Chicken with tarragon and mustard cream sauce

After a long while, I decided to try something new (for the last few months we've just been cooking old favorites.

I went online for some ideas and finally adapted a recipe and came up with this:

Ingredients

4 chicken thighs, deboned and deskinned
salt
pepper
olive oil or unsalted butter
1 small native onion
1/2 chicken cube dissolved in 3/4 cup water
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp dried tarragon
1/4 cup cream

Pat chicken dry and season with salt and pepper. Cook the chicken thighs in olive oil, 2 min each side, over medium flame. Remove the chicken and set aside. Reduce flame to low. Saute onions until translucent. Add chicken broth, scraping off browned bits. Return chicken to the pan. Bring to a boil then cover, lower flame, and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove chicken. Add cream, mustard, and tarragon. Mix well and heat until sauce has thickened. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour sauce over chicken and serve.

Serves 2.

Verdict: Tasty; a little on the salty side, so next time I won't bother adding salt, or maybe I'll put less chicken cube. The broth almost dried out, so it might be good to double check when you're simmering and add water if necessary. Mike said he thought the sauce would go better on pasta instead of rice. The original recipe has brandy in it, and I'm sure the brandy would add a marvelous touch, but I had neither brandy nor white wine on hand, so I simply did without.

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Beef Stroganoff

Here's my experimental beef stroganoff. Updated on November 21. I'll keep trying to improve it.

Ingredients:

salt
200 g beef, sliced into strips
1 cup sour cream
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1/2 can champignon mushrooms, sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tbsp butter
dried oregano
1/4 cup beef broth

Marinade:

2 tbsp red wine
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/8 onion
pepper

Rub the beef with salt, then marinate for at least 30 minutes. Over medium heat, sautee the onion and garlic in butter. Add beef and beef broth. Simmer until beef is tender and broth is almost gone (around 1 hour). Add mushrooms. Season with dried oregano. When mushrooms are cooked, lower heat and stir in the sour cream little by little. Simmer awhile to thicken.

Serve on rice or pasta.

Serves 2.

Preparation time: 30 minutes.
Cooking time: a little more than an hour.
Estimated calorie count per serving (including 1 cup rice): 750 calories

Easy Carbonara

The original recipe is called "Quick and Easy Carbonara" by Ina A. Ledesma, from the Assumption Cookbook.

Updated Nov. 26: I'm not sure why but for some strange reason when Mike tried to replicate this recipe it came out a lot more watery! I think it's because he used a different brand of cream of mushroom soup--I suppose that's the difficulty that comes with relying on instant ingredients. Anyway, I've made some adjustments below.

250g bacon
1/2 cup olive oil
2 onions, chopped
1 can cream of mushroom soup plus 1/4 to 1/2 can water
1/2 small tetra-brick of all-purpose dream
1 half can button mushroom, sliced
500 grams spaghetti noodles
salt and pepper to taste

1. Cut the bacon into strips and fry. Set aside.
2. Begin boiling water for the pasta (about 4 liters of water for 500 grams of pasta). When water is at a rolling boll throw in salt and drop in pasta. Bring back to a rolling boil.
3. Saute onions in olive oil. Add the cream of mushroom soup and water. Add more or less water depending on how thick you want the sauce. Cook until blended. Add the cooked bacon and mushrooms. Simmer for around 2 minutes. Add cream little by little, stirring constantly. Add salt and pepper to taste. Simmer awhile to thicken.
4. When pasta is cooked al dente, drain, then add pasta to the sauce.

Serves 3.

Total cooking and preparation time: 30 minutes

Chicken al'Orange

The original recipe is by Nina Lagdameo-Alba, from the Assumption Cookbook. Mike and I adapted it for ourselves.

8 chicken thighs, deskinned and deboned
salt
pepper
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1-1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 tsp dried rosemary
1-1/2 cups fresh orange juice
1/2 cup cream

1. Pat chicken dry and season well on both sides with salt and pepper.
2. Heat 2 tbsp butter in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until foam subsides. Brown half of chicken about 2 minutes on each side and transfer to a plate. Add 2 tbsp more butter in the pan and brown remaining chicken. Return all chicken pieces to the skillet and add onion, rosemary and orange juice. Cover pan and simmer until chicken is tender and cooked through, about 10 minutes. Remove chicken, transfer to a serving dish and keep warm.
3. Boil sauce uncovered until reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Add cream and simmer, stirring constantly until slightly thickened, about 6 minutes.
4. Pour sauce over chicken and serve immediately.

Serves 3.

Total preparation and cooking time: 45 minutes - 1 hour

We've tried this with a green salad and steamed rice -- yummy!

This recipe can also be used as a pasta sauce. If serving with pasta, chop chicken thighs (or chicken breast fillets) into small strips and adjust cooking times accordingly. Use an additional 1/4 cup orange juice and an additional 1/4 cup cream so there is more sauce.