The Mexican food fairy visited last weekend and left delectable chilaquiles in our refrigerator. This act of kindness occurred even after we had subjected her to days of hard labor, which she effortlessly completed with sweeps of her magic wand (I want one of those).

Chilaquiles are yet another Mexican dish to love and cherish. They taste good any time of day. They are easy to serve to large groups. Also, I hear (from a very reliable source) that they are good for curing hangovers.

From what I understand, chilaquiles is like what meatloaf is to Midwesterners: a staple of the family repertoire, with no two recipes alike. Thank God it tastes nothing like meatloaf.

According to the encyclopedic cookbook, El Gran Libro de la Cocina Mexicana by Susanna Palazuelos, a version of chilaquiles was made in prehispanic times. The word “chilaquiles” derives from Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs: “chilli” (chile) and quilitil (edible herb). Guess what’s in the recipe?

The Mexican food fairy makes chilaquiles with green sauce (salsa verde), though red sauce could be substituted. She says you can make the chicken and salsa days ahead of time – or even freeze them (cooked) weeks ahead of time so they are ready when you want to make this dish.

Serve with a side of black beans and a fried egg on top, if you wish.

Chilaquiles
- serves 8 -

For the salsa verde
10 tomatillos, husked
¼ of a white onion
small handful of fresh cilantro
1 clove garlic
1-2 serrano chiles (taste to see how hot they are to see how many you want)*
Chicken bullion cube (like the soft Knorr cubes that make 2 cups broth)

For the chicken
2 large chicken breasts
1 large clove garlic
¼ of a white onion
small handful of fresh cilantro
Salt
Water

For assembly
About 8 oz. (half to three-quarters of a bag) thick, yellow corn tortilla chips (Mexican “restaurant style,” NOT Tostitos)
½ white onion, sliced and rinsed
1 cup Mexican crema (like Cacique brand); if you can’t get crema, thin some sour cream with a little milk to a slightly creamy liquid consistency
Shredded Monterrey Jack cheese

To make the chicken: In a small stock pot, put raw chicken, onion, garlic, cilantro and just cover with cold water. Season with salt. Heat on medium-high until chicken is cooked, about 20 minutes. Remove chicken from water to cool; reserve cooking liquid. When chicken is cooler, use two forks to shred it.

To make the salsa verde: In a dry sauté pan, roast the tomatillos, chili, onion and garlic until golden.  Cut tomatillos in half and roughly chop the onion, garlic and cilantro. Put all in a blender with the bullion cube and some of the cooking liquid from the chicken. Blend until you get a smooth sauce. Taste and add more salt if needed.

To assemble the chilaquiles: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. In a 9×12” glass Pyrex, spread a thin layer of salsa verde. Add the tortilla chips. Top with shredded chicken then the rest of the salsa verde, crema, cheese and sliced onion. Bake about 15 minutes, or until all is heated through. Broil to just brown the top, 3-5 minutes.

Serve warm as-is, or top each portion with a fried egg, with a side of black beans.

* You can keep whole serrano chiles wrapped in plastic in the freezer for weeks.

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The usual reason for the crowds is the fruit. Candycots, pluots, peaches, nectarines, figs, berries, cherries, mmm. Crowd-pleasers for sure, but summer is also the start of tomatillo season and there are a couple of farmers here and there who’ll have a small box of these treasures at the market.

Tomatillos are small, green fruits and are the basis for salsa verde. I grew up in Philadelphia, and I had no idea that salsa was anything other than that canned stuff they sold in the chip aisle until I was 20 years old. Sad, I know.

I came across this recipe in some old recipe book that I can no longer remember the name of. Helpful, no? Anyway, the important thing is that this is the only recipe that I thought delicious enough to commit to memory from that entire book. What I love about it is that it’s a simple, fresh-tasting dish that’s great for weeknights. Every now and then I think I might roast the tomatillos and onions first, but then the laziness sets in and then I don’t. If any of you decide to do it, let me know how it turns out!

Tomatillo Chicken
– 2 generous portions -

1 lb. tomatillos
4 skinless, bone-in chicken thighs, rinsed and patted dry
4 large cloves of garlic, smashed
1 medium onion, sliced
1 jalapeno, sliced
handful of cilantro leaves (optional)
olive or canola oil
salt
pepper

rice for serving

1. Look for firm tomatillos with a bright green color. I generally pull the husk back a smidge to check the color. Prepare the tomatillos by first removing them from the husk. Here’s a photo of a tomatillo with the husk pulled back (isn’t it cute?). To remove it, just give the tomatillo a little twist and the husk will come right off:

2. Next step in the prep is to wash the tomatillos thoroughly. You’ll notice that there’s a sticky residue on the de-husked tomatillo. I generally dump the de-husked tomatillos in a bowl of water and rub the bejeezus out of them in 2 changes of water.

3. After the tomatillos are washed and clean, slice in half and set aside.

4. Heat about 1 tbsp of oil a saucepan over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the chicken and lightly brown on both sides. You’re looking for more of a light golden color than a brown color here.

5. When the chicken is browned, add the garlic and stir for about 30 seconds, until fragrant. Then add the onions, jalapenos, and the tomatillos. Give it a stir to mix it all up. Turn the heat down to low and cover. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. The tomatillos will break down as they’re cooking and give up their juice to form your sauce.

6. After 20 minutes, remove the cover and raise the heat to medium. Reduce the sauce to your desired level of consistency, for me that’s usually about 2-3 minutes.

7. Check your seasoning and add salt and pepper as necessary. Stir in the cilantro and serve over rice. Enjoy!

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Chicken and Lentil Curry with Barley

For this recipe, I started with the America’s Test Kitchen recipe for Chicken Tikka Masala. Even though there’s nothing particularly unhealthy about boneless, skinless chicken breast that necessitates removing it, I wanted to see if I could cut back. So I replaced half the chicken with two kinds of lentils. The red lentils break down entirely during the cooking, thickening the sauce. The green lentils retain their structure, which provides a nice textural contrast in the dish.

Chicken & Lentil Curry
- serves 6-8 -

For the Chicken
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
1/2 C plain Greek yogurt (nonfat works just fine)
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press
1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger

For the Lentils and Sauce
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium onion, diced fine
2 medium garlic cloves , minced or pressed through a garlic press
2 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 Tbsp garam masala
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 serrano chile
1 1/2 C water
3/4 C dried red lentils, rinsed
3/4 C dried green lentils, rinsed
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 C half-and-half
1/4 C chopped fresh cilantro

1 For the chicken, combine cumin, coriander, cayenne, and salt in small bowl. Sprinkle both sides of chicken with spice mixture, pressing gently so mixture adheres. Cover the chicken and refrigerate for 30 to 60 minutes. In large bowl, whisk together yogurt, oil, garlic, and ginger; set aside.

2. While the chicken marinates, prepare the sauce. In a large Dutch over, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook 8-10 minutes, stirring, until it just starts to brown. Add the garlic, ginger, serrano chile, tomato paste, and garam masala. Cook for about another 3-4 minutes, stirring, until the tomato paste begins to brown.

3. Add the crushed tomatoes, lentils, 1 C water, sugar, and salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. This is a good time to turn on the broiler for the chicken.

4. After the lentils have been cooking for about 20 minutes, dip the chicken in the yogurt mixture and coat it completely. Broil until the thickest part is 160° F, about 15 -20 minutes, depending on your broiler.

5. While the chicken is broiling, keep stirring the lentils occasionally. If they get to dry, add the remaining water. Cook until the red lentils blend into the sauce and the green lentils are cooked. Ideally, the lentils will be done right when the chicken is, but whichever is done first can rest for a bit.

6. After taking the chicken out of the broiler, let it rest for about 5 minutes. Add the half-and-half to the lentils and sauce, and bring the pot to a simmer.

7. Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces. Stir the chicken and cilantro to the dish.

Serve with rice and chutney

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I offer you this approach to BBQ sauce based on a family recipe from a dear friend who hails from Kansas City. Give it a try the next time you fire up the grill. Once you make BBQ sauce at home you’ll realize how easy it is and you’ll never go back to that bottle of Bull’s Eye again.

Classic BBQ Sauce

2 garlic cloves
1 inch piece of ginger
3 T unsalted butter
1 ¼ c Heinz ketchup
¼ c water
3 T Worcestershire sauce
3 T honey
3 T fresh lemon juice
hot sauce

Peel ginger and grate using a micro-plane. Peel garlic and then mince it or pass it through a garlic press.

Place heavy bottom sauce pan over medium heat. Add butter to pot and swirl until melted. Add ginger and garlic to the melted butter. Cook on medium heat until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Do not let garlic and ginger brown.

Add ketchup and water to pot and stir until combined. Next add Worcestershire sauce, honey, lemon juice and hot sauce (to taste). Stir to combine, reduce heat to medium low, cover and let simmer for at least 30 minutes. Keep stirring every 5-7 minutes to prevent scorching.

Taste sauce after simmering has finished and adjust seasoning with additional lemon juice or hot sauce as you like. Sauce is best when made the night before use, allowing flavors to meld. It can be kept in a glass container in the fridge for up to 7 days.

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No related posts were found, so here's a consolation prize: Cedar Plank Salmon.

Then disaster struck. I cut up the carrots. Then I cut up the potatoes. Everything was going fine. Then I opened the meat, purchased only two days prior from a grocery store that will remain nameless. The meat was rotten. Not “a little gamey” or “on the maybe side.” It was funkier than George Clinton.

We considered ordering delivery, but cooking was a point of pride for me. And I’m stubborn. And the potatoes and carrots were already cut up and waiting. So I made chicken stew. Sub out rotten beef for chicken thigh meat from the freezer. Replace the cabernet with white wine (in that case, 2006 Tres Sabores sauvignon blanc). Tweak the seasoning for chicken instead of beef. It was perfect. Not only did I cook a romantic dinner, I did it in MacGyver style. We’ve made it numerous times since then, tweaking here and there every time, but starting with this basic recipe.

Chicken Stew

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thigh.
1 lb. red potatoes, quartered
3 large carrots, cut into 1 1/2″ to 2″ pieces
1 medium onion, chopped coarsely
1 C pearl onions (frozen is fine)
1 C frozen peas
1 C white wine
1 C chicken stock
1/2 C dijon mustard
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tsp. dried tarragon
1/2 lb mushrooms, cut in thick slices
olive oil
salt
pepper
flour

egg noodles or other pasta for serving

1. Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper, then dredge in flour.

2. Heat about a tablespoon of olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium high heat. Brown the chicken on all sides. Remove the chicken and set aside.

3. Lower the heat to medium and add the chopped onion and carrots to the pot. Cook for five minutes, until the carrots just start to soften. Stir in the garlic and cook for another minute.

4. Add the tarragon and rosemary, then pour in the white wine, stirring to pick up anything that is stuck to the bottom of the pan. Add in the chicken stock and mustard, stir, and bring everything up to a simmer.

5. Add the potatoes and put the chicken back in the pot. Cover and simmer over medium heat for about 40 minutes.

6. When there are about 10 minutes left in the cooking time, heat a tsp. of olive oil in a small skillet, and saute the mushrooms until they start to give off all of their moisture, about 5-10 minutes, depending on the mushrooms.

7. After the 40 minutes is up, remove the chicken from the stew with a pair of tongs. Lower the heat to medium-low, and add the mushrooms, the pearl onions, and the peas to the pot. Cover and cook 10 minutes.

8. While the stew is simmering, chop or shred the chicken thighs into bite-size pieces.

9. Return the chicken to the pot, stir, and serve over egg noodles or rice.

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Using REALLY local ingredients, I snipped a few sizeable pieces of rosemary from our backyard. The rosemary bush is growing out of control – but it is one of the only plants that has survived the onslaught of the evil snails, so I love it. (Die, snails, die! And no, unfortunately they are not of the escargot variety.)

All the ladies should be growing hedges of Rosemarinus officinalis, according to a supposedly old saying noted in this Encyclopedia Britannica entry:  “where rosemary thrives the mistress is master.” Hm.

Butterflying the chicken is key to helping it cook faster (30 minutes!), and you can put it on a grill pan in the oven like I did, or bring it out to the grill so that you get delicious crispy skin.  If you don’t have a grill pan or a grill, I guess you could put it on a roasting rack or a metal cooling rack in a roasting pan – just raise it up so it’s not sitting in the fat on the bottom of the pan.

Marinating the chicken ahead of time gives it great flavor – so prep it and stick it in the fridge in the morning or early afternoon on a Sunday, go about your business, and then pop it in the oven when you get home for an easy dinner.

Butterflied Chicken with Rosemary Gremolata

4-lb. whole chicken
1 T coarse kosher salt
3 large cloves garlic
12-inch sprig of rosemary
Zest of 1 lemon
Freshly ground pepper
Olive oil

At least two to three hours before you want to start cooking, rinse and dry the chicken. Split the chicken up the breastbone and push it flat. Pull the leaves off the rosemary sprig and chop together with garlic, salt, a few grinds of pepper and lemon zest until you get pretty fine bits. The salt should help break down the garlic and rosemary. It should be smelling pretty good!

Put the chicken in a glass or ceramic baking dish and spread the rosemary garlic paste under and/or over the skin of the chicken. Rub on some olive oil. Cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge to marinate for at least two to three hours.

To cook the chicken:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Place chicken on a lightly greased grill pan, breast/skin side up. Cook for about 30-40 minutes, or until juices run clear when you puncture a meaty part with a fork. Check chicken every 15 minutes to baste with juices and cover with tin foil if it’s getting too brown too fast. Let rest 10 minutes before carving.

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Everyone loves a meat pie. All around the world… calzones, pasties, knishes, samosas, gyoza, pierogis, turnovers, and empanadas. Bastilla is a Moroccan twist on the meat pie. With chicken, eggs, nuts, and cinnamon sugar, it’s a perfect dish for brunch. Crunchy, sweet, and savory all wrapped up in one.

This recipe is loosely based on this “Bastilla – Traditional Moroccan Recipe.” That’s a great starting point, with excellent pictures illustrating the technique. I use more layers of phyllo, and add salt, garlic, and cumin. Following some other recipes, I also layer the eggs and chicken separately, rather than mixing them. Because my version uses more phyllo, it also uses more butter. Once you try it out, you can adjust to your own tastes.

This dish is a crowd pleaser every time.

It’s a lot of steps, but none of them are actually that hard, so don’t be intimidated. It’s well worth the effort.

Bastilla
- serves 8 -

1/2 chicken (1 whole bone-in breast and 1 leg quarter)
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 whole cinnamon stick
1 cup chopped cilantro
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
kosher salt
6 eggs
1/3 pound peeled almonds
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
7 large sheets phyllo pastry dough, thawed according to directions on the package
1/2 cup melted butter

powdered sugar and cinnamon to garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

2. Season the chicken generously with kosher salt.

3. In a deep saucepan or small pot, heat the olive oil over high heat. Brown the chicken on all sides. It takes about 3-4 minutes per side. You don’t need to cook it through, but browning adds some depth to the flavor of the chicken before you start boiling it.

4. Add the chopped onion, ginger, turmeric, pepper, cumin, cinnamon stick, cilantro and garlic to the pot, and stir to distribute the spices. Cook for a minute.

5. Add a pinch of salt and enough water to keep the chicken covered. Boil until the chicken is cooked, about 25-30 minutes. Remove from the liquid to cool.

6. Strain the cooking liquid.

7. Beat the eggs with 1/3 C of the cooking liquid from the chicken. Cook over medium heat to a soft scramble, stirring occasionally. The eggs are going to continue cooking when you bake the bastilla, so you really want to stop just when they reach cooked, even if you would normally cook your eggs harder. You can save the remaining cooking liquid to use in any dish you’d use chicken stock. Substitute it for water when you’re cooking rice and you’ll have a great side dish.

8. When the chicken has cooled, remove the meat from the bones and cut it into small pieces.

9. In a clean skillet, toast the almonds for about a minute, maybe two, stirring or shaking the pan occasionally. You should see a little bit of color and be able to smell a nutty aroma.

10. Mix the almonds with the sugar and ground cinnamon, then either put the whole mix in a food processor for a few seconds to chop the nuts, or put in a zip lock bag and crush the nuts with a rolling pin or the bottom of a skillet. I like the texture better with some slightly bigger pieces, so I do the latter. But you can grind it all the way down to a coarse meal in the food processor if you prefer.

11. Melt the butter. Some recipes say to clarify it, but I don’t think it’s worth the trouble.

12. Brush the bottom of a glass or metal pie pan, or an oven-safe skillet, with melted butter. Lay one sheet of phyllo dough in the pan. The sheet will be bigger than the pan, so you’ll have a lot hanging over the sides.

13. Brush the layer of phyllo with melted butter. Place another sheet of phyllo on top, off center so that the edge of the phyllo dough is against the edge of the pan on one side, and all of the excess dough hangs over the other side of the pan. Brush with butter and repeat with another layer overhanging in the other direction. Repeat twice more so you have a total of 5 overlapping layers of phyllo on the bottom of the pan.

14. Put half of the almond mixture into the bottom of the pan. Spread half the chicken over the almonds. Then spread the eggs over the chicken. Spread the remaining chicken over the eggs. Then add the rest of the almonds on top.

15. Cover the bastilla with a full sheet of phyllo, brush with butter, and add the last sheet. Brush the top with butter and then carefully fold over all the excess dough from the bottom layers. This will eventually be the bottom of the bastilla, so it doesn’t have to look pretty!

16. Bake at 350°F until golden brown. It will probably take close to 25 minutes, but you want to start checking around 15 minutes so you don’t burn it. If you use fewer sheets of phyllo it will brown faster.

17. Remove the bastilla from oven and carefully turn it over onto a plate or into another skillet. Dust heavily with powdered sugar and sprinkle with cinnamon to decorate. Serve hot or at room temperature.

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Ok. This is so easy I don’t even know that what I’m providing should be called a recipe.  Either way, I’ve made this about three times so far; each time I take the first bite I say with surprise, “hey, this is good.”

It all started with a little bag of garam masala.  I was looking up a few japanese curry recipes online and one of them suggested adding garam masala to store-bought japanese curry powder.  As I am wont to do, I bought WAY too much garam masala.  Whoever said that buying spices through the bulk bin saved money didn’t take into account that satisfying scooping feeling.

Then on a fateful evening, while contemplating a couple of raw chicken thighs, I opened up the spice cabinet and my eyes rested on that bloated bag of garam masala.  The key is to be very generous with the garam masala so that as the chicken browns in the pan, the garam masala almost forms a crust.  A tasty, tasty crust.

Garam Masala-Crusted Chicken
- serves 2 -

4 bone-in chicken thighs, skinless
8 tsp garam masala
1-2 tbsp olive oil
salt
lemon (optional)

1. Rinse and pat dry chicken thighs and rub each thigh with 2 tsp of garam masala — 1tsp per side.  If you have large chicken thighs, feel free to use more.
2. Sprinkle chicken thighs with salt.
3. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and when the pan is hot, put the chicken in the pan.
4. Brown each side thoroughly and cook until done — 12-15 min.
5. Squeeze lemon juice over thighs, if using.

In the above photo, I’m serving the chicken with brown rice and tatsoi sauteed in garlic and olive oil.  I think that if I’m not feeling so lazy next time, I might make an herby (dill?) lemony yogurt dressing for the chicken.

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