The other day a new acquaintance, Diane, prepared chicken poached in red wine for me and my friend Scot. It's a standard go-to dish in Spain where good, inexpensive red wine is commonly available. Here is what she did.

1. Sauteed a thinly sliced onion in olive oil. Removed the onions to a bowl once sweet.
2. Removed the tendons from three skinless half-breasts of chicken. Browned them (bare hint of brown) on both sides in the olive oil from the previous step. Removed the chicken from the pan.
3. Returned the onions to the oil. Poured a glass of red wine into the pan. Brought to a gentle boil. Added the chicken back to the pan. Poached about ten minutes on one side.
4. Turned the chicken to the other side. Sprinkled with lemon salt. Added more wine as needed to continue poaching.
5. Removed the breasts after 10 minutes

Comments:

• She removed the tendons because the tendons tend to shrink up and distort the shape of the chicken breast as they brown.
• When she browned the chicken, she didn't try to cook the breasts all the way through. They were just barely browned.
• She commented that the poaching took too long because the breasts were too thick. She said the should have pounded them first.

The dish makes an impression for several reasons. First off, the simplicity is striking. Secondly, the purple color of the final product. She served it with asparagus steamed plain on the side, which was a lovely contrast.

I've never done such a thing, so this recipe is high on my list of things to try.

Ingredients

1 (7 ounce) can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
4 tablespoons sour cream
5 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
2 cups (minus 4 tablespoons) sour cream
9 ounces baby spinach, rinsed
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp powdered caldo con sabor de pollo (chicken broth granules)

Adjusted method this time

1. Combine chopped chile peppers with 4 tablespoons sour cream. Mix together and spread mixture over chicken breasts. Cover and marinate in refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
2. Place marinated chicken in an ungreased 9x13 inch baking dish and broil for about 8 minutes (rack should be about 6 inches from the top.) Pour remaining cup sour cream around edges of chicken and turn over chicken breasts. Broil for an additional 8 minutes.
3. Check meat. If not done, give another 15 minutes at 350°. Sour cream should be lightly brown on the edges. Move breasts into a separate dish and cover to keep warm. Set aside.
4. Pour leftover broiled sour cream into a medium saucepan over high heat. Add spinach, broth and salt to taste. Boil for about 1 minute until all melted and mixed together. Pour mixture over chicken breasts and serve.

Source: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chipotle-chicken/

Comments

As written, the recipe is tolerable. Broiling time seems unrealistic in the original, and also in my 8-minute version. One has to add more cooking time, which leaves the meat kind of tough.

I think this would be better as a crockpot recipe recipe with the chicken cooking all day long till it falls apart, then adding the sour cream and chipotle.

I liked how my previous curried cabbage came out, but I wanted to try a more savory version, prefereable with chicken broth. The problem is that chicken broth isn't sold here, so you have to make your own. Well, if I'm going to do that, I may as well use the meat as well. So I decided to just use ground chicken since the local farmer's market sells it. To my surprise, there were also some hot peppers at the market, so I grabbed those, too.

Ingredients

• 1/2 kilo of ground chicken
• 5 spicy green peppers, diced very coarsely
• 1/4 head of cabbage, chopped
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, sliced
• 5 tsp curry powder (Russian sized teaspoons)
• 1 tsp salt (American sized, guesstimated)
• Water

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2014-01-01: I made this again today, minus the chiles. Pretty good. This should become one of my standard recipes.

Method

Chicken and onions into the frying pan till the chicken is cooked and the onions are soft. Add the curry powder and garlic. Cook till fragrant, one or two minutes. Add everything else, including enough water to keep everything steaming and make some gravy. Cover. Stir occasionally.

Notes

This turned out good. I'll add it to the list of foods I make at home back in the States.

The ground chicken meat had essentially zero fat in it. Next time I'll add some oil and soften the onions first separately. The market said it was фарш из куриного филе, which may mean breast meat. Not real heavy on the chicken flavor. Maybe I should buy thighs instead.

Here's how the dish looked.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 1/2 to 2 pounds lean ground beef
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 small cabbage, chopped
• 2 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes
• 1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar or wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• dash nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon sea salt

Method

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the ground beef and onion and cook, stirring, until ground beef is no longer pink and onion is tender. Add the garlic and continue cooking for 1 minute.

Add the chopped cabbage, tomatoes, tomato sauce, vinegar, cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, and salt. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, or until cabbage is tender.

Yield: Serves 6 to 8. (Source)

Notes

• If your beef isn't lean, leave out the olive oil.
• Most of the heads of cabbage in my store are pretty big. I used only 1/2 a head both times, and it worked great.

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2013-05-22: This turned out pretty good. Definitely a repeater.

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2013-05-27: Made it again today. Really pleased. This will now be a regular dish because it is so easy. Next time around I might use half ground pork.

Somehow, though, I'd like to make it a bit more hearty and savory. Not quite sure what is missing. Could probably thinking the sauce with some corn starch. Some carrots and celery would probably make it more savory, but I'm not sure how that would work with the cinnamon, but it would probably be okay.

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2013-07-13: still in Russia. Made another variation on this. This time I didn't use cabbage, but rather a pound of sweet yellow peppers. (Would have preferred spicy ones.) Half ground pork, half ground beef. Skipped the cinammon and nutmeg. Instead used a tablespoon of ground chipotles.

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2014-05-14: spices this time

• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp ground red pepper
• 1 tsp ground black pepper

Good. For guests I would take it down to 1/4 or 1/2 tsp of red pepper.

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2014-11-29: spices this time

• 1/4 cup sweet hungarian paprika
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp ground red pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 6 cloves of garlic, minced

This was a good spice combo. I had added 1/2 cup of hot water to the recipe. Next time to make it thicker, avoid that. If it doesn't get thick enough, use tomato paste instead of tomato sauce. And if that doesn't work, maybe some corn starch to thicken it.

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2015-12-04: this time I used:

• 1 tbsp of ground chipotle
• 1 tsp of ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp of black pepper
• 1 tsp of salt

Good stuff.

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2016-10-02: This time I thought I would replace the tomatoes and tomato sauce with a can of green enchilada sauce, add four sliced raw jalapeños (seeded), added some cumin and I deleted the vinegar, salt, cinammon and nutmeg. In other words, I Mexicanized the dish. I like it. May repeat.

I decided I wanted steak for breakfast. Grabbed a 1 lb top sirloin at Fry's for $8. Turned on the broiler in the oven. Broiler doesn't work. Damn. I'll have to stove-top it. Pulled out the dutch oven, put it on the back burner so the smoke would most effectively be removed by the fan, turned the stove to 7, which is way hotter than I normally cook.

I covered the steak with a bit of olive oil, some garlic powder and ground red pepper. Cut it in two so I could cook just half at a time. Gave it maybe three minutes a side so it was still red and bloody inside. So good! Next time I'll be a touch more generous with the garlic and red pepper.

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May 19, 2003, second time around. This time around I tried the temperature higher, at 7.5. This does not work as well. The surface burns too fast and the center doesn't get cooked. The level 7 worked okay for a pretty rare steak, but if I want the cooking to get more toward the center, I'm probably going to have to do a 5 or 6, especially if I'm cooking for someone who likes his steaks well done.

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October 14, 2013, another round. I may have waited too long to record this, but here is my memory. I took 1 tbsp of red pepper (spicy, not wimpy), 1 tbsp of garlic powder (cheap generic) and 1 tbsp of sea salt. Mixed them together, rubbed them on both sides of the steak. Fried them on the stove top at temperature 5 until it seemed right. Freakin’ awesome.

Power 5 is confirmed for good steaks on my current stove.

This is a recipe from "Special Mexican Dishes: easy and simple to prepare."

Ingredients

• 2 lbs pork loin
• 24 dry red chiles
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1/2 to 2/3 cup of water
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• 1 tsp oregano

I'm always confused about what chiles to buy; there are so many. This time I was shopping at Food City and bought New Mexico chile entero from the bins.

Cut pork loin into thin strips 5 to 6 inches long and about 2 inches wide and about 3/8" thick. Place in a deep dish and set aside. Wash and clean the dry peppers, leaving a few seeds for spicy flavor. Place the clean chile peppers in a large pot and add enough hot water to cover all the chiles. Cover the pot and soak the chiles for 30 minutes. Save 2/3 cup of water to make chile pulp. Place following ingredients in a blender: drained chiles, garlic cloves, salt, water and vinegar. Blend mixture to form a pulp. Add oregano to the pulp and mix. Add this pulp mixture to the meat, soaking all the strips. Marinate overnight. Roast in preheated oven at 275°. Roast 35 minutes or until well done.

Final result? Well, I gotta say that although this stuff is edible, it doesn't make me want to make it again.

Today I'm trying a recipe from Vanilla Garlic. Serves 6

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons peanut oil, divided
• 2 pounds chicken thighs, boneless
• 1 large onion, halved and sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 cup freshly grated ginger
• 1 14-oz can crushed tomatoes
• 1/2 lemon, thinly sliced, rind and all
• 1 cup green olives (go high end on these)
• 1 cup chopped Medjool dates, chopped, pits discarded
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 cup chicken broth

Method

1. Place 3 tablespoons of the peanut oil in a large stock pot over medium high heat. Working in batches sear the chicken thighs until golden brown and set aside.
2. Add the rest of the peanut oil, onions, and garlic. Cook until the onions begin to sear a bit and take some color. Reduce heat to medium. Add the cardamom, coriander, cinnamon, turmeric, salt, black pepper, and ginger and cook for about thirty seconds. Add the rest of the ingredients and be sure to scrape up the goodness at the bottom of the pot.
3. Bring to a boil, then simmer and cover for about 45 to 60 minutes. Serve over rice.

The flavor of this stew is unique. The lemon rind particularly gives it a flavor I hadn't expected. Tasty. I'd serve it to company.

Today I'm trying a recipe found at SimplyRecipes.com.

The Rub:

• 4 Tbsp chili powder
• 1 Tbsp kosher salt
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon cayenne
• 1 teaspoon ground oregano
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• Scant pinch of ground cloves

The roast:

• 3 1/2 pound boneless pork shoulder roast
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil

Method:

1. Whisk together the rub ingredients in a small bowl.
2. If the roast is tied up with butcher string, untie it. Pat the roast dry with paper towels. Rub the spice mix into the roast all over, reserving any leftover spice mix for later. Marinate in the rub at least one hour or overnight.
3. Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan on medium high heat. (If you are using a slow cooker with a removable container that can be used on the stovetop, use that, otherwise use a separate pan.) Place the roast in the pan and brown on all sides.
4. Place the roast in a slow cooker, and add any reserved spice rub. Cook on the low setting for 6 to 10 hours, until the pork is fall apart tender.
5. Remove the roast from the slow cooker and place on a cutting board. Cut into large chunks. Then use two forks to pull the meat apart into bite sized shreds. Return the shreds to the slow cooker and toss to coat with the juice from the roast.

Today I'm trying a recipe I found at SimplyRecipes.com.

Ingredients

• 2 large yellow onions, chopped, (3 cups)
• 3 Tbsp canola oil
• 5 Tbsp pomegranate molasses
• 1/2 pound walnut halves (about 2 cups)
• 3 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs and/or breasts, trimmed of excess fat, cut into medium size pieces, patted dry and salted
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon\ turmeric
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• Salt

Method

1. First toast the walnuts by spreading them out in a single layer in baking rimmed baking sheet, and toast at 350°F in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes. Once toasted, remove from heat and allow to cool. Once cool enough to handle, pulse in a food processor or blender until finely ground.
2. In a large pan, heat 2 tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat. Pat the chicken pieces dry again and place the chicken pieces in the pan, working in batches if necessary to not crowd the pan, and cook until golden brown on all sides. Sprinkle the chicken with salt while they are cooking.
3. Use a slotted spoon or tongs to remove the chicken from the pan, set aside. Add a tablespoon of oil to the pan. Add chopped onions to the pan and sauté until translucent, stirring on occasion to release the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
4. Return the chicken pieces to the pan with the onions. Pour 2 cups of chicken stock over the chicken and onions. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover and simmer gently for 30 minutes.
5. Stir in the ground walnuts, pomegranate molasses, sugar, and spices. Cover and cook on very low heat for 1 hour, stirring every 20 minutes or so to prevent the walnuts from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
6. Remove from heat and adjust sugar/salt to taste. At this point the chicken should be fall apart tender.
7. Garnish with pomegranate seeds. Serve over saffron rice pilaf or other favorite rice.

This recipe turned out pretty good the first time I tried it.

Notes:

• I found the pomegranate molasses at Whole Foods for less than $5, but I bet you could get it cheaper at a Middle Eastern grocery store.
• If you use powdered bouillon or caldo powder for the chicken broth, don't add salt at the beginning.
• You don't want the oil to get too deep in the browning stage. Browning works better if the pan has just a trace of oil on it.

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Feb 17: I ended up eating this stuff for a week solid. The taste never palled.

I was wanting to make a variation on picadillo without the potato to have a lower carb count. Here's what I used:

• 2 lbs. hamburger
• 1 small head of cauliflower, chopped
• 1 tbsp; ground chipotle
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 huge cloves of garlic, sliced
• 2 cups of chicken broth
• 4.25 oz. can of chopped black olives

Fry the burger and onions together with the ground chipotle. Add the garlic. Throw in the cauliflower and barely enough broth to cover the mess. Once it was all done, I added the olives.

Next time I think I'll try a tablespooon of ground chipotle and a teaspon of ground cumin.

Pretty tasty. Next time I'll try green olives.