Mushroom Chicken Fajitas

My dear friend Steve loves mushrooms and avocados. In a dish that I hoped would please him, I combined the two for a hearty, flavorful, and fun meal. Its not hard - the toughest part is getting the fajita flavors just right, which requires a mix of every red spice you own.

Mushroom Chicken Fajitas
Serves 3, about 30-40 minutes

Filling:
3 large portabella mushrooms or one large tray button mushrooms, sliced thinly
1 large chicken breast, diced
1 red pepper, sliced
2 cloves garlic minced
1 small onion sliced
1 jalapeno, without ribs or seeds, minced
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp chili powder
pinch red pepper flakes
1 tsp salt
1 generous squirt ketchup (for sugar)
pinch cayenne (taste it first!)
2 tsp cornstarch, mixed with 2 tsp water in a slurry

Toppings:
4 leaves romaine lettuce, sliced into thin ribbons
2 small plum tomatoes, diced
1/2 lime
1 avocado, diced or mashed
1/2 cup - 3/4 cup cheese (I used mozz but cheddar would be yum)
4 sprigs cilantro, minced stems, leaves roughly chopped

1. Prep all your ingredients as specified
2. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a saute pan or skillet. When hot and shimmery, add the garlic and onions. Add the chicken when fragrant.
3. Add all spices except the cornstarch.
4. When chicken is mostly cooked, add the red pepper. Wait another minute or two and add the mushrooms. You'll see lots of water collect from the veggies, which is normal -that's what the cornstarch is for.
5. Stir the cornstarch slurry to make sure its even. Create a well in your fajita filling - move the chicken and veggies away from the middle of the pan so you see all the water at the bottom. Add a few teaspoons  and mix thoroughly at a time, until water is absorbed into a thicker sauce and there is no more pooling.
6. Warm your tortillas (filling should be enough for 8-10 medium tortillas). 
7. Serve filling in the warmed tortillas, cover with desired toppings, and consume rapidamente!

Strawberry Cilantro Vinaigrette

Because I'm a single young adult, paying off exorbitant college loans while working ridiculous hours, I have opted for financial reasons to live in an apartment that cannot support air conditioning. It is my penance for choosing instead to eat socially and travelling three to five weeks of the year. Oh how I suffer so.

Therefore, it is preferable to eat meals that require little to no interaction with heated instruments. Tonight was a lovely garden salad, with pear, tomato, carrot, mozzarella, almonds and a hard boiled egg. Anyone can make a salad - toss fresh ingredients into bite sized pieces. The piece de resistance, however, is the dressing.

In lieu of pouring on processed salad dressing purchased from aisle 8, I tend to make my own. Why? Because I make my salad dressing fresh and unique to the salad of the day. It keeps the preservatives out and the novelty constant. And making dressing is surprisingly easy. The only equipment you need is a jar with a screw top lid. Add all ingredients, shake vigorously, and pour.


Strawberry Cilantro Vinaigrette
1.5 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp strawberry jam or preserves
2 tsp cilantro leaves, minced finely
2 tsp olive oil
1 squirt mustard (probably 1/2 a tsp)

Add more jam, or honey for more sweetness. Add more vinegar for more of a bite.

Scallion Pancakes

A staple Chinese snack, often eaten at dim sum, is the green onion pancake, or scallion pancake. The origins of the humble pancake are rather uncertain, but the sweet and salty crunch make this an undeniable treat! The method is very similar to making parathas, which is an Indian style flatbread. Basically, the key to the bread is creating many layers to add air, dimension, and texture. With parathas, you would do this by rolling out a circle, coating the top in oil, then crimping the dough like a paper fan (before you unravel it). With the scallions, we roll the dough into a flat circle, add the sesame oil and scallions, then roll the circle together.

Thanks to the following blogs, who have great pictures and helped me formulate my recipe! Live2Cook, Tigers and Strawberries, and Appetite for China. I totally recommend visiting one or a few of them because they've photographed the rolling and folding process so you can do it too!


Scallion Pancakes makes 15 4-inch pancakes
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup HOT water
3 large scallions, chopped finely. Try to get scallions with much more green than white. Although the whites are useable, they do not impart as sweet a flavor as the green.
2 tsp salt
2 tsp sesame oil (or vegetable oil)
1 tbsp vegetable oil for frying

1. Mix the flour and salt together in a large mixing bowl. Add the hot water in slowly - a few tablespoons at a time. Mix slowly with a spatula (its hot water - using your hands is not a bright idea) until all water is incorporated and you have a ball of dough. 
2. Knead well until smooth (I had a lot of uneven flour). Cover with plastic wrap or a towel and allow to rest for one hour. Make sure you push the plastic wrap or towel right up to the dough so a skin doesn't form. The heat will allow the dough to rise and continue smoothing out.
3. When the dough is finished resting, cut off a ping pong sized ball of dough. Roll between your palms into a ball and place on your baking mat. Dab a drop of sesame oil onto the top of the ball and brush a little onto your rolling pin. Roll out the dough into a thin circle (about 4-5 inches).
4. Brush the top of the circle with sesame oil - just a mere layer, you don't need a lot.
5. Sprinkle scallions over the top into a thin layer.
6. Roll the circle up into a rope, then coil into a flat jelly roll, or cinnamon roll.
7. Flatten with your palm and brush the top of the coil with a tiny bit more sesame oil.
8. Roll the coil out into a 4 inch circle. It should not be thinker than 1/4th of an inch.
9. Place on plastic wrap or waxed paper, cover, and keep rolling!
10. To cook, heat 1 tbsp oil in a nonstick pan. When hot, reduce heat to medium, and place the pancakes in the pan, but make sure they aren't touching. Make sure to wiggle them a little so you're sure they don't stick.
11. When the edges become translucent, go ahead and flip them over. They should develop nice brown toasty spots on either side.
12. Serve with soy sauce mixed with a little bit of sriracha and sesame seeds! Or make a sandwich with egg in the middle. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Rice Pudding

I know, I know - its much too early in the year for pumpkin related foods! But if you know anything about me, I cannot resist pumpkin goodies! So it was quite serendipitous when this past weekend I enjoyed some pumpkin ice cream and came across this recipe from AllRecipes.com!

Obviously I adapted it - I didn't want to use the oven given the weather and I only had half a can of pumpkin left in the freezer. And I also have an undying hatred for raisins, so those are replaced by dried cranberries.

Pumpkin Rice Pudding  Serves 8
about an hour and a half

Pudding:
1 qt water
1 cup Arborio rice
4 cups milk (2% in my case)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 pinch salt
1/3 sugar (to taste. I think I added a smidge more)
1 can pumpkin puree (not filling. And I used half a can because that's all I had!)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground clove

Topping:
1/2 cup minced dried cranberries
1/2 cup slivered almonds
cinnamon to dust

1. Boil the water. When its rolling, add the rice, reduce heat to medium low, and cook for 7 minutes - the rice should be cooked about 3/4th of the way through. Drain well.
2. Boil the milk on medium high heat. Add the vanilla, salt, and rice, then reduce the heat to medium low. Let the mixture simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring often. 
3. Add the pumpkin puree, cinnamon, clove, and ginger. Reduce heat to low. Continue to stir frequently. Simmer for another 30 min or until the mixture has reached the desired consistency. 
4. All pudding to cool and set before serving. Spoon into bowls and sprinkle cranberry almond mixture to top.

Spinach-Ricotta Gnocchi with Sun Dried Tomato

While browsing for vegetarian friendly dinners, I happened upon this delectable recipe through Country Living. Being me though, I opted to tweak the recipe based upon the comments and what I had in my fridge. This recipe does take a good amount of work - however the results are REALLY worth it!

Spinach-Ricotta Gnocchi with Sun Dried Tomato
Serves 8?

10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed of all excess water
2 sun dried tomatoes, minced
1 cup grated parmesan
15 oz ricotta cheese
2 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 1/3 cup flour

1. Squeeze all the water out of the spinach. Seriously - as much as you can. And then some. Drain the ricotta if it has begun to separate as well. You want the ingredients to be as dry as possible or the pasta will be mushy.
2. Chop the spinach to make sure the pieces are very small. Mince the sun.dried tomato.
3. Add the ingredients one at a time in a large bowl. Mix the spinach, tomato, and parmesan first to make sure all the semi wet ingredients blend well before continuing. Then continue with the ricotta, eggs, yolks, and seasoning. Add the flour last. Mix well until you have a very soft dough.
4. Flour your work surface liberally. Take a ball of dough and roll into a 1/2 inch rope. Add more flour as needed as the dough is very sticky. Cut the rope into inch long pieces and try to be consistent.
5. Boil salt water and drop the gnocchi in. Boil for 4 minutes and remove with a slotted spoon. 
6. Serve with fresh basil, olive oil, or eat as is (which is what I did tonight!)
7. To keep leftover, freeze in a single layer with copious amounts of extra flour. I found that the dough actually will soak up additional flour coatings and the gnocchi will stick into a big lump if you're not careful!

Escarole with Chickpeas

I picked up escarole from my grocery, largely because it was the only leafy green that was on sale. I had seen it on menus and in things before, but had never cooked with it personally.

I borrowed the recipe from "Ezra Pound Cake" which I found through Foodgawker. It combines the leafy and slightly bitter escarole with raisins and caramelized onions. I replaced the raisins with dried cranberries.

I'd definitely make this again. The chickpeas and cranberries really complemented the greens well and made it a hearty dish.

Mango Smoothie

Mango mango mangoes! Mangos are definitely one of my favorite fruits. So when I saw them on sale, I definitely bought too many - and they were all ripe. So hence today's recipe, which combines mangos and other fruits into a delectable smoothie (or shake, depending how you think about it).

Mango Smoothie
Yields 4 cups - 2 large servings

2 ripe mangoes
2/3 banana
1 apple
1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons unsweetened yogurt
Optional: 3 tablespoons vanilla ice cream (it had to be eaten - it was getting all crystallized. So sue me.)

1. Peel the banana, core and cut your apple into large chunks. Toss into the trusty blender and pulse a few times.
2. Peel and dice the mango - this will be messy. Toss into blender with the yogurt, milk, and maybe the ice cream. Blend until smooth.
3. For a thinner shake, use more milk. For a thicker shake, use more ice cream, ice, or less ripe mango.
4. Enjoy!