When in doubt, serve it on arugula!

I love my kitchen as much as the next food blogger. I feel very comfortable there. It’s normally very relaxing for me to cook.

But sometimes I just want dinner to be made. I want a dish that’s quick, flavorful, and simple.

I want a dish that I can make within the time it takes me to listen to one podcast of Car Talk.

This dish is that dish.

It can look a bit intimidating, especially if you aren’t use to cooking with a lot of Asian flavors. But really it’s dumb simple to make and utilizes one of my favorite kitchen tips!

Sesame Chicken Noodle Salad

Yield: Serves 4.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

1 pound chicken breasts, seasoned with salt and pepper
1 red pepper, sliced
1 pound linguine
Vegetable oil
Arugula

Sesame Sauce:
2 inches fresh ginger, peeled and diced
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup oyster sauce
1 tablespoon chili-garlic sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1/2 cup pasta water (from linguine)

Directions:

1) Season chicken with salt and pepper. Add a drizzle of vegetable oil to a large skillet and heat over medium-high heat.

2) Sear chicken on both sides for about 4 minutes, then turn down heat and continue to cook chicken, flipping occasionally, until chicken is cooked through, about 12 minutes total cooking time.

3) Remove chicken from pan and slice into large chunks.

4) Start cooking pasta. When pasta is almost done, scoop out some pasta water.

5) Mix sauce ingredients in a bowl. Stir well. The sauce should be very smooth and silky. If it's very thick, add more pasta water.

6) Using same pan that you cooked the chicken in, add another drizzle of oil and add red peppers. Cook for just a few minutes over medium-high heat until veggies soften.

7) Add diced chicken back to skillet and stir in sesame sauce.

8) Drain pasta and add to skillet. Stir together to incorporate everything.

9) Serve sesame chicken salad on a bed of arugula.

Heavily adapted from a Cook's Country recipe.

The Sesame Sauce

When I say this meal can be intimidating, it’s mostly because I’m not sure a lot of people keep their pantries stocked with the stuff to make this sauce.

If you have to buy this stuff for the first time, it’ll involve lots of words you probably can’t pronounce and at least one panda bear.

Lots of jars...

Have no fear though. Once you hunt down all the jars that you need, the only actual work you need to do for the sauce besides measuring is peeling and dicing some ginger. Not rocket science!

There is one problem though. When you mix all these ingredients together, it will taste very good, but it’ll most likely be a bit on the lumpy side.

Don’t worry about this right now. We’ll fix it later!

A bit chunky...

The Chicken

The sauce is definitely the star of this show. You don’t have to use chicken for this dish if you wanted to make a vegetarian version. You could just toss the sauce with the noodles or use some seared tofu if you wanted.

I went the chicken route on this day though. Assuming you are using chicken, just season a few boneless skinless breasts with a good pinch of salt and pepper. I’m usually not a huge boneless skinless chicken fan, but it works well for this recipe.

Keep it simple.

In a large skillet, heat a drizzle of oil over medium high heat and once the pan is hot, add the chicken.

Sear the chicken for about 4 minutes per side. Then turn down the heat to medium and continue to cook until the chicken is cooked through, probably another 6 minutes or so. That of course will depend on how big your chicken breasts are.

Mine were on the smaller side.

Make sure it's cooked through...

Once the chicken is cooked through, scoop it out of the pan and slice it into big chunks.

You want the chicken to be visible in the final dish!

Big chunks work great.

Finishing the Dish

There’s just a few other things you’ll need to finish off this recipe. While it’s kind of optional, I recommend dicing up a red pepper and also getting some arugula ready.

Two quick veggies.

When it comes to the pasta for the dish, you can use almost any thin pasta. Spaghetti, linguine, angel hair… it would all work fine.

Fantastic Kitchen Tip Alert

Anytime you are making a sauce to go with pasta, one of the best sauce helpers you can have is the actual water that you cook the pasta in. Pasta water is starchy and salty and will help smooth out sauces and give them some body.

If you ever find yourself with a lumpy or lackluster sauce, try adding some pasta water to it.

In this case, we will add about 1/2 cup to that lumpy sauce that we mixed together earlier.

Wonderful water.

This will completely smooth out the sauce and make it perfect.

In the same skillet that you used to cook the chicken (no need to wash it even), add another drizzle of oil and then toss in your red peppers.

Cook them for a few minutes until they are soft and then add in your chicken. Pour your sauce over the whole thing!

Sauce is really smooth now.

Assuming you are decent at timing, hopefully your pasta is done as well right around this time.

Almost any pasta will work.

Then just stir your pasta in with the chicken and sauce.

It’ll look like a lot of sauce, but it’s just enough to coat all the stuff.

If at any point, the sauce gets too thick, just add a bit more pasta water to it and it’ll thin out.

This was my finished version!

All tossed together!

Now, you could just serve this in a big bowl, but I tried something a bit unconventional.

I served mine on arugula. This might sound strange to serve a pasta dish on greens, but it worked really well actually. The arugula is nice and peppery and holds up well to the strong sesame flavors.

And it makes for a pretty plate!

Pretty plate!

So there ya go!

If you can master the sauce, this dish is really simple to throw together, but really delivers in the flavor department.

Give it a shot if you’re in the market for a quick and easy dinner. And let’s be real… who isn’t in the market for a quick and easy dinner?

Best risotto I've made

This might not be a surprise to you but I think that most restaurant meals are a tad bit overpriced.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to pay for a really delicious meal, but some restaurants get away with charging high prices for meals because people have a perception of the dish being very hard to make at home.

I think risotto is pretty much the perfect example of this. I mean, risotto is a poor man’s meal. It’s rice. And stock. Nothing fancy. The only reason why it’s expensive is because there’s a perception that it’s a difficult dish.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen risotto in a restaurant for less than $15 and most are above $20.

You can buy a lot of rice for $20, people.

And I have better news for you. The concept that risotto is hard to make is a myth. It’s really not. You can do it. I promise. And while you’re making it, you can also fold in some delicious persimmons. If you do this, you’ll be left with a big pot of some of the best risotto I’ve ever eaten.

Persimmon Risotto

Yield: Serves 4.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups arborio rice
1/4 cup shallots
1/3 cup white wine
1 1/2 quarts chicken stock
2 persimmons, peeled and chopped
1/2 lemon, juice only
3 tablespoons olive oil
Pomegranate seeds
Salt and pepper
Seared Chicken breasts (opt.)

Directions:

1) Peel and dice persimmons. Dice shallots. Toss chicken breasts with some olive oil and season well with salt and pepper.

2) Heat chicken stock in a large pot until it's simmering.

3) In a large, high-sided pan, add a drizzle of olive oil over high heat. Once it's hot, add chicken breasts, skin side down. Sear for 5 minutes on each side.

4) Transfer seared chicken breasts to an oven-safe dish and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes until they are cooked through.

5) In the same pan that you used to sear the chicken, add some fresh olive oil and the shallots. Cook for a minute or two over medium high heat until shallots soften. Try to scrape up any bits stuck to the pan.

6) Add rice and continue to cook for a minute or two.

7) Add white wine and continue to cook. At this point you should be able to easily scrape up any bits stuck to the pan.

8) Once white wine is cooked off, ladle in warm chicken stock. Add about 3/4 cup of stock at a time and stir risotto as it cooks over medium heat.

9) When pan is dry, ladle in more stock. Continue doing this until the risotto is soft but still has a tiny bite to it. This will probably take between 4-5 cups of stock and about 25-30 minutes.

10) When risotto is desired texture, season with salt and pepper and stir in chopped persimmons.

11) To remove pomegranate seeds, cut the pomegranate into quarters and break apart the quarters submerged in a bowl of water. The seeds will sink.

12) Serve risotto with chicken and sprinkled with pomegranate seeds.

Persi-what?

Persimmons are a strange fruit. They look kind of like tomatoes, but are much firmer. They are seasonally available in the winter (Nov-Feb normally) and can add a slight sweet flavor to dishes. They are actually really mild though so don’t be afraid to use a lot of them in something flavorful like risotto.

Strange tomatoes...

The important part about persimmons is that their skin is really tough. It’s not like tomato skin even though it looks like. You definitely want to peel these guys before using them.

Once they are peeled you can just dice up the fruit and set it aside for later.

Gotta peel these guys.

Some Protein

The finished risotto is pretty hearty and can definitely be served on its own. You can make it with vegetable stock and make it vegetarian even.

To make it a full dinner though, I decided to sear some chicken and serve it on top of the risotto.

I just tossed a few chicken breasts (bone-in and skin-on) with some olive oil and salt and pepper. Then I seared them on high heat in the same pan that I used for my risotto.

I just cooked the chicken breasts for about 5 minutes skin side down. Then I transferred the chicken to an oven-safe dish and finished them off in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes.

Finished in the oven...

The nice thing about this is that searing the chicken in the pan leaves some great flavors in the pan that we can use for our risotto.

Making the Risotto

Before you can really start cooking the risotto, add your stock to a large pan and bring it to a very light simmer. Adding hot stock to the risotto will make the cooking process a lot faster.

Once your stock is hot, start the risotto by adding a drizzle of fresh olive oil to the pan that you seared the chicken in (don’t wash the pan). Then toss in the shallots and cook them for a few minutes over medium-high heat until they are soft but not browned.

Lots of flavor already.

Then add in your rice. Obviously this will be very dry, but it’s important to heat the rice before you start to add liquid so the grains open up.

Risotto is easy.

Once the rice and shallots cook for a minute or two, add in the white wine. It’ll hiss and sizzle and complain, but use the liquid from the white wine to lift any bits of chicken that might be stuck to the pan from the earlier searing.

The white wine will be gone in no time and then you’re ready to start adding your hot chicken stock.

Ready for stock!

The “Hard” Part

The next part is the part that people think makes risotto difficult. Basically, you need to ladle in small batches (about 3/4 cup at a time) of the hot stock and stir it into the rice until the rice is cooked.

This could take anywhere from 25-35 minutes and probably use 4-5 cups of stock.

Traditionally, you are supposed to never stop stirring the risotto while it cooks, but I don’t really do that and my risotto always turns out fine. I just ladle in some stock, stir the risotto so the liquid distributes, then I walk away for a minute or two if I need to.

You don’t need to stir constantly, but you do need to keep a close eye on it because if it gets dry you need to immediately add more stock to the pan or the risotto could burn.

That’s really all there is to it: Stock. Stir. Repeat.

This was my finished risotto. The finished version is rich and creamy and the grains should still have a very tiny bite to them. They shouldn’t be mushy.

Almost there...

Finishing the Dish

When the risotto is cooked, go ahead and add in all those chopped persimmons and a dash of fresh lemon juice.

Stir this all together and season it with a bit of salt and pepper and your risotto is done!

Nice color.

The Pom Seeds

I wanted to add on a fun and colorful garnish to this dish and pomegranate seeds seemed like the perfect choice. They are a bit crunchy which adds a nice texture and the have a strong flavor that I thought would go well with the creamy risotto.

Of course, the problem is how to do you get all those seeds out of the pomegranate?!

So good.

It’s really easy actually. Just quarter the pomegranate and then submerge each quarter in a large bowl of water. While the pomegranate is underwater, use your fingers to break up the seeds. The seeds will sink and all of the white pith parts will float. Then you can just drain the seeds and you’re ready to go!

Like I said, you can serve the risotto by itself like I did in the first photo or serve it with the seared chicken.

$25. At least.

Betsy and I both agreed that this was the best risotto I’ve ever made. Just delicious.

I would charge at least $25 for this at my imaginary restaurant.

But you wouldn’t pay that much, of course, because now you can make it for yourself!

This warms the soul.

It’s been a very long time since I’ve posted something made in my crockpot, almost two years in fact. So I was very happy when a crockpot dish won the poll last week.

Plus, it just makes sense. It’s cold and you’re probably busy this time of year so a dish that you can RONCO (set it and forget it) is probably helpful.

Funnily, this soup fits almost all of the categories in the poll last week. I swear that wasn’t planned… sometimes it just works out that way.

I’ve made chicken tortilla soup before, but never posted on it. This version was, by far, the best version I’ve ever made though. Something about letting the flavors just kind of mingle all day long really gave the finished soup an interesting and deep flavor.

You’d be silly not to try this!

Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup

Yield: Serves 5-6

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 8 hours

Ingredients:

1 yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Serrano pepper, diced (with seeds)
1 red pepper, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1 chipotle pepper, minced
1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 pound chicken breasts
2 dried New Mexico chile peppers (or poblano)
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 bay leaves
6 cups chicken stock
A few sprigs cilantro
3 corn tortillas, diced
1 cup corn
Salt and pepper

Garnish:
Corn tortilla strips
Avocados
Limes
Cotija cheese
Sour cream

Helpful Equipment:
Crockpot

Directions:

1) Finely dice the onion, garlic, peppers, and celery and add them to a crockpot.

2) Also add in the chicken breasts, canned tomatoes, bay leaves, cumin seeds, dried chiles, and chicken stock. The stock should just cover all the ingredients.

3) Cover and set the crockpot on low. Cook for 6-8 hours.

4) Remove dried chiles and bay leaves and discard. Remove chicken breasts, shred, and return to crockpot.

5) Add in cilantro sprigs, corn, and a few corn tortillas cut into bits. Let the crockpot simmer for another 30-60 minutes.

6) Season soup with salt and pepper.

7) To make tortilla strips, dice corn tortillas into strips and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes until lightly browned and crispy.

8) Serve soup piled high with tortilla strips. Other fun garnishes include lime wedges, crumbled cotija cheese, avocados, and sour cream.

Preparing the Veggies

I know what you’re thinking: ”Holy crap that’s a lot of ingredients!”

True. But hang in there. Most of them are basic stuff and once they are all in the pot, there’s very little work involved in this meal. You can go cross stuff off your list and come home to a delicious soup.

These are the few veggies that you need to start this soup.

Just a few basics.

The key to these is to dice them pretty finely.

For the Serrano pepper, I left the seeds in. You could take them out though if you’re worried about the heat.

Then just toss all this stuff into your slow cooker!

A fine dice.

Besides the veggies you need a few other things to get this soup going.

This is where a lot of the flavor comes from in this soup.

Flavor town.

Add all this stuff to the crockpot along with your chicken breasts. I would shoot for about a pound of chicken but you could use more if you wanted.

For the chipotle pepper, make sure you dice it very finely. Nobody wants a big bite of chipotle in their soup.

For the dried peppers, you can use almost any dried pepper. I went with New Mexico chile peppers, but poblanos would work also. Just break up the dried peppers into a few pieces and scrape out the seeds. Then throw the dried pieces into the crockpot along with the chicken breasts.

Everybody in the pot!

Add in all your chicken stock which should just barely cover all the ingredients.

A Slow Cook

Set your crockpot to a low heat and let this sucker cook, covered, for at least six hours. If you wanted you could cook it for even longer though. Six hours is the minimum.

After that, your house will smell amazing and your soup will look something like this.

6 hours later...

Finishing the Soup

There’s a few things we need to do to finish this soup now that most of the cooking is done.

For starters, take out the bay leaves and dried peppers from the soup and discard them. They’ve given the soup plenty of flavor and there’s no need to hang on to them.

Next, take out the chicken breasts and use a few forks to gently shred the meat. Then you can return it to the crockpot.

Get it?

Finally, there are three new ingredients that I recommend adding at this point as they don’t need to simmer all day long.

First, add some corn and cilantro sprigs. Second, cube up a few corn tortillas and add those cubes straight to the soup.

Just some more flavor!

Cover this and let it simmer for another 30-45 minutes. The tortillas will soften and some will completely disintegrate into the soup which will give it a really rich texture. The cilantro will give the soup a nice herb flavor.

After it’s second cooking, remove the cilantro stalks and season the soup generously with salt and pepper.

The Garnishes

My favorite part of chicken tortilla soup is serving it with tons of fun garnishes and toppings and then people can kind of make their own bowls.

The essential topping (in my opinion) is crispy tortilla strips. These are super-easy to make. Just cut a few corn tortillas into long strips and bake them at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes.

The strips will be lightly browned when the are done and super-crispy.

Great garnish.

Some other topping ideas that I like are sliced avocado, crumbled cotija cheese (or any cheese really), sour cream, and lime wedges.

Some other fun add-ins.

Once your soup is seasoned well with salt and pepper just ladle it into a bowl and pile on the toppings!

From above.

It’s actually a very filling meal for soup because of the chicken, tortillas, and cheese. It’s very warming and just a complete winner of a meal in my book.

Don’t be daunted by the ingredient list here, people. You can and should give this a shot sometime this winter!

The cute little napkins in this post were kindly donated by Oh Little Rabbit.

Good lookin' wrap!

“I think I’m good on cookies for a while.”

That’s what Betsy told me a few days ago and I couldn’t agree with her more. After a full week of nothing but cookies and sugar, I’m ready to move back into the land of the savory.

Heck. I don’t even have a sweet tooth really so I’m very excited to post something without sugar in it.

This quick wrap is something that Betsy and I have been eating recently. I love it because it works great for a lunch dish, but is also good to have if you want a lighter dinner option. It’s pretty healthy actually and jam-packed with flavor.

Baja Chicken Wraps

Yield: 4 wraps

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1 pound chicken breasts, grilled and chopped
Lettuce
Avocado
Ranch Dressing (homemade is good)
Hot Sauce
Large tortillas

Chicken Marinade:
2 limes, juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

1) Mix together marinade ingredients. Add chicken breasts and let marinate for a few minutes.

2) Grill chicken over high heat for about 8-10 minutes per side until they are cooked through.

3) Slice chicken thinly.

4) In a bowl, mix together chopped lettuce, a drizzle of ranch dressing, and a dash of hot sauce.

5) Lay out a large tortilla and put down a layer of the lettuce mixture.

6) Top with about 1/4 of an avocado and a layer of chicken. I recommend about 4 ounces of chicken per wrap.

7) Top with a drizzle of ranch and an extra dash of hot sauce and roll the wrap up.

8) Slice and serve!

Prepping the Chicken

I decided to grill the chicken for these wraps even though it’s December. I’m a year around griller, but if you don’t want to venture out in the cold just to grill a few chicken breasts, you can definitely just sear these in a pan for a few minutes a side and then finish them off in a 350 degree oven.

Whether you grill or not, I recommend giving the chicken breasts some serious flavor with a quick marinade.

Tasty marinade.

I just whisked together some spices with some lime and olive oil and then tossed in my chicken breasts.

You don’t need to marinate these guys very long to give them some flavor. Even 10 minutes in this mixture will do the trick.

All mixed up.

So, like I said, you have two options for cooking the chicken in my mind.

1) Grill them. Pretty straightforward, just toss them on a hot grill for about 8-10 minutes per side until they are cooked through.

2) Sear them in a sturdy pan. Cast iron would work well, but any pan should do the trick. After you sear them for a few minutes over medium-high heat, stick them in a 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes to finish cooking them. If the pan you sear in isn’t oven-safe, just transfer the breasts to a baking dish for the oven cooking.

The reason you will probably want to finish the chicken breasts in the oven is because they might burn if you keep them over high heat for too long. Finishing them in the oven solves that problem and still gives you a nice sear on the outside.

I just tossed mine on the grill though. That’s easiest and best way to cook chicken breasts in my opinion.

Who says you can't grill in the winter?

Once the chicken breasts cool a bit, slice them up!

Keep in mind that we’re going to be adding these slices to a wrap so try to keep the slices pretty thin.

Thinner the better.

The Lettuce

I love lettuce in wraps, but I wanted to use the lettuce as a flavor vehicle also.

So I ripped up some lettuce (a few cups) and then tossed it with a few tablespoons of homemade ranch dressing and a few dashes of hot sauce. Of course, you don’t have to make homemade ranch dressing for this, but the homemade version is really packed with flavor.

Hot sauce is very important.

Mix this all up really well and you’re ready to make a wrap!

Making the Wraps

You should be able to get about 4 wraps out of one pound of grilled chicken. Of course, that largely depends on how big you make your wraps…

I use the biggest tortillas I could find just so I could really stuff them.

Start by laying down a nice layer of the lettuce. Then add about 1/4 of an avocado that’s sliced up.

Don't skimp on the 'cado.

Top that with some of the grilled chicken and maybe give it an extra drizzle of ranch or hot sauce.

Then you’re ready to roll.

Get it?

Fold the ends toward the center and just roll the wrap up tightly.

While you don’t have to slice this in half, I think it’s a little easier to eat in two pieces. Plus it looks good.

That's a wrap!

There’s a lot of good flavors here. The lime marinade goes perfectly with the rich avocado. The lettuce gives it lots of good crunch and flavor because of the dressing and hot sauce.

If you didn’t want to use chicken, I actually think you could sub tofu for this without too much trouble. I would still marinate it and grill it just like I did with the chicken.

If you’re looking for a really tasty wrap, give this a shot. I thought it was absolutely delicious!

Best hard tacos ever.

When it comes to tacos, I’m a big fan of the hard shell, but sometimes I find store-bought hard shell tacos to be kind of flimsy. Like with some tortilla chips, I feel like the manufacturers aren’t starting with whole corn tortillas. They’re probably starting with some strange paste that they can mold and fry, but the end results are always a bit sub-par.

Homemade hard shell tacos are a bit tricky though. You need to hold them in place and fry them until crispy. They do make a strange device that will make it possible to do this at home, but personally that seems like more work than it’s worth.

So I came up with a much quicker and easier method for making darn good crispy tacos at home. These are actually a delicious mash up between an enchilada, a taco, and a taquito. But trust me, you’ll have a hard time giving them up once you try them!

Shredded Chicken Hard Tacos

Yield: 12 tacos

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, poached and shredded
1 15 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 red onion, diced
1-2 jalapenos, minced
1/2 Cup salsa
6 ounces pepper jack cheese, shredded
12 corn tortillas
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Toppings:
Sour Cream
Avocado
Lettuce
Hot Sauce

Directions:

1) Add chicken breasts to a medium pot and cover with water by 1/2 inch. Bring to a simmer and simmer for about 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
2) Once chicken has cooled a bit, shred it. Also, dice onion and pepper and drain and rinse the beans.
3) Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to a medium pan over medium heat. Once hot, add onions and peppers and cook until soft. Then stir in shredded chicken, black beans, and salsa.
4) Stir mixture until it's heated through and season with salt and pepper.
5) On a large griddle or in a large skillet, add a tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat. Working with one tortilla at a time, add it to the hot pan and top one half with chicken and shredded cheese. Fold tortilla over to form a taco. Press down on it lightly so it holds it's shape and move it to the outer part of the pan while you work on a second one. Do as many tacos as you can fit at once without them overlapping.
6) Cook tacos for about 3 minutes per side until tortilla is crispy and cheese is well-melted.
7) Serve tacos immediately with avocado, hot sauce, lettuce, and sour cream.

Preparing the Filling

There are really no rules when it comes to fillings for these tacos. I used some chicken and black beans, but you could take it in any direction really.

If you do want to use chicken though, the easiest way to prep it for the filling is to lightly poach it in a few inches of water for about 10 minutes or until it’s cooked through completely. Depending on the thickness of your chicken breast, you might need a few more minutes. Then, once your chicken is cool, you can shred it up with a fork.

You could also use leftover chicken from a different meal.

Poached and shredded.

Besides the chicken, I also recommend using some fresh red onion and jalapeno which gives the filling great Tex-mex flavors.

Just dice both relatively small. If you want more heat, then leave the seeds in the peppers.

Good Tex-mex flavors.

To finish off the filling, add a drizzle of oil to a medium pan over medium heat and add your onions and peppers. Cook them until they are soft, about 4-5 minutes, then stir in your chicken drained black beans.

The filling stuff.

I like to add some salsa to mine also which just kind of rounds out the flavors and ties everything together. It’s a bit of a shortcut, but it works like a charm.

Stir this all together over medium heat until the filling is hot.

Salsa is a helper here.

Making the Tacos

These tacos are actually pretty easy to make. Don’t be intimidated!

Corn tortillas are really strong. They don’t burn easily so you have a lot of flexibility in your cooking time which is nice. I like to make mine on a large griddle but you could also use a large skillet.

Just add a drizzle of oil to the pan and get it hot over medium-high heat. Then work with one tortilla at a time. Start by just warming the tortilla up for a seconds and then top half of it with a large spoonful of filling.

Like so:

Try not to overstuff.

Next, top it with some grated cheese. Any cheese will work, but I like pepper jack.

A little goes a long way.

Then the only tricky part is to fold the top part of the taco over. Once you have the taco folded over, press down on it lightly so it holds it’s shape.

The very important fold.

Once you have one taco shaped, you can move it out to the side of the pan and get started on a second taco. When I’m really rocking and rolling, I can do about six at a time on my griddle.

Cook them for about 3-4 minutes per side so they get nice and crispy on the outside.

Nice and crispy.

Toppings and Servings

I made up a plate of some of my favorite taco toppings for these guys including sour cream, avocado, and chopped lettuce. Hot sauce wouldn’t be a bad idea either.

Standard taco fare.

Serve up a few of the tacos with some toppings and you are in for a treat! Three tacos is a pretty hearty meal. Two would be a good lunch.

Awesome plate of food.

These guys turn crispy and delicious as they cook and then you can kind of pry them open and stuff them with all kinds of delicious toppings. The shells are a lot more substantial than those flimsy guys you buy in the store that crack and shatter with the slightest touch.

I know these are good because my Tex-Mex aficionado wife requested them two nights in a row!

Do not make in advance...

I was at a conference last week in Los Angeles and I had what might have been the worst catered lunch I’ve ever had in my life (that really says something by the way). It was some sort of strange chicken alfredo business that I’m almost positive was from a jar. Not to mention it was cold, clumpy, and the chicken looked about two weeks old.

I’m not really sure why a chef would ever think alfredo is a good thing to serve to 500 people. After all, it’s really best right away and even a few minutes after it’s plated, it can start to congeal and turn a bit gross. So I felt a bit bad for the chef for trying something like that.

I felt worse for the alfredo though. It got a bad rep after that meal. I’m sure there were people that left that lunch thinking they would never eat alfredo again which is a sad state of affairs.

After all, assuming you can master one or two things and assuming you aren’t trying to feed a million people, alfredo sauce is super-easy and one of the most delicious things you can put on a pasta.

Grilled Chicken Alfredo

Yield: Serves 4.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

8 ounces Fettuccine, cooked al dente
4 Tablespoons butter
3/4 Cup heavy cream
1 Cup Parmesan cheese, grated
2 large chicken breasted (I think 1/2 chicken breast per person is enough for this meal, but you could up it if you wanted.)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Directions:

1) Drizzle chicken with olive oil, salt and pepper. Grill chicken until cooked through on medium-high heat. It should take about 18 minutes, but could vary based on the size of your chicken breasts. Be sure to turn the breasts once halfway through cooking.

2) Cook pasta according to package. Reserve a cup of cooking water.

3) For sauce, grate Parm in a large bowl. Melt butter in medium sauce pan over medium heat.

4) Once butter is melted, stir in cream and continue to stir until sauce starts to thicken, about 4-5 minutes.

5) The sauce is done when you can leave a streak in it with a spatula.

6) Pour sauce over grated cheese and let sit for 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

7) Add drained pasta to bowl and toss well to combine.

8) Serve immediately with sliced chicken.

Preparing the Chicken

Since the sauce and pasta are so flavorful and rich for this dish, I didn’t want to do too much to the chicken. I just drizzled it with some olive oil and gave it a good pinch of salt and pepper. I like my breast with the skin on, but Betsy likes her skinless.

Not a problem.

No need for anything fancy.

You could sear this chicken in a pan and then finish it in a 350 degree oven, but I wanted to grill it. I just grilled the chicken on medium-high heat for about 18 minutes, flipping it once half way through the cooking time. Depending on the size of your chicken breasts, you might need to adjust that cooking time a bit.

Mine turned out really nice though.

Good stuff.

Making the Alfredo Sauce

This is one of the jarred sauces that I just don’t get. I know it’s popular, but you can make real alfredo sauce with just three ingredients.

Maybe alfredo sauce needs to be a homemade trial…

All you need!

Seriously though. That’s it. Just three ingredients plus some salt and pepper.

Start by melting your butter in a medium pan like so…

Easy enough so far...

Once it’s melted, turn your heat down to medium-low and add in the cream. It’s important to stir it constantly once you add the cream. Once the cream gets hot, it’ll start to thicken almost immediately. You’re sauce is done with you can leave a good streak in it with a spatula which you should be able to do after just a few minutes.

This was my finished sauce.

The right thickness!

What about the Parmesan you ask?

Well, that goes in a bowl like this. Grate the cheese as fine as you can so it’ll melt easily.

Just parm. Lots of it.

Then just pour the sauce over the grated cheese and let it sit for a few minutes. Season it with salt and pepper and you’re done!

The Pasta

I guess you could use a few different pastas for this dish, but fettuccine is really the standard so just stick with that.

The only pasta you need.

Once you get your pasta boiling, take a small bowl and scoop out some of the hot pasta water. If your alfredo sauce gets too thick, you can add a few tablespoons of pasta water to it and it’ll loosen up but still stay nice and smooth.

Think of it like alfredo sauce insurance. If you do everything right, you won’t need it.

But you’ll probably need it.

Sauce insurance.

Once your pasta is cooked, just drain it and toss it right in your bowl with the sauce. Stir it all together really well and add some pasta water if it’s too thick.

This might not look like a lot of pasta, but it’s really rich and this is easily enough for 3 or 4 people assuming you serve it with the chicken and a side salad or something.

Done deal.

It’s all about time

The most important thing when it comes to a cream sauce like this is to serve it as soon as possible.

Don’t dilly-dally.

Very delicious.

Anytime I have a really bad meal at a restaurant or something, I always try to re-do it when I get a chance.

It’s almost always not the dish’s fault. That was totally the case with this dish.

A bit on the bready side.

I cooked some calzones over the weekend because they won last week’s poll and they were darn close to a huge mess. Honestly, I would probably lock this guy away in the “never to be posted” file except for two things:

1) You guys voted for a calzone so I felt obligated to post on one, even if it isn’t top notch.

2) The filling for this calzone is out of this world. So you need to know about it.

Unfortunately my calzone dough left a lot to be desired. I have a quick fix for that though… use a different recipe than I did!

Southwestern Calzones

Yield: 4 Calzones

Prep Time: 30 minutes + Time for dough

Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

Filling:
1.5 pounds chicken breasts, diced
2 ears sweet corn
1 anaheim or poblano pepper, diced
1 jalapeno, seeded and diced
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1/4 Cup salsa
6-8 ounces pepper jack cheese, grated
Pinch of salt and pepper
1 egg, beaten with a tablespoon of water for egg wash

Calzone/pizza dough (I wasn't happy with the dough recipe I tried, so this is my standard pizza dough recipe which is surefire.)
5 Cups (22.5 ounces) bread flour
1 1/2 Tablespoons honey or sugar
3 Teaspoons kosher salt
1 1/2 Teaspoons instant yeast
3 Tablespoons olive oil (plus more for the dough later)
1 3/4 Cups room temperature water

Directions:

For dough...

1) Add all the ingredients except flour to a large bowl and let sit until yeast starts to bubble. Add in flour and stir together with a large spoon until the dough comes together.

2) Dip one hand in a bowl of warm water and vigorously knead the dough in the bowl, constantly turning the bowl, until the dough comes together and starts to firm up, about 4 minutes.

3) Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.

4) Continue to work it for another 2-3 minutes until the dough is soft and smooth and very elastic.

5) Cut the dough into 4 pieces, roll each quarter into a ball, and add each ball to a plastic bag coated lightly with olive oil.

6) Let dough sit at room temp for 15 minutes and then store in the fridge overnight.

7) Remove the dough from the fridge 2 hours before making pizza.

To Make Calzones:

1) Char corn by placing it directly on a gas burner or on a grill. Turn every 30 seconds or so until the kernels are lightly charred. Remove and cut corn off the cob.

2) Add oil to a large skillet and heat over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook until cooked through, about 8 minutes. Add peppers and cook for another few minutes until peppers start to soften. Add corn and salsa and stir until warm. Season with salt and pepper.

3) Roll a calzone dough out into a 6-8 inch round. Add grated cheese to bottom half of calzone and top with about a cup of filling.

4) Fold calzone over, being careful to press out as much air as possible. Crimp edges of calzone so it is sealed well. Slice a few slits in the top of the calzone so steam can escape. Brush calzones with egg wash.

5) Bake calzones on a greased/oiled baking sheet for 25-30 minutes at 375 degrees until they are golden brown and the filling is bubbling.

6) Let cool for a few minutes before serving.

Dough Issues

I’m not even going to link to the dough recipe I tried out for these guys because I found it to be not great. I guess it’s possible that I messed it up, but I found that it was way too bready and didn’t really brown correctly. Don’t get me wrong, it was completely edible, but I’m pretty sure we can all do better.

The recipe I included is for my standard pizza dough which I’ve used to make calzones many times with great results. I was just trying a new recipe this time around and it didn’t work out great.

Luckily, the process for making the dough is pretty much the same regardless of recipe. Start by combining the sugar, salt, yeast, oil, and water in a bowl and let it sit until the yeast starts to bubble, about five minutes. Then add that to your flour and stir it until it forms a ball. Knead the dough vigorously with your hand by dipping your hand in water and working it. Do this for about 10 minutes and the dough should be really soft but not sticky at all. If it ever gets really sticky, you need to add in more flour.

The dough.

You can also use a stand mixer to make the dough in which case you just work it with the dough hook for about 5 minutes until it’s soft, but not sticky.

Immediately cut the dough into your four pieces for calzones and then put them in a lightly oiled plastic bag. Let them sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes and then move them to the fridge for at least two hours, although overnight is best. Remove them from the fridge about 90 minutes before you want to make the calzones.

The Filling

While the dough was kind of a bust for me, the filling was right on. It was pretty basic, just some chicken and spicy peppers.

Part of the filling...

The really tasty part of the filling though was some Olathe sweet corn that is now in season. If you don’t know about this stuff, I’m pretty sure it’s the most advertised vegetable I’ve ever seen. There are commercials for it every 30 minutes here in Colorado. It’s in every store with huge signs over promoting it’s awesomeness.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s very good corn, but hey… it’s still just corn.

The most advertised corn in history.

I tried something new for the corn this time around. I husked it and just slapped it right on my burner like I would if I were roasting peppers. Normally I would’ve grilled it, but it was raining while I was making this recipe, so I tried this method out. Turn it every 30 seconds or so until it’s very nice and charred.

It worked like a charm!

Char baby char!

To make the rest of the filling, just add some oil to a large skillet and cook the chicken until it’s cooked through over medium-high heat. Then add the diced peppers and cook until they are slightly soft. Finally add in the charred corn and a good dollop of salsa.

Stir this all together and you’re ready to make some calzones!

Ready to fill!

Making and Baking Calzones

Once your filling is done for the calzones, roll out one of your calzone doughs into about an 6-8 inch round and put about an ounce or two of grated cheese on the bottom half of the dough. Then pile in as much filling as you think will fit! I wouldn’t use more than about a cup per calzone, but go crazy.

Stuffed full.

Fold the calzone over and press out as much air as possible from the inside. Pinch the calzone around the outside edges to seal it well and then cut a few slices in the top of the calzone so that steam can escape as it cooks.

As you do these, line them up on a well-greased baking sheet and brush them all with a bit of egg wash.

Don't forget to oil the pan...

Bake these guys for about 25-30 minutes at 375 degrees. They should be golden brown on the outside and the filling should be nice and bubbly.

Not the prettiest thing in the world...

As I said, I wasn’t 100% happy with the dough recipe I used. As you can see in the above photo, it was really doughy and didn’t quite brown enough for me. I like a really crispy crunch on my calzones. It was totally edible, but I think you’ll have better results with the recipe I listed above.

If you have leftover filling it goes great in quesadillas or tacos. Honestly, it’s so delicious you could just eat it with a spoon!

This will kick you in the mouth.

Chicken sandwiches have been on the rise in the last few years. I think people believe that chicken at fast food restaurants is somehow healthier than beef which can be the case but definitely isn’t a rule. Normally, chicken at restaurants is fried (which immediately negates the health factor) or cooked into a bland rubbery cube.

Except for a few exceptions, this usually ends up to be a tasteless. In my experience, it’s rarely worth the calories or the dollars they’ll charge you.

We can do SO much better at home.

I had a few chicken breasts left over from my chicken and waffles party so I worked out a delicious chicken sandwich recipe that’s juicy and flavorful.

Chipotle Chicken Sandwich

Yield: 8 Sandwiches

Prep Time: 15 minutes + marinating time

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

4 large chicken breasts, halved and pounded to an even thickness
1/3 Cup olive oil
1 lime, juice only
2 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 chipotle peppers, de-seeded and minced
1 Tablespoon Adobo sauce, from chipotle container
8 hamburger buns
2 avocados, 1/4 per sandwich
Lettuce
Spicy Mayo (optional)

Directions:

1) For marinade, mix chopped chipotles, adobo sauce, lime juice, garlic, and olive oil in a small bowl.

2) Cut chicken breasts in half and lightly pound them to an even thickness between plastic wrap.

3) Marinate chicken for at least 30 minutes, but you could do them the night before.

4) Grill chicken over high heat for 5 minutes per side.

5) If you're using cheese, add it to chicken in the last 2 minutes of cooking and cover grill.

6) Grill buns and serve sandwich with mayo, lettuce, and avocado.

The Mayo Business

As you might know if you’re a regular Macheesmo reader (and you should be a regular Macheesmo reader), I’ve been on a huge homemade mayo kick lately. If you want a full walk-through on how to make your own, check out my homemade mayonnaise post.

For this version, I stuck with the spicy theme and whisked in a pinch of cayenne pepper.

My fave thing to do these days...

The Chicken

Making a good chicken sandwich is pretty straightforward, but there is one step that I really recommend: pounding the chicken.

The problem with chicken breasts is that they tend to be way uneven in the thickness department. One end is really skinny and one end is two inches thick. It’s pretty inevitable that if you cook it as-is, it’s going to be either over-cooked on one end or raw on the other end.

Also, chicken breasts are typically way larger than any one sandwich needs. So I recommend chopping them in half and pounding them to an even thickness with a mallet. Cover the chicken with plastic wrap to avoid chicken splatter all over your kitchen.

Flat and even is your goal.

Next, you’re going to need a marinade.

I whipped one together with these things. Those chipotles pack a punch. I recommend two, but if you’re feeling adventurous then shoot for three or four!

Get it?

Add the marinade to the chicken patties and let this marinade for at least 30 minutes, but overnight would be just fine also.

An hour is enough.

Cooking the Patties

Once you’re ready to make some delicious chicken sandwiches, take your patties and toss them on a hot grill for about 5 minutes per side.

You should get some really nice grill marks and some of the chipotles will kind of cook on to the chicken which is oh-so-delicious.

Sizzle sizzle.

For the last two minutes of cooking, add a nice slice of cheese if you want. The sandwich is honestly pretty flavorful without the cheese, but it’s a rare day where you’ll see me pass up an opportunity to melt cheese on something.

Cover the grill and the cheese will melt perfectly in a minute or two.

Melty is the word I would use.

Dress up the burger with some mayo, lettuce, and avocado and you’re all set.

As an added touch, don’t forget to grill the bun for a few seconds.

Gotta have the 'cado.

Now, you 100% do not have to have a grill for this recipe.

If you don’t have a grill, just add a drizzle of oil to a skillet and cook the chicken over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes per side. You might want to cut into one to see if they are cooked through.

If you want to add cheese to it, you can grate the cheese or add a cover to the pan to make it melt easily.

Spicy and tasty.

I’m not entirely sure what the calorie count is on this sucker, but I am entirely sure that it’s one of the best chicken sandwiches I’ve ever had.

If you make a bunch of these, they are fine re-heated for lunch also.

Mark this down as yet another reason that fast food restaurants have nothing on the home cook!

Lots of flavor here...

There was some good options in last week’s poll which isn’t surprising since all the options were straight from my favorite Bon Appétit issue of the year: The grilling issue.

This was always my favorite annual issue even before I had a grill, but now it’s just butter to my bread baby.

This recipe is actually a beginning grilling recipe. The original uses just boneless skinless breasts and pounds them thin so they cook evenly and quickly. That’s all fine and good, but I like a really good char on my grilled chicken, so I just cut up a whole chicken that way I could have my thighs and legs and Betsy could have her breast meat.

Worked great!

Grilled Yogurt Chicken

Yield: Serves 4-8.

Prep Time: 15 minutes + marinate time

Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

1-2 whole chicken, cut into pieces or 4-8 pieces of your favorite chicken parts.

Marinade: (This is easily enough for two whole chickens.)
2 Cups plain yogurt
1 Cup cilantro, stems and all
1/2 large onion, chopped
1/3 Cup olive oil, plus some for the grill
6 cloves garlic
1 Tablespoon lime juice
2 Tablespoons garam masala
2 Teaspoons kosher salt
1 Teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1 2 inch piece of fresh ginger

Helpful Equipment:
Food Processor

Directions:

1) Roughly chop marinade ingredients and add to a food processor. Pulse until smooth.

2) If you using chicken breasts, pound them until they are an even width between two pieces of plastic wrap. You can also just use a whole chicken, cut into pieces.

3) Pour marinade over chicken and rub it in well. Let it sit for at least 6 hours in the fridge. Overnight is even better.

4) Shake off extra marinade from chicken before grilling.

5) Heat grill to medium high and, if you're using whole chicken, prepare a spot for indirect heat.

6) Cook breasts for about 10 minutes total. Thighs and legs will take much longer, maybe 35-40 minutes. Start them on high heat and then move them to the indirect area to finish cooking.

7) I always recommend checking chicken with a meat thermometer. The thighs should register 170 degrees.

8) Let rest for a few minutes before serving.

From The Grilling Issue courtesy of the team at Dinner: A Love Story.

A Yogurt Bath

Yogurt isn’t often used as a marinade here in the states but it’s really popular in India and other countries.

And let me just say that those people know what’s up. Yogurt is a perfect base for a marinade. It keeps the chicken really moist and also gives it this kind of subtle tangy flavor that’s irresistible.

But, it’s a good idea to beef up the flavor a bit with some good additions. These are the ones recommended.

Tasty marinade.

Just kind of roughly chop everything and add it to a food processor.

It’s definitely not necessary to have a food processor for this recipe, it’s just a lot easier. You could chop everything very finely and stir it together in a big bowl with more or less the same results.

Let the processor do some work.

Pulse this until it’s well-combined and basically a liquid and then pour it all over your chicken.

Speaking of Chicken

So the original recipe uses just chicken breasts which you can definitely do. If you are using them, I recommend putting each breast between two pieces of plastic wrap and pounding it until it’s about 1/2 inch thick. Ideally, it’ll be the same thickness over the whole breast.

Frankly, I find boneless skinless breasts to be boring. I love skin, especially the grilled charred kind. But Betsy does like the boneless skinless thing.

So to solve this problem I usually just chop up a whole chicken that way I have some of everything. It’s a lot cheaper to buy a whole chicken also.

Whatever route you choose, just drown the chicken with the marinade when it’s ready.

This is a lot of marinade!

The recipe will make enough marinade for two whole chickens or 8 servings of boneless skinless breasts.

Let the chicken marinate for at least 6 hours, but overnight wouldn’t hurt.

When your ready to grill, pull your chicken out of your yogurt bath and gently shake off any extra marinade. It’s fine if there is still plenty on the pieces.

Crazy color.

Grillin’ the Chicken

If you’re using the pounded boneless skinless breasts, grilling is easy. Just heat your grill to medium-high heat and rub it with some oil so the chicken doesn’t stick. Then toss on your chicken and cook it for 4-5 minutes per side. Done deal.

If you went the whole chicken route, it’s a bit more complicated. You need to start the thighs about 20 minutes before the breasts. Also, you need to set up your grill with a section for indirect heat cooking. The thighs will need probably 35-40 minutes to cook through. If you cooked them over medium-high for that long, you’d have a completely charred exterior.

So cook the thighs and legs for about 5-6 minutes per side over high heat and then move them to the low heat/indirect heat area to finish cooking.

Nice marks man.

The marinade is really flavorful and goes well with rice and any steamed veggie really.

These thighs and legs were my idea of chicken heaven. Perfectly crispy skin with really juicy, flavorful meat.

My favorite piece.

This recipe is really all about the marinade. Feel free to use whatever chicken pieces you like and to make it your own.

It’s pretty hard to go wrong really!

Yum.

José Andrés, if you’re reading (yea right), you might want to stop.

Allow me to explain.

When I used to live in DC, there was this big event once a year or so when Chef Andrés would set up a huge paella wok thing outside in downtown DC and cook paella for like a million people.

I never was able to go to it. Sad face.

Recently, I was blessed with a fair amount of really good saffron from a few worldwide travelers and so I figured What the Hay. I can make paella.

And I can. And it was good.

But I started with chef Andrés’s recipe and ended up with something else altogether. So, if you happen to be him, sorry for mutilating your recipe, dude.

Cast Iron Paella

Yield: Serves 5-6.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients:

2 ounces dried shiitake mushrooms
3 Cups water
6-8 Tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds chicken, cubed (you could sub 1 pound of shrimp for one pound of chicken)
1 pound mixed mushrooms, I used a mix of shiitake and oyster
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 Cups short grain white rice (paella rice)
1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 Tablespoon chili powder
1 Teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 Teaspoon saffron threads, soaked in a bit of warm water
2 Cups chicken broth
Chopped parsley (garnish)

Allioli recipe (Served with paella)
4 garlic cloves, halved and center germ removed
1/2 Teaspoon fine salt
2 large egg yolks
3 Tablespoons water
2 Tablespoons sherry or red wine vinegar
1 Cup light olive oil
Fresh black pepper

Helpful Equipment:
Cast Iron Skillet!

Directions:

1) For allioli, smash garlic cloves and add them to a medium bowl. Use a fork to mash them up even more. Whisk in egg yolks, vinegar, water, and salt.

2) Set bowl over a water bath with simmering water (don't let the bowl touch the water). Whisk continuously until temp is 140 degrees. It should take about 3 minutes and be hot to the touch, but not boiling. Continue to whisk, keeping it at that temperature for 3 more minutes.

3) Let yolk mixture cool and then whisk in oil in a steady, slow steam. Whisk constantly and it should thicken up. Season with black pepper. This can be made in advance and stored in the fridge.

4) For Paella, bring 3 cups of water to a boil and add to a bowl with dried mushrooms. Let reconstitute for about an hour. Then strain broth and squeeze any liquid you can out of mushrooms.

5) Dice fresh mushrooms, onion, garlic, and chicken.

6) Add a few tablespoons of oil to a cast iron skillet over high heat. Sear chicken in two batches for about 5 minutes per batch. Chicken doesn't need to be cooked through, just seared.

7) Remove to a bowl. Add a bit more oil and sear mushrooms. After a few minutes add onions and garlic and continue to cook. Season with salt and pepper and cook for another minute or two until slightly soft, but not completely cooked.

8) Add mushrooms and onions to chicken and set aside.

9) Add a bit more oil to pan along with rice. Stir over medium-high heat for about a minute to coat rice.

10) Add mushroom broth, spices, tomatoes, saffron (and broth), chicken, onions, mushrooms, and 1/2-1 Cup of chicken stock. The liquid should just cover all the ingredients.

11) Bring to a simmer on the stove and then add to a 400 degree oven. Cook for 30-40 minutes, checking frequently. If it is dry at any point and the rice still isn't cooked, add a bit more stock.

12) It's done with the edges are a bit crusty and the rice is cooked al dente.

13) Serve with chopped parsley and allioli.

Crazily adapted from this recipe.

Variations aplenty!

Like I said, I made a few changes to this recipe. One, I think, was a particularly good idea and one was a particularly bad idea.

I decided to not use any shrimp in my version, but if I had access to really good, large shrimp, I would totally use them. I think the lightness of the seafood would help the dish. But this was neither here nor there.

I think my good idea was to make this in a cast iron skillet. It allowed for even heat distribution and you ended up with some crusty edges which is what paella is known for. Normally paella is made in a very specialized pan, but if you aren’t making it regularly, it makes sense to use something that you probably have on hand.

My bad idea was using brown rice instead of white rice. It took forever to cook. Don’t do this. Just use short grain white rice (although not the instant kind) and you’ll be in much better shape. If you can find specially labeled paella rice, even better.

The Allioli

There some good spicy flavors going on in this dish and a garlic-packed sauce is the perfect complement. Allioli, or aioli, is almost like a mayonnaise, but slightly different. You heat the egg yolks first and pack in other flavors: mainly garlic.

So you’ll need these things!

Kinda like mayo!

Start by smashing your garlic cloves and adding them to a medium bowl. Use a fork to mash them up a bit in the bowl. Then whisk in the egg yolks, water, vinegar, and salt.

Set this bowl over a simmering water bath, but make sure that the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Continue to whisk until the eggs reach about 140 degrees. A thermometer really helps, but if you don’t have one handy, it should be hot to the touch, but not burning or simmering at all.

Continue to whisk, maintaining that temperature for 3 minutes. Be careful not to let it get too hot or the eggs will completely cook. Then remove it from the heat and let the yolks cool completely to room temperature.

Next, gradually whisk in oil in a very thin stream until mixture is thick. Cooking the yolks makes it a bit easier to incorporate the oil. Then season with pepper!

You can make this in advance without a problem. I think it gets a bit better after a chill in the fridge.

Aioli is a weird word.

The Paella

To start the paella, be sure to prep all your ingredients. This is one of those dishes where it’s kind of annoying to have to stop to chop an onion or something, so just make sure you have everything ready.

To start this, bring 3 cups of water to a rolling boil and add it to a bowl with the dried mushrooms. Let these sit for about an hour to reconstitute.

Flavor town.

When you’re ready, strain the broth out and squeeze as much liquid as possible from the mushrooms. Even though it’s kind of gross, I literally pick up the shrooms and wring them out like a wash cloth. There’s tons of flavor in those guys that you don’t want to waste.

Meanwhile, dice up the fresh mushrooms and an onion, and cube up the chicken.

Some basic choppin'

In your cast iron skillet, add two tablespoons of oil over high heat. Add the chicken in two batches, searing the pieces well on each side.

After the chicken is seared (about five minutes), remove it to a bowl and add a bit more oil. Then add the mushrooms and cook for another few minutes until they are seared. Finally add the onions and chopped garlic and season with a good pinch of salt and pepper.

Cook all this for just a minute or two on high heat. You goal is just to get them started and bring some flavor to the party.

Then you can add your mushrooms and onions to your chicken.

Lightly cooked.

Working with saffron is super-fun. This is the first time I’ve had my hands on some really good stuff.

I added my saffron to about 1/2 Cup of water to let them kind of bloom and start giving off some color.

Just look at that color!

Devil sperm.

To get the paella ready for the oven, add a few more tablespoons of oil to the pan along with the rice over medium high heat.

Again, don’t use brown rice like me people. It was a bad idea.

Use the right rice please.

Once the rice is coated well with oil and hot, add 3 cups of the mushroom stock the pan. Also add the tomatoes, spices, saffron (and broth).

Then stir in all the chicken, mushrooms, and onions. Add about 1/2-1 Cup of chicken stock to the dish. The liquid should basically cover the other ingredients.

Ready for a bake!

Bring this all to a simmer on the stove top and then add it to a 400 degree oven, uncovered.

It will probably need to cook for somewhere between 30-40 minutes.

Check it frequently if it looks really dry at any point, but the rice isn’t cooked, add a bit more chicken stock. It’s done when the liquid is gone and the rice is cooked through.

If you were to add seafood to this, you would want to add it in the last few minutes. Cooking shrimp for 30 minutes is never a good idea.

Great color.

This dish had lots of really good flavor, but my rice never really cooked all the way through. Brown rice is just too sturdy to use in a dish like this.

I ended up cooking mine for about 75 minutes and eventually the rice softened enough that we could eat it.

But it was a struggle.

So feel free to make this. It was delicious. Just use the right kind of rice.