Fast Food of the Week

CHIPOTLE

Chipotle is my favorite place to get Mexican food. The flavors of the chicken, beef, and pork are rich and juicy. Their salsa and beans, though simple side dishes, are well seasoned. And their rice is perfection.

Indian food in a box

Last night bubby and I cooked Indian food. Boxed Indian food. I know, I know. A foodie cooking Indian food from a box?! Before anyone says anything we did vamp it up. We cooked beef and added it to the sauce that came with it. And we had some pita bread. We didn't make it, but it completed our meal and added a little something.

The Archer Farms brand meal was actually pretty decent. Of course it doesn't replace home-cooked Indian food--which I have never attempted to make, but perhaps will after I complete my Spanish cooking book--but is a great substitute for anyone who doesn't want to spend too much time cooking Indian food and still want to experience the flavors and taste of India. Like I mentioned earlier, bubby and I cooked some beef and mixed it with the sauce it comes with. (This meal is really great for people who are vegetarian) It was a quick and delicious meal. Took less than 30 minutes and full of, you know, flavor explosion as all Indian food is.

We decided to add some meat to the dish so we cooked some beef and spruced it up by adding some red wine. Yum. But we did overcook the beef just a little... but still delish.

The boxed meal came with basmati rice, tikka masala sauce (which we cooked with the meat), a side dish of potatoes, and mango chutney, which was so sweet and slightly tangy but created a good balance with the tikka masala sauce.

Bubby thought the rice was un-spectacular, rather generic actually, but then again we're used to eating different types of rice and always have it readily-available. He thought the beef imparted its own full-bodied, earthy flavor to the tikka masala, though the box recommended chicken or tofu.

Bubby: "It seems more than most cuisines of the world, Indian food ought to be mixed and matched, and it seems a single Indian dish possesses as many disparate flavors working in unison with one another as entire meals do in other cuisines. The aromatic quality of Indian food might be the singular characteristic that leads people to first thinking "exotic" when they eat it."

You can definitely tell if it's me or bubby writing. He is a natural born critic. He has a lot to say, and says it very eloquently. I definitely agree with his comment to the picture above. Indian food is indeed very aromatic and tickles your sense of smell which enhances the taste. Everyone needs to try to make some for dinner. Or head over to your nearest Target and buy yourself a box!

Eat, eat, and EAT!

Stuffed Bell Peppers

I made another recipe from my Spanish cooking book--one that I really loved and would recommend others to make, especially for parties. Very easy, substantial, healthy, and delicious. Bell peppers have a sweetness to them that is so incomparable to any other vegetable. When it is roasted or grilled, the flavors are overwhelming and explosive.

Here are some pictures of the stuffed bell peppers. The recipe follows.

The bell pepper on the left was so oddly shaped. It didn't have those four, uh... bumps?, on the bottom that allowed it to stand. So that one had a little problem standing right-side up when I placed in the baking dish.

The peppers with the tops off and the inside emptied.

The stuffing cooking away...

...and ready. Mixed in some fresh parsley.

Stuffed.

Before.

After.

Yum.

Bon appetit!

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Recipe for Stuffed Bell Peppers

4 red bell peppers

3/4 cups of cooked rice

1 lb of ground pork or lamb

1 14 oz can of chopped tomatoes, drained.

1/2 of an onion. I used 2 shallots, but any onion will do.

2 cloves of garlic

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup of white wine

2 tbsp chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley

1 egg

Salt and pepper to season

Add 1 tbsp of olive oil to a pan. Cook the garlic and onion for about 5 minutes. Add the ground pork, season with salt and pepper, and let it brown completely. About 7-10 minutes. When the meat is fully cooked, add the white wine (I didn't have any white wine, so I substituted it with sherry. Still turned out good) and let it cook until the liquid is absorbed, about 10 minutes. When there is little amount of the liquid left, add the tomatoes and let it simmer for another 7-10 minutes then add the cooked rice.

After you add the rice, remove from heat and add the egg, parsley, salt, and pepper. Mix well and add the mixture into the peppers. Afterwards, drizzle some of the leftover olive oil over the mixture and pepper itself. Place the caps onto the pepper (drizzle olive oil on the cap as well. It will help the peppers roast) and let it cook for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

*The original recipe only called for 1/2 cup of rice, but I figured there is one pound of meat so the ratio is a little uneven. I cooked a cup of rice and just added the amount I felt allowed the ratio of meat to rice to be even. I love rice, so I added a little more. I recommend adding 3/4 cups of cooked rice, long grain rice would work here. I also added one bay leaf. Every time I cook ground pork I like adding bay leaf because the flavors mix really well together and removes any obvious "porkiness" taste. I added it while I was browning the meat.

Hope you enjoy this recipe! Try it out, kids and adults will definitely enjoy this.

Eat, eat, and EAT!

Me, and you baby, were meant to be

I love sushi, and anyone who doesn't is missing out! As an homage to my love for sushi, I made it a mission to make some. This past weekend, R.J. and I made... *drum roll* a smoked salmon roll with cream cheese and cucumber and some California rolls topped with baked salmon. I also made spam sushi. The first time I'd ever tasted it was junior (or senior?) year at a Filipino club meeting, and Corrie, who has a really cool  food blog, brought some for the meeting and i fell in love. I love spam. Especially spam and rice. So naturally, I love spam sushi. I re-created it, and it was delish. R.J. and I will certainly make more sushi in the future. The only thing I need to do is find a specialty supermarket that sells fish directly used for making sushi. I didn't know you couldn't use the fish from the supermarket. I should have figured though. Sushi (of any kind) = taste explosion.

Before it was cut into rolls....

almost....

Viola!

Considering it was our first time making sushi, we did an okay job for presentation, I must say.

The California roll with the baked salmon with spicy sauce.

A close up. It was so good!

My spam misubi. I <3 spam.

After seeing these pictures I hope you are inspired to try to make homemade rolls. It's not very difficult to make and your end result is worth all the work. Invest in a bamboo mat (I got one at Cost Plus World Market for only $2.00!) to help you make the perfect roll. And share it with someone you love because sushi was made for sharing...or not. It's so tempting to keep all the sushi for yourself!

Oh, and because he is my partner in crime (and the best cooking partner), check out R.J.'s blog for movie news, music, and everything in between. I would only promote blogs that I enjoy and think others would too.

Nighty night.

Eat, eat, and EAT!

A Few Things Here and There

Here are just some dishes R.J. and I have made throughout the week. We cook so much during the week, so I figured I'd share some of the dishes we've made. They are all very spectacular and definitely taste explosion. 

A box of chocolate from See's Candy. I would like to take credit for this and say we made it, but we didn't. It was, however, sooooo good. My mouth is watering just looking at this picture.

I made some pancit (Filipino-style noodles) with shrimp balls.

Yum-o.

Add some rice and nori, and it's a meal!

Jack Daniel's Shredded Chicken sandwich, provolone cheese, sun chips, and Blue Moon. A great mid-week meal. Also try Jack Daniel's Shredded Pork (which R.J. and I originally tried. It's so sweet and full of goodness.

All photos are taken by myself and R.J. However, R.J.'s quite the master at taking close-ups, so I will credit all that to him.

Eat, eat, and EAT!

Churros and Hot Chocolate

For dessert after the Chicken in Garlic sauce, I made homemade churros with creamy, rich, and delicious hot chocolate. I've never made homemade churros before, and it is worth all the struggle to make. The dough becomes quite sticky and was difficult to work with. The dough needed to be squeezed through a piping bag used to decorate cake and the challenge was in putting the dough inside the bag. It's a very heavy and sticky dough, but rewards you with such tremendous taste. Taste explosion.

Here are some pictures of the churro and hot chocolate. After making the homemade hot chocolate, I realized it is ten times better to make your own hot chocolate than buying those packages of powder. It's very easy to make and the richness is all worth it. Delish.

Frying the churros.

Whisking away. Hot chocolate = heaven.

The final product! Hot chocolate for two and some churros makes for a perfect Saturday night.

Perfection in a cup.

Eat, eat, and EAT.

Chicken in Garlic Sauce

My first attempt at Spanish cuisine is the Chicken in Garlic Sauce. Let me tell you, it was so delicious! The best chicken I've ever had (and I've tried a few)! It was so tender and juicy, and the sherry really added so much flavor in the sauce. When I was looking at the picture in the book, it looked as though tomato sauce was added; in actuality it's just all the paprika that gave it that reddish color. I really liked how the garlic was toasted then mixed in with the parsley afterwards. It was added when the chicken was almost done. It's a very nice touch; it doesn't allow the garlic to cook and eventually melt away if it was added early on. Adding it last allows the flavors of the garlic to sustain throughout the dish even after it's removed from the heat. And the Spanish sure do love their parsley. It pairs well with the garlic--well, anything with garlic pairs well! I made rice pilaf with parsley to go along with the chicken. Very simple to make: long grain rice, chicken broth, and parsley. The ratio of liquid to rice is 2 : 1 and I mixed in fresh chopped parsley at the end when the rice was already cooked.

The one thing I did do differently was I minced the garlic, cooked it for a little bit, then removed it from the olive oil. The recipe calls for leaving the skin on when you cook the garlic. I see the point in this in that it's similar to roasting garlic in the oven. The garlic skin will allow the garlic to soften without burning it and also flavor the oil. But needless to to say it still turned out well if you peel, slice, and cook the garlic instead of simply cooking the garlic with the skin on. Although next time I make this dish, I won't remove the skin.

 

Here's a look at the progressive steps towards the end result of delicious chicken in garlic sauce. MmmMMmmmMmm

Recipe for Chicken in Garlic Sauce 

courtesy of The Food of Spain: a journey for food lovers. by Vicky Harris and John Newton.

Ingredients:
2 lb of boneless, skinless chicken thighs*
1 tbsp sweet paprika* pimenton
2 tbsp olive oil
8 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1/4 cup of fine sherry (cooking sherry also works)
1/2 cup of chicken stock
1 bat leaf
2 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
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Trim and excess fat and skin from the chicken. Combine the paprika with some salt and pepper in a bowl then add the chicken and toss to coat. Rub the chicken with the spices.

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan, then add the garlic cloves and let it cook for 1-2 minutes. Remove the garlic from the pan and add the chicken in batches (if your pan is not big enough) and cook for 5 minutes or until both sides are brown all over. Return the chicken to the pan and add the sherry, chicken stock, and bay leaf. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, over low heat for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile squeeze the garlic pulp from their skins and pound with the parsley into a paste using a mortar and pestle or a small bowl and the back of a spoon. Stir into the chicken, then cover and cook for ten minutes, or until tender. Serve hot.

*Sweet paprika is Spanish paprika and is roasted. You can purchase this from the grocery store, but it is a little pricey. I used regular paprika and the flavors still meshed very well.  

*You don't have to buy the chicken skinless, boneless. I actually think it's better to leave the bone in because it adds so much flavor. I did remove the skin, which is very simple to do. So I recommend buying chicken with bone in.

Eat, eat, and EAT!