Monday, February 21, 2011

What the heck is THIS??

So my cute neighbor introduced me to this AWESOME food Co-Op a few months ago. It is called Bountiful Baskets. The way it works is on Monday - Tuesday of each week you get onto their website (Bountiful Baskets) and place your order. This is available to a lot of the Western states. You pay $15 and then on Saturday morning I pick up a HUGE load of vegetables and fruit.

The thing I have loved about it is that the vegetables and fruit are REALLY fresh, and I try to change my cooking focus' on the vegetables I get, and I tend to eat better and cook with more vegetables & fruit ... not only that, but I try new recipes, because sometimes I get ingredients I wouldn't thing of purchasing. This week I got this:Now I am sure you were thinking what I was thinking: ... GINGER, right? Well luckily a cute lady was telling us as we were walking out that they are actually JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES! Never heard of them ... you?

So I looked them up online, and came up with a recipe! Gonna try it tonight, and hopefully it will be REALLY yummy! Can't wait to tell you about it!
Here is the recipe just in case you're curious!

Lemon Chicken with Jerusalem Artichokes

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 fresh lemons
2 Tablespoons olive oil, divided use
4 chicken thighs
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon ground saffron
1/2 pound Jerusalem artichokes (sunchokes), peeled
10 garlic cloves, peeled and halved
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 Tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
Hot, cooked rice
Preparation:

Finely grate 1 teaspoon of zest from the lemon and set aside. Juice both of the lemons (discarding pulp) and set aside.

Place a large, deep, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle chicken thighs on both sides with salt and pepper. Place skin-side down in the hot pan and quickly brown them, turning only once. Remove to a plate and keep warm.

Add the lemon juice, lemon zest, remaining tablespoon of olive oil, chicken broth, and saffron to the skillet. Bring to a boil, stirring to loosen any browned bits. Add Jerusalem artichokes, and garlic cloves. Return chicken to the skillet, along with any accumulated juices.

Reduce heat and simmer about 45 minutes, until chicken and sunchokes are tender. Stir in cream and thyme leaves. Taste and adjust seasoning, if need be. Return to a simmer and cook an additional 10 minutes.

Serve over cooked rice and sprinkle with pine nuts to garnish.

3 comments:

Heather said...

Sounds good and healthy!

Tedi @ Running with Infertility said...

So glad you heard about them! I found out about them last fall sometime and we love it! It's so nice to get and try new vegetables!

Jamie R. said...

I just signed up for bountiful baskets in my area. I am excited to try it out this Saturday... Although, I am hoping for something easier than Jerusalem artichokes for my first week! LOL