Brie and Strawberry Grilled Cheese

Grilled cheese is one of my favorite comfort foods, and I love trying new variations of it. We actually have a restaurant right around the corner from my apartment that specializes in grilled cheese, but they don't have much in the way of sweet and cheesy combinations. The classic grilled cheese with the American cheese is obviously great, and a variation with mozzarrella and pesto and tomato is also a good go-to, but when I saw this come up in my Blue Apron rotation, I had to try it.

It was so worth it.

Brie and Strawberry Grilled Cheese
Originally found at Blue Apron

4 slices bread
4 ounces brie cheese, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp butter
6 ounces strawberries, medium chopped
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 Tbsp light brown sugar

In a small pot, combine strawberries, lemon zest, lemon juice, and brown sugar. Heat until boiling, then reduce and allow to simmer 10-12 minutes, until thickened and strawberries have softened. Remove from heat and allow to cool 2 minutes.

Butter one side of each slice of bread. On the non-buttered side of two slices, lay sliced brie. Top with cooled jam, followed by slice of bread with the buttered side up. In a pan over medium-high heat, cook one side of the grilled cheese until light brown and crispy. Flip and cook until other side is light brown and crispy and cheese has melted well.

My Notes:
I left the rind on my brie. You can take it off if you desire, it just gets harder to get the cheese out. This was a nice mix of salty and sweet, and the bread I used was nice and thick and chewy. I imagine this would be good with store-bought preserves as well, and I've definitely seen variations with pears instead of strawberries, but strawberries are in season right now.

General Tso's Chicken

Chinese food is one of my go-tos. Along with Mexican. I know it's bastardized by American culture, but it's just such a comfort food for me. I enjoy trying out new dishes at home, and saw this one in my rotation and was intrigued. Ketchup in a Chinese dish? Clearly, not very authentic, but it somehow works. And this is such a simple dish to throw together that it's definitely worth trying again.

General Tso's Chicken
Originally found at Blue Apron

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 cup cornstarch
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 Tbsp soy glaze*
1 Tbsp Sambal Oelek, to taste
1 Tbsp Sesame oil
1/4 cup ketchup
2 scallions, chopped with green and white ends separated
Oil

Toss the chicken in cornstarch, shaking off excess. In a frying pan or wok, heat 2 Tbsp oil over medium-high heat until hot. Add chicken to the pan and cook until golden brown. Transfer to a paper-towel lined plate and set aside.

Heats sesame oil over medium high heat in same pan. Add garlic and white bottoms of scallions and cook until fragrant. Season with salt and pepper. Add soy glaze, sambal oelek, and ketchup. Stir to combine. Add chicken back to the pan and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve over rice and garnish with green tops of scallions.


My Notes:
*Soy glaze is a thicker, sweeter version of soy sauce. You can buy it directly, or make your own.

The original Blue Apron meal came with snow peas, which were much better than I expected them to be. Nice and crisp, and fresh tasting. Simple to make, simply cut off the ends, remove the fibrous strand that runs along the length of the pod, then cook in a small amount of oil until bright green.

See, I'm being good and adding veggies to my diet :)

Trinidadian Chicken Curry

This is a spin on a traditional southern dish of shrimp and grits. If you haven't tried grits before, give it a try with this recipe. They are nice and creamy thanks to the coconut milk, and the seasoning on the chicken is a nice accent to the overall dish.

I've never been a big collards person. I'm not from the south, was not raised eating collards. But, as with sauteed spinach, I really do think it depends on how it is cooked. Most southern collards are drained of most of their color (they take on an ugly grayish green color), texture (they are basically mush)... not to mention they are made with ham hock, which precludes me from eating them anyway. But these still have a bit of a bite, have a beautiful emerald green color, and are simply seasoned with garlic. They serve as a nice accent to the overall dish and get some vegetables into the otherwise grain and protein dish.

The chicken thighs are nice and tender, and are kept tender with the lime juice. I almost wish I had put the lime juice into the dish before I cooked the chicken, as I imagine this would have made the chicken super juicy as well. But it was good enough as is. I can't wait to experiment with this dish a little more (particularly the spices).

Trinidadian Chicken Curry
Originally found at Blue Apron

4 boneless, skinless, chicken thighs, chopped into bite sized pieces
2 tsp Trinidadian Curry Spice Blend
3/4 cup yellow grits
1 can (14 ounces) coconut milk
1 lime, juiced and zested
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch collard greens, stems removed and thinly sliced
2 Tbsp dried coconut flakes
Olive oil
Water
Salt and pepper

Combine chopped chicken and spice blend; set aside. In a medium pot, combine coconut milk and 1 1/2 cups water. Season with salt. Heat to boiling on high, then slowly add the grits. Whisk to break up any clumps. Reduce heat to low and simmer, whisking occasionally, until thickened and tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Heat a medium, dry pan on medium high heat. Add coconut flakes and heat until toasted and fragrant. Transfer to plate/bowl and set aside. Heat 2 tsp olive oil in medium pan over medium-high heat until hot. Add half the garlic and the collard greens. Cook, stirring occasionally, 2-4 minutes until the garlic is fragrant and collards have wilted. Transfer to plate and set aside.

Heat 2 tsp of olive oil over medium high heat in pan used to cook collard greens. Add seasoned chicken and remaining garlic and cook 5-7 minutes, until browned and cooked through. Add lime juice and 1 Tbsp water. Stir to combine, scraping up browned bits in the pan.

Serve grits, topped with collard greens, and topped with chicken. Garnish with toasted coconut flakes.

My Notes:
Be sure to avoid the fibrous stems of the collards; they take away from the dish. Chop them however you want; I left them as little ribbons, but chunks would've worked just fine as well.

Be careful with the grits. They can lose moisture and get really thick really quickly. If they are too thick for your taste, slowly work in 1/4 cup of water to your desired consistency.

I decided to give all these recipes at the same time instead of breaking them up as I have in the past because I really don't think these would work very well as individual dishes. There's something about combining all of them.

Maple Glazed Carrots

I've never really been a fan of cooked carrots. Something about the texture. If you haven't gathered yet, I'm rather big on texture. But I had these carrots with one of my meals, and I enjoyed it. The carrots were not cooked excessively, so there was still some crunch, and they had a delightful glaze on them. The original recipe is dairy; however, I'm sure it can be adapted to be pareve to serve with chicken or beef.

The recipe this came with (linked below) was okay, but the overall flavor left something to be desired. And of course, it's not kosher given the butter and chicken. But, this dish was good and I'd probably make it again.

Maple Glazed Carrots
Adapted from Blue Apron

1/2 pound carrots, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces*
2 Tbsp maple syrup
Juice of 1 lemon
2 Tbsp butter
Olive oil
Water

Heat 2 tsp olive oil in a large pan over medium high heat until hot. Add carrots and season with salt and pepper. Cook 4-6 minutes, until slightly softened. Stir in syrup, lemon juice, and 1/2 cup water. Cook 3-5 minutes, until liquid is almost completely reduced in volume. Remove from heat and ad butter, stirring until melted and well combined. Serve warm.

My Notes:
*If you are using large carrots, I recommend halving or quartering lengthwise, then cutting into 2-inch pieces or so. If you are using baby carrots, then I recommend cutting in half lengthwise and using as is.

Butter Lettuce and Chive Salad

This salad was initially pictured with the quiche recipe from last week, but it's such a light and refreshing recipe that I wanted to include it separately. Butter lettuce has a different texture than my typical romaine lettuce--it's much more soft and, well, buttery, than the crunch of romaine or even iceberg. It peels apart very easily and is soft and almost velvety on the tongue, but still with some crunch in the background.

The lemon and chives add a nice accent to this dish. This is actually the first time I tasted raw shallots, and I'm sufficiently impressed that I might actually use them in some of my other recipes. It's not an overwhelming onion taste, but a nice tang in the background.

Butter Lettuce and Chive Salad
Originally found at Blue Apron

1 head butter lettuce
Juice of 1 lemon
2 Tbsp minced shallot (about half a small shallot)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 bunch chives, minced

Trim off and discard the root end of the lettuce. Separate and rinse the leaves. Tear or roughly chop into bite sized pieces. Combine the lemon juice and shallot, then slowly whisk in olive oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Combine the lettuce and chives, and top with vinaigrette to taste.

Vinaigrette keeps in the fridge for 2-3 days, so it can be made ahead.

My Notes:
Light and refreshing, just like I said. Squeeze the lemons with a juicer or over your hand to prevent seeds from going into the vinaigrette.