Posted on July 22nd, 2008 by Carolyn
After a weekend of consuming more fried things than I normally eat, I wanted to cook something a bit more simple. Last week I’d purchased a big bunch of Poblano chiles and red bells, just for this recipe. Yesterday morning, while the weather was still very cool, I broiled the peppers and removed the skins. My DH grilled the chicken thighs (that’s what I had in the freezer) which I’d marinated in lime juice, olive oil and garlic, along with some planks of eggplant, and it took just a few minutes to make the sauce. The longest step was browning the onions.
I didn’t really want to use heavy cream, but decided to thin it out 50/50 with fat-free half and half. The only problem with that is that the sauce would be too thin, so I just whisked in two tablespoons of flour to the broth when it was added, and it thickened the sauce just fine. I didn’t have any Jack cheese, so found some soft herby cheese in the refrigerator that worked fine. I used less cheese than the recipe indicated. This was delicious. I liked the sauce, liked the strips of poblanos (they’re very mild; in fact they really have no heat whatsoever), and the cream sauce was quite light. The onions added a nice sweetness to the dish. I happened to have had chicken thighs instead of breasts, but that probably didn’t matter a whit. This is pretty enough to be a company meal – would be especially good with some rice on the side to sop up some of the sauce.
Grilled Chicken Breasts with Creamy Chile Sauce
Recipe: adapted a little from Phillis Carey, Fast & Fabulous Chicken Breasts
Servings: 4
CHICKEN:
4 pieces chicken breast halves without skin — boneless, or thighs
6 tablespoons lime juice
1/4 cup olive oil
3 whole garlic cloves — minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
CREAMY CHILE SAUCE:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions — peeled, thinly sliced lengthwise
2 whole Poblano peppers — roasted, peeled, cut in thin strips
2 whole red bell peppers — roasted, peeled, cut in thin strips
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 cup heavy cream — or substitute some fat-free half and half
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup jack cheese — grated
1. Trim chicken and pound to an even 1/2-inch thickness (place between two pieces of plastic wrap). Season chicken with salt and pepper, and place in a flat casserole.
2. In a small bowl combine the lime juice, olive oil, garlic, and cumin. Pour over chicken, turning to coat. Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes, or cover and refrigerate for 2-3 hours.
3. Creamy Chile Sauce: heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Toss in the onions and cook, covered, stirring often, until onions are starting to brown. Uncover and continue cooking until onions are golden throughout.
4. Add the roasted and peeled Poblano and red bell pepper strips to the onion and stir in the oregano. Cook until heated through, about 2 minutes. Add the cream and broth and bring to a boil. Simmer for 4 minutes to reduce the sauce and thicken slightly. Just before serving, stir in the Jack cheese until it melts.
5. Meanwhile, remove chicken breasts from the marinade and grill 3-5 minutes per side or until cooked through. Serve chicken topped with the onion-chile sauce.
Per Serving (assuming you use all whipping cream): 586 Calories; 45g Fat (67.4% calories from fat); 32g Protein; 17g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 150mg Cholesterol; 297mg Sodium.
Posted on May 26th, 2008 by Carolyn
Last week we invited a friend over for dinner. She’s trying to eat healthy, so I decided to skip the main course and make a hearty appetizer, a soup, a salad, and low calorie dessert. In the last few days I’ve posted all the recipes from that dinner: Layered Hummus & Eggplant Appetizer, a cool Cream of Cucumber Soup, this salad, and Lemon-Ginger Frozen Yogurt served with the cookies that Kathleen brought along to share with us - Cashew Caramel Cookies. I had a stack of salad recipes to choose from, but thinking through the flavors and textures in the other dishes, I decided this salad was the best fit. I had several poblano (also called pasilla) chiles in the produce drawer that needed to be used.
The salad itself is cinchy. It’s just the poblano chiles that take a bit of time, but not all that much. I cut them into large semi-flat pieces, removed the stems and seeds, laid them flat on a foil covered tray. I sprayed them with olive oil spray, then broiled them for about 8 minutes on the first side, and about 3-4 on the 2nd side. Once roasted, let them cool so you can handle them, then cut up into bite-sized pieces. The recipe indicated peeling them; I didn’t. Set aside and add later. The salad itself is nothing but greens with a simple salad dressing (balsamic and oil, cumin and coriander) that takes no time at all to concoct.
The recipe comes from Katherine Kagel, the owner of Café Pasqual’s in Santa Fe, New Mexico. One of my very favorite restaurants.
If I make this again I will add some other texture to the salad – it was too “soft” for me. I like crunchy stuff in my salad. But I didn’t think this one wanted radishes or celery or carrots. You want to taste the chiles – they are the star player in this salad. But I think I would add some peppered pecans, which I make every once in awhile anyway. If I’d had some on hand, I’d have added them. They’re so very simple to make. The salad was very good - I liked it. Relatively easy too.
Field Greens with Fire-Roasted Poblano Chiles in Balsamic Vinaigrette
Recipe By: salad, Cafe Pasqual’s, Santa Fe, New Mexico; pecans from Cathy Thomas, Food Editor Orange County Register
Serving Size: 6
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar — use a good brand, not the cheap stuff
1/3 cup vegetable oil — plus 1 tablespoon
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin — scant
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander — scant
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 pound poblano chile — roasted, seeded, cut into 1/2 inch pieces, about 1/3 cup
8 cups field greens — or other fancy lettuces
PEPPERED PECANS: [my suggested addition to this recipe]
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper — coarsely ground
1/2 cup pecan halves
1. In a small bowl combine the vinegar, oils, cumin, coriander and salt. Mix in the prepared poblano chiles.
2. Place the field greens in a salad bowl and pour the dressing and chiles over the top. Toss well, then place onto individual plates.
3. Sprinkle peppered pecans on top and serve.
PEPPERED PECANS:
1. Before you start, place a baking sheet or jelly roll pan next to your cook top.
2. In a small bowl combine sugar, salt and pepper and stir to combine.
3. Heat a large wok or skillet over high heat. Add pecans and toss until pecans are warm, about one minute.
4. Sprinkle pecans with HALF the sugar mixture and toss until the sugar melts. Add remaining sugar mixture and toss again until sugar melts, then immediately pour our onto the baking sheet. Spread nuts apart (with tongs or fork) and allow to cool. Will keep, stored in a plastic bag, for 3-4 weeks.
NOTES: The pecans were not a part of the original recipe. You can omit if you’d prefer. You can also add other ingredients to the salad, but remember that the chiles are the star of the dish.
Per Serving: 238 Calories; 23g Fat (82.8% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 9g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 320mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain (Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 1/2 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 4 1/2 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates
Posted on April 17th, 2008 by Carolyn
Oh, yum. Oh yes, another winner of a soup. I think the recipe came from Gourmet Magazine, but am not sure, since I made no note on the clipping. (These food mags change their format so frequently lately that I no longer recognize the arrangements or layouts anymore.) I wasn’t able to find it online, so can’t confirm, however the paragraph with it says the origin of the recipe is Estela Salas Silva who runs a Mexican cooking school in Puebla, Mexico. If you search for her name online, you’ll find mention of her in several places.
One of my very favorite vegetable combos is Southwestern Calabacitas. I wrote up a post about it last year. I like it so much I could easily make it my entire dinner. So when this recipe went across my radar as a soup, well, I thought, how perfect. Calabacitas (cal-a-bah-see-tas) is/are actually a Mexican squash, very similar to zucchini, but normally smaller, a bit more squat in shape, and have a more mottled green and yellow skin. But taste-wise, they’re almost the same. However, when you say “calabacitas” in Southwestern cuisine, it means a mixture of corn, the squash, probably onion and poblano chiles. They’re one of those combinations that represent a food marriage, to me anyway.
Ideally you’ll make this in the summer when zucchini and corn are in season, but surely it would be good with frozen corn, especially the frozen grilled corn sold at Trader Joe’s, for instance. You will need access to the poblano (also known as pasilla) chiles, and at least some kind of hotter type like Serrano or jalapeno. I used jalapeno because the serranos at my market didn’t look all that great.
There is a bit of chopping and mincing, but if you don’t care about the size of the chopped stuff, do it in the food processor, and it would take no time at all. I was experimenting with my new Alligator chopper. It’s immensely cool. And easy. Love this new toy (except for finding a home for it in my kitchen since it’s a tad bulky). I took a photo of it - with a small red onion inside. First you peel the onion and I only put in a half an onion at a time, but with the slam of the chopper you have a bunch of perfectly chopped vegies. I’ve used it for onions, small celery stalks, squash, shallots, garlic, peeled fresh tomatoes, radishes, bell peppers and apples. As you chop, the chopped stuff goes up into the clear plastic box on the top. Once you’re done, or it’s full, you turn the whole thing over and flick the box off and empty the container into your pot, or salad, or whatever. In case you wonder - why do you need one of these? If you want perfectly cut minced squares of things, this is it. As wonderful as a food processor is, it doesn’t chop things up uniformly, which is fine in most cases, but if you want exactly 1/4 inch cubes, the Alligator is your answer.
Anyway, this is a simple soup, really: onions, zucchini, poblanos (that have been grilled, skins removed), garlic, corn, cilantro, some cream at the end, and a tad of dill. And, if you happen to have them, some squash blossoms to garnish the soup bowl. I made this full recipe - which says it serves 8 - well, maybe 8 small servings. We had it for dinner last night, and with our hungry son-in-law Todd on hand, the entire pot of soup disappeared. My DH said - please make this again. Soon. Okay by me, but I’m going to double the recipe and freeze half.
Sopa de Calabacitas (Mexican Zucchini & Corn Soup)
Recipe By: Estela Salas Silva, and I think via Gourmet Mag.
Serving Size: 8
1/2 pound poblano chiles — 2 or 3
1 1/2 pounds zucchini — or calabacitas squash, cut in 3/4 inch cubes
1 cup onion — chopped
2 small leeks – chopped [not in the original recipe]
3 whole garlic cloves — minced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 cups water
2 cups fresh corn kernels — about 3-4 ears
3 tablespoons cilantro — or more to taste
2 tablespoons fresh dill — or epazote leaves, chopped
1 teaspoon serrano pepper — minced, or 1 jalapeno, minced, seeded
1 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste — or to taste
1 cup squash blossoms — coarsely chopped, optional
1. Roast poblanos: roast on their sides on racks of gas burners, 1-2 chiles per burner, on medium-high heat (or on rack of a broiler pan 2 inches from broiler), turning frequently with tongs, until skins are blistered and lightly charred all over, 4-6 minutes (6-8 if broiling). Transfer to a large bowl, then cover with a plate and let stand 20 minutes. Peel or rub off skin. Slit poblanos lengthwise, then stem, seed and devein. Cut poblanos in 1/2 inch squares.
2. Soup: cook zucchini, onion, garlic and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt in butter in a wide 4-6 quart heavy pot over medium heat, stirring, until vegetables are softened. Add broth, water, poblanos and corn and simmer, partially covered, until corn is tender, about 5 minutes.
3. Puree 2 cups soup in a blender with cilantro, epazote (or dill) and serrano or jalapeno chile until smooth (use caution when blending hot liquids). Return to pot.
4. Stir in cream, the squash blossoms (if using, using remainder for garnish), salt and pepper to taste. Return to simmer, then serve garnished with blossoms.
Per Serving (based on eight 1-cup servings): 200 Calories; 15g Fat (60.3% calories from fat); 6g Protein; 16g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 49mg Cholesterol; 29mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 1 Vegetable; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 3 Fat.
Cook’s Notes: Usually poblanos (also called pasilla) are not hot, but in some months of the year they may be warmer than usual. Likely any hotter chile will work for the Serrano or jalapeno, but this is not supposed to be a truly spicy hot vegetable. Leeks were added by me, just because I had them on hand but they’re not typical for this dish. I’d add them next time anyway. I didn’t have epazote, or squash blossoms, so used dill, and added crushed up tortilla chips on top to give the soup some added texture.
