Sticky Coffee Chicken

This sticky coffee chicken has a lot going on, from the fresh brewed coffee and the balsamic vinegar to the thick honey and the ripe tomatoes. You don’t really taste a definite coffee flavor but it does add a wonderful smokiness that enriches the sauce.

If you’ve been reading along here for a while, you know that I am a coffee drinker/lover from way back. One of my earliest memories is waking up at my grandmother’s house in New Iberia, Louisiana to the smell of her dark roast. Gram never was a very good sleeper so she was often up when it was still dark, puttering around in the kitchen. Her house smelled delightfully of wood polish and mothballs and rose soap. But in the morning, it smelled of coffee. She would heat milk in a small pot and add some coffee and sugar for a hot drink we called coffee milk. Café au lait.

When my girls were young, I knew that caffeine was not the best thing to give children but how could I deprive them of something so wonderful? We were living in France at the time so I found a decaffeinated instant coffee with chicory (yes, like New Orleans blend) that I mixed in their warm milk in the morning. Cajun children will have coffee milk!

I also love to cook and bake with coffee. You might have seen my rump steak with coffee-wine-balsamic glaze or the salted caramel macchiato muffins that made me write poetry or perhaps even my Liquid Cocaine muffins. Those guys are addictive, no kidding.

Love Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk? You’ll love these muffins that come with a pictorial tour of Vietnam as well. I like cold coffee too! How about some creamy coffee ice cream or coffee concentrate, perfect for making iced coffee quick and easy.

The list goes on but I’ll stop here to tell you that this week my Sunday Supper family is celebrating coffee as an ingredient because International Coffee Day is nigh. If you love coffee like we love coffee, you’ll want to scroll down and check out the list of wonderful recipes we are sharing. But first, make some sticky coffee chicken.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 lbs or 900g chicken thighs, bone in, skin on
Fine sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup or 240ml brewed coffee
1/2 cup or 120ml water, plus more as needed
1/4 cup or 60ml balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup or 60ml honey
1 large ripe tomato
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1-2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
10-12 baby plum tomatoes, whole (Mine weighed 8.8 oz or 250g.)

To serve:
2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
Freshly grated lemon zest from 1/2 lemon
Whatever fresh herbs you’ve got – basil, parsley, thyme, etc. All work well to give this dish a lovely fresh lift.

Method
Lightly season your chicken thighs with salt and pepper.

In a large oven-proof skillet, pan fry chicken in olive oil, skin side down, for about five minutes, or until lightly golden.

Turn the chicken thighs over and turn the fire off, leaving the chicken in the pan for now.

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Chop your one large tomato and measure out your other ingredients.

Remove the chicken to a plate and spoon out most of the oil in the skillet, leaving behind a tablespoon or two.

Add in the chopped tomato, coffee, water, honey, balsamic vinegar and tomato paste to the skillet, along with your crushed red pepper flakes.

Bring to the boil and cook at a low boil for about 5-7 minutes or until the tomato disintegrates and the sauce has reduced and thickened.

Remove from the heat and add the chicken back into the pot, skin side up. Spoon the sauce over the chicken and tuck the baby plum tomatoes in and around the thighs.

Pop the skillet into the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes. Check it at 15-minute intervals and add a little more water if it’s going dry. I added 1/2 cup or 120ml about 15 minutes in and then a splash more at half an hour.

When the chicken thighs are cooked through, remove the skillet from the oven. Sprinkle them with the lemon juice, lemon zest and some chopped fresh herbs before serving.

Enjoy!

Many thanks to our event manager, Shelby of Grumpy's Honeybunch and our host today, Wendy of Wholistic Woman for all their behind the scenes work. Check out all the fabulous coffee recipes our Sunday Supper tastemakers are sharing today.

Beverages

• Bulletproof Coffee My Way by Monica’s Table
• Caramel Turtle Mocha Frappe by The Weekend Gourmet
• Chocolate Chip Mocha Smoothie by Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Latte by Meal Planning Magic

Breakfast

• Apple Crumb Coffee Cake by Dessert Geek
• Banana Blueberry Streusel Coffee Cake by The Freshman Cook
• Cappuccino Overnight Oats by Pies and Plots
• Cardamom-Crumb Coffee Cake by Wholistic Woman
• Cinnamon Coffee Cake (Kaffee Kuchen) by Palatable Pastime
• Coconut & Coffee Gluten Free Scones by Caroline’s Cooking
• Coffee and Cream Cinnamon Buns by Cooking With Carlee
• Maple-Coffee Breakfast Sausage by Cricket’s Confections
• Pumpkin Coffee Cake by The Bitter Side of Sweet
• Pumpkin Spice Latte Breakfast Bites by Beauty and the Beets
• Whole Wheat Pecan Crumb Cake by Family Around The Table

Sides

• Dark Molasses Bread by What Smells So Good?
• Homemade Coffee Baked Beans by Grumpy’s Honeybunch

Main dishes

• Coffee and Garlic Rubbed Pork Chops by Casa de Crews
• Java Dry Spice Rub Chops by Sunday Supper Movement
• Salmon-Mandarin Salad with Asian Vinaigrette & Coffee Dressing by Asian In America
• Sticky Coffee Chicken by Food Lust People Love

Dessert

• Best Coffee Frosting by My World Simplified
• Bittersweet Cremeux with Coffee Caramel and Bourbon Cream by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Chocolate Chip Mocha Brownies by Crazed Mom
• Chocolate Coffee Nut Bark by My Imperfect Kitchen
• Coffee Toffee Crunch Cookies by Family Foodie
• Coffee Vanilla Ice Cream Pie by Moore or Less Cooking
• Cold Brew Affogato by Helpful Homemade
• Dark Chocolate Espresso Torte with Strawberry Coulis by Gourmet Everyday
• Eiskaffee (German Coffee with Ice Cream) by Tara’s Multicultural Table
• Espresso Brownie Cupcake Sundaes by A Mind Full Mom
• Mocha Cake with Mocha Rum Icing by Cosmopolitan Cornbread
• Mocha Layer Cake by That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Mocha Panna Cotta with Mascarpone Cream by The Crumby Cupcake
• NCR Cookies by Girl Abroad
• No Bake Mocha Cheesecake by Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
• Polish Black Cake with Whipped Mocha frosting by Hardly A Goddess
• Sweet Cream Affogato by The Redhead Baker

 Pin this Sticky Coffee Chicken!

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Honey Balsamic Carrots #BloggerCLUE

Roasting brings out the natural sweetness in carrots, which is complemented by a beautiful balsamic honey glaze. 

This whole year is already going by in a flash, a sensation that is further emphasized by how early Easter is. The liturgical calendar starts with the four weeks before Christmas with Advent as the first season. But as Easter must follow Passover - when Jesus celebrated the Last Supper - and Passover is determined by the first full moon after the vernal equinox, Easter moves around according to the lunar calendar. So there are logical reasons but that doesn't help me get over that rushed feeling. One the plus side, since it’s almost Easter and it's also Blogger C.L.U.E. Society time again, our clue this month is to look for recipes in our assigned blogs for the upcoming celebration.

Sew You Think You Can Cook is written by Lauren, who is one smart cookie and one fabulous wife and mother. She’s put her aerospace engineering career on hold to stay home with two button-cute boys and support her husband as he has been studying for his Masters. I am really not sure how, but she also finds the time to cook delicious dishes and share them on her blog. When I plugged Easter into her search bar quite a few things came up. It was hard to decide between the soft carrot cake cookies, her Easter Bundt Cake and her Citrus Roast Chicken with four different citrus fruits! That chicken was closely rivaled by her Strawberry Pork Roast. I finally settled on Lauren’s Honey Balsamic Carrots because I needed a delicious, flavorful side dish to go with the fish I was making for dinner - for yet another group blogging event. I can assure you they were an excellent choice.

Ingredients
6-7 carrots (Mine weighed about 1 lb 2.5oz or 525g) 1 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoon olive oil
Salt
Black pepper
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup or 60ml balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon butter

Method
Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C and line large baking pan with foil.

Peel your carrots, trim the ends and cut them into 1 in or 2 1/2cm pieces.

Pile up the cut carrots on a rimmed baking sheet and drizzle on the olive oil. Stir them around to coat.

Spread the carrots out so they aren't touching and sprinkle them with some salt and black pepper.

Roast carrots in your preheated oven for 40 minutes. Give them a stir halfway through.

When there are 10 minutes left on the timer, combine the honey and vinegar in a small pan.

Cook over a medium heat until the sauce is thick and getting really sticky. Keep stirring because you don’t want it to burn. A spoon dragged through the middle should leave a space that closes back up again slowly.

Remove from heat and stir in the butter until melted.

Pour the carrots in and then stir well to coat them with the glaze.

Enjoy!

Check out the other Easter dishes from the Blogger C.L.U.E. Society this month.

• Asparagus Tips with Cucumber Vinaigrette by Anna from annaDishes
• Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding with Rum Cinnamon Sauce by Rebekah from Making Miracles
• Cloverleaf Rolls by Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Grilled Lamb Chops Dijon by Sue from A Palatable Pastime
• Honey and Thyme Glazed Ham by Lea Ann from Cooking on the Ranch
• Honey Balsamic Carrots by Stacy from Food Lust People Love
• Jalapeño Cheddar Biscuits by Lisa from Authentic Suburban Gourmet
• Lemon Loaf by Lauren from Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Maple Bacon Braised Brussels Sprouts by Christiane from Taking on Magazines
• New Potato Salad Tartare by Kate from Kate's Kitchen
• Rosemary Cheddar Cornbread Muffins by Amy from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Sgroppino al Limon by Kathy from A Spoonful of Thyme
• Strawberry Shortcakes with Olive Oil Cake by Liz from That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Surprise Carrot Cake by Debra from Eliot's Eats
• Sweet Almond Pastry by Kathy from Bakeaway with Me
• The Muddler by Christy from Confessions of a Culinary Diva
  

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Rump Steak with Wine-Balsamic Coffee Glaze

Tender rump steak cooked to pink perfection and served with a delicious savory sauce with coffee, red wine, brown sugar and balsamic vinegar, so good you will have to stop yourself from eating the sauce with a spoon.

Coffee adds a wonderful smoky note to any marinade or sauce. Never mind just using it in sweet concoctions. Try it in something savory!
If you’ve been reading along here for a while, you know that I am a lover of coffee.  In fact, coffee has been known to bring out the poet in me, as evidenced by this post back in August of 2012, when I shared the following haiku.

Precious elixir

My good reason for rising

Coffee, always.  Yes!

I love to use it in muffins, like this one, and this one, and this one. Sometimes I just make actual coffee, like this post on how to make your own coffee syrup for the perfect iced latte anytime.

Ah, yes, my love of coffee is well documented. I offer as exhibit F, this birthday greeting, written in coffee beans by my elder daughter who was entrusted with my blog password when she created my lovely header and logo.

The point of this preamble is that you won’t be surprised to learn that my hand shot up when my friend, Jenni Field, of Pastry Chef Online, said that the publisher of a book with coffee recipes was looking for bloggers to review the book and try out the recipes. “Me, me, pick me!” I said, with gaiety and wild abandon, virtually speaking. Happy dance was actual. Because: Coffee!

There was a mix up and the hard copy of my book went missing – cue much sadness and despondency – but then, they sent me a pdf of the book and my world was suddenly better again. Because: Coffee!

While I didn’t get to hold the book in my hands, I did manage to make notes and “bookmark” several recipes I wanted to try. Patricia McCausland-Gallo is the author of Passion for Coffee (<affiliate link) and that passion shines through on each and every page. She tells the story of coffee like a romantic fairytale that came true for the world, starting with the discovery of the effects of eating raw coffee beans on animals, which made the humans take notice, to the roasting and enlarging on their essence through modern times.

The creative recipes use coffee in many imaginative ways, sweet, savory and in between, adding depth and richness, sometimes with just a hint of coffee and other times with a walloping bang that you don’t want to miss.

I can tell you that the coffee ice cream is fabulous and one day I’ll share that recipe as well, but for the book review and introduction of the giveaway, I wanted to jump outside the usual sweet comfort zone and try coffee in a savory dish. It was, in a word, exceptional. The defining factor for me, and one that is often discussed at length at the dining table when I try a new recipe is “Should I make it again?” The answer was a big Yes.

Rump Steak with Wine-Balsamic Coffee Glaze

The original recipe called for flank steak, which I couldn’t locate here so I substituted a similar cut, which worked beautifully. I also used espresso powder in place of the granulated coffee since that’s all the instant coffee I keep in the house.

Ingredients
For the steak:
2 lbs or 930g rump steak
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon freeze-dried or granulated instant coffee (or espresso powder)
1 tablespoon olive oil (I didn’t measure, just drizzled some in.)
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the sauce:
2 teaspoons freeze-dried or granulated instant coffee (or espresso powder)
3/4 cup or 180ml beef stock or broth
1/4 cup or 60ml red wine
1/4 cup or 60ml balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup or about 65g dark brown sugar
Beurre manié

For the beurre manié – to thicken the sauce – instructions here
2 1/2 teaspoons flour
2 1/2 teaspoons butter, softened

Method
Sprinkle the steak with thyme, black pepper and coffee and pop it in a Ziploc bag. Drizzle in the olive oil and give the whole thing a good massage from the outside.

Place in the refrigerator for a couple of hours or overnight to marinate.

About 15-20 minutes before you are ready to cook, remove the steak from the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature.

Meanwhile, measure the ingredients for your sauce into a large measuring cup and stir well to combine and to dissolve the brown sugar.

Make your beurre manié. (Check out the link in the ingredients list. It's really easy.) Set both aside.

Heat a heavy sauté pan over medium heat. (I used high heat because that’s how my stove works best for searing.) Season the steak with salt and sear for three to four minutes on each side.

Side one.

Side two.

Cover and cook for five more minutes. (I cut this back to two minutes because we like our steak very pink!) Remove from the pan and cover. Rest for 10 minutes before carving.

The microwave cover is very effective for this stage.

While the steak is resting, we can make the sauce. Add the sauce ingredients to the pan and scrape all the lovely browned bits left behind from the steak as you bring the liquid to the boil.

Now add your beurre manié a little at a time, whisking all the while, until it has all been added. Continue to cook the sauce until it thickens.

Add in the juices from the steak plate and whisk again. Try to stop drinking this sauce with a spoon. It’s futile, by the way.

Now slice the steak into thin strips, against the grain of the meat.

Serve with the warm sauce.

Enjoy!

Just to give you a taste of other recipes in this wonderful book, here’s a list of some of my favorite Passion for Coffee book tour posts so far:

• Café Bomba from Jenni at Pastry Chef Online 
• Cappuccino Brownies from Dionne at Try Anything Once 
• Coffee Curried Chicken from Meghan at Travel Wine Dine 
• Espresso & Almond Praline Ice Cream from Maria at Pink Patisserie 
• Mango Prosciutto Salad from Betty Ann at Asian in America 
• Pork Tenderloins with Dijon Mustard Sauce from Heather at girlichef 

*Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links to the book, Passion for Coffee. If you buy after clicking on my link, I make some small change from the sale and you are still charged the normal price. Win-win! I received a soft copy of this book for review purposes, with no other personal compensation. All opinions are entirely my own.

Roasted Butternut Squash with Balsamic Vinegar Honey Butter

Lots of recipes call for butternut squash to be peeled before roasting but I have found that the peel is actually quite tender and deliciously edible so I like to leave it on.  It adds fiber as well as flavor. 

After the indulgent recipes of Cookie Week, I am delighted to tell you that I’ve got an easy, healthy dish for you.  #SundaySupper is celebrating winter squash so I made one of our family favorites.  I’ve been roasting pumpkin and butternut squash for several years now, sometimes just drizzled with olive oil and a pinch of sea salt, and sometimes fancied up with spices (Cumin and/or cinnamon work beautifully!) or sprinkled with minced garlic with a pat of butter in the hole.  No matter the additions, it is always delicious.  And nutritious.  I hope you give it a try!

Ingredients to serve four
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon honey
2 small butternut squash (About 15 1/2oz or 440g each)
Sprinkle of sea salt flakes
Green onion tops for garnish, if desired

Method
Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C.

In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the vinegar, olive oil and honey with your two tablespoons of butter.  Melt your butter with a quick couple of zaps of perhaps 10 seconds each in the microwave and stir well to combine.

Cut the stem off of your butternut squash and then cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds.

Put your four halves in a baking pan and drizzle the vinegar honey butter mixture all over the squash.  Divide the remaining mixture between the wells in the squash.

Roast in the preheated oven until a fork goes in the thickest part quite easily.  This should take between 45 and 60 minutes.

Remove from the oven and sprinkle each butternut squash half with sea salt flakes.  Garnish with green onion tops, if desired.

Enjoy!

Roasted Golden and Purple Beets with Sauteed Greens

I am a lover of purple beets but had never tried golden beets. They remind me of parsnips and I would definitely buy and cook them again. Roasting seems to bring out the best in both colors.

These beets, greens attached, were bought at the farmer's market in Houston called Eastside. I love that place and go whenever I can. I originally posted this recipe along with the roast chicken a couple of weeks back but I decided to give it its own post, in case anyone is looking for a great way to cook beets. Seriously. Try roasting them. And don't waste the greens! They are delicious!

Ingredients
3 purple beets with greens
3 golden beets with greens
2 cloves of garlic
Olive oil
Sea salt
Black pepper

Method
Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C and grease a large baking pan with a little olive oil. 

Cut the greens off the beets and trim the stalks, leaving just the leaves. The stalks can be discarded or to the pot when you are making vegetable stock. 

Rinse the leaves several times in a full sink of water until you are sure all the dirt and sand are gone. Scrub the beets and rinse as well. Any dirt will make for a gritty mouthful so you want to clean these suckers longer than you would think necessary to make sure. 

Slice your garlic very thinly. 

 Cut the beets in half and put them in a bowl big enough to allow stirring and/or tossing. I left a little bit of the stalks on, because I think they look pretty.




Drizzle with olive oil, white or dark balsamic vinegar, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. By stirring or tossing, make sure the beets are completely coated.





Tip the beets onto it your prepared baking pan. Turn them to expose the cut sides and pop them into your preheated oven.





Meanwhile, heat a little olive oil in a skillet and gently fry the sliced garlic with a little olive oil. 

Add the beet greens and let them cook just a few minutes until they wilt. Add a little sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and cook a few minutes more. Spread the greens around on the serving platter and put the garlic slices on top.




After 15 minutes, turn the oven down to 350°F or 180°C and cook the beets until they are fork tender, turning halfway through so that the cut sides face the pan. I ran out of time for the beets because my chicken needed to be on a middle shelf. It was browning much too quickly up higher, with the beets down below, so I ended up taking the beets out after about 45 minutes and putting them back in their mixing/tossing bowl which was glass and microwaving their already well-roasted selves into fork-tenderness. You should cook them the whole time in the oven, if you can! 

Then I arranged them lovingly on the bed of greens. 

Absolutely delicious! A little sweet, a little salty and with the hint of balsamic still showing. This may even win over a non-beet person. 

Enjoy!