Sesame Pretzel Chicken with a Sweet Heat Sauce

I am always looking for new things to use as 'breading' for poultry or pork and, in my pantry, I had just the fix. When we went on vacation, I went a little crazy on the snack aisle, stocking up for the long plane ride and days on the beach. I happened to pick up sesame pretzels at Trader Joe's thinking they were peanut butter pretzels on sale. Wrong! No matter, they turned out to be tasty. With so many leftover though, I was looking for an innovative use and scored with a 'breaded' chicken dinner. These pretzels were multi-grain and packed quite a crunch so I pulsed them in the food processor until they were mostly crumbs, leaving a few larger pieces that aided in texture that resembled southern fried chicken. To pair with the sesame flavor, I opted for an Asian inspired sauce made from mustard, honey, crushed red peppers flakes and rice wine vinegar. Atop snow peas and mushrooms finished in sesame oil, this was a meal not soon forgotten. Here's the fix:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 cups sesame pretzel nuggets

3 tbsp sesame seeds

1 cup all purpose flour

1 egg

salt and pepper

Sauce:

1 tbsp whole grain mustard

2 tbsp dijon mustard

1/2 cup raw honey

3-4 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp red pepper flakes (less for less heat)

fresh cracked black pepper

Side:

canola oil

garlic clove

2 cups snow peas

5 baby bella mushrooms, quartered

sesame oil

toasted sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 375° and start by using a basic breading technique for the chicken. First set up your breading stations with one plate for the ground pretzels mixed with the sesame seeds, one plate for flour seasoned with s & p and one bowl for the egg (beaten). When you are ready to go, pat the chicken breasts dry, season with salt and pepper and then start by dredging in the flour. Shake excess flour off and pull the chicken breast through the beaten egg. The last step is to lay the chicken breast in the pretzel mixture, pressing the crumbs over the entire surface on both sides. I wanted to retain the crunch of the larger pretzels pieces and simplify this dinner so I transferred the chicken breasts to an lightly oiled baking dish and baked them off for about 25-30 minutes.

The rest of the meal came together easily. All the sauce ingredients listed above go into a sauce pan on low heat and simmer away while the chicken cooks, stirring to help incorporate the honey with the mustard. About 5 minutes before the chicken is done, grab a sauté pan, add a little canola oil and a broken garlic clove. Over low to medium heat, add in the mushrooms and sauté for about 2 minutes. Add the snow peas to gently warm. To finish, add a touch of sesame oil (a little goes a long way), a pinch of red pepper flakes and top with toasted sesame seeds. Plate the snow peas and mushrooms first, add the chicken on top and then smother in the sauce. Yum!

Lime Chicken with Polenta Cakes and Salsa

I look for any excuse to use my new citrus juicer from C & B.  There is something really satisfying about squeezing every last drop of juicy goodness from a lime and this recipe gave me the opportunity, 3 times over.

Lime Chicken marinade (for 2 boneless chicken breasts):

1/2 cup Canola oil

Juice of 2 limes

1.5 tsp cumin

dash of cayenne pepper

1 clove garlic

sea salt and fresh ground black pepper

I let it sit for 30 minutes before throwing on high heat on the grill.

Before I doused the chicken in the marinade, I separated a bit to brush on the polenta cakes (I just added a bit more canola oil to coat evenly).  I found pre-made polenta in the grocery store that you can slice into strips, the flavor and texture turned out surprisingly great.  The marinade was painted on and the strips tossed onto the grill for about 5 minutes on each side to get some good grill marks.

The final piece of this easy and quick meal was the homemade salsa.  I change my recipe every time I make it depending on what's in my fridge, pantry and garden.  Last night I used grape tomatoes (halved), 1 can of Rotel tomatoes with chilis, 1 can of mild chilis, 1/4 white onion (diced), 1/2 avocado, chopped chives, fresh cilantro, lime juice, cumin, hit of cayenne and cracked black pepper.

Um, yum.  Really.  Wanna make it again tonight.

Veggie Pesto

Non-traditional pesto has become one of my favorite go-to foods especially when trying to get in my daily 5.  Using veggies along with herbs, nuts, olive oil and good cheese, you can create a lot of different tasty combinations that are flavorful and healthy.  My favorite, as of late, is pea pesto and it whips up in a heartbeat so it's a great quick grab.  I blend it all using my Cuisinart hand blender with the processor attachment and I usually vary the ingredients each time.  However, here's one that is pretty standard:

1 can sweet young peas or 8 oz. frozen peas, thawed and rinsed

olive oil (about 2-3 tbsp)

walnuts (between 1/4 to 1/2 cup depending on how much crunch you like)

parmesan cheese (about 3-4 oz)

a few basil leaves to taste (optional)

1 garlic clove (optional)

salt & pepper

Blend away!  Once it's whipped up, I use it as a sandwich spread (this morning I made an egg salad using 1 hardboiled egg and a tbsp pesto), a dip with crudite, a pasta sauce, a salad topper and occasionally just a bite by itself.  I feel okay about that though...it's a veggie pesto after all!