Mediterranean-style Layered Chicken in the Dutch Oven

This dish was inspired by a lot of Italian and Mediterranean flavors. The layering of the the ingredients helps to keep the flavors a bit more distinct, whereas they would be more blended if they cooked as a stew or casserole. It’s an easy to make one-pot meal, with meat, veggies, and dairy all mixed in. If you serve it with some bread sticks, you have your grain/starch right there. It was way yummy!

When I did this for my family, I sauteed some yellow and zucchini squash slices in another dutch oven as a tasty side dish.

Mediterranean-style Layered Chicken

12” Shallow Dutch oven
10 coals below
16-18 coals above

10” shallow Dutch oven
10-12 coals below

• 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast
• Salt
• Pepper
• Paprika

• 3x 14 oz cans diced tomatoes
• Oregano
• Parsley
• basil
• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic powder
• Cayenne (just a little)
• Lemon juice

• 1 lb ricotta
• 1/2 cup parmesan
• 2 medium Onions

• 2x 14 oz cans Artichoke hearts
• 2x 14 oz cans olives
• Fresh Parsley
• Green onions
• 16 oz grated mozzarella

While the coals were getting hot, I started by prepping the food for the layers.  I began by blotting the thawed chicken breasts dry, then cutting them into 1” cubes. I seasoned the cubes with the salt, pepper and paprika, which is my go-to meat seasoning.

Then, I made the tomato mix by opening up the cans of diced tomatoes and adding in all of the seasonings in the second set of ingredients. I was pretty liberal with the flavorings, except for the cayenne, and I tasted all along the way, just to make sure that the balance of seasonings was good. Next, I mixed the ricotta and the parmesan cheeses. I actually added some feta in, too, because we had some. After that, I sliced the onions (in circles).

The last prep step was to assemble the layers in the Dutch oven. I started by spreading about a third of the tomato mix over the bottom of the Dutch oven. Then, I added these layers, in order, assembling upward:

• Artichoke hearts (drained)
• Olives (drained)
• Chicken cubes
• Cheese mix
• Onion slices
• The rest of the tomato mix
• Minced fresh parsley/green onions
• And finally, a layer of shredded mozarella

Here are some pics:

Once it was all assembled, it was just a matter of putting it on the coals and baking it for about 45 minutes. I kept some fresh coals going in the chimney and replenished the coals on the oven about every 15-20 minutes.

While it was baking (in fact, when it was almost done), I put the 10” Dutch oven on the coals, with a little olive oil in it. I sliced a couple of zucchini and yellow squashes each, and tossed them into the heated oil to sautee with a little salt and pepper. I only cooked them for about 10 minutes or so, just long enough to get hot and a little soft, but still be crispy.

Then, it was ready to serve!

Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Dutch Oven Sweet & Savory Chicken

This week’s entry was born of convenience. I decided to cook outdoors, since the temperature was to be a balmy 40+ degrees F (that’s about 10 higher than “normal” here in northern utah for this time of year). So, I looked around to see what I could make. Chicken we had in abundance, but what, oh, what to do with it?

I thought of a few ideas, but nothing was really tempting me. I looked in the pantry and got a few thoughts going, and finally settled on a can of pineapple and a can of beans.

Hmmmm... Sweet, savory... It was starting to come together.

A few trips to google for some more ideas, and then we had a final result!

Dutch Oven Sweet & Savory Chicken over Rice

12” Shallow Dutch Oven
20+ coals underneath for sauteing, browning
16-18 coals above, 8-12 coals below for the final cook

8” Dutch Oven
8-10 coals below

Marinade:
1-2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Black pepper
1 tsp Paprika
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup soy sauce
Zest and juice of 3 limes

2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast, thawed and cubed

Vegetable oil
1-2 medium Onions, diced
4-5 cloves Garlic, minced
salt

2 15oz cans black beans
1-2 20 oz cans Pineapple tidbits
Liberal shakes of:
  Dill weed
  Paprika
  Oregano
  Parsley
Not quite as liberal shakes of:
  Cayenne pepper

3 cups chicken broth (or water, if you don't have broth)
1.5 cups rice

I started by mixing the ingredients of the marinade in a bowl. These measurements are approximate. Then, I cubed the chicken to about 1” cubes, and added the chunks to the bowl, stirring it up. Once the chicken is added, you could put in more honey, soy sauce, and juice to coat the chicken. I set all that aside for an hour or so in the fridge. You could soak it longer, even overnight.

Then, when I was ready to start cooking, I lit up a bunch of coals, and while that was heating up, I diced the onions and minced the garlic. I put my 12” dutch oven on the coals, as listed above, with a little oil, and let that heat up. Since I was going to saute, and then brown the meat, I wanted it to be pretty hot, at least at the start. Once the oil was a bit shimmery, I tossed in the onions and the garlic (if it sizzles a lot when you do this, you were hot enough. If it doesn’t sizzle, wait longer next time.). Then, I sprinkled on a bit of salt and tossed the onions. The salt helps draw out the moisture in addition to upping the flavor ante.

Then, after a few minutes, I tossed in the garlic. Garlic will brown quicker than onions, and can actually burn before the onions are done if you put them in at the same time.

Once the onions were nice and translucent, I put in just a bit more oil, stirred that up and tossed in the chicken. I stirred it frequently, getting it mostly cooked. It doesn’t have to be FULLY cooked through, though, because you’ll be baking it in the final step.

Once the chicken was cooked on the outside, I added the beans and the pineapple (you can adjust the amounts based on how big your Dutch oven is, how much chicken you used, and how many you’re feeding.  Then, I added in all of the flavorings, put on the lid, and adjusted the coals for the final cooking stage, some on top and some on the bottom. From then on, I only had to stir it occasionally, and check the taste for the adjustment of the seasonings.

While that was cooking, I put the broth and the rice in the 8” Dutch Oven, and set it on its own coals. In this blog entry, I talk about how to cook rice accurately every time!  The other chicken recipe is also great and something you might want to do sometime!
Once it was all cooked, it felt a bit too liquid-y to me, so I took the lid off and piled fresh coals underneath and simmered it for a bit to reduce the liquid. You could also sprinkle in some cornstarch and stir, too.

Finally, I served it up on the plate of rice with a bit of salad on the side! It was amazing!

Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Dutch Oven Balsamic Garlic Chicken with Asparagus

After doing a really fun Dutch oven demo for a good friend and his friends, I got excited again. It’s actually been a while since I’ve done Dutch oven in my own backyard. Between that fun demo, and my newest book, I’m getting stoked to start doing it with regularity again!

This recipe was really easy. We had some extra frozen chicken breasts, and I thought I’d use them up. I did a quick google search for recipe ideas, and one came up for a Balsamic Vinegar marinade. Well, that sounded yummy, so I tweaked it up based on what I had on hand, dressed it up with some veggies and asparagus, and here it is!

Dutch Oven Balsamic Garlic Chicken with Asparagus

12” shallow Dutch oven

10-12 coals below
18-22 coals above

The Marinade

6-8 chicken breasts (no skin), thawed (1-2 per diner)
1 cup balsamic Vinegar
Zest of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup water
1 medium onion, grated
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
Herbs and spices to your tastes (Here’s about what I used)
~1 Tbsp dried Oregano
~1 Tbsp dried Parsley
~1 tsp salt
~1 tsp pepper
~1 tsp paprika
A shake or two of chili powder or crushed red pepper flakes

The veggie base

1-2 medium onions, in chunks (see below)
3-4 medium potatoes, cubed
2 sweet peppers, sliced

~1 lb fresh asparagus

So, the night before I made the marinade. I put the liquids into a zip-top baggie and mixed them up. I wanted to onioniness to permeate the flavors, so I thought first of dicing it. But then, I peeled it, halved it and used a cheese grater on it. It turned into a very liquidy mush and it helped get the flavors into the chicken.

Then, I added the spices and flavorings and the chicken and mixed it all up. I shook and massaged the bag to make sure that all of the chicken was well covered.

When it was time to cook the next day, I started by lighting up the coals. While those were getting white-edged, I cut up the peppers, potatoes, and onions. When I do onions in chunks, I cut them in half, and then quarter each half. That makes nice wedges that are big enough to help lift the chicken above the bottom of the Dutch oven, but small enough to bite. I tried to make the potato pieces a similar size.

Assembling this dish for cooking is very simple. I tossed the veggies into the bottom of the pot and stirred them up just a bit. Then, I opened the bag of the marinaded chicken and layered those pieces on top of the veggies. Finally, I topped the lid and put it on the coals.

It cooks pretty quickly. I think that within about 40 minutes it was ready. At about 30 minutes or so, I snapped off the stringy ends of the asparagus and tossed them in on top of the chicken. The idea is to just let them steam and get that nice, rich, green color, and enhance the flavor. They should still be crunchy when they’re done. If you grab one by the end and hold it level, it shouldn’t droop. If it does, it’s been cooked too long.

Serve 1-2 of the breasts with the cooked veggies on one side and 3-4 asparagus sprigs on the other. It’s a beautiful, impressive, and delicious dish!

Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Dutch Oven Curry Mint Chicken

I’m honestly not really sure where the inspiration for this dish came from. My son, in his culinary classes in high school, had to learn how to and practice carving up a chicken (called “fabricating”). He had shown me one way to do this about a year ago, but this time, he’d learned a way with some slight variations. He showed me this new way, and I took pictures along the way, so I’ll probably include all that here in the blog eventually. It’s a very useful skill to have.

So, of course, as he was practicing these skills, we had a bunch of chicken on hand that needed to be used for something, right? Not gonna throw it away, right?

12” shallow Dutch oven
10-12 coals below
16-18 coals above

Whole chicken, cut up or about 3-5 lbs of chicken parts
Salt
Pepper

1 1/2 - 2 cups plain yogurt
1 Tbsp Curry powder
~ 1 Tbsp Garlic powder
~ 1 tsp Salt
a few shakes Chili powder
~1/4 cup chopped fresh mint leaves

Onions
Potatoes

The first step is to prepare the meat.  If you’re cutting up a whole chicken, that would probably take about a half hour. Since the breasts were the largest pieces of the chicken, I cut each one in half, so that it was about the same size as a thigh. Once it was all cut up into pieces, I made sure they were dry, and seasoned each piece with salt and pepper. I set these aside.

If you don’t carve up a whole chicken, you can just use packaged breasts, thighs, or other pieces. You can use frozen chicken pieces, too, but make sure that they’re well-thawed and patted dry. Then season them and set them aside.

The next step was to mix up the baste. I started with the yogurt. Someday, I’d like to try this with greek-style yogurt, because I really like the texture. But this particular week, I didn’t like the price, so I just went with generic plain yogurt. I mixed in the curry powder and stirred that in. Different manufacturers make different curry powders. Some are more yellow, others, more red. Some are hot, some are more mild and zingy. You can adapt to whatever you’ve got as long as you taste along the way. Then, I added the other spices and flavorings, stirring and tasting as I went.

Decide in advance how hot you want to result to be, and shoot for that level with the chili powder. Be cautious with it. Add a little, taste, then add a little more, etc... Be aware that the yogurt will cool the capsaicin a little, so the heat will come on kind of as an after taste.

Finally, be liberal with the mint. That adds a rich coolness to the tang of the yogurt and the spice of the curry and chilli powder.

Then, I went out and lit up the coals.  While they were getting glowy, I chopped up the onions and potatoes into 1” sized chunks and tossed them together into the Dutch oven. They’ll be delicious, and will lift the chicken up out of the juices that will gather at the bottom.

The last step is to layer the chicken pieces over the onions and potatoes, and the thickly slather the yogurt mix over the top of the chicken. Close up the lid, add the coals above and below and begin baking.

I cooked them until they were at an internal temperature of about 175℉. Chicken is actually safe to eat at around 160, but if you cook it longer, it falls off the bone more, and is more done. It won’t dry out in a Dutch oven, because the heavy lid traps the moisture. It took about 40-50 minutes for it to be done. About half-way, I put on more baste.

In the end, it was delicious! The leftovers the next day were even more flavorful, as the herbs absorbed deeper into the yogurt.



Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Simple Dutch Oven Roast Chicken

Roasting a chicken in a Dutch oven is a very easy thing to do. It looks complex but it’s not. The end result is delicious and an easily feed a family, probably even with a little left over.

I did this a couple of weeks ago, and reminded myself how wonderful and impressive this is.


12” Deep Dutch oven
10-12 coals below
14-16 coals above

1 whole chicken (thawed, if you bought it frozen)

salt
pepper
paprika
dried parsley
dried rosemary
dried sage
a touch of crushed red pepper
oil

2-3 large potatoes
2-3 medium to large onions.

1 14 oz can green beans (optional)
1 14 oz can whole corn (optional)


First, I got the coals lit, and let them start to get white and hot. Then, I got the chicken ready.  I opened the package and let the chicken drain. I rinsed it off, then padded it dry with paper towels. poked the skin over the breast and the legs with holes so that the juices and flavors could penetrate the meat.

I sprinkled on the seasonings of the second set of ingredients, then drizzled on a little oil. I rubbed that over the surface of the chicken. I don’t list amounts here because I didn’t really pay attention to that as I was sprinkling them over the bird. Just be liberal. Except with the red pepper. Be more cautious there, if you don’t like heat.

If you’re the more precise type of chef, you could mix the spices as a blend first, tasting along the way, to get the exact blend you want.

Then, I cubed up the potatoes and the onions into 1” or 3/4” blocks and tossed them into the bottom of the Dutch oven. This will help flavor the dish, and lift the chicken up above the heat and the juices as it cooks. Plus, the potatoes and onions make great sides to add to your plates.

I put the dutch oven onto the coals, and started cooking. This is a fun kind of cooking, because I sit there and watch the coals burn. All the while, I can tell people, “Don’t bother me, I’m cooking.” Great times. Actually, it’s not a bad idea to stay with it, because you’re going to need to replenish the coals from time to time.

I cooked it for about 2 hours, total. I cooked it to an internal temperature of 175-180. In a traditional indoor oven, cooking it that long will usually dry it out. But in a Dutch oven, the juices are all trapped under the heavy lid. I cook it that long because then not only is the meat done and tender, but it also falls off the bone and the connecting tissue is broken down.

If you want some veggies as a side dish, the easiest way to do that is to drain a can of green beans and a can of corn, mix them together and pour it around the sides of the chicken when there’s only about 15-20 minutes left in the cooking.

An even better option would be to use fresh beans and fresh corn. If you do that, snap the beans, and shuck the corn. You could either cut the corn off the cob, or break the cobs into short lengths. If you use fresh veggies, add them when there’s 30-45 minutes left in the cook time.


Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Dutch Oven Artichoke and Veggie Chicken

My wife and I recently got invited to attend an awards dinner. Unfortunately, we weren’t the ones receiving any awards. Oh, well. Someday, I’ll get to thank the Academy and all the little people that have helped me along the way...

:-)

But the dinner was great! It was this delicious chicken breast surrounded by veggies. It had a bit of citrus and acidic twang to it, too. So, I thought I’d give it a try in my Dutch ovens, along with some variations. These mostly come in the form of the various veggies you can add in, depending on what you’ve got.

I decided to serve it all on a bed of brown rice, which was also different from the formal dinner we attended.

12” Dutch oven
24+ coals below for searing stage
10-12 below for baking stage
24-26 above

8” Dutch oven
12+ coals below

6-8 boneless skinless chicken breasts (we buy them frozen in a bag). Make sure these are well-thawed.
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Paprika
Garlic powder
Dried parsley
Dried oregano
2-3 medium to large potatoes
1-2 medium to large onions

Vegetables to put on top
1 bottle or can (about 14oz) brined or pickled artichoke hearts
15-20 cherry tomatoes
2-3 stalks celery
2-3 carrots

1-2 lemons

2 cups brown rice
4 cups water
a cube of chicken bullion
salt

The first step was to prepare the chicken, which I did while the coals and the Dutch oven were getting hot. I made sure that the chicken was well-thawed, and pat dry with paper towels. One problem with chicken breasts is that the middle is much thicker than the edges, so it’s a little more difficult to regulate the cooking. If I were to do this again, I would pound the chicken a little thinner with one of those meat tenderizer mallets. Not so flat like you do for a cordon bleu or some other kind of roll-up, but just so that it’s not so thick in the middle.  Then I drizzled on some oil, and rubbed in the spices and herbs, onto both sides.

I put a lot (a couple of dozen) of coals underneath my Dutch oven, and I let it get really hot with a little oil drizzled on the bottom.

Once it was hot, I set in 3-4 of the breasts and let them sear a little on each side. Then, I pulled those out, let the Dutch oven heat up again (you might even want to replenish the coals) , and I finished the remaining 3-4 breasts. They should have a little brown and the spice rub should be nicely cooked on. It’s OK if it’s not cooked all the way through, though. We’re going to bake it still.

Then, I set up the Dutch oven with the coals configured for baking (the second set of numbers above). I cubed up the potatoes into large chunks about 3/4” to 1” big. Then I cut up the onions into big 1/8th chunks. By that, I mean, I cut each onion in half, and then each half into quarters. All of these got tossed into the bottom of the Dutch oven and stirred up a bit, to coat with the oil.

On top of that, I layered the browned chicken breasts, and I arranged them so that they were overlapping as little as possible. I put on the lid and put on the coals for baking.

Then I started slicing up the other veggies. They should be sliced thin, on the bias, if possible, so that there isn’t much thickness and they can cook more quickly. I chopped and diced the artichoke hearts coarsely, just to make the bits a little smaller. I cut the cherry tomatoes in half once. Then, I scattered all of these over the chicken breasts. I poured the artichoke brine over the chicken as well, and, after zesting one of the lemons, added the zest and the juice of the lemons as well. I let that cook for about a half hour.

Making the rice is easy, too. I added the rice, the bouillon, salt, and the water to the Dutch oven and set it, with the lid on, on the coals specified. I watched for it to start venting steam out from the side of the lid, showing me that it was boiling. I gave it about another 10-12 minutes before removing it from the coals. Without lifting the lid, I just set it aside to cool down and to finish cooking. I let it go for quite a while, because brown rice takes longer to cook than white rice. I had to resist the temptation to lift the lid and check it! I wanted the steam to stay in and cook the rice.

When it was all done, and time to serve, it smelled delicious, and looked great. I spread a bit of rice on the plate, then added the chicken breast and the veggies. I scooped a bit of potato and onion onto the plate, too, then drizzled some of the broth liquid from the bottom of the Dutch oven over the entire entree. It was a great meal!


Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

The Dutch Oven Gazebo!

I’ve not posted much this summer. I’ve actually been very active in Dutch ovening. I’ve cooked quite a bit, and I’ve judged a few cookoffs. But I haven’t been writing much. There are a lot of reasons for that, including overall stress and working on another book, but the big reason is that I’ve been working on a big Dutch oven project in the back yard. Last week, it was unveiled.

I’ve been building an outdoor kitchen!

As many of you who read my blog know, I like to cook all winter long. I also like to cook when it’s raining or any other kind of inclement weather. Basically, I like to cook, and I don’t like it when the weather gets in the way. Now, at times, I’ve used umbrellas, tarps, or caps, or even moved my cooking onto a covered porch or into my garage. But those really aren’t solutions to the problem.

So, this spring, my sweet wife and I talked about options for making a good Dutch oven space in a corner of the yard. It started out simply enough. I had a mental vision of a sort of wood shelter overhead with a shallow deck underneath.

Jodi, on the other hand is a master at finding things cheap, and secondhand. She used a local classified ad website to find cheap paver and patio bricks, similar to the ones that were already in place in other parts of the yard. She found a 13 x 13 metal gazebo that someone who was moving wanted to sell for next to nothing (I spent two weeks disassembling it, then bringing it home, and digging and pouring footings for it before reassembling it in all its glory). Laying the brick was a real challenge for someone of my weight and age. It really killed my knees.

I used cinderblock and a steel table for the cooking space, and I brought out a tall bar table to use for food prep. The grill fit in nicely, and my father-in-law built a rolling serving table.

But finally, it was all done. Last Sunday, we had visitors over, friends from Jodi’s work. Other families with kids with special health care needs. We all sat around and ate well while visiting and playing guitars! I cooked bacon-wrapped chicken, au gratin potatoes, and brownies. I also made a couple of loaves of sourdough bread that were amazing. Two of the best I’ve ever made, I think.

I’m very excited to use it over the years to come!


Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Dutch Oven Tandoori Chicken

This is one of those times when you know you’re not going to get it right, but you also know that you can get it good.  I saw this recipe online for doing tandoori chicken in a regular oven.  I knew that it doesn’t really work the same.  A Tandoor is a very specialized kind of oven with very high dry heat.  You marinate your whole chicken in spices and then skewer it and stick it down the throat of this round, tapered clay oven.  A home oven just won’t do it authentically.

But then, I realize that it might not be true, authentic tandoori chicken, but the spices will still glaze on the chicken and it will still taste great.

Once I’d lost the worry about authenticity, it was an easy mental jump to do it in the Dutch oven.  There was one problem, however: the dry heat.  In order for the marinade to glaze on, I would need very high and dry heat.  I’ve done that a lot of times with the “lifted lid” or “dry roasting” technique. So, we’re good to go!

I did two whole chickens, but the marinade could be halved to make just one.

Dutch Oven Tandoori Chicken

12” deep Dutch oven

Phase one: roasting
12-14 coals below
14-16 coals above

Phase two: dry roasting
12-14 coals below
24-28 coals above

8” Dutch oven
10-12 coals below

2x medium roasting chickens, whole, no neck or giblets


1 cup plain yogurt
1 6 oz can tomato paste
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp hot chilli powder
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp garlic powder
salt
pepper

2-3 medium yellow onions
2-3 lemons

13.5 oz can coconut milk
1 Tbsp corn starch or flour


The first task is the marinade, and I did that the night before.  I simply mixed the yogurt and all of the spices and flavorings of the second set of ingredients in a bowl.   Then,  I opened up the chicken bags, drained them and patted them dry.  I also pulled out the neck and giblets.  I got out a sharp slicing knife and made some cuts across the breast and the thighs and legs.  This is so that the marinade can get down under the skin and even more into the meat.

I saved the big plastic bag that the two chickens had come in, and put them back in, pouring all of the yogurt and spices on top.  I worked the bag so that the marinade covered all of the surfaces of the chicken.  You could just put it in bowl and rub it all over, finally covering it with plastic wrap.  Coating the marinade on the chicken is a very, very messy task.

I put the coated chicken back in the fridge overnight.

When  the time came to start cooking, I lit up some coals, and got out my 12” deep.  At first, I was a little concerned that the chickens might not fit, and that I’d have to use a 14”.  In the end, it was fine.

I halved each onion and then quartered each half, and tossed the wedges into the bottom of the Dutch oven.  I did the same to the lemons and stirred them around.  These would not only add flavor to the eventual gravy, but would also lift the chicken up above the juices.

I set the marinated chickens (again, what a mess) onto the onions and lemons.  As an afterthought, it might be cool to stuff an additional cut lemon and onion into the body cavity of each chicken.  Had I thought of it, and had it not been so messy, I might have.  At any rate, I tucked the chickens in snugly next to each other and took the Dutch oven out to the coals.

Phase one of the cooking is just basic roasting.  I let it roast for about an hour, or until the chickens came up to about 160°F internal temperature.  Almost done, but not quite.  I replenished the coals a couple of times, as it was quite a breezy day.

Then, in phase two of the cooking, I did the dry roasting.  I opened up the lid, and first extracted the juices on the bottom with a poultry baster.  The juices, I put into my 8” Dutch oven.

I set my Dutch oven up to do dry roasting.  This is basically having something that raises the lid a bit so that the moisture can escape.  I have a circular grill grid that’s just a little larger than 12” and it fits very nicely over my Dutch ovens. There are other things you can use, like nails bent into the shape of a “U” and hooked over the rim of the oven.  Whatever raises the lid a little bit.

Since the moisture is no longer trapped, the heat isn’t trapped, either, so you need to use a lot more coals.  So, once the lid is back on and sitting on the lifters, pack the coals on it!

I like to cook chicken and turkey to about 175°F or 180°F.  While that was cooking, I put some coals under my 8” Dutch oven and started simmering the juices.  I added the coconut milk, and let that simmer and reduce some.  In the end I added some starch whisked in water to thicken it up as well.

When it was all done, I had also made some rice and heated up some green beans for the full meal. I carved it up and served it.  It still was quite moist, not as dry as I thought it would be.  It truly wasn’t an authentic tandoori chicken, as I said, but it was delicious!


Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Dutch Oven Boneless Buffalo Chicken

Check out my Dutch oven cookbooks!
This one is the last installment in my series on breaded chicken strips and sauces. It's been a lot of fun thinking of new configurations for an old standby.

I’m a big fan of hot sauce, and I’ve always wanted to be able to make it from scratch.  I had done some studying a long time ago, and I read about having to store it and let it ferment for months and months.  That wasn’t going to happen.  Most of the other recipes for wing sauce I found were all based on Frank’s.

Finally, I morphed a bunch of ones that I saw into this one.  It was a great sauce.  The amounts are estimates.  Really, I just added these things and kept tasting to get it to the point where I liked it.  The core ingredients were the butter, the tomato sauce, the heat, and the vinegar.

Dutch Oven Buffalo Chicken

12” Dutch oven

20+ coals below for frying

10 coals below for baking
30+ coals above


8” Dutch oven

12+ coals below


The Sauce

1/2 stick (4 Tbsp) butter
1/2 onion, minced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced


1 stick (8 Tbsp) butter
2 8 oz cans tomato sauce
~1 Tbsp cayenne
~2-3 Tbsp vinegar, to taste

1 4 oz can mild green chilis, minced
Salt
Pepper
Chili powder or more cayenne to taste

The Chicken:

2 lbs boneless & skinless chicken breast tenders
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp paprika

The procedure for this dish was similar to the other two (the sesame cashew chicken Dutch oven recipe and the chocolate chicken Dutch oven recipe ), in some ways, and in one big way, different.  I still fried dredged chicken breast pieces, then made a sauce.  Finally I coated them with sauce and baked that on, serving it all up with just a little more sauce and side dishes.

In this case, however, since I wanted to give the sauce plenty of time to simmer, I started with it.

I lit up some coals, and once they got white, put 10-12 of them under my 8” Dutch oven.  I put in the butter to melt.  Then I diced and finely minced the onion and the garlic.  By that time the Dutch oven was hot, and the butter melted.  I tossed in the onion bits and garlic, with a little salt, and let them sweat.

Once those were translucent, I added in the additional butter, let it melt, and then added the tomato sauce, the cayenne, and the vinegar.  These four ingredients (well, and salt) are really the core of the whole dish.  I let it simmer a while, then started tasting it.  I added a little more of the cayenne or the vinegar to balance the overall flavor.

Finally, I minced and added the green chilis, and the salt and pepper, and just let it simmer. I used a whisk to briskly stir it up and break up the chunks as much as possible.

In between simmerings and tastings, I was also preparing the chicken.  This was done just like the other dishes.  I first got about 20-24 lit coals under a 12” Dutch oven, with about 2 Tablespoons of olive oil in the bottom.

I mixed up the flour and spices.  I sliced the well-thawed chicken breasts (skinless, boneless) into 3-4 short strips each, and dredged each chicken piece well in the flour mix.  Then, I began frying those pieces in the heated 12” Dutch oven.  I had to do it in several batches, because I had more chicken pieces than I could fit into the bottom of the Dutch oven.  I cooked each piece about 10 minutes a side.  I had to pay close attention to the heat under both Dutch ovens, so that the chicken would brown nicely, and the sauce would keep up an easy simmer.

When all of the chicken was done, I put it all in the 12” Dutch oven and drizzled about half the sauce on top. I stirred all that great chicken and sauce up, so I could see that each piece was well coated, but not soaked.  I put about 10 coals under that Dutch oven, and put a 12” circular grill on top of it.  Then I put on the lid with upwards of 30 coals on it.  The grill makes a space under the lid, so that moisture can escape.  The extra coals on top are needed to make up for the heat that escapes as well.  This creates a dry-baking environment, and the sauce cooks on to the chicken in sort of a glaze. There are lots of things you can do to create the gap in the lid.  The grill is just one convenient way for me.

I didn’t need to bake it long, because everything is actually cooked at that point.  I used that extra time to steam a few corn cobs in another 12” dutch oven as a side dish.

When I served it up, I included some celery strips, and some blue cheese or ranch dressing as an additional sauce to balance out the heat of the sauce. I was very pleased with the results.  It was delicious!  Unfortunately, the acidic sauce also ate the patina off patches of the bottom of my 8” Dutch oven, so now I have to reseason it!

It was worth it!

Here are more great Dutch Oven Chicken recipes!


Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Dutch Oven Chocolate Chicken

...What?

Chocolate what?

No. Stinking. Freaking. Way.  What are you thinking?  Chocolate chi--  What?

See, it all started when my wife was preparing a lesson for church on Sunday about God’s love.  She found this funny quote that says, “Chocolate is proof that God loves us all!”  While we talked about ways to work that into the lesson (involving a handout with Hershey’s Kisses), I got an idea in my head for a day of cooking with chocolate.

I did some research, and I found a great brownie recipe (which will follow another day), but I wondered what to do for the main dish.  I thought about a mole of some kind, and I started looking for recipes.  I found, instead, a recipe for a chocolate-based barbecue sauce.  Immediately, I thought of the cashew chicken I had done in the previous post.  I would do a dredged, crispy fried chicken, and then dry-bake on the sauce!

Though many of the processes are the same as that last dish, there are a few differences, so I’ll write it out again.

Dutch Oven Chocolate Chicken

12” Dutch oven

20+ coals below for frying

10 coals below for baking
30+ coals above


8” Dutch oven

12+ coals below


2 lbs boneless & skinless chicken breast tenders
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp paprika

4 tbsp. unsalted butter
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small yellow onion, minced
1 1.5 oz. chocolate bar, broken into chunks
1 8ox can tomato sauce
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp molasses
2 tbsp. vinegar
2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tbsp coffee grounds or powdered coffee substitute, like Pero
2 tbsp  Dijon mustard
2 tsp. chili powder
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. ground black pepper


First of all, make sure that the chicken is fully thawed before you even start.

I started out, as I usually do, by firing up some coals.  Once I had a few that were getting a bit white, I spread about 20 or more out on the table and put the 12” Dutch oven on it to preheat, with a few tbsp of olive oil in the bottom.

While the coals and the Dutch oven were getting ready, I prepared the chicken.  I mixed the flour and spices in a bowl first of all.  I was working with boneless, skinless chicken breasts, so I sliced them into 1” strips and dredged them into the flour mix.  I set them aside on a plate.

When the Dutch oven and the oil was hot, I put in the chicken to fry.  I covered the bottom and still had only placed about half the chicken, so I did it in batches.  I cooked the chicken about ten minutes or so and then turned each piece over using tongs.  While the first batch was cooking I chopped up the onion and minced the garlic. When both sides were nice and crispy, and I could see that the insides were cooked through, I pulled them off, and put in the second batch.  Somewhere in here, I also added in some fresh coals to the fire to get hot and ready.

While the second batch was cooking, I put my 8” on the coals and melted the butter.  The onions and garlic went in with a little salt to sweat.  Once those were translucent, the remaining ingredients went in to simmer and melt.

When the second batch of chicken strips were done, I pulled it off the coals and added in the first batch, with the lid on, to keep warm with the residual cast iron heat.

When the sauce was looking nice and smooth, I tasted it and adjusted it.  I found my mix to be a little chocolate-heavy so I added in more mustard and vinegar.  You can adjust it how you like.  In the ingredients list above, I backed off on the cocoa a bit to compensate.  I poured about half of the sauce over the chicken in the Dutch open and stirred it up to coat it over all of the pieces.

Then, I set up the dry-bake.  I put the 12” Dutch oven on about 10-12 coals, and put a LOT of good, fresh coals on the lid.  Then I lifted the lid and put an old circular grill on the Dutch oven as a spacer for the lid.  You can see it in the picture.  I put the lid back on.  Now, there’s a thin space where moisture can escape.  In the past I’ve done that by hooking bent nails over the rim of the Dutch oven.  This time, I had this grill that worked very nice.  When you do that, however, you need to put a LOT more coals on top, as shown in the instructions, because the lid doesn’t trap the heat and moisture.  In this case, the chicken is already cooked, it’s just a matter of dry-baking the sauce on like a glaze.  I let it bake for about another fifteen minutes, stirring it once.

Finally, it was ready.  I served it with a side of steamed veggies, and did the brownies for dessert.  A chocolate day!

Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Dutch Oven Cashew Sesame Chicken

Lately, I’ve been doing these chicken dishes where you dredge some chicken breast strips in flour and spices, and then fry them.  Then you make some kind of sauce, and bake the sauce on like a glaze.

I think I’ll make it a series, here.  I didn’t really intend to do it, but it kinda worked out that way.   This one is a sort of asian-inspired one, with cashews, ginger, soy sauce, and sesame, and the next weekend was the chocolate barbecue sauce.  I think the next one I’m going to do will be a buffalo sauce.

Ah luvs me mah hotwings!

Dutch Oven Cashew Sesame Chicken

12” Dutch oven

20+ coals below for frying

10 coals below for baking
22 coals above


8” Dutch oven

12+ coals below


2 lbs boneless & skinless chicken breast tenders
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp kosher salt

3 garlic cloves, minced
4 tbsps rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
4 tbsps ketchup

1/2 cup cashews
2-3 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds

1 1/2 cups rice
3 cups water

First, you’ll want to make sure that the chicken is all completely thawed.  Then, light up a bunch of coals.  When they start to get white, put a lot (about 20+) coals under a 12” Dutch oven.  Drizzle some olive oil (maybe a couple of tablespoons), and let that heat up.

Meanwhile, mix the flour, salt and pepper in a small bowl.  If you’re using chicken tenders, they’re already the right size and shape, pretty much.  If you’re using breasts, cut them into strips about an inch wide.  I Dredged the chicken pieces in the flour mixture and put them into the heated, oiled dutch oven.  I kind of snuggled the pieces in pretty close together.  I Let them fry for ten minutes or so on each side, until the chicken was cooked in the middle, and had a nice, crusty brown on each surface.

I had to do all the chicken in two batches, because I couldn't get them all in one Dutch oven.

While the second batch was frying, I came inside and mixed all of the other ingredients into a bowl.  You can adjust the amounts of everything by taste.
When the second batch of chicken was done, I added the first batch back in, and stirred in the sauce, making sure to coat all of the pieces well.  I put it on, and under, the coals to bake a little longer.  I added the cashews and the sesame seeds and stirred those in.  At this point, everything is cooked, but you just want it to be heated, and to have the flavors baked together.

While this was baking, I put the rice and water into the 8” and put that on some coals, with the lid on.  When I noticed steam venting, I let it cook for a bit longer, then pulled it off the coals, and let it sit for another 10 to 15 minutes to finish steaming.

When it was all done, we served the chicken on the rice, and it was delicious!



Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Dutch Oven Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

I’ve been cooking a lot of fancy things lately, trying to get more fodder for my third book, which will be all about international dishes and things that are more complex and tricky.  That’s been fun and challenging, but it has left me kind of creatively drained.

A little while ago, I decided to revisit a traditional Dutch oven basic: barbecued chicken.  In its simplest form, all you have to do is put some chicken parts in a dutch oven and pour in some barbecue sauce on top of them.  Then ya roast it up, and serve it!  No fuss, and a delicious meal.  If you have some hamburger buns, you can pull the chicken apart and stir it all back into the sauce, then have it as sandwiches.

If you wanted, you could do all that from scratch.  Well, I wanted, and this is how I did it:

Dutch Oven Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

The Buns

12” Shallow Dutch oven
12-14 coals below
24-26 coals above

½ Cup of 110° water
2 tablespoon active dry yeast
¾ Cup of 110° milk
¼ cup sugar
3 Tbsp butter
2 tsp salt
4-5 cups fresh bread flour (if the flour is old, add 1 Tbsp vital wheat gluten)
1 egg

Topping:
1 egg
Sesame seeds
poppy seeds


Mark’s Meat Rub

1 Tbsp cumin
1 Tbsp crushed coriander
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp coarse ground black pepper
1 Tbsp thyme
2 Tbsp paprika
2 Tbsp salt
1 tsp oregano


The Chicken

12” Shallow Dutch oven
10-12 coals below
12-14 coals above

1-2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken
2 medium onions, quartered
3-4 medium potatoes in ¾” cubes


The Sauce

1 6 oz can of tomato paste
1 8 oz can of tomato sauce
Brown sugar
Mustard
Salt
Pepper
Some kind of hot spice (Cayenne Pepper or Chili powder)


I’m going to describe the steps for the buns and the chicken and sauce separately.

I started out by activating the yeast in the water.  I set that aside to get all foamy, while I gathered the rest of the ingredients.  I always use bread yeast when making yeast breads, but if it gets more than a couple of months old, I always add a little bit of vital wheat gluten powder.  Otherwise, it will never get decent gluten development, and won’t rise well.

I added all of the dry ingredients together (using just 4 cups of flour), then poured in the wet, and mixed it all to a dough ball.  I turned that out onto my floured tabletop and began kneading.  I kept adding more flour as I needed (kneaded?) to make it the right texture and not so sticky.  Finally, after about 10 minutes or so, it passed the windowpane test (http://www.squidoo.com/dutchovenbread).  I oiled a bowl and set it aside to raise.

After raising, I lit up some coals.  I punched punched down the dough and cut it into 8 equal parts.  These I shaped into dough balls.  I flattened them under my palm on the table top.  All of these went into the oiled Dutch oven.  I took the Dutch oven lid out and poured a lot of burning coals on top of it, to preheat.

After about 20-25 minutes, the dough balls were rising again, and the lid was hot.  I whipped up an egg and coated the top of each bun using a basting brush, then sprinkled on the other toppings.  Then I put on the lid and adjusted the coals above and below.  I baked them for about 30-35 minutes, or until the internal temperature hit about 180-200.

When they were done, I pulled them out and put them on a cooling rack.

Then, on to the Chicken!

First, I made sure that the chicken was thawed, rinsed off, and patted dry.  Then, I coated all of the pieces with the meat rub.  I actually had quite a bit left over in a spice jar, from another time I used it.  It’s one of my own spice blends, and I actually use it quite a bit.

I cubed up the potatoes and quartered the onions and laid them in the bottom of another 12” Dutch oven.  I laid the chicken parts above those, and set it on the coals to roast.

I decided to add the sauce after the fact, and let the spice rub flavor the chicken first.  I mixed the sauce while the meat was cooking.  I did it pretty much in the order listed above.  I didn’t put in amounts, because when I make BBQ sauce, I make it more by taste.  I started with the two cans of tomato paste and sauce, and from there just added each ingredient, tasting along the way.  I wanted to get a good balance of all of the ingredients.

When the chicken was cooked to 170 degrees, internally, I pulled it off the coals.  I put the chicken in a bowl and let them cool a bit, but not too much.  Just to the point of being cool enough to handle without intense burning pain.  Using a couple of forks, I shredded the chicken.

I also pulled the potatoes and onions out of the dutch oven, and separated out the onions as much as I could.  I chopped the onions using the mincing knife technique, but still leaving pretty big chunks, and added those back into the chicken.  Then, I poured in the sauce and stirred it all together.  I didn’t use up all of the sauce, just enough to give the chicken a good coating.

The potatoes, you could serve up as you please.  They would be tasty as they were, but I actually made a potato salad out of them.

The whole meal was delicious and very “homey”!



Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Penne Alfredo with Blackened Cajun Chicken

I was working on a chapter on herbs, spices, and flavorings for my next book, “Black Pot Beginners”, and I wanted to test out the Cajun blackening mix on chicken, instead of salmon, like I had done a few years ago. I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it, though, what to serve it with.  Rice? Potatoes?  Those both sounded good, but in the end I decided on penne pasta with an alfredo sauce.

It turned out to be both complex and simple.  It’s simple, in that it only took about an hour to an hour and a half to do the entire meal (not counting the thaw time for the chicken), and that no one part was really complicated.  However, I was doing essentially three things at once (cooking the chicken, cooking the pasta, and making the alfredo sauce).  It was tricky to balance them all to be done at about the same time.

First, I mixed up the Blackening powder mix.  I would recommend doing a double or triple batch, and storing the excess in an old spice bottle.  Make sure you label it, or you’ll look at it in three months and say, “What on earth is this stuff?”


Mark’s Blackening mix

• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp crushed coriander
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp coarse ground black pepper
• 2 tsp thyme
• 3 tsp paprika
• 3 tsp salt
• 1 tsp oregano
• ½ tsp cayenne pepper

Now, here are the ingredient lists and instructions for all the rest of the parts of the dish!

Mark’s Blackened Chicken:

12” Dutch Oven
24+ coals below to start, then...
12-14 coals below
13-15 coals above

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, thawed and patted dry
• 1-2 Tbsp olive oil
• Mark’s Blackening Mix

The Pasta

10” Dutch oven
20+ coals below

• 1 lb of penne pasta (or, actually, any kind of pasta you like)
• Some water

The Alfredo Sauce

8” Dutch Oven
10+ Coals below

• ¼ cup butter
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• ~3 Tbsp flour
• 2-2 ½ cups milk
• Salt
• Pepper
• Nutmeg
• ½ cup shredded mozzarella
• 4-6 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese 

To time this out just right, I started by figuring out which of the three steps would take the longest.  I figured it would be the pasta, because the water would take some time to boil.  Then, I figured the chicken would be the next longest, and finally, the quickest and easiest would be the sauce.  They don’t all really have to come out at the same time, but you want it to be pretty close, so no one element has too much time to cool.

I started by lighting up a full chimney of coals.  Once I got some white on them, I set them under the 10” Dutch oven, about half to ¾ full of water.  I set the lid on the Dutch oven, because I can never get enough heat to boil water uncovered.  Also, all throughout the steps, I kept adding more coals to the chimney to keep plenty of fresh coals.

While that’s starting up, I added some more coals to the chimney, and began preparing the chicken.  I took out the thawed chicken breasts and laid them out on paper towels to pat dry (both sides).  Then I sprinkled them pretty liberally with the spice mix.  Actually, when I did this, I shook them in a zip-top baggie with the spice mix.  This turned out to be way too strong.  So, when you’re dusting the breasts with the seasoning, go heavier than you would if you were just shaking on a little salt and pepper, but not as heavy as it would get if the breast were dredged in spice.

Once there’s spice mix on both sides, I let them sit for a while, to absorb the flavors.

Meanwhile, I spritzed the inside of a 12” Dutch oven with a bit of oil spray, and put it on some coals.  A lot of them.  After it’d been on a bit, I drizzle in the olive oil and let that heat to a shimmer.  The Dutch oven was quite hot by this time.  I put the chicken breasts in the Dutch oven, and they immediately started sizzling.  I let them sit, cooking uncovered, for several minutes.

It was at about this point that I could see that the water was boiling, so I added the pasta, and set the lid back on.

I turned the chicken breasts over, and let them sear on the other side.

At this point, I also put the 8” dutch oven on some coals and put in the butter to melt.  While that was going, I ducked inside and quickly diced an onion, and minced the garlic.  I tossed that in to the melted butter to saute.

All along this time, I kept checking the pasta, to get to the “al dente” stage.  I also took the chicken off the coals as they were, adjusted them to be the numbers below and on the lid, as shown above, and set that aside to finish cooking through.

I added the flour to the butter and onions, and stirred with a spatula to make the roux.  I added it a tablespoon at a time.  I was looking for it to be thick, but still a bit runny.  I let that cook for a bit, too.  I still wanted it to be blonde, not red or brown, so I didn’t cook it too long.  I added the milk and the spices, and put the lid on.

When the pasta was to the right doneness, I pulled it off the coals, and drained the pasta with a colander. I poured that back into the Dutch oven, so its residual heat would keep it warm.  At this point, the chicken was cooked all the way through.  While I was waiting for the milk to boil, I sliced the chicken with long diagonal cuts.

Once the milk was boiling, I added the cheeses, and kept stirring while they melted.  I used brick parmesan and a grater, too, because I like the stronger flavor.

Then, I brought it all together.  Pasta in the bowl, a couple of spoonfuls of sauce on top, and a few slices of chicken on top of that.  It was delicious!


Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Dutch oven Paella

It all began one day with me being a couch potato, a dud spud surfing the channels.  Bored of home shopping TV and infomercials, I turned to my Tivo, and noticed that I had managed to acquire a few more episodes of Alton Brown’s “Good Eats”.

So, I started watching and one of the episodes was about a Spanish dish called “Paella” (which is pronounced “pie-AY-yah”). I’d seen recipes for this many times, but had never thought to try it.  It required a special pan, also called a paella, and it was cooked outdoors over coals.  That got my head thinking...

I watched the episode a couple of times, and I was intrigued.  It had several techniques and ingredients I had never tried before.  Were those ingredients absolutely necessary?  Could it be adapted to a Dutch oven?

I called my expert sister and asked for a second opinion.  She confirmed that, yes, in order to make a really good paella, you really did need special rice, and good Spanish saffron (the expensive stuff).  She was skeptical about doing it in a pan that was not a paella, however.  I decided to give it a try, anyway.

I spent two weeks acquiring all of the various ingredients, rewatching the show, and planning my processes.  In the end, it was well worth the effort!

Dutch Oven Paella

8” Dutch Oven
12-15 coals underneath

12” Dutch Oven
20+ coals underneath

• 6 cups chicken broth

• 1 package of 5-6 chicken thighs
• Kosher salt, pepper
• Olive oil

• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 2-4 cloves of minced garlic
• 1/2 lb green beans
• Pulp and juice of 1 large tomato
• Salt, pepper

• 2 cups rice (short grain Spanish or Italian)
• 20 threads Spanish saffron
• tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• rosemary, basil, oregano

• ¼ Cup fresh chopped parsley
• Juice of ½ Lemon

As I shopped around for the ingredients, I watched closely.   Alton and my sister both recommended Valencia rice.  I ended up finding a short grain Italian rice called Arborigo.  Getting the saffron was trickier.  I shopped around and called stores, and found something in a store near me labeled “Spanish Saffron”.  It seemed to meet all of the criteria that I’d been told, and cost about the same as what I’d been seeing in spice specialty shops, so I bought it.  It was about $18 for a gram or two.  Pricey stuff.

On cooking day, the first step was to get some coals ready.  One bunch of them went under my 12” Dutch oven, and another set went under my 8”.  In the 8”, I put three frozen blocks of my own homemade chicken stock. Six cups.  In the end I didn’t need it all, but It was good to have it all there and ready.  I put it on the coals so it would melt and heat up.  It won’t need to be used for quite a while, so if you’re working with boxed or bottled stock, you can probably start heating it up much later in the process.

The 12” got a little bit of olive oil.  Once it was heated I put in the chicken thighs, skin side down, to fry and brown.  A lot of fat renders out of the the skin.  That’s used as part of the the dish along the way.

While the chicken was cooking, I diced up the peppers, minced the garlic, and snapped the beans.  I thought about dicing an onion, too, but in the end decided not to.  I’m not sure why. It wasn’t in the original recipe.  I also mixed the rice and the other dry seasonings in a bowl.

The tomato was done with interesting process, taught by Alton.  You want the tomato flavor, but without the seeds or the skin. I sliced the tomato “across the equator” and squeezed out the seeds.  I got kind of lucky, as the tomatoes that I had bought were pretty large and pulp-y.  Then, I put the open face of the tomato against my cheese grater and grated the pulp and the juice into a bowl.  The more I grated, the flatter the skin became, and so I got more and more pulp.  Clever.  If you don’t want to do this, you could probably just use a smaller can of crushed or diced tomatoes.

When the chicken was brown on both sides, I pulled it out of the dutch oven.  I tossed in the veggies, and sprinkled in some salt.  Once the veggies were going soft, I added the tomato pulp, and let that cook for a bit.  Finally, the rice mix was stirred into the pot.  I also used this opportunity to replenish my coals.

At that point, it was time to put it all together and do the final cooking.  I put the chicken back in, nestling it down into the rice and veggie mixture. I ladled the simmering stock from the 8” oven into the 12” oven, until the rice was well covered. I let that cook, with the lid off, watching occasionally as it went. About every ten to fifteen minutes or so, I would see that much of the liquid had been absorbed into the cooking rice, and I would ladle in a bit more stock.  I was watching to see the rice become translucent.  Occasionally, I used a spoon to check the deeper rice, and to taste.  I was careful as I added more stock, because I wanted enough for the rice to absorb, but not so much for it to end up like a soup, or even a thick stew. I could see why it was important to have the stock pre-heated on the side, so I wasn’t shocking it with cool an having to heat it all back up to continue with the cooking.

As the end of the cooking time approached, I squeezed the lemon juice over the whole dish, and sprinkled on fresh chopped parsley.

Finally, when the rice was translucent and soft, it came off the coals.  I don’t know how long it took to get there, as I was paying more attention to the rice than the time.  The last step was to let it rest with a kitchen towel on top.  I’m not sure why it couldn’t be covered with the dutch oven lid.  Perhaps the final resting time needs to be done with something porous on top, so some moisture can escape.  The final texture is moist and soft, but not dripping with juice.

After about 15 to 20 minutes in the rest phase (it could be even longer, if you want), it was time to serve it up.  Since this was my first time making it, I didn’t know how great paella was supposed to taste.  I think I did, but I’m not certain if I got the right rice or the right saffron.  Still, what I was eating was one of the most delicious meals I’d had in a long time.  I guess that qualifies it as a success.







Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Dutch Oven Masaman Curry, Again!

It’s been a few years since I did this one.  In fact, the last time I cooked Masaman curry was at the IDOS Spring Convention back in April of ‘08.  THAT was a seriously long time ago.

I was overdue.  Last time I’d done it, the curry wasn’t as hot as I might have liked,  so this time, I went with powdered spices instead of a paste.  I also did it all with bottom heat, simmering the food in the coconut milk. Anyway, here it is!

Dutch Oven Masaman Curry

12” Dutch Oven, about 20 coals below

    * 1-2 Tbsp olive oil
    * 2 tablespoons Curry Seasoning. ( I bought it out of a box, not the little bottles of “curry powder”)
    * 3 medium onions
    * 4 cloves garlic, minced


    * 2 14 oz cans of Coconut Milk
    * ½ cup peanut butter


    * 6-7 medium potatoes
    * 1-2 lbs meat (This time I used about equal portions of cubed chicken an uncooked peeled shrimp)


    * up to 1-1 ½ cups water
    * ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
    * 4 bay leaves
    * 3 Tbsp sugar
    * 3 Tbsp tamarind pulp, or some splashes of tamarind juice/nectar
    * ½ cup unsalted, chopped peanuts
    * ⅛ - ¼ cup coconut (I chopped up some fresh)
    * 3 tsp salt
    * Liberal shaking of cinnamon



First, I got the dutch oven onto the coals (the entire dish was done with bottom heat), and put the oil in the bottom.  After it had heated, I added the curry spices.  I mixed that in the oil, and let it activate in the heat a little, then added the garlic and the onions to saute.  If you wanted, you could add some chopped green pepper and/or celery here.  Maybe some green onions.

Once all that was nicely sauteed and translucent, I added the coconut milk, and the peanut butter.  You could add the peanut butter by the spoonful, and then it would be in smaller chunks and dissolve a little better.

I chopped up the potatoes and cubed the chicken and added those to the heating coconut milk.  I also added in the shrimp. Once I put the meat in, I covered it with the dutch oven lid to help it trap the heat.  Still, I didn’t add any coals to the lid.

I let the liquid get warm again, and added in the remaining flavoring ingredients.  I let these simmer, covered, for about an hour or so, while I made the rice.  The water is in the list, primarily to help adjust the overall liquid level.  You could also dust in a little cornstarch or flour to thicken it up, if need be, right at the end of the cooking.  Also, taste it while it’s simmering to see if the spices are hot enough for your taste.  If not, add a little chili powder, or more curry dust, let it simmer, and then check it again.

Serve it over rice, and it’s delicious!





Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Dutch Oven Chicken and Dumplings

I’ve been cooking a lot in my dutch ovens lately.  I did my world-famous pumpkin pie, and some breads and chicken things. I haven’t been writing about it, however.  That’s mostly because I’ve been doing repeats of recipes that I’d already written up and posted.  And, since I hadn’t really made any significant changes or updates to the ingredients or the process, I didn’t feel any real urgency to write them up.

Also, I’ve been in a lot of personal stress of late, but that’s not something to deal with here.

So, between those two issues, I haven’t really posted here as much as I’d like, but this week, I got really excited and thought to do something new.  I started flipping through recipe books earlier in the week, like I used to do, looking for something new and challenging.  I wanted to try something I’ve never done before.  One thought was Greek Dolmades.  I’d really like to try those, but I’d need to find a source for the grape leaves.  I know they’re out there in SLC and Provo, but I just haven’t had the chance to look for them yet. 

I ended up coming across a recipe from the Complete America’s Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook.  I found a recipe for Chicken and Dumplings.  Not only have I never cooked it, but I’m not sure that I’ve ever eaten it before.  I know that’s weird.  It’s about as American as American cuisine gets.  But I just don’t remember it.  So, I was kinda up against something that I was really unfamiliar with.

There are a lot of steps to this process, so it’s not a simple or basic dutching dish, but it is a complete one-pot meal:  veggies, meat, dairy, and bread all in one.  All you need is a cup of iced Diet Dr Pepper, and your table is complete!

Dutch Oven Chicken and Dumplings

12” Dutch Oven
Initial steps: 20 + coals below
Final step: ~12-15 coals below, 12-15 coals above

• 10-12 chicken thighs
• Salt and pepper

• 4 tsp oil

• 4-6 green onions
• 1 jalapeno
• 4-6 carrots
• 3-4 stalks, celery
• 2 med onion
• 4-6 cloves of garlic, minced
• More salt

• Juice of 2 lemons
• 6 Tbsp AP Flour

• 4-6 cups chicken broth
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 1 bag frozen green peas
• 3 bay leaves
• The cooked chicken thighs, shredded or chopped

• 2 cups unbleached flour
• 1 tbsp Baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup whole milk
• 5-6 tablespoons reserved chicken fat.

• Zest of 2 lemons
• 1 tsp fresh chopped thyme
• 1 handful fresh chopped parsley

It all started by firing up some coals and heating up some oil in my 12” Dutch oven.  While that was starting and heating, I opened up the thawed thighs and seasoned them pretty liberally with Kosher salt and coarse ground black pepper.  You could use breasts, but much of the flavor of this dish comes from the chicken fat that gets rendered out of the thighs.

The first actual cooking step is to put the thighs on the heat and fry them up.  I put the lid on, because they cooked better with the trapped heat.  I turned them once during the process.

While they were cooking, I sliced and chopped up all of the ingredients in the second set.

I removed the cooked thighs, and put them in a bowl to cool.  The recipe book said to remove the skin.  I decided not to, but in the end, decided that was a bad choice.  Having the skin in the soup wasn’t as appetizing as I thought it would be.

I drained off and reserved most of the fat that had been rendered out of the thighs.  I added the veggies to what remained in the dutch oven, and cooked them, stirring.  Next time I make this, I would hold off adding the flour, however, and let the veggies brown a bit.  Then, I’d add the lemon juice and scrape up any fond from the bottom of the dutch oven with a wooden spatula.  Then, add in the flour, and stir it up to coat the veggies in a sort of a semi-roux.  Also, while the veggies were cooking, I cut the chicken from the bones and shredded the meat.

Finally, I added the next set of ingredients, the liquids and the chicken, and brought it up to a simmer.  While that was heating up, I mixed up the ingredients of the last set, for the dumpling dough.

As it approached a boil, I added the herbs, and also added any more salt and pepper to season it all to taste.   Then, I stirred it all up and got the dumpling dough.  I dropped it in, a heaping tablespoon at a time, all around the Dutch oven.  I put on the lid, and then put on the upper coals.  The lower coals is really just an estimate.  Throughout the cooking process, I was adding more coals to the chimney so I’d have a running supply of hot coals.  Once the dumplings were in, I cooked the whole thing for about another half hour or so.  I only checked it once during the cooking, then again when it was all done.

I was afraid that the dumplings would be soggy.  Like I said before, I wasn’t sure what to expect.  But, in the end, it was delicious.  The dumplings swelled up as they cooked, like biscuits do, and the stew was delicious.  The dumplings were rich with chicken flavor, from both the stew and the chicken fat added in.  There was plenty to share and extra for lunches this week.






Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.
Mark's Other Blog Posts: "The Third Time", Halloween and Cub Scouts, Utah County Disabilities

Dutch Oven Braised Chicken

I found this one in a cookbook of mine, and I really liked the appeal of it.  It looked a little bit fancier than just roasting up a bird, so I thought I’d give it a try.  As always, I tweaked up the recipe a little bit, based on my experience long ago of making tomato soup from scratch. 

This one’s a two-step process.  You first cook the bird and the veggies in the dutch oven with the liquid, and let the tomatoes dissolve.

Then, you carve the bird and puree the liquid with a little thickener to make the sauce.  Serve it up, together.

And, then, the next day, I had enough leftover chicken bits and sauce to make a delicious thick soup.  It really was a versatile meal.

Dutch Oven Braised Chicken

12” deep dutch oven
10-12 coals below
12-14 coals above

Serves 8, 475 Calories per serving

• 1 whole chicken
• Salt
• cayenne
• Black Pepper

• 4-5 stalks celery, chopped
• 4-5 large tomatoes, diced
• 2 bell peppers, diced
• 1-2 onions, diced
• 4-5 cloves garlic, coarsely minced, or sliced

• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 cups chicken stock
• liberal shakes of parsley
• liberal shakes of cilantro

• 2-3 tablespoons flour

So, I started off with the chicken, thawed completely, of course.  I’ve had problems with cooking chickens and turkeys that were still frozen.  I coated it with kosher salt, coarse ground black pepper, and some pretty liberal sprinkles of ground cayenne.  Next time, I’ll probably lighten up on the cayenne.  I don’t mind hot, but in this case, it started to overpower the other flavors.  I rubbed all that onto the chicken, and set it in the deep dutch oven to allow the seasonings to absorb a bit.

While that was happening, I lit up some coals and started chopping the veggies.  These were all just scattered all around the chicken.  Then, I added the juice, the stock, and the herbs sprinkled on top.

I had a really, really tough time getting coals lit.  My wife had bought a bargain brand, and they would NOT light and turn white, no matter what I tried.  I did finally get them going, but it took me about an hour to get enough to get started.  Lesson learned:  Stick with brands you know.  My favorite is Kingsford...

The rest of the cooking process was pretty simple.  Just keep hot coals on it, until the internal temperature reaches 165.  There wasn’t much else to that.  The liquid simmered the veggies down and seasoned the meat, and it was all great.  I tasted it a time or two, but I felt it was all pretty balanced, except maybe too much heat, as I mentioned before.

Once the meat was done, I brought it in, and pulled the chicken out of the dutch oven.  That’s not always easy for me, because I like to serve straight out of the dutch.  It’s like it connects in my mind that this delicious meal came out of the dutch oven instead of my stove, and I feel like I’ve accomplished a greater challenge. 

Or something like that.

Anyway, I tented the chicken with some aluminum foil to rest, and I scooped up some of the veggies with a slotted spoon.  These, I reserved as a garnish.  Then, I ladled out most of the remaining liquid into my blender.  Yes, I used an electric appliance.  Sue me.  I added just a bit of flour as thickener and pulsed it up, then pureed it.

I carved up the chicken and put it onto a serving tray, then as a final touch, poured the puree on top and added the veggie bits on the side.  It looked really, really good, and tasted very gourmet as well.  I was quite pleased with myself!  Smug, even...







Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Mark's Other Blog Posts: Long Long Time