I have the best husband!  We stayed home for Valentine’s Day and made roasted chicken.  Yum!!  It’s one of his most favourite dishes in the world, which made it worth staying home!  I still want to go out for a date though, so we’re going to find another day to go out!  It was also totally worth staying home to watch the Olympics!  We got to witness Canada get it’s first gold medal on home soil!!!!  Yay Alexandre Bilodeau!!  It’s been pretty incredible to watch the Olympics soooo close to home!  We’re going to watch women’s preliminary curling tomorrow with school!  We’re both pretty incredibly excited!

Anyways, back to my amazing husband.  I worked a long day yesterday and finally got home at 6:00pm, exhausted.  The husband had the potatoes all cut up, the water boiling, and he helped me make dinner.  It was great!  He even plated up the meal for me AND took the picture!  Wow!  I appreciate him so much, especially on those days when I’m just tired!

So, back to this meal.  It is a super easy dinner from Jamie’s Food Revolution, which is a fantastic cookbook, by the way!  Jamie’s recipes turn out every time and they’re easy with lots of pictures and great directions!

This was a bit of an expensive meal, as it has chicken wrapped in prosciutto.  Jamie says that you can substitute Parma ham, or bacon.  I would recommend the prosciutto, simply because it lends a unique flavour and texture to the meal.  Plus, it reminds me of Italy.

One kitchen gadget that I absolutely cannot live without is my Microplane zester.  This is an incredibly sharp grater that is perfect for Parmesan cheese, lemon zest, chocolate or nuts.  Please, please, please buy fresh Parmesan cheese and grate it.  It keeps for a long time in the fridge, and with a Microplane, it is incredibly easy to grate a bit for your meal.

We served this meal with mashed potatoes and green salad.  The potatoes took twice as long to boil as the chicken took to prepare and cook!  Start your potatoes early, because this chicken is really quick!

Parmesan Chicken Breasts with Crispy Posh Ham
Recipe from Jamie’s Food Revolution
Serves 2

2 sprigs fresh thyme (I have dried thyme from my herb garden last summer, which is a good substitute)
2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
freshly ground black pepper
1 lemon
Parmesan cheese
6 slices prosciutto

Strip the thyme leaves off the stalks.  Carefully score the bottom of the chicken breast (the ugly side) in a criss cross fashion.  Season with some pepper (you don’t need salt, because the prosciutto is salty).  Sprinkle over most of the thyme.  Grate some lemon zest over them, and sprinkle with grated Parmesan (I always grate it directly over top).  Lay 3 prosciutto slices on each chicken breast, overlapping them slightly.  Drizzle with some olive oil and sprinkle the rest of the thyme leaves on stop.  Put some plastic wrap over the chicken breast and pound them with the bottom of a heavy pan (or use a meat pounder) until they are about 1/4″ thick. 

Place a frying pan over medium meat.  Remove the plastic wrap and carefully put the chicken in the pan, prosciutto side down.  Drizzle some olive oil on top.  Cook for about 3 minutes on each side, turning halfway through.  Cook the prosciutto side a little longer, to let it crisp up.  Serve the chicken with a lemon wedge on the side to squeeze over.  Jamie Oliver says to drizzle them with some more olive oil, and who am I to argue with him?!?

XOXO,
The Hungry Teacher

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I discovered Indian food a few years ago… It’s amazing!  I love curries and samosas.  I have made samosas before, but they were a very North-Americanized version.  They were delicious, but not authentic.  So, maybe authentic samosas will be the next thing on my must cook Indian list.  This was the first time I had actually made curry from scratch (I tried butter chicken from a jar once).

I got Jamie Oliver’s new cookbook Jamie’s Food Revolution.  It’s amazing.  The pictures are beautiful, and there are tons of amazing looking recipes.  I’m in love with Jamie… I have 5 of his cookbooks, and I am not disappointed with any of them.  Sometimes, the recipes are a bit British, and I can’t get all of the ingredients, but that’s not the case with Jamie’s Food Revolution.  It’s totally practical and beautiful.

The book has a whole chapter on curries!  So exciting!  I’ve been wanting to try them for a very long time, so on Wednesday night, I finally did.  It turned out great!  Next time, we will use medium or hot curry paste, because we would like a bit more bite.  But, the recipe had great flavor, and for a mild curry, it was perfect.  Our curry was quite thin at the end of cooking time.  We had to simmer it for an additional 15 minutes with the lid off to evaporate the liquid.  So, I adapted the recipe to reflect that.

Now, the only thing I have to say, is that it’s Friday, and when you walk in our apartment, you can still smell curry.  But, it’s a small price to pay for an amazing dinner!

Chicken Tikka Masala
adapted from Jamie’s Food Revolution

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, sliced into 3/4 inch strips
2 medium onions, peeled halved and thinly sliced
1 fresh red chile, finely sliced
a thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
small bunch of fresh parsley, leaves picked and put aside, stems finely chopped (cilantro is what the recipe calls for, but I am not a fan of cilantro)
vegetable oil
a pat of butter
1/2 cup mild curry paste (I used Patak’s)
salt and pepper
1-14 oz can diced tomatoes
1-14 oz can coconut milk
1 cup plain yogurt
1 small handful sliced almonds

Put a large pan on medium to high heat and add some olive oil and butter.  Add the onions, chile, ginger and parsley stalks and cook for 10 minutes, until softened and golden.   Add curry paste and chicken.  Stir well to coat everything and add salt and pepper.  Add tomatoes and coconut milk.  Fill one of the empty cans with water, pour into pan and stir.  Bring to a boil and then turn heat down and simmer for 20 minutes with the lid off.  Jamie recommends checking it to make sure it doesn’t dry out, but this was definitely not a problem for me.  When the meat is cooked through, taste the curry and add more salt and pepper if necessary. 

Serve over rice, dolloped with yogurt, sprinkled with almonds and parsley.

Enjoy!
The Hungry Teacher

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 So, I left for work this morning, not knowing what I was going to have for dinner.  I hate that feeling.  Really, wheneverI get a moment throughout the day, I think about what I’m going to have for dinner.  I was paging through 3 or 4 cookbooks when I ate breakfast, and saw the recipe for Chicken Parmigiana.  I thought to myself, “well, maybe”.   But in typical Hungry Teacher fashion, I was indecisive.  Well, sometime after school, I made up my mind and stopped at the grocery store on the way home.

By the way, in case you were wondering, the picture at the top of the page (the header) is one that I took myself in Florence.  When we were strolling the little curving streets, taking in the sights and sounds of an Italian city, we stumbled upon this small market.  It was truly an amazing sight!  Sigh.  I love Italy and can’t wait to go back.

This recipe is so good!  It tastes amazing, and is not too much work.  You must try making the homemade tomato sauce.  It is sooo delicious and honestly takes 5 minutes to cook.

Chicken Parmigiana
(from Great Food Fast)
Serves 4

3/4 cup plain breadcrumbs
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
8 chicken cutlets or 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, halved horizontally (about 1-1/2 lbs)
Coarse salt and fresh ground pepper
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 cups of 5 Minute Tomato Sauce (see recipe below)
1/4 cup olive oil
6 ounces mozzarella cheese, preferably fresh, cut into eight 1/4-inch-thick slices

Heat the broiler.  Combine the breadcrumbs and the Parmesan in a shallow bowl.  Season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper.  Dip the chicken in the beaten egg, then dredge in the breadcrumb mixture, turning to coat both sides.

Spread the tomato sauce onto the bottom of a 10×15 inch baking dish (I used a 9×13 pan, but the chicken really has to be crammed in).  Heat 2 Tbsp. of the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Place 4 chicken cutlets in the skillet; cook until golden (1-2 minutes on each side).  Transfer the browned chicken cutlets to the baking dish, placing them on top of the sauce.  Repeat with the remaining oil and chicken cutlets.

Top each cutlet with a slice of mozzarella.  Broil about 4 inches under the heat until the sauce is hot and the cheese is melted and lightly browned in spots, 5 to 8 minutes.  Serve immediately.

Leftovers are great heated up for lunch the next day.  Yum!

David Rocco’s Mom’s Five-Minute Tomato Sauce
I adapted this recipe from David Rocco’s Dolce Vita.  This is a wonderful, Italian-Canadian cookbook.  The book is simply gorgeous and David’s writing is interesting and fantastic.

Makes about 4 cups, enough for 4 servings of pasta

4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
Chili pepper flakes, to taste (optional)
1 can (28 oz/796 mL) tomato puree or plum tomatoes ( I used diced tomatoes today.  If you crush them up with a spoon a bit as you are making this recipe, it turns out just fine!)
Salt, to taste

Heat up olive oil and brown the garlic a bit.  Add some chili flakes if you want a little extra heat (a delicious option in my opinion).  Add tomato puree and some salt and let simmer for 5 minutes.  If you have fresh basil (sigh, I cannot wait until summer!), tear some up and throw it in.

By the way, if you use this sauce for the Chicken Parmigiana, you will have 2 cups of sauce left over.  You can freeze it  (for around 4 months) or refrigerate it (for 4-5 days) and use it for something else.  I had some extra tomato puree in my freezer and I threw it into the sauce.  It turned out great!

Enjoy!
The Hungry Teacher

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