The Taste Traveller

pineapple coconut baked chicken

Here's the second of a few recipes with a bit of inspiration from our recent trip to Oahu. I've got another version of this I'll share with you soon, but this one was both simple to prepare with simple, sweet and savoury flavours. I used unsweetened pineapple juice, shredded coconut and brown sugar along with a few other ingredients including soy sauce. 

Pineapple slices or chunks would be nice with this, and you could also add more fresh ingredients to replace or in addition to the dried ginger and garlic powder. 

I served it with brown rice and steamed corn and peas - but you could try it with a quick vegetable mix stir fry or some grilled vegetables. The juice was delicious drizzled over the rice and vegetables. 

Kid's Stuff: Our 19 month old Scarlet really liked this. She usually will eat chicken however I serve it but this was juicy and I drizzled the juice over her rice and vegetables too! 

Ingredients:

• chicken breasts (I used three but there was plenty of juice so you could easily use double this and still have enough juice mixture). You could easily substitute chicken thighs here,
• 1/2 cup unsweetened pineapple juice
• 1 tsp (5 ml) soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons (10 ml) dry mustard or prepared mustard (I used prepared)
• 2 teaspoons (10 ml) ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon (1 ml) pepper
• 1/3 cup or more (80 ml) flaked coconut

Method:

Preheat oven to 375⁰ F (190⁰ C).

Place chicken breasts in baking dish.

In a small bowl or measuring cup combine other ingredients. Stir. 

Pour or spoon mixture over chicken breasts. 

Cover with foil or lid and bake until cooked through - about 30 minutes. You may like to spoon the liquid over the chicken breasts part way though cooking. 

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chicken with sundried tomatoes, garlic, mushrooms and onion

Just back from the beautiful island of Oahu, Hawaii and I've got a few ideas up my sleeve inspired by our vacation. But, this was the dinner I made us the day we arrived back - all tired out from our red-eye flight with wee Scarlet and after a very quick trip to the grocery store and not a lot of time or energy to make something tasty for dinner. Look out for a run down of some of my favourite food experiences from Oahu (I'm hoping to get to this on the weekend!). And more recipes of course. 

Sundried tomatoes are so sweet and full of flavour and the oil in the jar is just right for drizzling over top of chicken breasts before placing in the oven with a few other tasty additions. A bit of water in the baking dish, along with a bunch of garlic cloves, mushrooms and onion circles - and there is most of your dinner right there. I steamed some broccoli and carrots and served brown basmati rice alongside. Yum! 

Kid's Stuff: Scarlet, our almost 19 month old, loves chicken (most of the time) and seems to really like sundried tomatoes - so she liked this dish a lot. We drizzled some of the 'juice' on top of the rice, broccoli, and chicken and she gobbled it all up! A sure-fire hit. 

This isn't really a recipe in the sense of me spelling out specific amounts - more just something to inspire you - but here is what I did, approximately:

Ingredients:

• chicken breasts (in this case, three)
• 4 to 5 sundried tomatoes, in oil, chopped (more or less depending on your taste and how much chicken you are cooking)
• 1 to 2 tablespoons (15 to 30 ml) oil from jar of sundried tomatoes, drizzled over chicken
• an entire bulb of garlic, cloves peeled but left whole, ends trimmed
• 1 onion, sliced (or chopped)
• 6 to 8 button mushrooms (or other variety), approximately, sliced
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) water, poured into base of baking dish
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) dried basil
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) dried oregano
• a few grinds each of salt and pepper

Method:

Preheat oven to 375⁰ F (190⁰ C).

Remove sundried tomatoes from jar and chop. Set aside. 

Separate and peel the cloves of garlic from the bulb. Trim ends, Spread over base of baking dish.

Peel and slice onion. Spread over base of baking dish.

Wipe and then thinly slice the mushrooms. Spread over base of baking dish.

Place whole chicken breasts on top of the onions, mushrooms and garlic in baking dish. 

Pour the water into the baking dish. 

Evenly disperse the chopped, sundried tomatoes on top of the chicken breasts. 

Sprinkle the basil and oregano on top of the chicken breasts and the entire baking dish. 

Add a few grinds each of salt and pepper. 

Drizzle the oil from the sundried tomato jar over the chicken breasts. 

Cover with foil or place a lid on top. Bake for about a half hour or until the chicken breasts are cooked through. Serve with some vegetables and rice, quinoa or potatoes and drizzle the delicious 'juice' over top of everything! 

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slow cooker garlic and herb chicken drumsticks

A slow cooker is fantastic for chili and stew and beans - but also works wonders for cooking simple dishes like this - chicken drumsticks any way you like. There are so many delicious ways you could pull a chicken dish like this together, with just a few simple ingredients added along with your drumsticks. Chicken thighs would work just as well here too. I have several recipes from others that I plan to try, but for my first 'go' with drumsticks (we tend to buy chicken breasts more than anything in this household, but I'm branching out a little!) I wanted to keep it simple - no sauce, just some garlic and herbs and a bit of broth. I'll do some other variations on this in the future. 

Feel free to use fresh herbs here - I didn't have any on hand, so went with the dried variety. Use more or less of the herbs too - especially if, like us, you are not eating the skin. Use more or less garlic as you prefer as well. We happen to love garlic around here (watch out vampires!) so I'm pretty liberal with my use of it generally. The garlic, herbs and broth reduced nicely and it was quite rich tasting - perfect to drizzle over the chicken and whatever you serve with the drumsticks. 

If you aren't a big fan of eating the skin - just pull if off before eating - but I'm sure it contributes to the flavour and moistness to keep it on for the cooking process. Basically the chicken is melt-in-your-mouth juicy and tender so not only does it fall off of the bones, but the skin comes off with very little encouragement. Words used to describe this as we ate it were "Amazing" and "Wow" - you can't beat that for positive feedback. 

You could also do this in the oven, using a covered casserole dish and cooking on a higher temperature for a shorter period of time. This was super fast to prepare though, and you can just leave it for the day - with most of your dinner ready when you need it. I served this with roasted cabbage, steamed sweet potatoes and brown basmati rice. 

Do you have a favourite chicken drumstick recipe you'd like to share? I'm not short on ideas, but would still love to hear yours! 

Ingredients:

• 6 to 8 chicken drumsticks
• 1 bulb of garlic, cloves peeled but left whole
• 2 to 3 tablespoons (30 to 45 ml) olive oil (if browning)
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) dried basil
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon (2 ml) red pepper flakes (optional)
• 1/2 cup (125 ml) chicken broth
• salt and pepper (a few grinds each)

Method:

If you are going to brown the drumsticks first, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a saucepan over medium high heat. Add the drumsticks and brown, turning so they are evenly browned. 

Transfer the drumsticks to a bowl or ziplock bag. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil. With a spatula or wooden spoon, turn the drumsticks over and over until well coated (or move around in the ziplock bag). 

Add the salt and pepper, herbs, red pepper flakes (if using) and garlic cloves and turn to coat evenly. 

Transfer to slow cooker. 

Add the chicken broth.

If you are not browning the drumsticks, just add them, along with the herbs, salt and pepper, red pepper flakes (if using) and garlic to the slow cooker, Stir to coat evenly, then add the broth. 

I actually added everything but the broth to the slow cooker (including the oil) without browning first, turning over to coat well. I added the broth and it was only after I set the slow cooker on low and closed the lid that I realized I hadn't browned the drumsticks! As we weren't planning on eating the skin, I figured we wouldn't lose out too much by skipping this step and that the stirring-to-coat step couldn't hurt anyway. 

Place the lid on top and set to low. Leave for 8 hours (or the day, even if it works out to less than eight hours). 

Serve with your sides of choice and enjoy this finger-licking good meal! 

Good for leftovers - either eaten whole or slicing the meat off of the bones to use as you wish. 

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