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.

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...

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.

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.

Shogayaki Chicken with Ginger-Apricot Rice

According to the recipe, "shoga" means ginger and "yaki" means grill or fry, so I guess you could call this Ginger Chicken.  We gave this a "good but not great" rating.  It takes about a half hour to make and uses two pots.

Using fresh ginger is critical in this dish.  Make sure that it is well minced before you add it to the marinade and the rice, because a large chunk in your mouth can be pretty intense.  You will also use Sesame Oil and Mirin, which make a noticeable difference in flavor.  Sesame Oil is one of my favorite ingredients in Asian dishes and has a distinct nutty flavor.  Mirin adds a sweetness to the dish to balance the ginger and garlic.