Cumin Dusted Chicken Thighs

Cumin dusted chicken thighs

I have become much more efficient with my grocery shopping and eating.

Saturday, I bought a family pack of chicken thighs on sale for 88¢ a pound for a total price of $3.85. I will get at least 4 meals but more than likely 6 or 7 out of this package. That brings my cost per meal way down. And at the end of the week, I will have more money for beer! (Or actually the electric bill, but that's boring)

I opened the package and immediately set two aside to grill for lunch. The others were prepped and roasted for other uses.

I decided to keep it simple and hit the soon-to-be-grilled thighs with my favorite spice of all-time — cumin! I love its flavor

I like to cook bone-in thighs for at least 25 minutes on the high heat of the grill, or until the bone starts to recede from the meat, whichever comes first. To start it though, I like to sear it skin-side down for 8 to 10 minutes, so there is a nice and charred crust on the skin, I'll turn it a couple more times after that, but I make sure that the initial sear is long and hot. There is nothing better than crunchy chicken skin, its my favorite part of the bird!

Once the meat was cooked through I pulled it from the heat and let it rest for at least 10 minutes. It was during this time that I prepared the sides for this meal, which were steamed broccoli and Italian seasoned potatoes. Fresh ingredients steamed in the microwave – supper simple.

As I began to devour this feast, I was completely smitten by the crunchy well-seasoned skin, which I ate first. Then returned to the perfectly cooked dark meat. The potatoes and broccoli were just there for filler and dietary reasons and paled in comparison to the yummy thighs, but they made a nice compliment to the star of the meal.

Once the other thighs in the package were roasted and cooled I removed the bones and shredded the meat so it could be used in two more multiple-serving recipes later this week. The first of which will be, well ...

More on that later.

Eat well cook often ...

CUMIN DUSTED CHICKEN THIGHS WITH POTATOES AND BROCCOLI

40 minutes, serves 2

2 large chicken thighs, bone-in, skin on
2 tsp cumin
salt and pepper to taste
1 large russet potato, peeled, cut into chunks
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
2 cups of fresh broccoli
1 microwave steam bag

Prehaeat grill to high heat. Season the thighs with salt and pepper then dust with the cumin. Once grill is ready sear chicken skin-side down for 8 to 10 minutes, turn and cook 12 to 15 minutes more turning a couple time until meat is cooked through or to an internal temperature of 160° remove from grill and let rest at least 10 minutes.

Place potato chunks in a microwave steaming bag, season potato with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. add a tablespoon of water. Seal and microwave for 7 minutes on high or until cooked through. Remove from bag. Rinse bag add broccoli and a tablespoon of water. Season to taste, seal and microwave on high for 3 minuets. Remove from bag. Serve potatoes and broccoli with chicken thighs.

Nacho Cheese and Pickled Jalapeños

Homemade nacho cheese and pickled jalapeños

Last weekend my Dad gave me a gallon-size freezer bag full of jalapenos harvested from his garden. The wet spring and summer in Northern Indiana did wonders for his plants and the bounty this year was much larger than in years past.

I used 18 right right off the bat by making poppers at the family campground, but I still had half a bag leftover and I ended up bringing them home.

I was cleaning in the kitchen Friday night and that mess of peppers was just sitting on my counter screaming "what are you gonna do with me!" After some thought, I decided to pickle them. They would never go bad if I did that.

I have pickled jalapenos before. This time, I did it a little different. Instead of just pouring the simmering liquid over the jalapenos in a bowl and then letting them cool — I added the peppers to the simmering liquid and let them cook for a few minutes. This changed their appearance to that olive-green color, similar to pickled jalapenos found on grocery store shelves. I let them cool, jarred them and put them away.

With the peppers in the fridge, Saturday night rolled around and I couldn't wait the recommended two weeks to let them fully pickle before trying them. I decided to make the occasion special and create a homemade nacho cheese for some gourmet ball-park-style nachos!

My favorite nachos feature runny cheese sauce. This type of sauce requires a little work. It starts with sweating down aromatics in butter, making a roux, adding milk and thickening it into a gravy and then the crucial part - gradually melting the cheese and making a gooey delicious sauce to scarf on. It takes some patients to make, but totally worth it.

Once I had my sauce, I broke out the peppers and a late night nacho feast ensued. The fresh-pickled jalapenos were rife with flavor — spicy and tangy. The cheese sauce — creamy with lots of depth. Making it extra yummy were the fresh-made tortilla chips from the deli of a local grocery I had purchased earlier in the day.

All together, it made for a legendary plate of nachos.

The best part: I still have enough nacho cheese for another batch or two waiting in the fridge!

Eat well, cook often ...

PICKLED JALAPENOS
Makes 2 cups
30 minutes cooking, 2 weeks pickling
10 to 15 jalapenos, sliced thin
3/4 white vinegar
3/4 cup water
3 TBS sugar
3 Tbs salt
2 Tbs peppercorns
1 Tbs Old Bay seasoning

Mix together vinegar, water, sugar, salt, peppercorns and Old Bay seasoning in a pot over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer. Add sliced jalapenos, return to simmer and let cook 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. Transfer mixture to a resealable jar and refrigerate. Best if left to pickle for two weeks but can be eaten before.

NACHO CHEESE

Homemade nacho cheese and pickled jalapeños

Makes 2 1/2 C, 30 minutes
4 Tbs unsalted butter
4 Tbs flour
1/4 C red onion, finely diced
1 jalapeno, finely diced
2 tsp garlic, minced
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
2 C milk
2 C pepper jack cheese, shredded
Salt to taste
Tortilla chips for serving

Melt butter in a sauce pan over medium heat. Saute onion and jalapeno until soft, 3 to 4 minutes. Season with salt to taste. Add Chili powder, cumin and garlic cook 1 minute more. Stir in flour, mix well and let cook two minutes. Add milk and whisk until well incorporated, bring to a simmer and let thicken, 3 to 4 minutes. Add cheese 2 tablespoons at a time, whisking and stirring until completely melt. Repeat until all cheese is mixed in. Adjust seasoning if necessary. Serve with tortilla chips and pickled jalapenos.

Easy Grilled Corn on the Cob

Perfectly cooked corn on the cob

Sometimes nature provides the most delicious flavors. All you have to do is cook it right.

To me, the greatest sauce on a burger is an egg yolk. There is nothing more delicious than biting into a perfectly cooked burger and piercing the yolk of a fried egg that adorns the sandwich. The natural flavor and richness of the beef and yolk together just can't be beat.

Another gift from mother nature: Sweet Corn!

Pick it from the garden, buy it from the store or just steal it from the neighbors. All you have to do is place it on a hot grill, husks and all, for half an hour and you have a festival of pleasure ready for your taste buds. Add a little salt and butter - It might convince you that grilled corn on the cob could be considered an option for your final meal if given the choice.

The natural casing of the husks provide the perfect steaming packet to cook the corn in. All you have to do is peel it back and clean off the silk and its ready to go.

In the last two weeks I have made grilled corn on the cob at least 5 times. Last weekend, I was out at the family campground and I made it on two different nights. My niece and nephews would grab a cob and walk around with it to snack on just as they would an ice cream cone. They would even come back for seconds with corn covering their faces and lodged in their teeth, but they didnt care, they just couldn't get enough. Same goes for myself.

It's that time of year in the Midwest when sweet corn is plentiful - get some!

Eat well, cook often ...

GRILLED CORN ON THE COB

Sweet corn hot off the grill!

40 minutes, serves 2 to 4
4 ears of sweet corn, husks on
butter
salt for seasoning

On a hot grill pre-heated to medium high place corn, and cook 30 minutes, turning once half way through cooking. Remove from grill and let rest 5 to 10 minutes. Peel off husks and wipe away any silk. Coat with butter and sprinkle with salt. Eat off the cob.

Old El Paso Pork Chops

Old El Paso Pork Chops seasoned with American Taco Spice.

I always have a homemade Mexican seasoning in my pantry that I like to call American Taco Spice.

If you sprinkle two tablespoons of it on a pound of ground beef, it will taste just like meat seasoned with the spice packet found in an Old El Paso taco kit. This type of taco seasoning and the popularity of tacos from Taco Bell have become the standard "taco" flavor in the U.S., although real Mexican tacos are vastly different.

My American Taco Spice seasoning doesn't require any water and it has no preservatives. It has a fresh taste with bolder flavors than the spice packet and makes for a mighty fine American taco. The star of the show is chili powder and cumin followed by salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder.

I use the seasoning on any cut of meat, not just for tacos and it's especially tasty on burgers. For this recipe, I sprinkled it on bone-in pork loin chops that I grilled for lunch. (Hence the name Old El Paso Pork Chops!) Joining the chops on the plate are microwave-steamed veggies and plain white rice. It was a healthy meal for two and the seasoning was key to making it extra delicious. The whole plate takes around a half hour to make.

AMERICAN TACO SPICE
Makes 1/2 cup
Store in jar with tight lid
3 Tbs Chili Powder
3 Tbs Kosher Salt
2 Tbs Cumin
2 Tbs Fresh Cracked Black pepper
1 Tbs Onion Powder
1 Tbs Garlic Powder

Mix together well. Use to season individual cuts of meat or 2 tablespoons per pound of ground meat for tacos.

OLD EL PASO PORK CHOPS WITH VEGGIES AND RICE

Old El Paso Pork Chops with Veggies and Rice

Serves 2; 35 minutes
3  Bone-in Center Cut Pork Chops
2 Tbs American Taco Spice
1 Cup White Rice
12 oz (1 bag) Vegetable medley (Broccili, cauliflower and carrot)

Preheat grill to high. Season pork on both sides with American Taco Spice. (Approximately 1 teaspoon per side)

In a pot or sauce pan, stir rice in a little oil over high heat until well coated. Add 2 cups of water, boil and cover. Reduce heat to medium-low let simmer 10 minutes. Turn off heat, do not remove cover. Let steam until chops and veggies are finished. Remove lid and fluff.

Place chops over direct heat on grill. Let cook 3 1/2 minutes. Flip and cook 3 1/2 minutes more or until internal temperature reaches 130° for medium. Remove from grill, let rest 10 minutes.

In a microwave steam bag, Cook vegetables on high for five minutes. Let steam an extra minute or two more once microwave shuts off. Remove from bag. Start microwave as soon as chops are removed from grill and are resting.

Place a scope of rice, some veggies and a chop on plate and serve.

COST PER SERVING
The chops were on sale: 3 weighing 1.30 lbs @ $2.99 per pound cost $3.89. The veggies were 40% off and cost $1.49 for 1 12 oz bag. The rice and seasoning were in my pantry. So the total cost of the fresh ingredients per serving was $2.68.  That's a steal for this yummolicious meal!

Eat well, cook often ...

Caribbean Style Chicken Wings

Printable version

This is a past post, but I decided to share it again. It's one of my favorite preparations for wings and I can't wait to make a batch of these to devour now that the warm weather is starting to roll in. These are a must try ...

When I first moved to New York in the fall of 1997 my new neighbors from the apartment above invited me over for dinner with their family and friends. They were from the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago, a small republic off the northern coast of South America.

They made a spicy curried chicken with a number of sides inspired by their native country for the meal. At one point, I was asked to sample a peppery paste that went with the chicken. I took a small taste which made me cough and my eyes water. The entire group let out a big chuckle, because right before I sampled it I was bragging about how I could handle spicy food.

For this recipe, I make a dry rub for chicken wings with Caribbean flavors. It features ginger, coriander, allspice. It’s nothing like the pepper paste I tried at that dinner in New York, but it has many of the tropical island flavors I tasted for the first time as my new neighbors welcomed the “white boy from Indiana” into their community.

BEHIND THIS BITE
I lived in my first apartment in New York for five years. The couple who invited me to dinner moved out after the third year and I ended up getting to take-over the backyard, which I landscaped and turned into a small paradise in the middle of Queens. As soon as I moved in they let me put a charcoal grill back there, so getting to take it over for myself was the icing on the cake. It was a real luxury to have a backyard and it was there that I discovered my passion for cooking.

I would make entire meals over charcoal and way more food than I could possible eat in one sitting. It was nothing for me to buy three or four cuts of meat on a warm Saturday night and grill all of it for later in the week. I loved hanging out in my backyard with the grill blazing and the beer chilling.

That's where my culinary journey really took off - on a little patio in the middle of Long Island City, Queens.

Eat well, cook often ...

THE RECIPE
Serves 4; 1 hour
3 Tbs Salt
2 Tbs Brown sugar
2 Tbs Ground ginger
2 Tbs Ground coriander
2 Tbs Black pepper
1 Tbs Onion powder
1 Tbs Garlic powder
1 tsp Allspice
1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper
4 to 5 lbs Chicken wings

Make rub
In a bowl mix together salt, brown sugar, ginger, coriander, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, allspice and cayenne pepper.

Marinate wings
Sprinkle seasoning over both sides of wings and rub in with hands. Let marinate for 30 minutes in refrigerator. While wings marinate, prepare charcoal for grill.

Cook wings
Over medium high heat cook wings on grill until cooked through and juices run clear, 20 to 25 minutes, turning every 5 to 7 minutes. Remove and let rest at least 5 minutes, then serve

Southwestern Braised Chicken Thighs

When it comes to chicken, I've always grilled, fried or roasted it. Braising was something I hadn't done that often. With bone-in thighs on sale recently, I decided that it was time to get my braise-on and throw together a platter of Southwestern-style chicken.

The main reason I don't opt for cooking chicken in braises or steam, is the skin. I love it crispy! There is so much flavor there. I've been guilty of picking the skin off entire pieces of chicken and leaving what's rest for someone else to finish. A habit that would give me a great shot at employee of the month if I worked at Kentucky Fried Chicken!

What I found after preparing this dish was searing the chicken in a hot pan to start with was the secret. The brown crust provided texture on the skin and the fond on the bottom of the pan added yummy-goodness to the tomato-poblano sauce the chicken was braised in.

The braising liquid featured poblano pepper, tomatoes and cumin. This complimented the chicken, gave the rice plenty of flavor to absorb and was the real binder to the recipe's overall flavor.

In the end, I was really surprised by the absolute decadence of this dish. I would make it again for just about any occasion. And here is the best part: The cost of the entire dish – less than $7! (That's with the thighs on sale for 98¢ a pound.)

BEHIND THIS BITE
I haven't been posting as much since I moved last fall, but I have been cooking more than any other time in my life. Now that I'm starting to settle into my new location, I'm finding more time not only to cook but also prepare posts. In an effort to share more, I'm going to be doing a lot more posts that feature just a nice artsy picture or two of the dish. I'm still going to be doing my signature-style recipe graphics, but I want to share more of what I'm doing in the kitchen and I can do a post like this in less than an hour, a recipe graphic takes between 6 and 10!

Eat well, cook often ...

THE RECIPE
Serves 4, 1 hour
3 lbs Chicken Thighs
2 Poblano peppers, diced
1 Red Onion, diced
4 Garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbs Cumin
2 tsp Oregano
1 tsp Red Pepper flakes
1 Can Diced Tomatoes (14.5 oz)
1 C Chicken broth
1 1/2 Rice
3 C water

Brown Chicken
Season chicken with salt and pepper to taste. Heat a little oil in a large skillet over medium high heat, brown chicken on both sides. 4 to 6 minutes per side. Remove to paper-towel lined plate.

Make sauce
In hot drippings, saute onion and poblano pepper until soft, 3 to 4 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Add cumin, oregano, red pepper flakes and garlic. Stir and cook until fragrant. 1 to 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and chicken broth, scrape browned bits from bottom of pan and bring to a simmer.

Braise chicken, cook rice
Add chicken to pan, once mixture returns to simmer, cover, reduce heat to medium and let cook 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Stir occasionally. Add rice and water to sauce pan or pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer 15 minutes. Turn off heat, keep covered for 10 minutes more. Remove lid and fluff

Serve
Make a bed of rice on a large platter, spoon half of sauce on rice. Arrange chicken thighs on top. Spoon other half of sauce onto chicken, then serve.

Guilty Pleasures: Chili Dogs!

Chili dogs!

I love them.

Every greasy, salty unhealthy crumb.

They used to be my hangover cure. Now they're just my dirty little culinary secret.

I was at Meijer searching for the ingredients of a braised chicken dish when it hit – A craving from deep in my belly. It felt like a need greater than that of oxygen in my very lungs.

I had to have a chili dog - or four.

Not some fancy frank with a special homemade blend of sauce and fresh-made bun. I wanted a regular hot dog smothered in canned chili and delivered on wonder-bread. The kind of chili dog that will increase the chance of a heart attack by 37,000 times if eaten to often.

This dog isn't what you want to make if trying to impress a date or ingest for energy to run a 5K. A vegetarian would have an instant nervous breakdown at the sight of one of these dogs being devoured.

Yes indeed. A cheap package of hot dogs and a 10.5 oz can of no-bean, Hormel chili are essential to this sensational feast. I prefer diced red onion and shredded cheese as a garnish, and I always toast the buns.

Together these sinful treasures culminate in pure culinary bliss.

I probably eat chili dogs like this once every three or four months, I don't know if it's some pychological disorder or what, but I really do have a craving for these things, and I think they taste amazing!

Eat well, cook often ...

THE RECIPE
1 10.5 oz can of Hormel chili
8 hot dogs
8 hot dog buns
1/4 C diced onion
1/2 C shredded cheese (cheddar or jack)

Heat chili in a sauce pan on the stove or microwave in a micrwoave safe bowl. Cook dogs on a grill or on the stove. Toast buns. Place dog on bun, slather with chili, sprinkle with onion and cheese. Devour! 

Homemade Chicken Stock

Printable version

To take soup or other broth based dishes to a different level on the flavor scale, it should should feature a homemade broth or stock, like the recipe featured in this post. The end results can be restaurant quality recipes sure to warm the soul.

I recently found leg quarters on sale for 99 cents a pound. At first I thought of roasting them but by the time they hit the bottom of the shopping cart, I knew a batch of my own chicken stock was in order.

I spent my next day off cooking the quarters down into a yummy liquid then dividing and storing the results. I was left with a gallon of goodness that I portioned into four 1-quart containers. Three of which I froze for use later and the other I used to make a batch classic Mexican red chili sauce.

BEHIND THIS BITE

Mounting the TV

This broth was a great project for a cool winter day and a nice break from the customizing and renovating I have been doing in my new place over the last few months. As much as I have talked about the home improvements in my last few posts, I thought I should share more of them here.

Immediately upon entering my apartment, a focal point jumps out in the living room - a black slate fire place.  Once I started putting the room together I was trying to find the best place for my flat screen TV. After hours of contemplation, one logical place seemed to jump out - right over the fireplace. Otherwise, I would have competing focal points.

I started by building a hollow shelf that would hold my TV components and hide all the wiring inside. Before mounting the shelf, I taped off the area above the slate and painted it flat black to carry the slate color up the wall. I placed the TV over the shelf, then hid all the wiring.

This was my first big project and the end result is an eye catching focal point for my living room.

More on the renovation later, until then, make some yummy broth!

Eat well, cook often ...


THE RECIPE
Makes 4 quarts; 4 to 5 hours
5 lbs Chicken leg, quarters
1 large Onion, quartered
3 stalks Celery, chopped
3 Carrots, chopped
1 turnip, quartered
6 cloves Garlic
4 sprigs Thyme
2 Bay leaves
2 Tbs Salt
1 Tbs Peppercorns

Make stock
In a 12 quart pot, place leg quarters, onion, celery, carrot, turnip, garlic, thyme, bay leaves, salt and peppercorns. Fill pot with water covering ingredients by an inch or two. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 3 hours. Stir occasionally.

Reduce
Strain liquid and discard solids. Return liquid to pot and simmer for another hour reducing liquid even further. Skim fat off top with a spoon.

Divide and use or store
Remove pot from heat and let liquid cool for a few minutes. Portion into quart containers, let cool a little more. Skim fat off top with a spoon. Use in a recipe or cover and freeze for up to six months.

Multiple papers publish Super Bowl recipes!

I'm happy to say that 11 Newspapers out of the 17 put together at the Design Center in Munster for Lee Enterprises have used my Super Bowl snacks project. I put it together from recipes that have originally appeared here!

It has been my goal from day 1 at my new job to find a way to get my recipes published at the center. I saw the opportunity with the Super Bowl. Hey, it's where Steve Jobs launched Apple, so I said what the heck, maybe this is the opportunity I've been looking for to take what I do here to a different level.

As a bonus, I got a VIP award from the management, but more important, there are editors at Lee Enterprises that are now well aware of my skill for recipe development and food presentation. I can't wait for the next opportunity to arise.

Eat well, cook often ...

Crunchy American Tacos

Printable version

Since I was a young boy my favorite food has been tacos. I would go crazy when I saw that boxed taco kit sitting on the counter as Mom began to prepare dinner. I would gorge myself on them – most kids experience binge eating for the first time with sweets – not me, my first binges were crunchy tacos and fried shrimp!

My taco pallete has been refined over the years but I still have a soft spot for crunchy tacos prepared the “American” way.

Most U.S born eaters know tacos as having a crunchy shell, seasoned meat and garnished with lettuce, tomato, onion, cheese and a taco sauce. The main flavor is contained in the meat. While this kind of taco is delicious, it is far from authentic.

I first learned this taco lesson from the manager at LaBambas, while attending Ball State University. I literally ate there everyday and I think he felt obligated to share some secrets of Mexican cooking with me. Much like a parent would with a child that they are feeding on a daily basis. He told me that authentic Mexican taco’s signature flavor comes from the salsa that it’s garnished with. I came to love this type of taco over the years and have to admit that making a rock star sauce for simple soft corn tortilla tacos is my favorite thing to do in the kitchen.

But today, it is about those boyhood taco feasts my mom used to serve up.

My American taco starts with a crunchy blue corn tortilla which in this case, is a little lighter than the yellow corn tortillas found in kits at most supper markets. For the seasoned meat, I skip the traditional packets found at the store and make a homemade meat mixture complete with a flavorful and fresh mirepoix and a tasty seasoning mix of my own.

When it was all said and done I binged on these like I did as 12 year-old – and it didn’t take long to inhale half the batch!

BEHIND THIS BITE

Crunchy American Tacos

As 2015 begins I can’t help but think about the year that has just passed. It has been a year of great change for me, with my move to the Chicago area – something I never imagined myself doing even six months ago. I haven’t blogged as much since my move, much of that has to do to with the transition of settling into a new place and finding the right kind of time to produce these post. My motivation seems to be more toward creating a kick-ass living space with everything custom built rather than custom built recipe-blog posts.

There is a great irony here though.

I haven’t produced as many post since starting my new job, but I have been cooking far more than I was before I started it. I’m still documenting my creations, I have just found it hard to put in the time that it takes to created a recipe infographic. In my free time, I’m still opting to work on a building project rather than tinker on my computer. Soon though, I will run out of major construction and will inevitably turn my attention here again. I already have a back-log of several creations that I have documented since I have had my photography studio up and running.

I can’t wait to see what 2015 brings, with my cooking, new job and new place to live. I feel as though this new adventure is really starting to take off and I hope to be blessed with the things necessary to keep it moving forward.

Happy New Year.

Eat well, cook often ...


THE RECIPE

Crunchy American Tacos

Serves 4; 30 minutes
1 lb Ground chicken
1/2 C Onion diced
1/2 C Poblano pepper diced
1 Tbs Chili powder
1 tsp Mexican oregano
2 tsp Garlic minced
12 Crunchy blue corn tortillas
1 C Lettuce shredded
1/2 C Taco sauce

Brown chicken
In a skillet over medium high heat sear chicken until just cooked through in a little oil. 7 to 8 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Remove to a paper towel lined plate.

Saute and toast
Add onions and poblano pepper to skillet, season with salt and pepper, chili podwer, cumin and mexican oragano. Let mixture cook 3 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic, cook one minute more or until fragrant.

Finish
Return chickech to skillet and mix in thouroughly, cook until heated through. Take meat mixture and spoon into crunchy blue corn tortillas, top with cheese, lettuce and taco sauce, then serve.