Bruschetta Chicken, Asparagus, and French Bread (Recipes 4 and 5)

Can I just say that God is an incredible Creator? Have you ever thought about how beautiful the world is that He created? He created so many good and beautiful things for us to enjoy. He didn't make food bland and colourless, but rather He made food aesthetically beautiful and wonderful to eat. Sometimes when I'm cooking I just have to stop and marvel at God's glorious creation. What a great God we serve!

The recipe I wanted to try was a bruschetta chicken recipe. Bruschetta is basically tomatoes, spices, and oils mixed together. I didn't have all that the original recipe called for, so I adapted and came up with this instead:

• 1 pint of Cherry Tomatoes
• 2 Tomatoes diced
• 3 tablespoons Vinegar
• 3 teaspoons White Sugar
• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
• 5 cloves of Garlic minced
• 1 tablespoon dried Basil Leaves
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• A few drops of Lemon Juice
• Some cut up fresh Spinach 

Mix it all together in a bowl and let it sit in the fridge for a while to soak up all the delicious juices. 

While that was sitting in the fridge ready for dinner I got to work on the bread. I love baking bread. I love how simple it is, with just a few ingredients, but how it becomes a fluffy loaf of deliciousness after a few hours. 

This recipe for French Bread probably just became my favourite bread recipe. Not only did it taste good (which is always a nice surprise!) but it was fun to make. It is a very involved bread recipe. Most bread requires an hour or more of rest. This recipe called for punching it down every 10 minutes while it rested. Fun? Yes!

The recipe:

• 2 tablespoons Yeast
• 2 cups Warm Water
• 2 tablespoons Honey
• 2 tablespoons Oil
• 1 tablespoon Salt
• 6 cups Flour

Mix together the honey, yeast, and water in a separate bowl. 

Mix together the flour, salt, and oil in another bowl. When the yeast mixture has proofed (i.e. started to poof up a bit) pour it into the flour, salt, and oil mixture. Knead it together into a ball of dough. 

Set it in a greased bowl to rise for one hour, punching it down every ten minutes. 

While waiting every ten minutes to punch down the bread I sat and read some new books that I got. 

 When the dough has been risen and punched 6 times, form it into loaves and let it rise for 30 minutes. 

Preheat the oven to 400ºF and bake for about 15 minutes. 

 While the bread was baking away in the oven, I set to work on the chicken. The recipe for the chicken called for salt and pepper... that's it. Well, I don't know about you, but to me that sounded awfully bland and didn't I just write about how wonderful God is to create food that isn't bland? So why wouldn't I try and make the chicken as good as it could be. I wanted a flavour that would compliment the spices of the bruschetta, so I opened up the fridge and took out ingredients that looked good. 

First I defrosted chicken breasts and sliced them in half lengthwise. I then put them in a large bowl with a little bit of oil, parmesan, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. After getting them nicely coated I stuck them in a tupperware container and smothered them in sour cream and a little bit of mustard to give it a kick. 

The picture looks terrible! I am so sorry. I should have taken a picture of it cooking because it looked a bit more appetizing. However, this is what the chicken looked like before I stuck it in the fridge to marinate for a few hours.  

After letting the chicken marinate for a few hours, I grilled each side for about 30 seconds in a skillet, then stuck it in the oven to bake for about 15 minutes. 

I also cooked up some asparagus for the meal. I recently discovered the wonders of asparagus a few weeks ago. Asparagus is easy to fix, but it looks classy and sophisticated. 

First I boil a pot of water. While the water is coming to a boil, I break of the ends of the asparagus. They will break at the point where they are good, so it's simple. 

When the water has come to a boil, simply throw in the asparagus for 2-3 minutes (depending on the thickness of the asparagus). As soon as the time is up, quickly take them out and put them in a bowl of ice water. 

This is called blanching and is one of my top ten favourite cooking vocabulary words. 

Blanching stops the vegetable from cooking any more and gives it a vibrant colour as well as a soft inside with a crunchy outside. Mmm. 

When the asparagus has sat in the ice water for a bit take it out and roast it in a skillet with some Olive Oil, Garlic Powder, Parmesan, and Salt. And there you have it, a beautiful vegetable that takes about 5 minutes to cook. Yum! 

The final bruschetta chicken. I put the bruschetta on the chicken and sprinkled it with a little bit of cheese.

The verdict: Faith, Megan, Jimmy, Damarise, and Davey were my fantastic eaters for this meal. This meal started out looking much better than cow tongue, and I think they all agreed that it tasted better too. The bread was a huge success and both loaves were demolished by the end of the meal. I'd call this meal a success! We didn't revert back to a bowl of cereal; great day! 

End note: I love these people! They bring so much joy to my life. I'm thankful for their willingness to try new foods and brave my cooking. I'm thankful for the time we have to fellowship together during and after the meal. God is a glorious creator in the foods that He created, but He is an incredible creator in creating each of these lovely people! Cooking and baking and having them enjoy it is the best!