Pineapple Habanero Chicken

This is my first all original recipe that I've created and have to say it's pretty darn good.  I made a couple pint jars of habanero pineapple jelly last fall and have been holding out to try them with something and I think I found the perfect solution.  It may not look as glamorous or appetizing as some of my other creations but it was definitely delicious.  We're having it again tonight, actually and the husband is excited!

Serves: 2-4
Ingredients:
  - Half a Pint Jar of Habanero Pineapple Jelly (or some other extra spicy tropical fruit jam)
  - 1 1/2 Medium Yellow Onions, Sliced
  - 3 Tbsp Rice Wine Vinegar
  - 1 Tbsp Salt
  - 3/4 Tbsp Pepper
  - 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
  - 1 lb of Chicken Breasts (usually 2 breasts)
  - 1/2 Cup Sour Cream plus extra for serving
  - 1 Tsp Asian Chili Garlic Sauce (optional add more or less to your taste)
  - 2 Cups Cooked Brown Rice

 In a non-plastic bowl, mix together the jelly, vinegar, salt, pepper and oil until well blended.  Rub the chicken down into the mixture making sure it is well coated and cover with foil and marinate in the refrigerator for 6-8 hours, longer marinate times will not hurt just give it richer flavor and moistness.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Heat a cast iron or oven proof pan  to med-high heat and place the chicken and the marinade into the pan along with the onions.  Cook the chicken 4-6 minutes on each side until just browned, all the while stirring the onions and softening them with the chicken and sauce.

   Place the entire pan into the oven and cook 10-15 minutes until chicken is cooked through.  Return the pan to the stove, with the burner turned off, stir in the sour cream and chili sauce.  Place the desired amount of rice on each plate and a whole or half chicken breast (based on however hungry you are :-) with sauce ladled over the chicken and a dollop of sour cream.  The dish is best with some kind of roasted green veggie and an ice cold beer!  Enjoy!

Trail Mix Bars

This recipe comes from a good friend of mine that is a wonderful baker.  She gave me the recipe a few weeks ago and I made it for my "birthday cake" since I'm not much of a craver of sweets nor did I want the extra calories of my usual birthday blueberry pie.  I mostly take a square of this heavenly stuff to snack on during the day at work in lieu of the usual cup of nuts or dried fruit.  It makes a lot of individual bars so it's great for households with lots of kids or if you like to stock up.  It's also great crumbled into a bowl of plain yogurt for your breakfast in the morning!

 

Serves: who knows - lots!  I still have over half in the fridge and have eaten it every day since mid-January and now it's mid-February!

Ingredients:

  - 1 2lb jar of Creamy Peanut Butter

  - 1 1lb jar of Natural Honey

  - 1 cup Rolled Oats - not the quick cook kind (I like the gluten-free)

  - 6oz. Cacao Nibs (the chopped up hulls of cacao)

  - 8 oz. 75% or higher Chocolate Chunks

  - 6 oz. Dried Papaya (usually comes in strips and needs to be diced)

  - 6 oz. Dried Sour Cherries (can chop them if you would like)

  - 8 oz. Pistachios

  - 8 oz. Sunflower Seeds

  - 6 oz. Dried Cranberries

  - 6 oz. White Raisins

  - 8 oz. Sliced Almonds

  - (obviously you can substitute whatever nuts you desire for the ones listed here)

  First, line a baking sheet with wax paper and turn the oven on to 300 degrees.
  Mixing all the ingredients takes a very large mixing bowl, I ended up using my very large stock pot because my mixing bowl wasn't large enough.  Mix all the dry ingredients together first and then add the wet ingredients - dig in with your hands (the only way to do this is to get messy and enjoy licking your fingers afterward!).  Mix everything until it is of even consistency with no big clumps of peanut butter.  Dump the entire mixture onto the wax paper and smooth out.  Place in the oven for 25 minutes.  Remove from the oven and place in the fridge - let it cool completely, about 2 hours.  Remove from the fridge and overturn the sheet pan onto a flat surface and peel away the wax paper.  Using a large knife slice the bars into the desired size and place in ziploc bags or wrap in syran wrap.  Enjoy!

You Really Expect Me to Eat That?

So as usual, California passed a law in order to protect its citizens from potentially harmful food substances.  This law known generically as "California's Downer Livestock Law" was aimed at commercial livestock farms that slaughter all their animals and package them for sale whether they are healthy and can walk on their own or not.  Downer cattle and pigs have a much higher incident rate of mad cow disease and other infectious pathogens but the commercial food industry, unwilling to give up a few bucks profit, has always found a way to get these downer cattle to the slaughter house and package them as if they are just as safe as the "healthy" livestock.  California's new law stated that any downer cattle or pigs must immediately be culled from the rest of the herd and euthanized to prevent any pathogens from spreading to the other livestock as well as to better regulate downer cattle from entering the slaughter house (federal law apparently already prevents these cows from being slaughtered but we know how well the FDA does their job - in the U.S. only 9% of all downer cattle are tested for diseases compared to 100% in the EU and Japan). 
  It's no surprise that the National Meat Association - specifically pig farmers (who have very high percentages of downer livestock) took this law to court to have it declared invalid.  The pig farmers won the battle with a federal judge near Fresno, CA with the argument that "with proper care and attention a non-ambulatory pig can be rehabilitated to become a healthy pig again and pose no threat to humans if fully recovered."  The judge bought the argument and agreed with the Meat Association.  My skepticism abounds and apparently so did the skepticism of the next judge at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals who called the decision of the lower court "hogwash"!  What corporate farm is going to take the time or money to "rehabilitate" a downed animal . . . that would be a total of none, in my opinion.  It would take too much money, a veterinarian bill, drugs, special attention from farm workers - yep rehabilitating downed livestock is just not going to happen.  The fight went all the way to the Supreme Court and in a unanimous decision by all 9 judges, they shot down the California law saying that the federal law that does not allow downer livestock to be slaughtered pre-empts the California law and therefore it is invalid.
  Typically I'm not one for government regulation and I like to keep the choices of what I eat under my control and not rely on the government to protect me.  There are people, however, that don't have the drive to research, the time to researach or the knowledge of food production that I have and I think that there needs to be some repercussions for the companies who perform these horrible business practices.
  I try to buy my food by always putting a "face to my food."  This means that you know the person or know of the person that produces your food and you can be sure that it is safe for you to eat and good to put in your body.  After all the undercover videos of forklifts pushing downer cattle to the slaughter house and knowing about the high number of anti-biotic resistant e-coli incidents in corporate produced meat, it's obvious how well the federal law is being enforced.  I'd just as soon buy my meat from the grass-fed farmer down the road, keep my money and economy local and help the people I see on a regular basis as well as taking the money away from the corporate snakes!

Beef Tongue in Madeira Sauce

My first foray into "offal" cooking was a success and with tripe and beef heart still in the freezer I'm expecting quite a few more successful ventures.  If ever in doubt about good old fashioned cooking never venture far from classic French cuisine.  My husband just bought me Stephane Reynaud's French Feast cookbook and it has everything in it.  This recipe is his only recipe for tongue but after tasting it, who needs another one?

 

Serves:  6

Ingredient:

  - 1 Beef Tongue

  - 1 Bouquet Garni - tied bunch of thyme, rosemary and bay leaves

  - 3 Carrots

  - 3 Onions

  - 3 Celery Stalks

  - 2 Shallots

  - 1/2 c White Wine

  - 1/2 c Madeira Wine

  - 3/4 c Heavy Cream

  - 1 pinch of Flour (more if you want your sauce a little thicker, which I think I might next time)

  - 12 Cornichons (sour french gherkin sized pickles)

  - 1 tbsp Capers

  - 1 bunch Tarragon

  - Olive Oil

  Peel the carrots and onions and slice them thinly.  Drop the tongue in a large saucepan filled with water, bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes.  Rinse the meat, disposing of the water, and repeat the process but adding in the carrots, onions, bouquet garni and celery.  Cook for 3 hours or until the meat is very tender. (3 hours was plenty at a heavy simmer)

   Once the tongue is cooked, remove the skin (I used my heavy dishwashing gloves to do this since the meat is very hot and slippery).  Thinly slice the skin (if the joining muscle is still connected to the tongue just cut it off at this time, it is mostly fat and cartiledge).  Place the sliced tongue back in the stock to keep it warm.

 

  Peel the shallots and chop them finely.  Saute in olive oil, add flour, and deglaze the pan with the white wine, scraping up the brown bits on the bottom.  Allow the liquid to reduce by half and add a ladle of the cooking stock, then the madeira and cream.  Allow to barely simmer until the sauce coats the back of a spoon or desired consistency, add salt and pepper to taste.

  Julienne the cornichons and add them to the sauce with the capers.  Cover the tongue slices with this sauce and sprinkle with tarragon leaves.  Enjoy with a nice green salad and vinaigrette and a starchy side like sauteed corn or mashed potatoes!

The CDC and Its Shady Practices

So it's been a while but with jumping around from contract job to contract job, a two week trip to MO with no internet and general unrestrained chaos in my life . . . I've finally got things under control and can find sometime to sit down and blog.  I'm hoping my new found serenity in life can continue for a while and I can also schedule time to sit here and write because it makes me happy :-)

  If there were any doubt in anyone's mind that the government and its agencies were corrupt it was blatantly obvious this week with an article about the CDC.  Apparently the CDC now has a policy of not releasing the offending company's names who produce or serve food that is contaminated with certain pathogens that make people sick.  The excuse the CDC gave is that they do not want to overly panic the public into not buying products from these establishments if it was not the direct fault of any one particular thing the company was doing or not doing but rather a general "oops" moment that probably won't happen again. 

  The case in particular that the CDC was being ridiculed over was a certain "mexican chain restaurant" who had served food in 10 different states that was contaminated with salmonella.  The result of this outbreak being that 68 people were sickened and one person died.  It has now come out, to no surprise to anyone I don't think, that the offending company was Taco Bell (the only other chain mexican restaurants in those states being Chipotle and Qdoba who have very good food practices).  It is also blatantly obvious that the CDC powers that be - those people that used to work for the private companies that they are now policing - are kowtowing to the big conglomerates to protect the company's reputation and revenues to the detriment of the American people, the same people they are supposed to be protecting. 

  To me it just makes everyone look bad all around.  The big companies are paying off or putting pressure on the CDC officials to not release their names in an obvious effort, in my opinion, to protect their bad practices in the name of profit.  I'm not sure what the CDC officials could possibly be getting out of the deal except for maybe money under the table or future benefits from these companies when they re-enter the private sector.  Regardless of the reasoning behind it all, it just backs up my desires to know exactly where my food is coming from and who produced it and how and not put anything that is mystery into my mouth.

Article can be found here:
http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/31/10274541-whos-behind-that-outbreak-sometimes-cdc-wont-say

Wild Mushroom Risotto

You may sense a recurring theme in our household meals - Mushrooms!  Yes, James and I love mushrooms but they provide an awesome substitute for meat in your dishes and taste wonderful as well.  This recipe is one that I've been adverse to try for a while now due to the high costs of morel mushrooms and saffron but this last week I just said the heck with it and tried it anyways (not to mention I still had some saffron leftover in my pantry).  When it came down to final prices it was about eight dollars per serving so it won't be in our usual weekly repertoire but definitely a great meal for special occasions.  James and I both agreed that this was the most amazing meal I've made to date! 

Serves:  6

Ingredients:
  - 1 oz dried morel mushrooms (usually come in 1/2 oz pkg at a specialty food store)
  - 1/2 lb fresh cremini mushrooms (can substitute shiitake or portobello)
  - 4 cups homemade chicken stock
  - 6 tbsp unsalted butter
  - 2 oz pancetta, diced (can substitute american bacon)
  - 1/2 cup chopped shallots (3 shallots)
  - 1 1/2 cups arborio rice (very important that you use arborio)
  - 1/2 cup dry white wine (pinot grigio, sauvignon blanc, etc)
  - 1/2 tsp saffron threads
  - 1 tsp kosher salt
  - 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
  - 2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving

Place the dried morels in a bowl and pour 2 cups boiling water over them.  Set aside for 30 minutes.  Scoop the morels from the water with a slotted spoon, reserving the liquid.  If some of the mushrooms are large, cut into 2 or 3 pieces. Pour the  mushroom liquid through a coffee filter or paper towel (morels can be gritty). You should have 2 cups; if not, add water to make 2 cups.  Set the mushrooms and the liquid aside separately.
  Meanwhile, remove and discard the stems of the cremini and rub any dirt off the caps with a damp paper towel.  Do not rinse them!  Slice thickly and set aside.

In a small sauce pan heat the chicken stock with the 2 cups of reserved mushroom liquid and bring to  a simmer (be careful not to boil off too much of the liquid or it won't be enough).
  In a heavy-bottomed dutch oven, melt the butter and saute the pancetta and shallots over med-low heat for 5 minutes.  Add the morels and porcini and saute for another 5 minutes.  Add the rice and stir to coat the grains with butter.  Add the wine and cook for 2 minutes.  Add 2 ladles of the chicken stock mixture to the rice plus the saffron, salt and pepper.  Stir and simmer over low heat until the stock is absorbed, 5 to 10 minutes.

 

Continue to add the stock 2 ladles at a time, stirring every few minutes.  Each time, cook until the mixture seems a little dry before adding more of the stock mixture.  Continue until the rice is cooked through, but still al dente (not soggy) about 25-30 minutes total.  When done, the risotto should be thick and creamy and not at all dry.  Off the heat, stir in the parmesan cheese.  Serve hot in bowls with extra cheese on top!

Turkey Day . . .

This post begins a series of blogs about the different foods that we consume during the holidays.  Being the centerpiece and the alternate name for one of our nations most treasured holidays I thought it a good starting point to begin with turkey.  Most every family in the country will buy a grocery store bought turkey to cook for their Thanksgiving feast, whether it be Butterball, Tysons or some other astronomically huge food company.  I wonder, however, how we might rethink what we are thankful for during this great holiday if we knew a bit more about the food to which we are giving our thanks.
  Industrial turkey operations are abominable and contribute to our unhealthy populous.  Don't get me wrong, I'm  not a big animal right's activist but the living conditions of the turkey contribute to the unhealthiness of the meat.  Turkeys are raised on giant farms (similar to chicken farming) mostly in the midwest and the south.  They never see the outdoors in their short lifespan unless it is in the truck ride to the slaughtering plant.  They are kept by the tens of thousands in enclosed houses with no natural light, wood chips covering the floor to absorb their waste (which isn't cleaned out until the turkeys are removed to the plant, a period of 12 - 14 weeks) the ammonia fumes given off by this waste is enough to burn your eyes and throat (imagine what it's doing to the birds) they are so cramped they can't move to develop good muscle for meat and their beaks are snipped so they can no longer peck and choose what to eat but are only able to shovel mass amounts of antibiotic laden corn into their stomachs.  To increase the amount of food the turkeys eat lights are kept on 24 hours a day to keep the turkeys awake and continually eating to gain weight.  Wild turkeys eat a varied diet of bugs, grass, and seeds which give them rich flavor and varied meat (white and dark).  The mono-diet of corn that industrial birds consume gives them very little flavor so at the processing plant all the birds muscles are injected with saline solution and vegetable oil to bulk them up and add flavor.  Hence the ginormous task of the home cook to keep the turkey moist, flavorful and edible.

                              Industrial white breasted turkey house.                             

Naturally raised organic turkey farm. . . you choose what looks healthier!

   Before industrial farming, it was no culinary feat to cook a turkey - just place it in a roasting pan with some stuffing, salt and pepper and it came out wonderfully flavorful - not so with industrial turkey.
  There is the huge issue of cost, however.  I've been receiving lots of emails from my local pasture-raised organic meat coop to pre-order my turkey for the holidays.  I believed that was a great idea and I love to jump at any chance to provide good wholesome food for not just my immediate family but the extended family as well - that was until I saw the prices.  For a naturally raised no antibiotic fed turkey in Northern California it's about ten dollars a pound, that's seventy dollars for a seven pound turkey!  Knowing that my mother-in-law usually gets at least a fifteen pound turkey if not larger I understood there was no way an average American household could afford this and we certainly could not.
  Here are the alternatives I came up with:  go for a traditional old-world style Thanksgiving and negate the leftovers (after all, the pilgrims certainly weren't putting leftover bird in the fridge or freezer for black Friday) therefore we would need a much smaller bird and compensate with more side dishes.  Non-traditionally we could cook Cornish game hens or any birds that the family had recently nabbed (i.e. ducks, quail, wild turkey, etc.).  For those families that hunt this is a great alternative but for those who don't organic game hens run about $3.15 a pound and can be cooked just like a turkey but in less time!
  Looking forward to any comments from you on alternatives to the industrially produced turkey feast . . . Happy Thanksgiving!