Mexican Pasta

Mexican what? Pasta? No, pasta is Italian! Well, the truth is that every region has their "starch". Asians have rice, Mexicans have tortillas, Italians have pasta, and Americans use alot of potatoes. In many dishes other regions do cross into using different starches in their recipes. Americans use rice in dishes like cabbage rolls, italians use potatoes to make gnocchi and for this dinner, it is pasta with mexican food.

This is a simple, forgiving dish. I'm not providing a step by step recipe because it really is easy to put together and use what you have on hand.

Meat:
Chicken thighs. You could use breast, ground beef, pork roast leftovers, whatever. About 3/4 of a pound.

Veggies:
Onions, garlic, extra-virgin olive oil. I also added some frozen corn, black beans, leftover chipotle and a frozen jalapeno. Got a half bell pepper needed a use?

Pasta:
Elbows. I'm trying to switch to mostly whole wheat pasta but it seems as if my pantry has an abundance of elbow noodles. You can use penne or rotini. I supposed you could use fettuccine, but break it up into shorter noodles.

Sauce:
Use canned tomatoes. Puree, crushed, diced, or whole (crush with hands). Basically we're simmering a sauce as a binder for this dish. If you open the cupboard and you have tomato sauce and tomato paste, use that too and mix it up. Too thick? Add some chicken stock. Throw in some salsa. Leftover jar or new, but at least 1 cup.

Seasonings:
Ahh. My favorite part. I love opening the spice cupboard and debating about what looks good. I added garlic powder, onion powder (these are powders, not salts), lots of chili powder, ground cumin, pinch salt and black pepper.

Garnish:
Cheese, sour cream, green onions

Heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, soften a bit. I add a bit of stock to keep things moist. Add meat, jalapeno and bell pepper if using and stir. Drain off any fat if needed. Sprinkle your seasonings over the mixture. Add tomato/salsa. Simmer over medium low heat for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, cook the pasta. Sample the mexican sauce and see if you think it needs more. Add the chipotle if desired. Then add the beans and corn. Simmer until desired consistency. This will be thicker once you add your pasta. Toss in your pasta and mix.

Serve into bowls, top with cheese and other garnishes.

Craving Chocolately Cupcakes? These Are Hand-Mix!!!

Don't mind the Suzy's Zoo cupcake wrappers, sometimes you just have to use what you've got.

The Crave of Cupcakes is reaching all areas around here and even specialty bakeries are opening that just sell cupcakes. Big ones, small ones and ones of many, many flavors. I made these because it is easy to wrap and freeze and then I don't have an entire cake sitting there tempting me.

They are pretty chocolatey and I love the comments from Williams-Sonoma.

"There are two secrets to these cupcakes. They get their rich, extra-chocolaty flavor from a combination of unsweetened cocoa powder and bittersweet chocolate, and their soft, moist texture from a simple hand-mixing method."

Hand-mixing? Even better for me!

2/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 Tbs. unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
3 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
11 Tbs. unsalted butter, cut into pieces
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Chocolate or vanilla buttercream for frosting cupcakes

Grated chocolate for garnish (optional)

Preheat an oven to 350°F. Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper or foil liners.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Place the chocolate and butter in a large heatproof bowl and set over but not touching simmering water in a saucepan; stir frequently until melted and smooth, about 5 minutes. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and let the chocolate mixture cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.

Using a wooden spoon, stir the sugar into the chocolate mixture until combined. Stir in the eggs one at a time, beating until combined after each addition, then beat in the vanilla. Gently fold in the flour mixture just until no traces of flour remain; do not overmix.

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, filling each about three-fourths full. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached, 22 to 24 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Then transfer the cupcakes to the rack and let cool completely, about 1 hour.

Frost the cupcakes with the buttercream, garnish with grated chocolate and serve. (The frosted cupcakes can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days; bring to room temperature before serving.) Makes 12 cupcakes.

Adapted from Cupcakes, by Shelly Kaldunski (Weldon Owen, 2008).

I cooled, frosted, then let the frosting set up a bit. Froze individually in the freezer (about 20 minutes), THEN wrapped in plastic wrap.

Mexican Pulled Chicken Burritos

Yikes, is that my tiny toaster oven? It sure could stand some cleaning. I have to admit it gets a serious workout. At first when I said I wanted one, I think I was saying, how cool to have one. I never thought I'd use it anywhere near the amount that I do. Look, it's even my plate warmer. How cool is that? And that dinner melting, oozing, and calling me to sample it is my Mexican Pulled Chicken Burritos.


Mexican Pulled Chicken Burritos. They probably aren't authentic since I made up the recipe and I'm not Mexican, Spanish or have any in my heritage, but I'd like to *think* I am. !Hola! !Bienvenido a mi blog!


I roast a whole chicken that I rub with olive oil then several spices such as:

Chili Powder
Cayenne
Cumin
Garlic Powder
Salt
Black Pepper


I stuff the inside of the chicken with cubes of onion, garlic cloves and sometimes a hot pepper.


Bake 375 in a roasting pan with a rack for about 1 1/2 hours or until the thermometer reads 180. I bring it out, let cool and then shred the meat. Use your leftover chicken carcass for stock! I wrap, bag and freeze the chicken for meals another day.

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Then whenever I'm in the mood for the chicken burritos I pull out the meat, defrost and in a short time, have lucious burritos on the table. Lucious? Did I just say lucious? They are good, cheesy, spicy, with that baked goodness. Okay, maybe they are lucious.


Oh sorry, I guess you want the recipe huh. This is it:

Saute chopped onion and garlic. Add remaining ingredients and simmer.

Cooked chicken, mix of white and dark meat
Canned Chipotle peppers, about 1-2, with some of the adobe sauce
Canned tomatoes - sometimes I use salsa if that's what is taking up room in the fridge :)
Cumin
Chili Powder
Chicken Stock

Toss in black beans, corn, cilantro if desired.

Add this filling to a tortilla shell and wrap closed. Lay in a greased baking dish. Pour one of these three topping on the burritos:

1) Enchilada Sauce
2) Chipotle w/ Adobo mixed with tomato sauce
3) Roasted hot peppers, blended with chicken stock

Then top with cheese and green onions. Bake at 350 in the toaster oven for about 20 minutes. Until cheese is melted and hot through the dish. If you use a regular oven, aim for about 375.

The Great Freezer Obstacle

OY! This freezer is getting out of hand. I can hardly find anything in there. It's a chest-style freezer so that means all the stuff on the bottom is hard to get too and you end up never really eating the stuff on the bottom.

I also think it creeps me out to have a chest-style freezer. Maybe it's the name. Maybe it's the way it reminds me of a coffin. Maybe, it was the tragic story of the Michigan daughter whose mother came up missing and then when the daugher finally broke the lock off the family chest freezer she found...dddaaaa dummm....her MOTHER. EEEk. *Shiver*

Okay, back to things that are edible:

The challenge:
Eat everything possible from the freezer.

The prize:
A new stand up freezer.

This sounds easy doesn't it. Huh, you don't know what's in my freezer yet. This is not just a regular household task, this is a mega-moose-sized challenge, an almost impossible summit to reach.

A SHORT list of contents: Salmon, Halibut, italian sausages by the zillions (fav store sale), ground turkey, ground beef, ribeyes, lamb chops, baby back ribs, peas, butter, jalapenos, green beans, bread, tortillas, pitas, chicken breasts, thighs, flank steak, puff pastry, pepperoni and who knows what else! I know that even the freezer basket no longer fits.

Can I do it? Think I will EVER see the floor of the freezer? Hmmm...the outside is white, the inside walls are white. Wonder if the bottom is white?

Nicoise Salad!

Nicoise Salad! What a burst of flavor! There are many different flavors and textures and they really come together as a great dish.

This is a fun one to prep in the kitchen, there's several things to do but in the end it's all worth it. Besides, we're all here because we love that very thing! Cooking!

I actually made this salad to serve two for dinner.

Nicoise Salad

6 small red-skinned potatoes, leave whole
Kosher salt
Haricots verts or skinny green beans
2 tablespoons Mayonnaise
Honey
1/2 pound tuna steaks, about 1 inch thick
Freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
Red leaf lettuce, washed, dried and torn into salad pieces
Basil leaves
Small tomatoes, I used 2 Romas, quartered
Nicoise olives or other black olives
2 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and quartered


Boil the potatoes in salted water until pierced easily with a skewer, about 20 minutes.

Boil the haricots verts in salted water for about 4-5 minutes, just till firm.

Make the dressing.
These 3 items can rest aside until you are ready to finish the salad. You hard-boiled your eggs right?

Season the tuna steaks with salt and pepper. Grill the tuna over medium heat, about 2 minutes per side for 1" thick tuna. This is medium to medium rare. Let rest on a cutting board for at least 5 minutes. Then cut into 1/4" strips.


Cut the potatoes in half and toss them with 2T of mayonnaise and 2t of dijon mustard. Give them a sprinkling of kosher salt. Grill the potatoes until grill marks form on them, over medium heat, about 2 minutes per side.


Toss your lettuce and julienned basil. Lay onto your platter and arrange the other ingredients around. If you prefer you may prep your salads with all ingredients at this point and serve, but I liked giving us the opportunity to select our items and add as needed. I have to say, this dinner had only a couple of potato halves as leftovers which were yummy nice and cold with a lunch the next day.


Vinaigrette Dressing:

3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup red-wine vinegar
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 tablespoon of dijon mustard
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon honey
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons basil, finely chopped


Whisk all ingredients together and add basil just before serving.