Aggie's Kitchen

CEimB and Barefoot Bloggers…

Another week of good food in our house…every couple of weeks, the two cooking groups I belong to, Craving Ellie in my Belly and Barefoot Bloggers will collide…but who can complain right?

This week’s Ellie Krieger recipe was my choice! It didn’t take me too long to pick Chicken with Mango Barbeque Sauce…if you are living anywhere in the south these days then you probably have spring fever like I do. I love being outside this time of year, and even more so enjoy cooking outside. I pictured this recipe grilled, and over a fresh salad. So that’s what I did …

The “barbeque” part of this sauce seems almost a bit misleading…it was not what I expected at all at first. The sauce is based on a puree of sauteed red pepper, onion, spices and tomato sauce as well as mangos and jalapenos. It’s not lacking in flavor that’s for sure. I thought the sauce was wonderful, and would be great with seafood too. It had a nice kick to it from the jalapenos and a nice fresh sweetness from the red peppers and mangos.

I served the chicken sliced over a large tossed salad with romaine, grape tomatoes, red onion and red pepper. The salad was tossed in a smoky vinaigrette I put together and then topped with the grilled chicken and additional Mango Barbeque Sauce. I have quite a bit of sauce left over and am going to throw it in the freezer to save for another time. Another great Ellie recipe!

Chicken with Mango Barbeque Sauce
Recipe by
Ellie Krieger, The Food You Crave
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, diced (about 1 cup)
1 red pepper, diced (about 1 cup)
3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons molasses
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/4 cup low-sodium tomato sauce
1 mango, diced (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 to 3 jalapenos, minced
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 3/4 pound each) Heat the oil in a medium-sized skillet over medium-high. Add the onions and cook until translucent, about 2 minutes. Add the red peppers, garlic, salt and pepper, and allspice and cook for 2 minutes more. Stir in the vinegar, molasses, Worcestershire sauce, lime juice and tomato sauce and cook for 1 minute more. Transfer the mixture into a bender and add the mango and jalapeno. Blend until smooth.

Put 1 cup of the barbeque sauce into a sealable plastic bag with the chicken and marinate for 1 hour.

Preheat the broiler. Put the chicken on a broiler pan and discard the marinade. Broil the chicken on high for about 12 minutes, turning once. Let the meat rest for 10 minutes before slicing. Spoon about 1/2 cup of barbeque sauce over the meat slices and serve.

Smoky Vinaigrette
Recipe from Aggie’s Kitchen

1 part red wine vinegar
1 part olive oil
salt and pepper
dash chili powder
dash cumin
dash garlic powder

Put all ingredients in a jar or bowl…shake or whisk until combined.

Check out the Craving Ellie in my Belly blogroll
to see how everyone else cooked up their recipe!

Next up is Barefoot Contessa’s Tomato and Goat Cheese Tart, chosen by the sweet Anne Strawberry. I can not get enough of these types of dishes…I absolutely love tomatoes and goat cheese, throw in some caramelized onions and its just perfection in my book. Good stuff.

I don’t normally cook with puff pastry, I love eating it, but cooking with it just makes me nervous. It’s just so delicate, and I just don’t do well with delicate. I decided to make my own version of these tarts using a whole wheat pizza dough that I found on Two Peas in Their Pod. I’ve been wanting to start making my own pizza dough, and I’ll tell ya, I’m glad I did. These were great served as personal pizzas…add a small salad to it and you’ve got yourself a great meal.

Thank you Anne for picking this fabulous recipe…I will try it again using the puff pastry, I promise. I will tell you though, I was excited to find some nice basil in my garden…I call this basil “miracle basil” because it somehow survived our winter freezes this year…I recently trimmed it back and it has sprung back beautifully! I can’t wait to start making homemade pesto again…

Tomato and Goat Cheese Tarts
Recipe by
Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa, Back to Basics

1 package (17.3 ounces/2 sheets) puff pastry, defrosted
Good olive oil
4 cups thinly sliced yellow onions (2 large onions)
3 large garlic cloves, cut into thin slivers
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons dry white wine
2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme leaves
4 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan, plus 2 ounces shaved with a vegetable peeler
4 ounces garlic-and-herb goat cheese (recommended: Montrachet)
1 large tomato, cut into 4 (1/4-inch-thick) slices
3 tablespoons julienned basil leaves

Unfold a sheet of puff pastry on a lightly floured surface and roll it lightly to an 11 by 11-inch square. Using a 6-inch wide saucer or other round object as a guide, cut 2 circles from the sheet of puff pastry, discarding the scraps. Repeat with the second pastry sheet to make 4 circles in all. Place the pastry circles on 2 sheet pans lined with parchment paper and refrigerate until ready to use.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium to low heat and add the onions and garlic. Saute for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring frequently, until the onions are limp and there is almost no moisture remaining in the skillet. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, the wine, and thyme and continue to cook for another 10 minutes, until the onions are lightly browned. Remove from the heat.

Using a sharp paring knife, score a 1/4-inch-wide border around each pastry circle. Prick the pastry inside the score lines with the tines of a fork and sprinkle a tablespoon of grated Parmesan on each round, staying inside the scored border.

Place 1/4 of the onion mixture on each circle, again staying within the scored edge. Crumble 1 ounce of goat cheese on top of the onions. Place a slice of tomato in the center of each tart. Brush the tomato lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with basil, salt, and pepper. Finally, scatter 4 or 5 shards of Parmesan on each tart.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown. The bottom sheet pan may need an extra few minutes in the oven. Serve hot or warm.

Phew…this girl needs a break in the kitchen!! 😉

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38 comments on “CEimB and Barefoot Bloggers…”

  1. YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM! That Ellie recipe looks amazing. She seriously rocks and I wish she was my personal chef (actually, I’d like you to be my personal chef ;)). Mad spring fever over here! Whats with the rain though?

  2. Such gorgeous food. You really are eating well!

  3. Great pick this week. We loved it.

  4. Oh I am so glad I read your post today. I totally forgot to cook with Anne this week and do my BB recipe! I’ll have to do it late I guess. I loved the mango chicken. Love the way you paired it with salad. It was great grilling last weekend, but I have had rain, pouring rain every since. Glad I did it before the rain set in. Thanks for picking this. It was a great choice. ONe of my favorites so far this year!

  5. IT was a great choice this week, Aggie. I really enjoyed the Mango BBQ sauce, and I know I will be making it again. The tart looks great, too. I saw it being made on a Barefoot Contessa episode and thought it looked divine. Your version looks wonderful!

  6. I love tomatoes, basil, and goat cheese. I can’t wait to try this once there are good tomatoes around!

  7. Do you think the mango sauce would be good on fish? Just curious. It looks great! And I am so glad you liked the whole wheat pizza dough. It is so easy, healthy, and GOOD! I love the tarts you made! Great post girl!

  8. Wow Aggie, those beautiful photos have me DROOLING! I’ll have to try that Ellie recipe and hope you try the puff pastry- it really is sturdy enough (though your rendition was certainly more healthy and economical, haha!) Great job girl!

  9. Love your tart with the whole wheat crust. I haven’t gotten around to making yet.

  10. Both these dishes look spectacular. With recipes by two great cooks, interpreted by one great blogger, it’s really hard to go wrong.

  11. Great pick! I also have a ton of leftover sauce. That salad looks really good.

  12. Yum! Everything looks so great. 🙂

  13. Aggie, I LOVED LOVED LOVED your Ellie pick this week. I thought that the mango salsa (that’s what I’m calling it — it seemed more like salsa than barbecue sauce to me) was so incredibly flavorful. I LOVE your salad! We loved the tart too, and it’s funny — I was totally thinking that I might make it most often on whole wheat pita bread or tortillas, just to keep it a little healthier (although the puff pastry was fabulous!) So it is great to see how well this worked out for you on pizza dough!

  14. I love that Ellie recipe! I’m going to have to make that.

    The tarts look great too. Puff pastry really isn’t that scary. Just keep it cold and it’ll do whatever you want it to. Great pictures!

    ~Cat

  15. The chicken was so good and we absolutely loved the sauce! I am so glad I tried it and I have some left on the fridge to use again soon.
    I really like what you did with the tarts too. They look so fresh and delicious.
    Your pictures are gorgeous!

  16. Loved loved this barbecue sauce recipe! Thanks for picking it! The sauce was great on the chicken and I am making barbecue pork tonight with it!

  17. First of all, your chicken looks SO good! The grill marks are perfect, the sauce looks beautiful – I LOVE grilled chicken on salad. Second, this is the 3rd time I’ve seen Maria’s whole wheat pizza dough, so it’s going on my list to make. Love your version of the tart! And lastly, that’s awesome that your basil came back! I can’t wait for it to warm up in Chicago so I can plant some on my balcony. I think my favorite part of summer is fresh basil 🙂

  18. Everything looks so good, I don’t know where to start. 1st, thanks for picking this week’s CEiMB, it was a great start for me, I absolutely loved it. I have spring fever too right now so I want anything that puts me in a spring/summer state of mind.
    The tomato tarts look super delicious too. Hooray for your basil coming back! That happened to me last year and it made me so happy, it’s like a twofer 🙂

  19. I have Ellie’s cookbook. I have to start cooking from it. All the recipes look good.

  20. Take a break and get some takeout then. You deserve it.

    Not a fan of goat cheese of any kind so nix Ina’s for me, but the chicken YUM. That sauce, especially with so few ingredients, sounds awesome. Great recipe!

  21. What a great pick!! Thanks for choosing the chicken: I absolutely loved it!!

  22. aggie nice spread my dear!
    that one shot of the food outside makes me long for those warm summer nights and grilling.
    wonderful job here momma!

  23. The sauce seems really interesting!

  24. So, 1-10, 10 being the spiciest how spicy would you say the bbq sauce is? It looks so so delicious! I can’t wait to try it, but I am not good with things too spicy so I am nervous. Yes, I know, I am a wimp

  25. Nice job with the CEiMB this week. It’s something I probably would’ve never tried but enjoyed nonetheless.

    Excellent job on the photography, to boot.

  26. Great choice, Aggie. We really enjoyed the Mango BBQ sauce. The combination of sweet + heat was fabulous. Have a great weekend!

  27. You have been eating well at your house lately!

  28. I LOVED the tarts, made of all my favorite things! I know the toppings would be fabulous as a pizza like you made.

  29. I agree–goat cheese and tomatoes are a wonderful combo. I bet it’s just great on whole-wheat dough…better than puff pastry!

  30. that food is so nicely aranged! Sounds great!

  31. Oh, you know how I love salads as a meal! This looks so good! I’m not that familiar with mango, but I do like it, so this sounds great! And, oh my gosh, your garden basil looks amazing! I love that tart. LOOOVE it! This looks terrific, Aggie! I just love visiting here! YUM!

  32. Thank you so much for such a great Ceimb pick! My family and i loved this dish! Your photos are great. Your pizzas/tarts look really yummy!

  33. The grilled chicken on top of the salad looks really wonderful! And I agree with you about tomatoes and goat cheese–great combination. 🙂

  34. Thanks so much for the great Ellie pick! I love how you served it over a salad. I can’t wait to try the goat cheese tarts on a whole wheat pizza crust after seeing how awesome yours turned out!

  35. This recipe looks amazing as the rest of the blog.I love it.

  36. Hey Aggie,

    I have a mango and may try out your mango bbq sauce with Jamaican jerked pork chops, as pork chops were on sale.

  37. Both dishes look divine. The puff pastry was not hard, but I like your idea too. Will definitely grill some chicken. This is the kind of Florida weather that we love.

  38. Both look amazing but that tart is calling my name. Great post Aggie!