Jerk Chicken Pasta

While I don't have pictures of this dish, this is really good. Invest in some good, but mild jerk seasoning. I suggest mild so you can use more of it for a richer flavor.

Gather together:

• 2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (cut in to bite sized pieces)
  
• 1 teaspoons jerk paste (more if you like it really spicy)
  
• 1 package of your favorite paste
  
• 1 tablespoon canola
  
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 small onion (rough chop)
• 1 red bell pepper (sliced)
• 1 small box of frozen spinach (thawed and drained of juice)
  
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• juice from 2 limes or about 2 tablespoons of lime juice
  
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil, cook the noodles until al dente, and drain. Lightly oil the pan. Cook chicken with the juice of 1 lime until fully cokked. Remove from pan. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, and cook the garlic, onion red pepper and spinach until the onion is just translucent. Mix in the chicken stock, 1 tablespoon jerk paste, juice of 1 lime, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and stir in the heavy cream. Cook and stir until mixture is thickened, about 5 minutes. Do not allow it to boil. Add the chicken back to the pan. Serve sauce over noodles.

This stuff was good. I used jerk seasoning powder on the chicken while it was cooking--I like things spicy, but like I said, if you can find a mild jerk seasoning, you can add more or less if you don't like things as spicy.

Chicken Fricassee--the easy way

I don't want anyone to be fooled in to thinking that I slave over the stove for hours to feed Aaron. He doesn't care much about food so to do so would be a waste of time. I however love food...LOVE FOOD! But that doesn't mean that I have tons of time to cook. So here is an easy dish (think 30 minute meal) to whip up on any random Tuesday.
Gather together:

• 1lb boneless chicken bits
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 small bunch of carrots (about 4 large carrots) sliced--I used yellow carrots since they were in season
• 3 or 4 celery stalks--sliced on the bias
• 2 cloves of garlic-crushed
• 2 tablespoons of canola oil
• 3 tablespoons of butter
• 4 tablespoons of flour
• 1 cup of white wine or chicken stock (add more if needed to thin out the sauce)
  
• 1 tsp dried tarragon
• 2 bay leaves
  
• salt and pepper

In a frying pan add the canola oil and over medium heat cook the chicken bits until they are browned on both sides. Remove them and add the onion, carrots and celery along with the butter. Cook until the vegetables are tender crisp. Then add the flour to the pot. Once the flour is made into a roux whisk in the wine and return the chicken to the pot along with the bay leaves and tarragon. Allow this to cook for another 10-15 minutes on simmer or low. Remove bay leaves and add salt and pepper to taste.

I served this over noodles with a simple green salad and garlic bread. This really is an easy recipe.

Easy chicken & Bean Enchiladas

I know the thought of making home made enchiladas is kinda daunting. This is the stress free way of doing it. I even made 2 different types both under 15 minutes (not including cooking time). This is so easy you can do it with the kids. By using left over grilled chicken or left over crockpot chicken you can make this easy and cheap. I like the idea of cooking once and eating twice.

When I asked my friend Saramay what she wanted for her birthday, her answer was for me to cook Mexican food. I can do that. I was basically given free reign to cook what I wanted as long as I showed up at her house on Friday at 6pm with food in hand. I had decided earlier in the week I was going to crock pot a chicken, so I had some left over chicken for this dish. I call it faux enchiladas because a.) I don't use the red enchilda sauce on the chicken and b.) I don't use corn tortillas. So it's more like all things in burrito form with a different style of cheese. I do want to say that my mother-in-law taught me how to make the chicken enchiladas.

Chicken Enchiladas
2 cups of diced/shredded chicken
1 small onion diced
can of cheese soup
16on container of sour cream
1 lb of shredded cheese
1 packages of flour tortillas (taco size is fine, but you can use burrito if you want bigger enchiladas)

In a bowl mix the soup and the sour cream. Reserve 1/2 and put onion, chicken and 1/2 of the shredded cheese in a bowl.Mix thoroughly. Spray down casserole dish with cooking spray. Fill a tortilla with chicken mixture and place seam side down in casserole dish. Continue until you run out of chicken mixture & Tortillas. Take the remaining cheese soup mixture and spread on tortillas. Top with shredded cheese and heat in oven at 350 for 30 minutes or until hot and cheese is melted.


Bean and cheese enchiladas
1 can of black beans (rinsed)
1 small onion (diced)
1 pound shredded cheese
1 can of enchilada sauce (yes, the premade stuff is ok to use--red or green you decide)
flour tortillas

Mix the beans, onion and 1/2 of the shredded cheese. Fill the tortillas with the bean mixture and place seam side down in a casserole that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Continue filling with bean mixture until you run out of beans or tortillas. Top with enchilada sauce. Finish with the remaining shredded cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Serve this to your vegetarian friends.


Sorry the pictures aren't pretty. I took the uncooked over to a friend's birthday party. It was a huge success.

Tagine style Chicken

I saw this on 30 minutes meals with Rachel Ray a couple years ago. It seemed fun and exotic. And if you can look over the Rachel Ray aspect of the dish, it really is very good. I made it with leftover Roasted chicken and I put some in another pan to let the vegetarians have some with tofu. This is so good, Anthony even ate the tofu. I know, I didn't really come up with this recipe, but it is too good not to try it.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan
• 4 cloves garlic, smashed beneath the flat of your knife with the heel of your hand, discard skins
• 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into large bite-size pieces
• 1 1/2 teaspoons grill seasoning blend (recommended: Montreal Seasoning by McCormick) or coarse salt and coarse pepper
• 2 medium or 1 large yellow skinned onion, quartered and sliced
• 10 pitted prunes, coarsely chopped
• 1-ounce box or 1/4 cup golden raisins
• 2 cups good quality, low sodium chicken stock, available in paper containers on soup aisle

Spice blend:

• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sweet paprika, eyeball it
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander, eyeball it
• 1/2 teaspoon tumeric, eyeball it
• 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon, a couple pinches

Couscous:

• 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
• 1 1/2 cups couscous
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, eyeball it
• 2 scallions, finely chopped

Directions

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan, in a slow stream, and add smashed garlic. Season the chicken with seasoning blend. Scatter chicken around the pan in an even layer. Cook chicken pieces 2 minutes on each side to brown, then add the onions, prunes, raisins and stock. Mix spices in a small dish and scatter over the pot. Cover and reduce to moderate heat. Cook 7 or 8 minutes, remove the lid and stir.

To prepare the couscous, bring chicken stock to a boil. Add couscous, extra-virgin olive oil and scallions and remove the couscous from the stove immediately. Cover and let stand 5 minutes. Fluff the couscous with a fork.

Uncover chicken and cook another 2 to 3 minutes to thicken slightly. Adjust the seasoning, to taste, and serve chicken on a bed of couscous.

I served this with Couscous, hummus, pita bread and a simple cucumber tomato salad. Erin thought it needed some red pepper flakes...Imagine that.

Southern-Style rolled out Chicken and Dumplings

I have to say, I do miss things like chicken and dumplings (dump-lins). And I don't mean those biscuit dough balls that sit on top of a cream of something with some chicken bits thrown it. No, I mean the real ones that you have to roll out, then cut in to vague noodle form and put in to a pot of seasoned chicken stock--the kind my great-grandmother made every family get together. (They could never be as good as those, but I tried hard enough)

Gather together:
4-chicken bits (4 breast, thighs, boneless or whatever you prefer)
3-5 carrots
1 small onion
2 cloves of garlic
salt
pepper
bay leaves

for the dumplings
1.5 c. flour
2 eggs (slightly beaten)
1 tsp salt
3 tbs cold water
2 tbs butter
2 tsp basking soda

In a large stock pot, add chicken bits, a bay leaf & some salt and cover with water. Boil this for about 30 minutes or until chicken is cook completely. Remove the chicken and allow it to cool so you can de-bone & shred it. Remove any chicken scum that floated to the top.
Add the vegetables and continue cooking over medium heat.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, cut the butter into flour, baking soda & salt. Next, add the eggs and the water until a dough ball forms. Then kneed the dough until you get a smooth consistency. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface until it is 1/8 of an inch thick. Cut in to 1/2 inch by 4 inch strips.






Starting adding the dumplings in to the slow boiling pot of chicken stock one at a time. Resist the urge to stir. Keep adding until all of them are added. Then slowly, with a wooden spoon stir, just to make sure none of the dumplings are stuck to the bottom. Turn down the heat to medium-low. Add the chicken back to the pot. Add salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 10 more minutes. Ta-da. (If you like it to be thicker, you can add corn starch, flour or heavy cream) Allow to cool in bowls for a few minutes before serving. Add parsley for garnish.



Serve with with bread, crackers or corn bread. This is so true southern cookin'!

Mole sauce with chicken or tofu

I kick my self in the butt every time I think about all the times I dismissed my grandma when she was cooking. To this day, I still have a rough time making tortillas from scratch. So it seems only natural that I should try my hand at making mole (moll-lay). Grandma did it. I should be able to do it. This is not a sweet dish. I know it has chocolate in it, but this is a savory dish.

I used the crock pot to cook the chicken in. It just seemed easier. I used 3 pounds of chicken thighs, added a bay leaf, salt and garlic. Cook it on high for about 4-5 hours. It will take some time if you want to make a good mole. I once again did not measure things, just do it until it looks & tastes right. And I always run in to the problem of not finding exactly the right ingredients that I need. So here is the list of ingredients that I used:

• ground cumin
• ground coriander
  
• pumpkin spice--it has both cinnamon & clove in it so it works out
• red pepper flakes
  
• salt
• canola oil
• toasted pine nuts--not needed, I just used what I had
  
• toasted almonds
• tahini paste (I am lucky that Ann sent this to me, b/c there is no finding this here)
  
• unsweetened bakers chocolate
• sugar
• 1 can of green chilies--diced
  
• ranchero salsa (I needed Ancho chilies, but there was no getting those here)
• 2 cans of tomatoes--crushed or what ever you have on hand
  
• 1 jar or roasted red peppers--diced
• 1 medium onion-small diced
• 2-4 cloves of garlic (or if you have any of that roasted garlic left you could use that)
  
• Raisins (I didn't use any, I have no excuse other than I just forgot)
• vegetable bouillon base
• water
  

This is going to take some time. This is not a 30 minute meal! Not at all. If you haven't roasted or toasted your pine nuts & almonds do this first. Just a simple toasting in a dry pan over medium high heat. Do not over toast, meaning don't burn them. Keep moving the pan around to keep them from lingering in one spot for too long. Once, they are toasted, pulse in a food processor or blender until it is powdery...if you do it too long, it will turn to paste. This does not ruin anything so just go with it.

In a dutch oven or large heavy sauce pan, add about 2-3 tablespoons of oil on turn it to medium heat (use can use lard, my grandma would have used lard, but the vegetarians would not have eaten it) . Next add the cumin, coriander, red pepper flakes, and pumpkin spice. Add enough to make a bubbling, liquid goo, but not a thick paste. Let this cook for about 10 minutes stirring constantly. It will get darker, let it get dark, but don't let the spices burn. Next add the onion and garlic. Let those get coated in the spices and get tender. Next add the roasted red peppers, tomatoes with juice, chilies, ancho peppers (if you have them--if not add the rancho salsa) and raisins. Let this simmer so all the flavors can combine, about 10-15 minutes.

Next, if you have an immersion blender, you can use that. I have the old style blender, so I had to do a few batches and dirty up another bowl, then transfer it back to the pot. With everything blended, start adding the almond & pine nut crumbs/paste. Next add a couple tablespoons of tahini paste and the veggie bouillon and about 2 cups of water. Now, coarsely chop the chocolate bars and add them to the pot. I used all 8 squares. Keep stirring the pot, you don't want the chocolate to settle on the bottom and burn. Keep stirring. Look at the bubbling goo and keep stirring. This will take about 15 minutes. It will turn from a red-ish orange color to a dark brown color. It will also thicken up as you go. Taste the sauce, it will need salt. It might need a bit of sugar. I added about 2 tablespoons of sugar and you know, enough salt to make it not taste like it need salt. Let this simmer for a few minutes more and you are done with the sauce.

(I know what you are thinking, but this really is good. Even if it is dark brown...just keep thinking about the chocolate in it)

Now assuming you had the chicken in the crock pot, you can take it out (de-skin and de-bone it if you used bone in chicken) and shred it a bit. Mix the shredded chicken with the sauce. Serve this with rice and tortillas.



I had enough sauce to give Erin some for her tofu, some for the chicken and about a quart to freeze for later. THIS WAS FREAKING AWESOME! I realized about 1/2 way through with this, you can't really screw this up too bad. You can add anything you like. You blend everything. And the chocolate makes it all better. I realized that this dish is not for everyone. It's a spicy, savory, chocolate sauce. Aaron even ate seconds. I was impressed.

Erin made her's with tofu. I went home with my sauce before she made her tofu, so I have no idea how it went.

This is Erin:

The mole sauce was awesome! Anthony doesn't even like tofu and he ate a bunch of it. Tofu is pretty much a blank slate, so it soaked up a bit of the sauce and was so tasty. All I did was fry the tofu until it was a little browned with some red pepper. This took about five minutes (a perk to vegetarian cooking!). Then I put some mole sauce in the pan and heated it up with the tofu. We ate this over rice. It was so good! Like Samara said, probably not for everyone (it has a unique flavor), but we really enjoyed it.

Faux Chicken Etouffee

I like spicy food. Ok, I really like spicy food. And after a week of not being able to taste anything due to cold medicine I wanted something flavorful and spicy. It also helped that I spent 2 days at home instead of going to work and watched the foodnetwork and the travel channel. After watching Anthony Bourdain's show, "No Reservations" about the restaurants in New Orleans (after Katrina), I just had to have me some etouffee. Since I have never been to New Orleans and have only had cajun food at Bourbon and Toulouse in Lexington, Kentucky, I figured I would do the best I could. What I came up with was a bastardized version that resembled something like what I imagine a real etouffee to taste like.

The previous night I cooked some bacon and reserved the grease. (It had not been sitting around for days and nothing makes things taste better than a little pork fat.) Every good southern girl keeps her bacon grease even if she is in the public health profession. I figure if hot bacon grease doesn't kill it, nothing will.

Gather together:
1 lb of chicken boobs (cut up in to strips)
some flour (enough for the flour and to make a roux)
1 can of beer (I used the finest American Lager I had...the beast)
3 stalks of celery (diced)
1 small onion (diced) I also added 1 shallot
1 red pepper (diced)
2 cloves of garlic (crushed and chopped)
2 bay leaves
blackening seasoning (I use salt free)
Butter

Dredge the chicken in seasoned flour (enter blackening seasoning). Cook in bacon grease on medium heat. Do not burn the oil or the flour on the chicken, so keep it on medium. After the chicken is browned and throughly cooked, remove and set aside. If you need to add some butter at this point to make about 2-3 tables spoons of liquid please do so. Remove your hot pan off the burner while you add flour one tablespoon at a time until you get a brown roux. It will resemble liquidly brown sugar (not paste). Put back on the burner on low medium & cook this until it is a milk chocolate brown, but not burnt. If it smells burnt, do not use. Add the veggies and coat in roux. Let the veggies get soft in the roux then add the can of beer and about 1/2 cup of chicken stock or water. Add bay leaves and seasoning. Add Simmer this for about 15-20 minutes until thick. Add the chicken back to the pan and cook for another 10 minutes adding water if the gravy needs to be thinner.

When this is finished it should be a brownish color gravy with chicken bit and vegetables in it. Served over rice with garlic bread.


This is really good. I know it's not the real thing. I think the real thing has tomotoes or milk or something else in it. It seems like a spicy chicken fricassee to me. My husband was even happy to eat seconds. It was filling (but not over filling) and it felt like home. I can imagine I would like New Orleans if it tastes anything like this.