White Bean Chili

We got a little cool snap this weekend that will be stretching into this week so I decided I would crank out one more pot of white chili before the soup season closes. In my mind soup is not a summer food, which is why it drives me up the wall that  the local chowder cook off is in the middle of summer. Who wants to eat chowder in 90 degree weather? Not me but then I just don’t want to even exist in 90 degree weather.

Some notes on this recipe before we get to it. This is chili not rocket science. Unless you do something really, really bad you cannot mess this up. I have never followed a recipe exactly for this, and i don't expect you to follow this exactly, so I will just give you a good frame work to work off of. I always add way more spices than what is listed here, I call it adjusting for taste. Just remember you can always add more but it is difficult to remove what you have added.  

One final thing, I usually make some cornbread to go with this recipe. Nothing like chili and some cornbread made from scratch but I tried something different this time. We were over by a very good local bakery, that makes an olive bread to die for, so we decided to pop in and pick up a good loaf of bread. Instead of the olive bread we got a cheddar cheese loaf, which kicked off the idea of white chili. The bread was amazing and went with the chili very well. I am surprised that the bread survived the night but I guarantee that it will not survive tonight. ; )

Ingredients:

Olive Oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 shallot, chopped (optional, I just had one laying around)

4 boneless skinless chicken thighs, cubed

4-10 cloves of garlic, pressed (in your Zyliss garlic press)

 1 fresh pepper (cayenne, Anaheim, jalapeno) chopped (optional depending on tolerance for heat)

30 oz of chicken broth

1 can chopped green chilies

1 ½ Tbl. Cumin (roasted)

2 tsp oregano

1 ½ tsp cayenne pepper (I used a dash of African cayenne)

1 tsp crushed red pepper

White pepper to taste

2 cans of white beans, undrained (Navy, great northern, cannellini, etc. mix them if you want)

Toppings:

Shredded cheese, Monterey jack works well but anything will do

Fresh Cilantro (optional if you think cilantro tastes like soap)

Wedge of cornbread or artisanal bread

1.      

1. Coat the bottom of a skillet with olive oil and sauté onions (and shallot) until tender, remove from pan.

2. In the same pan cook the chicken until done. Drain the excess fat off of the chicken.

3. Add onions and chicken to a large stock pot.

4. Add the rest of the ingredients to the stock pot and heat almost to a boil then reduce heat and simmer.

5. Let simmer for at least 30 minutes, then serve.

6. After you put the chili in a bowl sprinkle with the shredded cheese and cilantro.

As an alternative you can cook it in a crock pot on a high heat for 3 - 4 hours. That is what I did and it turned out very well. Just remember to stir it before you serve it because your seasonings will settle on the bottom of the pot and who ever gets the last bowl is in for a kick.

Serve with your favorite beer, I think I had a Flying Dog

Linguini & Clams with a Red Sauce & More

Very rarely do I make anything Italian but I had a thing of shredded Parmesan cheese in my fridge that needed to get used.

Olive oil

1/2 c. Chopped onion

1 Chopped shallot
1 (14 1/2 oz.) can diced tomatoes, undrained and chopped
1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste
1/4 c. Dry white wine
1/4 c. Tomato sauce
1 tsp. Dried whole basil

1 tsp. Dried Oregano
Fresh pressed garlic to taste (I used lots)
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
2 (6.5 oz) cans whole baby clams, drained
8 oz. Whole wheat linguine (Follow the cooking directions on the package, that is what they are there for)
1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese

Coat a large pan with some olive oil and put it on a medium heat. Sautee the shallots and onions until tender. Add the next 8 ingredients. Bring to a low boil and reduce heat. Simmer this uncovered (I recommend using a splatter screen) for about 10 – 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. You want to cook off some of the liquids so your sauce thickens and will stick to your linguini. Once the sauce has reached a desired consistency, add the clams. Simmer for a few more minutes. Serve over cooked linguini and sprinkle with grated Parmesan. 

This is like a 3 for one today. I served the linguini with a kind of a Capri salad and garlic Focaccia bread.

Capri (but not really)Salad

1 Package baby spinach (rinsed and drained)

1 Package cherry tomatoes

1 Ball of Mozzarella (cut or ripped into bite sized pieces)

Dried or fresh basil

Dried oregano

Balsamic reduction (store bought unless you want to make it…)

Mix the first 3 ingredients together in a big bowl. Serve in salad bowls. After salad is plated add some basil and oregano and drizzle with the Balsamic reduction.

Garlic Focaccia Bread

1 small loaf of Garlic Focaccia Bread

Lots of fresh pressed garlic (my Zyliss was getting some use yesterday)

Butter

Slice the Focaccia into 3rds lengthwise. Spread the pressed garlic onto the bread like butter. I like garlic so I went a little bit heavy handed. Add a few little pats of butter to the bread. Toast in a toaster oven until the bread/garlic starts to toast and turn brown. Serve with linguini.

Notes on all of this.

Next time I will make a few changes to this recipe. It is good but I can do better. First my herb garden is not ready yet. Hopefully next time it will be so I can use fresh herbs. Second thing I would change is to add more wine and reduce more. I think the wine got hidden in there. I may even try some Sherry to really get that flavor to come out. Finally I would add about half as many more clams. I like clams and there just were not enough for me.  But like I say about any of my recipes, have some fun, play with it and make it yours.

I also paired this with Flying Dog’s Raging Bitch beer. It is not so much that it goes with this, I mean it is a pretty stand up beer that can handle a red sauce, it is just that it is one of my favorite beers.

My bad ass chicken recipe

This recipe really doesn't have a name. This was just something that I made up when I was living in Virginia Beach. I think my roommate Kris was my kitchen test dummy at the time. I think I got the idea from Chicken Cordon Bleu but it is really nothing like it. I apologies for not giving you a hard ingredients list but there is really no defined amounts. I will tell you what you need and how to do it. From there it is simple enough but pretty labor intensive. It is probably one of my girlfriends favorite dishes of mine but I rarely make it because of the amount of work involved.There is also a lot of room for improvisation in this recipe. Please read the entire recipe before you begin, it will help determine what you need to do  So, without further adieu...

My bad ass chicken recipe

Ingredients 
- Chicken breasts, filleted and pounded flat (you can also use chicken cutlets)
- Crumbled feta cheese (Crumbled blue will also work0
- Baby spinach
- Fresh Garlic, pressed, to taste
- Bacon (thick or thin cut depending on cooking method)
- Stuffing (optional depending on cooking method)*
- Bamboo skewers

Method: Preparation

Take the chicken fillets or cutlets and pound them flat, if they seem to be to thick to work with. Do not pound them so flat that they have holes in them or you will have problems later. I find that an empty beer bottle seems to do the trick.

Put a layer of spinach leaves on the chicken.

Put some crumbled cheese and pressed garlic in the center of the chicken. You want just enough that you can roll the chicken up without it leaking out all over the place. Make sure you tuck the ends of the chicken so as to create a cheese and spinach filled chicken roll-up.

Take the skewers and use them to hold the chicken shut, it should take about 3 - 4 per chicken. Trim the skewers so that there is only about 1/2 an inch sticking out on each side.

Take the bacon and wrap tightly around the chicken. Don't wrap so tightly that you rip the bacon or squeeze the stuff out.

Set chicken aside and move on to the next one, until they are all wrapped up nice and neat, like so:

Method: Cooking

There are two cooking methods that I have used for this dish, grilling and baking.

Grilling:
I originally cooked this on the grill. I used a medium low heat and put the chicken as far away from the flame as I could, because as the fat in the bacon renders you will get some vicious flare ups. Try to abate the flames as best as you can but keep in mind that the bacon serves two purposes in this cooking method. First as bacon cooks it will tighten up on the chicken, sealing in the juices and melting cheese. Second, and the reason why you want thicker bacon, it protects if from the flames. Cook the chicken until you get a 165 internal temperature.

When it is done cooking, pull it off the grill and let it rest for 5 - 10 minutes. Either remove the skewers or warn your diners that they are there (this is very important when grilling as the ends tend to burn off). The bacon can either be eaten or discarded. It should be rather charred and crispy on the outside but still tasty....

(I will add pictures when I get them for this method)

Baking: 
I have adapted a second cooking method for this dish, baking. To bake the chicken I use a 375 degree oven. I take the chicken and put it in a Pyrex dish full of stuffing. For this method thinner bacon is better as it will crisp up in the oven quicker than thicker bacon will. Cooking time is around 45 minutes but varies depending on the size of the chicken rolls (cook to an internal temperature of 165). At about the half way point I flip the chicken, for even cooking. When done, remove from the oven and let rest for 5 - 10 minutes. Remove skewers or warn diners that they are there.

*A note on stuffing. I often cheat with stuffing and will make boxed stuffing, unless i have the time to make my own. I have found Bell's Stuffing to be one of the few commercially available stuffing's that does not have High Fructose Corn Syrup in it. I am not sure why stuffing needs HFCS in it but I don't want it. That crap is everywhere and I try my best to avoid it. Also when making boxed stuffing I like adding sauteed onions and some diced up crispy apples (granny smith, honeycrisp, pink ladys etc...). I also replace the water with beer or chicken broth. When baking it uncovered like I am in this recipe I tend to add a touch more water than what is called for.

Sorry for being so wordy but this is my baby and I wanted to treat her right. If you have any questions about it, please ask in the comments and I will try my best to answer them.

Here is the finished product from last night with some Bell's Stuffing and some steamed Asparagus with pressed garlic thrown in the steamer bag.

Bon Appétit

Variant on my bad ass chicken recipe

Well I was really rushed for time tonight and didn't have time to make my "Bad Ass Chicken Recipe" so I made a variant of it. As soon as I get a chance to make it I will post the original but for now this will have to suffice. I have never made this particular variant before so it is kind of an experiment. ;)

I don't really consider this so much of a recipe as it is a method...

Ingredients:

Boneless skinless chicken thighs
Bacon (thin cut)
Your favorite BBQ sauce (mine is Bone Sucking Sauce)

Method:

Take a baking sheet or Pyrex baking pan and cover in aluminum. Put a baking rack in the pan on the aluminum.

Rinse and dry the chicken thighs.

Roll the thighs up and wrap them with a piece or two of bacon, then dip in your favorite BBQ sauce and place on the rack.

Once you have them arranged nice and neat, like so:

Throw them into an oven preheated to 375. Bake for about 40 minutes, turning once and basting. Once the chicken hits an internal temp of 165 it is done.

Serve with rice and a steamed veggie for a simple, easy dinner. Enjoy with your favorite beer.

After making this there are a few alterations that I would make.
1. Given the time I would marinate the chicken in the bone sucking sauce. I think it would enhance the flavor.
2. I should have turned on the broiler on for a few minutes and really crisped that bacon. There is just something about crispy bacon and chicken that is awesome.
3. I think a grill would have been best, with some Bone Sucking Sauce to baste the chicken with as it was cooking.

BBQ Pasta Salad

I have finally gotten around to getting this thing up and running. Please comment. I am open to reader submissions. If you know me, let me know and we can figure something out. If you don't know me leave me a comment and we can try and work something out.

This is one of my all time favorite pasta salads. Every time I have made it has been a smashing hit. The original for this came off of the food network. I have modified it fairly heavily so it is now mine. As with any recipe I encourage you to make your own modifications. Play with it and have some fun.  That is what cooking is all about.

BBQ Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 1 Lb fusilli pasta (or what ever kind of pasta you want)
- 2 T apple cider vinegar
- 1 t hot sauce
- 1/2 t chili powder (i always end up using a lot more...)
- 1/8 t garlic powder (i tend to use fresh crushed garlic and a lot of it, I recommend Zyliss garlic presses)*
- Pinch of cayenne (i have big fingers so my pinch is a healthy one)
- 1 C Mayonnaise
- 1/2 C BBQ Sauce (use what ever kind you want but I highly recommend Bone Sucking Sauce)
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 2 ribs celery, sliced thin (can omit if you dislike celery like i do)
- 2 whole scallions, sliced thin
- 8 - 16 oz of pulled pork (pulled chicken works for those of you who don't eat pork)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Parsley leaves for garnish

Directions

FOLLOW the directions on the package of pasta. They put the directions there for a reason, use them. Slightly under cook. That way it will have a nice firmness for the pasta salad.

In a large bowl, mix vinegar, hot sauce, chili powder, garlic, cayenne, mayo and BBQ sauce. Add vegetables to coat. pour BBQ dressing over pasta and mix well. You can then either place pork/chicken on top of the pasta or mix it into the pasta. I prefer to mix it in. Salt and pepper to taste. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Let me stress that last bit. It has mayo in it. That stuff is one of the number one big offenders of food borne illness. Keep it cold until you are ready to serve. It goes great with beer or anything else for that matter.

If by chance there is any left (there shouldn't be), I advise chucking it instead of turning it into leftovers, especially if it has been at room temp for more than an hour or so. I would rather toss something than kill someone. Alternatively you can break out only what you need as you need it and keep the rest refrigerated.

 * More on the Zyliss. I like their presses for a number of reasons. There may be better presses out there but you are going to pay for them. I went on a search for a garlic press not too long ago and what I found was that presses in the same dollar range as the Zyliss were crap. They had shoddy construction, stupid ergonomics or just did a piss poor job. Some of the more expensive ones that I saw really didn't do it for me. I just couldn't justify dropping $50 on a garlic press when there is one out there that is well made and presses the hell out of some garlic for $14. I am not getting a kick back for plugging Zyliss (yet, maybe we can work something out???). I am trying to make it a point to only plug kitchen equipment that 1) I use 2) I think is awesome. Those are my standards.

Greetings

Welcome to my recipe blog. This is not my weekly recipe but more of an establishment of my mission statement. What I would like to do is to post at least one recipe a week of something I have cooked. I want to try and provide as detailed of an ingredients list and instructions as I can. However there will be plenty of times where I will not use an exact amount of something or use an exact technique but I will try and be as descriptive about what I am using or what I am doing as I can. It is cooking, not rocket science so have some fun…

I would also like to bring some of my friends on-board with this project. I know that many of them are no strangers to a kitchen and I think that the knowledge base that could be accumulated here is immense. So looking forward hopefully some of you will want to participate either by recreating what I am doing or by contributing your own recipes. Either way it should be good times.

Another aspect to consider is that I like to be challenged. So please feel free to either comment or contact me in some other way with things you would like me to take a stab at. Really I would like to make this as interactive as I can and as fun as I can. I mean, really there is no point playing in the kitchen if you are not having fun doing it.

A little about myself and cooking: I think my interest in cooking comes from my Grandma Stout and my Grandma Pat. My Grandma Stout was an amazing baker and just all round good cook. My Grandma Pat does fancier and more refined cooking. I can remember helping both of them out in the kitchen when I was younger. I am not sure if I was really helping of if they just put up with me in the kitchen… The other greatest influence was my mom. Of course most people will fiercely defend their moms cooking as the best in the world and that is understandable. My mom aside from being a mighty fine cook also taught me how to make something out of nothing, which is what she often had to work with.

For many of you this is probably the retelling of the abridged version of my life story…. For the rest of you … My formal culinary training consists of being a Navy cook for 7 years. More often than not it was mass production of food like substances more than it was actual cooking. But even in the worst case I still learned many of the basic skills of cooking during my time in the Navy. While I was in I also did a fair amount of cooking at home and really tried to refine those skills (thank you Kris for being a guinea pig). After my time in the Navy I went to school at Johnson & Wales and got a degree in restaurant management. I am pretty sure that the degree is not worth the paper it is printed on but I have it none the less. Now that I have totally divested myself from cooking for a living or for a scholastic endeavor my passion for it has picked back up (the Navy really did a job on ripping the passion for cooking out of me).

Now days I find that I primarily cook for me and my girlfriend. On occasion I will cook a little something something for a party, gathering or get together with friends. This seems to pick up during the summer when I am poolside and have access to a grill. If you have not been to one of my poolside cookouts you have no idea what you are missing…. So cheers! And here is looking forward to posting my first recipe. Not sure if I will be able to get to something this weekend or not as I have a term paper to write but I will hopefully have a chance to make something.