Chicken Fajita Tacos with Crispy Lime Cabbage and Avocado

Last night for dinner, Lisa wanted me to make curry, or some other Thai dish. I must say, nothing gives me the fear like trying to pull off Asian cuisine. After tinkering around online I firmly decided that I did not want Thai food. We were in the midst of packing our belongings for the move when ran out of boxes, and needed to make a run to the local liquor store for more. We decided to combine our trips and figure out what to eat for dinner quickly. Staying on the frugal side, I took inventory of the fridge, and decided fajitas sounded nice. I then stumbled upon a recipe that sounded delicious, and modified it slightly. I apologize in advance for the lack of measurements. I really need to work on that.

Chicken Fajita Tacos with Crispy Lime Cabbage and Avocado






ingredients:

• boneless skinless butterflied chicken breasts
• limes
• chili powder
• garlic
• red cabbage
• yellow onion
• red bell pepper
• olive oil
• tequila
• queso fresco
• avocado
• flour tortillas
• kosher salt
• cracked black pepper

 First things first, mix up your marinade for the chicken. In a mixing bowl whisk together lime juice, minced garlic, chili powder, olive oil, salt, pepper, and tequila. Put your chicken breasts in a Ziploc bag of appropriate size, and pour marinade over chicken. Try to get all of the air out of the bag when sealing, and toss it into the refrigerator (bottom shelf, so as not to potentially leaked raw chicken juice all over the other food in there). Marinate for at least an hour. This can be done the previous day, but don't marinate longer than 24 hours. The acids can break the meat down.



At this point, start your grill if you have a charcoal one. If you do, you know it takes a while to get hot.


Slice up a yellow onion and a red bell pepper, set aside. Thinly slice the red cabbage and place in a mixing bowl. Add to the cabbage lime juice, lime zest, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Preheat your oven to 350, and wrap flour tortillas in foil. 


In a saute pan over medium heat, add a tbsp or two of olive oil until shimmery. Add the pepper and onion and cook until soft and golden brown, stirring occasionally. Keep warm on low when done. 


When the fire is good and hot, take the chicken from it's marinade and pat dry with a paper towel. Season with salt and pepper. Grill the chicken until done. When it's fully cooked, let it rest for about 10 minutes before slicing. At this point, pop your wrapped tortillas in the oven. slice the chicken crosswise into 1/2 in. strips. Halve, remove pit from, and slice up an avocado and crumble up the queso fresco.


Once the tortillas are hot, assemble your tacos adding a layer of meat, peppers and onions, cabbage, sliced avocado, and top with a sprinkle of the cheese.


Lisa gussied up some canned black beans with diced onion and jalapeno for a side. Twas a very, very delicious meal. I stuffed my face until I was rendered immobile. 


An absolute perfect dish for the dwindling days of summer (fingers crossed they are almost gone).




Ciao!!!!

 

 

Format Change/ Cabernet Braised Beef Short-Ribs.

From this moment on, IIFY? will be only a food blog. I will not update my day-to-day anymore. I have found the current format to be tedious and boring. This will no longer be a daily journal of every single thing I eat. I have decided to only share recipes I make or dining out experiences.
Ok, now that's out of the way, let's talk about short-ribs.

If you folks in the DF-dub have not noticed, it's been raining a bit, just a bit. Now I know these wet, gray days have dampened quite a few of youse guys spirits, not me. It reminds me of Portland, and that makes me happy. This rainy weekend may have not been the first cold snap of fall, the one that sends me straight to the grocery and then the kitchen to make the first batch of soup for the season, but it came close enough to invoke a similar reaction. I got home from work, opened up the windows, and decided that I was gonna braise some ribs. Although a lengthy process, the end result is so worth it.

Cabernet Braised Beef Short-Ribs

Ingredients:

Bone-in beef short-ribs (i used about 3 pounds)
1 med. yellow onion, diced
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
2 ribs celery, diced
1 sprig rosemary
1 sprig thyme
2 sprigs Italian parsley
1 bay leaf
1/2 a bottle full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon,
1/2 quart beef-broth (try to use one without a shit-ton of unnecessary ingredients, just the basics, I use Progresso's natural one)
2 tbsp. tomato paste
3 cloves garlic, minced
olive oil
unsalted butter
kosher salt
freshly cracked black pepper

Equipment:

A dutch oven, or a large heavy bottomed pot, with a lid, suitable for both stove-top and oven use
1 medium saucepan
a decent sized strainer
1 wooden spoon
a pair of tongs
some cheesecloth
some butchers twine

Now let's go step by step in the preparation of this amazing comfort dish.

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Lay your ribs out on a plate and season liberally with kosher salt and freshly-cracked black pepper.













Then start on prep. Always do all of your chopping and portioning before you actually start cooking, and you will notice a world of difference in the way you cook. Dice up your mirepoix (onions, carrots, and celery), mince your garlic, and measure out your tomato paste.









To make a bouquet garni, simply wad up your herbs in a square of cheesecloth, and tied it closed with a piece of butchers twine. Simple. It's like a little herb teabag.












Over medium high heat, heat up your pot. I always use my Dutch-oven. It is one of the most versatile pieces of cookware I own, and it is perfect for braising meat. Once hot, add a good amount of olive oil (2-3 tbsp.) Using your tongs, sear your ribs in the hot oil until you achieve a nice brown crust on all sides, turning when necessary. Once all browned, transfer the ribs to a plate and set aside.





Discard the fat from the bottom of the pot, but DO NOT wipe out or clean up the stuck on brown bits left in the pan.
This my friend is called fond, and it is pure flavor. Add some fresh olive oil back to the pan and heat over medium. Toss in your mirepoix with a pinch of kosher salt. The salt helps draw the natural liquids out of the vegetables,thus speeding up the cooking process.Toss in the minced garlic. Stir occasionally. Make sure you don't burn your fond!
When the mirepoix starts to soften, and the onions turn translucent, stir in the tomato paste. Once the paste is incorporated, it's time to deglaze.

Pour in the wine and scrape up the fond with the wooden spoon, then pour in the beef broth, and toss in your bouquet garni. Turn heat up to med high and bring the liquid up to a simmer. Toss the ribs back into the pot, making sure they are more or less submerged, cover, and place pot in preheated oven. Cook for at least 2 hours. This slow and low cooking approach breaks down the tough connective tissues in the ribs, making for fork-tender, succulent meat.

Pull the dutch oven from the oven, uncover, and using tongs, take out the ribs and place them on a plate. Cover loosely with foil. Take out the bouquet garni and discard. Strain the liquid from the pot into the saucepan, pressing on the cooked veggies with the wooden spoon to squeeze out all the liquid. Skim the layer of fat with a spoon and discard. Crank the heat up to high until the strained braising liquid comes to a rapid boil, then lower to med high for a rapid simmer. The point here is to reduce this liquid into a sauce. Keep simmering until the liquid has reduced into a syrup, not too thick though. If it coats the back of your wooden spoon, it's done. Take the sauce off of the heat and whisk in 2 tbsp. of unsalted butter (1 tbsp. at a time, room temp is best also) until completely melted and incorporated. Season with salt and pepper as needed.

To serve, place ribs on plate and spoon sauce over. These would go great with some roasted or mashed potatoes, some homemade mac and cheese, or just some buttered egg noodles. I prefer egg noodles, but was out so used some buttered campanelle instead, and a side of roasted asparagus. This may be in my top 5 of last day, death row meals. Meat that falls off the bone smothered in a rich silky sauce, this might be what Heaven tastes like. Serve with a full bodied Cabernet.

I do hope you immediately go out and buy a Dutch oven and make a batch of these meaty treats yourself. It may seem like a lot of work, but it's really not. Just put on a really good album you haven't listened to in a long time, and get into a groove in the kitchen. The prep is minimal, and that 2 hour cook time gives you plenty of time to perform other tasks, or entertain guests if you are having people over for dinner.

I may just make these again when that cold snap actually comes.


Ciao!!!

09/11/2009

1:30pm. Just finished destroying breakfast tacos.

What's that? Diet? I have no idea what you speak of.

When I last left off I was waiting for Lisa to get home some we could drive around to look for a place to live. She got home feeling under the weather, but i forced her out of the house to get some phone numbers. We drove around jotting down numbers and addresses of places for rent, until we got in a spat and went home. Lisa, not feeling well at all, took to the bed with a book and fell asleep almost instantly. I let her sleep because she seemed exhausted. I tidied up the kitchen and threw together a quick dinner of baked cumin chicken breast topped with melted queso fresco and served with avocado salsa. I merely chopped red onion, roma tomato, garlic, avocado, cilantro, and tossed with lime juice, salt, and pepper. Could have used jalapeno, but I was without. I normally saute the chicken for this dish, but went the healthier route of baking it in a lightly oiled pan, then topped with cheese and broiled it just to melt. Lisa woke up in time for dinner. It was very simple, yet tasty.

We then watched I Love You, Man. Awful movie.

I munched on some granola.

Woke up @ 10am yesterday. Made coffee, and took Lisa to work. Came home and started calling the numbers I had acquired the day before. Went and checked out 2 properties. The first place was a house that had a great backyard, but the inside was not what I was looking for.

The next place was a duplex that is perfect. 2 bedroom, 1 bath, hardwood floors, A GAS RANGE!!!!!!, backyard for the dog, 800 sq. ft. for only $575 a month!! I took Lisa by after work and she loved it too. Grabbed some applications and went home.

I went to work at four. Most prep was done already. I made crab cakes. All hands were on deck on a Thursday, and it started raining right as service started. We were dead. I had some pizza.It had pepperoni, jalapeno, and pineapple on it. I'm sure there were other ingredients, but I didn't notice.I just scarfed slices blindly, occasionally interrupted by the sting of hot peppers.

I was first cut, after 3 hours 45 minutes of being there. Lame.

Lisa picked me up, and we sat down and filled out the app for the duplex and walked to Kinkos with the dog, stoned.

I sat outside with Nik while Lisa faxed our application to the rental company. I got the stinkeye from a mother with her teenage son. I then realized what a flamer I looked like in my tight Gap jeans rolled up to my calves capri style, Crocs with no socks, and a bandana holding my hair back standing outside of Kinkos at 9:30pm. She probably thought I was cruising...at least that's what my stoned brain told me.

Lisa finished the long process of sending a simple fax (something about putting cash on a card, and then getting your change back), and popped into Blockbuster to rent Hellboy (She'd never seen it). We went home, Lisa popped popcorn, and we started watching Cry Baby, the 1990 John Waters film starring Johnny Depp. BOOOOOORRRRRRIIIINNNNGGGG!!!!!!!! We turned it off and put on Hellboy, Lisa fell asleep. There seems to be a theme in my blog.....

I woke up this morning to receive a phone call from the rental agency. They had received the fax, but it was sent upside down.

Today's lesson - get high when you are done with your business.

I had crazy dreams (melatonin), one in particular, Lisa cheated on me with one of my friends, and I bloodied him up with a lead pipe, myself getting somewhat beaten up in the process somehow. Very unpleasant dream.

My breakfast tacos were just the opposite though. Very tasty. I was out of cheddar, so I used some aged manchego that was hanging around. I'm on my third glass of iced coffee and about get ready for work. Ugh. I don't wanna go.

Oh yeah, today is the anniversary of the WTC bombings 8 years ago. As you are paying respects to the deceased and the families of the deceased, take a moment to think about all the other catastrophic life-changing events that have occurred all over the globe (Hiroshima for instance) that have scarred people of other nations and cultures too. Just remember we are not alone in our suffering.

Thank you, Ciao!!!!

09/09/09

.....So I skipped the breakfast tacos and had some yogurt and granola instead. Rode my bike to work, and asked Lisa to bring me some juice from Central Market. She called from CM to inform me they had no carrot/orange anything. I had her grab me a Kombucha and bring it to the restaurant. I drank it and grazed on bites of chicken and other various nibbles, fully intending not to eat pizza. Must remain vigilant! Must stick to diet!

Then I got an order for a BBQ chicken pizza, no bacon. I was daydreaming while cooking and garnishing the pie and put bacon on it.

Oops, I guess I could have one teensy slice. Who'd a thunk it, I was craving pizza. I ate two slices.

We were dead, Mondo and I closed. We left about quarter past 10. I rode my bike home. Drank soda water, smoked a little and we watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It was hilarious. Lisa went to bed, and I stayed up watching YouTube videos of this guy in a blue jumpsuit and painted green called Mr. Green explaining step-by-step how to set up a hydroponic grow room in your basement. It was ridiculous. I'm sure I am some kind of watch-list now. I went to bed at 3am.

I woke up briefly when Lisa went to work around 11 I think, but crashed out again...hard. I woke up @ 1:24pm. Checked, email, Facebook, etc. Took the dog out to pee, got a Dr. Pepper, then went to talk to the apartment staff about some service issues that need to be addressed in my unit.

I just finished snacking on leftovers from dinner that Lisa made last night. Orzo with shrimp, zucchini, red bell pepper, and avocado (not too sure about this addition) tossed in pesto I believe. A light tasty snack.

I need to be cleaning house, but am extremely lazy, so I imagine not much will get done today. Waiting on the gf to get home so we can drive around and look at rent houses.


Ciao!!

Dinner 09/07/2009

So yesterday was labor day, Monday, my day off. I did as little as possible, spent most of the day online. I didn't really eat a full meal until dinner time either. Being totally poor, trying to save money to move, I rummaged through current food supplies to try to come up with a tasty dish. pickins' were slim, but I managed to rustle up the fixins' for Pasta Carbonara. I even got a little creative with it. First off, I sliced up a yellow onion and caramelized it slowly over med. low heat in a tbsp. of olive oil and a tbsp. of butter, pinch of kosher salt to bring out the liquids quicker, stirring occasionally to avoid burning. I had some chicken tenders that had been frozen as well as some frozen spinach I thawed out. Then, I cut a few strips of bacon into lardons, and cooked them over medium, rendering out fat. Discarded most of the fat, reserved about a tbsp. to heat the spinach in. Meanwhile, the chicken is diced into bite-size pieces and cooked in olive oil over med. high heat. I used a little chicken stock to deglaze my pan, adding some more depth in flavor. Also during these steps, I had a pot of salted water starting to boil on the back burner for my pasta. Carbonara usually calls for spaghetti. I don't like spaghetti. I was originally shooting for linguine, but was out, so used farfalle (bowties) instead. Prior to all the cooking, in the prep stage, I had lightly beaten two eggs in a bowl, and stirred in about a cup of Parmigiano-Reggiano with some kosher salt and cracked black pepper. Cook the pasta until al dente, drain, add to the pan with the chicken, and toss in the bacon, spinach, and caramelized onions. Then off the heat toss in your egg/cheese mixture to coat the pasta. Et Voila!

Unfortunately, my timing was off, and the eggs did not cook as desired. It was delicious nonetheless.
I ate a shit ton of it, then saved the rest for Lisa.

It's now 12:25 on Tuesday. Supposed to start my diet today. So far, have only had coffee, but breakfast tacos sounds mighty tasty............

9/07/2009

Ok, I'm getting really bad at updating this thing on a daily basis as originally intended. Having said that, nothing super exciting has happened, so no one is really missing out. I believe I left off Friday before work. I had my mom give me a ride, and grabbed Q-doba tacos on the way in. I gorged on those and got to work. We didn't eat pizza, and I didn't realize this until I got cut around 9pm. Lisa picked me up and we went back to the crib. She and Siler were already hanging out, and a she had made dinner. Turkey and pesto meatballs with linguine in red sauce and garlic bread made from the asiago bread I made last month that had been hanging out in the freezer. The meatballs were very bready.... more like breadballs. It was a full carb meal. Jeff brought some dank over. We smoked a joint and watched the Burbs. Classic. Siler fell asleep.

When the movie was over, Siler left, and I received the call I had been waiting on. I took Nik out to pee and pick up a bag of stinky that was dropped off curbside (Thnx Lucky!!).

When I got back in, Started watching 'The Devil and Daniel Johnson'. I'd seen it a few times, Lisa had not. Of course she fell asleep. I'm pretty sure I stayed up rather late, but not sure what time I crashed. I know I took melatonin. Oh yeah, I crashed at like 4:30am.

I slept in until 12:30ish, Lisa went to eat at Spiral with her mom and grandmother. I got up and made coffee and breakfast tacos. Went to work, ate pizza. I got cut about 8pm cuz we were dead.
Lisa was at Pop's ( the cigar bar she works at) with our friend Annie and other peeps celebrating Annie's b-day. I was invited to hang out, but being in a smoky bar and not being able to drink suuuuuccccckkkks, so we just went to get more movies and non-alcoholic beverages.

We got blazed and watched Spun, and a movie called Wendy and Lucy starring Michelle Williams about a girl that is traveling to Alaska with her dog through the Pacific Northwest. Beautifully shot film, but the story went nowhere. We then watched Factotum, a movie starring Matt Dillon playing Bukowski's alter ego Hank Chinaski based on Bukowski's stories. Lots of drinking and slumming about. I got bored with it and went to bed around 2am. Had to get up early to work brunch.

Woke up Sunday morning a little after 8am, made coffee, and showed up right at 9am. It was just the chef and I today so I had to kick it in to high gear to knock out the brunch prep - making salsa for the blackened salmon, breaking down a tenderloin for eggs benedict, making jalapeno biscuits, setting up salad and pizza meez, etc. We were busier than we expected for Labor day weekend. I can honestly say also, it was the 1st Sunday I was not hungover since I was hired.... or for a really long time in general. Nice change of pace.


I had a bacon, egg, cheese biscuit sandwich, bits of watermelon, pineapple, home fries, more bacon, and another biscuit or 2 dipped in sausage gravy throughout the course of the day. We got the kitchen cleaned/wrapped up and I got a ride home from Chef since Lisa was still at work. Took the dog out, then got high. Lisa got home exhausted. We hung out and caught up for a minute before we started talking about dinner. I wanted steak. We got really high and went to Blockbuster first. Dropped off movies and picked up Animal House (Yup, Lisa's never seen that one either), and Everything is Illuminated.

We then went to Tom thumb to procure dinner provisions. Grabbed some green beans and went straight to the bargain meat section (you can find some really good deals!) and picked up a strip steak that was half off! I then saw that ribeyes were 4.99 a pound, and got a one of those instead. Also picked up some butter, cream, ice cream sandwiches for Lisa, and a pint of Ben and Jerry's Chubby Hubby (they still make it!!!).

We went home and I started straightening up the kitchen and prepping. I trimmed the green beans, blanched them in boiling water, then shocked them in ice water to stop the cooking. I cut the steak into two pieces and seasoned with salt and a heavy dose of pepper. I cut up a couple of Yukon Gold potatoes and boiled them in salted water, melted some garlic butter that was kicking around the fridge with some cream and minced thyme and rosemary. Then I chopped up some bacon and cooked on medium, rendering out the fat. Once cooked, remove bacon bits and place on a paper towel lined plate to sop up excess grease. Discarded fat from the pan but reserved about a tbsp. Toss blanched green beans in hot bacon fat, adding the bacon back in and season with salt and pepper. Keep warm on low heat. Strain boiled potatoes, and back to pan and smash, adding in melted garlic-butter/cream/herbs, and some grated Parmigianno Reggiano. Season with salt and pepper. Heat skillet to pretty hot, add oil and sear steaks.... about 3 minutes for each side for the desired doneness..... rare as fuck (cook longer if you're a pussy). Brush tops of steaks with remaining garlic-butter and serve. Soooo good! The ultimate in fat-kid gourmet dining.

We then took Nikolai for a walk, forgetting how rare steak affects my lower gi tract. Needless to say, it was a short walk. We turned around and rushed back home.

I sipped soda water to settle my rattled gut while Lisa bathed the animals. We then settled into the living room and put on Everything is Illuminated. We were both very high and distracted, so we switched to Animal House. I shared some of my Chubby Hubby with Lisa (I just read on the interweb that it is being renamed Hubby Hubby in support of gay marriage. AWESOME!!!). That stuff is like crack! Fudge covered peanut butter filled pretzels in vanilla malt ice cream with MORE fudge and peanut butter. Jumping Jesus on a pogo-stick!!! A true gastronomical orgasm!!

Lisa fell asleep during the movie (duh). I stayed up for a little while longer, went to bed around 2pm (no melatonin!).

Today is Labor day, restaurant is closed so I get a day off. I slept in until almost noon, woke up totally groggy from smoking so much high grade pot. I got a Dr. Pepper and have done nothing but dick around online all day. I haven't really eaten breakfast or lunch either. I have had some Guinness cheddar and some more ice cream (writing about it made me hungry for some). I was supposed to start a diet today, but I guess that is going to have to wait until tomorrow. Today is one whole week without drinking. I feel good, but different. Hard to explain.

Also I apologize for the past few posts, and the ones to come, as they all are, and will most likely in the future be, about me getting high and watching movies. I know how lame that is, but we're saving money to move into a house next month, and are trying to keep a low profile.

Just wait and see if I actually go on this diet I'm talking about. Talk about a boring blog.

Ciao!!!

09/04/2009

So I've missed a large chunk of time on this blog due to a faulty power cord for my 3 year old Macbook. I have recently acquired a new one, so I'm back!

Let's just skip the past week and move forward shall we?

Yesterday, woke up at 2pm because I had stayed up until 5am. I am now onto day 4 of no booze September, and the insomnia is murder. Pot and melatonin with Topo Chico have become my new vices.

So I woke up at 2, made some coffee, did the dishes, and made "breakfast". Two fried egg sandwiches with bacon and chedddar cheese on wheat bread. Delicious. I headed off to work at 4. Had to make doughnut bread pudding and espresso creme anglaise. Luckily, Rickey had done alot of the salad line prep before I got there. Chef was busy toying with the new steak recipe for the fall menu which we ran as a special last night. Filet au Poivre with sweet potato gratin. It was great and we sold out of specials in 30 minutes. Rickey made a a pizza. Pepperoni, mushroom, and jalapeno. I ate a slice or two, pepperonis picked off, doused in sriracha. At one point, the dumbest server there rang in a Spanish pie, but meant to ring in a spinach and goat cheese pizza.

She has made this mistake like 5 times in the past..... always in the full swing of service.

The awesome thing is, is when servers fuck up like that, we get to eat the fuck-up. Not saying more pizza is a good thing, just that the offending server has to watch us eat their mistake.

So I had a slice of Spanish Pie. We were busy! 4 hours flew by as we cranked out orders. Got a ride home from Mondo, got stoned with Lisa, and watched Election. I had never seen it. It was pretty dumb, but somewhat clever. Lisa went to bed and I stayed up watching Katt Williams stand up movie 'American Hustle'. Most of it was pretty funny.

Then I got hungry around 2am. Lisa had made dinner. Bison meatloaf with rosemary potatoes and sauteed spinach. I heated it up and gnoshed on that. Not bad slop Lisa!

Laid down about 3:30am, fell asleep maybe 30 minutes later. Had fucked up dreams (thank you very much melatonin), and woke up a little after noon, groggy as hell (again, melatonin). The no hangover is a nice change of pace I must say, but I am SPACED OUT! I am sure this will pass in a few days.

Current time is 1:30pm, work at 3:00.

So what do I eat for lunch?