Cuisine: Mmm....Curtido

I make this dish A LOT. In fact, my husband jokes that it's one of the only things I make when we have company. He's not wrong, but why would I make something else when this is so damn good.

I got the idea of this recipe from loving the curtido you put on pupusas. (I still haven't mastered those yet. Soon. Very soon.) It can be altered very easily. I sometimes put equal parts rice vinegar, cider vinegar, and lime juice. That tastes a little more central European than this version.

This version is a great balance of ingredients. It's just slightly sour, a little bitter, and all goodness. Enjoy and let me know how you innovate on this dish. The possibilities are endless.

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Ingredients

• 1 head green cabbage, quartered, cored and sliced very thinly (Do not use a food processor or shredder. Those damage the leaves little too much.)
• 3 carrots, 1 sliced with a vegetable peeler, 2 shredded with a grater
• 4 large cloves garlic (or 6 small), minced
• 4 jalapenoes, cored, seeded and minced
• 1 yellow onion, sliced finely
• 4 medium tomatoes, cored and sliced lengthwise finely
• 3-4 limes, juiced
• 1-2 lemon(s), juiced
• 2 tablespoons (or more) salt
• pepper and hot paprika to taste
  

Directions

Mix all ingredients together. Let sit for at least one hour. Enjoy!

It's even better the next day.

Cuisine: Sweet and Spicy Grilled Chicken

I made this for my friend Marisa Saturday night. It was a lovely evening. I couldn't believe how warm it was at 8:30 when we started grilling. We were even able to sit outside and enjoy our dinner amidst the noise of traffic and the glow of street lights. This was paired with grilled corn, curtido, and my special spicy fruit salad.

Enjoy! And don't forget to leave and comment and share your story/recipe!

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Ingredients
8 chicken breast halves
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup spicy vinegar (can be found in most Asian groceries)
2 tablespoons hot paprika
1/4 teasp0on hot pepper
1/4 teaspoon whit pepper
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon anise
8 cardamom pods, crushed
1/2 gallon of water
olive oil

Directions
In a large bowl combine all the ingredients and set aside for about two hours.

Drain and rinse all chicken. Pat dry with paper towel. Rub lightly with olive oil making sure to coat each breast.

If using a gas grill (that's what I used), turn all burners to high and heat. Right before adding chicken turn burners down to medium high.

Place chicken breasts on grill and close cover. Let sit for about 4 to 6 minutes. Check breasts. If breasts have visible dark brown grill marks flip them over and cover grill. If they do not, turn heat up slightly and cover for another 2 minutes. Then, flip and cover.

Check again after 4 to 6 minutes. Flip again this time making sure to new grill marks run perpendicular to current grill marks. Cover and let set 3 to 4 minutes. Check, flip, repeat.

Remove breasts from grill and let sit covered for about 5 minutes. Enjoy.

For an extra tasty treat! Turn the left over chicken breasts into chicken salad. Mince two to four breasts, half an onion, and one jalapeno. Mix with mayonnaise until texture resembles chicken salad. Enjoy on wheat bread with Swiss cheese.

Cuisine: Pepper and Cheddar Biscuits

I've been playing around with biscuit recipes. I LOVE them in all there forms. This recipe I created to go alongside pork chops I was making. The chops were ok. These were excellent. I had one today with chicken salad and curtido. Mmm... A mouth-watering lunch. Hope you enjoy and let me know what you think!

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Ingredients

• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 jalapeno, minced
• 1/2 pasilla pepper, minced
• 1/3 cup fried dried garlic (found in Asian grocery stores)
• 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
• 2 1/4 cup Bisquick

Directions
In a small bowl, mix together milk, fried dried garlic, jalapeno, and pasilla pepper and set aside for 15 minutes. Add cheddar cheese to milk mixture and let sit for 15 minutes.

In a separate bowl, measure out Bisquick. Gently fold milk and cheese mixture into Bisquick. Mixture should separate from the sides of the bowl and be slightly sticky. If the batter is too sticky, add a little more Bisquick and gently work in. If the batter is too tough, add a little more milk and gently work in.

Heat oven to 425 degrees.

Grease a small glass baking dish. Create 8 roughly equal balls and place them in greased baking dish. It is ok if they lightly touch. Bake for 15 minutes. Check for doneness by inserting toothpick into center of a biscuit. If not done, check every 2 minutes. Biscuits should be golden brown with small specks of dark brown on top.

Enjoy with butter. Mmm....Butter.

Cuisine: Sweet Potato, Pear, and Ginger Biscuits

So...since I have been un(der)employed, I have been trying my hand at new things and slowing down. One of those things is baking. This weekend, I experimented with biscuits and surprised myself. These are fantastic! It may sound like an odd combination of ingredients, but the end result is a delicious, moist, and succulently sweet biscuit. In fact, we ate them all in two days. Not that we should have, but we did.

As many of you may know, my cooking always entails a lot of steps and takes a wee bit of time. I am also lousy at writing recipes down. Well! Here is a recipe that is fairly simple and written down exactly as my memory recalled. And as I age, my memory fails me more and more.

So...Let me know how these turn out for you. I'd love to hear the stories they inspire.

Xo,
Jason

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Ingredients

• 3 small sweet potatoes, peeld and cut into 2 inch sections
• 2 pears, peel, quartered, and cored
• 2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and diced
• 1/2 teaspoon ground clove
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup oats
• 2/3 cup milk
• 2 1/2 cups Bisquick, plus additional 1/3 cup
• 1/3 cup butter, soft
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, plus additional 1/2 cup
• Real maple syrup (optional)
  

Directions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add ground ginger and let seep for 5 minutes. Then add cut sweet potatoes and boil for 10 minutes. Next, add pears and boil until sweet potatoes are soft, about 3-5 more minutes. Drain and mash the ginger, sweet potatoes, and pears with the clove and cinnamon. Set aside to cool.

In a small mixing bowl, combine oats and milk. Soak for 5 plus minutes.

In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 1/2 cups Bisquick, 1/3 cup butter, and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Mix together lightly. Add sweet potato mixture and oat mixture. Gently stir together ingredients. If mixture sticks to the side of the bowls, add additional Bisquick one tablespoon at a time. Stop when mixture is still slightly lumpy and pulls away from the edges of the bowl.

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Grease a cast iron skillet or a heavy glass pan with butter (or spray with Pam). Using a 1/3 cup, scoop the biscuit mixture into a large ball and place on skillet or pan. Pan should hold 5 to 6 biscuits. Then sprinkle about 1 tablespoon brown sugar and drizzle a little maple syrup over each biscuit.

Bake for about 15 minutes. Check at 12 minutes. Biscuits are done when toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Enjoy with butter. Mmm...Tasty!