Week 2 - Chicken Enchilada Verde July 5, 2010

Chicken Enchilada Verde

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 can of chicken broth (seasoned)
• 2 cups of water
• 1 (15 oz.) can of green chile sauce
• 1 (8 oz.) can of green chile sauce
• 1 small can of diced green chiles (drained)
• 1 small can of salsa verde
• 2 cups shredded monterey jack cheese
• 1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup diced yellow onions
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 package of flour or wheat tortillas
• sour cream (optional)
• black olives (optional)

You'll need a glass baking dish large enough to hold 6 enchiladas. Preheat oven to 350.

Trim off any excess fat or skin off of chicken breasts. Wash thoroughly and place chicken in a deep pan with chicken broth and water. Add salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then down to a simmer. Cover with lid and let cook til chicken is easy to shred with fork.

Discard broth. Shred chicken with fork and set aside. Combine all cheeses and onion in a small bowl.

Open small can of green chile sauce and pour on bottom of glass baking dish. Fill each tortilla with shredded chicken, diced green chiles, cheeses, onion and top with 1 tbsp of green chile sauce. Reserve half of the cheese and onion combination.

Roll tortillas and place in a baking dish seam side down. Take remaining green chile sauce and thoroughly pour over all. Top with remaining cheeses, onion, the salsa verde and black olives. Bake in oven for 20 to 25 min or until heated through and cheese has melted. Let stand for 5 minutes. Top with sour cream or your favorite hot sauce.

My Notes:

This recipe was taken from, http://www.cooks.com/. I served it with an avocado salad.

Verdict: This dish was delish. The only thing I would change is I would probably saute the onions first because I would like them not to be so crunchy. The recipe says it makes 6 but I actually made 10 so I needed an extra pan. I also only used 3 of the 4 chicken breasts.

Week 1 - Steak Pizzaioli - June 28, 2010

Steak Pizzaioli

Ingredients:

• Two 12- ounce shell (strip) steaks, each about ¾ inch thick
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 ripe plum tomatoes, cored, seeded, and diced
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• ¼ teaspoon crushed hot red pepper
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley 

1. Pat the steaks dry with a paper towel and season them with ½ teaspoon salt. Let stand at room temperature while making the tomato sauce.

2. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, about 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes, oregano, remaining ¼ teaspoon salt and the hot pepper. Stir in ¼ cup water and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes, until the sauce thickens. During the last 5 minutes, stir in the parsley. Transfer the sauce to a bowl, and clean the skillet.

3. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in the skillet over medium-high heat. Add the steaks to the skillet and cook about 3 minutes on each side for medium-rare. Transfer to a carving board and let stand for 5 minutes.

4. Pour out the fat in the skillet. Return the tomato sauce to the skillet and bring to a simmer, scraping up the browned bits in the skillet. Remove from the heat.

5. Hold the knife at a slight diagonal and cut the steak across the grain into ½ inch thick slices. Arrange the steak slices on a platter. Pour the tomato sauce over the steak and serve hot.

My Notes:
 This recipe was taken from the cookbook, The Skinny Italian.  I  put it over angel hair pasta but It could go with whatever you would like. I also served it with prosciutto wrapped green beans.

Verdict: Very good for first attempt. It was just a tad bland so I would kick up the spice a little next time.