Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Lou's Most Excellent Green Chili Mayo

This one is pretty simple, assuming you have some green enchilada sauce left over. This was pretty good, as evidenced by my finger in the stuff.

If you don't you could achieve a satisfactory result with the following:

1 small can of Hatch chili peppers, loosely drained
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
¼ yellow onion, minced
¼ TSP salt
Up to 1 cup chicken broth
Corn oil
Flour

Sweat the onion in 3 TBS of corn oil until translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic, saute for 30 seconds more, then add 1 TBS of flour. Stir until blended and pasty; thin to a gravy with the chicken broth. Add the peppers, loosely cover and simmer for 15 minutes on low heat.

The Mayo

½ cup of Enchilada Verde sauce or the above quickie sauce
1 roasted poblano pepper, peeled and seeded
8 - 10 pickled jalapeno slices
¼ mayonnaise

In a mini food processor add the sauce, poblano and jalapeno slices. Process until smooth and nearly uniform in color and texture, about 2 minutes. Add the mayonnaise and then process an additional 30 seconds.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Lou's Most Excellent Mushmozz Chicken


Man I wish I could remember how I made this. I waited a week to write it up and what a mistake that was. It came together real quick.

If I were to do it again here's what I'd base it on:

- Brined chicken breast, but only brined with salt and garlic.
- Smoked mozzarella cheese
- Plum tomato, seeds removed, diced into dime sized bits
- Marinated mushrooms from the olive bar at Whole Foods, about 4oz.
- White wine (vino verdhe used here)
- Papardelle pasta
- Chiffoned basil
- Parmesan cheese

Pepper the chicken breasts and sear the chicken in about 2 TBS of olive oil. Remove the breasts then add the tomatoes and a splash of wine, saute for about 30 seconds and remove the tomatoes.

Begin cooking the pasta in boiling salted water.

Add about 2 TBS of the oil from the mushrooms to the pan, bring up to medium heat, then add 1 TBS of flour. Stir with a whisk to make a roux. Do this for about 2 minutes, until it bubbles profusely.

Add about 1 cup of wine to the roux and mix. Add the mushrooms. Return the chicken breasts to the pan, coat with sauce, and then top each with a generous portion of tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella. Add any remaining tomatoes to the pan. Cover the pan to melt the cheese.

Drain the pasta when al dente and reserve about 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Remove the chicken from the pan and plate; add the pasta to the pan and toss to mix. If necessary, add the pasta water to thin the sauce. Plate the pasta and add shaved Parmesan as desired.

It was pretty damned good...I should'a paid a little more attention.