The Lessons of Cheryl's Kitchen - Don't Be a Chicken

To say that my brother Kurt and I were picky eaters is probably the best example I know of an understatement. I'm sure, then, that it came as quite the shock when my mother discovered just how much I loved her chicken cacciatore.

To the mother of 2 sons who's idea of exotic food was to order black olives on their tacos, it would seem rather odd that one of them had a terrible habit of stealing bites of such a complex, vegetable laden dish from the slow-cooker. But from the moment I first tasted my mom's chicken cacciatore, I knew that I had at least 2 true loves: butter and wine.

Now, it may have been unbeknownst to me that these were the subtle flavors underpinning this rare dish which were drawing me back to the crock with a big spoon over and over again, but that's precisely what they were. I knew there was tomato sauce, chicken some vegetables, olives and that you ate it over rice. Little did I know that that "different taste" that I was getting was the savory taste of the butter and the headiness of the wine.

Over the years I've come to know quite a few savory dishes prepared with wine and brandy. The subtle yet profound taste that these ingredients offer to a recipe never ceases to amaze me. I can even recall on one occasion eating my own body weight of a particularly good Boeuf Bourguignon that my friend and self-proclaimed sous chef Rina, (even though she is FAR more advanced than I in the kitchen) had made.

What I've come to love the most about this recipe though (other than it's downright irresistible taste) is the story of how my mom developed the recipe. It is a prime example of the truly inquisitive, experimental and headstrong nature I get from my mother. Although I'm not certain of the specific details, I do know that the recipe is the result of her resolve to recreate a dish she had while out to dinner with friends. Although I don't know how accurate the recipe is in taste to the one she had that night, I do know that because of it, the smell of this wonderful Italian stew still has me headed for the crock pot with a big spoon over and over again.

I'm fairly certain this is a recipe my mother made from memory, and so the details on this one are a bit fuzzy. Nonetheless, if you were within a few hundred yards of my house growing up and could smell this stew in the crockpot, chances are I wasn't too far behind with a spoon.

Mom's Chicken Cacciatore

3 Large chicken breasts Cut into medium chunks and dredged in flour
2T Butter.
a Large container of Mushrooms (halved or sliced)
Olive Oil (for sauteeing)
2 Green peppers, seeded and sliced
1 medium yellow onion chopped
3-4 large cloves of garlic, chopped
2 large tomatoes, diced
1 small can black olives
1/3c Tomato sauce
1/2c Dry White wine.
1 1/2t oregano
1/2t basil
1/4t kosher salt
(Although it's not a part of the original, I add 2T capers)

Melt the butter in a pan over med-high heat and sautee the dredged chicken until brown, set aside in a waiting slow cooker. Into the pan add the olive oil garlic and mushrooms and sautee until the mushrooms are cooked but firm and brown (and "Don't crowd the pan!"). Add these to the slow cooker. Next add the onions to the Pan and sautee in more olive oil until lightly brown. Next, add the wine and salt to deglaze the pan and remove from the heat.
Add the onion mix to the chicken in the slow cooker and add the remaining ingredients and stir. Allow to cook on medium heat for at least an hour. Serve this over steamed rice and as you can see I love it with a bit of thymed broccoli.

Viola! there you have it, a delicious stew that you can make ahead that everyone will love. Trust me, if a kid as picky as I was would eat it... so will yours.

A tale of a late dinner.

Sometimes, your best ideas are borne out of necessity and scarcity. Thus was the case for Horacio and my dinner the other night. As it often does, it seems like it took almost no time for us to end up at the crossroads of dwindling daylight, closed grocery stores, not enough ingredients, and (most importantly) two very empty stomachs. A truly critical situation indeed.

So what was the solution to making a satisfying meal that was quick, simple, and tasty? Horacio's answer was Flautas, and I jumped at the opportunity to learn how to make one of my favorite dishes (and add a little of my own invention to boot.

Now, I'm almost embarrassed to say that my experience with Mexican food preparation consists of emptying the contents of a box, stirring everything together, and eating the whole thing on some variation of fried cornmeal. I've been slowly introducing myself to Latin cooking over the course of the last few months, but I've failed to focus on one regional style. Perhaps this was my time to change that... perhaps.

We quickly ran to the closest open store to pick up just a few remaining ingredients, but for the most part we had everything we needed. It never ceases to amaze me that most people need look no further than their own cabinets for the ingredients to make a great meal, and this was no exception. Too often I find myself heading to the store to buy groceries I just don't need, when I have the ingredients I need to make a fantastic meal on hand. I am usually just too lazy to think creatively about it.

The flautas were simple: take chicken breast, boiled in water, salt, and just a bit of olive oil (Horacio's task). wrap them in corn tortillas, and fry in a pan. Now, trust me when I say that you could stop right here. These were so simple yet so delicious that I could have just ate them as they came out of the pan. (I believe I may have even done this with once or twice without Horacio noticing.) Fear not though, this writer hasn't lost his mind. I was ABSOLUTELY NOT content with just the flautas and proceeded, while Horacio was preparing the chicken, to make a smoky, tangy, and most importantly hot-spicy sauce to compliment the delicious little flutes. I adapted my recipe for a chipotle-lime marinade to make a thick mole perfectly adapted to top or dip these finger foods in.

I am a huge proponent in the addition of heat to my cooking, but ONLY if it has flavor. I have little respect for sauces that are hot for the sole purpose of being hot, as they usually numb your tongue and have as much flavor as my gel insoles (when new, of course). But this sauce manages to be fresh and smokey, hot and bold, flavorful and full of a heat that conjures images of the coals of a campfire where the flames have just gone and all that's left are the red hot coals; a slow burn that simply builds and builds without getting in the way of all of the flavors that are present.

The best part is, the whole meal came together in less than an hour because there were two hands on the work, and the result was every bit as good as the meals I've spent days planning. Just remember, if you can't take the heat, stay out of our kitchen.

Chipotle Lime Mole:

1 can of Chipotle Peppers packed in Adobo.

The juice of 2 limes

3T of tequila

1T Water

1/4c Cilantro (optional)

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend to desired smoothness.

Flautas:

4 medium chicken breasts

Kosher Salt

Olive oil.

Queso Fresco

Chipotle Lime Mole

Vegetable oil for Frying

In a medium stock pot bring 6-8 cups of water and a healthy amount of salt to a boil (enough to cover the chicken breasts completely.) reduce to a lightly rolling simmer and add the olive oil and chicken to the water. Allow to boil for at least 40 mins until the chicken breast is tender and can easily be shredded with a fork. Remove breasts and shred on a plate. Then, in a deep skillet, add enough canola oil to fill about a 1/4" deep portion of the pan and bring to medium-high heat. Take a small amount of the shredded chicken and spread a thin line of the chicken onto a heated corn tortilla. (horacio proved me wrong that these should be heated in a microwave for about a full minute or so prior to adding the chicken in order for them to be pliable enough. Do so while they are wrapped in a wet paper towel.) Wrap the tortilla tightly around the chicken to create the "flute" and place, flap side down into the oil for about 90 seconds. Flip and continue cooking on the other side for another 60-90 seconds. Remove from oil, tilt to drain excess oil, and place on a paper-towel lined plate.

Plate the flautas on a plate, and top with the queso and the mole. Be sure to enjoy with your fingers, or you'll be missing out on all the fun. Last, be sure to keep a big glass of milk nearby for when the chipotles max out your tolerance.

Dressing for Success

So, I've spent all weekend trying to decide if I should write on a certain topic for this blog entry. I waned over the prospect of preaching about what I thought was one of the easiest aspects of a meal to prepare. Then, I had a sort of epiphany; with endless combinations and many faux pas to be made, there was actually quite a bit that needed to be said about one of the most overlooked parts of a meal, the salad. More specifically the garden salad, as opposed to a dessert, pasta, or other non-greens forms of this dish.

Generally, each time I prepare a full meal I include a basic salad in the menu, but I especially love to get creative for the times when the salad actually is the meal. This was the case this past evening when I had some friends from work over for a late dinner. I was told that my cooking had been touted as wonderful(a fact that I cannot refute in good conscience) and that I was not to disappoint. With that in mind, I raided my refrigerator and got to work.

When engineering a salad, getting creative does not mean getting overly complex with your ingredients. The best thing to do is to focus on one aspect of the salad, and pair everything to work with that particular element. I tend to start with the dressing and work out from there. In this case, we're discussing my favorite: Honey Ginger Vinaigrette. It's tart, a little sweet, bold without being overpowering, and it's the perfect match to a well built summer salad.

Now, I don't like to preach (heh heh), but if there is one thing I can impress upon you it is that you should ALWAYS make your own salad dressing. Nothing is going to give you exactly the result that you are looking for unless you make it yourself. Perhaps this makes me a control freak. Perhaps I am okay with this fact. Regardless, it is such a shame to pair together prime ingredients only to serve them with some prefabricated dressing that has been sitting for days on a store shelf. If you'd like to make the dressing that I used in this case, the recipe will follow my rant. Just so everyone knows, I'm not above using bottled dressings, I just don't normally serve them to my guests.

The salad in this case was based on mild field greens (spicy greens like arugula would fight with the dressing.) and baby spinach. To complement the nice bite of the dressing, I picked some nicely ripe strawberries and quartered them. Then I added halved sugar snap peas and candied pecans to top the dish and give a little bit of a crunch. To complete a nice flavor trifecta, I add some (and by some, I never mean a small amount) crumbled Amish blue cheese for a rich finish. When building a salad, keep in mind that the components of the salad should each bring something unique in the taste department to the table, so to speak. If you pair things that each bring the same flavor genre to the salad, it will only confuse your guests palate and leave them unsatisfied. Last, I added some diced grilled chicken breast because this was, after all, the entire meal. Make sure if you're grilling this chicken to either let it cool completely, or wait till the very last minute to add it to the salad, hot meat and cool greens tend to not get along after a short period of time.

This Paired with the Dressing, which is a simple vinaigrette of (about) 1/4c balsamic vinegar (the good stuff), 1/4c of Extra Virgin, a healthy dash of white pepper and kosher salt, about 1/4t of ground horseradish, 2t of Dijon Mustard, 2-3T of Clover Honey, 1T fresh chopped ginger, and 2 cloves of fresh chopped garlic. Now I usually recommend that you mix all ingredients EXCEPT the olive oil about an hour in advance to allow the flavors of the garlic, ginger, and pepper to infuse, then whisk in the olive oil before serving the salad. In keeping with what Shane pointed out in his post, PLAY WITH THE PROPORTIONS! If you like a more tart dressing, use less honey and oil, and add more ginger. Something smoother? Up the garlic and honey. I'm going so far as to say that it is your job as the chef to not just follow a recipe as is if you know that your guests tastes differ from the composition.

Now, I'm not guaranteeing that your guests will not feel gypped when they hear that all you are preparing is a salad. Most people think of salads as boring entities, meant to tide you over and give a cook more time to prepare the main courses. They might ask if they should "bring something" or even say they can't come. Just remember that if there is one thing I can guarantee, it's that with the proper thoughtful attention to detail, they will never doubt your culinary decision again.