Category Archives: Main Dish

Dawn’s NOT Award-Winning Spicy Chili

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Ed convinced me to enter my chili in a chili cook-off, and I immediately got to work on concocting a recipe. After much tweaking and experimentation and a little heartburn, I came up with what I believed to be a very strong contender: chili with a decent thickness, sufficiently spicy but not make-you-cry-spicy, and layered southwestern flavors, both subtle and complex. I tried to incorporate the best elements of my favorite chili recipes, and I felt good about my entry.

But I didn’t win. I can be a gracious loser if I believe my opponent is truly better than me in the arena. Totally fixed but whatever. I was not a gracious loser. My family, however, gave me their own made up out of pity very sweet People’s Choice Award, since my pot of chili was the most empty out of 20+ pots. That has to count for something, right?

For the big competition, I used dried beans because the texture is just immeasurably better than canned. However, for a normal Wednesday night, I have no problem using canned beans. Just be sure to rinse and drain really well. Grated cheese, sour cream, and cornbread are essential partners here. Beer won’t hurt, either.

Like most of my recipes, this one isn’t so much of an exact science — more like some loose guidelines. Try it, and who knows? Maybe yours will actually win a real award.

1 lb. ground beef

1 onion, chopped

1 yellow pepper, chopped

1 large can pureed tomatoes

1/2 can or bottle of lager or light beer

1/2 cup brewed coffee

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon cumin

1 Tablespoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 jalapeno, seeded and diced

1/4 to 1/2 can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (see picture above)

2 cans dark red kidney beans

1 can corn

In a large dutch oven, brown the ground beef. Do not drain fat. Add chopped onion and yellow pepper and cook about five minutes. Add tomatoes, beer, coffee and all seasonings. Simmer another five minutes. Coarsely chop about 1/4 of the chipotles and add them to the mixture, including the adobo sauce and the chopped jalapeno. Add kidney beans and corn, and cook over very low heat (or in a crockpot) for at least one hour. Serve with grated cheese, sour cream, and cornbread.

Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

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I first had this chicken at Ed’s nephew’s house during an Eagle’s football game, and I knew right away I would be serving it often. We are lucky to have many of my husband’s relatives close by, so we get to socialize quite a bit. While I am technically “the aunt,”  I think of them more as friends than as kinfolk. In addition to being great friends and family, they are fabulous entertainers who give me some of my best ideas. Thanks for this one, Tiff!

This is from the June 2006 Cooking Light magazine, and you can certainly serve it as is with outstanding results. I, however, like to crockpotify almost anything I can get my hands on, so after I post the regular recipe, I will explain how I modify for the crockpot.

Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

Ingredients:

Chicken:

  • 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle chile pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs
  • Cooking spray

Sauce:

  • 2 teaspoons canola oil
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
  • 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
  • 1 cup ketchup
  • 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon molasses
  • Remaining ingredients:
  • 8 (2-ounce) sandwich rolls, toasted
  • 16 hamburger dill chips

Preparation:

  • Prepare grill.
  • To prepare chicken, combine first 7 ingredients in a small bowl.
  • Rub spice mixture evenly over chicken. Place chicken on a grill rack coated with cooking spray; cover and grill 20 minutes or until a thermometer registers 180°, turning occasionally. Let stand for 5 minutes. Shred with 2 forks.
  • To prepare sauce, heat canola oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion; cook for 5 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in 2 tablespoons sugar and next 5 ingredients (through pepper); cook 30 seconds. Stir in ketchup, vinegar, and molasses; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes or until slightly thickened, stirring occasionally. Stir in chicken; cook 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated.
  • Place about 1/3 cup chicken mixture on bottom halves of sandwich rolls; top each serving with 2 pickle chips and top roll half.
Note: The chicken and sauce can be made up to two days ahead and stored in the refrigerator.

David Bonom, Cooking Light
JUNE 2006

Dawn’s Crockpotification and Notes Follow:

Rub spice mixture above onto both sides chicken thighs and place in crockpot on low.

After several hours, chicken will look like this. Don’t be alarmed!

Remove chicken from crockpot and place on a plate. Drain most of the liquid from the crockpot. Return chicken to crockpot, and pull it apart using two forks. This should be very easy and look like this once you’re finished:

You’re almost done! Add the barbecue sauce, and keep on lowest setting until serving. The barbecue sauce is very easy to make and has a great flavor, so I highly suggest giving it a try…but I won’t judge you if you use something from a jar!

p.s. I have to apologize for the poor lighting on these pictures. It was a dreary day yesterday, and the natural light was minimal. Looking at them today, they have a bit of a creepy and unappetizing vibe, but trust me, it is a good recipe!

Frozen Custard and Soft-Shell Crabs: Something Old, Something New

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Long ago, many years before Snookie, before MTV, even before the internet, I was going to the Jersey Shore. It has always been a special, sacred place for me, and the one constant in my ever-changing early life. Summer after summer, I would head there with my parents, sister, grandparents, great aunts and uncles, and glamorous older cousins. Our family and extended family would take up large portions of the beach, and back in those days, I always felt like I was a part of something greater than myself. As my sister once said, everyone who I have ever loved has stuck their feet in that ocean. No matter where I was in life, the ocean would heal me, ground me, give me perspective.

Years passed, my grandmother and her brothers sold their beach houses (which we stupidly didn’t buy), and my days of free beach vacations at the Jersey Shore sadly ended. I have been fortunate enough to travel a bit in my life, and I have been to some amazing, beautiful, world-renown beaches in places like Saint Barth’s and Monte Carlo. But no beach ever stacked up to anything on the Jersey Shore in my heart. Yes, the water is the exact shade as when you rinse out many different colors on your paintbrush in the same old water cup for too long…sort of a murky greenish brown. Yes, the beaches can get loud and crowded. None of this matters to me. But that’s love, isn’t it?

My sister-in-law and brother-in-law generously and bravely offered to host our family of five for four nights at their beautiful beach house this past week. Watching my kids fight the waves, ride the rides, and enjoy the local cuisine brought such joy to my heart, and I am so grateful for my in-laws hospitality. The smiles I saw on my kids’ faces will never be forgotten.

But enough of this mushy stuff, on to the food!

I am a big seafood lover, so I am sure it is a surprise that I’ve never tried soft-shell crabs. I’ve had crabs in every other possible incarnation, but never soft-shell. I suppose they intimidated me for some reason, but they shouldn’t have.  What a great thrill it is for me to discover a new food that I love! I cannot wait to try this recipe for from Cooking Light (April 2003) Sauteed Soft-Shell Crabs at home. It couldn’t look any easier! I might serve it with Dawn’s Awesome Sauce, but the crabs I ate this week at Busch’s in Sea Isle, NJ were so phenomenal  as is, they didn’t need much help.

Sautéed Soft-Shell Crabs

Here is a basic recipe for cooking soft-shell crabs. You can vary it by adding cayenne pepper, garlic powder, or other seasonings to the flour.

  • 4 (3 1/2-ounce) soft-shell crabs, cleaned
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon butter

Preparation

Sprinkle each crab with salt and pepper. Place flour in a shallow bowl. Dredge each crab in flour, turning to coat; shake off excess flour.

Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add crabs to pan, top sides down; cook 3 minutes. Turn crabs over; cook an additional 2 minutes.

Last night we went to the Ocean City boardwalk where I was reunited with one of my very first Happy Foods, one of my earliest “wow!” food memories, Kohr Bros Frozen Custard. I have wondered recently, upon eating local soft-serve ice cream, why it just never tasted as good as I remembered it as a child, and now I know why: tons of fake ingredients, the nutritional equivalent of a Twinkie.  Frozen custard, on the other hand, contains actual milk, cream, sugar and eggs. We won’t pretend it’s healthy, but at least it passes for real food.

I loved my little break from reality this week, but I am eager to put on Mom Mom’s apron and get back into the kitchen again.

Mexicasserole

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As much as I like to fancy myself a highfalutin foodie, the sad reality is cooking for kids has knocked me down off my high horse many years ago. A nice example of how my children have humbled me: decent casseroles and crockpot dishes excite me as much as truffle oil. More so, in fact.

Years ago my friend Bonnie shared a recipe which won a contest in the Sunday Parade Magazine (that’s a division of Food & Wine, no?), and its many incarnations have been a hit with the family ever since. I rarely make this the same way twice, but this is a very forgiving recipe which allows much room for improvisation and substitutions. Leftovers are always rare.

Mexicasserole

1 pound of chicken, poached and shredded

2 cups restaurant style tortilla chips, crushed

1 can red kidney beans, rinsed well and drained

1 can black beans, rinsed well and drained

1 can of corn, drained

8 oz. can of tomato sauce

1 cup salsa

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup red onion, chopped

1 red or green pepper cut into 1/4 inch dice

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1 clove of garlic, minced

12 – 16 oz. grated cheddar

Diced tomatoes to garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray bottom of 13 x 9 inch baking dish and line with crushed tortilla chips. Combine everything but the cheese in a large bowl and mix well. Place half the mixture atop the tortilla chips, and sprinkle half the cheese over the mixture. Cover with the remaining half of the chicken-bean mixture, and then top with remainder of cheese. Bake for 30 – 35 minutes, and let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Coconut Pork

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Today is one of those days where cooking anything beyond grilled cheese feels like a major accomplishment. But the pork is defrosted, and the show must go on!

This dish is inspired by an old recipe posted by the hilarious writer Ayun Halliday. I have made some major modifications, but the spirit remains the same. I can’t remember if the kids actually ate this or not, but at this point, there is no turning back.

Coconut Pork

1 to 2 pounds of boneless pork tenderloin, sliced in thin medallions

2 – 3 Tablespoons olive oil

1 red pepper, sliced in lengthwise strips

1 to 4 hot peppers, depending on your tolerance, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped (not minced)

2 inch piece of ginger, cut into matchsticks (careful, this is tricky!)

1 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 Tablespoon soy sauce

1 can of coconut milk, and none of that low fat nonsense

1 can of Mandarin oranges, drained

Cilantro for garnish (optional)

Heat oil and saute peppers, garlic and ginger for two to three minutes. Add pork and cook until no longer pink, but do not overcook! Add salt, sugar, soy sauce and coconut milk, and simmer on low for 20 to 30 minutes. Before serving, stir in a small can of Mandarin oranges. This may or may not entice your children to try it. Garnish with cilantro, and serve over rice or rice noodles.

Hungarian Chicken Paprikash for the Crockpot

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This dish represents The Great Marriage Compromise. Ed always had an affinity for heavy ethnic dishes that I would pooh pooh, such as Beef Stroganoff and Turkey Tetrazzini and (shudder) Tuna Casserole. All of those dishes represented bad cafeteria memories from school, and I could not imagine eating them willingly as an adult unless forced to at gunpoint.

But one day he suggested Chicken Paprikash, and somehow that made it on to my acceptable list. More amazingly, the kids loved it, and it is a much requested family favorite. Despite the fact that there is a major heat wave in the Northeast at the moment, they asked for it again this week. Since it’s a Crockpot meal, the heat isn’t too much of a factor in preparation. Warning: This is NOT a pretty dish, as evidenced below, but it is good old fashioned comfort food. I am serving it tonight with brown rice and green beans from our garden.

Hungarian Chicken Paprikash for the Crockpot

2 Onions, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 Tablespoons Hungarian paprika

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon sugar

1 garlic clove

3 pounds chicken (breasts or legs, bone in)

½ teaspoon black pepper

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter

½ cup chicken stock

½ cup sour cream

Stir together onions, ½ teaspoon salt, paprika, cinnamon, sugar and cayenne. Spread in the bottom of Crockpot.  Rub garlic over chicken, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. In frying pan over high heat, heat butter and oil. Add chicken and brown, approximately 3 minutes per side. Transfer to Crockpot atop onions.

In same unwashed frying pan over high heat, bring stock to simmer, scraping up brown bits. Pour over chicken and cover. Cook on low five to six hours. About 30 minutes before serving, remove chicken from bone in large pieces and return to pot. Stir in sour cream right before serving. Serve over rice.