Jamaican Jerk Chicken, from Food & Wine magazine
click here for recipe
I recently bought Food & Wine’s new “Quick from Scratch Chicken” magazine/cookbook (there are lots of versions of this cookbook available from different years, some are hardback and some are magazine-style, but this is BRAND NEW and can be found at a magazine stand – it has an olive green cover with chicken and corn-on-the-cob on the front….I can’t find an online photo) and have been making all sorts of yummy things from it (Chicken with Avgolemono, Pad Thai and I’m planning to make Fusilli with Chicken Sausage and Rustic Garlic Chicken soon).
Well, last night was my brother and sister-in-law’s anniversary and since, due to 2.5 week old Baby Jack Henry, they’re still not back into full-fledged “going out” mode, I offered to make them a nice dinner over here (with the stipulation that they MUST bring the baby, of course!) It wasn’t really 100% intentional (Boy had already seen the recipe in the book and had requested that I make it, so it was already in my “make soon” folder,) but I decided to make this, because Little Brother and his wife went on a cruise to Jamaica (and other destinations) for their honeymoon, so I thought this was fitting for their anniversary.
Boy, was that ever a great idea. This stuff was lip-tinglingly DELICIOUS. It was saucy and moist and flavorful without being butt-kicking spicy. I didn’t do the leg quarters, but instead did some whole, boneless, skinless breasts and some boneless, skinless thighs. I wasn’t sure what the baking time should be, so I just used a thermometer and pulled them out when the temperature registered 175 degrees. Man, oh, man… I sliced the breasts up so that we could all taste a little bit of everything. The thighs absorbed more of the sauce and were a little spicier than the breasts. The allspice flavor was very strong, but not overpowering. If it’s not a spice that you really love, you might want to dial that down just a tiny bit. Boy, this was easy, too. Just blend it all up and then pour it over the chicken and bake. Simple and definitely do-ahead. Perfect if you’re having adventuresome dinner guests. I marinated for 24 hours for maximum flavor and I doubled the sauce, because I was cooking extra chicken pieces. If you don’t want it to be extra saucy and spicy, then I would pour off any excess marinade before baking, or simply remove the chicken pieces to another pan, and then I think the sauce would be more like a glaze, as is in the Food & Wine photo.
For the Congri/Gallo Pinto, I basically followed this recipe, but cooked the beans myself, and added a little epazote and, if you ask Little Brother (although he was polite about it), a bit too much cilantro (to me, there is no such thing as too much cilantro…)
All in all, a delicious and fairly simple dinner. Will definitely be a repeat, although I’ll need to tone down the cayenne for the little people that live with me…
For another kid-friendly Jerk Chicken variation, try this.
Category: Favorites
Fresh Orange Sorbet
This recipe from Cooking Light magazine is a HUGE winner. Big hit with all four of us and pretty simple to make. I had a hard time getting the sorbet to freeze very firmly in my ice cream freezer, but I got it to be at least slushy and then just put it in a Tupperware in the freezer and gave it a thorough stir about every 15 minutes for the next hour or so, until it was at the right consistency. Another hint: use a vegetable peeler to get the orange rind strips off the orange.
Orange Cinnamon Rolls
Mmmm…we were recently introduced to canned orange rolls. I had never bought them before, but recently succumbed (if you hadn’t noticed, I am an absolutely sucker for anything orange…) and tried some. They were tooth-achingly sweet and delicious and filled with tender, creamy saturated fat goodness. They were pretty amazing, but not something that I am likely to EVER buy again; they were just a jumping-off point, an inspiration; I knew that I could do better, so I went searching for recipes and came across this one that looked promising.
Mmmm…pretty darned good. I think that it would be impossible to get the canned-roll texture (sort of a combination of white bread and marshmallow fluff?), but the flavor of these was fantastic. I will DEFINITELY be making these again. They were, of course, more trouble to make than the canned version, but not too bad. I made them a day ahead, because of all of the rising time, etc, and then reheated them in the morning. I think that they would be better fresh out of the oven, but I’m not willing to wake up early enough to have them that way.
Panuchos Yucatecos, sort of…
We love making tostadas around here. We always seem to have some extra lettuce, tomato, onion, cilantro and maybe a bit of leftover grilled chicken or taco-seasoned meat and some refried beans and cheese. All you have to do is fry some corn tortillas until they’re crisp and then augment them with your choice of the above toppings (the kids love any opportunity to “build” their own dinner, buffet-style). If you have a little sliced avocado or sour cream, you’re golden. So, when I saw this recipe for Panuchos Yucatecos on Serious Eats, it looked so good, I knew we needed to try it. I mean, really, the beans INSIDE the tortilla? how cool is that? Then you’d have the top completely free to add all kinds of things.
The problem is, though, that when I fried the tortillas, they didn’t puff up and create a “cavity” like the ones in the panuchos recipe, so we ended up pretty much just having our standard tostadas (or chalupas, or whatever you call them in your neck of the woods…) Still tasty, but not exactly the original plan. Contributing further to the failure of this experiment, I made up the pickled onions in advance, but forgot to get them out to serve with the dinner…they were very tasty, but we got about as far away from this original recipe as possible (even though what we did make was quite good), so will definitely have to try again. I’m wondering if the tortillas that I had weren’t fresh enough and if maybe some fresher ones might puff better? I’ll keep you all posted…
The Greatest Waffle Recipe Ever?
Click here for recipe.
When I saw this recipe billed on Serious Eats as the “Greatest Waffle Recipe Ever,” I knew that I had to give it a try. There are quite a few steps to preparing the batter, and I wasn’t crazy about having to dirty three mixing bowls to make it (one for the wet ingredients, one for the dry and one for the egg whites,) but you really can’t argue with results; they were delicious. They were rich, but light, crisp and tasty, the perfect foil for your choice of syrup and/or topping (powdered sugar for Girl, birch syrup for Boy, boysenberry syrup for me and maple syrup for Hubby.)
I added a bit (1/4 to 1/2 tsp?) of McCormick’s Vanilla, Butter & Nut extract and a shake or two of Cinnamon Spice Blend to the batter, just to punch up the flavor a little. If that’s not your style, then a tiny bit of plain vanilla would still be nice, I think. The batter is VERY thick and must be evenly spooned onto the waffle iron; it will NOT pour. At all. In fact, you almost have to spread it a little to get it on over the whole thing. Worth the effort, though.
Cara Cara cocktail
I know, I know…Step AWAY from the Cara Caras, Lara…but we LOVE them and they’re just so yummy. I had a bit of extra juice the other day leftover from making sherbet and decided to throw this together. It’s basically just a screwdriver (OJ and vodka), made with Cara Cara juice, but it was delicious and isn’t it pretty?
Placebo Mocktail
Before my brother and sis-in-law’s baby shower, we had my brother and sister-in-law over for dinner one night and printed out a bunch of “mocktail” recipes, got a bunch of different juices and ingredients and had a great big taste test. The kids had friends over that night, so everybody got to join in the taste-testing fun. I wanted the Mom-to-be (and any other non-dipsomaniacs) to have something tasty and fun to drink (without alcohol, of course), so I let her choose which one she liked best. She ended up choosing this drink, which we served at the party (it requires a bit of prep, but can easily be made up ahead of time, so is great for a party, just add the seltzer at the last minute), but there were lots of others that we didn’t end up trying on our “taste test” night that I’ve had (set aside in my ever-expanding “Make Soon” folder) ever since. I decided to make this one for the kids tonight, in part to assuage my guilt at turning down Boy’s incessant after-school Jamba Juice requests*.
So, anyway…we decided to try The Placebo mocktail tonight, as a special treat for Boy. The kids LOVED this and it was pretty easy. The only hitch is that you have to have the Monin Granny Smith apple syrup on hand; I don’t really think there’s a substitute (except possibly another flavor – orange? pomegranate? of Monin syrup). There are lots of restaurant supply places and larger grocery stores that carry the Monin syrups, so you might be able to pick it up, depending upon where you live (don’t know if you can get it in Korea, Trish, but I’ll send you some if you want), but I ordered it (in preparation for the taste test) online.
* It’s not that I really have anything personal against Jamba Juice, but there are a few things that bug me about the place:
1) The smallest size drink that they offer is 16 ounces. That’s just ridiculous. No one should be drinking that much super-sweetened juice/yogurt/whatever in one sitting. If you do, it should count for a meal, in my opinion. C’mon…couldn’t you offer an 8 ounce size for kids or people with smaller appetites? My kids never finish a whole one (not that I would want them to!), but I feel so guilty asking them (as I do sometimes) to agree on a single flavor, so that they can split one. It’s not the money that I mind so much when I buy two whole ones, but it just seems so wasteful to buy two whole drinks, knowing that each of them will only be half-consumed.
2) Styrofoam cups? Really? It’s 2009, folks. I know that “styrofoam keeps them colder”, etc, but if you are drinking it in a timely fashion, you can drink it out of a paper or recyclable plastic cup and it will stay cold enough for plenty of time…
3) I can make my kids a smoothie at home (I *always* have plenty of frozen fruit, juice, milk, yogurt, etc. on hand) in minutes, with better (and organic) ingredients, for MUCH cheaper, with a washable glass. Just kinda irks me to buy it, knowing that I have ripe bananas (individually wrapped, thankyouverymuch) in my freezer at home.
Hmmm…in reading this, maybe I *do* have something personal against Jamba Juice…but, the kids love it and so I sometimes cave…
Croque Monsier sandwich
There are many different recipes for making “Croque Monsieur” sandwiches (literally “Mister Crunchy”, ranging from a simple toasted ham and cheese sandwich (such as this one), to sandwiches requiring a special shell-shaped press, to sandwiches topped with Mornay sauce and broiled. Croque Monsieur sandwiches are a favorite mid-mountain treat for us on our annual family ski trip, so I thought it would be fun to make them at home, too.
This version is very simple (you don’t even need a recipe, really), kid-friendly and VERY delicious. I used wheat bread, instead of white, because that’s just what we always keep around.
Butterscotch Pudding
Butterscotch Pudding from Cooking Light magazine
Click here for recipe
This recipe was phenomenal. I made it exactly according to the recipe directions and didn’t have any problems, although some of the on-line reviewers mention that they had difficulty getting a thick enough consistency. I think as long as you get it going at a pretty good boil for 1 minute, it would be hard for it to be too thin. It was really popping and bubbling; there were actually little droplets flying out of the pan, so be careful!
When I make this again (because I definitely will), I will cut back the sugar a tiny bit. It was pretty sweet. I also think this could be divided into 8 servings, instead of 6, because it’s pretty rich, as well (but not overly so.)
VERY good and a big hit with my sis-in-law, who is a new mom and needs all the calcium she can get (this pudding has almost 200 mg per serving!)
Chicken Pad Thai
Chicken Pad Thai from Food & Wine magazine
Click here for recipe.
So sorry for the washed-out photo. Again.
I made this for dinner tonight (with some edamame) and it was a HUGE hit with Hubby (he didn’t even add any sriracha; he said it was perfect “as is”.) and me. Boy liked it, but it was a tiny bit too spicy for him (he was also returning from a school trip, pretty much too exhausted to eat, so his meter was a little “off.”) Girl isn’t home from her trip yet, so she didn’t eat this with us. It would definitely have been too spicy for her. The spiciness could very easily be dialed down, though, to accommodate the eaters in your crowd.
I also made this for my little brother and his wife, who welcomed a lovely new baby boy into the world almost two weeks ago (my adorable and brilliant nephew, Jack Henry).
Seriously. Check out the cuteness; it’s downright blinding!
My sis-in-law called to thank me and said she loved this, too, so this will definitely be a “repeat” item.
Oh, and the sprouts? Fear not the salmonella outbreak, worrywarts. I sprouted them myself. I love this thing and am going to try shiso sprouts next.