Nachos

As a special Memorial Day holiday weekend treat, last night I made chicken nachos. You don’t really need a recipe for nachos. It’s more of an assemblage of tasty things you like to eat on top of an extremely unhealthy mound of tortilla chips.

This time, I made chicken nachos. I used rotisserie chicken purchased already cooked from the grocery store. I pulled off the skin, shredded the meat and tossed it with some barbecue sauce, a little bit of apple cider vinegar and a tiny bit of Tabasco. (I didn’t use all the chicken, so the rest I’ll eat in sandwiches and salads throughout the week).

I spread the chips out on a baking sheet and piled the chicken mixture on top. I then added my favorite nacho fixings: pickled jalapenos, diced tomatoes and lots of cheese, including cheddar, Monterey Jack and queso. Heat in a 400-degree oven for 10 minutes to melt the cheese and crisp the chips, then pile onto a platter. I garnished these nachos with scallions and served freshly made guacamole on the side in place of sour cream.

As you can see, nachos are an infinitely adaptable recipe, and the kind you make at home are every bit as good as the appetizers you get in restaurants. Even better, because you choose what goes on top. Some other ideas we had for topping nachos include refried beans, corn, ground meat cooking with taco seasonings, chopped onions and sour cream.

It’s not the healthiest dinner, I’ll admit, but for a once-in-a-while treat, nothing could be easier.

Chicken Nuggets and Fries

Ok, I’ve been putting off this challenge way too long. First, I put off making it — illness and holidays got in the way — and then I put off writing about it.

To tell you the truth, a meal of homemade chicken nuggets and fries was not one I was looking forward to making. I think of this as typical restaurant kid’s food, not a meal I would likely order for myself. I don’t even like to order it for my kid, although sometimes choices are limited. Since this isn’t a meal I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat, I didn’t think it was one I would enjoy making either. But I was challenged to make it, and I did.

Homemade chicken nuggets.

I don’t ever deep-fry at home. My rationale is that deep-frying is unhealthy, messy and expensive when you consider how much oil is required. And it’s very easy (all too easy) to find good-tasting deep-fried foods when we go out to eat. It just doesn’t fit into what I consider good home cooking.

So I didn’t want to deep-fry either the nuggets or the “fries.” For the nuggets, after researching many different recipes, I decided to take a combination approach. I shallow-fried them for a few minutes to get the breading crispy, then transferred them to the oven to finish cooking.

Based on the recipes I read, it seemed that the best results came from soaking the chicken first in buttermilk, then rolling it in a hearty coating (heartier than flour), such as cracker or bread crumbs. I chose panko bread crumbs, which I spiced up quite a bit with paprika, cayenne and salt. I cut boneless chicken breasts into approximate nugget size before letting them soak in the buttermilk for a few hours. Then I rolled them in the coating and shallow-fried them in vegetable oil just until the coating browned. I transferred them to a baking sheet to finish cooking at about 425 degrees.

The nuggets were crispy, but certainly not as crispy or as yummy as their deep-fried counterparts would be. (I said I don’t like to deep-fry at home, but there’s no denying that deep-fried foods taste very good.) The breading had a tendency to slide off, too. I think the extra spices were essential. Otherwise, the dish would have been rather bland.

I added two dipping sauces to help with the blandness factor. One was a simple honey-mustard sauce: two parts mustard whisked with one part honey. The other was lemon juice whisked with a little olive oil, Italian seasonings and plenty of grated Parmesan. I actually liked the second sauce better with the crudites (raw broccoli, carrots, cherry tomatoes and celery) that I served with the chicken, but my husband preferred it on the nuggets.

Two kinds of oven fries.

Now for the fries. I decided to try “oven-frying” them two different ways. I cooked both batches for about 30 minutes at 425 degrees.

For one set of fries, I used peeled Yukon gold potatoes. I cut them into wedge shapes and sprinkled them with a little oil, salt and some sugar. This was based on a recipe I found online, and I think the intention was to mimic the look of French fries. The potatoes did turn spotty brown where the sugar caramelized, but they didn’t taste at all fried; they tasted sweet. My husband liked them, but I didn’t.

For the other batch of oven fries, I used unpeeled russet potatoes. I tossed them with a bit more oil, coarse salt, paprika and cayenne. Again, these didn’t taste fried, although they more closely resembled the thick-cut steak fries that you find at some up-scale restaurants. I liked them a lot better, though.

For me, this meal rated about a C. I doubt I would make it again unless it was requested, although I would make the oven fries to serve with other dishes. My husband rated it a B+/A-. He was disappointed that I didn’t make more dipping sauces, particularly a barbecue sauce. My toddler declined to eat any of it at all. I guess it’s not real chicken nuggets and fries when your mom makes it.

I haven’t received this week’s challenge yet, so stay tuned. Also, now that the recent spate of holidays has passed, I promise to get back on a weekly cooking and posting schedule, at least for a while.

Cheesy Chicken Sandwiches

This week’s challenge was inspired by an article my husband saw in the New York Times Magazine, extolling the virtues of those cheesy, meat-filled sandwiches that taste so good after a night of drinking. Every college seems to have its own specialty, and the grandfather of them all is the Philly cheesesteak. My husband wanted me to create such a sandwich.

To be honest, I am not a fan of these types of sandwiches, as they are usually too greasy and heavy for me. So I tried to come up with a sandwich that pays homage to the cheesesteak and its ilk, but is still something I would like — that is, lighter and more flavorful.

While the resulting sandwich is not a true cheesesteak in any sense, we both still enjoyed the results. It begins with a toasted hoagie roll (my husband says the bun would not be toasted in a real Philly cheesesteak, but I am a Southern girl and didn’t know this; besides, I like a crusty roll). Before toasting, I pulled out much of the doughy insides, leaving a bread shell in which to stuff the filling. This keeps the sandwich from spilling out all over your shirt as you eat it.

Inside the bun, layer sauteed, thinly sliced chicken; sauteed red onion and mushrooms; sliced sweet piquante peppers; and sliced provolone cheese. The whole torpedo is put in a hot oven for a few minutes to warm it through and melt the cheese. Meanwhile, spread on the top bun a homemade chili mayonnaise of my own concoction to add flavor and creaminess. My husband doesn’t like mayonnaise, but that doesn’t seem to apply to homemade, flavored mayos, which don’t taste anything like the jarred variety.

This challenge was a definite hit, and pretty easy to make too. Serve with a pickle and oven fries. Next week: a Mexican menu!

Chili Mayonnaise

I made this mayonnaise with a hand blender, but it can also be made in a blender or food processor or, if you are very industrious, whisked by hand.

Combine in the blender:

• 1 egg
• ¼ cup olive oil
• ½ teaspoon mustard
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• Cayenne pepper to taste (about a dash)
• Juice of ½ lemon

Blend until well combined. While the blender is running, slowly pour in ¾ cup vegetable or canola oil. The mayonnaise should emulsify to a thick, yellowish-white consistency as you pour in the oil.

Mix into the finished mayonnaise:

• ¼ cup chili sauce
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• ¼ cup roasted red pepper, minced
• ¼ cup scallions, minced
• additional salt, cayenne and lemon juice to taste

The finished mayonnaise makes 1 cup and will keep in the fridge for about 1 week. In addition to eating it on the chicken sandwiches, I used it as a dressing for salad greens and for chicken salad, and I spread it on turkey sandwiches. Yum! I think it would also be very good as a dipping sauce for fried fish or boiled shrimp.

Here Come the Wings

This week’s challenge was to make chicken wings, in honor of March Madness. (Apparently, chicken wings are a favorite for snacking while watching sports.)

Now, I am not a huge fan of wings. I usually find them too fatty and greasy for my tastes. So I think I’ve only cooked them once or twice before.

When I don’t know what to start, I turn to one of my reference cookbooks. First on my list is Mark Bittman‘s How to Cook Everything (Revised Edition), and sure enough, I found a recipe for chicken wings in the Appetizers section. Bittman’s recipe promised the tastiness and crust of deep-fried wings without the deep frying. It sounded like the perfect solution. (Since I didn’t modify the recipe, I won’t reprint it here, but if you don’t own a copy of Bittman’s cookbook, you really should.)

Bittman’s method is to first roast the chicken wings with a little olive oil, salt and pepper — turning and basting them halfway through with their own fat — for close to an hour. You then baste them with the flavorful sauce of your choice and turn the oven heat up high to achieve that brown, crusty skin.

Bittman offers six variations of sauces, and we tried three. Of those, we liked the traditional hot sauce (I used my leftover barbecue sauce from a previous challenge) and the ginger-soy glaze the best. Both of these darkened nicely and developed a crunchy skin, while soaking up lots of flavor. The beer-and-butter sauce was a bit too subtle, though, and those wings didn’t get nearly as brown.

My husband and I both enjoyed the end result very much. (The toddler refused to sample them.) The meat was falling off the bones and flavorful, without being too fatty or greasy, which is what usually turns me off about wings. During the long roasting time, most of the fat cooked away, but the meat did stay tender. Adding the sauce just at the end ensured it didn’t burn or get cooked away. I only wish I had made extra sauce for dipping.

I served these with crudites: celery sticks, cherry tomatoes and quartered mushrooms, plus a simple blue cheese dip, also from Bittman’s book, which I made by mixing blue cheese, lemon juice and plain yogurt. I would definitely prepare this yummy meal again for a party or sports-watching event. I think the wings would taste good at room temperature, and so also would make great picnic food.

All in all, a successful challenge! My husband hasn’t issued next week’s challenge yet, so stay tuned to see what it will be.

Blue Cheese Dressing

Image via Wikipedia

If it is possible to be in love with a salad dressing, then I am head over heels for blue cheese dressing. It is my decadent treat at home-style Italian restaurants and steakhouses. But it’s even better to make at home, because then you can ensure you get lots of blue cheese goodness, and you can eat the batch all week. This dressing not only works on salads — I recommend romaine hearts, croutons, tomatoes and bacon — but it also makes a good dip for crudites and chicken wings.

Blue Cheese Dressing

Makes about ¾ cup

• 2½ ounces blue cheese, crumbled (about ½ cup)
• 3 tablespoons buttermilk or substitute whole milk, if you must
• 3 tablespoons sour cream
• 2 tablespoons plain yogurt (you can also use mayonnaise, but I prefer yogurt)
• 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
• ¼ teaspoon sugar
• ⅛ teaspoon garlic powder
• Salt and ground black pepper

Mash the blue cheese and buttermilk or milk together with a fork until the you’ve achieved the right crumbly-creamy texture to suit your tastes. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Add salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate in an airtight container up to 1 week.

Restaurant-style Crab & Artichoke Dip

I think this recipe is just as good as the crab dip you get in restaurants, and it’s surprisingly simple to make. Serve this with water crackers or slices of toasted baguette.

Restaurant-style Crab & Artichoke Dip

Serves: 8
Time to make: ~30 minutes

• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 2 tbsp. onion, chopped
• 1 tbsp. mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp. horseradish
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• 8 oz. marinated, jarred artichoke hearts
• white pepper and paprika
• ½ lb. crabmeat
• food processor

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix all of the ingredients except the crabmeat until combined. Gently fold in the crabmeat. Spread in a baking dish and bake 15-20 minutes, until bubbly.

Caesar Salad at Home

Probably my favorite salad to get when eating out is the Caesar Salad. When made well, a Caesar Salad is crispy, crunchy and salty (due to the Parmesan) with a dressing that is creamy, tangy, garlicky and puckery. When made poorly, a Caesar Salad is a mess of lettuce covered in glop, but I try to avoid those restaurants. Still, I was daunted by making a Caesar Salad at home. I didn’t really want to mess about with raw eggs and anchovies on a weeknight. So I came up with this pseudo-Caesar recipe, which — even though it’s not authentic — captures for me everything a Caesar Salad should be and comes together in about 5 minutes.

Caesar Salad

Serves: 2
Time to make: ~5 minutes

To make the dressing, process together:

• 3 tbsp. olive oil
• 1½ tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• ½ tsp. Dijon mustard
• ½ tsp. anchovy paste (can be found in the specialty or Italian foods aisle)
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• plenty of freshly ground pepper

The salad itself is a snap. Just combine:

• freshly torn romaine lettuce
• croutons — I make mine by cubing and toasting day-old bread until dried out
• Parmesan — shave it with a vegetable peeler

If I’m feeling really naughty, I might toss in some cherry tomatoes, hard-boiled egg, leftover roasted chicken… Somebody stop me!