Smokey Joes

My baby sister, Debbie, has really become quite the cook. She recently got married, so she is enjoying all her new kitchen gadgets, and has been whipping up all kind of Food Network gems. Last week, she sent me a Rachael Ray recipe, for Chipotle Sloppy Joes. It looked pretty simple, and sounded tasty enough, so I bought some ground turkey and put the recipe to the test. First of all, the recipe is incredibly easy to throw together, especially if you are low on ingredients or time. You can really add any veggies to this, though peppers and onions are key. The end result is really flavorful, with just the right blend of smoke, spice, and sweetness. We aren't big on eating sloppy joes on rolls, so I served them over "Un-fried Rice," for Kevin and the kids, and I ate them over a salad. The salad idea was actually great, because it tasted like a Tex-Mex version of a lettuce wrap. I really liked this, but I don't think it was extraordinary enough to serve to company. It was more like a solid, easy weeknight meal. I think this would have been terrific served over baked potatoes (sweet or white), or with couscous or barley. I had leftover white rice to use up, so this worked well for me, but next time, I see sweet pots in the cards!



Make these. They are a great addition to your weeknight repertoire! 3.5 Bowls!

Smokey Joes
Adapted from Rachael Ray

• Cooking spray
• 2 1/2 cups presliced Vidalia or other sweet onion
  
• 1 Chipotle Chili, plus 1 tsp of adobo sauce (use a can!)
  
• 1.5 pounds of ground turkey (or chicken or beef)
  
• 1 red pepper
  
• 3 heaping tablespoons tomato paste
  
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• MOST of 1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce (Probably about 3/4 of the can)
  
• 5 (1 1/2-ounce) hamburger buns - OR try rice, baked taters, or another grain!)
  

Preparation

1. Heat a small nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion to pan; cover and cook 8 minutes or until golden brown, stirring frequently. Remove onions from the pan.

2. Remove 1 chipotle chile from can; chop and set aside. Reserve remaining chiles and adobo sauce for another use.

3. Heat the skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add turkey to pan; cook 4 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Add bell pepper to pan; sauté 2 minutes. Stir in chopped chipotle chile, adobo sauce, tomato paste, and next 3 ingredients (through tomato sauce); cook 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Spoon 1/2 cup beef mixture over bottom half of each bun, and top evenly with onions and top half of bun.

Un-Fried Rice

Ingredients:

3 cups of leftover rice

1tsp of Sesame Oil

1/3 cup Shallots

2 tsp of bottled minced ginger

2 tsp bottled minced garlic

1 tablespoon plus 1 tsp of soy sauce

1/4 cup of green onions

Directions:

Saute shallots, garlic, and ginger in the sesame oil for a few minutes, or until shallots are soft. Add anyother veggies you want to include (frozen peas or broccoli, peppers, etc.). Add rice, and drizzle soy sauce over the rice. Heat through. Add green onions and stir to blend.

Latin Baked Chicken with Spanish Rice

First of all, let me just say that food photos in magazines are sort of unrealistic. Below, I have posted a photo of last night's dinner, from Cooking Light Magazine (yes, I took a picture of the photo in the mag). Well, my dinner didn't exactly look like that, since it seems that the chefs at cooking light used about 4 times the amount of marinade called for in the recipe. Anyway, my meal may not have looked the same (or nearly as pretty), but it tasted really delicious (tooting my own horn). As I was making this dish, I was fairly certain I would not like it at all. The combination of flavors, along with the process of re-using the marinade, didn't not bode well for the recipe. Well, lo and behold, it was the juiciest, most well cooked, flavorful chicken I've made. Often, when baking chicken, it comes out bland, rubbery, and dry. This was much different, though I'm not exactly sure why. The recipe said to serve with Spanish rice, so I pulled a recipe together, and I must say, it was very flavorful and a perfect blend of spices. Kevin found that the chicken and rice together were way too spicy. Maya agreed and wouldn't eat it (she's 2, so no surprise there), but I love spicy food, and thought it was a good, medium high level of spice. Next time, I might cut down a little on the chipotle peppers, just to make it more bearable for my family. This time, I didn't have quite enough lime juice for the marinade, so maybe if I have more next time, the spice level will balance a little more.

This was the way it was supposed to look.

I didn't use chicken thighs, but breasts instead, so maybe that was why it looked a tad different.

The finished product.

I think I could eat this rice for dinner every night. See the recipe below.



Spanish Rice
Ingredients

* 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
* 1 cup uncooked brown rice
* 1 onion, chopped (vidalia)
* 1 green or red bell pepper, chopped
* 2 cups water
* 1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes and green chiles (Rotel)
* 2 teaspoons chili powder, or to taste
* 1 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Heat oil in a deep skillet over medium heat. Saute rice, onion, and bell pepper until rice is browned and onions are tender.
2. Stir in water and tomatoes. Season with chili powder and salt. Cover, and simmer for 45-50 minutes, or until rice is cooked and liquid is absorbed.

The Critique

AMAZING flavor. Filled my mouth with succulent happiness and a swift firm kick. It was spicy but it didn't really seem to be to strong unless it was eaten concurrently with the rice. The rice was great, too, but wasn't that spicy by itself either. When the two came together, however, it was like the implosion that preceded a hydrogen bomb detonation in my mouth. Or maybe it was the explosion itself. Either way, separately, they're more like M-80s.

Suggestion: Make both of these again, but not with each other. The chicken should be made with a bland rice or cous cous dish, and the rice should be served with bland chicken.


Together: 3 bowls of soup




Separately: 4 bowls of soup