BBQ Chicken Vegetable Mango Kebabs

Had the most amazing kebabs.

What were in these kebabs of amazingness?

BBQ Chicken by Bob
Tomato
Yellow and green summer squash
Purple onion
Orange and green bell pepper

annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd....

MANGO.

It was bold.

It was revolutionary.

It was a kebab TRIUMPH.

I am never going back. I am a mango ke-bab-er FOR LIFE.

(Just peel a firm-ish mango and chop it up in chunks like you do the rest of le vegetables and skewer 'em with the rest. Whoo.)

End-Of-The-Year Faux-Thai Chicken Noodle Soup

Four days to the end of the year and counting! Wahoo! In between me and those four days are two big finals, and then I leave to go on my DC/NC trip the day right after. So I needed an easy fast way to dispose of all my left over perishable foods in an easy-to-eat way this week that would be gone when I'm gone. This soup was the answer. This concoction is roughly based of the famous chicken noodle soup pioneered by G., the mother of my friend KT.

Ingredients:

Pot full of water
Salt
Four boneless chicken breasts, thawed
1/2 package whole wheat egg noodles
1 1/4 cup dry roasted peanuts
2/3 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup lime juice (or juice from one lime)
1 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 Tbsp. chicken bullion

Directions:

1) Put the chicken breasts in a deep pot and cover with water. Lightly salt. Bring to a boil and leave at boil until chicken is thoroughly cooked. Remove chicken from water and cut into bite sized pieces.

2) Increase volume of water to 2/3rds of total volume of pot. Add noodles.

3) While noodles are cooking, combine peanuts, coconut, lime juice, and whipping cream in a blender. Blend on high chop/puree until a rough solution is formed. Peanuts and coconut do not need to be thoroughly blended, but smaller bits of peanut and coconut should be emulsified in the lime juice and cream.

4) Chop the cilantro and parsley. When noodles are not quite all the way done cooking, turn the temperature down to simmer and add in the cilantro and parsley. Allow to simmer for five minutes.

5) Add in the bullion and the peanut/coconut mixture. Stir thoroughly. Put the cooled cut chicken back into the pot and stir. Adjust the water level accordingly. Salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for ten more minutes and serve hot.

Excellent! I am quite proud of my little left-over soup. It was genuinely tasty, filling, and the perfect balance of cream and peanut and cilantro and lime and flavor. A left over home run.

Also, can I say how proud I am that these are the ingredients I had left over? Fresh cilantro? Fresh whipping cream? A lime? Booyah. Big leaps from my college years, when being down to the wire meant a box of saltines.

Caribbean Dream Pie

From The New Moosewood. Seriously better than I thought it was going to be, and ridiculously easy to make. It would be hard to mess this pie up.

SWEET CRUMB CRUST:

2 cups crushed graham crackers or ginger snaps (easily done in a food processor)
1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut (optional, If you prefer you can substitute another 1/2 cup crushed graham crackers of ginger snaps)
1/4 cup finely minced pecans
6 Tbsp. butter, melted

1) Preheat over to 350F.
2) Combine all the ingredients and mix well. Press the mixture firmly into the bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie pan, building a handsome 1/2-inch ridge around the edge. You will have more than enough to fill the pie pan-- sprinkle the rest in another pan. Place both in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool completely.

FILLING:

1 14-15 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 Tbsp. grated lime rind
1/2 cups plus 1 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
2 bananas, peeled and sliced
1/2 a ripe mango, peeled and sliced (or chopped)

1) Pour the milk into a medium-sized bowl.

2) Add the grated rind and juice, and whisk for a few minutes until the milk thickens.

3) Layer the banana and mango slices in the baked, cooled crust. Pout the thickened milk mixture over the fruit, spreading it into place. Sprinkle the top with extra crumb mixture, and chill until cold. Serve cold.

Skeptical of the filling, I added one more bananas (three large bananas total) and tripled the mango (1 1/2 mangoes total). I also increased the lime zest, but not the lime juice or the milk. I found this to be just fine. I also topped the pie generously with lightly sweetened whipped cream and then sprinkled the extra crust crumbs on the top of the whipped cream, not the pie itself. The overall was wonderfully creamy and fruity and perfect for the lovely early summer evening. This pie should be served in California often.

Suzanne's Chicken Enchiladas

This recipe from a rockstar woman I love, and who makes the best enchiladas around. Terrified of the enchilada, but willing to mount an attack, I emailed her for the recipe. I give her directions and then a few modifications/comments of my own in italics following each step. I doubled the recipe and made two pans of enchiladas, hence the larger proportions, but they fed an army and turned out wonderfully. What a coup.

Suzanne's Directions:

1. Start by cooking some rice (you'll need about 1.5 cups, but anything between .75 to 2 cups is probably fine. You can also skip the rice.

I used 2 cups cooked brown rice. I think the brown rice gives a deeper/healthier impression.

2. Cut up chicken breast in to bite size pieces and cook in a pan on the stove (you can also get 1-2 precooked whole cooked chickens and tear the meat up into pieces).

I cooked five chicken breasts by boiling them in water and apple cider vinegar with a bit of salt in a large skillet on the stove. After cooking I chopped/shredded the chicken into large bite size pieces.

3. Add about 2 cans of tomato sauce (or one really big can) and nearly a whole can of red enchilada sauce, saving 1/3 cup or so to put on the top (I usually use Rosarita, but anything would work.)

I used 2 cans of Ortega medium red enchilada sauce, one larger can of tomato sauce, and maybe another can's worth of tomato puree that I had in the fridge. These enchiladas were a little drier than most, but I like them better that way. Leaving some for the top is definitely wise.

4. Add the rice to the mix (meaning chicken/sauce mix)

5. Add a lot of shredded cheese (uh...maybe 3/4 cup each of cheddar and mozzerella?)

I used sharp cheddar and white monterrey jack, grating an entire small block of each. The net amount of shredded cheese was probably around 3 cups. I saved a little cheese out to put on top of the enchiladas.

5. Now add more sauce until it's a bit runny (if it's thick, the enchiladas will be more like burritos!)

6. Stir up the mix of sauces with chicken, rice, and cheese.

7. Coat a pyrex dish (size 13 x 9 is good, but anything would probably work) with cooking spray.

8. Put a dollup (2/3 cup?) of mix on a flour (wheat!) tortilla, roll the tortilla up, put it in the dish. Repeat until the dish is full of enchiladas. (My dish fit eight enchiladas.) Leave space between each enchilada so some sauce can get in there and so they will separate more easily.

9. On the top of the enchiladas, add: left over mix, left over enchilada sauce, and extra cheese.

Janie and I also cut up a bunch of fresh cilantro and put it on top with the sauce and cheese and chicken and it was delicious! I would put some cilantro inside even, also we added chopped onion to the chicken/rice/sauce mix.

10. Cook at 350 for 30 minutes or until bubbly hot and browning on top. You can also refrigerate before cooking, and just cook a bit longer (40 minutes?) Serve hot with sour cream or guacamole on top.

So good. MMMMMMMMM.

Black Bean and Quinoa Salad

A Janie Salad. I was skeptical of the quinoa at first, but was pleasantly surprised at the results. I think it was the cilantro that won me over on this one. We served it cold, but I think it could be warmed up a little bit on a colder day and be as comforting warm and it was cold. We used it as a counterpoint to chicken enchiladas and the frog-eye salad, which served as a bridge to the Caribbean Dream Pie we served for dessert. I would also eat this for lunch just about any day, with sandwiches or tamales, or even inside of a pita, although that might feel a little bit redundant.

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked quinoa, cooked
3 small tomatoes, chopped
1 small-medium onion, chopped
Kernels cut off from 3 tall ears of fresh corn
1 avocado, chopped
1 can black beans, drained (you can wash them, or leave unwashed for more bean flavor)
Chopped fresh cilantro to taste
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

Cook, chop, stir it all together. Serve at any temperature, although chilled is a nice way to go on a warm day as a contrast to hotter menu items. Make sure you rinse the quinoa thoroughly in cold water prior to cooking. Cook with 2 cups of water for 1 cup quinoa, adding the quinoa and water at the same time, bringing to a boil, and boiling until the water is completely drawn into the quinoa. Janie didn't add any lemon juice, but I would add a little lemon or lime zest if I had it for more flavor, although the cilantro and the fresh onion add enough flavor for any salad lover.

Frog-Eye Salad aka Ambrosia

This dessert-ish salad is a Utah/family classic. Served at picnics, Thanksgivings, with potatoes, on the side, this salad goes just about anywhere you want it to be. Best of all, it doesn't involve any jello. The salad is really a throw whatever you want in, with your own sense of proportion, but here is my most recent version:

1 package mini marshmallows
1 package sweetened shredded coconut
1/4 finely sliced mango
1 small can drained crushed pineapple (important that you drain thoroughly)
1 cup cooked small round pasta (I used acini de pede)
1 half pint whipped whipping cream
2 Tbsp. sour cream

Can also add: grapefruit, apple, pecans, or canned mandarin oranges. Say no to grapes, walnuts, strawberries, or untoasted almonds. Lime zest might be ok, if used sparingly. Think about toasting a little bit of the coconut for a more interesting flavor. Make sure you drain and cool the pasta thoroughly before adding to the mix. I whip the sour cream directly into the whipped cream before using the whipped cream to bind everything together. Be careful not to make this salad too soupy, it kills the leftovers and makes the salad feel limp. Don't use too much grapefruit, if you do, eat it quickly and sweeten the whipped cream a bit with powdered sugar.

Mix it all together and chill covered before serving.

Asparagus Risotto

From Sokolov-- whose food I enjoy but who I really can't stand in person (I suspect).

Ingredients:

1 pound asparagus, prepared in the manner of Madame Saint-Ange
8 Tbsp. (1 stick) butter
2 cups Arborio or other medium grain rice (I used brown)
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Remove asparagus from the cooking water (but reserve the water) and cut into inch-long pieces. Discard the woody ends, but peel any sections whose interior flesh is edible. Remove the spears.

2. Measure the cooking water. Top up to 5 cups with additional water if necessary are return to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer slowly.

3. In a heavy 10-cup pot, melt 6 tablespoons of the butter over medium-high heat. When the foaming subsides, add the asparagus pieces and any pith you have salvaged (but not the spears). Stir-fry for 2 minutes. Then pour in all the rice and stir vigorously to coat each grain. Continue stirring briefly. The grains will turn opaque. Then pour in a cup of the asparagus cooking water. Stir until the liquid almost disappears. Then add another cup of water. Continue in this manner until the rice softens to the al dente point. If you run out of water, bring another cup or two to the boil.

4. As the water absorption process comes to a close, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter in a small skillet. Toss the asparagus spears in the butter to warm them up. Set them aside on a warm plate. Pour the butter into the rice. Add the cheese and salt and pepper to taste and stir vigorously while the cheese melts. Transfer to a serving bowl. Arrange the asparagus spears over the rice and serve immediately.

Serves 6.

This was more laborious than I thought it should be, but the parmesan cheese brings everything together in a surprisingly satisfying manner. Overall this dish is easy--but not particularly quick-- to make and makes a simple but elegant side.