There comes a time in every man's life when he needs to return to the shackles of tradition, lest he feel separated from his roots. I, speak of course, of Latin American food.
About two years ago, I was dating a girl who was a vegetarian (among other things that have no business being discussed on a food blog), but not for any real reason other than "animals are cute." After such a long time of take out Chinese food, my favorite of which is a toss-up between General Tso's Chicken and Roast Pork Lo Mein, she started to crave chicken. This resulted in her stealing bits of my chicken in the General Tso box, but she maintained that she was a vegetarian, with lapses from time to time.
For the tacos:
Green Bean and Corn Salad with Herb and Citrus Vinaigrette
serves 2
Ingredients
3 handfuls fresh green beans (snapped at the ends)
5 oz yellow corn (frozen or fresh)
3-5 tbsp. feta cheese, crumbled
.25 red onion, finely minced
1 lime, juiced
4 fresh mint leaves, chopped
2 tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped
.25 tsp. ground cumin
.5 tsp. dried oregano
.25 tsp. dried red pepper flakes
1 tbsp. olive oil
salt to taste
Begin by preparing the dressing. Combine onion, lime juice, herbs, and olive oil in a medium serving bowl.
Steam the green beans until just tender, about 4 minutes, add corn at minute 3. Drain and blanch in bowl of ice water. Drain again and chill approximately 10-15 minutes.
Combine vegetables and vinaigrette in the serving bowl. Garnish with feta, salt, and additional herbs and seasonings (if you like).**
**We think radishes or cherry tomatoes would also be a great vegetable addition if you happen to have them around. Add with the feta so as to keep the flavors very fresh.
Due to the balmy 64 degree weather in New York City today, we experienced a slight change of palate this evening. I met Matthias at our train stop and we made our usual rounds to our various local markets to gather food for two recipes that struck my fancy at epicurious. Usually our evenings begin with a hug, an exchange about our respective days, and proceed inevitably to, 'What did you have in mind for dinner?' On a good night, one of us will have been pondering this question during the day, or have a particular flavor in mind. On a bad night, I have been known to sit down in the pasta aisle on an empty crate with my head in my hands and a panic attack on the horizon.
Fortunately, my answer to this question tonight was, 'I don't know I was thinking maybe something like couscous with apricots and pistachios and then a Moroccan-type chicken for you, and salad, of course?' Flabbergasted by my uncharacteristic specificity and certitude, Matthias agreed.
At our last stop we noticed a large, even chubby, pit bull complete with metal choker collar and intimidating bark, tied outside. We winced in pity at the poor dog tied to the metal post, and darted quickly out of the raindrops, and out of the range of his menacing bite.
Our experience in this particular grocery store often proceeds like a game of 'Doom' (Abbie, I'm looking at you. You know you loved it.) At every turn around every narrow aisle there is ahhhhh! an old lady painstakingly ticking items off of her list, eeeeeeekkkk! a screaming child, or *argh dead end...someone stocking what is most likely a mystery food labeled entirely in Greek onto a low shelf. Attempting to get what you need and get out is damn near impossible, so we usually relish in the quirkiness of our neighborhood. Tonight, as we nimbly snatched our couscous from the shelf, we experienced an encounter between a 4 year old and a jar of spaghetti sauce. You can imagine how that ended...
I'll give you two choices: 1) a broken jar of sauce and a serious scolding or 2) a barking dog.
The answer is both of the above.
As we were checking out, a mother with two small children in tow approached our checker and said in a thick Eastern European accent, 'There was this dog outside, you know, one of those dogs that attack people? Well it broke loose from his chain and now he is inside the store!'
We escaped glass shards, and a pit bull to make this dinner. Hyperbolic? Yes. But, when I tell you that Matthias said this might be one of the best ways to eat chicken in the world, I am not exaggerating. Cross my heart and kiss my elbow.
Couscous with Dried Apricots and Pistachios
adapted from Bon Appétit, June 1996
Yield: 4 generous servings
Ingredients
1.5 cups water
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup couscous
¾ cup dried apricots, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
½ cup unsalted pistachios, toasted, chopped
3 small chopped green onions
a good handful of thinly sliced fresh basil
Combine water, oil and salt in medium saucepan; bring to boil. Combine couscous, apricots and spices in large bowl. Add boiling liquid. Cover immediately; let stand until water is absorbed, about 5 minutes. Uncover and fluff with fork.
Mix nuts, green onions and basil into couscous. Season with salt and pepper. Serve warm with an extra drizzle of olive oil if your couscous isn’t sufficiently fluffy.
Moroccan-Spiced Chicken Paillards
Adapted from Gourmet, February 2006
Yield: 2 servings
Matthias has assured me that even though this dish required a multitudinous amount of dishes, it was completely worth it because it results in perfectly juicy, sweet, tangy, smoky (like the smell of roasting chickens at the Lion's Club during the summer, except it actually tastes as good as it smells) tender bits of meat that leave that perky, spicy tingle in the back of your throat.
Ingredients
For sauce:
1/4 cup orange juice (juice of 1 orange)
1 tablespoon mild honey
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
scant 1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
For paillards:
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon paprika (not hot)
pinch of black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 boneless chicken breast sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 teaspoons salt
For sauce:
Simmer sauce ingredients (except butter) in a small saucepan, uncovered, stirring occasionally, 2 minutes. Set aside while cooking chicken.
For paillards:
Cook cumin, paprika, and pepper in oil in a small skillet over moderately low heat, stirring, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl, reserving skillet for sauce (do not clean). Brush some spiced oil on 1 side of each paillard, then sprinkle with some salt. Arrange paillards in grill pan, oiled sides down, and brush tops with some of spiced oil, then sprinkle with some salt. Grill 2 minutes, then turn over and grill until just cooked through, about 3 minutes more. Transfer to a plate. Let rest for several minutes.
Finish sauce:
Add any juices from chicken accumulated on the plate to the sauce and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, then add butter and swirl skillet until butter is just incorporated. Season sauce with salt and spoon over chicken.
*My sincerest apologies for the horrid images, we are still struggling with our lighting situation. Please bear with us, and do not let them deter you from making these recipes.
There is something comforting about pockets. On cold days, you can pop your hands into them (if you are woefully underprepared for the weather, as I often am). You can carry things in them, like phones, keys, quarters, lint, receipts, pennies (God, the pennies), Simpson's Individual Stringettes (The NOW String), iPods, love notes...basically, your whole life. I'm told, by parties unnamed, that women don't carry things in their pockets, as their pockets are tiny and ill-suited for carriage of useful things. This is the direct result of women's clothing being much more form-fitting than men's and aren't we all glad that men's clothes aren't so form fitting.
No, hipsters, you aren't included.
Hannah wears Smocks on warm sunny days. I call the pockets upon the smocks, Smockets. They too, are useful.
Pockets can be made from most anything. Felt, denim, canvas, a pita, and perhaps the most versatile pocket of them all:
The Aluminum Foil Pocket.
Yes, dear readers, the Aluminum Foil Pocket (or as my friend from Southend-on-Sea might pronounce it, "Aluminium."). Reynolds and his Wrap saves the day once again. I've used it previously with tilapia and assorted veggies, some herbs, and butter. Yes, the butter.
Today, I had a day off from the TV show that I work on and it was spent with Hannah. We didn't do terribly much and usually when it gets to that point, we gravitate towards the Food Network. We aren't terribly fond of Emeril and his BAM middle of the BAM sentence ex-BAM-ations of his notch kicking. But today he was on making some chicken.
In pockets.
He made them in Parchment Paper, but when one of his guests asked him, "What if you don't have any at home?" He said, "I use aluminum foil at home."
Hannah said we should make the recipe. And so we did.
We took our own deviation, mixing Jamie Oliver's recipe for beurre blanc with whatever the hell it was that Emeril was doing and created a Lemon Beurre Blanc Cream Sauce to put on top of our veggies. Emeril also told us to not include fennel, but we will be damned to one degree or another if fennel is not going into our pocket. Since Hannah can't eat the chicken, we also substituted some cannellini beans for one of the chicken breasts.
It was fabulous.
Chicken and Vegetables with Lemon Beurre Blanc Cream Sauce
(Adapted from Emeril and Jamie Oliver)
1⁄2 Fennel bulb, sliced
2 carrots, cut into strips
2 small zucchinis, cut into strips
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into slivers
1 tablespoon minced shallots
1 3⁄4 teaspoons herbes de Provence, divided (we used fresh parsley, rosemary, thyme, tarragon, and bay)
1 1⁄4 teaspoons salt
3⁄4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 (6 to 8-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts (optional if you are veggiesaurs)
1⁄2 can of white beans (7.5 oz) (butter or cannellini, optional if you are meatosaurs)
4 teaspoons dry white wine
Lemon Beurre Blanc Cream Sauce (recipe follows)
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Using good knife, cut the zucchini, fennel and carrot into thin, strips. Place the strips in a bowl and toss with 1 tablespoon of the butter slivers, 3/4 teaspoon of the herbes de Provence, 1/4 teaspoon of the salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of the pepper. Set aside.
Lightly season each chicken breast on both sides with 1/4 teaspoon of the salt and 1/8 teaspoon of the pepper. Set aside. Season the beans as well.
Tear off about a full wingspan of aluminum foil; fold in half. Place the chicken (or beans) in the middle, cover with half of your vegetable mixture. Drizzle with a couple glugs of white wine. Roll up the sides and the top, sealing it off.
Place the bags on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.
Spoon lemon butter sauce over the chicken or the beans, garnish each plate with 1 parsley sprig, and serve immediately.
Lemon Beurre Blanc Cream Sauce
1 1⁄2 C white wine (we used some crappy kind of Sauvingnon Blanc with a cigar smoking bird)
2 lemons, peels off and quartered
1 diced shallot
ground pepper
herbes de provence (we used fresh parsley, rosemary, thyme, tarragon, and bay)
6 or 7 tbsp unsalted butter
1⁄2 cp heavy cream
Combine the first five ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. When the wine has reduced to half or so, strain the flavored wine into another container. Then wisk in the butter, a tablespoon at a time, until it’s all melted in. Add the heavy cream, and blend. The sauce should retain a thin consistency.