Mason and Mom Night

The BoyChild and I. Love it. Even though when my hubster is gone, I miss him terribly, I really do treasure the time with my son immensely. It was just he and I for awhile when he was younger, and it is a natural dynamic for us...so I try to make the most of it and really treat him with his favorite things.  That boy kills me...completely melts me!

My Hubster travels overnight fairly often (wahhhhhhh) for work, so on those nights when he's gone, I let the BoyChild pick what we have for dinner. Now last night, we went to Red Robin....well, first we went to a movie.....a KIDS MOVIE.....

THEN Red Robin. Don't get me wrong, I love me some Dirty Bird, did my time and learned to love the corporate restaurant game with them, but dang. Red Robin.

Needless to say, I am happy to be cooking. (Always) And tonight, we just stayed in.....he requested my homemade Alfredo sauce with chicken....and tortellini. Since I have yet to brave "not flat" pasta, we let Buittoni take the pasta game for tonight....because mom's gots stuff to do.

Ingredients & Procedurals:

• 3/4-1 pound boneless skinless chicken cutlet
• Package of pasta of choice (we used three cheese tortellini)
• 3 oz pancetta, sliced into strips
• package tortellini-we like 3 cheese
• 2 cups Heavy Cream
• 3 clovers garlic, smashed and chopped into paste
• 2 cups real parmesan cheese, grated
• salt and pepper to taste
• poultry seasoning (recipe below)
• evoo

I season thinly sliced chicken breast, or cutlets (about 3/4 of a pound) with my homemade poultry seasoning, and set it aside to get happy for a bit. While the chicken is hanging out, I take my pancetta and slice it into strips (my local Freddie's only had thin sliced, and I really didn't want to go out to my specialty butcher shop), and then put about a tbsp of EVOO into my saute pan on medium heat.

Into heated pan, add pancetta strips, and move around and make happy until crispy. remove and drain on paper towels on a plate. In same pan, add seasoned chicken on medium high heat to get good color on chicken...after about 5 minutes, flip chicken breast cutlets to brown and cook JUST through on other side. *IMPERATIVE!* don't overcook chicken breast....we have all eaten enough of them to clue us in as to why we don't want to overcook them....(DRY! Choke Choke!) I then remove the chicken from the pan and set aside to carryover cook and rest. In same pan, warm up the garlic paste in all that yummy sear (chef term alert....that is called fond) and fat left on the pan from the pancetta and chicken....warm through until it is becoming transparent.

Add heavy cream to it....about 2 cups. Set water (well salted H2O, if you please...remember...season every step) to boil, and add pasta. Cook to instructions on package, if going the Buittoni route, like this mom.

I let the garlic creamy goodness simmer for about 15 minutes, reduce the heat to mid low, then start adding in 2 cups of fresh grated Parmesan at a half cup at a time, stirring often, to make sure it is incorporated after each half cup, and simmer to reduce slightly. Continue to stir often.

When pasta is cooked, drain (don't rinse) and add to pan sauce. Toss thoroughly, let it all combine, and plate. I top with a sprinkle of Parmesan and the crispy pancetta. SOOOOOO GOOD, Mason asked for seconds. Enjoy!

Poultry Seasoning:

In a Weck/Mason jar, add:

3 tbsp salt of choice ( I use Sea Salt)

1 tbsp each

• Onion Powder
• Garlic powder
• Dried Dill
• dried Thyme

1 tsp each:

• Fresh cracked black pepper
• smoked paprika

.....soo good on chicken and turkey....fish too!

Taco Tuesday

Tacos. That's right, you heard me. Tacos. More specifically, Taco Tuesday....a whole entire day where it is totally cool to get your taco on. Like so many other types of food, there is a ton of room for interpretation when creating tacos. When I was growing up, tacos were pretty straightforward....ground beef with the taco seasoning packet, shredded cheese and lettuce, salsa and sour cream, maybe a little chopped up white onion, and refried beans, served either in a flour tortilla or with tortilla chips to make nachos. (My momma LOVES her some refried beans...we ALWAYS had some in the pantry and some in a Tupperware container in the fridge.) While there is NOTHING wrong with this type of taco, I mean, I still crave them every once in a while, but it's just ONE way to get your olé on!

For those of you who aren't familiar with my hometown of Wenatchee, it is an agricultural area with a large Hispanic community, and it has SO SO SO many amazing Mexican restaurants and taco trucks to enjoy. La Fuente in Wenatchee (THE CABBAGE SALSA ALONE) is my go to for some grubbin' Mexican American cuisine, but I extra, super duper uper, really really REALLY love the taco truck (Toy Parade parking lot.....amiright?) The warm corn tortillas, with your choice of marinated carne, pollo or carnitas, ever so slightly kissed with char....with a simple but flavorful salsa, white onion and cilantro. Boom. Done. Stick a Fork in Me.

Tonight, at Taco Tuesday at mi casa, it's all about spicy, smoky, and sweet Carnitas. This is a favorite of mine, yet strangely....I don't make them that often. So this afternoon, I went ahead and whipped up a batch of my Carnitas Marinade and tossed that onto some untrimmed pork loin I got from my butcher, Larry. I always let it get happy for at minimum a few hours....ideally, overnight. (I've included my Carnitas recipe and SOP below for you guys.) I heat my Dutch Oven up til it's screaming hot and then sear it all off and let it braise away for 4 hours or so. The boy child, Maso, likes it with shredded cheese in a flour tortilla all grilled up with his rice and cilantro and lime black beans on the side...and the hubs and I like it on warm corn tortillas, with my cilantro lime refried black beans, homemade pickled jalapeños, some sliced avocado, and diced white onion and cilantro.......maybe some yummy Cotija.....and some homemade red rice.....maybe some Tapatio.....*drool!*

Carnitas recipe:

• Juice from half a lime (other half of lime reserved for braising)
• 3 Cloves garlic-smashed
• 1 tbsp fresh oregano
• 2 scallions- rough chop
• 1 cup fresh cilantro
• 1 tbsp ground Pasilla chile
• 1tbsp ground chile de arbol
• 1 tbsp sea salt
• 2 tsp cracked black pepper
• 1.5 tsp ground cumin
• 4-5 seeded and rehydrated Guajillo chiles
• 3 seeded and rehydrated Ancho chiles
• 1 juiced orange (reserve squeezed orange sections for braise)
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1.5 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 pounds pork shoulder, trimmed and cut into 1-2" cubes
• 4 cups of chicken stock
• 2 bay leaves

Ancho and Guajillo Chiles getting ready for a long hot soak!

All of the beautiful greenery we are using in our marinade!

Assemble all of your ingredients and take care of all prep for pork, etc.

Add ground spices to toast in small saucepan over low-medium heat. be careful not to burn them, as they can have a bitter flavor if over toasted. add all of the ingredients (MINUS the pork, bay leaves, chicken stock,  and reserved orange rinds/pulp/lime) to a blender. Make sure to put on the lid tightly, and use a kitchen towel over the top of the blender lid (safety first, boys and girls!!), and blend until smooth, adding some of the soaking liquid from the rehydrated peppers to get to a smooth consistency, if necessary. Set aside.

Place cubed pork into a large casserole dish, and pour marinade over top. Use your sparkling clean hands to massage the marinade into the meat. Once all coated in marinade, cover the dish with plastic wrap, and place into refrigerator for at least 3 hours....but overnight is best.

Once marinated for at least 3 hours, preheat oven to 325, put Dutch oven on stovetop, and heat to screaming hot. Add an additional tbsp or so of EVOO, and remove meat from refrigerator. When your pan is ready, add meat carefully to it and sear all around to get a little char, and really concentrate that flavor.

When the meat has been seared off................

mmmmmmmmmmm......porky goodness!

add the oranges reserved after squeezing, squeeze in the remaining limes and toss the remainders in the pot with pork. Add the chicken stock and bay leaves....bring it to a simmer, then put the lid on and place into oven at 325 degrees for 4 hours.

4 Hours Later....

Carefully remove Dutch oven from oven, and get a pan nice and hot....remove half of the carnitas from Dutch and place into hot pan to get a nice hard sear on meat....add some braising liquid as needed until nice crust on meat develops.

Top with all of your favorite condiments in nice warm corn tortillas. I serve mine with homemade refried cilantro lime black beans, fresh cilantro and onion, avocado, and some Cotija cheese.

.....give it a try for your next Taco Tuesday, and keep following for more great recipes and tutorials for all things taco.....and beyond!

*Recipe is for a family of 4...with super yummy leftovers for the next day!*

Finally!

Sooooooooooo. I know some of you have been waiting for this....Whatcheescooking is finally live. For anyone who really knows me, it will be understandable as to why it has taken so long for me to make this happen. Between taking care of my sweet and very busy family and working at a local restaurant, there wasn't much time for documentation of my culinary adventures. I am now working at this...building my life around what I am passionate about and not around what I "have to do". 

My family. I consider myself a professional wife and mom....and as such, my fambam is the highest priority....I adore making them feel loved and well cared for. Growing up, food was central to celebration. I remember countless family and neighborhood gatherings at my family home, where there were always a plethora of assorted salads and sides laid out on my grandmothers dining room table, with a TON of chicken and burgers and steaks on the charcoal grill....the blender with tequila and lime juice whirring with ice inside for margaritas for the ladies, and my uncle Donnie out on the porch drinking his Budweisers with Grandpa Fred...loads of laughter, which is one of the things (aside from food) that my family does best....all of us kids and our friends and families splashing around in the pool, with not a care in the world. I remember going to bed full and ever so slightly sun burned...toasted in the right way, like a piece of toast in the toaster just begging for some buttuh.

To simplify things, it has an influence.....on all of us. It is a profound creative medium that everyone responds to, and a powerful tool to show love to boot. I use the creation of the meals I feed my family as an outlet for stress. Bad day? Go home and make Chicken and dumplings for your family. Day off after a LOOOONG stretch of shifts? Swedish meatballs with homemade egg noodles....potentially made in your jammies....I mean a clean pair...post shower :) I don't apologize for my love of food....you have a finite amount of meals to eat in your life....so let's make them good ones!