Month: June 2020

Carrot Coconut Pecan Muffin

| FlourandParchment

On Saturday mornings, I get a chance to flex my culinary creativity when breaking the fast. During the week, I eat breakfast to survive but, on weekends, it’s more of an epicurean experience. Recently, I woke up with a hankering for muffins, but not of the same old, tired blueberry or banana varieties.

I looked through the refrigerators to see what was on hand and stumbled across carrots and pineapple tidbits. I rummaged through the pantry and found pecans and shredded coconut. While assessing the ingredients, a light bulb went off. This combination of ingredients was reminiscent of a Hummingbird cake, one of my favorite cakes.

In our house we love flour, sugar and butter but we try to keep usage of the bleached, over-processed varieties to a minimum. So I opted for almond flour.  

This muffin is so moist, sweet, and amazing!

  • 4 c almond flour
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • ½ tsp nutmeg
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • Pinch of salt
  • ½ c coconut sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • ¼ c maple syrup
  • ½ c unsweetened coconut
  • ½ c pecans halves, chopped
  • 1 c  carrot, grated
  • Couple of tablespoons of pineapple juice

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and coconut sugar.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, maple syrup and vanilla.

Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix until well incorporated.

Fold in coconut, pecans and carrots.

Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Remove muffins from the oven and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes.

Serve with some fresh fruit to start your day off right!

Mediterranean Smothered Chicken

| FlourandParchment

I have a great affinity for Mediterranean food and thought I should expand my repertoire of Mediterranean dishes. I didn’t stretch myself much with this one, but it was an eye opener.

One thing I realized is that I’d limited the entire culinary Mediterranean to a single country. How did I cook all these years and never consider more than Greece?! I had thought of Italy, but summed them up as primarily a pasta place.

There’s an entire eastern Mediterranean region that I’d never considered. When I did, I stumbled upon something resembling a spicy Yemeni chimichurri sauce known as Schug. As I researched the sauce, I learned a bit about the Eastern Mediterranean. In retrospect, it only makes sense that there is an Eastern and Western Mediterranean cuisine. My mind had never considered the idea. *shame*

Armed with my newfound recognition of cuisine from another region of the Mediterranean, I set out to combine the familiar flavors with these new flavors to create this dish.

Ingredients:

  • 4 large Chicken Breast, halved
  • 10 oz. serrano chiles, seeds removed and halved
  • Kalamata Olives
  • Black Olives
  • Sun-Dried Tomatoes in oil
  • Lemon
  • ½ red onion
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 12 oz jar artichoke hearts, roughly chopped

Schug Inspired by Tasting Table

  • 1 cup parsley
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon ground cardamom
  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt
  • 10 oz. Serrano chiles, stems and seeds removed, halved
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 cup canola oil
  • Feta cheese, crumbled

Salt your chicken breast and set in the refrigerator about an hour ahead. This helps to make the chicken more tender.

In the meantime, prepare the Schug. Add the serrano chiles, parsley, lemon juice, cardamom, coriander and salt into your food processor and puree. Adjust salt and serrano chiles to your preferred taste.

*If you aren’t a tremendous fan of heat, I suggest you cut back about 2 oz of the serrano chiles.

Remove chicken from oven and slather your chicken in the green sauce. Cover and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

Heat oven to 375 F. Place chicken in a pan and cook in oven for about 30 minutes or until fully cooked.

While the chicken is cooking grab a large cast-iron skillet and place on medium to high heat. 

Toss in the red onions and garlic and cook until fragrant.  Then add in the sun-dried tomatoes with about 1tbsp of the oil, artichoke hearts and olives.

Remove chicken from oven and pour the sundried tomato mixture over the chicken breasts.

Squeeze some fresh lemon juice on top along with some crumbled feta and serve.

I served it on top of this Mediterranean Orzo Salad from Foodie Crush.