July | 2014 | onedadskitchen

It’s Tomato Time! Use Those Summer Tomatoes for a Simple Tomato Tart

There are few things better than when tomatoes are in season. Getting a really fresh tomato from the local farmer’s market can be a treat all of its own and there are lots of different varieties that you get to choose from this time of year. Around here in my area, the tomatoes get very reasonable in price so you can load up and make all kinds of different things with them. They are great to use to make your own tomato sauce, perfect for a Margherita pizza, ideal for any type of BLT that you might want to make, you can dice them up for some panzanella salad, just have them in a nice salad or even just eat them alone as a sandwich all of their own. I decided to take a few tomatoes that I had and make use of this really easy recipe from Food Republic for a very simple tomato tart.

Simple Tomato Tart

4 ripe tomatoes

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 package puff pastry, thawed

2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, chopped

1 tablespoon butter

Salt

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Slice the tomatoes in 1/4-inch slices and salt the tomatoes heavily. This so as much excess water as possible comes out of the tomatoes and this will help keep the tart from getting soggy. Leave the salted tomatoes aside for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes have passed. use paper towels to wipe off the extra salt on the tomatoes and pat the tomatoes dry to pick up any excess moisture that may be left.

Arrange the thawed puff pastry in a pie plate or a baking dish. Make sure to add a little bit of butter into the dish before laying the puff pastry down in the dish to prevent the pastry dough from sticking to the dish. Spread the Dijon mustard evenly over the pastry dough. Add 1 teaspoon of the chopped thyme leaves and then arrange the tomatoes on top of the Dijon mustard and the thyme leaves. Add the other teaspoon of the chopped thyme leaves over the tomatoes. Drizzle the balsamic vinegar over the top of the tomatoes. Garnish the tart with a few sprigs of thyme.

Bake the tart in the oven for 45 minutes or until the pastry has achieved a deep caramel color. Take the tart out of the oven just before the edges of the tart begin to char and not sooner. Allow the tart to coll for 15 minutes before serving or allow it to cool at room temperature and serve when you are ready.

I loved the simplicity of this dish and you really get the deep flavor of the tomatoes that have been roasted in the balsamic vinegar and the Dijon mustard adds just a hint of flavor to the dish. This is a great side dish to make to go along with any type of meal you might serve in the summer or to go along with a barbecue. you could certainly use this as a dish to bring to any summer party you might attend as well. I’ll be making this one again as the summer goes on.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on July 15, 2014 in Cooking, Side Dishes, Vegetables, Vegetarian

Tags: Food Republic, Food Republic simple tomato tart, ripe tomatoes, simple tomato tart, tomato tart, tomato tart recipe

A Quick Pizza Night with This Barbecue Chicken Pizza

14 Jul

When the weather is hot and muggy, one of the easiest things you can do of course is order a pizza. Sure, I do it just like everyone else does, but making your own pizza can be quick and easy and you can control all of the ingredients so you can make the type of pizza that you really enjoy. If you don’t want to turn the oven on, you can just as easily make one on the grill using a pizza stone. I cam across this very simple recipe last week at My Baking Addiction for a quick and easy barbecue chicken pizza that you can put together very easily using leftover chicken and a store-bought pizza crust to have a great tasting pizza for the family in under 20 minutes.

Barbecue Chicken Pizza

1 store-bought pizza crust or homemade pizza crust (such as Food Processor Pizza Dough)

1/2 cup of your favorite barbecue sauce (or homemade barbecue sauce)

1 cup cooked and shredded chicken

1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion

1 bell pepper (any color), seeded, cored and sliced thin

1 3/4 cups Monterey Jack shredded cheese or mozzarella cheese

Place a pizza stone in the oven and preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Allow the pizza stone to heat for 30 minutes. Allow the pizza dough to come to room temperature and stretch the dough into the shape that you wish. Alternatively, place the pizza dough onto a foil-lined or oiled baking sheet.

Spread the barbecue sauce onto the pizza crust, leaving about a 1/2-inch border around the edge of the pizza. Add the shredded chicken, red onion, and bell pepper on top of the barbecue sauce. Top the pizza with the shredded cheese.

Bake the pizza in the oven for 12 to 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the pizza crust is a deep golden brown. Cut the pizza into squares or slices and serve.

I also added a couple of dashes of some mesquite seasoning to the pizza to give it some extra kick and barbecue flavor. I really liked the mix of the barbecue sauce with the red onion and the peppers ( I used red pepper because that is what I had on hand) and this was a very easy pizza to put together using some the leftover chicken I had. you could also make use of rotisserie chicken this way or even some leftover pulled pork if you happen to have any and I think it would be great.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on July 14, 2014 in Dinner, Pizza

Tags: barbecue chicken pizza, barbecue chicken pizza recipe, chicken pizza, food processor pizza dough, homemade pizza crust, My Baking Addiction

Everyone Screams for These Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches

11 Jul

Summertime and ice cream just go hand in hand, though some people will tell you that ice cream is pretty much perfect any time of the year. I am not a huge ice cream eater myself but I do appreciate it every now and then and Michelle and Sean both love it, so I decided to make a simple and easy treat of some homemade ice cream sandwiches. The recipe is from Bon Appetit and when I first saw the picture of their finished product and how easy it was to make these I knew I would have to give it a try. They take a little time, but if you start them in the morning you can have your own ice cream sandwiches for dessert that same night.

Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon sour cream

1 pint ice cream (any flavor)

Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and kosher salt together in a medium bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugar and corn syrup together in another medium bowl until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and beat until they are well combined.

Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients; mix the ingredients until they are just combined. Mix in the sour cream. Form the dough into a 3/4-inch square and wrap it tightly with plastic wrap. Chill the dough in the refrigerator until it is firm, about 2 to 3 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll out the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper to about 1/8-inch thickness. Transfer the dough (still between the sheets of parchment paper) to a large baking sheet and chill the dough again in the refrigerator until it is firm, at least for about 30 minutes. Remove the top sheet of the parchment paper. If the dough is well chilled the top sheet will remove very easily. Trim the dough into a 14-inch by 10-inch rectangle. Bake the dough until it is dry and just set at the edges, about 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack and let the dough cool completely.

Trim the cookie to a 12-inch by 9-inch rectangle, then cut the cookie into twelve 3-inch squares. Scoop some ice cream into a medium bowl and mix it until it is just softened, about 2 to 3 minutes. Turn 6 cookies bottom side up. Dividing the ice cream evenly, scoop the ice cream on top of the cookie and press down on it lightly. top the ice cream with the remaining cookies, pressing down gently. Place the ice cream sandwiches on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and freeze them until they are firm, at least 4 hours. Cut the sandwiches in half diagonally to make triangles, if you wish. Wrap the sandwiches in parchment, if desired, and freeze them until you are ready to serve them.

They are very easy to make and I can tell you that the dough smells and tastes just like what you get if you bought an ice cream sandwich from a store or the ice cream man. The best part is that you can make them with any type of ice cream that you like, so you can really vary them to suit your particular liking or your family’s and make them in different flavors if you wish. I cut them small to make smaller sandwiches, just he right bite-size snack that we could all enjoy. Of course you could always make them completely homemade and make your own ice cream to put inside them, but any of your favorite flavors work just as well.They are very easy to make and worth the wait, so I would certainly make these again.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on July 11, 2014 in Cooking, Dessert, Snacks

Tags: bon appetit, Bon Appetit ice cream sandwiches, homemade ice cream sandwiches, ice cream sandwich recipe, ice cream sandwiches

Save Time and Effort with Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

10 Jul

While the temperature and humidity around here have eased a bit today, it is typical for July around these parts of New York to be very sticky and humid, making it uncomfortable all day long and making you feel like you really do not want to put much effort into dinner. Nights like that for use are usually good for really simple meals that involve little or no cooking at all, which means making things like sandwiches, salads, hot dogs and the like for dinner. Sure you can always get take out or go out if you like, but that gets expensive to do too much and you don’t have control over the ingredients you are eating. You can always compromise somewhere in the middle and buy some pre-cooked items, such as a rotisserie chicken, and make good use of that in a meal for you and your family in a bunch of ways. One thing I recently did was use a rotisserie chicken to make some pulled chicken sandwiches for a meal. You can do this just as easily with leftover chicken and simply shred it yourself and even use your favorite bottled barbecue sauce if you like, but I decided to make my own sauce to get the flavor we really like. The basis of this recipe comes from Ellie Krieger on the Food Network site.

Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 (14-ounce) can tomato sauce
1/4 cup tomato paste
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
5 tablespoons molasses
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke
1 whole rotisserie chicken, skin removed, meat shredded into thin strips (about 4 to 4 1/2 cups)
6 hamburger rolls
Lettuce leaves, for garnish

Pickle slices, for garnish

Coleslaw, store-bough or homemade, for garnish

Heat the vegetable oil in a large saute pan set over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until they are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more until the garlic is fragrant. Add the tomato sauce, tomato paste, water, cider vinegar, molasses, pepper and liquid smoke and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the chopped chicken, return the mixture to a simmer, and cook for an additional 10 minutes.

Split the hamburger rolls. Place a leaf of lettuce on each roll, then pile on 3/4 cup of the chicken mixture onto the roll and top with pickle slices, coleslaw and additional sauce, if desired.

That’s all there is to it and it tastes great. You get a nice barbecue sauce to simmer the chicken in without a lot of work and the liquid smoke adds great aroma and flavor to the sauce. I used the pickleback slaw recipe I have made before as the coleslaw for a topping and we just had the sandwiches with some chips on the side to keep things simple, though they would go well with some potato salad, macaroni salad or even just a simple side salad. You could even make these as sliders if you wanted to use them for a buffet or party and have them done in minutes.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of you day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on July 10, 2014 in Cooking, Dinner, Leftovers, Lunch, Poultry, Sandwiches

Tags: chicken sandwiches, Ellie Krieger, food network, pickleback slaw, pulled barbecued chicken sandwiches, pulled chicken, pulled chicken sandwiches, rotisserie chicken

A Chicken Dinner Thanks to Bobby Flay – Pan-Roasted Chicken with Mint Sauce

08 Jul

Trying to find new things to do with chicken can get tricky after a while. I am always on the lookout for new ways to try making poultry with new sauces and flavors. because we eat so much chicken, you really have to try to vary things now and then so everyone does not get bored with just he same old meal. I found this recipe from Bobby Flay listed on the New York Times Cooking site (which is a great site and resource for recipes and articles by the way) and not only did it seem really simple but looked to use some different flavors to change things up for your chicken dinner. It is a very simple recipe for pan roasted chicken with a mint sauce. Bobby Flay uses bone-in chicken breasts for the recipe, but I used a combination of breasts and thighs and it worked out just as well I think.

Bobby Flay’s Pan-Roasted Chicken with Mint Sauce

For the Chicken:

4 bone-in, skin on chicken breasts

Kosher salt

2 tablespoons paprika

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons ground mustard

2 teaspoons ground fennel seed

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

For the Mint Sauce:

1 cup fresh mint leaves

1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves

4 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped

1 Serrano chile, seeds removed and roughly chopped

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Rinse the chicken well, then dry it with paper towels. Season the chicken generously with kosher salt. Combine the paprika, cumin, ground mustard, ground fennel seed and black pepper in a small bowl and rub the mixture all over the skin of the chicken.

Heat the olive oil in a large, oven-safe saute pan or skillet set over medium heat. When the oil is shimmering, put the chicken breasts into the pan skin side down and cook, unattended, until the skin is golden brown, about 6 to 8 minutes. Using tongs. turn the chicken breasts over and then place the pan in the preheated oven. Roast the chicken until it is golden brown all over and the meat is cooked entirely through, about 12 to 15 minutes. Remove the chicken to a warmed platter and allow it to rest.

Meanwhile, place the mint, parsley, garlic and Serrano chile into a food processor and pulse the mixture into a paste. Add the honey and the Dijon mustard and pulse the mixture again until it is combined. With the motor running, slowly add the olive oil until the mixture has become emulsified. Transfer the mixture to a bowl, and if necessary, whisk in a few tablespoons of water to thin the sauce. Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste.

Spoon some of the sauce over each of the chicken breasts and serve, with the remaining sauce on the side.

The chicken turns out perfectly browned and crispy and the mint sauce is an excellent addition. It does have a little heat to it from the Serrano chile, so be aware of that if you are making it for anyone who doesn’t like a lot of heat. You could just as easily leave it out of the sauce. I served this with roasted potatoes and some roasted asparagus and it made for a perfect meal without a lot of fuss or work.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on July 8, 2014 in Cooking, Dinner, Poultry, Sauce

Tags: Bobby Flay's pan-roasted chicken with mint sauce, mint sauce, new york times, pan roasted chicken, pan-roasted chicken with mint sauce, roasted chicken

It’s Strawberry Season! Make This Strawberry-Blueberry-Rhubarb Cobbler

07 Jul

I love the selection of fresh summer fruits and vegetables. It is a great time to go to the farmer’s market or local grocery store to pick up some things like peaches, plums, corn watermelon, and of course, berries. Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries, among others, all thrive this time of year and you can make great use of all of them in fruit salads, smoothies, parfaits and all kinds of other snacks and desserts. I had some strawberries and blueberries on hand this past weekend, along with some rhubarb, and decided to try out this recipe from America’s Test Kitchen for a strawberry-rhubarb cobbler, though I added in the blueberries for a little added flavor. This one is super easy to make and can be done in less than hour to give you a great dessert.

Strawberry-Blueberry-Rhubarb Cobbler

For the Filling:

1 quart fresh strawberries, rinsed and hulled

1 pint fresh blueberries, rinsed

10 ounces rhubarb, cut into 1/2-inch chunks

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon cornstarch

For the Topping:

1 cup all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons yellow cornmeal

1/4 cup sugar plus 2 tablespoons

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon table salt

1/3 cup buttermilk

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 400 degrees. Toss the strawberries, blueberries and rhubarb together with the sugar, vanilla extract and cornstarch until blended and place the filling in a deep-dish pie plate. Place the pie plate on a rimmed baking sheet and bake the filling until the fruit releases its liquid and is hot and bubbling around the edges, about 20 to 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk the flour, cornmeal, 1/4 cup of the sugar, the baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Set this bowl aside. In a separate bowl, whisk the buttermilk, melted butter and vanilla together and set it aside. In a third small bowl, mix the remaining 2 teaspoons of sugar with the ground cinnamon and set it aside.

When the filling is ready, stir in the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture with a rubber spatula until the two are just combined and no pockets of flour remain. Remove the cobbler filling from the oven and give it a stir. Pinch off pieces of the dough and sprinkle them on top of the hot filling to cover the filling to your liking. Sprinkle the tops of the filling with the cinnamon sugar.

Place the cobbler with the topping back in the oven and continue to cook the cobbler until the topping is golden brown and cooked through and the filling is once again hot and bubbling, about another 15 to 20 minutes. Cool the cobbler on a wire rack for 15 minutes before serving.

You can top this off with some homemade whipped cream to really make it special. America’s test Kitchen actually clumps the topping together to form a biscuit-like topping, but I thought it would be better with just spreading the topping around like I did. To me it is just an aesthetic thing unless you like the whole biscuits on top. In either case, do how you like it. The cobbler tastes great as the fruit releases all its juices and you get the flavors of the strawberries, blueberries and rhubarb. i think this would work well with just about any type of fruit, such as peaches, plums, apples, pears and the like as well, so you can experiment with it and try different things.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!.

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Posted by MikeG on July 7, 2014 in Cooking, Dessert, Fruit, Pie

Tags: America's Test Kitchen strawberry-rhubarb cobbler, americas test kitchen, blueberries, cobbler recipe, strawberries, strawberry-blueberry-rhubarb cobbler, strawberry-rhubarb cobbler

Classic Barbecued Chicken for the Fourth

04 Jul

If you are looking for a good alternative to hamburgers, hot dogs and steak for this holiday weekend, a good option is always to do something with some chicken. You have lots options of available to you as far as just making a bunch of different chicken pieces or if you know that you have a crowd that really just wants to have thighs, legs, wings or breasts you can just go with those pieces on your grill. One thing about doing chicken on the grill is that you need to really watch it so that the skin doesn’t burn before the rest of the chicken is actually cooked through. This is one of the reasons I like to make barbecued chicken in the oven more than outside, which works out really well for me since I only have the electric grill to play with anyway. This particular recipe that I used comes from Better Homes and Gardens and is for their classic barbecued chicken, though I did modify the sauce recipe a bit to fit my own tastes. I have included my modifications in the recipe itself.

Classic Barbecued Chicken

2 3 1/2 pounds whole chickens, or 7 pounds of chicken pieces

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup butter

1 cup finely chopped onion

1 tablespoon chopped fresh garlic

2 tablespoons kosher salt

1 1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper

1 tablespoon paprika

1 tablespoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 cup cold water

1 1/4 cups cider vinegar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce

2 tablespoons molasses

1 cup ketchup

1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1/2 cup tomato paste

Vegetable or canola oil

Water

If you are using whole chickens, cut up the chicken, leaving the drumsticks and thighs attached. Season the chicken pieces with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Refrigerate, covered, up to 24 hours or until you are ready to use the chicken.

For the barbecue sauce, In large non-reactive saucepan set over low heat, melt the butter. Add the onion, garlic and salt and cook until the onion softens and is tender, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the crushed red pepper, paprika, chili powder and black pepper. Cook and stir the mixture for about 1 minute.

Add the water, cider vinegar, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce and bring the mixture to a simmer. Stir in the molasses, ketchup, liquid smoke, soy sauce and Dijon mustard until it is all blended. Whisk in the tomato paste until the mixture is smooth. Bring the sauce to a simmer over low heat and cook, uncovered, for 10 to 15 minutes or until the sauce has thickened, stirring occasionally. Taste the sauce for seasoning and make any adjustments with salt and pepper as needed. Remove 1 1/2 cups of the sauce to prepare the chicken. Store the remaining sauce in the refrigerator and simply reheat it to serve.

For the chicken, preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Heat 1/4-inch of the vegetable oil in a large skillet set over medium heat. Working in batches, place the chicken, skin side down, in the skillet. Cook until the chicken is well browned, turning once, for about 5 minutes.

Transfer the browned chicken to a large roasting pan or baking dish. Place the chicken skin side up and add 2 tablespoons of water to the pan. Spoon the reserved 1 1/2 cups of barbecue sauce over the chicken. Cover the chicken with parchment paper and then cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil. Bake the chicken until all of the chicken is cooked through and an instant read thermometer inserted into one of the pieces registers 170 degrees. Depending on the pieces of chicken you are baking, this can take anywhere from 40 minutes for breast portions to 75 minutes for legs and thighs.

Increase the oven temperature to 450 degrees. Uncover the chicken, removing the foil and the parchment paper, and spoon on some additional barbecue sauce. Bake the chicken, uncovered, for an additional 10 to 15 minutes or until the chicken is well-glazed and the meat is very tender. Serve the chicken with the reserved barbecue sauce (not the sauce you used to put on the raw chicken!) and store any remaining barbecue sauce, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Unfortunately, I did not remember to take a picture of the chicken when I made this one but it came out really well. you could certainly use the same idea and make this on the grill yourself, just keep a closer eye on the chicken to control the heat, cooking it on a lower heat side of a gas or charcoal grill to keep it from burning the skin easily. You should always put the sauce on towards the end of the cooking process so that the skin can get nice and crispy before the sauce goes on and you can retain the great sauce flavor that you get. Seasoning the chicken ahead of time or even brining it the night before can make a big difference here too, so if you have the time I recommend it. The sauce was great and I actually used some of the leftover chicken and remaining sauce to make some pulled chicken sandwiches, which I will post the recipe for soon as well. This goes great with any classic barbecue sides like baked beans, coleslaw, potato salad, corn bread,corn on the cob and the like.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day, enjoy your meal and have a safe, happy and festive July 4th!

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Posted by MikeG on July 4, 2014 in Cooking, Dinner, Grilling, Poultry, Sauce

Tags: barbecue sauce, barbecued chicken, BBQ chicken in the oven, Better Homes and Gardens, classic barbecued chicken, classic bbq chicken, classic BBQ chicken in the oven, homemade barbecue sauce, homemade BBQ sauce

Too Hot to Cook? Try These Easy Chicken Tostadas

03 Jul

It has been very hot, humid and sticky here the last few days, making it so that the last thing you feel like doing is standing in front of the stove or oven and cooking a detailed meal. It is days just like this that are perfect for a nice rotisserie chicken and doing something different and inventive with it, like this recipe from Marcella Valladolid of the Food Network for easy chicken tostadas. Tostadas are simply deep fried tortillas, so you can make these yourself if you like but I have also seen them available in some stores. You can use tostadas, a rotisserie chicken, a can of refried beans and your favorite store-bought salsa or make your own tomato salsa or try the recipe for a tomatillo avocado salsa included with this recipe.

Chicken Tostadas

8 tostadas

1 cup refried beans, warmed

4 cups cooked chicken, shredded

2 cups finely shredded lettuce

1 red onion, thinly sliced into rings

8 radishes, thinly sliced

1 cup crumbled queso fresco or other mild cheese

Sour cream or Mexican sour cream (crema) for drizzling

Tomatillo-Avocado Salsa:

8 ounces tomatillos, husked, rinsed and coarsely chopped

1 avocado, halved, pitted and peeled

1/2 cup packed fresh cilantro leaves

1 Serrano chile

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the tostadas, spread the tostadas with the refried beans. Top the tostadas with the shredded chicken, shredded lettuce, red onion rings, sliced radishes and the cheese. Drizzle the top of each tostada with some of the sour cream, top each with a dollop of salsa, and serve.

For the tomatillo-avocado salsa, combine the tomatillos, avocado, cilantro leaves, Serrano chile, and the lemon juice together in a blender and puree the mixture until it is smooth. Season the salsa with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer the salsa to a serving bowl, cover and refrigerate for up to 2 hours or until you are ready to use it.

This is a very easy meal that you can put together with mainly leftovers and have it ready in just a few minutes. Use leftover chicken or a rotisserie chicken and you can even just use leftover beans instead of making refried beans if you want to. you canalways include other fresh vegetables on the tostadas if you like as well and the salsa has great flavor of its own and is great for chips or as a side dish to this meal or others. We’ll be making this one again during the summer for sure.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on July 3, 2014 in Beans, Cooking, Dinner, Poultry

Tags: chicken tostadas, food network, homemade salsa, Marcella Valladolid, refried beans, rotisserie chicken, shredded chicken, tomatillo-avocado salsa, tostadas

Keep it Cool – Cold-Brew Coffee and a Dublin Iced Coffee

01 Jul

Like millions of other people around the globe, I love to have my morning coffee. There is something about the smell of coffee brewing that just helps to jump-start the morning for me. If my body would let me I would probably drink coffee all day long but I really limit myself to just one cup (okay sometimes two, but don’t tell!) so I mainly use my Keurig brewer for coffee since I am the only one in the house who drinks coffee regularly. I do have a French press however and I decided that I wanted to try making some cold-brew coffee. Seeing how everyone says it is all the rage and you get a great coffee flavor from the concentrate you develop I thought I would give this recipe from America’s Test Kitchen a try. it’s a process that takes a day so you have to put some time into it to get the final product.

Cold-Brew Coffee

3 1/2 cups finely ground medium roast coffee

3 1/2 cups room temperature water

Kosher salt (optional)

Stir together the ground coffee and the room temperature water in a large French press. Allow a raft of ground coffee to form, about 10 minutes, and then stir the coffee together again to incorporate it into the water. Cover the French press with plastic wrap and let the coffee sit at room temperature for 24 hours.

Using the French press plunger, press firmly on the coffee grinds to separate them from the coffee concentrate. Pour the coffee concentrate into a coffee filter-lined fine-mesh strainer that is set over a large measuring cup. Let the coffee sit still until the concentrate filters through, up to 30 minutes. You should have about 2 cups of coffee concentrate when it is complete. The concentrate can be covered and kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Combine 1/2 cup of the coffee concentrate, 1/2 cup of cold water and a pinch of kosher salt (if desired) and pour the mixture into a glass with ice. Serve.

You certainly get a rich, strong coffee flavor this way, so if that is what you are looking for in an iced coffee this is a good way to go. Since it is basically a 1 to 1 ratio of coffee to water, you could make this in any amount you want to fit whatever type of French press you may have to give it a try.

I decided to take some of this cold-brew coffee and try making a Dublin iced coffee using this recipe I got from Bon Appetit. This is an adult beverage and very easy to make.

Dublin Iced Coffee

2 ounces strong cold-brew coffee

2 ounces stout, such as Guinness

1 1/2 ounces Irish whiskey

3/4 ounce simple syrup

1/2 ounce heavy cream

Freshly grated cinnamon stick, for serving

Mix the cold-brew coffee, stout, Irish whiskey and the simple syrup in a highball glass. Add ice to fill the glass. Gently pour in the heavy cream so it gradually sinks into the coffee. Sprinkle the top with cinnamon and serve.

This coffee was incredibly refreshing and delicious. The combination of the coffee, stout and whiskey gives great flavor and the cream just tops it off. I actually ended up drinking two of these because they tasted so good and I will definitely make this one again.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!