Buffalo Chicken Bake

Buffalo Chicken Bake

     I was first inspired to try this based on a Pinterest post.  Buffalo Wings have become ubiquitous bar food in the U.S.  The term "Buffalo" refers to chicken wings fried and then tossed in a vinegar, cayenne, and butter sauce.  The origins of it are unclear but it's generally assumed to have originated in Buffalo New York.  I love the flavors and crave it often - but the nutrition balance is out of whack for my personal goals.  While overall this recipe would hardly be considered "low-fat" or "low calorie" by a nutritionist, I feel it's marked improvement from what I saw in my research.  Fat and calories tallies often get kicked to the curb by many chefs in deference to flavor. I'm trying to be more sensitive.  I use real butter and real full-fat cheese, but make adjustments in volumes where I feel flavor and texture won't be compromised.

     I broke from my usual insistence on making my own sauces and pulled a bottle of Franks Wing Sauce from the pantry.  It's a product I like.  On the contrary, I find most commercial Ranch dressings to be revolting and drab.  In one place I worked I used to make ranch dressing 8 gallons at a time - all of it mayo and sour-cream based.  Opening and dispensing these bladders of pre-made mayo are to this day one of the most revolting things I've ever done in a kitchen.  Don't get me wrong, I LIKE a good mayonnaise... just not THAT brand of mayo. I thought I'd take a stab at making one from scratch and lighten it up as I went.  The result I think turned out well.

Ingredients:
~pasta:
8 oz penne rigate (dry weight)
+Water, Salt, and olive oil
~protein:
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (cubed 1")
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp vegetable oil
~ranch dressing:
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
1/2 cup no-fat greek yogurt
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried dill
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup "franks wing sauce" (or more to taste)
~assembly:
1 tblp unsalted butter (+ a smidge extra to grease the dish)
1/2  yellow onion (med dice)
2 cloves garlic (minced)
6 oz blue cheese (crumbled: 4 oz for filling, 2 oz for top)
~garnish:
1/4 cup green onion (bias cut)

Method:

1. Prepare pasta per package directions.  Drain well.
2. Dry rub:  Pat chicken dry with a towel and then add to a bowl with seasonings and oil.  Stir to combine and thoroughly coat chicken.  Refrigerate while dressing is made (or at least 20min.)
3. Make dressing and start filling: In a large bowl, combine buttermilk, yogurt, and dry seasonings.  Stir in wing sauce and 2/3 of the blue cheese.  Taste check and add adjust seasonings as needed (some brands of cheese come off saltier than others).  Now is also the time to adjust amount of heat from wing sauce.
4. Complete filling:  In skillet over med-high heat.  Add chicken and brown on all sides until golden.  Remove chicken from pan (keep warm) and add to dressing mixture.  In the same hot skillet add butter.  Swirl butter to coat pan and add onion.  Sauté onion until just starting to brown.  Add garlic, mix into onion and continue to cook till garlic "blooms".  Add onion/garlic mixture to dressing/chicken mixture.  Add pasta to chicken mixture.  Stir to combine.  Add cooked pasta.  Stir to combine.
5. Bake: Butter a 9x13 glass baking dish and add chicken/pasta mixture.  Sprinkle with remaining 2oz blue cheese.  Cover with foil and bake at 375F for 20min.  Remove foil and return to oven for another 10-15 min. to get a little crisp on the pasta and melt the cheese.  Garnish with green onions and serve.

Yield:  6 servings

Goulash ala Hops

Hello!  It's been far too long since I've made an installment.  Did you miss me?  I've been working on contract in Florida and I'm glad to return to Portland.  It's harvest time and time to play around in the kitchen!

Freshly harvested Cascade Hops

I consider myself an adventurous foodie and I'm always looking for new things to try in the kitchen. Hops are in season here in Oregon and a friend of mine raised a crop off from a first-year start obtained early this spring.  Aren't they pretty?

Hops are not what you think of as something to eat and are more commonly used as a bittering agent in the production of beer.  Since one of my favorite types of beer is an extremely hoppy IPA it got me thinking about how it might translate as a flavoring in food preparation.  I decided to experiment.  I'll tell you now that you DON'T want to eat one of these flowers raw.  They are indescribably bitter.  I did a couple experimental dishes and this is what I've learned.

My first experiment was a batch of chicken and dumplings.  I wanted something fairly simple to make tasting the hops easier.  I was worried they might get lost if I seasoned too heavily.  That was a mistake.  I added five or so hop buds to the stew as it simmered.  The dish picked up a distinct hop flavor - pleasant at first, but as the stew reduced the buds started to deteriorate and broke apart making them irretrievable.  Biting into one of these chunks was not pleasant.  That being said it did impart a nice flavor - bitter, but pleasant.  The leftovers were gross.  Hops sitting overnight in the dish made it inedible as the flavors melded and the bitterness increased.  Lesson learned - use it, but use moderation and remove them when you get what you want from them.  Much in the way Bay leaves are used in soup.  One interesting thing I noticed was the meat didn't pick up the bitterness the way the liquid components did.  In future experiments I'll experiment using them as a component for a brine.

This led me to get thinking more about the hop flavor and what I like to pair with a strong IPA.  Mexican and Indian cuisines were what first came to mind but my cupboard was bare for such dishes.  I had sweet paprika, chicken breasts, chicken stock, yellow onions, mushrooms, garlic, and celery.  A Goulash was born!  Apologies for not having a picture of the plated finished dish... it was so delicious we ate it all!

Ingredients:
~
1/2 C all-purpose flour
1/2 t kosher salt
1/4 t ground black pepper
2 large chicken breasts (trimmed and cut into 1" chunks
~
2 T olive oil
3 med yellow onions (sliced thin pole to pole)
3 T sweet paprika
2 fresh cascade hops
1/2 t ground cumin
1/8 t ground ginger
1/8 t ground cinnamon
6 large cremini mushrooms (cut in eighths - I prefer big chunks)
2 ribs celery (diced)
3-5 cloves garlic (sliced)
pinch salt
2 cups chicken stock

Method:

1.  In a large bowl combine flour, salt and black pepper.  Pat chicken chunks dry and add to bowl.  Toss chicken to coat all sides evenly with flour mixture.  Remove chicken from excess flour mixture and set aside.

2.  In a large saute pan heat oil over med-hi til a small piece of onion sizzles on contact.  Add remaining onion to pan and saute to coat onions evenly with oil.  Immediately add paprika, hops, cumin, ginger, and cinnamon, stirring to coat everything and mix the spices evenly.  Continue saute until onions begin to release their moistue and have had time to caramelize a bit.  You want the mixture to caramelize but not get too dry.  Add the mushrooms, celery, garlic, and a pinch of salt.  Again, toss to coat everything evenly and return to heat.

3.  When the mushrooms begin to release their liquids, add the chicken stock.  Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce to simmer.  Add the floured chicken chunks and stir to coat.  Simmer gently for 10 min and remove the hops.  Continue to simmer until chicken is done and liquids have reduced to the desired consistency.  (Thicken with beurre-manie if needed).

This is great served over rice and paired with wilted greens.  Although this is chicken the paprika makes a nice pairing with a bold red wine.

End of Classes

My time at Le Cordon Bleu Portland has drawn to a close.  Ending GPA = 4.0.  YAY!

Wednesday (the last day) we had to prepare a single dish from a mystery box.  Essentially it was time to clean out the walk-in cooler before spring break.  We were told we would be assigned either chicken or salmon - and were asked to pull ingredients for two servings of vegetables and a starch.

Braised Chicken in Gingered Pan Gravy

I drew Chicken and had pulled Rapini, Summer Squash, and Sweet Potatoes.  For garnish, I decided to depart from the ubiquitous minced parsley and went with roasted leek threads.  The braise liquid originated with mirepoix a brun, singer a blond, deglaze with a sherry vinegar and then augmented with a vegetable stock flavored with bay and black pepper, thyme, parsley, and fresh ginger.  The chicken was seared off with a dusting of salt, coriander, fennel, and pink peppercorns and then landed in the braise liquid to finish.  It was tasty!

I got a little emotional walking around taking thank you notes to my instructors.  I'm so happy to have made it through and grateful to them for sharing their knowledge with me.   The next stage of my education is Internship!  NOW GET TO WORK!

Red Chicken and Bean Enchiladas

served with Spanish Rice

I've tried many kinds of enchiladas in my life but my favorites are usually done in what I call the "Red" style.  Hot red chili sauce bathing filled corn tortillas and topped off with gooey cheese, shredded cabbage, sour cream, and a homemade guacamole.  Trader Joe's brand Enchilada sauce has quickly become a pantry staple. Making my own enchilada sauce is going to be a project for another day.

This is easy to make ahead and can please a crowd for dinner or keep you in lunches for a good part of the week. Since it is rather labor intensive, if you have extra casserole dishes, I'd recommend making up a double batch and freezing half.  While the texture suffers a bit on reheat it makes a good lunch.

Ingredients:
~Marinade: ~~~~~~~~~~
1 large chicken breast (pounded flat, cut into 1/4"-1/2" cubes)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon round black pepper
~~Fillings:~~~~~~~~~~
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small yellow sweet onion (peeled, concasse)
2 cloves garlic (peeled, hacher)
1 orange bell pepper (seeded, des)
1 large jalapeno pepper (seeded, brunoisette)
1 cup tomato juice
1 (15oz) can kidney beans (rinsed and drained)
4 ounces cheddar cheese (shredded, divided)
~~~Assemble:~~~~~~~~~~~
8-10 6-inch corn tortillas (thawed)
cooking oil
~~~~Garnish:~~~~~~~~~~~
cabbage (shredded)
sour cream (creamed)
guacamole (fresh is best)
finely chopped tomato (brunoisette)
green onions (sifflet)
black olives (rouelle)
~~~~~Yield Info:~~~~~~~~~~
Makes 8-10 enchiladas
Serving size 2 enchiladas

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Marinade: Dry off chicken chunks with paper towel and add to clean mixing bowl.  Combine salt, chili powder, cumin, coriander, paprika, and black pepper.  Sprinkle salt mixture evenly over chicken.  Stir to combine well and evenly coat chicken with spice mixture.  Marinate refrigerated in zip-loc minimum 1 hour (best 4 to overnight)
3. Fillings: Heat a large skillet to med high.  Add 1/2 oil and heat to shimmy.  Add chicken and marinade juices, sear all sides, and cook to med rare.  Remove cooked chicken from pan, set aside and keep warm.  Add remaining olive oil to pan, heat to shimmy.  When hot add onions, saute in oil to coat, suer til golden, saute garlic, reduce til liquid is nearly gone.  Saute in bell peppers and jalapeno.  Add tomato juice and seared chicken to pan and deglaze suc and stirring to evenly cook chicken.  Reduce til liquids are nearly gone. Remove from heat.  Stir in beans and cool mixture before adding 2.5 ounces of shredded cheese.  Stir to mix evenly,
4. Prepare corn tortillas.  Heat small amount of cooking oil in a skillet to shimmy.  Add corn tortillas one at a time and cook briefly (count to 15 or 20 each side) to make them pliable.  Drain them on paper towels and keep warm.
5. Assemble enchiladas.  In the center of each tortilla smear in a circle one ounce of the enchilada sauce.  Add a small portion of the mixture (use a portion scoop to make them consistent).  Even out the mixture to a consistent height and roll up jelly-roll fashion.  Place in a casserole dish seam side down.  Repeat step 4 for each tortilla.  Pour remaining enchilada sauce evenly over rolls to cover all tortilla surfaces lightly with sauce.  Cover with foil.
6. Bake in oven at 350F for about 30min. or until things are bubbly.  Remove foil, add remaining cheese on top and return to oven for 10 more min. or until cheese is melted
7. Plate hot over a bed of shredded cabbage and garnish as desired.

Tips:

• Don't add frozen tortillas to hot oil - it can ignite!
• The filling makes a good topping for salads.