You're in for a treat...Carol's made Lemon Chicken with Tomato Parsley Rice and Lemon Green beans for dinner. It looks delicious!!...and your not gonna believe what she used to make it!! I've made my first brioche recipe, Sticky Buns that are out of this world good!!
Lemon Chicken with Tomato Parsley Rice and Lemon Garlic Green Beans.
I know what you're saying...there goes Carol, cooking chicken again! Yep-it was on sale and we LOVE it! A friend on a private forum I'm on posted this recipe a while back and it intrigued me so much that I HAD to try it. Lemon pie filling with chicken? What a concept!The first time I made it, I followed the recipe just as written and it tasted more like Soy Chicken than Lemon Chicken....it didn't even look like the picture that Joyce included with the recipe! Hmmmm..what do do. Another friend of mine, Cyndy, who lives across the country in CA tried her hand at making it more lemon than soy...she came closer to the taste I was looking for than I did for sure. So, I used her idea for adding lemon zest and cutting back on the soy sauce and made this recipe again. I did manage to figure out a good mix for the lemon sauce....at least for us. I fiddled with the ingredients, added the lemon zest like Cyndy suggested and cut back on the soy sauce, then added some fresh squeezed lemon juice too. I think this one's a winner-and Bob really liked it too. The sauce is nice and lemony tasting without being overly sweet and the chicken is moist and tender. The best advice I can give you is taste the sauce as you're making it....definitely before pouring it on the chicken.....everyone is different as far as how tart or sweet they want a sauce....so use your own judgement. I will say a little soy sauce goes a LONG way, so unless you want a heavy taste of soy sauce, use a light hand when adding it. If, in fact, you like the taste of soy sauce, by all means, make the recipe as originally written....it's very good. But if you want a good lemon flavor...try the changes I made.
The Tomato Parsley Rice is the PERFECT compliment to this chicken. Simple, yet tasty...and really pretty too! Add the Lemon Garlic Green Beans and you've got a "Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner!" I can't remember where I found this recipe, but it sure is good. I'll put my changes in parentheses in the original recipes. Who'd have thought that Lemon Pie Filling would make such a wonderful chicken dish..surely not me..but I'm SO glad someone did!!! Thanks to Joyce for finding the recipe and to Cyndy for her help finding the "lemon-sauce-secret"!
Carol
LEMON CHICKEN WITH TOMATO PARSLEY RICE
(Adapted from Simple & Delicious magazine)
Blanch green beans in salted water until bright green and tender crisp, about 2 minutes (I steamed them). Shock in ice water to stop the cooking process.Heat a large skillet; add olive oil and butter and stir until butter melts. Add garlic and red pepper flakes; saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add beans; saute until coated in butter and heated through, about 5 minutes. Stir in lemon zest and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Brioche Sticky Buns
Gayle told me the trick to brioche is incorporating all the butter into the dough. She makes brioche by hand, she's never used a stand mixer!! Yes she's that good!! While the mixer is running on medium speed with all the ingredients except the butter mixing you add the butter one ounce at a time until it's all gone. Here's the important part, keep mixing the dough for about 10 minutes, you shouldn't see any butter at all on the dough, if you do KEEP MIXING!! Here's the link Gayle sent me to Baking Banters post about making brioche in a stand mixer, it's very helpful! After the butter was all incorporated Gayle said to cover it and put it into the fridge, and there it stayed until this morning. Her recipe didn't require the dough to rise first then deflate and refrigerate. Just mix and put in the fridge overnight. I got the dough out this morning and let it come to room temperature, all that butter in the dough makes it solid, it didn't take very long for it to come to room temp, while I was waiting I made Carol's cinnamon roll filling and the Caramel topping. I wanted to be ready and not let the dough get to soft. When it came to room temp it had a different texture than before it was refrigerated and was very easy to work with, yes Gayle it was a DREAM!!
I rolled it out on a lightly floured surface.
I put the filling on within an inch of all the sides.
I rolled it up jelly roll style from the long end.
Then I cut my dough into pieces with a serrated knife, I kept flouring the knife as I cut.
Look at them!!! They're adorable!! After they were cut I put them in a 9x9 buttered pan with the caramel sauce on the bottom ( this recipe made to 9x9 pans of rolls). I covered them and let them rise.
They rose up and got puffy, I took a beaten egg and brushed the tops and sides of the rolls and into the oven they went!
You don't even know how excited I was to taste these!!! Flip them out of the pans onto a platter. take any goo left in the pans and slather onto the buns, if you can stand to wait till they're cooled off ( which you know I didn't ) eat one...or two!!
It took me all of 2 seconds to get one of these into my hand and in my mouth! These are the best sticky buns I've ever made!! They would have looked prettier with nuts on them but hubby doesn't like them. I didn't miss them, the dough was sooooo soft, the texture is amazing! I ate 2, Amanda ate 2, her girlfriend's ate....there's only 1/2 a pan of sticky buns left and Sam hasn't even had any yet, what does that tell you!!
This is whats left of my second sticky bun. Look at the inside of that bun, just look at it!! THANK YOU GAYLE for helping me to over come my brioche fear your the BEST!!!
Brioche Recipe
pastry studio
Brioche recipe
1 T dry yeast
1/4 C lukewarm water
4 C flour (1 lb, 4 oz)
2 t salt
3 T sugar (1 1/2 oz)
6 eggs
12 oz butter, softened
Dissolve the yeast into the lukewarm water.
Put everything together in a bowl except the butter and mix. As I've said, I've never done this by machine, but there are enough recipes out there that you can see that the kneading by machine should take several minutes to establish that it's smooth and elastic. You can also probably do this with a paddle if you don't have a hook because there's a lot of butter and it's a crazy soft, sticky dough. [To mix by hand, it's more of a pinching of the dough between the thumb and forefinger of each hand, then incorporating the portions removed into the other end of the dough. That gets done for about 5 - 7 times until it comes together. Then you begin kneading the dough, which is accomplished by using your hands to reach out to the far side of the dough, get underneath the dough, scooping it up from the bottom and bringing it toward you so that the dough flips around and slaps down on the work surface. Do this for 5 to 10 minutes until it is smooth and elastic - wish we could all be together so I could show you this!]
Then you start adding the butter, about an ounce at a time and let it become fully incorporated. Keep adding the butter and beating on medium speed. At some point, it will look like it's breaking. Don't panic. It will work through this and become a nice satiny dough. [By hand, the butter is incorporated using the same process as above, pinching the dough, then lifting it from below, scooping it up from the bottom and bringing it toward you so that the dough flips around and slaps down on the work surface. Do this just until the butter is mixed in. You will see and feel this when it comes together.]
Once you see that the butter is completely mixed in, stop mixing and place in a covered bowl or bag and refrigerate overnight. Your dough will then be ready to shape. Let rise at room temperature and always glaze with egg wash
Caramel Topping
Nook & Pantry Blog
Caramel Glaze
5 Tbsp butter
1/2 C brown sugar
3 Tbsp honey
1.5 Tbsp milk
Pinch salt
Sticky Bun Filling
Carol's Recipe
FILLING:
3/4 c. packed dark brown sugar
3/4 c. butter, at room temperature
2 Tbsp. ground cinnamon ( I only used 2 tsps of cinnamon for the sticky buns)
1 egg white
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Mix altogether with a mixer and slather on brioche.
