Chicken Tacos with Mole Sauce, Pico de Gallo and Guacamole

Do you ever find that those last-minute, spontaneous get-togethers often turn out better than the long-planned gatherings?

That's what happened a few nights ago. And in the end it turned into a pressure cooker Mexican extravaganza - with the pressure cooker participating in no less than three dishes!

A girlfriend of mine and I had determined that we would get together, but didn't know where or when. When she called in the late afternoon we determined to have dinner at my place. It was a good thing as I had been pretty lazy all day and it got me off my but.

My friend is originally from Mexico (not to be confused with my other friend from Mexico). She had a rough week and was feeling a bit blue and homesick, so I decided to make a Mexican dinner for her (with her assistance of course). I ran to the store and got some kitchen essentials including tomatoes, avocados, cilantro, jalapenos, and limes. Does that grocery list not scream Mexican????

I also got some tortillas. I've mentioned before that I live some distance from Mexico. I think the search for tortillas is one of the more telling sure signs. It's hard to find corn tortillas here. You can find wheat, flax, three cheese, and pesto. But corn tortillas are a little more challenging. I suspect that this is a sign that the wrap-sandwich folks have a corner on the market. I did manage to get a package of jalapeno corn tortillas - a sure substitute.

I prepared a guacamole dip and a pico de gallo salsa so that we could have those as appetizers with nacho chips (corn nacho chips to be specific) and set the scene. I didn't have any specific Mexican music so opted for Buena Vista Social club music to add Latino charm.

I then set out to make refried beans. A simple, yet complex dish with 3 steps.

I employed the pressure cooker first to assist with a "quick soak" of some dried pinto beans so that we would be able make refried beans. To do this you bring the beans to a boil for 2-3 minutes in a good amount of water. You then turn off the heat and let them sit in the heated water for a good hour. Of course, if you are able to plan ahead, you would just soak them overnight instead of going through this step - but that would require much more than 2 hours notice like I had tonight.

You then go onto cook beans in the pressure cooker, then finish them on the stovetop (the "refried" portion of their name I assume).

I did a quick cleanup of the pressure cooker and then prepared two large, bone-in, skin on chicken breasts in the pressure cooked. I've done this before, so I won't bore you with the details apart from the fact of the great smell. Also, for this evening's meal, I kept the reserved stock from cooking them for the mole sauce.

It was roughly at this point that my friend arrived. Although I had done quite a bit of prep work, there was still lots to do so we divided the tasks. She finished the refried beans and prepared the mole sauce. I shredded the chicken and then used the pressure cooker, again, to cook white rice.

The final step before sitting down to our feast was to prepare the tortillas. I learned something new.

In other cooking demos I've been shown the method where you sauté each tortilla in oil to soften it and make it pliable. Tonight, my friend took advantage of the natural gas flame and cooked them right on the flame - flipping often. It was fantastic, no mess and less fattening. You don’t want to get distracted though lest you burn your tortilla.

As we were in the final steps of preparation we invited another girlfriend to join. She arrived just in time to partake of the meal and get a demonstration on how to assemble the chicken tacos.

Salut!

Pico de Gallo

1 large tomato diced
1/2 onion diced
1 jalapeno minced
1 small bunch cilantro chopped
Juice of 1/2 lime
Salt to taste
Combine all ingredients. Let sit for at least 1/2 hour for flavours to absorb. If you don't have time, dig in.

Guacamole
2 avocados peeled and pit removed, chopped
1 clove garlic
1 small bunch cilantro chopped
1/2 jalapeno minced
Juice of 1/2 lime
Put all ingredients into the bowl of a food processor fitted with a blade and process until desired smoothness.


Refried Beans
Step 1:
1 cup dried pinto beans
6 cups water
Bring beans to a boil in the water. Let boil 2-3 minutes. Then remove for heat and let soak at least 1 hour.

Step 2:
The absorbed pinto beans, drained
6 cups water
1/2 onion
1/2 jalapeno pepper
2 cloves garlic
Put all ingredients into a pressure cooker and secure the lid. Bring to pressure over med-high heat. Once at pressure, reduce heat (not so much that you lose pressure) and cook 6-8 minutes. Use a quick release method to reduce pressure. Discard, onion, pepper and garlic and drain beans. Reserve 1 cup of the cooking liquid.

Step 3:
1-2 tbsp oil
1/2 onion diced fine
1 cloves garlic minced
The cooked pinto beans, drained
Reserve bean cooking liquid
Salt and pepper to taste
In a sauté pan heat the oil and add the onion and garlic. Sauté until soft. Add the beans and mash. Add enough bean cooking liquid to make to a chunky-smooth texture. Salt and pepper to taste.

Mole Sauce
1/2 jar prepared mole sauce
45 grams unsweetened Mexican chocolate
1/2-3/4 cup chicken broth
Heat the mole sauce in a small saucepan with enough broth to make a thick liquid. When smooth, add the chocolate and stir until melted.

Chicken
See the recipe and method here to prepare and shred the chicken.

White Rice
1 cup white rice
2 cups water
Put the rice and water into the pressure cooker. Secure the cover and bring to high pressure . Reduce the heat, but don't lose pressure. Cook for 7 minutes and use a quick release method to reduce pressure.

Tortillas
Prepare by heating in oil in frying pan or over an open flame on the cooktop. On open flame keep rotating every 20-30 seconds so they don't burn.

Sour Cream
Thin with milk to make a more fluid consistency.


To assemble the Tacos add shredded chicken, mole sauce, guacamole, salsa and sour cream. Roll up and devour.

Chicken Bouillabaisse a la Pressure Cooker

Do not try this at home.

At least, not just yet.

A few weekends ago I was flipping through the Barefoot Contessa's latest recipe book, Back to Basics. In usual style it is filled with beautiful pictures of beautiful foods. Inspiring. To say the least.

The one photo that made me pause was her Chicken Bouillabaisse recipe. It looks sooooo amazing. And I was particularly thrilled that one of the ingredients is Pernod, as I had just been reading about Pernod use in Anthony Bourdain's book "Kitchen Confidential". Coincidence. I think not. It was a sign that I should pursue this recipe.

First I had to pursue Pernod.

It's a lovely French liqueur that has a strong licorice nose and fennel (or perhaps anise) taste. How could you go wrong?


Now that I've been on the pressure cooker bandwagon for a good two months, I figured I was ready to jump right into the recipe modifying it appropriately for pressure cooker purposes utilizing my arsenal of lessons learned.

I began by sautéing chicken parts seasoned with salt, pepper and rosemary (I used bone-in, skin-on, chicken breasts with the back attached) right in the cooker with olive oil. Once browned, I removed them to a plate.

From there I added lots of garlic (yummy), fennel (more licoricey goodness), saffron (very exotic), white wine (always a winner), Pernod (even more exotic), tomato paste (not so exotic), whole canned tomatoes (even more not so exotic), and chicken bouillon (the right thing to do). All of this was a variation on the book recipe but with reduced liquid, and more tomatoey flavour, and 10 minutes on high pressure vs.30-40 minutes simmering on the cooktop. Again, not just a time savings, but an energy savings (after all, yesterday was Earth Day).
After simmering, I made use of my latest favourite appliance (at least it is now that my sister-in-law taught me proper usage skills), the hand blender, and blended it all together. I then added cubed red potatoes and the chicken back to the pot. I brought the concoction back up to high pressure and cooked 17 minutes under pressure.

This is where I return to my initial statement - do not try this at home. Although the dish looked fantastic and smelled fantastic, I was less than impressed. But where did I go wrong? I haven't made this dish using the traditional recipe so was it my pressure cooker conversion? Did I add to much tomatoey goodness? Should I have added sugar to offset some of the acidity? Maybe I snacked too many crackers and other snacks while making the dish that I really just wasn't that into it?


I don't know.

Maybe it tasted as it should (the Pernod flavour did come through). But it just wasn't as good as it looks.

So I don't know, you can try it. Or not.

Ottawa Pizza

I'm wayyyyy past due for a blog-post.

I do plan to get right back on track with the pressure cooker and/or smoker cooking a.s.a.p. In fact, I'm in the process of buying another pressure cooker (but that's another blog). I do digress.

My delay is a function of a combination of a lot of travel and and a lot of eating out. I s'pose I could have blogged on some of the fantastic restaurants I've enjoyed in Eastern Canada and the New England area, but I was to busy eating and enjoying to take pictures.

But, I did manage to squeak out a few pictures of this evenings feast.

It's a bit of an interesting story. A local (sorta) freebie newspaper called The Metro had recommended two wines for drinking relative to the movie "Bottle Shock". (Have you seen this movie? It's really good and worth the watch). Anyways, we bought the wines and were planning to do a fancy dinner and wine tasting with them.

But . . . We had a large lunch at our favourite Ethiopian restaurant, The Horn of Africa, and just didn’t have it in us to do a big dinner. We still did a mini wine tasting (and true to the movie, the American Cabernet Sauvignon won). As for food, something lighter and fast. The answer: Pizza.

Now when I'm at our primary residence, my favourite way to prepare pizza is on the smoker (watch upcoming blog-posts for this), but in Ottawa, I had to go more traditional. We bought a prepared crust, some terrific deli meats, and good quality mozzarella. We used up some stuff around the house including a tomato and some mushrooms. The end result was yummy.

Deeeeeelish.

Ottawa Pizza
Prepared Pizza Crust
Prepared Pizza Sauce, good quality
Good Quality Hot Salami, enough for a single layer
Good Quality Unprocessed Ham, enough for a single layer
Mushrooms (wild or crimini), sautéed with olive oil, garlic and kosher salt
Good Quality Mozzarella (North American) grated, to cover
Tomato, thinly sliced
Oregano, dried, sprinkled on top
Hot Pepper Flakes, sprinkle on top

The list of ingredients is in order of how they should be put on the pizza. You don’t want to make any of the layers thick, just to cover. Bake at 375F for 10 minutes. Then finish with the broiler for 4-7 minutes.

Linguine Carbonara

Mmmmmmm carbonara. Is there a more perfect food?

Mmmmmmm bacon. Is there a more perfect food?

I know that's duplication, but the thing is, I think carbonara has to be my most favourite go-to food. It's got all the makings: simplicity, tastiness, quickness and of course, bacon (or bacon-like content) . What I haven't determined is if it is the bacon that makes this dish - as bacon pretty much improves any dish - or if it's just a great thing in its own right.

Either way, it's fantastic.

The great thing about carbonara, beyond its purist form anyways, is that you can swap ingredients in and out and still come out with a fantastic product. Once you've established a basic recipe - you can begin to play. Switch-up the pasta to a farfalle or orecchiete. Substitute prosciutto or pancetta for the bacon. Or add veggies such as zucchini, spinach, peas or arugula.

That's why you'll find all sorts of recipes with variations on ingredients and methodology. I encourage you to find the one that works for you. Here's mine (well at least the one I'm using today, I'm likely to change it up next time round).

Linguine Carbonara for Two
2 tsp olive oil
8 strips alder-smoked bacon, sliced in short, thin strips
1/2 medium onion, diced
9 oz dried linguine
2 eggs, at room temperature
4 tablespoons creams, at room temperature
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

In a large Dutch-oven type pot heat the oil on medium-high heat. (Using this kind of pot, serves two purposes, it reduces the splatter from sautéing the bacon and onion, and it serves as the final mixing bowl). Add the bacon and onion and stir to mix. Let the bacon and onion saute until the bacon is crisp and the onion is carmelized. Once ready, turn the heat off and let stand.

Meanwhile, start a pot for boiling water for your pasta. When the water is boiling add the pasta and cook as usual (9-11 minutes).

While the pasta is cooking mix your eggs and cream until blended. Then mix in the cheese.

This final step has to be done relatively quickly once all the pieces are ready. When the pasta is cooked, drain it. Then dump into the bacon and onion pot. Chuck in the egg mixture and mix through. Serve topped with more grated cheese.

Chicken Enchiladas with Salsa Verde

Hola!

I've recently had the pleasure of having authentic Mexican food prepared by a girlfriend of mine who is from Mexico City. (I was even so lucky on one occasion to have her mom cook as well - but that's another blog).

I'm a good 2000 miles from Mexico, and my friend swears that the majority of restaurants this far out, are not authentic (well at least 99% of them aren't). So as she did their cooking, I made sure to take lots of notes so I could recreate the recipes.

Chicken Enchiladas with Salsa Verde has several steps. I managed to break them down over a couple of days using the pressure cooker. It's just a bit of laziness on my part, as there is no reason why this dish couldn't be prepared all in the same day.

Salsa Verde
Into the crockpot I put tomatillos, garlic and jalapeno peppers. I added a mere 1/2 cup of water (usually you would cover with water) and brought to high pressure for 4 minutes. I used the valve to release the pressure, so that they wouldn’t overcook. Although I had only used 1/2 cup of water, there was a lot of liquid in the pot. Out of curiosity I strained the veggies to measure the liquid and there was now more than 1 cup of liquid. You do want to retain some of the liquid, but this would be wayyyyy to much.

I transferred my strained ingredients to a blender, then added onion, cilantro and lime and blended until a smooth sauce. I put the sauce in the fridge, where it stayed for 3 days.

Chicken
Into the pressure cooker I put chicken, cilantro, onion and garlic.

I added about 1 cup of water, put the lid on and brought it to full pressure. I cooked it for 15 minutes, then let the pressure reduce on its own. When I removed the lid it smelled wonderful - the mix of ingredients had this incredibly fresh, fragrant smell. I strained the ingredients, again reserving the liquid as it was such a lovely stock. I shredded the chicken into a bowl, and discarded the skin, bones and strained ingredients.

Enchiladas
After sautéing corn tortillas in oil, I filled each with the chicken, folded in half and laid them out in a baking dish. I poured my prepared salsa verde over top and spread it around to cover, and put grated mozzarella cheese on top. I baked it for about 30 minutes, and had a yummy, spicy dish.



Salsa Verde
6 medium tomatillos husked
1 clove garlic
3 jalapeno peppers
1 small bunch cilantro
1/2 medium onion
1/2 lime, squeezed for juice
Put the tomatillos, garlic and jalapeno peppers into the pressure cooker. Add 1/2 cup of water and bring to high pressure and cook for 4-6 minutes. Let the pressure drop on its own. Strain the veggies and reserve the liquid. Place the veggies into a blender with the cilantro, onion and lime juice. Blend until smooth.

Chicken
4 chicken breasts with bone and skin on
1 small bunch fresh Cilantro
1/2 medium onion
1 clove garlic
Put the chicken breasts, cilantro, onion and garlic into the pressure cooker. Bring to high pressure and cook for 15 minutes. Let the pressure drop on it's own. Remove the chicken and shred the meat - discard the bones and skin. You can strain the remaining liquid and reserve for using to cook rice.

Enchiladas
8 small corn tortillas
Olive oil
Mozzarella cheese, grated
Sauté each corn tortilla in a bit of olive oil to soften. Fill each with shredded chicken, fold in half, and place in a casserole baking dish. Cover with the salsa verde, then top with shredded mozza. Place under the broiler to melt the cheese.

Champagne Chicken and Veggies

You may have noticed a theme that my last two recipes have "champagne" in the title. But don't be mislead into thinking that I'm regularly sipping on champagne and munching beluga caviar. It's actually more of a using up leftovers thing. But I figured this title resonated more than "Using up Leftovers Chicken".

When I got home from work this evening I was hungry but not super hungry and my husband requested something light. I felt like having chicken so I pulled out two bone-in chicken breasts to defrost. I then searched my fridge to find accompanying ingredients. The first one to be found was the last bit of leftover champagne from Saturday's dinner (carefully capped with a specific champagne corker so that it wasn't yet flat).



I also found a red onion, garlic (yes I'm finally the proud owner of garlic again), mushrooms, carrots and celery. I knew I was onto something. And the best part is that I knew it would be easy and ready in no time.



I browned the chicken in right in the pressure cooker on both sides. As the chicken was browning I chopped the onion, sliced the mushrooms, chopped the garlic, peeled and sliced the carrots, and diced the celery.

I removed the chicken from the pot, chucked in my prepared veggies and let sauté until softened. I added my bubbly, let it simmer down, threw in some canned tomatoes, returned the chicken, secured the lid, and brought up to high pressure. Easy pleasy. After 15 minutes I turned the burner off and let the pressure fall.

Before serving I did a quick check of the chicken temperature to make sure it was cooked through. It was more than done at about 180-190F depending which part of the bird breast I was aiming for. Despite the high internal temperature it was super tender and infused with the yummy vegetable goodness.

And what to serve with? Why, leftover champagne and leek risotto of course!

Champagne Chicken and Vegetables

2 tbsp olive oil
2 bone-in, skin on chicken breasts
Kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper
1 red onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
8 mushrooms, sliced
2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into coins
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 tsp thyme
3/4 cup champagne
14 oz canned tomatoes

Heat the oil in the pressure cooker. Add the seasoned (salt and pepper) chicken breasts and brown on each side for about 4-5 minutes. Remove the chicken to a plate for now. Add all of the veggies except the tomatoes and they thyme. Let cook for about 5 minutes until reduced. Add the champagne and let simmer down for about 1 minutes. Add the tomatoes and mix through. Nestle the chicken breasts into the stew-like mixture and secure the pressure cooker lid. Bring to 15 psi pressure and let cook 15 minutes. Use the quick-release method to release the pressure.

Leek and Champagne Risotto

It's Sunday.

Last night we hosted a wonderful multi-course birthday dinner for a dear friend with friends old and new in attendance. It was incredible, we had such a good time. But today I'm tired. Played out from a full-day cook-fest. For this reason, I had no intention to undertake a post for my blog. But here I am.

Let me explain.

In the wake of the dinner party, I spent a relaxing afternoon catching up on the various foodie blogs I watch. There was a common theme across several of the food blogs as First Lady, Michelle Obama, made a groundbreaking (literally) announcement on Friday for the White House Kitchen Garden - an organic garden at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue . Wow! This is the first time since the Roosevelt Era (1933-45) that the White House has had a visible garden. And this one is particularly remarkable as it will meet needs beyond the White House kitchen. I won't go into the details as there's lots already out there but have provided some links at the end of this post in case you're interested to read more.

Moving on.

Through my blog reading, Serious Eats New York put me onto, as they so often do, the New York Times food news - quick links to foodie articles without me having to do the looking. In particular, there were two very interesting articles centred around organic food and food consumption practices. Both quite thought provoking.

It got me to thinking (the thought provoking worked).

It's not that I read anything new that I hadn't read before, but it does seem there is a whole new energy to the writings. Some extra wind in the sails as a result of Michelle Obama's bold move (actually, planting a garden shouldn’t be a bold move, but perhaps the fact that it is bold, tells the story right there).

I decided to prepare a meal using the principles of minimizing waste and reducing my carbon footprint through vegetarian cookery. And that's how I got to Leek and Champagne risotto.

You see I had three leeks in my fridge that were about to expire (I've been here before) and some leftover champagne from last night's soiree. My leeks were originally intended for creamed leeks, but after a large, indulgent dinner last night, we weren't in the mood for another decadent meal. The topper, was that I was going to use the pressure cooker to make this risotto (another carbon footprint reduction).

I had heard the stories that a pressure cooker can make risotto, but was skeptical. Afterall, I actually find comfort in the 45 minute stirring process of regular risotto. But after my food blog reading, I felt that this was the evening to give it a go.

I prepared the risotto pretty much how I would normally. I sautéed the leeks for a few minutes, then added the rice. After adding the liquids (champagne and broth) I secured the pressure cooker lid and cooked the concoction at high pressure.

It was kind of strange, turning my back on the pot to clean up the kitchen, instead of regular stirring. I have to admit, I had an unsettled, almost a guilty feeling as if I was cheating all risotto making rules. The worst of it was I couldn't peek - the pressure lid was secured. So I had to trust the pressure cooker and assume all was well.

The end result was a very nice risotto. It was perfectly al dente. It wasn't as creamy as my usual risotto, but close - I would consider adding a bit more liquid next time. Another score not only for the pressure cooker, but for a reduced carbon footprint.


Leek and Champagne Risotto

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 table spoon butter
3 leeks, trimmed, cleaned and sliced thin
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
1 cup champagne
2 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup grated parmesan
Salt and pepper to taste

In the pressure cooker, heat the olive oil and butter over medium-high heat. Add the leeks and sauté until softened, about 5 minutes - you don't want them to brown so adjust the heat accordingly. Add the rice and sauté for 1-2 minutes. Add the champagne and mix in. Add the broth and mix in. Secure the lid and heat to high pressure (15 psi). Once at pressure cook for 7 minutes. Use a quick-release method for reducing the pressure and open the pot. Add the parmesan cheese and salt and pepper.


Some extra reading about the White House Kitchen Garden:
Obama Foodarama - details on the White House Kitchen Garden
A Mighty Appetite - White House says yes to Edible Garden
The New York Times - Is a Food Revolution Now in Season