Chicken Cacciatore-ish

I wanted to make a dish that would use a lot of the vegetables I had in the fridge. I wanted it to be colourful and hearty. I first thought of stir-fry because my husband always buys chicken thighs that are already cut up so it's easy to cut them into chunks and fry them up. But I really wasn't feeling it, so I went to my cookbook shelf. I saw Giada's Everyday Italian and picked it up. I was really looking for a sauce idea to either marinate or cook the chicken in, but didn't find much. I did see her cacciatore recipe though and that became my inspiration. As usual, I don't really measure my seasonings, so these are my approximations below - adjust to suit your tastes. We ate this over jasmine rice - very yummy. If you like more kick, add cayenne when you add the oregano or add more of it to the dredge mixture.

INGREDIENTS:
4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into chunks
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp each salt, pepper and paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 carrots, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 handful green beans, cut into thirds
Salt and pepper
1 tsp dried oregano
1 pkg (227g) sliced mushrooms
3/4 cup (red) wine
1 can diced tomatoes, with their juices
3/4 cup chicken stock

DIRECTIONS:
1. Mix flour, salt, pepper, paprika, cayenne pepper. Use this as a dredge to evenly coat pieces of chicken. Heat approx 3 tbsp oil (I used a combo of vegetable and olive oil) over medium high heat and sauté chicken in 2 batches; set aside.
2. If necessary, add more oil and sauté onions for a couple of minutes. Add carrots and garlic and sauté for 3-4 minutes. Add the red pepper and green beans - season with salt, pepper and oregano - and continue to sauté for another few minutes until onions are tender and other vegetables begin to soften.
3. Add the wine and deglaze the pan, making sure to scrape up all yummy brown bits at the bottom of the pan. Stir in the mushrooms and cover. Cook for 3-4 minutes until the wine is reduced. Add the tomatoes and chicken stock and give it a stir. Return the chicken to the pan, submerging them in the sauce and stir. Bring to a simmer.
4. Cover and let simmer for 20-30 minutes until chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender. Uncover and crank the heat to let it gently boil for a few minutes if the sauce needs to be thickened.
5. Serve over cooked rice, quinoa or even pasta!

This is what was leftover in the pan after we enjoyed our dinner. I was so hungry I forgot to take a picture earlier! ;-)

Raspberry & Lemon-Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Tomorrow is Greek Easter. I'm not Greek, but I did choose Greek people to be my daughter's godparents, so I guess we are honorary Greeks tomorrow. Easter is a big deal for Greek godparents (or so I've gathered from the stories), so my husband and I are very excited to take our daughter to her godparents' house tomorrow to celebrate her first (Greek, second ever) Easter with their family. I've already told her that she is so lucky to be able to celebrate Easter twice in one year. She gets to wear her Easter outfit that they got her again and that's awesome because she looks so adorable in it!

Anyways I've totally gone off topic. I'm supposed to be focusing on food here. And the reason for this blog entry is to share with you the recipe I will be bringing to their house tomorrow. Despite being told I don't have to bring anything, I want to. It's the least I could do to show my gratitude to them for being such awesome godparents and welcoming us into their family for this important holiday and always.

So I decided to make this coffee cake. I've made variations of it before and have always received good reviews. I almost couldn't find my recipe today, but after much searching it appeared. I can't remember where I got it, except that I remember it was from a book I took out of the library. So here it is....

FOR THE TOPPING:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
Grated zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

FOR THE CAKE:
1 3/4 cups all- purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups fresh raspberries (approx.)
2 tbsp icing sugar

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour a 10" round springform pan.

2. To make the topping, stir together the flour, sugar and zest. Add the melted butter and stir with a fork until the mixture is crumbly. Set aside.

3. To make the cake, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, sour cream, and vanilla until well blended. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the sour cream mixture. Beat until smooth and fluffy, a couple of minutes.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread it evenly. Cover evenly with the raspberries.

Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the berries.

5. Bake until the topping is golden brown, 40-50 minutes (my oven always takes almost 50 mins). A toothpick inserted in the centre should come out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 20 minutes.

Remove the sides of the springform pan. Dust with icing sugar. Serve warm or at room temperature.

TIPS: As the recipe is, you really shouldn't put lemon in the title. What I always like to do is add the juice of the zested lemon to the sour cream mixture. It shouldn't come to more than 1/4 cup. If the mixture is a little runny, you can always add another tbsp or so of sour cream. Continue with the recipe. I've also made this recipe with blueberries and it turns out just as phenomenal. Dusting the cake with icing sugar is also purely optional.