Fallen Souffle

Thursday was a great day. Not only did I receive my new grown up sofa and loveseat (photos to come) but I also received my brand new washer and dryer! Ahh the sweet sound of a quiet spin cycle. I have never been so excited to do laundry. Maytag is my friend and Best Buy rocks for quick delivery and installation.

So to celebrate, I wanted to make something yummy with the chicken in the fridge. I was looking through the recipes from “Guy’s Big Bite” because I wanted to book mark his pot sticker recipe (I am obsessed with pot stickers!) and I found this recipe for Cajun Chicken Alfredo. I ran by the store to pick up blackened seasoning and some fat free half and half and I was set.

This is so easy to prepare. The chicken was grilled instead of cooked in a pan because I didn’t wanna smoke up the house and set off the smoke alarm, that thing is so damn sensitive! And with is being absolutely beautiful outside, the grill seemed perfect. I also used spaghetti instead of fettuccine because I have a 5 lbs bag I am trying to use up. As I said I used fat free half and half and this worked well for the most part except it started to separate a bit, though I added a bit more at the end and that helped to bind it a bit as well as the cheese. It didn’t effect the taste but I would imagine the heavy cream would create a creamier sauce. I will have to adjust that next time.

The blackened seasoning makes this dish and adds a nice bit of tingle on your lips. I added a side of steamed broccoli and next time I may cook it all together. With a little bit of tweaking I will perfect this recipe to being a bit more low fat but still “saucy” enough. I may also throw in some spicy italian sausage next time…mmmm.

Cajun Chicken Alfredo
4 (5-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup blackening spice (recommended: Paul Prudhomme’s Chicken)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons minced garlic
1 cup roughly chopped marinated sun-dried tomatoes
1/4 cup white wine (I used chicken broth, because I drank all the wine :))
3 cups heavy cream (used fat free half and half here)
3/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 pound cooked fettuccine
1/2 cup sliced scallions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Dredge the chicken breasts in the blackening spice and place in a cast iron skillet over very high heat. Blacken both sides of the chicken and place in the oven for 10 minutes, or until internal temperature of chicken reaches 165 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer. Slice in strips on the bias and set aside.

In a saute pan over medium heat, add 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil. Add garlic and lightly caramelize. Then add the sun-dried tomatoes and the chicken slices. Deglaze the pan with the white wine. Add the heavy cream, increase the heat to a simmer, and reduce the cream sauce by half.

When the cream sauce is to desired consistency, stir in 1/2 cup Parmesan, salt, pepper, and pasta.

Nest the pasta on large rimmed plates, pour sauce over pasta, and garnish with scallions and the remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan.

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That’s right, I won a chili cook off with the most unlikely recipe…Chicken Tomatillo Chili. I was going to re-create this awesome chipotle chili that I made on a recent ski trip but decided to go out on a limb and try something totally different. I figured people would either love it or hate it. One of these days these experimental recipes are going to back fired but for now I have a pretty good track record!

Since everyone was going to go with a traditional beef chili (some with beans) I decided to make something with chicken and without tomatoes as there seem to be a growing population of tomato haters. I have seen many new recipes using tomatillos and thinking back to my love of salsa verde, I decided to take a stab at these little guys. Tomatillos look like little green tomatoes with these weird paper like husks on them. I found them in the tomato section but they are not related, I think I heard they are related to gooseberries but I could be making that up. To prep them, remove the husk and give them a rinse as they are a little tacky on the surface. I roasted mine in a 425 degree oven until they burst and started to blacken a bit. I also used some canned tomatillos because my Harris Teeter didn’t have many fresh ones (I needed about 4 pounds all together) but I think this worked well because they are already softened.

I sort of combined a couple recipes to come to this one, and then added to random stuff which makes it difficult to recreate when people ask for a recipe

This chili got RAVE reviews, seriously I was blown away by how many people liked it. After I was awarded first place all of the guests were told to go eat all the leftovers, well there was none left of mine This is a mild to medium chili but you could add more poblanos or even some canned green chilis to kick up the spice level. This chili has a really fresh flavor to it which I really liked. The texture is nothing like traditional chili, the tomatillos have seeds much like tomatoes so a few people commented on that. This is also a pretty healthy chili and it reheats really well, which is good because this makes a big pot full!

Award Winning Chicken Tomatillo Chili
4 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1 inch pieces
4 pounds of tomatillos, canned or fresh ones that are roasted
3 poblano peppers
2 cups chicken stock
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon cumin
salt and pepper to taste

1. Place the poblanos on a foil lined baking sheet and place under broiler until skins are blackened. Turn peppers to allow all side to blacken. When completely black, remove from oven, place peppers in bowl and cover with plastic wrap.

2. In a large dutch oven, heat about 3 tablespoons of olive oil over medium high heat. Brown the chicken thighs in batches (mine too about 3 batches). Remove all thighs to a plate.

3. In the dutch oven, add a bit of oil if necessary and add onions and garlic, cook until soft. When soft, add chicken, tomatillos, stock, cumin and salt and pepper. When it starts to bubble, reduce heat to medium low.

4. Remove poblanos from bowl and peel off blackened skin, stem and seeds. Finely chop peppers and add to chili.

5. Allow chili to simmer about 45 minutes so as to allow it to thicken. The chicken will get tender and I would go in with some forks and shred the chicken a bit so you don’t have huge chunks of chicken. If you find it too thick, you can add more stock or water. The tomatillos have a lot of pectin in them so you will notice it does tighten up.

6. Serve with cilantro and a squeeze of lime juice, if desired.

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One of the best things about having a food blog is being able to connect with other food bloggers and being inspired to try new things. When I saw this recipe on Smitten Kitchen I had to make it. Now, granted its been 3 months and this produce isn’t exactly “in season” but that’s what Trader Joe’s is for right? My sister recently moved home after graduating from college (yey!) and while we were in Greenville celebrating her graduation I was able to clean our her pantry :). Since she is vegetarian this meant lots of black beans, chickpeas and pasta. So now I am faced with an even more bulging pantry so it was time to get creative. I could easily make some roasted red pepper hummus but I really need to be in the mood for that, otherwise it just sits in the fridge. So I was looking through my book marked recipes and saw the ingredients for this recipe I knew it would be perfect. I quick run through the produce department and I was set to go.

This is a really filling meal, I just had one pepper and was full. So I wrapped two up and froze them for lunch later on, hopefully they will be as good I also had leftover filling as I only bought a few peppers, but actually ate the filling as a regular cold salad. So good! You could even heat it up a bit for a different change of pace.

I am going to link to the original recipe, as my changes were very minor. I used all zucchini and left out the fennel seed, because I really don’t think I like fennel seed. Ahh the beauty of cooking for yourself

So check out this recipe for a healthy, filling, vegetarian meal!

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I’m back! I promise! Life is finally starting to settle down and I am back to cooking! It feels soo good to be in a kitchen again and not eating out.

So let me start with this awesome pork dish that I made last week. I had taken a pictures but then I realized this dish is not very photogenic as it is a tan sauce, that I served with roasted fingerling potatoes and garlic cauliflower…yeah…lots of white, not very appealing to look at. But you MUST try this sauce. I obviously used it over pork but you could certainly pour it over chicken or even white fish. I think next time I will saute some mushrooms and add that to the sauce, I think it will add a nice dimension.

I halved this recipe since I only used one small pork tenderloin but you could easily multiply the sauce for a larger cut of meat.

Pork Tenderloin with Dijon Marsala Sauce
2 pork tenderloins
4 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon oil
2 tablespoons butter
2 shallots, minced (I just used garlic)
1 cup Marsala wine
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 cup heavy cream (I used half and half but you could also use fat free half and half)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Coat pork tenderloins generously with mustard. Oil a 9×13 inch baking dish.

2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Arrange tenderloins in pan, and brown the meat. Turn to brown evenly. Transfer meat to prepared baking dish. (I skipped this part and just baked the whole thing, I was lazy and it still tasted great!)

3. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes. Turn, and continue cooking for 20 minutes, or until desired doneness.

4. Meanwhile, melt butter over medium heat in the same pan used to cook the pork. Cook shallots in butter until soft. Stir in Marsala, mustard, and cream, and cook until volume of liquid is reduced by half.

5. Slice pork, and place on a serving dish. Spoon sauce over meat, and serve.

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I have been inspired to think outside the box and satisfy my ever changing cravings. Tonight was one of those night where I had a pound of beef and no idea what to make. I also liked the idea of using up what I already in the pantry and fridge. I have had a massive craving for mac and cheese and Evan was up for the challenge of eating whatever I came up with- bless his soul.

Luckily what I came up with was pretty damn tasty and it got me thinking about other trashy foods, which I really think soothe the soul and frankly that what I have been needing these days. We should embrace the trashy foods and our cravings.

So embrace your trashy side and try something disgusting today, I promise you won’t be sorry.

Smokey Mac and Cheese
1 lb elbow macaroni
1 lb ground beef, cooked and drained
4 slices thick cut bacon, cooked and drained
4 T. butter (1/2 stick)
¼ cup flour
4 ounces beer (1/2 bottle)
1 can evaporated milk
½ pound (8 ounces) smoked cheddar, shredded
4 ounces white cheddar
4 ounces sharp cheddar
½ t. each salt and pepper
¼ t. cayenne
Paprika

1. Over medium high heat, melt butter. Add flour and whisk until combined, cook for about one minute. Add beer and cook for about a minute to cook out alcohol. Add evaporated milk and continue whisking until smooth. (Add a touch of regular milk or more beer if you find its getting hard to whisk.) Cook for about 5-7 minutes until sauce has thickened.

2. Preheat the broiler.

3. Remove sauce from heat and add salt, pepper, cayenne, smoked cheddar and white cheddar. Stir to melt completely.

4. Add pasta and beef to the pot and fold to combine.

5. Spray a 13×9 pan with cooking spray and pour pasta mixture into pan. Top with crumbled cooked bacon, sharp cheddar, and sprinkled paprika.

6. Broil for about 5 minutes or until top is browned while you clean up your dishes. Keep an eye on it or it may burn!

7. Remove from oven and allow to cool a few minutes before digging in.

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Last week I was a bit of a slacker and therefore did not cook alot, I ate alot of leftovers and Evan was stuck making burgers and steaks (aw shucks). Therefore I was going to be more prepared this week and make the week’s meals in advance. Yeah, I know it sounds crazy but it worked really well. I always make a menu for the week but this week I took it a step further and actually prepared some of the meals. Not only will this be easier during the week but I bought exactly when i needed for the week and used it, so things wouldn’t go bad.

Here is this week’s menu:
Monday- Lasagna with Turkey Sausage (Ina recipe)
Tuesday- On your own-Pizza Dough Available (Jen’s going out with the girls!)
Wednesday- Beef and Guinness Pies with Roasted Carrots
Thursday- Sweet and Tangy Flank Steak

But that’s not all!

I also made a marinate for fajitas and threw in a pound of skirt steak which was put in a ziploc and frozen. I know- I’m thinking ahead! I also deboned some skin on chicken breasts for some tequila lime chicken.

In addition to that I made a lemon yogurt poundcake (See pic-Ina recipe)as well as some chicken stock. No I was actually not in the kitchen all day, It took about 3 hours all together but considering I will have dinner ready and one dish to clean every night I am stoked.

The lasagna is completely prepared, I made some pizza dough for Evan so he can make a pizza or calzone, I made the base of the beef pie and the flank steak is marinating. Plus, we have dessert for the week!

Here are a few recipes I used:

Beef and Guinness Pies

2 lbs. stew meat
2 T. flour
1 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
2 T. vegetable oil
1 large onion chopped
2 garlic cloves chopped
3 T. water
1 1/2 T. tomato paste
1 cup beef broth
1 cup Guinness beer
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
1 t. fresh rosemary chopped
1 sheet puff pastry
1 large egg beaten
1 T. water

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees.

2. Pat beef dry and roll the beef in the flour, salt and pepper mixture. Heat oil over medium-high heat and add beef in 2-3 batches and allow to brown for about 5 minutes. Let beef rest on a plate.

3. Add onion, garlic, and water to the pot and cook until onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Add tomato paste and cook one minute, stirring and scraping the bits off the bottom of the pot. Stir in beef and juices, broth, beer, Worcestershire sauce, and rosemary bringing to a simmer.

4. Cover pot and transfer to the over. Braise until beef is very tender and sauce is thickened, about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. Discard rosemary and cool stew completely.

(At this point you may refrigerate until ready to serve)

5. Preheat/increase oven temperature to 425 degrees.

6. Divide the stew between 4- 14 oz ramekins. Cut puff pastry into 4 squares. Combine egg and water to create a wash. Brush tops of ramekins with wash. Invert one square over each ramekin. Brush remaining wash over pastry and freeze 15 minutes to chill dough.

7. bake pies in preheated shallow baking pan until pastry is puffed and golden, about 20 minutes.

8. Reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees and bake 5 more minutes to fully cook dough.

Fajitas Marinade
Enough for 2 pounds of meat

1/4 cup lime juice
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke flavoring
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1. In a large resealable plastic bag, mix together the lime juice, water, olive oil, garlic, soy sauce, salt, and liquid smoke flavoring. Stir in cayenne and black pepper.

2. Place desired meat in the marinade, and refrigerate at least 2 hours, or overnight. Cook as desired.

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Well Turkey went off without a hitch. The turkey was great and was actually finished cooking a whole hour earlier then expected! So Evan and I made a mad dash to get all of the sides done and ready was ready before our guests even arrived…how that for timing! I think everything worked out perfectly and it made for a really nice day. Though I must say I was plain pooped when we finally cleaned everything up and plopped on the couch. Needless to say I was not up at 5am for the sales…I actually didn’t get into the shower until noon and I had already received two calls from my sister who was braving the malls in VA.

We don’t have a huge amount of leftovers left but I thought I would do myself a favor and get rid of some leftovers and make some dinners while I was at it. My Mother in Law told me about this great site 30DayGourmet which has a ton of make ahead and freeze meals…something that I cannot live without these days! So I thrilled to find this recipe that utilizes a lot of my leftovers and even better, it makes two batches! So they are ready for the freezers to later be reheated during a busy week. If you don’t want to deal with the pie crust, try topping it with puff pastry or even easier, a can of refrigerated biscuits…what could be easier!

Make Ahead Turkey Pot Pie
makes 2 pies

1 c. chopped onions
1 c. chopped carrots
1 c. chopped celery
1/3 c. butter
1/2 c. flour (I only used about 6 tablespoons)
2 c. broth
1 c. evaporated milk
(I also added about 1/4 cup fresh Parmesan cheese)
4 c. diced cooked turkey
1 c. frozen peas or corn
1 1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
4 pie crusts

Assembly Directions:

Sauté onions, celery and carrots in butter in a large skillet over medium heat until tender. Add flour and stir until smooth. Cook one minute, stirring constantly. Add chicken broth and evaporated milk. Cook, stirring constantly until thickened and bubbly. Stir in chicken, peas, salt and pepper.

Freezing and Cooking Directions:

Cool and divide filling in half. Freeze in one gallon freezer bags. Keep frozen pie crusts on hand.

To serve: Thaw filling. Bring pie crusts to room temperature. Shape bottom pie crust/s. Add filling. Cover with top crust. Pinch the edges of the two crusts together and then flute or crimp. Make a few slits in the top crust for the steam to escape.

Bake uncovered for 30 minutes at 350°. Then bake covered with foil for 30 more minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

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So I have decided to try some new things to perk up the blog and keep some reading material available. Sadly, I don’t have time to cook a complete meal each night so I thought I would write about other food topics during the week. One thing I want to try is highlighting different ingredients each week, this way I am challenged to try new things with normal items.

My new favorite side dish is rice. Yes, simple white rice. I especially like Jasmine rice for it’s texture and flavor. Evan has never been a fan of rice until I cooked it in chicken broth. Now we all know that rice absorbs alot of liquid (the normal ratio is 1 cup of rice to 1 1/2 cups of liquid) and good quality packaged chicken broth can be pricey. So I make a basic chicken broth when we have a whole chicken for dinner. Simply place the bones in a large pot, cover the bones in water, add in whatever veggies you have (onions, carrots, celery, green peppers, herbs etc) some salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer and forget about it for an hour or so. Allow broth to cool then strain and store in a spaghetti jar or plastic container. Keep the broth in the fridge until you want to make some rice. I like to use chicken broth because I find I use less butter and salt in the final product.

To make perfect rice everytime, begin by rinsing the rice until the water runs clear. This produces a fluffier rice by removing excess starch. The basic ratio is 1½ cups of water for every 1 cup of rice. Bring the water to the boil in a saucepan. Stir in the rice and keep stirring until the water returns to the boil. Cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid, reduce the heat to very low, and simmer gently for 15 minutes. Don’t lift the lid during cooking or the steam will be released. When you’re ready to serve, remove the lid and fluff up the rice with a fork. 1 cup of dry rice makes about 3 cups of cooked rice.

I tend to make rice the night before I plan to use it, this way Evan can get a jump start on dinner. I also make more then I plan to use because it is easy to reheat and use in wraps for lunch or a quick stir fry.

Rice also freezes really well. Make a double batch and allow it to cool completely, the best way to do this is to spread it out on a baking sheet after it has been cooked. Once cool to the touch, package it in a ziploc bag and make sure all the air is out. Just remember to take it out the night before to thaw, you can reheat it in the microwave or on the stove with a bit of water.

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This is simple sauce recipe that I threw in a plastic bag over the weekend and then heated up to pour over a pork loin I had. I am glad I made it separate from the pork as, ofcourse, Evan detected the mustard and didn’t care for it. Nonetheless I thought it was good. This makes a fair amount of sauce but you can keep it and reheat it for later. This would probably be great on chicken to but I love pairing pork and fruit sauces.

Spicy Marmalade Sauce
1/4 cup orange marmalade
1/4 cup apricot preserves
2 T. dijon mustard
1-2 T. horseradish
2 T. brown sugar
1 T. worsteshire sauce

1. Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and heat over low heat until warmed. Serve over pork Chops or pork loin.

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There are a few dishes that get Evan really excited about dinner. I think he has become apprehensive some of the new dishes I have been creating because some of them have worked and some have them have been less than stellar. So on Sundays I try and make a really good meal to start the week on the right foot. He actually requested fried chicken, but I have not mastered the art of fried chicken and I just couldn’t bear the smell of grease in my house all night, nor could I imagine the oil sitting in my stomach. So I decided to make the next best thing in his mind, Barbeque Chicken Quesadillas.

These gems originated from one of our favorite restaurants in Virginia Beach, Big Sam’s. It is located a few blocks from the oceanfront and they have one of the best Happy Hour’s around. I don’t think we have actually had a full meal there, we usually fill up on calamari, wings, oysters and cheap beer. Evan tried these on one visit and was hooked, so much so that on the morning of our wedding day, instead of ordering breakfast there (which is awesome too) he begged to have these made for him.

Because we are hours from my hometown, I have devised our own recipes for these quesadillas. We eat them for dinner but they would be great for a party or even lunches. You could add in more nutritious things such as corn or black beans but I keep this recipe simple for Evan.

Evan’s Barbeque Chicken Quesadillas

1 whole chicken cooked, meat pulled off (I usually use a rotisserie chicken)
1/2 cup or so of your favorite barbeque sauce (we like Stubb’s)
2 cups or so of cheddar cheese
8 flour tortillas (we use whole wheat to not feel so guilty)
cooking spray

1. In a medium size bowl, combine the shredded meat and barbeque sauce. Add more if you like it extra saucy.

2. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Spray with cooking spray and lay down one tortilla. Spoon over chicken and top with desired amount of cheese. Top with second tortilla and press down. Flip over carefully once nicely browned (This doesn’t take very long so pay attention!) Once cheese is melted and both torillas are browned, transfer to a cutting board to cool a bit.

3. Continue with the rest of your quesadillas, you should be able to make about 4.

4. Slice each quesadilla in quarters with a pizza slicer and enjoy!

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