St. Claire Chicken

Everyone has those family recipes with stories behind them. St. Claire Chicken, or as it's now become known as "Granny's Chicken" is one of those recipes for my family. I won't go into the stories, but you really should make this chicken. The combination of the lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce is stunningly good. More importantly, the method of par-baking the chicken in the marinade really ensures the flavor soaks into the meat, even if you haven't had all day to let it marinate. Once you get the hang of this recipe you can start playing with it. I've done a variation where I sub lime juice for the lemon juice and fish sauce for the Worcestershire and omit the mustard and parsley for garlic and ginger, and you've got Thai-style chicken.

St. Claire Chicken 

Ingredients

• 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
• 1 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
• 5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons dry mustard
• 2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons parsley
• 1 teaspoon pepper

Directions

Mix marinade ingredients in a baking dish large enough to fit the chicken and marinade. Add chicken and make sure each piece comes into contact with the marinade. Marinate, refrigerated, for up to 10 hours. Preheat oven to 350 F and remove chicken from refrigerator. Bake, covered, in the marinade for 30 minutes until par cooked. Remove from oven and finish chicken on the grill or under the broiler. Serve hot, warm or at room temperature. 

Picking parsley

This is a good recipe for cooking with kids. The marinade comes together easily, and it's fun for my little guy to help me pick the parsley, squeeze the lemons and measure and pour the ingredients. He lets me handle the chicken part, of course!

New Side Dish Options

Caramelized Acorn Squash

Tired of the same-old, same-old side dishes? My family definitely gets in a rut with roasted broccoli, brussel sprouts and boring carrots. Here are two new options to add to your repertoire to get you out of your regular routine.

Caramelized Acorn Squash

Ingredients

• 1 acorn squash
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Cut acorn squash in half with a sharp knife. Line a small sheet pan with aluminum foil. Drizzle both halves of the squash with olive oil, salt and pepper. Place cut side down. Roast for 35 minutes. Cool completely.

For this weeknight side dish, I roasted off the squash on Sunday for a Wednesday night meal.

Remove from fridge, cut into wedges, peel off skin, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Meanwhile preheat a non-stick skillet and 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium high heat. Sear one side of the squash for 4-6 minutes until caramelized. Searing just the one side will heat the squash through, but not turn it to mush. Serve hot or at room temperature.

For a dinner party, try adding a tahini sauce and lemon or lime supremes. Tahini sauce idea: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Roasted-Squash-with-Lemon-Tahini-Sauce-51134000

Flash-Seared Okra

Flash-Seared Okra

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound fresh okra
• canola oil
• salt and pepper

Directions

Preheat a skillet (not non-stick) to medium high heat. Meanwhile slice the okra lengthwise. Add 1-2 tablespoons of canola oil to the pan. Heat for 30 second. Add the okra to the hot pan. Quickly searing the okra will reduce the slime-factor notoriously associated with okra.

See a previous post on my experience with okra sauce during my time in the Peace Corps in Niger.

 Keep the okra moving while you flash-sear it. It will be cooked through, but still crisp-tender in 5-7 minutes. Add salt and pepper until seasoned to your liking and serve hot.

Caramelized Acorn Squash

So both of these side dish options are super easy right? I bet you haven't had okra with dinner this week. Why not give it a try and see what your family thinks? It's good to get out of your comfort zone... and your dinner side dish rut!