Lil Indian Excursion – Almond Cilantro Yogurt Chicken

Last week one of my coworkers invited my project team over to his house for dinner. His wife whipped up this massive array of delicious Indian food and we all pigged out happily while enjoying the family atmosphere of the dinner at his home. It’s rare as a young, single professional living far away from your parents to get that family feeling at a meal – kids running around, a lovely mother-like hostess graciously encouraging you to eat more, the heart of a person’s life shared with you. It was really so lovely and made me feel a bit sad to miss out on that by living so far from my own parents. But, anywhere you go, you can create a new family. Not to replace your blood relatives, but a new branches to your family tree in all the good friends you find along the way. This is my extended family for whom I cook these days. We feast over too many bottles of wine, raucous laughter, and highly inappropriate conversations. A very different flavor from dinners at home, but so warm and wonderful in its own way.

In any case, my fave dish of the night was actually served as an appetizer. The wife made these baked chicken drumsticks with a cilantro yogurt sauce that were soooo tasty! We begged her for the recipe and she happily talked us through what she did. I only remembered some of the main parts, fully expecting to be able to google something similar when I got down to actually cooking it. Sadly, my google skills failed and I did not find anything really similar to what she described! unbelievable! So, left to my own devices, I devised the following recipe from what I remembered with, of course, a few cookie-experimental modifications.

 

Ingredients:

• 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (you can also use drumsticks or breasts)
• 1/8 cup slivered almonds
• 4 TB minced garlic (or 4 cloves, minced)
• 1/2 piece of ginger cut into matchsticks
• olive oil
• 1 bunch cilantro chopped
• salt, pepper
• 2 cups low fat plain yogurt

1. Make the sauce base -  In a food processor, or a blender, if you are gangsta like me, toss in the almonds, garlic, ginger, and about 1 TB olive oil. Run the blender, pouring in some more olive oil as needed to help it all flow. In the end you should end up with a chunky paste like below. Place it into a large bowl.

  + Much blending + olive oil =

2. Add the cilantro – Take your coarsly chopped cilantro and pop it in the blender w/out cleaning it out. Add some more olive oil and chop til you’ve got your fresh greens down to something that looks kinda like pesto. Add that to your big bowl with the almond/garlic/ginger paste.

 

3. Add seasoning & yogurt – Add salt, pepper and stir together, tasting to see if it is the right flavor for you. Then add the yogurt and stir all together to make your delish sauce.

4. Marinatin’ Time! – In a very large container, place some sauce on the bottom, then place the chicken as flat as you can in the container. Cover evenly with sauce. Add more layers if needed. Cover with plastic wrap and let it marinate at least 2 hours, or, even better, overnight!

 

5. Cook it – Heat the oven to 350. Line a baking pan with foil and spray with some cooking spray. Place each piece of chicken onto the pan after shaking off any excess sauce.

Bake for about 35 min, then turn oven to broil and finish off the chicken for about 7 min or til the edges get toasty brown.

now, as a new feature on Cookie Loves Eating, we bring you VIDEOS!!

Are you ready to chow down on this dish??

Woo hoo! hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I did!

Portabello Party in Yo Mouf!

This weekend I went to austin to see my friend Jen and we went out to La Condesa. Normally, I would say that I do NOT like mexican food, b/c living in Texas, there are Tex-Mex places on every corner and every Texan will list Tex-Mexican as their favorite food. I find the food at these places just too heavy for me and i feel like rolling over and taking a nap after eating endless bowls of chips n salsa, fajitas, cheesy things. blahhhhhhh.  However, knowing that Jen loves delicious food as much as i do, I was excited to see what was in store for our Mexican dinner.  First off, the restaurant is beautiful! such unique decor and beautiful atmosphere. Also, the cocktail list was yummy and fun. I had something delicious with Jim Beam and the waiter lit an orange peel on fire and rubbed it on the rim of the glass before plopping it into my drink. So cool! and tasty!

Anyway, on to the meal. I have to say, the food was fantastic, and I was so happy to have some very tasty, creative Mexican Mexican food! Also,I am now obsessed with one of the dishes we had: Hongos Y Huitlacoche (I had to look that up!). From what i remember, the dish was a crunchy corn crust, topped with portabello mushrooms, some of that crumbly mexican cheese and truffle oil. HOLY CRAP this smelled like heaven!! the combination of earthy, meaty portabello against the rich truffle made this such a decadantly delicious nibble. I thought my mouth was doing a happy dance with each bite I took!

So now, back home, I obviously can’t stop thinking about this dish and had to experiment with my own version.  I haven’t reached the level of amazingness of the La Condesa dish, but I think it is a nice variation. Great for an appetizer or a quick snack. I can see how these ingredients could also translate well into a pizza/flatbread/bruschetta.

Ingredients (Makes 4 appetizers):

• 1 large portabello
• Some sort of thick cracker or flatbread (I used WASA)
• Corn (frozen or canned is fine)
• Shredded mozzarella
• Fresh figs
• Truffle oil
• Salt, pepper

1. Heat the oven to 350 and line & spray a pan with tin foil.
2. Place 4 crackers on the pan. I picked up these crackers b/c from the box the looked like the right consistency. They are a little bit less crunchy than i had hoped for. Any suggestions for a crunchy, corny cracker?

 

3.  Wash portabello and squeeze dry in a paper towel. Slice in 1/4 inch strips and line up about 2-3 strips on each cracker. Carefully, lightly sprinkle some truffle oil on the mushrooms and sprinkle with some sea salt.

4. Slice the figs along the latitude lines intos nice little circles and lay them on top of the mushrooms.

5. Sprinkle with some corn and a little more salt.

6. Pop in the oven for 10-12 minutes until you can see the mushrooms start to get a little bit darker/more shrunken.  Pull out of the oven and sprinkle with shredded mozzarella. Pop back in, turn onto broil for about 3-5 min to melt the cheese and brown the edges of the cracker. Remove from heat and serve quickly.

I am so in love with the truffle oil on portabello. They are like lovers that are even better together than they are on their own!  I dug the fig too. That little tiny bit of sweet. I might even try some balsamic on the figs next time!

With the extra portabello I had, I whipped up a quick, light veggie pasta dish:

Ingredients (2-3 servings):

• 1 portabello mushroom
• 2 roma tomatoes
• small handful of yellow grape tomatoes (optional)
• handfull of fresh cilantro
• 4 basil leaves
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• some pasta (I used bowtie!)
• Shredded parmesan cheese or asiago

1. Boil the pasta and set aside when done.
2. Mince the garlic, dice the tomatoes, Portobello, cilantro.
3. Heat some olive oil in a pan. Add minced garlic and stir about 30 seconds, add Portobello and dash of salt/pepper. Then tomatoes (red & yellow) and sautéed some more. Adding salt/pepper/sugar to taste. I generally prefer my tomato dishes with a touch of sugar to mellow out the tartness. Don’t overdo it! Just a dash to cut the tart.
4. Cook about 5 min til combined well. Add chiffonaded basil and toss once. Pour over bowl/plate of pasta. Top with coarsely chopped cilantro and shredded cheese, if you please. ;-)

 

MMM. Super light, but still very tasty and filling. I also sauteed some of these greens I found at the asian store. They are kind of like watercress, but smaller, more tender. I have no idea what they are, but they are very green and tasty!

Hope you enjoy trying out these portobello recipes! Remember, these puppies are a great source of fiber, selenium, potassium and lots of other good stuff.

Simple, Healthy, Tasty food

Inspired by my friend Deb’s blog, I went shopping this week with budget and health in mind. Like Deb in her previous single-occupancy life, I often think nothing of going out to the store to shop for food for one meal and dropping between $40-$70. Mind you, these meals tend to be for 10+ people as Colin and I love dinner parties with friends, so it’s not that much, but I wanted to be more conscious of my day-to-day grocery spending this week. There’s a new farmer’s market, Newflower, that opened in town, and I’ve not yet made it there b/c I am in the habit of hitting the local Albertson’s ( a southern chain grocery store) for convenience. It is nearby and I know where everything is. Often times I KNOW I am going to pay more for sub par produce, but I shrug it off as the cost of convenience.

Today, however, I made the extra drive (really only 5-10 min) to check out this new market that has been claiming fresh, local produce at lower prices. I was very impressed with both the produce and meat sections as both provided really great items for sale. There were scattered items that were more pricey, but I did feel there was a large variety of stuff at a great discount. 88 cent red, yellow, orange bell peppers. $3.99/lb lamb shoulder chops.  88 cents/lb ripe plums, etc. Overall, the veggie selection was SO much better than Albertson’s in terms of variety and quality. My total bill for a very healthy helping of fresh veggies, some lamb shoulder chops, chicken thighs, and various breads, salsas, pastas, eggs came to $39 for enough food for my brother and me for a week.

I started tonight with the lamb and wanted to make a healthy, tasty meal for my roomie and my brother so we could all catch up on our weekends. I’ve never cooked lamb before, but I think starting simple is best, so below you will find a very simple, but satisfying and healthy meal that is easy to make!

Ingredients:

• 3 lamb shoulder chops, about 1/2 lb or less each
• olive oil
• garlic salt
• pepper
• herbes de provence
• 3 – 5 fresh mint leaves
• 1/2 lb green beans
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 1 small vidalia onion
• 1 TB butter
• 1/2 TB balsamic vinegar
• 3-5 sweet basil leaves
• 1 TB minced garlic
• some chicken broth (organic, low sodium if possible)

Steps:

1. Marinate the lamb – place the lamb chops on a plate. Swirl some olive oil on them. Dash garlic salt, pepper, herbes de provence across the chops and rub in using your fingers. Flip over and do the same on the other side. Cover with plastic wrap and place in fridge to marinate about 1/2 hr. Go work out or do something else productive. ;-)
2. Remove the lambchops from the fridge and let them come to room temp.
3. Slice the onions. Heat 1 TB butter in a pan and swirl around so it coats the bottom. Add the onions and a dash of salt. Stir fry til they are golden on the edges. Add balsamic vinegar and continue cooking til wilted. Keep it on low heat.
4. Prepare rest of veggies – while the onions are cooking, wash and chop off the ends of the green beans. You can also chop them in half across the length if you like more bite size manageable pieces. Slice the bell pepper. Set both aside.
5. Once onions are wilted down with a good caramelization, remove from heat and set on a plate. Deglaze the pan with some chicken broth and discard the broth and deglazed bits.
6. Bring the pan (non-stick) up to high heat and swirl around some olive oil. Add 1/2 TB minced garlic and cook quickly (about 1min). Add 2-3 lamb chops to pan. Cook about 3 min and flip over to cook another 3 – 4 min for medium lamb chops. If you poke the lamb chop after you’ve flipped it and still see blood, it’s not quite done. Give it another minute or two.  Cook these babies in batches if needed. I cooked 2 first and then 1.  The finished chops sat on a plate resting while i cooked the remaining one.
7. Deglaze the pan again with some more chicken broth if needed. Keeping heat on high, add more olive oil and garlic, then add green beans and bell peppers. Add a dash of salt, pepper and stir fry about 1 min. Add back the caramelized onions and stir fry until green beans are evenly a bright crisp green. do not overcook unless you like softer greenbeans!
8. To serve, place some of the veggie mix on a plate. Rest the lamb chop against the veggies. Slice up some fresh mint and garnish the lamb chop.

This was a great meal with lots of good flavors and healthy ingredients. Do NOT miss the mint on the lamb! It’s such a great marriage of flavors! I really prefer the fresh mint to the mint jelly I’ve often been served with lamb dishes. I event went back and chopped up more mint for my dish! My PPM was $5 (lamb) + .45 (green beans) + .88 ( bell pepper) + .75 onion + .5o mint and basil + ~ $1 negligable condiments = $8.58/3 meals = $2.86 PPM! Awesome! Thanks, Deb, for the inspiration. It was nice to see how cheap it truly is to eat well with out sacrificing too much wallet or healthiness!

Black Pepper Beef over Fresh Tomatoes & Garlic Watercress

I realized last week that I was spending way too much on everything, including groceries. This week I decided to see what I could cook w/out doing anymore grocery shopping. So far I’ve made 2 different meals already this week. Guess I forgot how much stuff i had in the freezer! Welcome to my recessionista style meal!

Things found in freezer/fridge/pantry AKA, the ingredients:

• 2 frozen petite sirloin steaks
• 1 beefsteak tomato
• 1 bunch watercress
• loads of Japanese rice
• roasted unsalted peanuts
• some soy sauce
• sugar
• black pepper
• minced garlic
• 1/2  a gigantic vidalia onion
• 1 can of coke
• Basil leaves from my basil plant!

(Loving the basil plant, btw. Great use of $6. I’ve had the plant for about 2 weeks now and am constantly picking off leaves to add the fresh basil punch to everything. So far, I have not killed it. Amazing!)

1. Thaw out the beef – this is best done in cold water or during the day in the fridge. If your steak isn’t thawed out the whole way, that’s actually good as it makes it easier to cut thin slices.

2. Slice steaks across the grain in strips, as thin as you can get them – this aids in the quick cooking and tenderness of the beef

3. Marinate meat - Place slices in a bowl, add enough soy sauce to cover the meat, 2 TB sugar, generous dashes of black pepper and stir to distribute. Then just cover the meat with some coke (about 1/3 of the can). The coke will help tenderize the meat. Let this marinate as you prepare the rest of the food.

4. Slide the tomatoes in rounds about 1/8 in thick, wash the watercress and drain.

5. Cook the onions - Slice 1/2 of the half onion (should have about 1 cup of onion when done, it was a GIGANTIC onion). heat up about 1 TB olive oil in a skillet. Add onions and a dash of salt. Reduce heat to med-low and cook onions, stirring frequently to keep from burning. Cook til translucent and just brown on the edges, about 10 min, then remove to a plate. This process allows the natural sugars of the onion to caramelize a bit.

6. Cook the meat – In the same skillet, add another TB olive oil and heat up to med-high. Add the meat with no marinade and quickly stir fry. Drain out juices as needed, the dryer the better to allow the meat to sear. Cook about 3 min stirring constantly. Add back the onions for a quick stir, then remove everything and set aside.

7. Cook the watercress – In same skillet, add a dash of olive oil and 1 TB minced garlic. Stir and cook quickly bout 30 secs, then add the water cress.  Dash about 1/2 TB soy sauce into the pan and stir quickly. Cover the pan with a lid to allow the watercress to steam cook about 1-2 min. Remove from heat and place watercress onto serving plate.

8. Quickly add the meat/onion mixture back into the hot skillet to reheat.

9. Place sliced tomatoes on top of watercress in 1 layer.

10. Dump the meat/onion mixture on top of the bed of watercress & tomatoes. This slightly cooks the tomatoes and covers them in the meaty flavors.

11. Chiffonade some basil and coarsely chop the peanuts and top off the dish. Voila, there you have it!

Serve this dish with some sticky white rice for a healthy, delicious meal with no shopping required! If you dont have watercress, you could also use spinach, baby bok choy, or any other leafy green.  Another option my mom often made was to just make a salad with romaine or red leaf lettuce, add tomatoes, pour hot meat on top. Makes for a very flavorful warm dressing’ed salad.