Using Christmas loot!

So, my mother-in-law gave us a Ninja Master Prep for Christmas this year - BEST. GIFT. EVER.

I have used it soooo many times since Christmas - milkshakes, smoothies, guacamole, refried beans and marinades galore! It's an amazing appliance, and we plan to upgrade to the full-on professional grade Ninja.

Anyway, enough with the shameless plug. On to the cooking!

Tonight, I decided to make chicken fajita bowls. Started out by making a marinade of about 3/4 of a cup of lime juice, 1/4 of a cup of tequila, a splash of mesquite liquid smoke, a smidgen of vegetable oil, a handful of cilantro, a quarter of an onion, a quarter of a jalapeno, and spices (garlic powder, green chile pepper flakes, fresh ground black pepper, Hungarian paprika, chili powder, ground cumin, oregano leaf, onion powder and Kosher salt). All of that went into the Ninja, and after a few pulses, into a bowl with the chicken breast strips.

While the chicken was marinating, we got a pot of salted water with a sprinkling of the green chile flakes on to boil for brown rice. Once the rice was cooking, I turned my attention to the beans. I picked up a can of no-salt-added black beans at the store today, a blank slate to work my magic on. I sauteed some minced jalapeno, onion, garlic and cilantro in a small sauce pan, then added the beans, which I seasoned with ground cumin, garlic powder, fresh ground black pepper and Kosher salt. Turned the heat way down low and let everything simmer together and get yummy.

Finally time to cook the chicken! I dumped the bowl of chicken into a colander to drain off the excess marinade, then turned on the electric griddle. I sprayed it with a light coating of Pam Grilling Spray (awesome invention, that), then added the chicken pieces. I let them get nice and browned on one side, then flipped them and moved them to one end of the griddle so I could cook the veggies. I had sliced some bell pepper, jalapeno pepper and onion. That mixture was added to the open end of the griddle, spritzed with the Grilling Spray, then seasoned with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, the rice was done, so my wife mixed in some lime juice and chopped cilantro and fluffed it with a fork, then popped a bag of steamable sweet corn in the microwave. After the corn was done, I dusted it with a little chili powder and sea salt, and set to assembling the bowls. Rice on the bottom, then some beans, the grilled veggies, a few pieces of chicken, a couple of spoonfuls of corn, a sprinkling of cheese, a few dollops of guacamole (also made in the Ninja) and a generous helping of  Herdez tomatillo salsa. After I took this picture, I added a little bit of hot sauce to mine.

Yes, that's a marble rolling pin in the background. My wife, the designated pastry chef, swears by them. She does make some damn fine biscuits and cinnamon rolls with it.

Sweet & Savory Chicken Fingers

Well, it's been a while, but I'm back! My work schedule has been hectic for a while now, and I'm finally starting to get a handle on my schedule again. So, I thought I'd share this recipe for the super-delicious chicken fingers I made for dinner tonight. (Sorry, no pictures. The food didn't last long enough to get any.)

So, I wanted to use buttermilk, but I didn't have any. No worries. I just put three tablespoons of white vinegar into the 4-cup measuring cup, then added milk (1%) up to the 3-cup line. By the time the chicken is cut, presto-chango! Pseudo-buttermilk!

Anyway, I started with four pieces of boneless skinless chicken breast. I trimmed the fat and tendons, then cut it into strips. Threw it all into a bowl, then seasoned liberally with chicken bouillon powder, granulated garlic, Hungarian paprika, celery salt, freshly ground black pepper, onion powder, hot sauce, and about a tablespoon of honey. I tossed the chicken around to coat it with the seasonings and honey, then poured in the pseudo-buttermilk.

I let that sit while I heated up the deep fryer (with peanut oil) and got my flour ready. I used just regular old all-purpose flour, which I seasoned with granulated garlic, onion powder, black pepper, white pepper, cayenne pepper, ground marjoram, ground thyme, chicken bouillon powder, and Jane's Krazy Mixed-Up Salt.

Once I had the flour sufficiently seasoned, I started the breading process. I fished pieces of chicken out of the bowl with a fork, and added them to the flour, which was in a large plastic storage bowl with a lid. After I'd added five or six pieces, I put the lid on, then shook the whole thing like mad. Repeated the process until all the chicken was in the bowl and well coated, then let it sit while the fryer finished heating up.

I dropped the pieces into the 350 degree peanut oil in batches of about six pieces, cooked them for three minutes (or until GBD - golden brown and delicious), let them drain for a few seconds in the fry basket, then transferred them to a cookie sheet with a cooling rack and some paper towels. Once they were all cooked, the whole lot went into the warm oven while everything else was finishing up. My wife made microwave potatoes (thin sliced potatoes, cooked in the microwave then topped with melted butter, salt, pepper, and chives from the garden) and we cooked some frozen corn.

Good Lord, were those chicken fingers delicious! Savory, rich chicken flavor, with a slight pepper bite and just a hint of sweetness from the honey. No dip needed. YUM!

Allez cuisine!

So, tonight I decided to do a little impromptu amateur Iron Chef. Secret ingredient: boneless skinless chicken breast.

I only did three dishes - appetizer, salad, and entree. The pictures aren't the greatest, because I was taking them on the fly before the food got cold. Also, no photos of the work (mess) in progress. I don't know exactly how safe my camera would be in the kitchen while I'm cooking frantically.

Anyway, on to the first dish: honey roasted peanut crusted chicken fingers with a potato pancake and honey peanut sauce.

(I know it's a little one-note color wise, but I'll make up for that in the next dish.) I cut up the chicken, seasoned it with granulated garlic, white pepper, and kosher salt, then covered it with milk and a little hot sauce and let it sit while I heated the skillet with about half a stick of butter and some vegetable oil. I rolled the chicken pieces in finely chopped honey roasted peanuts, then fried them in the oil/butter mixture, and set them on a rack over a baking sheet in the warm oven to drain. I then made a roux with the leftover fat and some flower, added in a couple of tablespoons of natural peanut butter, then deglazed the pan with chicken broth. I added a little milk to thin it out some more, and a good deal of honey to get it to the right sweetness level. The potato pancakes were just a shredded russet, with most of the moisture squeezed out, fried in some butter.

Dish 2: Julienne fresh vegetable slaw with milk poached chicken, dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

(Balsamic poured a little quicker than I wanted on that one piece of chicken.)

For this one, I poured off the seasoned milk from the chicken into a sauce pan, added some more milk, parsley and tarragon, then brought it almost to a boil and added several pieces of the chicken and turned the heat to low and let it simmer while I cut up the veggies: celery, carrot, and a fresh green bell pepper from the garden. In the middle of the cutting, I took out the chicken and let it cool to room temperature. Mixed the veggies in the bowls, sliced the chicken, poured a little balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil over the top, and sprinkled a little more tarragon over it.

Final dish: Sauted chicken, Brussels sprouts and sweet corn

This one was fairly simple. I melted a couple of tablespoons of butter in a pan, added the last few pieces of chicken, and partially cooked some single serving steamer packs of baby Brussels sprouts and sweet corn. They went into seperate bowls, I seasoned the corn with garlic, the sprouts with white pepper, and both with paprika and kosher salt. I added the sprouts after the chicken was no longer pink on the outside, then the corn after a few stirs. I covered the pan for a couple of minutes, stirred it all together, then deglazed the pan with a little zinfandel. Let that reduce, portioned out into bowls, then topped with some grated parmesan.