Good Chilean Food

So, a few weeks ago, J and I went to Pantrucas, a local chilean restaurant.

Yum. Yum. Yum.

I love to cook. But sometimes, I just want to go out and be lazy. And pay a lot of money. For poor service and sub-par food.

Wait. No I don't.

That's why I like this place. It's not expensive, the service is lovely (it's run by a delightful Chilean couple), and the food is both authentic and delish! J spent sometime at a university in Chile, so he knows the real deal.

Take for instance, this golden-brown piece of heaven:

Crispy chilean empanada

When I was in college, I took an advanced logic class that drove me to the brink of insanity.  On one occasion, I remember writing out a long, extremely complicated proof that I'd done. I may have been the only one in the class who'd gotten it and I beamed with pride. However, my professor simply said,

 "It's not elegant."

After my initial rage wore off, I realized that what he meant was, because I was struggling to even solve the beast, I'd done a lot of unnecessary steps and taken a less direct route. It needed to be simplified.

This is a lesson I've taken to the kitchen. Simple does not mean boring. Simple means poignant, elegant food. Simple means work  Anyone can slop on the fats and spices to distract the tongue. The real challenge is enhancing flavor-- not covering it. And limiting you palette means you have to make every flavor count.

That's why I loved the Chilean salad. I think it was a simple concoction of fresh tomatoes, minced onion and cilantro, lime juice, and a bit of salt. But, oh the flavor! I'll never taste a tomato the same way again.

Fresh Chilean salad

J captured my Chilean food excitement:

Anyway, if anyone has any simple, yet tastebud-invigorating recipes they'd like to share, please post! I'll try to make it and put it up on here. Just know that I'm rather slow and lazy sometimes.

Before you go, check out these cute Chilean figurines:

Peace and blessings.

LQG

Recent bridal photography shoot in Utah :)

Just lightroom :)

How to make quick, healthy, and easy biscuits!

I love homemade rolls, but I rarely have time to make them, as worth the effort as they are. So, I make a lot of biscuits because they take about 10 minutes to mix up and 10 minutes to cook. Easy!

Oh, but there's a price. It seems to me that, in general, the less time a bread takes to cook, the more fat and/or sugar it contains. I don't know when you last made biscuits, but most of the recipes I've seen call for nearly a cup of butter per 10-12 biscuits. I love butter, but if the thought of it settling on my hips isn't enough, the claustrophobia of closing arteries usually does the trick.

So, I developed this recipe. Butterless? Not in your dreams. Significantly lower in fat and more nutritious? Now we're talking. And no one is going to know these are "healthy." They're tender, crumbly, and scrumptious.  Really. I was surprised myself.

Meg's Rosemary Oatmeal Biscuits

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

1 c white flour
1 c wheat flour
1 c quick cooking oats
1 tbs dried rosemary
4 tsp baking powder
1 tbs sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 c butter
1/4 c olive oil
1 c milk

Mix up the flours, oats, rosemary, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
Next, cut in the butter with a pastry blender (a food processor might not be a good idea because you want the oats to stay whole).
Add olive oil.
Finally add the milk.

Drop biscuits using a 1/4 c measuring cup on to ungreased baking sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes.

"Portion Control" and other things you don't want to hear

I know what you're thinking: what the heck are M&M's doing in a measuring cup? They don't go together. You don't measure M&Ms. They already come in convenient measurements of "bag", "bigger bag", and "jumbo delight."

Well, my friends, this is a serving of Peanut Butter M&Ms. I know. I, myself, nearly wept.

This reminds of the time my friend Portia and I we're talking in the kitchen while our friend Andie made herself a NutriSystem "dinner."

When the biscuit-sized "pizza" came out of the oven, Portia asked, "What in the world is that?"

"It's a pizza."

"That's not a pizza. That's a dang cracker."

Well, that's how I felt about this.  To be honest, however, I've never really struggled too much with portion control and here's why: I grew up poor.  We didn't get treats like M&Ms very often and when we did, I would always ration mine out for as long as I could so that I could continue looking forward to having more the next day. Did I exhibit such precocious talents in all of my appetites? Um, no. Let's leave it at that ;)

Anyway, I think that, to attain the self mastery necessary to control your portions, you have to have a goal in mind. I once heard someone say that "nothing tastes as good as thin feels." Since we live in a culture where women sometimes take this literally, I'll restate it thus: "nothing tastes as good as healthy feels."

I don't just mean physical health, though this is an obvious benefit. I mean psychological health too.  It is so important to our sense of self worth to be able to control our appetites (no pun intended...maybe).

Self discipline does not mean an austere, joyless life with no cupcakes. It means enjoying the pleasures in life instead of being enslaved by them.  It means believing that there will be more pleasures to be had tomorrow (and thus I don't have to eat this whole cheesecake right now).

Speaking of joy and pleasure, have you ever eaten frozen blueberries? Trust me; these are a viable alternative to Peanut Butter M&M's.  I'm hoping to recondition my taste buds by laying off the candy for awhile. Bahahahahaha!

But seriously, the blueberries are good.

And the La Caille Giveaway Winner Is...

MIKEN RICHMOND !!!

La Caille gift certificate GIVEAWAY

Be sure to check back on APRIL 3rd to find out if you're the winner!

How to cook tender chicken: My favorite trick for juicy, perfect chicken

Pan-sauteed chicken over a spinach and strawberry salad

The number one compliment I get on my chicken is that it's moist.  I've lately noticed that a lot of us suffer from CCS: Chewy Chicken Syndrome. Maybe we're afraid of salmonella.  Maybe we like dry, chewy, tasteless chicken.  However, there are ways to treat CCS.  For me, I use a special trick that I rarely ever see home cooks use: pan-sauteeing.

I thought for awhile that I was really on to something unique, until I realized Julia Child's covers this method in-depth in her cookbook The Art of French Cooking. 

First: never use those pre-frozen, bagged, chicken wannabees.  Why? Because they suck.  And you won't get beautiful, juicy chicken out of them.  Buy them fresh.  They cost about the same, and all you have to do is wrap them individually and freeze them when you get home.

So, first, defrost your boneless, skinless chicken boobs. I mean breasts (sorry, I had to).  However, don't let them cook in the microwave unless you like chewing rubber (my dog does). 

While you're defrosting, get your stainless steel skillet hot.  Medium-high hot.  Sprinkle a little salt over your chicken and then toss those bad boys on the skillet.  Yeah, straight on.  As in, no oil.  I know, I know.  But this works!

What you're doing right now is searing the outside, which will not only help keep the moisture in, but will turn your chicken a delicious golden brown.  Mmmmmmm....

See how the outside is browned but the middle is still raw?

It takes a little practice to know when to turn them, but only turn these baddies once! It's usually about 3-5 minutes per side.  Don't sear them any longer and don't keep turning them because you'll only burn the outside and cook the inside and you don't want the inside of the chicken to cook during the searing process.  We're going to do that with low heat.

Once you're done searing, the juicy part begins.  Now you're going to add some broth or stock to the pan and reduce heat to low.  The amount you add depends on whether or not you're creating a sauce for the chicken.  If you are, then you'll add as much as you need. If not, add only enough to keep the chicken from cooking in dry heat-- about 1/4 inch in the pan, like the ones below.  You aren't going to add too much liquid, so don't worry about that.  Worry about not adding enough, which will dry your chickies out.

Now, cover and let them simmer.  I usually shoot for 5 minutes on each side, depending on the thickness.  The ones above, as you can see, are quite thick.  I probably simmered these guys about that long.  I know it's tempting.  I know you want to because so many of us suffer from CCS.  But don't overcook those breasts!  If they're a little pink still, you can keep simmering.  But you can't unsimmer them if you overcook them.

At some point, I'm going to put up a few quick, easy, gourmet-tasting sauces that I make using this method.  But for now, just add a little butter to the stock and season those puppies up and voila!

I put these chickies over a spinach salad with strawberries, carrots, and apple.  I whipped up a little dressing that about even parts red wine vinegar and raspberry jam plus a little olive oil.  Simple. Fast. Divine.  Enjoy!