fiesta in a bowl!

our good friends asion and jason decided to take over heroes/dinner party night. asion made the one thing he says he makes well: cheesy chicken empanadas, courtesy of paula deen. jason, who never disappoints, made some awesome mushroom dip stuff. kiran made some bombin' 7 layer dip (actually, 6 layers because she omitted the beans). i was brainstorming at work (because i think about food ALL day) and realized that i still had a ton of homemade chicken stock to use up from my roasted chicken last week. what makes more sense that chicken tortilla soup? nothing, i say!

this was my first attempt at making chicken tortilla soup. i browsed a few recipes and this is what i came up with based on what i had in my kitchen on monday. it was slightly spicy with a nice consistency that was a bit thicker than broth (but not too much) and had the tasty sweet pop of corn and roasted red peppers going throughout the soup. sooooo good!


chicken tortilla soup
2 tbsp olive oil
3 chicken breasts, diced
1 medium onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeno, seeded & minced
1 tbsp chipotle chili powder
1 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp cumin
2 tbsp coriander
2 tbsp tomato paste
6 cups chicken stock
1 28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes
1 cup corn (frozen or canned - i used frozen)
1 can black beans
1/2 cup roasted red peppers, chopped
crushed tortilla chips
chopped cilantro, chopped red onion, sour cream, cheddar cheese for garnish

heat the olive oil in a large soup pot. after a minute, add the diced chicken and brown. after about 5 minutes, add in the onion, garlic, and jalapeno and cook the veggies with the meat for about 4 minutes, until the onions start to get translucent. add in all the spices and the tomato paste and mix in until the spices and paste are fragrant (about 2 minutes). then add in the chicken stock and the tomatoes, with their juices. break the tomatoes apart with a wooden spoon in the pot. allow it to come up to a boil, then knock it back to a nice simmer. (SIMMA DOWN NOW!) add in the corn, black beans, and roasted red peppers. be sure to get all the starchy bean juices out of the can and into the pot as well. this will help the soup thicken up a little bit. simmer the soup for an additional 6-7 minutes.

put some crushed tortilla chips at the bottom of a bowl and ladle the soup on top. serve with any of the garnishes listed above, and you have yourself a mighty tasty bowl o' soup!

chicken showdown

our monday night heroes sessions has turned into a weekly potluck party. with the addition of my friends asion and jason (chocolate!), we've been able to make our pre-heroes meal a scrump-diddly-upmtious spread. with so many people, i decided the easiest main course would be roast chicken. being the good korean girl i am, i made 2 roast chickens since running out of food is the worst thing that can happen in a host(ess)'s night.

zuni's style on the left, same-day prep on the right

for one of the chickens, i prepared it the same day - rinsed, dried, then rubbed down with oil and herbs. for the other chicken, i was excited to prepare it in a way i had read about on smitten kitchen. for this one, i had to season the chicken a couple days before and let it hang out in the fridge until monday, when i roasted it. between the two, the one i salted 2 days before was definitely tastier. the skin was super crisp and golden brown, and the meat was incredibly moist. on smitten kitchen, they advise you to use a smaller bird (3 to 3 1/2 lbs), but i used a 4 1/2 lb bird and it was fine (i just had to cook it a little bit longer). the same-day prep was still really good, but the clear winner in this battle of the pre-prepped (zuni style - that's the restaurant it came from) chicken. extra bonus? you don't need to use any additional oil in the zuni-style chicken, so all the flavor comes from the chicken itself. oh snap!

i've included simplified versions of each recipe below. super easy, i promise!

zuni's style chicken (2 days before prep)

zuni's style chicken (simplified)
1 roast chicken, between 3 1/2 - 4 1/2 lbs
salt & pepper
4 sprigs of rosemary
baby red potatoes

start your prep at least 2 days before you roast the bird. rinse the bird, inside and out, and dry it very well. this will probably be the part that takes you the longest because that bad boy likes to hide water all over the place. drying it well is extremely important in this preparation, so make sure you do it well!

after the bird is dried, season the outside all over with salt & pepper, seasoning the thicker parts of the bird more liberally than the skinny parts such as the ankles. season the cavity of the bird a bit, but you don't have to go crazy. take the sprigs of rosemary and put one each between the skin and meat of the bird on the thickest part of the thigh and on the breasts. to do this, just slip your finger between the skin and meat and loosen it so you can put the herb in. then cover the bird on a platter and stick it in the fridge.

on game day, take the chicken out of the fridge. preheat the oven to 475. over a medium flame, preheat a large skillet until it is nice and hot. dry the bird off again, then put into the skillet, breast side up. it should sizzle when you put it in. once it's in the pan, put it in the oven and let it go for about 25 minutes. it should be browning already. at this point, flip the bird over (it shouldn't stick if you preheated the skillet and dried the chicken) and put some potatoes in around the side of the skillet so they can roast in the chicken drippings. oooooh yeah.

let the chicken cook for another 30-35 minutes, until the leg moves easily when you wiggle it around. flip over the bird one more time during the last 5 minutes of cooking. take the chicken out and let it rest on a cutting board for 10-15 minutes before you cut it up. serve with the potatoes. YUUUUMMMM!!!

close-up of zuni's style chicken

same-day prep bird

procrastination bird (or same-day prepped bird)
1 roast chicken, between 3 1/2 - 4 1/2 lbs
salt & pepper
2-3 tbsp of olive oil
4 sprigs of rosemary, finely chopped
baby red potatoes
2 small onions (or 1 large onion), chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 lemon

preheat oven to 475. rinse the chicken, inside and out, and dry thoroughly. cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice over the whole chicken. season the bird (inside and out) with salt and pepper and the chopped rosemary. drizzle the oil over the bird and rub it down.

put the juiced lemon halves inside the bird. stuff the bird with a mixture of the celery, carrots, and onions (as much will fit). you can scatter the remainder in the bottom of a 9x13 baking pan along with the potatoes. nestle the chicken on top of the veggies and roast in the oven for about 25-30 minutes. flip the chicken over and roast an additional 25 minutes, then flip over for the last 5 minutes of cooking to re-crisp the skin. let the chicken rest for 10-15 minutes, then cut it up and serve with the roast veggies. oh yeeeeeeah.

close-up of same-day prep

S'Mac-down!!

monday nights bring two great things: heroes and mac & cheese throwdown! cmoore makes some of the best mac & cheese i've had. this is partially due to the copious amounts of butter and cheese. unfortunately, that doesn't fit very well into my "don't be a fatass" diet. my goal for this throwdown was to make a tasty mac & cheese, but without the artery clogging side effects.

result? i think i did pretty darn well. i added some protein (diced grilled chicken), and lightened up the base of the sauce with 1/2 chicken stock instead of using all milk/cream. to go along with the mac & cheese, i made some green beans so we wouldn't feel so bad about eating such large amounts of cheese. i hope you like this meal as much as we did!

"don't be a fatass" mac & cheese (and green beans)

1 large boneless skinless chicken breast

1 lemon, juiced & zested

2 teaspoons rosemary, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, smashed plus 2 cloves, minced

2 tbsp olive oil, plus 2 tbsp for the sauce base
salt & pepper

1 lb. whole wheat elbow macaroni, or other short pasta (i only had semolina that day, so i just went with that)
1 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
1 onion, diced
2 cups chicken stock

2 cups 1% milk
3 tbsp dijon mustard
1 cup reduced fat extra sharp cheddar, plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling
1 cup provolone

for the green beans:
1 package green beans, trimmed (or you can trim them yourself if you're not lazy)
1 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 lemon

butterfly the chicken breast. combine the lemon juice, zest, rosemary, smashed garlic, 2 tbsp olive, and salt & pepper (to taste) in a large ziploc bag. put the chicken breast in and let it marinate for 45 min. after the 45 minutes, bring a grill pan to high with a medium high flame. grill the chicken breast until it is cooked through (about 4 minutes on each side). allow the breast to rest (look, i rhymed!) for about 5 minutes. dice into small chunks.

preheat the broiler and bring a large pot of water up to a boil. when it gets to a rolling boil, salt it heavily and dump in the macaroni. cook until al dente. drain and set aside until cheese sauce is done.

to start the cheese sauce, add the butter and remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a deep ovenproof skillet. when it is melted, add the garlic and onions and allow it to sweat out. when the onions are translucent, sprinkle the flour in and cook for about a minute. then add the chicken stock and milk and allow it to thicken up a bit, for about 5-6 minutes. after the sauce base has thickened, add in the dijon mustard and tangy cheese. you can add more cheese if the sauce doesn't look thick enough, but you shouldn't need too much more than that. (remember, this is a "don't be a fatass" dish.) when the sauce is finished, add in the pasta and the diced chicken. mix it together well. sprinkle the extra 1/4 cup of cheese over the top and pop it under the broiler for about 3 minutes. bring it out and enjoy the yummy creamy goodness!!!

for the green beans:
using the same pot the pasta was cooked in, bring water up to a boil. add the green beans and cook for only 30 seconds, just to blanch them. drain them and put them immediately into an ice bath. heat up the 2 tbsp of olive oil and add the garlic. saute for a minute, then add the green beans to the pan. season with salt & pepper to taste and cook for about 5-6 minutes until the beans get slightly charred along some sides. take off the heat and squeeze the lemon juice over all the beans and toss. something healthy to make you feel not so bad about eating mac & cheese!

when karl gives you lemons...

...make food with lemons.

karl is my co-worker who hosted the superbowl party this past weekend (remember the 15 pounds of beef?). he also happens to have a lemon tree in his backyard and unloaded an entire grocery bag full of lemons to each and every person at the party. yes, that's a lot of lemons.

so what to do with all these lemons? well, i hate baking, so lemon dessert of any sort is out of the question. my boss once made homemade limoncello from a gaggle of lemons, but that just seems like too much work, AND i would have to wait 3 months to fully enjoy it. so instead, i will just try and incorporate lemon into everything meal that i make.

when i came home from rugby practice last night, i was rummaging through my fridge when i found chicken i had taken out of the freezer two days before to defrost. ruh roh. i decided to make a marinade and let the chicken wallow in it while i watched heroes from monday night. i also made some couscous to go alongside it and came up with a pretty tasty lunch for today (if i do say so myself). i'm sure i could make this fancier and whatnot, but i was just using whatever ingredients i had at home to work with. i wasn't about to go to the store at 10 pm after 2 hours of tackling and sprinting.

okay, here's the recipe:

l-l-l-lemony chicken and couscous


2 chicken breasts
2 lemons, zested and juiced - about 1/2 cup of lemon juice (these were super juicy lemons since they came from karl's tree, so you may need more than 2 if you get them from the store)
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp coriander
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup olive oil
healthy pinch salt
healthy pinch pepper

3/4 cup chicken stock
3/4 cup couscous
1/4 cup feta (any variety; i used a sundried tomato-basil feta)
1 lemon, juiced
2 scallions, chopped
salt & pepper, to taste

combine the marinade ingredients (lemon zest/juice through pepper) in a bowl. mix them all together. pour it into a gallon ziploc with the chicken breasts in there as well. make sure the marinade coats both breasts thoroughly. seal it up and put it in the fridge and let it hang out for 30-45 minutes (or however long it takes you to watch a dvr'd episode of [insert your favorite show here]).

after it's done marinating, get your chicken out from the fridge. get a grill pan nice and hot on medium-high heat. when it's heated, get your chicken on the grill. cook for about 6-7 on each side (i had some fat breasts, so they took a while*).

while the chicken is cooking, get the chicken stock into a small pot. bring to a boil, then put in the couscous and take the pot off the heat. let it sit for 5 minutes while the couscous cooks through. after it has poofed up to its magical goodness, put the feta, scallions, and lemon juice into the couscous, along with the salt and pepper. now, fluff; fluff, i say!! make sure all the ingredients get mixed through.

after you take the chicken off the grill, let it hang out on your cutting board for a bit so the juices redistribute and you don't lose all of the yummy goodness on your cutting board. slice those bad boys up and serve it with your freshly fluffed feta couscous.


3 lemons down, 24 more to go...

*that's what she said.