Spice-Rubbed Chicken & Veggie Soft Tacos

My husband and I love Mexican food. It's bordering on an obsession, really. I almost never make it at home, though, and I'm seeking to rectify that. Tonight's meal wasn't exactly authentic, I'm sure, but it was extremely tasty and healthy. And easy. Are you starting to see a theme in my cooking??

The key to success in this recipe is the spice rub. It absolutely makes the dish. It gives this great, complex spiciness to the chicken and red pepper that is difficult to identify unless you know what's in it. When you put the chicken on the hot grill, the spice rub forms a magnificent sort of skin around the chicken.

As for the slaw, I used broccoli slaw mix, and it was tasty but a bit strange. You might want to stick with a more traditional cabbage slaw, unless you're feeling adventurous.

Spice-Rubbed Chicken & Veggie Soft Tacos
adapted from Bon Appetit's Fast Easy Fresh Cookbook
serves 2

INGREDIENTS:

1 tablespoon golden brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic salt
1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into strips
cooking spray
1 large boneless skinless chicken breast, pounded to 1/2 inch thick
2 cups coleslaw (or broccoli slaw) mix
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
juice of one lime
1 tablespoon canola oil
4 warm corn tortillas

1. Preheat a grill pan over medium-high heat. While it's heating, combine the first four ingredients in a small bowl. Sprinkle over the chicken and rub into it with your fingertips, both sides.

2. Spray a small amount of cooking spray on the strips of red pepper. Rub the spice rub into the pepper strips. When the grill is preheated, spray with cooking spray. Cook the chicken breast and pepper strips, turning once or twice, until peppers are tender and chicken is cooked through, about 5-7 minutes. Slice the chicken into strips.

3. While chicken and veggies are cooking, combine slaw mix, cilantro, lime juice, and canola oil in a large bowl. Toss.

4. Assemble the tacos: distribute chicken and pepper strips among the four tortillas, and top with slaw. Serve.

It's nothing fancy, but it tastes amazing and you won't need to be rolled home afterward. Enjoy!

Pasta with Greek Cinnamon-Tomato Sauce

It was abnormally hot in Southern California today, and unfortunately most of the recipes I had chosen for this week were of the slaving-over-a-hot-stove variety. Needless to say, they didn't sound too appealing. Then I remembered a recipe I've been meaning to make, in fact, meant to make last week, but had abandoned for no apparent reason. And while it still involved a hot stove, it involved virtually no slaving. It was easy, quick, and incredibly rewarding.

This is not your typical pasta-with-tomato-sauce, folks. This one is filled with bold spices that make you think of the Greek Isles, even if you've never been (as I haven't, sadly). The cinnamon pops out at you, and the oregano serves as a lovely mellow backdrop for it. The garlic and red pepper flakes create a gentle hum of spice in the back of your mouth. And if you opt to include the goat cheese, there is a whole extra layer of creamy deliciousness in each bite.

And an ingredient note - I highly recommend using tomato paste in a tube. It just makes way more sense. Whoever invented it, I salute you.

So no matter how hot it is, just suffer for a few minutes in the kitchen to make this dish. Or if you live near the coast like we do, open the window and let in the ocean breeze to cool you off, and imagine you are, in fact, on those Greek Isles. Sigh...

Pasta with Greek Cinnamon-Tomato Sauce
adapted from The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper
serves 3+

INGREDIENTS:

salt
2 tablespoons EVOO
1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped
handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
fresh ground pepper
2 teaspoons tomato paste
3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 cup dry white wine
one 14.5 oz. can no salt added diced tomatoes (w/ juice)
1/2 lb. short hollow whole wheat pasta (elbows, cavatappi, penne)
2 oz. fresh goat cheese, crumbled (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

2. While the pot is warming up, coat the bottom of a straight-sided saute pan with the EVOO and heat over medium-high heat. Add onions, parsley, and generous amount of salt and pepper. Saute the onions until they are just turning golden brown. Stir in tomato paste, garlic, oregano, cinnamon, and red pepper flakes. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add wine and cook for another minute.

3. Add the diced tomatoes and juices, and smush them with a potato masher or similar implement. Raise heat to medium high and cook the sauce for 8 minutes, or until thickened. Turn off heat and cover the pan.

4. Cook pasta until just al dente, according to package directions. Drain and add the pasta to the sauce over medium-high heat. Toss to incorporate with the sauce, and cook for a minute or so to let the sauce permeate the noodles. Serve with goat cheese, if using, and stir in to melt.

Absolutely delicious, and yet another way to keep pasta interesting. Enjoy!

Maple Cornmeal Drop Biscuits

You might have noticed that I love to bake. This is in large part because I love to eat baked goods. But it's also because there is something inherently comforting about baking. Maybe it's because it's more scientific than regular cooking, and therefore so long as you follow directions, you know it will come out okay. Or maybe it's just knowing that when you're done, you get to eat something amazing.

Whatever the reason, these drop biscuits are the perfect choice for a bout of comfort baking. They are sweet without feeling quite like a dessert, they are wholesome, and they just feel like home. Drizzle them with honey, split them and spread on some jam, or just eat them plain. All I can say is, I know what we're eating for breakfast in the morning.

Maple Cornmeal Drop Biscuits
adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours
makes 11-12 biscuits

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal, preferably stone ground
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 stick (6 tbsp) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup cold skim milk
1/4 cup pure maple syrup

DIRECTIONS:

1. Center a rack in the oven, preheat it to 425. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silpat liner.

2. Whisk flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl. Drop in the pieces of butter and toss with your fingers to coat in the flour mixture. Use a pastry blender (or your fingers) to cut and rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is pebbly.

3. Stir milk and maple syrup together and then pour over the dry ingredients. Mix gently just until ingredients are mostly combined and you have a soft dough. Do not overmix.

4. Use an ice cream scoop (or implement of your choice) to drop mounds of dough onto the baking sheet. The original recipe says you'll get 12, but if you use an ice cream scoop like I did you'll probably get 11.

5. Bake for 15 minutes, or until biscuits are golden brown. Serve warm.

If you want to serve these the next morning, you can reheat them in the oven for a few minutes at 350. They are good at room temperature too, but there's nothing like warm biscuits straight from the oven.

Enjoy!

Sauteed Chicken with Herbed Soba Noodles

This is another easy, quick, healthy and flavor-packed recipe from our friend Rachael. A food processor makes the prep time on this dish all of, oh, about 5 minutes. And the actual cooking time is only about 15.

But more importantly, the herbs that coat the noodles deliver a huge flavor punch. The chicken is slightly spicy, and together they'll make your mouth sing. Not literally, because singing with your mouth full is rude.

So break this recipe out on a week night. Use your favorite fresh herbs in whatever combination works for you. It's good to stick with the soft leafy ones, so I wouldn't go with rosemary or thyme for something like this.

Sauteed Chicken with Herbed Soba Noodles
adapted from Everyday with Rachael Ray
serves 2

INGREDIENTS:

2 scallions, roughly chopped
1 generous handful fresh cilantro leaves
1 generous handful fresh flat-leaf parsley
slightly less generous handful fresh tarragon leaves
1 garlic clove, smashed and peeled
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon neutral vegetable oil (divided)
1 large chicken breast, butterflied and halved OR 2 chicken cutlets
pinch cayenne pepper
pinch salt and freshly ground pepper
3 oz. soba (Japanese buckwheat noodles)

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a food processor, process scallions, cilantro, parsley, tarragon, garlic, and ginger with vinegar and half of the oil. Don't get it completely smooth; let the herbs stay a bit chunky.

2. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. While it's warming up, heat remaining vegetable oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat.

3. Season the chicken cutlets with cayenne, salt and pepper, and cook in the skillet until just done, about 4-5 minutes each side. Remove from skillet. Thinly slice it after it has been resting for 5 minutes.

4. Cook the soba according to package directions. Drain and put back in the pot. Add the herb mixture and toss until well combined. Serve topped with chicken.

Eat up and enjoy!

Spinach Salad with Citrus and Avocado

Salads are a genre of food with infinite possibilities. Any type of leafy green, or no leafy green at all. Crispy veggies, soft veggies, a combination thereof. Fruit, nuts, cheese, even meat. A homemade dressing to tie it all together. This salad started with a recipe in a book and was brutalized with substitutions on my part. That's the beauty of salads in general.

My husband came back from Chicago with a nasty cold, and I can sense it around the corner for me, so a salad that includes citrus (along with vitamin-filled veggies, of course) seemed like the way to go tonight.

Citrus season is technically over, but here in California we're lucky to have pretty great citrus even into the spring. Navel orange is the star here, along with avocado - I guess this is a very Californian salad, come to think of it! The avocado came from my coworker's garden, and it was one of the richest, creamiest, most beautiful avocados I've ever tasted. It finished off this salad beautifully.

Spinach Salad with Citrus and Avocado
adapted from The New Mayo Clinic Cookbook
serves 2

INGREDIENTS:

1 medium navel orange
1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon EVOO
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups (tightly packed) baby spinach
3 red radishes, trimmed and very thinly sliced
1 tablespoon pine nuts, toasted
1/2 medium avocado, peeled and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon chevre (or other flavorful cheese), crumbled

DIRECTIONS:

1. Start by segmenting the orange. Cut a slice off the top and bottom, exposing the flesh. Stand the orange upright and, using a sharp knife, thickly cut off the peel, following the contour of the fruit and removing all the pith and membrane. Over a small bowl, carefully cut along both sides of each section to free it from the membrane. Discard seeds and let sections and any juice fall into the bowl. Squeeze the membranes over the bowl to extract remaining juice.

2. To make the vinaigrette, in a glass jar or other salad dressing shaker, combine 1 tablespoon of the captured orange juice, the vinegar, mustard, EVOO, and salt and pepper. Shake vigorously to combine. (You can also whisk the EVOO into the other ingredients in a bowl).

3. In a large bowl, combine the spinach, radishes, orange sections, and pine nuts. Pour the vinaigrette over the salad and toss to coat. Serve in individual salad plates and top with avocado slices and chevre.

This salad is definitely hearty enough to stand alone as a meal, but some warm crusty bread never hurt anyone. Enjoy!

Best Mashed Potatoes

I have always been a fan of creamy, fluffy, decadent mashed potatoes. I'll happily eat the "skinny" mashed potatoes, too, but the key for me is that they have to melt in your mouth. And they have to have flavor.

One of my contributions to our Easter/Passover lunch yesterday was mashed potatoes. I had never actually made them before, believe it or not, but I knew I wanted to do my favorite potato dish justice. I didn't want it to be too frilly and fancy, but it had to be flavorful and interesting. And fluffy.

Not only was my first attempt at mashed potatoes a success, but I have to say they're the best mashed potatoes I've ever eaten.

A note - I highly recommend using home made stock. If you don't have any, then warm up a little more than a cup of stock-in-a-box with a bay leaf and a generous amount of pepper for about 10-15 minutes; remove the bay leaf before you add the stock to the potatoes. You want the stock to pack a punch.

Another note - I also highly recommend using a potato ricer to mash the potatoes. It's so much easier than using a masher, and you get beautifully smooth results. If you use a masher, I'd recommend peeling the potatoes for a smoother consistency.

Best Mashed Potatoes
makes 8 servings

INGREDIENTS:

3 pounds baby red and/or gold potatoes, washed/scrubbed
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup good quality low sodium chicken stock
1/2 cup skim milk
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. Put the potatoes in a large stockpot and fill with water up to about 2 inches above the top of the potatoes. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. When it comes to a boil, remove the lid. Cook for 15 minutes, or until potatoes are very easily pierced with a fork or knife.

2. Drain potatoes well. Use a ricer to mash the potatoes directly back into the pot. (If you're using a masher, return potatoes to the pot and then mash them). Put back on the stove over low heat and add the butter. Stir.

3. Slowly pour in the stock, milk, and cream, and stir to combine. Add rosemary and salt and pepper to taste. As soon as everything is combined and butter is completely melted, serve.

4. If you can't serve right away, reheat in a casserole dish in the oven at about 350 for 20 minutes.

Absolutely fluffy, gorgeous and delicious. And they are still healthier than your typical cream-filled, butter-laden mash.

Enjoy!

Salmon Packets

This is one of the first meals I perfected on my own. It was inspired by a Giada de Laurentiis recipe that I saw on her show several years ago. That was when I was first starting to experiment in the kitchen, though I was definitely quite the amateur. I made this meal so many times, changing it a bit here and there, and eventually perfected it. On my own. No cookbook in sight. I decided this would be my Go To recipe, the meal I would impress friends, family, and most importantly, the future love of my life with. They do say, after all, that the way to a person's heart is through their stomach.

Well, the irony of course is that a year or so later, I fell in love with my husband, a man who doesn't eat seafood. I never got to test my theory that this would be the meal that would make the love of my life fall in love with me. And I think it's safe to say that if I had made this for him, he would have refused to eat it. After I dropped him off at the airport this morning for his solo trip to Chicago, I stopped on the way home to pick up salmon fillets, mushrooms, and spinach. I was going to make my piece de resistance.

And I did. So here it is, in all its glory. I chose to show you a picture of it (above) before it was cooked, since it is admittedly much more attractive that way. But trust me, it's delicious. If you make it for the object of your affection, I'm sure he or she will fall at your feet. Assuming they like seafood. And mushrooms, for that matter (though those are negotiable in this recipe. The salmon is not.)

Salmon Packets (a.k.a. Heartbreaker Packets)
serves 2

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups (loosely packed) baby spinach
6 cremini (baby bella) mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1 tablespoon chopped lemongrass (or lemongrass paste)
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
3/4 pound salmon fillet (preferably wild + Pacific)
2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
handful cilantro leaves
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven or toaster oven to 400. Place a large piece of foil, about 8 x 11, on a baking sheet. Create a lip by folding up the edges so that juices don't run over the sides during preparation.

2. Pile the spinach onto the middle of the packet. Don't be shy, as it will virtually disappear when it cooks in the salmon juices. Place mushroom slices and lemon grass on top. Drizzle lemon juice over it.

3. Place the salmon piece(s) over the vegetables. Top with ginger and cilantro leaves. Drizzle sesame oil and soy sauce over the top. Create a packet with the foil, folding over the top and the sides to enclose the salmon and veg. It should be completely enclosed.

4. Bake for 25 minutes. Check to see if the salmon is done by carefully opening the foil packet. If it isn't done yet, return to oven but leave the packet open. Cook another 5 minutes or so, until salmon is cooked through. Do not overcook.

This is excellent served over brown rice. Make sure you spoon out some of the juices from the packet over the top of your salmon. Enjoy!