BBQed Pulled Chicken with Rice & Fennel Salad

This dinner really felt like summer, a cool refreshing salad & a sandwich off the grill. The prep work was pretty minimal, cooking some rice & brining the chicken. Oh, I also baked up a few hamburger rolls in the morning.

The BBQed Pulled Chicken Salad was Matt's idea & really a very simple one. He wanted to use some of the Wee Willy's Barbecue Sauce in grilled chicken sandwich. We decided to pull the chicken meat because I think it makes for a nicer sandwich than just sticking a breast of chicken on a bun. I've never brined anything other than a turkey for Thanksgiving but I thought brining the chicken breast before grilling would keep them moist & I was really right. I'll take the extra half hour to do that step when grilling chicken breasts in the future. This sandwich is really shows how tasty simplicity can be, just make sure to use a really good barbecue sauce.

BBQed Pulled Chicken

2 chicken breasts, boneless & skinless
3/4 T kosher salt
2 t sugar
4 c cold water
barbecue sauce
4 hamburger rolls

Dissolve the salt & sugar in the water. Pound the chicken out until it is an even 1/2-inch thick. Put the chicken in a shallow baking dish or sealable plastic bag & pour the salted/sugared water over it. Allow the chicken to sit in the brine, in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Throw out the brine & grill the chicken until cooked throughly. Using two forks pull the chicken meat into shredded. Mix in your favorite barbecue sauce & serve on a roll.

Makes 4 sandwiches

The little bit fancier part of this meal was the Rice & Fennel Salad. It used up the half a fennel bulb I had from the Fennel Tzatziki we made on Sunday. The recipe is from Gourmet August '07. I changed the rice they used from basamati to brown rice. I think the brown rice has such a nice bite to it & is a little healthier. Don't overcook your rice for this, mushy or sticky rice would not be good.

This was a really refreshing summer salad. I really liked the way the flavor of the orange matched with the flavor of the fennel. I will definitely make it again but next time I think I might add a little more orange juice, I thought it could use just a touch more zing.

Rice & Fennel Salad

1/2 t fennel seeds
1 c water
1/2 c brown rice
1/2 large navel orange
1/2 t white wine vinegar
1 T olive oil
1/2 fennel bulb, sliced thin
1 T fennel fronds, chopped
2 scallions, sliced thin

Toast the fennel seeds until slightly darker & fragrant. In a small saucepan, add the water & fennel seeds & bring to a boil. Add the rice & cook covered over low heat until the water is absorbed & the rice is tender. (We use a rice steamer so I just added the water, fennel seeds & rice to that & let it do its thing.) Spread the rice out on a baking sheet or pan & put in the refrigerator to chill for 5 to 10 minutes.
Whisk the olive oil, vinegar, a pinch of salt & a pinch of pepper together. Grate the zest of the orange & add it to the vinaigrette. Squeeze the juice of the orange into the vinaigrette & mix.
Once the rice has chilled, mix it together with the fennel, fennel fronds & scallions. Stir in the vinaigrette & salt & pepper to taste.

Makes 2 servings.

Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes

This week I decided to make a cupcake using some of the last of the local strawberries for the year & the flavors of cheesecake. I even decided to add a little graham cracker "crust." These cupcakes came out so tasty. The flavor of the strawberry really comes through. The sour cream gives the cupcake a nice moistness & just a little tartness. The cream cheese frosting is what really makes it taste like cheesecake though. This is a pretty cupcake with the white cake flecked with chopped strawberries.


Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcake
(adapted from Martha's Stewart Coconut Cupcake)

3/4 c all-purpose flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
6 T unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 c + 1 T sugar
1/2 t vanilla
1/4 c sour cream or plain yogurt
2 large egg whites
1/4 cup fresh strawberries, hulled & coarsely chopped
1 graham cracker, smashed into crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare 6 - 8 muffin tins.
In a small bowl mix together the flour, baking powder & salt. In a large bowl cream together butter & sugar until light & fluffy. Add vanilla & beat. On low speed add half the flour mixture until just blended. Add sour cream or yogurt until blended. Add remaining flour & mix until just blended.
In another bowl beat the egg whites until stiff, glossy peak appear, about 2 minutes. Gently fold 1/3 of the egg into the batter until combined. Add remaining egg & fold until combined. Fold in the chopped strawberries.
Sprinkle about 1 t of the crushed graham cracker into the bottom of each prepared muffin tin.

Divided equally among the muffin tins. Bake for 20 - 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Allow to cool before frosting.

The graham cracker crumbs form a little crust on the bottom of the cupcakes.

Makes 6 - 8 cupcakes

Cream Cheese Frosting
(from Paula Deen)

4-oz cream cheese, softened
4 T butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sifted confectioners' sugar

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. Increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy.

Frosts 6 - 8 cupcakes

Decorate the cupcake with sliced fresh strawberries.

Grilled Lamb with Fennel Tzatziki

We got two fennel bulbs in our CSA box this week so I headed right to the internet to find some interesting things to do with them. This recipe for Fennel Tzatziki from Gourmet July '99 struck me right away.

I've been looking for an excuse to bbq some lamb & this sauce was it. I was a bit worried that the fennel might be a little overwhelming in this since you are using the bulb, seeds & fronds but it really wasn't. The anise flavor along with a slight tang from the yogurt really is a perfect compliment to the flavor of lamb. Matt said it really took our Sunday dinner up a notch.
Next time we are going to try it over fish which is what most of the reviewers on Epicurious said they did.

Fennel Tzatziki

1/2 medium fennel bulb, trimmed, cored & finely chopped
2 t fennel fronds, stalks removed & finely chopped
1/2 t fennel seeds
1 garlic clove, minced
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 c plain yogurt
1/4 t kosher salt

Toast the fennel seeds in a small skillet until slightly darker & fragrant. Use a grinder or mortar & pestle to grind the seeds. Mix all ingredients together. I think its best if it's let sit covered in the fridge for a bit before using.
You can make this sauce up to three days ahead of time & store it covered in the fridge

Makes about 1 1/2 c

We served the lamb with grilled zucchini & couscous with parsley. It really looked like a fancy meal but took no time at all.

Weekly Menu 7/12 - 7/18/08

I'm really excited to cook this week's menu (well some of it I already have over the weekend). Most of it was inspired by the wonderful box we got from our CSA & by what is ripening in our garden.

Here's the first of our beans & peas.

Menu Planning Monday (hmm...I seem to have gone a little heavy on the chicken this week)

Oyster Beef & Bean Stir-Fry - Basically the same recipe I've made before but instead of broccoli I used the first beans from our garden


Grilled Lamb Chops with Fennel Tzatziki with Grilled Zucchini & Couscous - RESULT - Oh, was this ever good. A really fancy looking & tasting meal in no time.

Bbqed Chicken Sandwiches with Rice & Fennel Salad - RESULT - A great summer meal. I like this quick version of a pulled meat sandwich when you don't have time to do pork. The salad was so refreshing.

Roasted Vegetable (beets, fennel & cauliflower) Salad with Foldover Garlic Bread

Grilled Roadside Chicken with Grilled Purple Scallions - From Rick Bayless's Mexican Everyday (Recipes Featured on Season 4 of the PBS-TV series "Mexico One Plate at a Time")

Black Bean, Corn, Chicken & Rice Salad - Using leftovers from the Roadside Chicken

Grilled Chicken Breast with Grilled Tomato Basil Sauce

This week's cupcake flavor will be Strawberry Cheesecake. Since we got the last of the strawberries for the year we'll also have a Strawberry Fool Tart.

Pea & Chicken Pasta

Over the past week the peas in our have garden ripened & we got a bag of them from our CSA.

I love these sugary peas of summer that are so good we eat them right off the vine but I wanted to do something a little different than just throwing them in a salad or stir-fry. I found this recipe for Pea Pasta on Epicurious which sounded like just the thing. This dish was really fresh & light plus a lovely summer green. I doubled the garlic for extra zing & added some cooked chicken to make it a little more hardy of a single dish meal.


Pea & Chicken Pasta
(adapted from Gourmet April '05)

1/2 lb sugar snap peas, trimmed with strings discarded (I did a mix of sugar snap & Chinese pea pods)
1/2 lb penne pasta
1 clove of garlic
1/4 t salt
2 T olive oil
1/4 c grated Parmesan
1 cooked chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the peas to the water. After 2 minutes remove 1/2 c of the peas, run cold water over them to stop the cooking & set them aside.
Let the remaining peas cook until tender, about 2 more minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove the remaining peas from the water. Measure out 1/2 c of the cooking water & set aside.
Bring the water back up to a boil & cook the pasta according to the directions.
While the pasta is cooking, put the second set of peas in a food processor. Peel the garlic clove & mash it to a paste with the salt. Add the mashed garlic, olive oil, Parmesan & 1/4 c of the cooking water to the food processor with the peas. Process until smooth.
Cut the 1/2 c of peas you set aside into 1/2-inch pieces.
When the pasta is done, drain it & return it to the pot. Mix in the puréed peas, the cut peas & the chopped chicken. Add more reserved cooking water if needed.

Makes 2 servings