More deliciousness...

The week before Thanksgiving, Greg left earlier than I did for our holiday break to go on a trip with his parents and I was left to fend for myself in terms of dinner plans. I had to come up with simple, quick meals that would still be delicious but not be as time consuming. Cooking for one is actually harder for me since I'm so used to cooking elaborate concoctions for 2. These are the delicious but quick dishes for one that I came up with.

November 21, 2009

Bean Tacos with Chicken and Vegetables

Ingredients:

Extra virgin olive oil

Garlic

Onion

Skinless boneless chicken breast, cubed

Chopped eggplant

Fresh chopped tomato

Fresh cilantro leaves

1 fresh lime

1/4 can Goya black beans

1/4 can refried pinto beans

Salt

Black pepper

Chili powder

Paprika

Cholula and El Yucateco hot sauces (optional)

Shredded cheddar cheese

Low fat sour cream

1 Old El Paso Stand n' Stuff taco shell

My first night flying solo I decided to quickly heat up some beans to put in a hard taco shell and then to simply spice and cook onion, eggplant and chicken with cilantro and other mexican flavors. This was a fairly fast and simple dinner to make.

The beans were a mixture of 1/4 can Goya black beans and 1/4 can refried pinto beans. I find that this mixture makes refried beans more creamy and not thick and goopy the way they come straight out of the can. I probably also added a little chili powder and a drop or two of the deathly but delicious El Yucateco green habanero hot sauce which is so good but beware!! Once the beans were hot, they were ready to go. I dished it out into my taco shell, topped it with fresh chopped tomato, some shredded cheddar cheese, and of course plenty of sour cream.

Since the beans were so easy, I had to cook this part of the dish first. The most tedious part of the meal in this case was de-frosting the chicken since I didn't have any fresh. While it de-frosted I started out my pan with olive oil, garlic and onion. Shortly after I put that in, I added in my small pieces of eggplant and mixed. If the eggplant still looks dry and keeps it's white color even after you have mixed it in with the rest of the ingredients then you might want to add more olive oil. Having enough olive oil for the eggplant to suck up is going to make it softer and juicier!! After those ingredients cooked for a minute or two I added in my chunks of chicken and my diced fresh cilantro. At this point I added my spices: plenty of chili powder and salt, a little paprika, some black pepper and Cholula hot sauce (the best hot sauce in the world) and finally half of a fresh lime squeezed into the mix.

I let all these ingredients simmer until the chicken was cooked through (which shouldn't take too long on medium heat) and then served on the side of my taco piping hot and topped with some more sour cream.

November 22, 2009

After my eggplant and chicken tacos I was left craving more vegetables and decided to make a really light and fresh pasta sauce from olive oil, vegetables, spices and not much else.

Since I don't remember exactly what my recipe or ingredients were I won't go into great detail but to make a similar sauce is extremely simple. Start a pan with garlic and olive oil and onion if you like. As usual, once those ingredients have been simmering and are becoming golden add in pretty much any vegetables you like eating. I used fresh chopped zucchini, pieces of eggplant, chopped onion, Trader Joe's Melange a Trois frozen pepper mix and chopped fresh tomato. Spice any way you see fit (salt, garlic powder, basil leaves, red chili pepper flakes etc.). Serve piping hot with any variety of pasta and definitely top with grated parmesan cheese!

Moving to December...and I'll start a new post!

M

Even More...

Continuing the updates we now move into November...

November 12, 2009

Middle Eastern Stew & Hummus Pitzas

Greg and I became very keen on a easy way to make homemade hummus after our friend Erin told me she simply crushed up chickpeas one day to make a hummus-esque snack. After she told me this, we ran home, crushed up chickpeas with garlic, olive oil and some salt and pepper and voile, we had delicious homemade hummus. Couldn't be simpler. From this, we came up with an idea inspired somewhat by the "pitzas" served at one of our fav restaurants in in NYC, Moustache. Paired with it, we made a middle eastern inspired stew with mixed vegetables. In this entry I will supply the recipe for our pitzas but will forego the stew which I don't remember clearly enough. These pitzas can be made just like a typical pizza with any type of topping you like. At Moustache you can indulge in pitzas topped with ingredients such as roasted red peppers, ground lamb, sundried tomatoes, leeks, scallions and more. See the link to their website above to see all their indulgent options.

Ingredients:

- Tortillas or wraps, any size and type

- Extra Virgin Olive Oil

- Garlic

- Fresh tomato, diced

- Fresh bagged arugula, chopped

- Can of chickpeas

- Sour cream

- Shredded mozzarella cheese

- Ajvar red pepper spread

- Paprika

- Salt

- Black pepper

The first step to making any pizza is the base, your crust. To simplify life (and for the sake of the non-existent budget we're always on) we repurposed mexican tortillas meant for burritos, wraps or tacos and baked them to become our version of a pita-like crust. Even better than pita, these baked pieces of tortilla are thin and crunchy instead of being thick (and most likely higher in calories).

Turn on your oven to 375 degrees and let preheat. Take the number of tortilla's which seems appropriate for your serving size and cut into individually sized triangle shaped pieces. Lay these slices out on a baking sheet which has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Sprinkle with salt and black pepper. When your oven is preheated, put the cooking tray in and let cook until pieces are golden brown (10 - 15 minutes maybe?).

While the tortillas are baking, you can make your hummus and cut your vegetables. The first step will be to pour your can of chickpeas into a large bowl of some kind. Then, using the back side of a fork slowly crush the chickpeas. This takes some elbow grease but when they're finished they should be an even consistency that is smooth but will still have chunks in it. That's okay. Add about a tablespoon of sour cream and the spices to taste. Now begin to mix and also crush again with the fork until the mixture is as smooth as you want it. Taste and put to the side.

By now your tortilla slices should be ready. Take them out of the oven and apply an even layer of hummus to each. Then spread an even layer of the ajvar red pepper spread on top of the hummus layer. On top of that, sprinkle some of the shredded cheese. At this point, you can leave the the pitzas to the side while you dice your fresh tomato and cut your fresh arugula into little strips. Once that's finished dress each pitza with a layer of arugula and then a layer of diced tomato. Pop these in the oven and you're all ready to go!

M