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Tag Archives: homemade salsa

Too Hot to Cook? Try These Easy Chicken Tostadas

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!

Beat the Heat with Grilled Chicken Tacos

23 Jul

After taking a few days off to do some fun family things, it’s back to blogging and back to the recipes. Thankfully the stifling heat we have been experiencing here in New York seems to have eased a bit the last couple of days, giving me a chance to do some cooking again and get some recipes ready to post. I still have a couple from last week that I made when it was really hot, including this easy recipe for grilled chicken tacos. This one is kind of a combination of recipes I got from America’s Test Kitchen and Bon Appetit, using the best of both them to make an easy meal that you can do on the grill or indoors.

Grilled Chicken Tacos

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon brown sugar

1/2 tablespoon ground cumin

1 medium onion, sliced

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken thighs

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

8 corn tortillas, warmed (for serving)

2 avocados, sliced (for serving)

Sliced radishes (for serving)

Homemade Tomato Salsa

Whisk together the lime juice, cilantro, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, cumin, vegetable oil, salt and pepper in a bowl until well combined. Toss the onion, garlic and chicken thighs until all are well coated. Prepare your grill for medium-high heat. Grill the onions and the chicken thighs until they are cooked through and lightly charred, about 4 minutes per side.

Let the chicken rest for about minutes before slicing. Serve the chicken and onions with the warmed corn tortillas, avocados, sliced radishes, the homemade salsa and some extra cilantro along with lime wedges and sour cream, allowing each person to build their own tacos how they like it.

The great thing about this meal is that it can take you no time at all to put it all together. You might actually spend more time getting the grill going then you will with actual preparation and cooking. In our house, there are rarely any leftovers when we make tacos or quesadillas. I served this alongside some black beans and rice that I made and the homemade salsa goes very well with this meal. You can also make some guacamole instead of just slicing the avocados if you prefer to have it that way.

That’s all there is for today. Just a very quick and simple recipe that is great for a summertime meal. Check back next time to see some other recipes that I have made recently, including a roast chicken and vegetables from Chef Marc Murphy. a roast beef recipe. some burgers with onion strings from Cook’s Country and more. I do have a few other recipes I’ll be trying out this week as well that I may get on here, so keep checking back. Until next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

1 Comment

Posted by MikeG on July 23, 2013 in Cooking, Dinner, Grilling, Poultry, Rice, Side Dishes

Tags: black beans and rice, boneless chicken thighs, chicken tacos, grilled chicken tacos, guacamole, homemade salsa

Sizzling Steak Fajitas

01 Aug

I had picked up a skirt steak this week and wanted an easy dinner for tonight, and you can’t get much easier than this fajita recipe. We love fajitas in our house and make them with all kinds of filling, like chicken (most often) shrimp, an occasionally beef. This recipe, from America’s Test Kitchen, is perfect for a weeknight meal since it only takes about 30 minutes to prepare and cook everything and you can use ingredients that a lot of people already have in the house.

Steak Fajitas

1 1 1/2 pound flank steak

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

2 peppers (red, yellow or green, your choice) stemmed, seeded and sliced very thin

1 onion, sliced very thin

2 tablespoons water

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon hot sauce

1/2 teaspoon cumin

Flour tortillas

Pat the steak dry with paper towels, then season with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Brown the steak on the first side, about 5 minutes.

Flip the steak over and continue to cook to the desired doneness, 3 to 6 minutes. Transfer the steak to a large plate and drizzle with the lime juice. Tent the steak with foil and let it rest for about 10 minutes.

Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil to the skillet and return it to medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the peppers, onion, water, chili powder, hot sauce, cumin, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Cook, scraping up any browned bits, until the onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Transfer everything to a serving bowl.

Stack the tortillas on a plate and cover with plastic wrap. Heat the tortillas in a microwave until soft and hot, about 2 minutes (You can also heat the tortillas individually in a hot skillet, flipping each one after about 20 seconds to heat the second side).

Slice the steak very thinly across the grain. Arrange the beef on a platter and serve with the warm tortillas, vegetables and any sides you like and let everyone make their own fajitas as they like.

I usually serve fajitas with some diced tomato or homemade salsa, guacamole, sour cream, shredded cheese and shredded lettuce. This way, everyone can add what they like best onto their own fajitas. Sometimes I also serve this with Mexican rice or rice and beans.

That’s dinner for tonight. I have a whole chicken to make tomorrow but I am not quite sure what recipe I want to use yet. I think it really depends on the weather and if it’s too humid to use the oven. I may opt to use the grill tomorrow night instead. We’ll have to see how it goes. Until then, enjoy your evening and enjoy your meal!