Monday, April 19, 2010

Cast Iron Cooking


There really is nothing quite like cooking with cast iron. I have recently really started to educate myself on the benefits of cast iron and even begun my own little beginning of what I hope will be a large collection someday. My father always cooks with cast iron and has an awesome collection! He started with dutch ovens and branched out from there while I was busy collecting All Clad and Le Creuset. While I love those pans, you can't beat a good Lodge. They cook evenly and get HOT! I made the following two recipes for dinner and decided it just wouldn't be fair to keep them to myself. They beg to be shared.

Soy~Honey Chicken (baked)


6-8 chicken pieces (skinned and washed)
3T olive oil
1/4C honey
1/4C soy sauce
salt and pepper

Heat your oven and a 10" cast iron skillet to
400 degrees. Remove skin from chicken, wash and pat dry. Once the skillet is hot, arrange chicken to fit inside, drizzle with olive oil, honey and soy sauce then sprinkle with salt and pepper and return to oven to bake for 40 minutes. After 40 minutes, flip each piece over and continue to bake 15 minutes. The sauce will be dark and sticky.





Spinach and Mushroom Saute' with Parmesan

1 pound fresh spinach
1 pound baby bella mushrooms
1 clove garlic
3T butter
1/4C parmesan (I used fresh shaved)

Stove top: heat skillet and melt butter till bubbly and nearing brown. Add minced garlic and toss 30 seconds. Wipe and slice mushrooms and add to the hot skillet. Saute' 5 minutes (t
he mushrooms will darken and start to caramelize). Trim spinach and toss whole leaves into the skillet. Allow the leaves to wilt (approx. 4 minutes). Turn heat off and sprinkle with parmesan allowing it to rest about 2 minutes.









I
plated the chicken first and spooned the pan sauce all over the top then topped the chicken with the spinach and mushrooms.


8 comments:

  1. This looks delish! Soy honey? Yum! I am t-e-r-r-i-b-l-e at cast iron cooking. Just horrible! Need some serious schooling. Or, just need to stick to baking. ;)

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  2. I'm putting this on the menu for this week. The color of the chicken is gorgeous! Glad you shared it!

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  3. I am all over that spinach and mushroom saute! YUM!

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  4. I learned about the Lodge brand of cast iron recently. I picked a Lodge skillet up from Retro Rose downtown and have used it a few times for Fritatta. I love kitchen tools that get better with time and use, like a good wooden salad bowl; there is just something romantic about knowing the more you use them the more flavor you'll get!

    Thanks for giving me more reason to pull out the cast iron.

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  5. I've been considering finally getting a Cast Iron skillet after seeing lots of yummy recipes using it. Thanks for the recipes!

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  6. Tiff!! I am so proud of you! Your dish looks perfect, just perfect. I will be giving it a try and get back to you. Did I tell you that I was proud of you?

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  7. Thanks for the chicken recipe! It looks perfect for a beginner! :)

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  8. That spinach and mushroom dish looks great. My boyfriend is a really picky eater and won't touch spinach or parmesan cheese, though he like's mushrooms, so I may retry this with petite peas and only put the cheese on my serving.

    pickyeatersbeware.blogspot.com

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