Artichoke Rice Salad with Shrimp

Last week I wrote about the lemon blossoms that I saw on a Paula Deen TV show where she made different foods for a dinner party.  On that same show, Paula made an Artichoke Rice Salad with Shrimp and I printed that recipe to make in the future.  On a recent trip to the store, while we purchased our food for the week, I also purchased a few things so I could make this salad. 

I found a box of Chicken flavored Rice-a-Roni to purchase that pretty much matched the description that Paula gives in her recipe.  We also purchased some green onions, a green pepper, and a jar of pimiento-stuffed green olives.

In re-reading the directions in the recipe, though I can see that while I read all the instructions before I started, but I still missed the first step: browning the rice before cooking (it didn’t seem to matter).  I added the 2 1/2 cups of water to the skillet and then added the rice and seasoning and let it heat to a boil.

While the rice heated, I prepared the chopped green pepper, green onion, and green olives.  We have a mega-sized jar of artichoke hearts, so I got out about six ounces and quartered the pieces.  I put the 1/2 cup of mayonnaise in a small bowl and then added about 1 /4 cup of the marinade from the jar of artichoke hearts.  Instead of a whisk, I used a dinner spoon to mix the mayo and marinade together and it worked very well.

About this time, the rice was boiling, so I covered the skillet with a lid, and turned the heat to low so the rice could simmer for ten minutes.  Into a medium sized metal bowl I added all the chopped green ingredients, then added the mayonnaise mixture, and stirred it all together.  After making some over spiced recipes, I am leery about adding the full amount of spices, so I only added 1/2-teaspoon of the curry, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and just a dash of black pepper.

Once the rice was tender, I removed it from the heat and let it cool for a few minutes before adding the rice to the mixing bowl with the other ingredients.  I stirred everything together and then added the shrimp.  I used frozen pre-cooked shrimp that I had already defrosted so I just dumped them in and stirred.

This recipe can be served hot or cold, so I had a bite to eat of the salad while it was warm and thought it was very tasty.  My wife was delayed getting home, so I covered the bowl with plastic wrap and popped it in the refrigerator.

For dinner we had the Artichoke Salad and lightly steamed asparagus.  I am glad that I only used half the amount of curry powder, as a full teaspoon would have overpowered the other flavors.  As I made it, we could pick out the flavor of the green olives, but the artichoke hearts were just a firm mass that tasted like curry.  The pieces of green pepper added a nice crunch to an otherwise soft dish.  The salad was still a little warm when we ate dinner, so we look forward to tasting it tomorrow after it is fully cooled and has some time for the flavors to mature.

Find the recipe at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/artichoke-rice-salad-with-shrimp-recipe/index.html

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell

Broiled Chicken Breasts Topped with Artichoke Hearts and Sun-dried Tomatoes

While pondering what to make for dinner with some chicken breasts that I had thawed from the freezer, I remembered Artichoke and Sun-Dried Tomato Stuffed Chicken Breast that I wrote about on May 18, 2010.  I said that I might make it just as an accompaniment to the chicken.  That is what I decided to do for this dinner.

Topping Ingredients:
   2 Tablespoons butter
   1 white onion, chopped
   2 cloves garlic, minced
   1 1/2-cups marinated artichoke hearts, chopped
   1/2-cup marinated sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
   1 teaspoon dried parsley
   1/2-cup white wine

I started by melting the butter in a large frying pan and adding the onion.  I was going to use the rest of the red onion like the original recipe, but when I got it out of the refrigerator, it was moldy, so I just used a white onion instead.  I sautéed the onions for several minutes until they were translucent.

While the onions cooked, I turned on the oven to broil at 550 degrees.  I got out our roaster pan and lightly oiled the bottom, then placed the four chicken breasts on the pan.  I gave each chicken breast a light brushing with oil then put them in the oven on the top rack for five minutes.

I added the garlic, artichoke hearts, and sundried tomatoes to the onions and continued to cook the mixture on medium heat.  I opened the oven door to check on the chicken and stood back as the clouds of smoke rolled out the door.  Oops, the smoke point of the grape seed oils is around 485 degrees.  I opened the doors and windows and turned the oven down to 450, turned the chicken over and set it to bake for another five minutes.

After five minutes, I removed the chicken from the oven and set it on top of the stove.  I added the white wine and the dried parsley to the pan of onion, artichoke hearts, and sun-dried tomatoes and let it heat and mix with the oils from the marinated vegetables to make a sauce.

I served the chicken accompanied by some hot rice and the onion/artichoke hearts/sun-dried tomato topping.  This easy to make topping really enhanced the visual and flavor when eating a plain chicken breast.

This was an easy dinner to make taking about fifteen minutes.  Next time I will start the broiler at 450 degrees and save having to air out the house.  It’s a good thing we don’t have a smoke detector in our kitchen/family room.

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell

Artichoke and Sun-Dried Tomato Stuffed Chicken Breast

This recipe gets an award for the longest name as well as the unique tastes.  I discovered this recipe on the Foodnetwork.com web site earlier this month and printed a copy so I could make it at some point.  On a recent trip to the store, I picked up the required marinated sun-dried tomatoes and for chicken breasts for when I wanted to make the recipe.

I decided to make the Artichoke and Sun-Dried Tomato Stuffed Chicken Breast for dinner a few nights ago.  Before I started to cook, I gathered all the necessary ingredients and hardware for the meal.  I started by chopping 1/2 of a red onion (which is about 1/2-cup worth).  I also chopped the 3/4-cup of marinated artichoke hearts and the 1/2-cup marinated sun-dried tomatoes.

I heated my small saucepan on medium heat and added about a tablespoon of grape seed oil and then added the onions to sauté until they were about half cooked.  Then I added the chopped artichokes and tomatoes into the pan with the onions to cook for five minutes.  This mixture not only looked really delicious, but it also tasted delicious.

I added the salt, pepper, and minced garlic to the mixture, then added the 1 /4-cup of white wine and deglazed the bottom of the pan.  I added the two-tablespoons of butter and let it melt, then I removed the pan from the heat and added the 1/4-cup of Parmesan cheese and 1/2-tablespoon and dried parsley leaves.  I set the pan aside to cool while I flattened the chicken.

The next step is to pound the chicken breasts flat to about 1/2-inch in thickness.  I did this in the garage by placing each chicken breast in a plastic bag, setting it on my workbench and then beating it with a rolling pin until it was the correct thickness.

Back in the kitchen, I placed 1/4 of the stuffing mixture on one end of each flattened chicken breast then rolled the breast around the stuffing and pinned each breast closed with several toothpicks.  The next step is to brown the chicken breast rolls in a pan, I tried using the small sauce pan but it was too small for all four chicken breasts, I traded up to my larger pan and browning in some more grape seed oil the chicken rolls turning them every few minutes.

I could have spent more time browning the chicken on all sides, but I did get it very lightly browned on almost all the sides.  I added the other 1/4-cup of white wine and the last tablespoon of butter to the pan, covered the pan and cooked the chicken for about fifteen minutes until my temperature probe registered 165 degrees in the center of the stuffing.

I let the chicken sit for a few minutes and then sliced it per the recipe into five pieces that I transferred to the plates for dinner.  I poured some of the sauce over the top of the chicken.  We were going to have some brown rice to accompany the chicken, but when I went to the refrigerator to get some leftover rice to heat, I found that what I thought was rice was a cooked cereal.  So we just had sliced carrot sticks with the chicken.

The chicken was very moist and tender and the stuffing was excellent.  We so enjoyed the stuffing from this recipe, that I am planning to make a variation on this recipe in the future.  I will double the stuffing ingredients and then use it as a sauce over some pan cooked chicken and rice.  It should be great!

Get the recipe here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/guy-fieri/artichoke-and-sun-dried-tomato-stuffed-chicken-breast-recipe/index.html

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell

Shrimp Scampi with Artichokes and Basil

When I woke up this morning I could smell the scent of garlic on my pillow, then I remembered last night’s wonderful dinner of shrimp.  We have tried cooking shrimp before frozen from the bag or from our local grocery store, and the results are less than satisfactory.  Typically, the shrimp either are fishy smelling (old) or have no flavor at all, so why bother.

In preparation for cooking this dinner, I visited the local fish market and purchased two pounds of medium shrimp.  I could have purchased slightly smaller shrimp that were already shelled and de-veined, but I though I would do that work myself and save the extra $1 per pound.

Last night my wife and I returned from our 3-mile walk, and I started right in to shelling and de-veining the two pounds of shrimp.  An hour later, I was ready to start cooking!  What a tedious job that is, next time I will take the smaller shrimp and pay a little bit more.

This is a Paula Deen recipe from page 67 in The Deen Family Cookbook, so of course I started with the full stick of butter as directed.  Next time I would use about 3 /4-stick of butter and the results should still be great.  I heated the butter over medium-high heat, added the garlic, and cooked for about a minute.

Next into the frying pan went the 1 /3-cup of the white wine, some red pepper flakes (next time I will only use about 10 flakes), salt, and pepper.  This simmered for a couple of minutes.  While that was simmering, I dried the shrimp and squeezed out one third cup of basil paste.  When I went to the store to get the basil, there was no fresh basil, but a basil paste that comes in a squeeze tube.  So, I got that to try, why not! 

I quickly hand juiced a lemon that was in the refrigerator that I had already zested the outside for another meal.  I finally managed to open the giant jar of artichoke hearts that we had purchased at Costco.  The recipe calls for one cup of artichoke heart pieces, I added about one and a half cups, and next time I will add two cups to balance the shrimp.  I will also cut the artichoke pieces into smaller sections as some were to large. 

Into the frying pan went the shrimp and artichoke hearts and while it cooked, I stirred together all the ingredients until the shrimp turned pink.  Removing the frying pan from the heat, I stirred in the lemon juice and the basil paste.

I served the shrimp with the artichokes and basil sauce over brown rice with raw baby carrots on the side.  The flavor of the shrimp was fantastic!  The lemon and basil made a flavorful sauce on the shrimp and rice.  There was a little too much fire in the sauce, so as I mentioned, next time I will reduce the amount of red pepper flakes.

This recipe will easily serve four people and we have quite a bit left over for our lunch.  This recipe is quick to make (with pre-peeled and de-veined shrimp) and tastes wonderful.  It is a recipe that I will definitely will make again.

What do you think?  Should this recipe be served on the red (above) or the white plate?

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell