Joe Szilagyi » Food and Drink

Feed

All articles in category: "Food and Drink"

My hacked chicken chili recipe (more a soup)

May 1st 2010

By: Joe Szilagyi

View Comments

I think I’ve posted maybe two recipes in ten years, but this one was too good not to share. Plus, I wanted to save my own version for myself to make again. I was going to make some chicken breast and pasta tonight, when I found one of those little “Try Foods” recipe cards in the meat department of our grocery store for a Chipotle Chicken Chili dish (the original recipe is at the end of this post). I wasn’t feeling like chipotle so I hacked the original recipe, and it’s really good. Mine isn’t quite as healthy as the original. I used 1.5 pounds of chicken, which seemed to be good to make it a bit ‘denser’ and meatier.

It’s more of a rich and kind of spicy chicken tomato soup than a chili. Don’t make fun of me for my spice selections (they baffled my wife, as I generally have no idea what I’m doing in the kitchen, but they seemed to work really well here). For the chocolate and cheese melted into the dish, I just think it adds to the texture. I could be wrong, and probably am, but there you go…

It’s got a weird sweetness to it as a finished dish and just enough of a burn that you’re aware of it. Should be served piping hot.

###

Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook Time: 30 minutes

    3 slices slab bacon
    1 1/2 lb. bonlesss, skinless chicken breast cut into small bite size pieces
    1 small onion, chopped
    1 (14-oz) can low-sodium, fat free chicken broth
    3 (14.5-oz) cans diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained
    1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinced and drained
    Cholula regular hot sauce
    several squares of dark chocolate
    about 8 oz of jack & cheddar shredded cheese
    olive oil
    black pepper
    Worcestershire sauce (no sane reason, but I did it and it worked)
    basil
    dill
    paprika (sweet or hot)
    garlic powder or chopped garlic
    bag of shredded cheddar cheese to top bowls afterward
    sour creme to top bowls

Set oven to Warming temperatures. In a large pot, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Transfer bacon to a plate lined with paper towels to drain. Add chicken pieces to the pot (use the same pot and bacon grease); saute 4 minutes. I splashed a bit of of olive oil on it and scraped off bacon remnants stuck to the pan. Add some black pepper to the chicken. Crumple up the bacon while the chicken is cooking. When the chicken is just beginning to brown, throw out paper towel, toss the chicken on the bacon, and stick it in the oven to warm. If you’re not using fresh garlic toss a few dashes of garlic powder on the chicken as well, as it’s being cooked.

Add onion to pot; saute 2 minutes. Saute the garlic here if you’re using fresh garlic.
Add broth, tomatoes, beans and a healthy few splashes of the Cholula.
If using garlic powder, add a dash. Dash of basil and dill, several dashes of paprika, few splashes of Worcestershire.
Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low.
Return chicken and bacon to the pot; simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
After boiling ten minutes crumble and stir in the chocolate and 4 oz of jack & cheddar. Do the other 4 oz about 5 minutes later.

Ladle chili into soup bowls. Top with shredded cheddar cheese and a small dollop of sour creme (recommended).

###

This was the original recipe; I found it’s on most recipe sites.

Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 27 minutes
Serves 6
(Find in the food search for one serving at 275 calories)

2 bacon slices
1 lb. bonlesss, skinless chicken breast cut into small bite size pieces
1 small onion, chopped
1 (14-oz) can low-sodium, fat free chicken broth
3 (14.5-oz) cans diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained
1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinced and drained
1/2 tsp. chipotle seasoning
4 oz. shredded sharp Cheddar cheese (1 cup)
Sliced fresh japepenos & sour cream (optional)

In a large pot, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Transfer bacon to a plate lined with paper towels to drain. Add chicken pieces to the pot; saute 4 minutes. Remove chicken and keep warm.

Add onion to pot; saute 2 minutes.
Add broth, tomatoes, beans and chipotle seasoning; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low.
Return chicken and bacon to the pot; simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Ladle chili into 6 soup bowls. Top with cheese, and if desired, serve with jalepenos and sour cream.

Food and Drink

abuse of herbs and seasoning, chicken soup, cooking
You had a planet but I ated it

Apr 5th 2010

By: Joe Szilagyi

View Comments

Comics, Food and Drink

nom nom nom
Is this TOO Canadian?

Mar 31st 2010

By: Joe Szilagyi

View Comments

Seen on the website of a local restaurant we like:

No, I haven’t ordered it. Yet. Even I have some standards. But not many.

Food and Drink
Robocop Fried Chicken

Mar 14th 2010

By: Joe Szilagyi

View Comments

I don’t miss the 1980s.

Food and Drink, Videos

implausible, seriously?
Local Seattle favorites

Nov 22nd 2009

By: Joe Szilagyi

View Comments
In no real or specific order, these are probably my favorite local Seattle institutions and places, since we’ve moved out here in 2005.
- Best new bookstore: Elliot Bay Book Company in Pioneer Square. All wood, all creaky floors, all nice helpful stuff. It’s scale is absurd, too, for an independent book store.
- Best used bookstore: Twice Sold Tales (the Capitol Hill one, not the one in the University District, but that one is good too). Inexpensive, great selection, and the place is lined with sleepy, bored, and surly cats.
- Best coffee shop: Seattle Coffee Works at the Market. Their stuff is just the best, sweetest coffee. Runner up: Espresso Vivace’s little sidewalk bar on Broadway.
- Best food shopping: Pike Place Market. Duh.
- Best grocery store: Safeway, hands down.
- Best park: I really like Volunteer Park, but I have to go with Alki Beach in West Seattle. Rocky expanse of water, bitterly cold and windy in the winter–it reminds me of home. And one of the best views of the downtown Seattle skyline. Nail in the coffin: when the sun sets over the Olympic Mountains to the west, around 10pm in the summertime, Alki is hands down the best place to watch it. On a clear day, the sun ignites the whole sky with what I’ve been told (who knows if it’s scientifically accurate?) remaining particulates from the Mount St. Helen’s eruption. It looks like the sky is on fire, and the mountains as if someone ripped a slice out of the sky into blackness. Gorgeous.
  View of the Space Needle from Alki Beach.
- Best museum: The Museum of Flight at Boeing Field. Fine arts? Modern art? Sculptures on the waterfront? Yeah, sure. But do you have a stealth fighter docked in your museum? I didn’t think so.
- Best movie theater: Cinerama on 4th Avenue. Fantastic sound system. Fantastic screen. Gigantic, enormous screen, bordering Imax levels. They show old films sometimes–Lawrence of Arabia is a regular there in the off seasons from the big blockbuster releases. Sit in the balcony, dead center, about 4-5 rows up for the magical sweet spot.
- Best comic book store: Golden Age Collectables. It’s a retail Disneyland for geeks and nerds in every way.
- Best way to get around: King County Metro bus service. To be honest, it’s almost like having Boston’s train lines just… everywhere. They even put a lot of their information out in the public, for people to make tools like One Bus Away. This is the reason I do not miss having a car any longer (for a city of our nature, size, and scale, a surprising amount of the population relies heavily on Metro).
- Best cheeseburger: Charlie’s on Broadway. Runner-up: a Dick’s Deluxe, any of their locations. Greasy, vile, perfect.
- Best breakfast: The Athenian Inn at the Market, for their wonderful Hangtown Fry. An omelette with oysters? Yes, please. Even better with liberal hot sauce usage and a Bloody Mary.
- Best place to see a show: The Triple Door, hands down, full stop. Runner up: The Showbox at the Market.
- Best pizza: Pagliacci; Grand Salami Primo. If only a) they delivered before 4pm; b) they weren’t so pricey…
- Best local beer: Pike Place Place Brewery, “Kilt Lifter Ale”.
  Nectar of the gods.
Aircraft, City Life, Food and Drink, Seattle, Washington
British crisp comparison

Nov 16th 2009

By: Joe Szilagyi

View Comments

Wherein I eat four smallish bags of local crisps (chips, to us Americans) to see what is what. It seemed like a good idea for 20 seconds at the gas station by my hotel, when I wanted a bottle of soda.

At ten years old, delighted sight. At thirty-three, glee stupidity.

Doritos “Tangy Cheese”

Apparently, according to the bag, this is flavored with the well known traditional British cheese known as “Traditional cheese flavour,” whatever that is. The texture, shape and crunch are vintage American Doritos. I think they just mass-produce these chips by the trillions. The cheese flavor tastes… Latin. Kind of. And cheesy. And Doritos-y. I can’t really place what “Traditional cheese flavour” is, but it tastes like slightly exotic Doritos.

Traditional Britis--er, Americ--er, Mexican?

I’d go so far as to say they’re a bit better tasting than American “Nacho cheese” flavored classic Doritos. The cheese powder they use to infuse Doritos feels a bit… fluffier, than I’m used to.

The scent of the crisps is vintage Doritos: cheese, corn, nothing unique. That sums up just about every brand of Doritos ever made (except possibly that Buffalo sauce one) pretty nicely. Bland, inviting, wholesome, and the same everywhere, like a junk food home away from home.

Deformed Pac-Man
Walkers “Quavers,” Cheese flavour

Scent: non existent, or barely cheesy at best. They look like weird hybrid Fritos/pork rinds. They feel like potato-based pork rinds. The mysterious “Traditional cheese flavour” makes another appearance, but with strong hints of onion flavoring. They are loud when you bite down. I mean, really, seriously loud for a chip or crisp. The first few have virtually no flavor, but then it begins to quickly build as your teeth, tongue, and taken over by puffed potato. They taste and feel incredibly rich, though.

I can’t see eating more than a couple handfuls without feeling sick.

Walkers “Worcester Sauce” crisps

The bag, upon opening, smells spectacular. The scent reminds me of hamburgers and steak with potatoes. It’s like a cook out in a little foil bag. Visually, they’re… crisps. Nothing special, there. The texture is odd; they seem to nearly crumble and explode as you bite down, but it’s not unpleasant. The taste: reminds me of a severely toned down salt and vinegar chip, almost, but with subtle Worcester flavors. It’s not a “strong” chip that tries to beat you in the face with flavor; it’s almost quietly flavorful. I think these would go great with a glass of cold beer. I was hoping for a much stronger Worcester flavor—I love the taste of Worcester sauce. They’re good, but a bit of a let down.

Like a face with a wart? Look close.

Emergency late game update: I wrote the above after eating about 5-6 of these crisps, and then discovered another 2-3 that all but screamed Worcester. It looks like the bag is uneven. The later crisps are much better.

So manly it seared my flesh on contact.
Walkers “Max” paprika flavour

This is not an effeminate potato chip.

I was most looking forward to these, as I adore the smell and taste of paprika—I have to, I’m half Hungarian. They smell like barbeque flavor crisps. They look like what I suppose a good paprika crisp ought to look like, never having seen paprika crisps before. The texture is that thick, crunchy sort of ridged chip, rather than that weak girly kind of chip that feels stale half an hour after you open the bag.

Paprika, garlic, onion, and tomato are the flavors here. Oddly for this kind of junk food, I can actually taste them all. Even though my palate and breath have already been ruined by the preceding three types I’ve tried tonight, I can taste them all. This is my favorite chip of the bunch.

Conclusions

Don’t eat four wildly different types of little crisps bags, because it’s unholy and now I feel ill. This is my breath currently:

Did I ever tell you my favorite flavour was paprika?

Food and Drink, Stupid, Travel

helpful guides, I will regret this later, not very helpful, totally awesome
Halloween corn video

Oct 31st 2009

By: Joe Szilagyi

View Comments

Yeah, just watch it. “What the hell?” sums it up.

If this commercial had come out when I was a kid, I’d still be traumatized today.

Food and Drink, Videos
I find Bubble Tea disturbing

Nov 3rd 2008

By: Joe Szilagyi

View Comments

I bought this today downtown: Sweet apple bubble tea, with no milk, and with dark tapioca and unnatural gummi-like apple ‘things’ in the bottom. Andi took a photo.

I find this drink disturbing. I’d never had bubble tea before. I knew exactly what I was getting to. The apple tea itself? Delicious. I’d drink it again. At the same time I’m drinking it from a straw with the width and girth of a candy bar, and these jelly-like little creatures are slurping up into my throat and brain stem with every taste. I worked on it for a long bus ride, and then had to ditch it halfway through. I don’t know how I feel about eating my tea, but I wonder if that’s weird because I love tapioca pudding.

I’m trying, but I can’t think of a single food or drink before that I didn’t like because of the experience of eating it, but not for it’s flavor.

Food and Drink
Do you need a lampshade made of bacon?

Nov 3rd 2008

By: Joe Szilagyi

View Comments

Amazing:

A lampshade made of bacon.

Food and Drink
Terrified corn

Oct 31st 2008

By: Joe Szilagyi

View Comments

Happy Halloween. Scared corn, from Serious Eats:

Food and Drink, Videos
A kitteh challenger appears! Maybe?

Oct 30th 2008

By: Joe Szilagyi

View Comments

Can Sushi Cat defeat Spaghetti Cat?

Sushi:

Spaghetti:

Food and Drink, Pets, Videos
Spaghetti Cat

Oct 28th 2008

By: Joe Szilagyi

View Comments

If you don’t know what Spaghetti Cat is, spread the word. We saw it first on The Soup, which we’re addicted to:

Spaghetti Cat would not leave, however:

Food and Drink, Pets, Television, Videos
My favorite music venue in Seattle

Oct 24th 2008

By: Joe Szilagyi

View Comments

My favorite music venue in Seattle

Originally uploaded by joeszilagyi

I love going to shows here. The only thing that stinks a bit about it is that it’s a bit pricey, so we don’t go too often. The sound, the ambience, the food (from it’s restaurant, Wild Ginger)… It’s down on 3rd & Union.

Sent from my mobile phone.

Food and Drink, Mobile, Music, Seattle
Thriftway sandwiches

Nov 8th 2007

By: Joe Szilagyi

View Comments

We have a local grocery store chain here in Seattle, called Thriftway (I assume they’re local; I’ve never seen them elsewhere). Like all of these chains these days, they have a fairly decent lunch counter with pre-made sandwiches, and hot soups. We’ve both gotten to really like these little baguette sandwiches, with ham and brie cheese, that are pretty cheap. That’s all the sandwich is–usually honeyed ham, some brie, some bread. They’re amazingly tasty and filling. Well, yesterday I go to Thriftway to get us lunch. As I’m standing in the checkout line, the cashier and I both sort of caught a whiff of… something. Was it a rotten scent? We couldn’t quite place it, and it seemed to disperse.

Literally, at the same time, we noticed it. We looked around, couldn’t spot it, and went on with our business when it faded. In the parking lot, putting the bags of groceries in the trunk, I smelled it again, and looked around, but couldn’t place it. I figured some animal had died somewhere nearby. Perhaps on the roof of the store? I shrugged and drove home. When I got back inside, and set out our lunch on the coffee table, to try to catch up on our growing Tivo archive while we ate, I smelled it again.

“Honey, do you smell that?” I asked Andi.

“Did you step in something? Check your shoes,” she said, wrinkling her nose. My shoes were clean.

I looked around, at the door, at Mojo, our cat, who stared back at me in confusion. The smell then faded. I unwrapped the sandwich and took a small bite, and started working on my soup–I’m a weirdo, and usually eat a sandwich or cheeseburger last, always eating my side salad, French fries, soup, or whatever else is at hand first. The smell immediately hit us both again, and Andi unwrapped her sandwich–they were the source of the horrible stench. I figure it was the brie somehow, that went bad, but the sandwiches were date-stamped for the day I bought them. I don’t think I’ve ever had a stinky sandwich before. We pitched them both in the garbage.

The soup was good, though.

City Life, Food and Drink, Seattle
Up a Space Needle

Aug 23rd 2007

By: Joe Szilagyi

View Comments

Why do I suspect I’ll be looking down from up on the Space Needle today? Also, I have a craving for Lockspot. It’s ~~peanut butter and jelly~~ Hefeveizen and fried fish time!

City Life, Food and Drink, Seattle
- 1
- 2
- 3
- >