Power of the Powder - Smokin' Chili Powder

Sorry I have not been around since my Sapote post. It didn't poison me or anything. ;) I have just been REALLY busy this last week.

I was watching my Niece and Nephew Friday and Saturday last weekend while my little brother celebrated his wedding anniversary at the beach and then I assisted my Mother at her table in the Antique show on Sunday. Then this last week I have been a little swamped with attempting to get everything ready for the annual Snake River fishing trip that I am finally able to attend after 20 years.

Needless to say, I am pretty darned excited about the Crappie and Trout fishing. The Catfishin will be fun too, but I LOVE Crappie and Trout.

It is tradition that everyone pick a night and cook dinner for everyone. SO, I volunteered to make Chili and Hush Puppies one of the 5 nights we will be there.

My chosen recipe is one I picked up from one of my BakeSpace friends, Spryte. It is for Hector's Chili. I have made it before and it completely rocks. But I am not really blogging about it per se. Mainly because I am going to be at the Snake River cooking over a propane stove and not able to blog about it at that point. But what I AM going to blog about is my secret (though not now) Chili Powder mix. Yep, that's right -- Chili Powder mix.

And when I say Chili Powder mix, I mean powdered chilies all mixed together. No Garlic, Oregano, Cumin or stuff like that (That gets added separately). The advantage to making your own, is that you have complete control; not only of how hot your powder is, but how much smoke, fruitiness or earthiness your chili will have. For instance, Ancho chilies have a mellow heat with more fruit,

while the New Mexico chilies are earthy and significantly warmer.

Then there is my most favoritest chili of all..... The Chipotle. Oh yeah baby! Nice and smoky with a seductively alluring heat. mmmmmmm

Then for those that like a milder chili you can always use more Sweet Paprika,

or for a sweet smoky flavor, use Smoked Paprika.

Wanna blast your taste buds away? Add Habanero or Serrano.

The options are infinite.

This is my Smoky Chili Powder mix. It has heat, but I think it's still on the mellow side. Slightly fruity with earthy hints and all that luscious smokiness to back it up. And I do cheat. I am not roasting my own chilies of anything like that. I simply buy my ingredients pre-ground and mix them up. I always have small amounts of everything left over so I can alter my own mixture if I want to, when adding it to the pot. :)

Schmokin' Chili Powder

42 g Powdered Chipotle
40 g Ancho Powder
32 g Sweet Spanish Paprika Powder
25 g New Mexico Powder
15 g Smoked Paprika Powder
1 g Cayenne Pepper

Simply weigh everything out into a bowl or glass pitcher.

Stir with a fork until well combined, breaking up any lumps.

Place in an air-tight container with a label and store until needed.


Mangia!!
~~

Luciously Latin Legumes - Chipotle Peanut Brittle

I write about BakeSpace a lot, since it and the community are a constant source of inspiration for me. This culinary adventure is no different.

You see, my friend Spryte, at Spryte's Place, posted a link to a blogged recipe in one of the forums. Upon reading the afore mentioned post at The Life and Loves of Grumpy's HoneyBunch, I found myself, at once, both drooling on my keyboard and staring at the clock, wondering when I could get away from my desk and get into my kitchen to whip up some good old fashioned peanut brittle with a more modern "fusion" twist.

To be honest, I don't make "Candy" that often. I work with Chocolate a lot, especially truffles, during the holidays, but not candy. There is very sound scientific reason for this. Making candy requires the controlled re-crystallization of sugar. Sugar, or your standard granulated white sugar (sucrose), is hygroscopic, meaning it absorbs moisture from the air. Thus in times of high humidity, the supersaturated sugar solution does not recrystallize properly. I currently live in San Diego, and while it is very Desert-esque, it is still an oceanside city and for all the lack of rain, the humidity tends to be above 50% on a regular basis, usually closer to 60%. This is too high for most sugar work. Things like Almond Roca and Brittle tend to end up sticky and chewy instead of crisp and crunchy. I have YET to accomplish properly "set" Divinity or Sea Foam (Divinity made with brown sugar), since moving here.

But I had to try this recipe anyway, because I love salty and sweet things like Pay Day candy bars. I have also recently found out that I like a little smoke flavor along with sweet and salt. Reminiscent of the Chocolate Covered Hickory Smoked Bacon I made awhile back after seeing it on Dinner Impossible. So it stands to rights, that the addition of smoky Chipotle powder to sweet yet salty peanut brittle would be something I would like.

Oh yeah Baby! This stuff is AWESOME!!! The Chipotle powder breathes new life into an old fashioned candy, giving it a Latin/TexMex flair. It's JUST the right amount of warmth, without being "hot" with subtle nuances of smoky caramel. Absolutely delicious.

I really liked the addition of the baking soda as well, it "lightens" the toffee a little bit. It reacts with the acids in the Corn Syrup or in my case, the Honey and produces Carbon dioxide, foaming up the candy syrup. Which reminds me of Sponge Toffee and Honey Comb candy (They are really the same thing, but Sponge Toffee is made with Corn syrup or Golden syrup while Honeycomb involves Honey)

The original recipe came from Cooking Light's May 2009 edition; I adapted it slightly by using honey.

Chipotle Peanut Brittle

Unsalted Butter for the pan
1 cup sugar
1 cup Honey
1 TB Unsalted Butter
Pinch of Salt
1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Chipotle Chile powder
12 oz lightly salted Dry Roasted Peanuts

Butter a rimmed half sheet.

In a small bowl, mix Baking Powder and Chipotle powder and set aside.

Combine Sugar, Honey, Butter, and pinch of Salt in a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat.

Stir occasionally until the mixture begins to boil,

then cover for 5 minutes to wash down sugar crystals.

Remove cover and continue cooking until your candy thermometer registers 276 degrees.

Add Peanuts;

Continue cooking until the candy thermometer register 295 degrees, stirring constantly to prevent scorching of the peanuts.

Remove from heat; stir in Baking Soda and Chipotle powder.

The baking soda will cause the mixture to bubble and become opaque.

Stir quickly to incorporate, then pour mixture onto prepared pan and smooth as quickly as possible before it sets.

Cool mixture completely; break into pieces.
Store in an airtight container to keep it away from moisture - do not refrigerate.

Mangia!!
~~

You Really Oughtta, Empanada!!!

OK, technically I am a day ahead, but I wanted to post this so it is seen on April 8th since it's National Empanada day. So this evening I made a bunch of Chipotle Chicken Empanadas. Oh yeah baby!! All kinds of spicy chicken goodness wrapped in a deep fried envelope of golden brown deliciousness.

The dough was the tricky part, I have seen yeast raised empanada skins, baking powder based skins, simple pâte brisée skins and even Puff Pastry skins. I decided to check on what Martha was doing on her web site (sometimes ya just gotta defer to Martha). She was using a hybrid corn flour pastry. That seemed like a good idea to me. So I ran with it.

The filling, well the filling is simply a modified version of the Chipotle Pulled Chicken that I make. I removed the can of tomatoes and the chicken stock so the filling would be drier. Then I just added cheese. I would have preferred Queso Asadero, but I could not find it. So I opted for 12 oz of Queso Enchilado instead.

Chipotle Chicken Empanadas

Chipotle Chicken Filling:
1 lb Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts or Tenders
1 small Onion, roughly chopped
2 cloves of Garlic, Crushed
4 springs of Cilantro
2 tsp Salt
the Juice of 1 lime
Sauce:
3 cloved of garlic; minced
1/2 can of Chipotle Peppers in adobo sauce
3 TB Tomato Paste (I use the kind in the tube)
7 oz Tomato Sauce
Juice of 1 lime (If using Mexican/Key lime, use 3 limes)
1 small can Diced Green Chilies
12 oz Queso Enchilado or Asadero, shredded

In stockpot, bring chicken, onion, garlic, cilantro, lime and salt to boil.
Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and simmer for about 20 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink.

Remove Chicken and set aside to cool for 10 minutes; discard onion, garlic and coriander.

I used a new method for shedding this time, suggested by one of my BakeSpace buddies.
Place the chicken in the bowl of your mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat the chicken into submission.

This was the coolest thing ever, normally it would have taken me 1/2 hour to shred all the chicken, the Kitchen Aid did it in 2 minutes.

WOW!!
In blender, puree the Chipotles in adobo, Garlic, Lime Juice, Tomato Sauce and Tomato Paste.
Add to the pulled chicken and mix thoroughly along with the green chilies.

Stir in 3 cups of Shredded Asadero or Enchilado

Set aside and make Pastry

Corn Pastry:
3 cups AP Flour, plus more for work surface
1 1/4 cup + 2 TB Masa Harina or Corn Flour
1 TB sugar
3/4 tsp Salt
4 1/2 TB Unsalted Butter
3 large egg yolks
3/4 - 1 1/4 cup water

Whisk flours, sugar and salt together in a bowl.
Cut butter into small slices and work into the batter

until it begins to hold together when compressed.

Add egg yolks and mix with a fork.
Slowly add water, beginning with 3/4 of a cup, you may not need it all, it will depend on the humidity in your kitchen.

Knead until a soft dough is formed, then wrap in plastic and let rest for 30 minutes.

Divide the dough in 1/2

Roll out and cut 3 1/2 inch circles.

Stack them and cover to keep the pastry from drying out.

Preheat Deep fryer to 350 degrees
Place 1/2 TB in the center of the pastry circle.

Brush with a little water, fold and crimp with a fork.

Drop in to Hot oil for about 90 seconds, until Golden Brown and Delicious.

Drain on paper towels

and eat as soon as they are cool enough that you will not burn your fingers.

Mangia!
~~

Pullin Pollo - Pulled Chipotle Chicken

I don't make this very often because it takes a long time to pull the meat. Oh, I am not complaining. I just have to have the time to be able to do it. This weekend, I MADE the time. Why? We are about to migrate to a new system at work, as a computer geek (Software QA) I will more than likely be at work for many many hours over the next 2 weeks. It would not be the first time I have worked 12 hours a day 7 days a week. But sadly, this means less time to cook, so things that can be thrown together for a quick meal are an absolute must at times like this.

I usually eat this with white corn tortillas, but something today set my teeth for a little bit of an Asian influence. Thus the Butter lettuce as a wrapper. True, it would have been more authentic if I had used Napa cabbage maybe, but I was not in a cabbage mood, and I don't like Iceberg (I like SOME flavor to the wrap). The Romain at the grocery store looked a little suspicious, so Butter lettuce it was. The nice thing about Butter lettuce is that it is still alive, packaged with the root ball and a little soil... It lasts a lot longer in the refrigerator than other lettuces that have been unceremoniously hewn from their stems and haphazardly tossed into a crate with hundreds of others for shipping.
I am digressing again...

Chipotle Pulled Chicken

in Butter lettuce

Pulled Chicken:
2 lbs Boneless-Skinless Chicken Breasts or tenders
1 small Onion, roughly chopped
2 Cloves of Garlic, crushed
4 springs of Cilantro
2 tsp Salt
the Juice of 1 lime

Chipotle Sauce:
3 TB Olive oil
3/4 cup Onion, finely minced
1 can of Chipotle Peppers in Adobo sauce
28 oz can of Diced Tomatoes
1 15 oz can Tomato Sauce
3 TB Tomato Paste (I use the kind in the tube)
1/2 cup Chicken Stock
1 1/2 tsp Dried Oregano
1 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
Juice of 1 Lime (If using Mexican/Key lime, use 3 limes)
6 TB Cilantro, chopped (reserved for later)

In a large saucepan, combine chicken, onion, garlic, cilantro and lime juice and the limes themselves.
Add water to cover.

Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat.
Simmer until chicken is cooked through - about 20-25 minutes.
Drain chicken and discard onions, garlic and cilantro.
Let rest and cool for about 15 minutes.

Using 2 forks "Pull chicken" into shreds and set aside and begin the sauce.

Sauté onion over medium heat in oil.

Combine Tomatoes, Tomato Sauce, Tomato Paste and Chipotle Peppers and the Adobo in a blender or food processor and puree until smooth and add to the onion.

along with chicken stock and simmer for 35 minutes to thicken it.

Add the pulled chicken and oregano and salt, stirring to combine.

Simmer an additional 10 -20 minutes to ensure the chicken is only moist, not wet. (like Carnitas)
Remove from heat and let cool slightly before adding the cilantro and lime juice.

Serve with corn Tortillas or like I did, with large Butter Lettuce Leaves.
Garnish with Lime wedges, Sour Cream, Avocado and grated queso Asadero or queso Oaxaca, along with more chopped cilantro.

Yeah, I cheated and bought a pre-shredded mix that had queso Asadero & queso Quesadilla in it, cause I could not find just a hunk of the cheese.

Store any unused portion in a sealed container for up to 6 days.

Eat Well!!