Category: Main Dishes

The main entree for your meal

Twice Cooked Thai Chicken and Fruit Recipe

Serving of Twice Cooked Thai Chicken and Tropical Fruit

This recipe takes a little effort but the rewards in flavor makes the effort worthwhile.

First Cooking

  • 7 or 8 chicken thighs
  • 1 tbsp Thai Kitchen Thai Seasoning
  1. Season Chicken Thighs evenly with Thai Seasoning
  2. Place in a 1/2 size aluminum steam table pan lined with non-stick aluminum foil
  3. Cover pan with foil and bake in a 300° F oven for 1 to 2 hours. Remove cover for last 1/2 hour.
  4. Allow to cool. Then remove skin from thighs and discard.
  5. Shred the chicken meat by hand and place in a large bowl.
Seasoned Chicken Thighs for Twice Cooked Thai Chicken
Seasoned Chicken Thighs for Twice Cooked Thai Chicken
Shredded Chicken
Shredded Chicken

Second Cooking – Curried Coconut Sauce with Shredded Chicken

  1. Combine all ingredients in a large sauce pan (large enough to hold ingredients plus chicken).
  2. Heat and blend Curried Coconut Sauce.
  3. When well blended, fold in the shredded chicken, and stir to blend well.
  4. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring often.
  5. Serve 1 cup Twice Cooked Thai Chicken over 1 cup of fresh cooked Honey Cumin jasmine or basmati rice (recipe below).

Honey Cumin Rice Recipe

  1. Bring water to boil. Add rice, cover, reduce heat and cook until water is absorbed, about 20 minutes (less time for basmati)
  2. Remove from heat. Let sit for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.
  3. Sprinkle ground cumin evenly over top of rice, and drizzle with honey.
  4. Stir well

Dole Tropical Fruit Blend
Dole Tropical Fruit Blend

Author: Matthew Schroebel

Zatarain’s Dirty Rice Recipe – A Meal In One Pan

Serving of Zatarain's Dirty Rice
Prepared Zatarain's Dirty Rice

Recently, Zatarain’s introduced a line of lower sodium, No MSG added rice mixes in their foodservice line. Today we’re featuring Zatarain’s Dirty Rice Mix, 50% lower sodium. Click here to see the Nutrition Facts for Zatarain’s Dirty Rice Mix. Three great things about this recipe are 1) it’s a one pan meal so there’s less cleanup, 2) there’s virutally nothing to cut up, no prep time is need, and it’s ready in about 30 minutes, and 3) it’s flavorful, low in sodium and when cooked with lean ground turkey, it’s low in fat.

Zatarain's Dirty Rice Mix 50 Percent Less Sodium
Package of Zatarain's Dirty Rice Mix 50 Percent Less Sodium

Ingredients

  • 1 pound lean ground turkey
  • 4 cups water
  • 2 cups Zatarain’s Dirty Rice Mix, 50% lower sodium

Preparing Zatarain’s Dirty Rice Mix on the Stove

  1. Brown the lean ground turkey in a very large skillet (12 to 14 inch wide) – remember this is a one pan meal. Break up any chunks with the end of the spatula while cooking and turning.
  2. Add 4 cups of water and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, follow the next step.
  3. The Zatarain’s Foodservice Mix is intended to make one box steam table pan of Dirty Rice. That’s a lot rice for a home setting, so we have to make an adjustment. First, shake the bag well, then pour into a large enough bowl to hold the package ingredients and have some extra space to allow you to mix. We found a 3 quart metal bowl works well. Mix the seasonings into the rice mixture with a tablespoon for 20 to 30 seconds (until well blended).
  4. Measure 2 cups of the Zatarain’s Dirty Rice Mix and add to pan. Mix the rice into the pan evenly. Cover. Return to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 20 to 25 minutes, or until all water is absorbed. Remove from heat, let sit covered for 5 minutes. Remove lid, stir to fluff. Serve.

Makes about Fifteen 1/2 cup servings. It might be worth considering cutting this recipe in Half:

  • 1/2 pound lean ground turkey
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 cup Zatarain’s Ditry Rice Mix

and a smaller skillet.

An Upside Down Lasagna

Upside Down Lasagna
Upside Down Lasagna

This is a break from the typical lasagna and is 10 times easier to make. With the standard “right side up” lasagna it takes a good bit of effort to cook the lasagna noodles, the meat sauce and mix the cheeses, and then layer them all together before baking the meal. This recipe leaves out several of those steps and doesn’t use lasagna noodles at all. This Lasagna is made in two steps, first the noodles and cheese are baked, and then a meat sauce is made while the pasta & cheese are baking. Finally the meat is place over top of the baked noodles and cheese forming the “upside down” lasagna.

Lasagna
1 lb of Your Favorite Vermicelli or Fettuccine Pasta
1 lb Ricotta Cheese
1/2 lb Mozzarella Cheese
1/2 lb Provolone Cheese
1/4 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese

Cook the pasta according to package directions to al dente. Drain and rinse with cool water. Meanwhile, mix the cheeses together in a large bowl. Add the cooked pasta, and mix well using your hands. Bake in a 350° F oven for 30 to 40 minutes until top is browned. We use an aluminum disposable baking pan because after baking the cheese and pasta a regular baking pan is hard to clean.

Lasagna right out of the oven

Prepared Upside down Pasta and Cheese In Pan
Prepared Upside down Pasta and Cheese In Pan

Meat Sauce
1 pound lean ground beef or ground turkey
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 15oz can tomato sauce
3 tbsp Spatini Seasoning
1/2 cup water

Cook the ground beef or turkey in a 3 quart sauce pan, mixing around and breaking up the ground meat into fine chunks. Add the chopped onion and cook for 1 to 2 more minutes. Then add tomato sauce, Spatini and water. Mix well. Lower heat to simmer and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Assemble the Upside Down Lasagna
Cut a 4″ x 3″ piece of the cooked pasta/cheese and place on serving plate. Top with 1/2 cup of meat sauce. Sprinkle with fresh grated Parmesan Cheese. Serve with Garlic Bread.

Spicy Old Bay Seasoned Shrimp

Spicy Old Bay Seasoned Shrimp
Spicy Old Bay Seasoned Shrimp

This is an absolutely delicious recipe for shrimp. It’s among our “keeper recipes”. The picture shows the shrimp served over Cajun Dirty Rice.

2 tbsp canola oil
1/2 cup julienne onion
1 pound 26/6- shrimp, peeled, deveined
1/2 cup chili sauce
1 tbsp Old Bay Seasoning
1 cup chicken stock

Cook onion in oil until tender, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add cleaned shrimp, chili sauce, chicken stock, and Old Bay Seasoning. Cook, turning often for 4 to 5 minutes (or until shrimp are cooked and pink.

Author: Matthew Schroebel

Lime Pepper Seasoned Chicken Wings

Durkee Lime Pepper Seasoned Chicken Wings
A unique seasoning we carry at Spice Place is Durkee Lime Pepper Seasoning. We’re not aware of another seasoning like it and we use if for all sorts of recipes. Today, we’re making Lime Pepper Seasoned Chicken Wings.

Since we’re ALWAYS concerned about eating healthy, we have to add this part: Chicken wings are the fattiest part of a chicken so should be eaten in moderation. This recipe doesn’t add much fat to the wings (unlike buffalo wings which are often deep fried after being dipped in a fatty sauce.)

Ingredients
2 Pounds Chicken Wings, rinsed well
2 tbsp Durkee Lime Pepper Seasoning
1/2 cup Lime Juice
2 tbsp Olive Oil

Directions

  1. Combine Lime Pepper, Lime Juice and Olive Oil in a Pyrex cup.
  2. Place chicken wings in a large self closing (i.e. Ziploc®) bag.
  3. Pour seasoning mixture over wings.
  4. Refrigerate for 1 hour or more, turning over occasionally to allow flavor to permeate the wings.
  5. Heat oven to 475° F.
  6. Place Lime Pepper Seasoned Wings in a baking pan that has been covered with non-stick aluminum foil.
  7. Cover pan with aluminum foil, and bake for 40 minutes. Remove foil, and back another 20 minutes. Serve hot.

Italian and Pepper Seasoned Chicken

italian-pepper-seasoned-chicken

Here’s a recipe we cooked up the other day that (we feel) was unique, tasty and wholesome. We thought we’d experiment around with Italian Seasoning and ended up with something we’d never have thought of. The result was sensuous … Italian Seasoning mixed with Lawry’s Seasoned Pepper along with the citrus flavor from Lime Juice. Try this recipe. It’s a keeper.

1 Pound Chicken Parts (your favorite)
1 tbsp Italian Seasoning
2 tsp Lawry’s Seasoned Pepper
1/2 cup Lime Juice

In a large skillet place 1 tbsp olive oil. Add chicken pieces. Season with Italian Seasoning and Lawry’s Seasoned Pepper. Add 1/2 of the lime juice. Simmer. Cover and cook. Turn occasionally to cook chicken thoroughly — about 20 minutes. Add the remaining lime juice and cook, turning often to season, for another 5 minutes.

Note: It’s important that the chicken is cooked through to an internal temperature of at least 165° F. Use a meat thermometer to verify the chicken is done.

Greek Ground Lamb, Spinach and Egg Noodles

Prepared Greek Ground Lamb, Spinach and Egg Noodles

If you’re looking for an easy to make meal for four, that has a Mediterranean taste, and flair of Greece then consider the following dish. It’s made with ground lamb, spinach, onion, egg noodles and is flavored with McCormick Greek Seasoning. Some Feta cheese adds the final taste of Greece to the dish.

First start this dish by browning the ground lamb. At the same time heat 2 quarts of water to boiling in a 3 quart pan. For the ground lamb, I used store bought lamb from Safeway and there was a bit of fat in the pan after cooking. So what I do is soak up the fat with Viva paper towels, they’re really absorbent. Just swish them around in the pan with the spatula. I had to use several towels and must have been unlucky in the package of ground lamb I choose.

When the lamb has browned:
Add 1 1/2 cups of egg noodles to the boiling water; these will cook for 7 to 8 minutes.

Then add the following to the skillet:
1/2 cup chopped onion
2-3 tsp McCormick Greek Seasoning

Sprinkle the seasoning evenly over the pan so the meat is flavored equally. Cook until the onion is clear.

Add 1 to 1 1/2 cups frozen chopped spinach leaves to the skillet, stir often to cook the spinach evenly.

After 2 to 3 minutes the spinach should be cooked, and if the timing is right your egg noodles will be ready to drain. Test by tasting one, and if done drain, add to the skillet and stir in well.

To serve, scoop out some of the mixture into a bowl or plate and top with some crumbled Feta cheese. If you like Greek cooking, you should be happy with this simple noodle dish. Cooking time is about 20 minutes total.

Psst. Know The Secret For That Tender Steak?

Barbecued New York Strip Steak
Barbecued New York Strip Steak

For years, we’ve been on the search for finding that tender cut of meat that we get at the restaurant and from specialty steak suppliers. We’ve bought steaks from gourmet shops, organic farmers, organic grocers, high end grocers, and so on. Yet, we never seemed to get a tender steak. We tried USDA Choice and USDA Prime cuts, which made no difference either. We almost gave up on the idea believing that that restaurants had a specialty supply of select meats. Then one day recently, the light came on and we discovered the secret.

We’ll tell you in just a second what the secret is and when we do, you’re going to say, duh! And it’s a big duh, something we all should know and in fact do know about. The secret is, (ready?) Adolph’s Meat Tenderizer. See, it’s something you know about, probably have in your kitchen cabinet and most likely don’t use very often. But you should use Adolph’s often and on every steak you barbecue this summer. Oh, one more question. Ever wonder how that barbecue joint makes tender baby back ribs and beef brisket? The answer to that question is that they use Adolph’s Tenderizer. That’s it.

Adolph's TenderizerSo break out that bottle of Adolph’s Meat Tenderizer this weekend, sprinkle a little on both sides of the steaks. Use about 1 tsp of Adolph’s per pound of meat. If you have one, prick them with a corn on the cob holder, otherwise use a fork. Then season as you desire, and they’re ready to grill immediately. You may cover and refrigerate for 2 – 3 hours for more tenderizing but that’s usually not necessary.

Adolph’s is made from the Papaya, is all natural and contains no MSG. It’s a little bit of magic in a bottle. What are you waiting for? Light that grill and be surprised with how you can now make those tender steaks like you get when you eat out at that expensive restaurant and without paying $20.00 a pound for them. Try it! You are certain to be amazed.

Making a Monterey Seasoned & Grilled Whole Chicken

Barbecued Monterey Style Seasoned Chicken

McCormick’s Big and Bold Monterey Style Seasoning has become a favorite seasoning of ours. It’s a mix of coarsely ground garlic, red bell pepper, roasted garlic, red pepper, and contains tumeric and annatto for adding a yellow color to foods. We find that the yellow color adds a pleasing and appealing look to chicken. So today we’re going to share our recipe for making a barbecued whole chicken seasoned with McCormick’s Monterey Style Seasoning along with a little bit of chili powder.

Monterey Seasoned Chicken Recipe
a 4 pound whole chicken
2 tbsp McCormick Monterey Style Seasoning
1 tsp chili powder
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp vinegar
1/2 cup water

  1. Wash the chicken under cold water and set on a plate to allow excess water to drain off.
  2. Place the Monterey Style Seasoning and Chili Powder in a cup. Add sugar, water and vinegar. Stir to mix well.
  3. Put the whole chicken in a one gallon size freezer zip-loc storage bag.
  4. Dump the seasonings over top of the chicken, seal the bag, and flip over a few times to distribute the seasonings. Place the chicken in the refrigerator and marinate for about 2 hours turning over every 1/2 hour so the seasonings evenly infuse the chicken.
  5. Since this is a whole chicken, it needs to be cooked indirectly so it cooks slowly and completely. So place the charcoal on only one side of the grill. Light grill.
  6. Remove the chicken from the zip-loc bag, and place into a disposable heavy-duty aluminum pan that has the bottom lined with non-stick aluminum foil. We use the disposable pans because the smoke from cooking will permanently mark a real roasting pan.
  7. When the grill is ready, place the chicken on the side away from the heat, cover and cook for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until the internal temperature of the chicken is about 170° F. For proper food safety, it’s very important that a meat thermometer is used to make sure the chicken it cooked thoroughly to prevent illness from under cooked chicken.
  8. Let the cooked chicken sit for 10 minutes before carving or else you’ll find you have shredded chicken (instead of sliced chicken).

A Delicious Mexican Grilled Chicken Recipe

Mexican grilled chicken

Several years ago we had lunch from a Mexican chicken restaurant near us called El Pollo Primo. They cook the chicken on a couple large griddles, and then serve a few pieces of whole cooked chicken on a plate along with some corn tortillas, salsa, and Spanish rice. Then at the table, the chicken is shredded by customer, placed on the corn tortilla, mixed with some Spanish rice and some salsa. Then the tortilla is rolled up, and eaten. We found this to be a delicious and unique way of serving chicken.

So over the years we’ve tried to replicate their seasoning on the chicken and we think we finally hit it.

El Pollo Primo Grilled Chicken

1/2 cup canola oil
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup vinegar
1 tsp chopped garlic (about 2 cloves)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground corriender
1/2 tsp annatto seed (from a Latin American grocer)

The annatto in this recipe adds the lovely yellow coloring to the chicken that you see in the photograph above.

Place the canola oil, water, vinegar, garlic, cumin, corriender, and annatto seed in a blender. Blend on medium high speed for 1 – 2 minutes to allow the annatto seed to be chopped up by the tines on the blender. Alternately use ground annatto, and whip up well with a wisk.

Wash, and place 5 – 6 chicken breasts and thighs in a large, freezer duty ziplock bag. Pour the seasonings over top of the chicken and seal the bag. Turn the bag over a few times to coat the chicken well, then place in the refrigerator. Let marinate for 4 to 6 hours, turning over ever hour or so.

Cook the chicken on a griddle or large iron frying pan until done, about 15 – 20 minutes to a side.

Serve with warmed corn tortillas, Spanish Rice, and your favorite salsa. You may optionally add sour cream, and cheese.