Mexiffesion

Anyone who has had the pleasure of planning on going out to eat with me has heard me utter the phrase, "I don't eat Mexican". When deciding on which restaurant to pick I always throw that caveat out to ensure we don't end up at an establishment where I am wearing a sombrero and raising a flag for seconds. To be truthful it isn't that I don't eat Mexican cuisine - what is not to love about cheese, chiles and tortillas. My problem with Mexican restaurants is that inevitably the appetizer is going to be chips and salsa and the sides of any dish you order are going to be beans and rice. And you might not think that sounds so bad but I hate salsa, I hate Mexican rice, and I HATE beans! In my opinion, it isn't worth going to a restaurant when I dislike so many of the main ingredients.

So although I never patronize a Mexican establishment, I do cook several Mexican inspired dishes in my home as long as the recipe doesn't call for one of the above ingredients or I can eliminate it without altering the dish too drastically. When I came across the following recipe I knew I would enjoy it and it would be fun to create and it was!

Chicken Chilaquiles
Cooking Light July 2007

Ingredients
2 cups shredded skinless, boneless rotisserie chicken breast
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese with jalapeño peppers, divided
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 cup 1% low-fat milk
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 (11-ounce) can tomatillos, drained (I couldn't find this so I used canned Salsa Verde)
1 (4.5-ounce) can chopped green chiles, drained
12 (6-inch) corn tortillas
Cooking spray

Preparation
Preheat oven to 375°.

Combine chicken, green onions, 1/4 cup Monterey Jack cheese, Parmesan, chili powder, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl.

Place milk and next 3 ingredients (through chiles) in a food processor or blender;

process until smooth.

Heat tortillas according to package directions. Pour 1/3 cup tomatillo mixture into bottom of an 11 x 7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange 4 corn tortillas in dish, and top with half of chicken mixture.

Repeat layer with remaining tortillas and chicken mixture, ending with tortillas. Pour remaining 1 1/2 cups tomatillo mixture over tortillas; sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup Monterey Jack cheese. Bake at 375° for 20 minutes or until bubbly.

This meal was so easy since it required you to use an already cooked Rotisserie Chicken. It was basically just assembling the ingredients in an orderly fashion. Both Forrest and I really enjoyed this dish. It was very flavorful and very spicy!

Prosciutto Put Off....Or Not

The last time I made a recipe with Prosciutto my mom called me after I posted it and stated that it looked like I made my pasta with raw meat. I explained to her that prosciutto was in actuality raw meat (it is a dry cured ham), but my justification still didn't change her mind on whether or not she thought it looked appetizing. I appreciate her honesty and am all about constructive criticism.....when it doesn't have to do with prosciutto. I would normally stray away from something that doesn't look appetizing, but I will never stray from prosciutto. I couldn't let my mom's comment be a deterrent. Prosciutto is too delicious! So when I came across the following recipe I knew I had to give it a try. We are big panini fans in this household and paninis with prosciutto are my favorite.

Since I received my panini grill I have made several grilled sandwiches and all of my practice is starting to pay off. I am figuring out techniques that result in the best panini possible. Some of the things I have learned:

1. Shredded Cheese melts easier than sliced cheese

2. If you chose a bread that has the crust exposed to the grill pan you will have more trouble melting the cheese and the bread will get much harder. The bread I chose for today's panini is the perfect solution.

3. Putting the setting on Medium allows the ingredients to melt better without burning the bread.

This was by far my most favorite panini yet. The balsamic vinegar sprinkled on the arugula lent for delicious flavor and the bread absorbed the melted cheese for a flawless consistency.


Prosciutto and Fontina Panini
Cooking Light January 1996

Ingredients

1 (5.25-ounce) package focaccia (Italian flatbread) (I used Tuscan Pane from TJ's)
8 very thin slices prosciutto (about 2 ounces)
1/4 cup (1 ounce) shredded fontina cheese
1 cup trimmed arugula or watercress
2 (1/8-inch-thick) red onion slices, separated into rings (I omitted this from our sandwiches)
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Preparation

Slice each bread round in half horizontally. Divide prosciutto slices between bottom halves of bread, and top each bread half with fontina cheese, arugula, and red onion slices. Drizzle balsamic vinegar over sandwiches, and sprinkle with pepper;


cover with top halves of bread.


Wrap sandwiches tightly in aluminum foil, and bake at 300° for 15 minutes. (I grilled mine on the Panini Grill)

Yeilds 2 Servings

Magazines and Martha

I love the time of the month when all the new monthly issues of my magazine subscriptions arrive in the mail. For about a week or so everyday I come home to a new little surprise in the mailbox (ok well not really in the mailbox but on the kitchen counter since Forrest is the mail fetcher in this household - but you get the point). As you can imagine, the majority of my magazine subscriptions are cooking related with the occasional Shape and InStyle thrown in to keep me grounded. But my Cooking magazines are my true joy. If you read this blog often you know that I absolutely adore Cooking Light and all of their recipes. My other favorite is Martha Stewart Living. Something about her magazine makes me so happy. I love the beautiful photos, the unique craft ideas, the overly complicated decorating techniques and the pure and classic yet sophisticated recipes.

I adore her magazine and the ideas inside it and I draw a great amount of inspiration from it every month. This month's issue had some amazing recipes which included a Flag Cheesecake (rest assured that you will be seeing this recipe on my blog come the Fourth of July), a Panini Bar and this blog entry's feature - Grilled Lamb Shoulder with Herb Aioli. Forrest and I both love Lamb and this recipe seemed so simple and the perfect solution to a weeknight meal that I could quickly throw together after a long day at work.

Grilled Lamb Shoulder Chops with Herb Aioli
Martha Stewart Living - July 2008

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 1 large egg
• 1 garlic clove, coarsely chopped
• 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh chives
• 1 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1 1/2 teaspoons coarsely chopped fresh rosemary
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
• 4 lamb shoulder chops (I used boneless lamb loin b/c I couldn't find shoulders)
  
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges, for serving

Directions

1. Using an immersion blender or a food processor, combine egg, garlic, and herbs.
   
2. With the machine running, pour in oils in a slow, steady stream, blending until thickened. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a dish, press plastic wrap on surface, and refrigerate while lamb is cooking.
   
3. Preheat grill to medium-high. Season lamb with salt and pepper,
4. and grill to desired doneness, about 5 minutes per side for medium-rare.
5. Serve with aioli and lemon wedges.

This meal was really good. I thought the lemon sounded like a strange addition but it really rounded out the aioli and was an essential component of the recipe. Make sure you squeeze a litttle lemon juice over your aioli to finish it.

Demure David?

My friend Jo just returned from a trip to Italy and she brought me the most colorful souvenir I have ever received! This isn't your run of the mill souvenir like a t-shirt, pencil or a key chain. She brought me back an apron from Florence. Now I understand that this might not seem so unusual. An apron seems like a fitting gift for a food blogger. But this isn't your typical apron - it has a life size image of the David from the neck down on the front of it. For anyone that is having trouble creating a mental image, feel free to Google images of The David to help you out. It is hysterical! However it is not G rated enough for me to photograph myself wearing it for my blog that is frequented by my father and several sets of our grandparents.

I wanted to show my appreciation for my very funny souvenir from Jo so I decided to cook a traditional Italian dish donning my non-traditional souvenir that boast a full frontal of the most recognizable stone sculpture in the history of art.

Chicken Parmesan
Recipe Courtesy of Cathy Lowe

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 1/2 cups plain bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 cup flour, on a shallow plate
2 eggs, lightly beaten, in a pie plate
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups prepared tomato sauce
1 ball of fresh mozzarella thinly sliced

Place chicken breasts between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound out to 1/2" thickness using a mallet or rolling pin. Combine bread crumbs, 1/4 cup parmesan, oregano, basil and cayenne in a pie plate. Coat each breast in the flour, shaking off any excess flour. Dip each breast in the egg and then into the bread crumb mixture. Set coated chicken aside on a plate.


Heat olive oil in a large non-stick skillet. Carefully add chicken to pan, cooking three pieces at a time. Cook until golden on both sides.


Spread one cup of the tomato sauce in the bottom of a baking dish and top with golden chicken breasts. Top each breast with the remaining sauce and sprinkle with parmesan cheese and top with layers of mozzarella cheese. Bake in a 375 degree oven


for 20 minutes or until cheese is bubbly. Serve hot with whole wheat spaghetti and tomato sauce


I once heard Giada say on Everyday Italian that Chicken Parmesan is not something Italians in Italy would eat. She said they eat Eggplant Parmesan but Chicken Parmesan was really an Italian American dish. I am going to take her word for it, but I still consider Chicken Parmesan very Italian and I think it fit the bill for my homage to Italy. Thanks again Jo!

Reader Response!

One of my faithful readers (yes Kevin, I have readers) Gabriela sent me the most lovely email today. Her husband Alan recreated Jumbie in their own home and they were very pleased with the results. From what I understand, Alan is quite the chef as well and he tweaked my mom's recipe a bit and was happy with the outcome. They even snapped a picture (above) of their finished product and it is a very beautiful one I might add! Thanks Gabriela for your faithful readership!

Secret Dinner

Secret dinner is a practice that was developed out of necessity. After Hurricane Katrina I was displaced from my own home and was living with my sister's in-laws. They were kind and unbelievably generous to open their home to me. Despite the devastation of my home and the chaos in my life at the time, this was a very enjoyable experience. My sister's mother in law was a riot and her father in law was kind-hearted and an amazing cook to boot. Mr. Bob (her father in law) prepared the most unbelievable meals for us every night. After work every day I rushed home in anticipation of his delicious creations. One in particular was his meat sauce. Although meat sauce may not sound like something worth rushing home to this particular recipe was! He prepared it with a mixture of pork, veal and beef and served it over spinach linguine - very gourmet. The first time I ate the meat sauce with gusto and later that night I suffered from severe stomach pains and nausea. After the first occurrence I surveyed the other members of the household in the morning to see if they had experienced illness as well. They hadn't so I figured it was a fluke. Well after about my fourth time experiencing the violent illness that followed the heavenly meat sauce I made the unwanted connection -something in the meat sauce did not agree with me.

I did not want to tell my gracious host that his recipe was poisoning me so out of desperation I invented secret dinner. Secret dinner is when you are going to eat at someone's house and you know you don't want to eat what they have prepared so you stop off on the way to the dinner and get another meal. It is usually a small somewhat insignificant meal in order to allow you to still be able to eat enough of the real meal to not appear rude. Secret dinner saved me from several sleepless meat sauce nights filled with pain and suffering. After the creation of the secret dinner, I have shared the theory with some very fortunate loved ones who have since participated in the practice with me. It has evolved to encompass eating before a particularly light meal at someone's home or a meal that is served much later than you are accustomed to eating dinner. Although it might sound like a very despicable and gluttonous practice I hope you find compassion in understanding its origin and if that still doesn't do it then you must understand how crazy I get if I don't eat!

So what does all of this have to do with Corn and Crab Salad? I prepared this meal this week for my friend Melanie. And although we both though it tasted fine it didn't blow my socks off. It was not filling and it wasn't at all delicious. I found the dressing to be very bland and it didn't have much of anything to really hang its hat on. Later that night when Forrest asked how was the salad I told him it was "secret dinner worthy". Having shared in many a secret dinner with me - he knew exactly what I was talking about!


Crab, Corn, and Tomato Salad with Lemon-Basil Dressing
Cooking Light June 2008

Ingredients

1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, divided
1 tablespoon extravirgin olive oil
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup fresh corn kernels (about 2 ears)
1/4 cup thinly sliced basil leaves
1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
1 pound lump crabmeat, shell pieces removed
8 (1/4-inch-thick) slices ripe beefsteak tomato (eliminated this due to the tomato drama happening this week)
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved

Preparation

1. Combine rind, 3 tablespoons juice, and next 5 ingredients (through black pepper) in a large bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Reserve 1 1/2 tablespoons juice mixture. Add remaining 2 tablespoons juice, corn, and next 4 ingredients (through crab) to remaining juice mixture; toss gently to coat.

2. Arrange 2 tomato slices and 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes on each of 4 plates. Drizzle about 1 teaspoon reserved juice mixture over each serving. Top each serving with 1 cup corn and crab mixture. (I added avocado slices to liven it up a bit)

Jumbie, Jumbie, Jumbie

In my family Jambalaya isn't just a classic New Orleans dish, it is an institution. We have even renamed it to express our love and admiration for this special dish. We call it Jumbie! Jumbie doesn't refer to just any Jambalaya, Jumbie is my mom's jambalaya recipe. My mom's jambalaya is unique and a little different than the classic Louisiana jambalaya. If you have eaten Jambalaya before chances are that the Jambalaya you indulged in was brown in color and somewhat spicy. A brown spicy jambalaya is a Cajun jambalaya that gets its brown color from the bits of meat that stick to the bottom of the pan during cooking and are later deglazed with stock. My mom's jambalaya is orange. She prepares her jambalya using the Creole cooking method which incorporates tomatoes into the cooking process. Jumbie is my all time favorite thing my mom cooks. My brothers and sister and I request jumbie on every special occasion, when bad things happen to us and we need cheering up and every time we bring a friend to visit from out of town. Trust me, this stuff is legend. There have even been cheers about it that I have heard chanted from the mouths of my 2 year old nephews.

So, how could I not attempt to learn this recipe and start practicing early to perfect this family favorite? I couldn't - and lets just say it is a good thing that I started practicing now. At the rate my jumbie successes have been going I will be lucky to have this one down by the time I have my own kids. Prior to this week I have only attempted jumbie once before. On that occasion my rice was so undercooked that it was like eating crunchy rice crispy coated jumbie. My attempt this week looked like jumbie, smelled like jumbie and even tasted liked jumbie - a success you say? Not quite! Only 2/3 of my jumbie achieved these goals. The rest was a burnt crusted mess at the bottom of my stockpot threatening to ruin my shiny new Le Creuset! So my jumbie hurdle seems to be achieving the right balance of stirring the rice and proper cooking temperature. I am not willing to give up on this one - I will forge forward until I am able to deliver a perfect "mommafied" jumbie!

Jumbie

Recipe Courtesy of my Momma

Ingredients

3 tbs of vegetable oil

3 yellow onions

1 green bell pepper

1 bunch of green onions

4 cloves of garlic

2 links of smoked sausage

2 cups of rice

2 8ounce cans of tomato sauce

2 cups of water

2 pounds of shrimp, peeled and deviened

Salt and Pepper to taste

Dried Parsley flakes

Preparation

Chops all vegetables. Quarter sausage and halve shrimp.

Heat oil in the bottom of a heavy stockpot and add yellow onion and green bell peppers until softened. Then add green onions and garlic. Once all vegetables have softened add tomato sauce, water, rice and sausage.


Bring to a boil. Add shrimp and reduce heat to a simmer

and cook covered for 25 minutes. Stir frequently or infrequently ( I obviously have no idea , you would need to ask my mom) during cooking. Salt and Pepper to taste. In the last five minutes of cooking, add 3 tsp of dried parsley flakes.