Peach and Blueberry Cobbler

A fantastic summer dessert. 

I really don't have much of a sweet-tooth, so while I bake a lot, it's almost always bread, pretzels, biscuits, etc. I am also pretty bad at baking--baking requires recipe-adherence discipline, and I just don't stick to recipes. I've had some notorious baking disasters--like the time I forgot the eggs in pecan pies for Adam's birthday. I realized it about 20 minutes into the baking so I just added the eggs late to the bubbling caramel. So it was a sweet, scrambled egg pie. Needless to say, that shit was super gross.

Cobblers are an exception to my sweet-baking reticence! I love making cobblers in the summer--the sticky, soft fruit tastes more intensely peachy (or plummy, or berry-y) than eating the fruit raw. Plus, you don't really need a recipe--it's more like a formula--and they are nearly impossible to mess up.

Basic cobbler formula 
You need a full pie-dish worth of stone fruit (peaches, plums, nectarines, apricots) OR berries or apples, or any combination. If using stone fruit, apples or strawberries, thinly slice. (Technically you should peel these, but I never bother). Small berries like blueberries or blackberries can be left whole.
Add to the fruit 2 TB of white sugar, 1 TB of cornstarch, 2 TB of lemon juice.
Then, make the crumb, biscuit or pastry topping, and bake at 400 for 25 minutes.


Personally, I like a nut-based pastry top. Here is what I used, a pecan-based pastry. This makes enough for two cobblers.

Blend the following in a food processor:
1/2 cup pecans
1/2 stick butter
3/4 cup flour
tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup sugar
Dribble of cold water

Blitz everything but the water in the food processor. It will look like gravel or sand, depending on how dry the air in your kitchen is. Dribble in the water until it forms a coherent ball (this will only take about 2 tablespoons).
Then, pinch the pastry into little leaves and place over the fruit. Done!
If you are only making one cobber, the other half of the pastry freezes well. Leave it in the freezer for your next cobbler!

Ingredients

Fruit filling. I used five peaches and a small crate of blueberries.

Before baking

All done!

I love to use blueberries in cobblers because they explode during baking, creating a rich, purple fruit syrup all through the bottom.

I plan to make a lot of cobblers this summer with different fruit combinations. We have a plum tree in the backyard--but so far it's produced a single, rock-hard, midget of a plum. My home-grown cobbler dreams my not come to fruition. Heh. Fruition--get it?
Enjoy!

Chicken Tikka Masala

Chicken tikka is warming, spicy, complex, and totally delicious.

I have always loved Indian food, and Chicken Tikka Masala was the first Indian dish I learned to cook at home. It is easy and fabulous. I originally got my recipe from the Pioneer Woman, but I've messed with it over time. This is a recipe I've made so many times I have it memorized. 

I made this for Bachelor Night--a tradition at my house. Turns out a lot of the teachers at my school have my same appalling taste in television--and also love drinking cheap wine and eating good food in the middle of the week. Our Tuesday night gatherings are a great excuse for me to cook for a crowd. 

Because I have so much free time--it being summer and all--I made an Indian feast! Chicken tikka, veggie masala, homemade garlic naan, and raita to cool the spice. Yum.

Here is the recipe. It's PW's, with my alterations: 

Ingredients

• 3 whole (to 4) Chicken Breasts or thigh (any boneless, skinless chicken is fine)
•  Kosher Salt
•  Ground Coriander
•  Cumin Powder
• 1 cup Plain Yogurt
• 6 Tablespoons Butter
• 2 large yellow onions
• 8 cloves Garlic
• 1 chubby 4-inch piece of ginger
•  Garam Masala spice powder (usually available at regular grocery stores)
• 1 large can (28 Ounce) Diced Tomatoes
• 1 jalapeno or other spicy element (like cayenne or red pepper flakes)

•  Sugar
• 1-1/2 cup Heavy Cream
• Cilantro
•  

What to Do:

Start by seasoning the chicken breasts with some kosher salt. Next sprinkle them on both sides with some coriander and cumin. Then coat the chicken breasts completely with the plain yogurt. Set the chicken on a metal cooling rack over a foil-lined baking sheet and place it about 10-12 inches below a broiler for 5-7 minutes per side. Watch carefully so as not to totally char the chicken. It should have slightly blackened edges. Remove from oven and set aside.

Next dice  the two  large onions. In a large skillet melt 4 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat. Toss in the onions and sauté until they are slightly browned, about 6 mines. As the onions cook, mince your garlic. Next, cut off the outer skin and mince or grate the big hunk of fresh ginger. Add the garlic and ginger to the onions. Also throw in about 1 tablespoon of salt. Cook for about 3 minutes.

Next you are going to add about 4 tablespoons Garam Masala spice. And if you like it hot, this is also when you will add your spicy element--jalapeno or chiles. If you don't want spice, just omit these. Let the spices cook in the butter for a few minutes, stirring constantly. 

Now add your can of diced tomatoes. Continue cooking and stirring, scraping the bottom of the pan to deglaze it. Add about 1 tablespoon sugar. Let this mixture simmer on medium for about 5 minutes.

After the Tikka Masala sauce has had a chance to simmer for a little bit, add in the 1 ½ cups of heavy cream. Now, chop up your chicken breasts into chunks and stir them into the Tikka Masala sauce. A handful of chopped fresh cilantro is a nice addition if you like cilantro. 

Serve with naan or rice!

Note: make "Indian" rice by adding a few dashes of tumeric and a cup of frozen peas, then cooking rice as normal. 

Ingredients for the yogurt-marinated roast chicken.

Chicken before roasting. 

Roasted chicken. The yogurt gives it fantastic flavor. 

Finished Tikka! 

The whole meal: homemade garlic naan, cucumber-mint raita, chicken tikka masala, and fiery vegetable masala. Doesn't this make you want to drink boxed wine and watch bad TV? 

My plate. And a jealous chihuahua photo bomb!

Grilled Lamb Chops

Garlic and rosemary marinated lamb chops.

Lamb chops are fancy, easy, and delicious. They look like tiny T-bone steaks! You feel like the giant in the 80"s version on Jack and the Beanstock, feasting like a tyrant. I sometimes make these for special occasions--but in this case, the special occasion was It's Monday and Lambchops Were on Sale. 

When considering how many to buy, I think 3 per person is a good amount, especially if you're serving sides. We made ten--that was dinner for two plus lunch for one. 

Making lamb chops is super simple. 

Ingredients

Ingredients:  
Lamb chops (any amount)
A few garlic cloves, minced
A few twigs of rosemary, chopped
salt
pepper
olive oil

What to do: 
Salt and pepper the chops lightly on both sides. Scatter the garlic and rosemary over the chops, then pour olive oil over each. The chops don't need to be drowning in oil--I used about half a cup for 10 chops.
Let the chops marinate for a couple hours.
Then, grill the chops on a very hot barbecue. For medium rare, we  grilled each on for about 2 min per side--but the cooking time depends on how hot your grill is.
Let the chops rest for about 5 minutes before eating. Yummm!

Lamb chops marinating

Two lobbyists in favor of lamb chops

Fire!

This smells of garlic, rosemary, and bubbling lamb fat.

Yummmm....

Lamb chops resting.

Lamb chops, corn and squash casserole, green beans and arugula, and homebrew. Perfect  summer dinner!

Enjoy!

Megan's Enchiladas!

Spicy, tangy, creamy, salsa verde; sweet, chili-spiced chicken; bubbly cheese. This is the ultimate comfort food.  These enchiladas are SO GODDAMN GOOD. 

This recipe comes courtesy of my friend Megan. She invented it and has been making it for years. These enchiladas are TO DIE for. They use a creamy chile-verde enchilada sauce, which plays perfectly against sweet, tomatoe-y chicken filling.

Meg and I met in high school and became friends through a shared love of cheap vodka, the Berrybender novels, stupid puns, skipping class to go swimming, and games of Who Would You Rather Bone? all through civics.

Then! Me, Meg, Claudia before prom. 2000

High school girlfriends back in Chico for my bachelorette. 2013

Meg is an AMAZING cook. She gets it from her mom and her Nana, who are both incredible, too.

I remember the day I first tasted Meg's enchiladas. We were all about 22.  It was the spring break of my first year of teaching, and I'd gone to California to visit my HS friends. I was teaching high school English in a tiny town at the bottom of Texas, and my friends were doing stuff like working at Hooters, finishing college, waiting tables at cool restaurants. Compared to them, I was already middle aged--we would leave the apartment at 11pm to go to a club--they would dance, and I would fall asleep with my head on a loudspeaker. All the Redbull and Vodkas in Southern California couldn't bring back my vanished youth.
So when Meg suggested a movie night, I was like "Fuck yes" We watched Harold and Maude and she made these enchiladas at her apartment in Long Beach.
They were the best enchiladas I'd ever had. I got her to email me the recipe and I've been making them ever since.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients: 

3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs (breasts are ok, but thighs taste better)

1 16 oz jar of salsa verde

2-3 jalapenos ( I used 2 and mine were really spicy)

1 cup fresh cilantro

1/3 cup ranch dressing

1/3 cup sour cream

1 red onion, diced

2-3 garlic cloves

20 tortillas  (I used multigrain flour tortillas. Corn tortillas work too)

2 chipotle peppers from a can

1 TBS Chipotle chile powder

1 TBS cumin

1 tsp coriander

1/2 tsp all spice

3-4  TBS tomato paste

1 TBS honey

4-6 cups grated cheddar

Salt and pepper to taste.

What to Do: 

1.) Put chicken in pot of water with a dash of salt, a few garlic cloves, the chipotle peppers, and some salt and pepper. Bring to a slow boil, reduce heat, and simmer for about 20 minutes or until chicken is just barely cooked. Don't cook too long or it will get dried out. Remove chicken to cool on plate. Reserve the water with the garlic and onions for later.

Chicken simmering.

2.) In a blender or food processor, blend salsa verde, jalapenos, cilantro, ranch and sour cream. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Creamy salsa verde enchilada sauce!

3.) Shred chicken with your fingers or a fork, if it's too hot. Dice the onion up.

4.) Heat oil in a skillet and add the the onion. Cook until soft. 2-4 minutes

5.) Add chicken, tomato paste, honey, and all of the spices, along with all the garlic and some of the water (1/2 cup?) reserved from the pot (this is to keep the chicken from drying out-- add more water if needed-- the chicken should not be too saucy either.) Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook for only a few minutes. turn off heat.

Chicken filling

6.) Put a little bit of olive oil in large skillet. Heat to medium high and cook tortillas (get the oil on both sides-- just enough to coat lightly-- you should not be frying them in oil), until they are slightly golden. This will keep the tortillas from breaking when you dip them in the sauce and roll them. 

7.) Dip cooked tortillas in green sauce to coat. Roll with chicken and a little cheese (they should be fairly full), and place in a large baking dish (You will probably need at least two of these for all the enchiladas.) This part gets messy. 

8.) Top with any remaining sauce and cheese. 

Before baking.

9.) Cook in preheated 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes or until cheese starts to brown on top.

Oh yeah

Sloppy and delicious

These are fabulous! Enjoy!

Tomato Salad

This salad means SUMMER. It's as delicious as staying in bed while your groggy lover drags himself to work. As delicious as boxed wine and the Cooking Channel at 2pm for the third day in a row. As delicious as laying on a towel on the lawn, finishing a novel in one day. As delicious as not working for three damn months.
I make tomato salad all summer long and we eat it with everything--goes beautifully with lamb chops, BBQ chicken or steak--all the kind of things you eat grilled, on days when it's way too hot to turn on the oven.
I have always loved tiny tomatoes--they are sweeter, somehow more tomato-y than big ones. The most difficult aspect of this recipe is not popping too many of them into your mouth as you chop.

Ingredients:
2-3 lbs of small tomatoes. Try to find a variety of colors and types. The very BEST way to make this salad it to get the rainbow heirloom ones from the farmer's market--but a few tubs from Albertson's also works.
1 head of fennel
1 bunch fresh basil
1 bunch Italian flat-leaf parsley
Balsamic vinegar
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

I used basil from the garden!

What to do:
Start by slicing the tomatoes. I cut each in half.

Sliced tomatoes

Put the sliced tomatoes in a bowl.
Then, dice the head of fennel and add to the bowl with the tomatoes.
Chop the basil and parsley together and add to the tomatoes and fennel.

Chopped herbs

Pour a glug of olive oil and a few lashings of Balsamic into the bowl.
Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.
Mix!
Eat!
Taste and re-season if needed.

This is a delicious, refreshing salad. My fingers are crossed that our tomato plants allow me to make it with our own produce later this summer--save the fennel, I am growing all these ingredients in the backyard.
Enjoy!

Pasta Salad with Walnut Pesto

This was another dish I made for my school's end-of-year party, which happened in my backyard. I made pesto pasta salad, chicken piccata, bean salad, and roasted root vegetables with basalmic and goat cheese dressing.
If you are confused about the lack of pork or beef in this menu, it's because my coworkers are all a bunch of health freaks. Half of them don't eat red meat, a couple are rule-following Jews (unlike the bacon-loving Frank interpretation of Judiasm), and some are even vegetarians or nondrinkers! These people love fresh air, exercise, local vegetables, and waking up without regrets. I can only imagine they all secretly have really sinister vices--crack? Parkour? Abuse of baby goats? All I know is anyone who teaches HS has to cut loose somehow, and if it's not scotch and steak, what is it?

Anyway, pesto!
I like making mine with toasted walnuts in place of traditional pine nuts--I think they have a more distinctively nutty flavor.

Pesto Recipe

1.5 cups toasted walnuts
1 cup parmesan cheese
4 cups (packed) basil leaves
1.5 cups olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp chili flakes
4 cloves of garlic 
juice of 1 lemon

What to do:
Blend!

Ingredients

So to make this pasta salad, I combined the pesto with campanelle, fresh cherry tomatoes, and roasted red peppers.

It was delicious, and so was everything else.

Party food!

These people work too hard.

It was a delightful night and now: It's summer! I don't have to take the highway out to the boonies until August 12th! Looking forward to watching a lot of tv, cooking a lot of great food, getting married to world's sexiest man, and reading Game of Thrones on a beach in Belize.
YAY!

World's Best Guacamole

My guacamole is justifiably famous--it's fabulous. If I like you and you live nearby, you've had guacamole at my house and you've loved it.
I make this to go on pan-roasted chicken or pork chops, to just eat with chips as a lazy summer dinner, and of course, having this guacamole there makes any gathering a great party.
I have a few rules of guacamole:
1. No garlic! Garlic does not go in guacamole. It turns the fresh, bright flavor into a funky mush . I love garlic as much as anyone--my kitchen floor is constantly covered in garlic papers. But not in guac. Just do not.
2. No sour cream! Totally unnecessary. When my mom made guac in California back in the 80's, it included sour cream and a package of "guacamole mix".

Now, don't get me wrong--guac this way was still bomb. Was a huge hit at pool parties all over the Chico suburbs. Along with Baked Ziti, this was my mom's signature dish. I can remember dripping some down my bathing-suited chest before I even had boobs. And then scooping it back up and eating it, chlorine-y-ness and all. 

As a result of this early influence, I used sour cream in my guac for the first few years of my adult life because that's how I thought it was done. But when I ditched it, I was glad--you do not need it. Mashed avocados are creamy enough on their own.  Sour cream clogs the fresh, zesty taste of the other ingredients.

And hopefully it goes without saying, but powdered mix? No. No idea what's in these, but unless it's fresh onion, lime, and hot pepper, it doesn't go in guacamole. 

3. Lime! Lime is the key. Even if you just drip lime juice over avocados---delicious. 

So I made this batch of guacamole for the DSST GVR end-of-year party, which I hosted in the backyard. If there is any group of people who deserve a wonderful dinner, it's my coworkers. 

Recipe (this makes a lot): 

6 avocados, diced or mashed 

1 jalapeno, minced (leave the seeds out if you don't want it too spicy--I like to leave it in) 

1/2 a red onion, diced

1 tomato, diced 

1 bunch of cilantro, chopped

juice of 3 limes 

salt to taste 

What to do:
Mix it all in a big bowl. Taste--add salt if needed. 

Serve with chips or on top of something. 

Before mixing

Note--feel free to mess with the ratios in this recipe. Do you want a chunkier, more veggie-heavy guac? Just add more tomato, onion, and pepper. Want more tang?--add more lime! 

This is easy and fabulous. Make for your next summer gathering. 

Enjoy!