Stuffed Chicken and Sautéed Radishes with Peach Arugula Salad

We just got home from our vacation in Spain with all of the married Hamanns - including the newlyweds, who joined us straight from their honeymoon!  As a family, we spent a few days on the beach in Sitges and a week in Barcelona, enjoying the sun, beautiful sites, and amazing seafood... probably too much of it.

Now that we're back, Carsten is into full-on study mode for Boards part 2.  He's got a strict schedule he follows, including his breaks for lunch and exercise and dinner.  That's my job for this month: making him a yummy and healthy dinner each night.  Full of veggies and protein.  It's only been one week, but I'm enjoying the challenge of coming up with a delicious and healthy well-rounded meal day after day.  As we normally eat vegetarian when it's just the two of us, it's proved even more challenging to mix up the protein sources...

Tonight was definitely a success.  I know, because he suggested I blog it ;)

The stuffed chicken I adapted from a recipe I found at From Calculu∫ to Cupcake∫.  Maybe I was drawn to it because I relate to math and baking name, or maybe it was just the mouth-watering picture, that looks like anything but a boring chicken breast.

The sweet sautéed radishes I found over at The Endless Meal.  The fabulous photographs are definitely what got me on this one.

And the peach salad I threw together because I was lucky enough to find some fabulous peaches at the grocery store.  I could eat this salad all day... it's like a healthy dessert.

Stuffed Chicken
Ingredients
serves 2
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 oz cream cheese (I used fat-free)
4 oz frozen spinach, thawed
4 oz mushrooms, chopped into small 1/4-inch pieces (I used mini porcini mushrooms)
1 Tbs drained and chopped sun-dried tomatoes
1 tsp cooking olive oil
salt and fresh black pepper to taste
paprika
any other seasoning of your choice

Procedure
Let the spinach thaw enough to separate out 4oz.  Return the remaining spinach to the freezer for later use.  Place the chicken on parchment paper, and using a meat tenderizer mallet, pound each chicken breast until about 1/4 inch thick.  Fold the paper over the chicken, and place in the fridge until ready to use.
Add olive oil to a pan over medium heat, and sautée the mushrooms until most of the moisture has been released and evaporated.  Add the sun-dried tomatoes and the cream cheese, and stir until the cheese is melted and well-incorporated.  Squeeze all of the liquid out of the spinach, and add it to the pan.  Mix well, and add salt and pepper to taste.  Set aside to until cool enough to handle.
Remove the chicken from the fridge, and evenly distribute half of the filling onto one end of each breast.  Roll up the breast, taking care not to let the stuffing fall out the sides.  Secure the chicken with tooth picks or kitchen twine.
Drizzle or spray each roll with a little olive oil, then sprinkle with salt, pepper, paprika, and any other seasoning you desire.  Return chicken to the fridge until ready to cook (you can prepare these up to a day in advance).

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Place chicken rolls on a baking sheet, and bake until chicken is fully cooked but still moist, about 15 minutes.  Remove tooth picks or twine before serving.


Sweet Sautéed Radishes
Ingredients
serves 2-3
1 bunch of radishes, about 10 in total
1/2 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp butter
1 Tbs honey
1 Tbs sherry vinegar (or vinegar of your choice)
dash of sea salt

Procedure
Twist the leaves off the radishes and wash the radishes well. Thinly slice 2 radishes into rounds and set them aside. Then cut the remaining radishes in half lengthwise. Wash the leaves well, place them in a large bowl and set them aside.
Heat the olive oil in a cast iron or non-stick frying pan over medium high heat. Add the radishes, cut side down, to the pan. Sautée them for 3-4 minutes, or until the bottoms are brown. Remove them from the pan and place them in the bowl with the radish greens.
In a small sauce pan, heat the butter, honey, vinegar and salt over medium heat.  It will come to a boil.  Cook until the glaze thickens, then pour the glaze over the sautéed radishes and radish greens.  Toss well to coat.
Transfer the sautéed radishes and greens to a serving plate, scatter the thinly sliced radishes around the plate and sprinkle the top with a little extra sea salt.


Peach Arugula Salad
Ingredients
serves 2
2 handfuls arugula
1/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1 Tbs crumbled goat cheese
1 ripe peach, peeled and chopped

olive oil
balsamic vinegar

Procedure
Assemble the ingredients on two plates in the order listed, top with a light drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

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Pecan Pie Coffe Cake

I'm literally eating the last piece of cake as I write.  I just returned home from Church, Carsten is sleeping after a 30 hour call at the hospital, and I decided to relax in the living room with the last slice.  A perfect Sunday afternoon.  After two bites I remembered I hadn't taken any pictures, so I got out the camera and snapped a few.

I found this recipe over at bake or break about a week ago, and have had it up on my computer screen ever since, just waiting for a good day to bake it.  I love baking anything sweet, but if I don't have people to share it with I'll eat it all by myself - not only dangerous, but less fulfilling.  So when I got a text from friends inviting me over to have a Christmas tree bonfire, I got right to baking :)

Perfectly moist, not too sweet, and the pecan pie topping added just the right amount of interest.  It's always a gamble letting your friends try a first time recipe, but I shouldn't have worried.  The cake was a hit.  And I will forever associate it with an evening around the bonfire, laughing and drinking wine with friends, new and old.

Ingredients
For the Cake:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 Tbs unsalted butter, softened
2 oz cream cheese, softened
1 large egg
1 large egg white
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup buttermilk

For the Topping:
1/3 cup corn syrup (the recipe called for light, but I only had dark, so that's what I used)
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 Tbs unsalted butter
1/3 cup pecans, finely chopped
1 large egg, lightly beaten
pinch of salt

Procedure
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and generously grease a 9-inch cake pan.  I used a spring-form pan, which made it just a little easier to serve.
In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.  Using an electric mixer, whip together the sugar, butter, and cream cheese until light and fluffy.  (If your butter and cream cheese aren't quite softened, just wait ten minutes or so, and beat them a little extra, until everything is smooth and fluffy.  DON'T rush the process but putting them in the microwave!  It will ruin the texture of your cake)  Add the whole egg, and then the egg white, whipping between each addition.  Stir in the vanilla.  Reduce the mixer to low and add the flour mixture in three portions, alternating with buttermilk in between (flour - buttermilk - flour - buttermilk - flour).  Mix until just combined.  Pour the batter into your prepared pan, and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Set the pan on a wire rack, and reduce the oven to 325 degrees.
In a small sauce pan, combine the corn syrup, brown sugar, and butter over medium heat.  Stir and heat just until the butter melts.  Remove from heat, and stir in pecans, egg, and salt.  Using a wooden skewer, (a toothpick is too small - I used a chopstick ;) ) poke holes all over your cake.  This will let the gooey topping soak into the cake.  Carefully pour the topping over the cake, making sure to cover every bit of it.  Feel free to spread the pecans around evenly.  Return the cake to the oven for 10 minutes.  Remove from the oven, and let cool completely (on a wire rack) before serving.

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Chloe's Chocolate Pecan Pie

Ingredients

For Crust
1 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup chilled butter, sliced

For Filling

3/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar (unpacked)

3 large eggs

1/2 cup dark corn syrup

3 Tbs butter, melted

2 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 cups pecans, chopped

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Procedure
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine sugar, flour, salt, and cinnamon in a food processor and pulse until combined. Add butter and pulse until dough resembles coarse sand. Press into a greased 9 inch pie pan. Bake for 10 minutes. In a large mixing bowl combine sugars, eggs, corn syrup, butter and vanilla. Mix well. Add pecans and chocolate chips. Pour filling into crust. Bake for 65-75 minutes.

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A Hamann/Verdick Family recipe