Chicken Soft Tacos Are Awesome

I'm not sure why, but tacos aren't something that make it onto my radar very often. It's not that I don't like them, it's just that I tend to forget about them for months at a time. Today, though, I went grocery shopping after work and by the time I got home, tacos sounded better than anything else on the menu. Speaking of shopping, have you noticed that the stores almost seem MORE crowded after work than they do on weekend afternoons?

These originally were going to be vegetarian tacos, but I ended up having a little more chicken than I needed for the Chicken and Broccoli, so I ended up adding the chicken to this.

They may look like regular tacos, but they're yummier. You'll have to trust me on that one.

It was a good move.

Chicken Soft Tacos
Serves 4
3 T olive oil
3 chicken thighs, trimmed
1/2 t cumin seeds
1/2 t fennel
1/4 t chili powder
3 green chilis
1/2 c onion, diced
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 t cumin seeds
1/4 c tomato, diced
1 T orange juice
1 t salt
1 t pepper
1 1/2 t oregano
tortillas

Toppings:
Avocado
Tomato
Cilantro
Cheese
Sour Cream
Salsa

In a small sauce pan, heat one tablespoon of olive oil. When it's warm, add the cumin and oregano and stir until fragrant, about a minute. Add the diced onion and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the beans and 1/4 c water. Simmer to meld the flavors, about 20 minutes. Periodically mash some of the beans so they break open. Stir in the orange juice and simmer 5 minute more.

Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a medium pan over medium heat. Add the chicken, fennel, cumin, salt, chili powder, and allow the chicken to brown, about 5 minutes. Turn the chicken and cover. Reduce the heat and cook through, 10-15 minutes, depending on the thickness of your chicken.

Remove the chicken from the pan and dice; return to the pan with diced chiles, salt to taste, and a splash of orange juice.

Serve with warm tortillas and the toppings of your choice.

The Menu Series: Comfort Food

Most of the time, Seattle rain is more of a gentle, misty rain. You might get slightly wet, but it's not wet enough to prevent you from going outside, going for runs, or doing yard work. Sometimes, though, we get solid, serious rain. This weekend, we had a few of those days back to back and it put me in a comfort food sort of mind.

Mashed potatoes and parsnips? Yes, please. Braised cabbage? Absolutely.

This week's menu is for unhappy weather when you need a little pick-me-up. As last week, as I make things and remember to take pictures, I'll come back and link to the recipe.

Also? This week? I bought half a goat. You read that correctly. Half a goat. I can't wait. It's pre-butchered and has about 7 different cuts. I can't wait to experiment and see the options available to me.


The Menu:
Chicken and Broccoli
Braised cabbage with apples and pork chops
Wild rice and mushroom pilaf
Chicken soft tacos
Pork medallions with roasted figs

The Grocery List:
chicken thighs
broccoli
white rice
1.5 lb apples
1 head red cabbage
pork chips
avocado
2-15 oz cans black beans
tomatoes
green chiles (canned)
1 lb mixed mushrooms
parsley
pork loin
figs
1.5 lb parsnips
1.5 lb yukon gold potatoes
heavy cream
chives

Chicken Curry Noodle Soup

You know what curry dishes are good for? Stopping the almost-cold from getting any further. (That, of course, is only one of the many good thing about curry. The bad thing about curry is that I am unable to spell and have spelled it 'currey' every time I typed it while writing this. Which is awesome. (Except not.))

And when curry meets soup on a cold, rainy, blustery, not-quite-spring day like we had yesterday? Then curry is even better. This soup warmed us from the inside out, thanks in part to the magic of soup and in part to the warmth of the curry. Spinach and purple cabbage made it colorful and fun to look at and the somen gave it heft and body that helped to make it a perfect gloomy day dinner.

Once you have the vegetables in the pan, scootch them all to once side and add the curry (currey!) paste, letting it cook for a minute or three. When you pour in the coconut milk, stir just that half until the curry is totally mixed in. This particular paste has a kick to it, so clumps can be particularly ... surprising.

Just before you pull the soup off the heat, it should look something like this - supremely colorful and aromatic from the curry, coconut, basil, and cilantro.

The last, and best, step is the eating.

This soup was also good in that it came together relatively quickly - about half an hour.

Chicken Curry Noodle Soup
Serves 4
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1/2 c crimini mushrooms, chopped
1 c chopped purple cabbage
2 c chicken thighs, chopped
2 T green curry paste (or to taste)
1 can coconut milk
4 c chicken stock
1/2 c basil, chopped
2 c spinach, washed and chopped
1/4 c cilantro, chopped
1 bunch somen noodles

1. Heat a large dutch oven over medium high heat with 2 T olive oil.
   
2. Once the onion is translucent, add the cabbage to the pan and stir.
   
3. Cook the vegetables for 3-5 minutes and stir in the chicken.
   
4. Push all the chicken and vegetables to one side and add the curry paste, allowing it to cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring the curry paste only
   periodically. Once the curry paste starts to stick to the bottom of the pan, pour in 3 T coconut milk and stir the curry paste and coconut milk together until all the clumps are incorporated. Once the curry is incorporated, stir the curry mixture into the vegetables and chicken.
   
5. Pour in the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes, or until the chicken is thoroughly cooked.
   
6. Add the somen, spinach, basil, and cilantro, and cook 4 additional minutes.
   
7. Serve.

Quick Chicken Sandwich

These chicken sandwiches, from Eat and Drink in the Northwest, were really good. I really like seeing and experiencing how other people envision food and how it should be put together. This sandwich isn't anything I would have put together on my own - three different sauces - but it came together really well.