White Bean Chicken Chili

March 15, 2009

Of all the chili recipes I’ve ever tried, this is my favorite. Chicken and white beans in a savory green chile and onion broth….Mmmm! And it doesn’t have to simmer all day…15 minutes and dinner is on the table. Using a rotisserie chicken is the best option because it’s pre-cooked AND will already have unbelievable flavor! Several components of this recipe can be adjusted the way you like it: use more or less of the garlic, cayenne (for even more heat add jalapenos), and broth. Optional garnishes include fresh cilantro, Cheddar cheese, and green onions. This hearty albino chili will warm your toes and sooth your soul.

INGREDIENTS
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 medium onions (red, white, or yellow), diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 4-oz cans diced mild green chiles
2 tsp. cumin
2 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (adjust according to desired heat)
3 cans Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed
1 whole rotisserie chicken or 4 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
8 cups chicken broth (use more or less depending on how thick you want your chili)
cilantro, dried or fresh (optional)
green onion, sliced for garnish
Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese, shredded for garnish
salt and pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Saute onions until translucent. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Stir in green chiles, cumin, oregano, and cayenne pepper (and cilantro if you are using dried).

2. Add 6 cups of chicken broth, beans, and chicken. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for at least 15 minutes. Add more chicken broth to achieve desired thickness. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Garnish with green onion, cheese, and cilantro. Serve hot.

Serves 8.

(Loosely adapted from All Recipes)
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German Chocolate Cake

March 14, 2009

My mom baked this delectable German Chocolate Cake for my 23rd birthday this weekend! I had asked that my cake be made from scratch, in hopes that it would be worthy to post. And as you can see, it was incredible! Thanks mom, for putting up with all my particular food requests and for the best birthday cake a girl could dream of! My coconut-hating husband finished off a rather large slice and I couldn’t stop reaching for more (not-so-stealthily stealing forkfuls from the center)! Hey, anything goes on your birthday!

German chocolate cake (which is actually made with German chocolate- fancy that!) is 99% about the frosting. The cake base needs to be moist, but the frosting really steals the show! Slather that sweet chewy coconut and crunchy chopped pecans in a caramel-like sauce over every inch of the cake. If you happen to have extra (not likely), this frosting is quite enjoyable by the spoonful!
As you can see, I forgot to take a photo before 23 candles made their way into the top of the cake. So my photographed slices are full of funny-looking candle holes! And you might notice that they were taken outside. Yes, that is my driveway you see. It was much too dark the night we celebrated to take a decent indoor picture, so I hauled my birthday cake out to the front porch in the morning to get a decent shot! So here’s to birthdays, bad photography, and another year of baking bliss!

INGREDIENTS

Cake:
1/2 cup water
4 (1 oz.) squares German sweet chocolate (Baker’s brand)
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
4 egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
2 1/2 cups cake flour (or you can use all-purpose)
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
4 egg whites

Frosting:

1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 can evaporated milk
3/4 cup butter
4 large egg yolks, beaten
2 cups flaked coconut
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Chocolate Ganache:
4 oz. semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate)
1/4 cup heavy cream

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour 3 9-in. round pans. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a small saucepan, heat water and 4 oz. chocolate until melted. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
2. In a large bowl, cream 1 cup butter and 2 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in 4 egg yolks one at a time. Blend in the melted chocolate mixture and vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk, mixing just until incorporated.
3. In a large glass or metal mixing bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold 1/3 of the whites into the batter, then quickly fold in remaining whites until no streaks remain.
4. Pour into the prepared pans. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto wire rack to cool completely.

5. To make the Filling, in a saucepan combine sugar, evaporated milk, butter, and egg yolks. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until thickened. Remove from heat. Stir in coconut, pecans and vanilla. Cool until thick enough to spread.

6. Spread filling between layers and on top of cake. Let set before serving.

7. To make the chocolate ganache, bring heavy cream to a simmer over medium heat. Place chocolate in a small bowl and pour simmering cream over top. Stir until chocolate is melted and smooth. Drizzle over cake.

Makes one 3-layer 9-in. round cake.
(Adapted from All Recipes)
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Chocolate Chip Cookies

March 10, 2009

Several days ago I wrote a lengthy, detailed post about this cookie recipe and lost it all to a faulty Internet connection. I’ve finally returned to try again, but I’m still pouting over my wasted time and creativity. I’m positive this post will be much worse than the original which was sucked into the void of cyberspace. But I suppose that even if my blurb about these chocolate chip cookies is not a literary masterpiece, it won’t change the fact that they they are (it’s a fact) fantastic!


These are the cookies that I grew up on. By the time I was old enough to operate the oven I had the recipe memorized (and still do) and was baking them by the batchful. They were the first treat I ever baked my then-boyfriend, now-husband (wink, wink) and continue to be a staple in his diet. No two batches are ever alike. Sometimes they turn out crunchy, sometimes flat, often puffy and chewy and perfect (variations are due to the temperature of the butter, cooking time, altitude, etc.). Sometimes we use M&M’s or butterscotch chips or peanut butter chips or a combination of all of the above.

The tattered recipe card I committed to memory so many years ago claimed that they were the original Mrs. Field’s recipe. I’ve never had a Mrs. Field’s cookie and so I can’t tell you if they taste the same. But like Mrs. Field’s we sometimes spread the entire bowl of batter onto a large pizza pan and bake a giant cookie. It makes a great alternative to birthday cake, decorated with icing, candles and all!

To achieve what I believe is the pinnacle of cookie perfection: make sure to slightly under bake your cookies. Take them out of the oven before they brown. Err on the side of too-gooey rather than overdone. The cookies will set up as they cool and stay moist and chewy for days (stored in an airtight container).

INGREDIENTS
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
12 oz. (2 cups) chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Coat cookie sheets with nonstick cooking spray.

2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until smooth with an electric mixer. Add eggs and beat until light and fluffy. Stir in the baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Add the flour, 1 cup at a time, and mix until well incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips by hand. 

3. Drop into rounded spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 8-12 minutes (depending on the size of your cookies), until they just start to turn golden on the edges. (They might still look doughy in the center, buy they will set up once cooled.)

4. Immediately remove from the cookie sheet to cool on a wire rack. They keep well for several days at room temperature (in an airtight container) or for several weeks in the freezer.

Makes 2 dozen large or 4 dozen small cookies.

(My mom’s recipe.)

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New Mexican Sopapillas

March 2, 2009

My dad can cook two things (that I’ve ever witnessed): grilled cheese (who can’t?) and sopapillas! (Oh actually, I think he made me pancakes from a mix once for my birthday. In the shape of my age (18) of course.) But sopapillas are all we need! He is a native of New Mexico and this is his traditional dish. Funny thing is I called home for a last-minute recommendation on how hot to heat the oil (I’m a deep fry novice) and my family was at that exact moment finishing their own batch of sopapillas! My family loves them. It’s our go-to meal for company and for comfort! Family lore has it that this recipe came from (how they obtained it is questionable) a popular restaurant in Los Alamos. Fried dough stuffed to the brim with southwestern fillings-all I know is that they are awesome!

This was also my first experience with lard. While you can use shortening in its place, lard is a more natural source of fat. Our grandmothers grew up on the stuff- it can’t be that scary! It took me three tries to find a grocer that actually sells the stuff and you have to make sure it is not hydrogenated or you are probably better off with shortening. Ideally, you could render your own, but since I don’t have a pet hog I settled for store-bought. Unless you have a reliable source of pure lard, using non hydrogenated shortening is probably your best bet.

But back to the sopapillas! As a savory dish they are torn open and stuffed with Green Chili Ground Beef, refried beans, Spanish Rice, lettuce, tomatoes, cheddar cheese, sour cream, and salsa. For dessert try them sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, dusted with powdered sugar, or drizzled in honey!

INGREDIENTS

3 cups warm water
1 Tbsp. yeast
2 Tbsp. lard or shortening
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
5 1/2- 6 cups all-purpose flour
canola oil, for frying

DIRECTIONS
1. Add sugar to water. Sprinkle in yeast and let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

2. Add salt, lard, and 1 cup flour. Mix thoroughly.

3. Continue adding flour, 1 cup at a time and mixing well after each addition, until dough cleans the sides of the bowl. Knead 5 minutes. (You may need to add more flour to prevent dough from sticking.)

4. Rub dough with a small amount of lard or spray with cooking spray. Cover, set in a warm place, and let rise 1 hour.

5. Push down and divide in half. Roll out half of dough at a time to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut into 3″ or 4″ squares.

6. Preheat canola oil in a large pot on high heat. To test oil, drop a small piece of dough into the hot oil. It will quickly puff and turn brown at the right temperature.

7. Fry dough by gently placing the squares into the hot oil. Continuously spoon oil over top of the dough until they puff and are light golden on both sides.

8. Remove from the oil and drain on paper towel. Best served hot. (If you are frying a large batch you might want to keep them warm in a 200 F oven until ready to serve.)

Serve with green chili ground beef, refried beans, Spanish rice, shredded cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, sour cream, and salsa for stuffing. Also delicious sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, powdered sugar, or drizzled with honey.

Serves 8.

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Green Chile Ground Beef

Served with New Mexican Sopapillas, this is not your ordinary ground beef! Mild-yet-flavorful green chilis bring this dish alive! When you’ve run out of sopapillas, try it as a taco or burrito filling.

INGREDIENTS

1 lb. ground beef
1 cup chopped green chilis (2 4-oz. cans)
1/2 tsp. cumin
1 Tbsp. corn starch (optional)
1 onion, diced
1/2 cup water
salt and pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS
1. Brown beef and onion over medium-high heat, stirring frequently to crumble. Drain off fat.

2. Add remaining ingredients and simmer to meld flavor and evaporate water. Serve with sopapillas or in tacos.

Serves 6.

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