craveytrain

I love a good chicken tortilla soup but everyone makes theirs different. I got a base recipe from a fellow culinary enthusiast and web designer, Patrick Fox. He was kind enough to send this to me right before he left town for his wedding. His recipe read like it was going to be good, but you know me, I have to do things differently. Not dramatically different, it’s really more or less his recipe, but it’s got a couple changes that I felt made it a little more… me. This recipe has some spice to it, so those of you that are a bit squeamish, you may want to back off some of the spice.

The Prep time is misleading, as there is a lot of prep, but most of it can be done while other things are cooking to make things more efficient. I put these steps in order to minimize cooking time allowing for prep while cooking. Certainly any prep work can be done earlier in the process as time allows.

Btw, I’m using a new convention. T = tablespoon, t = teaspoon.

• Prep: 5 mins
• Cook: 90 mins
• Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
• 5 T vegetable oil
• 1 T salt
• 1 T ground black pepper
• 1T + 1 t ground cumin
• 1 t ground chipotle peppers
• 1 T ground coriander seeds
• 1 t Essence
• 2 Q water
• 4 dried whole chipotle peppers
• 1 whole yellow onion
• 6 garlic cloves
• 1 poblano pepper
• 6 oz can whole corn kernels
• 6 oz can tomato paste
• 2 key limes, juice of
• 12 oz can black beans
• 10 corn tortillas
• 2 avocados
• 1 bunch green onions
• 1 pint sour cream
• 3 cups shredded cheese (Mexican blend, jack, cheddar, etc…)

Prep

Heat large stew pot to medium with 3 T veg oil.

While that is heating, rub chicken thighs with mixture of 1 T of salt, 1 T fresh ground black pepper, 1 t cumin, 1 t dried chipotle peppers, 1 t ground coriander.

Cook

Add chicken to oil and brown all sides of chicken. Once browned, add 2 Q water and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer and cover. Boil for abount 40 mins (or until chicken is done).

Prep

Chop yellow onion. Mince garlic. Chop, seed and de-stem poblano pepper.

Reconstitute dried chipotle peppers. Place in microwave safe dish, cover with water and nuke for a couple mins (until soft). Slice stems off peppers, cut peppers in half and scrape out seeds. Dice up.

Cook

Once chicken is cooked, take chicken out to drain and keep the stock warm.

Heat dutch oven to medium with 2 T vegetable oil. Put in diced yellow onion and minced garlic, saute until translucent (couple mins).

Add half of the diced chipotle peppers, diced poblano, 1 T ground cumin, 2 t ground coriander, 1 t essence & corn and cook for another few mins to soften the poblano peppers.

Add tomato paste & lime juice and cook for 2 more mins being sure to coat everything in paste.

Add black beans & chicken stock from stew pot and bring to a boil. Once mixture is homogeneous, bring down to a simmer & cover cook for about half an hour.

Prep

Add rest of the diced chipotle peppers to the sour cream with 1 t of salt, mix and refrigerate.

Dice up bunch of green onions and refrigerate.

Take chicken off bone. Be careful to not keep any of the gristle or connective tissue around bone joints. This is most easily done by hand. You want shredded chicken. Small bites.

Preheat oven to 400. Take corn tortillas, cut them in half and then in half inch wide strips. Put them on a non-stick cookie sheet and put them in the oven. After about 5 minutes, take them out, mix them around making sure to separate the ones that have clumped together. We are wanting to toast them, so browning is good, black is bad.

Cook

After soup has simmered for half an hour, mix in chicken. Simmer for 10 more mins.

Prep

Roughly chop up avocados. Do this right before serving to keep from discoloration.

Serve

To serve, put soup in bowl, top with tortilla strips, cheese, chopped green onions, chopped avocado and a dolllup of the chipotle crema.

Yes, I have promised a recipe or 2 that is not up here yet. I am a slacker and hope to get them up this eveing or tomorrow. Stay tuned…

If you have read any of my blogs, you will notice I have a particular way of doing just about everything. Even really simple things, I have a particular method to most of my madnesses. I have had several people ask me for my recipe for banana pudding. Initially, I thought, well, it’s not really much of a recipe, it’s just the order I throw things together in, but that’s true with a lot of things. I just have a hard time considering anything a recipe or calling something cooking if no heat is involved (or for that matter, if the only heat used is a microwave). None-the-less, I can’t disappoint my fans (who the hell would have guessed I would have fans?).

• Prep: 30 mins
• Cook: 0
• Servings: 4 to 6

Ingredients

• 1 box Jello Instant Banana Pudding (not sugar free)
• 2 cups cold milk
• 1 box nilla wafers
• 1 tub Cool-Whip (pick your fav, I use extra-creamy, but vanilla would probably be good)
• 3 ripe bananas (spotted)

Prep

Put the pudding mix in a half gallon bowl and wisk in the milk. Wisk for a minute or 2 to get the lumps out (per the box instructions). Leave on counter so it doesn’t set too fast on you.

Line the bottom of the serving bowl (at least a gallon capacity) with nilla wafers one or 2 layers deep. Take a banana and slice it in thin rounds as a layer on top of the wafers.

While you were doing this, the pudding should have somewhat set. Slice up another banana in it and mix it in. You want to pour the pudding in when it is thin enough to seep in between the nilla wafers and bananas lining the bottom yet is thick enough it won’t float those items up from the bottom of the bowl. Once the pudding is poured in, place nilla wafers around the sides and push them down into the pudding. Once you have done this, place the pudding in the fridge and allow it to set (up to 20 mins).

Once the pudding is set, take it out and put a layer of nilla wafers on top of the pudding. Slice up the 3rd banana on top of that making another layer. Spread a layer of cool whip on top of that, at least 1” thick, but as much as you want. Finally, crumble up more nilla wafers and sprinkle them on top of the Cool Whip.

This pudding is best once it has set for a few hours, or even a day.

We decided to go out to eat Tuesday evening. By we, I mean I got a wild hair, and well, who refuses a free meal? So based on some reviews from some friends, we decided to check out Reed’s Jazz & Supper Club. Honestly, I think it was undersold to us.

Appetizer

Sausage Stuffed Mushroom Caps

This was the only thing that just wasn’t overwhelming. It was good, italian sausage and some sort of breading in a mushroom cap. But it wasn’t great. Being as the girlie doesn’t eat seafood though, our choices were a bit limited. Certainly not a knock against it. Just, compared to the rest of the meal, if I had to pick a low point, simply good would be it.

Salads

Beefsteak Tomato Salad

This was an interesting salad. It was mostly a sliced tomato with cheese, some glaze and a touch of green things. As you can imagine, she got this one. Now, that’s not to knock it. It was very tasty, well put together, and the flavors melded really well. It just wasn’t my bag. However, I recognize with something is good, just not my style. This was clearly one of those things.

Wedge With Apple Smoked Bacon

Best blue cheese dressing I have ever had. Our waiter, who was outstanding, mentioned the secret was a touch of cayenne. I don’t know if he was supposed to say that or not, but this salad was one of the best I have ever had. Again, not being a salad person (I’m beginning to wonder if that is changing) this salad really impressed me.

Entree

Filet Mignon: 8oz

This is a very rare occassion, the girlie and I got the same thing. This practically never happens. Even as we ordered the same basic thing, she got her’s burnt (err, medium well) and I got mine medium rare with a couple scallops on the side. I originally wanted seafood, but the waiter really suggested that we try the steaks the first time. He said their steaks were in the top 2 or 3 in town, depending on preferences. He was right. Did I mention our waiter was really good?

Sides

Au Gratin Potatoes

This is a place where you order the sides separate. Enter the taters. This creamy goodness is some of the best stuff to ever hit my mouth. My god these things were awesome. Perfectly textured, cooked and cheesed. Plus they had bacon on top. Bacon makes everything better. I cannot go on enough about these things. The waiter sold us on these as well.

Thick Cut Onion Rings

I know what you are thinking, onion rings at a steak place? But the waiter said they were really, really good, and he was on a roll. Yet again, the waiter is right. These things are heavenly fried bits of tastiness. He brought out ketchup for them (cause let’s be honest, they are onion rings) and when he brought it out, he brought it out in a little metal bowl with chopped chives on top of it and with a spoon. Hilarious. All posturing aside, these onion rings are some of the best I have ever had.

Dessert

Liquid Center Chocolate Cake

This is just as it sounds, chocolate cake with a molten chocolate core. Served with a healthy heaping of Amy’s Mexican Vanilla. Amy could conquer the world with this stuff. This meal serves as a reminder that I just don’t get by Amy’s often enough. The cake was very good and rich (it has to be to stand up to the Mexican) but honestly, I feel it was overshadowed by the vanilla. Hey, it’s easy to do, I did my famous glazed grilled bananas and pineapples and tried to pair it up with the Mexican, but the fruit was no match. Not to take away from the cake, as it was fantastic, but that vanilla, it goes home and slaps your mama for ya. And you thank it for saving you the trouble.

Service

Impeccable. I believe our waiter was named Scott. Apologies if I got it wrong. Even more so if you are reading this, cause that means you were one of my 3 readers, and I forgot your name. He was what a waiter should be, available when you need him, not hovering over you when you don’t. He was engaging and gave just enough banter with the food to advise and entertain yet not keep us from our true purpose. I actually went looking for the manager to tell him how good the service was. I need to send an email to the manager. I should do that now.

Ambience

The website says Reed’s is targeting Rick’s Café from Casablanca. I think they did a good job with the decor (the stairs were actually a very nice touch). Considering what they were working with (it’s in a strip center, a nice one, but one none-the-less) they did a great job. I would liked to have 1 music through out the place, not hear the music from the bar downstairs and a separate soundtrack in the upper level, but that is hardly a real complaint. I would like to see it on a more packed night. It was pretty sparsely populated, which is a shame. I always hate to see a good restaurant have down times. It makes you wonder how long they will be in business. We have too many good restaurants closing.

Bread

The bread is worth mentioning. It’s what you expect when you get a fresh french or italian bread. It’s got a good crunchy crust and a soft chewy inside. Best of all, it’s hot. I wish more places would take note of this. Hot bread is better than cold.

Rating

I’m afraid I have set a precident I have to follow now. I must give a rating to all reviews now. I can’t say I like the idea of assigning a whole experience a number, it seems a bit trite and is likely to pigeon hole a restaurant. Luckily, no one reads my blog, so I can be as irresponsible as I like, and no one will be the wiser. Having said that, I confidently give this Reed’s Jazz & Supper Club a 5 out of 5. Just a fantastic meal and great service to boot.

For my b-day, the girlie took me to Cafe Caprice. It was very tasty. It’s a sorta fusion style food. They grab from all over. Allow me to go into greater detail.

Appetizer

Shrimp and Grilled Corn Salad on crisp tostones, with garlic, lime crema, mizuna salad

While it was a table appeteizer, well, the girlie doesn’t eat seafood, so it was just for me. I gotta say, though it was lacking in portion size, these things were simply outstanding. Just an awesome flavor. Honestly, they were my fav thing of the meal, and that’s saying a lot, cause I really enjoyed the meal.

Salad

House Salad mixed field green salad

She got it, I really have no idea. She kept going on about how good the dressing was. She didn’t share, so I guess it was good.

Romaine Heart Salad with garlic croutons, shaved red onion, Asiago cheese, traditional Caesar dressing

Ok, we have both been sick, and my body needed salad. It told me to order salad. This is not normally what I go with. I hate stalky lettuce, and I don’t care much for the flavor, so I want lots of strong flavors to override the lettuce. I tell you this so you understand that when I say I really enjoyed this salad, it gives it some gravity.

Entree

Cornbread and Chorizo stuffed Chicken Breast with ancho apple butter sauce

She got it, and I tried it. She really liked it. She let me try a bite, and honestly, I thought it was a bit dry (the chicken, I expected the stuffing to be a bit dry). She said the sauce it was served with compensated for that. She didn’t share that either, so I will have to take her word on it. However, since I felt it was a bit dry and this is my review, not our review (though that did just spawn a great idea of doing a he said/she said restaurant review blog) this is the only place I will knock off from a perfect score.

Pumpkin Seed-Crusted Pork Schnitzel with tri-colored spaetzle

There were several entrees I was trying to decide between. She told me she read the menu ahead of time and was expecting me to get the lamb. Honestly, I seriously considered it, but my love for spaetzle won out. Let me tell you, this was an extraordinary item. Very, very tasty and the glaze on it was just… undescribable. Turns out, you get common sides with the entrees that weren’t listed. I don’t know if they are seasonal or what. It included steamed bock choy, some sort of fusion between broccoli and cauliflower, steamed and lastly beets. Now I know why I don’t eat beets. However, it was the “brocco-flower” that intriqued me. She hates cauliflower, I’m not crazy about broccoli. However, this item we both enjoyed.

Dessert

Well, the desserts aren’t on their site and well… I remember I had the special which was a type of bread pudding. She had some sort of pie. They were both very good (though I will say I thought the bread pudding was better).

Service

Service was great. We had several people taking care of us: one main waiter and several others that made sure our consumables were taken care of.

Ambience

It was actually very quaint. A small house (what used to be Basil’s) turned into a more-or-less reservation only restaurant. Very intimate.

Bread

They had bread with the meal, and it was good, but what stood out was the cinnamon butter. That stuff was great.

Rating

I hestitate to do a “scoring” here, because, let’s be honest, a lot of this stuff is subjective. However, if anyone actually cares about this review and is using it to help guide their eating decisions, I feel I should give a metric.

5 - Perfect
4 - Damned Good
3 - Pretty Tasty
2 - O.K.
1 - Not eating there again

I have to give this place a 4.5 only taking off for the dryness of the girlie’s entree. Short of that, a perfect meal.