Prosciutto-Stuffed Gorgonzola Chicken

Once upon a time a girl met a boy. For their second date, she impulsively offered to cook him dinner, then realized what a big, romantic gesture that might appear, and began to do what she did best, which is freak out and over think the whole night. She then proceeded to spend an hour googling "platonic dinner ideas" on her computer. Mature? Perhaps not, but she did gain a simple and succulent chicken recipe, prepared the meal in under an hour and remained mostly normal throughout the evening. A modern day love story, if you will.

To make the girl's chicken:

2 chicken breasts
8 strips of thinly-sliced prosciutto
1/2 teaspoon chopped rosemary
4 cloves minced garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons crumbled Gorgonzola

Rinse chicken and pat dry with a paper towel. Cut off fat/gristle. Pound thin between 2 sheets of wax paper and set in ovenproof glass baking dish.

Dice 2 strips prosciutto. Place 1/2 of prosciutto and 1 tablespoon Gorgonzola on each chicken breast and fold over mixture. Wrap 2 strips of prosciutto around each chicken breast and hold folded with toothpicks.

Sprinkle chicken with rosemary and garlic. Pour white wine over chicken and drizzle olive oil on top of chicken breasts.

Cover with plastic wrap and marinate in refrigerator for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place uncovered baking dish in middle of oven and cook chicken about 20 to 25 minutes or until cooked through.

Guiso de Ternera a la Asturiana: Asturian Beef Stew

I LOVE my cookbook The New Spanish Table. It groups recipes by category as well as region (i.e. tapas versus paella, Catalan versus Basque) and includes history, photos, cultural information and recipes by some of the most amazing contemporary chefs as well as little hole-in-the-wall bodegas. While tapas remain my favorite Spanish food to cook (be still, my heart), I aim to work my way through most of the cookbook's recipes. Spanish cuisine is still relatively "new" to most of the United States, and The New Spanish Table has many crowd pleasers (tortilla espanyola, patatas bravas, etc) but also offers the home cook opportunities to try more exotic dishes (bunny , rabbit, anyone?).

I purchased grass fed beef (in the form of stew meat) at the Coolidge Corner Farmer's Market and am excited to put it to good use. Asturian Beef Stew is the perfect recipe for a crisp autumn dinner: tender, white wine-braised beef, hearty white beans, turnips and rich collard greens. The following recipe is more or less from my cookbook. I had to alter some ingredients due to availability and not wanting to purchase 3 pounds of expensive (albeit delicious) beef. I'll update this post with photos and a detailed review this weekend!

Ingredients:
2 lbs stew meat, cut into 1 1/2 inch chunks
Coast salt
Finely ground black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 ounces smoky bacon or pancetta, diced into small squares
1 medium Vidalia onion, diced
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 fat carrots (I used about 15 baby carrots and sliced them in half length-wise)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 cup dry white wine
3 cups chicken stock
2 14 oz cans white Fava beans
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
2 medium-sized turnips, peels and cut into 1 inch chunks (substitute potatoes if you don't like turnips)
4 cups chopped, VERY well rinsed and dried collard greens

Season beef with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in large stew pot over medium-high heat. Add half of the beef to the pot and brown on all sides, about 10 minutes. Remove beef and set in a bowl. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to pot. Brown remaining half meat, and then transfer it to the bowl too.

Add remaining tablespoon oil to pot and add bacon. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring until bacon begins to render fat, about 2-3 minutes. Remove most of fat to use later. Add onion, garlic and carrots and turn heat back to medium-high and cook about 8 minutes so that vegetables soften and begin to brown. Add flour and stir for a few seconds. Add white wine and stir so that it combines with flour and add chicken stock. Bring to a boil, stirring to loosen any bits stuck to bottom of pot.

Add beef and tomatoes to stew pot. Bring back to boil and turn down to a simmer. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook at this temperature for 2 hours, stirring occasionally so that nothing sticks to bottom of pot. Add beans, turnips and 1 cup water and cook until turnips are tender, about 35-50 minutes.

Heat up reserved bacon fat in saute pan over medium-high and add collard greens. Saute about 2-3 minutes. Remove from pan and add to stew pot. Taste stew, and add salt and pepper if necessary.

Remove stew from heat and let sit about 10 minutes before serving.

White Wine Sangria

This drink is easy to prepare, light and delicious for the summertime. It goes well with food or can stand alone. A plus is that unlike its red partner, this sangria does not need to sit overnight to blend the flavors. It's a great alternative to a traditional red sangria-perfect for the 4th of July, Independence Day!

1/2 cup thinly chopped pineapple
1/2 cup sliced strawberries
1/2 cup diced mango chunks
1/2 cup raspberries
3/4 cup peach schnapps
1 bottle Sauvignon Blanc (Vinho Verde would be a nice & sweet alternative)
Seltzer water (for Sauv Blanc)
Sugar, to taste

Place fruit in large pitcher. Pour peach schnapps over fruit and muddle slightly with a large spoon.

Pour white wine over fruit (if using vinho verde, this is an effervescent wine and should be added a short while before serving...muddle the fruit A LOT in this case).

Refridgerate sangria at least one hour.

Taste sangria before serving, add sugar if needed (about 1/4 cup).

Scoop a little fruit into each glass.

Top with ice cubes and pour sangria over ice.

Splash a little seltzer water over sangria.

Serve with a straw, and a fruit garnish.