Easiest Chicken Enchiladas

I have always felt somewhat ambivalent about enchiladas. In my mind they felt like tacos smothered in sauce and cheese, which felt undeniably "tex-mexy." Since Tex-Mex is not really one of my favorites, I had little motivation to make enchiladas. However, The Husband occasionally bought frozen enchiladas from Trader Joe's for easy lunches and I often thought to myself, "I can totally make that." 

So then I did. And he liked them. And so did I! 

This recipe is adapted from this one from Serious Eats. However, I only followed the recipe for the sauce, which is the only part I've include here. 

Chicken Enchiladas

4-6 servings

Ingredients for Sauce

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 onion, minced

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons chili powder

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons cumin

2 teaspoons sugar

2 (8-ounce) cans tomato sauce

1/2 cup water

Remaining Ingredients

12 corn tortillas

4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1 can black beans

Shredded cheese of your choice

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion and salt and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chili powder, garlic, cumin, and sugar. Cook until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Stir in the tomato sauce and water. Bring to a simmer and cook until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

2. Cook chicken as you like it. I seasoned the chicken with garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, salt and pepper and grilled on my George Foreman grill. Chop into bite sized pieces when cooled. Mix with black beans and 2 handfuls of cheese. 

3. Pour some sauce on the bottom of the casserole dish.  

4. Heat/microwave tortillas until soft and pliable. Fill with chicken, beans, and cheese mixture. Roll tortillas and arrange in casserole dish. 

5. Pour remaining sauce all over enchiladas and cover with cheese. 

6. Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes until cheese is browned and gooey. 

You can serve with lime wedges, sour cream, etc if you'd like. We like it as is. These are particularly good reheated later in the week for lunch and can be easily frozen for later. 

Have a eventful Wednesday! 

Crunchy Baked Pork Chops

The Husband makes a killer Asian-style tonkatsu or fried marinated pork chop, but the process of frying and the smell of oil hanging in the house for days keeps us from making it often. One of the best parts of frying pork chops is that they are juicy and have great texture. 

Well America's Test Kitchen recently posted a recipe (and video) for crunchy baked pork chops. Baked alternatives to the foods that we love are often not very satisfying and make us run back to the unhealthier versions. However, this recipe was quite good with juicy brined meat and great crunchy crust. 

Crunchy Baked Pork Chops

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 boneless pork chops no thicker than 1 inch and no less than 3/4 inch

1/4 cup table salt

1 quart water

4 slices good quality sandwich bread

3 garlic cloves, minced/garlic pressed

1/4 tsp of salt and pepper

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 shallot, minced

2 tbsp grated parmesan

2 tbsp parsley

Pinch of fresh thyme

A plate of all purpose flour

3 egg whites

3 tbsp dijon mustard

6 tbsp flour

Directions

1. Brine pork chops in salt and water. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. 

2. Break bread into 1-inch pieces and pulse in food processor for 5-8 pulses for 1 second each.

3. Mix minced garlic with bread crumbs. Add 1/4 tsp salt and pepper, 2 tbsp vegetable oil, and 1 minced shallot. Toss breadcrumb mixture and spread across baking sheet.

4. Toast breadcrumbs in oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Let cool.

5. Increase oven temperature to 425 degrees. 

6. Prepare 3 plates for breading:

A. 1 plate of all purpose flour.

B. 1 plate combining egg whites, dijon mustard, and 6 tbsp flour.

C. 1 plate for toasted breadcrumbs. 

7. Add grated parmesan, parsley, and thyme with the cooled, toasted breadcrumb mixture. 

8. Remove pork from brine and rise with water. Pat dry with paper towel and sprinkle with pepper. 

9. Bread in A, B, C order from the prepared breading dishes. 

10. Bake on wired rack sprayed with vegetable spray for 20 minutes until internal temperature is 150 degrees. 

Moist and tender meat with a crunchy flavorful crust. Brining actually does work! This will certainly be something I turn to when we are looking for a healthy, yet savory dinner. Served with roasted root vegetables or other sides and you have a complete meal. 

Have a (hopefully) swift pre-Thanksgiving Tuesday! 

See you after Thanksgiving when I update you all on how my first attempt with duck goes. Thanks for reading! 

Shredded Pork and Pickled Mustard Noodle Soup 榨菜肉絲麵

This is one of my mother's classic noodle soup dishes. It is something you can find on most Chinese casual dining menus and it is great on a winter night. Everything can be pre-made and then you just boil the noodles and toss everything together. 

The key ingredient to this dish is the pickled mustard "tuber." Since I always refer to this vegetable with its chinese name, it had a hard time finding a good picture of this online. It should look like this and not this. You can find these at local Asian stores in the preserved vegetable aisle, as these are not refrigerated. They often have several flavors and I usually buy the spicy for some extra kick. 

Shredded Pork and Pickled Mustard Noodle Soup 榨菜肉絲麵

Ingredients

1/4 lb pork tenderloin, cut into thin strips

2 tbsp cooking wine

1 pinch of salt 

1 tbsp corn starch

3 cloves garlic

2 small packages of pickled mustard tuber

Noodles of your choice

2-3 cups of water or chicken broth

* If using water, add some salt and hondashi to flavor the soup

1/2 tsp ground white pepper

Directions

1. Marinate the pork strips with cooking wine, salt, and corn starch. 

2. Saute garlic until fragrant and cook pork until no longer pink. 

3. Add pickled mustard strips and saute until flavor is even throughout. 

4. Boil noodles.

5. In a stockpot, either use 1/2 proportion of water and 1/2 chicken broth to = 2-3 cups of soup or use all water and add salt and hondashi for some mild flavor in the soup. The amount of soup can vary based on preference and amount of noodles. Stir in ground white pepper.

6. Combine noodles with soup broth and top with pork and pickled mustard.  Serve when hot. 

The topping is easy to prepare and you can refrigerate the topping for up to 1 week. That way, you don't have an excuse when you need to prepare dinner in 15 minutes because you can boil noodles and mix up the soup broth in probably less than 15 minutes. 

Hope you all have a great weekend and enjoy some down time! 

Dining In: Durham, NC - Broad Street Cafe

I would consider Durham a great place for casual dining. Dotted throughout the city are great little places that you can pop in and have a great meal with friends over beers. I have no idea what took us so long to head over to Broad Street Cafe, especially since it's so close to Duke, but we are definitely regretting not finding this gem earlier.

Assorted wings: Sweet Chili, Buffalo, and BBQ

The Mediterranean Pizza.

Shrimp and Applewood Bacon with Pesto Pizza. 

The wings were decent, but you don't come here for the wings. Rather, pizzas at Broad Street are wonderful. Chewy, light crust and flavorful toppings served piping hot from their brick oven. They have so many pizza options that you can head there several times without exhausting the list. 

The Sister had the star of the show, which is unfortunately not pictured here because we devoured it too quickly. She had the lamb burger, which was super flavorful, tender, and juicy. If you are in search of a good (yet less gamey) lamb burger in the area, I would suggest you try this out. I will definitely be heading back for that dish and the pizzas. 

Which restaurants would you like to try in the Triangle, but just haven't gotten to yet? 

Hope you have a great (hump) day!  

Acorn Squash and Apple Chicken Sausage Bulgar

Life has been quite full lately. Ever have those periods of time when you feel like everything that can go wrong, goes wrong? In the midst of the chaos, we haven't had too much time or energy to cook. So I'm all about simple recipes that you can put together with minimal prep and clean up time. 

I am loving that Fall is here. With fall comes all the winter veggies and spices like cinnamon and nutmeg.  Acorn squash is one of those vegetables that I discovered during graduate school when we had little funds and no time. Also seen here. 

Microwaved Acorn Squash

Directions

1. Simply cut the acorn squash across its waist and place facedown on a shallow salad bowl. 

2. Pour 1/4 cup of water around the squash. 

3. Microwave for 8-11 minutes (depending on size) and you get sweet and tender squash to stuff (with anything!) or to eat with a bit of butter and some sprinkled cinnamon. 

Every time I make bulgar, The Husband says, "I like bulgar!" It is one of those grains that is super easy to cook and prep. 

Classic Bulgar

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

1 cup bulgar

1 3/4 cup water/stock

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Heat olive oil on medium heat and pour in bulgar. Stir to coat all bulgar with olive oil.

2. Pour water/stock into the bulgar and turn heat to the lowest setting. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.

3. Turn off heat and let sit covered for 15 minutes. 

4. Fluff bulgar with a fork and add salt and pepper to taste. 

* You can toss in any combination of veggies, meats, or spices to flavor up the bulgar. Similar to other grains such as quinoa. 

Apologies for the lack of posting. Thanks for reading and being a great source of motivation for me to do something purely for enjoyment and pleasure. 

Have a great Thursday. :) 

Dining In: Chapel Hill, NC - Medi Deli

Mediterranean Deli is hands down my favorite Mediterranean restaurant in the Triangle area and by the looks of Yelp reviews a lot of people feel the same way. I always get the same thing because it is so freaking satisfying. 

Gyro Platter with Scallion Hummus and Greek Salad. (The Husband got to the plate before I could take a picture).  

Lamb Fatayer.

Lahm Bi Ajeen.

All of the spices, lamb, and veggies are super flavorful. They also have a handy condiment bar that offers tzatziki, feta cheese, olives and more. I find that I start to crave Medi Deli when I just want good simple food with no frills and authentic flavors. This is a place that would give Mediterranean restaurants in large major cities a run for their money!

Hope you have a hurricane-free weekend. Stay safe!

#durhamtweetup 2011

Sometimes blogging can feel like an isolating activity. And while cooking and writing is extremely therapeutic for me, it can be fun to meet up with like-minded folk and just talk media and food. I had heard about "tweetups" before, but never attended any for fear that I would be an odd duck in the midst of writers, photographers, and other creative minds. However, yesterday evening was the durhamtweetup hosted by @durhamfoodie and @designkompany and I'm so glad I went! It was fun to put faces to twitter handles and actually meet the movers and shakers of the Durham media and food scene. 

Of course where there are foodies, there are food trucks! Welcome to the scene, @ChirbaChirba, Durham's first dumpling truck. Didn't have a chance to try them because of the long line, but will definitely be tracking them down in the future. 

Also caught sighting of @WillandPops, which makes locally-sourced food. Had their Mango Lemonade, which hit the spot on a hot evening. Also in attendance and not shown, but previously featured: @piepushers and @parlourdurham. 

I'd been looking for @KoKyuBBQ for a long time and finally had a chance to try them. 

Thai-Ko. 

Short Rib Slider. 

Duckfat Tots. 

The Thai-Ko had a super flavorful relish/salsa that was delicious with hints of sweetness and spice. The Short Rib Slider had marinated daikon and cucumbers, yum yum. The duck fat tots were what you would expect - fried tots, but with a creamy dip (that might contain duck fat?). I can see why KoKyu has received a following. Layers of flavor and combinations of salt, sweet, and spice. Keep in mind that food truck food is not always cheap - definitely a quality over quantity thing here. 

Overall, durhamtweetup was a laid back and inviting event to meet people who appreciate a vibrant food, media, and creative scene in Durham. Looking forward to seeing how this evolves in the next few years. 

A followup thought to the success of this tweetup. Anyone interested in a similar gathering for young (and old) women entrepreneurs and self-employed folk in Durham? Imagine the wisdom and synergy that could be generated at an event like that! Find me on twitter if interested: @spoonraider. 

Have a great weekend everyone! 

Spinach and Mushroom Stuffed Chicken Breast

Do you ever have those chicken breast that have been defrosted in your fridge for days and yet you can't find a way to use them? I had one of those "mustcleanoutthefridge" moments this week. Frozen bag of spinach. Check. Mushrooms and shallots. Check. Chicken breast. Check. Check.

This recipe was from Rachel Ray, which I have to admit, is not my go-to TV personality for recipes, but it fit the bill for all the ingredients I had in the fridge. You pretty much pound out the chicken breast and make the spinach and mushroom stuffing. Then stuff the chicken and pan sear until everything is nice and cooked. 

The result was flavorful spinach and mushroom filling and juicy, tender chicken. Not bad for a clean-out-the-fridge kind of meal. 

I would recommend butterflying the chicken and then stuffing, otherwise you get a frankenstein looking stuffed chicken, which is just as yummy in the end. 

Making the gravy by de-glazing the pan afterwards with flour, wine, and chicken stock. 

Overall, a great dinner. The Husband said it was a good "next day" lunch. This is certainly more worth the effort if you make 4-6 breasts at a time since the stuffing and gravy also take some time to make. This will continue our search for ways to make chicken breast that is juicy rather than dried out and stale. 

Have a great Monday! 

Bulgar Stuffed Poblano Peppers

My initial thought after purchasing poblano peppers from our local mexican mart was to make chile rellenos, until I read the actual recipe for Rick Bayless's chile rellenos. While the recipe looks delicious, I couldn't find the time to make this recipe nor could I get myself to fry these in our kitchen since our last potato chip adventure left an oily odor in our house for days. 

So, I decided to use what I had to make the best Thursday night dinner I could think of. The bulgar was something that I had on hand and I just made this recipe up, so measurements are estimates. 

Bulgar Stuffed Poblano Peppers

Ingredients

4-5 poblano peppers, roasted in the oven until blackened

1 sweet long red pepper, roasted until blackened

1/2 onion, chopped

1/2 lb of your favorite sausage or ground pork

1/2 cup of corn

1 cup of bulgar

1 3/4 cup of chicken stock or water 

Taco seasoning to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Place poblano and red peppers in the oven under the broil setting, approximately 6-8 minutes on each side until fully blackened. Then place peppers in a bowl of water or in a brown paper bag to allow the steam to loosen the skin from the meat of the pepper. 

2. Heat chicken stock until at full boil, then pour in bulgar and turn heat to lowest setting. Cover and let simmer for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and let sit for another 15 minutes. 

3. Loosen the skin of the peppers. For the poblano peppers, cut a slit in the skin and remove all the seeds. Deseed and chop the roasted red pepper. 

4. Saute onions until tender then add the sausage. Add the corn, roasted red pepper and taco seasoning. Include additional salt, pepper, or cumin to taste. 

5. Add the cooked bulgar to the onion, corn, and peppers. Season again based on your preference. 

6. Fill the poblano peppers with the bulgar mixture. You may need to use a toothpick to secure the pepper if it is too tender, which happened to me. 

7. When ready to eat, top the peppers off with cheese and place under the broiler for 7-10 minutes, until the cheese is browned and boiling. I wrapped each pepper in foil because I was worried that they might burst open and the bulgar would pour out, which was not a problem at all. 

8. Serve with refried beans, cheese, or salsa of your choice.  

Certainly not the same as a fried, stuffed chile, but this was otherwise healthy and the flavors packed quite a punch given that the poblano peppers have some heat as well. The Husband and Sister cleared their plates in a few minutes and wanted more. 

For as picky as these two are, you can't complain about that. :)

Have a great weekend and some delicious weekend meals! 

Week in Austin, TX

Just got back from PR and after an ordeal of losing my luggage for a few days, I'm back and resting. The Fam is here and we're cooking up a storm of traditional Taiwanese dishes - more on that in future posts.

In the meantime, I wanted to share our recent (or not so recent since it was 3 weeks ago!) trip to Austin, TX - home of The Husband and our favorite city in good ole' Tejas. 

Late night trip to Taco C: A tribute to one of my graduate school class's old haunts on Greenville Ave after some cervezas.

The In-Laws treated us to a 7 lb lobster at Ho Ho (great name...) Restaurant. Imagine mouthfuls of lobster with every bite. Heaven. 

Bananarchy: "There's money in the banana stand!" Frozen chocolate-covered bananas layered with crunchy confections.

   

      

Smitty's Market BBQ. We still prefer Saltlick BBQ. 

Food Trailers: Odd Duck and Gourdoughs. Yes, the last 2 pictures are of doughnuts...

Torchy's Tacos: Fried Avocado and Trailer Park. (Never forget to make it "Trashy"). 

Austin has become a crazy food truck mecca since we left college. Hopefully, the Durham food truck scene will also continue to grow in the next few years. I'll definitely be tracking that evolution while we're here. 

Have a fabulous weekend and enjoy your local food scene!