Emerald City Market's Mojito Chicken

I can't take any credit for this. I had it made for me at the Emerald City Market in Manhattan, KS. The recipe is adapted from a Guy Fieri recipe. It's absolutely delicious.

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Dry Rub

• 4 clvoes garlic, minced
• 2 Tbsp onion flakes
• 1 tsp whole cumin seed
• 1 Tbsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 Tbsp smoked paprika

Combine garlic, onion flakes, spices, and salt. Put chicken breasts and mixture in a resealable plastic bag. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or longer. Longer is better.

Mojo Marinade

• 1 C. orange juice
• 1 C. Nelly & Joe’s Key Lime Juice
• ¼ C. white wine vinegar
• ¼ C. Bariani EVOO
• ¼ C. dark rum

Whisk ingredients together and add to the bag with chicken breasts. Return to refrigerator for at least an hour. Longer is better.

Mojito Glaze

• ½ C dark rum
• ¼ C. Nelly & Joe’s Key Lime Juice
• ½ C. Rose’s Key Lime Marmalade
• ½ C. water
• 1 Tbsp. dark brown sugar
• ¼ C. chopped mint leaves
• 1 Tbsp. water
• 1 Tbsp. cornstarch
• Zest of 1 lime
• Salt & pepper to taste

In a medium saucepot, combine rum, key lime juice, marmalade and brown sugar. Bring to hard boil and cook 4 minutes, stirring constantly. Ad mint leaves and remove from heat. Let sit for 30 minutes. Strain to remove mint leaves. Combine 1 Tbsp water and 1 Tbsp cornstarch and mix thoroughly. Bring glaze back to the boiling point and stir in cornstarch mixture. Cook until glaze has thickened. Add lime zest.

To Prepare: heat oven to 325. Remove chicken from bag and place in oven-safe dish. Leave some space between each breast. Add generous ½ C. marinade to dish and back about 25 minutes or internal temp reaches 165. Remove from the oven and brush the chicken liberally with the glaze. Place under broiler for 5 minutes. Remove and serve.

Cajun Chicken Pizza w/ Fresh Cilantro

Skipped dinner tonight, so I got pretty hungry around 9:30pm. I was cooking up a bunch of cubed chicken breast for my lunch this week, and remembered I had a mini boboli in the fridge from last night. Eureka!

I did this:

1. Cube a bunch of raw chicken breast. Salt, pepper, and f*ckin' bury it in spicy cajun seasoning

2. Throw it into a pan with a little bit of olive oil on the bottom. Cook until...cooked

3. Grab a boboli crust from the store and smear some olive oil on it (all the way to the edge, for a nice crispy crust.)

4. add shredded cheddar, shredded mozz, and chicken cubes

5. cook until the pizza is crispy

6. drizzle a touch of olive oil on top, and rip up a bunch of fresh cilantro on the top

Damn Tasty Chicken Sandwich

Hi Braden! (I figure it's just you and me on here, so when I post, I'm generally thinking of you.) So I made a panini on my George Foreman grill tonight (yes, I own a George Foreman grill and I'm not ashamed to admit it) and while it's hardly revolutionary, it's definitely delicious, so I thought I'd tell you about it.

I sauteed some sliced mushrooms in a little bit of butter and garlic salt. I thought about onions, but thought it would be too much and maybe too messy because this sandwich gets messy as is, but I'm pro-sauteed onion, so next time, maybe onions.

Anyway, I took two thin but broad slices of good crusty olive oil and rosemary bread, lightly buttered one side of each, and threw them on the Foreman (at 375) butter side down, just for about a minute until they got a little toasty and took them off. Then I sprinkled some Famous Dave's wing spice on both sides of a thawed boneless skinless chicken breast. (You could use any cajun spice for this. I like Famous Dave's spices, though.) I grilled that on one side of the Foreman. Once that was done, I put a piece of pepper jack cheese on one slice of bread, put the chicken on top of the cheese, put the sauteed mushrooms on top of the chicken, then another piece of pepperjack on top of the mushrooms, then the other slice of bread. Then I put the whole sandwich on the other side of the Foreman til the cheese was melty.

And I know, you think it's done. You think, that sounds like a damn tasty chicken sandwich. And it would be. But then I take the sandwich off the Foreman and take the top piece of bread off (to which is stuck mushrooms and cheese) and pour two spoonfuls of buffalo sauce onto the chicken. Then I put that top piece back on, cut that sucker in half, and smile like an idiot because this, my friend, this is a DAMN tasty chicken sandwich.

Truffle oil again

mashed potatoes + truffle oil + just picked organic oyster mushrooms from the campus organic garden = AMAZING mashed potatoes. Just fyi.

Salad question

Okay, it's mostly me posting here, I know, but screw it. I have a salad question and I'm hoping to get some suggestions.

I eat a garden salad pretty much every day now. Sometimes twice a day. I really like a good garden salad. But there are a few things in a typical salad that I don't like, namely tomatoes and cucumbers. I'm warming up to the cucumber (well, you know what I mean) but I strongly dislike tomatoes. Sorry tomatoes.

So my garden salad is usually some version of spinach or 50/50 spinach and spring mix, celery, carrots, red cabbage, red bell pepper, and red onions. Sometimes I'll throw in some sprouts, sometimes some raw fresh green beans, sometimes some raw snow peas (in pod).

I don't love salad dressing, but I've grown to really like a tsp or two of Italian dressing, or just a little balsamic and olive oil. HATE ranch and all "creamy" dressings. Hate them.

Okay, all of that is to say, am I missing something? Should there be something in this salad that isn't? It's not that I'm sick of this salad -- when I'm eating it regularly (and i have to say this last week I've been eating HORRIBLY due to job stress), I CRAVE it -- but I'm wondering if there's something I might think about adding to it. Keep in mind, we're talking garden salad. No eggs. No ham.

Thanks for the (hopefully upcoming) suggestions.

Truffle Oil Follow Up

Follow up: black truffle oil is amazing. I pretty much succeeded in recreating the sandwich I wanted to. Let's be clear: this is a simple recipe. I've posted it before, I think. I sauteed a lot of (1-1.5 cups) sliced baby bellas in a little butter, garlic, and salt. Spread those mushrooms and garlic on some good bread (cut a small loaf, this time of 3 cheese bread, in half, then in half length wise, so that I have two slabs of bread, crust side down, of course), put some fresh mozz on it, and put it in a 300 degree oven for maybe 7 minutes or so, till the cheese has started to melt. Then I broil it for a minute or so until the cheese is just a smidge bubbly.
This is nothing revolutionary, nothing new. Often I put onions on it, too, sometimes olives, sometimes basil. But this time I just went with mushrooms and a two chopped cloves of garlic. Because I knew I had this black truffle oil, and I wanted to be able to taste it. So I took it the mushroom cheese bread out of the oven, let it sit for just 30-60 seconds or so, then drizzled the truffle oil over the top and added just a touch of sea salt.


Oh. my. GLORY! It was sooooooo good. And it was better, honestly, simply for the truffle oil. Totally worth the $, fyi.

Truffle Oil Suggestions

I've always wanted to cook with truffle oil. They do it on Top Chef all the time. So, when I saw that our local grocery store had some black truffle oil, I bought it. Now I don't know what to do with it. Tonight I'm going to try to recreate my favorite open faced sandwich from The Portsmouth Brewery -- sauteed mushrooms on fresh bread, truffle oil, and fresh mozz. Toasted, 'natch.

I'm also thinking there should be lovely things I can do with truffle oil and pasta. And maybe fish? Anybody have any suggestions?

Beej and I still haven't had time to try out the ahi tuna recipes. This week was MADNESS for me -- still is. But maybe next week.