Three recipes that I posted on another forum:
Face Melter Pork Chops
Warning! If you are faint of heart, have a sensitive palette or skin, or cannot handle more than a little heat, you probably don't want to make this dish. These have reduced grown men to tears. Tears of fiery pain and bliss...mostly pain.
You have been warned!
Onward, to the flames!
Ingredients:
2 thin (somewhat less than 1/8 in) boneless pork tenderloin medallions (we call these chops, because I grew up dirt poor) per person
Seasoned Salt
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Ground Red (Cayenne) Pepper
Black Pepper
White Pepper
Chili Powder
Seasoned Meat Tenderizer
Cajun Seasoning
Jalapeno Slices
Utensils:
Griddle/Frying Pan
Cooking Spray
Tongs
Paper Towels
Large Plate
Paring Knife
Prep time: 1 hour(ish)
Prep:
First, you need to cut almost all of the fat off your chops. You're not baking them, so it doesn't really need to be there.
Then, we season the pork chops. Sprinkle a pinch of each seasoning onto each side of each chop. Don't be afraid to be generous with the seasonings, but you still want to see much more pink than granules when you're done.
Next, we tenderize, and we do things the easy way at my house. You may have boggled at the plate in our Utensils section, and thought, "Of course, I need to serve them, right?" Well, no. We're actually going to use that plate to tenderize and super season the chops. "How, and why am I doing this?" you may ask. Well, here's the deal, without going too far into the science book. Letting the salt and spices (but mostly the salt) "soak" into the meat actually changes its structure and realigns the fibers to make it more tender. Sound difficult? Well, it's not. All you have to do is neatly stack the chops on the plate and put them in the refrigerator for about an hour. And you thought applied chemistry was hard. Ha! You can leave the chops in the fridge for as long as you like, but I recommend between half an hour and four hours. Less than half an hour isn't long enough to get the juices really going, and after four hours, you really don't get too much more out of the process. The paper towel is there because you will leech a little water out of the chops and you don't want spice-water in the bottom of your fridge.
After your chops have thoroughly marinated, take a large, flat skillet or griddle and liberally apply cooking spray. Even if they're non-stick. You don't want to soak the chops, but you don't want to burn the spices onto your pan, either. If you do that, the blackened crust will never come out (unless you have really high quality kitchenware), and you'll have to throw the pan away. And you'll wind up with a lot of smoke, even though the chops will still be perfect. Trust me on that. Set your heat to halfway between medium and high and let the pan heat up until the cooking spray starts to sizzle. If it doesn't, you didn't use enough.
Squeeze as many chops into the pan as you can and let them sit for about a minute and a half to two minutes on each side. We use thin chops for speed, although if you like them thicker, you may need to cook them longer. Either way, cook them until they're done all the way through. No one likes trichinosis. Between batches of chops, wipe the pan down with paper towel thoroughly and reapply cooking spray. If you're using a gas stove, please move the pan away from the stove when you do this. Paper towel and anything in an aerosol can are flammable, you know. We like your eyebrows just the way they are.
You may garnish your chops with the jalapeno slices when they're plated, and I like to serve them with parmesean noodles, nice cooling cottage cheese (I really like cheese,) rolls or bread, and if you have some handy, a wedge of lemon or lime. The acid from the citrus will help cut the flames down to size.
Be careful handling the chops if you have sensitive skin. No, seriously.
If you're into the drinking, a margarita or a hard limeade will go perfect with this dish. If not, Mountain Dew, Sprite or any other citrus drink is fine by me.
If you've tried this dish, sound off and tell me what you thought!
Chicken Cordon Bake
Ingredients:
1-2 Boneless, Skinless chicken breast(s) per person, thawed, not frozen.
1 Slice of deli style ham per chicken breast, sliced almost paper thin, about the size of your palm
1 slice of Provolone cheese per chicken breast (you may substitute with Swiss if you prefer)
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder
Seasoned Salt
Garlic Salt (you may omit, but it gives it a nice little kick)
Black Pepper
Large Cookie Sheet, preferably with high walls/edges
Cooking Spray
Tongs
Paring Knife
Instructions:
If your chicken is not thawed, you may have to wait a day to make this dish while it unfreezes. Do not microwave chicken, as it makes it rubbery. Do not leave chicken out overnight, as none of your foodies want salmonella. Thaw it in the fridge, please.
First, preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and spray your high walled cookie sheet with cooking spray.
While your oven is preheating, trim the fat from the chicken. Don't worry about the chicken drying out, as there will be a lot of water in the bottom of the cookie sheet as it bakes. Go ahead and lay the chicken on the cookie sheet, so that they aren't touching. You should get 6-8 per cookie sheet. If a little water gets on the cookie sheet, leave it there, it's fine.
Dust each chicken breast with a large pinch of each spice. We aren't talking about salting the chicken to dry it, so we don't need a lot, but make sure that there's an even sprinkling of spice on the whole chicken breast. If you're using shaker style bottles, just a shake or two of each will do, so long as the spices aren't too thick and they are even.
Turn the chicken over using the tongs (raw chicken and spices don't mix,) and spice the other side of them. You don't want your guests to scrape off one side, do you?
By this point, the seasoned salt and garlic salt should have leeched a little bit of water out of each chicken breast, so there's a little pool of water around each one. This is much more evident if you've just unthawed them. Put the cookie sheet in the oven and bake for 40-45 minutes. Go ahead and watch a tv show, or pop on a video game. I'll wait.
...baking!...
If you're looking to make the next step easier, I suggest laying out your ham and cheese in advance.
Okay, now that we're done, check the chicken with the paring knife to see that it's done. Just a small slit down the middle of one to the center of the breast. If it's still pink, put it back in the oven for 5-10 minutes and check a different one.
Next, take your cookie sheet out of the oven and place one piece of ham and one piece of cheese on each chicken breast. If you need to fold the ham to get it on top of the chicken, it's fine, no one will notice. Set your oven to broil, and put the cookie sheet back in the oven until the cheese browns. You may have to turn the cookie sheet. If you're broiling more than one cookie sheet, do one at a time.
I like to serve this dish with Parmesan noodles, Cheddar Broccoli and Cauliflower, Cottage Cheese and/or Cheesy Rice. If you're feeling adventurous, a good glass of Pinot Blanc or Chardonnay will go a long way with this dish.
To feed 7, two of whom are big eaters, and one of whom is an infant (who will eat one small breast and about a cup of cheesy rice), I usually need about 12 chicken breasts.
Quesadillas
This recipe is for quesadillas just like Taco Bell's! This is one of my favorite quickie dishes, and it's always a big, big hit with friends.
Utensils:
Frying Pan, Griddle or Quesadilla Maker
Another Frying Pan
Cutting Board
Chef's Knife/Meat Knife
Turner
Rubber Spatula
Bowl or Food Processor or Blender
Cooking Spray
Disposable sandwich baggie
Scissors
Ingredients:
Sauce
Mayonnaise or Light Mayo: 1/4 Cup (Don't use Miracle Whip/Salad Dressing! It will taste funny!)
Jalapeno Juice: 4 tsp
Lime Juice: 1 tsp
1/2 tsp ground cumin
3/4 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp onion powder
Salt: dash
Black Pepper: dash
Note: This is not a whole heck of a lot of sauce, but you'll want to use it sparingly. If you use too much of it on your quesadillas, it's all you'll be able to taste, and that's really not what we want.
Quesadillas:
Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast: 1 per three quesadillas
Shredded Cheese: 1/4 cup per quesadilla (I like using a 4 cheese Mexican blend for this: Colby, Sharp Cheddar, Queso Quesadilla and Monterrey Jack, but use what you like.)
Tortilla (Large/Burrito size): 1 per quesadilla
The first thing you want to do is make your sauce, and that's very, very easy. All you have to do is plunk them all in a bowl or a food processor and mix until even. Nothing special, really, that's it. If you decide to add Jalapeno pieces, I suggest using a food processor and completely puree them first. Get out your sandwich baggie, and fill it with the sauce. Use the rubber spatula to make sure you get it all in there. Make sure it's all in one corner of the baggie, as you'll be using it just like a pastry bag, to drizzle the sauce on the quesadillas in a very thin line.
On to the chicken!
You'll be cutting the chicken into very small pieces. I hesitate to use the word diced here, as it's a little big for what you want to do with it, but shredded is a little too small. What you want is fairly uniform slices of chicken that are about 1/2 inch thick and wide and about an inch long. Just getting it close is fine. No one will notice unless it's hard to hold the quesadilla together.
You'll want to cooking spray your frying pan at this point and get it nice and hot. Get your turner ready, because the the chicken will cook quickly, in just a couple minutes. If you're using a quesadilla maker, get it ready. If you're using another frying pan or griddle, set it to medium heat and get cooking spray on it. Snip just the corner off of your baggie, just a teeny little bit, to drizzle your sauce on your tortillas. When spreading your cheese, about a palm full is plenty. Get your cheese, sauce, and chicken on the tortillas, just enough so that they fold easily, and get them cooking. Brown both sides of the quesadilla (about a minute on each side), and you're done! Grab yourself a nice, cold drink and put your feet up.
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Topic: Neonivek's Mutant Cooking! (Read 12633 times)