Sunday, January 13, 2013

Jalapeño Popper Chicken Chili



Doing a little research on one of my favorite appetizers, the jalapeño popper, I discovered that some form of deep-fried cheese-stuffed jalapeño has been around since at least the 1960s, where it was being served in restaurants in Baja California, specifically Ensenada, which Wikipedia informs me is nicknamed La Cenicienta del Pacífico or Cinderella of the Pacific.  With no further information on that, by the way.

Is it because Ensenada is the pretty stepsister that everyone abuses?  Does it have sister cities that get better press despite their ugliness?  A little further reading revealed that Ensenada does indeed have sister cities: Newport Beach, Redondo Beach and Riverside.  Each pretty and amazing in its own right.  So, no wiser about the nickname, let’s just get on to the recipe.  (And this is why your teachers tell you not to use Wikipedia as a reference, people: Gaps.)

This week Sunday Supper turns one year old!  In celebration of that momentous occasion, we have each chosen a recipe from another #SundaySupper blogger that caught our fancy during the past year, to give it a try.  Our Dubai weather has turned a bit chilly in the last couple of days (Yeah, I know, not actually chilly when compared to northern climes but BBC Weather is projecting a low of 45°F or 7°C on Wednesday night!  That’s COLD for us, folks!) so I chose to adapt a wonderfully warming recipe from Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks, based on the aforementioned favorite, jalapeño poppers.

Jalapeño Popper Chicken Chili

I left in the seeds and membranes from the peppers so that upped the warmth factor quite a bit but you can totally take them out if you can't do spicy. This chili gets a 10 out of 10 at our house and I will definitely be making it again. Perhaps even for Super Bowl Sunday. I’m kind of even thinking it could be eaten as a hot dip with tortilla chips.  It’s that seriously good.

Ingredients

Olive oil
1 small onion
1 red bell pepper
4 fresh jalapeño peppers
4 garlic cloves
Sea salt
Black pepper
1 1/4 lb or 600g boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 (15 oz or 425g) can diced or chopped tomatoes in juice
1 1/2 cups or 355ml chicken broth
2 cans (14 oz or 400g each) cannellini beans
2 cups or 300g frozen corn
8 oz or 225g cream cheese
5 slices bacon
1/2 cup or 50g sharp cheddar cheese
Handful green onion tops, optional for garnish



Method
Cut the stem end off of your jalapeños.  If you want to remove the seeds and membranes, to lessen the spicy factor, cut the peppers in half lengthwise and scrape them out with a teaspoon.

Cut your onion into halves.  Cut the tops off of the red bell pepper or capsicum Remove the seeds and membrane.  Cut it into quarters.


Pop all three into your food processor along with the cloves of garlic or chop them all with a sharp knife, until they are finely minced.



In a pot large enough to eventually hold all of your ingredients, sauté the vegetable mixture in a good drizzle of olive oil for about five to seven minutes, or until they are soft and the onion is translucent.


Cut your chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces and season them lightly with salt and black pepper.


Drain and rinse your cans of cannellini beans.


Push the vegetables to the side of the pot and add in the pieces of chicken.  Lightly brown the chicken on all sides.



Add in the chili powder, cumin, and smoked paprika.  Stir to thoroughly coat the chicken with the spices and vegetables.



Add the can of chopped tomatoes, rinsed beans and corn to the chicken pot.  Stir well and then add the chicken stock.  When it starts bubbling again, lower to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes.  Stir occasionally.




Meanwhile, grate your sharp cheddar cheese and fry your bacon until crispy.  Cut the bacon into little pieces.   Chop your onion tops, if using.



Cut your cream cheese in slices if it comes in one big block.  Smaller pieces will melt faster into the chili.  As you can see from my photo, our cream cheese, brand name: Kiri, comes in small blocks so, while it was a process to open up enough little packets, the cutting was not necessary.


Add in the cream cheese and stir until it is completely melted, about five minutes.  Remove from heat.


Ladle the chili into a bowl and top with crumbled bacon and cheese, adding a sprinkle of chopped onion tops for color, if desired.



Enjoy!


Have a look at some of the other Happy Birthday, #SundaySupper dishes that are being posted today! So much deliciousness!

Sunday Supper Appetizers:

Sunday Supper Soups and Breads:

Sunday Supper Main Dishes: 

Sunday Supper Veggies: 

Sunday Supper Desserts and Snacks: 

Sunday Supper Breakfast Faves:

Sunday Supper Wine Pairings by ENOFYLZ Wine Blog



Posted by at 3:04:00 AM 49 comments
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Thursday, January 10, 2013

Food Blog Love Fest 2013

Photo credit
Sometime back in December, my fellow food blogger and friend, +Jennifer Field, aka PastryChefOnline suggested to a bloggers group we both belong to that we should each post about some of the bloggers that inspire us and the blogs we really love to read.   So I started making a list of my favorites.  I’d like to share some of them with you today.

Eggton – I discovered this blog in late 2011 as I started to become really involved with other food blogs for the first time.  It’s written by the very funny Katherine who left her job as an attorney in the big city of New York to move to Alabama and entertain us by writing hilarious posts about her experiences, accompanied by delicious recipes and adorable photos of her pups.   Here’s her backstory which is also the first post on her blog.  I started reading her back here and spent the next few hours reading all of her posts from the archives.  And then every post since. You should too.  Try not to snort coffe out of your nose.  After all, who hasn't done this with the hotel minibar? 

Movita Beaucoup – This one’s another blog full of humor and good recipes.  Movita Beaucoup aka Rachael Dyer is a ballet teacher recently turned baking school student whose seasonal competitions (Pumpkin carving,  gingerbread house making and birthday cake baking) have become legend.  Because of the rigors of school, her posts don’t come as often as they used to, but I always do a small happy dance when there is a new one in my inbox.  And she has the best one pot, yes: pot, brownie recipe.

Pastrychefonline  - Jenni Field is a former special ed teacher who became a pastry chef, who loves to teach.  And we are her willing pupils!  Because she is awesome like that.  Her Facebook page  is filled with happy postings of home life and kitchen shenanigans that draw friends into her world and the joy of baking and cooking.  One of her specialties is Van Halen pound cake and she often bakes these for fans!  Her website has wonderful recipes as well as explanatory videos that teach solid techniques.  On my to-do list this year:  homemade puff pastry from this video right here. 

Dear Lauren, Love Mom - Each post is written as a letter from mother to daughter and it’s the stories of their lives in food. Many of them are touching and have great family history stories but each post is like a love letter with a good recipe (The best kind of love letter, don’t you think?) and this is the blog I most wish I had thought to write. Who doesn't want to leave her daughters with a legacy of recipes?

The Skint Foodie - A good fun read from a guy who was down and out and managed to pull his socks up.  (N.B. Skint means broke.) I find his story inspiring in so many ways, not the least of which is his ability to create beautiful meals on a very frugal budget.  Some of my favorite posts are the cheese board challenges, where he commits to choosing a cheeseboard, with three cheeses, for under £7.50 (US$12) which include notes from the cheese shop girl.  I always learn so much and have added many To-Try cheeses to my list.  As a single man living alone, he cooks for one and most of his posts are for delicious recipes for one or two.  Perfect for me most of the year but easily doubled if you have a larger family.  If you like the British sense of humor, you are gonna love this guy.  And you cannot help but admire him.

One Man’s Meat - Conor Bofin is a funny, dry Irishman, with a great sense of humor, who is also a great cook. He has a way with words and cooks good wholesome food with a personal flair.   His long-suffering family eats very well.  He’s one of those bloggers that raises the game for commenters.  When the writer is so witty, the commenters feel they need to be too.  Or is that just me?  And if you are a food blogger, you’ll like this one.

The Curvy Carrot - I found this blog while looking for vegetarian dishes for when my daughters were visiting.  Shanon Lacy is a doctor, in fact, a board-certified pathologist to be exact, but except for on her About Me page it doesn’t come up and her recipes are all about being healthy and indulgent.  Sometimes I just sit and browse because her gorgeous photos are so, well, gorgeous. And she made cheese soufflés! 

And one final blog for today.  I have many more on my list so I hope to do the occasional post like this till I get through them!

Back Road Journal - These beautiful recipes and photos come to us from Karen, who lives in a 1730s house in New England with 300 apple trees and a husband who, like her, loves to travel.  The house is a feature in most posts lately, all decorated for Christmas, and, I can’t get enough of it!  It’s not that I want to live in the country, but I would sure love that dream house.  And to travel with her while she takes the back roads and enjoys the often missed good things that the freeway passes by. 

I hope you pay these lovely people a visit and enjoy their blogs as much as I do.  Tell them Stacy sent you.  Some of them won't have a clue, but that's okay. :)

Enjoy!

Follow the links below to see the blogs my fellow bloggers love.  And spread the LOVE!



Posted by at 12:15:00 PM 11 comments
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Monday, January 7, 2013

Lemon Blueberry Muffins #MuffinMonday



Happy Monday, lovely people!  After weeks of excess and over the top muffins, it feels good to get back to simple, yet still delicious.  My daughters left Dubai to return to the US and university over the weekend, so you know I need some cheering up.  And there is hardly anything more cheerful than the smell of freshly zested lemons, am I right?

That’s why they put it in cleaning materials too, by the way.  It is part of the brainwashing program designed by marketing types to convince us that cleaning is fun and uplifting and we should buy more lemon-scented soaps and sprays.  But I tell you no lies:  These muffins are the real thing.  Get some in the oven and you will feel better in no time.


Lemon Blueberry Muffins

Adapted from this BBC recipe.


Ingredients
For the muffins:
2 cups or 250g flour
1/2 cup or 115g sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 large lemon (for zest and 1/4 cup juice)
2 eggs
3/4 cup or 180ml milk
1/3 cup or 75ml vegetable oil
1 small punnet blueberries (about 125g or 4.4 oz) Reserve 12 for popping on the top of the muffins before baking, if desired.

For the topping:
Powdered or icing sugar to sprinkle, optional

Method
Preheat your oven to 375°F or 190°C.  Butter your 12-cup muffin tin or line it with paper liners.

Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large mixing bowl.


Grate in the lemon zest and mix.   Juice your lemon.


In another smaller bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, milk, juice and oil.


Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and stir until just mixed through.



Fold in all the blueberries, except 12, if saving.


Divide the mixture between the muffin cups in pan.


If you saved berries for the top, now is the time to pop one on the top of each cup.  (They might still sink, but I figured it was worth a shot.)


Bake in your preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden.


Allow them to cool for a few minutes then remove the muffins to a wire rack to cool completely.


Sprinkle with a little powdered or icing sugar, if desired, and serve.


Enjoy!





Posted by at 9:08:00 AM 14 comments
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