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You’ll be shouting olé when you taste this South of the Border treat. Use boneless, skinless, chicken breasts. For four servings: make a marinade of the juice of three limes. Add a bit of lime peel to the juice if you wish. Add 1 teaspoon cumin, `1/4 teaspoon of crushed chili peppers or more if you like spicy food, a clove of chopped garlic, and four chopped scallions. Combine with 1/2 cup of tequila. That sounds like a lot, but remember all the alcohol will evaporate during cooking, you just want the flavor. If you don’t want to use tequila use white wine vinegar or rice wine vinegar instead. Place the marinade and the chicken breasts in a plastic bag and marinate for at least an hour, up to over night. When ready to cook remove the chicken from the marinade and bake. You can also grill the chicken breasts. Serve with a black bean, corn and tomato salad and a couple of toasted tortillas.

October 15, 2011

The Green Bay Packers. are undefeated going into week five of the 2011 season.  The Packers have soaked the Saints, pounded the Panthers, beat up the Broncos and buried the Bears and now it’s the Falcons turn. Those Atlanta birds are going to be filleted and fried in this week’s football tailgating menu. Roddy White, the Falcon’s wide receiver will have to eat his words that the Falcon’s were the better team when they lost to the Packers in a 48 to 21 blowout, or blow up, as the case may be in the 2010 playoff game.

Start off with spicy nuts that are a snap to make.  Combine 1/2 cup of melted butter with 1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce and 1 tablespoon of hot sauce.  Toss with two pounds of unsalted mixed nuts.  Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes.  Serve hot or at room temperature.

Crunchy coated chicken — fried to a golden brown — and served with dipping sauces of bleu cheese, spicy chipotle mayonnaise and sweet teriyaki.  Add in honey mustard sauce for the kids.  If you’re short on time or just mesmerized by the game add in some prepared salads to round out the meal.  For dessert, Georgia is known for peaches, so peach melba sundaes are a natural.

Cut boneless, skinless, chicken breasts into slices about 1 inch wide.  Toss with seasoned flour.  Add your choice of dried parsley, oregano, crushed red chili peppers, black pepper and salt to the flour.  Dip the chicken slices into the flour and then into beaten raw eggs.  Lastly dip the slices into panko bread crumbs or sourdough bread crumbs.

Heat oil in a frying pan until it reaches 360 degrees.  Add the breaded chicken and fry until the coating is golden brown and the chicken is cooked through. Cut a slice open to check. The meat should be white with no pink showing through. Any juices should run clear and not be tinged with pink.

Offer bleu cheese salad dressing as one of the sauces.  Combine one cup of mayonnaise with 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon roasted chipotle pepper. Purchased teriyaki sauce is quicker than making the sauce from scratch. Kids will love the honey mustard sauce.  Simply mix honey with prepared mustard.

Peach melba sundaes are just what’s needed to cool down after a hot and heavy fourth quarter.  Let fans build their own with pound cake slices, vanilla ice cream, defrosted frozen peaches and raspberries.

Crunching on the Falcons never tasted so good. Go Pack Go.

Green Bay Game

October 7, 2011

Soup is one of the easiest meals to make.  Throw stuff in a pot.  Cover with water or broth and simmer.  You’re done. Take it up a notch by making homemade cream soups.  The technique is about the same for any vegetable.

Chop an onion.  Saute in a soup pot with a tablespoon of olive oil or butter, depending on your taste preferences. Add a chopped clove of garlic.  Cook for three to five minutes until the onions are soft.

Cream of Tomato Soup

1 lb of fresh ripe tomatoes.  Roma work the best.

Bring a pan of water to a brisk boil.  Wash the tomatoes and plunge into the water.  Bring back to a boil and boil for one minutes.  Remove from the boiling water and put into an ice bath.

Slip a paring knife under the skin at the top of the tomato near the stem. Pull the skin off.  It should come off easily.  Core the white center out of the tomato.  Squeeze gently to get rid of the seeds.  Chop roughly.

Add to the sauted onions.  Lower the heat to medium and cook until the tomatoes soften and almost seem to dissolve. Mash with a potato masher for a rustic soup.  Use an immersion handheld blender for a smoother texture.  Put the tomatoes in a blender for an even smoother finish.

Add one quart of vegetable or chicken broth to the tomatoes that have been returned to the pan.  Let simmer 15 minutes.  Stir in one cup of cream or half and half.  Stir and heat until the soup almost boils but not quite.

Place in serving bowls.  Swirl a teaspoon of olive oil or melted butter over the top.  Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the soup and serve.

Cauliflower Soup

Add a roasted nutty flavor to the soup by roasting the cauliflower before adding it to the onions.  Wash and cut the cauliflower into chunks.  Roast at 400 F for 20 to 30 minutes. The cauliflower will brown a bit on top but that’s okay.

Chop into 1 inch chunks and add to the onions and garlic and 1 quart of chicken or vegetable broth.  Simmer until the cauliflower is very soft, about 10 minutes.  Blend until smooth.  Add the cream and half and half. Top with a mild cheese such as Havarti.

Black Bean and Pumpkin Soup

This is one of the easiest and most impressive soups you can make if you like a little spice in your soup.

Add one can of pumpkin — not the pie filling — to one quart of chicken broth and the sauteed onions.  Stir until bubbling.  Add 1/2 teaspoon each oregano, cumin and  cilantro.  Add from 1/4 to one teaspoon of red pepper flakes.  The more you add the spicier the soup. Simmer for 20 minutes covered.

Puree one can of black beans with their liquid until smooth.  Heat in the microwave.  Add enough chicken broth so the beans are the same consistency as the pumpkin soup.

Ladle the soup into serving bowls.  Place three tablespoons of the black bean puree equidistant apart in the soup.  Drag a butter knife through the black bean puree in a circle to swirl it on top of the soup.

Enjoy your super soups for supper.

October 5, 2011