Posts Tagged 'spicy'

Green Chili…again

Published January 28, 2010 Dinner , Yum! 2 Comments
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Ever since the first time I made this Green Chili, I’ve been dreaming about it, plotting and scheming to make it again. At last, I decided it was time and tonight I died and went to pork heaven. Just as before, each piece of slowly cooked pork melted in my mouth and the sweet spice from the green tomato and pepper sauce pricked at my taste buds, making me close my eyes and say, “Mmmm….”

Serve this dish with a side of white rice, beans, and a warm tortilla. A nice white wine also compliments the meal, a chardonnay perhaps.

Recipe here.

Hungarian Chorizo and Lentil “Stoup”

Published December 3, 2009 Dinner , Recipe Leave a Comment
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November was a crazy month what with working on my school assignments and writing my NaNoWriMo novel. But the fun hasn’t stopped yet. My story isn’t finished and next comes the revision part. I bet if it were summer I wouldn’t feel as inclined to spend a month indoors to write a novel but because the days are cooler now, I have no complaints. The past couple of days I’ve been in a warm, comfortable soup mode to counter the cold breeze that filters through my badly insulated windows. But because I’m still writing I’ve been using recipes that are quick and easy to make. Enter Rachael Ray’s 30-Minute Meals: Cooking ‘Round the Clock. I hadn’t used this book in a while but over the past week it has come in handy. Over the weekend I made her carbonara which was very simple with pancetta (I used bacon), wine, egg, and lots of cheese. It was comfort food at its best.

Next I made her Hungarian Hot Sausage and Lentil “Stoup.” Here is my slightly adapted version:

Hungarian Chorizo and Lentil “Stoup”

Makes 4 servings

About 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil – evoo (I kept saying this in my best impersonation of Ms Ray to Jay’s confused face, “What’s evoo?”)

150g Spanish style chorizo, sliced (unfortunately I mixed up the chorizo and the sausage when I brought out my ingredients)

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

2 portobello mushrooms, gills scraped out, chopped

1 cup shredded carrots (one large carrot was enough)

1 cup canned lentils

1 large starchy potato, peeled and chopped

1 bay leaf

1 tbsp cumin (but I would advise using less than this)

1 tsp sweet paprika

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp rosemary

14oz canned diced tomatoes

3 cups chicken broth

Heat the oil in a pot over medium-high heat. Brown the chorizo 2-3 minutes and then add the onion, garlic, and mushrooms. Sauté for a bit then add the carrots, lentils, potatoes, bay leaf, paprika, cumin, cayenne pepper, and rosemary. Next add the tomatoes and broth. Cover the pot, raise heat to high to bring to a fast boil then remove lid and boil for about 15 minutes. Serve with some toasted bread and butter. This spicy soup will warm you up on the coldest of days.

Sweet Shrimp Salad

Published October 23, 2009 Lunch , Must repeat , Yum! 3 Comments
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After a gruelling, yet satisfying, turbo sculpt workout I craved a big bowl of salad. Believe me, a few years ago I would not have craved a salad after a workout – I would have probably ran to the closest McDonald’s for a Quarter Pounder, fries, and a coke. I have changed my ways and if I were to eat a whole burger from McDonald’s right now I’d probably get an upset stomach.
Anyway, today’s salad started out with sautéed shrimp with garlic powder, lettuce, onions, cucumbers, celery, and feta cheese. It’s when I get to the dressing that I tend to experiment a bit. Today I mixed about a teaspoon of mustard, two dashes of Frank’s Redhot, and about a teaspoon of rice wine vinegar. It was tart and sour and spicy of course, not bad but it was missing a bit of sweetness. So, I added about a teaspoon and a half of guava jelly. Don’t ask me why I reached for the guava jelly jar, I just did. And it was lovely. Once the salad was tossed and I was ready to drizzle the dressing over it, inspiration struck. I felt daring and experimental so I grabbed the pineapple I had cut up this morning. Now, I have to add here that I absolutely do not like fruit in salads and yet I still felt inclined to add fruit. Chunks of pineapple over the salad and spicy-sweet dressing over top made a delicious and refreshing salad. The sweetness from the pineapple was a good compliment to the feta cheese and the spice from the dressing. I think I’ll be adding fruit to my salads from now on. I guess it’s an acquired taste.

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Spicy Chicken Soup

Published October 17, 2009 Dinner , Recipe , Spice , Yum! Leave a Comment
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The best way to thaw after a chilly walk in the park is to eat a big bowl of spicy chicken soup. This soup will definitely make you sweat!

1 chicken leg, cut into pieces, keep bones

1 cup rice, uncooked

Approx 6 cups of water

2 or 3 bay leaves

2 large carrots, cut into small chunks

2 potatoes, cubed

half a leek, chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

3 pickled jalapeno peppers

Salt and pepper to taste

Oregano and dried mint to taste

Put the chicken pieces and bones along with the rice in a large pot and fill with the water. Place over medium high heat and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium low and add the rest of the ingredients. Cover and let it gently bubble for about 40-45 minutes. Near the end, I added two pieces of cooked corn I had in the fridge. “That’s a big garnish, don’t you think,” Jay the smart ass said. For a tangy flavour you can also add fresh cilantro and lime juice.

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Pita Burgers

Published October 7, 2009 Dinner , Recipe , Yum! Leave a Comment
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I was craving a nice healthy custom made burger last night. In my opinion, these are the best kinds of burgers because you can add whatever the hell you feel like adding to a mound of ground beef (or pork or chicken). Unfortunately, when it came time to dress my burger I realized I didn’t have bread, let alone burger buns. I felt instantly crushed and I was already mentally preparing myself to eat a bun-less patty when I saw a bag of pita bread on the counter. Could I make this work? Yeah!

Recipe for 4 burger patties

1 tbsp oil or butter

1/2 medium onion, finely chopped

1/2 cup finely chopped mushrooms

1/2 small zucchini, shredded

1/2 pound lean ground beef

1 clove garlic, crushed

2 or 3 chopped pickled jalapeño peppers

1 egg

¼  cup rolled oats

½ tsp paprika

¼ tsp ground pepper

Dash of Worcestershire sauce

Large pita bread cut into 4 sections

In a pan or skillet sauté the onion in oil over medium heat. Remove the onions, set aside, and put the mushrooms in the pan to cook until they release their water. Put the onions back in the pan along with the zucchini until it’s just tender. Remove from heat and set aside. In a medium size bowl, mix the ground beef, garlic, jalapeño peppers, egg, rolled oats, paprika, ground pepper, Worcestershire sauce and the sautéed onions, mushrooms and zucchini. Shape into four patties and fry over medium heat for about 5-6 minutes on each side. Place in a quarter piece of pita bread and dress however you like.

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What I did with a Tex-Mex Mushroom Ragout

Published September 29, 2009 Dinner , Leftovers , Must repeat , Recipe , Spice , Vegetarian , Weight Watchers Leave a Comment
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A few days ago I made a vegetarian dinner from the Weight Watchers Turn Around Program book. It’s called Tex-Mex Mushroom Ragout and this is how it’s made:

Makes 2 Servings:

1 onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 lb fresh cremini or white button mushrooms, quartered

1/2 lb fresh portobello mushrooms, stems removed and diced

1 (15oz) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained

1 (4.5 oz) can chopped green chiles

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried thyme

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 fresh ground pepper

4 tsp fresh lime juice

In a pan, cook onion until soft, about a minute. Add the garlic and stir constantly for about 20 secs then add the mushrooms. Cook until mushrooms have released their liquid and then reabsorbed it, about 5 mins. Stir in the beans, chiles, spices, and salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook until thickened (I’m not sure what they mean by this because I didn’t notice any “thickening”) for about 15 mins. Serve and squeeze some of the lime juice on top. I sprinkled some shredded Havarti cheese.

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It was tasty and flavourful…but not as fantastic as I thought it could be. It’s more of a side dish than as a main meal as the book says it should be. It’s very good because it has lots of protein and fibre but if you’re eating a whole bowl of the stuff, it can be a little boring. Needless to say I didn’t eat a full serving and I put the rest away in a container.

Two days later my little sister came over and she was hungry. “You have food at your place right? I’m reeeeeaaaally hungry.” Unfortunately I hadn’t done any groceries yet and I didn’t have much in my fridge except the leftover ragout. I brought out the container and told my sister to try it but she didn’t seem too keen on it, “Hm, smells spicy…do you have anything else?” Sigh.

1/4 of a jar of Classico pasta sauce

3/4 of a can of diced tomatoes

generous splash of heavy cream

1 1/2 servings of leftover Tex-Mex Ragout

Make 2 servings of whatever pasta you like, I used angel hair. Heat the ragout in a pot along with the tomatoes and pasta sauce, stir. Once it’s heated, add the cream and stir until it’s all blended and heated through. Serve over noodles.

So very yummy! I think I’ll be making more pasta sauces like this one.

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Spicy Chicken Noodle Stir Fry

Published June 20, 2009 Dinner , Spice Leave a Comment
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As we all know, I am obsessed with Frank’s Redhot sauce. I keep talking about it so much I think I should become a spokesperson for that product!

So for last night’s dinner all I wanted was to use that ingredient in whatever dish I made. I settled on making a simple chicken marinade of crushed garlic (about 3 or 4 cloves), the juice of two limes and about a quarter cup of Frank’s Redhot sauce. I cut the chicken breast into bite size pieces and left them to soak in the marinade for about three hours.

I know in my current diet I’m not supposed to eat oily foods but I think it’s safe to say I’m no longer sticking to the diet 100%. At my last bridesmaid dress fitting I was shocked to see that my dress was very loose. With only two weeks until my friend’s wedding it’s probably not a good idea to continue with this rapid weightloss. So last night I used peanut oil to fry up the chicken a bit and sesame seed oil to stir fry the vegetables. Sesame seed oil gives food such a great flavour. I used Thai rice noodles and while everything else was being cooked, I let them soak in cold water. Once the chicken was cooked through I transferred it, along with the cooked marinade juices, to the pan with the stir fried vegetables (I used the No Name frozen veggies, “Oriental Mix”) along with fresh bean sprouts, chunks of onion and green pepper. I added a bit of diced canned tomatoes and rice wine vinegar before mixing in the noodles. I made sure to coat the noodles and blend them well with everything else until it was all nice and hot. Normally I’m not a fan of crushed peanuts on Thai food but for some reason last night I wished I had peanuts to top the noodles. I settled for a squeeze of lime juice.

The taste was amazing! The chicken was so nicely spiced and I love how I could taste the sesame seed oil in the noodles. Definitely have to make this one again.

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Chicken (or Turkey) Meatloaf

Published June 11, 2009 Dinner , Must repeat , Recipe , Spice , Yum! 2 Comments
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I’ve just finished making chicken meatloaf. When I started to make it I had only added tons of garlic, onion and spices and it was already smelling yummy.

Recipe for two-ish:

1lb lean ground chicken or turkey…or I guess beef
1/2 cup onion chopped
1/4 cup celery diced
Garlic, I minced about 4 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup cooked rice, I’m using brown rice
1 egg white, remember no yolks!
1/2 cup sodium free tomato sauce, I used Hunt’s No Salt Added
1/4tsp oregano
1/4tsp thyme
1/4tsp fresh ground black pepper

In a large bowl, mix chicken, onion, celery and garlic. Mix all spices and then add them to chicken. Mix well. Add egg whites, rice and tomato sauce, mixing with each addition. Put the mixture in a loaf pan and spread a bit more tomato sauce on top. Since I like a bit of spice I squirted a generous amount of Sriracha hot chili sauce on top of the tomato sauce. I baked it for about an 1hr 15mins at 350, uncovered.

Love this sauce on meatloaf. Goes really well on tuna sandwiches too! Once that comes out of the oven, let it sit for a bit and serve it with a side of mashed potatoes.

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