Random Cookbook of the Week - Great Food Fast

This week's cookbook was Great Food Fast, from the editors of Everyday Food magazine. I've found its recipes to be just fast enough to qualify as weeknight recipes, especially if for the rest of the week I'm planning ultra-simple meals like baked potatoes, quesadillas, or spaghetti and non-homemade meatballs. This recipe was no exception. I made it on a Wednesday night and spent a little over an hour in the kitchen. Now that I'm familiar with it, I could probably pare it closer to 45 minutes for future attempts.

Braised Chicken With Mushrooms

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
Coarse salt and fresh ground pepper
2 T olive oil
1 lb white mushrooms, sliced
4 garlic cloves, halved
1/2 c. dry white wine
1 3/4 c. chicken broth
2 T chopped fresh parsley

Sprinkle the chicken breasts with 1/4 t each salt and pepper. Heat 1 T of the oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the chicken; cook until lightly browned, 2-3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate.

Add the remaining T oil to the hot skillet. Add the mushrooms, garlic, and 1/4 t salt. Cover; cook over medium heat until the mushrooms release their juices, 2-3 minutes. Remove the lid. Cook over high heat, tossing occasionally, until the mushrooms are golden, 4-5 minutes.

Pour the wine into the skillet; cook, stirring, until evaporated, 1 minute. Add the stock and parsley; cook over medium-high heat until the mushrooms are tender and the liquid has reduced, 8-10 minutes.

Return the chicken to the skillet. Cover; simmer over low heat until the chicken is cooked through, 10-12 minutes. Serve the cutlets with polenta topped with the mushrooms and a drizzle of the cooking liquid. Garnish with additional fresh parsley.

The recipe was accompanied by one for oven-baked polenta, but I just made a regular stovetop batch, which turned out a little dry, probably because I was overcompensating for a recent batch that turned out too soupy. It's quite a tasty recipe, though I think next time I'll increase the wine relative to the broth to give the sauce a richer taste.

52 Cookbooks - Week 7, Everyday Food

This week for the first time I drew a cookbook I already use fairly frequently, Everyday Food: Great Food Fast. It's a 2007 collection by the editors of Everyday Food magazine, so it's full of recipes suited to current tastes and food trends, without being too labor-intensive or beyond the skills of the average home cook. In other words, everyday.

For the sake of my challenge, I chose a recipe I'd never made before, Chili-Rubbed Skirt Steak. Simple stuff--just steak coated with a chili-heavy spice rub and broiled. I also made the suggested side, romaine salad with a homemade creamy chili dressing. It looked like this:



Tasted pretty good, too. I also made a dessert from the book, Grilled Chocolate Sandwiches. Chocolate-stuffed french toast, basically. The flavor was fine, but it was messy to make, since chocolate melts softer than cheese and kept wanting to ooze out rather than adhere to the bread. I think you could get the same or better flavor with easier clean-up from pouring a good chocolate sauce over ordinary french toast.