Stacked Green Chile and Grilled Chicken Enchiladas

The Daring Cooks continue to keep us on our toes. Our hosts this month, Barbara of Barbara Bakes and Bunnee of Anna+Food have chosen a delicious Stacked Green Chile & Grilled Chicken Enchilada recipe in celebration of Cinco de Mayo! The recipe, featuring a homemade enchilada sauce was found on www.finecooking.com and written by Robb Walsh.

I think this might be my favorite challenge yet, and if not, it definitely ranks in the top 2. Of course, I could probably eat something like this everyday for the rest of my life and not lament the lack of variety.

The challenge required us to make a sauce from scratch, although we weren't limited to the sauce suggested by the hosts. Given our love for tomatillos, though, we decided this sounded too good not to try. Even better was the suggestion that the skins of the anaheim chiles be charred on the grill. And since I've got a husband who loves to show off his grilling skills, something I encourage at every opportunity, I knew this one was going to be a recipe worth keeping before we even had the ingredients.

Because we weren't experimenting with the sauce, Mike decided he would go an extra step with the chicken. For the first time ever, he added hickory chips to the grill, which created a lightly smoked flavor that really complemented the grilled flavor of the chiles. Having eaten these enchiladas that way once, I don't know if I could go without the hickory-smoked chicken.

The difference between this recipe and other enchilada recipes was that the ingredients were stacked as opposed to rolled inside a tortilla. While the presentation suffered a bit because of this technique, at least in our case because we did not use individual gratin dishes, the ease of the preparation more than compensated for the "comfort-food" look of the dish.

Already I'm thinking of the many sleepless nights I've got ahead of me, once ******** arrives, and thinking of how I can stock this away in my freezer, and how I can come up with other sauces that would be equally delicious. Nothing like a challenge that encourages further experimentation.

Thanks to our hosts for this seasonal and fun challenge!

Mike was quite proud of these action grill shots, which I have to say impressed me. My take on roasted peppers is forever changed!

Ingredients

1½ pounds Fresh Anaheim chiles (about eight 6 to 8 inch chiles)

24 ounces 678 grams - roast, peel, remove seeds, chop coarsely.

7-8 ounces Tomatillos (about 4-5 medium) - peel, remove stems

4 cups Chicken broth (32 ounces/920 grams)

1 clove Garlic, minced

2 teaspoons yellow onion, minced

1 teaspoon dried oregano

½ tsp Kosher salt (add more to taste)

¼ tsp Black Pepper (add more to taste)

2 tablespoons Cornstarch (dissolve in 2 tablespoons water, for thickening)

Hot sauce, your favorite, optional

2 Boneless chicken breasts (you can also use bone-in chicken breasts or thighs)

3 tablespoons Olive oil or other neutral vegetable oil (use more as needed)

Kosher salt and pepper

12 Small Corn tortillas (5-6 inch/13-15 cm)

6 ounces grated Monterey Jack, 170 grams

Cilantro for garnish, chopped and sprinkled optional

Directions

Roasting Fresh Chiles

1. Coat each chile with a little vegetable oil. If you are doing only a couple chiles, using the gas stove works. For larger batches (as in this recipe), grilling or broiling is faster.

2. Lay the oiled chiles on the grill or baking sheet (line pan with foil for simpler clean-up). Place the grill or broil close to the element, turning the chiles so they char evenly. They should be black and blistered.

3. As they are completely charred (they will probably not all be done at once), remove them to a bowl and cover with plastic, or close up in a paper bag. Let them rest until they are cool.

4. Pull on the stem and the seed core MAY pop out (it rarely does for me). Open the chile and remove the seeds. Turn the chile skin side up and with a paring knife, scrape away the skin. Sometimes it just pulls right off, sometimes you really have to scrape it.

5. DO NOT RINSE!

Green Chile Sauce

1. Put a medium saucepan of water on to boil and remove the papery outer skin from the tomatillos. Boil the tomatillos until soft, 5 to 10 minutes. You can also grill the tomatillos until soft.

2. Drain and puree in a blender or food processor.

3. Return the tomatillos to the saucepan along with the chicken broth, chopped green chiles, minced onion, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper.

4. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

5. Add the cornstarch/water mixture and stir well. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thickened and reduced to 4-5 cups, another 10-15 minutes.

6. Adjust seasonings and add hot sauce if you want a little more heat.

Stacked Green Chile and Grilled Chicken Enchiladas

1. Heat a gas grill to medium high or build a medium-hot charcoal Coat the chicken with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. Grill the chicken until just cooked through, 4-5 minutes a side for boneless chicken breasts.

3. Cool and then slice into thin strips or shred.

4. In a small skillet, heat 3 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat until very hot. Dip the edge of a tortilla into the oil to check – it should sizzle immediately.

5. Using tongs, put a tortilla into the pan and cook until soft and lightly brown on each side, about 15-20 seconds per side (at the most).

6. Drain on paper towels.

7. Add oil as needed and continue until all 12 tortillas are done.

8. In a baking dish large enough to hold four separate stacks of tortillas, ladle a thin layer of sauce.

9. Lay four tortillas in the dish and ladle another ½ cup (4 ounces/112 grams) of sauce over the tortillas.

10. Divide half the chicken among the first layer of tortillas, top with another ½ cup of sauce and 1/3 of the grated cheese.

11. Stack another four tortillas, top with the rest of the chicken, more sauce and another third of the cheese.

12. Finish with the third tortilla, topped with the remaining sauce and cheese.

13. Bake until the sauce has thickened and the cheese melted, about 20 minutes. Let rest for 5-10 minutes.

14. To serve, transfer each stack to a plate. Spoon any leftover sauce over the stacks and sprinkle with cilantro, if you wish. The stacks may also be cooked in individual gratin dishes.

No Baozi Here

Oh, to have been a fly on your wall while you put together your baozi.

What we made more closely resembled enormous pot stickers than your "simple and delicious" baozi.


(shrimp baozi prior to steaming)


(post-steaming)

Our fillings were amazing, and had our little dumplings come out as they were supposed to, I think we would have had two serious successes on our hands. Our first mistake, as always, was leaving this challenge until we had no time to try to rectify our mistakes. For there were many.

We made two fillings: The first a combination of shrimp, mango, lime juice, garlic, and asian chile sauce; and the second a mixture of ground turkey, garlic, cilantro, lemongrass, and cabbage. Both were really, really delicious. The downfall was our dough. Had you been a fly on our wall, you likely would have had a hard time containing your laughter.


(turkey baozi, after steaming)

While we loved the free form nature of the challenge, I have to assume that we were at least a small disadvantage not having seen these made before. We had no idea how big to roll out each piece of dough, nor how much filling to place inside. The pictures on the reference blog looked to us to be about the size of tortillas, and that is where I am guessing we made our first mistake. I think our dough was much too thinly rolled. There was very little dough to rise, and as a result, we didn't have much "fluff" and nearly no "light and airy."

The second mistake was likely overstuffing. The amount of filling we put in probably contributed to the thinness of our dough. I would also take care not to allow excess liquid in the filling, as our shrimp-filled baozi turned out so badly that we declined to even take photos. The bottoms separated from the tops once we attempted to lift them.



I assume that the thinness of our dough also contributed to our steamer problems. We used a bamboo steamer and for the first group (shrimp) didn't put anything down in the basket to prevent sticking. That was a huge mistake. For the second batch, we placed cabbage leaves down, which prevented sticking, but contributed to sogginess on the bottom. I'm not sure how to fix that.

Our last mistake seemed to have been in the rising. While the recipe noted that the dough would rise very little, the ones we cooked last turned out the best, which was either a result of extra time to rise, or the fact that at the end we started rolling the dough a little less thinly.

I so wish we had not left this until so late because I would love to have had the opportunity to try to understand where exactly we went wrong before posting. Now, though, I'm determined to get this right. The possibilities are endless! I can think of a bau for everyone, and love the idea of the self-contained package.

Don't be surprised if in the near future you see another attempt at baozi!

This was a great challenge, and what cooking is all about. Despite our mistakes, I can see the beauty of these dumplings, and am eager to figure out how to create our own "surprisingly easy and quick" baozi.

It's 'Bau-Time!

I loved this challenge! Having only eaten these dumplings once before at a Chinese friend's home, the bar was set pretty high, and our expectations for success were moderately low given the loose recipe from online and our 'creativity' for the fillings...

We decided to try out a few different fillings to experiment with flavors. Some worked better than others. First was a 'traditional' mix of chopped pork and Asian veggies and flavors (by flavors I mean a concoction of the jars and bottles we have in our fridge). Second we tried an American-style pork bbq filling, and last but definitely not least was a sauteed banana filling (banana, lemon, cinnamon, butter, sugar) for dessert.


The dough was surprisingly simple enough to make, and seemed difficult to get wrong. It was super easy to work with too. We made different shapes to try and differentiate our different fillings and that turned out to maybe be our biggest mistake. Turns out round shapes fit much better into a round steamer than squares and triangles (go figure!). Not to mention, with the triangles you end up with all dough corners - so don't make our same mistake! We should have trusted the traditional shape a little more, given that the Chinese have been cooking these things for hundreds of years...


The results? The bread was incredibly soft and airy, with a slight sweetness to it - simple and delicious. As for the fillings - well, you can never go wrong with an asian-style pork filling, so that was our safe bet. The bbq pork tasted more like a sloppy joe, but not nearly as good as a real sloppy joe (could have used an actual recipe for this one...). But the REAL winner was the banana filling. Oh my goodness was that heaven in a white fluffy bun!? Dipped in peanut butter - oh wow.


It was so much fun to experiment and figure out what flavors worked best with these things. We will definitely be making Baozi sometime again in the near future (with more experimental fillings). Surprisingly easy and quick to make but they look so impressive!


(You like that title Mike?? I feel like I'm taking one out of your book.)

Culinary Challenge: Baozi

This month's challenge is a good one (we think)! We're talking Chinese steamed dumplings with the filling of your choice. The real challenge is the dough and steaming process, so we thought we'd leave it open to your hearts desires for what goes inside. The recipe comes from Simon Law's blog and is the most legit looking one I could find after a fair bit of looking around. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

• 16 squares parchment paper, each 7cm by 7cm in area
• 350mL warm water
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• dash salt
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1.5 tablespoons oil
• 600g white bread flour

Directions

1. In a small bowl, mix the sugar and salt in the water, and then mix in the yeast. Let it rest for a while and it should smell active.
2. Add the oil to the mixture.
3. In a large bowl, add the flour and scoup out a hole in the centre. Add the liquids to the hole and gradually incorporate the flour.
4. Knead the dough until it forms into an elastic and smooth ball, which takes about 15 minutes. The dough should not stick to your hands, and be quite stretchy.
5. Roll out the dough into a tube that's about 5cm in diameter.
6. Slice the tube into 16 loafs.
   
7. Roll each loaf into a round, but try to keep the center slightly thicker than the edges.
8. Place rolled out rounds each on a square sheet of parchment paper and place stuffing in the center. Gather edges of the dough round together overtop the filling to create a pleated look (see: SaltySavorySweet for reference photos)
   
9. Let rest 20 minutes for the dumplings to rise. They won't rise much, but you just want the surface of the loaves to be puffy.
10. Arrange the dumplings in one or more bamboo steamers. They will expand more on their faces, so don't put loafs face-to-face, or they will stick together.
11. Place the bamboo steamers on top of hot boiling water. Cover, and steam over high heat for 15 minutes.
12. Remove the lid and remove the dumplings to a plate, before turning off the heat. You do not want water to condense on the buns.

Makes 16 dumplings. Serves 4 when eaten by themselves (and you'll want to do that when they come out of the steamer.)

Typical stuffings include pork or beef fillings for savory, and sweetened red been paste for sweet, but the world's your baozi!

Deadline: Monday, May 3rd.

Risotto

Time between the Daring Cooks challenge posts seems to go faster and faster. Maybe it has something to do with the endless gray skies and damp weather we've been having. The perfect weather, as it turns out, for risotto, which happily was the subject of this month's challenge.

The 2010 March Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Eleanor of MelbournefoodGeek and Jess of Jessthebaker. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make risotto. The various components of their challenge recipe are based on input from the Australian Masterchef cookbook and the cookbook Moorish by Greg Malouf.

The challenge required us to make our own chicken stock from scratch and the risotto base. Mike and I regularly make our chicken stock because it tastes much better than the boxed variety, so we were very familiar with that step of the challenge. While I certainly wouldn't call either of us professional risotto makers, we've made our share of risotto in the past, so we decided to try to mix it up as much as we could and do something that would be entirely new for us.

So instead of the traditional arborio or other short grain white rice, we decided to use short grain brown rice, and come up with a heartier dish better suited for our weather.



Instead of a base using white wine, we decided to go with red wine. From there, a wild mushroom risotto seemed like the perfect, and logical choice.






The result was delicious, I have to say. The risotto had a nuttier texture than traditional risotto, and using red wine produced a risotto with deeper flavor.





I'd highly recommend trying out a risotto like this when the weather's just right for staying in.

For a similar recipe, see: http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/wild-mushroom-and-red-wine-risotto

Spinach Feta Pie

I'm sure you'd have thought that with the softball nature of this challenge, our post wouldn't be more than a month late.

The irony, of course, is that we completed the challenge weeks in advance, only to have our computer refuse to cooperate with anything we wanted it to do.

We've since found another computer to use, ergo our just now arriving post.

As for the challenge, reaching back into the recesses of December eating, it was successful, if just a little unexciting. I both loved the fact that there was no traditional crust, and yet at the same time missed the crust.

We used fresh spinach, which I don't think contributed much, if anything to the dish itself. I think it would have been just as good with frozen spinach.

As far as quickness and ease of preparation, though, this was a winner, and something we're glad to have tried.

The real question is, now that we've lobbed you this, what are you going to throw back?

Looking forward to the next challenge!

Mezze, and a little of why I left the Midwest

The beauty of food lies in its ability to transport those eating to different places in time and space.

Last week, as the snow fell, and continued to fall until we were unable to leave our house, we were able to escape the winter doldrums by conjuring up a Mediterranean feast that brought some much-needed sunshine to our gray skies.

The 2010 February Daring COOKs challenge was hosted by Michele of Veggie Num Nums. Michele chose to challenge everyone to make mezze based on various recipes from Claudia Roden, Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Dugid.

We were required to make pita bread and hummus from scratch, but from there the sky was the limit. Not wanting to stop with the pita bread and hummus, we added cucumber raita, falafel, marinated olives, pomegranate, and preserved lemons to round out our mezze.

Everything was delicious, but we loved, loved, loved the pita. It came out puffed up and the perfect texture for dipping and eating - no extra toasting required. The recipe also left us with the perfect amount left over, so we happily have a good amount of pita bread left.



With the details of Lindsay and Jason's trip to Cairo fresh in our minds, while eating our mezze, at least, we were just a tiny bit less envious that while they had been visiting the pyramids, we were under a heavy blanket of snow.

Now that the snow has finally stopped, and the cars and the salted, sanded roads have ruined the momentary winter wonderland, we're busy planning our next culinary escape.

Thanks to Michele for a fabulous challenge!


Pita Bread – Recipe adapted from Flatbreads & Flavors by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid

Prep time: 20 minutes to make, 90 minutes to rise and about 45 minutes to cook

2 teaspoons regular dry yeast (.43 ounces/12.1 grams)
2.5 cups lukewarm water (21 ounces/591 grams)
5-6 cups all-purpose flour (may use a combination of 50% whole wheat and 50% all-purpose, or a combination of alternative flours for gluten free pita) (17.5 -21 ounces/497-596 grams)
1 tablespoon table salt (.50 ounces/15 grams)
2 tablespoons olive oil (.95 ounces/29 ml)

Directions:

1. In a large bread bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water. Stir to dissolve. Stir in 3 cups flour, a cup at a time, and then stir 100 times, about 1 minute, in the same direction to activate the gluten. Let this sponge rest for at least 10 minutes, or as long as 2 hours.

2. Sprinkle the salt over the sponge and stir in the olive oil. Mix well. Add more flour, a cup at a time, until the dough is too stiff to stir. Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 8 to 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Rinse out the bowl, dry, and lightly oil. Return the dough to the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until at least doubled in size, approximately 1 1/2 hours.

3. Place a pizza stone, or two small baking sheets, on the bottom rack of your oven, leaving a 1-inch gap all around between the stone or sheets and the oven walls to allow heat to circulate. Preheat the oven to 450F (230C).

4. Gently punch down the dough. Divide the dough in half, and then set half aside, covered, while you work with the rest. Divide the other half into 8 equal pieces and flatten each piece with lightly floured hands. Roll out each piece to a circle 8 to 9 inches in diameter and less than 1/4 inch thick. Keep the rolled-out breads covered until ready to bake, but do not stack.

5. Place 2 breads, or more if your oven is large enough, on the stone or baking sheets, and bake for 2 to 3 minutes, or until each bread has gone into a full balloon. If for some reason your bread doesn't puff up, don't worry it should still taste delicious. Wrap the baked breads together in a large kitchen towel to keep them warm and soft while you bake the remaining rolled-out breads. Then repeat with the rest of the dough.

Hummus – Recipe adapted from The New Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia RodenPrep

Time: Hummus can be made in about 15 minutes once the beans are cooked. If you’re using dried beans you need to soak them overnight and then cook them the next day which takes about 90 minutes.

1.5 cups dried chickpeas, soaked in cold water overnight (or substitute well drained canned chickpeas and omit the cooking) (10 ounces/301 grams)
2-2.5 lemons, juiced (3 ounces/89ml)
2-3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
a big pinch of salt
4 tablespoons tahini (sesame paste)
additional flavorings (optional)

Directions:

1. Drain and boil the soaked chickpeas in fresh water for about 1 ½ hours, or until tender. Drain, but reserve the cooking liquid.

2. Puree the beans in a food processor (or you can use a potato masher) adding the cooking water as needed until you have a smooth paste.

3. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Adjust the seasonings to taste.


Cucumber Raita – Recipe adapted from The Indian Grocery Store Demystified by Linda Bladholm

Prep time: Approximately 15 minutes

1 medium cucumber, peeled and most of the seeds removed
1 teaspoon cumin seeds (.1 ounce/3 grams) OR use a small pinch of dried cumin—to taste
2 cups plain whole milk or Greek yogurt (17 ounces/473ml)
1 garlic clove, peeled and minced
fresh coriander or mint, chopped, a couple pinches or more to taste
cayenne pepper or paprika, just a pinch to use as a garnish (optional)

Directions:

1. Peel cucumber, de-seed, and dice. Blot off moisture with paper towels.

2. Toast cumin seeds for a few seconds in a small, heavy frying pan over high heat.

3. In a bowl, stir yogurt until it is smooth.

4. Mix it with the cumin, garlic and coriander or mint leaves

5. Stir in the cucumber and sprinkle with cayenne or paprika, and chill before serving.


Falafel - Recipe from Joan Nathan and Epicurious.com

Prep Time: Overnight for dry beans and 1 hour to make Falafel

1 cup dried chickpeas, soaked in cold water overnight OR use well canned drained chickpeas (7 ounces/100 grams)
1/2 large onion (roughly chopped, about 1 cup)
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped OR use a couple pinches of dried parsley (.2 ounces/5 grams)
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped OR use a couple pinches of dried cilantro (.2 ounces/5 grams)
1 teaspoon table salt (.1 ounce/5 grams)
1 teaspoon dried hot red peppers (cayenne) (.1 ounce/2 grams)
4 whole garlic cloves, peeled
1 teaspoon cumin (.1 ounce/2 grams)
1teaspoon baking powder (.13 ounces/4 grams)
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour (1 ounce/24 grams) (you may need a bit extra) tasteless oil for frying (vegetable, canola, soybean, etc.), you will need enough so that the oil is three inches deep in whatever pan you are using for frying

Directions:

1. Put the chickpeas in a large bowl and add enough cold water to cover them by at least 2 inches. Let soak overnight, and then drain. Or use canned chickpeas, drained.

2. Place the drained, uncooked chickpeas and the onions in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add the parsley, cilantro, salt, hot pepper, garlic, and cumin. Process until blended but not pureed. If you don’t have a food processor, then feel free to mash this up as smooth as possible by hand.

3. Sprinkle in the baking powder and 4 tablespoons of the flour, and pulse. You want to add enough bulgur or flour so that the dough forms a small ball and no longer sticks to your hands. Turn into a bowl and refrigerate, covered, for several hours.

4. Form the chickpea mixture into balls about the size of walnuts.

5. Heat 3 inches of oil to 375 degrees (190C) in a deep pot or wok and fry 1 ball to test. If it falls apart, add a little flour. Then fry about 6 balls at once for a few minutes on each side, or until golden brown.

6. Drain on paper towels.