Pollo Sabroso

Pollo Sabroso (Delicious Chicken)

I saw this chicken on Gina's blog earlier this summer, and the mouthwatering photo made me want it badly.  I finally made it this past weekend, but was left a bit disappointed.  I used a package of mixed chicken pieces, and while the smaller pieces like the wings and legs were absolutely delicious (higher skin to meat ratio), the breasts were disappointing.  Despite marinating for better than 24 hours, the dry seasonings were not able to penetrate into the thick breast meat, leaving the bulk of the plain chicken, just that, plain.  I will make this again, using a package of drumsticks, but will reserve the larger pieces for 'wet" marinades.

Pollo Sabroso

adapted from Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes

3 lbs. chicken pieces of choice 

1 tbs. vinegar

1 tbs. soy sauce

2 packets Sazón (in the Latin section of your grocery)

Adobo seco  (again, in the Latin section)

garlic powder

dried oregano

Place the chicken in a glass dish just large enough to accommodate it in a single layer.  Sprinkle the chicken with vinegar and soy sauce, it will be just enough to wet the surfaces.. Sprinkle generously with the adodo, garlic powder, oregano, and 1 pkt. sazón.  Using tongs, not your hands, turn over and season generously again, and use the second pkt. sazón.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.  Grill until cooked through and the skin is deliciously crisp.

Citrus leavin's...

Lime Water

What do you do with your limes, lemons, and oranges after you have zested and juiced them for your latest culinary creation?    Instead of throwing them away, drop them unto a pitcher, fill it up with water, and pop it in the fridge.  All day long you have nice, refreshing, citrusy water to sip.  Depending on how many spent halves you have dropped in (citrus combinations are always good), you may be able to fill the pitcher up two or three times before the fruit is truly spent. 

Porky goodness...

Bacon and Bleu Cheese Stuffed Pork Chop

with Garlic Smashed Potatoes and roasted Asparagus

Let me start by apologizing for that washed out photo...it does a terrible injustice to how delicious these chops turned out.  That said, I love it when whole pork loins go on sale.  I will buy one (or two) and make lots of good things to eat that week (and later, using freezer magic).  

This was the end of a loin...I sliced off four nice thick chops and cubed up the (not so pretty) ends that I had left.  I knew I wanted stuffed chops (darn influence of the Triple D), but was unsure what direction I wanted to go...sweet and fruity, "regular" stuffing, cornbread, or something savory and cheesey.  Savory and cheesey (and a bit salty) won out.  These pork chopped were delicious served with garlic smashed potatoes and roasted asparagus.  The pan juices were spooned over the chops and potatoes for dining decadence...yum, yum, yum.

Making escabeche...

Jalapeños en Escabeche

Making escabeche...I'm not refering to the pickled fish dish here, but Jalapeños en escabeche, or pickled jalapeños, escabeche in Spanish referring to a brine or pickling marinade.  I have long been a fan of pickled jalapeños, but never had eaten them pickled with other vegetables until a trip to Mexico in 2007.  I especially liked the crisp, spicy carrots (zanahorias) and started buying them at home (look in the Latin section of your grocery).  Our jalapeño plants are going crazy this summer so I thought I'd make my own.  This will need to sit at least a week to be their best, but the leftover bits that didn't quite fit into the jars were very tasty indeed.

Jalapeños en Escabeche

adapted from Simply Recipes

 

1 lb jalapeño slices

 3 carrots, peeled and sliced

1 large onion, quartered and sliced

1/2 of a small head of cauliflower

1 head of garlic, cloves, peeled, halved if very large

1/3 cup olive oil

4 cups cider vinegar

2 tbs. coarse salt

1 tbs. sugar

2 bay leaves

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

1/2 tsp. dried marjoram

Slice the jalapeños, carrots, and onion roughly the same thickness, and break the cauliflower into little florets.  In a fairly large nonreactive pot, saute the veggies and garlic in the olive oil over medium heat for 10 minutes.  Add the remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes (they are smelling fantastic at this point). 

Ladle the hot veggies and brine into 4 sterilized pint canning jars, leaving 1/2' head space.  Stick the handle of a wooden spoon down into the jars to remove any air bubbles before lidding and processing in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.  Cool and store in a cool place for at least a week before eating (I hope we can wait that long :).

Note about processing...I gave away all my canning supplies a few years ago when it seemed like I just wasn't going to do it anymore (who knew), so I did not have the large pot with the lift out rack for hot water processing.  Since I was just using piny jars, and a small quantity at that, I was able to process these in my tall soup pot.  The pot was just large enough for the 4 jars to fit inside without touching, and tall enough for the water to cover them by one inch- I just rested the jars on a dish cloth inside the pan to keep them from knocking around.  To ensure I had adequate water in the pot, I filled it with the jars sitting in it, and held them down to keep them submerged.  To speed the process, I brought the water up to a boil while I was cooking the peppers so I was ready to go as soon as the peppers were.  It wasn't perfect, but perfectly adequate for canning a small amount without having to purchase (and store) the equipment.

Sangria economics...

The Aldi Sangria

All spring and summer we have been enjoying the wonderfully priced produce at Aldi.  For 99 cents I have been purchasing cantaloupes, strawberries, blueberries, kiwis, and most surprisingly, pineapples (although they have gone up in price recently...to a whopping buck fifty nine).  

I love sangria in the summer...it is fruity and light, and a bit lower in alcohol than some other libations (at least the way I make it :).  I call this economical version "The Aldi Sangria," as even the wine is from Aldi, the $3.29 a bottle Winking Owl chardonnay...don't let the extraordinarily low price put you off, it is no worse than other "house" or "table" wines served all over.  The only thing not from Aldi is the triple sec- I had to get that at Kroger, but I stayed with the economic and low alcohol theme here ($5 and half proof).  For the next big gathering I have I am going to triple this and serve it in a big glass jar with a ladle.  I have also done this with the Winking Owl shiraz, using citrus, give either one (or both!) an try before summer ends...

The Aldi Sangria

1 bottle Winking Owl wine

- chardonnay if you want sangria blanca, shiraz if you want the more traditional sangria roja

1 cup triple sec

several cups of fruit, cut into bite sized pieces if large

-citrus slices are always good, but use what you like, and use a lot of it

 Mix the wine, triple sec, and fruit in a glass pitcher.  The pitcher above had pineapple, kiwi (these two on their own are particularly good), cantaloupe, and blueberries.  Refrigerate for several hours, or better yet, until the next day.  Serve over ice in a pretty glass, being sure to get some fruit in each portion (this you will eat with your fingers before getting another glass, yum, yum).

Bones and shells...

Here is the process I used in dealing with the ham bone I used in the jambalaya.  This same method will work for other dishes, but if you are making bean soup, you may just wish to cook the bone with the beans (just remove the bone at the end and add back the meat).

Whenever we have ham, I intentionally leave quite a bit of meat on the bone- not only is serving easier this way, but it leaves the bone meaty for other uses.  I simmered the bone covered all morning while I was busy with other things and just checked it every now and then, turning the bone around in the stock each time.  The water covered about 3/4 of the bone when I started and used no added seasonings, ham having plenty already.

I removed the bones and meat to a plate to cool...as you can see, the meat fell off in pieces.

Once it was cool enough to handle, I shredded up the meat, leaving it in fairly large pieces, and discarded the fat, bones, and silver skin.  I ended up with roughly 2 cups of meat.

I strained the broth into a large bowl- this removes any small bones, as well as pieces of fat that have broken off unto the stock.

A few hours in the fridge solidified the fat.  This I skimmed off to brown the ham for the jambalaya.  This fat can be reserved to cook with, just make sure to refrigerate it, or discarded.  The stock below is gelatinous, like loose jello, a good sign that it simmered a long time.  If not using the stock now, just ladle into freezer containers for later use, I find 2 cup portions to be most helpful.

I used 4 cups for the jambalaya and still had 2 cups leftover for the freezer.

I have been saving the shells from shrimp in the freezer with the intention of making stock.  After peeling the shrimp for the jambalaya I had the shells from 4 pounds of shrimp and decided to go ahead and make it.  I put the shells in a medium pan with about 5 cups of water, a teaspoon of salt, small handful of whole black peppercorns, and a Bay leaf.

 I left this to simmer while I made dinner (about and hour).  I turned off the heat and just left it until I was leaning up after dinner.

Strain the broth into a bowl, pressing on the shells with the back of a spoon to get out all of the liquid.  I tasted the stock, and with the addition of a bit more salt, would have been perfectly good to sip on its own.  I can't wait to see what idea hits me to use this wonderful stuff.

I ended up with 4 generous cups of stock to tuck away in the freezer.  This took practically no effort.  And to think, I could have just thrown the shells away, which is what I have done for years :-(

A frozen treasure...

 Cajun (Brown) Jambalaya with Ham and Shrimp

(And yes, I know that my place setting is mixed up.)

Finding all that 10 month old zucchini in the freezer last week sent me on search to see what else had been stashed for too long.  Uncovered...one meaty ham bone from Easter...not terribly old, but I felt I should use it anyway.  The first use that comes to mind with a ham bone is a bean or lentil soup of some sort, but it is really, REALLY hot and humid (75% yesterday), and who wants to eat a heavy, rib-sticking bean soup in this kind of weather? (Do rhetorical questions get a question mark?)

I considered the contents of the freezer (the one in the kitchen where things don't get "lost"), and a bag of shrimp made me think jambalaya (yes, I still seem stuck down south, I need to move there already).  I'm sure most are familiar with this rice dish of Louisiana fame, or at least of Zatarains fame (watch the commercial here)...

Jambalaya is an infinitely versatile dish (and one that can be made to fill the hungry tummies of many, if needed).  "Creole," or "Red," jambalaya is made with tomatoes, while "Cajun," or "Brown," jambalaya is made without.  I asked the boys which they preferred and they voted for the no tomato variety (I should have guessed that without asking), so Cajun it was.  This dish turned out every bit as rich and tasty as I had hoped, with the sweet shrimp contrasting beautifully against the overall "haminess" of the dish.  Chris thought it a bit spicy, so I would probably cut the cayenne by half in the future, especially considering that Ben and I added Tabasco anyway (Crystal Hot Sauce would have been a better choice).  I used okra here, but if you don't have it readily available, or don't like it, substitute a scant pound of whatever veg you do have.  Today I am just going to give you the jambalaya recipe, and the next post will cover the process to get here, as well as the shrimp stock I ended up making as well :)

A boy's request...

Banana Smoothie

Christopher has been on a banana smoothie binge this week (but who could argue a healthy treat like this?).  Every morning this week he has started his day with a smoothie accompanied by a peanut butter chip waffle (I made a stack of these on Monday).  He was pestering me this morning to put this simple breakfast on the blog, so I got out the camera and here it is :)

Banana Smoothie

banana (frozen or not)

low-fat or fat-free vanilla yogurt (I buy this in 32oz. containers)

low-fat or skim milk

This is not really a "recipe," I just drop things in and blend away.  This vanilla yogurt and milk base is good for amy variety of smoothies (we've tried a bunch).

Drop a few spoonfuls of yogurt into your blender (maybe 1/2 cup or so).  Add one banana broken into pieces (frozen ones are particularly nice for this) and 1/2 cup or so of milk.  Blend until smooth and pour into a tall glass; stir in a little additional milk to reach the desired consistency (think milkshake).  If I have them around, Chris likes a maraschino cherry on top with a bit of the syrup drizzled in (a trick to make any kid drink "fancy").  Serve

A potato salad time of year...

Potato and Green Bean Salad 

with a Lemon Vinaigrette

Summer is the season for potato salad, and there have been an abundance of them in the food blogs and magazines as of late.  While I like all sorts of these salads, my preference is for those that don't use much (if any) mayonnaise (same for slaw).  The August edition of Food and Wine magazine had an interesting dish using potatoes and green beans.  Called a "salad," it really didn't seem like one to me since it was served hot and the vegetables were buttered (?), but liking the flavors used, I decided to make my own, one I felt comfortable calling a salad.  We had this with Ina Garten's Tuscan Lemon Chicken, another of her recipes that has become a family favorite (we really like Ina, and yes, we also love the flavor of lemons!).  The only thing I would change in this recipe is to maybe whisk in a teaspoon or two of dijon mustard into the vinaigrette.   Please give this picnic friendly potato salad a try...

A note about that nifty green colander you'll see below...this Tupperware colander was my mom's and may quite possibly be as old as I am (gasp)...all I know is that this thing has always been around, and now it's mine.  This colander has been in weekly use since at least the early 70's, a testament to the durability of old Tupperware (don't think the same can be said for the new stuff).

Potato and Green Bean Salad with a Lemon Vinaigrette

1 1/2 lbs. small red potatoes

3/4 lb. fresh green beans

1/3 cup finely diced red onion

1/3 cup (tightly packed) finely chopped fresh parsley

1/4 cup good olive oil

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 clove garlic minced (1 tsp.)

coarse salt and fresh ground black pepper

Prepare the vinaigrette first and let it sit on the counter while you prepare the rest of the salad.  In a medium sized serving bowl, combine the red onion, parsley, olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic: season fairly generously with the salt and pepper before setting aside.

Scrub the potatoes, and leaving on the peel (I leave on the peel more often than not, even for mashed potatoes), cut into bite sized pieces; place into a pan of cold water, bring to a boil, and cook until tender, 8 to 20 minutes.  Drain the potatoes well and toss in the serving bowl with the vinaigrette while still warm, this will help the flavors absorb into the potatoes.  Set aside to cool, tossing occasionally.  

Wash the green beans, snap the ends and then into bite sized pieces.  Place in a small microwave safe bowl, cover with a saucer, and cook on high for three minutes.  Remove immediately and rinse with cold tap water until no longer warm to the touch- this stops the cooking while setting the bright green color, and is a whole lot easier than that whole ice bath thing.

Once the potatoes have cooled to room temperature, toss in the green beans and serve.  If you are making this ahead and have refrigerated it, let it come to room temperature before serving.

And now for the piccata...

This  is one of our Ina Garten favorites, and one that I have been making for a few years now.  This chicken is simple enough for a weeknight, but delicious enough to serve to company...who could ask for more in a dish (Christopher, age 10, asks for seconds of this one).  I think the next time I make this I will make the chicken pieces even smaller and triple the amount of sauce ingredients, before serving it all over angel hair pasta (I think this will be sooner, rather than later :)...

Chicken Piccata
adapted from Ina Garten

1 1/2 lbs. (about) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
coarse salt and fresh ground black pepper
1 cup all purpose flour
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups seasoned bread crumbs*
good olive oil
3 tbs. butter
1/3 cup lemon juice 
2/3 cup dry white wine
1 small lemon, halved and thinly sliced
chopped fresh parsley for serving 

*I used my own dried breadcrumbs and added a generous amount of black pepper, sweet paprika, and garlic powder.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees with a baking sheet waiting inside.  If the chicken pieces are large, cut them to desired size (we prefer smaller pieces); using a large, very sharp knife, slice each piece of chicken in half horizontally, then, with your palm of the back of the knife, gently press each piece to a relatively uniform thickness (I really don't like pounding meat and this method works just fine).  Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

In one bowl, mix the flour with 1 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper.  In a second bowl, beat the eggs until lemon colored with about 1 tbs. of water.  In a third bowl place your breadcrumbs (mix them here if preparing your own).  Dip each chicken piece first in the flour, then the egg, then the breadcrumbs, ensuring even coverage at each step.  Set the chicken aside for 10 minutes or so to allow the crust ingredients to adhere to each other.

In a large non-stick saute pan, heat 2 tbs. olive oil over medium heat.  Once the pan is nice and hot, start browning the chicken, about 2 minutes per side.  Work in batches so as to not crowd the pan, and as they are finished, place them on the baking sheet in the oven, adding more oil as necessary.  Once the chicken is done, add the lemon juice, wine, and lemon slices to the pan; increase the heat to med-high and cook until reduced by half; stir in the butter until melted and turn off the heat.

To serve...Using kitchen tongs, dip each piece of chicken into the sauce in the pan, turning to coat both sides.   Spoon a bit of the sauce over and sprinkle generously with the chopped parsley.