Cooking Challenge Week 29 (Late!) - Inspired by a Color - Burritos Blanco

They were supposed to be Burritos Verde, really, but both of my green elements turned out not-so-green.

They're made from chopped cooked chicken tossed with this fantastic tomatillo sauce, and cilantro-lime rice.  And they're delcious, even if they're not very green!

Cooking Challenge Week 27 (Late!) - BBQ - Slow-Cooker Pulled Chicken

Not going to set the culinary world on fire with this one, am I.  But something that's both tasty and easy has its place!

All I did was throw four chicken thighs in my slow cooker with about 3/4 cup bottled bbq sauce--in this case, Sweet Baby Ray's Hickory & Brown Sugar.  Cook all day, de-bone and shred, serve on buns from your favorite local bakery (I love mine so much!) and add a little tater salad to your plate, and that's it, the lazy woman's barbeque.

Cooking Challenge Week 16 - Asparagus - Chicken Asparagus Pasta Salad

This was one of those lightning-flash inspirations.  I like asparagus just fine, now that I eat my green vegetables, which wasn't always true.  But aside from the deep-fried asparagus at Scottys when we visit my husband's parents during prime asparagus season....I really don't eat it much.  Looking though the few recipes I do have, the seasonings for asparagus sides always seemed to involve lemon, garlic, or both.  I didn't want to throw some token roasted asparagus next to a steak and squeeze a lemon over it.

When I realized I had another meal planned this week that needed chicken, so I was already dragging out my beloved pressure cooker, and I have lemon juice and olive oil and garlic and pasta all sitting around anyways...

Chicken Asparagus Pasta Salad

•  8 oz. uncooked small pasta shapes (like rotini, in my case)
• 1 lb. asparagus, cleaned and trimmed
• 1 cup chopped cooked chicken

Dressing

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 small clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp dry mustard

 In a small bowl, combine all the dressing ingredients and blend thoroughly with a whisk.  (Alternately, if you have a cocktail shaker, those work great for mixing viniagrettes too--thank you, Good Eats!)

Slice the asparagus spears into 1/2-inch pieces, and load into a steamer basket.  Steam over barely simmering water, covered, for five minutes--we're shooting for cooked but not mushy.  Transfer to a large mixing bowl and allow to cool while preparing pasta.

Then, cook the pasta in well-salted water according to package directions, as times will vary by pasta shape.  Drain, but do not rinse, and add to the asparagus.

Add the chopped chicken to that, then pour over the dressing and toss to coat everything.  Refrigerate until fully chilled before serving.

Cooking Challenge Week 8 - Slow Cooking - Chicken-Sausage Gumbo

In honor of Mardi Gras this week, I chose gumbo to go into my beloved crock pot.  I use it all the time, so the slow-cooking itself wasn't at all a challenge, just finding a new recipe to keep things interesting!

Hard to believe, I suppose, but for all the regional and ethnic food I've tried, I've never actually had gumbo.  Red beans and rice, sure, all the time, but never gumbo.  So while I knew my gumbo turned out tasty--which it certainly did--I had to rely on my husband to tell me if it tasted right.  His opinion?  A good base recipe, but not hot enough, and not spiced enough.  Next time, I'll try it with some creole seasoning, and more chili flakes!

One thing to note:  be careful with that roux!  I'm giving the recipe exactly as written, in terms of timing, but my roux browned much faster than anticipated--probably because I used a relatively thin-bottomed saucepan.  Trust your eyes and nose instead of the recipe; if it looks and smells done, it's done, even if it didn't need the full twenty minutes to cook.

Chicken-Sausage Gumbo
(from Better Homes and Gardens New Crockery Cooker Cookbook, 1987)

• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 4 cups water
• 12 oz. fully-cooked smoked sausage, halved lengthways and sliced
• 2 cups chopped, cooked chicken
• 1 10-oz. package frozen cut okra
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp red chili flakes (more to taste, if desired)
• hot cooked rice, to serve

For the roux, stir together the flour and oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan until smooth.  Cook over medium-high heat for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.  Lower the heat to medium.  Cook and stir constantly another 15 minutes, until the roux is a dark copper-brown.  Set aside to cool while preparing the vegetables.

In a slow cooker (4 qt. or larger), combine the cooled roux and water.  Add the sausage, chicken, okra, onion, celery, green bell pepper, garlic, salt, pepper, and red chili flakes.  Cover and cook on low for 10 to 12 hours or high for 4 1/2 to 5 hours.  Makes 6 servings.

The Neglected Cookbook Project: Pastilla

I have a lot of cookbooks.  I'm sure there are plenty of people who have more, but I still feel I have quite a few.  I'm afraid, actually, to count them.  I'm better off not knowing!

But I since I have a lot of them, I also have a few that I've never actually made anything from.  One night a little over a week ago, when I came to one of those lulls you find in some recipes where you have to keep an eye on the food but not really do anything, I grabbed a random cookbook to entertain myself and found one of these long-neglected cookbooks in my hand.

Specifically, one on Moroccan cooking that I'd picked up for cheap on one of my visits to England.  It's just called "Moroccan", and I can't find it listed on Amazon or elsewhere, strangely enough.

As I flipped through it, I found myself absolutely enthralled by it.  So many dishes I was completely unfamiliar with! So many interesting combinations of spices and flavors!  So many things I suddenly felt a burning need to try!

In addition to the weekly challenges, I intend to work through all my never-used cookbooks by the end of the year.  For the next NCP post, I'll have a full accounting of just how many cookbooks this actually is....

As for my first attempt, after some deliberation, and an innocent question on r/cooking that turned into a pigeon-vs-chicken controversy, I came up with this, a chicken version of the Moroccan classic, pastilla.

I know it doesn't look like much.  The filo is a little overdone, and the filling looks like eggy mush.  But it was amazing.

It's a long and somewhat intimidating recipe, I'll grant you that.  Originally the pigeons were supposed to be slowly stewed, and I cooked my chicken thighs in a pressure cooker instead, which sped up the process considerably; I also cooked the chicken several days in advance, and just pulled it, and the reserved stock, out of the fridge on assembly day.

And for the love of all that's golden brown and delicious, don't toss out the extra stock!  I've already made one soup with some of it, and after a bit more tweaking of the recipe, I plan on sharing that too!

Pastilla

Broth

•  four chicken thighs, with bone and skin (or three whole pigeons)
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 onion, quartered
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
• 3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• large pinch ground turmeric

Fillings

• 1 cup raw almonds
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 6 eggs
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pastry

• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 16 sheets filo pastry 
• cinnamon and confectioner's sugar, for dusting

1) Place the chicken thighs in a pot with all of the broth ingredients.  Season lightly with salt and pepper.  Add water just to cover and bring to a boil.  Cover and simmer gently for one hour, until the chicken is very tender.  (Alternately, if you have one, use your pressure cooker: follow the timing directions for chicken pieces, which was 12 minutes for my model.)

2) Remove the chicken pieces and discard the skin.  Debone and chop or shred the meat into bite-size pieces.  Strain the stock and discard the solids.  Reserve 2/3 cup stock; save the rest for other uses!

3) Meanwhile, spread the almonds on a baking sheet and toast in a 350 F oven for 8-10 minutes, until browned but not burnt.  Leave to cool for a while, then chop roughly, either by hand, or pulsed a bit in a food processor.  Mix  the chopped almonds with the cinnamon and granulated sugar in a small bowl.  Set aside.

4) In a bowl, beat together the eggs.  Add the reserved stock and blend well, then pour into a saucepan.  Over low heat, cook the mixture, stirring constantly, until the sauce turns creamy and thickens.  If the bottom starts to scramble while the top is still very liquid, lower the heat and keep stirring.  This step will take a little while...when it's nearly set, but not quite, remove from the heat, season with salt and pepper, and set aside.

5) Brush the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan with a little of the melted butter and lay the first sheet of pastry in the pan.  Brush this with butter and lay on a second sheet; repeat until six sheets are used.  Spread the almond mixture evenly over the bottom, then carefully pour over half of the egg mixture.

6) Layer four more sheets of pastry over the almond-egg filling.  Spread the chopped chicken meat evenly over the pastry, then pour over the rest of the egg mixture.  Top with the remaining six sheets of pastry, trimming away any overhang at the end.  Brush the top with any remaining butter.

7) Bake at 350 F for 40 minutes, then raise the temperature to 400 F and bake a further 10-15 minutes, until the pastry is golden and crisp.  (I went for 15, but I obviously should have pulled mine early--don't let yours get as brown as mine!)  Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar and cinnamon in a lattice pattern.  Carefully (it will be hot!) undo the latch on the side of the pan to remove it, and use your longest knife to cut the pie into 6 or 8 servings.  Serve hot.

Cooking Challenge Week 3 - Soup - Chiang Mai Noodle Soup

Some people probably go through life without ever making soup from scratch.

I am not one of them.

There are nine different soups in my freezer right now.  Not just nine freezer bags of soup--nine types of soup, most with two bags' worth, a few with three.  Despite only having to feed myself and my husband, I never make a batch of soup smaller than four servings, usually six, sometimes even eight or ten.  I love soup.  And I love how well most of them freeze!

(For the curious:  top row, left to right - chicken noodle, Dublin coddle, turkey mulligatawny, potato, pork and sweet potato stew.  bottom row, left to right - spicy bean soup with carnitas, white turkey chili, ground beef chili, and borscht.)

So when I saw that this week's challenge was soup, I nearly threw my hands up in despair.  I make soup every week!  What on earth could I do to make it special?

Answer: Reread every recipe in my trusty The Cook's Encyclopedia of Soup, and find an overlooked recipe that was bound to set my taste buds on fire.

Literally.

And so I present Chiang Mai Noodle Soup.

 
Chiang Mai Noodle Soup
(adapted from The Cook's Encyclopedia of Soup; 4 servings)

• 1 15-oz can coconut milk
• 2 tbsp red curry paste
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 2 cups cooked chicken meat, cut into bite-size pieces
• 2 1/2 cups chicken stock
• 1/4 cup fish sauce
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• lime juice, to taste
• 2 to 3 oz. rice sticks (a.k.a. cellophane or glass noodles)

Garnish options:

• chopped scallions
• sliced fresh red chilis
• minced shallots
• pickled mustard leaves, chopped
• fried sliced garlic
• fresh cilantro leaves
• fried noodle nests

Pour about one-third of the coconut milk into a large saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring often.  Add the curry paste and turmeric, stir to mix together, and cook until fragrant.  Add the chicken meat and cook about two minutes, stirring well to ensure all the chunks are well-coated with the paste.  Add the remaining coconut milk, chicken stock, fish sauce, and soy sauce.  Season to taste with salt and pepper, and simmer 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the rice sticks in shallow heatproof dish and pour boiling water over to cover.  Leave to soak 10 minutes.

Next, prepare your chosen garnishes.  (I just went with scallions, not having thought to buy red chilis as well, and not having access most of the rest.)

Remove the soup from the heat and add the lime juice to taste.  Drain the rice sticks and divide between four bowls.  Ladle the soup over the noodles, add the garnishes, and eat!

Bring the little bit of coconut milk to a boil.

Dump in the turmeric and curry paste.  (It's obviously supposed to be Thai red curry paste for a Thai/Burmese dish, but I didn't have any--I used an Indian hot curry paste, it tasted fine.  Once you add the fish sauce, you can't mistake it for anything but southeast Asian!)

It smells pretty amazing at this point.

Toss in the chicken and let that cook for two minutes or so...

...then add the chicken stock, fish sauce, soy sauce, and the rest of the coconut milk.

These are the only non-pasta noodle my local grocery stocks, so that's what I used.  The recipe actually calls for one pound of fresh egg noodles, and the picture shows the kind of thick, round noodle I've seen in some Chinese dishes.  I like rice sticks, so I had no problem using them instead.  I used one of the three 'cakes' of noodles in the package, which seemed like plenty.

Pour boiling water over them.  This is another reason I love our electric kettle, it doesn't take up a burner!

Meanwhile, prep your garnishes.  I fancied up my scallions by chopping them at an angle--easy, but it looks pretty.

Like so.

Take the soup off the heat and add the lime juice.  Purists will insist on fresh-squeezed, but I prefer the value and convenience of bottled.  I honestly can't tell the difference!

 The rice sticks are ready to drain...

...and divide between the bowls.

Ladle on the soup...

..and throw on those garnishes!  Since I didn't chop up any fresh chilis, I added crushed red chili pepper as well, which is an easy way to customize the heat level.  Hot for me, extremely hot for my husband!

Cooking Challenge Week 2 - Chinese - Braised Lemon Chicken

I had intended for this challenge to make one of two things: Spicy Tangerine Beef (one of the few non-Good Eats recipes I've ever used from any Food Network show) or barbeque pork buns, as I'm a huge dim sum fan.

To my dismay, none of the appropriate cuts of meat for either were on sale this week at my local grocery.  The beef, okay, that was a long shot, but I swear, some form of pig is always on sale.  And this week, it was tenderloin.  I'm not paying even sale tenderloin prices!

Chicken thighs, on the other hand, were $0.79/lb.  A few hours later, three pounds of chicken thighs became, courtesy of my new pressure cooker, eight cups of chicken stock and three cups of cooked chicken meat, which will probably be chicken salad in a few days.  The other two pounds found themselves first in a marinade, and then slowly braised in a rich lemon-ginger sauce.   That's a happy chicken.

Braised Lemon Chicken
(adapted from China the Beautiful Cookbook)

• 2 lbs chicken thighs, skinned
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp rice wine
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• oil for shallow frying

 Place the chicken thighs in a resealable plastic bag or a shallow dish.  Combine the soy sauce, rice wine, and lemon juice and add to the chicken; marinate at least an hour.  Remove the chicken and place on a rack to dry slightly; reserve the marinade.  Heat enough oil in a wok or skillet to fry the chicken pieces on both sides until golden.  Move the chicken to a dutch oven or other large saucepan.

For the sauce: 

• 2 cups chicken stock, or water
• 3 tsp ginger paste, or freshly shredded ginger root
• 1 tbsp ketchup
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt

Add all sauce ingredients and reserved marinade to the chicken.  Heat just to boiling, then reduce to a simmer and cover.  Cook gently for one hour.

Remove the chicken from the sauce and debone, cutting or shredding the meat into bite-size pieces.  Meanwhile, boil the sauce rapidly to reduce.  When thickened, stir the chicken back into the sauce, and serve.