Bacon Wrapped Chicken

You know the saying "Tastes like chicken"?  Well....chicken doesn't honestly taste all that special, so what we really should have is a better saying like "Tastes like BACON"!  Bacon is special, bacon is also the chocolate of meat.  What better then to wrap really good bacon on some plain chicken thighs.  You can use any cut of chicken, but we prefer chicken thighs as they are more tender and smaller, so there's more bacon to chicken ratio.  We also prefer PC thick cut bacon, it's the best out there, and it makes EVERYTHING taste like bacon...and you can't go wrong there.

BACON WRAPPED CHICKEN 

Serves: A many as you want!

approx prep time: 15min

approx cook time: 15min

INGREDIENTS: 

- Bacon (1 strip per chicken thigh)
- Boneless, Skinless Chicken Thighs (2-3 per person)
- Cheddar Cheese (extra old, or smoked works best), shredded or cut into strips.
- Italian Seasoning

HOW TO MAKE IT:

- Open the chicken thighs up, so that they become a flat piece of chicken.
- Sprinkle the inside lightly with Italian seasoning
- Place a small pile of shredded cheese (or a strip of it, if cutting into strips) in the center of the chicken.
- Wrap the chicken around the cheese.
- Carefully wrap the chicken thigh with a single strip of bacon.
- Sprinkle the top with a tiny bit of shredded cheese.
- As you complete each one, lay them out flat on a non stick cookie sheet.
- Bake at 425 F for 25 minutes.
- Serve hot!

Chicken and Shrimp Jambalaya

This would be the quickie version of jambalaya.  Not fussy, quick, easy, healthy, tasty and on the table with relative ease.  :-)  You can basically substitute with any vegetables or meats in the fridge.  Last time, we had roast beef jambalaya (recipe HERE) which was basically a bacon and beef version.  :-) A great alternative to pasta.  Try it sometime.

CHICKEN AND SHRIMP JAMBALAYA

Serves: 6-8

approx prep time: 20min

approx cook time: 45min

INGREDIENTS: 

- 1 large Red, Yellow or Orange bell pepper

- 1 zucchini

- 1 large white onion

- 1 large carrot

- 2 stalks of celery

- 1/2 cup uncooked white rice

- 1 large chicken breast

- 1 cup of large shrimps, peeled, with tail removed

- 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

- 1/2 bottle of Tomato Sauce or Pasta Sauce

- 1tbsp Vegetable Seasoning

- salt/pepper to taste

- 2 cloves garlic

- 2tbsp olive oil

HOW TO MAKE IT:

- Cook the rice according to the directions on it's packaging.

- Dice vegetables (Onion, Zucchini, pepper, carrot, celery) into medium size pieces and set aside.

- Dice chicken, and set aside.

- very finely chop garlic.

- When the rice is almost ready, heat two large non-stick fry pans over medium heat.

- In the first pan, add 1tbsp of oil, all the vegetables, garlic and vegetable seasoning, stirring often.

- In the second pan, add 1tbsp oil, and all of the chicken. Stir frequently.

- Season the chicken lightly with salt and pepper while cooking.

- When the chicken is cooked add it to the vegetable mix and using the same pan cook the shrimp, along with a little more pepper. Cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring once or twice.

- Add rice, pasta/tomato sauce, Parmesan cheese, and if desired additional seasoning to the vegetables.

- Add cooked shrimp to the vegetables.

- Mix well, and cook for 1-2 minutes on low.

- Serve hot!

BBQ Rotisserie Chicken

Nothing is better then rotisserie chicken.  No...not the Swiss chalet kind or the ones they sell in supermarkets, I'm talking about a fresh off the rotisserie dripping in BBQ sauce and that wonderfully crunchy skin.  It's definitely a treat and my favorite thing to do to a whole chicken.  Also, it's incredulously easy to do. Not a lot of recipe consist of 2 ingredients and come out tasting like perfection.  Try it out sometime.

 

BBQ ROTISSERIE CHICKEN

Serves: 4

approx prep time: 10min

approx cook time: 1 hour

INGREDIENTS: 

- 1 whole chicken

- 1 bottle of BBQ sauce

- 1 rotisserie grill or rotisserie attachment for your BBQ

HOW TO MAKE IT:

- If your chicken didn't come cleaned and tied, do that now.

- Place chicken on rotisserie spit, and season lightly with salt and pepper (if desired).

- Rotisserie for approx. 45 minutes (likely a bit less if using a BBQ)

- Brush with BBQ sauce, and continue to cook for another 10-15minutes.

- Brush lightly one last time with BBQ sauce, cook for 2-3 minutes.

- Cut into quarters and serve HOT with extra sauce on the side for dipping.

The Home Made Double Down

KFC has a pseudo sandwich called "The Double Down", a bread-less sandwich described as "bacon, two different kinds of melted cheese, the Colonel’s 'secret' sauce... pinched in between two pieces of Original Recipe chicken fillets."  They brought it to Canada on October 18, 2010, but just a short month later, took the product off Canadian markets.  The Double Down's 540 calories, 30 grams of fat, 1,740 milligrams of sodium left most Canadians (well, at least my friends that have tried it), with intense headaches from overdosing on salt. 

Since neither Nick nor I had the chance to try the double down in Canada for the short time it was here, the thought of 2 crispy chicken fillets with cheese and good bacon sounded so good and bad for us that we had to try to make it for ourselves.  Here is our homemade Double Down, with a heck of a lot less salt, and a heck of a lot more flavor.  :-)

THE HOMEMADE DOUBLE DOWN

Serves: 1

approx prep time: 15min

approx cook time: 10min

INGREDIENTS: 

- 2 fried chicken breasts. Using the recipe here.

- 2 or 3 strips of bacon

- 1/4 cup grated Mozzarella cheese

HOW TO MAKE IT:

- Before making the fried chicken (Recipe Here), fry up 2 or 3 strips of bacon and set aside

- Shred 1/4 cup of Mozzarella cheese, and set aside.

- Make the two pieces of Fried Chicken. When finished let them rest on paper towel for 30-40 seconds before making the sandwich.

- Using the fried chicken pieces as bread, stuff with bacon and Cheese.

- Enjoy!

The Black Tomato Ottawa

Location: 11 George Street, Ottawa, ON K1N 8W5, (613) 789-8123

I've been traveling to Ottawa for work for over 5 years now, and this is what I've learned:  Don't trust websites that say this is the best "Japanese food" in Ottawa, or best "Lebanese food" in Ottawa, because it's very likely that there's ONLY one sushi restaurant and ONLY one Lebanese restaurant in Ottawa.    It's sort of like telling your only sibling that they are the best sibling you've got.  That sibling just wins by default!!!    Well in all fairness, this isn't entirely true because we did see 2 sushi restaurants in Ottawa.  In any case, while researching what to eat in Ottawa, sometimes I just came to that consensus.

Throughout the years, I've always came back to my favorite haunt in Ottawa.   That would be The Black Tomato in Byward market.  It is housed in a wonderfully old building and has great atmosphere and music.  It's changed throughout the years, this time, I think it expanded into the lot next to them.  However, they always supported local farmers, their dishes were simple but delicious, and other then sometimes being very busy during dinner time, I've always enjoyed having dinner with a friend or companion whether or not it's at a perfect dimly lite table that made everyone look more attractive, on the patio, or at the bar when I was eating alone.  Best of all, the prices were reasonable, Lunch was between $10 and $17 dollars, dinner was anywhere from $12-$25.  The food always came out piping hot and fresh, the salads were crisp.  They cooked food like they cared.  Here's what we ate:

Fresh knotted buns with sesame seeds (complementary) with whipped herbed butter
The butter didn't taste like anything, but the knotted bread was hot and fresh out of the oven, fluffy and chewy. I always look forward to this starter.

WILD BOAR, BISON AND MUSHROOM STEW $16
Trillium Meadows wild boar and Maison du Gibier bison simmered in Big Dog Porter with roasted potatoes

This was absolutely delicious, while there was more wild boar then bison, this stew was exactly what I needed after a long weekend of very cold days and nights.  The stew was flavorful, the Big Dog porter definitely made the dish thicker and more flavorful, the potatoes were a tad more undercooked that I'm use to, but still delicious.  The slices of toast that came with the stew were amazing, just a little crispy on the outside, moist and fluffy on the inside, it was basically a larger version of the knotted bread starter.  What a steal at $16!  Most restaurants I've been to in Toronto/Montreal/Quebec City charge an "exotic" markup for game meats.  I will definitely get this again.

SMOKED BBQ CHICKEN SANDWICH $14
Lyons Family Farm smoked BBQ chicken served open faced with red onion & Glengary Lankaaster house-smoked gouda

Nick ordered this dish.  This smoked chicken was divine, I had no idea chicken could taste like that, it was lightly smoked and sweeter, even though I think the caramelized red onions and the BBQ sauce did help with the sweetness.  Nick thought the Gouda cheese was too mild for this sandwich, he felt the sandwich overpowered the cheese so he couldn't taste the cheese.  I thought it's a nice pairing as that means the cheese wouldn't over power the wonderful flavors of the chicken and the caramelized onions.  The salad was pretty standard, though I thought they poured too much olive oil on it.  The potatoes were the same slightly underdone that what we are use to (we're not use to crunchy potatoes), but they were still good.

 

Peanut butter Pie $5

This tasted exactly like peanut butter with whipped cream and cream cheese. It was a nice dessert, but it wasn't as mind blowing as I thought peanut butter pies could be.  Frankly I thought putting whipped peanut butter and melted lindt chocolate on to my french toast (recipe HERE)  but this pie was still tasty and a great end to a really nice lunch.

Overall, I would always come to The Black Tomato again.  They don't have an extensive menu, but what they do have they try to do well.  I definitely will go there again.  :-)

Fried Chicken, Coleslaw and Parsley Mashed Potatoes

The coleslaw in this recipe was store bought, as it's just too much work to make it only to eat a tiny bit with one meal.  The fried chicken is simple to make and definitely an easy favorite!

FRIED CHICKEN, COLESLAW

&

PARSLEY MASHED POTATOES

Serves: 2

approx prep time: 20min

approx cook time: 30min

INGREDIENTS (Fried Chicken): 

- 2 chicken breasts
- breadcrumbs
- seasoned salt
- Cajun seasoning
- 3/4 cup canola oil

HOW TO MAKE IT:
- Butterfly the chicken breasts, so that you have one large piece of chicken, of roughly even thickness.

- Lightly wet chicken with water.

- Place chicken on a large plate.

- Sprinkle chicken with bread crumbs, seasoned salt, and Cajun seasoning, flip over and cover the other side.

- Pour oil into a large pan (Cast Iron is preferable, but stainless works as well, I recommend against using non-stick for this), until the oil is about 1/8th to 1/4 of an inch deep. Bring this up to temperature over medium heat.

- Cook the chicken in the now hot oil, for about 2-3 minutes on one side, flip, sprinkle with some of the leftover breadcrumbs. Cook 2-3 minutes on the other side, flip, and sprinkle with leftover breadcrumbs. Cook 2-3 minutes, and flip one last time.

- Remove chicken from pan and let sit on a paper towel for 30 seconds to one minute before serving.

INGREDIENTS (Parsley Mashed Potatoes): 

- 3 large white potatoes

- 3tbsp butter

- 2tbsp chopped fresh parsley

- 1 clove garlic (finely diced, or pressed)

- 2tbsp shredded Parmesan cheese
- 1 small onion

HOW TO MAKE IT:

- Chop potatoes into 1/2-3/4 inch cubes
- Finely dice onion and set aside
- Boil potatoes in water for 25-30 minutes
- After potatoes have cooked for about 15-20 minutes, add diced onion to the water and allow to cook with the potatoes for the remaining 5-10 minutes.
- Drain, and add parsley, butter, garlic and Parmesan cheese and mash until creamy.
- Serve hot, on it's own or topped with a light dusting of cheese.

Chicken Parmesan

CHICKEN PARMESAN

Serves: 2

approx prep time: 15min

approx cook time: 15min

INGREDIENTS: 

- 2 Whole Chicken Breasts
- 2 cups Pasta
- 1/2 bottle Pasta Sauce
- Breadcrumbs
- Seasoned Salt
- Cajun Seasoning
- Canola Oil
- 1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese

HOW TO MAKE IT:

- Bring water for the pasta to a boil while preparing other items.
- Butterfly the chicken breasts, so that you have one large piece of chicken, of roughly even thickness.
- Lightly wet chicken with water.
- Place chicken on a large plate.
- Sprinkle chicken with bread crumbs, seasoned salt, and Cajun seasoning, flip over and cover the other side.
- Pour oil into a large pan (Cast Iron is preferable, but stainless works as well, I recommend against using non-stick for this), until the oil is about 1/8th to 1/4 of an inch deep. Bring this up to temperature over medium heat.
- Cook the pasta as per the directions on the package, and warm 1/2 of the bottle of sauce in the microwave, or via stovetop.
- Cook the chicken in the now hot oil, for about 2-3 minutes on one side, flip, sprinkle with some of the leftover breadcrumbs. Cook 2-3 minutes on the other side, flip, and sprinkle with leftover breadcrumbs. Cook 2-3 minutes, and flip one last time.
- Remove chicken from pan and let sit on a paper towel for 30 seconds to one minute before serving.
- Serve pasta, top with sauce, place chicken cutlet on top and sprinkle with cheese.

Chicken Vegetable Stir Fry

Yummy and simple! There are 8 vegetables in this chicken stir fry.

Ingredients:

chicken breast
carrots
zucchini
sweet white onions
yellow bell pepper
celery
string beans
sugar snap peas
bean sprouts
Montreal chicken spice
Club house vegetable seasoning