Za Recipes

Showing posts with label balsamic. Show all posts

Friday, May 2, 2014

Sweet Balsamic Grilled Chicken Strawberry Pie

Sweet Balsamic Grilled Chicken

3/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 olive oil

2 tbs chopped fresh rosemary

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

2 tsp honey

6 boneless skinless chicken breasts

In a bowl combine the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, rosemary, garlic, red pepper flakes, and honey. Pour it into a gallon storage bag. Add the chicken and allow it to marinate for at least 2 hours and up to overnight. Rotate the bag occasionally to ensure the chicken gets marinated evenly. Remove the chicken from the bag. Discard the marinade and pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Then season both sides of the chicken well with salt and pepper. Grill the chicken over a medium hot fire for about 10 minutes on each side or until it is cooked through.

This chicken was delicious, moist and very tasty. I served it with baked potoato and a selection of salad vegetables. The dressing for the vegetables was a simple French Dressing made using Fig Vinegar that I got when I was on holiday. It is really delicious and quite a different taste, not a taste of figs at all, just a sort of fruity taste, but not as sweet as raspeberry vinegar.

I followed this with a Strawberry Pie, I found this great recipe on All Recipes, its so easy and the result not only looks good, but also tastes great.

Thursday, March 6, 2014

“Roasted” Tomato and Balsamic Vinaigrette – We really need to concentrate on this one!

I worked with a Chef, way back when, who made this amazingly delicious roasted tomato vinaigrette. He would slice a whole pan of Roma tomatoes lengthwise and slowly roast them in a very low oven until the sugars and acids in the fruit would condense and caramelize and concentrate into a delicious mass. This took about 5-6 hours. Then, these roasted tomatoes were cooled, pureed, and with the addition of some oil and vinegar, turned into a wonderfully complex vinaigrette. It was so good next to any grilled fish, meat, veggies, etc. The only thing I didn’t like was the extended cooking time.

Now, the whole reason for the long, slow roasting was to concentrate the flavors. So, I thought I could duplicate it by using a really good, double-concentrate tomato paste and nicely aged balsamic vinegar. It worked. Is it as good? Who knows? Yet another “subjective mater of taste” argument. Do I always use the shortcut method? No, I do (when I have time) love a nice pan of slow roasted, caramelized Roma tomatoes. They are great served whole on burgers, and as a side dish with many main dishes. In fact, now I have to demo the original method! Anyway, here is a 5 minute version that will pair wonderfully with so many things, and you’re only a few minutes away. I used this on my Pan Seared Perch with Fried Capers recipe, so if you haven’t seen that one, check it out. By the way, this is also very nice with I touch of fresh garlic, which I didn’t use this time…hey, I can’t use garlic in every recipe! Enjoy.

Ingredients:
1 tbl tomato paste (double-concentrate)
1 tbl aged Balsamic vinegar
1 tbl rice vinegar
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
6 tbl olive oil
salt and pepper to taste