Posts Tagged ‘Chili’

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Super-Ridiculous-Bowl

Thursday, February 9th, 2012 by Andrea

Each year, I co-host a Superbowl party that’s more about the food than the actual football game. The tradition began years ago with a menu theme of “white trash”. However, I’m friends with a bunch of chefs. So, white trash to them means something totally different. There’s no Velveeta on this table, just Widmer’s 6 Year Cheddar. Each year, the volume and level of food gets more ridiculous.

Here are some of the menu items so you can get a better idea:

  • Bacon-Wrapped Tater Tots
  • Fried Macaroni & Cheese
  • Potato Skin Bar
  • Texas Chili
  • Buffalo Wing Dip
  • Homemade Pimento Cheese
  • Pretzel Bites with Mustard Dipping Sauce
  • Spinach & Artichoke Dip with Pita Chips
  • Shrimp Etouffee Calzones
  • Fresh Cold Pizza (don’t even ask)
  • Homemade Nutter Butter Cookies
  • Double-Dipped Chocolate Mini Macaroons

See what I mean?

This year, I had two revelations for the menu. I thought about Corn Dogs as a perfect Superbowl food, but there are two problems with this dish:

  1. I despise hot dogs.
  2. I don’t fry anything at this party. (That’s due to a couple of years ago where I made the mistake of having four different fried items on the menu and therefore stood in front of a hot pot of oil for hours, rather than socializing with my friends.)

My solution was to make Jalapeno Corn Muffins and stick a bite-sized piece of Andouille Sausage in each and bake. Tastes like a corn dog, but even better!

The second dish was actually a revision of something I found as I was doing some research on the internet. It’s all the flavors of a hoagie sandwich in a dip. This one will be around for a while!

Hoagie Dip

1/2 onion, diced

1/2 jar pickled pepperoncini peppers, chopped fine (use less if you want less kick)

1/2 head iceberg lettuce, chopped

2 Roma tomatoes, seeded & diced

1/4 lb deli-sliced salami, cut into bite sized pieces

1/4 lb deli-sliced ham, cut into bite sized pieces

1/4 lb deli-sliced roast turkey, cut into bite sized pieces

1/4 lb deli-sliced prosciutto, cut into bite sized pieces

1/4 lb deli-sliced provolone cheese, cut into bite sized pieces

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

hoagie rolls, cut into pieces

Mix everything together and serve with hoagie rolls. It’s that easy!

 

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Andrea has been with The Chopping Block for 8 years in every role from Chef Assistant to General Manager to Private Event Coordinator and now Public Relations. Her journalism background and culinary school education from Le Cordon Bleu in Chicago give her the know-how to spread the word about The Chopping Block's mission to get people to cook. She also is devoted to working with dogs, enjoys reading, yoga, good wine, and being from Louisiana, she loves to cook Cajun food for her friends.

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Dog Fight

Saturday, December 31st, 2011 by Kate

I am about to commit blasphemy, at the risk of being thrown out of Chicago. But here goes: I don’t like Chicago hot dogs. I don’t even like most of the ingredients on their own (save mustard), let alone all together, mucking up the flavor of a hot dog: pickle spears, electric green relish, slices of (generally flavorless) beefsteak tomatoes, raw onions, celery salt, and mustard, all on a poppy seed bun. And then there’s ketchup–or, rather, there’s no ketchup. It’s completely verboten on a Chicago dog, and this might be the sticking point for me. I love ketchup. I think a lot of food items, especially hot dogs, are really just vehicles for ketchup delivery. I asked for ketchup my first time ordering a Chicago dog and nearly got laughed out of the joint. Sigh.

According to Wikipedia, the Chicago dog is a Depression-era invention of Maxwell Street. Though I see the thrifty benefits of having a whole salad included in your sandwich, it’s just not the hot dog for me.

I just returned from a week at home for the holidays in LA, and driving past Pink’s, LA’s most iconic hot dog stand, got me to thinking about the LA hot dog. Though not as established an icon as the Chicago dog, the LA dog definitely can stand on its own. We like chili on ours. Pink’s is known for its chili dogs, and for its giant wrap-around line on La Brea, no matter what time of day or night (people make a beeline for Pink’s after the bars let out at 2 AM). It’s been in the same spot since 1939, and it should definitely be on your list of things to do while in LA. Carney’s and Tommy’s also make great chili dogs, but Pink’s is the landmark hot dog.

It’s the Dodger Dog , though, that is most synonymous with hot dogs in LA. There are of course hot dogs for sale at any ballpark in America, but the Dodger Dog is a special breed. It’s a foot-long all-beef dog that you can get grilled. It might be the grilling that makes it so special. It might be being nestled into a beautiful hillside at Dodger Stadium while you eat it. It might be hometown pride for Los Doyers. But, whatever the magic alchemy that goes into a Dodger Dog, I’d take one any day over a Chicago dog. With ketchup and mustard. Sorry, Chicago, I love ya, but you can keep your hot dogs!

 

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Kate Soto is a part-time class assistant at the Chopping Block, and has never met a vegetable she didn't like. She writes about recipes and feeding people at domestikating.wordpress.com. When not thinking about food (especially anything with the carb-sauce-cheese trifecta), she's thinking about books, and is coordinator of the Creative Writing and Poetics programs at the University of Chicago. She was born and raised in LA by card-carrying members of the Fraternal Order of the Casserole.

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Holy Molé

Thursday, October 13th, 2011 by Carrie

Well, maybe it’s not so ‘holy’, but if any of you have ever thought about or attempted to make molé, you know what I’m talking about.  Molé is one of my favorite Latin American sauces to eat and can be a beautiful sauce to make, given a little love and time.

I was inspired to make a batch at home after instructing a private event at our Lincoln Square location that had Braised Chicken in Molé on the menu.  I didn’t have a copy of the recipe with me as I went to the store, but I thought I could recollect most everything I needed and what I might already have at home.  I did pretty good, although, I forgot two ingredients – golden raisins and Mexican chocolate.  When I realized this, I started rummaging through my pantry. I substituted dates for the raisins and semi-sweet chocolate chips for the Mexican chocolate.  I did have to fine-tune the spices and sweetness due to the substitutions, but all in all, it didn’t turn out half bad.

That was a fun Sunday afternoon experiment for me, as I don’t always cook for myself in that way.  Now, I have several pint containers in my freezer that I can pull out to make a nice, flavorful chili as the weather gets cooler, or braise a little more chicken later on.

Here’s the recipe:

Braised Chicken in Molé with Rice

Yield: 8 servings

Active time: 30 minutes

Start to finish: 1 hour 15 minutes

2 tablespoons grapeseed oil

One 4-5 pound chicken, cut into serving pieces

Salt and pepper to taste

1 large tomato

1 yellow onion

3-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 ounces dried guajillo chilies

2 ounces dried ancho chilies

2 slices stale French bread, cut into cubes

1 clove garlic

4 cups chicken stock

1/4 cup sesame seeds, toasted

1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns

5 whole cloves

1/2 disk Mexican chocolate

Salt to taste

Steamed long-grain rice

  1. Season the chicken on both sides with salt and pepper to taste. Heat a large, heavy pot over medium-high heat and add the grapeseed oil. Sear the chicken skin side down first until golden brown and crisp. Flip and repeat. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside. (Save the pot the chicken was seared in to simmer the mole.)
  2. Preheat the broiler. Cut the tomatoes and onions in half, and rub them with a little of the olive oil. Place them on a baking sheet and broil for about 10 minutes, turning them once, until slightly charred.
  3. Pull the stems from the dried chilies and shake out the seeds.
  4. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large sauté pan. Fry the chilies until toasty. Do not overbrown them; if they get too dark they will become bitter. Transfer the finished chilies to a bowl and cover with hot water.
  5. In the same pan you used to toast the chilies, add a little more olive oil as needed, and toast the bread cubes until golden brown.
  6. Combine the chilies, bread, tomatoes, onion, garlic and stock and puree in batches in a blender.  Transfer the pureed mixture to same pot the chicken was seared in.
  7. Grind the peppercorns, cloves and sesame seeds in a mortar with a pestle and add to the pot.
  8. Add the chocolate and chicken to the pot and bring the mole to a simmer. Simmer over low heat for 45 minutes or until the chicken is tender and falling off the bone. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
  9. Serve over steamed rice.

For those of you that are a little more ambitious, check out Diana Kennedy’s “Oaxaca al Gusto” (available at The Chopping Block), or this link to Rick Bayless’s famous mole that he prepared for the White House state dinner.

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Carrie finally found her culinary niche as a Chef Instructor for The Chopping Block in May 2008, but only after a hilariously traumatic demonstration interview (of which you will have to attend one of her classes to hear about). She gets a thrill of sharing the things she’s learned about food and cooking with others and the memories and experiences around food that have made her who she is today. Her hope is to take away the apprehension people have of cooking by pouring on her southern hospitality and charm and having fun in the kitchen. When she isn’t cooking, you can usually find her at a concert, a neighborhood restaurant or just hanging out with friends and enjoying their company.

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Don’t Follow that Recipe

Thursday, September 29th, 2011 by Tulie

Ok, maybe follow it a little. That’s my motto for making soup these days. I have been on a soup kick ever since the fairly fall-like weather set in—a little too early this year, I must say! So, right now I’m mostly making broth-based soups as I know I’ll crave the heartier soups, chili, and braised dishes as our fall days move along and the days get even cooler.

The reason I say not to follow a recipe really has to do with the fact that most soups start with the same basic ingredients and then you can essentially decide what combination of starches, proteins and seasonings you’d like to add. What’s really helpful is to keep your pantry stocked with garlic, onions, carrots, celery, canned beans of any kind, stock or broths, and a variety of herbs and spices. From there, you can pull together a simple soup or decide to shop for meat, fresh herbs, veggies or all.

The key to enjoying your homemade soups is to start with a recipe that appeals to you and then make it your own by adding more or less of the called-for ingredients and/or substituting items you like better, i.e., broccoli instead of peppers or chicken instead of pork. The following recipe is an adaptation from several lentil soups I’ve made over the years that I recently made more substantial by adding spicy chicken sausage and seasonings.

Sausage Lentil Soup

1 Tbl grapeseed oil

1 medium onion, diced

1 large carrot, peeled and diced

2 stalks celery, diced

2-3 cloves of garlic

½ pound of chicken sausage (spicy or not—choose what you like), crumbled

½ tsp dried thyme

1 tsp cumin

1 14 ½ oz can of diced tomatoes

1 can lentils, drained and rinsed

32-40 oz chicken broth

salt and pepper, to taste

  1. Heat oil over medium-high heat in Dutch oven. Add onions, carrots, and celery and sauté for about 15 minutes, until golden brown and lightly caramelized.
  2. Add the garlic and stir for about 30 seconds.
  3. Add crumbled sausage and cook until lightly browned.
  4. Add thyme and cumin, stirring for about 30 seconds.
  5. Add tomatoes, scraping bottom of pan to incorporate flavors.
  6. Add lentils and chicken broth and simmer for about 20 minutes to meld flavors.
  7. Season with salt and pepper.

 

 

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Tulie O’Connor is a part-time Class Assistant at The Chopping Block where she loves the creative outlet of helping people learn more about cooking and learning from the chefs as well! In her “full-time” life she focuses on business publishing—helping/encouraging authors to write books, articles or other publications. When not working, Tulie is usually expending energy in a pool or at a Pilates class and of course planning or cooking her next meal with friends or family nearby.

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Ultra Cast Iron Beatdown

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011 by Brian

A recent trip to Kettle Moraine North in Wisconsin proved two valuable points: I am a terrible camper and cast iron cookware is an outdoors lifesaver.

Unless you plan on sustaining yourself on a steady diet of granola bars and trail mix for the duration of your trip, you’re going to have to adapt to your environment in order to cook. Since I wasn’t interested in investing in a portable propane stovetop, I challenged myself to use our site’s campfire as my only heat source. What resulted was a weekend consisting of vegetarian chili, jalapeno & cheddar cornbread, biscuits & gravy, pozole, and good, old-fashioned boiled water for a French press filled with Metropolis La Cordillera coffee, a luxury my friends and I couldn’t bear to leave behind in the city; a fairly impressive menu stemming only from a cast iron skillet and dutch oven.

Cast iron is, admittedly, ugly and ridiculously heavy. But what it lacks in aesthetic appeal it more than makes up for in durability (sorry, but Le Creuset can stay home for this particular campaign), heat retention, a necessity for high-temperature searing (i.e. steaks, fish, scallops) and frying (i.e. fried chicken, crab cakes, donuts), and diffusion, allowing itself to evenly distribute heat for “low and slow” braises, stews, and basic baked goods. It can also be credited as the first “non-stick” cookware capable of producing a batch of scrambled eggs as well as any contemporary non-stick pan.

But how is that possible? Some believe through proper use (and cooking methods), any excess fats simply need to be drained and the pan or pot wiped down. This cleaning process is also referred to as seasoning, in essence, allowing the iron to absorbs oils in order to naturally form a non-stick cooking surface. If the thought using a fresh, greasy pan throws you for a loop, simply wash your cast iron cookware with only hot water and scour with coarse salt, towel dry, apply a fresh coat of vegetable oil, and allow to cool in a dry place for future use.

Here at The Chopping Block we carry Lodge, a family-owned and operated company since 1896 and the sole domestic producer of foundry seasoned cast iron cookware in the United States. The food geek in me believes that having a well-seasoned cast iron skillet be passed down from generation to generation is an exciting prospect and a necessary rite of passage. I highly suggest you make the same investment.

Note: Please visit the Lodge website  for any questions regarding the proper use, cleaning, and reseasoning of cast iron cookware.

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Brian is a chef and writer. A graduate of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Le Cordon Bleu Chicago, Brian currently leads instruction for the kids and teen summer camps at The Chopping Block's Lincoln Square location. A Chicago-area native and hopeless Cubs fan, he continues to appreciate everything food has to offer, from exploring ethnic dives, cooking for friends, or tackling ridiculous food challenges around the city.

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