When Jake flew to Guatemala to visit this last Holiday season, we ate out. A lot. But we were also invited to many family and friends gatherings for homemade meals. We were invited to a family BBQ after Christmas, and since we didn’t want to get there empty handed Jake made these Spicy-Sweet Chicken Wings to bring over.

Jake gave me American Masala as one of my Christmas Gifts, and it worked out perfectly because Jake was able to make these Spicy-Sweet Chicken Wings from Suvir’s book. My family (that already loved him) went nuts about them and now they love him even more! And having said that, we don’t have a picture of the baked wings on a nice plate… That is because as soon as we got them out of the oven we went next door and… they flew away! So, we have a picture that we’re borrowing from Suvir’s Book. Make sure to click on it so you can get his book on Amazon.

This is an extremely easy recipe, perfect for the Super Bowl. Best thing is that you can marinade them overnight to save some time on Sunday. It is savory, easy to double. And trust me, you will need to double for a Super Bowl party, even make two double batches. They are that good.

Special thanks to Suvir for signing my book! It was a very exciting surprise when I opened the book and found that he had written a special message for me! Thank you Suvir!

You can follow Suvir on Twitter  @suvirsaran and Like him on Facebook at facebook.com/suvirsaran.

© 2012, The Foodies' Kitchen. All rights reserved.

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Chicken Potpie is the ultimate comfort food. It’s warm, it’s creamy, it’s got potatoes and chicken and topped with puff pastry. What more could you want on a cold day?  I had made potpies before, but not on ramekins. This individual sized little potpies are great!  However, if you will feed them to your hungry husband, be ready to serve him 2.

Chicken Potpies with Puff Pastry

Yields: 6 individual servings
Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart

© 2012, The Foodies' Kitchen. All rights reserved.

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It’s Super Bowl time again!  We hand picked snacks and appetizers we think you might like to include on your Super Bowl Food Fest menu, we’ll be posting a few new recipes soon!

Pizza Dip

Buffalo Style Chicken Wings

Stuffed Mushrooms

Vietnamese Rolls

Beef Empanadas

B’s Homemade Hamburgers

Grilled Vegetable Pizza

Cheddar Cheese Biscuits

Shaved Asparagus Pizza

Vegetable, Basil & Zucchini Pizza

Southern Cornbread

Chicken and Avocado Pizza

Tequila Bars (dessert)

Perfect Lemonade with Basil Syrup

Mariano’s Beer Michelada

© 2012, The Foodies' Kitchen. All rights reserved.

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Don’t you love pork chops?  I usually like mine with pineapple, or with a honey-mustard marinade.  This time, I had to figure out what to do with leftover wine we had from our New Year’s celebration, so I thought about making a red wine sauce for them.  I used rosemary as the herb to infuse the sauce, since I had a fresh bunch from the market.   I used cream to complete the sauce, and ended up with a smooth, velvety, bacon-ey, sauce that complemented the pork chops wonderfully.  Now I only have to work on the presentation.

Edith and I used rosemary once (many, many…many! moons ago when we were in cooking school) on a blackberry sauce for I don’t remember what dish.. I think it was a chicken roulade, and it went terribly wrong.  The flavor of the rosemary completely overpowered the sauce, and it was ruined.  So my tip today is,  if you use dried rosemary, use it sparingly.  You can always add more.  You can be more liberal in the amount when you use fresh rosemary.

Pork Chops in Red Wine Sauce

A The Foodies’ Kitchen Original recipe
Serves 3

Ingredients:

3 pork chops
¼ cup chopped onion
1 cup red wine
1 tablespoon butter
½ cup cream
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
½ cup chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste

 Procedure:

1. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Season both sides of the pork chops with salt and pepper and brown them on each side (about 4 minutes per side)
2. Remove them from the pan.
3. Return pan to the heat, and add the chopped onion, rosemary and wine, deglazing the pan. This means, scrape off any bits and pieces stuck to the bottom of the pan, that way you will incorporate all that flavor into your sauce.  Let it boil at medium heat for about 5 minutes or until it has reduced to half the amount.
4. Add the chicken stock and cream. Mix well.  Adjust the seasoning using salt and pepper.
5. Return the pork chops to the pan, cover and turn the heat to low.  Let them simmer for 10 minutes. (remember to cover your pan, or the whole sauce will evaporate!)
   Using tongs, transfer pork chop to an individual plate and spoon some of the sauce over it. We recommend you pair this with mashed potatoes.

© 2012, The Foodies' Kitchen. All rights reserved.

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This recipe is great for a quick and light lunch, or as a starter for a more elaborate meal.

As we all know, a taco is made up of a corn or wheat tortilla with a filling made up of a variety of ingredients such as chicken, pork, beef, vegetables served together with a variety of sauces or garnishes. In history, the first tacos to be documented date back as far as the 1500′s:

1520 -Bernal Diaz del Castillo (1496-1584), a Spanish soldier who came with Hernán Cortés to the New World, wrote an intriguing and detailed chronicles called A True History of the Conquest of New Spain. He also chronicled the lavish feasts that were held. From the article by Sophie Avernin called Tackling the taco: A guide to the art of taco eating:

The first “taco bash” in the history of New Spain was documented by none other than Bernal Diaz del Castillo. Hernan Cortes organized this memorable banquet in Coyoacan for his captains, with pigs brought all the way from Cuba. It would, however, be a mistake to think that Cortes invented the taco, since anthropologists have discovered evidence that inhabitants of the lake region of the Valley of Mexico ate tacos filled with small fish, such as acosiles and charales. The fish were replaced by small live insects and ants in the states of Morelos and Guerrero, while locusts and snails were favorite fillings in Puebla and Oaxaca.

1914 – The first-known English-language taco recipes appeared in California cookbooks beginning in 1914. Bertha Haffner-Ginger, in her cookbook California Mexican-Spanish Cook Book said tacos were:

“made by putting chopped cooked beef and chili sauce in a tortilla made of meal and flour; folded, edges sealed together with egg; fried in deep fat, chile sauce served over it.”

With these facts aside, we do recommend this Beef Tacos recipe for a light weekend lunch, it is very flavorful and a great dish to accompany beer, or to keep your guests entertained and fed when you plan your next grilling session.

Beef Tacos with Radish & Avocado Salsa

Ingredients:

1 avocado, halved, pitted, peeled, and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
6 large red radishes, ends trimmed, halved, thinly sliced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon chopped pickled jalapeno chile
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lime juice plus 1 lime, cut into 8 wedges, for garnish (optional)
1 teaspoon olive oil
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 pound skirt steak, cut crosswise into 3 pieces
1 tablespoon ground cumin
8 corn tortillas (6-inch)

Directions:

1. Heat broiler, with rack 4 inches from heat. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil; set aside. In a medium bowl, gently stir together avocado, radishes, cilantro, jalapeno, lime juice, and oil; season with salt. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly against surface of salsa (to prevent discoloring); set aside.
2. Arrange steak on prepared baking sheet. Rub both sides with cumin; season generously with salt and pepper. Broil without turning until well browned, 6 to 8 minutes for medium-rare. Transfer steak to a cutting board; tent with foil, and let rest 5 minutes.
3. While the steak is broiling, stack and wrap tortillas in a dampened kitchen towel; microwave until hot and pliable, 1 to 2 minutes. (Alternatively, wrap in foil, and warm in oven in lower third, 5 minutes.)
4. Cut steak crosswise into 2-inch-wide pieces; slice thinly on the diagonal. Dividing evenly, place beef on tortillas; top with salsa. Serve with lime wedges, if desired.

© 2012, The Foodies' Kitchen. All rights reserved.

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Today is International Beer Day and that means it’s time to go out and celebrate beer!  At The Foodies’ Kitchen, we not only love beer to make Guatemala’s famous micheladas, but also to cook. Here we leave you with three recipes of ours for you to enjoy International Beer Day as you should: Cooking and having a beer!

Guest Foodie: Mariano Blanding’s
Gallo Beer and Michelada

Beer & Soy Sauce Chicken Skewers

Pork Chops with Dark Beer Sauce & Apples

© 2011, The Foodies' Kitchen. All rights reserved.

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I just made these for lunch. Sometimes you just feel like having something like this and not a proper chicken and rice or whatever have you type of meal. They were a great success!

Listen, no one likes to do the dishes. I used the same pan for all the steps, so choose a proper pan where you can brown the onions, grill the pineapple, sauteé your corn, and also brown your quesadillas. I used my grilling pan.

This may be a casual meal, but it has a lot of steps.  If you would’ve walked into my kitchen when I was making these, you’d think I was preparing Christmas dinner or something. If you don’t have 1 hour to spend in the kitchen preparing this, you can “do ahead”.  You can prepare steps 1 to 8 the day before so everything is ready and you just have to assemble when Quesadilla time comes.  Don’t get me wrong.  This is not hard to make, it just has a few ingredients that require preparation before assembly, so it’s a bit time consuming.

The mixture of flavors is amazing. Imagine it, grilled chicken marinated in BBQ sauce, the perfectly melted cheese, the tangy pineapple, a little cayenne, the special flavor you get from browned onions, corn kernels sauteed with balsamic vinegar and honey, the cilantro…all inside crunchy tortillas. Yum!  Aren’t you hungry yet?

Pineapple and Chicken Quesadillas
(with Balsamic Corn)

Yields: 5 Quesadillas
An Original Recipe from The Foodies’ Kitchen

Ingredients
1 medium white onion, sliced
1 tablespoon butter
10 flour tortillas
1 ½ cups shredded Monterrey Jack cheese
2 boneless chicken breasts
BBQ Sauce, to marinate (use your favorite brand)
chopped fresh cilantro
½ medium sized pineapple
1 yellow corn
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
Cayenne Pepper (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

1. Prepare your chicken breasts by cutting them open and marinating them in BBQ sauce. You can do this 1 hour ahead of time, to get a more intense flavor. I didn’t marinate mine to make this recipe, so you can do it either way.
2. Cut up your pineapple, into strips as shown on the photograph. (Cut it down the middle, then cut that half into another half – lengthwise-, and that one into another half-lengthwise as well- cut off the peel, and start forming your strips)
3. Heat water to boil and cook the corn. It should be cooked in 8 minutes. Once it has cooked cut the corn kernels off and set aside.
4. While the corn cooks and boils, heat a grilling pan or a medium sized pan. You will use the same pan for all the cooking steps, so you don’t have to wash up a lot of stuff. Choose the right pan.
5. Start to cook the onion slices in the hot pan, with 1 tablespoon butter until they are browned. It should take about 5-7 minutes. Be careful not to burn them. Remove from the pan and set aside.
6. Now (in the same pan)  place your pineapple strips, let them brown for about 4 minutes on each side.  Remove from the pan and set aside.
7. Next, add a little bit of butter to the pan (don’t let it burn! Your pan will be pretty hot at this point), add the corn kernels, balsamic vinegar and honey. Salt and pepper to taste. Let it cook for about 5 minutes.  Remove from the pan and set aside.
8. Finally, add your chicken. Let is cook for 4 minutes on each side, until it’s nice and brown. Set aside.

Now we come to the cutting part:

1. Cut the pineapple strips into slices. Cut the chicken into slices as well.

To assemble:

1. Place a flour tortilla on a plate, add shredded cheese try to coat the entire tortilla with the cheese, then chicken, then pineapple, then onions and corn.
2. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and a little cayenne pepper if you want an extra kick. Sprinkle with cilantro. Cover with the second tortilla.
3. Transfer to your hot pan (still using the same one) with a spatula. Let is cook for about 2 minutes on each side. Serve immediately.

Note: You can serve this with some sour cream on the side, or a serving of homemade creole tomato sauce.

© 2011, The Foodies' Kitchen. All rights reserved.

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Homemade hamburgers are just… better!  When the weather is hot and the days are sunny, there’s nothing like heating up the grill to fire up some burgers. We have a great recipe here for you, as well as tips to guarantee you will get the juiciest, meatiest burger. We have entered rainy season in Guatemala right now, so firing up the grill isn’t a possibility.   I will use this downfall to try a new cooking method for my beef patties: broiling them. According to Saveur magazine, this method is the next best thing to grilling them. We’ll show you how.

Of course, you can always just use your indoor grill. But for the sake of experimentation, for this recipe I used the broiling method. How did they come out? Well… they were pretty good, they were juicy and cleanup was easy. ( You use a baking sheet with aluminum foil, so you just toss the foil) but I think next time I will use my indoor grill, just because I like to see the striped burn marks on my patties.

This time, I used all beef.  You can mix half ground pork meat and half beef, if you want.

B’s Homemade Hamburgers
Adapted from here and there, including Saveur, Food Network.
Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

For the Beef Patties:
2 lbs lean ground beef
1 tablespoon black pepper
3 tablespoons salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup finely chopped white onion
1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons steak sauce (such as A1)
1 egg

Hamburger Toppings:
Greenleaf lettuce
Tomatoes, thinly sliced
12 Bacon strips
White onion rings from 1 or 2 whole onions
Monterrey Jack Cheese,sliced
Emmenthal Cheese, sliced

Dressings:
Ketchup
Chipotle Mayonnaise
Dijon Mustard

8 Hamburger buns (large ones)

Procedure:

First, prepare the bacon and onion rings:

1. Cook bacon in an ungreased pan, until crispy.  Set aside
2. Use the grease that the bacon left on the pan to cook the onion rings
3. Cook until they are brown, about 5 minutes.  Set aside

For the  beef:

1. Preheat your oven’s broiler on High.  Set the top rack to very top. (first position from top to bottom)
2. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with aluminum foil and spraying it with cooking spray.
3. Mix all the ingredients listed for the beef patties.
4. Before you form your burgers, take a look at the size of your buns. You don’t want to have a small, fat burger floating around in the middle of the bun.   Take into account that when you cook them, they will shrink.
5. A good standard size is to scoop out the meat with an ice cream scoop.  Or in this case, we have 2 lbs of beef just divide into 8 equal pieces to get 8  1/4 lbs burgers.
   * Form a ball with your hands
   * Press it down to the desired thickness and circumference
   * Since large burgers tend to puff up in the middle, make an indentation in the middle with your thumb or the back of a tablespoon.
6. Arrange burgers on prepared baking sheet and place it in the oven
7. Cook for 3 minutes.  Rotate the baking sheet.  Cook for another 3 minutes
8. Carefully, take the pan out of the oven and flip the burgers.
9. Repeat the same cooking time on the other side.  3 minutes, rotate baking sheet, 3 more minutes.

Tip for Hamburger buns!:
A good tip is that you should brown the inside halves of your hamburger buns.  Do this by adding a little butter to a hot pan, place the buns with the cut side down, and brown. Keep an eye on them! They brown quickly, it should take only a bout 1 minute or 2. This will pevent the bread from getting soggy.

Assembly:

1. Place the bottom half of the hamburger bun on the serving plate
2. Place 1 or 2 greenleaf lettuce leaves on top
3. Then the burger
4. Then the cheese slice or slices (go ahead, put 2 in there)
5. then the tomato ( 2 thin slices)
6. then the bacon (2 strips for each burger. Do it)
7. browned onion rings
8. Finally, your favorite dressing.  Try our Chipotle Mayonnaise!
9. Put the other half on top and devour!

© 2011, The Foodies' Kitchen. All rights reserved.

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Basting the chicken with lemon juice while it’s grilling gives it a tangy taste, and the orange juice adds a touch of sweetness. For the marinade, steeping the rosemary and thyme in hot water intensifies the flavor of the herbs. This is a perfect recipe for grilling during the summer, as the orange it gives it a sweet flavor in the back making it refreshing… We loved it!

Grilled Tuscan Chicken
with Rosemary and Lemon

Recipe Adapted from Martha Stewart
Yield: Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon of thyme
1/4 cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves
Salt and pepper
2 chicken breasts
2 lemons, juice
1 orange, juice

Directions:

1. Heat grill to medium.
2. In a small saucepan, bring 1/3 cup water, thyme and rosemary to a boil; remove from heat, cover, and let steep 5 minutes. Transfer to a blender.
3. Add oil and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Puree until smooth; let cool.
4. Combine chicken and rosemary oil in a shallow dish or resealable plastic bag, and turn to coat.
5. Cover, and let marinate at least 15 minutes at room temperature or overnight in the refrigerator, turning chicken occasionally.
6. Remove chicken from marinade; place on grill. Discard marinade.
7. Cook, basting frequently with lemon and orange juices, and turning as needed to prevent burning, until cooked throughout, 20 to 30 minutes. Serve with Grilled vegetables.

© 2011, The Foodies' Kitchen. All rights reserved.

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This week we found a bargain for chicken  drummettes, so I wanted to make it a bit different than the usual recipe. The mix of Apple and Chicken has been a winner recipe before around here, so when I started going through this recipe I got inspired. I used a bit more liquid than the original recipe called for, so I had a “soupy” chicken at the end… but the stock tastes perfectly. I’m doing Risotto tonight to use the remaining stock… the flavor is just perfect.

Apple Chicken Drummettes

Servings: 2
Adapted from: Chicken Normandy by Simple Recipes

Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
2 cooking apples (Fuji or Jonagold are perfect for this dish, don’t use red delicious), cored and sliced into wedges (you can peel or not)
4 whole chicken legs
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 cups apple cider (the cloudy type)
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 cup chicken stock

Directions:

1. Sprinkle salt over the chicken pieces and let sit for 20 minutes at room temperature. If were you live it’s too hot, put it in the fridge, but make sure the chicken it’s in an air tight container or it can get dry!
2. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
3. Heat 1 tablespoon of  butter in a large, oven-proof sauté pan over medium heat. Add the apple slices and sauté until they turn a little brown around the edges, turning occasionally. Sprinkle the apple slices with a little salt. Set aside on paper towels to drain.
4. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter and the onions and increase the heat to medium-high.
5. As the onions cook they will release moisture that will help deglaze the pan. Sauté the onions, stirring occasionally, until they just being to brown, about 5-8 minutes.
6. Add the Chicken Stock to the pan. Using a wooden spoon, scrape any remaining browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Let it boil until it has reduced by about half. Add the cider and bring it to a boil.
7. Sprinkle in the thyme. Add just a pinch of salt to the cider. Arrange the chicken legs in a oven proof dish so the skin faces up. Place the apples, onion and stock over the chicken.
8. Place in the oven and cook, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
9. Remove the pan from the oven. Let it sit for 5-6 minutes before serving.

© 2011, The Foodies' Kitchen. All rights reserved.

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