Chicken Enchiladas

We had guests for this Food Adventure meal -- picky eaters, no less!  One of them, Corrie, is a regular diner out our house, and we've learned she'll at least try a small portion.  The other, Lauren, is a former co-worker who, when I met her, claimed, "I eat, like, eleven things."  So, we set out on this adventure determined to show Lauren, who, like me, never liked to cook, just how fun and easy a super-awesome meal can be to make.  This meant the food had to be simple, not have too many ingredients, and not be too strange.  The decision was easy.  Everyone always likes them, and they're always surprised to learn how easy they are to make.  Chicken Enchiladas.

You will need the following:

2 very large chicken leg quarters (cooked in a slow cooker until done, deboned and shredded)
1 quart of salsa
vegetable oil
corn tortillas, white
8 oz. block muenster cheese, shredded
optional toppings:  jalapenos, avocados, salsa, sour cream, tomatoes, green onions, etc.

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Mix your shredded chicken and salsa together thoroughly and set to the side.

3.  In a small frying pan, warm about an inch of oil over low heat.  This oil should be warmed only, barely above being able to put your fingers in it.  Put your baking plate. or casserole dish if you prefer, out beside you on the counter.

4.  Place a corn tortilla in the warmed oil for a few seconds, just enough to get it a little soft and warm.  You do not want the tortilla to get crunchy in the oil, nor do you want it to get soggy.  If the oil starts to bubble, it's too hot.

5.  Take the corn tortilla out of the oil and place on your baking plate, put a spoonful of your chicken mixture in the middle, and roll up.  Be careful not to overload them.  You only want a spoonful so you can taste the flavor of the corn tortilla.  Repeat until all of your baking plates are filled to the desired number of enchiladas.

6.  Cover with shredded muenster cheese.  We sometimes add fresh jalapenos on top before baking for a little extra heat.

7.  Place in preheated oven for 20 minutes.

8.  Remove from oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes before serving so you don't burn your mouth.  Serve with your choice of toppings.

Beverages:

The beauty of this dish is:  it goes well with beer!  The Abita Sweet Orange Lager we had washed down our food with just a hint of citrus.  Any number of beers would go well with this, or maybe even a margarita!

Commentary:

Be sure to save any broth from cooking your chicken.  It's great for any number of other recipes, from soups to rice to veggies.

A note about the chicken and salsa mixture:  The leg quarters we get are very large.  We buy them in bulk bags of about 10 pounds that cost somewhere between $5 and $6 a bag.  A typical bag will have between five and seven leg quarters in it.  Also, the quart of salsa is courtesy of my father-in-law, our preferred salsa.

If you have corn tortillas left over after making enchiladas, try slicing them into six pieces and frying them up in some hot oil.  When they reach your desired crunchiness, scoop them out with a slotted spoon and place in a colander lines with paper towels.  Add salt, if desired.  I like them best when the edges just start to turn brown, when they're just a little bit sweet.

Or, you can continue making enchiladas and make another tray to keep in the freezer.  You will want to bake them enough to melt the cheese and allow to cool before freezing.  Then, when you decide to reheat them, thaw them, and throw them back in the oven until thoroughly warmed.

Using muenster cheese instead of other cheeses is a cooking tip from Tony's grandmother.  It melts better than other cheeses, making it perfect for enchiladas.

Review:

The sure sign of a good time is the number of dishes you have to do in the morning!  This picture doesn't include the number of times we washed our beer glasses to return them to the freezer, or any of the dishes from cooking up the chicken.

This is a favorite of ours and a go-to meal when we want to impress someone with dinner.  It's easy to make, pretty cheap to make, and everyone always enjoys it. Since it seems silly to review our own food that we know we love, we decided to have our guests review this dinner.

Corrie:  We had super-phenomenal chicken enchiladas tonight.  They were really easy. Super good.

Lauren:  They were really good.  The most exciting thing is that they're really easy to make, so I can make them, because I'm incompetent.  (No you're not, you just haven't been shown.)  I'm going to make them tomorrow.  It's really good and I'm really picky.  It's really fun to eat.  And, I'm really full.

What a riot we had hanging around the kitchen listening to Tony teach Lauren the fine art of enchilada-making and feasting on the end results.  Good food, good times.

Cost:

Salsa - I don't really know what it will cost you in the store,  I haven't bought it in years.  If you know someone that makes fresh, see if you can snag a jar from them.  You'll appreciate the difference.
Chicken - bag of chicken is about $5 - $6 where we shop.  The prices are much lower than chain stores.
Corn tortillas - around $2 - $2.50 for 30 of them
Oil - $3.50 - $4
muenster cheese - between $2 and $3

Total cost, without any additional toppings, runs under $20 and makes multiple meals.  In addition, you'll have chicken broth and more leg quarters left over to use in other dishes, and maybe even oil, if you decide against frying chips.

~Sandy

Chicken Tortellini Stew

Hey, Foodies! My turn to cook. I'm thinking quick, I'm thinking easy, and I'm thinking healthy. That can mean only one thing:  Chicken Tortellini Stew. I love the crockpot. Best invention ever! Perfect for easy dishes like soups and stews.

This weeks food adventure begins by placing 2 chicken leg quarters in the crockpot on high 4 hours and then on low for an additional 2 hours. Start it early in the day. This is great because I can do my running around while my crockpot does its thing at home.

Scoop the chicken out of the crockpot and put in a bowl to cool. Put the broth from the chicken into our cooking pot, along with a 32 oz box of broth and 6 cups of water and 2 additional bouillon cubes. So now we have this big pot of broth over here. We added 3 carrots, washed up and sliced. 12 oz of sliced baby portabello mushrooms. 12 oz of baby spinach. 3 stalks of celery, chopped. And, a handful of fresh parsley straight out of the garden.

We let it come to a boil, then put it on simmer for about 30 minutes. Next, we added the de-boned chicken cut into chunks and 24 oz of cheese tortellini. Let it simmer for another 20 minutes, so the pasta can soak up some of the vegetable reduction and give us that thick stew consistency that we love so much. You can't overcook carrots. =) 

Tony's rating : 4.0

Sandy's rating: 4.5

Our commentary:

It's nice and colorful. It looks pretty.  And, it looks yummy. This is a big ass pot-o-soup and will make lots of leftovers. It hits the spot, there is something special about soup. Oh, its good. And, it goes well with a crunchy, toasty baguette.

We could have added more carrots and maybe one less bouillon cube. It's all about personal preference.  Salt can always be added afterwards. We washed this down with a glass on Sandy's home made sweet tea. Fantastic! Can't wait to have some leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

Cost to make:
2 leg quarters $1.49

32 oz box of chicken broth. $2.00

baby spinach $2.99 

carrots $.69 for a one pound bag

celery was $1.69 for a whole bag.

mushrooms were 2 for $5.00 

Tortellini was $5.00

Total cost : Less than 20 bucks. Note we did not have to buy parsley.

 Until next week my friends. All men must dine!

Shrimp and Grits

Last April, Tony and I went to New Orleans during the French Quarter Festival and had plenty of amazing food on top of a very good time.  This dish is our effort to recreate the shrimp and grits served at one of those restaurants.


To make this dish you will need:

1 pound medium shrimp, peeled & deveined
1 cup of sliced okra
1 roma tomato, chopped
2 green onions
4 slices thick bacon
1 cup pork/prosciutto cracklins
cayenne pepper to taste
1 packet original recipe Ranch dressing, prepared as instructed
1 chopped, seeded jalapeno pepper
1 cup of grits prepared as instructed on package, replace 1/2 water with chicken broth

Prepare packet of ranch dressing as instructed on package.  Chop and seed the jalapeno, then stir the chopped pepper into the ranch dressing.   Put in the refrigerator until needed.

Prepare grits as instructed on packaging, substituting half the amount of water with chicken broth.

Cook bacon until crisp.  Remove from pan and place on plate with doubled paper towels to absorb excess bacon grease.  Put your pork/prosciutto pieces in the hot bacon grease and allow to cook until quite crisp, turning frequently to prevent burning.

While your pork/prosciutto is cooking and keeping an eye on it, roll your okra slices in corn meal and fry in hot oil in a separate pan.  Place cooked okra in a colander lined with a paper towel to absorb excess grease.

Once the cracklins are ready and in the colander with the okra, place the shrimp in the bacon grease, season with cayenne pepper to taste, flipping frequently, allow to cook until shrimp turns a bright pink.  Just before you remove the shrimp, add the tomato and green onions and saute for 3 to 5 minutes.

To serve:  Place a serving of grits in a bowl (or on a large plate), sprinkle with a layer of fried okra, bacon and cracklins; add shrimp, tomato and green onion; and, drizzle with the jalapeno ranch dressing.

Notes:  The restaurant used prosciutto.  We had a strip of crispy fat from the back of a pork roast we seasoned  and slow cooked on the grill all day a few months before that we fried up for the cracklins.  Because the cracklins we made were so spicy, we did not have to add any heat to the shrimp when it cooked.

While we served this as two servings, it could easily be four.

The shrimp cost $7.99 on sale at Publix.  The tomato, jalapeno, and green onion may have cost $1.60 (and that was the entire bunch of green onions), thick-sliced bacon was on sale for 7.99 a pound (you wll have plenty left over), ranch dressing about $2.50 (that doesn't count the mayonnaise needed to make the ranch), chicken broth a little over a $1.00 a can, and I really don't know about the grits as they are staples in my house.

Tony's rating:  5 stars
Sandy's rating:  5 stars

It's hard not to like shrimp and grits.  This dish can be spiced up to suit your own individual taste buds, which in or house is quite spicy.  We determined we could not serve this dish to just anyone the way we made it.  It cooks up pretty quickly, but requires a lot of pots and pans.  It's a good dish to have when you need a little something to warm you up, both physically and emotionally.

We paired a rather potent Game of Thrones Belgian-style tripel ale with our meal, although a sweeter white wine would work, too.  Valar Dohaires.

Teriyaki Wings

Hey guys!

Happy New Year! 

Tony here. I just love Saturday night chilling with the wife, drinking a beer and watching some sports on TV.  And, nothing goes together like football and chicken wings. So, tonight's adventure is teriyaki wings. This is a great recipe because it's a healthier choice than your standard buffalo wing, and pretty darn tasty, too. Lets get started.

The first step is to prepare a marinade. Here is the list of ingredients:

3/4 cup of teriyaki

1/4 cup of honey
1/4 cup of brown sugar

1/4 cup of chopped green onion

1/4 cup of vinaigrette

1/8 cup or soy

1 tablespoon of sesame oil

1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper 

1 tablespoon of chopped fresh Thai basil

5 cloves of garlic

3 chili peppers

1 lime, juiced

1 egg

Sandy chopped up some fresh Thai basil from the herb garden. Using some of my home made vinaigrette, we mixed all of the ingredients in a glass bowl and put it in the fridge while we cut up the chicken wings. We placed about 1 pound of chicken wings in a 9 x 13 Pyrex glass pan, then poured the marinade over the wings and covered them with plastic wrap. Then, we put the wings back in the fridge for a few hours to soak up the marinade. 3 hours later, we flipped our wings so both sides would be good and ready for the grill. 

Preheat the grill to high. You want to get that thing as hot as possible to get that good grilled flavor. Once the grill is good and hot, put your wings on the grill and brush with the leftover marinade. The grill should make a sizzle sound. If not, the temperature of your grill is not hot enough. after 5 minutes, flip and brush with the marinade again. I do this for 20 minutes, because I like my meat done well. Super easy dish to make.

We paired it with some celery sticks and some blue cheese dressing just just like at a restaurant.

Tony's rating: 4.5

Sandy's rating: 5.0

Our commentary:

Dear god that stuff was good!

 A home run. Absolutely one of my favorite dishes. We totally annihilated them. Thank you, Mr. Chicken for giving up your life so we could have this fabulous meal. Wow is all I can say. Nice cooking outside. Low mess. Easy clean up. We served this with a dry riesling by Pacific Rim. 

Cost to make:
1 pound of chicken wings $7.00

green onions $0.89

Everything else we had in our kitchen. Really cost effective dinner to have on any budget. The most expensive item was the wine retailing for $7.99 a bottle. I will see you guys next week with a new Food Adventure until then remember..

                      All men must dine.

    

                                                                                     

                                                                                ~Tony

Chef Paul Prudhomme's Shrimp Diane

New Year's Eve, 2016.  

'Bama just whipped Washington for a spot in the National Championship Game and Clemson was putting the Oh in Ohio State.  Nothing goes better with football than Cajun food, and it was New Year's Eve, so we decided to bring in the New Year with a new dinner: Chef Paul Prudhomme's Shrimp Diane.  We dug out our trusty, well-worn copy of Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen (copyright 1984) and got to work.

Tony chopped green onions and mushrooms, while I measured butter, cut fresh herbs and mixed spices. Once everything was on the counter and ready to go, we got to cooking. 




Ingredients:

1 3/4 pounds medium shrimp with heads and shells, see note at end.
6 Tbsp., total, basic shrimp stock, recipe added below
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, total
1/4 c. very finely chopped green onions
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground red pepper (preferably cayenne)
1/4 tsp. white pepper
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. dried sweet basil leaves
1/4 tsp. dried thyme leaves
1/8 tsp. dried oregano leaves
1/2 pound mushrooms, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
3 Tbsp. very finely chopped fresh parsley
French bread, pasta or hot cooked white rice

Note:  If shrimp with heads are not available, buy 1 pounds of shrimp without heads but with shells for making the stock.

Rinse and peel the shrimp; refrigerate until needed.  Use shells and heads to make shrimp stock.

In a large skillet melt 1 stick of the butter over high heat.  When almost melted, add the green onions, salt, garlic, the ground peppers, basil, thyme and oregano; stir well.  Add the shrimp and saute just until they turn pink, about 1 minute, shaking the pan (instead of stirring) in a back-and-forth motion.  Add the mushrooms and 1/4 cup of the stock;then add the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter in chunks, continue cooking and shaking the pan. Before butter chunks are completely melted, add the parsley, then the remaining 2 tablespoons stock; continue cooking and shaking the pan until all ingredients are mixed thoroughly and butter sauce is the consistency of cream.

Serve immediately in a bowl with lots of French bread on the side, or serve over pasta or rice.

Shrimp stock recipe: 2 quarts cold water, vegetable trimmings from the dish you are serving (or 1 medium onion, unpeeled and quartered, 1 large clove garlic, unpeeled and quartered, 1 rib celery), and carcasses or shells from the seafood in your recipe.  Bring to a boil over high heat, then simmer at least four hours, adding water as needed to keep one quart in pan.

What we did different:

As I transcribed the recipe, I noticed that I only had to buy 1 pound of shrimp, so we used 1 3/4 pounds of medium shrimp without any heads or shells. 

We did not make or use any form of shrimp stock.  I made a chicken bouillon cube and substituted that.

I believe we may have had a few too many mushrooms, but since we had too much shrimp also, it didn't seem disproportionate.

We did not include the salt in the spice mix.  We generally do not use much salt and tend to leave it out of recipes to be added when eating if needed.

Tony's rating:  3.5 stars

Sandy's rating:  3.5 stars

Our commentary:

It was an interesting dish for us, as the peppery heat is substantially less than we typically prefer.  In fact, it was a little bland, at first, but the flavors seemed to come together a bit and we both commented that it became more enjoyable the longer we ate. However, we will be doubling the amount of ground peppers for the next attempt.

It was a little reminiscent of coq au vin; only, it had no wine in it.  We both agree that substituting wine for the shrimp stock/chicken bouillon would improve the flavor.

Our stove is a ceramic top stove, so we were not able to shake the pan vigorously enough to flip the shrimp.  Instead we used a spatula and flipped them.  I am not certain that a little stirring to blend the buttery, spicy sauce over the shrimp more thoroughly would be a bad thing.  If you have a gas stove, this will be your arm work-out for the day.

We had half of a loaf of French bread we'd toasted with this, and it was really good to dip in the buttery sauce.  Tony thought it tasted like a cajun shrimp scampi, but I thought it tasted like a shrimp stew.

Unlike many Paul Prudhomme recipes that serve twelve and require some simmering time, or making a roux, this one only makes servings for two and cooks up in a about 15 to 20 minutes once everything is prepped. Prep didn't take more than 15 minutes between the two of us.  

We decided this would make a nice meal on a night when you wanted to whip something up just for two without spending a lot of time in the kitchen.

We drank a Robert Mondavi chardonnay with the dinner that improved in flavor as it warmed. I'm not convinced this was the best wine for this dish, and might try a pinot grigio with it next time we make it.

Cost to make:

green onions - $0.89
mushrooms - $3.18
1 3/4 pounds peeled medium shrimp - $14.14 (see notes under what we did different section above)
French baguette - $2.29
estimated cost of butter - $1.00

Rough cost:  $21.50

It should be noted that my home is never in short supply of the variety of herbs listed in this recipe.  I am not certain what it would cost you to purchase them each individually, but my experience is that Badia's prices are a little cheaper than most and the herbs are good.

I don't have to buy fresh parsley either.  One of the benefits of living in Florida is that you can have an herb garden year round.  Parsley is particularly fond of the winter months here and so I have plenty on hand.  I do not know what that would cost.