Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas

This is one of the fastest and easiest enchilada dishes I know how to prepare, especially when I use the Rotisserie Chicken shortcut.  Most of the flavor comes from the onion, green chiles, and cilantro, but I like to add some jalapeno slices on top for a little more kick.

The filling and the sauce are nearly identical.  The filling has the chicken chunks and the sauce has some milk.  I find that each enchilada needs about two tablespoons of filling.

This is the arrangement that worked best for us.  Just make sure that you have one flat layer that fills whatever pan that you choose.  I don't care what the recipe says, be sure to use enough cheese to really cover the enchiladas and sprinkle a bit of chopped cilantro to add some color.  We finished cooking the dish by broiling it for two minutes so that the cheese was golden, brown and delicious.

Health Department Raid

Please read the following link: http://www.adistinctiveworld.net/?p=6091

As a foodie and an amateur chef, this story disgusts me.  I care deeply about the food I eat, and if you are following this page, I suspect that you do as well.  The kind of food that I like to eat is adventurous.  I know the risks that I assume when I prepare sausage or eat beef carpaccio.  The idea that serving such food to friends and family could even conceivably subject me to law enforcement contact is beyond the pale.

How do you feel about this story?

Rotisserie Chicken

I know this isn't rocket science, but one of my favorite shortcuts when a recipe calls for cooked chicken is to buy a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store and break it down at home.  The time saved by not cooking a whole chicken at home is worth the extra buck a pound.

Fifteen minutes of work, and I have perfectly cooked chunks of chicken and some bones and cartilage in a bag in the freezer for making stock.  But that's a different day...

Cured Beef

Creamy and soft on the palate, with a rich, primal taste that finishes with a hint of rosemary, this is exactly what answers the call of the refined carnivore.  I wish my photo did justice to the ruby red color and white marbling, because a slice of this is art on the plate.  And it is effortless to make.

Total prep time for this is less than five minutes, plus a couple of days in the fridge to cure.  I used an electric knife to slice it thin, and fanned it on my plate.  My comment to Kate after eating my first slice: "This is what beef jerky aspires to."

Cornish Game Hens

Cornish Game Hens with an Apricot Glaze stuffed with Apricot and Pistachio Couscous.  This receipe is found in the Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer.  I discovered that my oven wasn't working after I had these little guys ready to go in, so they were actually made in the toaster oven!

I served the hens with a salad of mixed greens, avacado, green onions, glazed pecans, dried cranberries or "Craisins" in the supermarket, grapes and gorgonzola crumbles with french vinagrette.

Beef Carpaccio

Beef Carpaccio is a household favorite.  It's actually pretty simple to prepare, and the flavor of the raw beef, lightly seasoned and served with an aggressive spring mix salad, fresh shaved Parmesan, and a few Caperberries is a treat that we reserve for special occasions.  If you can overcome your fear of raw beef, you won't be disappointed by the texture and flavor of this dish.

Start by slicing a filet of beef as thinly as possible.  You will have better results if the meat is almost frozen when you begin.  I find that using an electric knife really helps with this step.

In order to pound the meat as thinly as possible and not destroy it when you move it to the serving dish, make sure to put a layer of plastic wrap on your cutting board, then arrange the meat slices so that they are almost touching, then put another layer of plastic wrap over the top.  Gently pound the meat until it forms a single thin piece, then carefully remove the top layer of wrap.  Put your serving plate upside-down on top, and carefully flip the whole thing over.  Leave the (now) top layer of wrap on until you are ready to serve.

When tossing the salad, use the best olive oil and balsamic vinegar that you can afford.  Simple preparations like this demand the highest quality ingredients to really shine.

Lobster Bisque

Lobster Bisque is the second part of our Valentine's Day tradition.  The sweet chunks of lobster tail swimming in the rich broth paired with a crisp white wine make for a perfect second course, especially when the weather turns cold.  Start to finish it takes a few hours to make, but a lot of that time is downtime while the soup simmers on the stove, so it doesn't feel like a chore.

I use kitchen shears to cut the tails in half.  One cut along the back shell, one along the belly, and the third cut through the meat keeps it all intact without too much mess.  Once the meat is steamed, I use tongs to pull the steamer basket out, let the meat cool, and use my hands to gently separate the meat from the shells.  And save the liquid from the pot!

We are always surprised by how much flavor we get from sauteing and deglazing with wine, so be sure to give this step enough time to develop all the lobstery-goodness you're looking for.   We let the wine reduce until just a puddle was left before we added the stock.

We cheated a little here by using ketchup instead of tomato paste.  Once everything had simmered and we removed all the bay leaves, I used our immersion blender until the soup had a smooth glossy appearance.  The recipe calls for some cream, lemon juice, and salt to taste to finish the soup.  We always go a step further and throw in a splash of Worcestershire sauce and a few hits of Tabasco to really pull the whole thing together.

The final step is mostly for presentation, but it's also another opportunity to add a bit of flavor to the soup.  After you lightly saute the tails, deglaze the pan with a bit of brandy or cognac and pour the pan-sauce into the soup.  Since you'll be eating this with a spoon, be sure to cut the meat into bite-sized slices, and sprinkle a little paprika and fennel frond over the top for garnish.

Black Forest Tartlets with Chocolate Cherries

Chocolate-dipped cherries + cherry-cream filling + chocolate cup = tasty morsel.  They were fun to eat, but they took some time to assemble.  Worth it for a Valentine's Day dessert, but I don't think we'll be making these again anytime soon.

The first step was painting chocolate layers into little foil cups.  Kate did the first round and I did the second.  We made a dozen, and I promise that the one in the photo at the top is the best of the bunch.

The second step was dipping cherries in the same chocolate.  Easy enough, but I haven't learned the trick to cooling them without a flat puddle of chocolate attached to the bottom.

The third step was making the cherry filling.  It starts by dissolving gelatin in cherry preserves over low heat.  Then I whipped heavy cream until it had stiff peaks.  The tricky part is folding the mixture into the cream without losing the fluffiness.  My final product, as you can see, wasn't nearly as uniform or appetizing as the photos in the magazine.  Luckily, it still tasted good.

Once everything was chilled, I started assembly by using tweezers to remove the foil from the chocolate cups.  I then spooned a dollop of the cherry filling into the cup and topped it with a cherry.  Three to a plate and our holiday dessert was ready!

TIP: Seeding a Tomato

Anytime a recipe calls for a seeded tomato, just remember to cut it across the equator, then use a finger to scoop out the seeds from each pocket.  I usually hold the tomato over the sink while I'm scooping.

Baklava Butter

This is something we whipped up last night in about five minutes: Baklava Butter.  It's sweet and nutty, and tastes great with just about anything.

Just add everything to your food processor and chop until it looks like the photo above.  Can't get easier than that!

Mussels with Smoked Sausage

For me, this is a perfect dish: it's fast, simple, and incredibly tasty.  The briny-sweet taste of the mussels, the smoky bite of the kielbasa, and the fragrant spicy broth combine to make a meal that always ends with me drinking from the bowl and sopping up the last with a bit of bread while I look for seconds.  Always.

To clean the mussels, I usually start by plugging up a sink and filling it with ice and cold water.  I also set up a bowl with a colander in it next to the sink and grab a pair of needle-nose pliers.  Then, one at a time, I grab a mussel, check to make sure it's closed and undamaged, give it a scrub, and remove any beard with the pliers by gently tugging until it tears free.  I typically only need to toss 1-3 bad mussels per pound.


Cooking this dish couldn't be simpler.  Brown the meat, add the aromatics, deglaze with wine, and add the pepper and mussels to steam.  Wait ten minutes, uncover and toss any mussels that are still shut.  Garnish with parsley and serve with a hunk of bread.  This is one of my all-time favorites.

POLL: Favorite Protein

What is your favorite protein to eat?

Pork Nuggets with Mojo Glaze

We were feeling ambitious tonight when we decided to make this.  It took nearly an hour before the food hit the table, so we've classified this as "weekend only".  That said, it's a fun riff on chicken nuggets, with the Mojo Glaze giving a tangy flair to the breaded pork.

If you decide to do the Maple-Jalapeno Sweet Potato as a side, be sure to get them in the oven before you get to work on the Pork.

The breading in this dish doesn't have too much flavor, so be sure to really season the meat first.  The only other trick is to crush the corn flakes in a plastic bag until they are almost completely crumbled.  This will help to ensure a complete coating when you bread the meat.

Anytime you are going to cook meat, it's important to make sure that everything is completely thawed before you begin; otherwise your meat will have a tendency to undercook in the middle and overcook on the outside.  Our pork was a little too pink for my taste when we first pulled it from the oven, so we dropped the temperature by 50 degrees and put it back in for another 3 minutes.


The Mojo Sauce is a simple creation, but full of flavor.  It's similar to an asian sweet-and-sour sauce, but a little less thick and sweet.  Be careful any time you heat a sugar on the stove.  The contents of the pan can reach a temperature exceeding that of boiling water, and the stuff is sticky, so it can leave a nasty burn if it gets on your skin.  It'll be cool enough to eat once you spoon it over the Pork.

Maple-Jalapeno Sweet Potato

I'll admit that the first time I read this recipe, I was a little put off by the combination of sweet potato, maple syrup, sour cream, and jalapeno.  I'm glad I overcame my reservations, because this thing is delicious!  It has the perfect combination of hot and cold and sweet and salty, and you can dress it up with any toppings you like.  Although it takes about an hour to prepare, most of that is oven time, so it makes it a perfect side dish for a more involved main course.

Cooking Wine

Hands down the best choice for cooking wine is Franzia.  It stores perfectly at room temperature for months on end and has a convenient pour spout for measuring.  I know that every chef on TV swears that you shouldn't cook with wine that you wouldn't drink (and we won't drink Franzia), but that's just ridiculous.  The moment wine hits a hot pan for deglazing or gets stirred into a broth, it loses all the subtlety and nuance that you paid for.  Franzia has neither, so you don't lose a thing!

TIP: Taco Shells

Hang your taco shells from the top rack of your oven when you heat them up.  One less pan to clean!

Butternut Squash Ravioli with Butter-Sage Sauce

One of our favorite tricks is to dress up packaged food with a homemade sauce.  Tonight's dish is a perfect example: store-bought frozen ravioli and a brown butter-sage sauce with prosciutto.  The whole meal took twenty minutes to prepare, and most of that time was spent waiting for the water to boil.

Making brown butter, or beurre noisette, is simple enough: cook butter until it's burnt just enough to taste good.  I started by crisping some sliced prosciutto in a bit of oil, set that aside, and melted about a stick of butter in the pot with some crumbled sage.  I gave it a stir every minute or so until it looked like the photo above.  Then I added some wine and sugar to deglaze (which put out a lot of steam, so be careful), added the ravioli, prosciutto, parsley, pepper, and tossed it to coat.  Kate suggested that we crumble some Amaretti Cookies over the dish, which added a nice crunchy texture.

Assistant Dishwasher

He only helps when I load the dishes.  Unloading, not so much.

Bacon Saves Lives

From the article:

Cured salted pork crafted as a nasal tampon and packed within the nasal vaults successfully stopped nasal hemorrhage promptly, effectively, and without sequelae … To our knowledge, this represents the first description of nasal packing with strips of cured pork for treatment of life-threatening hemorrhage in a patient with Glanzmann thrombasthenia.

Is there anything that bacon can't do?

Maple-Brined Chicken with Wild Rice Pilaf

As a rule, I do not like to eat grilled chicken breasts.  I think they are the most boring and unimaginative protein to prepare and the taste is consistently underwhelming.  This dish breaks that rule.  With a little advanced prep, this dish can be prepared in fifteen minutes and results in the best chicken breast I've had in years, a tasty and healthy side dish, and a cranberry chutney that gives the whole thing a little zing.

The first secret to this dish is the brine. This technique ensures that the entire breast is infused with flavor and still moist after grilling.  We brined the chicken breasts for two hours and then let them rest for another few hours before lightly seasoning them and firing up the grill.  You could leave them in the solution for up to four hours to give the chicken even more taste, but any longer might make the meat too salty.

The second secret is using a package mix for the wild rice.  If we were preparing this for company, we would of done it the old-fashioned way with natural ingredients, but tonight we were looking for a fast, low-key meal.  Brown and Wild Rice would normally take about forty-five minutes to prepare; this was ready in about five.  I don't feel too bad about our shortcut, because we used fresh ingredients for both the chutney and the wild rice mix.

POLL: Home-Cooked Meals

How often do you cook during an average week?

Pork Scaloppine with Mom's Coleslaw

Thin meat, breaded like this, is one of our favorites. And you can't go wrong with my mother's coleslaw. The scaloppine takes a little effort to prepare, but the crunchy/juicy combination of breaded pork with lemon-butter sauce is worth a little extra time and mess in the kitchen.

Making coleslaw is incredibly easy. There are only two secrets: cut the cabbage as thin as you can, and no matter what size bowl you grab, you'll wish you had grabbed a bigger one. When you add the salt and pepper, remember that moderation is the enemy of flavor. Toss everything thoroughly between (frequent) tastings, and you can't go wrong.

The sauce is fairly straight-forward to make. Be sure to really whisk and cook the flour before you continue to the next step. You only need to stir it occasionally after you've added the other ingredients. You'll know it's ready when it has a nice sheen and a tart lemon flavor. Reduce heat to low and give it a final stir when you're ready to plate.

When it comes to pounding meat, I learned everything I know from Alton Brown on Good Eats. A ziplock bag and a bit of water makes this an easy and tidy task. Slosh a bit of water in the bag and pour it out, then add the meat a piece at a time. Press the air out of the bag and lightly hammer it with your mallet until you're happy with the thickness. Gently remove the meat and repeat.

Normally when you bread meat you start with a coat of flour. In the interest of making this dish (slightly) healthy, we've omitted that step. To tell you the truth, I'm not sure that I can taste a difference. Some recipes season the egg bath or the bread mixture with salt and pepper, but it always seems like the flavor gets lost when I do that, so make sure you season the meat before you begin.

With the above set-up, I use my left hand to grab a cutlet, dip it in the egg bath, and drop it into the bread crumbs. Then I use my right hand to scoop some crumbs on top of the meat, give it a good pat and gently shake loose the extra crumbs before I arranged it on the pan. This method helps me to avoid the "club hand". Do it differently and you'll see what I mean.

Using the broiler instead of sauteing the cutlets in butter is faster, cleaner, and a bit healthier. I still prefer the flavor of the full-fat method, but Kate and I agreed that this was a fantastic dish.