Pollo Borrocho Pasta (Drunken Chicken Pasta)

It's been a long time since I created something I wanted to add to this blog. Last night Hubby and I came up with a new recipe that everyone loved so much that it made me want to actually write it all down. My super smarty-pants daughter came up with the perfect name for our new favorite dish.

I confess, more than one of us raided the leftovers for breakfast this morning and it was so good! Smokey grilled chicken, mexican spices and creamy, ever-so-slight beer flavor? Oh Em Gee!

Here it is, we hope you will enjoy it as much as we do!

Pollo Borracho Pasta

(Drunken Chicken Pasta)

4 large boneless/skinless chicken breasts – grilled and julienned

2 boxes of Penne Pasta – cooked al dente

1 bunch of cilantro- half finely chopped for sauce and half kept for toppings

1 bunch of scallions- chopped

1 small pkg frozen corn

1 small can of black beans- rinsed

1 large each: green pepper, yellow pepper and red pepper- chopped

2 large yellow onions- chopped

1 tall Heineken beer(approx 20 oz)- room temperature

1 small carton of cream (Not heavy cream)

Cotija cheese- crumbled

Avocados – sliced or diced for topping

Seasonings:

2 Tbsp chicken base

1 tsp. ground coriander

1 Tbsp Cumin

2 tsp granulated garlic

1 tsp onion powder

½ tsp cayenne pepper

Salt and pepper to taste

“The Gourmet Collection Spice Blends Chilli and Lime” spice blend (found this at the grocery store and love it!)

Rub chili and lime spice onto chicken breasts and grill over apple wood (Or do what you can. We are spoiled by our Grill Sergeant!)  You could also propane grill or sauté the chicken if necessary, but do not cook all the way through! You want the chicken slightly pink when you julienne it and add it to the vegetable/beer mix.

Chop peppers and onions, sauté until the onions are translucent. Add full can of room temperature beer. Bring to a boil and add sliced, par-cooked chicken. Add half of the cilantro (finely chopped to release the flavors) and all spices and simmer on high until chicken is cooked through.  I added more of the chili and lime seasoning until it had a strong flavor, knowing the cream would mellow it out.

Once chicken is cooked, add the cream and thicken with approx. 2 Tbsp of corn starch or until the consistency of a thick sauce.  Rinse the black beans and gently stir into thickened sauce. Reduce temperature to low while you cook your pasta al dente.

Spoon sauce over pasta and serve hot. Top with scallions, fresh tomatoes and avocados. Add cilantro to taste and sprinkle cotija cheese over the top.   Enjoy!

Not Your Mama's Meatloaf!

Last October I had the honor and privilege of traveling to Massachusetts and up to Vermont with my mom and my dear Great Aunt, Dottie. We had many fine adventures and stopped at some fun places to eat, but the restaurant experience that stood out the most was our visit to Chandler's Restaurant at The Yankee Candle Company's flagship store in Deerfield, Massachusetts.

Where else will you find an old wagon filled with pumpkins?

We were seated in such a beautiful, cozy nook overlooking the mist-shrouded gardens.

There were "chandeliers" of hand dipped candles hanging from the ceiling.

We loved the exposed beam ceilings and rough timber floors.

An old fashioned lantern with holly berry bushes growing around it.

Seriously, does it get any more charming than these pictures show?  (Actually, yes it does get more charming! You have to see inside the massive Yankee Candle store to even comprehend what I'm talking about.. we're talking acres and acres of candle-y goodness!)

I digress.

Anyone who knows me well will tell you that I do not like meatloaf. Nope, nuh-uh, no way! Something about mashing up breadcrumbs, eggs and ketchup never pleased me in this lifetime... so you can imagine my hubby's surprise when he called me while we were at Chandler's restaurant and I told him I had ordered the meatloaf. I know! I was surprised too! But something prompted me to order it and I am so glad I did!

The meatloaf at Chandler's was unlike anything I had tasted before. It was dense, moist and not a lick of ketchup in sight! I could actually see the seasonings and minced vegetables in the sliced meatloaf and the taste was out of this world! It was served with a gravy that was as light as Au Jus, and had a sprinkling of onions, mushrooms and thyme included.

It. Was. Divine!

Five months later and I still cannot get that meatloaf out of my head. I wanted to go back to the kitchen and beg them to apprentice me so that I could learn the secret of this un-meatloaf! Since I couldn't do that, I spent the last five months pondering.. planning, and finally giving it a go for myself.

I think Chandler's meatloaf had veal in it but I couldn't find veal at my local market so I opted for 3 parts beef, two parts pork in my meatloaf mix. (I will warn you now, there is no recipe here because I winged it from start to finish!) I had the idea of mixing in ricotta cheese to give it more density and moisture, so I prepared the ricotta as if I was making stuffed shells... I added an egg, fresh parsley and garlic and mixed well. In the meanwhile, Hubby had been told offered to mix the meats for me because I'm a bit squeamish when it comes to raw meat. When I saw it was mixed well, I added two eggs, approx 1/4 c. of bread crumbs, scallions, salt, pepper, thyme, garlic, red pepper, and a splash of Worcestershire sauce to the mix. I was at a loss when it came to flavoring though because my normal method involves flavoring, tasting, then flavoring some more. Obviously, with raw meat this cannot be done. I knew that under-seasoned was better than over-seasoned though, so I kept the seasonings on the lighter side, trusting my gravy to do the rest.

At this point in the preparation, Hubby and I had a disagreement as to how the ricotta should be added. He wanted to use a square, glass pan and layer it like lasagna. I wanted to mix it in with the meat and put it in a bread loaf pan then tuck it in with a blanket of bacon. Because I had never made meatloaf before, I truly had no idea which method of preparation would turn out best so I suggested we do both and make it a contest.

The game was on!

Hubby took half of the meat mixture and began his layering process while I added my half of the ricotta to the meat in the mixer. When Hubby was done shaping his meatloaf lasagna, I kindly asked him to shape my meat into a loaf and place it into the pan. Then I took a thick, apple wood smoked bacon and cut the strips in half so I could gently lay the strips across the top of the loaf.

We put both meat creations into a 375 degree oven and set the timer for 90 minutes. In the meantime, I went to work on the gravy I had envisioned for my meatloaf. I caramelized some diced onion in butter and then added sauteed mushrooms to the pan. Then I added white wine, beef base and water. After simmering for a bit, I seasoned it up with salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic and  two cans of Campbell's beefy onion soup.  I thickened it up with cornstarch and it was perfect!

When the timer beeped, we took our creations from the oven. This is how they looked:

We agreed that I won the "Fresh from the oven" presentation prize and the truth is that I preferred the density and overall texture of my ricotta mix. Hubby's layered loaf had the advantage of mouthfuls of ricotta cheese, much like lasagna. Because both were essentially flavored the same, minus the bacon, the taste was a draw. It was such a fun experiment and we will definitely be making meatloaf in our household again, only next time I think I would like to finely dice some celery and sauté it before adding it to the meat mixture as well. I think the added texture and flavor would be perfect!

Cookie Monster and Carrots

 

Two weeks ago, Cookie Monster was on Top Chef. Oh yes he was! My family and I watched the episode together and we laughed until our sides hurt. I can't remember how it came up, but once we could catch our breath from the out of control laughter, someone in the room said that you can't make cookies with vegetables.

Wanna bet? 

I told my girls then and there that I had been making cookies with carrots since I was 8 years old and needed a chair to reach the counter top. I then promised to prove to them that not only can you make cookies with vegetables, but that those cookies are delicious! 

They were skeptical.. understandably... but I was about to change their minds because these yummy cookies are loaded with carrots, coconut and frosted with an orange zest icing. It is a fantastic combination!

Everyone except Hubby loved these cookies and his complaint, surprisingly, was not the carrots but the orange icing.  Carley is now so excited about vegetable cookies that she would like me to try altering this recipe to be a zucchini / lime cookie. I'm game to give that a try.. I'll let you know how it turns out!

Recipe for Carrot Cookies With Orange Icing

When Pizza Night Turns Into Mexican Night

I had announced our plans for Pizza Night on the morning blog, spent 30 min carefully plotting the grocery list, waited for Hubby to finish working on his latest Jeep obsession (laying down on the soaking wet ground to work on it, I might add), and then waited 5 extra minutes for a couple of teenagers to put their shoes on because they had breathlessly asked, "canigotothestorewithyoupleasehuh?"

No prob, I had it all under control!

We cruised through the store parking lot once before determining that particular store was too crowded for our liking. We decided to head off to Fresh Market down the street. Much less crowded, even if it does smell a little fishy... maybe because it does smell a little fishy? Somewhere between store A and store B, we no longer wanted pizza night. It was unanimously agreed that Mexican night sounded SO much better! So I grabbed my carefully planned grocery list and my trusty gel pen and got to work on a new list right there in the Fresh Market parking lot.

Sweet!

With renewed interest we headed home to cook up a storm. We had planned on making guacamole, beef burritos, chicken burritos, chicken enchiladas, all served with chile verde, beans and rice and margaritas for us grown ups... the kids had cactus coolers. And just because I still had it stuck in my head, I wanted to make the spring greens raspberry walnut salad with raspberry vinaigrette dressing. I didn't really care that it wasn't exactly Mexican fare!

Before you think we're on a different orbit, I know that is a freakishly huge amount of food. We had heard a rumor that my brother and his family were coming to visit, AND we love to cook.  That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

I prepared the salad, the beef and the cheese enchiladas while Hubby made the guacamole, chile verde, the beans and rice, and the chicken for the burritos. I was also the mixologist for the night and I happen to think my margaritas were pretty nom!

Spring Mix salad with craisins and walnuts, dressed with a raspberry vinaigrette that I bought in a bottle but then added half and half plus Dijon mustard to make it perfect.

Hubby's famous guacamole. I talk him into adding a smidge of lime juice when he makes it for extra freshness.

I recently learned a bartender's secret to margaritas... use frozen Limeaid concentrate instead of margarita mix. It tastes so much better that way! We also add Triple Sec (Just a splash) and a dash of lime juice. Nom!

Hubby thought I was nutso when I told him I wanted it all on one platter for a picture. Seriously, this is too much food for even two people! But I wanted to pretend I was in a Mexican restaurant.. with jumbo size portions apparently. Haha!

Here's a cross section of the burritos. Hubby made the shredded chicken by adding picante sauce and just a hint of salt.I made the beef with enchilada seasoning and added a can of nacho cheese sauce and half an onion. You can't see it in the pictures, but the burritos were smothered in Hubby's special chile verde.  It was really tasty!

I forced him to hold still and pose for me because he was blurry in all of the other action shots I attempted. 

 I should have taken a picture of the heaps of dishes that needed to be washed when we were through! But we had a great time singing, dancing, laughing and being our silly selves! My favorite little brother and his family did come over later and they enjoyed the feast with us. It was a fantastic evening and we were drained by the time we finally put our feet up.. at 10pm! But the best part is that we didn't have to cook a single thing yesterday because we have burritos a plenty left over!

Winging It Breakfast

While snuggling the Hubby this morning, he drowsily suggested that I fix him a "big breakfast."

Hunh.

Although I love to oblige my guy by tantalizing his taste buds first thing in the morning, I was fairly certain the grocery fairy had not paid me a visit in the middle of the night, which meant I was out of almost everything even remotely breakfast related.

In less than two minutes, my brain had completed the mental inventory of my pantry stock and although the resources were limited, I had an idea that I just might be able to pull something together. It would definitely be another "something out of nothing" creation, but my family is fond of those challenges.

Recently I made a homemade "bisquick" mix when I discovered during dinner prep that I was out of the friendly yellow box mix which I usually rely on for quick soup dumplings. Because I had made more than I needed at the time, I had stored the rest in airtight containers in the pantry. Perfect! A quick search of the freezer also turned up some leftover Italian sausage from one of Hubby's famous pizza nights and I added it to my growing pile of breakfast ingredients. I was on a mission to make some delectable biscuits with sausage gravy... A favorite treat that my family has not had for a long time. 

I had a mostly empty carton of buttermilk that I added to the biscuit mix along with the trace of milk left in the very last jug in the fridge and I even stole Hubby's half-n-half to get the consistency of the dough just right, laughing to myself over the Franken-biscuits in the making.. I seasoned the dough with some garlic salt, parmesan cheese, parsley and cheddar chunks.

In the meantime, I had tossed the sausage in the microwave for a quick defrost and then dumped it into the frying pan as I seasoned it liberally with ground sage. Hubby buys Italian sausage for pizza-making but other than that, I always buy sage flavored sausage because it's just better tasting. But since I was in "beggars can't be choosers" mode, I would have to hope that adding sage to Italian sausage wouldn't be a complete disaster!

At some point during the sausage cooking process, I glanced over at the counter and gasped out loud as I realized I had just used all of the milk products in my fridge to make the biscuit dough. Oh crap! How  was I going to make gravy without any milk??  After briefly contemplating a gravy made with water (gross!), I kindly suggested that one of the teenagers make an emergency run to the nearest convenience store for a gallon of milk. The tantalizing smell in the air was enough to convince the girls to take on the mission of mercy and I continued to work on the biscuits, thinking that the milk would arrive soon.

After the biscuits were in the oven, I decided to start the roux for the gravy... after all, it had been more than 10 minutes since I sent the girls to the store. When I wondered out loud what could be taking them so long with the milk, I was quickly informed that they had not left yet. Wha??  Apparently teenage girls can't even go to the convenience store without getting prettied up!

You know that comedic moment in cartoons when a light bulb appears over the dimwit's head? That's what happened to me as I watched my roux getting darker than I wanted it to be. I remembered all of the canned evaporated milk I had on hand for fudge making. Brilliant! Why did I not think of that in the first place? I quickly opened two cans and I was back in the gravy business!

I had just finished putting the finishing touches on the gravy seasoning when the girls returned with the milk. Uhh... thanks, girls! I told them that they were just in time and they gave me funny looks... it's hard to put anything over on them!

After 25 minutes in the oven, the biscuits were done and I served them with the sausage gravy. It was delish!
(Hubby and I did think the sausage was a bit too spicy, but the girls loved it!)

Another successful "Something out of nothing" breakfast!

We're headed to the store now to get tonight's ingredients for Hubby's deep dish pizza and a cranberry, walnut spring salad with raspberry vinaigrette dressing. YUM!

New Blog, So Excited!

Sweet Hubby and I are full fledged foodies and proud to admit it! When we travel, a dedicated portion of our vacation money always goes toward the food budget because Hubby appreciates good food and loves to experience the local cuisine.

(Remind me to tell you about the $300 dinner we had at Mama's Fish House on Maui!)

Learning food secrets from the locals is an interest that we both share wholeheartedly! In fact, we once flew to New Orleans just to have lunch in the French Quarter. It was on that marathon day-trip that our love for Gumbo was born.  To this day, we continue to expand on our interest for travel and our appreciation for the art of cooking.

You don't have to be a chef to be great in the kitchen! Do you ever go out to a restaurant and deconstruct the excellent food you order? Hubby and I do that All. The. Time!  We analyze what our taste buds are telling us as we categorize the ingredients we can see and try to guess the ones we can taste but not see. If the food is truly divine, you can bet we will go home and try to recreate it!

There are also many, MANY occasions when I find that I am out of almost everything in the pantry and fridge. My family tells me this is when I make my best dishes.
(I hope that isn't an insult to the food I painstakingly shop for and prepare!)
I call these meals "Making something out of nothing."  I thoroughly enjoy the nights when I am forced to get creative to make dinner for my family with the few ingredients I have on hand. I won't tell you that it is always successful, but I've been doing this gig for so long that some tasty favorites have been created in just this way.

This narrative will be our way of sharing our foodie adventures with friends, family and even strangers that may find us here in the bloggerhood. I can't wait to tell you about our gumbo inspired by our trip to New Orleans, clam chowder inspired by Massachusetts and refined after a trip to the Snowbird lodge, tequila chicken tortilla soup completely of our own creation, and many other tasty adventures yet to come.

Pull up a chair, follow our blog, and if you're local then you should definitely come over one night to taste what we're talking about!