Chicken Enchiladas

I would like to take a minute to talk about Meghan's enchilada recipe.

It's really, really good.

I doubled the recipe but only ended up with about 10 enchiladas - so I suppose I'm filling each one more than I need to? Minor thing, though, since they taste fantastic. I had marinated the chicken overnight first in my favorite chicken fajita marinade and then cooked them simply on the stove. Once shredded, I mixed the chicken with pepper-jack and sour cream per the instructions. I used scallions in place of regular onion since that's what I had in the fridge, and also threw in a few spoonfuls of green chilis and another few of chopped jalapenos. And a healthy pinch of salt. I used a medium green enchilada sauce, and only poured about half of the can over the enchiladas instead of the full can, since that seemed like a lot. On top, after the enchilada sauce and sprinkling of more pepper-jack, I scattered more chopped scallions. (Why not?)

The men devoured them and added salsa/more jalepenos/tobasco as they wanted. This recipe is absolutely going into the standard rotation. Thanks, Meghan!

Chicken Creole

I was really inspired by a visit to New Orleans a few years back and finally got around to making one of the classic regional dishes: Chicken Creole. Well, it's really "Fill-in-the-Blank Creole" - I used a recipe written for shrimp creole, but used chicken instead of shrimp and chicken stock instead of shrimp stock. You could also have Crawfish Creole, Turkey Creole, etc. etc....substituting the proteins however you want.

The recipe called for the chicken to be "seasoned and browned," so I made up a batch of the Creole seasoning blend from the same recipe site, rubbed the mixture into both sides of four chicken breasts, and then cooked the chicken on the stove in 50/50 olive oil & clarified butter. (I had the clarified butter in the fridge, so why not use it? I love that stuff.)

Meanwhile, a TON of veggies needed chopping. I blame all the Chinese food I've been making - I got into a zen kind of rhythm with chopping onion after pepper after onion after pepper - and was kicking myself afterward for not remembering that I have a food processor that would have made that process much easier. The precision of the cuts isn't nearly as important in an application like this one, where things are sweating and simmering. Alas - next time.

The recipe is pretty simple. The chopped veggies sauté gently for a while, and then all the other

ingredients except the chicken are added and the pot is set to simmer. I didn't have the two Louisiana regional hot sauces the recipe lists as optional, and I forgot to roast garlic so I didn't

use that either. I used slightly less than the called

-for six cups of crushed tomatoes - the big cans of crushed came in 4 cup increments, and I had no idea what I'd do with half a leftover can of crushed tomatoes in the fridge. So I stuck with one can - 4 cups. Excepting these items, I did everything else as written. The chicken is added closer to the end of the simmering process, and when done, the creole is served over rice. Use bowls - this is soupy!

I have two and a half complaints with the recipe. One is that 2-3 pounds of chicken breasts is nowhere near enough for the amount of Creole this recipe makes. Considering my pot was full to

within an inch or so of the top, and you serve a ladle or two at a time over rice, it goes a looooong way. And the four chicken breasts in all that sauce meant you got a bite of chicken rarely. I seasoned and browned another eight chicken breasts a few days later and added that, and the ratio of chicken to everything else became a bit more satisfactory.

The other thing I didn't care for was the overall sweetness of the flavor. The creole sauce has a nice depth of flavors - with all the different spices and seasonings that went in - but the predominant flavor was sweet, most likely from all that ketchup and tomato paste. It was a good thing I'd seasoned the chicken and didn't just cook it plain - the spice coating on the chicken pieces helped cut the sweetness a bit. The roasted garlic, if I had remembered to add it, would probably also have helped - although I doubt a few cloves of garlic could offset an entire container of ketchup. It was still good - and we enjoyed the many bowls of this we've had - but I'd prefer a more savory, more spicy creole.

The "more spicy" part is my half-complaint. I'd like a little more heat in this dish, although that's a minor thing that can be easily remedied with another poblano pepper and a few more shakes of

hot sauce. As written, there is hardly any heat - you occasionally get a tiny bit if there's a piece of chopped poblano in your spoonful, but otherwise, it's not spicy.

So overall verdict: good for a crowd, if you use about 3 or 4 times more chicken than is called for and season the heck out of said chicken before cooking and chopping it and throwing it in the pot. I can see what this dish will be great for once perfected - it's fantastic cold-weather food - a great and hardy variation on soups and stews. I will, however, try a different recipe next time - this recipe is not "the one." :)

Italian Cream Cake

This is hands-down one of my favorite cakes in the world.  It is so old-fashioned.  Unless you're making this for a crowd, halving this recipe might not be a terrible idea.  Otherwise, you'll be eating it for a long time.  It takes only a small slice to fill up even the heartiest of cake-eaters.  Very straightforward recipe.

I usually do two 10-inch pans instead of three 9-inch pans.

My Enchiladas

Ok, so I think I can call this recipe my own, since it so little resembles the original recipe I learned years and years ago.

First, let's get one thing straight: My enchiladas are not authentic Mexican cuisine.  They fall squarely in the Tex Mex category.

Because I've made these so often, I no longer measure anything.  That will make writing the recipe a little difficult, but here goes.

1 1/2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (cooked and shredded)
small, fajita-size flour tortillas
1 can hot enchilada sauce
3 tbsp. chopped onion of choice (I use Spanish onions)
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup + 1/2 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
salt to taste


Preheat oven to 375.   Combine cooked chicken, onion, sour cream and cheese.  Add salt to taste.  Lightly brush one side of tortillas with enchilada sauce.  On sauced side, spoon on desired amount of filling.  Roll up and place in lightly greased baking dish.  After all have been assembled pour remaining sauce over enchiladas.  Top with remaining 1/2 cup pepper jack.  Bake uncovered for approximately 25 minutes.  Yields about 10 enchiladas.

Now, this is the version which I make to make the two of us happy.  I can't handle a lot of heat, so this is pretty tame.  Richard adds a little hot sauce and some jalapenos to his.  I used to put jalapenos in the recipe (I think the original called for green chiles), but it was too spicy for me.  It's a pretty good base recipe that can easily be adjusted to taste.  When I have the time, I let the chicken marinate for an hour in some oil, salt and a little fresh lime juice if I have it.

One of Richard's all-time favorite dishes.

The Unfortunately Named Sausage Balls

Most recipes for sausage balls are virtually identical, but I've been using Paula Dean's recipe lately.  Nothing special about the recipe, but the proportions are correct.

I use mild sausage and then add hot sauce to taste.  I prefer this to just buying "hot" sausage.  As with most recipes, I prefer to use an aged sharp cheddar like Cabot.   It holds its flavor much better than the alternatives.

These are very, very simple and quick to make.  If you're wanting to make them ahead of time, they do pretty well in the reheating process.  However, I would recommend that if you bake them and then refrigerate/freeze them, you leave them slightly undercooked.  This keeps it from getting too tough during reheating.  Pre-baking them seems a little unnecessary though.  They bake up in 10-15 minutes flat.

They aren't the most appetizing-looking things, but they are always a huge hit.  People love them.

Salmon En Papillote

I've been wanting to try this technique for some time, and then one night this week the stars aligned and everything worked out for me to do it.  Salmon was on sale and I had plenty of parchment paper, vermouth and vegetables on hand.

Originally, I was going to use this recipe from Alton Brown, but I couldn't find leeks (strange).  So, not knowing how much that would throw off the flavor palette I decided to go rogue.  I used zucchini, lemons, salt, pepper, a little garlic, shallots and vermouth with the salmon.  From start to finish the whole process took about fifteen minutes.  I stacked the zucchini on the bottom, then the shallots and garlic, followed by the salmon (seasoned with s&p) and finally the lemons and vermouth.   Wrapped it all up in the heart-shaped parchment paper and popped it in the nuker for four minutes.

For so little effort and time, the result was stupendous.  The zucchini was actually my favorite part.  Sitting on the bottom made it absorb all the flavors.  Good beyond words.

The fact that the zucchini absorbed so much flavor, made me reconsider my stacking technique for next time.  I placed the salmon skin-side down on the veggies.  Next time, I will probably do skin side up, so the fish can get more flavor.  The salmon had a great deal of the lemon flavor but much of the vermouth/shallots/garlic flavors sank to the bottom away from the fillet.

One other thing I love about this technique is that it makes clean-up so easy.  Just toss the parchment paper when done eating.  No pots. No pans. No fish stuck to a pan.  And the plates just needed a minimal quick scrub to get the juices off.