It's been a while. Food recap

Hi Folks,
It's been awhile since I've spent any time on this blog but that doesn't mean I've stopped cooking. All sorts of things can happen in a year and they did. So... I've even been taking pictures of the food I make. Here are a few highlights. And a look into what I hope to be a bunch of future posts. Also just for fun I've begun designing a restaraunt menu and have a bunch of crazy good ideas but they need to be tested. Oh and I have just the place to tell you about how they come out.

 Quesadillias.
I've made a bunch. But they are the BEST vehicle for leftover proteins. Shrimp, Steak, Chicken, Pork, Emu, Whatever! Look at this prep work. LOOK at that medium rare leftover steak!

 I'm not really sure what this is... A hopped up chili-mac? a bolognaise? Oh well... I'ts making me hungry.

 Pizza. Man I love pizza, learned a bunch of new methods for cooking/grilling them too.

 It seems I'm constantly smoking habeneros. See previous posts.

 Stuffed Poblanos. What was in those again? Meat and potatoes. Cool.

 Just the awsomest appetizer spread ever. It needed it's own table.

 Haloween.
Not really something I cooked... But I can still be proud of it.



Aiiiiiiieeeeeeeeaaa

 Music and food. Together at last. Please ignore the "Great Value Chips"

Springtime and refreshing salads full of omegas is the key. Planked honey and whole grain mustard salmon over greens and veggies. Yum.

 Talapia, baby herbed potatoes, heirloom beets and beet greens, speckled lima beans. Phew I was busy that night.

 Oh man. Country Fried Turkey medallions around a lemon and arugula linguini topped with Parmesan cheese.
I might make that tonight.

 Brewing gear that the boys have been taking over. Look at this thing. Maybe we'll throw in some beer recipes as well. Just for those of you who are adventuresome.

OK. So to recap... Pictures of food, snarky commentsl, I'm back and I'm going to try to get more posts again. 

Not your mom's fruit salad

So I decided to go on a fruit kick the other day and a GIANT bowl ended up lasting only 3 days with this amazing versitile fruit salad.


You will need

• Blackberries 2 pints
• Blueberries 2 pints
• Cherries 1 lb
• Strawberries 2 pints
• Pineapple 1
• Grapefruit 2
• Triple-sec 1/4 cup

So no instructions really needed. Just cut everything up and toss it together. To get partiular make sure there is no white pithy stuff on the grapefruit because it is bitter. and for the cherries I cut them in half and pulled the seeds.

Yum.
Oh and if you get tired of eating this salad (which I bet you wont) throw it in a blender with some ice for a smoothie or with ice and rum for a ________. Fill in the blank, what would you call it?

Shredded Chicken Enchaladas with Roasted Tomatillio sauce and Habanero Salad

This is a quality recipe. Many thanks to Ash from A Year in the Kitchen for posting her enchalada casserole which was the inspiration for this recipe.


You will need

• Jalapenos
• 1 or 2 Onions
• Dozen or so Tomatillios
• 4 Cloves of garlic
• 1 whole chicken
• Adobo seasoning
• Corn Tortillias
• 1 Habanero
• Scallions
• Roasted Corn Salsa 
• Cheese (mexican or cheddar or manchego if you're super fly)

So let's start with the chicken.
Pictures of me hacking apart a chicken aren't entirely pleasant so I'll just tell you what I did. I quartered the chicken into 2 leg/thingh pieces and two breast/tender pieces. Throw those into a pot and cover with water. Just enough to cover all the chicken, Add 2 tbsp adobo seasoning boil for 30-40 minutes.

Crank your oven up to 350 after you have the chicken going and wash and roughly cut up 1 onion 2 jalapenos, 4 cloves garlic and tomatillios.

Throw those in the oven and let them bake 15-20 minutes till the tomatillios are tender.

After they come out of the oven we go right into a blender and that is our salsa verde.

After your timer goes off for the chicken we are going to pull it off the bone. It'll be hot so I use a pair of tongs to get everything separated you want just meat no skin or bones/cartilage.

Save your stock!
Shred the chicken with a fork and add some of the remaining liquid from the pot you boiled everything in until chicken is moist and juicy but not swimming.

After you have all the ingredients prepped we can go into assembly mode.

Put a little of the salsa verde in the bottom of the pan to prevent burning.


From right to left. 

1. Tortillia
2. Green onion (largepieces)
3. Shredded Chicken
4. Roll
5. Place in pan in a vague geometric shape (a row)

Now you're ready to cover with the rest of the salsa verde. Top with shredded cheese and bake for 20-30 minutes until the cheese looks nice and pretty.

I made a little habanero salad to go along with the dish because I like it HOT. 

Thinly slice habaneros, onion and scallion.

 I was cooking at night so the artificial light did not help the pics but the salad was beautiful orange white and green.

To plate put them on the plate top with roasted corn salsa and habenero salad.

Enjoy!

Yum.