And The Winner Is.......

Way back in June, FoodPorn.com turned 10 years old and I held a recipe contest to celebrate. It took me way too long to cook the recipes but I now have a winner (unanimous among the family too I might add!):

ADRI!! You can choose anything you'd like from the FoodPorn store.

This was so good! Simple, fresh, lovely and tasty. The only thing I had a problem with was remembering to marinade in advance but I finally got it going early and I'm glad I did. YUM! And paired with it was the only potato salad I've ever liked (although it's not a specific recipe she sent, I used her ideas and it was great). I substituted basil for dill in the salad though. I could do that since it wasn't part of the official entry ;-)

Winning Recipe:

This is a super easy, summery chicken recipe that looks /great/ on the plate and is very flavorful. I like to serve it with a vinegar-y cucumber-potato salad (chunked cukes, chunked potatoes pan fried or broiled until crispy on the outsides, slivers of red onion, tossed with vinegar and dill).

Herbed Chicken Skewers

Ingredients

1/2 c low-fat plain yoghurt
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tsp ginger, grated
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 jalapeno, finely chopped (omit and replace with chipotle powder to taste and 2 tsp lime zest, if desired)
large handful freshly chopped cilantro leaves
small handful freshly chopped mint leaves
juice of 2 limes
salt to taste
2 pounds boneless/skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces

Method

Blend first 10 ingredients together in mixer or blender until smooth

Toss chicken with spice/herb mixture & marinate in fridge 4-6 hours as time permits

When ready to cook, thread chicken onto skewers and grill 8-10 minutes, turning twice, until lightly browned. (I use an indoor grill/broiler for this, but it would be fabulous on a wood-burning grill; just be mindful not to go too hot or the herbs will burn)


Honorable Mention:

This one unfortunately gets no prize but pride in being mentioned (yes, be proud). And it earns this prestige because I didn't think I was going to like it at all! There were no ingredients that I hate in it but it didn't sound exciting to me. I was pleasantly surprised when each bite was a mouthful of rich, fresh, flavors. I did use fresh ingredients as she suggested except the lima beans which I could only find frozen. I served it over israeli couscous.

This goes to OneSockShort for:

Tomatican

In the summer, I've made this with all fresh vegetables, instead of frozen and canned, which is even better. But this is a nice winter treat if you live here in the frozen north. I've added okra before, which I love, but I know few others do. I think it would also be good with small white beans instead of limas, but haven't tried that yet. The thing that makes it is the cumin, so if that's not a flavor you like, pass on this.

2 c chopped onion
1/2 t cayenne
2 T oil
2 t ground cumin
2 c frozen lima beans
3 c canned diced tomatoes
2 c frozen cut corn
1/4 c fresh chopped cilantro

Saute onions and cayenne in oil 5 min or till onions soften.
Add cumin and lima beans and saute 2 min.
Add tomatoes, corn, and cilantro and simmer covered 10-15 min or till vegetable are tender.
Serve over pasta, rice, polenta, or other grain.


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Thanks to everyone who entered!!

Tower of Crab and Potato

Surprisingly, this large, layered tower remained upright long enough to take a picture and carry it to the table before it slowly got leany and eventually toppled. It's a recipe loosely based on one from On the Line, Inside the World of Le Bernadin. I felt that I wouldn't like certain aspects of the recipe (I'm sure I'd love it if Eric Ripert prepared it for me!). I, however, didn't want to mix mayonnaise into my fresh, local crab.

So what the tower consists of is:
- One layer fresh crabmeat
- One layer sliced avocado
- A drizzle of jalapeno emulsion
- One thinly pressed, chilled, cut out piece of mashed potato ( mixed with lime juice, jalapeno emulsion, olive oil, salt, and pepper)
- One more layer fresh crabmeat
- One more layer sliced avocado
- Another drizzle of jalapeno emulsion

- Atop all that I took some of the mashed potato and put it into a frying pan with some olive oil. I thought I would get some sort of potato chip like thing but that's not exactly what happened. The potatoes dissolved into the oil but I just left them there until they were brown and got a very thin chip-like topping.

At the very top was an onion relish that was pretty close to what was in the book:
2 tablespoons red onion
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
--let that sit in the fridge for two hours

I drained off the vinegar and added:
A teaspoon or two jalapeno emulsion
A minced shallot
The juice of two limes
A drizzle olive oil
Salt and pepper

Voila! A crab potato tower!!