Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

Here is an easy recipe for a yummy weeknight meal. I wanted to try making enchiladas by making them without the traditional green or red enchilada sauce (which is really good too, but can get a little messy). I have been thinking about doing this for a while, and I finally got around to it!

1 rotisserie chicken
1 cup chopped mushrooms (I used crimini)
8 oz cream cheese
1 packet taco seasoning (or Carne Asada flavoring)
2 Tablespoons dried onions
salt to taste
2 cups shredded monterey jack cheese (or cheddar)
1 pint (2 cups) heavy cream
7 or 8 taco size tortillas (I used low carb ones)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Place the meat from the rotisserie chicken on a cutting board and chop it up pretty fine. In a large bowl, add chicken, chopped mushrooms, cream cheese, taco seasoning, and dried onions to the meat and mix until the ingredients are incorporated. Taste and add salt and more onions or taco flavoring if necessary (to suit your taste).

Grease a 9 by 13 baking dish. Place about 2-3 spoonfuls of mix into the center of the tortilla and wrap up tight. Place in baking dish seam side down. Repeat with the remainder of the tortillas. Add Monterey Jack cheese to the top of the tortillas and spread evenly. Drizzle the cream evenly over the top of the cheese. Sprinkle more taco seasoning over the top if desired.

Place foil over the top and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 15 minutes. The top should be bubbly and toasty looking.

Enjoy!

Chicken Saltimbocca

We went to Buca di Beppo the other weekend and had a delicious chicken dish that translates into "jump in your mouth" and I think it literally did. I thought I could probably manage to make something similar at home and when I found a Buca di Beppo recipe on line, I just took it and ran with it. I made a few alterations but it turned out to jump in our mouth just as much as ever. It's actually really quick and easy too.


7 chicken cutlets or 4 chicken breasts
One piece of prosciutto for every chicken piece you have
2 tablespoons sage
Olive oil to coat pan
flour for dusting
1 can artichoke hearts, quartered
capers for garnish
5 ounces white wine
Juice of 2 lemons, and lemon peel from one
4 ounces heavy cream
1 1/2 Tablespoons butter
Salt to taste

Lightly salt chicken breasts. Sprinkle evenly with chopped sage. Place sliced Prosciutto on top the chicken and pound it into the breast until the thickness of the chicken measures 3/8-inch.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a saute pan. Lightly flour chicken pressed with prosciutto. Place in heated oil, Prosciutto side down. Brown one side, turn and brown the other side. Drain off excess oil, and deglaze pan with white wine. Add artichokes, fresh lemon juice, lemon peel, cream and butter and cook until sauce is thickened, about 10 minutes.

On a large platter, place chicken breasts topped with reduced sauce and garnish with capers.

Adapted from Buca di Beppo recipe.

In The Mood For Caldo Verde

Caldo Verde is a Portuguese soup that is TO DIE FOR. It's Portugal in a bowl. The ingredients are so simple and the end result so satisfying.

• 3-4 medium sized sweet potatoes (the white ones),or 6 to 8 medium sized potatoes, peeled and sliced thin (like potato au gratin style)
• One big sweet onion (spanish or yellow), minced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 TB olive oil
• 1 TB butter
• 10 ounces chourico, chorizo, or pepperoni if you can't find those, sliced thin (I used pork chourico that wasn't in a casing and it worked great, found at Sprouts)
  
• 3 Liters cold Water
• 1 lb Kale (this is what I used) or Collard Greens, washed, middle vein removed, and julienned (use a basil chiffonade technique)
  

Put 3 TB olive oil and 1 TB butter in the bottom of a big heavy saucepan and on med-high heat, cook the onions and garlic for about 2-3 minutes until onion becomes translucent being careful not to brown the onion.
Once onion is translucent, add potatoes and saute until they start to get some color, about 3-4 minutes.
Once the potatoes are getting some color, add the water, cover the pot, bring to a boil and cook for about 20-25 minutes.
While the potatoes are cooking, julienne the greens (there will be a lot of it, don't worry, it's supposed to be that way)
and cook the chourico in a skillet until most the fat is cooked out. (If you are using a sausage with casing, remove the casing before you cook it)
Drain fat from sausage and set aside until the potatoes are ready.
Once the potatoes are soft, take a potato masher and mash the potatoes in the pot.
Next, add the sausage and lastly add the greens to the pot. Let cook for another 5 minutes until the greens incorporate into the soup. Taste for salt and pepper and pour the last Tablespoon of Olive Oil over top. serve with bread.

Here is a link to a website with some good visuals and a little more traditional recipe.

Slightly Sweet White Wine Salmon

This is the first meal I ever cooked for Anthony back in my little NYC apartment in early 2007. He's been hooked ever since. Serve with rice and asparagus.

Ingredients:
1 lb salmon
1/3 cup white wine
2 T butter
1 T honey
3 T brown sugar
juice from 1-2 lemon slices

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350. Place salmon in rimmed cooking dish. Salt and pepper both sides. Place rest of ingredients in saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil for 3 minutes. Pour sauce over salmon and bake in oven for about 15 minutes, or until just opaque inside. Turn oven to broil, place salmon dish on 2nd to top shelf and broil for 3-5 minutes, until slightly browned. Enjoy!

Note: You can make this without the white wine, it's delicious either way.

Pork Schnitzel with Chantarelle Mushrooms

I can't take credit for this recipe, but I can take credit for choosing such an amazing recipe to celebrate a special event with my husband. He spent a lot of time in Germany and every time it appears on a menu, he orders schnitzel. I always just have a bite, but I haven't been too ecstatic over schnitzel until now! This dish is mouthwatering, even if you don't have any ties to Germany. Wow, I will make this again and again, but I think I will try and substitute turkey next time for the meat and bacon. It's so easy and impressively delicious.

I doubled Hans Rueffert's recipe found here.

Ingredients

4 (3 ounce) pork cutlets, pounded super thin
Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper
all purpose flour, for dredging
3 eggs, beaten
breadcrumbs, for dredging
4 tablespoons butter
6 slices smoked bacon, roughly chopped
1 onion diced
2 tablespoons dijon mustard
2 tablespoons capers, drained
butter
1 1/2 cup Chantarelle mushrooms, chopped if large
1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions:
Pat cutlets dry. Season cutlets with salt and pepper, then dredge in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs. In a large skillet, add butter (clarified if possible) and saute cutlets on both sides until golden brown and crunchy. Drain on paper towels and keep warm in a 200 degree oven.

In a separate skillet over high heat, cook the bacon and the onions until they both start to brown. Add mustard and capers. Add a lump of butter to mix and immediately add chantarelles (I used dry chantarelles, so I turned down the heat and extended the cooking time a little bit until they were soft). As the mushrooms begin to absorb the butter, add just enough cream to cover the bottom of the pan. Simmer sauce to reduce slightly. Add more mustard or capers as needed (I didn't need to add anything.)

To serve, spoon sauce over browned schnitzel and serve with half a lemon. Squeeze over schnitzel right before eating.

Recommended authentic side dish: Cauliflower florets with butter.

Portobello Burger

This healthy and delicious vegetarian meal is satisfying...don't let the portobellos scare any of you meat-lovers away!  My hubby loves a good burger, he was savoring every bite. I made homemade hamburger buns which made them even tastier. 

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 cloves garlic, minced 

6 T olive oil 

1/2 t dried thyme 

2 T balsamic vinegar 

salt and pepper to taste 

4 large portobello mushroom caps 

4 whole wheat hamburger buns 

1/4 cup low-fat mayonaisse 

1 T capers, drained

tomato, spinach and avocado to top

Directions:

In medium bowl, mix garlic, olive oil, thyme, vinegar, salt & pepper.

Remove stems from mushrooms and place caps bottom side up in a shallow baking dish. Brush the caps with half of the sauce. Broil caps under the broiler for 5 minutes.

Turn the caps, brush with remaining sauce. Broil 4 minutes.

Toast hamburger buns lightly.

In small bowl mix capers and mayonaisse together. Spread mayo mixture on the buns, top with mushroom caps, tomato, spinach and avocado.

Delicious Angel Hair Pasta

Ingredients:

1/2 pound angel hair pasta
1/4 c. olive oil
3 cloves minced garlic
8 oz. mushrooms
3/4 c. Parmesan cheese
2-3 fresh tomatoes, seeded and diced
fresh basil leaves, cut into pieces
salt & pepper

Boil pasta according to package instructions. Drain pasta and place in serving bowl. While pasta is boiling, saute garlic in olive oil on medium heat until lightly browned. Add mushrooms and cook for about 4 minutes. Pour over warm pasta and toss. Salt and pepper to taste. Toss. Add half of the Parmesan cheese. Toss again. Let noodles cool slightly. Right before serving, add diced tomatoes and basil and rest of Parmesan cheese. Lightly toss and serve. This makes a great light dinner!

Hole in the Wall

I remember being in my grandma's kitchen in the evening. I wanted a snack and she made me a Hole in the Wall, and then another, and then another. Ever since I have been old enough to make them myself, they have been a "go-to" dish. My husband is so glad he has been introduced to this delicacy, and most people haven't had one unless their own grandmothers have made them for them, which is a shame. I have taken it upon myself to educate and enlighten my friends and family to this great tradition. With minimal effort, this dish always tends to hit the spot.

For Starters:

Good bread, eggs, butter and salt. (who doesn't have these laying around?)

So, you butter the bread on both sides...

Then, heat a frying pan on medium heat and while the pan is heating up, cut a hole out of the middle of the bread with whatever you feel like, I use a spoon. At this point, my grandma would let us eat the holes, but you can save them and toast them in the pan.

Put the bread in a heated pan and let it toast for a few seconds, then crack an egg into the center of the bread. Let it cook for a couple more seconds. I like to stab the yolk in the center, but to each his own.

This is the secret trick for my Hole in the Walls. Before the egg has completely cooked on the underside, flip the bread up just a little so that the egg gets on the bread underneath and spreads out a little, but not too much. Make sure it doesn't ooze past the crust of the bread. You want to keep the whole egg under the bread. Once it looks sufficiently toasted underneath, give it a flip!

Push down on the bread with the spatula, this will ensure that it gets all nice and toasty. While it is toasting up, be sure to salt, salt, and salt it up. This is what makes it especially midnight snackable.

And there it is ladies and gentleman

Yummy til the (regretfully) last bite!

Fajitas

One of Anth's all time favorite dinners are these fajitas. Delicious-and super easy too!

Things you'll need:

1 red pepper (cut in slices)
1 yellow onion (cut in slices)
1-2 T. olive oil
chicken (either fresh or the frozen strips from Costco)
juice from 2 limes
avocado
cilantro
sour cream
cheese
flour tortillas (we use the kind you cook yourself, they're so much better)

Directions:
In large skillet, heat olive oil. Add red pepper & onion and cook until slightly browned. Set aside in a bowl. Using same skillet, cook chicken. When chicken is just about cooked all the way through, add the onion and peppers with the chicken and squeeze lime juice into skillet. Cook until all is heated through. Heat tortillas in fry pan and melt cheese onto one side. Add chicken mixture to center of tortilla and top with items of your choice (we can't live without sour cream, cilantro and avocado).