Published by mel on November 17, 2008 in entree and recipe.
Aside from devouring my dinner last night, I really had nothing to do with this recipe. It’s my mom’s famous Spanish-style Empanada that she makes once a year for my dad’s birthday. He has proclaimed his undying love for Spanish-style Empanada and ordered it in every city in Spain when we were visiting. But I digress…
Unlike the more common South American and Latin American Empanadas, Spanish empanadas are baked like a chicken pot pie in a casserole dish and cut into squares for serving. Wikipedia says they’re usually filled with tuna, beef or chicken. My mom’s is made with chicken stewed with piquillo peppers, ham, onions, tomatoes, olives and chorizo. (Can you say yum?)
The thing that makes this Empanada different, is its slightly sweet crust. Instead of a simple tart or pastry shell, my mom makes a sweet, crumbly dough that contrasts nicely with the savory chicken filling. If you like a sweet/savory contrast, this dish is for you. Like a casserole, it’s a perfect make-ahead meal. Just pop it in the oven when your guests arrive and you’ve got an impressive, bubbling Empanada to warm you up on a cool evening.
I’m glad my mom finally wrote out the recipe for me. It’s one of those dishes that gets a rave review every time she makes it, and it’s time to share the love.
Continue reading ‘Mom’s Chicken Chorizo Spanish Empanada’
Published by mel on November 5, 2008 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.
It seems as though the Fall ingredients and soup trend continues over here. It’s not that I want to overload you with squashes and harvest fruit, it’s that I just can’t help myself. This tortilla soup has become an instant favorite at my house. It’s got sweet, roasted butternut squash and shredded chicken simmered in a chili powder-spiked broth with crumbled, salty blue corn tortilla chips. I’m such a sucker for anything sweet, spicy and salty.
The star here really is the roasted butternut squash. While I’m all for shortcuts, canned and frozen squash won’t give you the same roasted flavor as fresh. Now, I know a whole, fresh butternut squash is an intimidating thing. Unless you’ve got a hacksaw or cleaver in the house, splitting this thing open may be a bit more than you’re willing to take on. My suggestion? Ask the supermarket to halve it for you. Most markets will willing do it for no charge, then all you have to do is roast the halves on a cookie sheet with olive oil and salt. Once it’s done, simply scoop the roasted squash out with a spoon and use it anyway you’d like. (Can anyone say roasted butternut squash pizza?)
I like my butternut squash in all forms, but this tortilla soup might emerge as the favorite. Healthy, hearty and satisfying, it makes a perfect lunch or weeknight dinner. A great, seasonal twist on a classically delicious soup.
Related: Chorizo and Blue Corn Tortilla Soup
Continue reading ‘Butternut Squash Tortilla Soup’
Published by mel on October 29, 2008 in entree and recipe.
It’s finally (finally!) cooling off here, and so I can justify all of my soups, stews and casseroles. In honor of the cold weather (what? 55° is cold for Miamians!), I made a spicy Chicken Enchilada Casserole with a crumbly, cheesy tortilla crust.
This casserole reminds me of a 7-layer dip, even though you’ll find no canned chili or cream cheese in here. You start with a layer of brown rice, then follow up it with layers of beans, hominy, sauteed onions and poblano peppers, shredded chicken, Enchilada sauce, corn tortilla dough and shredded cheddar cheese. Into the oven for 35 minutes, and out comes a slightly spicy, bubbly, cheesy casserole of goodness.
This dish can be made a day or two in advance and baked just before you’re ready to eat. I suspect you could easily freeze the casserole whole for those times when you find your fridge and pantry bare (a trend in my house lately).
Tom loved this casserole, and I gotta say, it’s crazy delicious in that messy comfort food kind of way. I can’t wait to get into the leftovers, and I’m thinking about making another batch soon to stock the freezer. There’s just nothing better than a cheesy, melty casserole and a chilly beer to welcome the fall.
Continue reading ‘Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Casserole’
Published by mel on August 29, 2008 in entree and recipe.
Pasta’s easy. It’s usually the first food you learn to cook, and the food that sustains you throughout your penniless college days. It’s good, fast and cheap, and there’s nothing to not love about that!
So, when I need to make a quick lunch before work it’s often pasta that’s my first thought. The hard part is figuring out how to make a healthy, well-rounded meal with it. As with most things carb, I find that I can sit down and eat at least a 1/2 pound of simple, buttery pasta on my own. But me and my bikini know that it’s probably not a good idea.
So, I try to have as much “stuff” in my bowl as I do pasta. This week, that stuff happened to be spicy Italian sausage, broccoli, rainbow chard, goat cheese and walnuts. A well-rounded meal chock-full of vegetables, protein and those venerated Omega 3’s. Best of all, it traveled well, filled me up and made a very delicious little lunch.
Continue reading ‘easy sausage, greens & goat cheese pasta’
Published by mel on August 15, 2008 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.
Phew! I’m back from vacation! I was actually back on Monday, but have been so busy working and running around that I’ve neglected the blog, which is very very bad of me. But here I am, and so ready to start cooking.
I ate so well on my trip! We had farm-fresh salad, pork loin, blue cheese and tons of wine in Napa. Delicious chorizo and polenta mussels in Portland, which I am dying to recreate. Fried chicken on biscuits with honey, mustard and pickles (awesome!). Chilled fennel soup with dungeness crab, avocado and grapefruit in Vancouver. Oh! and Japanese-style hot dogs with terriyaki, kewpie mayonnaise and toasted nori (best hot dog ever!). And so many micro-brewed beers and local wines! I can’t wait to re-create all of those flavors.
But for now, I’ve got 2 recipes to post. (I’m trying to make up for being such a slacker.) The first is a pretty fig and fennel salad with shaved pecorino cheese and a lemony dressing. It’s a light and easy meal perfect for summer and fancy enough to serve guests. But you have to make it now before figs go out of season!
The second is a 10-minute honey mustard chicken. It’s honestly as simple as five ingredients and a hot pan. The result is a sweet and tangy chicken perfect for a side of potatoes or on top of a salad. So easy and I bet you have the ingredients in your fridge right now.
This weekend, I’ll be making some new things inspired by my Pacific Northwest trip. I’m hoping they come out well enough to post some fun new recipes.
Continue reading ‘fennel & fig salad | 10-minute honey mustard chicken’
Published by mel on June 16, 2008 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.
I just got back from a weekend away in beautiful Maine. I was hoping to post this before I left, but never got around to it. Here it is in all of its delicious glory.
Summer’s here and the stone fruits are starting to appear in huge quantities. I love nectarines and often bring them to work for my mid-morning snack. Although tasty, they’re really not ideal for eating at your desk. Usually, I end up bent over the trash can as the juices run down my fingers and drip everywhere. Not very attractive.
If you want to avoid creating such a scene at work, another way to eat those nectarines that I’m sure are piling up in your fruit bowl (aside from a delicious crumble) is to use them in a salad. They provide a nice substitute for the juicy tomatoes which have unfortunately disappeared from stores nationwide, lest we all become infected with salmonella.
The jerk chicken is a nice compliment for the sweet nectarines and goat cheese and vinaigrette give it enough of a bite to curb the fruit’s sweetness. Just add some walnuts for crunch and you’ve got a perfectly well-rounded summer salad.
Continue reading ‘jerk chicken, nectarine & goat cheese salad’
Published by mel on May 19, 2008 in entree and recipe.
My mom is famous for her Arroz con Pollo. Down here, everyone’s mom knows how to make Arroz con Pollo, but my mom’s is the undisputed best ever. There are millions of ways to make this dish, with each country and region laying claim to a different “authentic” variety.
Every Arroz con Pollo starts out with a basic sofrito of diced onions, garlic, bell pepper and spices sauteed in olive oil. Some people make their dish the traditional Spanish way where the rice ends up a bit dry and fluffy. I hate this version. My mom makes hers in the Puerto Rican style, which is very creamy and a bit soupy. Like a Latin risotto. Her secret ingredient? She adds a beer to the pot just before cooking the rice. It plumps the rice up and adds a nice zing to the pot. This recipe reveals her other secret tricks, such as soaking the rice in warm saffron water. I hope she won’t mind.
Arroz con Pollo is the Latin American version of meatloaf. Or pot roast. Or mac & cheese. Everyone’s got a recipe and everyone swears that theirs is the most authentic and the most delicious. Well, they’re wrong. My mom’s recipe is the most delicious. It just is. If you don’t believe me, try it for yourself.
Continue reading ‘mom’s arroz con pollo (chicken & rice)’
Published by mel on February 7, 2008 in entree and recipe.
Last weekend I did something I’ve never done before. Something I’ve been wanting to do for awhile, but have been too intimidated to take on. I roasted a chicken. A whole chicken. And guess what? It was really easy! It took me about 10 minutes to prepare it and toss it in a pan with potatoes, yellow carrots and garlic cloves. Then it was into the oven for a while and out came a whole dinner. All I had to do was wait around, peek inside the oven from time to time, and then dig in.
I’ve had many a roasted chicken from take-out places, the grocery store and Whole Foods, but I’d never tasted one with such juicy meat and crispy skin. Obviously, I’d never had such a fresh-from-the-oven treat. It’s true that it wasn’t quite as tasty the next day when the meat had dried up and the skin had turned into the unappetizingly brown soggyness you get at the store (the kind you should definitely peel off and throw away). The roasted vegetables were also pretty delicious. The potatoes were browned and toasted and the carrots had caramelized nicely in the bottom of the pan.
A roast chicken definitely should be eaten moments after it’s taken out of the oven, but the leftover meat is good for tacos, chicken salad, soups, etc. I don’t recommend eating the leftover skin.
Continue reading ‘Roast Chicken w/fingerlings & carrots’
Published by mel on February 5, 2008 in entree and recipe.
As if Chorizo nachos weren’t enough, there was more to Sunday’s Superbowl feast. So, I have a guilty pleasure. I absolutely love boneless buffalo wings, which are essentially chicken fingers with buffalo sauce smothered on them. Gross, I know, but we all have our weaknesses and this is (one of) mine. That said, I never order them because I know that they’re over processed, previously frozen, fried and terribly bad for me. I thought that I’d try to make my own, but didn’t really expect much. I used naturally raised boneless chicken thighs, whole wheat panko breadcrumbs and organic (I swear!) buffalo sauce that I found at The Fresh Market.
After a quick brine, I breaded the thighs and threw them in the oven (ok, the Crisper) for 20 minutes and then covered them in sauce. Voila! Homemade buffalo wings! And they were better, much better, than any sampler platter at a sports bar. A perfect Superbowl Sunday treat.
They were also pretty darn tasty the next day on a sprouted whole wheat bun with some reduced fat blue cheese and greens.
Continue reading ‘buffalo chicken’
Published by mel on December 13, 2007 in entree and recipe.
It’s not really the first meal we’ve eaten in our new home. We’ve had toast, cereal, coffee, turkey chili and many many sandwiches. But it was the first time I really cooked on a weeknight, for just the two of us. And it was just lovely. I made chicken tacos with hominy salsa, which Tom loves and is easy to make. I cooked the chicken in a spicy chipotle broth and seasoned it with chili powder, cumin and a bit of saffron. The hominy salsa is my standard for any tacos and also works well on chili and veggie burgers.
Recipes below
Continue reading ‘first meal’
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