Southwestern Risotto

As I mentioned yesterday, earlier last week I picked up a few pints of roasted hatch chile peppers intent on making two creative recipes with them. The first was the Hatch Chile Chicken Salad, and the second was this Southwestern Risotto. I have never before thought to use peppers of any variety in a risotto, having previously associated the dish with subtler flavor profiles such as mushrooms, broccoli, asparagus, and the like. Thursday, however, as I was walking around the produce section at Central Market, Hatch peppers in hand I knew I wanted to see how it would taste in risotto.

So I picked up some corn and cherry tomatoes that I knew would complement the peppers well and picked up a chicken breast to bake and I was ready to give it a whirl. I decided to grill the corn to give a smokiness to the kernels and to go along with the roasted flavor of the peppers. Additionally, I roasted the tomatoes, largely because I much prefer the taste of tomatoes when they are cooked as opposed to raw. I baked a chicken breast half to add, but you could easily use meat from a rotisserie chicken or leftover baked chicken from the night before to simplify the process.

The result was absolutely delicious! The sweetness of the corn and tomatoes was the perfect contrast to the slight heat of the peppers. The chicken added a nice bit of protein, an essential component for any meal for my husband!

One quick note before the recipe. I recently purchased a jar of chicken bouillon for a recipe and it saved me from disaster on this meal! You see, I was well into the risotto process when I discovered I only had half of the chicken broth I needed for the recipe. When I remembered I had chicken bouillon on hand I mixed some up with water, heated it in the microwave and I was ready to go! Crisis averted! So all that to say, it's a good idea to keep some chicken bouillon on hand just in case you find yourself in need of chicken broth at the last minute!

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Southwestern Risotto


Ingredients
1 cup arborio rice
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 yellow onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup Chardonnay
4 cups chicken broth, heated
1/2 cup chopped Hatch peppers, roasted and peeled
2 ears of corn, kernels cut from the cob
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 cup shredded cooked chicken
Salt and Pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions
You will want to have the corn, chicken, tomatoes and peppers ready when you start the risotto process. Start with grilling the corn, I used my grill pan on the stove top to stay out of the heat. Heat the grill or grill pan over medium high heat and place the cobs directly on the grill.

Cook, turning every 2 minutes, for about 8-10 minutes until fully cooked.

Remove from the grill and cut the kernels from the cob. Place in a bowl and set aside.

While the corn is on the grill, cut the tomatoes in half and drizzle a little olive oil and sprinkle a pinch of salt and pepper.

Roast in the oven at 375 degrees for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.

If you purchase your hatch chile peppers already roasted, simply remove the skin and stem, chop and set aside. If you need to roast them yourself here's some great instructions.

Now that all the star ingredients are prepped, it's on to the risotto!
Melt a tablespoon of butter in a heavy bottomed large pot over medium- high heat.

Add the onions and saute until softened and browned, about 5 minutes.

Add the minced garlic and saute until fragrant, about 2 more minutes.

Season with a little salt and pepper then add the cup of arborio rice and stir to coat with the oil.

Pour in the cup of Chardonnay and stir until the rice has absorbed most of the liquid.

 Add a 1/2 cup of warmed chicken broth at a time, allowing the rice to absorb the liquid before adding the next 1/2 cup. Repeat until the rice has reached the desired texture, not mushy but with a little bite like al dente pasta.

Add in the corn,

 hatch peppers,

 chicken,

 and tomatoes,  Stir to combine.

Serve in a bowl and enjoy with a glass of Chardonnay.

Hatch Chile Chicken Salad

It's Hatch chile pepper time in the Southwest. If you aren't familiar with what that means, don't worry, I wasn't either until I moved to Dallas four years ago. Hatch chiles are a specific type of green chile grown in Hatch, New Mexico, and distributed to grocers nationwide in late August every year. The Hatch pepper is widely regarded as the cream of the chile pepper crop. It is similar in shape to the Anaheim pepper, but with a darker color, sometimes with an orange tint and a bigger bite.

Photo credit: Houston Chronicle

Since these green gems are only available once a year, devotees will buy them by the case, roast them and freeze them for later use. The beauty of freezing hatch peppers is that they only get hotter the longer you wait to use them! I havn't quite reached the level of buying hatch peppers by the case, but I definitely find myself called to Central Market every time I smell them roasting the peppers out front.

So, as usual, this week I purchased two containers of Hatch and was determined to create my own recipes that would feature my favorite pepper. Knowing that Robert and I would be hitting the road to drive to San Marcos to spend the long weekend with my parents, I decided that one recipe would need to be chicken salad.

What does chicken salad have to do with our road trip? Well, Robert and I have a tradition that whenever we are on a drive that will last through a meal, we like to pack food so that we aren't forced to stop and eat fast food along the way. We have specific criteria for what food we pack: it must be relatively healthy (aka not fried) and it must be easily consumed by the driver without impacting their ability to focus on the road. Chicken salad has been that solution!

Typically we purchase a tub of chicken salad from our favorite spot in Dallas, along with a sleeve of crackers and while we're driving I will put a spoonful of salad on a cracker and hand it to Robert to eat. This time we used my Hatch Chicken Salad instead for a delightful treat! I used my Orange Cranberry Chicken Salad recipe as a jumping off point and incorporated ingredients I thought would both complement and highlight the flavor of the pepper. Robert and I both agree, this chicken salad is unlike any we've ever tasted before! It's fresh and light tasting and every now and then has a slight kick from a stray seed. We highly recommend it!

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Hatch Chile Chicken Salad


Ingredients
2/3 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
4 cups shredded cooked chicken
1 tablespoon minced shallot
1/4 cup minced cilantro
1/2 cup chopped roasted hatch peppers

Instructions
In a bowl combine the mayonnaise, vinegar and lime juice.

 Whisk to combine.

In a larger bowl combine the chicken, shallots, peppers and cilantro.

 Pour in the mayo mixtures and stir to fully combine.

Attempt to store in a container until ready for your road trip only to find your husband sneaking a bite!

Enjoy with crackers, fruit and nuts for a light meal on a hot summer day.

Summer Corn Muffins

Supposedly summer is coming to a close. I know it is September first, but as I write this post, it is currently 102 degrees. Dallas is in line for a cold front this weekend...95 degrees here we come!

I ventured into the land of Central Market today. I hardly ever go there. I am honestly a bit overwhelmed by the whole idea of the store. It is an intricate and incredibly detailed maze of the most fascinating food products you could ever imagine, and many products you never knew existed, let alone, how to use them! The last time I went was on a weekend around Christmas time. Worst decision. I vowed never to return due to the ridiculous number of people, the inability to move around, the huge check out lines and just my overwhelming sense of frustration. Anyways, I went there today (a Thursday afternoon) for two reasons. One, because I am grilling salmon this evening, and wanted a wonderfully fresh piece, and goodness, Central Market is indeed a great place to go for fresh and gorgeous seafood. I also constantly hear about how people just love this place, so I decided to give it another try. What a refreshing visit! The people are beyond helpful and friendly, things are actually laid out for an easier shopping flow, they had everything (and more) on my rather intricate shopping list, and I did not have that same feeling of claustrophobia. So, I suppose the secret to Central Market is to go on a weekday (ideally in the middle of the day), and avoid it at all costs around the holidays! 

A picture of the pups from this spring...yellow flowers to match our yellow corn!

Anyways, in honor of summer coming to a close, I wanted to use my favorite summer vegetable, corn! Cornbread is a fun way to use fresh corn, and it also brings a sweet change to your dinner. I decided to purchase fresh corn on the cob, shucked it myself, and cut the kernels off the cob. This process is so easy, so when fresh corn is available you should really take advantage of it and go ahead and buy the fresh corn rather than the canned variety. This recipe is from Food and Wine. I added extra corn and salt, and omitted the jalapenos. 

So often I find cornbread to be dry and flaky and just dull. These muffins are the opposite in every way! They are fluffy, light, fresh, flavorful and overall incredibly tasty! I will always use this cornbread recipe from this point forward. I recommend eating these muffins fresh out of the oven, so that a touch of butter will melt just perfectly and serve as a complimentary salty balance to the sweet corn. Yum!

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Ingredients:
6 tablespoons of canola oil
1 cup of fresh corn (all of the kernels off of one corn cob, be careful with your fingers when cutting!)
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of cornmeal
1 cup of flour
1/4 cup of sugar
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1 cup of buttermilk
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Steps:
1. Gather all of your ingredients.

2. Use one teaspoon of the canola oil from the total 6 tablespoons to coat the bottom of a skillet.

3. Add the corn and a dash of salt and pepper to the skillet. Cook for about 2 to 3 minutes.

4. Remove the cooked corn from the heat and set aside.

5. Combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, sugar and salt. Stir to combine.

6. Add the buttermilk, the egg and the remaining oil to the flour mixture. Stir until just combined.

7. Gently fold the cooked corn into the batter.

8. Distribute the batter evenly to make 12 muffins. Spray the muffin tin with cooking spray before and after you put the muffin liners to help avoid the frustration of stuck muffins!

9. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 16 to 18 minutes. You want just a touch of golden brown to the edges of the muffins.
10. Enjoy this summer treat with a small bit of butter!