Roasted chicken with carrots, potatoes and turnips

I was somewhat surprised this weekend when out of curiosity I decided to take a look at my car's odometer and saw the reading. After 22 months of owning my car, I finally reached my first 10,000 miles. I know, I'm like an old lady that only uses her car to go to church on a Sundays (FYI, I don't go to church). Most people probably put 10,000 miles in their cars like in 8 to 10 months, but not me. The gossipers, or how we call them back home, "las malas lenguas" - the bad tongues - may suggest that I'm too cheap and don't drive anywhere to save money on gas. But, what kind of cheap creature do they think I am? Really? I don't drive often to save money on parking. Come on! As a student I would have to pay around $90 a montn to park on campus. Who has that kind of cash? Who, I ask?

The real reason I drive so little, is that I try to bike to work most of the year plus my weekend fun usually includes a 30-40 mile bike ride throughout the Greater Cleveland area. Riding is fun, eco-friendly, and does wonders for my weight loss plan. However, during the last month or so I have not been riding my bike. I wish I could blame my schedule; being busy is after all what grad school is all about. I wish I could blame the crazy Cleveland weather; I mean the weather here is so insane that it makes look forward to global warming. But no; I actually had a very embarrassing reason not to ride my bike. I've been moronic enough to somehow puncture 4 tubes in the process of changing my tires. I have more mileage on my bike than in my car. I should know very well how to change a tube or a tire. Oh, at least it wasn't a car tire. I've said it many times; if I'm driving and get a flat tire, I will have no choice other than to call 9-1-1 since I have no clue as to how to handle that. Anyway, I grew a pair and went to the bike mechanic and in less than a minute (more embarrassment) everything was done. After all that drama I needed a ride PRONTO. I went through the Chagrin River Valley, following Chagrin River Road. It was beautiful. The leaves are finally starting to turn, so although the colors were not peaking, they were definitely on their way. The air was fresh, the road was nice, and the passing people, cyclists and motorists alike, were friendly. It was great and worth the shameful moments this bike had just put me through. 

Back at home, I was feeling great, and decided to go for a great, hearty, homey meal. I made baked chicken with carrots, potatoes and turnips. I made a bed of onions to infuse the chicken and the veggies with moisture and aroma. I topped them with the carrots, potatoes and turnips, and seasoned them with salt and pepper. Finally, I placed a small whole chicken on top of everything. The chicken had been previously marinated in a simple mojo (olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and rosemary) for 3 hours. I covered the baking dish with foil and cooked at 425F for 55 minutes. At that point I removed the foil, and added kosher salt to crisp the skin and cooked for 15 more minutes. When it was ready, I sliced the chicken and served the food. As a final touch I garnished with fresh parsely.

Wow. This was a wonderful dinner. The chicken was juicy, tender and fragrant, with a beautiful flavor. The carrots were sweet and, surprisingly, spicy (which I enjoyed). The potatoes were buttery and sinfully tasty, and the turnips were crisp and packing great flavor. I was surprised that the carrots were somewhat hot when the turnips are the ones that have the potential to be a bit "hot" if they are too old or too big. Could it be that the chicken juices facilitated some "heat" or flavor transfer between the two?

Whatever it was, it resulted in a very hearty and homey meal. I usually cook everything I eat, but there was something peculiar about this dinner that made it feel really homemade. Perhaps it was the earthy notes coming from all the roots in my dish, or the perfect temperatures of the bird and the roots. This dish was pure comfort, and a great memory to look back to in my future hours of need. 

On the road shortcut

3 teaspoons olive oil 

3 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt (plus more to crisp the chicken skin)

1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper

1 teaspoon dried rosemary

1/2 teaspoon cumin

3 cloves garlic
3lb fryer chicken
1 large onion

2 large carrots, peeled

4 baby potatoes (red)
4 medium turnips, peeled

1/4 cup chopped parsley to garnish

To make the mojo marinade add 2 teaspoons of olive oil, 3 teaspoons of kosher salt, 1 teaspoon of pepper, the rosemary, the cumin and the garlic in a large big Ziploc bag. Rub the chicken with the marinade in the bag, seal it and refrigerate it for 3 hrs. 

Slice the onions in half and then in slices about 1/4 inch thick and use the slices as the first layer on the roasting pan. Slice carrots as 1 inch slices, the potatoes in half and the turnips in quarters. Layer them over the onions and sprinkle with the remaining salt, pepper and olive olive. Place the chicken on the vegetables, breast side down. Cover the pan with foil and cook at 425F for 55 minutes. Remove the foil and sprinkle the chicken with a pinch of kosher salt (to crispen skin). Cook for 15 more minutes uncovered. 

Nutritional info per serving (4 generous servings)

Eating the skin:

697 calories, 49 g carbs, 34 g fat, 44 g protein.

Without eating the skin:

533 calories, 49 g carbs, 12 g fat, 44 g protein.

Please, note that all the nutritional information has been estimated using the nutritional information for all the ingredients and then divided by 4. The actual values will vary depending on the actual cuts of meat you eat. 

The hot chick with the blue ribbons

One of the best qualities of summertime, the longer days, brings great opportunities to finally finish all the home projects that have been waiting all year round. Indeed, we have dedicated the last couple of summers almost exclusively to home projects, but this year we've had the chance to cash in the summer fun (you know, when is not raining, what the hell?) and we've been able to enjoy ourselves. We've spent time with our friends, we've done our share of grilling, and we've done some partying here and there. But of course, one still has to keep up with home stuff, especially if you are borderline OCD like me (yes, everyone knows about my dirty laundry-folding habits). While giving the house some general TLC I noticed that our book collection has grown like crazy during the last few years (and it's certainly doing better than my flowers and without any watering). All those books contain all these great recipes but they're just being ignored, the way I ignored the treadmill for so many years (and we all know how that one ended). I decided to make an effort to make more and more of those recipes.

I decided to start with one of my favorite dishes, turned healthy. I went ahead and picked up one of my favorite books, "Now eat this!" by Rocco Dispirito and flipped the pages until I finally found his version of chicken cordon bleu. This is a dish of American origin (no, it didn't come from France), created sometime during the 1940s, and it was very popular in the 80s and 90s when I was still a kid (I still get carded when I go to bars, just so you know). Cordon bleu translates to "blue ribbons". Blue ribbons used to be associated with a high order of knights in France (L'Ordre des Chevaliers du Saint-Espirit); very prestigious guys. The association stuck around almost synonymous with prestige, and when referencing the dish, it probably just references that it's a "prestigious" or "fancy" dish, just like with the famous food academy. One of the close relatives of the chicken cordon bleu is the traditional Swiss dish made from a veal fillet used to wrap ham and Gruyere cheese, battered and fried. In that part of the world the breaded veal, pork and chicken fillets are very popular (schnitzels), so all they had to do was to add the ham and cheese, and wrap it (now suddenly KFC's chicken - ham and cheese- chicken sandwich with no bread doesn't seem that crazy any more, just nasty). There's also an Ukrainian dish, "Chicken Kiev", which is made from a thin chicken fillet, it gets stuffed with butter, rolled, breaded and fried, is also a likely influence in the development of the chicken cordon bleu.

I love chicken cordon bleu. My mom went through a short phase of making those often when we were kids (although I have reasons to suspect she bought them frozen, they were very good). Suddenly she stopped making them, and never made them since. I have to say that as a cordon blue expert (do not mess with me, sista), this recipe is amazing. All the flavor is there; I knew that from the get go since I had it before, but I've never made it myself. I feel like everyone should now this recipe, and since I found out Mr. Dispirito has published online as well, I figured I wouldn't be sued for sharing it with you.

Rocco's recipe is beyond amazing. It has 4 times less calories (4-fold less, for my scientist friends), and 12 times less fat than the regular cordon bleu. That means that a serving (4 ounce boneless chicken breast) is only 333 calories (it's kinda scary how precise he gets), 6.6 g of fat, 43 g of protein (my guns are already thanking me for it) and 24 grams of carbs, 3 of them of fiber. The only catch is that you need to start 2 hours ahead you want to cook, because the cheese sauce takes about 2 hours to freeze, but if you do it the day before, you're all set!

You'll need:

1/2 cup evaporated skim milk

2 teaspoons cornstarch 

1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese (I used Gruyere, because that's what I had)

3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Nonstick cooking spray

4 chicken cutlets, (4 ounces each) pounded very thin (I scissor-cut a giant-1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast because that was on sale!)

3 ounces thinly sliced lean ham (from the deli counter)

1/3 cup whole-wheat flour

1 1/2 cups whole-wheat panko breadcrumbs, such as Ian's all natural

4 large egg whites (whisked until extremely foamy, but before peaks hold)

Act I - Prepping the cheese sauce

1. In a small sauce pan, whisk the evaporated milk (constantly) into the cornstarch until it boils. Reduce the heat to low and cook for a minute to thicken it.

2. Whisk the cheese into the sauce, until is melted and smooth.

3. Whisk in the chives and season with salt and pepper to taste (about 3/4 teaspoons each to me).

4. Spray an ice cube tray with cooking spray (you'll need 8 of the spaces)

5. Split the sauce into 8 of the cube holes.

6. Freeze until the sauce is hard (2 hrs). (I did it overnight, so I covered the ice tray with Saran Wrap to prevent "freezer smell").

Act II - Making the chicken

1. Preheat the oven at 450F. The chicken will be cooked on a roasting wire rack, so to minimize the mess, place it under a foil-lined baking sheet, or roasting tray.

2. Prepare the breading station. You'll need the breadcrumbs and the flour each on a shallow dish, and you'll need the egg whites in a medium bowl.

3. Season the chicken with salt and pepper to taste (I used about 2 teaspoons of salt and 1 of pepper across divided among all the cutlets). 

4. Line the chicken with the ham.

5. Place 2 sauce cubes per chicken cutlet.

6. Roll up the chicken to encase the filling. Secure with toothpicks.

At this point some of my rolled chicken cutlets were not looking pretty, and God knows I was annoyed and angry Spanish was used. However, they were gorgeous at the end, so have patience. (Note that that's a note for myself in the future.)

7. Dredge the chicken in the flour, shaking the excess. Then dip them in the eggs to coat them completely. Dredge now on the breadcrumbs to coat completely. Do this for every cutlet.

8. Place the chicken on the wire rack.

9. Spray the chicken with cooking oil (lightly).

10. Season with salt and pepper to taste (I didn't).

11. Bake until breading is golden brown and cheese is fully melted (25-30 minutes).

I don't know if it's because I'm a protein junkie, but this dish was so satisfying! I was a bit skeptical on the serving size since the rolls seemed a bit small, but I was done after one serving (although based on the flavor I was tempted to go on). The chicken cordon bleu looked so beautiful, and like I said the flavor was amazing. You don't really miss all the butter missing from the original recipe. I think the Gruyere cheese worked so well in this recipe that I might always do it that way.

As a quick, yet delicious side, I boiled pasta in salty water until it was al dente, drained it, and dressed it with butter, garlic and chives. This came mostly as a realization that I hadn't even thought of a side when I only had 10 minutes till the cordon bleu would be ready. Still, it worked really well. It was a simple, yet good pairing to this dish. A side of quinoa, rice, sweet potatoes or mashed potatoes would go well with the chicken too. A glass of Bordeaux or tempranillo couldn't hurt either... Still, if you want to keep the calories low, skip the wine and go for a side of steam veggies instead. They will be delicious and will go well as well!

Note: The history of cordon bleu was based on a quick review from a fellow internet user (http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071211123944AAALlp9) who actually used books for references!