If you like chicken tacos even just a little bit, we’re going to have to insist that you make these tacos, adapted from this recipe. While we always respect people’s varying palates and food preferences, we can’t say enough good things about these tacos and really want everyone to try them. If we could invite you all over for dinner and make them for you, we would. They’re that good. They’re also pretty easy to make — just simmer a couple of chicken breasts in a sauce made with tomato sauce, white vinegar, garlic, a chipotle pepper, ancho chile powder, ground cumin, oregano and sugar. Then shred the chicken, add it back to the sauce, and fill a couple of tortillas with the tender, spicy and tangy chicken mixture. Garnish with chopped white onion, cilantro, and a squeeze of lime, and enjoy your new favorite tacos!
Category: Main Courses
Pork Chops with Italian Relish
With its warm and rich flavors of tomato, basil, oregano and garlic, Italian “relish” has a way of transforming a protein into comfort food — sort of like Sunday Sauce without the pasta (and carbs.) We’ve had Italian relish on fish and steak, but never really thought about putting it on pork, until we found this recipe on the Epicurious website. Adding the relish is an easy way to liven up weeknight pork chops with just a few simple ingredients: tomatoes, onion, red wine vinegar, olive oil, garlic, basil and oregano. We also added olives to ours, since we’ve never met an olive we didn’t like. Buon Appetito!
Butternut Squash Chowder
In our attempt to cook with seasonal foods more often, we recently made a hearty winter salad featuring butternut squash and apples. As a side dish for just the two of us, the recipe didn’t require much squash, so we had quite a bit left over — more than enough for a soup or stew. Since our prior experience cooking with butternut squash is primarily limited to roasting it as a decadent side dish for Thanksgiving dinner, we wanted a relatively easy and fool-proof new recipe for cooking it in soup. For me, cooking doesn’t get much easier than throwing a bunch of ingredients in a pot that you plug into an electrical outlet, then setting a timer and forgetting about it until the satisfying aromas wafting from the pot alert you that dinner is almost ready. (Sort of like when Bill Murray’s character in the movie “What About Bob” learns how to “sail” while strapped to the sailboat’s mast — this method of food preparation allows me to say: “I’m cooking! I cook! Well, actually, the slow-cooker does all the work.”) We have had success with recipes from what has become our slow-cooker bible of sorts, America’s Test Kitchen’s “Slow Cooker Revolution” (most noteworthy so far, Chicken & Dirty Rice), and we found their chowder recipe to be deliciously successful as well. Although it requires a bit of prep work on the front end and some assembly work at the finish, the recipe is easy and incorporates relatively healthy ingredients: 2 slices of bacon, 1/2 an onion, 2 garlic cloves, 3/4 teaspoon fresh thyme, a dash of nutmeg, 2.5 tablespoons all-purpose flour, 2 cups chicken broth, 1.5 cups vegetable broth, 1.5 pounds butternut squash, 1 bay leaf, 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil, 4 ounces kale, 1/4 cup heavy cream, 1/2 tablespoon fresh sage, 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar, salt & pepper and Parmesan cheese and roasted pumpkin or sunflower seeds for garnish. The resulting chowder was creamy, but not too rich, with sweet roasted squash flavor complemented by a hint of bitterness from the kale.
Shrimp Salad Rolls (w/ leftover shrimp)
We cook with shrimp a lot, in many different ways — from pasta dishes to salads to gumbo. We also like to take leftover cooked shrimp (or store-bought cooked shrimp) and transform it into a new dish, like we did with these quesadillas. As often as we cook with shrimp, it can sometimes be a struggle to come up with new and different shrimp recipes. Recently when I was planning our weekly menu and trying to come up with a meal using leftover shrimp, something made me think of a wonderful week we spent on Cape Cod with Dan’s side of the family several summers ago. I remembered how Dan made it his mission that week to eat lobster every single day (he more than accomplished that goal, occasionally even eating lobster twice per day), and how much he loves lobster rolls. That’s when I had a light bulb moment — how about a roll/sandwich filled with shrimp salad instead of lobster? I researched several lobster roll recipes online and adapted this recipe to make it more compatible with the shrimp flavor. The result was a light and creamy shrimp salad in a buttery sandwich that evoked fond memories of sunny, salty, fun times at the beach with family. It’s a special thing when simple ingredients (shrimp, cucumber, celery, shallots, tarragon, lemon juice, mayo, cayenne pepper and Old Bay seasoning) combine to form a good meal that is also a reminder of good times.
Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe
Surprisingly, broccoli rabe is not actually broccoli, nor is it related to broccoli. This leafy vegetable, also known as “rapini,” is classified in the same subspecies as the turnip. Rapini stalks have large leaves that surround clusters of green buds that look like small heads of broccoli — hence the name. Prior to this dish, we had never cooked or eaten broccoli rabe and weren’t quite sure we would like it. But we knew rapini is common in Italy (where everything is better) and is packed with vitamins and nutrients. Since we’re always looking for healthy — but still delicious — vegetarian meals, we decided to give this pasta and broccoli rabe dish a try. We were pleasantly surprised by how much we enjoyed the nutty, slightly bitter flavor of the rapini combined with the garlic & olive oil pasta. We also liked how quick and easy this meal is to make, with just a few ingredients: broccoli rabe, olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes, orecchiette pasta and Parmesan cheese. As we often do with first-time cooking attempts, we consulted the folks at Cook’s Illustrated (specifically, their book Italian Classics) for a no-fail recipe.
Beef Bourguignon
Dan and I are both blessed with wonderful families, and although all of us live in different cities, we are fortunate to be able to travel to see them at the holidays (as well as other times throughout the year.) Holidays are filled with traditions, and like most, each of our extended families have their own little customs and practices that make a holiday special (possibly the biggest and most-debated of which is the timing of opening gifts at Christmas. I come from a Christmas-Eve-Gift-Opening family, while Dan’s family always opened gifts on Christmas morning. Since we travel to be with family each Christmas (last year’s trip to Paris being the exception), we follow the customs of whichever family we are spending the 25th with, and haven’t had to draw any lines in the sand at our own home. Yet.) Because we spend most of the week or two surrounding Christmas traveling to spend time with our extended families, we decided several years ago to create our own holiday tradition for just the two of us — spending New Year’s Eve at home together, cooking a fabulous meal and watching a classic movie. The meals and movies are always different (we rang in 2011 with mussels in champagne broth and the movie “Vertigo”), but the underlying theme is the same — make an effort to cook something special that may take a little more time or technique than usual, and enjoy each other’s company. Fresh off our trip to Paris, this year we decided to make beef bourguignon, using this recipe from French chef Eric Ripert. While the movie that night (Hitchcock’s “Shadow of a Doubt“) was good, but not great, the rich and meaty stew was layered with flavor and was well worth all the time and effort required to prepare it. Plus the recipe involves fire, and Dan loves (safely!) making fire in the kitchen.
Sopa de Fideo
Someone recently asked us what we do for fun, and we mentioned this little food blog of ours. She then asked what kind of food we blog about, and we weren’t quite sure how to respond. “Um, all kinds?” Basically, we blog about the food that we like and cook (or attempt to cook), which includes many different types of cuisine. We particularly enjoy cooking (and eating) Tex-Mex at home, partly because it is easily adaptable — depending on personal preferences and ingredient availability — yet incorporating just a few key elements still gives you that unmistakable Tex-Mex flavor. This soup is the perfect example of a Tex-Mex dish for which there are numerous different recipes and variations, but the rich and slightly spicy tomato/chile broth and thin, short noodles are the signature elements that define this soup and make it one of our newest comfort food favorites. We found the recipe in a cookbook by fellow food blogger, Homesick Texan, and adapted it by adding ground turkey to make it slightly more hearty as a main course. The original recipe provides an excellent template for the base of the soup, which you can then embellish however you see fit. We may try adding shredded chicken (rather than ground turkey or beef) the next time we have chicken leftovers. The possibilities are endless.
Southern-Style Chicken and Dirty Rice
Every once in a while, the easy efficiency of a slow-cooker meal can be a trade-off for complex and sophisticated flavor. Not so with this recipe. It requires a little bit of work on the front end (browning meat and sauteing veggies), but the final result is a meal that we would be quite pleased to be served at a restaurant in New Orleans, and it’s one of our favorite slow-cooker dishes to date. Not surprisingly, the recipe comes from one of our go-to sources for excellent cooking — America’s Test Kitchen — specifically, their book “Slow Cooker Revolution.” We have tried several recipes from this book (including Smothered Pork Chops) and enjoyed each of them, this chicken and rice most of all so far.
Sesame and Honey Pork Tenderloin with Ramen
We appreciate the efficiency of a meal that incorporates the basics — protein, starch and vegetable — all in one pot. Kind of like a soup or stew, but more substantial. We adapted this recipe from one found in a Cook’s Illustrated publication: “30-Minute Suppers.” (We have the Fall 2011 issue, which does not appear to be available online just yet.) The pork has lots of flavor from cooking in the honey and sesame sauce and would be good enough on its own. But adding rich broth, ramen noodles and wilted spinach turns the pork into a full and delicious meal.
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Paella
Paella is a rice-based dish that originated from Valencia, Spain. Although we’ve never had the pleasure of eating truly authentic paella while actually in Spain, Dan’s favorite restaurant in Pittsburgh serves the best version 0f paella he’s ever tasted. We’ve attempted this dish at home a couple of times, without much success until we found this recipe by celebrity chef Tyler Florence and tweaked it a bit to make it our own. While not quite as good as the restaurant version, it’s a pretty close second, with rich flavors from the chicken and saffron-infused rice, a little spice from the chorizo and buttery sweetness from the lobster and shrimp. This is a great recipe to make during the holiday season, whether you are entertaining friends or simply relaxing at home with loved ones. It’s the kind of dish that invites family-style dining in a celebratory way. Plus, it’s as delicious as it is festive.