Chicken with Tarragon and White Wine

(from Giada de Laurentis)

I'm between jobs right now, so I've been spending a lot of time (sigh) watching all kinds of bad daytime TV. This includes cooking shows (let's face it, though, it's usually Say Yes to the Dress and Property Brothers), which is where I found this recipe. I watched Giada make it, then gave it a stab myself. Her type of cooking is the type I can recognize and replicate without too much instruction (garlic? Got it!), so I was actually pretty happy with how it turned out, sans recipe.

That being said, I made this over a month ago, and promptly forgot how to make it. Luckily for me, the Internet is a great refresher, and I found the exact recipe (without God-knows-what modifications I made), which you can find below, with some modifications.

This was really easy and delicious, and it's nice because it seems fancy and could therefore be served to guests. Of course, Giada made some kind of appetizer and these little miniature fruit tarts...for lunch. Not going to happen, folks. So I made it for dinner, with some roasted Brussels sprouts, and called it good. And it was!

So:

1/4 cup vegetable oil (I used olive oil. I mean, come on...)
1 (4 1/2-pound) chicken, cut into 8 pieces (I used four chicken thighs)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Flour for dusting

1 1/2 cups (about 10 ounces) cipollini onions, trimmed and peeled (grab a handful)
4 cloves garlic, halved
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup white wine, such as Riesling
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth, plus 1/3 cup
1/2 cup chopped fresh tarragon leaves, plus 2 tablespoons

Heat the oil over high in a Dutch oven or large saucepan. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, dust with flour, and cook, turning occasionally to brown on all sides.

Scoot the chicken to the side and add the onions and garlic, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste, about five minutes. Increase the heat and add the wine, scraping up the brown bits that cling to the pan. Add 3 cups of the chicken broth and 1/2 cup of tarragon, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low to simmer, and cover. Turn the chicken every 10 minutes or so until it's cooked through. Serve over brown rice and garnish with remaining tarragon.

Now, what the Internet version says to do is a little different, and not what I remember following from TV. It sounds good, though, so if you wanted. You'll need:

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Remove the chicken to a platter. In a small bowl, mix the remaining 1/3 cup chicken broth and flour. Whisk the flour mixture into the sauce in the pan until smooth. Bring the sauce to a simmer and cook uncovered until it thickens. Stir in the butter, and serve the sauce over the chicken.

Moqueca - Brazilian Fish Stew

(adapted from Saveur magazine)

While we're on the topic of shrimp (when are we not?!), here's a great and pretty easy recipe for a hearty stew that uses them, discovered in a recent issue of Saveur magazine.

The recipe was a good one, although we both agreed that we expected more flavor from the final result. So I've modified the original recipe to include some additional things (my untested additions are starred below, so you can make it as-is, or give the alternative a shot and lemme know how it goes), like cayenne and extra garlic. Maybe it's because we couldn't find palm oil and had to substitute butter. In any case, it was still pretty delicious, and a nice alternative.

1.5 lb boneless, skinless catfish filets, cut into 2" pieces
8 oz shrimp, peeled and deveined
Juice from two limes
*12 cloves garlic (recipe called for 8)
Salt and pepper to taste
3 tbsp olive oil
1 medium/large yellow onion, 3/4 minced, 1/4 thinly sliced
1 "Italian frying pepper" (if you have any idea what an Italian frying pepper is, use it; I used a jalapeno); 1/2 minced, 1/2 thinly sliced
*Cayenne pepper to taste
2 plum tomatoes, 1 minced, 1 thinly sliced
*1 cup chicken stock (recipe called for fish or vegetable)
1 cup coconut milk
2 tbsp palm oil (recommended if you can find it; I used butter)
1/4 cup minced cilantro
1/2 cup minced Thai basil leaves
Cooked brown rice, to serve

Toss the fish, shrimp, lime juice, half the garlic, and the salt and pepper in a bowl and set aside. Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the rest of the garlic, the minced onion, and the minced pepper, sprinkle with cayenne, and cook until soft. Add the minced tomatoes, and cook until broken down. Add the stock, coconut milk, and palm oil/butter, and bring to a boil. Drain the fish and add to the pot, cooking until just cooked through, about 7 minutes. Add the sliced onion, pepper, and tomato, and cook, covered, for about five more minutes. Stir in the cilantro and basil, season with salt and pepper. Serve over rice.