 At this point you have two options. You can serve as is, or you can make a sauce with the drippings and some of the onions. If you serve as is, skip this step. To make a sauce, remove the carrots and half of the onions, set aside and cover them with foil. Pour the ingredients that are remaining into the pot into a blender, and purée until smooth. If you want, add 1 tablespoon of mustard to the mix. Put into a small pot and keep warm.

8 Notice the lines of the muscle fibers of the roast. This is the "grain" of the meat. Slice the meat perpendicular to these lines, or across the grain (cutting this way further tenderizes the meat), in 1/4-inch to 1/2-inch slices. Serve with the onions, carrots and gravy. Serve with mashed, roasted or boiled potatoes, egg noodles or polenta.

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