Category Archives: Eating

Chomp it up.

Eating

I love enchiladas

Here’s another dish from the “Don’t Panic” cookbook. This one needs some further tweaking, but it isn’t bad as-is. Just a little too mild for my taste. Next time, I’ll add more spice to the sauce.

I made the one-time-sized serving, which was meant to make 12 enchiladas. I had more than the prescribed amount of chicken, though, so I ended up with 15. Six went into the freezer; only three went into our bellies. Rockford will be taking some for lunch tomorrow, and we’ll probably have them for lunch again on Saturday. The moral of the story: This makes a lot of enchiladas.

This is the first time I’ve tried the foil-and-plastic method of freezing, so I’m not sure how it’ll come out once it’s thawing time. We shall see.

Chicken Enchiladas
1 onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
5 tablespoons butter, divided
2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
4 oz can chopped green chilies
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups shredded Mexican-blend cheese
12 6-inch tortillas

Cook onion and green pepper in 2 tablespoons butter until tender. Combine onions, peppers, chilies and chicken in a bowl; set aside.

For the sauce, melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan and stir in flour, coriander, cayenne and salt. Stir in chicken broth all at once; cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir one to two minutes more. Remove from heat; stir in sour cream and 1/2 cup of cheese. Stir 1/2 cup sauce into chicken mixture.

Pour enough sauce into a baking dish to coat the bottom. Fill each tortilla with about 1/4 cup of the chicken mixture. Roll up. (You may need to microwave the tortillas a few seconds to make them malleable). Arrange in baking dish and cover with remaining sauce and cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes until bubbly.

Freezing it: Line baking dish with foil and plastic wrap (enough to completely cover the food) and proceed as normal. Seal the plastic wrap and the foil over the enchiladas and put the dish in the freezer. Once the enchiladas are frozen, you can pop the foil packet out of the baking dish.

To serve: Remove foil and plastic wrap and return frozen enchiladas to the baking dish. Thaw completely, then bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes.

adapted from “Don’t Panic: Dinner’s in the Freezer”

Eating

In the smoking section

I made our first “real” meal in the new apartment tonight. And naturally, I set off the smoke detectors in doing so. What I mean to say is, I wanted to test the smoke detectors. Since I was already making dinner, I decided to take the two birds, one stone approach. Yes. I totally meant to smoke up the new pad.

Anyway.

I’m going to try to double up on at least two recipes a week between now and mid-November (a.k.a. PeteTime!). I bought a copy of “Don’t Panic: Dinner’s in the Freezer” before we moved, and tonight was the first chance I’ve had to take it for a test run.

We had Apricot-Glazed Chicken Tenders, which were very tasty. The “Don’t Panic” theory calls for the cook to multiply the meal for any given night, serving it for dinner and stocking the freezer with the extra portions. Until I realized that the Apricot-Glazed Chicken Tenders were actually in the appetizers section, I was a bit worried that the authors’ families were going hungry. The recipe was purported to serve 4 to 6 people, so I didn’t double the recipe. I think Rockford may have to run out for a burrito or something later. At least I’ll know for next time!

Something else I’ll know for next time: Bake, don’t broil. The “basic” version of the recipe calls for the chicken to be cooked under the broiler for a total of 18 minutes. I’m all for broiling, but the sugar in the glaze didn’t pair well with the intense, prolonged heat. The smoke detectors went off after the first three minutes of broiling.

While the chicken would have been better with its full complement of glazing, I opted not to set off the alarms again. Fortunately, the chicken was fully cooked at that point. And even without all of the glaze, the flavor was great.

The following recipe is for the appetizer version, which supposedly serves 4 to 6 people. As a main dish, I think it would serve 2 to 3 people, with the possibility of leftovers. Be sure to double (or triple) the amounts if you’re feeding more than a few.

Apricot-Glazed Chicken Tenders
2 lbs. chicken tenders
Marinade (recipe follows)
Apricot glaze (recipe follows)

Add chicken tenders to marinade in freezer bag, tossing to coat, and:

  • if freezing, marinate at room temperature for one hour. After marinating for an hour, freeze. Freeze apricot glaze (directions follow) in a separate, smaller freezer bag and store with marinated chicken..
  • if preparing for that day, marinate in the refrigerate for 6 to 8 hours or overnight.

    Discard marinade and place tenders in a large baking dish. (Thaw first if frozen). Heat oven to 425 degrees and bake for approximately 25-30 minutes, basting with apricot glaze and turning every 10 minutes. Shortly before chicken is done, put the chicken under the broil and broil until golden brown and bubbly.

    The Marinade
    1/3 cup vegetable oil
    3 cloves garlic, minced
    2 tablespoons lemon juice
    1 teaspoon rosemary
    1 teaspoon thyme
    salt and pepper, to taste
    1 small bay leaf, crumbled
    Combine ingredients in a large freezer bag.

    Apricot glaze
    1 onion, minced
    1 tablespoon unsalted butter
    2 tablespoons cider vinegar
    1 cup apricot preserves
    1 tablespoon soy sauce
    2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
    1/4 teaspoon ginger
    1/4 teaspoon cloves
    1/4 teaspoon salt
    1/8 teaspoon pepper
    In saucepan, cook onion in butter over moderate heat, stirring until softened. Add vinegar and continue cooking until liquid has reduced by half. Add preserves, soy sauce, Dijon mustard, spices, salt and pepper. Cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or until thick. Place mixture in a food processor or blender and puree.

    • Eating

    Donuts

    I really love donuts.

    Crullers, jelly-filled, long johns, cake, yeast, etc. I love ’em all.

    I also have a weak spot for hip-hop, but usually the underground stuff (Madlib, J. Dilla, etc.). I find most mainstream Hip-hop to be little more than a bunch of muck that I’d rather not support. What is the connection between hip-hop and donuts? I will explain.

    Recently, I have been listening to the album “Donuts” by the afore mentioned J. Dilla. It’s a really amazing collection of 1-2 minutes songs and interludes that found a home in my iPod. When we were members of Emusic a while back I downloaded the album. I had heard that J. Dilla was pretty good but had never really listened to any of his music. Then, after he died last year of lupus and his albums were momentarily in the spotlight (a sad commentary on how we treat good artists), Nichole found “Donuts” and was nice enough to download it for me from the service.
    jdilla.jpg

    Dilla was considered by many to be one of the best producers in hip-hop. A generally shy person, J. Dilla grew up in Detroit and stayed clean when those around him were not. “Donuts” was released on his 32nd birthday, just three days before J. Dilla died of complications due to Lupus and a rare blood disorder, in February of 2006. He died in his mother’s arms. It’s a sad ending, someone taken at such a young age. If interested, you can help support the family of J. Dilla by purchasing a shirt from http://www.stonesthrow.com/news/dilla-ts/index.html.

    I can say without reservation that I haven’t enjoyed an album of this style as much since “Madvillainy” back in 2004 and before that maybe The Beastie Boys “Ill Communication” from 1994. If you like good, mostly instrumental compositions with expert sampling, I highly recommend “Donuts”–you won’t be disappointed you tried these confections.

    And the best thing? These might be the only donuts that won’t go straight to your waist line.