Ranch Style Chicken - recipe from "The Pioneer Woman Cooks"

I had the day off today...actually I have every Monday off. Not many people want their houses cleaned on Mondays. Most of my customers prefer Thursdays or Fridays. Me? If I had someone to clean my house (I wish!), I would be quite happy to have it cleaned on Mondays. Then it would be clean for most of the week. But, I am getting off track. (I do that a lot.)(In fact, my daughter and I both do that a lot, and when we are together, keeping up with us is like listening to a ping pong match...no, Mexican jumping beans! Yeah, that's more like how we jump from topic to topic) Where was I? Oh yeah...

So, anyway, I had today off. And, after I washed and dried a load of clothes, took the dog for a walk, worked on my taxes (got them done and e-filed!), made pie crust for an apple pie (which I will post about on March 21), cleaned up the kitchen and made a fresh pot of coffee, I started thinking about what to fix for dinner. I had already taken out a package of skinless, boneless chicken breasts, so I knew we were having chicken. But, what way? I decided to check out "The Pioneer Woman Cooks" recipes for chicken ideas.

I found 4 or 5 that sounded delicious. Chicken tenders, chicken baked using yogurt and panko crumbs, chicken spaghetti casserole (I will be trying that one soon!) and one called Ranch Style Chicken. It looked delicious. Not a low-calorie meal for sure. Bacon, cheese, chicken. Yup. Nothing low calorie here. :) But, it looked so good in the pictures she has posted that I was caught. hook. line. and sinker. It helped (or hurt, depending on your view) that I had all the ingredients I needed to make it on hand.

Pretty easy to throw together. The marinade was simple to make and smelled delicious. My hubby was in the livingroom while I was fixing this and he yelled into the kitchen that whatever I was making sure smelled great, and how soon was dinner? I didn't have any potatoes to serve with the dish, so I made cheddar cheese polenta. Thought the polenta with cheddar would go well with the cheddar on the chicken. It was okay, but I think potatoes would have been better, especially baked potatoes. But, the polenta worked. I also served a nice tossed salad on the side. I can say the dish was every bit as delicious as the pictures portrayed it to be. And, it was every bit as delicious as it smelled while I was cooking it. By the time I brought the plates to the table, the dog and the cat were waiting for me, along with my hubby. The flavor of the chicken with the bacon and cheddar cheese was wonderful . You could detect the flavors of the honey and mustard from the marinade. And, tender? Lord the chicken was fork tender. Moist, flavorful, delicious!! My hubby loved it! Said "This is really good! When you going to make it again? Tomorrow??" :D I made three breasts and he is going to take the third one to work tomorrow for lunch, on a bun with mayo. And, I think if I did make the same dish tomorrow night, he would be happy as a pig in...well, you know. You gotta' try this one folks!

I am going to link this one to Foodie Fans of the Pioneer Woman. The next round up is March 8th and the category is "Main Dishes". Perfect!  

                                      Ranch Style Chicken

                                              from "The Pioneer Woman Cooks" blog

Ree's recipe serves 6. I kept the marinade recipe the same, but only used 3 chicken breasts for the hubby and me.

1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1/2 cup honey
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
Crushed red pepper (optional to taste - I used garlic pepper instead)
6 whole boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 pound thick cut bacon (I used 6 slices)
Bacon grease
Sharp cheddar cheese, to taste
Canola oil

To begin, make the marinade. In a large bowl mix together the mustard, honey, lemon juice, paprika and salt. Whisk until smooth. Sprinkle in some crushed red pepper flakes or cayenne if you like things a little spicy. Set aside.
Next, rinse the chicken breasts and place between two sheets of waxed paper and pound to about 1/2" - 3/4" thick with a mallet. Add the chicken to the bowl with the marinade, cover with plastic and place in the refrigerator for 1 to 3 hours.
While the chicken marinates, fry up some bacon. When finished cooking, reserve 1/4 cup of the bacon grease and clean out the skillet.
When the chicken is done marinating, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Remove the chicken from the fridge and pour off the excess marinade. Heat half of the reserved bacon grease with an equal quantity of canola oil in the clean skillet over medium-high heat. When the grease is nice and hot, add two or three pieces of chicken to it.  Cook until brownish/blackish, about 1 to 1 1/2 minutes per side. Remove chicken to a large baking sheet. If cooking many peices of chicken, repeat skillet process and remove finished chicken to baking sheet. Place chicken in preheated oven and cook for about 10 minutes. Remove from oven.

Lay a few pieces of bacon over each chicken breast. Sprinkle shredded sharp cheddar cheese over the top of the chicken as generously as you like. Return pan to oven for an additional 5 minutes until cheese is melted and bacon is sizzling. Serve immediately.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking - "Gnocchi Gratines au Fromage"

Or "Gnocchi Baked with Cheese". This is only my second recipe out of MtAoFC. I have never eaten gnocchi, let alone made them. But, a friend of mine tweeted last week about a gnocchi dish (her's was different but sounded delicious!) and I decided to flip through my copy of MtAoFC and see if there was a recipe in there for gnocchi, and sure enough, there was. There were several in fact. After reading through them, I decided on the "Gnocchi Gratines au Fromage". Wish making it had been as easy as typing this. While none of the steps were really difficult, there were many steps to the final presentation. You have to make two other recipes before you can make the final one. Let me elaborate.

In order to make Gnocchi baked with cheese, you must first make "Gnocchi De Pommes De Terre", which is Potato Gnocchi. However, in order to make the potato gnocchi, you must first make "Pate A Choux", which is Cream Puff Paste. Did I mention there were a lot of steps to this recipe. Just checking. :)

Here is the recipe for "Pate a Choux"...     

For about 2 cups
A 1 1/2 quart, heavy-bottomed saucepan
1 cup water
3 ounces (6 Tbls.) butter, cut into pieces
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
pinch of nutmeg
3/4 cup all-purpose flour (scooped and leveled)
4 large eggs

Bring water to boil with the butter and seasonings and boil slowly until the butter has melted. Meanwhile measure out the flour.
Remove from heat and immediately pour in all the flour at once. Beat vigourously with a wooden spatula or spoon for several seconds to blend thoroughly. Then beat over moderately high heat for 1 to 2 minutes until mixture leaves the sides of the pan and the spoon, forms a mass, and begins to film the bottom of the pan.
Remove saucepan from heat and make a well in the center of the paste with your spoon. Immediately break an egg into the center of the well. Beat it into the paste for several seconds until it has absorbed. Continue with the rest of the eggs, beating them in one by one. The thrid and fourth eggs will be absorbed more slowly. Beat for a moment more to be sure all is well blended and smooth.

Okay, so now you have your cream puff paste made. In the meantime you need to be working on getting the potato portion of the recipe made. Here is the  recipe for Gnocchi De Pommes De Terre...

These make a good luncheon dish, or may be used as a starchy vegetable to accompany a roast.
     For about 12 gnocchi, 3 by 11/2 inches when cooked

3 to 4 meduim-sized baking potatoes
1 cup warm pate a choux (see above recipe)
1/3 cup grated Swiss, or Swiss and Parmesan, cheese
A 12" skillet of simmering salted water

Peel and quarter the potatoes. Boil in salted water until tender. Drain and put through a ricer. You should have 2 cups.
Dry out the potatoes by stirring them in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over moderate heat for a minute or two until they film the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat.
Beat the pate a choux and the cheese into the potatoes. Correct seasoning.
Take the mixture by dessert-spoonfuls and roll it with the palms of your hands on a lightly floured board to form cylinders about 21/2 inches long and 1 inch in diameter.
Slip the gnocchi into the simmering water and poach, uncovered, for 15 to 20 minutes. Water should remain almost but not quite at the simmer throughout the cooking. If it boils, the gnocchi may disintegrate. When they have swelled almost double, and roll over easily in the water, they are done. Drain on a rack or a towel. 

There was a small note between recipes that read...
"Additions to the Potato Gnocchi Paste -
     Any of the following may be mixed into the gnocchi paste along with the cheese, and are especially good if your gnocchi are to be served as a main course.
     3 to 4 TB minced fresh herbs, such as chives & parsley.
     1/4 to 1/2 cup minced cooked ham or bacon
     1/4 to 1/2 cup sauteed diced mushrooms or chicken livers.

I am serving mine for dinner tonight so I chose to add some cooked bacon to the paste.

Once you have made your pate a choux, and your potato gnocchi, there were a couple of ways to finish off the dish. One was with a cheese sauce which meant more pots and more cooking to create the sauce you would pour over the gnocchi before baking. I decided to pass on that recipe. The final recipe, the Gnocchi Gratines au Fromage, was simple and is as follows...
Gnocchi Gratines au Fromage (Gnocchi Baked with Cheese) 
The preceding gnocchi
1/2 cup grated Swiss or Parmesan cheese
2 TBL. butter cut into peasized dots

Arrange the drained gnocchi in a shallow, buttered, baking dish. Spread the cheese over them and dot with butter. Set aside uncovered.
Ten minutes before serving time, reheat and brown them slowly under a moderately hot broiler.

This is the finished product. I made a small dish to try. It was delicious! Creamy, smooth, mild flavors.This definitely falls into the category of comfort food. I used both Swiss and Parmesan cheese and the blend was perfect. I could just taste the potatoes and the bacon was a nice background taste in addition to the cheese. I am going to serve these with some steamed broccoli (a favorite in my house) and some crusty french bread rolls.  The only other note I will add, if you don't like to wash dishes, don't make this recipe. Here is what my kitchen looked like when I finished. :) In all fairness a couple of those items were from baking Cottage Cheese Pufflets, but most of what you see came from making the Gnocchi baked with Cheese. I wouldn't make this every week, but, in my opinion, it was worth the mess.