Recipe Review from 11/2/09

I've been comfortably making about two new recipes a week for the last several months. Sunday has become my "cooking" day and then the leftovers bring me through the week. I don't think I'm going to be breaking any cooking records this year, in fact, this may be my slowest year since I started keeping track of new recipes. Oh well, so it goes.

Last week I made one so-so dish and one very good dish:



Chicken Orzo Soup (Ckng Lght, Oct 09, pg 28) 3.0
This was lunch, along side some cheese, crackers and dried fruit. This comes together very quickly, so it is also great for a weeknight. As usual, I have some substitutions: the celery and spinach were replaced with Swiss chard. My preference. I hate buying a thing of celery only to use it once where I can use most of a bunch of Swiss chard up. And the fresh herbs were replaced with dried. Again, cost savings here. I have dried on hand and can't justify spending $2.00 each or more for some fresh herbs that I'm only going to be able to use once. My only complaint with this recipe was it comes out a bit on the bland side - flavors are bright and fresh, but bland. Might be good if you have kids tho.


Chicken Orzo Soup
Ingredients
1 (32-ounce) container fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth, divided
1/2 cup uncooked orzo
2 teaspoons olive oil
2/3 cup coarsely chopped carrot
1/2 cup coarsely chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped onion
3/4 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 1/4 cups water
3 fresh parsley sprigs
1 fresh thyme sprig
4 cups fresh baby spinach
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Preparation
1. Bring 1 3/4 cups broth to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add orzo; cook 10 minutes or until done. Drain.

2. While orzo cooks, heat a large saucepan over medium heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add carrot, celery, onion, and chicken; cook 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Stir in remaining 2 1/4 cups broth, 1 1/4 cups water, parsley, and thyme; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Discard herb sprigs. Add orzo, spinach, juice, salt, and pepper; simmer 1 minute.




Chicken-Butternut Tagine (Ckng Lght, Nov 09, pg 96) 4.5
This was for dinners, and I did cut waaayyy back on the chicken - I only used one chicken breast. And no olives. I didn't feel like figuring out a good substitute for pincholine olives. This dish also comes together very quickly and I LOVED the flavors in this. Don't let the dried plums turn you off in this dish! They were nice and tasty and added a bit of sweetness that was a good counterpoint to the spices. For a vegetarian or vegan version, use all butternut and vegetable broth. I served this over Israeli couscous. Yum yum!


Chicken-Butternut Tagine
Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 1/4 cups)
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups chopped onion
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
8 ounces peeled cubed butternut squash
1/3 cup halved pitted picholine olives (about 3 ounces)
8 pitted dried plums, chopped
Fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves (optional)

Preparation
1. Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion; cook 8 minutes or until golden, stirring occasionally. Stir in cumin and next 7 ingredients (through chicken); cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in broth, squash, olives, and dried plums; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 10 minutes or until squash is tender. Garnish with parsley, if desired.


(Photo's from CookingLight.com)