Grilled Chicken Enchiladas with Fire Roasted Salsa Verde

So.  Howsit going?  It's been a while since I have given this Blog a second thought.  When I do It is usually in passing, or when I cook a particularly good meal I feel like sharing.  Anyway, things have been busy since I last posted!  I finished my Paralegal Certification, bought a house, got married, you know... small things.  This dish, however, is something I have been working on (and off) for the past couple years, and is worth taking the time to document and share.


For this recipe I used the following:
Fresh Tomatillos, 2-3 pounds
Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast - 4 Split Breasts
Fresh Cilantro
1-2 fresh Jalapeno peppers
Shredded Mexican Blend Cheese - 2 Cups
Minced Onion - 3 Tbsp
Fresh Garlic - 1-2 Tbsp
Fresh Lime Juice - 2 Limes, separated
Tortillas (If I was going for true authenticity, I would make them from Masa Corn Flour, and have on occasion. Alas, Mi Familia prefers flour tortillas.)

I started with the fresh tomatillos.  Honestly, I forgot to look at the receipt to see what the weight was, but I think it was between 2 and 3 pounds.

Here they are after removing the husks and washing wish cold water.

After placing them (and two decent sized jalapenos) on a preheated grill set to high...

I prepared my chicken by trimming off any cartilage and fat, splitting the breasts into cutlets of equal thickness, and seasoning with coarse sea salt, coarsely ground pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder.  I then sprinkled the chicken with the juice of a lime (about 1/8 - 1/4 cup)

I had gone outside halfway through the above procedure and turned my tomatillos and peppers.  When finished, i removed them to a bowl...

...and loaded the grill with the chicken, after spraying the grill carefully with cooking spray, standing back as to not burn myself with the flare-up from the burning oil.

When the chicken was finished, I brought it all back inside, got out my semi-trusty blender, and got to salsa-fying!

I loaded the blender with the tomatillos (including all the juice that dripped into the bowl, I added ONE of the roasted jalapenos (peeled, seeded, and pithed), and started blending on low speed...

I then added some washed cilantro (being careful to get only leaves, not stems)...

The juice of the other lime...

The minced onion...

and the garlic...

and finally removing the fully blended salsa to a small pot on medium heat, to simmer and wait for me to shred the chicken...

using two forks to pull it apart, and placing it in a large bowl.  Now I was ready to assemble.

I start by pouring a bit of salsa in the bottom of a large glass baking dish...

I lay a tortilla in the salsa, in the dish, put a decent amount of chicken in the middle...

and rolled the tortilla under, pulling it tight against the end of the dish...

repeating this process, and adding salsa to the dish as necessary to keep the tortillas wet.

When all the chicken was used and the pan was full, I poured the rest of the salsa on top evenly.  (Don't be afraid to force the enchiladas to fit tightly!)

I then spread the shredded cheese evenly over the top, placed the baking dish in an oven preheated to 350 degrees, and baked for 20 minutes to a half hour, till the edges were bubbly, and it looked like...

THIS!
I served the enchiladas with Goya Yellow Rice, and a large dollop of non-fat Greek Yoghurt, which gives you all the thick, rich sourness of Sour Cream without a single gram of fat!  I do not have a picture of the plated dish because, well, it aint really pretty after digging the individual enchiladas out of this!

It's a decent amount of work, especially for a Monday evening meal, but each of the several steps is in itself very easy, requiring no real technique, and the reaction from Erika and the boys made it well worth it to kick off the school week! Besides, there are leftovers for lunch!!

Stay tuned!  I promise to be back in less than two years!

Borscht Baby!

A quick little entry on the joys of this summer treat!  If I had been introduced to this velvety smooth goodness as a youngster, My lifelong aversion to the dread beet may have been avoided!
The farm share has been giving us beets, and although I can tolerate and even enjoy them to some degree simmered forever in butter, they just never really excite me.  so when I had two week's worth staring me down, I decided to go with a nice cooling soup.
I searched through the internet sites I usually troll for recipes and settled on a Lithuanian style Borscht, pureed.
Here is what I used:
Around two pounds of beets, cleaned peeled and sliced.
1 large cucumber, peeled, split, seeded, and chopped.
4 Tbsp butter
4 Cups Non Fat milk
4 Tbsp Lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/8 Cup minced fresh basil
3-4 Tbsp White Vinegar
Salt
Pepper
First I put the beets in a heavy saucepan and simmered them in butter with a little salt and pepper for like an hour.
Then I cooled the beets by immersing a bowl in a sink filled with ice water
While the beets were cooling I added the lemon juice to the skim milk to make a buttermilk substitute.  You could use yogurt, sour cream, or buttermilk... or even Kefir.  I actually can taste a bit of lemon in my finished soup and I like it, so, it's up to you how you go.
Then I put the beets in the processor, and added the cucumber, onion and basil (The original recipe called for dill, which I am not a big fan of, it also had no instructions for pureeing the soup.) and process till ...well... processed.
I transferred 1/2 the mix to a blender, added half the sour milk and started pureeing the soup and forcing through a mesh strainer till it reached the desired silky smooth texture.
I then refrigerated the soup overnight.  This is an important step.
The end result is a deliciously smooth, cooling treat, like a beet gaspacho. It is shown with a dollop of sour cream swirled in.  The lemon and basil accent the beets better than I expected.

Basil and More Basil

So our take from our organic farm share has been on the low side this year, based on a combination of an overly wet spring, compounded by volunteer and employee error resulting in entire lost crops.  However we HAVE been swimming in lettuce, getting plenty of summer squash and zucchini (watch for a post on zucchini pancakes, coming soon!), the corn and potatoes have started, and the tomatoes are just getting underway.  For the past few weeks, we have been getting large bunches of basil.  Far too much basil to use in one week of conventional basil usage, even if I had pesto every night!  SO!  How to preserve it, and how else to use it?  The pic above is the first way I came up with to use more, namely, fry the basil in canola oil and season it with salt and pepper.  above it has been paired with a fresh farm share beefsteak tomato, and some fresh mozzarella for a crispier version of a classic!  If you have a deep fryer, use it.  If not, heat 1/2" oil in a wok to almost smoking,  The basil should be dry. If washed first you must dry it with paper towels very well, or it WILL splash you will burning oil!  Add the DRY basil (Look, just make sure it's dry, aight?) in small handfuls to the oil, tossing quickly, and removing in under 30 seconds. NOTE:  Before you put your first handful of leaves in the almost-smoking-hot-oil, think about how you might get the leaves out of said almost-smoking-hot-oil.  Tongs will break the leaves.  You will need to scoop them out with a slotted spoon.  Drain excess oil.  DO NOT pat with paper towels or they will crumble. I actually lined my salad spinner basket with paper towels and spun the oil off of them, with some limited success.  They are a crispy and delicious treat, even if just munching!

An old Martha Stewart trick is to make Pesto and freeze it in portions for easy use later.  She used an ice cube tray.  Great idea but since I have an automatic ice maker, I have no ice cube trays.  So I simply found a good pesto recipe (one with nuts and lots of garlic and even walnuts!) whipped it up, and dropped tablespoon-fulls of it into a muffin pan, lined with plastic wrap.  I froze them on the pan, and then put the little pesto patties into a soup container to go back in the freezer.

finally (or, if truth be told, Firstly, since I actually did this a few weeks ago.)  I made a half pesto by processing the basil and adding some oil to make a basil paste which I use a spoonful at a time.  this has been turning darker, but still tastes great.

The Strawberries are here! Boneless Pork Chops with Strawberry Gastrique, Pecans and Gorgonzola

The Strawberries are HERE at last!  I've been buying and enjoying the Florida Strawberries for around a month now, and I think half the reason I buy the expensive inferior berries from down south is that when the New Jersey ones hit, they taste all that much sweeter!  Maybe they taste this good when you buy them fresh and local in Florida, maybe not.  All I know is that the plastic container of big fat berries in the supermarket cannot hold a candle to the fresh local berries I buy at the Farmer's Market in Trenton, or in a week when our organic farm share lets us start picking them ourselves.  So of course, at the Farmer's Market today, I got carried away and bought three quarts!  When I arrived home I immediately cleaned, hulled, sliced and sugared one of the quarts to have for dessert with some Halo Farms Lemon Cream Sorbet, toasted chopped pecans and whipped cream!  Then I decided that a nice gastrique style reduction would go nice with the boneless Pork Chops I bought for dinner,

So I sliced up about 1 1/2 cups of berries,

and put them in a pot with 3/4 cup water, 3/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar, 3/4 cup White Wine (sauvignon blanc), 3/4 cup sugar, and a pinch of salt.

I boiled them...

and boiled them some more until they reduced about 3/4.  The sauce was looking nice and syrupy at this point so I removed from the heat and strained into a measuring cup through a mesh strainer.  It still looked a little thin to me,

So I put it back on the heat and reduced it some more.

While all of this was happening, I prepared a nice salad of fresh lettuces, tomatoes, and carrots I got at the Farmer's Market, and seasoned my Pork Chops with Kosher Salt, Fresh Ground Pepper, and Fresh Rosemary.
I browned the Pork Chops in a pan, and allowed them to rest, covered, for about 8 or 9 minutes, while toasted chopped pecans on the stove.

I plated by pouring a little of the gastrique on the plate, adding the chop, topping with some of the pecans and  crumbled Gorgonzola, and finished with a bit more of the gastrique on top.

Served with the salad, some steak fries on the side, and a glass of the Sauvignon Blanc, they were a delicious harbinger of the fresh bounty yet to come this spring!  The dessert rocked too!

Adventures in Baking: Two Layer Key Lime / Strawberry Mousse Pie with a Strawberry Mirror Glaze

Wow!  It's been quite a while since I have blogged.  A semester in fact!  I am currently attending a Paralegal Certificate program at Mercer County Community College and it has taken time away from my blogging efforts. The semester is almost over and the farm share is just about to open up for the season so I look forward to another summer of fresh organic veggies and new adventures in cooking!  In the mean time I have been trying my hand at baking, with mixed results.  It is a different animal than straight cooking, and isn't as friendly to my experimentations, but that hasn't stopped me from trying.

Back in February 2010, Erika and I went on a 3 day cruise and spent a morning in Key West.  We had just enough time there to take a cab to the southern most point and walk back to the Gulf, walking past Hemingway's house, stopping for Conch Fritters and PBRs at The Conch Shack, and for a slice of award winning Key Lime Pie at The Blonde Giraffe (since closed).  It was the first and only time to that point that I had enjoyed authentic Key Lime Pie, with Meringue on top instead of whipped cream (The original way, since they were working without refrigeration back in the day)

The pie was awesome, and I vowed to make my own Key Lime Pie someday! So a month or so ago, lo and behold, Key Limes were on sale at the local Acme!  I bought a few bags, and after struggling to juice the first bag of those thick skinned little f#@%&rs with my trusty reamer-juicer and getting 2/3 cup of juice from a whole bag, I went to Bed Bath and Beyond and bought a proper lime juicer like the one to the left.  It made all the difference, and I tore through the rest, ending up with a few cups of the

tart lime juice, which I apportioned and froze.  

My first Key Lime Meringue Pie, was a great success, and tasted fantastic.  I took me right back to sunny Florida with the first bite.  It was such a success I decided to make one to take over to my Mother for a Mother's Day visit.  When I was growing up, she would occasionally make a Lemon Meringue pie, which I loved, but the Key Lime took it to a new level for me. As I was doing my planning, I remembered her saying that she wasn't a huge fan of Key Lime Pie.  Knowing the  versions I have had in the past up here in the Northeast, with their thick pudding like gelatinous fillings and thick whipped cream toppings, I can understand why, and was sure she would like MY authentic version!  As I made my shopping list however, I kept thinking about variations.  I had two large containers of fresh Strawberries in my fridge, and after searching on the 'ol infernet, 
I found the beautiful item at the top of the page for sale at a high end pastry business and decided I had to make that!  The only problem?  I could not find a recipe.  So, I found a recipe for Strawberry Mousse, and in another place, a recipe for a Strawberry Mirror Glaze.  I figured I would use my existing recipe for Key Lime Pie, and just leave off the meringue.  I would love to say that My creation came out looking as good as theirs, but... we'll get to that.

First, I bought myself a nice new Pyrex 9 1/2" pie plate with a nice wide lip.  This pie uses a Graham Cracker Crust.  The Blonde Giraffe used a Nilla Wafer Crust, but I thought for where I was going with the recipe, graham would be better.  Of course you could simply buy a graham cracker pie shell, but that would be cheating, wouldn't it? Anyway, the only shortcut I took here was to buy graham cracker crumbs, since I only have a mini food processor.
The original recipe for a regular 9" pie plate was as follows:

1 1/2 Cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup white sugar
6 Tbsp butter, melted
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)
for my 9 1/2 " plate I used a whole stick of butter, the same amount of sugar, and a little more than 1 1/3 cups of crumbs.  I simply added more crumbs till the consistency was the same as I remembered from the first time I tried.  Mix the dry ingredients well, then add the melted butter, and mix until thoroughly ...uh...mixed.  Press evenly into the pie plate using the bottom of a smooth glass, or measuring cup (or anything you can think of really) and bake for 7 minutes at 375 degrees.

The Key Lime Pie filling is the easiest step (once you have the limes juiced and zested and all)  As a note, you can buy Key Lime juice at your local supermarket most anytime.  The ingredients are as follows:
(3) large egg yolks
(1) 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 Cup Key Lime juice
1 tsp grated Key Lime zest. (since I only have a zest peeler, I minced the peels.

Mix these ingredients well, in a large bowl.

Pour into finished crust, and bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.  This pie only needs baking because of the salmonella risk in the uncooked eggs.  Originally, the pie would be finished at this point and would only be baked if they added the meringue.
For our creation, the pie at this stage must cool completely, before adding the mousse.

For the Mousse, you will need:
1 pound cleaned, hulled strawberries,
2 cups whipping cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 packet unflavored gelatin, poured into 1/4 cup of water to soften.

Here I am giving you the original directions. I diverted from these, because I evidently know MORE than the people that made the recipe!! (That was sarcasm, by the way.)  I used a recipe from the Joy of Desserts blog, and I thought that using a whole packet of gelatin would make the mousse too stiff and... well... gelatinous, so I halved it.  This could be my downfall.  As I type this, the pie in the fridge has a mousse that may not stand up when the pie is sliced later today at my Mothers.
So I chopped up the strawberries in my mini processor, in three shifts, and by then, my gelatin had hardened a bit too much to easily mix in,

So I threw it all in the blender and blended till smooth.
I poured this puree into a bowl, and placed in the fridge while I whipped the cream with the sugar until stiff peaks formed and held. (I forgot to take a picture of this, what with all the getting out of the Kitchen-Aid mixer, and cleaning up of same. Sorry.)

Then I folded the puree with the whipped cream and ended up with a lusciously smooth mousse, which I placed in the fridge, along with the cooling pie.

For the glaze, you will first need to make Strawberry Juice.  Use the following:
18oz cleaned, hulled, chopped strawberries
3/4 Cup sugar
3/4 Cup Water
Put this all in a saucepan, and mash while heating to a boil.

Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
Then strain through cheesecloth or a fine mesh strainer, without pressing on the fruit.  This will yield slightly more than 2 cups of strawberry juice.  You will need 1 1/2 cups of it for the glaze.  Pour the following into a small bowl:
1 tsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp Kirschwasser (dry cherry brandy)
1 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp unflavored gelatin (about 1 1/2 packets)
a few drops red food coloring (Not really necessary, as it turns out)

If the juice has cooled, bring 1 1/2 cups of it back to a simmer, then pour over the gelatin mixture.  Stir well until the gelatin has fully dissolved, and place the bowl into a large bowl of ice water, stirring periodically until the glaze starts to thicken up to a syrupy consistency.  DO NOT LET IT SET!!  Remove from ice water before it sets up.

Spread the Mousse into the pie shell, leaving a little space at the top for the glaze.  Notice how I didn't do that here.
I also didn't follow the directions properly on the glaze and didn't use enough of the gelatin.  So I reached a point where it looked like it was thickening up, and I poured it onto my over-filled pie at left, where it proceeded to start running off the edge, sinking into my crust, and sinking into my under gelled mousse.  Frustrated, I put the mess into the fridge and took a break while I cooked dinner.
For dessert we enjoyed leftover mousse which, while it might not be stiff enough for the pie, was beautifully smooth and creamy as a mousse by itself.

After dinner, feeling a little better, I took out the pie, and scooped the top inch or so of the notglaze and not-quite-mousse, put the pie in the freezer to make it set up, used the extra pints of berries I had, made the glaze from scratch (carefully following the instructions this time), and poured it onto the pie.

Whether or not it works out well, I won't know till later today.  I know it won't look as nice as the one here, but after cutting, I will photograph the results and update the blog in interest of full disclosure!
In any case, I know however it looks, it will taste good, and that's the important thing!
Happy Mother's Day!!