"Top Home Chef" Contest Appetizer Recipe

Tomorrow the Top Home Chef contest closes to entries. I will announce the outcome here--win or lose. Today, however, I want to share two appetizer recipes.

The first recipe is a video of "Hermosillo Salsa" as if done by two characters in my culinary mystery series. Alli and Gina cook up this appetizer at their cooking channel on YouTube. If you like a different kind of salsa, try this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0M34uKpj07o

The second recipe is Fish Mini-Tostadas. We love them! I serve them sometimes for dinner on larger tostada shells. Other times they make a terrific appetizer on the mini-shells. Of course, you could put the fish into taco shells, too. This is a very flavorful and healthful way to have your fish--no frying.

Enjoy:

Recipe for Fish Mini-Tostados (serves 6 as an appetizer)

This recipe looks more complicated than it is. It is a fairly quick dish.

Mini-Taco Shells:

6 corn tortillas                  1 T extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 350°.

Cut 3 circles from each tortilla using a 2” cookie cutter. Chop the remaining pieces of each tortilla into chip size and set aside under a damp paper towel.

Place the 18 tortilla circles on a cookie sheet. Bake 12-15 minutes until crisp. Cool. Set aside in sealed container until ready to use.

Put the leftover tortilla bits on the baking sheet and let them crisp in the oven for 12-15 minutes. Reserve these chips to serve with the Hermosillo Salsa later.

Taco Filling:

1 T extra virgin olive oil                  1# halibut

2 T canned chilies, chopped            1 t lime zest

2 green onion, chopped                    juice of one lime

1 clove garlic, minced                      large handful cilantro, chopped; divided

½ c vegetable broth                          1/8 small head red cabbage, finely shredded

1 Roma tomato, diced fine               Mexican cheese blend, shredded

                                                         Chunky salsa

                                                        18 corn mini-tostados

        

Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium heat.

Sauté onion until tender and just starting to brown. Add garlic and chilies.

Add broth, tomatoes, and lime zest. Stir to combine. Bring to simmer.

Reduce heat to low and add halibut sprinkled with lime juice.

Simmer halibut flakes with a fork, about 15-20 minutes. Shred into small pieces. Drain and reserve liquid for use in soup later. Put fish mixture in a bowl with a slotted spoon for serving. Mix in ¼ cup cilantro, reserving the rest for garnish.

Let guests make their mini-tacos with fish mixture, cabbage, cheese, cilantro,

and salsa. [I use the leftover fish mixture in a fish soup another day.]

Top Home Chef

The Arizona Republic, my hometown newspaper (circulation ~350K; 12th largest paper in the nation) is sponsoring its first-ever contest to find "unknown culinary talent" in the Valley of the Sun. I'm there! Sign me up!

Entries close for "Top Home Chef" in two days. I sent my entry in Sunday night. I hope I avoided getting caught up in the last minute filing rush that always happens with contests.

I'm pretty proud of my entry: an essay telling about my philosophy of cooking, entertaining style, and why I'm like a chef; a three-course menu; and, recipe for an appetizer and picture of said appetizer.

The contest closes April 18th and three finalists are announced on April 22nd! Yikes! How can they do that so quickly???

The three finalists prepare their menus and serve them to The Arizona Republic staff between May 1-15th. the winner of the contest is announced June 1st. That timeline surely beats the wait for manuscript feedback! I'm just sayin' . . .

I wanted to share my menu and appetizer recipe here. Let me know if you like what I sent. DH gives this 10 Tongues Up! (I know, I know. And so does he--only five tongues allowed. You try to keep his tongue under control!)

Here is my menu for six:

Appetizers

         My Hermosillo Salsa/Chips

         Fruit ke-babs with Greek Yogurt Dip

         Fish Mini-Tostadas (recipe provided)

        

Entrée

         Cocoa Chile Chicken

         Cranberry Quinoa

         Tossed Salad with Lime-Ginger Vinaigrette Dressing

         7-Up Biscuits

Panoply of Palate Pleasers (mini-desserts)

         Lemon curd tartlets with whipped cream and fruit

         Mini Nutella brownies

         Black forest parfait (shot glasses)

         Apple crisp (mini ramekin)

         Caramel Ice Cream with toffee bits (shot glasses)

Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir will be offered, along with coffee and tea

What say you? Would this menu entice you? 

Tomorrow I'll post the recipe and photo for Fish Mini-Tostadas. 

Dinner is Served Series to be Published!

Yay!

I signed a contract for Mission Impastable, the first culinary mystery in my "Dinner is Served" series.  Oak Tree Press will bring the first book out in late August. It's been a long time and a lot of work, but I am living my dream! Two books out this year!

I'll be back soon with recipes, tips, cooking gadgets, and of course an update on the "Top Home Chef" contest I'm entering from the Arizona Republic.

For now, take your time to look through some of my recipes here. Happy cooking!

A Contest!

Just a quick post to say I am taking the leap and entering the Arizona Republic's search for "unknown culinary talent". I think that could describe me.

You have to submit an essay about yourself and your entertaining style, a menu for six, and the recipe for your appetizer. They will select three of the gazillions of entries to be finalists. Staffers will visit your home and watch you prepare the meal. Then they pick the grand winner who has all sorts of goodies and neat things to do (like dinner with our local food critic).

I think this will be a hoot! I'll keep you posted, but I won't share my menu or appetizer recipe until after the entry deadline (April 18). But maybe you'll see me introduced on TV on April 22nd as one of the three!

Bone appetite!  (Yeah, I know!)

Month-of-Chicken: Faux au Vin

The party’s over. No more daily recipes. Today is the final recipe in the Month-of-Series. And me stuck with a bunch of chicken recipes I never got to share! Sigh!

Cooking and creating recipes has been an important part of my life ever since I can remember. Really. One of my very earliest memories is of cooking. To this day, I am a recipe and cookbook junkie.

I was thrilled to purchase a Julia Child cookbook soon after I was on my own. The first Julia Child recipe I ever made was her Coq au Vin. I had watched Julia regularly. Her recipes were so easy! So you spill a little wine in the process. No big deal. Julia always pulled together this fabulous meal that had me eager to buy her cookbook and become the Julia Child of Athens, Ohio.

Well! That didn’t happen.

Instead I converted, subverted, diverted, and otherwise messed up her recipes to simplify them for my limited repertoire of skills and access to ingredients.

Coq au Vin became Faux au Vin. Cherries Jubilee transformed to Cherries Jubilant. You get the idea. If only she knew, she woulda sued me big time for tarnishing her heritage.

Still, people seemed to enjoy the food. So here is my version of Coq au Vin.

Faux au Vin (serves 6-8)

4 strips of bacon

1 T olive oil

1 package baby bella mushrooms

1 bag frozen pearl onions

8 chicken thighs

1 c chicken broth

1 T tomato paste (or spaghetti sauce if you don’t have paste)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 bay leaf

2 c red wine

In a dutch oven, brown the bacon. Remove and crumble. Set bacon aside in a medium bowl.

Add olive oil then the mushrooms to the dutch oven and cook over medium high heat for about 3 minutes. Remove and add to the bacon bits.

Brown pearl onions. Remove and add to the mushroom and bacon bowl.

Add chicken thighs to the dutch oven. Brown both sides (about 5-7 minutes). Remove to a platter.

Add chicken broth and deglaze the pan to loosen all the bits of browned food. Add the tomato paste. Stir thoroughly to blend. Add garlic, bay leaf, and wine. Stir to blend.

Add contents of bacon, mushroom, and onions bowl to the liquid in the dutch oven. Turn heat to medium low.

Add chicken. Coat with the liquid. Cook over low heat for 1 hour. Remove chicken and keep warm. Turn heat to medium high and reduce the liquid until it thickens some (about 20 minutes). Add chicken back in and coat with liquid. Serve immediately with noodles.

DH’s Rating: 10 Tongues Up! Okay, he broke the rules, but he really loves this dish with his side of noodles and some crusty bread to sop up the sauce.

Month-of-Chicken: Chicken Scampi ala Cucina Tagliani

We like to eat at local restaurants rather than chains when we go out to dinner. We go out so rarely that it feels good to spend our few bucks where it does the most local good! We have our favorites, of course, and mention some of them in my culinary mystery series books.

One of these great local restaurants is Cucina Tagliani which has two locations, the original in Glendale and a newer one in Peoria, Arizona. I love their chicken scampi, and this is my attempt to replicate it. Their’s is better; there is no doubt. But when I can’t get to Cucina Tagliani, this works pretty well for our family.

Don’t be intimidated by the number of steps. This is really easy to do. Honest! And this is the sauce for my shrimp scampi, so you're getting a two-fer here!

I list red pepper flakes as an option. I prefer without. Guess who likes it with red pepper! Oh, and if you’re looking for diet food, this ain’t it! So with apologies to Cucina Tagliani, here’s my . . .

Chicken Scampi ala Cucina Tagliani (serves 4)

Chicken Strips:

2 chicken breasts, cut into strips

1 c flour

1 t salt

1 t pepper

3 eggs

¼ c milk

½ c olive oil (add more if needed while frying)

Scampi Sauce:

4 T butter

2 T olive oil

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 garlic cloves, sliced

1 T basil

1 t parsley

1 t red pepper flakes, optional

1 c white wine

1 c chicken broth

½ lemon, juiced; remaining half cut in thin slices

Pasta:

1# angel hair pasta cooked according to package directions

Chicken Strips:

Heat olive oil in large skillet.

Whip eggs with milk. Set aside. Combine flour and spices. Dip chicken strips into flour mix, then into egg mix, then into flour mix again. Place in hot skillet and brown on both sides. Cook about 5-7 minutes. Remove from pan and drizzle with ¼ cup scampi sauce. Cover and keep warm until ready to serve.

Scampi Sauce (divided):

In a small to medium skillet, melt butter and olive oil together over medium heat. Add garlic. Cook for one minute. Add spices. Stir to incorporate. Whisk in wine, chicken broth, and lemon juice. Cook until reduced by ½ (~ 15-20 minutes). Remove ¼ cup sauce to coat chicken. Remove another ¼ cup to drizzle over chicken upon serving. Toss remaining sauce with pasta.

Pasta:

Cook according to package directions. When al dente dish, place in skillet with scampi sauce and toss to coat. Serve onto plates, top with chicken strips, and drizzle remaining scampi sauce over the chicken.

Serve with Asiago cheese on the side and a healthy portion of Caesar salad and crusty bread.

DH’s Rating: 4 Tongues Up! He likes the taste (especially with the red pepper flakes), but he is so health conscious that he feels guilty eating this dinner. Too bad! Every once in a while, I like us to indulge.

Month-of-Chicken: Chicken Cupcakes

I know, you’re wondering what in the heck a chicken cupcake is. Is it like that bunny cake you made for Easter? Or maybe it’s a disgusting combo like you’ve seen on the Internet around the Super Bowl for cupcakes with a chicken wing stuck in for decoration?

Nope, keep searching the Internet. Turns out there are a whole bunch of recipes for chicken cupcakes, a savory treat that could be an appetizer or dinner. I put three links at the end for other chicken cupcakes (after you try mine!) to see what you like.

This is a recipe kids will probably like more than adults, so maybe it's what you make to let the kids eat while you and your SO have date night. Or not. It's a quick-to-the-table meal for busy nights, too.

And this is easy. You can make your own biscuits or purchase refrigerator case ones if you are pressed for time. But remember, homemade is best! Just sayin’!

Chicken Cupcake (serves 4-6 for dinner; 12 for appetizers)

2 c flour

2 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

¼ c butter, softened

1 c plain Greek yogurt

¼ t salt

8 oz cream cheese, softened

½ medium onion, diced

1 garlic clove, minced

1 T tarragon

1½ c pepperjack cheese, shredded, divided

1½ c cooked chicken, shredded

Preheat oven to 375°. Lightly Pam the muffin tin.

Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, butter, yogurt, and salt to make a soft dough. Set aside to rest while you prepare the chicken mixture.

Mix cream cheese, onion, garlic, and tarragon together. Reserve 4 tablespoons cheese. Add remainder to cream cheese mixture. Add chicken. Stir thoroughly.

Spread biscuit dough on a flour surface. Roll or press to ½” thickness. Cut 12 three-inch circles. Press into muffin cups bringing some dough up over the top edge.

Divide chicken mixture among the biscuits. Tuck the top edges over the chicken mixture so it is partially covered. Top with reserved pepper jack cheese.

Bake for ~30 minutes, checking after 20 minutes so they don’t burn.

Lift out of the muffin pan and put on a platter. Serve immediately with a fruit salad.

Lift out of the muffin pan and put on a platter. Serve immediately with a fruit salad.

DH’s Rating: 3.5 Tongues Up for dinner; 5 Tongues Up for appetizer. He didn’t think there was enough there there to make it an entrée. He liked the taste, just not what he wants. You eat dinner with a fork. You don’t pick it up.

http://www.tablespoon.com/recipes/chicken-pot-pie-cupcakes-recipe/1/?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=embed&utm_campaign=recipe-embed

http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2012/12/buffalo-chicken-cupcakes.html

http://quick-dish.tablespoon.com/2012/05/29/tex-mex-mini-chicken-and-cheese-pies/