Paprika Oven-Roasted chicken

The other day I had food network on and saw "The best thing I ever made". Alton Brown's paprika chicken looked really good but I had one problem with it... Olives. I hate Olives. I still felt that it needed that briny "bite" that olives would give it so I replaced them with marinated artichoke hearts. Lastly I added to the vegetables with chopped sweet potatoes and carrots.


Ingredients
6 ounces pimento stuffed green olives marinated artichoke hearts, chopped
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 cloves garlic, grated
3 tablespoons smoked paprika
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, unpeeled
1 medium yellow onion, frenched

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Combine the olives, lemon zest and garlic in a small bowl. Set aside.
Mix the smoked paprika, olive oil, 3/4 teaspoon of the salt and pepper into a paste in a large bowl.
Lay the chicken thighs skin-side down. Using a pair of kitchen shears, make a cut down the length of the bone to expose it, then cut the meat away from the bone. Discard the bone. Add the boned chicken thighs to the paste and massage to coat.
Thinly slice the potatoes on a mandoline, about 1/4-inch thick. Chop up all the vegetables into 1/2" chunks Arrange the sweet potatoes, carrots, potatoes & onion pieces in an even layer on a foil-lined half sheet pan and sprinkle with the remaining 3/4 teaspoon salt.
Stuff about 2 tablespoons of the olive artichoke mixture under the skin of each chicken thigh. Arrange the chicken thighs, skin-side up, on a cooling rack and set the rack over the potatoes and onion in the half sheet pan. Bake until the skin is crispy and the potatoes are tender, 55 to 60 minutes.(Mine was about 75 minutes). If you prefer the potatoes crispy, remove the rack with the chicken and return to the oven for an additional 5 to 10 minutes. Serve immediately.

Honestly the ingredients couldn't have cost more than $6-7 total, other than having to wait for it to bake this was really easy...
What I'd change for next time:

-I'd probably leave the bone in, its really not worth the effort of removing it, plus it'll help with flavor.
-I'd add more lemon zest, maybe throw a few lemon slices over the skin of the thighs too

Source -> http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/smoked-paprika-chicken-thighs-with-potato-and-onion-recipe/index.html

While I do tend to prefer lamb...

***Update*** This is stupid -> Pork chops are now ribeyes as US meat industry renames cuts

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This is a pretty cool infographic of all the different cuts of beef on a cow.

One of my favorite cuts is skirt steak. While this used to be cheaper its gaining some traction in the cost area as people realize how great of a piece of meat it can be if cooked (and more importantly) sliced correctly.

Here's an earlier post I did for an easy grilled skirt steak recipe -> http://www.dannyfinnegan.com/2011/07/one-of-my-favorite-recipes-skirt-steak.html

Cuts of Beef infographic by visually.


Source -> http://visual.ly/cuts-beef via http://gizmodo.com/5993411/here-is-a-chart-showing-all-the-different-cuts-of-beef

Clementine Tumeric Chicken, Teriyaki veges and Quinoa

Say it with me... Keen-Wah

Ingredients:
2 large Chicken breasts chopped into cubes
5 or 6 clementines, peeled and separated
Scallions/Green Onions/Spring Onions, chopped up
A few Asparagus spears, chopped up
Bag of Mixed Veges (I used one that was Broccoli/Carrots/Cabbage)
Fresh Peas (handful?)
3/4 cup of uncooked Quinoa
2 cups Chicken Broth
a splash of Orange Juice
Pat of butter

Spices/Sauces needed:
Soy Sauce
Teriyaki sauce (or use more soy and a bit of honey if you don't have any teriyaki sauce)
Chopped Garlic
Ginger powder
Turmeric powder
black pepper
rooster sauce 
Soybean/Sesame/Stirfry oil (tablespoon or 2).

Instructions:
First prepare the Quinoa, how much you make is up to you, but the ratio is usually around twice as much liquid (water or chicken broth which I prefer) as dry Quinoa, bring to boil then lower and cover once its simmering. Add the pat of butter to the saucepan (or rice cooker) in the beginning, this will take about 15 min. Once its done fluff with a fork and add that handful of fresh peas.

Get the Wok or Frying pan really hot with only the oil in it. Add the chicken until its about halfway cooked, stirring constantly. Add a splash each of Soy Sauce, Teriyaki sauce, Orange Juice and chicken broth. Then a healthy shake of turmeric, ginger powder and black pepper. Next throw in a heaping tablespoon of chopped garlic and the scallions and a squirt of rooster sauce, stirring constantly, but the heat turned down to about 75%. Once you'd say the chicken is fully cooked, turn off the heat and throw in all the clementine slices, stirring them in. Strain out the meat, remove from heat and cover. The remaining juice, I usually whisk in a bit more teriyaki sauce (or honey) and a squirt of rooster sauce to make the orange sauce.

Rinse out the wok frying pan (not that well), then add some more oil. Turn heat back up and add the veges once its starting to sizzle, cook this in teriyaki sauce and garlic (with a squirt of rooster if you like them spicier). Total cooking time will be very short, maybe 2 or 3 minutes.
Variations: you could always add a LOT more ginger/turmeric and much less liquid if you want it more stir-fried and less "stewed" Or instead of orange juice, try coconut milk with the clementines (might want more clementines in that case) for a creamier sauce.

One of my favorite cheap meals: Soba noodles

While this isn’t much of a food blog, I do post about it from time to time. One of my favorite cheap and healthy (and filling) meals is Soba Noodles in a peanut/sesame sauce. There are a few different ways to do this from boiling + sautéing, boiling only, making it into a soup, noodles and sauce alone or adding mixed veges. My favorite type is boiling + sautéing with mixed veges. Yeah it looks like a lot of ingredients, but you either have most of them already or they basically keep forever (especially the frozen stuff).

Ingredients needed:

Soba (Buckwheat) dried noodles (Usually in the Asian section, but can be with other pastas)

Sesame Oil

Edamame or Mixed Vege Edamame

Chicken broth (or water)

Rooster Sauce

Soy Sauce

Ginger powder

A little bit of Chopped Onion/Shallot/Scallion/chives (dried or fresh)

Chopped garlic

Optional:

Tahini (aware I’m mixing genres here, get over it)

Peanuts/peanut butter/cashews any mix of them

Frozen wontons/dumplings to add right at the end of boiling

Sesame Seeds

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Cooking instructions (Warning, I don’t really measure):

Boil a small amount of chicken broth (or water if you want to reduce sodium, sissy) maybe about 1/3 of a cup in a sauce pan and throw in 1 bunch (they come pre-wrapped usually, you’ll see what I mean when you open the package) of Soba noodles for every 2 people, or 1 if you’re me. Boil them for about 2 minutes, then throw in a large handful of whatever veges you’re putting in for about another 2-3 minutes, the veges can literally be anything, less cooking time if they’re not frozen though. Shut off heat and toss in any frozen dumplings/wontons if you are adding those too. Mix around a bit with a large spoon. Strain and move to a hot skillet that has already a bit of sesame oil (teaspoon?) and a little bit of butter or olive oil too, and anything from the onion family. Now add about a teaspoon of sesame seeds, about the same amount of tahini (if you’re using it, just use more sesame oil if not) and a handful of any nuts (‘buttered or otherwise) you’re adding too. Lower the heat to medium and mix around a lot, but not too hard that you pierce the wontons, etc. Lastly add Rooster sauce, Soy Sauce, ginger powder and Garlic to taste. (This part is entirely up to you, but maybe a half teaspoon of each? Totally guessing).

Total cook time including the boiling is about 10-12 minutes. Enjoy!

Soup version: just don't strain and eliminate the sauté part, adding stuff in the same order. You'd probably want to use more onion, soy and rooster sauce for the soup version. 

Pic is from a slightly different version, peapods and carrots instead of Edamame/mixed veges

Hey Giada, lets hang out?

Yeah I know, 2 cooking posts in a row, who am I Kiss My Whisk?

Saffron risotto is likely my favorite prepared dish (warning I have a lot of favorite foods). The problem is saffron is so flipping expensive and doesn't go very far. But- other than online bulk buying, I may have found something locally(-ish) available at Costco. Honestly I don't remember what I paid but I think it was about $15/gram which is still far cheaper than the grocery store, if they even have it. The quality was great, and the color/taste was perfect. That was enough for about 4 saffron dishes (for 2 people with leftovers). 

Short version of risotto cooking directions:

1 cup of short grain white rice (arborio)

~1/3 of a large white or yellow onion chopped fine

3 cups of chicken or vegetable broth (I prefer chicken)

Heaping tablespoon of minced garlic

~1/4 cup of shredded Asiago/Pecorino/Romano/Parmesan cheese (I mixed all of them)

Black pepper

dried chopped parsley

large pat of butter

2-3 tablespoons of Olive oil (doesn't matter what kind, no matter what Giada says)

pinch of Saffron (I guess technically I used about a 1/4 ounce, but if you can measure that you probably already know how to cook risotto)

-In a large sauté pan, start sweating the onion & garlic using all of the Olive oil and butter, once they are about 1/2 of the way to the point that you'd call them fully done, add all the rice and cook until golden-yellow-brown. After adding the rice it shouldn't take more than about 2 minutes.

-Now add about 1/4 of a cup of the broth while stirring slowly, add all the saffron at this point. Turn the heat down to low.

-As it gets absorbed add another 1/4 cup at a time until you have about 1/2 a cup left. At this point add about half the cheese, a teaspoon each of black pepper and parsley

-Turn the heat way down and add the last 1/2 cup very slowly, stirring constantly.

-Once that is absorbed, serve and eat immediately, sprinkle the remaining cheese over the risotto after serving.

Honestly other than the constant stirring its really not that hard to make, and if you can buy the saffron in bulk (or otherwise cheaper) its not that expensive either.

Here are some pictures!

KEEP STIRRING!