tamale all about it!

I love me some tamales! But the only thing is that I don't have the time (or rather kind of lazy) to make tamales on my own. Even though it's not authentic, I find that pot pies that mimic tamales are something that I can definitely do.

Since I like the ease of making casseroles, this tamale pie was something they've been wanting to make. I've been experimenting with different ingredients inside the pie and so far this is the most of that been happy with. It's got a lot of feeling and as much vegetables I can fit in. Add some extra toppings and this makes a great meal!

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Chicken Tamale Pie

(makes one large pot)

Filling:

4lbs skinless boneless chicken, cubed

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp bottled minced black garlic

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp Jen's everything seasoning

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ancho chile powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp salt

2 bay leaves

1 large onion, diced

1 large poblano chile, diced

1 can black beans, drained & washed

1 can sweet corn, drained

1 medium zucchini, diced

1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro, divided

1 large can Las Palmas mild/medium enchilada sauce

1 tsp better than bouillon, chicken bouillon​

2 tbsp masa flour

Cornbread Topping:

Dry Ingredients

    2 cups  cornmeal

    1 cup all-purpose flour

    2 tsp baking powder

    1/2 tsp Himalayan pink salt

Wet Ingredients

    2 cups milk (room temperature)

    2 tsp organic apple cider vinegar

    5 tbsp salted butter (melted/liquid)

    1 small can chopped jalapenos, drained 

    1/4 cup canned corn

1/4 cup Mexican cheese blend

sour cream for serving

finely chopped red onion for serving

hot sauce for serving

Heat 6 quart dutch oven. Mix chicken, black garlic, and spices then add to hot pan to brown. Add onions and poblano and cook until onions are translucent. Add black, beans, corn, zucchini, and half of cilantro. Cook for 10 minutes then add enchilada sauce, bouillon, and masa flour. Cook mixture until thickened and reduced by 1/4. Remove from heat set aside.

Preheat oven to 350F degrees.

Combine together wet ingredients for cornbread in a small bowl until frothy.  In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients together.  Combine wet ingredients with dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Top filling with cornbread mixture then with Mexican cheese blend. Bake in oven until cornbread is cooked through and filling is bubbly, about 30-35 minutes.

Serve with sour cream, finely chopped onions, olives, and hot sauce.

ghoulish goulash

I really love easy dinners and there's nothing easier than pasta! Sometimes I do have to change things up a bit and doing Italian for every pasta dish gets a little boring. Alternative? Hungarian! American-Hungarian, that is. ^_^

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Old-Fashioned American Goulash
(Adapted from I Heart Recipes)

1.5 lbs lean ground beef
2 cups uncooked spiral macaroni
1 medium onion, diced

1 bell pepper, diced

1 tomato, chopped

1/2 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup frozen peas and carrots

1 can mushroom, chopped

1 tbsp minced bottled garlic

1 tbsp Italian seasoning 

1 tbsp adobo seasoning 

1 tsp paprika 

3 bay leaves

2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp low sodium soy sauce 

2 1/2 cup chicken broth

2 cans tomato sauce

1 small can tomato paste

1 can diced tomatoes in tomato sauce

1/2 cup shredded Italian blend cheese

1/2 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese

parsley for garnish

Brown the ground meat with seasonings and and bay leaf over medium heat.  Drain any excess fat.

Add in vegetables and cook for a few minutes. Add in the tomato paste, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and tomatoes. Cook for 10 another minutes then add chicken broth and macaroni. Reduce heat and let simmer until pasta is just tender.

Stir in cheese then cover for 10 more minutes, garnish with parsley as needed before serving.

striving for perfection.

So, ever since we got to Georgia, I've been adapting a more Southern-style of cooking. I think it's because I'm surrounded by that kind of food environment and it just seems to make sense to cook that way. Even my eating habits are turning Southern: The polenta that I used to cook all the time turned to grits, hummus makes a rare appearance in my fridge, and I seem to be buying a whole lot more butter. Because of this, I've switched to light butter to make myself feel better.

Speaking of grits . . . I was surprisingly having a hard time trying to make a decent pot of grits. I just assumed that using my favorite polenta recipe would be fine but it's surprisingly NOT. The texture is off, especially for shrimp and grits, and it's much stiffer than I wanted it to be. I've tried several different recipes, and each time I get closer and closer to my ideal pot of grits.

Today yielded success.

My perfect grits? Always savory that that specific mouth texture. These grits are exactly how I want them: soft and fluffy with just a bit of tightness and texture. While they aren't flavored with anything specific, per se, they're still flavorful and taste like grits. The best part? Even if you put it in the fridge, they stay the same consistency even when you reheat it the next day! Yay!!

For the shrimp, I decided to make it more in the Françias-style of cooking. So fancy, I know . . . but not really! Thanks to my recent binge-fest of an old series of Jacques Pépin: Fast Food, My Way, I've been taking some notes and renewing my love of French cooking. It's kind of like Southern cooking but with a more funny accent, lol.

I like how in one episode, Monsieur Pépin added some chopped mushrooms to his shrimp casserole so that it'll soak up the shrimp flavor. He also did a ragù with tomatoes and onions similar to this recipe, but much more reduced. And man, does that man use a lot of olive oil!!

So, taking ideas here and there, voilà ! Shrimp and grits, my way. :D I did forget to add some peas to the shrimp, though. I think that would've made it über-françias, along with some oil-cured olives as a garnish. Eh, c´est la vie ! No? :) Bon appétit!

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Creamy Garlic-Tomato Shrimp
(makes 4 servings)

24 pcs jumbo shrimp (peeled, deveined, and butterflied)
2 tbsp bottled garlic
1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp paprika
4 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp ground pepper

1/4 cup olive oil
1 bunch (about 8 sprigs) fresh thyme
1/2 cup finely chopped shallots
1/2 cup finely chopped white button mushrooms
1 to 2 pcs thick sliced deli ham, finely chopped
1/2 to 3/4 cup chopped grape tomatoes
1/4 cup low fat half and half
1/2 cup chopped parsley
low sodium chicken stock, as needed
salt and pepper, to taste

 
Marinate the shrimp:
Combine shrimp, garlic, Old Bay seasoning, onion powder, and paprika. Add olive oil to moisten the shrimp then season with ground pepper. Chill for a minimum of 2 hours up to overnight.

Make the shrimp:
In a large pan, heat 1/4 cup olive oil with the bunch of thyme. When the oil is fragrant and hot, add shrimp (reserve any leftover marinade) and cook until lightly browned on both sides (about 6 minutes). Remove shrimp from pan and set aside; discard the thyme.

In the same pan, add shallots, mushrooms, and ham. Season with salt and pepper. When vegetables start to brown and the ham becomes slightly crisp, add the tomatoes and any leftover marinade from the shrimp. Reduce heat and cook until tomatoes break down to a paste (about 10 minutes).

Return shrimp to the pan and toss to incorporate. Stir in half and half and parsley. Cook until thickened, about 2 minutes, then add chicken stock to thin as needed.

To serve, portion out 6 shrimps per person and top over grits or pasta with additional parsley and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil for garnish.

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My Perfect Grits
(makes 4 to 6 servings)

1 cup coarse ground grits or polenta (white or yellow)
2 3/4 cups water
1/4 cup fat free half and half
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 to 2 tbsp light butter
1/4 tsp dried parsley
ground pepper, to taste

 
Bring water, half and half, and salt to boil. Slowly stir in grits/polenta, reduce heat to low, then cover. Cook 15 to 20 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Stir in butter and parsley, then season with pepper to taste.

For Savory Cheese Grits: Stir in 1/4 to 1/2 cup shredded cheese, 1/4 tsp onion powder, a dash garlic powder, and a dash smoked paprika to cooked grits.

barking up the sea.

I recently got the news that I have borderline high cholesterol.

Like, if I don't change, I might have to take medication for it. Hearing the news form my doctor really upset me. I've always prided myself with being healthy. Sure, I might slack off here and there, but for the most part, I live a pretty healthy lifestyle to supplement the foods that I eat. But alas, still some bad news.

I think the thing that really bothers me the most about this whole cholesterol thing is the fact that it limits my world of cooking. I'm such a big foodie!! Now, not only am I worried about what I'm eating... I'm starting to worry about what I'm feeding my husband. I blame it all on Guam. I know, I know, that sounds ridiculous, but the fact that healthy food alternatives are so expensive and hard to come by, it probably fucked me all up. Lol, paranoid much?

So what to do? I think that the fact that I started juicing lately really helped with the results. That, and the fact that I'm in my "oh no, must get rid of poundage!!" mode and going to the gym. Who knows what my results might've been a couple of months ago?! Must make some drastic food changes so I can get to an ideal level. So while I may have to bid farewell to my beloved coconut, pineapple may be beginning to grow on me.

Pineapple is one of the major fruits I use whenever I make my juices. Every time that I cut away the bark, I always lament on the wasted flesh that's still attached to it. By happy accident, I ran into this recipe while looking for pineapple juice combinations. Awesome!

I decided to try it with some Jamaican jerk as a seasoning then topped it with a modified salsa that I make. The results were delicious. And paired with a simple spinach salad, definitely healthy in the direction that I want to go towards. Yay for damn tasty food!!

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Pineapple Bark Baked Fish
(adapted from Make the Best of Everything and Instructables)

fresh pineapple bark
2 fresh or frozen flounder or salmon filets
1 tsp Jamaican jerk seasoning
olive oil

Preheat oven to 375F.

Cut a piece of parchment paper, about 2 ft long, and fold in half. Place on baking tray so that only half of the parchment is sitting on top of the tray. Set aside.

Cut the bark off of a pineapple into the appropriate size for your fish. Lay a piece of bark or two, flesh side up, on top of the prepared baking tray. Place a filet on top of bark. Drizzle fish lightly with olive oil then sprinkle on 1/2 tsp seasoning. Top with pineapple bark and repeat steps for next filet. Fold paper, sealing edges with narrow folds.

Bake for about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let stand 5 minutes. Discard top bark and generously garnish with fresh pineapple corn salsa to serve.

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Fresh Pineapple Corn Salsa
(adapted from Delicious Shots)

1/2 ear fresh corn, husked with silks removed (or 1/2 can vacuum-packed super sweet corn)
1/4 cup fresh pineapple, finely chopped
1/4 small red onion, finely chopped
1/4 red or green bell pepper, finely chopped
1/2 medium tomato, finely chopped
1 tbsp chopped cilantro (or more, to taste)
1 to 2 sprigs italian parsley, chopped
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lime juice
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp paprika
salt and pepper to taste

Heat grill to high and grill the corn until charred on all sides. When ready, remove the kernels with a sharp knife. (If using canned corn, skip the grilling part.) In a bowl, combine all the ingredients and season accordingly to taste. Cover and refrigerate for thirty or so minutes before serving.

fishy business.

feeding my husband can be a little tricky sometimes. it's not that he's a picky eater...it's just that he knows what he likes and it's hard for him to like something that he's had a bad experience with before. like couscous, for example. he really hates the stuff. for him, the textures are weird and the taste is icky. whereas me, i freakin' love couscous!

another thing that he has a hard time eating is cilantro. while i grew up with having lots of cilantro in my diet, it was almost non-existent in his. he really could care less for the stuff. the same goes with fish tacos. he just never ate one he liked, no matter how many times he had it. so when i saw this recipe, i knew that i really wanted to try it for our "fishy friday" on our weekly dinner routine. there was a lot of different but familiar things going on and i really liked the use of red cabbage. i scaled waaaay back on the cilantro so that it's more of a hint and i tweaked the recipe to suit our taste. the result? a whopping success!! we've had this twice now and he gobbles this up every time. that's a win for me and definitely a win for him!

 

Crispy Fish Tacos
(adapted from Delicious Shots)

Corn Salad: 
2 ears fresh corn, husked with silks removed (or 1 can vacuum-packed super sweet corn) 
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped 
1/2 red or green bell pepper, finely chopped 
1 medium tomato, finely chopped 
1 tbsp chopped cilantro (or more, to taste) 
1 to 2 sprigs italian parsley, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil 
1 to 2 tbsp lime juice 
salt and pepper to taste 
1/4 tsp cumin 
1/4 tsp paprika 

Avocado Crema: 
1 very ripe avocado 
1/4 cup light sour cream 
1 tbsp lime juice 
1 tbsp chopped cilantro 
1 sprig of italian parsley, chopped
sprinkle of cumin 
salt and pepper to taste 

Fish Tacos: 
3 firm white fish fillet (like tilapia or pollock), cut into strips 
1 cup flour 
1/4 cup corn starch 
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper 
1/2 tsp paprika 
1/2 tsp garlic powder 
1/2 tsp onion powder 
beer from 1 bottle 
salt and pepper 
flour or corn tortillas 
red cabbage, finely shredded 
vegetable oil for frying 
taco or hot sauce for topping 

For the Corn Salad:
Heat grill to high and grill the corn until charred on all sides. When ready, remove the kernels with a sharp knife. (If using canned corn, skip the grilling part.) In a bowl, combine all the ingredients and season accordingly to taste. Cover and set aside for thirty or so minutes to let marinate.

For the Avocado Crema:
Puree all the ingredients in a food processor or blender. Season to taste. Set aside for thirty or so minutes to marinate.

To make the Fish Tacos:
In a small mixing bowl whisk together the flour, corn starch, cayenne, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Add just enough of the beer to make a thick batter and whisk until smooth. The mix should look like thick pancake batter.

In a skillet, add vegetable oil about to 2-inches deep and heat the oil to 350 degrees F. Season the fish with salt and pepper, dip the fish strips into the batter and carefully place in the hot oil. Fry until golden brown, about 2 minutes on each side. To assemble the tacos place one piece of fried fish* in a warm tortilla and garnish with cabbage, avocado crema, corn salad, and taco or hot sauce. Serve immediately.

*also, the batter works well for a shrimp taco version too! :)

making my roots.

it'll be my older brother's birthday tomorrow and one of his favorite filipino desserts is maja blanca. so, as a surprise, i decided to make a couple of batches for him. :D maja blanca is sort of a cold soft-set pudding/panna cotta that's got a coconut base and flavored with sweet corn. it's a very traditional dessert that's also surprisingly easy to make. when i did some research on it, the variance in the recipes were very little. so, i took some notes from this recipe and tweaked it to more my liking. in other words: a slightly less guilty dessert with more creamy coconut and sweet corn!

 
Maja Blanca
(slightly adapted from Lemon and Anchovies)

1 (14oz.) can coconut milk (Aroy-D or Chaokoh brand)
1 can coconut cream (Savoy brand)
1 can cream style sweet corn
1 (11oz.) can extra sweet corn niblets or 2/3 (15oz.) can of whole sweet corn
1 can fat free condensed milk (or plain if you can't find it)
1 pint (16oz.) fat free half and half
1/2 cup sugar (use less if you don't want it that sweet)
3/4 cup corn starch
1/2 cup of shredded sweetened coconut

In a large saucepan, heat together the coconut milk, coconut cream, canned corn, niblets, and sugar over medium heat. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly to incorporate. Add the condensed milk and continue over medium heat for about five minutes.

In a large glass measuring cup, stir together the half and half and corn starch until smooth.

Add the corn starch/milk mixture to the saucepan and cook for another 8-12 minutes, stirring constantly. The mixture should thicken slowly towards the end of the cooking time.

Once the mxture is at your desired consisentcy, take off the heat and pour into a 8x8 baking dish or into separate glasses (I decded to put it in two seperate containers). Leave to cool to room temperature.

Meanwhile, in a small shallow pan, toast the flaked coconut over low heat. Cool completely then garnish the maja blanca with the toasted coconut. Chill for a few hours (or overnight) in the refrigerator to set then serve cold. (You can also chill the maja blanca first then top with the garnish right before serving.)

chowder on this!

it has been getting sooo chilly! i've said this before but after a week of almost summer-like weather, the random cold day just really makes a sharp contrast in temperature...the kind that makes you go "brrrr!". i usually like cold weather...the bundling up, the chill in the air...just not when i'm dressed for the beach. so, when i got home, i decided to make some corn chowder to get nice and toasty. i just followed this recipe loosely and ended up with something that was reminiscent of a similar soup i had at mimi's cafe except it had a lot more veggies in it. definitely hit the spot along with some crusty bread and perfect for what i was looking for. :)

 
Thick and Creamy Corn Chowder
(adapted from A Culinary Journey with Chef Dennis)

4 tbsp butter
1 cup celery, roughly diced
1 cup red onion, roughly diced
1 cup carrots, roughly diced
1 1/2 cups red potatoes, unpeeled and roughly diced
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp dried parsley
7 springs fresh italian parsley, chopped with some reserved
2 green onions, sliced with some reserved
1 cup flour*
1 qt chicken stock
2 cup fat free half and half or milk
1 (150z.) sweet corn, drained
1 1/2 (15oz plus) can creamed corn
1 tsp soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste

*or 2 tsp constarch with 1/2 cup or so water for thickening

Prepare your veggies then separate into two bowls: one bowl with the celery and onions, the other with the carrots and potatoes. In a large pot, melt the butter over medium heat.

Add the bowl of celery and onions to the pot and saute in the butter until onion is slightly transluscent. Add the bowl of carrots and potatoes and saute again for another 10 minutes. Once the veggies start to slightly brown, add the fresh parsley (reserve about 1/8 cup), salt, pepper, seasonings, and the dried parsley. Saute an additional minute or two then add the flour. Turn down the heat and allow to simmer for 5-7 minutes to let the flour cook. Add in the hot chicken stock and mix well to get all of the roux incorporated. Add the half and half or milk, corn, creamed corn, green onions (reserve about 1/8 cup), and soy sauce. Stir to combine. (i actually originally forgot to add the flour. so, to add a thickener, i used the cornstarch method and added about 2 tsp cornstarch with 1/2 cup or so of water and added it at this point.)

Cover slightly then reduce heat and allow to simmer for 30-45 minutes or until desired thickness. If the chowder appears too thick, thin it out with additional milk, stock or water. Season with salt and peper to taste then serve topped with the reserved parsley and green onion.