Stir Fry Chicken Caston Style

Stir Fry with sriracha 

I love Asian flavors, so tonight I made a chicken stir fry Caston style.  This is easy and quick and this is how you do it:  For your sauce you will need:  4 cloves of minced garlic, 1.5 tbs fresh minced ginger, 3 scallions chopped, 1 tbs fish sauce, 3 tbs soy sauce, 1 tsp sesame oil, 2 tbs chili garlic oil, 1tbs sugar, 1 tsp rice wine vinegar, 1/2 - 3/4 C chicken no sodium chicken stock, 1 tbs corn starch.  Add all of the ingredients except the chicken stock and corn starch to a small sauce pan and bring to boil, stir the sauce, reduce the heat and add the chicken stock.  Let this simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently.  Add the corn starch and continue to simmer, stirring it until it thickens to a consistency that you like.  For me, it was an additional 10 minutes, and then I removed it from the heat and set it aside.  My stir fry consisted of 1 lb of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, seasoned with S&P and cut into bite size pieces, 1 red bell pepper small diced, 1 green bell pepper small diced, 1/2 yellow onion chopped, 1 carrot peeled &  thinly sliced, 1 8 oz pkg of shitake mushrooms thinly sliced, 1/2  8 oz pkg of white button mushrooms thinly sliced and 2 tbs of canola oil.  I heated the canola oil in my wok over med high heat and added the chicken and just tossed it in the oil and let it stir fry for about 3-5 minutes until all sides were no longer pink.  I removed the chicken from the wok and set it aside.  I added my veggies to the wok and stir fried them for about 4 minutes, I then added the chicken back to the wok and tossed it in with the veggies.  I then added the sauce to the wok and stirred it in.  I reduced the heat to medium and continued to stir fry for an additional 3-5 minutes until chicken was cooked thru.  I like for my veggies to have a little crunch to them, so I don't overcook them to sogginess.  I let this cool for about 5 minutes and served it over a short grain rice, and drizzled some sriracha sauce (a very yummy asian hot sauce- it should be in your pantry) over the top.  Really yummy!   I even have left overs for tomorrow.  Good Eats!!

Caston's Original in the Tummy is Yummy!

If you've read previous posts, you know that Chorizo and I have a love hate relationship.  If you don't know what Chorizo is, it's a sausage that is loaded with spices, and very heavy on the paprika.  It has a very strong flavor and can overpower some dishes.  I've worked with it a lot and tonight for whatever reason me and Chorizo got along very well.  What I used to make this very yummy dish:  3 Chorizo sausages in casing chopped into bite size pieces (these I had grilled over charcoal the nite before), 3 tbs EVOO, 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, 4 cloves garlic minced, 1/2 green bell pepper small diced, 1/2 yellow onion small diced, 1 jalapeno chopped, 1 carrot peeled and grated, 2 tbs hot Hungarian paprika, 2 tsp cumin, 1 tsp coriander, 1/2 C chicken stock, 1/2 C heavy cream, 2 tbsp cream cheese, 1/4 C sour cream and S& P.  I started by heating the EVOO in a large skillet over med high heat. I seasoned both sides of my chicken with S&P and placed them in the skillet and browned both sides (2 minutes/side) removed from heat and set aside.  I then took my veggies and sauteed them in the same skillet over med heat until they softened.  While the veggies sauteed, I chopped the chicken thighs into bite size pieces. I added the spices and tossed them into the veggies, continuing to saute for about 3-4 minutes.  I then added the chicken stock, heavy cream, cream cheese and sour cream and stirred it in.  I let this simmer and thicken for about 10 minutes.  I added the Chorizo and chicken and continued to simmer for an additional 5-7minutes until the chicken was cooked thru. I served this over pasta with a few sprigs of cilantro.  Next time I will serve it in a bowl instead of a plate, that way I can spoon up all that yummy sauce.  I think that you could serve this dish with rice, or pasta or alone with a nice crusty bread to sop up the sauce.  Give this dish a try and Good Eats!

Pizza Fest

I decided that last night I was going to make some pizza's, it's been quite sometime since I've done that.  Not going into details,  but I made the dough from scratch and it turned out great.  I like my crusts to be thin and chewy and these were just that.  I made a sausage, mushroom pizza, a sausage, green pepper and jalapeno pizza and a white arugula pizza which is a recipe by the Barefoot Contessa.  They were all very good, but my favorite had to be the white pizza. If you make it, it doesn't take 4.5 hours to make, that must be a typo in the website.  Buen Appetito!

Surprise Visit

Miss Olivia having ice cream

I was so surprised the other day when my best girlfriend Sarah, her hubby Michael and their baby girl Olivia who I had not met yet showed up at my workplace.  I can't tell you how elated I felt.  I couldn't stop hugging them.  It was soooo emotional.  They had moved away to Arkansas and I hadn't seen them in 6+ years so you can imagine how shocked I was.  Anyway, after all the tears and hugging we took a trip down to the Village Ice Cream Parlor and shared a banana split.  It was so cute watching Olivia, this was her 2nd time ever that she had ice cream.  Needless to say she was liking the ice cream.  We headed back to my house after the dessert and just hung out, shared stories, ate food, drank coffee:o).  What is so great about our friendship is that it's like we just start where we left off and there's no awkwardness.  I love those guys and it was awesome to meet Miss Olivia, she's beautiful.  I hope it's not 6+ years until I see them again, but if it is I know that it will be just like it was on that day, a wonderful surprise.

Spooky Chili

It's getting to be that time of year when the temperature drops, football season begins and comfort food calls. Today was one of those days that screamed chili. If you've read my posts, you know that I'm not the best chili cook. I have to keep trying, because I'm sure one day it will be good. So today I went to my dear friend the Food Network, and a recipe by Pat Neely caught my eye. I thought I would give it a try, with just a few modifications, hence the name Spooky Chili. For my chili I used 2 lbs ground chuck + 1 lb ground pork (we like meaty chili), 6 cloves chopped garlic, 1 med onion chopped, 1 green bell pepper chopped, 1 red bell pepper chopped, 1/2 of a ghost chili finely from my garden minced (hence the name Spooky Chili), 1 14 oz can diced tomatoes (pureed), 1/4 c tomato paste instead of the 24 oz cans of diced toms & stewed toms, 1/2 c chicken stock (which I added with the tomatoes. Everything else I followed from Pat's Recipe. So, you are wondering how it turned out? Really good as a matter of fact, but the ghost chili really didn't seem to add the heat like I expected, so next time I will add the entire chili seeds and all. Give the recipe a try using my mods or strictly follow Pat's. Good eats!

Campanelle Pasta, Grilled Pork Chops & Grilled Asparagus

I know it seems like I do alot of the same things over and over, but when I find something I like I....So tonight we grilled some pork chops.  These guys were huge, probably 1.5" thick.  I created this rub, which consisted of lots of paprika, a little cumin, a little onion & garlic powder,  a little thyme, a little kosher salt, and a dash of cayenne.  I put all of these in a little container and shook the heck out of them until they were mixed in.  I generously sprinkled the rub on my my chops and let them sit at room temp for about 30 minutes.  Then they were grilled until they reached a temp of about 140 and then we let them rest.  You can tent them with foil, but I find that they will continue to cook when they are removed from the grill and in our case reach the perfect temp of 145. Yes, it all worked out fine,  but here is how it began.  While I was preparing the chops, Will got the charcoal going.  Folks let me remind you that when you ask you husband to get the grill going that is ALL he thinks he is expected of doing!!!  Long story short, 2 people CANNOT BBQ together unless you're the Neely's, so needless to say we got into several arguments because our expectations were different.  Have you read the book Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus?  You should, it really helps explain the differences between the sexes and may or may not help you avoid bickering and arguing (it didn't help tonight, but I was reminded of the book).   Anyway, after all the bickering and cussing we ended up with some really beautiful chops and some delicious grilled asparagus.  We also had this Campanelle pasta, which I had never had.  It's like Farfalle (bow tie pasta) with a twist.  I like the way they looked so I thought I would give them a try.  The pasta dish is so easy, you will  need 6 cloves of garlic roughly chopped, 2 tbs butter, 2 tbs EVOO, and 2 tsp of red chili flakes, 1/4 C dry white wine, 1/4 C half & half, 1/4 C fresh basil chiffonade, S&P to taste and parmigiano reggiano.  Heat a small pan over med heat, add your butter & EVOO until butter is melted, add garlic and saute for about 2-3 minutes, add your pepper flakes, cream and wine and just continue to simmer for about 5-7 minutes, gently stirring.  When the pasta finishes cooking, reserve a C of pasta water and drain the pasta and place back in the pot, add the garlic and butter mixture and the fresh basil and gently toss the pasta, and add the pasta water just to keep it loose.  Serve the pasta with freshly grated parmigiano reggiano and fresh ground pepper.    That's how we rolled tonight.  Despite the bickering and arguing, we had a delicious meal, funny conversation after the fact and a yummy meal for lunch.  Any suggestions or questions? Bon Appetito!!

Potatoes with Chili's

Potatoes with Chile sprinkled with Monterrey Jack Cheese

Have you ever had Abuelos Papas Con Chile?  They are the one of best mashed potatoes that I've ever had, so I tried to recreate them.  I googled several recipes and I only found one that were like the Abuelos version.  The other recipes were "authentic", but I wasn't in the mood for authentic Papas Con Chile, so I made the following recipe from Group Recipes.  I cut the recipe in half and used 1lb of Idaho Potatoes instead of the red skin, be sure to leave the skins on.  I used 1/4 red pepper finely diced instead of the pimento and I didn't add the diced green chiles, but I did use the pickled jalapenos.  These potatoes were soooo good, definitely going to be a staple in this household.  We served these with the infamous Tejas Tacos made with ground beef minus the rice.  Give these a try, I thought they really tasted like the potatoes from Abuelos.  Bon Appetit!!