Jan D'Atri

Jan D'Atri > sweet yellow onion

sweet yellow onion

Grilled Chicken Miracle Marinade

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Chicken breast. You’ve baked it, fried it, grilled and stir-fried it. But eventually, we all seem to get to the same place. “Help! I need a new way to make chicken!” I’m coming to your rescue with a fantastic “miracle” marinade for grilled chicken that also doubles as a spectacular salad dressing! You’ve never had chicken like this! The marinade/dressing was created by my chef Mom for my two Italian restaurants. The Grilled Chicken Panini Sandwich and my Garbage Salad were two of the most popular items on my menu, both using this recipe. Now I’m sharing it with you because it’s a great way to kick off a healthy, yummy lifestyle in 2024!

Watch my How To Video for Chill & Grill Chicken here!

Pan-Seared Pork Chop Casserole

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It’s the universal law of food. Everything always tastes better at someone else’s house. I don’t know why that is. It just is. So when we were visiting long-time family friends in
Nayarit, Mexico a few years ago, we spent the first part of the meal gobbling up a scrumptious Pan-Seared Pork Chop Casserole and the remainder of the time sitting at a tiny wooden table writing down every detail of every delicious morsel. The pork chop casserole has been a regular weeknight meal in the Montez Family for decades and makes for a deliciously flavorful fall dish. Unfortunately, it went the way of many recipes scribbled down in the “gotta-have-this-recipe-right-now” moment. It got forgotten about and lost in life’s shuffle. That is, until this weekend when un-cluttering and re-organizing the kitchen cabinets were on the agenda. Wahoo! Long lost and now loved again. You’ll be lickin’ your chops over this one!

Momma’s Chicken Cacciatore

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How about “Bliss in a Skillet” for Mother’s Day? That’s what my Momma’s Chicken Cacciatore recipe should be named. As a little Italian girl growing up, I just thought that it was one of those dishes that everyone ate at least once a week– just like we did–with polenta or pasta. I also assumed that all Chicken Cacciatore pretty much tasted the same. But many years later, having tasted Chicken Cacciatore in numerous restaurants, I’m going to finally go on the record and say that Momma’s is the best. You’re going to get to try it for yourself and see if you agree. Momma’s Cacciatore is simple, inexpensive, uses only one pan and the flavors are absolutely divine. It’s about as close to a fool-proof dish as you can get with the recipe I’m sharing with you today. Momma’s Chicken Cacciatore was one of the first recipes we included in our first cookbook, Momma & Me & You, and through the years we’ve tweaked it just a bit to make it even better! Here’s what Momma wrote in our cookbook:

“Almost every Italian restaurant has chicken cacciatore on the menu, and there are as many versions of the dish as there are places that serve it. Although it’s a Southern Italian specialty, it has been adopted as a treasure throughout Italy. When I introduced cacciatore on my restaurant menu back in 1957, our customer’s fell in love with the very first delicate bite! It became one of our most popular signature dishes for the celebrity crowd and locals alike.”

I find that good quality, fresh chicken enhances the taste—and that chicken thighs and legs seem to be the most flavorful. (Flavor-filled bones make all the difference!) Pick up a nice bottle of wine, some good sour dough bread and enjoy one of my Momma’s mainstay Italian meals!

Watch my how to video here!