favorite hot dish!

today was one of those lazy days where me and the boyfriend woke up super late. it was a nice day where we didn't do anything and he spent the day playing video games and me organizing my computer files. and surprisingly, he wanted to make "favorite hot dish"!


"favorite hot dish" is basically one of those dishes he made when he was growing up and had to cook for the family while his parents worked. they divied up cooking between the four kids and this was a simple and tasty dish that was quick with little prep. it's made up of ground beef, ketchup, chille powder, and pasta. that's it, lol. then add some microwavable corn and then you're done! lol, he's so cute when he cooks. :D

who wouldn't want to be served by this guy?! lol, you can tell from the look on his face that he's totally humoring me with my photoshoot of him. so adorable. now time for food, yummm!!!

super-topped green enchiladas.

ahh, enchiladas. i've actually never been a big fan of enchiladas (always been a rolled tacos girl myself) until recently. usually the chicken's super dry and the sauce is watery. it's only been as of late that i've been finding some awesome hole-in-the-walls that have tasty enchiladas. so, decided to try my hand at making some. :)


after searching the internet for a bit, i found this recipe from laura's best recipes and decided that the ingredients that she used sounded pretty darn appetizing. so, i took my happy little self to the nearest grocery store and purchased a small rotisserie chicken to shred. chicken...gooooood.



followed the recipe closely except for some changes (changes being not having the ingredients and compromising). let it bubble away and get thick in the pot, rolled them up, then used green enchilada sauce since that was the only can that i had on hand. this was new to me since all i've ever had was red sauce but the boyfriend liked green. i didn't care either way but it was still weird to see green sauce on them enchiladas...


after that was put in the oven for about 45 minutes, i prepped the toppings and set it aside. afterwards, before the last ten minutes of cooking, i took some shredded three cheese blend as well as some grated cotija cheese and topped the little sucker! it came out gooey and bubbly, and smelled fantastic!


ohh, yeah. this was an awesome enchilada! the meat was deliciously spiced, the sauce just perfectly portioned, and completely filling! i'm such a topping-girl...whenever toppings are around, i go crazy. in this case, i was glad for the topping...i needed a little veggie action for so rich a dish. :D this will definitely be added on the dinner rotation for the future! huzzah, another experiment that ended well! XD
 

Chicken Enchiladas with Tangy Roasted Tomatillo Chile Salsa
(from Laura's Best Recipes)

Salsa:
1 pound tomatillos, husked
1 white onion, peeled and quartered
6 garlic cloves
2 jalapenos
2 teaspoons freshly ground cumin (best if you grind seeds in a mill)
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
1 lime, juiced
* Note: I skipped this and just used a can of green enchilada sauce. :D

Enchiladas:
Extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 medium onion, diced
5 garlic cloves, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin (it’s best if you toast and mill whole cumin seeds)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups chicken stock, (yours or Organic – but not low sodium)
Chopped cilantro leaves (lots)
1 high-quality (i.e. whole foods) deli roasted chicken (about 3 pounds), boned, meat shredded
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
10 large (but not burrito size) flour tortillas (
3/4 pound Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
2 cups sour cream
Chopped tomatoes and cilantro leaves, for garnish

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

For the salsa:
On a baking tray, roast tomatillos, onion, garlic and jalapenos for 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer the roasted vegetables and any juices on the bottom of the tray to a food processor. Add the cumin, salt, cilantro, and lime juice and pulse mixture until well combined but still chunky.(SKIPPED! can o'enchilada sauce is soooo my friend right now. <3)

Enchiladas:
Meanwhile heat a 2 count of olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until soft and caramelized – this should take 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic and cumin then cook for a further minute. Sprinkle on the flour and stir to ensure the flour doesn’t burn then gradually add the chicken stock to make a veloute. Continue stirring over a low simmer until the flour cooks and the liquid thickens. Turn off the heat, add half of the roasted tomatillo chile salsa, some additional fresh chopped cilantro and fold in the shredded chicken meat. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Assembly:
Change the temperature of the oven to 350 degrees F and begin assembling the dish. Take a large baking dish and smear the bottom with some of the reserved tomatillo salsa.

Now take the flour tortillas and briefly flash them over the stove-top flame (or put them briefly under the broiler if using an electric stove). Using a shallow bowl, coat each tortilla lightly with the reserved salsa mix. Put a scoop of the shredded chicken-enchilada mix on top of the tortilla followed by a sprinkle of the shredded cheese. Fold the tortilla over the filling and roll like a cigar to enclose it. Using a spatula place the tortillas in the baking dish and continue to do the same with all the tortillas. Finally pour over some more of the salsa and top with the remaining shredded cheese. Bake uncovered for about 30 minutes until bubbly and cracked on top. Garnish, cilantro and tomato. I also swirl some adobo saurce from a can of chipotles into sour cream and use that as a garnish.

dinner in a jiffy.

not too much pictures for this one considering i got home late. but it was good nonetheless. chicken baked with olive oil, garlic, rosemary, paprika, salt and pepper for twenty minutes in the oven. then pan-fried broccoli, carrots and fingerling potatoes that was coated in a balsamic/honey glaze. this would probably be my favorite dinner to make to date. always a pleaser. :D

skin-on, potato leek fennel soup.

it's been so cold here as of late. we've have a couple days of rain and i've been hiding under the blankets. brrr....soup was definitely in order. up next: hearty soup for a cold winter's day. :D


i've never cooked with leeks or fennel before so i thought, "great! experiment time!" chopped those up along with some onion and got some red potatoes. and because i didn't want to peel them, just took most of the big eyes and cubed them. huzzah for laziness!

and then buttery goodness with a dallop of garlic. yummm....

first in the pot were the potatoes. sauteed them a bit in the butter till they were half done then added the leeks, fennel and onions. threw in some salt and pepper and all-purpose seasoning for some extra kick. :D then after that sauteed some, chopped parsley and a bit of the fennel fronds was put in the mix.

then horrors upon horrors, i added a can of creamed potato soup. nooooo!! i don't know...there's just something about adding a can of soup that makes my inner chef cringe. but, with that said, i added the can anyway and told my inner chef to shut up, added a cup of water, then stirred that around a bit. then i took some low fat half-and-half (cuz i's tryin' to be healthy, yo!) and added enough to have a semi-thick soup consistency. then i let it have a rapid boil to a small simmer.

as the soup was happily simmering away, i prepped the bread and then added the green onions to the concoction during the last five minutes of cooking.

mmmmm....delicious hot soupy goodness. very hearty with the potatoes and an experiment that ended well. and the bread i bought went surprisingly good with the soup. i will definitely make this soup again. tasty!

spice-a-licious persimmon cake.

ah, persimmons. i remember when i was younger, my parents took the kids to a persimmon farm and we were given some shears and a bucket and we got our own persimmons by the pound. i've alwyas loved this wintery fruit, it was a good substitute chicos, my favorite childhood fruit from the phillipines. so, i was excited to try out this persimmon cake i saw on a blog i was meandering through.

first step, i assembled my cast of characters for the play. i had all the ingredients including some over-ripe persimmons i got from my mom the other day. needless to say, i was excited to get started. :D

i decided to tweak the recipe a little and add some rum to the glaze. whoo-hoo for cooking with alcohol! it's probably cuz i'm such a light weight...i can't drink alcohol at all else i'll turn into a red tomato. damn my asian genes!! :( ps, i actually had to go through all six persimmons to get thin enough slices i was happy with.

next, i decided to put the ends and pieces in the blender (because i have no food processor), along with the rest of the wet ingredients. figured i'd put a puree in the cake mix to make it more persimmon-y.

after the blending part, i added the dry ingredients to the wet and poured that sucker on the syrup and persimmons on the cake pan. i got a little nervous about the outcome tho because the batter ended up being too much (hence the extra cupcakies on the side). And for good measure, i put it on a cookie sheet for any spillage. and boy, was i glad i did!

so after i did an allie-yoop, and topsy-turvied the cake, i was rewarded with a caramel top and a cake that was slowly deflating. i tasted the side cupcakes sortly after and it was a little moist, reminiscent of bread pudding. and spicy....lots of nutmeg and cloves spicy. i was a little worried about that part since i'm not too fond of overly clovey, nutmeggy stuff. After letting it cool down for a bit, i took a slice and tasted it.

-it was a tad too much clove

-because the persimmons burned a little during the cooking, it had a slight bitter aftertaste.

the ending result is more akin to a mexican bread pudding than a cake (must be the extra pulp in the batter). *sigh* if i do decide to try this again, i'd probably do without the pulp and reduce the clove and nutmeg by about half. or better yet, do without the spices and make the base from a regular upside-down cake. ah, well....onto the next experiment!

EDIT:
after tasting it an hour later, the consistency is still the same but the flavor is *much* better. definitely not one of those cakes you eat right out of the oven (well, at least for me anyway). and i've been thinking what the taste of baked, glazed persimmons reminds me of and now i got it: it taste like glazed sweet potatoes. i definitely prefer these fruit raw. :)

 
Upside-Down Persimmon Spice Cake
(from Vanilla Garlic)

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
14 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 persimmons, peeled and sliced thinly
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup whole milk

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, and spices in a bowl and set aside.

2. Melt 6 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan and sprinkle in 6 tablespoons of the sugar and cook, stirring until it comes to a boil. Pour into a 8x2-inch circular pan. Place the persimmon slices inside in a circular or sunburst pattern.

3. Using a stand mixer beat butter on medium speed for 3 minutes. Add the rest of the sugar and beat for another 2 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat for 30 seconds each and being sure to scrape down the sides and bottom. Add the vanilla extract and mix in for 30 seconds. Reduce speed to low and add 1/2 the flour mixture and mix until just incorporated, Add the milk and mix in. Add the remaining flour mixture and mix until incorporated. Pour batter over persimmons and level the top.

4. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until cake is golden and a cake tester comes out clean. Remove it from the oven and run a kinfe around the sides. Carefully turn the cake out onto a plate. If some of the persimmon slices stick to the pan scrape them out and place them on the cake. Serve.

sufferin' succotash, it's cordon bluey!

i've been looking at different things to do with chicken since, a). i cannot cook red meat cuz it ends being tougher than hell and even harder to chew, and b). my significant other isn't partial to fish and pork. So that leaves me with chicken. not that that's a bad thing...chicken is probably one of my favorite ingredients to cook with. and now, a recipe i've been itching to try: chicken cordon bleu!


mmmmm....rich and tasty. :D
so let's start off with the side. i've been looking to make some succotash since it's just one of those things that we *never* made in my house growing up. It was either frozen corn with a little bit of butter or it was mixed veggies straight out of the freezer bag. i was intrigued when i went online a week ago and found pictures of succotash while perusing corn recipes.



reading through the recipes of succotash, i gathered that it's basically whatever veggies you have in the fridge, plus some spices for flavor. sooo, that's exactly what i did. what the succotash ended up entailing were brussels sprouts that were about to go bad, half a red bell pepper i randomly had lying around, leftover corn from dinner a couple nights ago, some onion, some frozen edemame, garlic, grated cheese, dash of worcestershire sauce, and dear old salt and pepper. throw in some rosemary, saute it for a bit, and wah-lah! instant side!


and now for the main course. i would have to say that the most enjoyable part of making this dish was pounding the hell out of the chicken. :D lol, what an awesome stress reliever! and not to mention that i scored the meat tenderizer from the local dollar store, whoo-hoo! hey, if it gets the job done and i didn't have to pay and arm and a leg for it, then to that, i say huzzah. go-go-cheapo ranger! ;) ps, check out my cute slat and pepper shakers...they're bunnies!!



first of all, let me say that putting together the cordon bleu is a bitch to do. period (hey, that rhymed!). it may have to do with the fact that i used chicken thighs instead of breasts but...wow. mucho respect for cooks that actually make it look picture perfect. that is some serious sewing skills with toothpicks. but i digress...

And the second show of respect are for those that make it "golden brown". argh! mine got caramelized!! D': yes, heat is too high, blah blah.....at least they didn't go up in flames and burn the whole apartment complex down. that would've been bad, to say the least.

cookin' in style. :D

and last but not least, a pic of me cutting the veggies. it was date night and i wanted to surprise the boyfriend with a pretty outfit, fixed hair, and perfume a'la cordon bleu, lol. i'm glad he enjoyed it. :D