Showing posts with label red pepper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label red pepper. Show all posts

Friday, June 17, 2011

What's For Dinner? - African Chicken Stew

SPICY, HEAVY GOODNESS!! A really pleasant combination of peanuts, chicken, vegetables, and spice. Initially you taste the sweetness of the peanut butter, then the red pepper kicks in after a few seconds and really adds some zip! I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com and the key to this one is keeping everything in one pan from start to finish (my dad and mom taught me that little trick). Deglazing the pan after browning the chicken and keeping all the yummys in the dish makes it that much better.

~Ingredients~

1 Tbsp. olive oil
1.75 lb of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
1 large potato, diced
1 turnip, diced
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp. salt
1 cup of water (keep adding if it thickens too much)
1 cup peanut butter
1 (15 oz) can of garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

~Instructions~

1. In a large metal (not Teflon or non-stick) skillet with a tight-fitting lid, heat oil over medium-high heat.  Add chicken and brown quickly. Letting your infant think that she is orchestrating the whole ordeal is wise. No hurt feelings.



(That's some perfectly browned chicken!)


 2.  Chop up any other vegetables you wish to add.  I picked a turnip! Yum!  And it makes such a pretty picture!
3.  Remove chicken from the skillet. The bottom of the metal skillet should have brown crusty stuff that looks like it is stuck to the bottom of it.  These are the yummys.  Do not remove them.  Just go ahead and add a little more olive oil and add your garlic, onion, potato, and in my case, the turnip.  Saute for 2-3 minutes.
4.  Add the cumin, coriander, black pepper, red pepper flakes, and salt.
5.  Cut the browned chicken into bite-sized pieces.
6.  Mix in the water, but make sure you have a good scraping tool. Either a metal spatula or a pointed wooden spoon of some sort so that scraping the browned chicken off of the bottom of the pan is easier.
(It should be a warm brown color like this when the scrapings are in the mix)
7.  Add the browned chicken pieces.  Place the lid on the skillet and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
8.  Add the peanut butter and garbanzo beans and mix thoroughly.
9.  Let your infant experiment with radishes that you have prepared for a garnish. I was really prepared for her to spit them out and throw them across the room expressing that her mouth was on fire, but...
Radishes were a spicy success!!!
10.  Garnish your African Chicken Stew, serve with either rice or bread, and beverage of choice! After eating it with red wine, I would advise an ice cold beer instead.  But that's just my opinion.
</span>

Read More...

Thursday, June 2, 2011

What's For Dinner? - Margarita Grilled Shrimp

Right out of the gate, I will tell you my experience making this dish and you can do with it what you will.  For me, this was one of those foodie experiments that turned out to be a lot of fun to make (as the pictures indicate), and totally wasn't worth all of the work. At the end of the dish, I can say it truly was delicious, but I didn't taste a lick of the "margarita," just a lot of good grilled shrimp flavor. Hmmmm....

~Ingredients~

1 pound of raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 cloves of minced garlic
2 Tbsp. fresh squeezed lime juice
3 Tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp. tequila (and maybe a splash or two more)
3 Tbsp. fresh chopped cilantro
1/4 tsp. ground red pepper
1/4 tsp. salt
Desired amount of cooked rice

~Instructions~

Combine the garlic....

Shove some limes down your dress and party like a rock star....
Get serious and squeeze the lime juice into the same bowl as the garlic....
Pound some of the tequila because you can....
Now put the bottle down and combine that with all of the other ingredients in the bowl....
Toss the shrimp in it and let marinate.  I marinated it for an hour and a half.
Take a picture of your awesome coals you have burning on the Hibachi because you're a nerd....
Take a picture of you with your shrimp because the tequila has kicked in and now you think you're best friends....
Serve on a bed of rice, and voila!

Read More...