Joan Didion's Mexican Chicken

I love when people move. One day in Philadelphia I found a box of free books on the sidewalk and picked out a few gems. My favorite selection is a copy of The Great American Writers' Cookbook. There are tons of recipes and I always end up pleasantly surprised at the author who contributed it. Some are written as recipes, some are written as essays on cooking the recipe.. it's just a fantastic read. If you can get your hands on a copy, I highly suggest you keep it.

Anyway, one of my favorite authors in the book is Joan Didion. I've made this simple Mexican Chicken recipe many times and it's officially in my regular mix of dinners. Nora Ephron called it "Joan Didion's Chicken Thing."

Joan Didion’s Mexican Chicken

Chicken breasts: 1 whole breast per person
Onions: ½ per person
Tomatoes: ½ per person
Fresh chiles: see below
Garlic: 1 clove per person
Salt & Pepper

This is very simple and takes about half an hour if you have cooked the chicken breasts ahead. If you haven’t, poach them in water with an onion, a carrot, celery tops, bay leaf, whatever; remove the chicken from the bones (I usually throw the bones back in to the pot to make stock, but the stock has nothing to do with the recipe) and tear into rather large bite-sized pieces. Set the chicken aside.

Slice the onions and sauté until limp in a little olive oil. Add the chopped garlic (if you’re doing this in quantity you cut down the amount of garlic) and the chopped fresh chiles. The amount of chile depends in the heat of the particular chile available; I use very hot small Serrano green chiles, and chop maybe three for six people. Chop the tomatoes roughly and add to the onion mixture. (The amount of tomato you use should also decrease if you make a large amount, or the sauce will be watery.) Add salt and pepper; cook five or ten minutes, uncovered, over low heat; add the chicken, mix thoroughly, and cook only until heated through. This can be kept warm for quite a while but if you keep cooking it, the tomato turns watery and the chicken gets stringy.

Serve with hot tortillas, a bowl of guacamole, a bow of fresh cilantro, a bowl of sour cream, and a fresh salsa. (The salsa is made by chopping up more chiles and mixing with a little chopped onion, a little tomato, some cilantro leaves and a splash of cold water.) The idea is to break off bits of tortilla and wrap it around bits of chicken and anything else you want and eat it with your fingers. I do this all the time as a main course, usually with a chilled cucumber or water cress soup first and a banana tart or flan for dessert.

Curried Chicken Salad

I never really was a chicken salad person until I had this, to be honest. This is adapted from the Pioneer Woman's version, but the only difference is I used green grapes instead of raisins and omitted the pasta.

Curried Chicken Salad

Ingredients

• 3 pounds Chicken, Cooked And Diced/shredded
• 4 whole Ribs Celery, Thinly Sliced - Leaves Included (use Interior Ribs)
• 1 cup Grapes
• 3/4 cups Slivered Almonds
• 1/2 cup Mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup Sour Cream
• 1 cup Heavy Cream
• 3 Tablespoons Curry Powder, More Or Less To Taste
• 1 Tablespoon Sugar, More Or Less To Taste
• 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Preparation Instructions

Boil chicken to cook. 

Dice/shred chicken. 

Mix together mayonnaise, sour cream, heavy cream, curry powder, sugar, salt, and pepper. Whisk together until well combined.

Combine chicken, drained pasta, sliced celery, grapes and almonds in a large bowl. Pour curry dressing over the top. Fold together with a rubber spatula. Make sure it's all combined, then add more of whatever it needs. 

Chill for several hours. Serve by itself or on a sandwich.

One drink, two ways

Ever since I bought this enormous bag of lavender, I've been looking for every excuse to use it up.  I found a recipe for a delicious lavender lemonade from The Kitchen is My Playground. How cool is it that lavender can make pink lemonade like this?

Lavender Lemonade

Source:  Adapted from A Taste of Lavender: Culinary Delights from Mountain Farm compiled by Linda Thompson & Marilyn Cade

For 2 quarts:

4 sprigs fresh lavender (flowers & stems) or about 1 T. dried lavender flowers

1 1/2 c. sugar

1 c. fresh lemon juice (about 6 lemons)

1/4 c. fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)

2 quarts water

Bring water and sugar to a boil in a large saucepan.  When sugar is dissolved, remove from heat.  Add lavender, lemon juice, and lime juice.  Cool to room temperature, strain, and chill.

Serve over ice garnished with lemon slices and lavender sprigs.

Granted, by itself this is a delicious summer beverage and couldn't be easier to make. However, I cannot resist the urge to add liquor to this. Here is my cocktail recipe for the end of summer:

Alicia's August Cocktail

1. Pour 1-2 fingers of whiskey (however much you're comfortable with, but not too much!) into a glass.

2. Fill the glass with lavender lemonade, but leave an inch at the top.

3. Top off with club soda.

4. Optional, but you should, garnish with lemon and lavender.

Enjoy!

Mmm Niçoise Salad

I've long heard of the deliciousness that is a Niçoise salad, but I've never had one until I made it the other night. I wasn't in the mood for a big meal for dinner, so I opted to make what would be the perfect dinner for a warm evening. It serves two for a satisfying dinner. Not to sound all Ina Garten, but I splurged on some fancy jarred tuna.. definitely worth it. A must make!

Tuna Salad Niçoise

(from Hungry Cravings)

12 ounces fingerling potatoes
Kosher salt
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 shallot, minced
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon minced fresh thyme
½ teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon minced Italian parsley
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 7.8-ounce jar canned oil-packed tuna
Freshly ground black pepper
2 hard-cooked eggs
4 ounces haricot vert, trimmed and blanched
6 ounces cherry tomatoes, quartered
4 ounces mesclun greens
¼ cup Niçoise or Kalamata olives

Place the potatoes in a medium pot and add enough water to cover by several inches. Add several large pinches of salt. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked through. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the potatoes to a plate. Let rest for about 15 minutes, or until just cool enough to handle.

Whisk together the red wine vinegar, shallot, mustard, thyme, rosemary, and parsley in a medium bowl. Continue whisking while adding the oil in a thin stream. Drain the tuna and whisk the oil from the tuna into the vinaigrette. Season the vinaigrette to taste with salt and pepper. Cut the potatoes into quarters when they are cool enough to handle and toss with enough vinaigrette to coat in a medium bowl. 

Cut the eggs into sixths and flake the tuna. In separate bowls, toss the haricot vert, tomatoes, and greens with enough vinaigrette to coat. 

Mound the greens on a platter. Arrange the potatoes, haricot vert, tomatoes, eggs, olives, and tuna decoratively atop the greens. Drizzle with the remaining vinaigrette and serve immediately.

The "Ma'am, your pants are about to bust. I swear," heard round the world.

I had a humbling moment the other night while out with friends where I realized I need to start getting into bikini shape after being on an indulgent bender for the past year. Lest I have to entertain the worried warnings from somehow well-meaning strangers in the future, I've put together a menu of healthier options for the week. Mainly I'm aiming to eat hardly any full-fat dairy or white carbs and more vegetables. Hopefully this attempt at a diet and working out at least once a day (pilates or running) will yield some results.

These are some recipes I found on my favorite site, Tastespotting (I have a ton of them). Since today was particularly hot in DC, most of these are salads, as that's what I have a taste for:

DIY Day Off! Homemade Ricotta and Slow-Roasted Tomatoes

Today I took off of work and decided to carpe the diem and make some homemade basics for the kitchen. Both were incredibly easy! Here are the recipes:

Slow-Roasted Tomatoes

Slow-Roasted Tomatoes


Roughly 1 lb. cherry tomatoes, sliced lengthwise
Olive oil
Salt
Oregano and other dried herbs
One clove of garlic

1. Preheat you oven to its lowest setting. Some ovens only go as low as 200 degrees F, but mine goes to 170.

2. Place the halved tomatoes face up on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.

3. Bake in the oven for about three to four hours. I baked mine for about three and a half.

4. When you remove them from the oven, taste one! They're delish.

5. Place into a jar.

6. Pour some olive oil into a bowl and add your herbs (however much you like, honestly) and a grated clove of garlic to it.

7. Pour the mixture over your tomatoes and close the jar. You're done!

Ricotta Cheese

Ricotta Cheese 

recipe adapted from Evan's Kitchen Ramblings

3 cups milk

1 cup (250 ml) whipping cream

1/2 tsp kosher salt

Juice of one lemon

1. Combine milk, cream and salt into a heavy-bottomed pot and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.

2. Line a colander with cheesecloth or a coffee filter or paper towels and place over a large bowl.

3. Once the milk combo comes to a boil, add the lemon juice and turn the heat to low. Simmer for two more minutes.

4. Off heat and let stand for five minutes.

5. Pour into lined colander and allow the whey to strain out for an hour.

6. Refrigerate! Though apparently it freezes well.

Nom away.

Dreaming about this salad.

Last night I set out to make this salad for lunch today. It was so good, I had to have some then and there! It was really hard to not eat the whole thing. A few things I had to change. I didn't want to use a second lemon, so I just used the juice of one and got away with it. I didn't have pesto, so I grated a half a clove of garlic in it. If you're not a big fan of garlic or onion breath, I recommend using one or the other. Because IDGAF, I used both.

Tangy Tuna and White Bean Salad

3 tablespoons lemon juice (I used a little less-- about one lemon's worth.)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 15-ounce can cannellini (white) beans, drained and rinsed
1 7-ounce can of tuna, drained
1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
3 tablespoons parsley, chopped
2 teaspoons pesto (I didn't have pesto, so I grated a half clove of garlic.)
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 tablespoons sundried tomato, diced

In a medium bowl, whisk together the pesto, lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil, and salt.

Add the drained beans, tuna, onion, parsley and sundried tomatoes and toss gently to coat. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to 2 hours to blend the flavors. Serve.

Enjoy like I did!

An idea for the next Fourth of July...

I decided to be a show-off this weekend and make some Jell-O shots for a Fourth of July BBQ or something. The funny thing is, I have never made Jell-O shots before so I really have no idea what brought it on. Without an event confirmed but plenty of hope, I began my Saturday afternoon by preparing to make a cross between these two recipes.

Not gonna lie, it was a tedious procedure. You basically make three different colors and kinds of Jell-O/gelatin/vodka/x-factor mixtures and keep them warm while adding a teaspoon layer at a time to a halved lemon rind-mold. Then, you refrigerate after each layer for ~10 minutes. Plain gelatin smells horrible, btw!

Overall, they were a huge success. Everyone loved them, they didn't taste like cough medicine. I'll probably make these again next year and make each layer thinner so more colors can make it into the rind. 

It was definitely a fun project that I think everyone should try! The smell of the cherry Jell-O made my mouth water with old memories. Seriously, when was the last time you had homemade cherry Jell-O?Enjoy, creepily, like I illustrate below:

A Recipe from the Pantry: Linguine with Fried Eggs

I came across this article not too long ago and there are several recipes I want to try. Finally, on this chilly President's Day, I woke up too late for breakfast and about on time for lunch. Naturally my first thought was eggs.

This is turning into a food blog FAST: My Mom's Heavenly Hamburg

This is my favorite-favorite thing my mom makes. I mean of all time. Okay, before I get ahead of myself,  this is called Heavenly Hamburg and it's basically a noodle, meat sauce, and cheese casserole. And I mean basically. It's really easy and after it's done, amazing. The best part is how much better it is reheated the next day. omggg, here we go: