Cornish Game Hens, or WHY I LOVE FALL

My absolute favorite part of my favorite season, Autumn, is the food. Pumpkin. Squash. Stuffing. Cranberries. Apple cider. Cornish Game Hens.

Cornish game hens, you say?? What are they?? I have had a few friends ask me this question lately. I grow puzzled, only because it is one of my favorite fall dishes, and I cannot imagine it not being a part of my life! (Shout-out to my Aunt Amie, by the way, who introduced me to this incredible feast one night years ago at her house for dinner! Thanks, Amie!)

A Cornish game hen is quite simply a young chicken, sold whole. They come at about a pound each, and are cute and squat. With a little butter rubbed under the skin and stuffed with carrot, celery and onion, they are absolutely divine. I just call them bliss.

Last week (and then again 2 nights ago) I ventured out to the grocery store for my first Cornish game hen-buying jaunt of the season. Of the year, actually. It had been some time since I roasted one up, and I was pretty giddy. I knew exactly what I was looking for. A two-pack, so that I could roast them together and present a hot plate of food for the chef when he returned home.

I was delighted to find that they would come at a bargain: $9.30 for a two pack of the beautiful birds. I was really excited. Like jumping-up-and-down-in-the-poultry-section-of-Safeway-excited. It was a bit ridiculous. I actually told one gentleman "The hens are on SALE! They are so CHEAP! I'm so EXCITED!" But, alas, it is Washington. He just ignored me. :(

So I continued the celebration by throwing some carrots and onion into my cart (and a BOX of Stovetop stuffing, GASP) and was dashing back off to my apartment.

Now, Cornish game hens are really not "gamey". A friend asked me on Facebook if they were like Capons, which she didn't care for because of the dark meat, which I have never tasted, and I had to do some research. I read up on the hens online, and in my go-to cooking manuals, Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Queen Julia of course, and my new go-to guide, Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything.

In my foodie research I always tend to get way carried away, and this time was no different. I ended up composing a list of about 40 other dishes to try. The Poultry section of Mastering the Art of French Cooking alone is where I plan to hang out this entire Fall. "Coquelets sur Canapes" aka Roast Squab Chickens with Chicken Liver Canapes and Mushrooms?? Are you kidding me?? COMPLETE BLISS!!!

I found on Wikipedia that a Cornish game hen is not a game bird, but actually a typical chicken that is slaughtered at a young age and therefore smaller in size.

But for me, the fact that they are smaller in size makes them more delicious in flavor. These birds are literally bursting with flavor. First off, you have their innards...the neck, liver and I think kidneys? Mark Bittman advises to make a stock from the trimmings: by combining the neck, wing tips, gizzard, and any other scraps in a small saucepan, with water to cover. Add one small onion, one carrot, and one stalk celery, along with a pinch of salt and a few peppercorns. Bring to a boil, turn the heat to low and cook partially for a little under an hour.

Which is exactly what I did. And it was my happy thought. Because my dad, J, always makes an incredible "giblet gravy" every Thanksgiving. He takes the giblets of the turkey and "boils the heck outta them" pretty much all Thanksgiving morning, then drains and chops them up finely, to go into the most amazing concoction you have EVER tasted, I can assure you, GIBLET GRAVY. We really should bottle that stuff up and sell it on the black market. It tastes illegal, I tell you.

Bittman roasts his hens with sauerkraut on one recipe, and vinegar on another, but I just wanted to do them straight-up. Just roast them. So I seek Julia. Shout-out to my sister Lindsay who got me Mastering the Art of French Cooking this year for my birthday!!! It's pretty much changing my life.

Julia, like a good friend, always has the right answer. "Preheat over to 400 degrees. Season the cavities of the birds with a sprinkling of salt, shallots or onion, and tarragon, and 1 teaspoon of butter. Truss the birds, dry them, and rub with butter...Place the birds in the roasting pan, and set on a rack in the middle of the preheated oven. Baste and turn the birds every 5 to 7 minutes until they are done: Game Hens, as their flesh is usually firmer than chicken, take about 45 minutes; they are done when the flesh of their drumsticks is soft." Oh Julia, your instructions on game hens is like a sonnet being breathlessly whispered into my awaiting ears.

And, just like that, you have a gorgeous little dinner of a Cornish game hen. I like to roast it like Julia says, for 45 minutes, basting like crazy with the pan juices that fall into the bottom of the roasting pan. Then, broil for the last 3 minutes or so. You will know. It will start to brown perfectly, and sizzle and pop. Love that noise.

After removing the hens very carefully and with lots of love, place them onto a warm plate and cover. Then, ever so lovingly pour the remaining pan juices that dripped from the birds, into a small saucepan. Combine the juices with the stock that Bittman told you to make. But first, drain it. You don't want the carrot or celery or onion or peppercorns, but just the fine stock juice from the kidneys and livers. At this point I like to carefully and lovingly remove the meat from the neck that was boiling away. The neck meat is SO delicate and full of flavor and when chopped up finely with the livers and kidneys, goes so well into the gravy. I then make a reduction sauce, usually adding in white wine and a few more chopped shallots and some crushed herbs like thyme. You can salt as you go, making sure to taste with every addition. If you happen to oversalt, balance it out with adding in some water. If you have chicken stock on hand, perfect. But I like to just use the stock that comes from the innards of the hens. I like to use the whole beast.

Cornish game hens go so well with cornbread, stuffing, and some French bread. Toss a salad and it's a little mini-Thanksgiving. Like it was for me last night!

Then, afterwards, the best part for me, besides the enjoyment of the flavorful bird, is making a stock. Yes, yes, more stock. It's easy. Just take the bones and remnants of the little game hen, toss into a large pot, and cover with water. Season with salt and some black peppercorns, throw in more onion, celery and carrot (just castoffs that would be wasted anyways, from the scrap bin), and maybe a bay leaf. Let that simmer the rest of the night, and you've just made yourself liquid heaven.

Hope you all enjoyed the rather lengthy love letter to Cornish game hens.

Shannon

Eating lately

Pie... savory pie. I had never heard of such thing until moving to DC in May and Jeremy and I discovered a wonderful little pie shop. Right around the corner and a few blocks from our apartment. What could be better?

Dangerously Delicious is situated on H St. in what is called the Atlas District. Though there are a plethora of other dining options along the strip, I've been to Dangerously Delicious about 10 times in 6 months and it never ceases to amaze me.

Honestly, who could imagine sausage, tomato and fennel going into a pie shell and coming out as utopia? It's true. Shortened as just "STF" on the chalkboard menu, it had us wondering what could it possibly be? So on a hunch one Spring evening, we ordered an STF and a SMOG (steak, mushroom, onion, gruyere), and we actually had a FIGHT over this pie. I even stormed out on Jeremy, because he finished MY STF! For shame. I think some feminine hormones were definitely part of the equation. But don't come between a woman and her pie.

Details:

Dangerously Delicious Pie Shop
1339 H. Street NE
Washington, DC 20002
(202) 398-7437

STF pie: $7.50 a slice
"We take sweet and hot Italian sausage, roasted fennel and tomatoes add some salt and pepper and throw it into a pie. With most other savory pies being creamy this one is on the lighter side but don't let that fool you this pie still packs a punch!" Umm yeah.

I definitely recommend a few dashes of that tasty Cholula hot sauce for an extra kick. Wash it all down with a glass bottle of Coke for $1.50 and you'll be begging for more. You can go back for seconds, but I don't usually have room. This is one shop where you definitely want to save room for dessert. How could you not, at a pie shop?

The Baltimore Bomb is the only sweet pie I've tasted, but next time I do save room, I'll order up another. It's divine, literally. The description alone had me at hello: crush up a Berger cookie, pour in fresh vanilla custard, and throw in the oven. Hello!

Life is a bowl of cherries

My sweet boyfriend had been hinting at cherry pie since cherries starting appearing in our local supermarket, but I was afraid. I'd never attempted a cherry pie before. I didn't even have a cherry pitter (he quickly solved that little problem). The only thing I'd ever done with cherries was pop them in my mouth, preferably one after the other on a dock on a lake in the middle of Maine.

The idea of cherry pie sounded complex and intricate...something that, in baking, I tend to stay away from. But I wanted to give Jeremy a special treat to come home to, what with his 12 hour days and all, slaving in the kitchen for the greater good of Washington, DC and it's patrons.

I stumbled upon the popular food blog Chez Pim, and quickly became obsessed. I had to try one of her creations, and it had to be soon. Funnily enough, that day's recipe was for Spiced Cherry Pie.

So, I rounded up some ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg from my pantry, and was off to the market for ground ginger. Then I realized I didn't have any clove at all so I looted my landlord's pantry for ground clove (don't worry, I texted him first... The only thing I've ever stolen was a glue stick at age 8 from a craft store but cried in the parking lot, took the sweaty stick out of my pocket and my mom promptly marched me inside to return it).

The idea of cherry pie was intimidating enough, but spiced added a whole new dimension of scary. What if I over-spiced it, which I tend to do when baking apple pies? What do they mean when they say a "pinch" of clove? I always worry about little details like this. Your pinch may be more of a tablespoon whereas mine is half a teaspoon. You may have bigger fingers than me. Or vice versa. Details, details. They always plague me. In cooking, I rarely follow a recipe. Feel a little more into garlic today? Tweak, tweak, tweak and we're good to go. Baking would have none of that, thank you very much. A pinch is a pinch is a pinch. I wasn't about to over-spice a perfectly good cherry pie. Especially since 2 lbs of cherries in Washington DC costs like twenty three bucks. Exaggeration is a writer's prerogative.

Throwing caution to the wind, I started snapping those stems (and those photos). I started pitting. It started to look like a scene out of a horror film, but nary a cherry was left with a pit.

Come see...






















My variation of the spiced cherry pie turned out delicious, even though I used pre-made pie crusts from a box (sigh). I attempted my own pie crust for a French Apple Pie a few weeks ago, and decided I had a ways to go until my pie crust was perfected. I really didn't want to ruin this pie. Apples are cheaper than cherries.

Definitely check out Pim's website by clicking on the link above. She has her own sturdy, no-fail pie crust, or as she calls it, "the one pie dough to rule them all". I would have tried her recipe, but I still need to pick up a pastry scraper and pastry brush. Next time.

Afterthoughts on the pie: Jeremy thought it was over-spiced, but my landlord said that the crust was excellent and the clove was a nice touch. Like a little elf, I had left him a slice on his counter top at 3 am when the pie was cool enough to slice (3 hours after removing from the oven). I thought it was divine, and I liked the spice. It went well with the cherries. I love nutmeg, so any excuse to use it in a dish besides just opening its little jar and smelling it from time to time, is good enough for me. I was worried that with 2 lbs of the sweet Bing cherries and the cup of sugar, it would be way too sweet but the lemon and spices cut the sweet.

Happy pie eating,

Shannon

city garden

I have always wanted to have a garden, ever since I was a little girl and would get lost among my PapPap's green beans and tomatoes. I'd pluck an onion from the ground, dip it in the pool, and crunch right into it. Same with his huge tomatoes that grew vine by lovely vine.

Living in a city provides its challenges when it comes to gardening, so I read up on "container gardening", essentially, growing the garden of my city-living dreams.

It isn't very hard. Our landlord already had the foundation started, with his herb garden containers already installed and growing chives, parsley and oregano. A little weeding was all it took to get the rest of the planter space cleaned up, soiled up and ready to go.

Usually when I dream up things it can get pretty grandiose. I don't just want a garden, I want the maze gardens of Versailles. I want to use all natural, organic soil, and have a compost bin. I don't want to cheat with Miracle Gro, or spray pesticides. Just soil, water and sun. That's all plants really need, with some organic material (compost) added in.

But this time, I decided to be realistic. I remembered back to last year, living at home, buying $30 worth of seeds, and probably $30 worth of biodegradable pots to start the seeds out in. Went away for a week; everything died. Duh. You have to be pristine, careful and delicate when growing a live plant, as I have now learned. And if you go on vacation, have someone water your plants (or take them with you)!

So, realistically thinking, I started with herbs. Jeremy and I headed over to his restaurant one day, where they have a great outdoor container garden (in which he planted everything, so proud of him!), and picked up a bag of organic soil and lots of different plants: a few tomato plants, pineapple mint, spearmint, oregano, and then headed inside to the chef's office to go through boxes of seeds. We took home some exciting bounty...early prolific straightneck summer squash seeds, corn seeds, nasturtium, chives, more squash, many varieties of lettuce, and so on...

The growing commenced! I was eager to get all of the plants into the ground so they could take off. I started with the spearmint, then some boxwood basil (2 plants, also from the restaurant), well, why don't I just show you...
Spearmint, which I've been using for mojitos :)

Boxwood basil

Thyme

Cilantro, grown from seed!


Pineapple mint

oregano with weeds...clearly I hadn't gotten to weeding this yet when photo taken

Some seedlings emerging...



Some of the basil that we are growing is actually from the back of a Triscuits box! Triscuits is supporting the home farming movement, and they offer a little seed packet in the cardboard box, which you immerse in water for a short time, then plant normally in soil. I now have more incentive to buy Triscuits. Not that I needed any.

The other basil plant is from a farm in the Shenandoah Valley, VA that I bought when we were living in College Park. The cilantro is all from seed, from the packets I bought for last summer's gardening ventures. The thyme I picked up at our local Safeway store, (from Shenandoah Farms also) and got it in the ground fast. It needed a little water to seep from the bottom into the plant first, as it was looking pretty gnarly when I bought it. Let's see, what else...oh the cherry tomatoes. I have a bunch of pots of these now. I took all these photos about a month ago, when my friend requested I write a post giving a tour of the garden...well here ya go, Kristina, a month later!


Since then the squash has been sprouting beautiful golden yellow squash blossoms. I'm super excited about these, because I first had stuffed squash blossoms at Jeremy's restaurant last summer. They were absolutely out of this world delicious, and I will have to get the recipe when my blossoms are big enough to pluck and stuff. (I actually planted all the squash just for their blossoms!)

Squash leaves; I hope these will yield crazy prolific squash, like the seed packet promises!


I'll close my little container garden tour with a few beautiful tomato plants...



Check back soon for more city garden progress!

Be Merry,
Shannon

Bar Pilar

Bar Pilar
1833 14th St.
Washington, DC 20009

I had wanted to visit Bar Pilar for a date night since the June 2010 issue of Washingtonian magazine hit the stands. I'd been carrying the magazine around with me in my canvas tote daily, reading restaurant blurbs between stop signs and red lights- no joke. It occupied much of my spare time...I even made a rather lengthy list of all the cool DC featured restaurants to try out.

Since Jeremy and I only have about one night a week to eat dinner together and never a Friday or Saturday night like most couples, I wanted to pick a great place for a Sunday night date, when most restaurants are either closed or the chef is off and the food is paltry...but Washingtonian gave an insider tip that Bar Pilar is actually best on a Sunday night when there are fewer customers. Bar Pilar it was.

One of the draws of Bar Pilar was definitely the Hemingway theme, as advertised. Um hello English major foodies! Yet upon entering I definitely got a different vibe. Not sure what it was, but not Hemingway. I don't expect "Margaritaville" to be blaring from the loudspeakers, nor those tacky little umbrellas in the drinks--but at least have a photo of the old man and the sea displayed on the walls, or Hem books around, heck, even a couple cats roaming about would be more "Hemingway". But I don't visit a restaurant for the decor. I'm all about the food.

First up, after we both ordered red wine, was roasted olives with pickled chilies, goat cheese bruschetta for $6 (by the way, the magazine screamed out "Cheap Eats" on the cover, so I was looking to eat well for less). The restaurant serves up a ton of small plates, and this was one great one. It carried throughout the meal, with the briny roasted olives being the perfect complement to the tangy goat cheese bruschetta. My mouth is watering just thinking back to the burst of pungent flavor in my mouth at that time. Oh my.

We ordered an assortment of more "small plates" or what most places call tapas...warm frisee salad with bacon vinaigrette, blue cheese, croutons, sunny egg for $6 definitely stood out for me. It sounds simple, but once the yolk of the freshly poached egg started oozing throughout the salad, mixed with the warm frisee, wow. Party in my mouth.

Jeremy ordered some halibut dish which didn't stand out much to me--and I think he might have devoured in one bite. Gotta love those "small plates". I ordered the boudin blanc, which was not a favorite. I guess I was thinking more "chorizo" instead of what tasted kind of undercooked to me; it might just have been because I'm used to "blood" sausage. Boudin blanc is characteristically a white pork sausage, without the blood. The great thing about me not liking a dish is...more for Jeremy. He finished the boudin blanc off, smacking his lips.

Next was a rush of other small plates...prawns (delicious, but I cannot access their changing menu online to get the deets...) for me, crispy roasted potatoes with malt aioli for us to share, and buttermilk fried chicken for Jeremy (fried in peanut oil, which made it taste so different, kind of crisp, fresh, earthy. It didn't taste like it had been saturated in oil like so many other fried chickens--could it have been the peanut oil? Not sure. But it definitely made a difference. Jeremy reminds me that it wasn't dried out at all either, it was just so moist. And that it didn't just taste seasoned on the outside with the crispy skin, but the inside tasted perfectly seasoned as well. I was skeptical about "buttermilk" fried chicken, but now I'm a fan.

For me the best part of the meal was dessert. I'm honestly not a fan of dessert and will usually opt out, but the thought of chocolate terrine made me curious. I don't like cakey things, so chocolate cake is always out for me, but terrine? Now that I've always liked. I imagined the chocolate terrine as a thick chocolate mousse, layer by layer. We each ordered our own individual chocolate terrines, accompanied by a ruby port. D-I-V-I-N-E. The rich, creamy chocolate in layer by delicate layer sung in perfect harmony with the rich ruby port. The aftertaste was lasting and strong. I don't think I've ever devoured a sweet so fast, yet still savored every last bite.

If I were privileged to give stars, Bar Pilar gets ***/*****

Engagement Party of the decade!

Gwen and Billy's Engagement Party!

Ok, so today Jeremy and I trekked from Washington, DC to Southampton, NJ for Gwen and Billy's engagement party! Billy is Jeremy's first cousin, and Gwen is his amazing fiancee! They are getting married in late October, and it is so good to see them before the wedding.

Awesome event for any foodie. I mean, the people are always why I show up but hello, the FOOD is where the party's AT!

And the food was, in a word, incredible. I can honestly say that I have never seen so much food in my life. A bit of a dramatic statement yet true nonetheless. Billy's mom, Marie, put on the most mouth-watering spread I have ever seen. And I've been to a lot of parties.

There were two separate rooms filled to the brim with food. Not counter tops or tables, ROOMS. Every time someone walked into the house and entered the food galleries, all people could say was "I don't even know where to start, there's SO much food!" and "This is incredible!" and I even heard a few times "Is Marie a caterer or something?" Then there was Gwen's mom, who brought LUMPIA! I was beside myself. Literally ate about 30 of them, dipped into a spring roll sauce that you can find at any Asian grocery store.

As I write this, I cannot breathe and my stomach is aching. That's how much I ate. How much we all ate. I have never been such a glutton.

There were sandwiches. To be specific, roast beef sandwiches and turkey sandwiches, Italian sandwiches with salami and ham peeking out the sides.


Bowls of black and green olives. Bowls of pickles for the sandwiches. Salad of lettuces, salad of mango, salad of fruit. Macaroni salad. Macaroni and cheese. Sausage and peppers. Meatballs. Enchiladas. Chicken falling off the bone with seasoned, melt-in-your-mouth rice. Grilled vegetables like onion, eggplant, mushroom, squash, zucchini and roasted red pepper.

TONS of my favorite dish in the entire world, lumpia (Filipino egg rolls).

Lots of egg rolls which turned out to be loaded with plantain. Pork satay! Loads and loads of food and, wait for it....

A SUCKLING PIG! A whole, smiling, head-still-on suckling pig in the middle of the kitchen, daring all to come, to partake. That my boyfriend had the honors of carving. It was so cute watching him. I mean he's a cook and all, and has seen it done at his restaurant, but when Marie handed him the carving knives commanding him to get to it, I saw his face freeze, then immediately he dove in. I was so proud of him! First he severed the head, cutting it in half. Then he cut the pig lengthwise, and...oh shucks I might as well just show you...









All in all, it was a good day for a foodie. And I WILL be asking Marie to throw me my engagement party one day :)

Until next time, BE MERRY!

Julie & Julia

So did I ever tell you how much I ADORE Nora Ephron and her films?? I mean, the woman is my director soulmate. I just love all of them...starting of course, with When Harry Met Sally (which she wrote, but Rob Reiner directed). Then there's Sleepless in Seattle, my all-time favorite movie You've Got Mail, and her latest, Julie & Julia. The woman is brilliant. The songs she chooses always get me, and make me all warm and fuzzy. Her actors are hand-picked, and perfect for their roles. I mean come on, Meryl as Julia? Who better?!

I liked Julie Powell's book back in 2005. I rushed off to the library when it finally came in because I was broke and couldn't afford to buy it (ha, not much has changed there)...and literally read it in about 15 minutes. Ok, not really, but it's the only book I read in one day. ONE DAY. Do you know me? I am extremely, and I mean OVER-THE-TOP ADD. It is really, really hard for me to get through a whole book lately. I used to love reading. But it was always very hard for me to stay focused. The words danced around the page, doing backflips and somersaults, and my mind would easily wander to wonderland just by reading the word "rabbit". It was that bad. Thankfully, at 25, I finally took myself to a psychiatrist and was like "what's up with me??" After a couple tests, she said I was textbook ADD. No wonder! Sadly, I still find I will buy a bunch of books (from used bookstores of course) based on what I read on the back cover, which can be quite a convincing little paragraph, only to let them morbidly collect dust. Well not with Julie and Julia. I was enthralled.

The movie was even better. Obvi, it was Nora, so I knew it would be great. Add in Meryl and Stanley and hello, Oscar. (It's a shame they didn't win anything, it really is a shame.)

You have two very different settings in New York City in the 2000s and Paris in I think the 1960s? Talk about opposite worlds. It would be hard for me to portray that. Not for Nora. She segues from Paris to NYC and back again, over and over so perfectly, interspersing pearls and letters, and lots of Boeuf Bourguignon, so that Julie (Amy Adams) can adequately imitate Julia in her mastering of French cooking pursuit.

Julie's idea for the blog was inspired by Julia Child. And her task, if you haven't heard, was to make her way through Julia's cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. "365 days, 524 recipes". Well, she did it, lobster-killing and all. My favorite scene is when Chris Messina, who plays Eric Powell, Julie's hubby, keeps whispering "lobster killer...lobster killer" while the Talking Heads' "Psycho killer" plays in the not-so-distant background. I mean, inspired.

In case we were wondering, Nora's done it again. The woman's still got it.

But I was feeling rather un-inspired last night. With my boss, with my job (we won't go there), with the fact that I have a very difficultly-earned college degree in English, and I'm not using it. I feel like I've wasted my twenties (I'm still in the middle of them, but they feel OVER) and I'm so not ready for thirty. There were so many goals I wanted to accomplish by age thirty. It's less than 4 years away, and the days go by so fast. And I haven't really anything to show for it..well, this is the way I was feeling last night. Gloomy and downtrodden and a real head case to be around. So I crawled into bed and logged into Netflix, clicked on Watch Instant, clicked on Starz Play, and literally tossed my popcorn up in the air when I realized Julie & Julia was featured. Feeling a little less depressed, because Nora always has the right words to say, I watched it.

And today, after work, I baked a beautiful apple pie. My first apple pie. Homemade. And it was wonderful.

Be merry,
Shannon

Teriyaki Chicken Recipe

I found this recipe for Teriyaki Chicken here but I did tweak it majorly last night when my sinus headache was pretty extreme and my boyfriend the chef was at the restaurant and couldn't take care of me. I know, I give myself sick pity parties. I hate being sick!! (Do check out the actual recipe from the website though, bc there is a killer recipe for homemade teriyaki sauce I can't wait to try out...when I'm not sick, of course.)

Teriyaki Chicken:

Ingredients:
4-5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 bottle Teriyaki Sauce (I use World Harbors Teriyaki Marinade)
...and that's pretty much it...

Pre-heat oven to 200. Line a tray with foil (I use 100% recycled aluminum foil from Reynolds, and I think you should too!). Line chicken on tray, keeping about an inch apart. Baste chicken with 1/2 of Teriyaki sauce. Bake for 25 minutes. Turn chicken and coat with remaining sauce. Bake 10-15 more minutes. At this point I hike the temp to 350. Slice with knife to make sure chicken is cooked through. Unlike steak, chicken cannot be consumed at medium-rare. ;)

Serve over Basmati rice, with a salad.

Happy eating...
Shannon

Chicken Teriyaki Kabobs with Pineapple

Aloha! This recipe is tropical and great for Summer~

Teriyaki Chicken:

Ingredients:

5-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts or 10-20 chicken tenders
1 bottle Teriyaki sauce (I use World Harbors Hawaiian Style Maui Mountain Teriyaki Sauce & Marinade)
1 large pineapple, cut into bite-sized chunks
Bamboo skewers
Crushed black pepper, to taste
Yellow, Orange and Green Bell Peppers

Instructions:

Cut chicken lengthwise into thin strips. Pour 3/4 of a bottle of Teriyaki sauce into a bowl. Marinate chicken strips in Teriyaki sauce for 1-2 hours.

Take 2 fresh pineapple chunks and skewer onto bamboo skewer. Take 1 chicken strip and zig-zag onto bamboo skewer. It kind of looks like a kinky shape...alternate between pineapple and chicken strips, until each bamboo skewer is full. Pack the skewers tightly (soak the skewers in water before filling and grilling to prevent the bamboo from burning). Crush black pepper over each skewer for a spicy kick. The contrast between the sweet pineapple and tangy Teriyaki sauce goes well with the crushed black pepper.

Grill. I like using a charcoal grill, for that smoky flavor that charcoal gives that's so tasty. I grill them for 15-20 minutes on a hot grill. You just want to keep checking, so the chicken doesn't dry out. Take the 1/4 Teriyaki sauce left in the bottle (not the bowl, it will taste chicken-y and isn't good for you --salmonella) and baste the chicken on the grill with the remainder of Teriyaki sauce.

Serve the Teriyaki Chicken Kabobs with a bowl of tropical fresh fruit like kiwi, mango, pineapple and papaya. I serve the kabobs with antipasto salad or potato salad. You could do a greens salad with one of the others. It's healthy and fresh and great for summer.

If you want to bring in more veggies, cut yellow, orange and green bell peppers into bite-size chunks and throw them on the skewer too. It's colorful and tasty. Your guests will think they are in Hawaii, at a luau. You could even pass out leis! That's what I always did at my Florida youth group parties...

Enjoy!

Sinus issues, go away! And 2 Chicken Teriyaki recipes...

Well, the sinus infection is back, with a vengeance. Actually, I'm not certain it every went away. But the coughing, itchy sore throat, and post-nasal drip has graduated into a 2-day and counting sinus headache with slight fever.

Needless to say, I'm not eager to race to the stove. But one must eat (and on a tight budget, must cook for oneself!), so last night I cooked my second meal in our new digs: Chicken Teriyaki.

A friend of mine, Laura, Facebook-messaged me a few weeks ago, asking for tips and advice on cooking. She is a first-time mom with a less than 1 year old, and wants to learn new meals so that she is in the kitchen cooking every night. I mulled over some recipes, then sent her my favorite summer recipe, Chicken Teriyaki Kabobs with Pineapple and Green Pepper. In the process of typing her the recipe I couldn't help but to reminisce of summers past in Jupiter, FL when I was in high school and would have major youth group parties (our family had a pool) and I would prepare then grill this amazing summer dish. Let the salivating begin!

Chicken Fajitas and Guacamole

Happy Cinco de Mayo (2 days late)! I was VERY sick with a sinus infection on the holiday, so I made this favorite dish last night with my fave topping, dip, appetizer, you name it, guacamole! Recipes below, enjoy!

Chicken Fajitas

I found this recipe on the Southern Food section of About.com. I am obsessed! I've since made it over 5 times, tweaking it each time. Even though it calls for zucchini, I haven't used zucchini yet, but that's just because I haven't found any fresh zucchini lately. Here it is:

Chicken fajitas with onions, sweet peppers, green onions, and other ingredients.

Ingredients:

* 2 tablespoons canola oil
* 3 boneless chicken breast halves, cut in thin strips
* 1 medium onion, cut in wedges
* 2 cloves garlic
* 4 mild green or red chile peppers, seeded and sliced
* 1 sweet red bell pepper, seeded and cut in strips
* 1 green bell pepper, seeded/cut in strips
* 1 zucchini, trimmed, cut in strips
* 8 flour tortillas, warmed
* 1/2 cup sour cream
* guacamole
* 1 bunch green onions, trimmed, sliced

Preparation:
Heat the oil in a heavy skillet; cook the chicken strips over high heat, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes, or until cooked. Drain and serve.

Add the onion, garlic and chile peppers to the oil in the pan and sauté over high heat for 2 minutes. Add the bell peppers and zucchini; cook over high heat for 4 minutes, or until the vegetables have begun to have a blackened look around the edges.

Return the chicken to the pan and heat until sizzling hot. Serve right away, with warm tortillas, sour cream, guacamole, sliced green onions, and chopped tomatoes. Serve with hot cooked rice and refried beans, if desired.
Serves 4.

Shannon's notes: Ok, so I don't eat sour cream in general, but a dollop on this fajita is UH-MAZE-ING. Combined with homemade guacamole and a dash of hot sauce makes for a perfect chicken fajita. And you don't even have to go to Chipotle for it. You can make it in your very own home. (Even though I am a major fan of Chipotle, thanks to my best friend, Megan, who introduced me to this maker of HUGE fajita burritos!) :-)

I have my own recipe for guacamole I have been using for years, posted below. I think I make Mexican meals JUST for the guac. When you can get really good ripe avocados, it's too yummy. Really, it is. I made it last night, to go with my belated Cinco de Mayo extravaganza (and to celebrate my sense of taste returning from hiatus due to sinus issues...)

Note: I always use cast iron for chicken fajitas (and most other foods; cast iron is simply the best). Once the chicken is sizzled up,

I transfer it to another hot cast iron pan and toss the chicken with green chili powder Jeremy's friend Sam brought back from New Mexico (thanks, Sam!),

and Rose's lime juice. The chicken soaks up the lime juice, and flavors it nicely. Yum!


Shannon's Homemade Guacamole:

This is basically a standard recipe for guacamole that I have been putting my own twist on for the past few years:

Ingredients:

2 large avocados
1 tomato
1 large onion
2 T fresh cilantro
1 clove garlic
1 lime
1 T green chili powder
Cracked black pepper
Coarse sea salt

Preparation:

Halve avocados, remove pits and set aside (You will use 1 pit later).

Scoop out avocado flesh, transfer to medium size bowl (but if you have a mortar and pestle, transfer to the mortar). Mash away! You don't want any chunks of avocado sticking out, you want it evenly mashed.

This is my new mortar and pestle, by the way. Isn't she gorgeous?! I am so excited to finally have my first mortar and pestle, a kitchen tool I've been lusting after for years now. And a MARBLE mortar and pestle at that! (I got it from a thrift store for 4 bucks, which makes it even better.)



After adequately mashing up avocados, add in juice of 1/2 lime. Mash some more. Crush 1 garlic clove right into the mortar, mashing as you crush. Sprinkle in cracked pepper, and coarse sea salt to taste. Taste, taste! You will want to test out this recipe while making, not only because of the amazing flavors all melding together perfectly, but because you don't want your guac too spicy or garlicky or what have you.
Add in diced cilantro and 1/2 of onion, finely chopped. Once the onion is added, mash no more. The guac is becoming a fine consistency of wonderfulness, and you don't need to mash and crush any longer. Now, mix in the onion, making sure to scoop in the avocado and garlic, etc until it is nicely mixed together. Taste, of course, and if needed, add the other half of the lime (I always use the juice of one whole lime, because I am a lime fanatic. But you may not be).
Work in more of the onion, continuously mixing with large spoon. Hmm what else, ah yes, a dash of green chili powder. I use a generous portion because Jeremy likes his guac spicy. I keep the bag of chili powder handy because when Jeremy's around, he's always adding more to whatever spicy meal I've made. He likes to kick it up several notches, whereas I like my guacamole with a slight kick, but I mostly go crazy over the lime and avocado and sea salt combo, oh my!

At this point I transfer my gorgeous guac to a festive bowl, throw in that pit that you sat aside, right into the center (this prevents guac from browning), cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about an hour before devouring with chips. I love really cold guacamole on a warm tostada chip. Mmmmm.

So now, take the tomato, cut it in half, and seed it. This means remove all the seeds because those seeds can be pesky in a dip, but you definitely DON'T want to remove the tomato skin. This is where all the nutrients live, so keep the skin on. I always remove the seeds then sprinkle a little salt and eat them right up. Very refreshing, and cuts back on food waste. Finely dice the tomato, then store in a sealed bowl and refrigerate. I use these little Pampered Chef ramekins that my mom got me for Christmas.

DEFINITELY one of my favorite Pampered Chef items, and so useful for storing foods for Mexican night. Thanks, Mom!

After guac is nicely chilled, add in tomato. Serve right away. You won't be able to hold back! Make sure to scoop a nice spoonful of guac right onto your fajita with all the other toppings. De--lish!


Happy Cinco de Mayo!