Jerk Chicken with Grilled Banana and Red Onion Salsa | America's Test Kitchen

It was very hard for me to not yell "mother F'er this is some damn good chicken" when I had my first bite of this, but we had guests and that would have been a little too white trash for even me. This could quite possibly be the best grilled chicken I have ever had. Seriously, no joke.

I loved all the flavors of the rub/marinade and absolutely loved the grilled banana salsa that was made to go with it, as did HL, but it seems the fruit salsa was a little to girly for the men, who preferred to have their jerk chicken, sans fru fru salsa. Whatevs. I think when HL reads this post she will concur that the salsa was awesome.

Chicken
1 bunch scallions, chopped
3 garlic cloves peeled
2 tsp ground all spice
1 tbs dried thyme
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp mild or robust molasses
2 habanero chiles, stemmed and halved (I used 1 1/2 jalapeno peppers instead because of my pussy lips)
1/4 c vegetable oil
3 lbs bone in skin on chicken thighs, legs or breasts (I used skinless boneless chicken breasts to cut down on fat, plus I'm not a big fan of eating chicken off the bone)

Salsa
1 red onion, peeled and cut crosswise into 1/2-inch rounds
3 bananas peeled and halved lengthwise
2 tbs vegetable oil
1/2 tsp ground cumin
salt and pepper
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
2 tbsp chopped fresh mint
1 tbsp light brown sugar
1 tbsp dark rum (optional)
lime wedges for serving

1. FOR THE CHICKEN: Puree the scallions, garlic, allspice, thyme, salt, molasses, chiles, and oil in a food processor or blender until almost smooth, scraping down the sides if necessary. Wearing latex gloves (if using habaneros, not needed with jalapenos) and working with one piece of chicken at a time, slide your finger between the skin and the meat to loosen the skin and then rub 1 tbsp of the spice mixture under the skin of each piece and transfer the chicken to a gallon sized zipper lock bag. Pour the remaining spice mixture over the chicken, seal the bag, and use your hands to squeeze and turn the bag so that the chicken pieces are covered with the mixture. Refrigerate for at least two hours.

2. Remove the chicken from the bag and arrange it skin side down over the hot part of the grill and cook the chicken until well browned on both sides, 3 to 5 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to the cooler part of the grill, cover and continue to cook, turning occasionally, until very dark and the thickest part of the breast registers 160 degrees and the thighs register 170 degrees on an instant read thermometer, 15 to 22 minutes.

3. FOR THE SALSA: Meanwhile, brush both sides of the onion rounds and banana with the oil and sprinkle with the cumin and salt and pepper to taste. Grill the onion over the hottest part of the grill, covered until well browned, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Transfer the onion to the cooler part of the grill and place the bananas cut side down on the hottest part of the grill. Grill the bananas, covered, until browned in spots, about 2 minutes per side.

4. Transfer the onion and banana to a cutting board and cool slightly. Whisk the lime juice, mint, brown sugar and rum (if using) together in a medium bowl the sugar has dissolved. Roughly chop the onion and bananas, add them to the bowl, and toss to coat. Season the salsa with salt and pepper to taste. Serve the chicken with the lime wedges and salsa.

WHAT YOU CAN DO AHEAD OF TIME: The chicken can be prepared through step 1 and refrigerated for up to 36 hours. The salsa can be refrigerated in an airtight container for p to 2 days. Bring the salsa to room temperature before serving and adjust the consistency and seasoning with lime juice and rum (if using).

Rating = So God Damn Good

Chicken Enchiladas with Creamy Green Sauce

I'll be in San Antonio for Cinco de Mayo next Saturday, which I assume will be an amazing place to be for it; however, I'll be there for work, so I'm not sure exactly how much whooping it up I'm going to be able to do.

Maybe because I'm posting this recipe over a week before cinco de mayo some of you can make it for your own "fiesta" if you are having one. Like the black beans, I got this recipe from the latest issue of Everyday Food. http://www.pbs.org/everydayfood/

It was really very easy to make, and it made a veritable shit ton of enchiladas, which we are still trying to finish. So I say if you have to feed a crowd, make this dish. I will also mention that I used the Goya brand green salsa which said that the heat index was medium; medium my ass, it burned the lips off my face. Next time, I'm using the mild salsa if I can find it. CB didn't seem as affected by the heat as I was, but I had to drink multiple glasses of water while I was eating these. Maybe I'm just a pussy, that's a real possibility.

Chicken Enchiladas with Creamy Green Sauce
Serves 6 Prep Time: 1 hour Total Time 1 hour 55 minutes.
3 pounds bone in skin on chicken breast halves (I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts to cut down on fat)
salt and pepper
5 garlic cloves unpeeled
2 jars (16oz each) medium green salsa
3/4 c heavy cream
12 corn tortillas (6-in)
12 oz monteray jack cheese shredded (3 cups)
1/2 c fresh cilantro chopped (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Season chicken with salt and pepper; place with garlic on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until an instant-read thermometer inserted in thickest part of breast (avoiding bone) registers 165 degrees, 25 to 30 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine salsa and cream.

2. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees. Once chicken is cool enough to handle, shred meat, discarding skin and bones. Peel and chop garlic. In a large bowl, combine chicken, garlic, and 1/2 cup salsa mixture.

3.Stack tortillas flat, and wrap in damp paper towels; microwave on high for 1 minute to soften. Working with one tortilla at a time, dip in salsa mixture, lay flat, and fill with 1/3 cup chicken mixture. Roll up and arrange, seam side down, 8 enchiladas lengthwise and 4 crosswise in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Top with remaining salsa mixture, then cheese.

4. Bake until cheese is browned and salsa is bubbling, 40 to 45 minutes; let rest 10 minutes. Serve, sprinkled with cilantro, if desired.

You can make these up to a day ahead, prep and assemble the enchiladas up to step 3, cover and refrigerate, then bake and serve when ready.

Rating = So Damn Good (you know, except for the whole lip burning issue)

Moroccan Chicken Thighs with Chickpeas and Cumin

This is another crockpot adventure, and it is awesome; so simple and so delicious. This recipe came from a book that I've posted about before, Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook.

Does anyone else feel like they are cheating when the cook in a slow cooker? I always feel as if I haven't put enough elbow grease into the meal, even though it always tastes amazing, I somehow feel as if I've cheated CB out of a real home cooked meal. Does anyone else feel like this?

Recipe:
Two 16-ounce cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans) rinsed and drained
One 15-ounce can whole plum tomatoes, drained and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 large red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1-inch squares
1 medium onion chopped
1/4 c golden raisins
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp water
1 1/4 tsp ground cumin
pinch of paprika
4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (I used 6)
2 Tbsp cream peanut butter, almond butter, or cashew butter

For Serving:
Hot cooked couscous or brown rice
3 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

1. Put the chickpeas, tomatoes, bell pepper, onion, raisins, tomato paste, water, cumin and paprika in the clow cooker; stir well. Scatter the chicken on top. Cover and cook on LOW until the chicken is tender and cooked through, 6-7 hours.

2. Stir in the nut butter. Serve hot over couscous, garnished with cilantro.

Rating = So Damn Good

Panko Crusted Chicken and Pesto Mashed Potatoes

I have no time. I am literally without extra time. March is always bad for me. Work seems to ramp up, I end up having to do day trips for work, it's the end of spring skiing so CB wants to be in VT as much as possible, I end up being all over the place, and now I have a cold. Great. What did you get for your birthday this year? Me? PHLEM! That's what I got. Big honkin globs of PHLEM.

So last night, I wanted a quick homestyle meal and this was perfect. I took some chicken breast, banged the shit out of them with a meat tenderizer, and then dunked them in a little egg/milk mixture and coated them with panko style bread crumbs, or Japanese style bread crumbs. I then took some regular old potatoes, peeled and boiled them until fork tender, and then mashed then slightly with a little pesto. I served this with fresh baby spinach. Wham bam thank you maa'm dinner in a jiffy. And the pesto had enough flavor that I actually tasted it, which is hard for me right now with this cold, I'm just not tasting much.

Rating Potatoes = So Good Chicken = So Good

Turkey Tamale Pot Pie (Cooking Light)

After spending the past two nights eating out, I was craving a home cooked meal. I had dog-eared this recipe in the October 2006 issue of cooking light. It really was quite easy to put together, and because of the absence of cheese which usually dominates dishes of this nature, it's actually very low in fat and calories. I recommend it for anyone that wants a satisfying low fat meal.

Filling:
Cooking spray
1 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound ground turkey breast
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (14.5-ounce) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes, undrained
1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained

Topping:
1 cup all-purpose flour (about 4 1/2 ounces)
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 425°.

To prepare filling, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion, bell pepper, garlic, and turkey; cook 5 minutes or until turkey loses its pink color. Add chili powder, oregano, 1/2 teaspoon salt, tomatoes, and beans; cook 3 minutes. Spoon turkey mixture into an 11 x 7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.

To prepare topping, lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and baking soda in a bowl. Combine buttermilk and egg; add to dry ingredients, stirring just until moist. Spread cornmeal mixture evenly over turkey mixture. Bake at 425° for 18 minutes or until topping is golden.

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 1 3/4 cups)

NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 329(8% from fat); FAT 3g (sat 0.9g,mono 0.5g,poly 0.4g); PROTEIN 27.6g; CHOLESTEROL 67mg; CALCIUM 120mg; SODIUM 705mg; FIBER 6.8g; IRON 2.4mg; CARBOHYDRATE 47.6g

Mexican Style Whole Slow Cooker Chicken

Just before Christmas I purchased this book,Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook from Amazon. I was purchasing the Season I DVD of The Office for CB, I needed to spend $5 more dollars to get the super saver free shipping, so I threw this book in my cart for $11 and with the free shipping and whatnot the grand total for the book was about $5. Not too shabby.

Anyway, I'm in love with my slow cooker, but I very rarely use it because I'm one of those OCD people who has to check every outlet to make sure nothing is plugged in before I leave, I check the stove, like fourteen times before leaving for work (seriously, not kidding) I check things over and over again, so the thought of leaving something plugged in and hot while I'm not home and within arms reach of the fire extinguisher is very difficult for me. Monday, I decided to face this fear head on, it was a holiday for me, but if you've read any of my previous posts you know that work has been a bit of a friggin mad house lately and I am apparently orderly numero uno, so even though it was a holiday I had to go in for about four hours to get things ready for this weeks shit fest of proposals and interview stuff. Before I headed to work I decided I decided to try to make the Mexican Style Whole Chicken recipe out of the slow cooker book. CB's new year's resolution is to bring lunch to work more often so that we can save money, or at least not waste money on lunch during the week. So, the whole chicken seemed perfect for him to make chicken sandwiches, chicken salad etc., and it also gave me the opportunity to leave the slow cooker going for four hours, without me being home, easing myself into leaving it on for a whole 8 hours during a regular workday.

I started by preparing the bird which consisted of cleaning the terrible horrible carcass. I say this because I've never done this before, and the chicken seemed too infant like in my hands, and the fact that I could see it's little spinal cord when I was cleaning it made it almost impossible for me to work with it. However, once I was done cleaning it and was now only looking at the outside of the bird, it seemed much easier.

I salt/pepper the inside and outside of the bird, then cut a lime and squeezed the juice from the lime all over the out side of the chicken, then put the lime rinds inside the cavity. I then put two whole cloves of garlic inside the chicken and a big handful of cilantro springs. This is what it looked like at that point.

Then I simply put the slow cooker on low and cooked for 8 hours. When the chicken was done it completely fell off the bone in the slow cooker, I needed to take it our in pieces. And the meat was very juicy and had a wonderful cilantro flavor. The chicken also made a lot of stock which I made into a nice gravy, which also retained some of the cilantro flavor and made for an interesting accompaniment to the chicken. I highly recommend this way of cooking chicken.

Recipe:
1 whole roaster chicken (3-4 pounds) juice of one lime handful of fresh cilantro sprigs salt and pepper

Clean the chicken inside and out, pat dry and then season with salt and pepper. Put chicken in slow cooker and cover with the juice of the lime, then place rinds in cavity. Place the garlic clove and fresh cilantro in cavity as well. Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours.

Turkey Ravioli with Sage Cream Sauce

I'm starting to become comfortable enough in the kitchen to try making my own recipes every once and a while. Last night I decided to try and make home made raviolis using wonton skins, and then create a sauce using some left over ingredients from recipes I had made earlier in the week. For the raviolis I mixed ground turkey with half a jar of cranberry, apple, orange relish and some fresh chopped parsley. I placed a little less than a tablespoon onto each wonton skin and covered with an additional skin sealing with water so that the edges didn't separate. I then placed the wontons in boiling water that had a little olive oil in it to stop the raviolis from sticking together. I really didn't know what to do for the sauce, so I put a little butter in a sauté pan with onion, parsley and freshly chopped sage, after the onion had become translucent I added 1/3 of dry white wine and let it cook off, when the alcohol had cooked off I added enough cream to create a sauce for all of the raviolis.

The result was a very slippery, yet extremely tasty dinner, the turkey with the cranberry really tasted amazing, and the sage in the sauce really brought all of the flavors together. I will definitely be making my own raviolis again; however, I think I will look for pastry sheets for the next batch.

Enjoy!

Mish Mash Turkey Balls

I needed to make a quick appetizer on Friday night for CB's boss, his boss' wife and his coworker who were meeting at our house before we went out to dinner. Due to the fact that I have been partying like a freakin rock star every night all over the City, (occupational hazard: business development director = lots of drinking and entertaining possible future clients, business development director during holiday season = cirrhosis of the liver, hang overs, dehydration, no food in house to speak of) So about an hour before everyone showed up I turned to the freezer and rummaged through there to find anyuthing that may turn into a palatable appetizer. The ground turkey seemed like the winner out of what was tucked away in the artic temps. I defrosted the meat, then added a hearty amount of panko style bread crumbs, 1 egg, a spat of ketchup, a few shakes of worcestershire sauce, and a little parsley, sea salt, and pepper. Other things may have made it into the bowl, but I can't quite remember - (see: business development description during holiday)

When all ingredients were well incorporated I rolled them into little bite size balls and placed them in a 350 oven for 30 minutes, While still hot I grated parmesan cheese over the top. Everyone kept saying how great they were. That was a relief.