Spinach & Feta Stuffed Chicken over Spinach-Dill Rice, with Cucumber-Yogurt Sauce

I have been a little uninspired lately with my cooking, so I wanted to try something new. Greek is a cuisine that I have little experience cooking but intrigues me. Greek foodies: ANY comments or suggestions are greatly appreciated! : )

This recipe looks complicated, but each step takes about ten minutes to complete. The chicken can be marinated & stuffed the night before serving or earlier that day. The cucumber-yogurt sauce can be prepared up to 2 days before serving. This serves about 3-4 people.

For Chicken Marinade:

2 lbs chicken drumsticks (about 6)
1/2 lemon, juiced
12 Kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
1/4 cup EVOO (8 tablespoons)
1/4 cup dry white wine
3 cloves chopped garlic
Freshly ground black pepper

1 cup chicken stock (reserved for cooking)

Rinse chicken with water and pat dry with a paper towel. In a shallow baking dish, drizzle olive oil, lemon juice and white wine over chicken.

Sprinkle garlic and olives over chicken and cover with freshly ground black pepper. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.



For Spinach & Feta Stuffing:

1 cup chopped spinach (I used frozen chopped spinach for this recipe)
1 tablespoon minced dill
2 green onions
6 oz crumbled feta cheese

Remove chicken from marinade.

Heat up marinate in saute pan until simmering. Simmer until liquid is reduced (less than 1/4 cup liquid).

Add green onions and saute 1 minute.

Add spinach and cook 1 minute.

Mix in dill and feta cheese.




Remove from heat.

Carefully push cooled stuffing into each chicken drumstick.



To Cook Chicken:

Heat oven to 350.

Pour 1 cup chicken broth into saute pan and bring to boil on high heat. Pour into 9 x 13 glass baking dish.

Place each chicken drumstick stuffing-side up in baking dish.

Bake approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour (until juices run clear).

While chicken is roasting, prepare Spinach-Dill rice.

For Spinach-Dill Rice:

1 tablespoon EVOO 1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon chopped spinach
1 tablespoon minced dill
1 1/2-2 cups chicken stock
1 cup of rice

Heat up 1 tablespoon olive oil in medium-sized sauce pot. Add onion and garlic and saute 5 minutes until onion is translucent.

Add chicken broth and bring to a boil.

Add rice and stir 1 minute.

Stir in dill, reduce heat to low and cook about 20 minutes, until liquid has evaporated, stirring very occasionally.

Stir in spinach and fluff to serve.

For Cucumber-Yogurt Sauce:

1 /2 cups Greek yogurt
1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded and finely diced
1 minced garlic clove
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons EVOO

Stir ingredients together, cover and refrigerate a minimum of 3 hours before serving.



Scoop rice over 3-4 dinner plates. Place 1 or 2 chicken drumsticks over rice. Carefully scoop cucumber-yogurt sauce over chicken and rice.


Happy Eating,

Caitlin

Easy Strawberry, Goat Cheese & Spinach Salad

This is a classic early summer salad. Pair with a frittata and some crusty bread, and you have an easy, flavorful Mother's Day brunch!

Ingredients:
2 cups strawberries
4 oz crumbled goat cheese
8oz baby spinach
Balsamic vinaigrette

Wash strawberries well and remove stems. Slice in half vertically.

Wash spinach and let dry.

Divide spinach among 4 plates. Top each with 1 oz goat cheese and 1/2 cup sliced berries. Drizzle vinaigrette over salads.

Blood Orange, Ricotta Salata and Fennel Salad

Do you ever come up with a recipe in your head and feel totally bad ass about it, only to realize that someone already thought of it? That's what happened with this salad. I was all cocky about my culinary creation until I googled blood orange salad and found a very similar recipe. It's a great salad, although I remain a bit bitter over its pre-existence.

Ingredients:
3 small blood oranges
1 tablespoon champagne vinegar
1 tablespoons evoo
4 oz baby spinach
1/2 of 1 small fennel bulb
1 tablespoon ricotta salata
Salt
Freshly ground pepper

Juice one blood orange. Add the champagne vinegar, freshly ground pepper and whisk in olive. Salt to taste.

Wash spinach thoroughly and dry in colander.

Slice oranges in half vertically. Cut into 8 wedges and carefully cut away from peel. Place in bowl.

Cut off the fennel bulb's stalk. Cut in half lengthwise, removing the core. Shave 1/2 of the fennel with a vegetable peeler to form long fennel strips.

Whisk vinaigrette. Toss fennel, spinach and vinaigrette together. Plate salad, adding blood orange wedges to the tops of the salad greens. Crumble the ricotta salata over each salad.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Mushrooms and Spinach

Ingredients:
2 sweet potatoes
2 Idaho potatoes
2 medium eggs
1 cup 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour (plus more for later, when rolling out dough)
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
8 oz baby bellas, washed well and sliced
1 cup packed spinach, washed
Parmesan cheese (in wedge form)
Olive oil
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 teaspoon truffle oil
Salt
Pepper

Turn oven to 400.

Wash sweet potatoes and roast until tender, approximately 25 minutes. Remove from oven and cool.

While sweet potatoes are roasting, boil the Idaho potatoes until a fork pierces them easily.

After all of the potatoes have cooled, peel and mash them in a large bowl. Add the eggs, flour, salt and pepper. Mix with hands to incorporate all of the ingredients. Kneed a few times on a clean, floured counter. If really sticky add a little more flour to make dough workable.

Divide dough into large balls. Roll into long snakes, about 3/4 inch thick. Cut dough every 3/4 inch or so. Using the tips of your forefinger and middle finger, put slight pressure on gnocchi top and push down lightly to roll the gnocchi towards you. This should just make a slight indent in gnocchi. (Don't worry if it doesn't work at first, rolling gnocchi takes practice!)

In large saute pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add sliced mushrooms and cook about 5 minutes, or until soft and juice has mostly evaporated. Add white wine and cook 3 minutes (make sure it is simmering/sizzling to evaporate alcohol). Add spinach and wilt.

Boil large pot of water. Add gnocchi to water. Cook about 2 minutes past point when gnocchi being to float. Test one when they float to get a better idea if they are done.

Drain in large colander.

In large serving dish, toss gnocchi with spinach, mushrooms, and truffle oil. Shave Parmesan curls generously over pasta. Salt and Pepper to taste.