Chicken Argentine

I love my cast iron skillet and I try to figure out ways that I can use it EVERYDAY. So today I had a whole chicken thawed and I slapped that bad boy in my cast iron skillet and voila...dinner. 

This chicken is juicy and has crispy skin with the great flavor of that fantastic Argentinean condiment, chimimchurri. 

Simply seasoned with kosher salt and pepper this chicken is flawless!!! Enjoy and.....Eat on!!!

Ingredients:

Whole chicken

3 lemons

10 cloves of garlic

Chimimchurri 

Oregano

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Clean and wash out bird, taking out all innards. Pat dry. Then season generously with salt and pepper. Stuff bird with 5 cloves of garlic and 1/2 of one lemon.  

Place bird in cast iron and put the garlic and lemons around and on top. Coat with chimimchurri and sprinkle oregano on top. 

I like placing butter pats(squares) on top and around my chicken, that's optional.

Place foil on top and bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Then remove foil and baste it in its own drippings. Also add more chimimchurri onto the chicken. Place back in oven uncovered for 30 mins. 

Take bird out and let rest. Carve and Enjoy. 

 

Cilantro lime rice

Eat that Chipotle.......ENJOY!! :)

Basmati rice

lime(s)

lemon or lemon juice

salt

fresh cilantro

Using the instructions on the back of the basmati rice, choose the amount of rice you wish to make. Follow the instructions(except cooking part) and put it in the rice cooker!!

For every 1 cup of uncooked rice, add the following to the water and cook in rice cooker:

• juice of 1 lime
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice  
• 1 teaspoon salt 

When rice is ready, fluff with fork and add 1 tablespoon of freshly chopped cilantro for every 1 cup of uncooked rice.  Add more cilantro if you like.

Barbacoa Burritos

The deal is we are on a budget and I really really wanted Chipotle but that didn't fall in the budget sooooo I just decided I'm going to do it my myself!!! So once again I went to the clearance section of the meat dept(don't be afraid of that section) and found a huge boneless chuck roast for $8!!! 

So yeah be prepared to want tiniest this everyday and not ever wanting to go to Chipotje again!!! :) ENJOY!!!

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 lbs chuck roast (fat trimmed), cut into 2-inch chunks
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 chiptoles in adobo sauce, chopped
• 1 (4-ounce) can chopped green chiles
• 1 small white onion, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 Tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 Tablespoon oregano
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 cup beef broth

DIRECTIONS:

Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a slow cooker. Toss gently to combine. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Using two forks, shred the beef into bite-sized pieces inside of the slow cooker. Toss the beef with the juices, then cover and let the barbacoa beef soak up the juices for an extra 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaves.  Use a pair of tongs or a slotted spoon to serve the barbacoa beef.

I served this as burritos with cilantro lime rice(see recipe), guacamole, pico, and Honduran crema. 

Ramen....there's nothing else

Ok so we all know about ramen noodles.....they are like $.15/pack and they come with the salty packets of flavoring like beef, chicken, creamy chicken(ewww) and shrimp are the the only ones they I can remember. Anyways to my point I had legit ramen noodles at this awesome place in Seattle, in Uwijimaya, in China town.....and I swear I saw the heavens open and an angel float down and bless my food. It was salty, thick, rich, brothy(not a word), porky goodness in a bowl with lime, cilantro and jalapeños. Ahhhhh sweet mana from heaven.....ok well this morning whilst in my bed that bowl of pure perfection came to my mind and I got out my bed woke up the minion and bribed her to go to Kroger with me. And all I can say is......WORTH IT!!! Go now stop what your doing and get the things you need to make this....HOLD UP, did I mention that this broth is made in the crockpot...CROCKPOT!!! ENJOY!!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2-3 pounds pork shoulder roast bone in
• 4 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup + 2-4 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 cup + 2-4 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons thai red curry paste
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger
• 1 tablespoon sambal oelek (chili paste) 
• The juice of 1 lime
• 1 tablespoon Chinese five spice
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 cups wild mushrooms,
• 4 packs Ramen noodles, seasoning packets discarded
• 4 fried eggs, for serving
• sliced jalapenos, cilantro + green onions, for serving

DIRECTIONS:

Add the pork to the bowl of a crockpot. Pour the chicken broth, 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup rice vinegar and fish sauce over the pork. Add the thai red curry paste, ginger, sambal oelek, juice of 1 lime, Chinese five spice powder, black pepper and 1 tablespoon brown sugar. Cover the crockpot and cook on low for 7-8 hours. 

Remove the pork from the crockpot and add the mushrooms. Cover the crockpot and put heat up to high. Shred the pork with two forks or tongs but it should fall apart by blowing on it...

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sesame oil. Once hot, add 1/2 pork to cover just the surface of your skillet, do not over crowd the skillet. Sprinkle a little brown sugar over the pork, add 2 tablespoons soy sauce and 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, toss. Allow the pork to caramelize, about 2 minutes. Stir and allow the pork to continue to caramelize, about 3-5 minutes total. Remove the pork from the skillet.

Add the Ramen noodles to the crockpot and allow them to cook. Once the noodles are cooked, stir in noncarmelized half of the pork. Put soup into bowls. Top with caramelized pork and an egg. Season the egg with salt and pepper, Add the jalapeños, green onions and cilantro. 

Get ready to have your face in the bowl!!

Cast Iron Standing Rib Roast

Sometimes i go to the clearance section in my meat department to see the goodness on sale. Now don't be turned away because it's on clearance, it just meat that needs to be sold before the date in package. This meat is a great deal because you can either cook it that night or you can freeze it. Most of the time I freeze it and that's how Ben and I can eat fabulous steaks for cheaper. 

Well in the clearance section last week I found the "holy grail' of steamy goodness.....a huge prime rib!!! That was marked down from $55 to $24....um can we say SCORE!!! What a perfect Sunday meal!! 

So here is my cast iron prime rib recipe! Enjoy!!

INGREDIENTS 

Prime Rib(standing rib roast)

Coarse salt

Fresh black pepper 

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/4 cup red wine or red cooking wine 

DIRECTIONS

I take my meat out and let it come to room temperature before I sear it. I left this one out for about 3 hours. 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. 

Rub salt and pepper all over that baby don't be shy. This is going to to give your meat the flavorful crust that will make you wanna sear everything you eat. 

Heat about 2 tbsp over medium high heat in your cast iron until you can the oil become shimmery. Then add the meat and sear on all sides until a deep brown crust is formed. 

Place the meat with the fat cap on top so that it can baste itself in its own far. Cook the prime rib in the oven at about 15 mins per pound for medium-rare. Temperature should be at 125 degrees when it's done. 

Remove prime rib from oven, place on cutting board and let rest for 25 minutes to allow the juices to be pulled back into the meat for juiciness!! 

Put the cast iron back on the stove at medium high heat and deglaze pan using a wooden spoon. Pour about 1/4 cup of red wine or in my case red cooking wine in cast iron and scrape the bits and pieces off the bottom. Bring to a simmer and remove from heat. Place meat back in skillet. 

Slice and serve with the drippings on top. 

Cast Iron Rolls

OMG.....I'm making these again tomorrow they were that good and my husband said that there was something "sexy" about them being served in the skillet!! Excuse me while I wipe the proud tear from my eye while you enjoy these rolls. 

So I used my recipe for the knockoff Texas Roadhouse Rolls(a previous post) and made it BETTER!! Enjoy!!

DIRECTIONS:

Note: instead of cutting in squares I did round. 

After rising, brush rolls with melted garlic butter.

Sprinkle on chopped rosemary. Brush with additional butter. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt.

Bake at 359 degrees for 10 to 15 mins until rolls are a deep golden brown on top. Then brush with more butter....DUH!!

Serve skillet on the table.

Rosemary and Garlic Steak

• Cast iron series....

Let's start off right with steaks. I love steak and mushrooms. Here is a simple and easy way to impress. 

• 
  
• Two sirloin steaks
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 4 thyme sprigs
• 3 garlic cloves
• 2 rosemary sprigs
• Shiitake mushrooms 
• 1/8 cup Red wine(red cooking wine)
• 1/8 cup Balsamic vinegar

1. Rub the sirloins with 1 Tbsp. of olive oil then season with salt and pepper.
2. Let the meat stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
3. In a large cast-iron skillet, heat 2 Tbsp. of the oil until shimmering.
4. Add the steaks and cook over high heat until crusty on the bottom.
5. Turn the steaks and add the butter, thyme, garlic and rosemary to the skillet.
6. Turn broiler on high.
7. Cook over high heat while continually basting with the butter, garlic and herbs until until seared. 
8. Add the red wine.
9. Put under broiler for 2-3 mins. 
10. Remove steaks and put on plates.
11. Place the cast iron back on the stove on medium high heat. Add mushrooms and balsamic vinegar.
12. Place mushrooms on top along with the pan sauce. 
13. Serve