you ain't gettin' this at Taco Bell, honey.

When it's late April and the day is rainy and a chilly 52 degrees, what's a Texan to do, y'all?  Make enchiladas, of course!  These are actually my favorite enchiladas to make: roasted tomatillo and chicken.  After a full day at church (complete with a really fun "Show and Tell" and lunch), I was interested in a no-fuss, easy supper.  This takes such little effort and has dynamite flavor.

First, you'll need some of these guys: tomatillos.  They look kinda dodgy on the outside, but are similar to a tomato.  If you've ever had green sauce in a Mexican restaurant, these little gems are probably behind it.  You'll need about 8 of these.

Peel 'em and they'll be sticky under that papery skin.  Rinse them off and then chop into bite-sized pieces.

Here's where your whole sauce comes together: to those tomatillos, add 2 cloves of garlic, 1/2 an onion chopped and 1/2 a jalapeno chopped in thirds.  It's a good idea to taste your jalapeno a bit, because they can range from bell pepper mild to quite kicky. Mine had some good heat (which is why I didn't use the whole thing).  Toss the veggies with a bit of canola oil (or other flavorless oil: evoo has a bit too much flavor for Mexican food) and season with salt, pepper and 1 T of cumin.  Roast 400ºF/204ºC for 20-25 minutes.

They'll look all slimy and mushy when done, but don't worry.  SO good.  Trust me.

Just a wee bite, please??

While tomatillos + friends are roasting, prep your enchilada filling.  Now, of course, one could roast your own chicken or use leftovers.  Or, if one wants to take the easy route, just buy a rotisserie chicken at the grocery store.  It shreds really nicely for enchiladas.

The enchiladas are easy to put together: just corn tortillas (never use flour tortillas to make enchiladas unless you never outgrew your elementary school penchant for paste) filled with white cheddar cheese and the chicken.

Once those tom's are good n' roasted, blend them in a food processor with 3/4 cup of warm chicken stock, until smooth.  Taste to see if it needs any seasoning.  Tomatillos have a tang to them, so I usually go a bit lighter on salt when using them.  And that's your sauce.  To quote the indomitable Ina, how easy is that?

Pour sauce over enchiladas and top with extra chicken.  (I ended up using half of a rotisserie chicken to make 10 enchiladas, the other half's in the freezer for emergency lemon chicken soup if I have a cold.)  Note slightly creepy grin on my enchilada-desiring dog.  Ha.

Bake for 20 minutes at 350ºF/176ºC, until well-heated through.  The sauce is really nice and thick, so won't bubble a lot.

These enchiladas are best with sour cream on top, and if you're feeling a bit fancy, put some in a ziploc bag and snip the end off to make a piping bag.  It also helps detract from the way my enchiladas somehow fell apart in the short journey from the baking dish to the plate.  These enchiladas have delightful flavor: the tang from the tomatillos, heat from the jalapenos and creamy goodness of sour cream is splendid.

Bon appetit!
lilrevchef

take that, February

Kale and Smoked Sausage Soup

Feelin' chilly, chickadees?  Find yourself wearing socks to bed and contemplating wearing more than one scarf at a time?  Well, this divine soup will warm you right up.  It's from Martha Stewart (recipe here).  The recipe makes enough for 4 hungry folks, or one chilly single gal with leftovers for the fridge and freezer.  Take those mittens off for a minute and let's get started!

Chop one onion and saute in a deep soup pot for about 10 minutes in 1 tbsp of olive oil on medium heat.

Add two chopped cloves of garlic and as much crushed red pepper as you like (I used about 1/2 teaspoon).

Cook for just a couple of minutes and then add in about 6 cups of chicken broth/stock.  If you're Ina Garten and live in the Haaamptons and have minions to make homemade chicken stock for you, use that.  If not, join me in using the quick boxed stuff.  I meant to buy low-sodium broth.  Using this broth (combined with the chicken sausage that comes later), I didn't need to add salt to this soup at all.

Add in some potatoes (again as many as you like).  I used these adorable teeny taters, but if you're using a larger potato, use 3 large potatoes and cut into bite-sized pieces.

Cover and bring to a boil and then simmer, uncovered, for about fifteen minutes until those spuds are tender.  (Le Creuset did not pay me for this product placement...yet.)

Now take a big bunch of kale.  Kale is one of those "superfoods" that is very good for you.  It also happens to be just about the cheapest fella in the produce section.

 (Apparently Hayden wants some more kale in his life.)

 After rinsing your kale, you want to take those tough stems out.  The easiest way to do this is put your knife against the side of the stem, hold the knife in place, and pull the stem upwards.  Chop roughly.

Now let's get our chicken sausage ready.  Oh, this stuff is good.  You want to buy pre-cooked chicken sausage (it's actually the easiest way to find chicken sausage).  I found this delightful roasted red pepper and asiago chicken sausage and used three links of it.

Half the sausage lengthwise and cut in half moons.  Or half circles.  Or Pacman smiley shapes.

 (Hayden got really excited when the chicken sausage made an appearance!)

Now that the potatoes are tender, give the soup a little whir with an immersion blender until just a bit blended (but still with plenty of potato pieces).  If you don't have one of these contraptions, you can take half of the soup and puree it in a food processor or a blender.  If you don't have either one of those, you can just take a potato masher to it.  If you don't have a potato masher, then honey, get thyself to Target.

Add in the chicken sausage and kale and simmer until the kale is tender, about 10 more minutes.

 Whenever I'm cooking with any kind of green, I always add a little bit of freshly grated nutmeg.  It just wakes up the flavors.

And that's it!  The broth is rich and deeply flavored from the sausage, the potatoes are delightfully creamy and the kale adds a great heartiness.

What a way to beat that February cold snap.

Bon appetit!

Lilrevchef

my momma's chicken

Lemon and chicken get along famously.  They're great together in all sorts of ways, but I have never tasted a lemon chicken that is delectable and fragrant as my mother's.  Oh. My. Goodness.  It's fantastic (and so easy!).  And it makes you feel like a Julia Child-esque rockstar when you pull that golden perfect bird out of the oven.  My mom uses Ina Garten's recipe.  I'll walk ya through it, folks.  

Lemon Chicken with Croutons
Ingredients:

• 1 (4 to 5-pound) roasting chicken
• 1 large yellow onion
• Olive oil
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 lemons
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 6 cups (3/4-inch) bread cubes (I used leftover french bread)

Serves 4-6.

• 
  
• (Go ahead and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F/218 degrees C.)

Slice the onion into large rings.  Layer them on the bottom of a large roasting pan with about 1T olive oil.

Quarter those vibrant lemons.

Take the giblets (no giblets for me, please) out of your chicken and wash and dry it (with paper towels - don't get icky raw chicken on your kitchen towels) and place on top of the onions in the roasting pan and brush with 2 T of melted butter.  Stuff the lemon halves inside the chicken.

Season generously with salt..

...and freshly cracked pepper and then tie the legs together with kitchen twine and tuck the wing tips under the bird.  (This helps him roast evenly without burning.)  Roast in the oven for about an hour and a half, until the juices of the chicken run clear.  

When the chicken in almost done, heat 2 T of olive oil in a large skillet and add the bread cubes and a bit of salt and pepper.  

Cook, turning frequently, until golden and crispy, about ten minutes.

Does that take your breath away, or what?  Perfection.

Take that glorious chicken out of the oven, cover with foil and let rest for 15 minutes.  Then, cut the chicken up and layer with the onions and cooking juices on top the croutons.  It will have an amazing, delicate lemon flavor and the croutons will soak up the chicken juices.  You'll never think chicken's boring again!

Bon appetit!

lilrevchef

mo food

I spent this last weekend hanging out with my family at Mo Ranch, where we enjoyed catching up, soaking in the Guadalupe, reading, playing with a puzzle (yeah, we're super cool), watching adorable toddlers run around...all of these things are wonderful.  But let's be honest.  The main event of family reunions is the food.  It's no different in my family.  You should've seen the massive ice chests full of food that arrived.  The sweet treats brought (those nutella brownies included).  It makes kitchen stadium (aka Iron Chef's abode) look like a 7-11.  

This year, we did what we should've done years ago and let folks sign up to prepare a meal for the rest of the group (15 hungry adults + little ones).  It worked out great.  There was SO much amazing food and I had to share some of it with y'all.  There are a few things I missed (like my sister's rockstar egg casserole) but that's only because I ate them before I could get a picture.  Yummy.  Here's breakfast the first morning:

Yeah, I know.  You're drooling on your laptop aren't you?  Fluffly, light, sugary blueberry crumb cakes, made in individual little loaves (so one could eat say, five, and not feel guilty).  My cousin Adele made these, and I think she used this recipe. God bless that Pioneer Woman.  Alongside the little loaves of wonder was keilbasa sausage, providing the perfect balance of saltiness to go with the sweet loaves.  And of course, there was gallons of coffee (literally, y'all, we go through more coffee than Starbucks) to wash it down with.  Fan-tas-tic.

(Oh, did I mention she's friends with someone who has a blueberry farm?!  And that this amazing friend brings her pounds of fresh blueberries every year??  If any of you fall into this category, pretty please be my friend.)

Now, one might think that after such a substantial breakfast we would perhaps "go light" for lunch.  One does not know my family.  You could say we instead went "the whole hog" for lunch, because we had amazing barbecued pork ribs with pinto beans, homemade bread, corn and cole slaw (we're such vegetarians).  My Aunt Madelynn put a crazy-good teriyaki marinade on the ribs. Sooo good.

I signed up for dinner that night and made my fabulous friend Karen's chicken and black bean tacos (because it can feed an army and a Texan family gathering without something at least a bit Mexican is just wrong).  I'll share this super-complicated recipe with you.  You ready?  Think Julia Child's aspic-complicated...and then go in the totally opposite direction.  

Ingredients:

1 can mild Rotel

1 can black beans, rinsed really well

1 1/2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces

10-12 flour tortillas (as fresh as possible: don't mean to brag, but my grocery store makes fresh ones there.  Yum.)

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 T cumin

1 T chili powder

salt and pepper

vegetable oil

Toppings:

shredded cheese

sour cream

chopped cilantro

fresh lime wedges

chopped avocado

(Makes 4 hefty servings.  Naturally, I quadrupled the recipe for my family).

Directions:

Heat 2 T vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high, add chicken, s&p, cumin and chili powder and cook until almost cooked through (about 7 min).  Add onion, cook until soft, about 5 minutes.  Add garlic, cook for 2 min.  Now, add Rotel and black beans.  Let simmer for about 20 minutes (gets the chicken nice and tender and lets all the flavors come together).  

Meanwhile, heat tortillas on a cast iron skillet (very hot), with no oil, until charred a bit and starting to inflate (fresh tortillas will puff up wiht air when heated).  Keep hot in foil with a paper towel in it to absorb steam (you don't want soggy tortillas).  

Serve chicken and black bean mixture in tortillas and squeeze fresh lime juice on top and top with whatever you like (I love a bit of fresh cilantro on them, but I don't judge those who think cilantro's grown in Hades).  I served mine with spanish rice (made by my awesome Mamacita).  

 Easy, right?  And SO good.  Thanks, Karen!

The next morning, we had more amazing tortilla goodness: chorizo (Mexican sausage) taquitos.  I love salty, spicy chorizo and eggs.  And my cousin Lee and her boyfriend Luis even brought fresh tortillas that they cooked.  We topped 'em with my mom's homemade hot sauce.  Wow.  Good morning to us.

And, finally, there was my Mom's amazing chicken tetrazzini with caesar salad (yep, we're so healthy) and garlic bread.  The chicken tetrazzini recipe comes from my Great-Grandmother Mimmie and it's always amazing.  What a delicious weekend.  What are y'all eating these days?  Share, share!

Bon appetit!
lilrevchef