Chicken Salad

My chicken salad recipe is really simple, but you will need a food processor. I do not like chunky chicken salad. I like my chicken salad to be more chopped up and this is why I use a food processor to make it. I use a Cuisinart Elite food processor.
5 boneless and skinless chicken breasts

2 stalks of celery

1/4 medium onion

1/2 cup pecans

1 T Garlic Powder

Salt and pepper

1-2 Cup Mayonnaise

Poach chicken in simmering chicken broth until done (about 15 minutes) Once chicken is done place in a food processor and mince it. Use the pulse button to get the chicken to the desired texture. Remove to a large bowl.

Mince pecans, celery and onion in the same manner and pour into the bowl. Add the mayonnaise, salt and pepper and stir. If salad is too dry add a little of the cooking broth or more mayonnaise. Taste and add seasoning to your liking. Refrigerate immediately.

Pimento Cheese Spread

3 oz. room temp. cream cheese.
1 lb sharp white cheddar cheese grated
1/2 lb. jack cheese grated
2 roasted red bell peppers
1 t. freshly ground pepper
3 T. chopped green onion or minced white onion
1/2 to 1 cup Hellmann's mayonnaise or homemade mayonnaise
3 dashes of hot sauce
1 t. garlic oil or granulated garlic
1 t. paprika

Preheat broiler on high and insert the peppers to roast. Keep an eye on them and roast them on all sides. Remove and wrap loosely in a towel or place in a zip-lock bag. Once cooled, remove the outer thin skin of the peppers.

I use a gas burner to roast the peppers. If you go this route, place the peppers directly over the flame on the burner grate. Allow them to blacken on all sides and remove them. Wrap loosely in a towel or place in a zip-lock bag and allow to cool. Remove charred skin, core and seed and place in a food processor. Use the pulse function of your food processor and process until you get the desired texture you want.

Whisk mayonnaise, peppers and cream cheese together to loosen the cream cheese. Grate cheeses in a food processor using the grating blades. Place cheeses, onions, hot sauce, paprika and garlic powder into the bowl with your pimento, cream cheese and mayo and fold until combined.

Serve immediately as an appetizer with toast points or toasted pita bread. Of course, you can make a sandwich with it, too! If you refrigerate it the mixture will stiffen. Bring back to room temperature and it will relax.

Gazpacho

Gazpacho

2 Cucumbers (peeled, seeded and cut into cubes)

4 Large tomatoes (cubed)

1 Green bell pepper (chopped)

1 Red bell pepper (chopped)

1 Red onion (medium) (cubed)

2 Cloves garlic

Salt and Pepper to taste ( or use Knorr Chicken Bullion Powder as the salt)

1 cup tomato juice

1 T. parsley

¼ c. red wine vinegar

1T hot sauce or tobasco or 1 t. cayenne

Set aside 1/2 of the cubed vegetables and reserve for later. Place all other ingredients with a few cubes of ice into a blender and blend until smooth. Pour blended vegetables into a large bowl and add in the reserved cubed vegetables. Stir and taste. At this point you may want to add more salt or vinegar. Cover tightly andchill for 2 hours or more and serve with a garnish of parsley or olive oil. This cold soup goes well with crusty breads.

The Best Margarita--EVER!

My friend, John Lopez, who knows a lot about food and drink made me one of these Margaritas at market last year in his showroom. Seriously, it was the best Margarita I have ever had and it is so simple to make. I am going to pretty much post his email to me about these Margaritas.

Before I post his email, you must know that these are "adult" Margaritas. While they go down very easy they are very potent!

Here is his email:

"The original Margarita recipe was 1 part citrus (lime) juice, 1 part orange liqueur, and three parts Tequila. I reduced the tequila to two parts to reduce liability about 15 years ago. At two parts tequila, there is plenty of tequila flavor to stand up to the sweet and sour flavors. Most good bars, if they even make "real" margaritas will use 1 to 1 to 1+, but this gives wrong flavor profile, throwing off the balance of sweet, sour, & tequila. You want to taste all three flavor components.

Important to use good quality tequila, i.e., Herradura (my personal favorite and the first weber blue agave tequila imported to USA, by Bing Crosby, no less), Patron, etc., but always use Silver Tequila, as rested or aged tequilas only confuse the classic margarita flavor. Also use Cointreau (very good but expensive) or natural Triple Sec such as De Kuyper. Avoid artificial flavored Triple Sec and Grand Marnier (too rich with Brandy & wastes $$)

We always use lemons for the juice in the cocktail and a lime to rim cocktail glass for Kosher salt, but try to only moisten the outside of the rim as you want the salty taste on your tongue but not in the cocktail. We only use lemons because lemons always taste like lemons. Limes vary in their taste.

These drinks are an acquired taste if you are used to normal bar style margaritas made with sweet & sour which tends to bury the tequila flavor.

If you prefer serving "Up", shake at least 30 times in shaker with fresh, dry, not melting, chunks of ice. Strain into Martini glass, avoiding the cliched Margarita tourist glass, salt rimmed , if you like. If you like on the rocks, prepare the same way in a shaker, but strain into small, (6 ounce seems to be perfect) tumbler or juice glass, salted as above. This keeps intake down & helps prevent over-indulging.

So the simple answer, if there is one, to your question is 1 part juice to 1 part orange liqueur to 2 parts tequila.

Hope this is enough info. If not, advise & I will opine.

Warmest regards from your trusty, amateur barkeep,

wally

Brewing Tea

Tea is the second most popular beverage in the world. Only water is rated higher in world consumption than tea. It is estimated that somewhere between 18 and 20 billion 6 oz. cups of tea are drunk daily on our planet. An extension of numbers shows that the United States only imports enough tea annually to keep world usage rates going for 2 days. We have a lot to learn!

Tea has lots of things going for it; it is healthy, tasty, can be drunk hot or cold and has no calories. The only drawback for some is that it contains a stimulant called caffeine. Personally, I like caffeine, but a growing contingent of folks do not. My goal is to fill the casual tea drinker in on the types of teas and at what temperatures these teas brew the best. This entry is by no means exhaustive, but hopefully you can take a way a kernel of knowledge from it. I almost always brew my tea in a teapot, or when I am lazy, in a cup. There are all kinds of contraptions for brewing tea from tea infuser balls to tea infuser sticks. I heat the water in a tea kettle. I like the nostaligia of hearing the whistle. I use loose tea most of the time because it is much better than bags in terms of flavor.

Basic Types of Tea- Black, White and Green teas all come from the Camellia sinensis bush. What makes them different is in where the leaves come from on the bush and how the leaves are processed.

Black Tea- Fully fermented during processing. Leaves are picked from the mid section of the tea bush branch toward the trunk. Many times black teas are heat dried in big rolling bins similar to a clothes dryer. Black tea is the most common variety we drink around here. (36mg caffeine per 6 oz. cup) water temperature: 200 - 212 degrees; steeping time: 4 - 5 minutes

Green- Not fermented at all, unprocessed grassy taste (20mg caffeine per cup) Picked from the ends of the tea bush while leaves are opening. Water temperature: 170 - 190 degrees; steeping time: 1 - 3 minutes

White- Sometimes called Silver Needle (15mg caffeine per cup). The leaves are picked and harvested from the tips of the tea bush before the leaves open fully, when the buds are still covered by fine white hair. Hence the name. White tea is scarcer than the other traditional teas, and can be quite a bit more expensive. Charcterized by a light and sweet flavor. Water temperature: 170 - 190 degrees; steeping time: 1 - 3 minutes

Red Tea- Not really a tea (technically a Tisane, or herbal tea, because it is not made from the Camellia sinensis plant)-- instead it is made from the dried and oxidized leaves of the South African Aspalathis linearis plant. Often, Red tea is called Rooibos (from the Dutch South African language meaning red bush). Little to no caffeine.

Herbal Tea- Also called Tisanes are not teas at all. They are a grouping of herbs, zest, flowers and more that are a substitute for tea. Some are quite good! Water temperature: 212 degrees; steeping time: 5 - 7 minutes

Cool Trick! Decaffeinate your tea at home. (only for loose teas, sorry) You may decaffeinate your own tea by pouring hot water over the tea leaves, waiting 30 seconds, then pouring off that first infusion. This removes roughly 2/3 of the caffeine per 6 oz. Don't exceed that 30-second time frame, however, or you will lose much of the vitamins and antioxidant effects, as well as flavor. Depending on the kind of black tea you are drinking, this method will lose some of the flavor, which I think will be acceptable to most who want to reduce caffeine. This only works for loose tea, however, not for tea bags. Tea bags are designed to brew very quickly -- the leaves are in very small pieces, called "dust", which enables the tea to brew more quickly. You would lose much too much flavor with a tea bag.

Making Homemade Chicken Stock

When I was a young boy we raised a few chickens on our property. I can remember gathering the eggs before school each morning. I will never forget the summer day when granddad and grandmother came over with an axe and large stock pot in their hands and said we were going to slaughter some young chickens. I had never realized before that time how chickens made it to my dinner plate. We killed, boiled and plucked the chickens in my back yard. I have never tasted better chicken in my life. I think I was 10 years old at the time and I can still remember the flavor and the tenderness of that chicken and how good the chicken stock tasted.

Sorry for reminiscing. There are very few things that taste better than homemade chicken stock. Sure, it takes a little time, but the effort is worth the flavor. When I'm in a pinch or a rush, I generally reach for chicken base or a store-purchased chicken broth, but I stay away from chicken bullion cubes. They are too salty--as a matter of fact, all of them are too salty, but when you are in a rush you just have to make do. Making homemade chicken stock does take a little time, so when you're ready to make it make a bunch of it. It freezes for a long time. I use chicken stock as a base for soups and sauces or whenever a recipe calls for it.

Homemade Chicken Stock
3-4 lbs. assorted chicken necks, backs & wings (I save them up in the freezer as I get them)
6 garlic cloves
1 large onion, quartered
5 carrots, rough chopped
5 celery stocks
Enough water to cover everything
2 bay leaves
5 T. kosher salt
1T. white pepper
olive oil
fresh parsley

To make the stock, first heat a large stock pot or pasta pot to medium-high heat. Add the oil and the chicken parts and brown them (browning will add depth of color and flavor to the stock) until they are lightly browned. Once browned, add the onion, garlic, celery, carrots, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Add enough cold water to cover everything--about 3/4 full.

Turn the heat to high and bring to a boil. Once the pot has achieved a boil turn down the heat to simmer. When the boiling ceases skim off any fat that has risen. Cover tightly and simmer for another hour and a half. Turn off the heat and allow the broth to cool for about 35 minutes. If you are using a pasta pot with an insert simply raise the insert and discard the bones and skin and other solids. If you are using a regular stockpot you'll want to use a colander or strainer and pour everything through it.

To make the broth clearer you may filter it through a coffee filter or paper towel. Once filtered, place the stock in the refrigerator overnight. The fat will rise to the surface and harden. At this point, you can simply scoop it out. There will be some gelatin there, too. Keep it if you can; it's good for you. Freeze what you do not plan on using straight away.

Happy cooking,
Marcus

Making Ice Pops for Your Kids and Grandkids

When I was growing up my mom made ice pops for my brothers and me all summer. Generally they were made with juice or punch. As we grew a little older we would make them ourselves. It would take forever for them to freeze because we would open the freezer every 10 minutes to see how they were doing. My wife and I, at the constant urging of my 7 year old son, introduced making home-made ice pops to him and his little sister this summer. There are very few things that will brighten a kid's day like an ice pop. Where we come from, the generic name for ice pops is "p@pcicle$" (sorry for the spelling, but I once received a certified letter from the company that I intentionally misspelled telling me to cease using their trademarked name on my website).

The ice pop molds from my childhood were anything but exciting to me and many times we used the even more unexciting ice tray with toothpicks. Today, you can get some really cool ice pop mold shapes that kids will love like rockets and shooting stars. There are some really cool rocket ice pop molds that allow for two stage freezing so you can have two flavors in one. The most popular one we sell is called the Groovy ice pop mold, which holds a lot of icy goodness.

The problem with store purchased ice pops today is that they are full of refined sugars and corn syrup that many people argue are detrimental to a child's health. I am not an authority on the sugar debate, but I do know that supermarket varieties are full of dead calories with little nutritional content and the fact that the packaging they use is not "green" is of concern. If you want to see healthier recipes for making ice pops try looking at this blog.

Here is a recipe for Red, White and Blue ice pops. It is not the most healthy recipe, but you will know how much sugar your children will be taking into their bodies. Recipe is from Cuisipro.

1/4 cup blue raspberry Jell-O (half package)
1 cup water.
1/4 cup lemon juice.
1/2 cup sugar.
1 teaspoon gelatin powder.
1 cup water.
1/4 cup cherry Jell-O (half package).
1 cup water.

When making ice pops with more than one flavor, make sure to allow each flavor to cool before adding it to the mold or it will melt into the previous layer.

Combine the blue jello powder with 1/2 cup of hot water. Stir until the powder is dissolved and had 1/2 cup of cold water. Pour this mixture into the molds until the bottom one third of the mold is filled. Place in the freezer for at least two hours or until frozen.

While the bottom third is freezing, combine sugar, gelatin, lemon juice and 1/2 cup of hot water. Stir until dissolved and add 1/2 cup cold water. Allow the mixture to cool and fill the next third with this mixture. Freeze for another two hours.

In another bowl, repeat the same process with the cherry flavored gelatin that you did with the blue gelatin powder. Fill the pop molds almost to the top, put on the lids and insert the sticks. Allow to freeze overnight, or at least five hours.