TV Dinner

I’m hooked, not only on East of Eden (maybe 1/3 of the way through now), but also on the newish TLC show, Take Home Chef. Has anyone else seen this show? Here, it’s on from 5:00 – 5:30, and again from 5:30 – 6:00 on weeknights. So yeah, I’m kind of glued to the TV from 5 – 6 each evening.

The premise of the show is that a cute blonde Australian chef named Curtis Stone (maybe from the Flintstones?) picks up someone at the grocery store (usually Whole Foods or another upscale store, and 9 times out of 10, the someone is a young woman, and she is always pretty), plans are made for a menu with that person, he buys the groceries, and they go home to cook a gourmet meal. Then the spouse/significant other/roommate/friend/whomever comes home to a surprise dinner.

I like the chef’s personality. He’s always kind of flirting with the women (sometimes REALLY flirting), and he’s always nervous, almost scared of being beat up when the husband/whomever comes home. He seems to genuinely like people. Finding out he’s an A-Hole would be like finding out Rachael Ray is an A-Hole (which I have on good authority, she pretty much is. Muh). It’s fun to see him work with their lifestyle – I’ve seen him work with vegetarians (yummy fondue…mmmm), kosher Jews, severe food allergies, etc.

The other night, I was watching Take Home Chef, and they made a dish that looked pretty manageable, and really yummy, so I decided to try it. He made Cajun crusted chicken with Creole mashed potatoes. Mmmm. Sounds good.  But he didn’t serve a veggie with it, unless a potato counts, which it doesn’t.  So I was thinking of veggies to go with it, and I came up with a fruit instead, because a few days ago, I was watching Barefoot Contessa, and she made a roasted tomato basil soup. She made an offhand comment that you could have the roasted tomatoes as a vegetable side dish, rather than going on and making them into a soup. I’m a sucker for a good tomato, and this time of year, it’s nice to hear of a treat that makes winter blah tomatoes taste sweet and summery. So, I made the chicken, potatoes, and tomatoes for dinner. Everything was yummy. Go for it.

Cajun Crusted Chicken with Creole Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients:
Four 6- to 7-ounce/180- to 200-g boneless chicken breasts (with the skin on) (We only had legs/thigh quarters, so I used that. Yummy.)
6 tablespoons/50 g Cajun spice blend (including cayenne pepper, dried thyme, garlic powder and paprika) (J’s note…he mixed this himself, but since they don’t give the proportions of one to the other, I bought a pre-made Cajun blend)
4 russet potatoes (about 3 pounds/1.36 g total), peeled and quartered
2 tablespoons/30 ml olive oil
4 andouille sausages (about 13 ounces/369 g total), sliced thinly into rounds
1 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
6 shallots, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, finely crushed
1 cup/286 ml chicken stock, warmed
1/2 cup/10 g chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
All purpose flour, for dusting

Method:
To marinate the chicken:
Using a large sharp knife, score 3 slits over the tops of the chicken breasts. Rub the chicken breasts all over with the Cajun spices and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

To prepare the potatoes:
In a large pot of boiling water, cook the potatoes for 25 minutes or until soft. Drain the potatoes in a colander and allow them to steam dry in the colander for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon/15 ml of oil in a heavy large sauté pan over medium-high heat.

Add the sausages and fry until golden brown, about 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the sausages to a plate and set aside. Add the bell pepper, shallots and garlic to the same pan, and sauté for 8 minutes, or until the peppers are tender and the shallots are golden.

Add the potatoes and half of the chicken stock to the pepper mixture and stir for 1 to 2 minutes, coarsely mashing the potatoes with the back of the spoon. Stir in the parsley, cooked sausage and the remaining chicken stock. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm.

To cook the chicken:

Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon/15 ml of oil in a very large oven-proof sauté pan over high heat. Be sure the pan is large enough so that the chicken breasts do not touch each other. This will allow them to brown nicely. If you don’t have a pan large enough to fit all the chicken breasts without crowding them, use 2 large pans and divide the oil and chicken between the pans.

Dust both sides of the chicken breasts with a little flour and place them in the pan skin side down. Cook for 2 minutes or until the chicken skin is crisp and golden. Transfer the pan to the oven and roast the chicken for 5 minutes. Turn the chicken breasts over and return to the oven for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes.

To serve:
Cut the chicken breasts crosswise into thick slices. Mound the potatoes on 4 dinner plates. Arrange the chicken slices alongside the potatoes. Drizzle the pan juices from the chicken around the chicken and potatoes and serve.

Roasted Tomato Basil Soup

3 pounds ripe plum tomatoes, cut in half
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons good olive oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
(J’s NOTE: I stopped here…roasted the tomatoes at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. I topped them with a bit of shredded Parmesan and basil. YUM!)
2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 onions)
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 (28-ounce) canned plum tomatoes, with their juice
4 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1 quart chicken stock or water

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Toss together the tomatoes, 1/4 cup olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread the tomatoes in 1 layer on a baking sheet and roast for 45 minutes.In an 8-quart stockpot over medium heat, saute the onions and garlic with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the butter, and red pepper flakes for 10 minutes, until the onions start to brown. Add the canned tomatoes, basil, thyme, and chicken stock. Add the oven-roasted tomatoes, including the liquid on the baking sheet. Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for 40 minutes. Pass through a food mill fitted with the coarsest blade. Taste for seasonings. Serve hot or cold.

17 Comments

  • ally bean

    Take Home Chef sounds like a good show to me. I’ll look for it.

    And about these recipes– yum-o. I don’t know if it’s cruel or kind of you to post them when I’m trying to lose a few pounds! I’ll choose kind and say thanks.

  • Tabitha

    J-thankyouthankyouthankyou for posting that soup recipe. The last time we were in Mass. visiting family, I had a Roasted Tomato Basil Bisque that was pure heaven. I’ve been on the web searching for a good recipe & have not found anything that sounded good to me. This one sounds worth trying.
    YAY!

  • J

    Hmmm Tabitha…seems like a bisque would have cream or something in it…and this doesn’t…but you could fix that pretty easily. 😉

  • Random Kath

    Those recipes sound heavenly and we just happen to have some chicken at home that I was wavering about what to do with. Great improvisation on the tomatoes, too! 🙂

  • Ginger

    J
    I thought the ending to My Sister’s Keeper was very inconsistant with the tone of the book. Almost like it might have been an alternate ending added to satisfy the publisher or editor. It seemed to be their just to jerk at your center.

    I liked your post about planned obsolescense!

  • Cherry

    Hrmm…back when I had TLC, we would occassionally catch the ‘Take Home Chef’. I think we watched it more for the humor aspect then for the cooking. Plus, he’s just too pretty, and seems to wear a lot of eye make-up, or maybe he has those eye lashes that I would pay big money for, so I’m really just jealous.

    The next time you watch it, watch for his facial expressions. They are a hoot!

  • Amy

    But, was it good?

    BTW, I LOVE that show, and they film it here in L.A., usually at a Gelson’s (upscale grocery store) I am dying to get picked but as you said, he always picks a pretty single girl–that hasn’t stopped me from going to Gelson’s much more frequently than I used to, though!

  • Tabitha

    J – Yes it isn’t quite the recipe I’ve been looking for, but so far it sounds the closest & adding some cream and tweaking the basic recipe just a bit might lend itself to this soup that I’m hankering, no jonesing, for 🙂

  • Lalunas

    Those recipes sound delishhhhhhhhhh. I wonder if I was anywhere in the neighborhood when you made this mouth watering meal. You are so creative..

  • Jo

    Ahhh!! I love this show! I remember the host from a show he did with a friend of Jamie Oliver’s called “Surfing the Menu” Two thumbs up for Curtis Stone.

    Sadly, I never bump into him when I am grocery shopping at the local store in Small-Town-Quebec…

  • Chrissy

    What a cool post! I hate to admit this, but I am a huge fan of cooking shows. I haven’t seen Take Home Chef yet, but now that you’ve posted about it, I just may try to catch a show or two. I love TLC. Have you ever heard of the show “I do…Let’s Eat?” We were supposed to be on one of the episodes, but things didn’t pan out in the end 🙂

  • Shelliza

    Yummy recipe! I’ve seen him and have often thought the same as you. He DOES seem to flirt an awful lot. I shop at Whole Foods so I do hope that I could run into him someday.