Mexican chicken sandwich

The sandwich this week is based on the recipe from Saveur for cemita poblana.  We substituted what we had on hand.  It was delicious.  We have been a little crazy with chicken cooked like this.  It is tough to beat!   The actual recipe called for 8 chipotle chiles in adobo.  This seemed crazy hot to us, so we made made chipotle mayo instead.

Cemita poblana

For four sandwiches:

Slice one white onion and soak in vinegar while preparing the other ingredients.  

Make chipotle mayo:  Cut up one chipotle in adobo and mix with 1/2 cup mayo.  Add more or less to taste.

Put 1 cup flour, 4 beaten eggs and 1 cup bread crumbs into three different bowls.  We could not find veal, so we pounded out 4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs.  Dip in flour, then egg, then bread crumbs and fry in about 1/2-1 inch olive oil.  Keep warm in oven on rack.  

Slice four round rolls in half.  Divide 12 oz mozzarella cheese on each bun and lightly oil the other side.  Place on sheet pan.  When the chicken is finished, remove from oven and place the buns under the broiler until toasted.  Place chicken on bottom bun.  Top with slice of tomato (we would have used avocado instead, but they were not ripe at the store), onion, chipotle mayo and some chopped cilantro.  Serve with refried beans.

Patty melt

Make the patties thin and cook them hot.

Rye bread recipe from Michael Ruhlman 

Served with oven fries.

I am not sure I have ever eaten a patty melt.  They remind me of my mother, stopping in the diner in the Blue Ridge Mall (I think it was a counter at Woolworth's), it was her go to sandwich.  Well I do like them.  A lot.   You could always buy the rye bread.  I couldn't find any at Hyvee that didn't have high fructose corn syrup in them, so I made it instead.  I will make this bread again.

Rye bread from Michael Ruhlman

340 grams bread flour

230 grams rye flour

340 grams water

1 tsp dry yeast

1 tbsp caraway seeds

2 tsp kosher salt

Combine all ingredients in kitchenaid.  Knead for 10-15 minutes, until soft and smooth.

Let rise in covered bowl 2-4 hours (until doubled in size)

Punch it down and shape it into a rectangle about an inch thick.  Cover and let rest 10 minutes.

Oil a loaf pan  Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Starting at top of rectangle, fold dough over on itself, folding and punch the dough down.  You want a tight loaf.  Roll it back and forth.  Put in loaf pan.

Slice the top of the dough.  Back 30 minutes.  Turn oven down to 375 degrees and cook another 15-30 minutes (until internal temp is 200 degrees.)

Cool on rack.

   

Patty Melt

Slice the bread and butter the top and bottom.  Place one slice of swiss cheese (or cheddar, seems there is some regional differences about what type of cheese to use.) on the unbuttered side of the bread.  Place a hamburger patty on the cheese, cover with another slice of cheese and a slice of bread.  Cook like you would a grilled cheese.  (We cooked it in the same pan that we cooked the meat, just pouring out the fat first)

Sunday night supper club/Superbowl/America

Meatloaf sliders by the Werths

Apple pie:  Pie Crust:  Combine 1 cup plus 2 tbsp flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar in food processor.  Process for 10 seconds.  Add 1 stick butter, cut up and cold.  Process 10 seconds.  Add about 3 tbsp ice water and process for 1 to 2 quick bursts.  Remove and wrap in saran wrap.  Refrigerate.  Repeat entire process for top crust.  For apples:  Mix 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, some grated nutmeg and a pinch of salt.  Add 6 peeled and sliced apples.  Add 1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch and mix.  Roll out bottom crust and place in pan.  Pour apples into crust.  Dot with 2 tbsp butter, cut into chunks.  Roll out top crust and place over the apples.  Seal edges.  Brush the top lightly with milk and sprinkle with sugar.  Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes, reduce heat to 350 and bake and another 45-50 minutes.  Cool on rack.

Beans by Dri

Wings by Alex

Mac and cheese by Lise

Kurt and Sammy with the Frito Pie

Supper club and Super Bowl

Cobb Salad by Anne

Supper bowl watching

Wilsons and Andy in their awesome new kitchen

Ok, this was a super bowl supper club.  I failed on getting any recipes or very many pictures.  I blame it on being out of practice.  You can, and should, add your recipe in the comment section below.  I particularly want the recipe for those slider rolls Katie.  I didn't get a picture of the weiner winks by Laura.  I was already on the couch.  But, no super bowl would be complete without them. 

Next supper club is March 15th at Tracy and Alex's house.  Theme:  Pakistan.  Come armed with your recipes.

Panatela Borracha

This cake comes from  Latin Grilling.  It calls for a bundt cake pan, which I don't have, so I used an angel food pan instead.  It worked just fine.

Butter Rum Cake with lime icing

Grease and flour pan.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Batter:

2 sticks butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 eggs

2 cups cake flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 package vanilla instant pudding mix

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup light rum

1 tsp vanilla

Cream butter and sugar.  Continue beating, adding one egg at a time.  Beat until light and fluffy.  Combine flour, baking powder, salt and pudding mix and set aside.  Mix milk, rum, and vanilla and set aside.  Alternate adding flour mixture and milk mixture until all ingredients are well incorporated.  Pour into prepared pan and bake for one hour. 

Rum syrup

1/4 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup light rum

Simmer butter, sugar and water until slightly thickened (6-8 minutes)  Stir occasionally.  Add rum and stir well.  Remove from heat.  As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, take a skewer and poke holes all over it.  Pour rum syrup all over the cake. (It seems like too much, but it's not).  Let cool completely in pan.

Lime icing

1 tbsp lime juice

3/4 cup powdered sugar

Remove cake from pan.  Mix lime juice and powdered sugar until dissolved.  Drizzle over top of cake

Cuban Sandwich

We have decided that this is the year of the sandwich.  I am usually not a big fan of sandwiches.  If I do have a sandwich, then I prefer a hot sandwich.  The only exceptions are an occasional peanut butter and jelly sandwich and those wonderful ham and cheese on a baguette that you get in gas stations in France.  I love those sandwiches.  The kids are happy about this new endeavor.  I think their motivation lies with the idea that "sandwich night" will entail far fewer dishes.  So far they are very wrong.  We started sandwich night a couple of weeks ago.  The first was made by Sanford.  Of course, there is no recipe.  He is not a fan of recipes.  He likes to cook free-style, like his dancing.  Basically I think he put a pork shoulder with onions, garlic, carrots, celery with some Italian herbs in the crockpot and let it cook all day.  He pulled the meat out and put it on a baguette, then turned the vegetables and stock into a soup/au jus by adding some cooked kidney beans.  It was really yummy, but we will never be able to repeat it...  So now onto last week's sandwich.  We started by having friends to dinner the night before for a Cuban cookout.  We doubled the recipe for the pork, so we would have enough for the next night.  The Cuban pork recipe if from "Latin Grilling" by Lourdes Castro.

Cuban Pork

(6-8 pounds pork shoulder butt)

Marinade:

2 2/3 cup lime juice

1 1/3 cup orange juice

1 tbsp ground cumin

2 tbsp dried oregano

2 heads of garlic, peeled and crushed

3 tbsp salt

1 tbsp black pepper

2 quartered onions

Mix marinade ingredients together.  Stab the pork on all sides with a sharp knife.  Put in marinade, rubbing the marinade into the pork .  Marinate 1-24 hours, covered with plastic wrap.

Then, remove the pork from the marinade and bring to room temperature.  Boil the marinade for a couple of minutes, then puree.  This is now your basting liquid.  

Heat grill to 550 degrees.  Grill over indirect heat, starting with skin side up, turning and basting every 15 minutes or so.  This is where the book tells you that it will be finished within 1-2 hours.  This isn't true.  It will take far longer than this.  Because we didn't want to feed our dinner guests at midnight, we took one of the roasts and put it in the pressure cooker for 20 minutes, allowing it to release it pressure naturally.  Now we had some tender meat.  We left the other roast on the grill during dinner.  It actually got a little too smoky for my taste.  When doing this again, I would roast it in the oven, then finish it on the grill.

The next recipe if for the Cuban bread.  Sanford wanted to buy it, but it is not easy to find it in mid Missouri.  Of course, I like the challenge of making everything...The recipe is adapted from A taste of Cuba

Cuban Bread

3/4 tsp active dry yeast

 1/3 cup warm water
1/3 cup bread or all-purpose flour
The day before, mix the yeast and water and let sit for a few minutes.  Then add flour.  Cover.   Refrigerate for 24 hours.  

4-1/2 tsp active dry yeast 

 1 Tbsp sugar
1-1/2 cups warm water
4 tbsp butter (or lard if you have it)
1/2 batch starter
1 tbsp salt
4 to 5 cups bread flour

Dissolve yeast and sugar in 3 tbsp warm water.  Stir in butter, remaining water and 1/2 batch of starter.

Mix well.  Stir in flour a cup at a time.  Add salt.  Mix in kitchen aid or knead by hand.  Should be soft, not sticky.
Put in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and let rise 45 minutes. 

Divide dough into 4 pieces.  Roll each to form a 14 inch long tube with rounded ends.  Put a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet and place the four dough rolls on it.  Cover with a towel and let rise for another hour, til doubled.
Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Dampen a piece of kitchen twine and lay on top of each loaf.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Cool slightly and remove strings.  Cool on wire rack.

Now for the sandwich recipe:

Cuban Sandwich

Slice the bread lengthwise.  Smear one side with butter, the other side with yellow mustard.  Place 1-2 layers of each:  ham, sliced roasted pork, Swiss cheese.  Heat a flattop or griddle.  Butter the top of the bread and cook like a grilled cheese.  Butter the top side and flip.  We weighted the sandwich down with a cast iron skillet.  When heated through, place 1 or 2 slices of pickle in the sandwich.  (note:  next time I would heat the leftover pork before putting in on my sandwich)