What I Really Eat: Cowboy Chicken

"What I really eat" are my Iron Chef meals. My pantry meals. Shit, my fridge is empty meals. The things that come out of necessity and lack of time. The ingredient list will usually be small and the execution usually simple. Something that is less of a recipe and more of a guideline. If something exceptionally awesome comes out of my Sunday night scramble, it will get posted as a “What I Really Eat” and probably be accompanied with a not-my-best photo.

This is really just roast chicken on top of potatoes and onions. Is this a tale as old as time? Probably. Am I teaching you new things? Probably not.

But this is what this series is all about. It’s not all brown butter and fancy frosting tips in the sizzle & sass kitchen. Sometimes you just gotta eat. And that sometimes is usually a Sunday night at 9pm after a day of burning frittatas, dropping coffee cakes on the floor, and then probably burning something else.

I call this cowboy chicken, because the general idea of it came from a roommate whose many wild woodsman ways reminded me vaguely of a cowboy. A cowboy, not of the southern variety, but of the midwestern -- the Montana type. His version used skin on, bone in chicken thighs with a pat of butter and a garlic clove tucked neatly underneath the skin of each. He placed the thighs on top of roughly chunked potatoes and onions and sent them into the oven to seduce each other into fatty mouthwatering bliss.

The result: crispy garlic laced chicken skin on top of juicy thigh meat, with softly cooked potatoes and caramelized onions coated lovingly in chicken fat beneath.

oh.my.god.

I fussed my version up a bit, unneedingly. I made a compound butter of parsley and garlic paste and smothered an entire bird with the stuff. I sliced my onions instead of chunking them as I do the potatoes.

The same carnal reaction happens in the oven though.The fat and juice from the bird drips onto the potatoes and onions as it roasts and just...oh….

This can be done with any part of the bird, though I highly suggest that it’s with skin on, bone in pieces of meat. Whole legs would be great. I’ve done it with rib in breasts.

The lovely part about this meal is that it is also a “set it and forget it” kinda dinner. You gotta let the chicken just do it’s thang, and that’s usually for the better part of an hour. But then here’s where you get inspired by the ever-genius Michael Ruhlman. See article: here.

I’ll just leave you with that to ponder.

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Cowboy Chicken

Inspired by my good friend, Erik

Ingredients:

1 large onion, sliced

1 pound yukon gold potatoes, cut into 1 inch chunks

1 whole roasting chicken (or any other skin on, bone in chicken parts), rinsed and patted dry

3 tablespoons butter

2 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon fresh parsley, finely chopped

salt and pepper

Directions:

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large baking dish or roasting pan layer the onions and potatoes evenly, season with salt and pepper. Place rinsed, dried chicken on top of the potatoes and onions.

Take two cloves of garlic and mince them as finely as possible. Sprinkle with a touch of kosher salt, and then drag the edge of the knife across the minced garlic and sort of flatten it out. Do this several times until the minced garlic has become a paste. (Here is a video displaying what I’m describing. Start at about 1:45)

Take your garlic paste, parsley and butter and mix together in a small bowl until evenly combined.

Spread this compound butter all over the chicken’s skin. Really massage it in there.

Season the bird liberally with salt and pepper, including the inside!

Throw into oven for about an hour or so. It should be uniformly golden and the juices should run clear when you make a small cut between the leg and the thigh.

Let chicken rest about 15 minutes before serving.

*** Two Quick Notes ***

1. The potatoes and onions will probably last a bit longer after the chicken has been picked over. I used mine as a base for eggs for days after. And almost had some left to swirl into some leftover spaghetti squash, but then I might've just eaten it with my fingers cold from the fridge.

2. Use that chicken carcass!!! Make bone broth/chicken stock. Place whatever is left over into a pot with some scraggly vegetables and some other aromatics and simmer away for a few hours. I got about 4 cups of bone broth out of the deal. Straight to the freezer it went to be used in any and everything that calls for stock! 

Stuffed Chicken with Grapes & Olives

An ever obsessing fangirl of Deb Perelman at Smitten Kitchen, this recipe was inspired by her recent posting of roasted grape and olive toasts.

While I am in a lifetime love relationship with toast, I do try to limit my gluten/carb/flour intake on a daily basis. So I wanted to see how I could translate this dish into one without toast. I needed a vehicle for the ricotta, but it had to be something that wouldn’t outshine the grapes and olives.

Then I was reminded about my other stuffed chicken recipe, which this is very reminiscent of. I could totally stuff the chicken with the ricotta and those roasty grapes and olives would make that bland ‘ole chicken breast pop! I added some paprika on top for color and done.

Salty and sweet, and just a touch of heat from the ricotta mix. Sound familiar? Do you know my favorite flavor profile by now?

It also looks super pretty, so there’s that.

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Stuffed Chicken with Grapes & Olives

Inspired by this recipe from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

1 cup of ricotta

pinch of red pepper flake to taste

1 teaspoon dried oregano

salt and pepper

4 skinless boneless chicken breasts

1 cup red or black seedless grapes

1 cup assorted olives, pitted

drizzle of olive oil

sprinkle of paprika

Directions:

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

In a small bowl mix ricotta with red pepper flake, oregano, and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Using a small sharp knife, create a pocket in the middle of each chicken breast.

Divide the ricotta mixture equally among the 4 chicken breasts stuffing each pocket and pulling them closed. Place the breasts on an oven proof dish or roasting pan. Distribute grapes and olives among the chicken. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and then lightly sprinkle each breast with a little paprika. Drizzle the entire dish with olive oil and throw into the oven.

Roast chicken for about 45 minutes to an hour or until chicken is cooked through and grapes and olives have caramelized and gotten soft and juicy. Toss the grapes and olives a few times throughout the roasting time to ensure even cooking.

When finished roasting, transfer chicken, grapes and olives to a plate and immediately add a little water to the hot baking dish. Using a fork or whisk, scrape up all the brown bits and caramelized goodness to create a simple, quick, pan juice. Season this if needed, and then pour over chicken and fruits and serve.

Serves 4

New Year's Day Chicken Soup

I love everything about New Year’s Day (not to be mistaken with New Year’s Eve.) I am the quintessential cliche when it comes to making resolutions and seeing a bright shiny future.

I do happen to let loose many of my standards of health when it comes to the holidays. Things get overwhelmingly busy at work and in life so I truthfully eschew heading to the yoga mat as often, usually some sort of annual-right-on-schedule viral infection will throw me off course for a week (hello Christmas morning cold -- still fighting you off!) and of course, don’t get me started on the general holiday glutton. I do get a little carb happy. I mean I got four separate birthday cakes this year, FOUR! And then I made half baked blondies on top of that. And then there’s --- “Sleep? What’s that?”

I love the idea of clean slates, and starting fresh. Whether it’s metaphorical or not, the new year always gets me in the mindset of newness, a reset, improvement, evolution.

And as much research is out there that New Year’s resolutions tend to fall by the wayside and send everyone who made them into a downward spiral of defeat and failure about three weeks into January, it always sets me into the fast lane for realigning my goals for the coming year.

Having this blog has turned into a bit of a journal of sorts and I’m excited to check in again next year and see what I’ve accomplished. As far as 2014 goes, it was not my favorite year, but I did start this blog and I really like it. I’m looking forward to what 2015 has in store for me, I have a good feeling about it all...it’s bubbling at the surface. I can feel it in my fingertips.

For 2015:

start composting

take some classes at the Institute of Culinary Education

use up that gift certificate from LAST YEAR at Broadway Dance Center. I wanna be like dis girl. I’m sure three classes is enough to get me up to speed.

conquer both handstand and forearm stand in yoga

i have dreams of more visits to Austin

visit NOLA

visit San Fran

drink more water

cook more on weeknights (I’m more often than not a #putaneggonit type of girl)

read more books:

I’ve started a by accident tradition of making chicken soup on New Year’s. I just happen to run out of my freezer inventory around this time. I make a big batch and then dip into the freezer as needed throughout the year when the boy or I’m not feeling so hot.

It’s bit of a process, but it’s well worth the time for from scratch soup.

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New Year’s Day Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

1 whole roasting chicken, rinsed and giblets removed.

2 medium yellow onions

6 carrots

1 parsnip

5 celery stalks

half a bunch of parsley

1 tablespoon whole peppercorns

1 bay leaf (I had to use 2 small ones)

water (enough to submerge bird and vegetables)

salt and pepper to taste

Take 1 of the onions and quarter it. Take 3 of the carrots and roughly chunk them or quarter them into sticks. Cut the parsnip in half separating the fat top half and the skinnier end. Set skinny half aside. Quarter the fat half. Halve the celery stalks and set the halves with the leaves aside. Throw prepped vegetables into a large stock pot. Put chicken on top of the vegetables. Add half of the parsley on top of the chicken. Add the tablespoon of peppercorns and bay leaf. Add enough water to submerge the bird and vegetables.

Bring this all to a boil and then lower to a simmer for 2 to 3 hours. Skim gray scum off the top as needed. Stock is ready when golden brown and chickeny. You'll know what I mean.

Use the time the chicken stock is cooking to prep the remaining vegetables. Dice the onion, carrots, parsnip half, and celery. Finely dice the remaining parsley. Set aside.

When stock is ready, get a second large pot and a large strainer. Put the strainer into the second pot. If it makes things easier, carefully remove the chicken from the broth and set aside. Then take the stock pot and carefully pour the broth and vegetables into the second pot with the strainer in it. This strains out the mushy overcooked vegetables and leaves you with only broth in the second pot.

Now shred your chicken from the bones. If the chicken has been cooked long enough it should practically shred itself. Remove all the meat from the chicken carcass. 

Add the shredded chicken to the broth, along with newly prepped vegetables. Add salt and pepper to taste. (I also added an extra cup of water, do so if you think it's needed) Bring all to a boil and then simmer until vegetables are tender. About 20 minutes. Turn off heat and stir in the finely chopped parsley.

Makes about 8 cups

Brown Butter Sage Squash and Sausage

Did everyone else already figure out that Christmas is in less than a week?! Because that shit snuck up on me this year. And that is nearly impossible for a Christmas baby, like myself. An actual Christmas baby, as in, down to the day.

So to make up for the fact that I’ve neglected it completely I just went on an amazon clicking SPREE. Because, as proven previously, I am a “responsible” “adult” who leaves more than enough time to get things done and never lets things burn in the oven.

I waited until the day before the secret santa exchange to purchase the gift online and then was super surprised when everything went wrong with the order. No, that will not ship when you need it, no, definitely a week after you need it and no, you can’t cancel your order because you need to be taught lessons in thinking ahead of time. Thanks, life.

Will I learn my lesson? Will I begin my Christmas shopping IMMEDIATELY so that I can have everything wrapped before the actual day arrives? We shall see. I do enjoy the adrenaline rush of finding out NOTHING WILL SHIP WHEN IT’S SUPPOSED TO AND THIS IS OUT OF STOCK AND YOU CAN’T FIND IT IN STORES.

Whew! I love the holidays!!

Lies. I am possibly a Grade A grinch. I am sorry to burst anyone’s holiday bubble. I am a bah humbug, no tree, no decor, no holiday spirit type person. In other words, the worst. But! but! but! Before you leave me and my Christmas hating ways, give me a secret surprise to try and contain for weeks and a rolling pin and cookie cutters and I am your girl! I make up for my Scrooge-likeness with my deep pleasure for gift giving and holiday baking.

I am super excited to try out this recipe from the goddess over at smitten kitchen and I’ve already made and gifted her hot chocolate mix.

In the meantime, I’m plotting what my birthday sweet might be and making super simple meals like the one below while I panic over the upcoming holiday. All I can say is, thank goodness for amazon prime shipping!

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Brown Butter Sage Squash and Sausage

Ingredients:

1 pound sweet italian sausage, squeezed from casing

1 large butternut squash, or two small ones peeled and cut in 1 inch cubes

salt and pepper

4 tablespoons butter

4 to 5 whole sage leaves

Directions:

Brown sausage in a pan over medium heat until no longer pink, approximately 10 minutes. Break up sausage into crumbles as it it cooking.

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

While sausage is browning, prepare a sheet pan with a piece of parchment paper or tinfoil. Spread cubed squash out on pan and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Once the sausage crumbles are basically cooked through, toss them with squash on the sheet pan. Make sure to get all that good sausage fat on there too and coat the squash cubes with it.

Throw into the oven for approximately 40 minutes, turning over at least once so the squash sides roast equally.

While the sausage and squash is roasting, melt butter and sage down in a small pan over a medium heat. Once it’s melted, watch for it to become a toasty brown and start to smell nutty. Watch it very carefully. Don’t let it go too far or you'll end up with burnt butter, not brown butter.

Remove from heat once brown and nutty. Set aside.

Once squash and sausage is done roasting, pour brown butter sage sauce over the hot squash and sausage. Toss gently to coat and serve.

Stuffed Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken with Roasted Plums

Do you remember when I teased you all with this on instagram approximately five million days ago?

I think I captioned it something like: “THIS IS THE BEST THING I HAVE EVER MADE. EVER.”

Although probably not so shouty on the gram caption. But that’s how I was saying it in my kitchen as I was shooting the photographs and shoving forkfuls of it into my mouth (in the name of taste testing, obviously.)

I think I also promised it would be posted super soon. According to instagram that was...a month and a half ago. Whoops. My bad.

And unfortunately plum season has come and passed. Again...my bad.

But listen, you could leave the plums out and it’s not that they wouldn’t be missed, but it wouldn’t be the worst. You still get a tiny pop of sweetness from the balsamic reduction to play against the saltiness of the prosciutto and feta. You also could hold off on this until we get back to stone fruit season. It might even be worth the wait.

I just can’t help sharing this now because it can be made other ways. Originally I had wanted to do this with fresh figs, which I am sure would have been hella dreamy, but I missed the season for that. Plums seemed like they would work just as well and clearly I was not disappointed. I was ALSO thinking that some grapes would be terribly delicious here as a substitute, which you could do right now. Whatdaya think?

If you try it with grapes, let me know how it is!!

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Stuffed Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken with Roasted Plums

Ingredients:

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 cup crumbled feta (I used goat's milk feta, but any will do!)

salt and pepper

4 pieces prosciutto

5 plums, pitted and quartered

few sprigs of thyme

1 cup balsamic vinegar

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Using a small sharp knife create a pocket in the middle of each chicken breast. Divide and stuff the feta equally among the four chicken breasts. Season each breast with salt and pepper and then wrap each breast in one piece of prosciutto.

Place chicken pieces in an ovenproof baking dish. Distribute plum slices around the chicken pieces. Scatter a few sprigs of thyme around the dish on top of the chicken.

Roast in oven uncovered for approximately 40 to 45 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly cooked through.

While chicken is roasting, place one cup of balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan. Bring vinegar to a boil and then reduce heat to low. Let vinegar reduce by half, until thick and syrupy. About 20 to 30 minutes. Remove from heat, let cool, and place in airtight container. Will keep, refrigerated, for many weeks.

When chicken is ready to be served, drizzle with the balsamic vinegar reduction.

Escarole Sausage Soup with Cranberry Beans

I’m still mourning the end of my beautiful, lovely, first year of my CSA. My last pickup was about a month ago. Although, somehow, my fridge is still overflowing with vegetables.

I’ve got bundles and bundles of chard, kale, and carrots. Pretty yellow carrots which, I might add, I am having a hard time eating just because they are so pretty. It's a problem of mine, see here.

The escarole and beans in this soup below were from my farm share. I’d never encountered the beans previously. Although, now I have been spotting those pretty pink thangs all over the farmer’s market. If you can’t find the beans or the escarole at the greenmarket, just sub in another leafy green, like kale or chard and some dried or canned cannellini beans

In New York, it is going to be GROSS and rainy this weekend. While I am staunchly pro-sunshine --- cold, rainy, winter weekends do give me a nice excuse to catch up on several episodes of The Wire and get all sorts of cuddly with the boy and the cat, because obviously I am also staunchly pro-snuggling.

A warm bowl of soup really rounds out the picture, don’t you think?

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Escarole Sausage Soup with Cranberry Beans

Ingredients:

1 pound hot italian sausage, squeezed from casing

dash of olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

4 cups chicken stock

2 cups water

approx. 2 cups shelled cranberry beans (can substitute dried or canned cannellini beans if desired)

salt and pepper to taste

1 teaspoon oregano

½ teaspoon paprika

1 bay leaf

1 head escarole, torn into bite sized pieces (can also use any other winter leafy green - they may need more cooking time however.)

shredded parmesan for garnish (if desired)

Directions:

In a large pot over medium heat brown sausage until no longer pink. Scoop sausage onto a plate and set aside. Add a dash of olive oil to the sausage fat and then add the chopped onions. Scrape up the brown bits from the sausage while stirring the onions, coating them in fat. Saute onions until soft and translucent. Add garlic to onions and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the sausage back in, along with beans. Lastly, add in the broth and water. Season with salt, pepper, oregano, paprika, and bay leaf.

Bring soup to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Cook until beans are soft and creamy, about 45 minutes. If you substitute canned beans, they will only need about 15 minutes to warm through. Stir in escarole and let wilt into soup, approximately 5 minutes. Remove bay leaf before serving.

Serve with grated parmesan on top, if desired.

Yield: approximately 8 cups

Broccoli Cauli-Rice Chicken Bake

Sometimes in life you just need to eat a big bowl of comfort. Amirite? Or amirite?

Even though it’s warming up a bit this week, the Northeast lately has generally been fucking cold. The boyfriend and I hadn't realized until recently that our crappy old radiator in the living room had been essentially OFF for the past two winters. Oops. So until we came to our senses a few weekends ago, I had been serving us terribly comfy and warming dinners while we plunged into another weekend “Wire” binge-a-thon.

This was one of those meals. I mean, what’s more comforting than what’s essentially a heaping bowl of thickened heavy cream? Listen, there are vegetables and lots of protein in there so it’s decidedly virtuous. Especially more so than a bowl of cheese sauce and noodles. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against macaroni and cheese. I am the damn queen of macaroni and cheese. I am known for my macaroni and cheese. But on a regular old weekday or weekend night, I feel better about digging my frostbitten fingers into lots of vegetables with cheese sauce rather than cheese covered carbs.  

P.s. Don’t let that unassuming yellow hued iPhone photo dissuade you from making this exceptionally cozy dish. It’ll warm you right up.

p.p.s I just added a  "Subscribe" feature on the sidebar to the right! If you'd like to be notified when a new recipe is up, just type in your email address and hit subscribe and you'll get an email each time I post! Also don't forget you can also add me on instagram, facebook, pinterest and twitter! 

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Broccoli Cauli-Rice Chicken Bake

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts with skin and bone (or about 2 cups cooked chicken)

olive oil

salt and pepper

1 head broccoli

1 head cauliflower

1 ½ cups heavy cream

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

¼ cup shredded parmesan

½ cup shredded cheddar cheese for sprinkling the top

Directions:

Heat oven to 400 degrees

Roast chicken breasts in oven seasoned well with salt and pepper and drizzled in olive oil until cooked through and golden brown. About 40 to 45 minutes. ***(Or just use leftover cooked chicken, about 2 cups OR no need to use chicken at all! I used chicken to bulk this up to a main, you can leave the chicken out and serve as a side!)

Line a sheet tray with parchment paper.

Cut your broccoli into smallish florets and “rice” cauliflower in a food processor or using a box grater until you have approximately 2 cups worth.

Spread half the pan with the riced cauliflower and the other half of the pan with the broccoli, drizzle vegetables with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Throw into the oven with the chicken for about the last 20 minutes of the chicken’s cook time.

While chicken and vegetables are roasting, get cream reducing down in a small sauce pan over a medium to low heat. Season cream with salt, pepper and mustard and stir continuously. Using a whisk is best. Keep cream at a simmer, try to keep it from boiling. It will take about 15 minutes to start to thicken a bit. Once it’s pretty hot and starting to get thick, add in the shredded cheeses. Whisk cheeses into hot cream until they've melted into a creamy thick cheese sauce. Taste for seasoning. Remove from heat.

Remove chicken and vegetables from oven once done. Chicken should be a light golden brown and cooked through. Vegetables should be starting to get caramelized.

Lower oven heat to 350 degrees.

After removing the bones, shred the cooked chicken into bite size pieces and add to ovenproof casserole dish. To the chicken, add roasted broccoli florets and about 2 cups of the riced roasted cauliflower. Give this a good stir to distribute the chicken and veggies evenly. Pour the cheese sauce over the chicken and vegetables and stir again to distribute cheese sauce evenly. Sprinkle remaining ½ cup of shredded cheddar over the top of the casserole.
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until the top is a delightful golden brown.

Serves 6

(Reheats and freezes well)

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

This casserole was the win of my weekend.

I had a blog-cooking-extravaganza a couple weekends ago in preparation for my time away. So after a lot of cooking and several recipe test fails, I was at my wit's end and about to call it quits. This was one of my final tests, and I had no clue if it was gonna work out and if it hadn’t, I’m not sure I would of handled it well. Even before that, this was a re-route from an original plan because as mentioned on Monday, cauliflower was no where to be found.

I mean seriously, at one point there was glass and coffeecake all over my kitchen floor.

I am now loaf pan-less and you are now coffeecake-less.

But. YES. YES. YES. This casserole worked. And it completely made up for those few fails that occurred.

That stain is never gonna come out.

I think that removing the eggplant skin is key and having a mandoline definitely makes things easier. I was able to get super thin slices of eggplant that truly resembled tortilla-like layers. The directions of course look excessive, but I promise it took me no longer than the thirty minutes it takes for the eggplants to sweat to get the other two components together, and assembling shouldn’t take more than five.

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Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Ingredients:

Casserole

1 large eggplant, skin removed and sliced thinly lengthwise (my mandoline made quick work of this --- the aim is to make these work like tortillas or lasagna sheets would), total of 12 big slices (you may have a few extra smaller slices, roast those babies up, if you please!)

salt (for sweating the eggplant)

Chicken filling (ingredient list below)

Enchilada Sauce (ingredient list below)

2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

Chicken filling

splash of olive oil

1 small onion, diced

1 small tomato, roughly chopped

1 sweet pepper, diced

1 jalapeno, minced

2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded

½ teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon cayenne

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon paprika

salt and pepper to taste

Enchilada Sauce

splash of olive oil

1 small onion, diced

1 garlic clove, minced

4 medium tomatoes, roughly chopped, approximately 2 cups

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 teaspoon paprika

¼ teaspoon oregano

¼ teaspoon cumin

¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

First things first, get your eggplant slices sweating by laying them on a flat surface and sprinkling them with a bit of salt and letting them rest for approximately 30 minutes.

While the eggplants sweat, get the olive oil heating in medium pan over medium heat. Add the onions, tomato, pepper, and jalapeno to the pan. Cook until onions and peppers are soft and tomato is wrinkly. Add the chicken to the pan and stir to combine the ingredients. Add in the spices and stir in to incorporate. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat.

For the enchilada sauce, get a splash of olive oil heating in a small sauce pan over a medium heat. Add in the onion, garlic, and tomatoes and cook until the onion is soft and translucent and the tomatoes are starting to break down. Add the chili powder, paprika, oregano, and cumin. Stir in spices well. Continue to cook until the tomatoes have broken down completely and it’s starting to resemble a sauce, approximately another 10 minutes. Stir in the cheddar cheese. Once the cheese has completely melted into the sauce, taste for seasoning and then remove from heat. Optional move: once it's cooled a little, blitz the sauce with a hand blender or regular blender for a super smooth sauce.

If you’re a real awesome pro, you can attempt to do the filling and sauce at the same time.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Using an 8x8 inch square baking dish, prepare to assemble the casserole.

With a paper towel, dab off the “sweat” from the eggplant slices.

Spread about a tablespoon or so of the enchilada sauce on the bottom of the baking dish. Next add the first layer of 3 eggplant slices, they can overlap slightly. Take about ⅓ of the chicken filling and spread it on top of the eggplant, then spoon on about ¼ of the enchilada sauce and lastly sprinkle on some of the cheese. Layer on 3 more eggplant, then start again with the chicken, the sauce and the cheese. You’ll do this for a third time, and then top with the last layer of eggplant, use the last of the sauce on top of the eggplant and sprinkle on the remaining cheese and then place in oven for about 40 minutes until the cheese is golden and bubbly and the eggplant is tender.

Serves 4 to 6