Chef's Original: Chicken & Rice with Spicy Onion Sauce

After cooking and serving the previous recipe, I decided that I needed to cook myself dinner still! How could I forget!?! So I looked in the fridge and spice rack; I had enough for many dishes. I thought that an original dish would fill my stomach quite nicely.





Ingredients:
Sauce:
4 Green Onions/Scallions
1 Red Onion
Grape Tomatoes
Olive Oil
Italian Herb Mix
Ground Black Pepper
Paprika
Fennel Powder
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder

Rice:
Using a Rice Cooker
2 cups Medium Grain White Rice
2.5 cups Water
2 spoonfuls Soy Sauce
1 spoonful Teriyaki Sauce
dash of Lime Juice
1/5 cup Italian Herb Mix

Chicken:
3 Chicken Breasts
1.5 cups White Wine (I used Pino Grigio!)
dash of Lime Juice
dash of Teriyaki Sauce
1/4 stick Butter
Italian Herb Mix
Ground Black Pepper
Fennel Powder
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder

I know that looks like a huge massive list of ingredients, however a few do overlap! Don't let it turn you away from this dish, it is amazing!

I began by starting the sauce, since it would take the longest. I grabbed a small sauce pot and put it on the burner with the heat at medium. I added to this a large dash of Olive Oil. I then turned to my cutting board and proceeded to chop up the Red Onion into very small pieces. After that, the same to the Green Onions. Once both of those were in the pot, I added the spices. A large amount of Italian Herb Mix to start off with, which I topped with a decent dusting of Garlic, Onion, and Fennel Powder. Ground Black Pepper was lightly dusted on top of everything. To top it off, I put in about 3 spoonfuls of Paprika, possibly a little bit more. Make sure to stir this while attending to the other parts of this recipe. I love the taste of Paprika, but after this dish I might have to take a siesta for awhile!

I stirred it all together and kept the heat at medium without covering it.

I turned my attention to the Rice next. This part is very simple since I am using a Rice Cooker. Literally, all I had to do was put in the ingredients listed above in that exact order, put the lid on, plug it in, and turn it to 'cook'. When it's done, it changes to 'warm' so you don't have to pay it any more attention! How great is that!?

Alright, now to the main event: Chicken. I bought a package of Chicken Breasts at the store today which contained 3 breasts. I took these out and trimmed them up quite well. I then turned to my large saucepan, which I put in the ingredients as per the order listed (not including chicken breasts obviously!). I used a dusting of the Garlic and Onion Powder, while I used a larger dusting of the Fennel Powder. Barely a dusting of the Ground Black Pepper and a few large pinches of the Italian Herb mix. Set the heat to medium. Once the Butter begins to melt, you will notice where it is since the Wine and spices cover everything in the saucepan. Once you notice it boiling up, put in the Chicken Breasts.

Wait about 2 minutes, then flip the Chicken Breasts.

Now that the Chicken is cooking nicely, turn back to the sauce. At this point I added in some Grape Tomatoes. I want to say I added in about 8 of them, halved. Stir. Let them cook for a few minutes then turn the burner off.

Flip the Chicken Breasts.

Plug in your food processor and pour in the mixture for your sauce. I use a small processor and this filled about 2/3 of mine, so if you have a larger one don't worry.

Now you puree the life out of the sauce mixture, possibly add in another dash of Italian Herb Mix to even the flavor out. Puree some more.

Now set the sauce to the side after taking a taste. It should taste sweet and slightly spicy at first, then hit you about 2 seconds later with some tangy spiciness. That means it's great sauce.

Ok, your Chicken Breasts should either be done or close to it at this point. Cut the thickest one open to check. If they are not done, let them cook more. If they are done turn off the heat and take them off.

At this point, your rice should be done. It might have been done for awhile. I do have a piece of advice though, if you like your rice not to be sort of dry you might want to just unplug it when it is done cooking.

I then just put the Rice down first on the plate, then the sliced Chicken Breasts pieces, followed up by some delicious Sauce. Enjoy!

Salsa Spectacular!

Had a relaxing weekend and today I decided to make some salsa. Two different kinds really. I didn't think one kind would do it, however the second is almost half salsa - half arriabata sauce.



Verde Salsa

Ingredients:
4 Roma Tomatoes
2 Med. Yellow Onions
2 Poblano Peppers
3 Anaheim Peppers
2 Jalapeno Peppers
2 spoonfuls of Spice Mix

Spice Mix:
McCormick's Steak Seasoning
Garlic Salt
Tumeric Powder
Curry Powder
Marjoram
Oregano
Basil
Ground Black Pepper
Ground Cumin
Ground Allspice
Ground Nutmeg

The Spice Mix is pre-mixed together and was mixed in once everything else was mixed together. The Ingredients were added in the order listed, top to bottom. The Roma's, Onions, and Peppers were all diced up/almost pureed in a food processor first.

Mix together and serve with tortilla chips. I used Tostito's Scoops since they are the best for salsa if you ask me.

Roja Salsa

Ingredients:
6 Roma Tomatoes
1 Lg. White Onion
1 Orange Bell Pepper
1 Yellow Bell Pepper
3 Hungarian Wax Peppers
2 Jalapeno Peppers
3 spoonfuls of Spice Mix*

*Spice Mix is same as listed above. I keep it in a jar since I tend to use it a lot.

The Roma's were pureed in my food processor, along with the onion, wax peppers, and jalapeno's. The bell peppers were just diced up by hand. What makes this one very different is that once the tomatoes and onion were ready, they went into a saucepan. I turned on the heat to medium and added in the bell peppers, then the wax peppers, finally the jalapeno's. On top of all that, the spice mix. I stirred it all together, as well as every few minutes for about 10 minutes. Then turned heat off and it was ready for serving, also with Tostito's Scoops.

Chef's Choice Chili

So as many of my friends around here know, I absolutely LOVE to make chili. I love it. I make it a lot during the colder months, however after making the Tomato Sauce yesterday, I decided that I have gone too long without chili.



Homemade Tomato Sauce:
-Get your soup pot or large saucepan depending on how much you are making. Mine filled a large saucepan since I did not make my normal amount(about 1/2 of normal).
-Mix all your spices together in a bowl to your liking, or straight in the pot like The Chef does. I went heavy on the basic ingredients as well as the Tumeric and Cajun Perfect Pinch. The rest I went light on since they are just there to smooth out all the flavors.

-Now that your spice mix is making your kitchen smell amazing, onto the food processing happy times! Basically I like my chili smooth with not a LOT of huge chunks in it. The order I processed was Roma's, Greenhouse Tomatoes, Onion, Carrots, Poblano Peppers, Jalapeno Peppers. Add to pot as you go, turn the heat on med-high when you add the Roma's and stir them in with the spices. A little olive oil will smooth it out if necessary.

-Grab your grouping of green onions and dice them up almost to the white part. You can put the green onion's roots into water and they will grow back! Add to pot.

-Stir everything together evenly and turn to medium heat. Once it starts boiling, change the temperature to low or simmer.

-Let simmer for about an hour, then it should be tasty enough to eat!

Homemade Tomato Sauce:
6 Roma Tomatoes
2 Greenhouse Tomatoes
1 White Onion (Large)
2 Jalapeno Peppers
2 Poblano Peppers
4 Carrots
1 cup diced Green Onions

Spices for Tomato Sauce:
Cayenne Pepper*
Chili Powder*
Garlic Salt*
Ground Cumin*
Ground Allspice
Ground Cloves
Paprika*
Celery Salt
Ground Black Pepper*
Ancho Chili Powder*
Ground Tumeric Powder
Curry Powder
Mesquite Seasoning*
Perfect Pinch Seasoning - Cajun

*are the basics, the rest are choice ingredients.

For Chef's Choice Chili:
-First get a pot the size you think you need for the chili, or maybe a little bigger.

-Get your pound of ground beef and brown it in the pan with Lowry's Seasoning, maybe some butter too if you love calories as much as I do!

-Once the beef is all browned and tasty smelling (yes take a sample to make sure, you know you want to!), you get your tomato sauce and add it directly into the pot. Stir.

-Use food processor for white onion, then add it in. Stir. Let it cook on low to medium-low for about 30 minutes.

-That time frame is just a rough estimate of time needed, so whenever your frequent tastings of it say it is done just dish it out.

Ingredients:
1 lb. Ground Beef
1 White Onion
Lowry's Seasoning
Shredded Cheese