Chicken Quesadillas

Imagine melted Monterrey jack cheese on top of sautéed chicken and onions that is folded in a corn flour tortilla and then pressed tightly on a George Foreman grill.   Folks, chicken quesadillas are not hard to make.   And if you don’t want to make fresh chicken, you can buy a rotisserie chicken and shred it into the mix.   The recipe initially called for pre-cooked chicken to make our lives easier- but it doesn’t take that long to cook chicken to begin with and it tastes better.   A lot better.  I even inspired my friend Stacy (who hardly cooks) to use her stove.  It took maybe about  30-40 minutes?  And it was so easy!!

I got inspired to make Chicken Quesadillas not only because I haven’t made them before, but also because I’d get them for lunch at Sarabeth’s at Chelsea Market and they were expensive and a little greasy.   I thought to myself, “Hm.  I can make these too.”   Then I did and they were fantastic!

Ratings:

Taste: 4- could have added some red and/or green bell peppers and a little more serrano chilies for additional spice.   Instead of Monterrey jack cheese you could use cheddar.   We also decided that we could add a side; maybe a corn salsa instead of a tomato salsa on top or guacamole-  I forgot to buy it… oops!

Do-Ability:

5- Very easy.  I’d make it again and again!

What should I make?

What do I need more of? Desserts? Fish? Sides? Salads maybe?? Salads are a bit tough- as produce goes bad and when you cook for one- it’s hard to buy a lot of produce- so much goes to waste!! That’s why I’ll buy salads…

Cook to Impress? Go with Pasta

If you want to impress, go simple.  Simple = Pasta.  I’ll only try new things on myself because I’d hate to mess up on someone else- esp. if I’m cooking to impress.  This week, I came across an unusually picky guinea pig who gave me a guideline of foods he doesn’t eat.

1. no seafood; which was hard for me because I like fish.

I said, “Chicken or steak?”

He said, “Both are fine.”

I’ve cooked way too many chicken recipes and may turn into one if I cook another chicken dish. And I wasn’t in the mood for red meat so I went with Pasta.

I found Penne with Tomato Prosciutto Sauce which looked easy and didn’t have too many ingredients- it was simple and looked good- but it has Prosciutto in it-

“Are you OK with Proscuitto?”

“Not my Fav. but I’ll eat it.”  OY!

Ratings- 1 to 5  (5 = excellent)

ME: 4.0 Prosciutto didn’t do much for me- maybe it’s because I didn’t add much due to picky guinea pig.  Extra points for making tomato sauce from scratch- and it was good.

Guinea Pig: 17.  Goal Achieved- It’s over the max!

Just remember that if you want to impress go with PASTA.

Thai-Style Chicken Soup with Basil

I’ve noticed that every time I’ve cooked Asian food from Gourmet, I’ve had a very hard time finding those special ingredients that make that particular dish so unique and interesting. The Korean grocery store by my apt. didn’t have lemon grass which was a disappointment because it would was necessary in the soup. Would have been nice.

Comments:

Wade: 4.2, could use the lemongrass

Collin: Very light, flavorful

Do-Ability:

3.5

Couldn’t find a bunch of ingredients- tamarind, lemon grass, Thai Basil, Thai Chile, lime leaves, didn’t buy the ginger because I thought I had it at home-turned out I had minced garlic instead. Also, noodles would have been a nice touch too. Next time 🙂

Adventures in Thailand: My First time in Asia

Mom, Kim and I get off the plane after a sixteen hour flight and are blown away by the fact that our carry-on luggage can’t fit into the back trunk of a taxi.  We only took one bag each and it was an American size standard carry-on bag on wheels that’s supposed to fit in the over head on the plane, but it doesn’t.  Unfortunately, the Asian standards of carry-on luggage are a little different from the Americans, and the car trunks are a lot smaller.  I’m sure the cab driver is used to this which explains his speedy preparation: a bungee cord.

As we get into the cab, I thought about my second language: Spanish.  Wait, I’m not in a Spanish-speaking country.  I’m in Thailand! We forget that not everyone around the world speaks English and/or Spanish.  Gosh!  Luckily, we just said the name of our hotel and the cab driver knew where it was.

I do apologize for my Gourmet break, as I was in Asia, but I promise that I will do more cooking and writing in the New Year.   Let me tell you about the food in Thailand.   It’s a lot lighter than the American version of Thai food.  I think that in America, it’s more about the sauces and we definitely use more oil which makes it greasier and harder for me to digest.   It’s only natural for the Thai restaurants in the States to cater to American palates.  In Thailand, the food is about the spice and they use most of the same ingredients: cilantro, oyster sauce, brown sugar, fish sauce, curry paste, lemongrass, tamarind, and an egg for Pad Thai. If you have almost or all of those ingredients, you can make salads, soups, noodle dishes and just about anything you like.

In Chang Mai, Mom and Kim surprised me with a cooking class.  I’m very gullible.  I got into a truck that said the name of the cooking school right on the front door, and I still thought that I was going up to the mountains to see a small village full of “hill people.” If you’re going to Chang Mai and want to take a cooking class go to Siam Thai Cookery.   We made a series of eight dishes outside in nice weather and every dish was prepped like this.

See, how nice it looks? If I could prep like that, I’d be so happy.  Maybe I’ll make that one of my new years resolutions.

This is the hot and sour soup (Tom Yum) that Kim made. Have you ever ordered Tom Yum at a Thai restaurant and it’s just so hot your mouth feels like it’s on fire on the first bite? Well, Kim made it a little over mild where it was still spicy but you could eat the whole bowl.  We had to decide at some point not to join the “clean plate club” because there were still more dishes to make.  I think we made a total of eight dishes and this was only the fourth.  This is a marathon, not a sprint.

Below is the Spicy Glass Noodle Salad, which was very simple and had most of the same ingredients as the other dishes. Again, it was very easy to make.  I love the cilantro in it which added so much flavor but didn’t balance out the chili peppers which took up most of the taste on my tongue.  Chili peppers are very over bearing sometimes.  I may have put too much in. My tolerance for spicy food is very low because I won’t choose to eat spicy foods.  I’m a pansy about that. I’ll probably make it again without onions and less chili peppers.  You can also add chicken or pork to it as well.

I could go on and on about the dishes I made.  Pad Thai: I had to make it- Like I said earlier, I’ve had versions of Pad Thai that are so greasy and have too much peanut sauce on it.   Mine wasn’t about the sauce.  I’d show you a picture but it didn’t come out too well.  I used too much fish sauce and tiny dried crunchy shrimp, so mine tasty too fishy.

If you go to Thailand, go to Siam Rice Thai Cookery School.

Going to Thailand

On my way to Thailand for nine days and I have never been to asia before- which means that my tribute is on a break. It would have been a challenge and probably and adventure to cook without a kitchen. I don’t think Kim and mom would appreciate it so my gourmet cooking has been delayed until next week. I have a lot of catch-up to do when I return.

Happy holidays!
Ashley

Week 7: Spaghetti with Spicy Tomato and Olive Sauce

**Note:  Still no camera cord hence no pictures 😦

For a while, I thought it was going to be a warm winter since almost all of November was decent weather. I was wrong when Thanksgiving rolled around.

Due to the finger incident from last week, I wanted to make something that didn’t require a lot of chopping. Therefore, I made the Spaghetti with Spicy Tomato and Olive Sauce which was quite tasty and easy to make.

My favorite pasta is capellini. I dated a chef once and on our first date he made me a pasta dish from scratch and asked me what kind of pasta I liked. He wanted the truth so I told him. He sighed and wiped the sweat from his face and continued to cut the pasta dough very very thin. That relationship didn’t last very long.

I’m finally learning how to make tomato sauce. It was very easy. Some minced ginger, extra virgin olive oil, and red pepper flakes- which gave it a nice kick at the end of the bite. I may have over-cooked the pasta a little bit but I’d definitely make this dish again.

Ratings:

Taste: 1=Bad, 5=Excellent

Flavor: 4. The pasta was a little mushy – but the sauce was great. Instead of using a can of tomato puree, I’ll use one with chunky tomatoes next time. Extra points for red pepper flakes- it was a nice surprise at the end of my bite- just when you’re about to swallow- I’m thinking “wow, this is really good…” and then oops- it’s a little spicy at the end.

Do-Ability: 1=Hard, 5= Easy

5: Quick and easy.

Week 6: A Special Tribute to the Turkey

Dear Henrietta,

Why must you be difficult? I gave you a very nice bath in vegetable broth, kosher salt, brown sugar, and pepper corns the night before your Big Day.  I wanted to prep you and make sure you looked and tasted Good.  I have learned my lesson that we should all be nice to the turkey and respect her wishes when a certain joint does not want to budge.  I deserved my punishment and I am very sorry that I could not continue to carve you the way that you wanted to be carved.

Much Love,

Ashley

Can you guess what happened? I was in the middle of carving Henrietta when the carving knife slipped out of my right hand and cut the tip of my left fore finger.  Blood was gushing out everywhere but luckily it didn’t add any extra flavoring to the turkey.  Cold water did nothing.  It just kept on bleeding.  Mom, Dad, Kim and Drew rushed into the kitchen and I immediately got my strategic analysis of what I should do next.  Kim suggested I put a rubber band around the tip of my finger to stop the blood to at least get through the next course.  I’m sitting at the dinner table next to my Aunt Geri, who has twelve great-grand children (very long story), with my elbow on the table and my left fore finger pointing up as I’m eating the first course. In that moment, I decided to make a toast.

“I’d like to welcome you to the 2^nd annual Thanksgiving dinner at our household.  It’s a little more dramatic than last year, but it was only done for the good meal that you’re about to eat.”

Mom and I slaved all day in the kitchen on Thursday working on the turkey.  Henrietta brined the night before in a large pot.  We were a little nervous that she wasn’t going to fit in there because she was just a little too wide, but her legs were sticking right out at the top so we covered her with saran wrap and let her soak through the night.  Around noon the next day, we took her out, propped her right up in the sink, rinsed her and patted her dry with paper towel.  Then I stuck my hands underneath the skin and coated her with the truffle butter Mom made the day before.  In the midst of all this, Dad came into the kitchen and caught me in the act with my hand up a turkey’s butt and snapped a picture.  Then, he sent it to Kim and Drew with the title “Turkey in the Now.”  I was not amused.  I was a little scared that I wasn’t using enough butter on the turkey.  My hands  were  slimy and covered in butter.  As much as I love truffles, putting my hands anywhere near my mouth was not an option since they were on a raw 15 lb female turkey named Henrietta.

She was good though.  My grandmothers, Granny-My and Oma, are very particular about their turkey’s and have very high standards that are hard to beat almost always.

“The skin needs to be nice and crisp,” Granny-My says.

She took a bite.  “That skin is so crisp and that meat is so moist!”

You know it must be good if she says that.

Aside from the turkey, we made the corn like I said in Week 1 except I used whole milk instead of heavy cream and added chopped cilantro for more flavor.  I preferred it this way.  Heavy cream is just a little much for my stomach.  I’d take two bites and be full.  With whole milk, I finished two servings.

Turkey Rating: 1-5, 1=Bad, 5=Excellent

Taste: 5+, It was cooked perfectly where the skin was very crisp and the breast meat was incredibly moist.  Extra points for a terrific gravy- nice and thick, a little salty, but not too much.  The turkey stock added extra turkey flavor.

Flavor: 3.5, Couldn’t really taste the truffle flavor in the turkey- After all, I did use my hands to lather the truffle butter underneath the skin so it’s only natural for me to want to taste the flavor.  The butter helped keep the skin nice and crisp, though.

Do-Ability: 1=Hard, 5=Easy

3- it took a long time to prep and there were many steps to follow.  The gravy was simple and makes sense so because of the gravy, the points were raised in this category.  Mom made the turkey stock a day ahead and poured it into the roasting pan after we took the turkey out.  Then we added some butter, flour, shallots and white wine.  After, we let it simmer until it thickened.

All’s Well End’s Well with Full Stomachs 🙂

Recipe: Roast Turkey with Black Truffle and White Wine Gravy

From:  November 2008 Issue

Guinea Pigs, what did you think?

**Note missing cord for my camera- hence no pictures.  They will be up soon.

Still Week 5: Tomato and Mozzarella Lasagna

There are reasons why I never make lasagna because it usually takes roughly two-three hours to cook and another hour to set and who wants to put that much time into something that’s really bad for your health? But, this recipe from nine years ago Tomato and Mozzarella Lasagna only took an hour to cook and no time to set given the status of our hunger.

I made tomato sauce for the first time. It’s real easy- just some canned tomatoes, onions, garlic and a touch of OJ. The recipe called for a ¼ cup of orange juice but I thought it was a cup so instead of salty tomato sauce, it was tangy.  Wade took a bite and said, “We sure got our dose of vitamin C today.”

Week Five was roommate reunion night. I came home and started dicing onions immediately.  You’d think I’d know how to cut onions by now but nope.  See all the different sizes and shapes? I gotta learn to cut an onion.

Ange and La came over around 8:30 with garlic bread and it was the best garlic bread we ever had.  They kept it wrapped up in tin foil to keep the flavors in, and then put it in the oven at 350 degrees F. It was a good thing we didn’t go out after because Ange was very generous with the garlic.  It was crispy on the outside but the dough was really soft and easy to chew.

Nick, (Steph’s BFF from fifth grade), came over and made a Greek salad.  It looked simple to make and it was tasty.  I have to admit that I’m not the biggest fan of Greek salad usually, but this one was just perfect- it had the right amount of oil and vinegar, feta cheese and the stars of the dish- cucumbers and tomatoes.   Perhaps, I’ve never been a fan because the Chef has always over done it with the feta or the olive oil- and if it’s too much of one thing- it’s soggy and gross.  You have to be careful because feta is a very acquired taste.

Finally, the lasagna was ready and we were starving! No one cared about the set time at that point in the night.  All we wanted was our food.  Serving it was quite a challenge- I did my best to serve perfect squares but instead it looked like tomato cheese mushy pudding.

I think we all agreed that we’ve had better lasagna- even if Steph wet up for more.

Rating: 1=bad, 5=good

Flavor: 3, should have had additional cheeses besides mozzarella- even if I love mozzarella.

Do-Ability: 1=Hard, 5=Easy

4- Very easy to make but messed up on the tomato sauce.

Guinea Pigs, what do you think?

Week 5: Vietnamese-Style Beef Noodle Soup

I love Thai food but every time I order soup it’s always so greasy and gives me a stomach ache.    Here’s an easy recipe from six years ago that’s a bit spicy and uses roast beef  Vietnamese-Style Beef Noodle Soup so you don’t actually have to prepare meat.  It was the right amount of spiciness to my tongue- not too spicy, not too mild.  It had enough flavors with the serrano chili peppers, the mint and cilantro to make it just right. By the third bowl, my eyes started to water and my face got red.  Hint Hint- 3 bowls? What? That’s how good it was.

My mom would have a heart attack if she saw the mess in the kitchen.  I couldn’t help myself because I like to spread all the ingredients out on the counter when I follow directions- if I follow directions.   The only two ingredients I didn’t use was the fish sauce and the Thai basil and it was still plenty good.  I was glad I didn’t use the fish sauce because it has so much sodium in it- 1340 mg and the soup didn’t need any salt to enhance flavor.     It was nearly impossible to tear the vermicelli noodles apart without getting all the little bits and pieces all over the counter and the floor.  That was my only challenge.  I used scissors and a knife to tear them a part but they wouldn’t budge.

Pretty herbs 🙂 I love the smell of fresh cilantro and mint.

Rating: 1= Bad/Hard, 5=Excellent/Easy

Taste/Flavor: 5

Do-Ability: 4 – couldn’t find good Thai Basil. It was still pretty easy. Using roast beef was smart because no one wants to get E coli these days.