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Tag: FOOD

Chicken Breasts With Goat Cheese

 

For medical reasons, I am on a low-carbohydrate diet again. I don’t mind it at all, although I do miss certain things. Eventually, I’ll be able to indulge (occasionally) in some of the more decadent foods I love. If anyone has good low-carb recipes you are willing to share with me, please send them!

One of my students brought me a little container of fresh goat cheese seasoned with basil pesto, garlic and chile. Because it has only 0.3 gm of carb per 1 ounce, I could hardly wait to try it on something.

What I came up with is simple enough. I sautéed two large chicken tenders in olive oil. Just before serving, I topped them with the seasoned goat cheese and a line of pesto for color contrast. Along with a salad, this was a perfect and delicious low-carb dinner for one.

A hui hou!

Slow Cooker Chicken Mole

 

Chicken Mole (moh-lay) may be an acquired taste for some, but I have loved it from the moment I first tasted it eons ago. Making the sauce from scratch can be quite a process, starting off by boiling a chicken (preserving the broth), then getting the meat off the bones.

After that, you mix the broth with a combination of peanut butter, chili powder, cumin, garlic, and other ingredients, depending on the recipe you find.

My friend Evie who runs El Pachuco gave me a faster recipe that uses a jar of Mole base (like Doña Maria). She boils her chicken and strains the broth. According to her recipe, she slowly adds the broth to the Mole base in a pan, creating a smooth sauce.

She says that at this point, you can add chocolate, chilis, peanut butter, almond paste, wherever your taste takes you. Let this simmer until a thicker gravy develops. Add the chicken and serve with Spanish rice, and tortillas (either corn or flour).

This still seemed like too much trouble for me. I wanted something I could allow to cook while I went off to teach for the day.

In a blender, I combined 2 cans fat-free chicken broth with a jar of Mole base. I poured the whole lot over about six large chicken tenders in a slow cooker, added 2 cloves of slivered garlic, about 2 tablespoons of wild rice, a heaping tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder, and some crunchy peanut butter. I let this combination cook on slow all day.

When I got home, the Mole was ready and the consistency was just right. I served it with corn tortillas and black beans. A dollop of sour cream goes well with this. Add a few sprinkles of fresh cilantro out of your garden.

 

These shots of Chicken Mole were made a couple days after the original batch was made. I added the leftover black beans to the sauce, cooked up two more chicken tenders in a pan and added the sauce to it. I froze the rest of the sauce for another time. Easy!

Hasta luego!

Pork Tenderloin

 

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Slow roasting is the way to go.

To help with clean-up, line a roasting pan with aluminum foil and lightly coast with pan spray. Using whatever fresh veggies you have available, prepare a bed for your tenderloin. Here, I used bell peppers, celery, fingerling potatoes, and carrots.

Place the tenderloin on this comfy bed, surround it with large onion slices or halves. Sprinkle the top with rosemary sprigs, chopped basil, and whatever other herbs you have. Salt and pepper to taste. I like to tuck in a few slices of garlic clove.

Roast until internal temperature is 150-155 F. If you can, let it rest about 5-10 minutes before slicing.

It’s simple! It’s delicious! It’s elegant!

A hui hou!

Fresh Pork Belly

 

Friends in a nearby community own a piggery. Check out my post on that before you continue reading this recipe.

During this past year, I had one of their pigs butchered and placed in my freezer. There is not much that compares with home-grown local pork. The meat cutter included quite a few packages of pork belly. In the South, it was called “sow belly.” Another term is “green bacon,” because it’s really bacon that hasn’t been cured yet.

Whatever you want to call it, I’ve used pieces of it in greens or dried beans, but when I happened to read of another way to cook pork belly, I knew I had to try it.

The picture above is not very clear because I find it difficult to get a picture of a hot dish without the steam clouding over my camera. But I think you can still see (and maybe even smell) how wonderful it turned out.

The recipe I found called for rubbing down the pork belly with ¼ cup kosher salt and ¼ cup sugar. I used half that amount of salt (sea salt), but when we ate it, it was still too salty for our tastes. Next time I want to try even less salt (it does need a little), and use brown sugar instead of white.

After rubbing the sugar-salt mixture all over the pork belly, put it in a big bowl, cover it tightly, and place in the refrigerator overnight – at least 6 hours but no more than 24.

When ready to bake, discard the liquid that has accumulated in the bowl. Heat the oven to 450 degrees F.

My suggestion is to line your pan with foil and coat it with a canola spray. I forgot to do that, but I won’t forget again!

Bake with fat side up for an hour, basting it periodically during the cooking time.

Turn the oven down to 250 degrees F. and cook for another hour or a little more. Lift the belly onto a platter and let it cool.

The recipe I read said to wrap it in foil and put it in the refrigerator until it was chilled and firm, but I didn’t do that. I cut it in half and dished it directly onto two plates with steamed fingerling potatoes and Brussels sprouts.

I discarded the juice, but people who aren’t watching their fat intake could make a gravy out of it. This is a meat dish I plan on making over and over, as long as my packages of pork belly last.

Now if I can just find a recipe for a pig’s head….!

A hui hou!

Chipotle Shrimp Chowder

 

I suspect I’m like most cooks. When I see a recipe that looks good, I copy it to try later with my own substitutions or additions. I subscribe to many (too many) cooking blogs where I drool and gather ideas.

One blog that I particularly enjoy includes recipes from everyone in the family. When I saw this on their blog recently, I knew I had to make it. Here is my rendition of their recipe.

Chipotle Shrimp Chowder

 

In a large heavy pan, I sautéed ½ rasher of thick-sliced bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces.

Once lightly browned, I added 1 cup of diced onion and 3 diced cloves of garlic.

After this had browned 1-2 minutes, I added 2 tablespoons flour.

Their recipe called for ¼ cup sherry to deglaze the pan, but I rarely cook with any kind of alcohol and don’t keep any on hand. I used ½ cup cranberry juice, which I always do have handy.

I added:
2 cans fat free chicken broth
2 cans of whole kernel corn, drained
2 cups diced potatoes – I used a mix of fingerlings and reds
2 cups milk – I used nonfat that I always have on hand
2 canned chipotle peppers, diced, plus a bit of the adobo sauce to taste

I let this simmer on low for about 20-30 minutes, then added 1 pound of shrimp and ½ cup half & half cream.

Note: The shrimp I used were Kirkland brand (Costco), 31-40 per pound, peeled and deveined. The tails were still on, so I thawed the shrimp just enough to slip off the tails before adding to the chowder. Also, be sure to chop the chipotle peppers into very small pieces, unless you don’t mind getting a big chunk of hot pepper in your mouth. I imagine this would be delicious using a variety of fish, clams, shrimp, and other seafoods.

Thanks to the folks at Food o’ del Mundo for this recipe. It’s one I’ll make often!

A hui hou!