Piquant Chicken Souvlaki with Tomato Pepper Relish + a side of Fried Ripe Plantains

I love food with Greek, Spanish, Moroccon, etc influences. And this morning around 5am I woke up with a major major craving for something Greek. I looked in the fridge and saw a tub of Greek yogurt that would've lasted maybe 3 more days before going bad, so I decided to use it for some chicken souvlaki marinade. This isn't exactly a recipe you can decide to make one second and then eat right away -- the chicken has to marinade and you've gotta let the relish ingredients marry in the fridge for a few hours. So I marinated my meat and prepared the relish, went back to bed and woke up around 11, ready to grill some chicken souvlaki.

Chicken Souvlaki

• 4 chicken breasts, boneless & skinless
• 1/3 cup strained Greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• couple of bay leaves
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 medium onion, grated
• 1 tbsp dijon mustard
• 1-2 dry chillis, crushed (I baked 1 chili until it was semi dry)
• 1 Tbsp. smoked paprika
• 2 tsp. dry Greek oregano
• salt and pepper to taste
• wooden skewers, soaked in water so they don't catch on fire when youre grillin

Tomato Pepper Relish

• 2 ripe plum tomatoes, seeded & diced
• 1/2 green bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 medium red onion, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp. of tomato paste
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Chop all your relish ingredients and stir in a bowl. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper and allow the flavors to marry for few hours in the fridge.

2. Clean chicken and slice into thin strips

3. Grate the onion and mince the garlic into a Ziploc bag

4. Add the remaining marinade ingredients (except salt, pepper and chicken). Squish the contents to blend and taste. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

5. Add your chicken strips into the bag and squish the contents so that all the meat is coated by the marinade. Place in the fridge and marinate for at least 3 hours.

6. Take your chicken strips out of the bag. Stick the chicken strips on water soaked skewers.

7. Grill your chicken souvlaki for about 4-5 minutes per side (or until cooked)

8. Sprinkle some salt and dry Greek oregano & Serve with some warm pita bread and a dollop of relish on the side. I ate some skewers with sour cream and others with homemade guacamole as well. So, guac isn’t exactly super Greek, but who cares, it’s freakin delicious.


Fried Ripe Plantains aka Platanos Maduros Fritos

Platanos Maduros -- one of my favorite foods in the world. I prefer using ripe plantains because they are much sweeter (and since they're softer, they cook much more quickly). Fried green (unripe) plantains (aka Patacones de Costa Rica) actually taste quite different, have a different texture, and require a different cooking method. Anyway, I can't really call this a recipe, because it really is just pan-fried plantains, but it's SO FUCKING GOOD that I had to post about it. You can eat these as a side to a meal or stick them in a burger or eat them unsalted with ice cream. Amazing however you decide to eat them.

• oil for shallow frying
• ripe plaintains (skin will be black or covered in black spots)
• pinch of salt (optional)
  
• pinch of sugar
• sour cream or creme fraiche

1. Fry plantain in oil haha. (Cook for a few minutes on each side until each side has a nice golden brown color.)

2. Sprinkle VERY VERY lightly with salt and sugar (you can leave out sugar if your plaintains are already super sweet)

3. Eat with sour cream or creme fraiche.



p.s. Happy 420 everyone. Hope your day is filled with satisfying munchies.

Cranberry Upside- Down Cake

This is hands down one of my favorite cake recipes. There's a perfect balance of sweet and tarte PLUS it's incredibly easy to make. So what's not to love?? The only problem is finding cranberries when they're not in season. Luckily, cranberries last a very long time in the fridge and freeze very well. I found a bag I had frozen a few months ago, so I was able to satiate my cranberry cake cravings.

Topping:

• 5 tablespoons (1/3 cup) unsalted butter
• 2/3 cup light brown sugar
• 8 ounces (2 1/4 cups) fresh cranberries

Cake Batter:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated white sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs, separated
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
  

1. Sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.

2. In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar (I used a handheld mixer)

3. Beat in vanilla extract

4. Add egg yolks one at a time to bowl, beating well after each one.

5. Add the flour mixture (in 3 additions), alternately with the milk (in 2 additions), ending with the flour mixture.

6. In another bowl, whisk egg whites with cream of tartar until firm.

7. Add egg white mixture to the cake batter in 2 additions.

8. In a pot over medium heat, mix brown sugar and butter until caramelized

9. Toss fruit with caramel mixture and set at the bottom of a buttered round cake pan.

10. Pour batter into pan and stick into a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean

11. Cool on rack for at least 15 minutes and turn cake upside down (rather, right side up?) to serve (fruit on top)

12. Eat with some whipped cream!!!

Potato Leek Soup

In some ways, it's too bad that spring's approaching because it means we're leaving hot soup season behind us. I love hot soup season! You can spend an hour making a batch of soup and it'll last you the entire week of finals and midterms and such.

Anyway, here's a recipe that from Emeril that I tweaked a little bit -- just because i like my potato leek soups a bit creamier and leekier!

Potato Leek Soup

• 3 tbsp butter
  
• 3-4 bacon strips
  
• 3 garlic cloves, minced

• 3 leeks, chopped and cleaned very well (discard those tough dark green outer leaves)

• 2 bay leaves
• about 15 peppercorns
  
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme
  

• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• about 2 cups chicken stock
  
• about 1 cup strong beef stock
  
• 2 cups milk
• 1/4 chicken bouillon cube (less or none if your chicken stock is flavorful and strong)
  
• 2 russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
  
• pinch of salt
  
• pinch of white pepper

• 1/2 to 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons snipped chives

1. In a large soup pot over medium heat, melt the butter and add the bacon. Cook for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the bacon is very soft and has rendered most of its fat. Be sure not to burn the bacon!

2. Add the chopped leeks and cook until wilted, about 5 minutes.

3. Add the wine and bring to a boil.

4. Tie the thyme, peppercorns and bay leaves in a piece of cheese cloth or wrapped in two learge leek leaves to make a bouquet garni.

5. Add the reserved bouquet garni, stock + milk, potatoes, salt and white pepper, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are falling apart and the soup is very flavorful. It might look a little funky now, but it'll look better once you puree the soup!

6. Remove the bouquet garni and, working in batches, puree the soup in a food processor or blender. (I used an immersion blender and pureed the soup directly in the pot. Puree well!)

7. Stir in the heavy cream and adjust the seasoning, if necessary.

8. Serve immediately, with some of the snipped chives and bacon bits sprinkled over the top of each bowl of soup

Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup

I actually made an enormous pot of this because I wanted leftovers for lunch. Surprisingly, this made terrible leftovers. It thickened way too much while sitting in the fridge and didn't thin out enough even when microwaved. Regardless, it was pretty delicious fresh. Just make sure you don't add too much rice or it'll turn out like porridge.

• olive oil to coat dutch oven
  
• 1 yellow onion
• 2-3 carrots, diced
• 2-3 stalks of celery, diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced

• 4 cups chicken stock
  
• 1 cup beef stock
• 1/2 cup milk
  
• 1 tsp chicken bouillon
• Sprinkle of dried basil
• Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup roasted chicken, diced (more if you like --I used about the meat of 3 garlic cajun roasted chicken thighs)
  
• 1/2 cup rice

• 1/2 cup of frozen sweet yellow corn, thawed
• 2 tbsp corn starch
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
  

1. Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat.

2. Add the garlic, onion, carrots, and celery & cook until tender, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.

3. Add the stock & milk, diced chicken, rice, bouillon, basil, sea salt, black pepper and bay leaf.

4. Cover and cook over medium heat for 15-20 minutes.

5. Turn the soup up until it boils.

6. Mix the corn starch and evaporated milk thoroughly in a bowl. Add the milk mixture to the boiling soup and stir.

7. Lower the heat and add the corn. Mix thoroughly and simmer for a few more minutes. (Soup will thicken as it sits.)