35 Pounds and going-tasty healthy chicken recipe

It may seem as though my focus is only on the more decadent food dishes, but that’s not quite right. For several months now, I’ve been working on losing weight and improving my health. And so far, I have been successful at shedding 35 pounds. I’m headed for a goal of 50 pounds.

If you have read my other blogs, you’ll notice many describe exquisite chef tastings or recipes that challenge my cooking skills. The thing is I am going to continue having my foodie excursions too. I guess it’s part of my reward system.

But the fact is you can really eat some delicious dishes that don’t have to be packed with calories and fat. The method that has helped me with my weight loss has been a low-carb diet. It’s  eating a lot of chicken, fish and vegetables for me. But it doesn’t have to taste like rubber chicken breasts over and over. There are a lot of ways to prepared chicken breasts that keeps it moist and flavorful. Vegetables too.

I recently read an article in the New York Times by Melissa Clark “A Fallen Star of French Cuisine, Restored to Its Silver Platter.” It’s about how chicken breasts were the fallen star of French cuisine. It’s true. Most of the dishes use dark meat because it has more flavor because of the fat in the darker meat. The article offered some really great recipes and I tried one that was absolutely delicious. My neighbor Cathy was my test subject for the recipe and we both agreed that it was wonderful dish.

This is the recipe that I cooked and I served it with sauteed French beans. I did substitute the oyster mushrooms for cremini mushrooms since that is what I had in the refrigerator.

Chicken Paillard With Curried Oyster Mushrooms

Time: 25 minutes

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, more for greasing pan and for drizzling

2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, (8 ounces each)

1 teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste

Freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon curry powder, more to taste

7 ounces oyster mushrooms, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

2 tablespoons fresh chopped basil

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 scallions, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced.

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Grease a baking sheet with olive oil.  Transfer chicken to baking sheet and season well with a large pinch each of salt, pepper and curry powder. Drizzle chicken with a little oil.

2. In a bowl, toss mushrooms with curry powder, salt, basil, garlic, scallions and 2 tablespoons oil.

3. Spoon an equal amount of mushroom mix on each piece of chicken. Bake until mushrooms are golden and chicken is cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes.

Yield: 2 servings.

The Slanted Door and more in San Francisco!

The Slanted Door and more in San Francisco!

When I arrived in San Francisco, I headed to the Sir Frances Drake Hotel at Union Square. It’s a wonderful old hotel and is located in the heart of S.F. I quickly checked in and took a cab to the Ferry Market Building at the Embarcadero. I was hoping to get there in time for the Farmer’s Market held there on Saturdays. But I was too late. When I travel to various places, I love to go to the local markets to see what fresh produce and products are offered. It’s part of my interest in slow food movement and… fresh is always best!

As I walked through the doors of the Ferry Market Building, I spotted a wine shop, the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant, and lots of folks drinking wine. Bingo! After a 4-hour flight from Houston to S.F., I was definitely ready for a glass of wine!

The place was very crowed and tables were hard to come by. I happen to see a couple leaving and grabbed the available table.

Another couple was searching for a table as well. I told them that I was solo and if they cared to sit down at my table and have their wine, they were more than welcomed. They took me up on the offer, and I ended up making a couple of new friends. Now, I never meet a stranger anyway, but my sweet Southern accent seems to draw people to me. John and Claudia were from Carmel and were in S.F. for the Fancy Food Show as well. They love wine, cooking, and were foodies too, so naturally we had a lot to talk about. Three glasses of wine later, we exchanged contact information and agreed to stay in touch.

After leaving the wine shop, I strolled through the building to the Cowgirl Creamery. I was in heaven and the cheese munger gave me several tastings of a variety of cheese. Needless to say, I bought several different cheeses to bring back to Texas with me. I just couldn’t resist! Thank goodness for refrigerators in the hotel room! Some of the cheeses that I bought were Humboldt Fog goat cheese, Sottocenere and Comte.

Next, I went to the Slanted Door restaurant that is also located at the Ferry Market Building. I was able to find a chair at the bar and ordered a couple of appetizers and, of course, more wine. This is a hip, very busy restaurant that had fantastic Vietnamese food. I perused the menu and ordered an appetizer roll – crispy imperial rolls with shrimp, pork, glass noodles and peanuts as well as the seared dayboat scallops with spicy red curry, celery root and asian pear slaw. The wine I ordered was a French wine – L’ANCIEN Beaujolais – 2008 – Jean Paul Brun. I really wasn’t trying to pair the wine to what I ordered, but the French red went with the dishes very well.

The crispy rolls weren’t your typical rolls. The dish came out with lettuce leaves, the crispy rolls, a side of glass noodles toped with peanuts, and sprigs of mint. It also had a wonderful spicy sauce to dip the rolls in before wrapping in the lettuce leaves and topping with the noodles. But what gave it a unique, wonderful taste were the mint leaves. I met a couple from Berkley sitting next to me at the bar who also had this appetizer, and we all agreed that the mint “made” the lettuce wrap. Again, I never meet a stranger and they enjoyed my sweet Southern accent!

The next appetizer was the seared boat scallops. They were cooked perfectly and the spicy red curry sauce gave it a distinct flavor. The Asian pear slaw helped to balance the spicy flavors. It’s a fabulous restaurant worth visiting.

If you are a foodie, then you must go to the Ferry Market Building during your visit to San Francisco!

Crispy Imperial Roll

Seared Dayboat Scallops

L’ANCIEN Beaujolais – 2008 – Jean Paul Brun.

4-course Chef tasting at Terra, a restaurant at Encantado Resort in Santa Fe, N.M

4-course Chef tasting at Terra, a restaurant at Encantado Resort in Santa Fe, N.M

During one of my recent visits to Santa Fe, I went to Terra Restaurant for a tasting experience by Chef Charles Dale. I visit Santa Fe often and love to see what creations chefs come up with and present. By the way, did you know that Santa Fe has more restaurants per capita than anywhere in the country? And many of the restaurants have renowned chefs who will give you a wonderful culinary experience.

Encantado Resort is located about 7 miles north of Santa Fe and is a 5-star hotel. As you walked up onto the porch to Terra, there’s a huge fireplace that’s very inviting to warm by, and it’s set with a view of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, in the background with gave the restaurant additional ambiance.

First Course:

I had the Cesar Salad paired with a Franciscan Chardonnay. Now this might seem very ordinary, but the salad had a true Cesar dressing over crispy romaine lettuce with shaved Spanish Manchego cheese and masa croutons. The croutons were what made the salad wonderful. Usually the croutons are an after thought, but these have a great taste. The chef makes the masa mixture and fries it to get a crunchy texture. It gave a whole new twist to croutons.

My dining companion had the leafy greens salad with a confit of roasted tomatoes, caramelized shallots with Sherry vinaigrette. It was fresh, light, and the tomatoes and shallots gave it additional flavor.

Second Course:

My second course choice was Autumn Ravioli with roasted veal and spinach stuffing, exotic mushroom ragoût The pasta was perfectly cook and the veal and spinach stuffing with that mushroom ragoût was melt-in-your-mouth good.

Lobster risotto was the second choice course for my dining companion. It was creamy with a rich flavor and a lobster tail on top. Both of these courses were paired with Row 11 Pinot Noir. I fell in love with this wine. It’s a fruit bomb, fruit forward, in your face Pinot Noir like I’ve never had before. A bottle of this Napa wine retails at around $35 and it worth every penny.

Third Course:

For the third course, I selected the beef short ribs, which is always a favorite dish for me. This was outstanding! The short rib was slow cooked and fell off the bone. It was served with some of the au jus and the meat was so tender that it flaked apart.

The third course for my dining companion was lamb. Always a good choice and she loves it as much as I do. This dish was called Duo of Lamb which was a roasted rack with a guajillo chili jus, lamb shank tamale and tomato-tomatillo salsa. It was delicious as well. Both of these dishes were paired with Strattalumic Cabernet Sauvignon.

Fourth Course:

We were both so full and relaxed, and we had to muster the strength for the dessert course. I had a warm apple tart with homemade vanilla ice cream on the side and my companion got her artisanal cheese plate to go. Both of these were paired with a Jospheh Phelps Dessert wine.

The tasting menu was a great deal for the money. It was four courses for $44. Of course the wine pairings were an additional cost, but well worth it. Paul Montoya the sommelier paired the wines beautifully and made it a delightful evening. Excellent service