Quick Gourmet - Balsamic Poached Chicken

This makes a rather sweet sauce, and it's delicious with simple vegetables like spring potatoes, asparagus or a mixed salad.

Another wonderful recipe from the Unemployed Cook.

2 to 3 boneless, skinless chicken breast fillets

1 1⁄2 cups chicken stock

1⁄2 cup balsamic vinegar

Salt, to taste

Black pepper, to taste

2 Tbsps brown sugar

1. Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper.
2. Bring the stock and the vinegar up to a boil in a medium (2 quart) saucepan, add chicken, and reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 15 to 18 minutes, turning once (cooking time will depend on the thickness of the chicken). Internal temperature should read 165°F when done.
3. Remove the chicken from the pan, and keep warm in a 170°F oven.
4. Turn heat up to high, add brown sugar, and reduce cooking liquid to about 1⁄4 cup (you may want to transfer all of this to a large shallow pan to speed up the evaporation rate). 
5. Slice the chicken thickly and spoon some of the pan sauce over it, and serve.

Kitchen Ready Soup - Lentil Soup

This is a great soup for me because it contains ingredients that are usually always in my kitchen. It's quick, tasty, and easy. The first time I made it was this past month, with my niece Isabelle, for our last meal together before she left us to, of all things, spend the summer with her parents! I know! Kids these days have their priorities all mixed up!
Addendum: I didn't have red lentils on hand, but I did have green lentils and tried the recipe using these as a substitution, and it was quite tasty. This makes the soup far more flexible!

1 large onion (10oz/285gr), chopped

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

4 garlic cloves (20grams), finely chopped

1 tsp ground cumin

1 bay leaf

2 sprigs of fresh thyme

1 1⁄2 cup split red lentils or green lentils

3 1⁄2 cups chicken (or vegetable) broth

2 cups water (add 1 cup more if you want it soupier)

1 tsp salt
1⁄2 tsp pepper

2 Tbsps chopped flat-leaf parsley for garnish

lemon wedges as accompaniment

1. In the soup pot, heat the oil and start by cooking the onion over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion has softened. This should take about 8 minutes.
2. Add the garlic, cumin, bay leaf, and thyme and cook, stirring, 1 minute more. Add the lentils, broth, water, salt, and pepper; simmer, partially covered, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are very soft and falling apart, about 30 to 45 minutes.
3. Optional - coarsely blend with an immersion blender.
4. Stir in the parsley and adjust the season until it tastes right to you.
5. Serve with a spritz of lemon to brighten the soup.

Milk-Braised Pork

THIS NEEDS WORK - I'VE RETURNED IT TO THE TESTING PHASE. Thank you, thank you, thank you Unemployed Cook! This recipe is terribly, dangerously delicious. It's very simple but it takes a long time and is very sticky and messy. But oh, so deliciously delicious. With my own limited finances, pork is the one meat I will only buy organic - conventional pork factory farming is just bad, bad, bad. Luckily the Vancouver Farmer's Market includes sustainable pork farmers. And when the pork loin cooks in the milk, you end up with tender succulence, and, not a sauce, but a kind of ham/cheese hybrid, brown, rich, gooey goodness. The Unemployed Cook recommends the use of a super-non-stick pan which I've never heard of, but I post it here in case you're interested: Calphalon non-stick skillet. I used a non-stick skillet and it still stuck. A small price to pay for this dish.

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/200620/milk-braised-pork-loin/
http://goboldwithbutter.com/slow-cooked-pork-braised-in-milk/

NOTE: THIS TAKES A SUPER LONG TIME!

1 Tbsp (1⁄2 oz/14gr) butter

Mild vegetable oil

sea salt

freshly ground pepper

1 medium pork tenderloin

.5 gallon of milk*

*I don't know how much milk I use. It depends on the size of the pan I'm cooking in - I just look to make sure the tenderloin is almost covered with milk when I have to put some in.

1. Sprinkle the tenderloin generously with salt and pepper. Heat the butter and a drizzle of oil in a heavy saute pan with a lid.
2. Brown the pork very well on all sides in the hot oil. Once finished browning, add the milk to the pan until nearly covering the meat, reduce heat to a low simmer. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
3. Remove the lid, raise the heat to medium. When the milk starts to boil around the meat, be vigilant! Boil the milk down, turning the tenderloin over (every half hour), until the milk resembles soft, light golden curds. Beware, those of faint heart, this can take over half and hour TAKES LONGER, RECORD TO CORRECT (try 2.5 hours as your metric, to start. This seems more realistic) of care and attention because you do not want to scorch the milk!
4. Once the milk has boiled down, add more milk to almost cover the pork, and cook down again. At this point it should be smelling incredibly good and the pork should be quite tender. Once the milk has boiled down to a thick, golden brown sauce, HOW LONG DOES THIS TAKE? remove meat (the internal temperature should be 160°F). Slice thinly and generously spoon the sauce over the top. This is a rich dish, best paired with lightly steamed vegetables to cut some of the heaviness.

Lemony good butter cookies

These are delicious and versatile butter cookies that can be flavoured with all sorts of good stuff. The standard I make is with lemon rind, but I've also put in ground anise, and I'm looking forward to trying it with fresh lavender flowers. What else can I use in them? Only time and inventiveness can tell.

1 1⁄2 cups (12oz/339gr) butter, softened

2⁄3 cup white sugar

1⁄4 cup sifted confectioners' sugar

(see Options, below)

1 tsp grated lemon zest

2 1⁄2 cups flour

1⁄2 cup cornstarch or arrowroot powder

1⁄4 tsp salt

1. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, white sugar and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in lemon zest. Combine the flour, cornstarch and salt; mix into the batter until well blended. Divide dough into two balls, wrap in plastic wrap and flatten to about 1 inch thick. Refrigerate to let the dough rest for about 1 hour and up to 72 hours.
2. Preheat the oven to 325°F. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into shapes with cookie cutters. Place on cookie sheets - stoneware works great.
3. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, just until cookies begin to brown at the edges. Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheets then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
4. OPTIONS: 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh lavender, 1 tsp ground star anise seeds, and/or hey, why not, fresh mint leaves, etc, etc, etc...

Chicken with Mushroom and Leeks

The original to this recipe is in Food & Wine March 2011. It's called Simplest Chicken-and-Leek Stew. I think the name is misleading. To start, with the quantity of mushrooms in this recipe, this ingredient should be headlined, otherwise it's like calling a chocolate cake a sponge cake. Secondly, there are three different grouping of things to cook separately, and then you assemble, which means lots of dirty dishes and fiddling with removing from the pan and then putting back in. Thirdly, there is no stewing involved - all the ingredients are cooked separately, then added to the sauce with only a single measly minute of simmering before serving. The one thing that I will agree to about this recipe is that it is delicious.

2 Tbsps mild vegetable oil

2 medium leeks (12oz/340gr) tender parts only, thinly sliced

1⁄2 lb button mushrooms, thinly sliced

Salt and pepper

1 lb chicken breast cut into 2 inch pieces

4 Tbsps flour (I use rice flour)

1 1⁄2 cups chicken broth

1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh thyme

2 Tbsps crème fraiche

1 Tbsp Dijon mustard

1. In a skillet heat 1 Tbsp oil, add leeks and cook over moderate heat until soft (approx 7 minutes). Add the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook, stirring often, until mushrooms are soft, about 4 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.
2. In a bag mix 4 Tbsp flour, salt and pepper, and toss in chicken pieces. Shake until chicken is well covered, remove chicken and discard remaining flour. Add 1 Tbsp of oil to pan and the brown chicken, about 2 minutes per side. Add the chicken stock and thyme, simmering until chicken is cooked through (this should be quick since the browning should have cooked the chicken).
3. Remove the chicken from the pan and simmer the stock until it is reduced by half. Throw the chicken and veg back in and simmer over low temperature until it's all heated through, about 1 minute.
4. Meanwhile, in a small bowl mix together the crème fraiche and the Dijon and stir into the stew. Season to taste and serve.

Lemon loaf

This Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf recipe turned me on because of the lemon syrup you soak into the loaf after it has baked. After it's been sitting for a while, the syrup soaks pretty much uniformly to scent and flavour the loaf. Fun! The first time I made this I used a slightly smaller loaf pan, and there was a tiny bit in the centre that wasn't cooked - it was yummy, but not cooked. I wonder what kind of tea or coffee would work best with this delicacy?

Cake:

1⁄2 cup (4oz/114gr) room temperature butter

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour

3 Tbsps poppy seeds

1 tbsp grated lemon rind

1 tsp baking powder

1⁄4 tsp salt

1⁄2 cup milk

Lemon Syrup:

1⁄3 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp grated lemon rind

1⁄3 cup lemon juice

1. In a large bowl, beat butter with sugar until light and fluffy; beat in eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, poppy seeds, lemon rind, baking powder and salt ; stir into the butter mixture alternately with milk, making 3 additions of the flour mixture and 2 of milk. Spread in greased 8- x 4-inch (1.5 L) loaf pan.
3. Bake in the centre of a 325°F oven for 1 hour or until a cake tester inserted in centre comes out clean. Set on a cooling rack to rest.
4. Lemon Syrup: In a saucepan, warm together the sugar, lemon rind and juice until the sugar dissolves. With a skewer, pierce the hot loaf in 12 places right to bottom; pour lemon syrup over loaf.
5. Let the loaf cool in the pan for 30 minutes; turn it out onto rack and let it cool completely. Wrap and let it stand for 12 hours before slicing.

Muffuletta Sandwich with Vegetarian Option

This is a delicious sandwich. I tried two versions using the vegetarian recipe, below - one true to this recipe, the other incorporating meats often used in muffuletta sandwiches (Italian mortadella and hot capicollo). The veggie sandwich turned out beautifully and, although the meat sandwich was good, it wasn't as good - I used less pesto and less tapenade in the meat sandwich and omitted the balsamic, which I think was my error. Anyway, I will try it again. I've included the meat as an option in the recipe, below. Essentially, there are loads of variations for this recipe, but the basic ingredient, as far as I can tell, that makes it a muffuletta is the olives - either tapenade or an olive salad etc.

1 small eggplant, cut lengthwise into 1⁄4" slices

2 small zucchini, cut lengthwise into 1⁄4" slices

1 large loaf ciabatta bread (recipe)

1⁄3 cup prepared pesto

1⁄3 cup prepared tapenade

2 jarred roasted red peppers, roughly diced (or more, don't be shy)

1⁄8 lb hot capicollo (optional)

1⁄8 lb Italian mortadella (optional)

1⁄4 lb mild provolone slices

2 Tbsps balsamic vinegar

1. Heat grill pan or grill to medium-high heat. Brush eggplant and zucchini with olive oil, and grill 3 to 4 minutes per side, or until charred and softened, dribbling more olive oil as needed. Transfer to plate.
2. Hollow the inside of the bread to make room for the filling. Spread pesto on one side of bread. Spread tapenade on other side of bread.
3. Layer eggplant, zucchini, roasted red peppers, meat (if using) and provolone on one side of bread. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar (warning, this will make the bread soggy). Season with salt and pepper.