Lebanese Lemon Chicken #30MinuteMondays

Fast and flavorful Lebanese lemon chicken with shallots, fresh herbs, 

and a touch of turmeric--a comforting paleo dinner for fall.

There was a touch of fall in the air this weekend, especially in the early mornings. So, even though the highs will be in the 80s all next week, I've decided it's time for fall comfort food. And this Lebanese lemon chicken fits the bill exactly. The flavors of lemon, rosemary and thyme hint at cooler weather, but the dish is fast enough not to heat up your entire house if the temperatures outside are still hot.

This recipe is inspired by the Lebanese chicken dish I had for lunch from the hot bar at Whole Foods last week. I don't do well if I grocery shop hungry, so when I arrive at the store not totally full, I get something to eat from the prepared foods section and sit down and eat it before doing my shopping. Whole Foods' version of this dish was made with bone-in, skin-on chicken, and also had potatoes, olives, and a few other ingredients. I loved the overall taste of the recipe, but wanted to simplify it a little.

Caramelized Salmon with Basil Chile Oil and Pickled Vegetables #30MinuteMondays

Broiled salmon, basil chile oil, and quick-pickled summer vegetables

 team up for a fast and fresh paleo dinner with tons of flavor.

As a recent salmon convert, I'm still a little bit surprised every time I bite into a piece of salmon and find that it's totally delicious. 

For so long the strange pink hue of salmon turned me off, but now I can't get enough. My favorite way to prepare salmon is under the broiler, where it cooks in less than ten minutes flat. I love how the top of the fish gets nicely browned and even a little bit crispy (especially here, with the help of a sprinkling of maple sugar) while the inside remains perfectly tender. This caramelized salmon is inspired by a recipe from Lindsay of Pinch of Yum and it's SO good.

Crispy Chicken with Fig and Shallot Compote

So, there may or may not be a poem at the end of this post, entitled "Ode to Figs" and written in the style of Pablo Neruda. (Have you read his poem "Ode to the Artichoke"? I'm not very into poetry but I'm very into artichokes--it's one of the few poems I truly appreciate. Here it is in Spanish and English.) Figs are special, so I'm sharing a special but easy recipe that showcases them in all their glory. Plus, my ridiculous poem.

I got so excited when I discovered fresh figs at the market earlier this week. It seems that figs have a short season in early summer and a longer season in the fall, so if you can't find them now, hopefully you'll bookmark this post for later.

Burmese Chile Prawns with Cucumber and Avocado Salad

Are you fast in the kitchen? I'm super slow. No matter how much I wish I could be an ingredient ninja, I just can't seem to get things located and prepped very quickly. I took a knife skills class a few months ago, which helped a little, but I think the issue stems more from disorganization than a lack of dexterity.

I'm working on making more 30-minute paleo dinners to share here on A Calculated Whisk. To make sure I'm representing things accurately, I time myself as I cook, which really highlights my lack of culinary efficiency. For this recipe, I started timing, assembled most of the ingredients for the marinade, and then realized I couldn't find a sharp knife to cut the lime in half. I paused the timer while I located a chef's knife and washed it, because I thought you, my wonderful readers, were likely to already have a clean knife on hand. Several other misplaced items and dirty dishes slowed me down and I didn't stop the timer every time, but I still managed to make this meal in JUST over 30 minutes (if you're making rice, you may need an extra 3-5 minutes to get that measured and set up).

So, even if you're less than speedy in the kitchen, like me, you can have this dinner on your plate in just about half an hour.

Today's recipe comes from Sue at Couscous and Consciousness. I was assigned her blog for this month's Secret Recipe Club reveal, and had so much fun browsing through her delicious recipes. (I was also excited to read that Sue is a yoga teacher. I love yoga and have been trying to do at least a few sun salutations every morning. I wish I could take a class with Sue, but she lives in New Zealand, so it would be quite a commute.)

Sue's food is colorful, creative, and usually on the lighter side, so there were a lot of tempting options to choose from. She also has many internationally inspired dishes, which makes browsing her site really fun. For this month's reveal, top contenders included bengali aloo with lemon turmeric aioli, roasted apricot gelato, and plum and cardamon cake. Even though I'm not much of a salad person at all, I also found myself wanting to try this salmon with green tea soba noodle, broad bean, and radish salad and this watermelon and feta salad with preserved lemon dressing.

Pan-Seared Salmon with Capers and Baby Artichokes

Were you a picky eater as a kid? I was pretty much the worst. The only vegetable I would eat was broccoli, and it had to have cheese on top. Everything else I deigned to consume was white or golden brown in color: chicken fingers, macaroni and cheese, grilled cheese, french fries, and pizza without tomato sauce (read: dough with cheese). I wanted slices of American cheese melted on top of almost all my food. It was actually called "Becky cheese" over at my dad's, where no one else ate it.

I remained picky through high school, when I invented a white pizza with broccoli and two kinds of cheese at my favorite local pizzeria. My friends and I called it "Becky pizza", and it was fabulous (I still think something like it should be added to the menu).

I'm proud to say that things have really changed. Today I'll try almost anything, and there are very few foods I don't enjoy. However, until a couple of months ago, salmon was still on my "no" list. I found it too fishy, and something about its orange-pink hue didn't sit well with me.

Recently I worked on a project where I had to make several salmon recipes. To my surprise, I ended up loving them! The key for me is to really crisp up the skin (and brown the other side as well) and serve the salmon with a flavorful sauce.

Crispy Chicken with Spring Vegetables

Remember when Dorothy threw a bucket of water on the Wicked Witch of the West? And the witch screamed in agony: "I'm melting! Melting! Oh, what a world!" 

As I walked to the train station yesterday afternoon, I could almost hear my city's dirty snow screaming the exact same thing. Boston is not free of snow yet, but we sure have a lot less of it.

The thaw seemed like my cue to start celebrating spring in the kitchen by making a dish with bright green veggies. For the protein I went with crispy chicken thighs, because truly crispy chicken skin is the best thing ever. Ben only likes skin-on chicken when it's as crunchy as possible and not moist at all, so I practiced and practiced and now have my routine for chicken-crisping down pat.

Here's how you do it: sear the chicken skin side down in a very hot skillet for a little longer than it seems like you should, and then flip it over and finish it in a 450 degree oven. While the chicken roasts, you'll have just enough time to fry some bacon and chop your veggies. Then, while the chicken rests, the vegetables cook in the fat from the chicken infused with a bit of lemon.

Pan-Seared Chicken, Orange, & Walnut Salad

Next Friday is the one-year anniversary of my very first blog post (note the cringe-worthy photos).  Even though I didn't know much about blogging back then, I totally stand by that first recipe--the lemon curd is so delicious.  It's amazing that this site, which is such a big part of my life now, didn't even exist just one year ago.

To celebrate, I made us a salad.  If you don't think a salad is the proper way to celebrate a blogiversary, you're right--I don't think of salads as celebratory, either.  I totally have plans for an over-the-top grain-free cake for next week, but thought I would balance things out by making this nutritious salad first.

My favorite part of this salad (other than the gorgeous hue of the Cara Cara oranges) is the creamy dreamy dressing.  I'm pretty boring with dressings, and usually just make a simple balsamic vinaigrette, perhaps with a touch of honey or Dijon mustard if I'm feeling fancy.  However, I do have a soft spot for rich, creamy dressings.  I wondered if I could make a great creamy dressing without any dairy, so that people with allergies (or people doing a Whole30 or strict paleo) could eat it.

Pumpkin Soup with Crispy Shallots (Whole30 Day 11)

My mom got me a sugar pumpkin to use as a centerpiece for Thanksgiving, and it's been cheerfully sitting on my windowsill ever since.  It still looked perfectly fine to me (turns out pumpkins last 8-12 weeks), so the other day I decided to roast it.  If you have a pumpkin kicking around your house, you should, too!  Then you can make this soup.  Roasting is much better than rotting, which is what will happen if you put off roasting your pumpkin for too long.  Why waste a source of delicious food?  While you're at it, roast the seeds, too.  I tossed mine with ghee and sprinkled them with garlic powder, salt, pepper, and sage, and they were amazing!

If you already got rid of all your pumpkins, don't despair.  Canned pumpkin is available in stores year-round, and will work just fine in this recipe.

Pumpkin is great, but the real star of this soup is the humble shallot.  When you fry shallots for a long time over  low heat, they turn a wonderful shade of golden brown and develop an even richer savory flavor.  After that, when you let them dry on paper towels, they crisp up.  Not like potato-chip crispy, but a wonderful kind of chewy-crispy--and they're WAY more delicious than potato chips.  You may want to make extra, because with a little salt sprinkled on top, they're pretty much better than bacon.

Prepping a Week of Paleo Breakfasts (Whole30 Day 9)

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-Becky

Looking for something to bring to a cookout?  Check out these 10 Paleo Recipes for Summertime Celebrations.

Guys, I am going back to school next week!  Part of the reason I picked January for my Whole30 is that I knew having the first two weeks of the month off would help me get myself on track with my new eating plan before having the stress of school, work, and clinic added on.  Everything has been going smoothly so far, but it's about to get a lot harder.

The key to sticking with the Whole30 throughout a busy work week is planning and preparation.  This weekend I'm planning to make big batches of a few different meals so I can bring leftovers to school for lunch, and even eat leftovers some nights for dinner if I'm too tired to cook.  However, even though I occasionally enjoy a good dinner for breakfast, most mornings I want something a little more traditional.

So, today I'm sharing my plan for prepping a week of paleo breakfasts.  These ideas are perfect if you're doing a Whole30, but are also just great if you have a goal to start each day with a healthy breakfast.  Most of these ideas do require you to get up and cook, but it should only take about 10 minutes, and for a nutritious & tasty breakfast, it's worth it.

Caramelized Shallots (Paleo, Gluten-free, Vegetarian)

Ben and I are hosting Thanksgiving this year!  My mom is coming, and so are several of my friends from school whose families are too far to visit during our short break.  I have never hosted Thanksgiving before, and I'm a little nervous!  Ben is going to make the turkey, which I guess is the hardest part, but I'll still have lots of work to do making appetizers, sides, and dessert.

I tested two Thanksgiving sides today--these caramelized shallots, and a roasted garlic, squash, & rutabaga puree (coming soon).  They were both delicious!  I served them alongside these pork chops from Simply Recipes, and it was the best lunch I've had in a long time.  

I've been wanting to make these shallots ever since I first got my hands on Barefoot in Paris (I am a huge Ina Garten fan!).  They are amazing--sweet, tangy, salty, buttery, and beautiful!  I made a couple of changes to make the recipe paleo and reduce the fat a bit.  Ina also recommends leaving the roots attached to the shallots, but I trimmed mine before cooking because I wanted to be able to eat them without cutting anything off.  You could try leaving them on if you like--it does make for an elegant presentation.