Thai Chicken Enchiladas

I was in the mood for something homey and satisfying for dinner last week. I know I'm crazy for turning on the oven this time of year but the weather was on the cooler side for July and I decided to make these awesome Thai Chicken Enchiladas. Plus, I had leftover Crockpot chicken, a small head of cabbage and the rest of my baby carrots from the garden to incorporate into a meal, so it was practically shouting, "make me for dinner!" I've adapted the recipe from howsweeteats.com just slightly to suit my need for spicy and sweet. (If you don't like spicy foods follow the link to the original recipe for a less spicy version, it's delicious!) I spiced up the chicken and veggie filling to help complement the lightly sweet coconut chili sauce. I've made these many times and I still shake my head in disbelief at how amazingly good these enchiladas are. I had three enchiladas in one sitting. No veggies. No Salad. Just these wonderfully sweet and spicy chicken enchiladas.

There are those days when you happily stumble upon a completely delicious recipe. One that, at first glance you might think may not be that good or has ingredients you're not too sure about. But, you plow ahead and make it and then you're completely floored by it's incredible flavor. This is that dish! Give it a try and let me know how you like it. 

Enjoy!
Lori

Thai Chicken Enchiladas (recipe adapted from howsweeteats.com)
Serves 2-4

8 small flour tortillas
2 chicken breasts, chopped or shredded (~3 cups)
1 T olive oil
2 cups cabbage, shredded
1 cup carrots, thinly sliced or shredded
1 bunch green onions, green and white parts chopped (~1 cup)
1 red or orange bell pepper, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
2 T garlic chili sauce (or more if you want it really spicy)
1/3 cup sweet chili sauce
1 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup peanuts, chopped

Sauce
2 cans lite coconut milk
1/2 cup sweet chili sauce

Chicken Marinade
1/2 cup yogurt                            1/2 t salt
4 cloves garlic, minced                 juice of one lemon
2 T olive oil                                1 t. hot curry powder(I used Spice Hunter)

1. Marinate chicken overnight or for a few hours. Grill and chop chicken. If you don't have the time to marinate, just use any leftover chicken and shred or chop into small pieces. I've made this with both the marinated chicken and also with some leftover Crockpot chicken. The Crockpot chicken shreds more easily. Set aside cooked chicken and preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Prepare all vegetables. Place cabbage, carrots, bell peppers, onions and garlic in oil in a large skillet and cook on medium heat until vegetables are soft. ~10 minutes. 

3. Add Chicken, chili garlic sauce, sweet chili sauce, cilantro and peanuts. Stir to incorporate with vegetables and heat until hot. About 3 minutes. Turn off heat and set aside.

4. In a large bowl add two cans of coconut milk and the sweet chili sauce. Whisk to combine. 

5. Add about a cup of the coconut sweet chili sauce mixture to the bottom of a large baking dish. Enough to fully coat the bottom of the pan with a thin layer. Fill flour tortillas with the chicken and vegetable mixture and roll enchilada. Place seam-side down in baking dish. 

6. Once all the enchiladas are rolled, pour the coconut chili sauce over each enchilada to coat. Make sure you don't fully submerge the enchiladas in sauce, the sauce should only come to about half way up the enchiladas in the pan.

7. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. About half way through cooking time, use a spoon to ladle some of the hot coconut chili sauce over the tops of the enchiladas. Basting the tops with the sauce helps to crisp up and brown the tortillas. 

8. Remove from oven, let sit for about 5 minutes, top with additional cilantro and peanuts and serve.  

Garden-Fresh Gazpacho

When I think of Gazpacho soup, I think of salsa. That's basically what it is, or at least a variation of it made with cucumbers. Funny thing for me, it's the middle of summer and it's hard for me to say something is a soup that is served cold. In my mind, soup conjures thoughts of cold nights curled up with a steaming bowl of soup to ease away the day and settle into the long nights of fall and winter. I imagine throwing together leftovers and root vegetables into a big pot to create a piping hot bowl of comforting soup. Oh, how I miss the cooler weather and all the satisfying soups to make...I'm daydreaming for seasons yet to come...probably because I'm already planning my fall recipes and activities. Or maybe it's that I'm going through soup withdrawal since I haven't made or posted a soup since winter. Yeah, it's probably a little of both. 
So to cure my soup withdrawal, I'd searched for a summer style soup to post and I found this classic summery Gazpacho soup from my 'go to' magazine, "Cuisine at Home". Until I came across this recipe, I admit, I'd never made Gazpacho or tasted it before. Surprise! It's delicious and refreshing and didn't heat up the house.  I served this soup along with some Italian meatball sub-sandwiches. My husband actually dipped his sub sandwich into it and ate the sandwich and soup like it was chips and salsa. It was super delicious and a great way to use up all those summer tomatoes from your garden and you can enjoy it the next day with a bag of tortilla chips too. Enjoy! 

Garden-Fresh Gazpacho (recipe from Cuisine At Home, May/June 2013)
Serves 4 (1 cup)

2 cups grape tomatoes. (I used red and yellow grape tomatoes, but you can substitute grape tomatoes with any variety of tomato.)
1 cup seeded and coarsely chopped cucumber
1/2 cup coarsely chopped red bell pepper
1/4 cup diced red onion
2 T extra-virgin olive oil
5 tsp. sherry vinegar
2 cloves garlic
1 slice white sandwich bread, crust removed, torn into pieces
Salt and pepper to taste

Pulse tomatoes. cucumber, bell pepper, red onion, oil, vinegar, garlic and bread in a food processor until pureed; season with salt and pepper.
Transfer soup to a bowl and chill at least one hour. Serve. 
If desired, garnish with additional cucumber, bell pepper and onion. 

S'mores Cellar Cake

When I was a little girl, my step mom, Caroline, used to make a German Cake called, Kellerkuchen or "Cellar Cake". She made it out of graham crackers layered with a sweetened German chocolate which was then chilled to set the chocolate. This was my favorite cake as a little girl. Although, it's less like a cake and more like a candy  bar, because you can cut off thin slices and eat it with your hands, just like a candy bar. I hadn't had Cellar Cake in a very long time, but I immediately thought of it when I set out to use some leftover ganache from the Peanut Butter Pound Cake I made earlier in the week. I took inspiration from Caroline's delicious Cellar Cake and added layers of marshmallows along with the ganache to make this very easy, S'mores Cellar Cake. 

This S'mores Cellar Cake is softer than Caroline's Cellar Cake. The main reason is because the ganache is soft and liquid at room temperature. In Caroline's Cellar Cake the chocolate was thicker and more like a hard frosting that hardened in the fridge and still held firm once pulled from the fridge. So this cake must be refrigerated to firm up the layers after you frost them. In fact, you may have to pop it into the fridge periodically during assembly if the chocolate gets too warm. If it sits in the refrigerator overnight, if it lasts that long, the graham crackers get soft and the marshmallows and chocolate all become this soft, chewy, delicious slice of heaven. The best part, it's as easy as making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, just spread the chocolate and marshmallow cream on each layer and stack it. Done! 

S'mores Cellar Cake
Makes 2 cakes

2 sleeve of Graham Crackers
3 cups marshmallows, any size
2 cups chocolate ganache
1 T butter

If you don't have leftover ganache as I did, you will need to make the ganache first and allow it to cool and thicken in the refrigerator. 

Chocolate Ganache

4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces
2/3 cup heavy cream

Place chocolate pieces into a medium bowl and set aside. Heat cream in small saucepan and bring to a gentle boil. Watch carefully to ensure you don't scorch the cream. Remove from heat and add hot cream to chocolate, let sit for about 5-10 minutes to melt the chocolate. Whisk until fully melted and incorporated. Let cool completely or place in the refrigerator to chill and thicken to a consistency of soft peanut butter. (~1 hour)

On medium heat, melt butter in small saucepan and add marshmallows. Allow marshmallows to melt, stirring frequently. Once they begin to melt together you can turn off the heat and let sit to melt completely. 

Line a bread pan with parchment paper. 

Each layer will consist of one and a half graham crackers.


Frost first layer of graham crackers with chocolate ganache. 

Frost the next layer with marshmallow cream. Position the whole graham cracker over the bottom half graham, kind of like you are laying bricks and continue to stagger the position throughout each layer. 

In these photos, I alternated the layers of chocolate and marshmallow cream. For my second cake, which I unfortunately didn't photograph, I put the chocolate and the marshmallow cream between each layer of graham crackers. To do this, simply frost the first cracker as stated, but for the second layer, lay the marshmallow cream cracker face down sandwiching with the chocolate. Frost the top of the second graham cracker with chocolate and repeat. Chill in refrigerator until set. Use parchment to lift cake out of pan, cut into 1" slices and serve.

Heirloom Tomato Salad with Grilled Maui Onion and Zucchini

This recipe comes from Grace-Marie's Kitchen, an independently owned cooking school at the Manhattan Beach, Bristol Farms. Grace-Marie is the owner and chef of the cooking school. She holds fun themed demonstration classes and some hands-on cooking classes as well. I've gone to a handful of the demonstration classes where she cooks a 3-4 course meal for the class. It's great fun to do with girlfriends. In fact, this recipe was from the Maui Garden Luncheon theme, I took my best friend for a belated birthday lunch. :)

This was Grace-Marie's salad course and if you don't know from reading my salad blogs, salad's are my thing! I love salads! This salad was so delicious, but I must warn you, it does have one ingredient that is kind of obscure or exotic, especially if you don't have an Asian market close by to purchase it. The ginger preserves or pickled ginger shreds definitely add the perfect depth of flavor to the dressing, but I did not have this ingredient on hand when I made this for the 4th of July. Instead, I used regular ginger plus 2 teaspoons of sugar and it worked just as well. So don't be intimidated by the strange ingredient called out in the dressing. Wait, I just had a random side thought... a few days too late obviously...I should have made the ginger shreds myself with my quick pickle recipe. Next time I'll give it a go. Or if you try this Salad recipe, you can follow the link above and try pickling your own ginger. :)
Also, If you don't have heirloom tomatoes, just substitute with your favorite tomatoes. Heirloom tomatoes are usually pretty pricey and I would've used Beefsteak tomatoes for this to save the dollars. But, I found 2 pounds of heirloom tomatoes for only $2. Only a dollar a pound, what a total steal and they were delicious. Enjoy! 

Heirloom Tomato Salad with Grilled Maui Onion and Zucchini 
(recipe slightly adapted from Grace-Marie's Kitchen)
Serves 8

Cilantro-Ginger Vinaigrette

• 1 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
• 1/3 cup Ginger Preserves or sweet pickled ginger shreds (substitute with 1/4 cup ginger, peeled and sliced plus 2 teaspoon sugar)
• 1/4 cup cilantro, loosely packed
• 2 T shallots, roughly chopped
• 2 T Asian chili garlic sauce
• 1 T soy sauce

Using a blender, combine and puree the oil, vinegar, preserves, cilantro, shallots, chili sauce and soy sauce. Pour through a strainer, discard solids and chill until ready to use. If necessary, whisk again just before using. (Note: This marinade gets better overnight, so you may want to make this a day ahead of time, but is not necessary.)

Salad

• 4 small zucchini, trimmed and halved lengthwise
• 1 large Maui Onion (or any sweet onion), cut into 1" thick round slices
• 1-2 pounds Heirloom Tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 cup cilantro leaves, chopped
• Sea salt and pepper to taste
• Goat or feta cheese, crumbled 

Prepare and preheat an outdoor or stove-top grill. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. 
Brush the zucchini and onions (I only used about half of a Maui Onion, since it was so large) with some of the vinaigrette and allow to marinate for 30 minutes or longer. 
Grill zucchini until just charred and not cooked completely so it doesn't get mushy (that's a technical term.:)). Allow the onions to grill completely until they are translucent or even browned a bit to enhance their sweetness. The original recipe called for under-cooking the onions, but I prefer them a little more cooked, but you can grill them to your taste. 
Transfer to the baking sheet and allow to cool to room temperature. Chop zucchini and onions. Combine the grilled vegetables with the tomatoes and the cilantro. Drizzle with additional vinaigrette over the mixture and very gently toss. Serve with crumbled goat cheese or feta cheese. 

Nana's Salsa

For this blog, I wanted to highlight our friend's family Salsa recipe, affectionately called Nana's Salsa. We've known the Ponce family for about twelve years. They are a warm and welcoming family who always make you feel like a part of their family. They are generous and kind and just plain fun! When I first met the Ponce's, I was astonished to find out that their family would host two big family events each year; their summer picnic and a formal winter dance held at a local hotel. 
The picnic was no 'bring a basket of food to the beach' kind of thing and the winter dance...well 'formal' says it all. You can imagine how much planning it would take to pull off a 'formal' anything. Both of these were organized events, which I came to understand, took a year of planning, every year. The duty of planning these events rotated through different family members each year. Incredible, because these were no small events. The family picnics were huge, with easily 300 people in attendance. Family, friends and neighbors all brought something potluck style. There were raffles, a mariachi band, beer trucks, food, games for the kids, water balloons, egg toss, the whole enchilada.  It was an amazing event, one which I was honored to attend a few years and always looked forward to attending. In fact, I remember, the first time I brought my husband (before we were married) to one of the Ponce's picnics. Afterward, he commented how awesome the Ponce Family was and how they made him feel like a part of their family.  I couldn't have agreed more.
So in honor of the Ponce Family, I thought it would be great to have my friend and writer, Paul Ponce, write up the story on how his Nana's Salsa recipe came to be and how he resurrected it when he thought the recipe was lost. The salsa is incredibly delicious and super fresh with lots of cilantro. I practically ate an entire bag of chips while I polished off the whole bowl of salsa. So here's Paul's family story and recipe. Enjoy! 

Thank you Paul and the Ponce Family for letting me share your story and recipe. 

Nana’s Salsa

by Paul Ponce

Back in the sixties, my grandparents opened up a Mexican food restaurant in Garden Grove, CA. They featured a full service menu consisting of what you might be accustomed to these days. Dishes such as tacos, enchiladas, and chile rellenos were some popular entrées, but before any of that came to the table, the first thing served was always a basket of chips and a bowl of fresh salsa.

Looking at grocery store shelves today, you might notice most jars and bottles of salsa have a red tomato base. A variety of chilies differentiate one product from the next but basically they are all about the same. Back in the day though, sometimes the price of tomatoes would be so high, the salsa needed to be stretched out a little. That is where Nana came in.

My great-grandmother a.k.a. “Nana” had her own salsa recipe that she brought to my grandparents new restaurant and it quickly became a local favorite. A couple years back, after not having tasted that salsa in over twenty years, I asked my Nino for the recipe. When he gave it to me he said there were no exact measurements, only ingredients and suggestions on “about” how much to use.

I remember the look and consistency of the salsa like it was yesterday but it wasn’t until I started blending it all together that the smell brought back a flood of memories. Then, when I took that first taste with a tortilla chip, I knew I had nailed that recipe right on the money. The process is fairly simple and the ingredients are few. The only culinary tool you really need is an emulsion blender and before long you can enjoy this recipe yourself!

Nana's Salsa

3 Roma tomatoes, chopped

1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes

1 bunch cilantro, chopped (about 2-3 cups)

1 bunch green onion, chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)

1 yellow chile (chile guerito), seeded and chopped 

2 Serrano chilies, seeded and chopped

1-2 cloves garlic, chopped (or 1 tsp. garlic powder)

salt, to taste

Clean and coarsely chop the three Roma tomatoes and place them in a deep bowl along with half of the canned tomatoes with juice. Clean and chop the cilantro. Don’t worry about taking each leaf off the stem, just throw it all in. Clean and chop the green onion, make sure to add some of the green part of the stem as well. Remove seeds and veins from the chilies.  Coarsely chop and add chilies to the bowl. Add the remaining half of canned tomatoes. Using an emulsion blender, slowly blend the ingredients together. Add salt to taste.

Refrigerate and serve. 

Note: Letting the salsa, refrigerate overnight will give you the best flavor allowing the ingredients to meld together, but it is not required. Enjoy!

Greek Meatballs

Meatballs are not very glamorous, that's for sure. You rarely see meatballs on the menu of a nice restaurant because it's pretty hard to class up a meatball. Personally, I love meatballs. They are fun and easy to prepare and they just taste good. Whether they are made from ground beef, chicken or turkey they are always satisfying. The bonus is that my kids will eat ground beef anything so they like meatballs too.
One of my favorite foods is Greek food. I love the flavors from the Mediterranean. The feta cheese, tomatoes, couscous and of course the olives. I love dishes with any and all of these ingredients. So when I was flipping through some old Cuisine at Home magazines, I was excited to have found this Greek Meatball recipe. It was the perfect marriage of food and flavor for me. Not to mention that it was just plain delicious! I made these meatballs with ground chuck but if you're looking for a more traditional Greek ingredient, you could also substitute with ground lamb. Enjoy!

For another meatball recipe, try my Spicy Asian Meatball Soup.

Greek Meatballs  (recipe from Cuisine at Home Magazine, Aug 2005)
Makes 12 Meatballs

1 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
2 T scallions, minced
1 t. kosher salt
2 t. dried oregano leaves
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 lb. ground chuck
2 T. olive oil
3/4 cup kalamata olives, pitted, halved
1 T. garlic, minced
1 t. red pepper flakes
6 cups tomatoes, quartered or 2 cans whole tomatoes (28oz. each)
Salt and pepper to taste
chopped cucumber
Lemon zest

Combine crumbs, milk, feta, parsley, scallions, salt, oregano and egg in a mixing bowl. Stir in the ground chuck and mix lightly but well. Shape the mixture into balls about 2" in diameter. Heat oil in a large saute pan over medium-high. Add meatballs and brown all sides, about 5 minutes. Remove from pan and keep warm. Add olives, garlic and red pepper flakes to the pan and saute for 1 minute. Stir in tomatoes and cook 10 minutes. (I cooked the tomatoes longer, about 30 minutes to help cut the acidity of the tomatoes) Season with salt and pepper, return meatballs to the pan and simmer 5 minutes, or until cooked through. Serve over couscous, topped with feta dressing, cucumber and lemon zest.

Lemon Couscous
3/4 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 T unsalted butter
1/2 t. kosher salt
3/4 cup dry plain couscous

Bring broth, lemon juice, butter and salt to a boil in a saucepan. Remove from heat, add couscous, stir and cover. Let stand 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork.

Feta Yogurt Dressing
1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup plain yogurt
2 T. fresh lemon juice
1/2 t. kosher salt
1/4 t. black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir well. Cover and chill until ready to use.