Recipe: Chicken Tinga Tacos

I love Mexican food.  I'm not talking the tex-mex neon orange 'cheese' oozing out of an over-stuffed fried shell. That's not mexican food.  That's not really food.  When I think of Mexican food, I think of white cheese, corn husks, and mole.  Chicken Tinga feels like eating authentic Mexican food without the necessary background and skill required for many other dishes.  This dish is great for a Sunday (next superbowl, maybe?) and even better to make ahead and eat the next day...and the next...and then at lunch...well, you get the point.

I used Food and Wine's Chicken Tinga recipe, but I'm sure there are plenty out there to try.  The basic premise is the same:  take chicken pieces and braise it with tomatoes and chiles.  I used boneless, skinless chicken breast although I think chicken thighs would be delicious as well.  After simmering the rustic, red sauce down on the meat for a few hours, it all blends together to create a saucy dish.  Saucy in both it's consistency and attitude.

This dish could not be easier -- literally combine a big can of tomatoes, a few chipotles, a cup of chicken broth, onion, and garlic and simmer away over your chicken.

What starts as a soup-like dish eventually cooks down to...

This!

Serve on a corn tortilla with a bit of cheese, scallions, and my guacamole and you have a dynamic dinner full of flavor.  I ate the leftover chicken on lettuce with the guacamole for a healthier, salad version.  I impore you, if you can, try to find corn tortillas as opposed to the flour ones.  If you must use flour tortillas, consider blistering them on both sides in a skillet prior to serving.

Enjoy!

Recipe: Sun-dried Tomato and Chicken Pasta

I'm having one of those months where I started off full steam ahead and ended up in an unexpected, unproductive place.  Nothing exceptionally negative or positive has happened this month, but here I am looking February in the face and this is only my 4th post for the month!  How can that be?  I've been cooking up a storm (many things you may have already read about here), I've certainly been eating good meals (some I've made and some I've enjoyed by others) and yet here I am a little disappointed in myself that I'm not meeting personal blogging goals.  With that said, here's a little glimpse of what has kept me a way from my blogging:

This is my new kitty, Kiwi.  He is the fourth kitty in our family and he stole my heart while volunteering at the O.A.R.  I tried to have others adopt him (co-workers, extended family, my mom), but let's be honest -- I didn't try all that hard because I knew from the beginning he was meant to live a fun existence in my house. This little guy has already afforded me hours of play and snuggles.  So, in an effort to peacefully introduce Kiwi to our home of three very opinionated kitties, I have neglected my blog.  It's an excuse.  But I must say, it's a very cuddly excuse.

This quick and easy pasta meal was one I made at the last minute when I hadn't been to the grocery store, and my parents were on their way over to see Kiwi and stay for dinner.  It's a solid lesson in making do and keeping things on hand.  If my pantry is any indication (it's stuffed with canned goods & odds and ends that I will use eventually), your pantry may contain the very things you would need for a one-dish meal to serve a group.

Ingredients: 

• Chicken Breast
• Sun-dried Tomatoes
• Pasta (I used rigatoni, but any short pasta could be substituted)
• Pine Nuts
• Goat cheese (Any soft cheese or heavy cream would do as you won't use much)
• Olive Oil
• Basil, for garnish

As a pot of salted boiling water is bubbling away, grill your chicken breast.  I think this meal would also be delicious without the chicken and subsitute big mushroom caps. Once the chicken is grilled, let it rest and slice when cooled. In the meanwhile, get to work on the sauce.

In a large pan, add a few tablespoons of olive oil and the sun-dried tomatoes.  If your sun-dried tomatoes are packed in oil, you may not need any olive oil, but mine were dry and definitely needed the oil to plump up in the heat.  After a few minutes, add in a handful of toasted pine nuts.  Toasting takes only a minute or two over medium heat to develop the oils and flavors of the pine nuts.  Don't leave them too long or they will burn!

Bring the sliced chicken breast back into the pan with the tomatoes and nuts and add your cheese.  I love the creaminess and bite of goat cheese as it complements the sweet, juicy nature of the sun-dried tomatoes perfectly. You could achieve this creaminess with a few tablespoons of heavy cream and healthy pinch of salt and pepper, if you don't have or don't like goat cheese.  Add a bit of the pasta water and the cheese, oil, and juicy chicken creates a lovely sauce.

Add the rigatoni into the pan and give a good stir.  This pasta was creamy and flavorful without being time intensive.  Garnish with basil, chives, or scallions for a bit of green to dot the dish. 

And just in case you were wondering how my four furry babies were getting along:

 

Happy Cooking!

Recipe: Baked Huevos Rancheros

I love breakfast for dinner.  It's an easy, satisfying go-to after a tiring day and I especially love the comfort I feel. Chocolate chip pancakes, bagels with lox and cream cheese, or even scrambled eggs, bacon, & toast -- they are all easy, fulfilling meals with little effort.  I now have one more to add to the list of easy 'breakfast for dinner' foods: Baked Huevos Rancheros.

Ingredients:

• Tomato sauce with onion, peppers, and garlic mixed in and heated
• Tortilla chips
• Eggs
• Cheddar or Montery Jack cheese 
• Cilantro, for garnish

Fill your ramekins half-way with tomato sauce and line the outside with tortilla chips. Crack an egg or two on top, sprinkle with cheese, and pop in the oven for 20 minutes.

The result is delicious eggs and tomatoes with a bit of bite from peppers and a lovely cheesy topping. I love that this meal was made in little, individual ramekins for easy portions.  

If you are looking for sides to go with this meal, consider black beans.  I love taking a can of black beans, heating over low in a saucepan and adding a bit of garlic, burger seasoning (yes, Stubbs burger seasoning is delicious), and two tablespoons of cream cheese mixed in to make a creamy side to your Huevos Rancheros.

Happy Eating!

Recipe: Whole Artichokes and Hollandaise

Have you ever eaten an artichoke heart?  Did you know that it's the small, fleshy, innard found after removing an immovable stem and plucking away at what seems to be hundreds of leaves?  Did you know those leaves are edible?  That's right.  Those downright delicious artichoke leaves are often/always overshadowed by the heart and I urge you to stop this insanity.  This week, I bought my first whole artichoke and boiled all that yummy flavor into the leaves.  A few things to know about cooking a whole artichoke:

• Try really hard to snap that stem off.  Try again.  and then, Try. Again.  The suggestion from Jean-George's cookbook is that you hold the artichoke firmly down with your left hand and with your right hand grip the stem and snap it off.  It's not that easy.  After much gripping, twisting, and turning, I finally had to call in Steve who was able to do it after another 3 minutes of trying.  All this to say, I may use a knife next time.
• Place the whole artichokes in salted water and bring to a boil.  This boiling takes a full hour for the artichoke to cook.  You will know it's cooked when it's easily pierced by a knife.  
• Eat.The.Leaves.  You can eat artichoke leaves by taking your teeth and scraping the leaves against them, eating the flesh off the leaves. I promise you, all that artichoke heart flavor is in each of the leaves and with a bit of finesse (and some floss for later), you can enjoy artichoke leaves like you do the heart.
• Serve with hollandaise for dipping. Hollandaise is a delicious butter sauce that is ridiculously unhealthy and savory. I used this epicurious recipe and it was perfect.  

Once the artichoke is cooked, it opens up many layers of leaves for plucking.  We enjoyed this meal, an artichoke each, with red wine.  The lesson today?  An artichoke is more than its heart! 

Happy cooking! 

A Year in Food with a side of Carbonnade

My interest in food didn't start as a child, like some.  I was a picky eater.  The kind that hid food in napkins, pushed it around the plate in hopes that it would disappear, and inevitably the one left at the table sulking because I wasn't allowed to get up until I had one more bite of _______ (insert meat or veggie).  In fact, my interest in food and in particular, cooking, didn't start until graduate school.  With the incessant rush of papers to write, I found myself needing 'background noise' that kept a low hum in my apartment but didn't distract me with it's witty banter or good looking cast.  The Food Network.  Other than the occassional need to mute Rachel Ray, The Food Network provided many hours of needed company as I typed away.

Cut to five years later and here I am with a food blog and aspirations for an interesting tasting 2012.  With my first trip to Europe staring me in the face (really, it's grinning at me) and my own desire to extend and build my culinary skills -- I prouncounce....No.  DECLARE.  2012 will be a year of culinary risks and adventures. Cooking new cuisines.  Cooking for new people.  Cooking those creative juices out.  

In my post-Hanukkah, post-birthday haze, I've been adorned with new measuring and gelato spoons, mugs, pots, mandoline, cutting boards, and delicous truffly-adornments.  Apparently, people close to me got the hint. I'm also left with two cookbooks that pique and push my culinary curiosity.  Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles and Jean George's Home Cooking cookbooks.  In 2012 I intend to chiffonade, julienne, and filet my way through these recipes and into cooking bliss. Don't worry.  This isn't Julie and Julia.  I don't often find myself having internal monologues with Julia Childs. Usually. Hehe. Rather, this is my goal of finding my own culinary vision while experimenting with the visions of others. 

So, in an effort to usher in what is sure to be a challenging and rewarding 2012, here's to my first Belgian recipe -- an inspiration from my two bites of Carbonnade a'la OTR from Taste of Belgium.

Ingredients:

• Chuck Roast 
• Unsalted Butter
• Yellow Onions 
• Thyme
• Bay leaves
• Garlic
• Flour
• Belgian Beer
• Dijon Mustard
• Light Brown Sugar
• Apple Cider Vinegar

Firstly, take a few pounds of meat and cube it.  I ended up using four pounds of chuck roast, because I was feeding a crowd.  Take a large cast iron skillet and melt a few tablespoons of butter over medium high.  When searing hot, add the meat in small batches.  This literally takes patience.  Don't over crowd the pot, don't touch the meat.  Just place it and walk away for 3 minutes.  Turn the meat and walk away for three minutes.  Do this again and again until all of the meat is nicely browned and resting on a plate.  

Once all the meat is browned, go to work on the onions.  Thinly slice three or four medium sized yellow onions. Place in the same cast iron pot that you used for the meat, over more melted butter.  Gently turn the onions every few minutes until they are browned and carmelized.  This took about 20 minutes for me.  The beautiful part of the onions is that their acidity literally lifts off the yummy brown parts from the bottom of the pot. They are like a natural brillo pad!

As the onions are carmelized, add in a few tablespoons of flour (make sure to coat the onions well before adding other ingredients), a few sprigs of thyme, a few bay leaves, a few cloves of garlic, and a bottle or more of Belgian beer.  I found Chimay at my local liquour store and it was wonderful for both cooking and drinking. Any dark beer will do, but I swear by Belgian beer most days (La Chouffe!!) so if you can find it, use it! Put the meat back in the pot (with the juices) and mix all of these ingredients together.  Throw in the oven for as long as possible at 300 degrees.  I cooked this for nearly six hours, stirring ever hour or so. 

Shortly before serving, add in a few tablespoons of dijon mustard, light brown sugar, and apple cider vinegar. It would be easy to substitute with different types of mustard or vinegar, but use what you have on hand.  I would, however, steer clear of the yellow mustard variety.  

Stir again and with a bit more heat, your Carbonnade will be pull-apart ready for serving.  Literally, the meat falls apart.  

Serve with fries, mashed potatoes, rice, or any other starch you like to soak up that delicious meat and hearty sauce.

Happy Cooking in 2012!