MOH – LAY!

May 5, 2014coldfishie Leave a comment

Mole sauce with grilled chicken, and rice.

While I was talking to my dad the other day he told me that he was cooking – the man can throw down in the kitchen! So when he said that he was making mole, of course my inner fat girl wanted some! Mole is probably on my top ten list of favorite things to eat. I was so happy that he knew how to make it, and started asking for his recipe. Then he said those four words that I hate “it’s from a jar.” WOMP, WOMP. If you have ever had mole from a jar, you know it has a weird sugary taste… so not authentic. Like really, who buys that stuff??? My dad, poor guy. Needless to say he hated it, and had to add ingredients to make it edible. It’s so hard to find good mole these days.

Part of it is because mole gets a bad rap. People tell all kinds of stories about how complicated, or how many hours it takes to make. I was fooled into thinking that I could never master the secrets to mole, just like you probably are. Fool no more! Yes I’m sure the traditional way of roasting and grinding of all the ingredients does take hours upon hours to do, but I ain’t got time for all of that! After researching mole recipes, I figured out a way to make mole in less than an hour. It has the entire flavor you expect – creamy, with a smokey chile kick, and hint of nutty sweetness. Ugh, its damn near PERFECT! Or as my Husband would say “it taste like, a little more.”

Ingredients:

10 dried guajillo chiles
7 dried mulato negro chiles
7 dried pasilla chiles
4 table spoons of olive oil
2 oz. pumpkin seeds
3 table spoons sesame seeds
1 hand full whole almonds
2 oz. raisins (small box)
3 whole star anise
1 small white onion, diced
5 whole garlic cloves, peeled
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons ground cloves
2 teaspoons oregano
2 teaspoons ground pepper
2 teaspoons salt
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1 chicken boullion cube
2 table spoons peanut butter
1/3 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
2 cups of water or chicken broth

Directions:

1. Stem, seed, and de-vein chiles, reserving seeds.

2. Place chiles in a small pot with water, bring to a boil or until peppers are soft.

3. In a large sauté pan add 2 table spoons of olive oil, pepper seeds (I used about 3 table spoons, the more you use the hotter it will be) add in the whole garlic cloves, star anise, almonds, pumpkin seeds, raisins, and sesame seeds, stir around until toasted.

4. When chiles are soft place them into a blender with some of the water from pot.

5. Blend then add in all of the toasted ingredients, salt, ground pepper, cumin, cloves, cinnimon, chicken bouillon cube (or chicken stock) and blend adding more water if needed. The consistency should be like a thick smoothie.

6. When that is well combined, pour into the pan used to toast ingredients with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil on low heat.

7. Stir in chocolate, and peanut butter it should just melt right in.

8. If the mole seems to be too thick you can add water or chicken broth as needed.

9. Serve over chicken, turkey, and steak -really any kind of meat you want and top with left over sesame seeds. I served this over grilled chicken and rice. Yummy!

Sticky Sweet & Spicy Chicken Wings

April 9, 2014April 9, 2014coldfishie 1 Comment

Sticky Sweet & Spicy Wings

Finally some sign that Spring is on its way – 50° weather! Some of you may be thinking I’m crazy for thinking that 50° is great, but if you live here in Chicago your loving it! It’s so beautiful right now, the sun is out, birds are chirping, the color is coming back into our city! And you know what that means – Grilling Season has officially started!!!! WOOOOOOO-WOOOO!!!!! I love cooking outside on the grill it’s so easy and for some reason I feel like I make less of a mess. One of regulars on the grill is chicken wings, they seriously grill up so fast lunch or dinner is ready in no time.

Everyone loves wings – if you don’t we must not get along. I love getting together with my friends sharing some wings, and drinking beer. We go to different places based on the special “wing night” you know what I’m talking about 50¢ boneless Mondays, or 40¢ Wednesdays. My favorite to order is mango Habanero wings. I love how spicy they are with just a hint of sweetness – soooo good. But I’m kind of afraid of the Habanero pepper and all its hype as being one of the hottest peppers on earth! Knowing me, I’ll chop it up, then directly touch my eye or lips and end up running around screaming! So I’ll leave that recipe to the restaurants. I have made wings with all kinds of sauces; hot sauce, bbq sauce, sweet jam sauce, and dry rub seasonings. This is probably the closest I can get in comparison to those spicy Habanero wings, that is until I face my fear of the Habanero pepper. One day.

You can make these with a sweet/hot glaze or a hot/sweet glaze, really up to you and what you can handle. I went with more a sweet/hot glaze adding more honey than Sriracha. Only because Ididn’t feel like having to pop some tums or rolaids later on this night. But they were so good, nice and sticky just like you get at restaurants and you didn’t even need a dipping sauce.

Ingredients:

2 lbs of chicken – spilt at the joints, wing tips removed
6 tablespoons of soy sauce
3 tablespoons Sriracha
2 limes juiced
1 tablespoon grated ginger – if you don’t have fresh ginger use ginger powder
1/4 cup coconut oil melted – if you don’t have coconut oil, use oliveor vegetable oil, the coconut oil just helps with the sweetness

For the Sticky Glaze

1/4 stick of unsalted butter
2-4 tablespoons of honey – the more honey you use the sweeter the glaze
2 tablespoons of brown sugar – this makes the glaze sticky
4-8 tablespoons of Sriracha – depending on how spicy you want

Directions:

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In a bowl or zip lock bag add the chicken wings, soy sauce, Sriracha, lime juice, ginger, and coconut oil. Let marinade for an hour in fridge or overnight. When you take the wings out they will look like they have a thick creamy coating on them – do not worry it’s just the coconut oil. Coconut oil can easily be solidified at low temperatures, which works great with the wings. You’ll know that they are evenly coated plus they won’t stick to your grill or baking sheet.

After you let them marinade throw them on the grill for about 7-10 minutes on each side – these go fast on the grill. If your baking them, they will take 25-35 minutes in the oven at 350.

After the wings have been flipped and are almost done you will start coating the wings with the glaze using a cooking brush, or lightly spoon over each wing. Each time you flip a wing over, glaze other side – the heat from the grill/oven will caramelize the glaze making it sticky. When your satisfied with the glaze coating take off of grill/oven. If you have any extra glaze left, and you like your wings extra saucy feel free to pour over the wings and toss.

Steak Sandwich with Chipotle Sauce

March 25, 2014coldfishie 1 Comment

Steak Sandwich with Chipotle Sauce and Sweet Potato Fries

THE GET OUT OF JAIL FREE MEAL!

Spend too much money…MAKE THIS SANDWICH. Pay a bill late…MAKE THIS SANDWICH. Stay out too late with the guys…MAKE THIS SANDWICH. You forgot your anniversary…MAKE THIS SANDWICH. Shrunk his favorite sweater…MAKE THIS SANDWICH. Trust me, make this sandwich for your significant other and they will forget all about what you did.

The first time we had this sandwich was with my friend Jenny, she was at working at an upscale restaurant and recommended it to my Husband. He fell in love, and I became jealous of a sandwich. Sad but true. The sandwich was so simple and good, not to mention good-looking. Warm French bread, oozing cheese, steaming peppers, thin cut layers of Steak, and a pastel orange sauce that had the perfect amount of heat. How could I not be jealous? I asked Jenny if she knew the secret to this sauce, she laughed and said it was only two ingredients!!! I couldn’t believe it, here we were paying around $18 each for a sandwich and fries, and the main component that kept us coming back for more was only two ingredients!!!!!! I could have saved my dollars and bought some shoes! Needless to say the place closed, and I had to make my version of this steak sandwich.

For all the ingredients I spent $23.75, and this meal feeds about five that’s about $4.oo a person a whole lot better than $18 each. There are so many benefits to making this yourself:

1. its cheaper! I can’t say that enough.
2. You can have seconds, or thirds.
3. You won’t embarrass yourself in public when you’re licking the plate.
4. You can eat this in front of your television, in your pajamas.

Sandwich:

Thin sliced steak (skirt, sirloin, and tenderloin work great)
Red Pepper
Green Pepper
Onions
Garlic
Mozzarella
Spinach
French Bread

Sauce:

1 can of Chipotle Peppers (whole)
4 tablespoons Mayonnaise (sour cream, or Greek yogurt can be substituted)

Fries:

3 Sweet Potatoes
3 table spoons Olive oil
1 table-spoon Rosemary
Salt & Pepper

Directions:

Pre heat oven at 400°

Fries:

Start this first!!! Takes the longest but so worth it! Trust me!

Cut into large matchstick wedges
Toss with olive oil, rosemary, salt, and pepper
Place on baking sheet and bake for 40 minutes.

Sandwich:

Chop all veggies into thin strips
Sauté until soft (about 7-10 minutes)
Season Steaks with salt and pepper
Grill Steaks (I use a stove top grill, but if you can grill outside I recommend it!)
Flip steak and place a slice of Mozzarella on top of steak so it heats up and melts

Sauce:

Place Chipotle Peppers, and Mayonnaise in blender.
(Add more or less Mayonnaise depending on how much spiciness you like)

Assemble Sandwich. Stuff your face, and rub your belly.

Chile Rellenos

March 18, 2014March 20, 2014coldfishie 2 Comments

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If you ever made Chile Reyenos you know how much labor goes into making them, its almost like your going to war with a Poblano Pepper! First of all, I don’t have the patience or arm strength to beat egg whites to death. I want to eat, not workout. Then, when you finally get your peppers covered in egg and placed in the pan it falls right off! Not to mention, I HATE the aftermath of frying them. I’m left with tiny burn marks on my arms from oil popping all over the place, (I always forget to use the pan lid as a shield) and your clothes, hair, towels, pillows, curtains I mean EVERYTHING in your house smells like cooking oil. I’m not about that life. That smell is my biggest pet peeve. Just because I’m Mexican doesn’t mean I have to smell like a greasy tortilla chip!!!!! And the smell last for days. All that work for five cheesy, glorious bites of a stuffed pepper.

So to avoid injury and a workout, I decided to wrap my chiles with dough. Yes I know I’m a genius. I’ve made them this way with three different types of dough, Puff Pastry, Phyllo dough, and Crescent rolls which is what I used today. Each gives the pepper a different texture and flavor. The puff pastry gives a sweeter flavor and crispness, Phyllo dough turns into a delicate flakey crust, and the crescent roll is soft and buttery. My favorite of the three is the Puff Pastry it’s all three rolled into one! There still are some technical steps to make Chile Reyenos, but it’s so worth it. Trust me this is so much easier, and you wont even miss the egg coating. You’ll never want to eat it any other way again.

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Ingredients:

Poblano Pepper’s as many as you need, or can eat
Queso Fresco- Mexican crumbling cheese
Queso Chiuaua- Mexican melting cheese
Crescent rolls- I used 2 triangle pieces for each pepper

If using any of the next of items you will need extra ingredients.

Puff Pastry- if your going this route you’ll need one beaten egg to seal pastry.
Phyillo dough- you will need to use olive oil or butter in between each sheet
Directions: pre-heat: oven 350˙