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Homemade Chicken Taquitos

January 25, 2011 — Leave a comment

Ingredients:
1/3 c. (3 ounces) cream cheese
1/4 c. green salsa
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp granulated garlic
3 Tbsp chopped cilantro
2 Tbsp chopped green onions
2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
1 cup grated pepper jack cheese
6-inch corn or flour tortillas
Non stick cooking spray
2 Tbsp vegetable oil (optional)
Kosher salt

Method:
Heat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray it lightly with cooking spray.

Heat cream cheese in the microwave 20-30 seconds, so it’s soft and easy to stir. Add green salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, and granulated garlic. Stir to combine and then add cilantro, green onions, chicken, and pepper jack cheese.

Wrap 3 to 4 tortillas at a time in damp paper towels and microwave 20-30 seconds so they are soft and pliable. If you find your tortillas are cracking when rolled, use damper towels and increase the microwave time.

Place 2-3 tablespoons of the chicken mixture on the lower third of each tortilla, keeping it about half an inch from the edges, and then roll up.

Place seam-side down on the baking sheet in a single layer. Spray the tops lightly with cooking spray or brush with vegetable oil. Sprinkle with a pinch of kosher salt on top. Place pan in the oven and bake 15-20 minutes or until crisp and the ends get golden brown. Cool approx 5 minutes. Serve with sour cream, guacamole, salsa or pico de gallo.

Makes approx 16.

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Oven Roasted Beef Tri-Tip

May 1, 2010 — Leave a comment

For the roast:

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

–OR–

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 Tbsp. kosher salt

2 tsp. coarsely ground black pepper

1 tsp. dried or 2 tsp. chopped fresh thyme or rosemary

1.5 – 2.5 pounds beef tri-tip, fat trimmed to 1/4 in.

If using salt and pepper, generously rub them all over the meat. If using garlic rub, first crush or mix well the garlic and salt together, mix in pepper and herb and then generously rub all over meat. In both cases, bring roast to room temperature for an hour before cooking.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place tri-tip, fat-side up, on rack in shallow roasting pan. Roast for 20 minutes, then begin checking internal temperature with thermometer. Remove roast at 115 to 120 degrees for rare, 125 to 130 degrees for medium-rare. Transfer meat to carving board or platter, cover with foil and let rest 10 to 15 minutes before carving so residual heat completes cooking and the juices stabilize.

For the pan sauce (optional) and to serve:

1/2 cup beef or chicken stock

1/4 c. red wine

1/2 tsp. dried or 1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme, rosemary or herb of choice

1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

While roast is resting, pour off fat from roasting pan, place pan over two burners on stove top and add stock, wine and herb. Bring to boil, deglazing the pan. Reduce sauce almost to consistency of syrup. Whisk in mustard and season to taste with salt and pepper.

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Dauphinoise Potatoes

May 1, 2010 — Leave a comment

Ingredients:

6 Large Yellow Yukon Gold peeled potatoes

5 whole eggs

1 Pint heavy whipping cream

2 cups Gruyère cheese

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. garlic powder

Method:

1. Mix eggs, heavy cream, salt and garlic powder until well mixed.

2. Slice potatoes very thinly in a food processor and mix well with egg mixture.

3. Spray a large baking dish with pan release and layer potatoes in pan and pat down.

4. Pour egg mixture over potatoes and sprinkle cheese evenly over the top of the potatoes.

5. Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes then turn 1/4 turn and bake an additional 10 minutes.

6. Increase temperature to 375 degrees and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes or until golden.

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Flank Steak

May 1, 2010 — Leave a comment

3 lbs. Flank Steak

1/3 c. White Wine Vinegar

3/4 c. Olive Oil

1.5  T. Rosemary

3 Garlic Cloves

2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pepper

Method:

Pierce with fork. Marinade 6 hours – 1 day.

Grill 12 minutes.

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Ginger Snaps

January 21, 2009 — Leave a comment

1.5 c. Shortening (marg or butter)

2 c. sugar

-cream together

add 2 eggs & 1/2 c. molasses

Dry Ingredients:

4 c. flour

2 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. cloves

1 3/4 tsp. ginger

1/2 tsp. salt

mix together

roll into 1 in. balls

roll in sugar

bake at 375 degrees fro 15 minutes

makes 4-5 dozen

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Julia Child

May 6, 2008 — 1 Comment

If there’s someone I aspire to be like in the cooking world it’s Julia Child. She didn’t begin cooking, really cooking, she says, until she moved to France. Food was very important to the man she married and so it became important to her. She is creditited with writing the book, The French Chef and in brining French Food to America. In 1963 she had one of the first cooking shows which premeired on PBS, it was so successful that it ran for 10 years. In 1981, she founded the educational American Institute of Wine and Food in Napa, California with vintners Robert Mondavi and Richard Graff to “advance the understanding, appreciation and quality of wine and food”, a pursuit she had already begun with her books and television appearances.

People often compliment style with the words “You’re a real Martha Stewart”, I’m not sure I would choose to say that to someone. No offense to Martha, but I am rarely moved as I browse through her slick magazine. Rather, to be viewed in the same light as Julia Child, now that would represent some authenticity; not a natural born chef, she struggled to figure out how to even get a meal on the table. In a period when women were absorbed in prepackaged food and low-cal diets she chose to write a 684 page book on how to cook french food at home. Below is one of my favorite quotes by her; I like it because I think it’s a smart way to look at your diet. Food should be about more than the caloric intake. 

“During those halcyon years of the sixties the solemn subject of nutrition had not raised its head, and the recipies in this book represent that happy guilt-free era. I have not changed them at all. I leave it up to you to edit them yourself as you go along. When a particular preparation calls for a big dallop of hollandaise sauce, for instance, you might use just a spoonful, or when you are directed to beat 1 cup of heavy cream into a fish mouse, use less. However, you don’t want to destroy the beauty of the dish. Far better to make it as directed at first, then eat just a spoonful, so that you will know how it is supposed to taste. Certainly one of the best ways to good health is to follow a well-balanced diet and the motto of the American Institute of Wine and Food:
Moderation
Small helpings
A great variety of food
No snacking
Weight watching and sensible exercise
Above all -HAVE A GOOD TIME”

Author: Julia Child, Source: The French Chef, 2nd Edition 1998, Introduction

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The Legend of Babette’s Feast

March 31, 2008 — Leave a comment

“Two single sisters make a place in their small Danish home for a woman named Babette, who seeks refuge from war in Paris. Together they live an austere life. One day Babette learns that she has won a prize of ten thousand francs. She ponders, she plans and then spends it all to import boatloads of the finest foods for one lavish feast. The little neighborhood guests gather, not knowing there is a culinary genius in the kitchen. During the dinner she never appears at the table, but remains perspiring in the kitchen, performing with meticulous skill and artistry. A young boy serves as her waiter and follows her instructions to the very letter from turtle soup, to the succulent grapes for dessert. The group savors her meal. Men and women who have been guilty of estrangements begin, impulsively, to revel in mutual forgiveness and fellow feeling. In the spirit of a toast a guest of honor stands. He is a uniformed general. He discourses on the glories of divine mercy, and then says, ‘This feast reminds me of a woman chef in Paris [she is standing only a few feet away in the kitchen]. She could,’ he says, and this is the key line, ‘transform a dinner into a kind of love affair; an affair that made no distinction between bodily appetite and spiritual appetite.’

This is the type of cook I dream to be; there is little that interests me more than food. While there is much I lack I feel like one of the best ways to show others you care about them is to make them feel comfortable. I have always felt like food is one of the best ways to do this since I associate being fed with being at home.

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