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Friday, July 20, 2018

Lame Excuse for Friday and All That Jazz

I am slacking dreadfully on the Friday Jazz post and once again had not thought of it until today. Since I did not have anyone lined up for this week and have been thinking about the recipes I made this week I thought, why not stay in New Orleans just one more week.

I had several boneless, skinless chicken thighs in the fridge that had to be cooked immediately. I did not mind cooking a few of them for some quick and easy  chicken salad or a chicken and rice meal, but I needed to do something to a few of them other than a traditional poach, because I am trying to maintain my keto way of eating without having the same thing over and over.

New Orleans is a remarkable food city, with everything from traditional French cuisine to street hotdogs. For tonight's dinner I found 3 or 4 recipes, took bits and pieces from each one and came up with this fusion of the three. Improvisation like edible jazz maybe?

Cajun Chicken in Cream Sauce? (Feel free to rename it)

2 boneless  skinless chicken thighs cut into 1 inch pieces
1 tablespoon cajun seasoning (I use Badia's. It's cheap and it tastes fine)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 orange sweet pepper, cut into thin strips
1 red sweet pepper, cut into thin strips
1 green bell pepper, cut into thin strips
3 ribs celery thinly sliced (half moon slices)
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms ( I had these sliced and forgot to put them in)
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 more tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon marjoram
pinch of cinnamon
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon paprika, smoked or regular
salt to taste (I used about 1/2 teaspoon)
1 1/2 cup cream (I use heavy cream)
1/4 to 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 servings of pasta (your choice) cooked and drained

I know this looks like a lot of ingredients but if you really look at the recipe a lot of it is just herbs and spices.

Sprinkle the cajun seasoning over the chicken pieces, heat the oil in a large saute pan and cook the chicken about halfway through. Remove from the pan add the other 2 tablespoons olive oil, throw in all the veggies except the garlic and cook until they are almost done. Add the garlic and stir it around for about a minute. Add the chicken back into the pan and add the remaining seasonings then add the cream. Cook until it is reduced by about half, add the parmesan cheese and stir until it is melted. Stir again and serve over cooked pasta.

I had mine over zucchini spirals so the picture is of TheHub's meal. I had about a quarter of a box of penne pasta so that is what I used. If you make this use whatever is left at your house, because it will work perfectly well over just about everything except tiny pastas.

This is delicious! Son2 and GF2 came to the house and they fixed the leftovers and love it too. This made enough for 3 ample servings, or 4 slightly smaller servings. They had both eaten a late lunch and were not terribly hungry but they ate all they wanted and I still had enough left over for lunch along with a substantial green salad. Win! Delicious win!

                               And for your Jazz moment enjoy a little Pete Fountain medley

18 comments:

  1. That sounds delicious! I absolutely love basil, but exbf hates basil. The clarinet is my favorite instrument.

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    1. I love the baritone sax and french horn, but I actually do like all instruments.

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  2. LOVE the idea of edible jazz. And such dishes would ALWAYS be tasty (and sometimes unexpected).

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    1. I like edible jazz too. I think from now on every time I throw any improv meal together that is what I am going to call it.

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  3. That's an interesting combo of spices. We're eating a lot of chicken here these days and need some new ideas. However, my husband doesn't like onions or peppers and I don't like hot spicy, and we're not doing a lot of cream, so I don't know how this recipe would work out for us. But we all like Johnny and Pete. Thanks for the link.

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    1. I am doing Keto which allows cream. It is not my usual go to item but it is delicious in food. We listened to Pete all the way to the lake today

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  4. I love throwing herbs and spices in and seeing what happens. I'm in on anything with a creamy sauce.

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    1. I like doing it too. If it is great we try it again and if it is meh, that is the end of it.

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  5. I'm doing a lot of cooking lately and that looks fabulous, although frankly pour cream on ANYTHING and I would love it (and then I wonder why I gain weight)!

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  6. I have never used cream a lot in cooking other than to whip it for a dessert, but you are right it is delicious. This ketogenic diet does not shy away from cream!

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  7. It looks and sounds delicious! and edible jazz is a very apt word invention. Next time I invent a dish I'll call it jazz food

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    1. I think you should! The food was really tasty too!

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  8. It sounds delicious, Anne. I imagine that the cream and parmesan cheese make a lovely sauce.

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  9. You can never go wrong with heavy cream, can you? And it works so nicely with chicken. And pasta, of course. LOVE Cajun spices, so this dish is really appealing to me. Thanks!

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  10. Heavy cream is one of the foods of the gods!

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  11. oooooooohhhhhhh... I'm a huge fan of heavy cream! And this looks delish!!!!

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    1. It was really good, of course cream makes everything better

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