by Rachel on January 26, 2012
Southwestern Chicken Cacciatore
My father always makes chicken cacciatore as soon as the weather turns. In California it isn’t a major turn, more like a minor bend in the road. The leaves start to change color, the evenings and mornings are colder, the daytime temperatures hover below 70, and our cooking choices start to embrace cozier, more robust dishes. My time in Albuquerque and Santa Fe are still weighing heavily on my cooking choices. Having at least partially exhausted the dishes that can be made with corn, onions, squash and green chilies my mind has started to wander or wonder about what other dishes in my repertoire could stand a jolt of Southwestern energy? Chicken Cacciatore came to mind. It’s a robust dish anyway and the addition of fire-roasted chilies seems an obvious iteration, variation, even consummation. It’s all Helen’s fault. She invited me to Albuquerque. She foisted upon me those savory fire roasted Anaheim chilies straight from the local farmer’s market. I’m a changed woman. I might even consider investing in a dedicated freezer to house the little monsters. The chilies that is, not my offspring.
Southwestern Chicken Cacciatore (serves 6-8)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup onions, diced
- 2 leeks, sliced lengthwise and then thinly sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, finely diced
- 1 cup dry white wine
- One 14.5-oz can fire roasted tomatoes with green chilies
- One 15-oz can tomato sauce
- 4-oz can fire roasted green chilies
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 30 green olives, sliced in half
- 10-oz crimini mushrooms, sliced
- 2 ½ lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 3 packets chicken concentrate (such as Trader Joe’s Savory Broth Chicken Flavor Reduced Sodium Chicken Concentrate – other brands are fine too, but more expensive!!)
- 2 cups of Yukon gold potatoes, diced (don’t peel them)
Heat the olive oil in a soup pot or Dutch Oven. Add the onions and leeks. Cook over medium heat until they are soft, 10-12 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the white wine, bring it to a simmer for 2 minutes. Add the fire-roasted tomatoes, tomato sauce, green chilies, chicken broth, green olives, mushrooms and chicken. Bring to a low simmer. Simmer for 60 minutes. Add the potatoes and simmer until they are tender, 15-20 more minutes. Taste. Add salt and pepper as necessary. Serve in a low bowl over flat noodles, rice, or just plain. Can be topped with diced green onions and sour cream.
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by Rachel on January 23, 2012
Baked Halibut with Kalamata Olive Puree
This is another dinner that can easily go from fridge to table in 20 minutes – you just need to remember to preheat your oven a few minutes before you get started cooking. The sauce and salsa can be prepped while the halibut is baking. Halibut is in season and relatively fairly priced (it’s all relative, isn’t it?), especially at stores like Costco. Baked quickly at a high temperature it will be firm and moist. Make sure not to over-bake it. Dry halibut is disappointing, but avoidable if you pay attention. We had dry halibut at a fancy-pants restaurant (not to name names but it was at the high-end restaurant at the Montage in Laguna Niguel). They had cooked that fish so long and so hard that it would have been great as a doorstop, or paving material. It was all I could do to resist the urge to storm the kitchen to lecture the line cooks on how easy it is to cook halibut correctly. I find baking fish at 400 degrees for 20 minutes works like a charm for salmon, halibut and swordfish.
Baked Halibut with Kalamata Olive Puree and Tomato Salsa (4-6 servings)
- 1 ½ -2 lbs fresh halibut
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- One 12-oz jar pitted Kalamata olives packed in olive oil (do not drain)
- 2 large cloves garlic (or 3 small ones)
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, chopped
- 3/4 cup Vidalia or Maui onion, finely diced
- 2 tablespoons chives, finely chopped
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Brush half of the olive oil on a sheet pan, or cookie sheet. Set the halibut on the sheet. Brush the remaining olive oil on the fish. Do not salt the fish – the kalamata puree is salty, you don’t need any additional salt on the fish. Bake the fish for 18-20 minutes until it is just cooked through (the exact time will depend on the thickness of the fish and how cold it was when you popped it in the oven).
While the fish is baking place the kalamata olives and the olive oil in which they were packed in a blender. Add the garlic, Parmesan cheese and mayonnaise. Process on high until smooth. This is one of the easiest sauces to make. You’ll likely have some left over. Use it as a spread on sandwiches, or with a quickly sautéed chicken breast. It might even work as a facial scrub, I just haven’t had time to try it.
In a medium bowl mix together the tomatoes and the onions.
Once the halibut is cooked cut it into four-six servings. Spoon kalamata puree over the fish. Split the tomato/onion mixture into equal servings and spoon over the fish. Sprinkle the chives on top. Serve immediately.
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