White Chicken Chili

Brrrr! Is it cold out there or what?!!! I guess those temperatures do tend to plunge in the winter. And then there’s the snow and sleety/icy mix that shows up as well. Oh yeah, and the howling winds. Just ask any of the folks up there in the Northeastern States that just suffered through a whopper of a winter storm. They’ll tell you all about it. Lucky for us, Virginia was spared. We did get some snow, but it was very little and we were so uber prepared. I saw snow removal trucks rolling down the street in front of our house all night on Monday, spewing salt, plows with sparks flying because there wasn’t even enough snow on the road to push aside. Yes, even the snow novice Virginia locals did well in this storm with a mere 2 hour delay for school and work. I don’t know. Perhaps we’re getting more snow savvy around here. We did have a major snowpocalypse a few years ago and I think we might’ve gotten a baptism by fire back then. Well, there’s no doubt about it, Chili weather is upon us. No not chilly, but Chili (errrr…the husband says that it is Chili weather year round…) and today I have a great recipe for a White Chicken Chili for you.

Not only is it very easy to make, in fact you can probably have it on your table in about one hour, but it is also incredibly tasty. I would even go so far as to say that this is the best White Chili that I have ever had the good luck to stumble upon. I found the recipe over at Once Upon a Chef and  as usual Jenn did not disappoint. I made it just as she did and it was perfection. No tinkering required. Now don’t freak out when you see that there is a jalapeño pepper as well as two poblanos. As long as you take care not to add the seeds, it isn’t blow the top of your head off spicy. It has just the right amount of heat, especially considering those temps outside. And I love, love, love that you just use a shredded rotisserie chicken in it. Can’t get much easier than that.

I served this White Chicken Chili topped with sour cream, avocado, tortilla chips and extra cilantro and with a big batch of tasty corn muffins which we ate hot out of the oven and slathered with butter. With a big pot of this chili simmering away on the stove, you’ll likely forget the eternal snow shoveling that is headed your way before Spring is sprung. Yup… although us Virginians were able to dodge the bullet this time, I don’t think Winter is done with us yet…..

• Servings: 4-6
• Difficulty: easy
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recipe from: Once Upon a Chef

Ingredients:

• 2 (14.5 ounce) cans white beans, rinsed and drained
• 4 cups low sodium chicken broth, divided
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced
• 2 medium poblano peppers, seeded and minced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 Tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ancho chili powder
• salt
• 1 rotisserie chicken, skin removed and shredded (about 4 cups)
• 3/4 cup corn
• 1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro
• 1 Tablespoon fresh lime juice, from one lime, plus more to taste

For Serving:

sour cream, crushed tortilla chips, lime wedges, avocado, Monterrey jack cheese

Directions:

In a food processor, blend 1 can of the beans with 1 cup of the chicken broth. Set aside both the pureed beans and the remaining whole beans

Add the oil to a large pot or Dutch oven and heat it over medium heat. Add the onion, jalapeno pepper and poblano peppers and saute until soft, about 5 -7 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for one minute more. Add the cumin, coriander and ancho chili powder and continue to cook, stirring frequently, for 1 minute more to toast the spices. Add the chicken stock, pureed beans and 1/2 teaspoon of salt; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes.

Stir in the shredded chicken, reserved whole beans, corn, cilantro and lime juice; bring back to a simmer and cook until everything is heated through, about 5 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning with more salt and lime juice. (The broth will be somewhat soupy – don’t worry, that’s how it is supposed to be. The chili will thicken the longer it sits. If you have made it ahead of time and need to thin it out some when you are ready to serve, just add a little more broth before warming.) Serve the chili with a dollop of sour cream, crushed tortilla chips and any other fixins you desire.

Enjoy!

White Chicken Chili brought to you by: Runcible Eats (www.leaandjay.com)

Steak “Auld Reekie” over Crispy Tatties & Neeps

So hold on a second here! We’ve still got a couple of days til we get to Burns Night. For all of you folks who missed my last posting (it’s still up so you could just take a peek now…) Sunday January 25th is the birthday of Robert Burns, the National Poet of Scotland. On that night folks throughout the world will remember him and celebrate with a Burns Night Supper. I just gave you a great Scottish dessert recipe (Dundee Cake with Hot Whisky Marmalade…take a look…you know you want to…) and I just couldn’t resist throwing another recipe into the mix this year – Steak Auld Reekie over Crispy Tatties & Neeps. I’m just imagining the big question mark a lot of you must have hovering over your faces right now. Anything “old reekie” doesn’t sound very appetizing huh? And what the heck is “tatties & neeps” right?!!  So let me explain.  Reek is the Scots word for smoke, not for something horribly stinky as you might have imagined. Auld Reekie was the nickname given to Edinburgh back in the day when it was full of smoke from all of the open coal fires burning in the city. Steak Auld Reekie is not then some putrified filet, but it is rather a classic Victorian dish of fried steaks with a cream and smoked cheese sauce. Get it….smoked cheese gives the dish that lovely smoky taste which is reminiscent of smoky old Edinburgh from back in the day. And of course it has a bit of Scotch whisky thrown in for good measure.

Now Tatties & Neeps are simply Potatoes and Turnips (also known as Swede or Rutabaga). Haggis with Tatties & Neeps are the quintessential dishes served at a traditional Burns Night Supper. The Tatties & Neeps in that case are prepared similar to chunky, roughly mashed potatoes. Since I was not going to be serving Haggis (I actually like it…) but Steak Auld Reekie I decided to do a variation on the traditional Tatties & Neeps. I grated the potatoes and swede, formed them into a panko crusted pancake and fried them to a crispy golden brown. Now I made the pancakes fairly large, 5″ – 6″,  so that I could serve the steaks and sauce on top of them. However, you could make smaller sized patties if you wanted to serve them as a side dish, perhaps with a little dollop of sour cream and Coleman’s mustard.

I will warn you, the whole process of making the Crispy Tatties & Neeps was messy. It is really challenging to work with those raw pancakes and I also found it difficult to just leave them be once I had gotten them into the frying pan. I wanted to keep poking at them and checking the bottom. Don’t do it! They need 5 minutes undisturbed! Fooling with them simply makes them fall to pieces and you’ll end up with a pan of hash browns, which I guess isn’t really a bad thing at all, but likely not what you’re going for here. Of course it’s always nice to have an escape route should kitchen disaster strike…”Yeah…we’re having Steak Auld Reekie and Tatties & Neeps Hash!” So this Sunday don’t forget Scotland’s favourite son. I’ll leave you with a little snippet of a toast written to Rabbie Burns by Stewart Archibald of Ballater, Scotland:

His name still ranks amongst the best fae the bonnie Scottish shores, His words they still work wonders and open mony doors, So as we gather here the nicht lets toast the Ayrshire man, Fa maks us friens thru troubled times in far flung foreign lands. Pit doon yir fags, get on yir feet and raise yir gless up high, Let’s toast and hope his name lives on, till a’ the seas rin dry.

“RABBIE BURNS”

Steak Auld Reekie with Crispy Tatties & Neeps

• Servings: 4
• Difficulty: easy
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Steak Auld Reekie from:  Rampant Scotland: Traditional Scottish Recipes

Fried Tattie & Neeps inspired by: Epicurious

Steak Auld Reekie

Ingredients:

• Four 8 oz (250 g) fillets of Aberdeen Angus Steak
• 4 Tablespoons Scotch Whisky
• 13 fluid ounces (350g) heavy cream
• 4 oz. (125 grams) grated smoked cheese
• 1 oz. (25 g) butter
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Grill or pan fry the steaks to your preference and keep warm. Pour whisky into a pan (the same one if you are pan frying a sauce pan if you are grilling) and flambé. Add cream and grated cheese and bring to the simmering point. Gently simmer, stirring occasionally until the sauce has been reduced by half. Season with salt and pepper and mix in the butter. When ready to serve, place steaks on top of Crispy Tatties & Neeps panackes and pour sauce over the steaks.

Crispy Tatties & Neeps

Ingredients:

• 1 large russet potato, washed and peeled
• 1 yellow turnip or rutabaga
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 3 tablespoons chopped chives
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1 cup Panko
• olive oil for frying
• sour cream and spicy mustard

Directions:

Grate potato and turnip. This can be done by hand or with a food processor. (Lazy me choses the processor every time). In medium bowl combine grated potato and turnip with onions, chives and egg. Mix together.

Heat oil in a skillet. Form tennis ball sized portions of the potato/turnip mixture, using an ice cream scoop and then compact it a bit more with you hands. Transfer potato turnip ball to one hand and with the other grab some of the panko. Place the potato/turnip ball on top of the held panko. With your recently freed hand grab more panko and press down over the top of the potato/turnip ball. Gently place it in frying pan. Push down on ball with a spatula to flatten into a 5″ – 6″ pancake. Now here is what might be the hard part for some of you folks. Don’t touch it for about 5 minutes. Once the 5 minutes has passed and it is golden brown on bottom, turn pancake over and cook for about 5 minutes. Transfer to ovenproof platter and place in oven to keep warm. Repeat with remaining portions.

Enjoy!

Steak Auld Reekie with Crispy Tatties & Neeps brought to you by: Runcible Eats (www.leaandjay.com)

Dundee Cake with Hot Whisky Marmalade

O.k. It seems like corks were just popping on New Year’s Eve and BAM...next thing I know we’ve nearly reached the end of January! Indeed the 25th will be happening this Sunday. So what is the significance of January 25th you might ask. Well, throughout the world, though especially in Scotland, folks will be celebrating with a Burns Night Supper to mark the occasion. Robert Burns, who is regarded as the National Poet of Scotland, was born on that day in 1759. I’m quite a Burns fan myself and will certainly be raising my glass to The Bard this weekend. I have given you some great Scottish recipes in the past in case you might be planning a Burn’s Night Supper of you own. Last year it was Scotch Egg Pie, which is a type of meat pie that has spicy sausage surrounding an inner circle of hard-boiled eggs all wrapped up in a buttery flaky pie crust.

The year before I shared Cock-a-leekie soup

 which I served with delicious, crusty Struan. Struan, also known as Celtic Harvest Bread, is thought to have taken its name from a town in Western Scotland called Struanmoor, on the Isle of Skye. It was originally enjoyed once a year as a harvest bread, using whatever grains were available from the previous day’s harvest. This is my absolute favourite bread, so it is almost always available in my house. It toasts up particularly brilliantly.

The year before that it was Deviled Scotch Eggs.

And I had also previously given you the traditional Scotch Egg recipe. If you don’t know what Scotch Eggs are, believe me it is time that you find out! Basically it is  a hard-boiled egg encased in sausage and then deep-fried. Good Lord Have Mercy!

So I have already set the bar pretty high for myself when it comes to Scottish delicacies for your Burn’s Night Supper. Nevertheless, I think I’ve risen to the challenge yet again. This year I’m going to turn my attention from the savory to the sweet. I’ve got a great Scottish dessert I’d like to share with you, Dundee Cake with Hot Whisky Marmalade Sauce. Now I bet that’s got you drooling huh?

Dundee Cake is a famous traditional Scottish fruit cake which hales from…bet you guessed it already huh? Yup…Dundee. You see, there is a famous marmalade company, Keiller’s, which is located in Dundee and they are credited with developing this recipe in the 19th Century. Actually, there is a chance that although they popularized this cake at that time, the recipe is much older, dating back to the 16th century perhaps. The legend goes that Mary Queen of Scots did not like glace cherries in her cakes. I can’t say I blame her. I think those things are quite suspicious to say the least. So the classic fruit cake recipe was somewhat altered for her and a cake was made without the usual cherries, but with blanched almonds instead.

Dundee Cake is often served at Christmas time throughout the British Isles, but definitely in Scotland. Indeed, recently the town of Dundee has put in a bid to have Dundee Cake awarded a Protected Geographical Indicator Status from the European Commission. That will prevent anyone who is not from Dundee from selling a cake labeled as Dundee Cake. You know, it is like Champagne. Champagne is only bottled in Champagne France. If it is produced in any other locale, it is not Champagne and needs to be called Sparkling wine. If the Dundee Cake is awarded PGI status, consumers will have 100% guarantee of its authenticity and confidence that they will enjoy all of the unique characteristics that have long been associated with this type of cake traditionally made in Dundee.

So what is this cake like? Well, it is delicious of course! And don’t even start raising your eyebrows and giving me that “are you kidding me… it is a fruit cake” kind of face. Unlike many fruitcakes you might have encountered in the past that were most likely used as a door stop rather than eaten, this cake is light and buttery with a touch spice and warm citrus notes. Not to mention that it is chock full of juicy, whisky soaked fruit and festooned with circles of almonds.

Notice I spelled whisky properly here. When referring to Scotch, there is no “e” in whisky. And speaking of whisky, don’t forget that each slice of this moist, rich cake should be served with a generous pour of Hot Whiskey Marmalade Sauce and topped with a dollop of whipped cream. Yum! It will change everything you thought you knew about fruitcakes! I hope I have inspired you to host a Burns Night Supper of your own or at least to raise a wee dram and drink a toast to Scotland’s Favourite Son this Sunday.

Dundee Cake with Hot Whisky Marmalade Sauce

• Servings: one 8 inch cake
• Difficulty: easy
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recipe slightly adapted from: Epicurious

Ingredients:

For the Cake:

• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice*
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons Scotch whisky (plus more for soaking fruit)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange peel
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cup golden raisins
• 3/4 cup dark raisins
• 3/4 cup dried currants
• 1/3 cup chopped candied orange peel (I used mixed candied peel from King Arthur Flour)
• 2 tablespoons orange marmalade
• Whole blanched almonds (Can’t find pre-blanched almonds in the store? No problem. See instructions below**.)

For the Hot Whisky Sauce:

• 2/3 cup orange marmalade
• 3 tablespoons whisky
• 4 oranges

Freshly whipped cream for serving.

Directions:

For the cake:

The night prior to baking, place the raisins and currants in a bowl. Pour enough whisky over fruit to cover it. Allow fruit to soak overnight. This is an optional step, but I believe that it not only allows the fruit to plump up a bit, but it gives it a wonderful boozy flavour!

Preheat oven to 300°F. Butter 8-inch-diameter cake pan with 2-inch-high sides; line bottom with parchment paper. You could also use a springform pan or if your 8″ cake round does not have 2″ high sides, line the sides with parchment paper to gain the 2″ height. Sift flour, baking powder, salt, and spice into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter, sugar, whisky, and grated orange peel in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Stir in dry ingredients, then all dried fruits and candied peel. Transfer batter to prepared pan.

Bake cake 1 hour. Remove cake from oven. Brush top with 2 tablespoons marmalade. Arrange almonds around edge, pressing lightly to adhere. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 20 minutes longer. Cool cake completely in pan on rack. (Can be made 3 days ahead. Cover; store at room temperature.) Turn cake out of pan; peel off parchment. Place upright on plate.

For the Whisky Sauce:

Combine marmalade and whisky in medium saucepan. Cut all peel and white pith from oranges. Working over bowl to catch juices, cut between membranes, releasing orange segments. Add 2 tablespoons orange juice from bowl to saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat until marmalade melts and sauce is heated through, about 5 minutes. Transfer sauce to serving bowl.

Serve cake with warm sauce, orange segments, and whipped cream.

Enjoy!

Dundee Cake with Hot Whisky Marmalade Sauce brought to you by: Runcible Eats (www.leaandjay.com)

*Don’t have pumpkin pie spice?: Pumpkin pie spice is a combination of mostly cinnamon, with some ginger, allspice and nutmeg added into the mix. This recipe only calls for 1/8 tsp. of the spice. You could just add a dash of the above spices and call it a day.

**How to blanch almonds: Take raw unsalted almonds and drop them in boiling water. Allow them to boil for 60 seconds, but no longer. Remove almonds to a colander and rinse them with cold water. Blot them dry with a paper towel. The skins can easily be removed at this point by simply squeezing the almond between your fingers. Let the almonds dry entirely. Voila! You now have blanched almonds ready to use in this recipe.

Christmas in Vermont Bread

So wooo-wheee! That’s it!! The holidays are over!!! Now please don’t take my obvious joy at that statement as a hint that perhaps I have a bit of a  “grinchy” attitude towards Christmas.

I don’t…for the most part anyway, though I feel a disclaimer should pop up here saying something like ” Mood subject to change a the drop of a hat”. There are a lot of things about the holidays that I enjoy, but that certainly doesn’t mean that they aren’t a whole heck of a lot of work. So I do admit when they are finally done and dusted, I am definitely relieved as well as somewhat delighted. I spent a lot of time in the kitchen this past Christmas and whipped up some delicious treats. As usual, before everything was in a full frenzied Christmas whirl, I swore that I would take the time to get pictures of all of the delicacies that I made. And as usual, guess what? Things got hectic and heated and as if you hadn’t guessed from my sudden disappearance from the blog-a-shpere around mid-December, yeah, I didn’t really get any photos….Except….Of one of my favourite new recipes this year, Christmas in Vermont Bread. I love, love, LOVE this bread. The fact that I snapped photos of it are nothing short of a Christmas miracle in itself, so I just had to share it with you, even though Christmas is indeed gone. (I might be doing one of those jumping up and down hands waving about over  the head silent cheers right now.)

This bread was very easy to make and looks pretty impressive if I do say so myself. It is a soft and tender sweet yeast bread which has a scrumptious ribbon of pecan and maple sugar running through the middle as well as generously sprinkled over the top.

And as if that wasn’t enough, there is also an addictive maple sugar glaze drizzled liberally over the top. Great to gobble down toasted (the bread, not yourself…though the festive holiday season has been known to involve a bit of tipple or two…) with lashings of butter, or to take to a holiday get together or even give as a gift! As I mentioned, it is easy to make with one caveat. It does call for Maple Sugar, which might be difficult for you to find. King Arthur Flour sells it on their site or you could always order from Amazon. Or you could always just substitute brown sugar. (I really like the Maple flavour though, so you might want to plan ahead and procure the true blue maple stuff) Bottom line is this bread is amazing! It will be a Christmas tradition around here without a doubt. But I should mention, it would also be lovely to have at Thanksgiving. I think all of its warm maple and pecan flavours certainly evoke a Fall-time, Thanksgiving -y vibe. Heck, who am I kidding. I’m sure the next time you check in with me I’ll have a loaf of “Easter in Vermont Bread” or “Height of Summer” in Vermont Bread. It is that good, there is no reason why it can’t be enjoyed year round. Unless you’re concerned about being able to zip your britches up I suppose. I don’t know, maybe skinny jeans are over-rated. Stretchy yoga pants are quite fashionable now a days. But I digress….I guess what I’m saying is that this Christmas in Vermont Bread is worth a little indulgence. You should give it a try, no matter what time of year. I guarantee you will be hooked!

• Servings: 16 -18 slices
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

recipe from: King Arthur Flour Recipes

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup lukewarm milk
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 3 3/4 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1/4 cup Baker’s Special Dry Milk or nonfat dry milk
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 large eggs plus 1 yolk (reserve the white)

 For the Filling and topping:

• 1/2 cup maple sugar or brown sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1 cup pecan meal or almond flour, or very finely ground pecans or almonds
• 1/4 cup melted butter

For the Glaze:

• 1/4 cup maple sugar or brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1/2 cup glazing sugar or confectioners’ sugar

Directions:

Melt the butter in the milk, and let cool to lukewarm (98° – 105°F). Combine all of the dough ingredients, and mix and knead them—by hand, mixer, or bread machine—until you have a very soft, shiny, slightly sticky dough. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, and allow it to rise for 1 1/2 hours.

To make the filling: Stir together all of the filling ingredients until they form coarse crumbs. Set them aside.

Grease a large tube pan. (make it a large one – lots of ovenspring here). Scoop about half of the dough into the greased pan. Sprinkle about two-thirds of the filling atop the dough. Top with the remaining dough.

Beat the reserved egg white till foamy. Brush over the dough, and sprinkle with the remaining filling/topping. Cover lightly with greased plastic wrap, and let rise for 1 1/2 hours, or till puffy.

Bake the bread in a preheated 350°F oven for 30 to 35 minutes, until it’s golden brown. Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a rack to cool while you make the glaze. Mix the glaze ingredients together and heat them, in a saucepan or in the microwave, till the sugar dissolves. Place the loaf on a serving plate and drizzle with the warm glaze. Cool completely before slicing with a serrated knife.

Enjoy!

Christmas in Vermont Bread brought to you by: Runcible Eats (www.leaandjay.com)