Chicken Provencal Melt on Sourdough Bread

Ah, bonjour, mis amis!


Chicken Provencal Melt on Sourdough Bread is an easy, delicious twist on a classic tuna melt. Serve it with a good soup – more on that below – and you’ve got a hearty, healthy homemade meal everyone can enjoy! It’s so good you may have trouble believing it is made from reduced-fat ingredients that, truth be told, would probably have a traditional French chef chasing me down with a meat cleaver.


Some cook’s notes before the recipe itself:
• Although it’s possible to make this recipe with boneless chicken breast, since the chicken is made more moist and flavorful by being cooked bone-in, and by being baked with the herb rub between the skin and the meat, I used drumsticks. (Two pounds of drumsticks gave me about one pound of meat after the bones and skin were removed after roasting. If you decide to use a boneless cut, remember to use the smaller amount.)
• Provencal (pronounced “proe-ven-sahl”) herbs are dried herbs typical of the Provence region of south-eastern France. It would be easier if there were only one mixture of herbs called Provencal but, alas, it is not to be. The mixture I’ve used here is but one of several generally accepted combinations.
• As always when working with raw proteins, and poultry in particular, use safe food-handling practices to prevent cross-contamination.


It’s also worth noting that a delicious hot soup is the perfect accompaniment to the Chicken Provencal Melt. In the photo at the top, it’s shown with a favorite Cream of Tomato soup made from an outstanding recipe generously shared on-line by the Michelin-starred Bistro Jeanty in Yountville CA. You’ll find the recipe at http://www.bistrojeanty.com/home/bistrojeanty/pdf/Bistro-Tomato-Soup.pdf. (I make it without the puff pastry, and reduce the fat by using fat-free half-and-half instead of heavy cream, and by replacing the butter with butter substitute. (If you make this with the fat-free half-and-half, add it a little at a time, making sure each amount you add is incorporated into the soup before adding more. Also, after adding the half-and-half, heat the soup only till steam begins to rise from the surface. Add the half-and-half too quickly, or letting it boil, can cause the half-and-half to separate and harm the soup.)


Back to the Chicken Provencal Melt. This recipe makes 4 servings.


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.


Combine the following to make the Provencal herb mix: 4 tsp dried marjoram; 4 tsp dried thyme; 4 tsp dried savory; 1/2 tsp dried basil; 1/2 tsp dried rosemary; 1/4 tsp dried sage; and 1/4 tsp dried fennel. Grind the mixture by hand or with a spice grinder (or small coffee grinder dedicated to grinding herbs and spices.)


Add 3 tablespoons of olive oil to the herbs to form a wet rub. Set half of the rub aside in a separate container for later use.





While the oven is heating:

• Dry the chicken drumsticks with a paper towel. Pull back the skin and apply the wet rub to the chicken meat. Fold the skin back over the meat after the rub has been applied.

• Prepare 2 tablespoons minced celery; 2 tablespoons minced green onions; 2 tablespoons of grated carrot; 1 tablespoon of toasted chopped pecans or walnuts; and 1 teaspoon minced flat-leaf parsley. (The celery and carrot stalk portions left over can be used to line the bottom of the baking dish you use for the chicken in the next step.)


Bake the chicken in a baking dish until cooked through, about an hour and ten minutes.




Let the drumsticks cool enough to touch, then remove the meat and skin and cut the meat into small chunks. Combine in a bowl with the remaining chicken salad Provencal ingredients: 1 teaspoon fresh lemon or lime juice; 2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish; about ¼ cup reduced-fat mayonnaise (added a bit at a time until the desired texture is reached); and salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste. Set the mixture aside until ready to use.


Lay out four slices of sourdough bread. Spread a light coating of the reserved herb rub on one side of each bread slice. Place the bread on a baking sheet and place in the broiler till lightly toasted, turning the slices over half-way.


Remove the baking sheet from the broiler and place two tomato slices on the top (seasoned side) of each slice of bread.





Spread the chicken mixture on top of the tomato slices, and drizzle each with a little balsamic vinegar.




Top each serving with a fat-free cheese slice (American or cheddar), and return the baking sheet to the broiler till the cheese is melted and bubbly, about 3 minutes. Serve immediately.


Now break out the soup and a nice white wine, and enjoy a glorious gastronomical experience! (And remember that the leftovers make a great next-day chicken salad sandwich.)


See you next week with another offering for your cooking and eating pleasure! Till then, stay well, keep it about the food, and always remember to kiss the cook. ;-)

Bruschetta Chicken

It’s probably unusual for an idea for a recipe to originate with a disappointment. This one did.






Earlier this year, while having dinner at a popular chain restaurant, I ordered a dish they called Bruschetta Chicken. It sounded good and, truth be told, it was, but there was nothing about it that said bruschetta to me. Deconstructed bruschetta? Maybe. But not bruschetta. I decided, right there in the restaurant, to create the Bruschetta Chicken I saw in my head when I first read the name: a comically large but otherwise normal bruschetta, a seasoned chopped tomato mixture on a toasted slice of good Italian bread normally served in much smaller portions as an appetizer, except topped with chicken. A kind of “Bruschetta a la Flintstone.”






It took awhile to get around to, but I’m happy to present the recipe below for what I have to believe is the world’s largest bruschetta. (To give a sense of scale, one Italian bread, which normally makes a dozen or more appetizer size bruschettas, is used here to make four meal-size ones.) A few comments before we get to the recipe itself:


• Although this could be made with boneless chicken breast or chicken tenders, I used drumsticks and trimmed the meat off after they were cooked. This took longer than using one of the boneless chicken parts, but also gave me the advantage of cooking the chicken bone-in, which enhances the moisture and flavor, and also allows the person doing the cooking to decide whether to keep the skin on or go skinless.


• I would be remiss not to acknowledge the braising liquid as being based on one created by Anne Burrell, my favorite culinary mad-woman, and the idea of roasting the tomato topping mix (instead of just using it cold as in the usual bruschetta method) as being from Rachel Ray. The shoulders of giants, and all that…




This recipe makes 4 meal size bruschettas.






Using paper towels, dry the outside of 1 pound of chicken breast or tenders, or two pounds (about 6) drumsticks. Season the chicken with salt and fresh ground black pepper.






Add just enough olive oil to a large, hot pan to coat the bottom. Add the chicken and cook till browned (usually about 6-8 minutes per side), turning as each side is done. When the chicken is browned, set it aside.






Pour 2 cups of dry white wine (I use chardonnay) into the same pan and simmer till reduced by half. Add 4 cups fat-free chicken broth; 1 tablespoon fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme; and 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary to form a braising liquid. Stir to combine and add the browned chicken. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes. While the chicken is browning and braising, prepare the tomato mixture and bread as described below.






To cut the Italian bread into large bruschetta pieces:



• Working length-wise, cut away just enough of the top and bottom crusts to expose the soft bread inside.



• Cut the bread in half along the short dimension.






• Cut each of those pieces in half horizontally. The result should be four similar pieces, each half the length of the original bread and with exposed bread on the top and bottom and crust on three of the four edges. 






Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. While the oven pre-heats, combine the following in a bowl: one 28 ounce can diced plum tomatoes (drained but not rinsed); 2 tablespoons of olive oil; 1-1/2 tablespoons of dried basil or 4 tablespoons of chopped fresh; 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar; 3 tablespoons finely chopped onion; 2 cloves finely chopped garlic; and salt and pepper to taste.








Place the tomato mixture in a baking dish, and spread the bread out onto a baking pan in a single layer. Place both in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes till the bread is crisp, turning the bread over half-way. Keep an eye on the bread so that it doesn’t burn.






Rub the tops of the bread with two whole garlic cloves (using ½ clove per bread slice), and drizzle the tops lightly with olive oil.








Divide the chicken evenly onto the bread slices. (If using drumsticks, cut the chicken off of the bone before putting the pieces on the bread.)






Cover each with the tomato mixture, and top with a pizza-type cheese mixture. (I used a packaged Kraft reduced-fat Italian cheese mixture of mozzarella, provolone and parmesan, but anything along those lines should do as well.) Be careful not to overdo the cheese; remember, the finished dish should resemble a bruschetta, not chicken parmesan.






Put the baking tray back in the oven only until the cheese melts, being careful not to burn the bread. Serve warm or hot with side dishes of choice. (In the photo at top, I served the chicken bruschetta with mini rotini pasta and tomato sauce, and a tossed salad. To tie all the parts together, the wine is the chardonnay used to braise the chicken.)


Bonus Recipe: I recently started including with each week's recipe a link to a previous Kissing the Cook recipe so that folks who weren’t “in the family” when it was first published can get a look. This week’s bonus: Fluffy (and Reduced Fat!) Blueberry Pancakes with Fresh Made Strawberry Syrup.








Hope you enjoy having these very special bruschettas! And don’t forget to visit again next week for another easy, delicious, kitchen-tested recipe. Till then, stay well, keep it about the food, and always remember to kiss the cook. ;-)

Glazed Chicken Calzones with Peppers and Onions

A warm Kissing the Cook welcome to new subscriber Kitchen Stories. Welcome aboard!


A few weeks ago, I posted a recipe for a delicious, herb-infused savory pizza crust. This week, there’s more good news: whether you use that pizza crust recipe or a different one, or even if you prefer to use a purchased pre-made crust, it’s not just for pizza.


I’m talking fresh calzones, ladies and gents! Good calzones can be made with a wide variety of fillings. For this week’s recipe we’re going to make Glazed Chicken Calzones with Peppers and Onions.


This recipe makes six 6 calzones.


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.




Rub 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts with olive oil, and season with thyme, salt and pepper. Roast for 35-40 minutes, or until cooked through.  (It’s not necessary to turn them over part-way.)




While the chicken is in the oven, prepare the glaze as follows:


• Drain (but don’t rinse) a 15 ounce can of sliced peaches. Place the peaches and 1-½ tablespoons of brown sugar in a saucepan and heat until the peaches break down and the liquid thickens (about 12 minutes).


When the chicken is cooked through, let it cool and tear or cut it into small pieces. Apply the glaze to the cooked chicken pieces.




Increase oven temperature to 375 degrees.




To prepare the remainder of the calzone filling:


• In a saute pan over medium heat, heat olive oil for sauté and sauté a medium, diced onion until soft.
• Add a diced red bell pepper, 8 ounces of sliced mushrooms, and 6 minced cloves of garlic. Saute for 4 to 5 minutes, until the pepper is cooked and the onions are caramelized. When done, transfer the vegetables to a bowl, and add salt and pepper to taste.
• In a mixing bowl, combine the chicken, vegetable mixture, and a pinch of crushed red pepper. Mix well.


Divide a pizza dough into six equal pieces. On a floured surface, roll each of the pieces into a circle about 8” in diameter.
Divide the filling mixture equally among the six parts dough rounds. Top the filling with a mixture of shredded mozzarella, shredded provolone, and grated parmesan. (The six calzones should need a total of about two cups of the combined cheese mixture.) If you prefer not to mix the cheeses yourself, there are packaged pizza cheese mixtures in the dairy aisle that work well too.)
Fold one end of the dough over the other, forming a half-moon shape. Using a fork dipped in flour, press the edges together, sealing the calzones completely. Trim off any excess dough. Make three scores in each calzone to allow steam to escape.


Place the calzones on baking sheets lined with parchment or foil. Bake until golden brown, about 20 to 25 minutes.




To serve, place some tomato sauce in the center of each plate. Cut each calzone in half and place on top of the sauce.


I hope you enjoy this tasty twist on a traditional treat! (And that you don’t mind extreme alliteration.)




Visit again next week for a new, delicious kitchen-tested recipe made from easy-to-find ingredients. Till then, stay well, keep it about the food, and always remember to kiss the cook. ;-)

Grilled Chicken Parmesan Pizza

A few weeks back, I had the pleasure of posting a recipe for a delicious savory crust pizza. This week’s new recipe uses the same crust (or any crust you like, really, whether home-made or purchased) in a different way: Grilled Chicken Parmesan Pizza. Rolling the dough out thinner than for a baked pizza, and grilling it rather than baking it, results in a crisper crust that combines wonderfully with any of your favorite toppings. Here we’re making it with a chicken parmesan topping, crowned with parmesan and one of the truly great cooking cheeses: fontina. (The parmesan is grated, and the fontina is shaved into thin slices with a cheese slicer.) The saucing method – grilling tomatoes till soft and then mashing them onto the dough and adding an herb or two – is borrowed from a classic method for saucing margarita pizza.


A note about the grilling part: Although grilled pizza is generally made on an outdoor gas or charcoal grill, my weapon of choice for such things is a stove-top grill pan, and this recipe was prepared on that basis. If you prefer an outdoor grill, heat it to about medium hot and the recipe should work just as well.


Now let’s grill some pizza! This recipe makes 4 single-serving pizzas.


Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.


Blanch 3 large tomatoes (beefsteak or similar) for about 1 minute, rinse in cold water till they’re cool enough to handle easily, and remove the peels. Slice the tomatoes into ½” thick slices, and set aside.


Dry 1-1/2 pounds of chicken tenders or thin-cut breasts with paper towels. Brush each side with olive oil, and season both sides with salt, pepper and fresh thyme.


Put the sliced tomatoes into a hot grill pan lightly coated with olive oil. Season with salt, pepper, and few drops of white wine vinegar and heat until just soft, turning over half-way. Set the tomatoes aside. Scrape any tomato residue off of the pan with a wooden spoon.


Place the chicken on the grill pan. Cook until the chicken is browned and cooked through, turning over half-way. Set the chicken aside. After it has rested for a few minutes, cut the chicken into bite size pieces.


Divide a pizza dough (large enough to make a normal 16” pizza) into 4 equal parts on a floured surface, and gently roll each out to about 1/8” thickness.


Working one dough at a time, lightly brush one side of the each dough with olive oil and place on the grill pan, oiled side down.


As the dough cooks, air pockets may form as shown in the photo at right. This is a good thing; it means your dough will have a light crispness.


When the dough is browned, after about 2 minutes, brush oil on the top side and turn the dough over.


Immediately place ¼ of the roasted tomatoes on the dough, crush them and spread them around as a sauce. Sprinkle ¾ teaspoon of chopped fresh oregano on the dough.


Put ¼ of the chicken, 1/3 cup of shaved fontina cheese, 3 tablespoons of grated fresh parmesan, 1/2 teaspoon of chopped fresh basil, ½ teaspoon of chopped fresh parsley and ¼ teaspoon of butter substitute on the dough. (If you like some heat on your pizza, you can also add a pinch of dried red pepper flakes.) Cover with a large bowl and cook for about another 2 minutes until the cheese is melted.


Keep the finished pizza warm in the oven while cooking the remaining pizzas as described above. For an extra special touch, drizzle each pizza with olive oil before serving.


And there you have it: a special grilled treat your whole family will enjoy. (At least my whole family enjoyed it; I assume yours will too.) If you’d like a cookbook-style, notebook-ready copy of this or any other Kissing the Cook recipe, send me a note with your e-mail address and I’ll send it along.


See you next week with a special family recipe from my favorite cook. Till then, stay well, keep it about the food, and always remember to kiss the cook. ;-)

Chicken Pasta Primavera

Needless to say, I have great respect for the high level techniques of master chefs. Nevertheless, the difference between an “ok” dish and a really good one is often a matter of one or two simple changes all of us can do, and I believe one of the most fertile and fascinating areas of cooking is the study of simple tweeks and methods that can make the difference. It is this idea that formed the foundation of this week’s recipe, Chicken Pasta Primavera.


The concept is simple enough: pasta and vegetables topped with cooked chicken. In this version, the pasta is cooked the usual way, but in chicken broth rather than water, adding extra depth of flavor. I also decided to avoid the easy choice of boneless breast for the chicken, and noodles or a long pasta. I opted instead for drumsticks and shell pasta. There’s nothing wrong with boneless breast, noodles, or long pasta, of course, but something about putting together another chicken-breast-on-noodles dish seemed visually boring to me. My thinking was that you judge how any dish looks before you ever get to judge how it smells or tastes. Needless to say, feel free to use whatever chicken parts and pasta you like.


Plus, this recipe also has you doing that really cool thing where you roast a red pepper directly on the stove burner. (If you’ve never done it, fear not: I took pictures.)


This recipe makes four servings. We’ll start by making the herb mix for the marinade and pasta.


To made the herb mixture, combine and finely chop 1 tablespoon of fresh parsley, 1 tablespoon of fresh oregano, ½ tablespoon of fresh rosemary, ½ tablespoon of fresh thyme, ½ tablespoon of fresh sage, and ½ tablespoon of fresh mint leaves. (If you make extra, it tastes great in scrambled eggs too.)


Next, we’ll make the marinade and marinate the chicken.


In a large sealable plastic bag, combine 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of the herb mix to form a marinade. Add the 8 chicken drumsticks and set in the refrigerator for 3 hours, turning occasionally.


After the chicken has finished marinating, we’ll continue with the remaining steps.


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.


Cook 1 pound of pasta as per the instructions on the box, but using the 2 – 3 quarts of fat-free chicken broth instead of water. Continue with the rest of the recipe while the pasta is cooking.
Roast a red pepper on the stove burner. To do this, you literally place the pepper directly on the burner. Give it as much flame as you can without having the flame touch the pepper. As each side blackens, use tongs to turn the pepper till all sides are blackened. Set the pepper aside until it is cool enough to handle, then use your fingers to remove the blackened outside skin. What’s left will be a delicious roasted pepper than can be diced for addition to the finished pasta.



Place pepper directly on burner.

Turn so all sides blacken.

Once blackened, set aside to cool.

Dice for use in pasta.


Add a little olive oil to a large heated skillet, and brown the drumsticks. (Just brown them, don’t cook them to completion.) After the drumsticks have browned, place them on a baking sheet and bake till done, about 45 minutes.


Dice one medium onion and put it in the skillet you used to brown the chicken, adding a little olive oil if necessary, and cook until caramelized. Add 4 chopped garlic cloves, and  a pinch of red pepper flakes and cook for about a minute more. Add the roasted pepper, 4 cups of chopped fresh spinach, and the remaining poultry seasoning herbs. Season with salt. When the spinach has wilted down, add about 1/3 cup of the starchy pasta cooking liquid to the pan and cook for a minute to reduce it.


Drain the pasta well and add it to the skillet. Toss the mixture to allow it to absorb the remaining liquid. Add salt and pepper to taste.


After plating the pasta into four servings, top each plate with two of the drumsticks and drizzle with a little olive oil before serving.


And there it is: Chicken Pasta Primavera!


If you’d like a cookbook-style, notebook-ready copy of this recipe, let me know and you’ll have it in short order!


See you next week with another recipe. Till then stay well, keep it about the food, and always remember to kiss the cook. ;-)