Fire-Roasted Salsa!

My absolute favorite thing to cook, and to eat, is Mexican Food, Tex-Mex, Southwestern, anything along those lines. So after last week's labor intensive Julia recipe, I went with an old favorite, Grilled Chicken marinated with Chitpotle-Lime Sauce, and served it with Black Bean Sauce. Topped with Chevy's Fire-roasted Salsa, and some Spanish Rice. The Griller grilled the tomatoes and the jalapeno's, thus making this a very easy recipe for me. Except for the part where all the rice spilled on the floor. Still finding those two hours later! Not even the dogs bothered with that! Dessert was a car ride away to Red Mango Yogurt. Pomegranate Frozen Yogurt. Good stuff.


Chevy's Fire-Roasted Salsa

from Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2 by Todd Wilbur
Source: Perrys' Plate
Printable Recipe

6 medium tomatoes
6-8 jalapenos (I use 2-3)
1/4 medium Spanish or Yellow onion
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons liquid mesquite smoke (I omitted)

Preheat grill on high. Remove stems from tomatoes, then rub some oil over each. Leave stems on jalapenos and rub oil on them, too.

Place tomatoes on grill. After about 10 minutes, add the jalapenos. In about 10 minutes, turn the tomatoes and peppers. When almost all of the surface of the peppers are black, remove them from the grill. The tomatoes will turn partially black, but when the skin begins to come off they are done. Remove from grill to a bowl.

Remove skin from tomatoes and place in a food processor. Pinch the stem end from each pepper, remove any skin that has burned, and place into food processor with tomatoes.

Add remaining ingredients and puree on high for 5-10 seconds. Chill for several hours or overnight before serving. Makes about 2 cups.


Black Bean Sauce
adapted from Simply Recipes
Printable Recipe

3 cans black beans, drained, rinsed
1 quart chicken stock)
2 bay leaves
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
Add any other chili powder you like, Ancho, Pasilla, Guajillo
Some cilantro, use a bunch or less, to taste (we like less!)
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Prepare Black Bean Sauce while chicken is marinating. Place 2 of the 3 cans of the beans in a soup pan, and add all the ingredients. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 1 1/2 hours. Add additional chicken stock if needed. Remove the bay leaves, and then puree to a smooth consistency with an immersion blender. You can use a food processor or blender as well. Add the last can of beans and stir in, simmer for about 20-30 more minutes, then serve, with grilled chicken.


Spanish Rice
source: Internet
Printable Recipe

1 1/2 cups rice
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup plain tomato sauce, or canned diced tomatoes or Rotel Tomatoes with green chilies
3 cloves minced garlic (or a little less than 1 teaspoon powdered)
1/4 medium onion (or a little less than 1 teaspoon powdered)
2 tablespoons oil
Red pepper, diced

In a medium sauce pan, heat oil over medium heat. Add in the red pepper, garlic and onion. Saute for 1-2 minutes until softened. Add in dry rice. Stir for about 5 minutes until rice becomes a golden brown color.

Add in broth and tomato sauce. Stir and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to low and cover. Let it simmer for 20 - 25 minutes until there's is no liquid and fluff with a fork.

Tweet

Grilled Lime Chicken with Black Bean Sauce

I found this excellent grilled chicken recipe on the blog Simply Recipes a couple of years ago, maybe longer. We loved it the first few times I made it! I mean my kids really raved about it, even the picky one! and it's been a long time since I made it again, and it was such a nice afternoon here, perfect for grilling, our dinner menu was set. This is a great recipe. The grilled chicken is great on it's own, but once you put the sauce on, it's fantastic! The Salsa is from there, too! Perfect with the chicken.


For the sauce I adapted the original recipe a bit. I used chicken stock instead of water, added cumin and chili powder, few drops Tabasco, some fresh lime juice, couple of fresh jalapeño's, 4 cloves garlic and I needed it to serve a lot so I added more black beans, 3 cans total. Pureed the whole thing, then added in the bay leaves. Simmered for about an hour and a half. I used thin sliced cutlets because they take no time to cook, and some skinless, boneless thighs. but I did cook them about 15 minutes at 350 and then finished on the grill. I did not re-use the marinade at all because I forgot. It marinated about three hours in the frig and the flavor was great, even without using the marinade on the grill. Leftovers for lunch tomorrow, the grilled chicken will go in a salad and the Black Bean Sauce will go in a soup bowl with a little sour cream and some more Fresh Tomato Salsa! Thanks to Elise at Simply Recipes, your recipes are delicious! I made some changes, the original recipes are at Elise's site.

Grilled Lime Chicken with Black Bean Sauce
adapted from a recipe from Elise @ Simply Recipes blog
Printable Recipe

For the Grilled Chicken:
Juice of 4-5 limes
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup (more to taste) chopped fresh cilantro ( I used less)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts (worked well with thighs and skinless drumsticks, too!)
1 red onion, halved then sliced into 1/4” strips

For the Black Bean Sauce:
1 (15 oz.) can black beans, drained, rinsed (I used 3 cans total)
1 quart water (I used chicken stock)
2 bay leaves
2 cloves garlic, minced (I used 4)
Stems from one bunch of cilantro, chopped into 1/4” bits (approx. 1/2 cup)
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Combine the lime juice, olive oil, cilantro, oregano, salt and pepper in a glass bowl and mix well. Trim the chicken breasts, then add to the marinade. Cover lightly and marinate, turning the chicken occasionally, for 2 hours or overnight in the fridge.

Prepare Black Bean Sauce while chicken is marinating. Place beans in a large sauce-pan or soup pan, and add all remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 1 1/2 hours. Add additional water if needed. Remove bay leaves, and then transfer the bean mixture to a food processor. Process well, adding water if needed to make desired consistency.

Preheat the oven to 350° F, and prepare grill. Place the red onion slices in the bottom of a shallow, oven-proof dish, then cover with chicken breasts and marinade. Cover the dish loosely with aluminum foil, then bake for 15-20 minutes (only until the chicken is opaque). Remove the chicken breasts and onions to a platter and set aside.

If you like the onions softer, heat a skillet with about 1 tablespoon of olive oil and cook the onions over medium heat until they are soft.

Place the chicken breasts on the grill. Grill until they are thoroughly cooked through but still moist. Remove to a platter when it's done cooking.

Serve the chicken with the red onions, drizzled with the black bean sauce. Garnish with sour cream, guacamole, tomatoes, fresh salsa, whatever you like.


The Salsa
I grated the jalapeño's and serrano's on a microplane because it mixed it nicely and the heat blends in instead of my poor kid getting a chunk of jalapeño in one bite. Besides, I keep them in freezer so I have some when I need them and they grate really well frozen. I use a lot less cilantro than the recipes called for because my kids think it tastes like soap in large doses!

and how do you dice a tomato anyway? I tried, but it still tasted really good. So much for a dice, chunks work:)

Fresh Tomato Salsa
adapted from a recipe from Elise @ Simply Recipes
Printable Recipe

2-3 medium sized fresh tomatoes, stems removed, finely diced
1/2 red onion, finely diced
1 jalapeño chili pepper (stems, ribs, seeds removed), finely diced
1 Serrano chili pepper (stems, ribs, seeds removed), finely diced
Juice of one lime
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste

Chop up 2 medium sized fresh tomatoes. Prepare the chilies. Be very careful preparing the hot peppers. Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and hot water after handling and avoid touching your eyes for several hours. If the salsa isn't hot enough, you can add as many as you like for more heat.

Combine all of the ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Give it a taste. I add less heat at first, you can always add more.

Tweet

Suzy's Magazine Challenge...

and my pile for April is dwindling by the night table! but the mailman just brought some new issues for May!



I love Suzy's Great Cooking Magazine Challenge at Kitchen Bouquet. Gives me incentive to go through the pile and we get to try some new recipes in the process!

This one is from Martha Stewart Living, May 2009 issue. Excellent recipe. Didn't change a thing, didn't burn it or screw it up either :) I used white button and cremini mushrooms, what I had on hand. Made two pounds, lots of flavor! Tasted them hot from the oven. Served them warm! Both great. Definitely a do over!



Roasted Mushrooms
Chris Bianco, Martha Stewart Living, May 2009

1 pound mushrooms, preferably royal trumpet, cut lengthwise into 3/4-inch slices
3 ounces 1/4-inch-thick pancetta, cut into 1/4-inch-by-1-inch pieces
4 fresh or dried bay leaves
3 garlic cloves, smashed, or 2 green garlic, thinly sliced crosswise
Pinch of red-pepper flakes
3 stems fresh rosemary
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Fine sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon julienned lemon zest

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Spread mushrooms on a rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle with pancetta, bay leaves, garlic, red-pepper flakes, and rosemary. Drizzle with oil, and season with salt and pepper. Roast, rotating sheet halfway through, until golden brown around edges, about 20 minutes.

Spoon off excess fat. Add wine and stir. Roast until wine has almost evaporated, about 5 minutes more.

Toss with parsley and zest. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.

This a recipe I've mentioned before that we love. Sticky, sweet and as hot as you like it! Cherry Cola BBQ glaze, 3 ways! We like choices here. One kid doesn't eat the ribs or the steak, one kid likes all three. Everyone's happy this way. A little bit of something for everyone and leftovers for lunch the next day! Except me, I wanted takeout so I wouldn't have to clean up!



The recipe for the Cherry Cola BBQ Glaze can be found here or here!



We used to bring new meaning to flame broiling. The buzz word being FLAME! but now I cheat and precook the wings and ribs in the oven first. Then finish on the grill. On medium heat! Since we figured out precooking and lower heat on the grill, we haven't been eating incinerated chicken wings in a very long time.




On the side we had a really good and spicy black bean and corn salsa, I got it a while ago on the Cooking Forum at gardenweb. Spicy, smoky, hot. Great flavor. Always gets raves! For the heat wimps used less chipotle!



Spicy Black Bean Salsa
Source: Cooking Forum, posted Lorijean
Printable Recipe

1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 teaspoons minced canned chipotle chiles
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 15- to 16-ounce cans black beans, rinsed, drained
1-1/2 cups fresh corn kernels, blanched, or frozen corn kernels, thawed
1-1/2 cups chopped red onion
1-1/2 cups chopped tomatoes (about 3 medium)
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 large ripe avocado, halved, pitted, peeled, diced
Tortilla chips

Whisk first 6 ingredient in large bowl to blend. Stir in beans, corn, onion, tomatoes, and bell pepper. Mix in avocado; season to taste with salt and pepper. Can be prepared 2 hours ahead. Cover and refrigerate.

Tonight's dinner is anyone's guess!

Tweet

A nice easy dinner for a nice Spring day...

Remember the magazine challenge from Suzy at Kitchen Bouquet from last week? Maybe two weeks ago? I really like that challenge. I have tons of magazines with dog-eared pages and post-its coming out the top! Time to try another magazine recipe! We did the grocery shopping early and of course had another list two hours later after I looked at that pile of magazines. Had my heart set on this Greek style recipe from the March issue Gourmet. Chicken Gyro's with Cucumber Salsa and Tsatsiki. Awesome! Searched through epicurious to find a soup to go with it. Found an easy Avgolemono that was good, just needed some tweaking! It needed way more than 3 tablespoons of lemon juice, I thought. So I added more!

Avgolemono Soup
by Victoria Granof (Cookie, April 2009, Epicurious.com)

4 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup uncooked orzo (or rice or pastina)
Salt and pepper to taste
3 eggs
3 tablespoons lemon juice

In a large saucepan, bring the broth to a boil.

Add the orzo, rice, or pastina and cook until tender but still al dente, about 7 minutes (20, if using rice). Season with the salt and pepper and reduce heat to low; simmer.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and lemon juice until smooth.

Ladle about 1 cup of the hot broth into the egg-and-lemon mixture, then whisk to combine.

Add the mixture back to the simmering saucepan. Stir just until the soup becomes opaque and thickens as the eggs cook, 1 to 2 minutes. Add more salt and pepper, if desired, and serve.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The gyro's were a really big hit! I used a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket. We all loved them. Big, big hit! I used pocketless pitas, whole wheat. Pretty much my only change was toadd a splash of red wine vinegar to the salsa. No one else likes Tsatsiki, but I do and it was a nice recipe. I just added a little more lemon. Everyone else slopped their gyro's with hummus from Trader Joe's! The whole thing took almost no time to prepare, and it will definitely be on the table again and again.

Chicken Gyros with Cucumber Salsa and Tsatsiki
by Kay Chun (Gourmet, March 2009)

2 Kirby cucumbers, divided
1 1/2 cups Greek yogurt (3/4 pounds)
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, divided
5 garlic cloves, minced, divided
1 pint grape tomatoes, quartered
1 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced
1/3 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/4 cup chopped mint
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 rounded teaspoon dried oregano
1 rounded teaspoon dried rosemary, crumbled
1 (12-ounces) package naan bread (four 8-inch pieces)
or 4 (8-inch) pocketless pita rounds
1/2 roast chicken, skin discarded, meat shredded (about 2 1/4 cups), and carcass reserved for stock
1/2 head iceberg lettuce, thinly sliced

Preheat broiler.

Peel and grate 1 cucumber, then squeeze it with your hands to remove excess water. Stir together with yogurt, 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice, one third of garlic, and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper to make tsatsiki.

Cut remaining cucumber into 1/4-inch pieces and stir together with tomatoes, onion, parsley, mint, remaining 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice, and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper to make salsa.

Gently simmer oil, oregano, rosemary, remaining garlic, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper in a small heavy saucepan, stirring constantly, until garlic is fragrant but not browned, 1 to 2 minutes. Toss chicken with 3 tablespoons garlic oil and brush one side of bread with remainder.

Heat bread, oiled side up, in a 4-sided sheet pan, covered with foil, 3 to 4 inches from broiler 3 minutes. Uncover and broil, rotating bread for even coloring, until golden in spots, about 2 minutes.

Spread some of tsatsiki on warm bread and top with chicken and some of lettuce and salsa. Serve remaining lettuce, salsa, and tsatsiki on the side.


Slice and bake sugar cookies for dessert! Rolled in sprinkles. Overbaked but not burned. I'm getting there. Sort of!

and today was a really nice Spring day! Tomorrow it's rain. and probably a restaurant! Maybe next week a cookbook challenge. I have hundreds of those. Not far from the magazine pile.

Tweet