Grilled Guajillo Chicken

Guajillo. Don't you just love saying it? Gwah-Hee-yo.

I have never actually worked with dried peppers before. I've worked with dried mushrooms (which I love), but I have always been rather intimidated by dried peppers. But on a recent trip to the supermarket I threw caution to the wind and decided to buy a package of guajillo peppers and a package of ancho peppers.

First up are the guajillos. Easier to use than I had thought, they are an inexpensive way to provide some great flavor to your dishes. They are a mild pepper rating about 2 or 3 on the hot scale-with 10 being super hot, so if super hot is what you're looking for these are not the peppers you want. But if you're looking for a nice smoky flavor, a hint of spice, and some nice color, these peppers deliver on all counts.

The peppers have a leathery skin and need a bit of soaking to reconstitute. Be sure to wash before using and trim the stems before placing in boiling water to reconstitute.

I had an abundance of thin sliced chicken cutlets in my freezer and decided to make use of them, so I thawed and marinated them in a guajillo based marinade then grilled them. Paired with yellow rice and sauteed peppers they made a quick tasty dinner. I also shredded one and added cheese and green onion placed between two whole wheat tortillas for a tasty quesadilla for one of my picky eaters...yummy.

Guajillo Grilled Chicken

4 dried guajillo peppers, washed
1 cup boiling water
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 teaspoon honey
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
6 boneless, skinless thin sliced chicken cutlets

Place the guajillo peppers in a small bowl and cover with the boiling water. Cover the bowl and let peppers sit for 15-20 minutes, until tender.

Transfer the peppers and 1/4 cup of the water to a food processor (reserve the remaining water). Add the oil, tomato paste, honey, vinegar, cumin and salt; process until smooth. Place the paste and the remaining water into a zipper top plastic bag along with the chicken; shake well to combine. Let the chicken marinate for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat a grill to medium high heat. Remove the chicken from the marinade and place on the hot grill, discard marinade. Grill chicken 2-3 minutes per side.

Baked Brown Rice Risotto

When Barefoot Bloggers made Butternut Squash Risotto a few weeks ago I told Aggie from Aggie's Kitchen that I had remembered seeing a baked risotto in a cookbook years ago-well I found it only it wasn't brown rice as I had remembered. Wanting to use brown rice I decided to adapt the recipe for brown rice. I had an acorn squash laying around and thought I would roast it and add it in as well.

The original recipe, Risotto alla Milanese is from The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook. Regular long grain rice is called for in the recipe and the original cooking time called for 30 minutes of baking time. Changing the recipe to brown rice significantly adds to the cooking time, but I think the value of using brown rice over white rice makes the extra time worth it.

The Good Housekeeping cookbook offered this nice chart outlining the differences in types of rice: (I've edited it a bit for space)

Regular white rice: Milled to remove outer coating of bran and sometimes polished; available as long, medium or short grain. Long grain rice is best in curries, stews, salads and main dishes. Medium and short grains are preferred for puddings and rice rings. One cup uncooked regular rice yields about 3 cups cooked.

Brown Rice: Unmilled so grains retain most of their food value. Brown absorbs more liquid and takes longer to cook than white rice. Nutty in flavor. One cup uncooked brown rice yields about 4 cups cooked.

Wild Rice: Not a true rice but served as an accompaniment like rice. Cook as label directs. One cup uncooked wild rice yields about 3 cups cooked.

Baked Brown Rice Risotto with Roasted Acorn Squash (adapted from Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook)

Squash:

1 acorn squash, peeled and diced

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Risotto:

4 tablespoons butter

1 shallot minced

1 1/4 cup long grain brown rice

32 ounces chicken broth, warmed

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon saffron threads

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Spread the squash in an even layer on a baking sheet. Drizzle the squash with the oil and sprinkle with the salt and pepper; toss to coat.

Place the butter in a 3-quart oven safe baking dish. Melt the butter in the oven. Stir in the shallot and return to the oven for 2-3 minutes. Stir in the rice and cook for an additional 4 minutes in the oven. Stir in the broth, salt, saffron and pepper. Cover the dish and return to the oven. Bake for 1 hour. Remove the cover and continue baking until most of the broth is absorbed, about 30 minutes.

During the last 30 minutes of cooking place the squash in the oven to roast. To serve, stir the roasted squash and the Parmesan cheese into the rice. Serve immediately.

Yield: 6 servings

Free Rice, Gratis, Complimentary

As the parent of a 16 year old, with PSATs and SATs looming in the not too distant future, I'm finding it difficult to not make every interaction we have an "SAT moment". Instead of simply asking my son to take the garbage out it has to be: "S" finish the following sentence: The kitchen garbage should be transferred to
the outdoor_______. a)road b)relevant c)redundant d)receptacle.

Obviously I'm not alone in my desire to get my kids SAT ready. But one resourceful man was cleverly able to parlay a study method not just into getting his kids to do chores around the house but more significantly into a way to feed the hungry- freerice.com .

(Yeah great, I'm just worried about my own trash and this guy's feeding the world.)

If you haven't heard of it freerice.com is a nifty (addictive) site where you can donate 20 grains of rice just by selecting the correct definition to a word. It's an SAT word bonanza that I find myself playing almost everyday...in fact I just know if I took the SATs again tomorrow, this time it would be different...

On a recent break from improving my vocabulary and "winning" free rice for the hungry around the world, I found what I think is an exciting find in the supermarket to feed the hungry that I am charged with feeding on a daily basis.

I have for a while been a fan of Birdseye Steamfresh frozen vegetables , which cook perfectly in the microwave right in their bag in just a few minutes. But the other day I noticed a new option in their Steamfresh line: Steamfresh Whole Grain Brown Rice.



To me making brown rice-good brown rice, not the sometimes mushy ready in a minute rice, can be somewhat time consuming-so this caught my eye. It is prepared in the same way that the vegetables are. The rice is ready in 3 1/2 minutes but I thought it had the texture of the brown rice you've cooked for the usual 45 minutes or so. I used it for the base of a spicy pilaf tossed with shallots, celery and toasted pepitas. It was prodigious. (How's that for a nice SAT word?)






















Spicy Orange Pepita Pilaf

Spicy Pepitas:
2/3 cup pepitas
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ancho chili powder
1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Rice:
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons finely chopped shallot
2 tablespoons finely chopped celery
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 package Birdseye Steamfresh Whole Grain Brown Rice, cooked according to package directions
1 tablespoon finely chopped orange zest
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

To prepare the pepitas, in a small bowl combine the pepitas, 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil, ancho chili powder, cumin, cayenne pepper and kosher salt; stir to combine. Spread the pepitas onto a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

For the rice, in a medium sized skillet heat the tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil over medium high heat. Stir in the shallot, celery and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt; cook until tender, about 2-3 minutes.

Stir in the Birdseye rice, orange zest and orange juice; cook for an additional minute. Stir in the pepitas and season the pilaf with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Yield: 4-6 servings