Mojito Chicken

Step aside Cilantro-Lime Chicken.

Make way for the boozy chicken!

(Not to be confused with this boozy but brilliant Best Roast Chicken.)

In a large bowl combine:

1/2 cup light rum

1/2 cup mint

1/2 cup lime juice

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 TBSP lime zest

1/4 cup agave nectar

1 jalapeño, seeded

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 TBSP cumin

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Blend all of the ingredients in a food processor, pour back into the bowl and add chicken, breasts or thighs as you prefer, and allow to marinate in the refrigerator 2-4 hrs.

When ready to cook, remove the chicken and discard the marinade.

Season both sides with salt before cooking, and throw on either a hot pan or a hot grill, tho a grill is preferred. 

(You know you're eking out those last few warm nights before putting the grill away for the winter!)

Then: 

don't forget to take pictures of the finished product 

or you will have no final "wow that looks tasty" moment for your blog post.

Whoops.

Still, this was pretty tasty and made a lovely change for  a light dinner. Try serving it with some quinoa with fresh mint and cilantro mixed in, and maybe some queso fresco.

Dinner. Done.

Quick Chicken Soft Tacos

I've been doing a lot of variations on salsa this summer. In the winter I sometimes find salsa to be too light and unsatisfying, but in the hotter months I find I'm using it left and right, on eggs, on top of fish, and this time, to fill a soft taco.

For this dish I used a little leftover basmati rice for The Hubs, as he likes more of a burrito than a soft taco, but I made mine using just the chicken and Corn & Black Bean Salsa.

First I took two chicken breasts and cut them into bite-sized pieces. I sprinkled them with salt, ground cumin, and chili powder and rolled them around until evenly coated. (About 1/2 tsp each.)

Then in a non-stick pan on medium-high heat and with a bit of olive oil, I cooked the chicken until opaque, about 5-7 minutes.

This salsa is really the clincher of the dish, as it has the most flavor.

A little sautéed shallot, corn, 1 pat of butter, black beans (from soup), and a heap of fresh cilantro.

Sweet, savory, and bright all at once.

This would also taste fabulous with some of my Avocado Purée slathered on the tortilla before filling it (which is how I ate the leftovers for lunch the next day!) but all told this dinner took under 20 minutes start to finish. 

And The Hubs had seconds, so you know it was pretty good.

Cilantro & Lime Chicken

It's a fiesta in your mouth!

Or, you know. Dinner.

My thanks to Google and MyRecipes.com for helping me find this dish.

To start with, create the marinade.

1/4 cup lime juice, 1/2 cup chopped cilantro, 6 cloves of garlic (yowza!), 1 TBSP honey, 1 TBSP evoo, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper.

And as I had a leftover jalapeño, I threw that in for good measure as well.

Place your chicken (I had 5 boneless chicken thighs, the recipe suggests 4 chicken breasts) in the marinade and allow to soak for about an hour.

This recipe said anywhere from 30 minutes to overnight, but I find anything that sits in citrus too long starts to cook like a ceviche and break down, so I just went with an hour or so.

Prep your pan with a bit of olive oil on medium-high heat and drop in your chicken.

(Tho if you have access to a grill, that will give this dish a much richer flavor.)

Make sure you discard the marinade as you do not want to eat anything that has had raw chicken soaking in it.

This is a nice change-up from the usual things I make, with a decent tang and a bit of zip from the jalapeño I added.

Give it a whirl!

Black Bean & Corn Salsa

I think I selectively forget how delicious black beans and corn can be, as corn is technically a carb and not the healthy vegetable we all wish it to be.

The side dish is really the star of this meal, so forgive me if I glaze over the chicken a bit.

Well, I guess I should tell you something.

I took three (rather small) chicken breasts and seasoned them with a bit of ground cumin, chili powder, salt, and a very small dusting of ground cinnamon. 

Sauté in olive oil until opaque in the middle and remove. Optional spritz of fresh lime juice once off the heat.

Toss in some diced shallot and garlic, deglaze the pan with some chicken stock, increase the heat to reduce and form a quick pan gravy.

Some of the seasoning from the chicken should be left in the pan to flavor the gravy, so just a little salt should round it out.

Spoon a little over each breast and the chicken is done.

Now for the good stuff.

Now I know a proper cook would use dried beans and soak them and then cook them and season them accordingly, but frankly, there's a reason there's a market for canned beans.

We're in a rush!

Also, it's summer in New York and we've had almost a solid week above 90º and no one wants to be cooking anything for more than five minutes.

As it is summer while I am typing this, you can find lovely fresh corn everywhere.

However, should you be making this in the dead of winter and the bag of frozen corn you found on the door has serious freezer burn, fear not. There's a way to resuscitate your desiccated corn.

Simply place it in a hot pan with a pat of melted butter and a splash or two of water, season with a pinch of salt, and bring the whole mess up to a simmer. Allow the corn to cook in the buttery liquid until it has largely been absorbed, 2-3 minutes, and you should have sweet and plump kernels once more.

For THIS dish tho, I used half a medium shallot, diced and lightly cooked in a bit of olive oil.

Next I threw in the corn and a pat of butter.

My SUPER cheat for this recipe, and I feel no shame in it, is that I use Goya black bean soup instead of regular black beans. I just strain (and reserve) the soup liquids and throw the already cooked and seasoned black beans into my dish, and I'm DONE!

Well, a few tablespoons of chopped fresh cilantro, taste for salt, and then I'm done.

And it is delicious!

Sweet and savory and bright and perfectly balanced.

This by itself would make a great picnic side, or even a vegetarian lunch by itself, as it works just fine at room temperature.

The Hubs greatly approved of this meal as corn is one of his favorite foods, but I don't serve it that often as it is largely devoid of nutrition, so he gobbled this down in no time.

If you want to be a bit healthier, go 2-1 beans to corn for more protein and fiber. I went about 1-1 because that's just how much I had on hand.

Also, the leftovers when it hits 96º tomorrow will be delicious and completely effortless!

Chimichurri Steak

 

I love chimichurri sauce. It can come in many permutations, and somehow overcomes my intense dislike of parsley due to the blending of other herbs, garlic, and vinegar.

I go just shy of eating it right off the spoon, but that would be denying the full experience which comes when you add beef to chimichurri.

Extra bonus: it takes about 5 minutes to make, tops.

 

I followed a recipe by Bobby Flay, because even tho his voice grates on my nerves in the extreme, the man makes some pretty good food. (R.I.P. Bolo)

Tho I'm amazed he managed to leave out some sort of pepper or chile, because while they do not belong in chimichurri, I seriously think Mr. Flay has some sort of OCD when it comes to putting chilies in his dishes. (He put them in the Vidalia Relish that was supposed to accompany this dish, so at least he's consistent.)

 

Ingredients: 1 cup cilantro, 1 cup parsley, 1/2 cup mint, 4 cloves of garlic (rough chop),  3/4 to 1 cup olive oil, 1/4-1/3 cup red wine vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste.

As I am sometimes overpowered by raw garlic, I place mine in a bowl with some olive oil and microwave it for about 20 seconds to take some of the bite out of it (as I did not want to dirty a pan just for a couple cloves of garlic) before adding it to the food processor.

 

Give all the herbs a rough chop, throw them in the food processor, add the garlic and about half the red wine vinegar. You can stream in the olive oil or just add it and set the whole thing whirling, as you prefer.

Season and taste the sauce. Some people (like the Hubs) are very sensitive to vinegar, so if it's strong enough for you, stop there. If you like more kick to your sauce, add the rest of the red wine vinegar in and pulse to combine. 

I may dislike the burn of raw garlic, but I enjoy vinegar!

 

For the steak I used a super simple flank steak (actually half of one, as that will serve 2 people, if you're going by proper portion sizes...) but I made things interesting with some Danish Viking Smoked Sea Salt instead of just regular kosher salt.

Believe me when I tell you this salt is smokey, but in a delicious way, not a "what's burning?" way.

Your guests may wonder how you got that lovely outdoor grill taste when they know you never left the kitchen.

 

In a hot pan I seared the steak for about 4 minutes per side (medium-high heat) to get a medium to medium rare steak. Flank steak is a chewier cut, so you don't want to go rare on this one.

Let it rest about 7-8 minutes before slicing it against the grain to serve up, and slather with your homemade chimichurri.

 

I also made some kick-ass roasted potatoes to go along side, and I'm sure I've posted how to make those on here before. But as they take 45 minutes to an hour to cook, I had started them about half an hour before I started cooking the meat. I made the chimichurri then as well, as that gives the flavors time to meld before serving.

(Note: I did take the steak out of the fridge then, as searing cold meat is a no-no.)

I could seriously eat this meal for breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner. So you might want to make more steak than you need to ensure leftovers!

The chimichurri sauce should keep in your fridge for a day or two, but after that the freshness of the herbs in the vinegar will start to break down too much. (Pesto lasts longer as it has little acid.)

Try using your leftovers on eggs or in various salad dressings.

Get cookin'!

Note: I will be going briefly silent as I am helping cook/cater a friend's wedding of 130 people next week. I have never cooked in quantities like this, so I may be a bit nutty, but I will try to document what I make to post here later. Fingers crossed I've planned things out properly!

Cinco de Mayo +1

I have not gotten around to typing up my post about my steak dinner with homemade chimichurri, nor have I perfected my recipe (as it was my first try) for homemade tomatillo salsa, a.k.a. Salsa Verde.

So, I'm doing a re-post.

I'm sure you'll forgive me, because it's still a very tasty soup, and maybe you missed the post the first time around!

So check out my Àndale Aztec Soup and keep the celebration going all weekend!

Quick Quesadilla

No one likes Hospital Food, so of course I bring something tasty every time I visit. This time I thought, what with the boring repetition of meals like "pot roast" hockey pucks in molten brown goo, I'd spice things up a little bit and make a quick Mexican quesadilla.

First I spray what will be the outside of the flour tortilla with a bit of olive oil cooking spray and place that side down in a non-stick skillet.

I start it (in the cold skillet) with a layer of sliced muenster cheese, and then added a mixture of leftover roast chicken and tomatoes. 

Notice: only on one side of the tortilla.

Since transplant patients cannot have raw fruit or vegetables, I washed the tomatoes well, chopped them, seasoned them with salt, and then sautéed them in a bit of olive oil and a few tablespoons of chicken stock for about 3-4 minutes, until the liquid has boiled and basically evaporated. When it is almost evaporated I toss in the chicken, fresh cilantro (no raw fresh herbs...sigh), and a pinch of cumin. This way everything is flavorful, and the tomatoes have cooked enough to  kill anything nasty but still have most of their fresh tomato taste.

Another sneaky tip:

Instead of buying a can of black beans that needs seasoning and effort, I buy a can of black bean soup (I like Goya's) and sift some of the beans out with a fork. Then I get to have the soup later as well, and I admit my favorite part of black bean soup has always been the broth, so if it's not jam-packed with beans when I eat it, I'm not displeased.

Sprinkle the beans over the chicken, tomatoes, and cheese.

Top with more muenster cheese, fold the other half of the tortilla over, and crank the heat to medium-high.

Cook until you see the cheese starting to melt and then flip.

When all the cheese is melted and the tortilla has gotten browned and crispy, you know you're ready to eat.

Or in this case, wrap it in some tinfoil and run it up to the hospital!

This would also make a good picnic lunch with the warm weather starting to show its sunny face.

Àndale Aztec Soup

This is a SUPER cheat for making Aztec Soup. While slow and homemade are wonderful and important aspects in the food world, sometimes you just cannot be bothered and you want food NOW.
Or, in 15 minutes.

The cheat in this is using Rosa Mexicano's Mexican Chicken Broth which already has things like cilantro and jalapeño essences in it, which is why it is such a shortcut. (Fresh Direct carries it, but for anyone not living in the NYC area, that link goes to their website where you can order it directly. As with pretty much all canned or boxed soup, I am not a fan of their pre-made Aztec Tortilla Soup, so just stick with the broth.)

You will need: onion or shallot, celery, carrot, garlic, tomato, avocado, (cooked) chicken, Mexican Chicken Broth, manchego cheese (or queso fresco), and corn chips and fresh cilantro for garnish.
If you like your food super spicy, by all means add some more fresh jalapeño, but for me this broth is spicy enough as it is.

I start out with the usual suspects: diced onion or shallot, celery, and carrot. Sauté those until tender in a bit of olive oil, maybe 5 minutes. Then add one grated/minced clove of garlic and cook for another minute.

When I'm making just enough for myself with maybe a bit leftover, I use 1 medium carrot, 1 rib of celery, half a medium shallot, and one clove of garlic.

Multiply your amounts accordingly.

After the garlic has cooked out for about a minute I add 8 grape tomatoes (or 1 regular tomato) finely chopped to match the size of the carrots and celery. Season with a pinch of salt and stir.

Then, add as much of the box of Mexican Chicken Stock as you wish to make your soup.

I only use about half the box (2 cups) when making it for myself.

If you have any leftover roast chicken (or you could have poached a chicken breast in the broth before dicing the veg for the previous steps), now would be the time to chop it up and throw it in the pot as well.

Bring everything up to a simmer to heat through.

While the soup comes together and warms through I take 1/4-1/2 of a rip avocado (depending on the size) and score it before removing it from the skin and place in the bottom of your bowl.

Spritz with a bit of fresh lime juice.

Once your soup is hot, ladle it over the avocado.

Top your soup with some grated manchego cheese, chopped fresh cilantro, and either crush some corn tortilla chips over the top or leave on the side for snacking between bites.

This whole meal should only take you about 15-20 minutes start to finish, but it is packed with both flavor and nutrition, and will definitely fill you up and warm you through.

Which is good when the wind chill is only in the teens.

Spanican Chicken

First full day of Fall in NYC and the weather is still hitting 80º for the high. Tomorrow* it's supposed to be 85º!!! Apparently, what with the killer heat all Summer and tornado last week, Mother Nature is still miffed at us. And again, I don't really blame her, but it remains confusing. 

*Hey, Sassy. I know I'm seeing you tonight, but now you know what the weather will be like tomorrow, so ditch the sweater dresses until you're back from Italy! (Ya lucky stinker...)

After our delicious Mexican meal at El Vez the hubs and I were craving those fabulous flavors again. So, I tried to make a rub for our chicken that would in some way satisfy our taste buds with what I already had in my spice cabinet.

Remember: the hubs will not eat avocado, sour cream, cold tomato salsa, etc., so I couldn't make this all that authentic of a meal. However, the finished product would have gone brilliantly with some guacamole.

I have no idea if I was making something that was more Mexican or more Spanish in style, so, this is Spanican Chicken!

Please, no one be offended by my attempts outside my comfort zone of cooking.

I mixed the following herbs and spices together in various pinches:

chili powder, cumin, dried oregano, coriander, smoked spanish paprika, and ground cloves.

Once I was happy with that mixture I added one large grated clove of garlic, and just enough olive oil to make it into a paste with which to paint the chicken.

Is that a beautiful color or what?

Let the chicken marinate for a couple hours so the flavors can really infuse the chicken.

Also, I did not salt the chicken until right before cooking.

While I was cooking the chicken I decided that a side of black beans would go brilliantly with the dish, so once the chicken was done, I added half a can of drained black bean soup. (Yes, Goya's black bean soup. Not just canned black beans. I sifted the beans out. I did not dump the soup liquid. That is some tasty stuff! Also, it is what I had when I looked in my pantry... it's a TOTAL cheat, but a really delicious one.) I heated the black beans through in the flavorful oil left after cooking the chicken, and added about a tablespoon of dry sherry to the pan for an extra kick. 

Note: If using canned black beans (and thereby also cooking with onion, garlic, seasonings, etc) I would definitely do this again. However, if using black bean soup, I'd skip it as it is already quite flavorful.

Top with minced raw onion or shallot when serving.

A side of roasted potatoes, and dinner was well rounded and very tasty.

No where NEAR as tasty as the meal at El Vez, but it was a valiant effort, if I do say so myself.

And, obviously, I do.

San Francisco: Day 3

At this point we were ceasing to be hungry when we woke up, and so held out for better meals later in the day.

But first, a little more sight-seeing.

First we rode the cable cars from Union Square to the Cable Car Museum.

(Note: we bought the City Pass on Day One so we did all these museums for "free" as well as riding the busses, trolley cars, and cable cars as often as we wanted without paying. I say "free" because the passes are about $64 a pop, but if you're going to see a lot of stuff, it does end up being a good deal. The passes are good for 8 or 9 days.)

Ain't we cute hanging off a moving vehicle and taking pictures at the same time?

Both of our coats and my scarf were purchased while in SF... we planned poorly for the weather.

These giant wheels are part of what makes the cable cars run.

I'm still hazy on how the intersections work...

Ye olde(r) cable car.

Enlarge to learn how it all works.

After learning about cable car, we hopped back on one and headed down to the wharf.

This cable car brought to you by Atari.

Really.

The hubs was quite excited.

We stopped at Ghirardelli Square for some hot chocolate and espresso (and a free piece of chocolate just for walking in!), and watched two pigeons go absolutely berserk devouring someone's abandoned ice cream and waffle cone.

Ever seen avian brain-freeze?

It's pretty funny.

By this point the grandparents had arrived (remember I was going to SF for my nephew's first birthday?) so the hubs and I went to Haight/Ashbury so his dad could add to his collection of Beatles T-shirts.

Along the way I passed a bookstore that basically had my childhood in their window.

Wonder Woman, The Dark Crystal, The Muppet Show, Muppets Take Manhattan, A Wrinkle in Time, The Princess Bride, Grover...

Fraggles, Bob Ross, The Never Ending Story, The Last Unicorn (cropped below this pic), Heathers, Labyrinth...

It was all I could do not to buy the Boober Fraggle puppet.

This photo stolen from some other blog I found, as I forgot to take a picture out front.

Since it's in the area, we had scheduled our trip to Nopalito for the day we knew we'd meet the in-laws in Haight/Ashbury. And much to my surprise, it was the first time my father-in-law had eaten Mexican food! (Apparently his opinion is that all those tortillas get in the way of the meat.)

This is a great place to go and share your dishes. I started with the squid and rock cod ceviche, which had a lime and tomatillo salsa verde for sauce and sliced avocado on top. Very tasty, very tender, but I have to say the chips that came with it were stale as can be. Don Pisto's totally spanked them on that front!

Next I had the Carnitas (again) because you really just cannot beat slow-roasted pork. 

These came as kind of build-your-own, with the tortillas on the side (which I ignored) and sliced cabbage on the edge of the plate. The real deal however was the meat. Two hunks of pork, a bit smaller than my fist each, wrapped in parchment paper and served in a little dish of their own. Juicy, flavorful, and fantastic. I pretty much just dug into those with my fork and ignored the rest.

They make a decent margarita as well ;)

The hubs had the Quesadilla Roja (I think he was sold as soon as he read "crispy pork belly" in the description), my mother-in-law had the Enchilada de Mole (another first for her), and my father-in-law stuck with the Gordita, as he was wary of the menu.

Tho he had no trouble finishing my leftover Carnitas.

This meal was followed by a nap from which we really had to struggle to wake from.

But we had reservations, and I wanted to keep them.

Which brings us to Contigo, which is a little Spanish restaurant WAY past the usual tourist joints. After taking a trolley all the way to the end of its line at Castro Street, we then hailed a cab to drive us about 4 avenues south, all of which were residential. We came down an enormous hill to find a strip of stores and restaurants, including ours.

We were seated in the back garden, complete with heaters, and it was a very romantic little spot.

Unfortunately we were still somewhat full from our late lunch at Nopalito, so we didn't really get to take advantage of the small plates on the menu.

We split oxtail croquetas, which were jam-packed with meat, if a bit bland, a slow-cooked pork dish that came with peppers and some sort of farro-type grain in the gravy, and the coca (basically a flat-bread pizza) which had caramelized onions, spinach, kalamata olives, and manchego cheese.

The coca smelled divine, but every inch of the thing was coated with the onions, so it became too strong very fast, so we had the leftovers wrapped.

I was so excited to eat at this restaurant, but in the end it was my least favorite of everywhere we went. Very disappointing, especially when it was so hard to get there! (Not the traveling part... the getting out of bed part.)

So, lessons to learn: trust the locals, and trust your instincts.

Be wary of food publications.*

*Obviously you can trust THIS food publication... is this a publication? Hmm...