Crab Cakes with Lemon Garlic Aioli Sauce

I have a couple of good "Fourth of July" recipes waiting to be shared, but while I wait for my photos to upload, I wanted to go ahead and share this one. I have been slacking from the blogging world all weekend and I do apologize! :) My husband and I both are huge crab cake fans and it tends to be our appetizer of choice when we do go out. I'm always tinkering with them at home, trying to perfect my own recipe. These were good, and definitely worth making, but they were no where near restaurant quality. I'm on the lookout, so if you have a crab cake recipe that you love, please send it my way!

Crab Cakes
1 small/medium red onion, chopped
1 (6 ounce) can lump crabmeat, drained
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
1 cup dry bread crumbs

In a small saucepan, saute red onions until tender and lightly carmelized. Mix all ingredients together until well combined. In a medium saute pan, heat oil. Form the crab cake mixture into 4 patties, flattening slightly before placing in the hot oil. Cook each side until lightly browned. Serve with aioli sauce (recipe below).

Lemon Garlic Aioli Sauce
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon chopped chives
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl until well combined. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Source: Aioli sauce from www.foodnetwork.com

Chicken with Lemon Sauce

My sister was kind enough to prepare this meal for us right after my little girl was born. . . and I haven't been able to get it out of my mind since! I had so much fun making it the other night. I love that the chicken is breaded with a combination of flour and parmesan cheese-- it had such a delicate flavor, not at all too heavy. When I was at the grocery store, they had chicken breasts on sale, and one type of package had the chicken 'thin sliced'. It was a little bit more expensive, but was already perfectly prepared and cut my prep time drastically. (It wasn't so expensive that it wasn't worth the time saver!) If you can find your poultry this way, I'd highly recommend it with this dish. You want your chicken pieces to be very thin and this is a nice way to ensure that it is. (I went ahead and included Rachel's original directions in case you are using regular chicken breasts.) This is a nice meal for company also, as it really does present well.

Chicken with Lemon Sauce

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 cup all purpose flour, divided

3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

3 teaspoons salt, divided

1 1/2 teaspoons pepper, divided

2 eggs

5 tablespoons butter, divided

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 1/2 cups apple juice

3 tablespoons lemon juice

3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Flatten chicken to 1/4-inch thickness. In a shallow bowl, combine 3/4 cup flour, Parmesan cheese, 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. In another bowl, beat the eggs. Dip chicken into eggs and coat with flour mixture. In a large skillet, cook chicken in 2 tablespoons butter and oil over medium heat for 3-5 minutes on each side or until juices run clear. Remove and keep warm. In a small bowl, combine the remaining flour, salt and pepper; stir in broth until smooth. Add apple juice to the skillet, stirring to loosen any browned bits. Stir broth mixture and add to the pan. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1-2 minutes or until thickened and bubbly. Stir in lemon juice; cook for 1 minute. Add parsley and remaining butter; cook and stir until butter is melted. Serve over chicken. (I serve next to linguine and poured extra sauce over the pasta.)

Source: Rachel vs. The Kitchen

Roast Chicken Thighs with Potatoes, Artichokes, and Lemon

I only recently found the blog "For the Love of Cooking," and I am so happy that I did. Just glancing through it quickly, I found so many recipes that I knew I would be making in the very near future. This particular recipe had me so excited because it incorporates a lot of my favorite flavors all into one dish. I'm always seeing these great recipes using Fingerling Potatoes, but unfortunately do not see them often at our grocery stores. When doing my grocery shopping last week, I found a little bag of different Fingerling varieties. The colors were so amazing that I couldn't leave them on the shelf-- and thought they would be perfect in this dish.

I have to say that this might be one of my new favorite comfort foods. It came together much more easily than I would have imagined and was actually a pretty quick meal to prepare. Even if the chicken didn't taste as amazing as it did, I would be making it again just to make my house smell as wonderful as it did. I was practically drooling while waiting for it to come out of the oven.

Roast Chicken Thighs with Potatoes, Artichokes, and Lemon

3 tbsp olive oil (divided)
5 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of any fat
Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste
Dried basil, to taste
15 frozen artichoke hearts, thawed
15 fingerling potatoes, sliced in half lengthwise
1-2 cloves of garlic, sliced into thin slivers
Zest of one lemon and the juice
1 lemon sliced into thin slices
2 tbsp chicken broth
1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (garnish)

Heat a pot of water over high heat until it's boiling. Slice the fingerling potatoes down the center lengthwise then add them to the boiling water to par cook for 6-7 minutes. Remove from heat and drain water. Add the garlic slivers, lemon zest, lemon slices, artichoke hearts and 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the potatoes. Season with sea salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste, set aside.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Season the trimmed chicken thighs with sea salt, fresh cracked pepper and dried basil to taste. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in an OVEN PROOF SKILLET (I used my dutch oven as I wasn't sure whether or not my skillets were oven proof) over medium high heat. Once VERY HOT add the chicken thighs and cook for 3-4 minutes or until golden brown. Turn the chicken over and remove from heat. Add the potato and artichoke heart mixture to the pan. Place the skillet in the oven and roast for 15 minutes.

Mix 1 tablespoon of olive oil, juice of one lemon and 2 tablespoons of chicken broth in a bowl. Season with dried basil, sea salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste. Remove skillet from the oven and pour the lemon juice mixture over the top of everthing. Let the chicken rest for 3-4 minutes before cutting.

Source: For the Love of Cooking