Recipe: Mexican Mole-Rubbed Chicken with Grilled Vegetables

My mother handed me this Cuisine Favorites Chicken magazine a few weeks ago and I tagged a few pages as I flipped through it, being drawn in by the beautiful photography. This chicken dish caught my eye because my dad's favorite dish to order at our local Mexican restaurant is the Chicken Mole, a chicken dish served with the complex chile-and-chocolate sauce called mole (MOH-lay)—this dish turns that sauce into an easy-to-mix rub. The rub is sweet and spicy and creates a subtle heat that stays on your tongue while you eat. The vegetables, tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper, then grilled and drizzled with lime juice, are so fresh and juicy (as is evident in my picture).

Tried to present a clean plate, but the lime juice-drizzled vegetables were just too fresh and juicy!

Serves: 4
Prep. time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: About 15 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Special equipment needed: Grill (or the equivalent indoor equipment)

Ingredients
For the chicken:

• 1/2 cup orange marmalade
• 1 tbsp. white wine vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar and it worked well)
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1/4 cup chili powder
• 1 tbsp. crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 tbsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. black pepper
• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp. cocoa powder

For the vegetables:

• 1 onion, halved (a red onion could be a great substitution here)
• 1 zucchini, halved lengthwise
• 1 yellow squash, halved lengthwise
• 1 red bell pepper, quartered
• 2 fresh tomatoes, halved
• 2 limes, halved
• 8 green onions, whole (trim off the roots and cut off an inch or two above the white—the green part has very little flavor)
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions
Preheat the grill to medium-high. If you want to cook directly on the grill, coat the grill grate with oil, otherwise, tear off a piece of aluminum foil to put on the grill grate and plan to cook the food on it.
Combine the chili powder, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, cocoa powder, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Stir the marmalade and vinegar for the chicken together in a large bowl, then coat the chicken breasts in the mixture. Rub the chili powder and cocoa powder mixture into the chicken breast so they're evenly coated on all sides. Set aside. Toss the vegetables and limes in a little olive oil, salt, and pepper. Put all of the vegetables and the chicken on the grill—grill the chicken until cooked through, and grill the vegetables (turning them once) until they are slightly soft, but still a little crisp, and have golden brown grill marks. Remove the limes from the mixture, then chop all of the vegetables into bite-size pieces and squeeze the limes over the mixture. Serve the chicken alongside the mixed vegetables. If you're looking for a starch, serve with white or red rice, or lightly-grilled tortillas to help soak up the heat.

This dish is perfect for a warm summer night! Fresh vegetables, seasoned lightly with lime, salt, and pepper are crisp and warm—the perfect compliment to the sweet and spicy chicken. All you need to add is a margarita, mojito, or sangria and it's a mini fiesta!

Recipe: Lemon Bars

My dad and I are grilling tonight—marinated strip steaks, red potatoes seasoned with shallot-pepper (another great purchase from Penzeys Spices), and asparagus sprinkled with salt and pepper, served with Chimay Red (one of my all time favorite beers—a Belgian brew). Since my dad will be doing the grilling, I thought I'd whip us up some sort of light dessert to enjoy after our meal. My best friend and her family made these delicious homemade lemon bars (the recipe is actually from the Weight Watchers community) for the 4th of July weekend earlier this summer, so I thought I'd make those. Sure, I could have gotten a boxed mix—my dad and I have had it before and it's pretty good—but homemade lemon bars, with fresh lemon juice and zest, have so much more flavor!

Ingredients

• 1 & 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 5 tbsp. packed light brown sugar (I used dark brown sugar, because that's all we had, but I recommend getting the light if you can)
• 8 tbsp. (a little less than 1 stick) unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 & 1/2 powdered sugar, divided into two equal portions (3/4 cup each)
• 3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2 tsp. lemon zest
• Powdered sugar to sprinkle on top of the completed bars

Directions
To make the crust: Preheat oven to 350*F. Put the flour and brown sugar in a food processor and mix to completely blend. Toss butter pieces into the food processor and pulse to blend, until the picture is slightly clumpy, with butter pieces that are about the size of peas. Evenly sprinkle crust mixture into an ungreased 13x9x2-inch pan and press down on the mixture with your hand or a spatula to create a packed surface. Place the pan in the middle of the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, until slightly golden brown.

To make the lemon filling/topping: Beat eggs in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until well-blended. Add vanilla extract and 3/4 cup of the powdered sugar and mix well. Add the lemon juice and remaining (3/4 cup) powdered sugar and mix until the powdered sugar is completely dissolved, then add the zest.

As soon as the crust is finished baking, remove from the oven and immediately pour the lemon mixture over the hot crust. Reduce the oven temperature to 300*F. Put the mixture back in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes (the edges will be slightly golden brown), remove, and let cool for at least 15 minutes. Put in the fridge to cool completely. When ready to serve, cut unto 24 bars and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Store remaining bars in the fridge.

These bars are sweet, tangy, and refreshing on a warm summer day. Using fresh lemon juice and zest adds a punch of flavor and the warm yellow color is beautiful and bright. These are great served with a cup of tea, a glass of milk, or just by themselves. Don't skimp on the powdered sugar topping!—It helps balance the tartness of the lemon and sweeten the bars.

Recipe: Mexican-Style Stuffed Bell Peppers

My mom is out of town this weekend visiting her mother, so this means my dad and I get to eat all of the foods that we love and my mom hates (mostly, we're just going to eat a lot of spicy food and various kinds of peppers). We bought some beautiful red, yellow, and orange bell peppers in the Strip last weekend and I've been waiting until this weekend to use them, thinking I'd try to make some sort of stuffed pepper. When my dad was little, his mom used to make him stuffed peppers filled with ground beef and white rice, but I wanted to come up with my own recipe and I really wanted to use Mexican chorizo, a spicy pork sausage. I decided to do Mexican-style stuffed peppers, substituting chorizo for the ground beef and Mexican red rice for the white rice, adding hot salsa and seasoning to give them a little kick. The result: sweet, soft-yet-crispy peppers filled with spicy chorizo, red rice, tomatoes, and onions, topped with melted cheese and a sprinkling of finely chopped cilantro—delicious!

Serves: About 6
Prep. time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: About 25 minutes total for both the rice and the chorizo-and-veggie mix; 1 hour to cook the filled peppers
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• Mexican or Spanish red rice (I used a 6.75 oz. box that cooked in 25 minutes)
• 6 bell peppers (I recommend red or green, but if you like sweeter peppers, yellow and orange are a better choice)
• 2-4 Mexican chorizo sausage links, casings removed and meat crumbled (pull the meat apart to make small, bite-size chunks)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• Dash of crushed red pepper flakes
• 1-2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1/2 cup salsa (I used hot for a bit of kick, but use whatever heat level you prefer)
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Monterey Jack cheese or other Mexican cheese, shredded (I used a Mexican four cheese mix and Monterey Jack)
• Fresh cilantro, finely chopped

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350*F. Cook the rice (following the directions on the box) in a medium pot. Cut the tops off of the peppers, and discard the tops as well as the seeds and membranes. Arrange the peppers, hollowed side up, in a baking dish. In the meantime, heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large saucepan. Put the onion, garlic, and chorizo in the pan, cooking until the chorizo is about half-cooked. Add the tomato, crushed red pepper, salt, and pepper and continue to cook until the chorizo is completely cooked through. Add the salsa and stir to combine. Reduce the heat to low and add the rice, stirring to combine. Once combined, spoon the mixture into the peppers, filling them to the rim. Bake the peppers in the oven for 1 hour, removing them when there is about 10 minutes left so you can add the shredded cheese on top. Remove from the oven, top with cilantro, and serve. Add more salsa if desired.

This dish is sweet and spicy and incredibly filling (I barely made it through one pepper!). The spicy chorizo, red pepper flakes, and salsa add a kick to the dish while the red rice and bubbling, melted cheese help balance that heat. By stuffing uncooked peppers, rather than boiling or steaming them before stuffing, the peppers soften but still retain a light crispness. I also love this meal because you can wash the dishes, wipe down the counters, and do whatever other cleaning needs to be done while the peppers are cooking in the oven—no dreaded clean-up after dinner!

Recipe: Chicken and Polenta with Arugula, Sun-dried Tomatoes, and Goat Cheese

I chose tonight's recipe partly because I had leftover arugula that I needed to use and partly because I hadn't made it in a few years and wanted to try it again. I had a late night cooking session tonight because my mother is out of town and my dad has been working late for the past few nights, but despite my uncertainty about how long it was going to take to cook and whether it would still be hot (and not overcooked) when my dad got home, everything worked out and the dish was a success (and much better than I remember it being the first time I made it). This chicken dish combines parmesan-and-garlic-seasoned polenta, wilted arugula, sweet sun-dried tomatoes, and tangy goat cheese, with a splash of balsamic vinegar to create a vibrant, flavorful dish.

Serves: 4
Prep. time: Approx. 1 hour to prepare and chill the polenta, and 20 minutes to do everything else
Cooking time: 20-30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy - Moderate

Ingredients

• Polenta, chilled and cut into cubes
• 2 cups chicken broth/stock
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup polenta (I use a quick-cooking boxed brand)
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced (I cut the slices in half so the pieces are more bite-size)
• 1 tbsp. olive oil 
• 2 shallots, chopped (I used green onions, but shallots are preferable)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup chicken broth/stock
• 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, diced
• 1/4 lb. arugula (I use 3 or 4 big handfuls of baby arugula)
• 2 to 4 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
• Fresh or dried basil, to taste
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Crumbled goat cheese (soft and mild)

Directions
For the polenta: In a medium pot, combine 2 cups chicken stock and 3 minced garlic cloves, and bring the mixture to a boil. Slowly stir in the polenta and stir until the mixture is thick (follow package instructions; should take 3-5 minutes). Add the Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper and stir to combine. Spread the mixture out in a greased, rimmed baking sheet or pan and set aside in the fridge to cool for about 1 hour. Once the polenta is chilled, cut it into 1-inch cubes and set aside.

To assemble the dish: Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat and, once hot, add the chicken slices and sear them on both sides until they are mostly cooked through. Add the shallots and garlic and saute for about 2 minutes. Add the chicken stock and simmer to reduce (I reduced by about half—about 5 minutes—and spooned out some of the excess stock so the chicken mixture wasn't swimming in it. Make sure you keep it about 1/2-inch deep in the pan—it helps cook the chicken, while keeping it moist). Add the sun-dried tomatoes and cook the mixture for about 2 minutes. Add the polenta cubes and toss the mixture, letting the polenta soften a bit in the remaining chicken stock for about 2-3 minutes. Reduce to medium-low heat and add the arugula, tossing to mix it with the rest of the ingredients (the chicken stock should be completely gone by now). Add balsamic vinegar, basil, salt, and pepper; toss the mixture again. Turn off the heat and cover the pan with a lid for a few minutes, allowing the arugula to wilt a little more. Serve sprinkled with goat cheese and an extra drizzle of balsamic vinegar if desired.

This dish is tangy, sweet, and complex. The chicken broth helps soften the chilled polenta and keeps the chicken pieces moist as they cook. The sun-dried tomatoes add a sweet bite to the dish and they're complemented by the creamy, tangy goat cheese. Slightly wilted arugula adds color and a peppery taste that marries with the sharp, flavorful balsamic vinegar that so nicely soaks into the polenta and chicken. This dish is packed with strong flavors, but they balance each other and create a rich, yet still light, meal.

Recipe: BLT Pasta

As soon as I saw the bacon in the fridge, I knew I had to make something with it besides the stereotypical bacon-and-eggs breakfast. Fortunately for me, this month's Food Network magazine had a little recipe booklet nestled inside called "50 Things to Make with Bacon." Number 18 on the list was BLT Pasta—something that I'm sure the newest winner of The Next Food Network Star, Jeff Mauro, host of The Sandwich King, would appreciate—and I thought it sounded like the perfect use for that salty bacon staring back at me from the fridge. Juicy grape tomatoes, crisp red onion, wilted arugula, and of course bacon, all tossed with pasta makes for a summery, but filling dish. Oh, and did I mention the tomatoes and red onion are cooked in bacon fat? As some of my sorority sisters are fond of saying (quoting a famous Wife Swap moment), "Bacon is good for you!"—okay, so maybe it's not, but it's definitely delicious.

Serves: 4-6
Prep. time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• 8 slices bacon, cooked then chopped
• 1 red onion,chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, sliced
• Crushed red pepper flakes, to taste (don't be heavy-handed, unless you want a spicy dish)
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 5 cups grape tomatoes
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 12 oz. penne pasta (I used mostaccioli, which looks like penne without ridges)
• 4 cups arugula
• Basil leaves

Directions
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, then add the penne. Follow the package for cooking times (about 11 minutes), then drain. In the meantime, cook the bacon slices in a large skillet. Remove once crispy and lay out on a paper towel to soak up some of the grease. Save 3 tbsp. of the bacon fat/drippings in the skillet. Add the red onion, garlic, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to the skillet and cook until slightly tender. Add the grape tomatoes and cook for 12 minutes. In the skillet with the tomatoes and onion, add the heavy cream and cook for 2 minutes. Toss the mixture with the penne, arugula, and basil. Serve topped with Parmesan cheese.
(Side note: I used about 10 oz. pasta, 3 pints grape tomatoes, and 3-5 oz. arugula, since I'm only feeding three people, and it worked out just as well)

This dish is both light and rich—the plump grape tomatoes and bitter arugula add brightness while the bacon fat blended with cream creates a rich creaminess in the dish. The freshly cooked crispy bacon is so much better than any imitation salad bar bacon-in-a-jar could be and adds a nice crunch. To be completely honest, I don't even like BLT sandwiches, because I'm not a big fan of raw tomatoes, but this dish reinvents the sandwich and makes it worth the few pounds you'll gain eating the bacon fat.

Recipe: Mini Anise-flavored Biscotti with Orange Glaze and Chocolate Drizzle

In my last post, I wrote about the collection of spicy, sweet, and salty spices we collected at Penzeys Spices yesterday and mentioned my plans for some of them. While strolling around the store with my dad, I came across various jars of anise—powdered, ground, whole—and my dad said he'd enjoy the black licorice-flavored spice in a sugar cookie, so my thoughts started swirling around recipe ideas. I picked up a small bottle of pure orange extract as we ventured into the baking and pastry section of the store and knew that that flavor paired with black licorice would work well, so I decided to make some sort of cookie with an orange glaze. After searching for "anise cookies" online and seeing biscotti mentioned several times (my final choice is adapted from this recipe), I decided they would be perfect, especially in our house filled with tea and coffee drinkers who love to dip cookies in their drinks. These cookies take a little time to make, but they're perfect with a cup of tea or coffee and they'd look beautiful wrapped up in a basket or bag and given as a house-warming gift or a dessert for a party.

Serves: Many; yields about 80-90 cookies, depending on how small you cut the pieces
Prep. time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 35 min. - 50 min.
Difficulty: Easy - Moderate

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup olive oil (pure or light)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp. anise seed, crushed or powdered (I used Spanish cracked anise)
• 3 & 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3/4 cup sliced almonds
• Approx. 1 & 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• Approx. 1/4 cup milk (2%, 1%, or skim)
• Approx. 1 tbsp. orange extract (or to taste)
• Approx. 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli brand)
• Red and yellow food coloring
• White sanding sugar

Directions
Preheat oven to 350*F. Using a mixer or whisking by hand, lightly beat the eggs, then add in the oil, sugar, and anise, mixing lightly to combine. Stir in the flour, baking powder, salt, and almonds and mix to combine. (I used a mixer to do all of this, keeping it on a slow/low setting—it blended the ingredients more easily and more consistently.) The dough will be thick and sticky, but smooth.
Divide the dough into six pieces, lightly flour them, and roll each into a log about 2 inches in diameter. Place the six logs onto two greased or parchment-lined baking sheets and bake until they each are slightly golden-brown and the center is cooked, approx. 25 minutes.
Remove from the oven and immediately slice logs into about 1 to 2 inch-thick diagonal pieces (remember, these are mini biscotti, so they'll be about 2-4 inches long and about 1-2 inches wide). Place the tray of pieces back into the oven and bake 5-10 minutes (5 if you want slightly softer cookies, 10 if you want really crunchy/hard cookies). Remove from oven, flip the pieces over so the tops of the cookies are now face down on the tray, and bake another 5-10 minutes. Remove from oven and flip the cookies back over so the tops are facing up again and let cool on the baking sheets. The cookies will be light-colored or slightly golden brown.

To make the glaze: Put approx. 1 & 1/2 cups of powdered sugar into a small bowl and mix in the milk, stirring until the mixture is a whitish-clear, semi-thick liquid. Add approx. 1 tbsp. orange extract to the mixture and stir. Add more or less of the extract depending on how strong you want the flavor to be—taste it as you mix (using a new spoon each time, of course!) so you get the flavor you want. For the coloring: I added in two drops of red and two drops of yellow food coloring to get a pale, creamy orange color, but if you want a brighter orange, follow the instructions on the food coloring box or simply add more of each color until you get the desired shade. Using a small spoon, drizzle the orange glaze over the cooled biscotti. Sprinkle white sanding sugar over the biscotti while the glaze is still wet to give the cookies a little sparkle.

To make the chocolate drizzle: Put approx. 1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips into a small, microwave-safe bowl and microwave in short spurts (start off microwaving for about 45 seconds, and work down from there until the mixture is melted and smooth). Be VERY careful not to burn or overcook the chocolate—heating it for shorter amounts of time on lower heat is better. Do not add oil, cream, or water to the mixture. Once melted, drizzle the chocolate, using a small spoon, over the biscotti. Sprinkle more white sanding sugar on top if desired.

These cookies are sweet and crunchy, and the orange glaze and chocolate add a little creaminess to them. Biscotti are able to take on a variety of flavors and toppings to create almost endless flavor combinations— chocolate and mint, caramel, coffee, and cherry, to name a few—so play around with extracts, spices, chocolates, and nuts and berries to see what you like best. I'm planning on making a mixed batch of biscotti during the winter holiday season so I can take them to parties and gift them to friends and family, but they're perfect to keep around the house as snacks. They keep in an air-tight container for at least two weeks, and can be frozen for later use.

A trip to the Strip

I had my first culinary class yesterday—Foods 1—and I'm so excited about it! The chef/teacher is really friendly and definitely loves what he does (which is great, because he'll be teaching my Basic Culinary Skills class too), but I'm still getting to know my classmates. We spent the morning going over an expansive syllabus, learning some random facts about the culinary world, and touring the kitchen, and I'm so ready to get started in the kitchen next week. Being in a food-focused mood, I thought it would be fun to take a trip into the city today to do some serious food shopping with my parents in the Strip District, a section of Pittsburgh filled with ethnic food stores, open air markets, small retail stores, and little restaurants. While there are a lot of fun stores there that we like to visit—In The Kitchen, Penn Avenue Pottery, and Mon Aimee Chocolat, to name a few—the two that we always make sure to go to are Pennsylvania Macaroni Co. and Penzys Spices.

Pennsylvania Macaroni Co. (a.k.a. PennMac) is a large Italian food market, which I of course love. They have artisan breads; an enormous selection of cheese from all over the world; and just about every sauce, oil, and pasta under the sun, plus so much more. The store was bustling today, so I made a beeline for the cheese counter with the hope that I could get around some of the crowd crushing in around me and avoid a long wait—they were on number 20 when we pulled 33 as our number, but the workers quickly got through to us. Their selection is enormous and the workers behind the counter are more than happy to let customers taste various cheeses, which I definitely take advantage of. We decided to get grated pecorino-romano, mozzarella balls, shredded asiago, crumbled goat cheese, and this sweet crumbly lemon Stilton. The rest of our shopping basket was quickly filled with ciabatta bread, farfallini pasta (adorable mini farfalle), truffle olive oil, fresh flavored pasta, and a few other delectable treats. I'm already dreaming about cauliflower drizzled with truffle olive oil, farfallini with olive oil and cheese, and lemon Stilton with a slice of ciabatta.

The list of cheeses available at PennMac. Cheese = Heaven.

Penzys Spices is my other favorite Strip store because every whiff of spice gives me countless ideas for new recipes, and the store has an expansive selection to choose from. My dad and I made our rounds in the store, smelling anything and everything that looked or sounded good (thank goodness for samples for customers to smell!). I definitely have some favorites in the store—the mulling spices that make me think of Christmas and the holiday party my senior sorority sisters and I had this past winter...the various types of cinnamon that get me daydreaming about cinnamon-sugar toast and applesauce...the Indian spices that make me salivate over thoughts of paneer, tandoori chicken, and spicy curry...so many amazing smells in this store! Our haul today included ground anise, peppermint, pure orange extract, shallot-pepper, lemon-pepper, basil, rosemary, and a few other spices and seasonings. I already have plans for just about every item we bought. First on the list: anise-flavored sugar cookies with an orange glaze (this makes so much sense in my head, so I'm dying to make it...I'm thinking making a biscotti-version of this would be fantastic too). I'm also looking forward to blending some peppermint into my English Breakfast tea and I know the shallot-pepper will be delicious on some roasted red potatoes. So many recipe ideas!

So many spices!

We finished off our day with an early dinner at BRGR (I know I just went there with friends last week, but it's so good!) and a quiet evening at home. May not be like my former college-day Saturdays, but I'd call it a success.