Making Tuesday Tasty-Lemon Chicken With Artichoke Hearts

Um, yum! I love tart/tangy food. What a way to spruce up chicken for dinner...Quick and easy to make too.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
3 medium garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken meat, large dice
1 1/2 cups quartered artichoke hearts (canned or jarred - not frozen)
2/3 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup water
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup lightly packed thinly sliced basil leaves
1 teaspoon lemon zest

Directions

Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. When it shimmers, add onion and garlic, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, and cook until golden, about 4 minutes. Add chicken and cook, stirring rarely, until well browned on all sides, about 5 minutes. Add artichoke hearts and cook until slightly broken down, about 3 minutes.

Add wine, water, and juice and scrape the bottom of the pan to incorporate any browned bits. Cook until alcohol smell is cooked off and sauce is slightly reduced, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in basil and lemon, and serve.

*recipe courtesy of foodnetwork.com*

Making Tuesday Tasty-Lemon And Chives Pasta

I don't watch Rachael Ray show much but, this was too irresistible not to post! She made a pasta with a lemon butter sauce and fresh farmers market veggies. Right up my alley. I would have loved some cherry or grape tomatoes thrown in here for more color and bite.

Ingredients

Salt

1 pound egg tagliatelle, such as Delverde brand or other thin, wide pasta or egg pasta

1/2 pound thin asparagus, trimmed of tough ends

1/4 to 1/3 pound of thin green beans, a couple of handfuls

1 cup frozen green peas

1 tablespoon EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil

3 tablespoons sweet butter

1/2 cup finely chopped chives

2 cloves garlic, finely minced or grated

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 Meyer lemons or 2 ripe organic lemons

Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese to taste, plus some to pass at table

Pepper

2 cups mache or other baby lettuce

Preparation

Bring a large pot of water to a boil for pasta. Cook pasta to al dente according to package, about 7-8 minutes. Slice asparagus in 1-inch pieces on an angle. Cut beans into thirds, also on an angle. Midway through cooking the pasta, add asparagus and beans to water so they cook 3-4 minutes in boiling water with the pasta. Add peas to the pot 1 minute before draining. Reserve about 1/2 cup starchy cooking water just before you drain the pasta.

Meanwhile, heat EVOO in pan and melt butter into it over low to medium-low heat. Add chives and garlic and stir a minute or two. Then add wine and gently reduce a couple of minutes more. Stir in Dijon and lemon juice and turn off heat. Add pasta and remaining starchy water and toss to coat evenly 1-2 minutes. Add some cheese and pepper to taste. Fold in baby lettuce and serve with extra cheese on top.

*recipe courtesy of Rachael Ray show*

Making Tuesday Tasty-Grilled Asparagus w/Lemon and Garlic

My all time favorite vegetable, which is now in season, is asparagus. I know some people shudder at the thought of asparagus and I can only say to that, you don't know what you're missing! A major part in a great asparagus eating experience is, the right preparation. I personally like to toss mine in a little olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic and roast until tender and a little crispy. I could and have polished off a bundle myself with that combination.

Here's a Paula Deen recipe that has a good take on bringing out the flavors of the asparagus! I would probably do without the lemon zest and go with a good squirt of lemon juice. If you like a stronger lemon flavor, lemon zest all the way!

Ingredients

1 pound asparagus

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1/4 teaspoon paprika

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Trim asparagus. In a small bowl, combine oil, garlic, zest and paprika and stir with a fork. Lay asparagus side by side and pierce on 2 wooden skewers to form a raft. Place rafts on the grill and brush with oil mixture. Cook to desired tenderness and season with salt and pepper.

*photo courtesy of Foodnetwork.com*

Making Tuesday Tasty-Chicken Scallopini

I LOVE this combination. You can make it ridiculously decadent with a lot more butter or you can be conservative like this one. I love the tang and the creaminess contrast. I also like this with capers. You can vary this to your liking as well but, this is a good base.

Ingredients

¼ c. flour
Salt and pepper
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts pounded to ¼ -inch thickness
2 Tbs butter or margarine
1 Tbs olive oil
1 garlic clove
1 c. chicken broth
¼ c. dry vermouth
¼ tsp. dried marjoram
1 bay leaf
1 can artichoke hearts, drained and halved
8 thin lemon slices

Preparation

1. Combine flour, salt and pepper in a shallow dish. Dredge chicken breasts in flour to coat; shake off excess.

2. In a large frying pan, melt butter in oil over medium heat. Add chicken and cook until lightly browned. Remove and keep warm.

3. Add garlic to pan; cook 1 minute. Add broth, vermouth, marjoram and bay leaf to pan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Return chicken to pan; add artichoke hearts and 4 lemon slices (put in the liquid). Cover and simmer 10 to 15 minutes until liquid just begins to thicken and flavors blended. Discard bay leaf and lemon slices.

4. Arrange chicken and artichokes on serving plates. Pour sauce over chicken. Top each piece of chicken with a fresh lemon slice.

*recipe courtesy of Epicurious.com* *photo courtesy of ehow.com*

Making Tuesday Tasty-Iced Lemon Cookies

I made these over the Christmas holiday for my Father in law who likes lemon cookies. Let me tell you, they were hard to say goodbye to. If you're a lover of lemon and want a hint or a "zing" of lemon, you're in for a treat. These turned out lovely, soft, and had just enough lemon for my liking. The nice part is you can adapt this to make it even more lemony if you choose to.

*I didn't have Meyer lemons, so I used regular*

Preheat oven to 375°F

Dough
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 tablespoons finely grated Meyer lemon rind (about 3 lemons)

Icing
2 tablespoons Meyer lemon juice
1 tablespoon finely grated Meyer lemon rind (1 - 2 lemons)
1 cup powdered sugar

Since the dough chills for one hour, you can delay preheating the oven. Using a microplane grater, remove the zest from 4 Meyer lemons. Reserve 1 1/2 tablespoons for the dough.

Mix butter on high speed until fluffy and add sugar and egg. Continue mixing on medium speed and add vanilla and lemon rind. In a separate bowl, mix together dry ingredients until blended. Mixing on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture to the creamed butter mixture until blended, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally. Gather dough into a ball and cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

While the dough is being chilled, juice the lemons you removed the zest from earlier. Add the remaining lemon rind to the juice and slowly mix in the powdered sugar. It's better to err on the side of too thick for the icing as runny icing won't form nice stripes. Preheat the oven at some point before the dough is done chilling.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll into 1 1/4 inch balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten the cookies with a glass or measuring cup. Coat the bottom of the glass or cup with sugar between flattening. Try to get the cookies around 1/4 inch in height. These cookies taste better crisp, and failing to flatten the cookies will result in too cake-like a cookie.

Bake 10 - 11 minutes until edges are golden brown. More crisp is better, so don't be over eager to remove them until they start to brown. Remove from oven and tranfer to cooling racks to cool completely.

Set a plastic bag in a glass and pour the icing mixture into the plastic bag. Snip the corner off the plastic bag and pipe stripes along the cooled cookie tops. Let the icing harden fully before transferring to storage container. Makes about 24 cookies.

*recipe and photo source is chocolategourmand.com*