Food Matters Project #16: Chicken in Green Salsa

Another wonderful dinner idea from the Food Matters Project!  We had a busy weekend and didn’t get a chance to make this until tonight, so it was a little improvisation of what we had in the fridge.

This weeks recipe was chosen by Sarah of Food and Frederick.  We’ve been following each other on Twitter (@foodandfred), I think there is a bit of a bond since Frederick, MD is not too far from Washington D.C.  I enjoy seeing Sarah’s pictures, and stories about travel, food and running!  Sarah chose the Mexican-style fruit salad with grilled or broiled fish from Mark Bittman’s The Food Matters Cookbook.  To check out what everyone else from The Food Matters Project did, look here and find the link that looks delicious!

How did the fruit salad with grilled fish turn into a chicken with green salsa?  We didn’t have fish, but I did buy chicken breasts from the Penn Quarter Farmer’s Market this past week.  Evensong Farm has been selling eggs at the farmers market, and recently started having chicken- so I bought a couple of breasts to try.  We didn’t have any fruit to make a salsa, but we did have some green veggies that could make a salsa.  With a little inspiration from Pinterest (check out Fifth Floor Kitchen’s page), we figured out dinner!

Chicken in Green Salsa
Inspired by: Sunset

We ate this dish with roasted potatoes (with salt, pepper and olive oil), but you can also do this over rice.  This wasn’t very spicy, but you can always take out the seeds from the jalapeños, or just omit them (a green bell pepper would give it extra flavor). 

2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 onion, roughly chopped
5 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
4 tomatillos, quartered (skins taken off)
2 poblano chiles, roughly chopped
1 cup cilantro leaves
2 jalapeños, halved (optional- or can take out seeds before adding)
1 tbsp cream cheese
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 large chicken breasts

Melt butter in a saucepan.  Once it’s melted, add the onion.  Sauté on lower heat until the onions are soft, about 5 minutes.  Then add the garlic and leave over the heat for another 3 minutes.

Add everything into a food processor (or blender): the onion-garlic mixture, tomatillos, poblano chiles, cilantro, jalapeños, cream cheese, chicken broth, salt and pepper.  Process all of the ingredients until they are pureed.

In a baking dish, place the chicken breasts, and then cover them with the pureed salsa.

Preheat the oven to 425ºF.  When the oven is heated, bake the chicken for about 45 minutes.  Check to make sure to chicken has cooked through before serving.

Corn & Zucchini Burritos

I apologize for the lack of posts this weekend.  Sam and I went to Virginia Beach for a short weekend getaway.  Both of us needed a break from the city, and a little beach time!  I used to live in VA Beach, so it also gave us an opportunity to hang out with my friend P* (and her fiancé- J*, and her sister- S*).  We had a fantastic time hanging out with them at a fun new place I  never knew about.

Pacifica is not a big tourist destination, since it’s a little north of the majority of the hotels.  We had a great time, and I’ll keep this tapas restaurant in mind when we go back.  Mainly, what we did over our weekend is lay on the beach.  Both of our bodies needed some sun, and our minds needed some good reading on the beach.  To top off the weekend, traffic between DC and VA Beach wasn’t bad at all- so life is good!

But it’s back to the grind today.  Lucky for us, Independence Day weekend is right around the corner, so I’m sure this week will fly by.  We’re looking forward to trying a new place for dinner this weekend.  It’s been around for way over a year, the Logan Circle place of Birch & Barley, but we haven’t tried  it yet.  And of course, I’m looking forward to some 4th of July fireworks!

I’m not going to lie, we haven’t been doing much cooking lately.  Or rather, the stuff that we have made hasn’t necessarily been looking stellar enough for the blog, or it just didn’t have a taste that we’d want to someone else to replicate.  But we’ll get back into the groove once again, so hopefully I’ll have more frequent posts.

I am leaving you with this great burrito recipe I got from the June issue of Vegetarian Times.  The recipe recommended chayotes, but the grocery store didn’t have any, so a zucchini was the substitution.  In addition, I added a little * next to cilantro.  Please add that to the burritos, they’ll taste significantly better.

Why did I not add cilantro to ours?  Well, apparently someone from Peapod mixed up the cilantro with a parsley variety.  So we got two different kinds of parsley in the last grocery delivery, and I didn’t realize it until I was ready to chop up my “cilantro” to add to the burritos.  Ooops!  I ended up using very little parsley, but it didn’t have the same great taste that the cilantro would have given it.

Corn & Zucchini Burritos
Adapted from: Vegetarian Times  (June 2011)

2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 zucchini, cubed
1-2 jalapeños, minced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup of black beans
1 red pepper, sliced into cubes
juice of 1 lime
2/3 cup Mexican cheese
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
3-4 tortillas
*2 tbsp cilantro, chopped

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Then add the onion, zucchini, jalapeños and garlic; cook them until the onion begins to brown.  Then stir in the corn, black beans and red pepper, cook for another 5 minutes.  Finally, stir in 1/3 of the Mexican cheese, salt and pepper.  Lastly, add the lime juice to the mixture.

Divide the vegetable mixture between the 3-4 tortillas.  Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of the mixture, before rolling the tortilla.

* Cilantro can (should be) sprinkled onto the top of this mixture to bring out the excellent flavors.

Colorful Slaw

Whenever I think of coleslaw, the images of lots of mayonnaise pop into my head.  I recently bought Jamie Oliver’s book, Jamie’s America, and was flipping through the recipes.  This slaw caught my eye- especially since it did not use any mayonnaise.

With the weather warming up, we’ve been eating our dinner upstairs on the rooftop.  This salad was perfect for a fast and easy dinner.  We accompanied this dish with some cheese (from Cowgirl Creamery)  and fresh bread, making it a perfect low-key dinner.

Jamie recommends this salad as a side with some chicken or pork chop.  He notes that you can change up the salad with different flavors.  Leave the onion, cilantro and white cabbage as a base, but feel free to add asparagus or fennel to further enhance the taste of this salad.

Colorful Slaw
Adapted from: Jamie’s America Cookbook

1/2 head of cabbage
1/2 head of red cabbage
20 radishes; trimmed & thinly sliced
4 carrots, peeled
1 bunch of cilantro, finely chopped
2 jalapeños, chopped finely
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup olive oil
juice of 3 limes
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

The quickest way to make this is to use a food processor.  The mandolin attachment shreds the cabbages and carrots into tiny pieces.  If you do not have one, a grater will do the job as well.

In a large bowl, combine the shredded cabbage (white not red) with the radishes, carrots,  cilantro, jalapeños and onions.  Mix everything well.  In a small bowl, mix the olive oil, lime juice, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes.  Once the ingredients are integrated, pour over the slaw.  Once again, toss together.

Finally, fold in the red cabbage right before serving.  If you add it at the beginning, the red cabbage can stain all the other ingredients.

Butternut Squash Thai Curry

This is a great fall flavor, and fantastic for colder evenings.  Although we had used butternut squash, others can be used.  The heat of the dish can also be varied, depending on how many jalapenos are added.  The coconut milk gives it a creamy warming texture.

Butternut Squash Thai Curry
Adapted from: Love and Olive Oil Blog

2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 medium butternut squash; peeled, seeded, cut into 1/2 in pieces
1 cup veggie broth
1 cup water
1 jalapeno, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 (12 oz) can of coconut milk (light or regular)
juice of 1 lime
12 oz Asian noodles (or Udon noodles)
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp cinnamon
salt to taste

Heat oil on a large skillet over medium heat.  Add onions garlic and jalapeno, saute for 5 minutes; until onion is translucent.  Add squash, and saute for another 5 minutes.  Add broth, bring to boil.  Cover and cook until squash is tender.  Stir in coconut milk, water, lime juice, curry powder, cinnamon and salt.  Simmer uncovered until squash is tender and liquid has reduced (5  minutes).

Meanwhile, cook noodles in a large pot, until tender.  Drain noodles, rinse with cold water, and return to pot.  Then add squash mixture to noodles.  Toss to blend, divide into bowls and sprinkle with cilantro.