Chicken and Shishito Pepper Kebabs

One of my favorite little gems have started appearing at the market - shishito peppers. These sweet peppers may be small, but they pack a huge flavor punch. I tasted them for the first time last year, trying a few different preparation techniques. They are pretty versatile, like a bell pepper. Since last year, I have noticed that they are popping up in a lot of grocery stores now as well. The easiest way to cook shishito peppers is to sauté them in a hot cast iron skillet with oil and coarse sea salt. However, since it is grilling season, I figured a nice kebab was in order!

I like chicken kebabs since they hold up well on the grill and won't overcook by the time the vegetables are done. I decided to marinade the chicken a bit to add some additional flavor and the Hubby gave me the exact cooking instructions! If you include lemon juice in the marinade, be sure to NOT let it sit for too long. The oil, herbs and garlic make a great marinade as well though if you want to get a more flavorful kebab. Just drizzle the lemon juice on the kebabs before grilling.

If using wooden skewers, remember to soak them in water for at least 30 minutes before putting on the grill.

So head to your local Farmers Market in search for these sweet little gems and fire up that grill ya'll!

Chicken and Shishito Pepper Kebabs

Yields: 4 servings
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes


1 pound chicken breasts (skinless, boneless) cut into 1 inch cubes
1 pint Shishito Peppers

5 cloves garlic, minced

2 T Grapeseed oil or Olive Oil

2 teaspoons fresh thyme, chopped

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Salt and pepper 

In a small bowl, combine the garlic, oil, thyme, lemon juice and salt and pepper and mix well. Add the marinade into a large zip-loc bag along with the chicken, mix around well. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Prepare the grill for direct heat.

Skewer the marinated chicken and shishito peppers and grill in a single layer over direct heat. Cook the kebabs for about 5 minutes per side, covered, watching to not char the peppers too much. Remove the kebabs and let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Lite Chicken Salad

I am about to board a plane for Chicago (which is currently hosting 45 degree weather). I am bummed since we planned this trip hoping for wonderful Chicago Spring weather. Oh well, Jimmy Buffett songs ease all winter, rainy blues...

The weather is here, I wish you were beautiful!!

Even though I am heading for dreary skies, I am hopeful for a little bit of Spring weather, picnics and outdoor gatherings when I get back!

Our friends do a lot of potluck parties, or as I like to call them "salad" parties. All types of salads usually show up - potato salad, macaroni salad, fruit salad, green salad and the ever-so-popular, chicken salad.

Chicken salad might be something easy to make, but not in our house! The Hubby and I have completely different ideas of what chicken salad should taste like and how it should be made (i.e. ingredients). I like the crunch of veggies, flavor of fresh herbs and only a little bit of creaminess from yogurt. He likes the crunch from toasted nuts, flavor from fruit and A LOT of creaminess from mayonnaise. Do you see what I am dealing with here?!?!

Well, like all good wives (and chefs), I came to a compromise. I did a little research on chicken salad recipes and I decided to combine our taste cravings and make a new recipe. It is a bit different, but we both LOVE it! He asked me to make a larger batch next time so it would last longer.

I like to saute my chicken breasts (instead of boiling). It is a personal preference, but the chicken could easily be cooked in 

Chicken Salad

Yields: 4 servings
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes

1 pound cooked chicken breast, cubed (about 2 cups)
1/3 cup plain yogurt
2 tablespoons mayonnaise (I use lite)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup slivered almonds
1 cup red grapes, halved
2 tablespoon red onion, minced (soaked in water for 20 minutes)
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

Cook the chicken as desired and cool.

In a small bowl, mix all the ingredients except the chicken and parsley until well combined. Stir in the chicken and fresh parsley and refrigerate for at least 1 hour for the flavors to build. This is best if made the day before. 

Vegetable Tempeh Curry

Last year, Ryan and I started experimenting with Indian spices and flavors. Our favorite dish, which is also the most popular, is Tikka Masala. Unfortunately, this is not a very forgiving dish for the waistline. 

In true Jessica Kettler fashion, I embarked on a journey to recreate the recipe so my beloved husband and I can enjoy it and not feel so guilty!

Curry is a flavor that I am much more comfortable cooking with now after posting a few recipes on the blog:

• Curry Egg Salad
• Curry Broccoli Couscous
• Lentil Soup with Curried Brown Butter
• Moroccan Salad with Mango Yogurt Dressing

Searching through several recipes didn't leave me with a good sense of basic ingredients that I could easily substitute for healthier ones. I increased my search and came across a curry recipe on 101 Cookbooks that resembled the taste and texture of Tikka Masala sauce that I was looking to mimic. This was the perfect starting point since I love both Heidi's writing style and recipes. Obviously the biggest difference here is that there is no meat! I thought the tempeh was a great substitution for a veggie-friendly dish. However, chicken could easily be substituted in (see notes below).

Vegetable Tempeh Curry

Adapted from 101 Cookbooks recipe Yields: 4-6 servings
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes

4 cups of vegetables (suggestions: cauliflower, sugar snap peas, broccoli, zucchini, Brussels sprouts)
½ yellow onion
1 large shallot
1 T ghee (or butter)
1 T olive oil
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp curry powder
½ tsp turmeric
1 tsp cayenne (reduce amount for less heat)
1 15.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes (no salt added)
¼ cup water
2 tsp red curry paste
½ tsp salt
¼ cup plain Greek yogurt
2 Portabella mushroom caps, cut into ½-inch pieces
8 ounces tempeh, cut into ½-inch pieces

To prep ingredients, start with the vegetables. Steam the four cups of vegetables until almost to the desired doneness. 
In a small bowl, blend the cumin, curry powder, turmeric and cayenne.

In another small bowl, combine the red curry paste and water and stir until well combined. 

In a large skillet, melt the butter in the olive oil, add the onion and shallot. Cook over medium heat until slightly translucent, about 7 minutes. Stir in the spice mixture, then after about 30 seconds, stir in the tomatoes, red curry water mixture, and ½ tsp salt. Remove from heat, stir in the yogurt and blend with a hand blender. Note: you might need to transfer it to a bowl to puree, then return it to the skillet.

Once the curry is back in the pan, add the mushroom and tempeh and bring to a low simmer. Let this cook for 5 minutes and then stir in the steamed vegetables until everything is coated in the curry sauce. Cook another 5 minutes covered on low heat.


Note: If using chicken, sauté in the large skillet with heated olive oil until mostly cooked through. Remove from the skillet and set aside. Don't wash out the skillet and then melt the butter in the olive oil and cook the onions and shallots.

This can be served over fresh spinach, quinoa, couscous, any type of rice or with a toasted piece of naan.

Wing (End)Zone

This is our precious goddaughter, Avery. And she is ready for some football! Much like many of our other friends that came over the other weekend for opening football weekend!! Ryan and I figured we would go all out and make wings. We decided on three different kinds and put out the usual carrot and celery with ranch dip. All of our guests contributed to the food supply as well.

Normally I don't recommend trying a new recipe for a party, but wings sounded so delicious and with Ryan's grilling skills, I knew we would pull through! We not only tried a new recipe for our shin-dig, we tried grilling wings for the first time. Let's just say, touchdown!!

Wings are one of those dishes that we previously would have only ordered in a restaurant because they are more hassle than delicious. I am not a frequent wing-eater either, mostly because they are deep fried and don't agree with my stomach. However, my husband LOVES wings, possibly one of his favorite foods (along with Ranch dressing and Bojangles). He always seems to find an excuse to go out for Wing Night with the boys. 

He prefers the buffalo sauce, which is my least favorite! Here we are again folks, at the culinary crossroads to find something we agree on...not only on the "sauce," but the method of cooking. 

Frying was definitely not going to happen. From the day we said "I Do," it was clear that nothing would be fried in my kitchen! So I gave him the buffalo sauce in exchange for not frying. We then agreed on two other flavors - Sweet and Spicy and Stout Jerk. We looked for recipes that called for grilled wings, which was hard to find! Most recipes call for baking or frying the wings.

We followed the Sweet and Spicy recipe from Serious Eats exactly but altered the Stout Jerk one from The Beeroness slightly. And, just for my beloved, we grilled plain wings to cover in buffalo sauce :)

For the Sweet and Spicy wings, hop over to Serious Eats and try out this recipe (my personal fav of the day). 

For the Buffalo wings, we simply marinaded chicken wings (and drumsticks) in pepper, salt and olive oil for a few hours, grilled them and then poured our favorite wing sauce on top.

And finally, the Stout Jerk Chicken wings recipe which we got from The Beeroness. We decided to grill them instead of baking and they turned out fantastic! Side note about The Beeroness blog, it is awesome! She uses craft beers in all of her recipes. The girl really knows how to cook! I will definitely share more of her recipes in the future since my husband keeps begging me to make them. You might recall his love of craft beers from this post.

Stout Jerk Chicken Wings

Adapted from The Beeroness, Inspired from Blood, Bones & Butter
Yields: 6-8 servings (appetizer portion)
Prep Time: 2-24 hours (depending on marinade time)
Cook Time: 15-25 minutes

1/2 cup stout beer (we used Stone Imperial Stout)

4 small Habanero peppers, seeded and roughly chopped

6 cloves of garlic, peeled

3 tablespoons ponzu sauce (Asian citrus sauce)

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon dry mustard powder

2 teaspoons Chinese 5 spice powder

1 teaspoon black pepper

3 tablespoons shallots, finely chopped

1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon sea salt

3 pounds chicken wings and thighs

Add all of the ingredients except the chicken into a food processor and mix until smooth.

Rinse the chicken in water and pat dry. Place into a large heavy duty Ziploc bag. Pour the marinade over the chicken and seal the bag tightly. Gently move the chicken around in the marinade to evenly distribute. Place the bag into a large baking dish and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight. Move the marinade around and flip the chicken every 2 or 3 hours to redistribute the sauce.

Once ready to cook, remove the bag from the refrigerator 30 minutes prior to grilling. Heat a charcoal grill to medium-high heat, creating a direct heat side and an indirect heat side (by placing coals on one side of the grill).  Grease the grill grates (can use the half onion dipped in olive oil method that Ryan uses).

Place the chicken wings and thighs on the indirect side, cover and cook until the skin starts to brown, anywhere between 7-15 minutes (depending on the size of the wings). Move the wings to the direct heat side of the grill and continue to cook until the skins have crisped, another 2-3 minutes. Depending on the size of the wings, you might want to remove one wing and test to make sure the chicken is cooked through before removing all. Once the chicken is cooked through, remove the wings from the grill and place on a large serving dish with plenty of wet naps on the side! Delicious!

*Tip from the Grill Master

After reading this post, I received a lovely email from our close friends, the London's. You might remember them from this post. Anyways, Hal is by far one of the best Griller's I know of and he adds a few steps when grilling chicken wings:

When you remove the wings from the grill, toss them in a large mixing bowl with your favorite BBQ or wing sauce and then put them back on the grill to "set" the sauce. This creates a few crispies on the skin according to Hal. Another plus, is it helps keep the wings a little less messy. 

We are certainly going to try this next time we grill wings Hal and Sandy. Thanks for the feedback and for following the blog :)

Light Cajun Alfredo Sauce

My husband and I have been together for over 8 years and I can honestly say, I have never made Alfredo sauce for him, which is his favorite. I know, bad wife! I've never been a fan of cream sauces or making Alfredo sauce at home (usually I just get store bought and heat separate sauces for our pasta). 

Alfredo on the Light Side

In an effort to try to come up with a lighter version of Alfredo and one that I would enjoy as well, I thought about adding some spice.

4th of July Recipe Ideas

The nation's birthday, a day to get together with friends and family in your most patriotic outfit and grill while you drink fun cocktails and watch your neighbor set off fireworks from his driveway. I couldn't think of a better day! This year, the holiday falls in the middle of the week, so planning ahead is a must. There is a recipe on KettlerCuisine for every culinary need this holiday.

Side Dish Ideas

Most are probably either hosting a cookout, attending one or packing a picnic. Side dishes tend to be abundant for the July 4th holiday. Since the host of the celebration usually takes care of the main course (i.e. meat), guests are always asked to bring a side to share. Here are some of our favorites from the blog:

• Kale Salad
• Roasted Vegetable Couscous
• Roasted Grapes with goat cheese
• Caramelized Fennel and Pancetta Salad - can also be an appetizer
• Fruit Salad
• Mango and Black Bean Salsa
• Grilled Romaine Salad

Master of Grill-ology

If you find yourself hosting a shindig, try the Buttermilk-Brined Pork Chops. These are the most tender and juicy chops you will ever eat, not to mention super easy to prepare AND ahead of time. Several of our friends have tried this recipe with other meats such as a pork tenderloin, chicken thighs or breasts and had equal success. 

Red, White and Blue Desserts

For something on the sweeter side, you can whip up the Chocolate Stout cake with macerated blackberries or top with other fresh summer berries. If you can still find good strawberries, go for the Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble or my grandmother's Strawberry Pie with fresh whipped cream. Whichever dessert you choose, be sure to include fresh summer berries not only for their sweet taste, but their resemblance to our nation's flag!!

Even though the weather is expected to be 100F in North Carolina on Wednesday, this won't stop us from enjoying food, fun and friends. What are some of your favorite July 4th dishes??

Beer Can Chicken

Imagine my excitement when Ryan asked if he could write a guest post on the blog for my birthday! How could a girl say no to that! He had already drafted the post and done all of the research on his topic, which of course is beer! If you know Ryan, you know that he loves good microbrews! He would definitely fall into the category of "beer-snob" :)

Over the weekend, we made a beer-can chicken, which I thought would go perfectly with his post. This was one of the first recipes Ryan and I made when we first moved in together. We figured it was about time to bust it out of the recipe book and make some updates, such as using my chili rub and a Belgian-Style Golden Ale from Triangle Brewing Company. I have included the recipe below. Enjoy the post!

Hubby Guest Post: North Carolina Breweries

Hey there!  Ryan Kettler here, aka “the husband” or “Hubby”.  You may have heard a thing or two about me on this blog and let me preface this article by saying, they’re all true. I love my wife very much. There are a lot of things I love about her, but right at the top of that list is the amazing food she cooks for me on a daily basis. I know you’ve read about some of these superb dishes on this very blog! I could not have chosen a better person to spend the rest of my life with!

One of my passions in life is great beer.  I’m not talking about any of the “Big 3” of Budweiser, Coors, or Miller.  Those beers are acceptable for 3 reasons; quantity, cost, and hot days. The beers I’ve grown to love are brewed in small, craft batches by microbreweries across the United States. These beers should be enjoyed in their own specific glass and should be sipped, not chugged, glugged, or bong’d. There’s a good reason behind this advice, most craft beers have an alcohol content of 6-13%, compared to the 3-4% range of the big 3. Don’t fall for the gimmicks of the big 3; wide-mouths, vortex necks, air holes, color-changing cans, etc.  If you haven’t noticed, most, if not all of these gimmicks have the same end-result in mind. DRINK MORE OF OUR CRAPPY BEER AT A QUICKER PACE SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO TASTE IT AND HAVE TO BUY MORE SOONER.

The “microbrewery revolution”, as I call it, is quickly sweeping over the nation. We’re very lucky to live in the Raleigh-Durham area as we’re spoiled with some awesome home-grown breweries such as Big Boss, Lonerider, Roth Brewing Company, Triangle Brewing Company, Carolina Brewing Company, and Aviator Brewing Company among others. North Carolina as a state is leading the "revolution" with new breweries opening all the time.  Here’s a map of all the breweries in North Carolina.

We’ve also been blessed to have some top-notch establishments open up in the area such as Bottle Revolution and Tasty Beverage Company in Raleigh and Sam’s Quik Shop in Durham. At these places, you we can purchase beers that you can’t normally find in the supermarkets at modest prices, much to the chagrin of my wife. :)

People in our wonderful state love good beer. They also love amazing food. The realization that beer is deliciously complex in flavor has been the impetus for many fine-dining establishments to start offering a beer list that’s often comparable, if not more impressive, than the wine list!

There’s a good reason for this.  The flavors found in craft beers run the gamut; from citrus, floral, smoke, chocolate, vanilla, coffee, oak, bourbon, chili, coconut and many more.  There has been much debate over what pairs better with food, beer or wine. It’s the battle of the beer-snobs vs. the wine-snobs. I, of course, am biased. I love beer with food. Not only because of the flavor, but also the price! You’ll typically save at least $3-4 by ordering a beer with dinner instead of a glass of wine.  Plus, you want to support your local economy, so don’t buy an overpriced California wine when you could buy a spectacular craft beer brewed right in your backyard!

So you want to try some beer with your food, but you don’t know where to start. I found this helpful chart that you should check out.

My personal favorite style of beer is the India Pale Ale or IPA for short. This style of beer was first brewed in England back in the mid 1800s with high amounts of hops, which are a natural preservative.  Since the beer could stay fresh longer after bottled, it could last the long journey to India, which at the time was a British colony. The hoppy/bitter flavor of an IPA is often times too intense for novice beer drinkers.  If this is the case for you, maybe you start with an amber ale, brown ale, or a kolsch.  All of these beers are much easier on the palette. 

I encourage you to be adventurous.  Try new beer, and try it often.  There are no 2 craft beers that taste the same, so you’re bound to find something you enjoy eventually. Cheers!

Beer Can Chicken

Yields: 4-6 servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes 
Cook Time: 70-75 minutes

1 4-5lb whole organic chicken

3 T of my chili rub (could also use Old Bay)
2 tsp olive oil (or butter)
salt and pepper
1 can of favorite beer (used Golden Ale)

Pull the chicken and can of beer out of the refrigerator about 30 minutes prior to roasting. Open the beer and pour out half into a glass. Preheat the oven to 350F and pull out a large baking dish.

To prep the chicken, first remove the giblets and and neck from the cavity (if came with the chicken). Rinse the chicken under water and pat dry. Rub the chicken all over with the olive oil (or butter) and then sprinkle the rub or spice of choice all over the outside of the bird. Be sure to get around the legs, wings and inside the cavity.
 

Lower the chicken onto the beer can, so that the can is inside the cavity and the chicken is standing upright (legs down). If the wings are not up against the chicken, cut a slit in the breast and stick them in there for more even cooking. Place the chicken and beer in a large baking dish and place in the center of the oven. Roast the chicken at 350F for 45 minutes.

Turn the pan around and cook for another 20-25 minutes until a themometer in the thickest part of the thigh reads 160F. When the chicken is finished, pull out of the oven and let rest on the counter for 10-15 minutes. Carefully remove the can from the chicken and discard. Slice the chicken and serve!

We made a quick mushroom-beer sauce to go with our chicken. Saute shallots in butter and add mushrooms. Saute these until the mushrooms cook down and release water. Add in beer, salt and pepper and reduce down. Yummy!

Crispy Rosemary Chili Garlic Chicken Thighs

Alas, we have another installment of Mama Rose Recipes! I know that most people don't think of chicken thighs as being a healthy meat, and I agree, it is not the best for you. However, this recipe has so much flavor going on, it is hard to resist. So we compensated with a salad and roasted vegetables as our sides.

While I was making dinner on Monday night, Ryan came into the kitchen and asked if he could help. As usual, I was multi-tasking like a champ and asked him to help put together the marinade for the next's nights dinner. He asked if it was the thighs and instantly got a huge grin on his face!

So needless to say, this is actually a dinner that we "both" made. His favorite part was shaking the mix around.

Moroccan Salad with Mango Yogurt Dressing

I love North Carolina. It is a beautiful state with both mountains and sea, but the unpredictable weather drives me nuts sometimes! We had a glimpse of spring; mid-70 degree afternoons and slightly cool nights. Landscapes started to bloom and turn green and the Farmer's Market showed the initial signs of spring produce.

Then out of nowhere, we get a cold, wet weekend to throw everything off. Determined to not ruin my spring-drive, I decided to make a fresh salad for dinner. I used a sandwich recipe that I had come across previously as inspiration for my Moroccan-style salad.

Since Ryan and I have a love for Indian cuisine, we always have mango chutney in our fridge. So if you don't have this on hand, you could easily replace apricot preserves for the dressing or replace the dressing entirely with your favorite.

Another thing worth mentioning is the caramelized onions. A few nights ago, I had some girls over for drinks and appetizers. I made caramelized onions as a tapenade to go along with a farm goat cheese and crackers. The night ended with leftover onions, which I decided to save for another use. Glad I did, because they were fantastic on this salad!

To make caramelized onions, slice 2 yellow onions (sweet onions) and saute them in a skillet with 2 T olive oil and pinch of salt for about 35-40 minutes, stirring occasionally. This seems like a long time, but you want to cook them over medium-low heat, so it takes a while for the natural sugars to come out and caramelize the outside. Here is what they should look like when finished:

Moroccan Salad with Mango Yogurt Dressing

Yields: 2 servings
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes

For the Chicken:

2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

2 teaspoons curry powder

1 teaspoon ground ginger 

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

salt and pepper to taste

3 tablespoons olive oil

For the Dressing:

2 tablespoons mango chutney

2 tablespoons buttermilk

4 tablespoons whole plain yogurt

For the Salad:

Romaine lettuce

Mixed spring greens

Red bell pepper, chopped

Caramelized onions

Pine nuts

Mango yogurt dressing (recipe above)

Combine the all the spices together with the olive oil and mix well. Rub generously on both sides of the chicken and set aside for up to an hour to marinate.
To make the dressing, combine the mango chutney, buttermilk and yogurt and mix well. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 400F and heat an oven-safe saute pan over medium-high heat. Saute the chicken breasts in the pan for 3 minutes per side, being careful to not burn the chicken. After sauteing, place the pan in the oven to finish cooking, about 10 minutes.

While the chicken is cooking, assemble the salad with romaine, mixed greens, red bell pepper, pine nuts and caramelized onions. Slice the finished chicken and place on top of the salad and drizzle with the dressing. Serve immediately.

The feeling of spring stays with you through the random cold nights in NC!