Fancy food: Poulet Saute au Vinaigre

It’s a lot of fun to play ‘fancy’ every once in a while. I don’t get the chance very often, being on a budget and all. However, that doesn’t keep me from illusions of grand dinner parties, where I feed my guests on fine china and everyone gasps in delight at the feast I put before them.

Last week, I celebrated my birthday. I’m old. To make sure this was properly celebrated, I scoured the internet to find the perfect dish that would make me happy, feel decadent, and leave me smacking my fingers. I found this recipe through Reddit, and I was surprised to find that even my mister loved it. It’ll definitely make for an easy date night meal. I hope you enjoy!

 

Poulet au Vinaigre

4 lb chicken, cut into 8 pieces

Salt and pepper

½ cup butter

2 tbsp olive oil

6 very ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped

1 cup best-quality red wine vinegar

1 cup chicken stock

1 heaped tbsp chopped parsley

   ·      Season the pieces of chicken simply, with salt and pepper.

   

   ·      Heat the butter and the olive oil until it begins to turn brown. 

   ·      Slowly add the chicken and allow it to fry until the exterior is golden brown all over.

   ·      Add the tomatoes, and keep cooking everything at the same temperature. You will notice that your tomatoes will become darker, and will lose a significant amount of their moisture.

   ·      Pour in the vinegar and allow the mixture to reduce. Allow it to reduce until nearly disappeared. Add your stock, and simmer once again until the liquid reduces by half. This will take a while!

   ·      Add 1 tbsp chopped parsley, and serve immediately. Serve with a simple starch. We chose an easy white rice.

An Easy Tomato Cream Pasta with only 10 Ingredients

Creamy tomato sauces are a weakness of mine. I love the silkiness that comes from the cheese and cream, and indulge in the slight acidity that comes from the tomatoes. As I’ve already admitted, my husband loves himself some great saucy noodles, so when I found this recipe, I had to give it a shot.

There’s no way a recipe for something so good should be so easy, right?

Wrong.

I have to say: this is a simple, fast, delicious recipe that can be made in the middle of the week, and leave you plenty of time for relaxing and patting your full belly. My adaptation allows for large pieces of tomato to mix in with the sauce, allowing for extra bursts of flavor throughout the meal. I hope you like it as much as we did.

Easy Tomato Cream Pasta

Ingredients

2 tablespoons oil of your choice

2 tablespoons butter

½ medium onion, finely diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 cans (15 ounce each) crushed or cubed tomatoes

 Salt and pepper, to taste

 Dash of sugar

1 cup heavy cream

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

1-1/2 pound pasta of your choice

Instructions

• Cook the pasta of your choice according to package directions. Drain the noodles, but make sure that you reserve 1 cup of the pasta water for later. 

• In a large pan, heat your butter and oil over a medium heat.

• Once the butter has begun to melt, add the diced onions and garlic. Sautee them for a minute or so, letting them become translucent they will be very aromatic.

 

Watch to keep your garlic from overcooking and burning.

• Pour in the tomatoes and add salt, pepper, and sugar to taste. Stir and cook over low heat for 25 to 30 minutes. Stir the ingredients every few minutes or so to keep them from sticking.

 

I chose diced tomatoes.

• Lower the heat to lowest setting and stir in cream.

• Add the Parmesan cheese, and check the seasonings to make sure the flavor is still where you want it. If you feel the sauce is too thick, add some of the reserved water.

 

If you don't like too much cheese, you can always hold off. I couldn't. 

• Stir in pasta and and serve immediately. We chose to serve ours with a piece of grilled chicken breast and my garlic knots. It was a feast. 

Andrea's Almost-all-the-way Authentic Green Chicken Enchiladas

I grew up around great cooks. It all started with my grandma, who loved making us feel at home by stuffing us to the brim with some of the best Mexican food known to humanity. No one could make Mexican food like my grandma, which made it hard to ever go to Mexican restaurants. My mom and aunt followed suit, and are amazing cooks in their own right. Growing up in Southern California, both of them were exposed to different styles of cooking, like Italian, Asian and American. Because of this, I am used to gobbling up home-style cuisine from all over. Now, I'm going to share some secrets of that amazing cooking with you.

Now, before we start, it's important to mention the following about Mexican cooking: no two women will EVER make it the same. Aside from the different region styles of cooking, each family has a "secret" recipe trick that they guard carefully, sharing only with the other women of their family. Heck, even some daughters-in-law miss out on the awesome flavors.

Second, most of these recipes are learned by watching; exact numbers are almost never written down. You have to do it "por ojo," or to taste. This leads to highly individualized flavors. With that been said, this will be highly reflected in most of my original cooking recipes.

With that all said... on to the enchilada!

Ay, que enchilada!

A good enchilada will always be followed by one thing: seconds. They're gooey. They're spicy. They're hearty. I combine mine with Spanish rice, sour cream, and an empty stomach. There are far more complex ways to make enchiladas, and you can make your own tomatillo sauce, but this is a recipe that my mom taught me to make when I'm dying for good Mexican food but don't have hours to sit and stew tomatillos, garlic, and peppers.

Andrea's Almost-Authentic Green Chicken Enchiladas

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves **I prefer dark meat, so I swapped out the breast for 8 thighs
18 (6 inch) corn tortillas, torn in half
1 (28 ounce) can green chile enchilada sauce
1 (7 ounce) can salsa verde
1 (16 ounce) package shredded Monterey Jack cheese

1/2 small onion

1/2 cup chicken broth
Season salt to taste
Salt to taste
Garlic salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Cajun seasoning to taste

6-8 tablespoons canola oil

1 small container of sour cream for topping

You should be able to see flecks of pepper. Taste the chicken, love it.

1. Set your oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Boil your chicken in a pot, completely covered. This will take approximately 25 minutes. You want your chicken to fall apart easily, as you'll be shredding it. Pull your chicken out of the pot, and set aside the chicken's broth for the enchilada sauce.
3. Pull apart your chicken into large chunks, and once they have cooled, season your chicken with garlic salt, pepper, and Cajun seasoning. This allows for flavor throughout your enchilada.

You can choose spicier sauces, if you dare.

4. Once your chicken has been seasoned, take your two green sauces and the 1/3 cup of chicken broth and put them in a large sauce pan, putting them to simmer down. Stir occasionally. 

**Remember, these sauces, while fine the way they are out of the can, are very basic. If you want more of an authentic flavor, throw in a dry habanero pepper, as well as salt, garlic salt and season salt to get rid of the canned taste. Allow your sauce to simmer on low. It will stay on low for the remainder of your enchilada prep time.

So saucy.

5. As your sauce simmers, shred your cheese and cut your onions. These will be part of your stuffing, along with the chicken. To make enchilada assembly easier, I strongly suggest having all of your stuffing nearby, with the casserole dish that you will place your enchiladas on nearby. You'll be moving quickly, and you need to make sure that you aren't wasting time scrambling for parts of your enchiladas.

6. Pour canola oil into a frying pan, leaving it at medium high. This should be right next to your green enchilada sauce, which should still be simmering. 

Be careful when working with hot oil.

7. Once the oil is hot enough to fry, place one tortilla in the oil, flipping it to cover both sides in oil for approximately 5-8 seconds. 

8. Immediately move the tortilla to the green sauce, coating both sides heavily with sauce. Be careful to use a wide spoon or spatula, as you don't want to have the tortilla tear. **Make sure that you use a different cooking utensil for flipping your tortilla in the oil and coating the sauce. Otherwise, the oil will splatter. 

Pick up the tortilla from the middle.
It allows for less tears.

9. Place tortilla onto a plate for enchilada assembly. Sprinkle onion, cheese and chicken onto the tortilla, then roll it onto a casserole dish. This will be a little messy, so be prepared to catch drippings from the sauce.

I won't judge you if you lick your fingers while assembling.

10. Once you have all of your enchiladas rolled, place more cheese and sauce onto the enchiladas. 

Though tempting, don't eat these before putting them in the oven!

11. Place enchiladas into the oven for 20 minutes. The cheese on top should be completely melted. and the sauce on top of the enchiladas should be thickened.

12. Serve immediately, with a dollop of sour cream on top of the enchiladas. Add to the flavor with some Spanish rice, and watch just how quickly these enchiladas disappear!

You know it's good when you're dying for seconds while still eating the first serving.

Amazing Vietnamese Spring Rolls with Pork and Shrimp

I know it’s the middle of winter, but as a lucky Southern California native, it’s always beautiful outside. With that, there’s no such thing as ‘summer foods’ or ‘winter foods.’ Today was beautiful, and I had the hankering for something cool, filling, and refreshing. I’d spent a lot of the weekend making fatty

foods, so I needed something to help me reboot my tummy.

I came to the conclusion that some fresh spring rolls with a homemade peanut sauce were in order. These seem daunting, but once you get the hang of cooking a spring roll, you can start eating within the hour. If you’re like me, it’ll be near impossible to not eat all of your ingredients while you cook.

I took a recipe from a very popular blog, White on Rice Couple, and made a few tweaks to add some extra pow to the meal.

Vietnamese spring rolls

Serves 3-4

Ingredients: