Cinco de Junio

Who doesn’t love Mexican food?  Personally, I am obsessed with it.  Especially in the summertime. 

This fresh soup is the perfect start to any Mexican meal .  The only thing that might make it better is a Margarita.

Green Chicken Stew

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 (14.5-ounce) cans white beans
• 1 tablespoon evoo
• 1 medium jalapeno pepper, minced
• 2 medium poblano peppers, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ancho chili powder
• 4 cups home-made chicken broth
• 2 limes, juiced, plus lime wedges, for serving
• Four cooked chicken breasts, shredded
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
• Greek yogurt, for topping
• Tortilla chips, coarsely crushed, for topping

Directions

Drain and rinse the canned white beans. Reserve the beans until needed.

Add the canola oil to a large Dutch oven and heat it over medium-high heat. Add the peppers, onions, and garlic and saute until soft and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Season the vegetables with salt, and pepper, to taste. Add the cumin, coriander, and chili powder and continue to saute for 1 more minute to toast the spices. Stir in the chicken stock, and lime juice and bring to a simmer. Add the beans and continue to simmer for 20 more minutes.

After 20 minutes of simmering, taste for seasoning, and adjust if necessary. Stir in the shredded chicken and cilantro and simmer until heated through, about 5 more minutes. Serve the chili in individual bowls topped with a dollop of greek yougurt, crushed tortilla chips, and lime wedges.

Recipe adapted from The Neelys.

Related articles

• Beachbody Newsletter on Healthy Mexican Food (mistygauthier.com)
• Cinco de Mango! (goudaandgigondas.com)

Green Chicken Stew

You Say Tomato, I Say Tomato

Image via Wikipedia

A recent press release in The New York Times, covering the 2011 AP Style Guide release, included this tasty tidbit about culinary lingo:

The 16-page food section offers an official AP Recipe Style, as well as answers to style questions of the kitchen and table. Examples of new entries include:

• locavore The preferred term for a person who strives to eat locally produced foods.
• adobo sauce A spicy red sauce made from chilies, herbs and vinegar that is common to Mexican cooking.
• amuse-bouche French, a bite-sized dish served at restaurants before the meal, usually free.
• blind bake To bake the crust of a pie before filling it.
• farmstead Generally used to describe a cheese produced solely from the milk of one farm.
• ghee A clarified butter used in Indian cooking.
• huitlacoche Also called corn smut. A fungus that grows on corn. Considered a delicacy of Mexican cuisine, it has a smoky-sweet flavor.
• orecchiette A small, disk-like pasta.
• pears In general, capitalize most varieties, including Anjou, Asian (also called apple pear), Bosc and Bartlett.
• sashimi A Japanese dish of thinly sliced raw seafood.

“With all the cooking shows, blogs and magazines focusing on food, as well as growing interest in organic and locally sourced foods, our new food section feels timely and on trend,” said Colleen Newvine, product manager of the AP Stylebook. “With this new addition to the AP Stylebook, The Associated Press is proud to bring clarity to the writing that describes and informs the new food movement.”

“Whether it’s for blogs, books or mainstream media, good food writing demands a solid grasp of confusing and sometimes contradictory language. It made sense to use the AP’s expertise in setting the standards,” added J.M. Hirsch, AP food editor. “This new food section in the AP Stylebook reflects what we see anecdotally as a growing national interest in food writing and the need to answer language-based questions associated with that writing.”

I am so getting a copy of this.  I’m one of those annoying people that corrects other people’s grammar and spelling, so I’m uber-excited about this new tome.  Looking forward to expanding my kitchen jargon (and correcting everyone elses’s ;o)

Related articles

• AP Stylebook Serves Up New Entries for 2011 (inkhouse.net)